Free Lunches

It was a North Indian buffet lunch with a twist.

Food would be delivered to the tables instead of diners having to help themselves from the common food display.

The spiced papadoms came. Spicy!

The sutchi fillet curry, the mung bean dhal, and the pureed spinach with chickpeas came. So did the bryani rice and a stack of quartered naans.

Then something that was terribly burnt arrived at the table - chicken tikka. I rejected the dish. No way would I accept something so burnt. There were enough charred bits for me to discard every single piece of chicken without a second look.

The waiter insisted that the dish is supposed to be burnt. Hello... I'm Chinese but this is not my first Indian meal! I asked for tandoori chicken. The waiter said my dish was "normal." I queried him why the rest of the tables get tandoori chicken while we get burnt chicken tikka. So he said he'll bring the tandoori chicken.

A millennium later, the tandoori chicken came. The first piece I took was more than half uncooked. I'm ok with slight undercooking but uncooked. I rejected the dish. The waiter did not protest this time, since he saw the condition of the food.

Then lamb shish kebab came. Not the best but it was meat. Then I wanted my tandoori chicken. What is a North Indian meal without tandoori chicken?

Yet, two millennia later, another dish of chicken tikka appeared. I rejected the dish, saying that it wasn't what I ordered. I want my tandoori chicken. Alas, it was out. The kitchen ran out of it.

Fine, what about dessert? I wanted dessert to round off the meal.

We have gulab jamun and assorted ice cream. I was told. I asked to have both and the waiter noted the order.

The gulab jamun came, burnt to the core. The ice cream was ok.

Bill time. I called one of the non-uniformed guys and asked if he was the boss. He said he was a partner. So I told him about my meal and told him that if his restaurant went under, he has his wait staff and his kitchen to thank.

He was apologetic. I was measured and courteous.

We got a free meal. There are free lunches after all. All you have to do is to be at the right place at the right time.

Where have all the flowers gone...?

Perhaps I should be more specific. Where have all the tomyam goong gone?

Gone were the traditional looking stalls manned by older Thai folks who cook a mean tomyam goong.

I only had two bowls in Thailand, one in the Platinum Shopping Centre (C)opposite where I stayed, and one in the Airport Departure Lounge (F). Both did not make the mark and I am honestly disappointed.

I need my fix at Old Airport Road soon.

Another thing I missed as good Phad Thai.

These days, street hawkers have pre-fried, pre-coloured, pre-flavoured rice noodles - they are really stained appalling pink - and when you order, the noodles are tossed in a hot skiller with some other ingredients and hey presto! You get your "fart Thai". Tastes really bad.

I missed my mango salad.

The weather was incredibly warm and the lack of crowds meant that if you were to buy food off the hawkers in the street, you risk getting stuff that is lying around there for quite some time already. If the local Thais won't buy it, then tourists had better not buy it too.

I also had a very lousy lunch at a restaurant serving Hong Kong tim sum near the Asok BTS station. While the tim sum buffet went at 159 baht ++ per head, I decided to go a la carte. It was bad. The only saving grace was the roasted duck slices that came with the noodles. The tim sum and noodles were oodles of evil. Trust me, a Hong Konger would probably prefer to eat his/her own socks than that meal!

Despite the misses, there were a few gems. I had a lovely coagulated blood soup from one of the backlane stalls in the Pratunam area.

I had some nice noodles at Damnernsaduak Floating Market. Yes, Uncle Anthony Bourdain went there when he filmed one of his travel/food shows. I also had a great coconut ice cream there and some excellent Thai pancakes.

On the same trip but prior to visiting the floating market, I also had some nice noodles at Maeklong Market. Bourdain had gone there too. And it is true that the market is set up alongside the railway tracks and when the train runs, market vendors rush to remove their wares, only to restitute them to the original position right after the train passed. The Maeklong Station is located just next to the canal. Amazing sights.

And then I freaked out eating Thai noodles for the rest of the trip, at least fish ball noodles!

