Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Singapore 101

Think London + Tampa + Toronto and you've got Singapore, the Lion City!

John and I are meeting some Swedish ladies this evening which should be fun. With a wide variety of Internationals here over the course of time I will no doubt meet the Swedes, the French, the Dutch, the South Africans, the English, the Americans, the Aussies and a myriad of Asians.

My boss, John, is from Australia and he's 39, single, and just about the craziest Aussie I've ever met. We have this ongoing sparring where I call him Yahoo Serious or Angus Young or Heath Ledger or Bindy Irwin and he, in kind, addresses me with random American/Texan celebrity/icon references like Willie Nelson or Jim Bowie or Condoleeza Rice or Van Halen. Like, if I'm IM'ing him, I start with "Hey Russell Crowe, where's the such and such..." Aussies are a lot like Texans but they're more vocal with their action where we are more apt to just take action regardless of being vocal

I'm setting out to explore Singapore this weekend, kind of to get a really good sense of what's around. I chose to live on an island in Asia but I haven't gotten any sun yet?!?! So, top of the list is explore the beaches here. They're all man made, or "reclaimed" as they call it, and nobody goes in the water but the park-like set up around them is supposedly fun and there are wide expanses of beach to exploit so thats redeeming.

I also need to get my cooking/eating regimen down. I've got a beautiful 3/2 flat but like no cookware and no grill. No oven but I have burners, so I'm trying to get that in order. I have a colleague who I can leave that shit with once I exit so It's not a complete waste. I enjoy grilling for myself but Im admittedly not much of a cook so this will be a trial and error thing. I'm thinking a lot salads with grilled meat for starters, more complex dishes as my fire extinguisher is procured. =) I've found that purchasing a whole rotisseried Chicken or a cooked Brisket or even 3-5 lbs of prime rib to eat off of over the course of a week meets my quick meal needs very well.

The cooking I would do is purely selfish intake and satiation. Small meals when I'm hungry. I do not want to become a chef but I do enjoy making food for myself...perhaps one of the legacies of working from home that I've always enjoyed. My diet has already changed here to be dominated by Fish and Chicken on top of local fair. A Steak, which I used to enjoy every other day, has become a luxury meal that I crave and look forward to. Steaks here are from Australia and they are usually lean cuts, not marbled and thick like ours.I've already gotten comfortable eating at what SGs call "food court" which is like 10-20 vendors in an open seating area. They serve a number of different cuisines from jap to chin to malay to vietnamese, etc, out of these little store fronts the size of a garge with a garage door. It's good food if you know what to order and it's less expensive than running a big lunch tab at a proper restaurant.

My Cantonese co-workers took me to a food court in China Town where I was the only Gui Lo (white guy) in the place and fed me to the wolves to find my food. I'm a lot braver because of it! And I defy any Anglo to eat Durian!! I will never do it again. Its like bad squash with very very bad cream cheese. Think soiled diaper. After I tried it (served as what looked like a very appetizing Bon Bon) and almost puked, they told me that a Durian eating-contest had been a feature on 'Fear Factor' and all the Asians laughed at the Anglos who couldn't eat it. =) I was there little fear factor victim for the day (fuckers!).

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