prasantrin

Will you have a car in Malacca? It makes a difference. . .

Not quite on topic, but if you're going to get a microwave, get a micro/convection oven combo. At least then if you use the microwave so much, you'll have a second oven (which will be great around holidays or if you doing huge batches of cookies, etc.). I'd avoid the over-the-stove scenario, but I fry (pan fry or deep) relatively often, and since I'm not an avid cleaner, I'm sure grease residue will build up on the microwave in no time.

In Japan they give money. They do in Thailand, too. And the Philippines. Those are the all the cultures I'm familiar with, so that's as far as I can go. (Yes, I realize the intent was to ask about American regional customs, but it wasn't specified and I want to answer!)

Thanks! If you search for it, it's actually not under suzysushi anymore, but under what I assume is your real name. I think that's why I had such a hard time finding it. I love how your daughter already has the "peace sign" down pat! And she looks so happy. I'm glad to see that she had a great time, despite the underlying reason for your visit. And I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to meet you like torakris did! I'm always missing out on everything!

SuzySushi--I tried to find you on flickr but you don't seem to exist (except I found your picture from and old eG get-together in Hawaii!). Same user name?

If you really like it, you can buy directly from the MF website. Six euros per 100 grams, but they don't have standardised shipping fees (they're based on the weight of your order), so I don't know what the total cost would end up being. I had MF Bolero today, and some kind of chocolate-flavoured tea from Lupicia (a Japanese tea company). I don't really like Lupicia teas, but the tin the chocolate tea came in was so cute, I couldn't resist! Who cares about the tea when you can have a cute tin!?

I've never had any problems, either, but I think if one were to do a side-by-side comparison, one might see a difference, especially with cakes.

That pork looks incredible! I think I need to make it. . . Does the cook in your town's program have tenure, so you can't take over until she/he quits? It sucks that you can't work for people who actually appreciate you!

As a long-time tenodnitis of the elbow sufferer, I am of the opinion that trays are actually better for that condition. You can carry a tray with your hands in a supinated position, located flat under the tray. This is much better than the narrow grip one often uses when carrying plates, saucers, etc., even if your hands are in neutral position (gripping can be just as bad for the condition as lifting). That being said, I rarely use trays. My table is only a foot or two away from my sink, anyway, and I rarely have more than one or two guests.

