As usual, Wengr was acting shy and refusing to let our doc capture a clean profile. So all we have is a semi-clear picture of his head… which we discovered was gynormous for 32 weeks. The head is already at 9cm and the limit for natural birth is apparently 10cm, so unless Jr decides to stop growing the size of his head, G may not have a choice on Caesarian. On the bright side, he’s in the 95% on height and normal on weight and body fat.
Apologies for the dark and blurry photos. My DSLR doesn’t exactly fit in a suit pocket, and the dim lighting at the Amara Sanctuary on Sentosa was not so S95 friendly. This World Gourmet Summit event had one of the most interesting meals, food-wise, that I’ve had in quite a while, made even more amazing given the size of the dining crowd and the relative complexity of the courses. The meal was almost a perfectly executed banquet feast by guest Chef Michael Ginor, co-founder of Hudson Valley Foie Gras, and chef/owner of LOLA, New York.
The occasion, umm… well it doesn’t really matter. It was a fête that I had the opportunity of attending instead of G. There was a long ceremony at the start involving the well-heeled in a scene that I can best describe as: the Free Masons threw a party and invited the “party
-goers from Eyes Wide Shut. This lasted well over an hour… and no food was served. Fortunately for us, we had unwittingly stood near the kitchen entrance before the start of the event and were treated to first choice of all of the mouth-watering hors d’oeuvres.
It’s still Sunday in the States, so I wanted to take this opportunity to wish my mom a happy Mother’s Day! Growing up, this holiday was a subdued affair in our household given the lack of nearby relatives. Inevitably, we would celebrate with a traditional brunch buffet (ah the Broker Inn). Food, and not just Chinese is an integral part of my family. Weekends might be consumed with attempts at homemade chinese sausages, dumplings, etc… and when we could afford to eat out, mom always had a nose for good restaurants. Since about food, I thought I would share about one of the strongest bonds with my mom (and Dad also)- food.
Until meeting G, I wasn’t nearly as picky about what or where I ate, so long as it was filling. Ironically, my disinterest for and love of food can all be attributed to my childhood. I can still recall the many times that Mom would drag Dad and me to faraway restaurants just because she had “heard” they had great food. Driving at least an hour each way just for a meal, especially as a teenager (when there are more important social activities to attend to) created a strong negative reinforcement towards food. Outwardly I hated all the “time spent” with the folks, but secretly I loved the variety of cultural experiences, Thai, Korean, Moroccan, etc… so foreign to where we lived.
About two-thirds of what I bought. The rest are in the wine fridge as they have to be kept cool.
A friend, L, brought me to a medical hall that she swears by all the way in the northern part of the island. You see, we live on the west and I can still (easily) get lost in the city, so going to the north is almost like driving all the way to Malaysia. But, I digress.
The Chinese medical store is packed full of herbs and ointments, including many unidentifiable dried animal parts. The owners are a couple in their late 40s / early 50s with three kids. The husband, Peter, is Singaporean and fluent in English but the wife, Anna, who also happens to be the main expert, prefers to converse in Mandarin.
Last year’s World Gourmet Summit featured some notable personalities including a special appearance by Ferran Adrià and one very particular chef from Japan who transported everything including water for his guest stint in Singapore. The latter might sound a bit absurd, but if you’ve ever had the pleasure of dining in Japan, you might appreciate how difficult it is to reproduce those tastes and textures abroad. This year, Shinichiro Takagi, chef/owner of Zeniya had the dubious honor of presenting the cuisine and ingredients of his region during this tumultuous time in Japan.
Chef Takagi hails from Kanazawa, capital of the Ishikawa Prefecture, which, if my memory serves me correctly, is home to great seafood, historical attractions, and celebrities Hideki Matsui and “Chairman Kaga”. While this region on the western part of the main island was unaffected by the recent disasters, imports of food items from Japan has become much more strict, and as a consequence many ingredients meant for Takagi’s menu were unable to be shipped. This meant that many substitutions were used for this meal that ultimately diluted the experience of each dish.
G and I dined at Absinthe a few months after it had opened. That meal was one of our most memorable dining experiences in Singapore thus far. So, we were excited to have an opportunity to return as well as introduce T & A (A’s review here) to “that French place” that I had raved about forever.
Our second visit, while enjoyable, didn’t quite have the impact or warmth as the first. Like most other restaurants in Singapore, popularity can change a place, seldom for the better. Gone is the amazing hospitality that G and I first experienced, replaced by remarkably efficient yet cold and distant service. So much so, that the staff hardly said a single word to us the entire evening (not even bothering to explain each course), yet they diligently refilled our water and addressed our few dining issues quickly and graciously. While I can no longer recommend Absinthe for remarkable service, the food is still quite good, well thought-out and executed.
We’ve finally settled on a cot after considering the total room dimension and space to fit a single bed for the helper. It took us two baby fairs, two trips to the baby outlet stores, and lots of online research.
Our criteria for the cot:
1. Must have wheels to move from room to room
2. Must not be wider than 75cm to fit through the door
3. Preferably not too long so we can fit a single bed and a small drawer on the same side of the wall.
With the criteria above, we have a cot that is probably not going to last more than the first two years. But we figure it’s a decent amount of time because we may move to our own place before that. Will post pictures when we have everything in place. =)
Barbecued stingray is a relatively inexpensive and oh-so-tasty dish that is available at just about every hawker center in Singapore. I love the combination of sambal chili and flaky flesh enveloped in the fragrance of banana leaf. Perhaps because of its ubiquity in food stalls, stingray is not as commonly found in the grocery stores. This is a shame since it is surprisingly easy to cook and freezes well. While it had never crossed my mind to either cook or process a stingray, one recent weekend found me and M on a “field trip” to the Jurong Fishery Port (JFP) that led to a better appreciation of cooking this funky flat fish.
I am in misery, there ain’t nobody who can comfort me…
5 frustrating batches later and I’m finally starting to get the hang of making french-style macarons. There’s a longer story to my ongoing fascination that I’ll share another time, but for now let’s just say that I’m enamored by the science behind these temperamental almond biscuits. …And I might have an addiction problem with hazelnut-coffee buttercream.
I’m collecting my lessons learned and will share when I can reliably make “perfect” macarons. So before that time in the distant future, I thought I’d first share a pic of this “milestone” where everything came together, albeit far from perfect. Like an Obama oratory, these macarons appear great on the surface but are sadly hollow on the inside. But at least I’ve narrowed down the number of my issues and have an idea on how to solve them (move somewhere with lower humidity).
For those interested in learning more about making macarons, I highly highly recommend the french macaron how-to guide from Not so Humble Pie.
“Have you chosen a name?” is now the most popular question asked by friends and family. Since we still have two months to go, G and I aren’t too worried that we haven’t come up with the perfect name. Technically, we also have two weeks after birth to pick a name and turn in Jr’s registration papers. So it may come to down to pulling an all-nighter before the deadline, furiously brainstorming over a pot of coffee (just like my college days).
Naming is an important task. In the hierarchy of ways to emotional traumatize children, I’d rank choosing the wrong name close to the very top. Other kids can be very creative in coming up with not-so-nice nicknames, so it’s no wonder that there are scores of websites and books available to help keep parents from inadvertently choosing names like Richard, Woody, or Fanny. In fact the last chapter of Freakonomics discusses the socio-economic impact a name has, and the importance of timeliness.