Verdict: Culinary Misadventure

Bagel on Fire

The Microtel at the Philadelphia Airport offers breakfast for its guests and so this morning, I didn't have to buy breakfast before hand. Furthermore, taking the 12.38 pm flight out of Philadelphia to O'Hare meant I could sleep in a little. Throw in the free airport shuttle offered by the hotel and one has the makings of a great day ahead.

So, breakfast it is. To cut the long story short, after I took my cup of coffee and cranberry and orange juice, I picked up a bagel and toasted it. I was supposed to cut the bagel in half but the bagel seemed to be partially cut into two already. I could not separate the top half from the bottom half and so I dumped the entire bread into the toaster. You know, the kind that has a belt to bring in the bread to be toasted and then dumps it on a tray after that.

My bagel got caught on its way in and I smelt something burning. As I peered into the toaster, I see my poor bagel caught at the opening of the toaster - there was not enough headroom for Mr Bagel to pass through and he is on fire.

I took the tongs and dug out whatever I could from the toaster before the fire alarm is activated.

Such an exciting start to a morning.

Memoirs of a Jetlagged-sha 2

Clearing the Frankfurt Airport security once more was as bad as I imagined. Actually, a little more harrowing than I had expected.

You see, Mr USA grabbed his oversized bags and headed out towards the baggage claim area, giving me hope that he might be gone in Frankfurt after all. But NO! As I queued to re-check in, I saw him turn back and attempt to join the over bloated queue. It was then that I decided to go and get a seat change.

The Frankfurt Gate Hold Room was too small for the passengers of a B744. There were simply insufficient seats and too little personal space. There were meandering corridors which passengers had to navigate through to get to the seats and there was even a mobile deli-magazine-souvenir store inside the room. But there were not enough seats, no privacy, no computers offering free email, no water dispensers offering the parched travellers any free water.

Ok, I should blame Singapore Changi Airport for this. But then if we think about it, Singapore Airlines carry its Europe-bound passengers to the Lufthansa Hub in Frankfurt, where they starburst to their final destinations (pun NOT intended) on LH flights (mostly). Both airlines are Star Alliance members. So, why should there be a difference in the comfort levels for the passengers?

I should also reiterate the low ceilings of FRA, giving most of us a feeling of being boxed in. The perceived pressure is quite incredible.

This time, I was seated in an aisle seat with the adjoining seat empty (phew!) and across the same row of seats was a German granny. In fact, we had two empty seats between us and we were both happy. On my right was a family of 6 - a rather young couple and their 4 kids. If you didn't know, you might guess that the father was an elder brother to the son. But they were very independent and very well behaved. Dad was incredible. He ran the entire process of getting the kids fed, filling out their immigration cards, checking on them and so on with Hitler-like efficiency but with so much care and love. Mum seemed to have a relatively easier time.

The food on this FRA-JFK flight was pretty lopsided. The breads were dropdead gorgeous. Could be the age, could be the palatte, could be... But I've fallen in love in German breads all over again. It's light, yet it packs a pretty weighty load. The lightly crisp crusts and the buttery centres with the silky smooth German butter and strawberry jam. I could eat a dozen buns in the blink of an eye!

Breakfast was either mushroom crepe (oh no, I'm only doing crepes at Out of the Pan at Swissotel Stamford) or pork vermicelli. I had the latter and found there were more bean sprouts than there were vermicelli. Go figure.

The light meal was either Thai Curry Beef or Chicken in paprika sauce. As I don't eat beef, I went for the chicken. Wasn't too bad but thank god for the ice-cream dessert. That Walls Nugger - another German product - blew me away. Looks like it's time to visit Germany for food soon.

I could see the German family enjoyed their food and all. And as fate would have it, we left the plane "together", picked up our luggage "apart", "met" at the toilet and ended up on the same Airtrain. Father and eldest son were unsure if they were on the correct train. I shared my brochure with them and they were finally assured they were. As they reached Federal Circle to pick up the rental car, we wished one another good luck and went our separate ways.

In a while, I reached Jamaica Station and off I went to the LIRR to NYC.