I wrote the dinner post last night, but IE crashed when I was almost at the end! I was too annoyed to continue, but since this is my first official full week of slacking off at work, here I go! Singapore Day 4 dinner: On another board, some kind folks told me about their favourite "secret" Chinese (Cantonese?) restaurant specializing in seafood. They swore me to secrecy , so shhhh... don't tell anyone that I told you about it! For our last big meal in Singapore, we decided to try SinLee on Neil Road (about a block from Maxwell Road Food Court), and fortunately, eG members Piglet (aka Emily) and Julian Teoh were going to join us! It seems we had been crossing paths a lot unknowingly--we were on the same flight to Singapore from Siem Reap, Julian was in Malaysia the same time we were, and Emily ate at The Banana Leaf Apolo the night before we did! We were destined to meet, I think. We arrived at 6:30 for our 7pm reservation (my mother likes to call me the "Eager Beaver" because I'm always too early for things), so we walked around a bit and found The Tea Chapter a few doors down. It's a nice little tea shop that carries a variety of very aromatic Chinese teas and tea accessories, and they also hold tea seminars there. I'd have liked to attend one (they come with food), but no such luck. We browsed around for a bit, perhaps too long, because we walked out with 5 tins of tea we had no room for in our suitcases! Well, at least they were light! Upon leaving the store, who should we run into but Emily! I had wisely given her our descriptions (short, pudgy, we look like locals), so she recognized us right away! Julian, whom we weren't sure would be able to make it, was waiting for us in the restaurant. After we sat down, we were presented with menus and asked if we wanted tea. The only problem was that the waitstaff asked in one of the many Chinese languages which I do not know (which is all of them, unless you count a few Cantonese dim sum words). Julian to the rescue! He claims his Mandarin isn't very good, but the waitstaff seemed to understand him perfectly! Then we had to go through the menu, which I think was in English. I don't actually remember much, because we let Julian do all the ordering. Poor guy--invited to dinner, but he has to do all the work! I did have a list of recommended dishes from my OBP, which was written (by me) in very poorly copied Chinese characters, and my only request was to have some kind of steamed fish--you know the kind with a whole fish with ginger, scallions, and some kind of very light soy-based sauce. We were able to get that, but none of the other dishes on my list were available! No razor clams! No vegetable dish made of some kind of vegetable which has Chinese characters like bean sprouts (maybe it's pea shoots? 豆苗) or 上湯九杞. I have all the bad luck! So we went with ordering whatever Julian suggested. Do you like frog? Sure. How about prawns in oatmeal? Sure. Anything is OK. If Peter trusts you, I trust you. I don't have any pictures of the food. We were the only people in the restaurant (maybe because it was Sunday?), and I felt like the waitstaff were hovering over us, so I felt rather self-conscious. It was probably the best service we had in Singapore, and only because there was no one else there! And it's not a very big restaurant! Plus I think I was talking too much to take pictures. But I really enjoyed the food. I had never had prawns with oatmeal before. The oatmeal provides a slightly sweet flavour (it's dry oatmeal, not cooked) that was so delicious with rice. My mother still talks about the vegetables we had (was it kangkong?), and the fish! Tender, moist, and oh so good. I wish I had eaten the stomach, but I forgot about it. Did we finish the fish? I don't even remember. The frogs were quite delicious, as well, but I was too tired to work at getting the meat off those teeny bones. I also ended up with a lot of froggy cartilage, and I accidentally ate a piece of chile! I have all the bad luck! I was also getting sicker by the minute (I could feel the congestion building up in my chest), and I just couldn't eat as much as I would have liked. The next time I'm in Singapore, I'm going to SinLee again. I'm sure there are other good Chinese seafood restaurants in Singapore, but I know I'll enjoy SinLee. Plus now I know what to order! I'd recommend it to others, too, and I'd recommend inviting Julian and Emily to join you. They're great company (and you'll get to order more food with more people around ), and really nice people. We were very happy they were able to join us! And if you happen to be in Singapore on a late night stopover but don't want to get a hotel room, SinLee is open till 2 or 3 am, so you could go there for dinner, and still make it back to the airport for an early morning flight. Very convenient! BTW, Julian, my mother is still sad about not being able to take you up on the pomelo offer. But by that point, we really had no room!

I'm not sure if this is what you're after, but have you seen http://www.thaistreetfood.com/ ? It has English names of dishes with the Thai script, and also pictures. The only problem is that it doesn't give you a transliteration of the Thai, but most Thais are literate (one of the highest literacy rates, if not the highest, in SE Asia), so if you bring a written copy, they should be able to read it. I've never seen some of the dishes as street food, but that doesn't mean they don't exist as such (I rarely get to frequent those eating establishments).

The link I posted was for a recipe. Did you even look at it?

I've never tried it, but I would imagine there's a fine line between being ready to drink and being spoiled. I think it's good to remember that Delia was making this recipe in England--I would imagine the summers there are cooler and less humid than somewhere like, for example, Japan. There would also be different yeasts in the air, wouldn't there? I'd still give it a go, though. If I can get a good pineapple in April, I just might.

