3.28
Mee siam is a Malay masterpiece (rempah spice paste based) with Thai inspirations (tamarind and sugar) and Chinese intuition (fermented soy beans), and an all-star Southeast Asian line-up of galangal, lemongrass, and chili. This super-stocked broth is lavishly ladled onto rice vermicelli, then bean sprouts, chopped chives and tau pok (tofu puffs), hard boiled egg, and calamansi are plopped atop.
1.8
I have taken to wandering over to Maxi Coffee Bar, setting myself on a stoop with a cup of Black and the Sunday New York Times. I let myself be seduced by a sandwich — the kaya toast, the several grilled cheeses. On a Sunday morning, it’s peaceful in here, the coffee and snacks are sumptuous, the service affably splendid.
1.4
Because I have lived in Katong for almost 30 years and I’m a lifelong Eastie, everyone asks which the best Katong laksa is. It’s the one simmered to spirited life in my mom Ade’s kitchen. You know — the one that only the backyard can fit, with industrial-sized woks and cauldrons, and charcoal stoops and gas tanks for zhi char-intense wok hei.
0.1
I hit Two Men Bagel House up after long rides, long runs, long hikes, and for long conversations. But even by myself, how would I ever feel lonely when there’s so much bagel sandwich to smash? This requires the full concentration of a Rodin sculpture.
237
We live in a Singapore with very solid renditions of regional American (or French, or Italian, or Chinese, or Spanish) cuisine. So it’s a way — even a fact — of life that to celebrate Wisconsin, we trundled up to a little hot dog stand using only Johnsonville bratwursts in Chinatown run by a Korean family.
166
Salad days in Singapore: Pineapple, turnip, cucumber, kalamansi, bean sprouts, dough crullers, crispy tofu, fermented prawn paste, sugar, guava and mango if you’re lucky, chilli paste if you know what’s good for you.
124
Slinging the same five noodle dishes for more than 70 years, Yong Huat is part aof why Eastie living is so easy.
9
As a very poor excuse for a Chinese person, I’m not fond of rice. As a 12-year Chicagoan, I can live on bread, and just bread alone, if bread includes pizza, which it should, and does.
7
My favorite superhero is Nancy Drew. When I turned 10, my aunts Khim and Reggie gave me The Clue Of The Tapping Heels (#16) and The Mystery Of The Tolling Bell (#19) for my birthday, and a literary best friend for life.
6
We were supposed to have pancakes to celebrate my birthday and Easter. We were going to fete the rising of Jesus from the dead, the rising of another digit in my age, me still very much alive. We code named it Pandemicakes.
5
When you miss giving big ole bear hugs to friends, the next best thing is sending big ass cinnamon rolls for them in swaddle up in. I mean, treat like you mean it. Go big, then go home after sidewalk drop, because Circuit Breaker.
0
Singapore is a country where we greet, “Have you eaten?” instead of, “How are you?”. In the last few days, that has been sublimated for, “What will your last hawker center meal be?”
-1
It’s fitting that a stew of oxtail signaled the end of days as we knew it, that bullish attitude of, “Life, we got you.”