Crepes

Swissotel The Stamford's Out of the Pan serves really nice crepes. A close friend and dear mentor and I had our tea there today. We were both very delighted with the food and the discreet service. We had a nice table beside the fountain and had a great time catching up.

In the oven

In the oven now is 2 kg of pig belly meat liberally marinated with garlic (toast) mix, garlic salt, miracle salt (to clear), brown sugar, rosemary, black pepper, pinch of chilli powder, pinch of cinnamon, handful of apricots, olive oil and martini. The martini was a desparate move because I didn't have a mortar and pestle and the blender I used was unable to pick up the minute quantities to mix together.

I marinated the meat and then stuffed the centre with cranberries, tied them up, placed in a baking tray, separated the two rolled pieces of meat with two heads of smelly roses, dumped 12 shallots all round and sent it in to bake.

Underneath, I placed a smoke package containing ginger tea leaves, rice and some brown sugar. I wet the package and I may have overdone it. No smoke coming out yet but well, the oven must be a little piece of heaven now.

If this works, it'll be a recipe for the next dinner party. Yay....

PS. The meat turned out gorgeous. Succulent and with good bite. Slight crust and lean. I would do without the martini the next time, though. I am not a martini fan after all.

Cheap Duck

Found Peking Ducks on sale at $13.90 each at Ubi.

They were very good indeed.

Chinese New Year Wet Blanket

There is no such thing as a celebration without good food. Good food, by commonsense definition, is food that is neither good for your heart (or for that matter, all your organs, except for taste) nor waistline. So here is what the newspaper supplement has to tell us about the goodies that we stuff our faces with during Chinese New Year. Of course, I'll tell you what I think!

Fried battered nian gao (55 g) - 224 Cal, 5.4 g fat.
Nian gao, the gooey, glutinous mass of sugared flour cake, is a must have for Chinese New Year. It signifies "progress with every step". If you love to eat it, go ahead and eat it. Otherwise, do what I do - I buy it, display it, mould it and dump it.

Roast duck 3 (paper thin) slices (60 g) - 143 Cal, 10 g fat.
I think this is a conspiracy. All other times, I bet you the whole roast duck is 143 Cal! Unfortunately, roast duck is a perennial favourite year round and if your waistline doesn't seem to be shrinking despite your trillion crunches a day, perhaps it is time to reconsider to duck the duck.

Braised dried oysters with mixed vegetables and fatt choy (60 g) - 50 Cal, 4 g fat.
Dietiticians of the world ought to be shot! And then shot and shot and shot and shot... you get the message. Can you imagine how small a 60 g portion of this delicacy is? I cannot imagine that this is... ok, 50 Cal. It's not as bad a 3 paper thin slices of roast duck. But still!

Tossed fish salad (100 g) - 145 Cal, 11 g fat.
The tossed fish salad represents brisk business and many people go through at least a good handful of meals featuring this Cantonese favourite. One way of reducing the fat and calorie content is to avoid adding all the oil into the salad. Ask for half or a third of the bowl of oil to be added. Each gram of fat less could help reduce the calorie count a little. Trust me, it ain't that bad with less oil.

Chicken curry with coconut milk (220 g) - 342 Cal, 28 g fat.
I have yet to figure why anyone would eat chicken curry (a dish typically served to visitors at wakes) during Chinese New Year. It is as though the "heat" and the overly rich foods aren't enough to overload your poor stomach that you need to add to its burden by drinking copious coconut milk! I mean, aren't we happier eating pineapple tarts, bak kwa, kueh lapis, love letters and other artery clogging items?

Pineapple tarts (20 g) - 82 Cal, 4 g fat.
Kueh lapis (50 g) - 247 Cal, 19 g fat.
Bak kwa aka jerky 3 coin pieces (45 g) - 180 Cal, 6 g fat.
Love letters 3 pieces (40 g) - 172 Cal, 5 g fat.
One cannot help but need to place these four items together because almost each household one visits during the Chinese New Year will bombard guests with versions of these. It is hard to accept that a pop a mouthful goodies can be so chockful of calories. 82 calories for a pineapple tart! My goodness you tart! What hedonistic abandon! A slice of two bite kueh lapis makes you go for another and before you know it, you probably have eaten three slices. That's about the calorific equivalent of a place of wanton noodles! The other culprit for the grow in your hips moment is bak kwa aka jerky. Trust me - there is absolutely no f**king way to stop at 45 g. I confess I could polish off five times of that without breaking into a sweat! Melt in your mouth love letters are another of your worst enemies. Many friends can easily clean out half a tin - that's a whopping 30 pieces! Now, with these wonderful food friends, who needs enemies?