Singapore Day 4 I had been feeling very tired for a few days, but I chalked it up to all the running around we were doing. In two weeks, due to changes and lack of planning, we had gone from Osaka to Singapore, Singapore to Siem Reap, Siem Reap to Phnom Penh and back, returned to Singapore, then went to Kuala Lumpur where we took a day trip to Melacca, then back to Singapore. That’s a lot of travelling for someone who likes to lie in bed all day. There’s a reason I’m mentioning this, but I’ll get to it later. First, I can’t remember what we had for breakfast, but I’m sure we had some. We always eat breakfast; it’s the most important meal of the day, you know. I would guess we had curry puffs from KL, some fruit, and perhaps some yoghurt. Oh, and leftover samosas (what are samosas but a different kind of curry puff?) and chicken from The Banana Apolo Leaf. And gulab jamun and jilebi purchased from the ABC (?) across from Mustafa’s the night before. Then we went for a walk back to Yue Hwa so my mother could buy more linen table accessories. We’re creatures of habit, and we like to do the same thing again and again. It’s like the movie Groundhog Day, but it’s real life. But at least lunch was different today! OK, it was still in Chinatown, but it wasn’t anything we’d ever eaten in Singapore! Dim sum! It’s hard to get good dim sum in Japan, so I really wanted to have it at least once in Singapore. We ended up at Spring Court, the oldest Chinese restaurant in Singapore (open since 1929), as the guests of my sister’s childhood penpal and her mother. Does that seem strange? In junior high school, way back in the early ‘80s, my sister and I paid a company to find us penpals. Mine was from South Africa, and my sister’s was Jacqueline, from Singapore. They’ve kept in touch off-and-on throughout the years, mostly through the efforts of Jacquie, and when Jacquie heard my mother and would be in Singapore, she jumped at the chance to meet us! (She and my sister have never met.) One of the reasons she chose Spring Court for our meeting was because they have a number of Peranakan specialties, but now I can’t remember which ones were Peranakan. Some kind of spring roll-type thing with shrimp. I think the wrapper was either tofu sheet, or popiah. If it was the latter, it was probably a Peranakan dish. The shrimp was plump, and the if the wrapper was tofu sheet, this was one of the best versions of this kind of spring roll I’ve had. It wasn’t greasy at all. It also came in a shrimp and mango version which I liked even better. Char siu cheung fan. It would have been very good had I not had the best version of char siu cheung fan I’ve ever had in my life a few days earlier in Melacca. But comparatively, it was just good. Carrot cake/Lo bak go. I liked this much better than the usual slab version. Plus this one had a lot of other stuff mixed in with it. It wasn’t as good as the version at West Villa in Hong Kong, but I can’t compare it to any of the food court/hawker stand lo bak go in Sing., because I've never had it anywhere else there. Siu mai. A very nice version. Sometimes siu mai has an odd flavour to it—something they put in the marinade of the pork perhaps? But this one didn’t have that, and the skins were relatively thin and not tough as siu mai skins can sometimes be. Har gau. Again, very plump shrimp. I couldn’t help but think it could have been more flavourful, though. As things turned out, it was really that my taste buds weren’t working properly any more. A bit more on that later. Popiah. The wrappers are made fresh to order. There were two types—one with hot sauce, and one without. I like the one with hot sauce better. These were a Peranakan specialty, and also one of the specialties of this particular restaurant. They really pack a lot of filling in these, and it’s very filling for your stomach, too. I was starting to fade, when. . . It's woo kok (taro puff) to the nth degree! I suppose in this incarnation, it can’t really be called “kok” because “kok” means “corner” (like the little corners of the taro puff—see picture here), but then what’s it called? Or am I wrong about the “kok”? (I’m assuming it’s 角) Back to the food, this was good. I don’t really like woo kok because it’s so pasty, but this type, because the taro filling is quite thin, has a decent crunch to paste ratio, so it never feels like you’re eating glue. Plus all the filling adds more contrast to the pastiness. I especially liked the cashews. Finally, what our hosts said was the piece de resistance, peaches! I can’t remember if they were filled with lotus bean paste or red bean. We were already quite full, so my mother and I just shared one. They were tasty, but expensive! I think they were S$3 each—not quite US$2. They were not too sweet, and were small enough not to make one feel really bloated after already having eaten so much. And they’re so cute! I’m missing pictures of the char siu bao, but I think I got pictures of everything else. I liked the bread portion of the bao, IIRC. It was fluffy, but it didn’t have that after-taste bao sometimes has (from too much baking powder or something?). It was a really great meal, not least for the company. We learned that Jacqueline and her family are Peranakan, and J’s mother used to make her own kaya!!! And she’d even do the stirring for 6 hours! Or maybe the maid would, but still, she used to make her own kaya! She pooh-poohed Ya Kun’s kaya, and said there were much better places to get some. Next time we’re in Singapore, she’ll tell us the good places (and hopefully we won’t have filled our suitcases by then). She also used to make her own popiah, including the wrapper! She and my mother also had a long talk about our dangerous foray into the Orchard Towers area. Sing. isn’t that dangerous, but we accidentally wandered into Orchard Towers and when we realized what the place was, we were afraid we would be mistaken for one of the “girls”. Well, perhaps my mother wasn’t worried for herself (she’s almost 73, after all), but I look much younger than I am, and I’m almost half-Filipino! Luckily I didn’t quite blend in (I think I was wearing too many clothes), so the patrons left me alone. Whew! After lunch, we went back to our hotel to rest before dinner. I was very tired by now, and my throat was starting to feel quite dry. A sign of things to come. . .

