Crossroads

Two years ago almost to the day, we were at a crossroads in our life and we made a decision together to move to Singapore. There were many reasons for the move but also an equal number of reasons not to move.

Reasons to move include (1) my family in Singapore; (2) pressure from my family to return and help with the family business because my help may not be needed in the future but it was needed then; (3) starting our own little family in Singapore; and (4) support from W’s boss who gave him the opportunity to move on better terms rather than the (significantly) crappier one offered by the local branch of a multinational company.

Reasons not to move include (1) W’s career in the US as a move would mean an invisible ceiling in terms of promotions given the distance from the head office; (2) my rising career in an industry that was almost recession proof; (3) W’s family in the US; and (4) our beautiful 2-br we had recently purchased and the independent living associated with it.

Mar 9

Casa Tartufo

On an impromptu sibling double-date the other night, we ended up trying this newish “truffle-themed” restaurant. Cousin S, a “pig” with a talent for sniffing out worthwhile dining, had said that the truffle pastas here were a must try. Since the four of us all love truffles, we were eager to sniff up as much as humanly possible in a single meal. Casa Tartufo compentently integrates truffle into its menu items in a way that does not overpower yet leaves a pleasant after-taste which lingers long after the meal has concluded. However the dishes themselves were quite average for the prices charged, resulting in a decent but sadly forgettable meal.

Mar 8

Protected: Sparing the rod

Mar 7

Hediard

G had a craving for a croque-madame and suggested that we eat at Hediard, a cafe and fine foods boutique that feels unabashedly old world with its dark interior and reserved upscale decor. It was already 2pm by the time we sat down, and the lunch rush (if there was one) was well over. Other than the Asian bohemian contently sipping coffee by the windowsill, the place was completely ours. While an empty resto-cafe could have been a warning sign that the food wasn’t up to the standard of the prices charged (the food was great), at least the ambiance was worth it so far.

Mar 7

Day 156

BabyBump reports: Baby Size ~ 29.2cm (large mango). Baby Weight ~ 0.499kg

Your baby is probably quite active by now and you should be able to feel movement or kicks in your belly. It might even be possible to see the movements on the surface of your skin.

After the crazy worrying about not feeling kicks, our son is finally giving me some action. However, as W would say it, my belly is probably too lined with fats for us to see any movements on the surface of the skin just yet. He kicks a few times a day and sometimes gives a series of kicks around meal times. I’m also getting the feeling that he’s a fussy eater because he makes me puke food out even when they’re not that bad. And it’s not because I’m too full either because the first time I felt him kicking (and it was a series of kicks), I’d eaten A LOT of food including two whole bowls of Zosui (Japanese porridge).

We’re also wrecking our brains trying to think of names for the kid. “Junior” and “Wengr” are probably not going to help him survive high school. Fortunately, the responsibility for coming up with his Chinese name has been assigned to the in-laws.

On a more positive note, we are at least getting some headway with the crazy excel list of things to buy. Categorized according to areas like Feeding, Changing, to Travel etc, we are looking at a big hole in the pocket that we are trying to control by doing as much research as possible before buying. Today, we walked into Motherswork (a local store) and looked at strollers. They didn’t have a lot of models for us to select so we could only really look at the Bugaboo Cameleon and the Stokke Xplory. But more on strollers in another post…

Mar 6

Better eating through chemistry – part II

Continuing from part I on spherification, above is an example of reverse spherification that doesn’t take a lot of effort: multi-colored yogurt drink spheres.

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the Bath

5g of Sodium Alginate
1L of distilled water

Take an immersion blender and thoroughly mix the sodium alginate with the distilled water. Tap water isn’t recommended as your local supply of water may already contain trace amounts of calcium that will react with the sodium alginate. Let the bath sit for awhile for the air bubbles to disappear. Note that the bath is much thicker than water.

Continue reading »

Mar 6

Back support

Carrying a baby in your womb for months is not easy on the back and I’d been feeling lower back pains as early as in my fourth month despite a good night’s rest. So after doing some research on maternity pillows, I found a model that had nearly 500 reviews and a 4-star rating on Amazon. The Leachco Back ‘N Belly retailing at US$58.49 with free shipping.

Thanks to W’s 1k status, he was able to lug a suitcase with just that pillow in addition to his other two suitcases from his last U.S. work trip. And thank goodness for our awesome friend, L, who offered her office address (and got weird looks from her coworkers for all the bulky packages that came through) for my online purchases.

Mar 5

Searing and sous-vide

Inspired by a conversation last evening with the always entertaining T & A, I did a bit of follow-up research on a topic near and dear: sous-vide and meat. A mentioned that a chef had said that searing helps to trap juices and improves flavor when cooking with sous-vide. It’s a widely debunked myth that searing hels to seal in moisture. In fact, experiments show the opposite to be true. Furthermore, one of the advantages of sous-vide is that it can cook proteins at the optimal temperature to help retain most of its juices, thus making searing for this purpose redundant.

What I did wonder however, was whether searing first before sous-vide had any benefit to the flavor. Afterall, the real reason to sear meat is to give it that wonderful caramelized crust and flavor (via the Maillard reaction). Fortunately, thanks to the internet and Serious Eats, my question had already been answered. In short, no. Searing, pre-cooking, has no noticeable impact on the flavor of the meat, and since you’ll want to sear it after the sous-vide, there’s doubly no reason to do the same thing twice.

And there you have it – searing is still great, but you should just do it at the end.

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Additional resources on sous-vide:

http://www.fiftyfourdegrees.com/
http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html
http://www.sousvidecooking.org/
http://svkitchen.com/

Mar 4

Kazu Sumi-yaki

We recently ate at Kazu Sumi-yaki with our favorite foodie cousins, S & L, and were pleasantly surprised that while the crowds have gotten bigger, the overall quality was still worth the wait and the price. For grilled meat-on-a-stick cravings, this is still the place to go in Singapore. Located in sketchy Cuppage plaza (home to waaay too many karaoke/hostess bars), Kazu has been serving up skewered meat for over a decade, but unlike some other once-notable restaurants, the chef/owner can still be seen daily, grilling away in the kitchen.

Mar 2

Stir Fried Placenta

It may be a little too soon to think about it now but the other day at a friend’s baby shower, the conversation in our corner revolved around what to do with the placenta (after the baby is born). Apparently, one lady is planning to eat the placenta raw while another is planning to stir fry it (presumably with spring onions and ginger).

I did a quick search online and found that there’s an actual word for eating the placenta! It’s called Placentophagy. Someone even did a whole lot of research on a topic that she’d accidentally stumbled upon.

Would you eat your placenta?