Other food items to add more dampener to your already dripping wet blanket:
Peanuts (20 g, about 15 or a handful) - 120 Cal, 10 g fat.
Melon seeds (8 g, about 1 tbs) - 30 Cal, 3 g fat.
Mandarin orange (116 g, 1 whole) - 51 Cal, 0.3 g fat.
Kueh bangkit (18 g or 3 pieces) - 69 Cal, 2 g fat.
Sharksfin with crabmeat (295 g, half a bowl or better known as two mouthfuls) - 162 Cal, 7 g fat.

I wonder why our bodies NEVER adapt to the better world we are in and learn to burn more energy with less activity. I am sure there must be a genetic flaw.

Meanwhile, Happy Chinese New Year. I hear the new wardrobe calling.

The perfect solution to the energy crunch

A leading Beverly Hills plastic surgeon claims to have found an environmentally friendly way to combine two of America's great obsessions – after converting his 4x4 to run on fat removed from clients during liposuction operations. More...

My claim that I'm a living oil field is now justified. This news is possibly the best piece of news for all weight-watchers.

What better way to live than to eat all you want and let the body do what it wants. All we need now is a valve to pump out the fats we don't want and then decompose it into bio-diesel to fuel our cars. Or whatever power generators that can run on diesel.

You get to enjoy your food and not let the moment on the lips stay a life time on the hips.

The Taste of Traditional Cooking

Dinner for the first evening in Kuala Lumpur was at a old Chinese restaurant that specializes in cooking in the traditional way. Apparently, there are about two or three such restaurants left in KL that cook over charcoal fires and takes an eternity or two serving up dishes. And perhaps also the kind of eating place where the fats used are rendered freshly from frying lard till the oils come out.

Food was good. The starter roast duck was different from what I used to eat in Singapre. The duck had none of the musk commonly associated with grain-fed ducks, which have been purposefully fattened up for the slaughter in the shortest possible time. The meat was chewy but tender. The fatty parts were much fewer than the usual duck. The melty crisp skin still lingers in my mind, making me crave more roast duck.

Spinach fried with garlic was simply done. The aroma from the garlic lightly fried in lard compliments the ferro-chlorophylly taste of freshly harvested spinach, giving it a nice touch. The slightly visuous sauce clinged to the lightly done vegetables, making eating the greasy leaves and stems a pleasure.

Venison fried in ginger and spring onions was equally simple. The fresh ingredients and the meat complemented one other, providing a good combination to go with rice.

Steamed promfret did not disappoint either. Fish is simple - fresh or not fresh. Nothing much to talk about.

The host ordered Cantonese style steamed rice, which was steamed in steel bowls over water. The rice was hard and ready to soak up the oils and sauces from the dishes. Indeed, if not for my preference for Hokkien styled rice, which tends to be more moist and tender, I would have easily done half a dozen bowls of rice to go with that meal.

The next time, I'll want to try the uber traditional stall beside this restaurant. Apparently, this other stall is so traditional that it even eschewed creature strappings such as airconditioning!

New Dish to my Culinary Repetoire

I made Rendang Lamb Shank yesterday.

It was the first time I cooked something like that and even though the rendang paste (rendang is a dry red curry) is from a packet, I managed to whip out shank meat that give to the bite, melt in the mouth and entirely devoid of the musk (or whatever you call that smell) that comes with the goat. I wish I had a picture but alas, the mouths moved faster than the feet to the camera.