My father saying to my mother (aka his sous chef), "We've been married for how long and you still don't remember that the [insert ingredient here] is cut like [insert cutting size here] for [insert Thai dish here]?" And then they'd laugh.

Thanks Jaymes and edsel! Edsel--I can't believe you didn't have a set! Eggs always come with the set. Did you just have the toast? You didn't by chance try the french toast, did you? I was curious about it. Yes, the location of that Swissotel was quite convenient. The only problem for me was that it was my fourth or fifth time in Sing., so I really wanted to explore other areas. Of course, by Day 4, I was pretty happy that it was so convenient to Chinatown (I'll get to that in a bit). We didn't go to Maxwell Road Food Court this time. Not even a single sliver of chicken rice entered my mouth! The one day I was in the mood to go was Monday, and they're usually closed on Mondays. Except when I walked by after having already eaten (at Ci Yan), they were open! I have all the bad luck!

David Lebovitz wrote about corn syrup recently for his blog. Although he writes about substituting corn syrup in sweets, you can get some idea of how corn syrup works, and what you might be able to use for your situation.

How does that work? Perhaps the "Best" awards are based only on quality or only on presentation, but not both? I was quite surprised to see that Iceland finished 7th--above both Japan and Canada. Are they known for good food? The Icelandic food I've had in Canada (Winnipeg and environs historically have large numbers of Icelandic immigrants) hasn't been anything special. What's the fine dining scene there like, I wonder?

I made them once using balls of ganache in the center. They were very rich. http://www.culinary-yours.com/chocolatelavacake.html is an example of that style.

