Nan Ren Bu Huai, Nu Ren Bu Ai

Had a chat with my friend in Starbucks, about a month ago.. and the talk, inevitably turned towards men-women relationships and why women sometimes end up with guys that are wrong to begin with... at that moment, my friend mentioned that they have a Chinese Saying.....

"Nan Ren Bu huai, Nu Ren Bu Ai"
(Men Not Bad, Women Don't Like)

translated loosely, women don't like guys that aren't bad, impressive fact that the chinese even have a saying for these things...my thoughts immediately turned towards... Hugh Jackman..

Why Hugh Jackman, may you ask?

well..another friend of mind (yes, D, if you're reading this)..mentioned to me, while we were talking on the subject of cloning, she mentioned to me... "if I'd like to clone somebody, it would be Hugh Jackman..."... now, why would anyone want to clone that broody, 230 pounds of solid muscle mass? I must mention that my friend here, is an academic through and through, someone who, on the surface, at least, I would expect to to prefer somebody more...intellegent,dashing...somebody like... Jude Law, or something.... but no... Hugh Jackman it is... the Wolverine... dark, broody, unsmiling, dangerous, unpredictable good guy/bad guy.

and the last straw... my last research comment is from a Japanese fashionista, during lunch, she mentioned to me ( in that oh-so-cute japanese accent).... "umm.... I..rike..bad boys...rike.. colin Farrell...he's so hot..."...

so, comments from three different spectrum of people , from a sensible girl-next-door Singaporean, an uber-intellectual Indonesian, and a fashionista Japanese... and they all have the same comment..i.e. preference... ...

so... what is it with bad boys? there is a pattern here... women seems to automatically identify with something that they know is bad for them...as somebody they prefer? it's such a puzzle...

now, it seems, regardless, when it comes to women, I know which side of the fence I should be sitting in...

Left My Heart in Singapore

it's time to go soon...

it's time to face to music and dance... but, let me say this...I will forever miss Singapore....say what you will for it being antiseptic, boring, predictable, the asian country equivalent of a golf course... the comments, of course, true.. but I don't care.... I wouldn't mind living next to a golf course, thats for one.... a list of things I will miss:

1. strolling home from work at nights.. and just walk wherever I want, whenever I want...without ever having to think of my safety.......just walking.... and feeling free to explore nooks and cranny without ever having to pre-think if this part town is safe to go to...
2. a combination of culture.. singapore is the equivalent of a mini park... go one mile.. china town, the other mile... little india... another mile.. geylang serai... everything in one country...different people, different culture, blended together with it's own distinctive personality
3. I never, ever feel like a foreigner in Singapore... at any time of the day you will find a chinese, Indian, malay, and europeans walking on the street..
4. the air... breathing freely in and out... no funky smell... not having to wipe your face with a wet towel everytime you come inside the house to wipe all the grime.. not having to sweep the floor every day for dust
5. and of course... food... I can't get enough of the food here...I'm sure Indonesia also has such varieties, but I've yet to find them...they just seem to blur into such predictable varieties...
and you have to spend so much just to find a place to hang out...whereas... the kopi stall next door in singapore is nice enough to hang out in... and have decent pratas to boot...

literally and figuratively, I left my heart in Singapore... in time... maybe.. my heart will follow me back to Indonesia..but for the time being... I may just have to manage without one....

bluecactus, will you ever think of coming back to Indonesia for good?

An Indian Summer

... this is Indian week.. and as per recommendations by food bloggers, the Indian place to go to have is at Sri Kamala Vilas, a hole-in-the-wall establishment in Little India... yup... as the picture shows.. the place isn't cool... but the food....really is quite excellent... and very affordable

I managed to ask (translation: blackmail) a couple of (new) friends on a culinary tour to test out the place (translation: lab rats)... really guys/ladies, I'm sorry if I was a little pushy on your menu selection!!!... no malice was intended... just some dents in your wallet, I swear! don't think badly of me.. it's just food... :-)

taking honour of first place.. biryani chicken...really surprised on this one.. it was really good..the rice was perfectly separated, fragrant and well oiled.. and the herbs were just nice.. light and with none of that musty smell prevalent in lesser establishments next.. chappati... must admit I'm a little undecided on this one... it's ok.. but nothing exciting....

we're moving on to blackmail 1, paper thosai.. :-)
these mothers are huge!!... must be one and half foot of extra crispy thin thosais... pretty cool when presented on the plate and all... but maybe it was a little too crispy for some..and lacked a little... sponginess...:-)

blackmail 2, masala thosai
this is, arguably, the most popular dish in the restaurant... most of the table I saw had some version of it. it is basically normal thosai wrapped around mashed potato filling. definitely lived up to its reputation... and for $2.60.. very filling...
blackmail 3, chan bhattura...
this is the hardest person to blackmail of all... :-) but I think he would agree that my choice was pretty good..... this is basically fried pastry.. but due to the intense deep fry, blown up resemble semi-inflated volley ball size.....you need to pierce the ball to squeeze the hot air out.. this is eaten with chick peas and a squeeze of lemon...this one is still my favourite south indian bread.

