pretty foods: Ice Kachang

There are only two pictures of this local dessert from the entire collection of last year. What it means is that for the whole length of twelve months, the only occasions that I had ice kachang stand at the glorious number of two.  

It's embarrassing. 

I really should have it more.
 

Because if the Taiwanese have their snow ice, and the Koreans have their bingsoo, I should say that ours is just as charming too.

Should it not be?

As the successor of the now-very-retro ice ball, ice kachang is one dessert that can be found in every hawker centre, every major food court, and there is nothing more appealing in our hot, humid climate than to have a bowl of grated ice doused liberally with colourful syrups, condensed milk, the ubiquitous gula melaka and with agar agar, red beans and atap chee swimming underneath.

The argument from certain quarters has been that unlike bingsoo and snow ice that use milk, fruits and natural ingredients with lots of crispy, crunchy bits, ours is more of syrupy, sugary sweet. 

But consider that we have the distinct taste of gula melaka, plus the wonderful addition of red beans and atap chee, and I think we have that little hint of natural, healthy goodness too. ;)

Bus Ride Sights: Serangoon

 

It was a fairly long ride of an hour over that I took on the bus this day, and honestly, it was a break that I deeply cherished, for after all, I'd never snapped pictures of this route before, and so now I happily relished in the opportunity.

 

The route was straightforward. From somewhere around Serangoon Central, it went along the length of Upper Serangoon Road, trundling past the Bartley-Braddell exit, the former Bidadari cemetery, the stretch that makes up Potong Pasir, before turning into Bendeemer, Boon Keng and Jalan Besar.

 

What made the whole experience better was that it was around 3pm on a weekday afternoon, the double decker bus was nearly empty and the light was pretty good.



Newstead and (old) Funan

There was a press article about Newstead earlier this year, saying that the household name electronics retailer was heading into liquidation, with creditors, rent and staff salaries owing.

 

Now, I don't wish to speak of its liquidation, nor of its hows and whys, for this is not an article of business discussion nor is it intended to be a case study for Business Administration. There will be those, I'm sure, casual or formal, but no, I don't wish to look at the facts, and neither do I wish to analyse.

 

Everything has its season, and whether this be good or bad, I should only like to say that whatever it might be, it is, unfortunately, business, which though we wish it never to come to pass, it sadly does, and as much as we don't seek it, we can only hope for the best that might come out of it.

If there's one thing about this whole business of Newstead, it is that it made me think of Funan the IT Mall.

Not the mall that stands now nearly finished, but the mall that once stood in her place, the mall that once used to be, with her pink façade, her seven floors, her IT shops, and her McDonalds on the ground floor.

This was the mall we went to if we wanted to purchase a computer, a laptop, a printer or a scanner. This was also the mall we went to for all the accompanying paraphernalia- hard drive, flash drive, thumb drive, SD card etc etc.

But Funan wasn't only about the IT.

Even though Challenger occupied the top floor, Harvey Norman occupied the basement, and there were numerous IT shops scattered all over the different floors, there was  also a food court on one of the upper floors, there was a Royal Sporting House on the second floor, and you got a KFC, a Subway, a Pastamania, Qi Ji and a Guardian Pharmacy on the first floor,

These are memories now, for we don't know what the new retail mix in the new Funan will be, but if there's one thing I am sure, it is that our experiences in the old Funan won't go away.

Whether it be buying a computer from the Challenger, whether it be sharing a muffin with The Parents at the McDonalds, or even, accompanying an elderly lady as she had fish soup in the food court above, I guess, these are the scenes that will certainly remain.  

Garlic Butter by Hungerlust

So I like garlic butter, and I know of many who like the same, but here's the funny thing- for all the benefits there are in garlic, and for all the varieties of butter out there in the market, it is incredibly hard to find good garlic butter in the regular supermarkets! 

Maybe there are some in the special grocery stores, but save for the Irish Kerrygold that I've found on the shelves of Cold Storage and Mustafa, variety of brands there just aren't.
 

And so when I found out that a friend of mine was offering homemade garlic butter as a sort of hobby under her personal Hungerlust brand, I ordered two.  

 

The plan was to have it with slabs of steak during the Christmas season and as a spread to go with breakfast breads. Sad to say I still haven't had a chance to try it with steak- we totally didn't cook beef at all during the holidays- but the garlic butter was fantastic with bread.

 

We finished a whole jar in less than two weeks. And that was because we did a very thick layer over store-bought milk bread each morning for the rich garlicky taste, the salt of *real* butter, and the loads and loads of chopped garlic found inside. 

a cosy little Christmas Tree

She has stood here for three years now, this little Christmas tree, and although she does not have the trimmings of a glamourous, golden, glittery tall tree, her décor, her sweetness and her homely vibes make me proud of the message that she has been sending loud and clear.

The message she sends, with every blinking blue light, is more than just  that of seasonal Christmas peace, joy and hope, and if there would be a symbol of restoration, stewardship, spiritual possession, and even quiet rebellion, it would be she.

For in this space, she is a symbol of victory. 

Whether it be in the realms of the spiritual or the realms of the physical, by her presence alone, with her toys and all her Daiso décor, the time where anger, resentment, stubbornness, fear, malice, destruction, and even, evil intention, has been conquered.

And may those times to this space never ever, ever return.

pretty foods: Kampong Chicken

 

The nicest thing about this sort of chicken rice is not just the chicken. It is also the rice. And so good is it that I could come down here any day just for a bowl of their plain steamed rice.

 

But that would be a very silly thing to do, as the second nicest thing about this kampong chicken rice place at Tiong Bahru is, of course, the chicken. Served white (they don't do roast), with very tender, skilfully sliced meat, there are no bones, there are no funny parts, the meat does not have icky reddish blood, and the skin of the white chicken has to be the nicest I have ever eaten.

pretty foods: Teochew Porridge

 

Chinese cuisine can be said to be one of the most varied cuisines in the world. True that the Cantonese may have made their mark with roast goose and roast duck and Cantonese-style dim sum, but the flavors of all the different dialects found in South China alone each have their distinguishing charms. 

Now, I don't profess to be very familiar with Teochew cuisine. In fact I can safely say that I don't know anything about it at all. But if you were to ask me to describe their cuisine in three words, I would say that their foods seem to be focused on the healthy, light and clean.

That is precisely what I thought, standing at the counter  of the Teochew porridge stall, trying to choose a couple of dishes to go with bowls of sweet potato porridge for my late night supper.

Because at elsewhere I would have gone straight for the sweet sour pork, salted egg fried chicken, sambal kangkong and sambal brinjal, here I decided on a slab of steamed egg, a portion of steamed pork, a portion of stewed chicken and a whole dish of stewed brinjal.