Singapore Day 4 This day was comparatively short in terms of eating. We returned to Singapore from KL late afternoon on January 3rd. We went back to our hotel and took a bit of a nap before heading out to dinner. This time, we were going to Little India. The Banana Apolo Leaf is a 34-year old Singaporean institution. Supposedly this was the first place in Singapore to offer banana leaves as “plates”, and the food is supposed to be quite good. True or not, I was determined to try it at least once. We started with coconut juice/water. We wouldn’t have many more opportunities to drink this lovely stuff, so we needed to get it while we could. This coconut was a little older, so while it had more meat, it also had less coconut water. It was still good, and I’d have ordered another one if I had the room. TBLA is mostly known for its South Indian specialties, but they now have a North Indian selection of dishes, as well. We placed our order, and we were told it would take at least 15-20 minutes for the Northern stuff, but the Southern stuff could be served immediately. Most of the things we ordered were Northern, so we had to wait a bit. This wasn’t easy, because we were very hungry, but we managed to assuage our hunger by eating the coconut meat from our coconuts, and the meagre stale papadums we were given. We noticed that other tables of two got more plentiful basketfuls of papadums, so we probably got the dregs of an old batch, while the new tables got a fresh batch. We have all the bad luck. Finally, malai kofta and naan. This was one of the best versions of malai kofta I’ve had. The sauce was so creamy, and the kofta were quite substantial, though it was a bit too salty for me (my mother thought it was perfect, though). It was a very filling dish, but we still had room for others. I thought the naan were a bit small, though. We ordered two pieces, but it wasn’t enough for us to scoop up all the delicious sauce (and it would have taken another 10 minutes for another order of them, so we didn’t bother). Samosas—also considered a Northern Indian dish. I didn’t know that, and had thought they were prevalent all across India. We had one order of chicken and one potato. I don’t know which these were, but they all looked alike, so just imagine it’s one of each. I think the one on the left is potato, and on the right is chicken. They were served with a delightful yoghurt and cilantro(?) sauce. I prefer tamarind chutney, but my mother really liked it. Here’s the kicker. The reason most of the Southern dishes can be served right away is because they’re cooked ahead and kept under heat lamps. The Northern dishes have to be made to order. Why, then, did it take us an additional 20 minutes after receiving our Southern dishes to get our Northern-style chicken? Probably because we had to remind them to give it us. I hate it when restaurants forget my order. We had ordered Apolo Chicken 65, which is “small pieces of chicken marinated in masala & deep fried.” Tasty, but dry and lukewarm. I wasn’t impressed. The other Southern dishes I saw under the heat lamps looked similarly dry and lukewarm. If I were to return to The Apolo Banana leaf, I would probably stick to the Northern dishes, even though they aren’t the specialties. They were fresher and better prepared than the Northern dishes I saw. The exception, I think would be the fish head curry. The ones we spied around us looked very tempting. My mother would have liked to order one, but she said it wouldn’t have been satisfying to eat it at a restaurant (she wouldn’t have been able to suck out the eyeballs or really gnawed on the head). There are plenty of good Indian restaurants in Singapore, though, so I don’t know that I will return. One funny thing about our meal here, when we received our food, I started to serve my mother some of the malai kofta and she said, “You don’t have to serve me! I can do it myself,” quite indignantly. It was a little odd, because she has never had problems with my serving her before (it’s an Asian thing, we serve our elders first). Then I noticed that she was putting her curry directly onto pieces of naan, rather than on her banana leaf. This is my banana leaf after I was done: This is my mother’s: Now, mine isn’t the messiest you’ll ever see, but look at my mother’s! It’s so clean! She was actually a little embarrassed by it, and she folded it up to hide her cleanliness. It’s actually not about cleanliness, but something else which I’ll address when I get to the Malaysia posts. After dinner, we went to Mustafa’s. I love Mustafa’s, and go whenever I’m in Singapore. I like to buy saree material there, and I also love their food floor. We bought a lot of stuff—more chicken rice things, some Malay marinades, TimTams (my mother wanted to try them), and a can of mango puree for me (so I could make more mango pudding). It’s about Y800 in Japan, but only Sing$5! In US$, that’s $8.80 vs $3.30! I only had to figure out how to shift the things in my already too heavy suitcase and carry-on to accommodate it. Oops. Just 1 ½ more days to go!

This is one of the first things I've read about the Cuisinart from someone who actually owns one! So I guess you like the machine? A lot of people mentioned the housing seemed cheap and flimsy. Have you had any problems with your machine at all? What are the other pluses? And minuses? I need to wait another year before I can buy anything, but I still before the Cuisinart over the KitchenAid. It's just that it's difficult to find much info (i.e. reviews) from people who actually own one.

Does anyone know who got the awards for "Best Fish" if there is such an award? I vaguely remember hearing about such an award a number of years ago, but I might be confusing Bocuse d'Or with a different competition. Any guesses as to why the Japanese team doesn't usually finish very high? It seems like the kind of even they would do well at, plus many Japanese chefs are trained in traditional French-style cooking. I wonder if maybe their flavour profiles are off for French palates (Japanese prefering very subtle flavours).

Filipinos do. At least the ones I know (like my mother).