Here's the recipe, if you are intending to try:

2 lamb shanks (1 kg)
500 ml plain yogurt
100 ml whipped cream (or replace with 100 ml yogurt)
200 ml water
1 onion sliced
1 carrot diced
2 tomatoes diced
Butter and cooking oil
1 packet rendang paste (for 1.3 kg meat)
Generous dash of port (optional)
Salt/sugar to taste
Juice from 1 lemon (optinal)
Lots of love and patience

1. Make sure that lamb shanks are defrosted when you start.

2. Clean lamb shanks and puncture the muscles with a knife. Make sure you get deep holes in the flesh where you can easily slide your index finger in totally.

3. Marinate the lamb shank with 300 ml yogurt. Massage the yogurt all over the outside and the deep scores of the meat for an hour.

4. Heat in a deep pot butter and oil and fry onion till transparent or lightly browned. Your pot should be just big enough to fit the two shanks, or you'll have to add a lot more water and yogurt to cook them.

5. Remove the lamb from the yogurt and squeeze dry. Add to the pot and brown all the sides. When both shanks are seared and the pot base is getting burnt, add port, all the water, and 200 ml of yogurt. Make sure you stir the mixture till the yogurt and water are well mixed. The liquids should just about cover the shanks. There may be some bits sticking out but that is fine. You need to turn the meat anyway.

6. Simmer over medium low heat and let the liquids reduce. Make sure you stir occasionally to prevent the base from sticking and turn the shanks to ensure even cooking.

7. After about 40 minutes, add the rendang mixture and the whipped cream/yogurt and combine into the liquids.

8. Continue simmering until the liquids reduce to half the amount where you started and the meat is ready to fall off the bone if lightly tugged at. Use a fork, if you really want to see how sinewy it still is. Before you turn off the fire, add seasonings to taste. I love my food slightly tart as the acids help cut through the grease. So I added the juice of one lemon.

9. Cool, skim the excess oil from the top of the pot and serve with hot plain rice and any salad. Lassi is recommended if you need to cut the spiciness.

Serves 2 - 4 people, depending on their appetites.

The beauty of this dish is that it allows you to decide how dry you want your curry base and how soft you want the meat. If you want more curry base, add more yogurt/milk. Water is ok but it dilutes the gravy. If you want firmer meat, remove meat when you are ok with the texture and do whatever you want to the gravy before you put back the meat to warm before you serve.

Be warned though - if curry is your stuff, you may go through a padi field by the time the meal is over.

Anyway, my next dinner party guests could be in luck!

Call me bitchy...

Interestingly, there was too much bee hoon (rice noodles) compared to laksa gravy at the promotion treat today. Hard to eat plain, dry rice noodles without the gravy!

And there was really not quite enough food. For instance, the yam ring ran out before most of us managed to get any.

But as the vice principal said, "We thank Lord for providing the feast we are going to have despite the global shortage of food yadah yadah yadah." So, apparently, we should be happy that there is food at all. However...

Eh, I think the 20 promotees paid for the meal lah!

Improvisational Cooking

I have been watching too much AFC. (I am so shy to even tell you what it stands for. But what the heck - Asian Food Channel.) I have been watching the likes of famous chefs such as Jean-Christoph Nouvelli (usually on Saturday/Everyday Cooks), Michael Smith (Chef at Home/Chef at Large), Anna Olsen (Sugar), Gordon Ramsey (Hell's Kitchen/The F Word), Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall (River Cottage Series), Jamie Oliver (Jamie's own cooking series), Robert Rainford (License to Grill) etc. I know I would be accused of being silly to put Nigella Dawson here but hey, she whips up a mean supper (the Brits got it all wrong - supper's for late night; it's dinner). So challenge me!

And I must say that these great cooks have one thing in common: they are not sticklers of recipes.

There is no better teacher than experience. Cooking is about getting your hands dirty and finding out in the end if things work out.

If you are where I am at, things like parsnip and lamb and whatever you need in those "atas" (high class) cook books cost an arm and an leg. You are better off not following them than following them because you are going to be a couple of items short of the complete recipe. To acquire that missing item at the atas supermarket, that item's cost will probably be 50% or more of the remaining stuff you need. (I believe they call it the Pareto Principle - and it's for the cost and not for the taste.) People are worried about their food not turning out right. They are worried about not getting the correct flavour. They loathe to make replacements.