poori
basically two smaller sized version of chan bhattura... some people would say that two small portions is better than one big one (in the case of fish, for example).. and on most cases I would agree, however not in this case.. for some reason poori is heavier and more brittle than bhattura... maybe the heat tends to overcook the poori's quicker than it does bhattura...

chicken masala
this is the pride and joy of the restaurant, and on this one, I have to agree.. most masala chicken I've tried seem to be excessively salty, and make you feel like you're eating spices with chicken, instead of the other around.. this one is quite different... what seems to make this one different is the addition of sour tomato in their blend.. one bite of this masala chicken really is explosion of flavour... the chicken is well marinated, without being excessively salty, also the spices does not leave a bitter aftertaste.. and the tomatoes, really bring the much needed sour tang to provide relief to the heavy spices...

all in all... a successful expedition.. and one more reason to miss Singapore even more...

Late Night Haunts

as a post to remember all the singaporean things that I will be missing...my favourite prata stall.. coincidentally.. one of the best night haunts.. if you're ever stuck and hungry in river valley rd. at 1AM.. this is the place to be.. Spize Makan Place

ironically enough, I don't have any picture of pratas... i seem to have wolfed through it everytime before i remembered to take pictures... :-( so... unless I get some stuff down before leaving..(which isn't very likely)... this will have to do..

chicken biryani...my opinion.. just ok.. nothing exciting..but the best is yet to come..

they have more success with the thai fried rice, with tom yam seafood..nasi pad prik, the name, I think... the combination of pineapple fried rice and the sweet sourish tom yam inspired sauce really hit it off...

and have i told you of Roti John? well, it's like a western/indian food, that's only available in singapore... basically, it is egg and minced mutton slammed between slices of french bread and drizzled with indian rojak-inspired sauce and gravy... I really think spize has the best I've tried so far ( which really isn't saying much)
oh my... I'm tearing up inside... will i really have to settle for bubur ayam when I'm back in jakarta? sniff...

A Chinese Wedding

this is a little late in coming.. the wedding was in December, but only got around to posting it early Feb'07....

my first ever Chinese wedding, was interesting.. disclaimer: title may not be the consistent as the description, since it really won't be telling much about the wedding....my friend Willie got married in Dec'06, and assured me wholeheartedly that the food will have no trace of pork, even though drinks will still be available.. :-) which is totally fine with me... :-P

we started out with the h'ors d'euvres... which is two types of fried fish cakes and something else I cannot identify, little baby octopuses, prawn salad, and jellyfish.. since the wedding was a little delayed, and therefore the food came out a bit late, i really couldn't tell you much about how it tasted... I kinda stormed through it.. :-P

no matter... the second dish was coming up.. steamed fish...again..memory fails me what kind of fish it was.. doesn't matter.. the fish was fresh and with that fall apart tenderness fish meat... you can tell I'm getting pretty happy by now....

third dish was stir fried sea cucumber... gotta admit this is my least liked dish of the whole evening... is sea cucumber supposed to taste like this? chewy, rubbery, and slightly spongy... and the sauce didn't permeate the interior, it's kindly like eating tasteless konyaku jelly...
it is fully redeemed, however, by the fourth dish... deep fried prawns with floss toppings...now we're talkin'.... this.... is my favourite dish of the evening... the prawns were fried perfectly.. and the floss topping (mixed with basil, I think?) added a touchness of sweetness, that just melds so well with the prawns... hmm...umami... this really made my night...

fifth dish, coming in quickly, is chicken... don't ask me what it's cooked with, because I forgot to swipe the menu from the wedding (as per my usual modus operandi), so... I think it was roasted chicken, coated with some kind of starchy clear brown sauce, my guess is the oyster sauce and chinese five spice powder... nice one..the marinade went right through the meat the gravy moistened the outside just enough to provide additional gooey texture to the dish.on to the veggies... this is the usual spinach with oyster mushrooms, in oyster sauce.. chinese cooks seems to have perfected the art of cooking spinach... they always seem to get the balance of softness but the firmness (veggie al dente, if you will) just right... this one is no exception..

by this time, I had no capacity left to ingest any more food... so had to pass on carbs.. stir fried noodle with mushrooms... it doesn't look like much, but i was told it's pretty good... by that time, I just took their word for it..

all in all... enjoyable experience.. the wedding was a hoot... there were alot of toasts..and each table were eager to toast the bride/groom... and on each toasts.. there were alot of shouting...of.. what sounded like....WAAAAAAAAAAA.... ( i'm sure somebody will tell what exactly is shouted)..but regardess..it was so much fun!!!

I know I promised that there will only be one human picture in my blog.. but in this case... the picture's just too good to pass... so.. Willie, bottoms's up man... best of luck to you... :-)