Singapore Day 3 continued! My posts are getting unwieldy, so I’m breaking up my days. Lunch was at Ci Yan on Smith Street. Ci Yan is a Buddhist organic vegetarian restaurant that we first found in 2005, our last visit to Singapore together. The owners are devout Buddhists, becoming even more devout after the wife’s bout with cancer. All the food is not only vegetarian, but the ingredients are mostly (all?) organic. Our first visit, not realizing it was a vegetarian restaurant, we walked in to try the fish head soup that was advertised on a signboard outside their restaurant. The fishy taste in the soup comes from some kind of seaweed, not fish (obviously). My mother fell in love with the soup, and had been thinking about it often since then, so we had to go back. Problem—no fish head soup!! The owner said they have hundreds (or maybe ninety, I can’t remember exactly) items in their repertoire and the selections change daily so their customers don’t get bored. Good for regulars, bad for tourists who fall in love with their fish head soup! I placated my disappointment with a curry puff. It was dry, and not horrible, but not great. I think fried foods should never be healthful in any way, not even by using organic ingredients. It ruins the point of being fried. My mother had the fish congee. Hot and filling, but not what she really wanted. While my mother was eating her soup, I left to do some recon. I had wanted to try a Chinese restaurant specializing in seafood, so I went to see where it was located. On the way there, I found a long line waiting to get into this place on Neil Road. I did some research, and I’ve read some mixed reviews, but most of what I’ve read has been positive (their xiao long bao is especially good, I read). We didn’t have the chance to go back to try it, so if you happen to be in Singapore, please try it and report! After picking up my mother, we went to another famous curry puff place—1A Crispy Curry Puff. They had a lot of varieties, but I stuck with potato and I might have gotten a sardine one, too. The crust is more like what I like—see the rings? That’s a sign of a good homemade crust, spiralled then rolled. They were very fresh when I bought them, but we didn’t get around to eating them till the next morning. They were very flaky (super messy to eat), but I didn’t really like the filling. One of the predominant spices was one I don’t particularly care for—cumin? No, I like cumin. Maybe cloves? We were tuckered out by this point, and felt we needed massages before our long bus ride to Kuala Lumpur the next day. We found a place in Chinatown Point Shopping Centre called Kimochi (which happens to be Japanese for “feeling”). I love Chinese-style massages. They’re a little painful, but so good! If you happen to be in the area, Emily is particularly good. Now that I was feeling refreshed, I could walk a little more to Hong Lim Food Court, just behind Chinatown Point. I went in search for some, ahem, curry puffs. I had read that Richie’s Curry Puffs were supposed to be very good, so I walked all around the food court looking for them. Nada. But I did find Tanglin Crispy Curry Puffs. Since it was a little late (maybe 3 or 4pm), the woman told me they only had sardine left, but they were just fried. I hate sardine puffs, but my mother loves them so I bought one. I tried it, just for comparisons sake. It was soooooo good! The crust was perfectly flaky, and not too greasy. It didn’t have as many layers as the 1A puff, but I preferred this puff. And the filling was excellent, even though it was sardine. I wished I had bought more, but we needed to relax. Dinner was. . . should I tell you? Café Iguana. Yes, we went again. This time we had queso fundido (part of which we packed up to take with us on the bus the next day), and something else but I don’t remember. I also had another lime juice, and when I checked my bill, I found out it was S$6!! That’s a lot for what tastes like Minute Maid Limeade!! (I happen to like Minute Maid Limeade, but not enough to pay US$4 for it!) By the way, there was no price for juices on the menu, I was just stupid enough to order it without asking how much it was. Twice. At least the queso fundido was as good as I remembered!

After losing an almost-finished post, I am starting again. Sucks. Singapore Day 3 We woke up bright and early for breakfast. Our hotel, it turned out, as we discovered the night before (after being turned around exiting the MRT) was right across the street from a Ya Kun Kaya Toast coffee shop! If you don’t know its history, it’s a rather sweet story of a Chinese immigrant done good, and you can now find Ya Kun all over Singapore, as well as in several other Asian countries. I had heard about it many years ago, but for some reason, although I had tried kaya toast before, I’d never tried Ya Kun My mother ordered the cheese toast set, and I ordered the kaya toast set. Props for being eco-friendly and using only one plate for both sets, but which one was which? They both look like they have slices of white processed cheese in them! Upon closer examination, we found the one on the left was my mother’s—the white stuff was slightly more stringy. There’s kaya in there, too. She said it was good, but quite rich. It wasn’t really that rich, but she had eaten some leftover curry and sardine puffs before heading over (my mother is a hobbit), so it was a bit much for her. Mine was the one on the right. That’s a pat of butter (margarine?) sticking out. I love butter, I really do. But when your pat of butter is thicker than the bread it’s on, it’s a bit off-putting. I didn’t really have a problem eating it, though. I’m made of animal fat, so a little more wouldn’t kill me. I couldn’t really taste the kaya—they use a very thin schmear and the butter predominates. Had I been serving myself, I would have but much more on, but I guess that’s why they don’t let customers serve themselves. The coffee was hot and tasty (they put condensed milk in it). It wasn’t as strong or sweet as Vietnamese coffee, but it had a good kick to it. The soft-boiled eggs are more like yummy onsen tamago. I love onsen tamago. I noticed the one Singaporean family in the shop (with their Filipina maid) put soy sauce on theirs, but I like mine plain. Runny yolk goodness I noticed some of the signs that were in the shop were also translated into Japanese, and the two or three other occupied tables were filled with Japanese tourists with their guidebooks turned to the Ya Kun page. There’s also a Ya Kun in Japan, so I guess Japanese people love kaya, too! We left Ya Kun to head to Chinatown. It was, in a way, fortunate that we were staying at the wrong hotel. You see, when I booked, I was quite sure I had booked at Swissotel The Stamford. But when we arrived at The Stamford, I was told (by lovely man who didn’t laugh at me) our reservations were at Swissotel Merchant Court! How did that happen? Luckily it was a quick cab ride to our wrong hotel, and it turned out to be very lucky, because a) we would never have found Café Iguana from The Stamford, b) we were right across from Ya Kun, and c) we were within a 5-minute walk to Chinatown! It was a bit unlucky, though, because we’re both kind of lazy, so instead of exploring other areas, we would say, “Let’s just go to Chinatown.” Oh well. We arrived a bit too early to go to Yue Hwa, so we walked around a bit. Because I was on a curry puff quest, whenever we passed a curry puff stall, I needed to try one. People’s Park is right behind Yue Hwa, I think. It was early, so not all the stalls were open, but there was this one Muslim stall that had puffs. Sardine on the right (red dot), potato on the left. I liked the looks of these. The skin looks crispy and not too greasy. I think had they been hot, as one might have expected them to be at 10am, they would have been ok. Unfortunately, these were cold. Innards—potato then sardine. The fillings were fine—not terribly memorable in a good or bad way. The potato filling was a bit sparse, though. About a block down from People’s Park is another food court, I think called Pearl Centre. There was a little cart, and I wasn’t going to buy a puff, but I did. They only had potato. I liked the looks of the curry puff, plus it was hot! These were the best so far. The crust was a little more flaky than crumbly, and the filling was well-spiced. The only problem was the filling was a bit mushy. I think the potatoes absorbed too much water. But these probably ranked second in my curry puff quest (first is coming up soon). Yue Hwa finally opened at 11, so we went straight to the food floor. If you’re ever short of time in Singapore, Yue Hwa is a good one-stop-shopping kind of place. My mother was able to pick up some chicken rice seasonings, and other stuff I can’t remember. I spied these cucumber-flavoured potato chips, but didn’t try them. How could cucumber-flavoured chips taste good? They sound almost as bad as "baked chips". What's the point? I wonder if anyone ever buys them. After spending about an hour or so helping my mother choose some linen table accessories , we finally left for lunch.