But these great chefs on TV keep emphasising one thing - whatever you already have at home can do the job well enough. I think I have benefited from their wisdom. I change my food preparation techniques so that I get my onions out in half the time I used to. I taste my marinades before I dump in the food. I taste my food before I serve. I throw in my seasonings without measurement. I know when a dollop of butter, a dash of olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar, a squirt of fish sauce, a touch of pepper, a sprinkling of sugar or a few twists of my miracle salt will do the trick.

And most importantly, you need a group of friends who are most adventurous and supportive of your culinary experiments. They should be people who tell you that there is no failed experiment. Cooked food is good food. And before you know it, you are off to even greater culinary heights.

PS. I am usually floored by simple dishes and small portions. I burnt a pot of quick cooking oats I prepared for two persons' breakfast yesterday. *Blush*

The Recipe

 

Foreword: This is a very healthy recipe. No oil is added. If you are feeling ascetic, you could even remove an egg or a yolk, reduce the sugar, omit the chocolate medallions, omit the nuts if you are nut-resistant and omit the honey. It is really a free for all recipe.

2 cups of milk (I used low fat, high calcium.)
2 eggs - 2nd egg or 2nd egg yolk optional
3 tablespoons of sugar (instead of 4, and there will be a variation to the typical bread pudding!)

Mix the liquids and the sugar together. Make sure that the sugar dissolves.

8 slices of stale bread

Dunk into milk-egg mixture and let it soak up the mixture.

1 tube of stale coarsely crushed chocolate chip cookies (there - here's the variation. This is where the fats and additional sugar come in!) - optional
1 large handful of raisins (I used organic this time.)
pinch of cinnamon powder
pinch of nutmeg powder - optional
pinch of ginger powder - optional
(or you can replace the 3 spices with a liberal dash of vanilla extract)

Add the other dry ingredients and fold them in. Do not pulverise the wet bread.

Pour one-third baking mixture into baking tin lined with wax paper (I hate washing. That's why the wax paper.)

3 handfuls of dark chocolate medallions - optional

At the top of this layer, add a layer of dark chocolate medallions (about 1.5 handful). Repeat with next one-third of mixture. Top up mixture with the final portion, making sure that all the mixture covers the second layer of medallions. If you are baking this in an oven, feel free to divide up the mixture into as many portions as you want and place in as many layers of chocolate medallions as your arteries could possibly accommodate.

Crushed walnuts - optional
Crushed almonds - optional
Honey - if you want to leave this out, then drizzle 2 tablespoons of soft brown sugar on top of the mixture before baking so that light caramelisation takes place

Scatter freshly crushed walnuts and almonds. Drizzle a liberal amount of honey over the nuts.

Bake at 160 deg C (fan assisted) for 50 minutes - forget about preheating. Turn up to max heat for last 5 minutes.

For those using a bread machine, pack in the baking mixture and add the medallions. You probably can have about 5 layers. Set it down to bake with the bake function. Let the machine do its work.

Now, I need to recipe for a custard sauce to go with this.

Old Whig owes me cookies

Cookie Poem by Teflonman
(Adapted from Love Poem by e. e. cummings)

i remember your promise to me (i remember it in
my heart) i am still without cookies (anywhere
you go i follow, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no cookies (for you owe me cookies, my sweet) i want
my cookies (or whatever you are baking, my true)
and it's you are whatever Pepperidge Farm has always meant
and whatever Danone will always sing is you

here is the freshest flour anybody knows
(here is the sugar of the sugar and the spice of the spice
and the chocolate of the chocolate of a tree called sin; which comes
together when baking soda can raise or butter can glide)
and you are the man that's keeping the batter apart

i remember your promise (i remember it in my heart)

Original text:

Love Poem by e. e. cummings
i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

Waiting

Waiting now to cut the freshly harvested basil into the loaf of bread.

Could easily tear the basil leaves and dump them into the mixture but they would oxidise and turn brown. I don't think it'll be very nice in the bread after that.

So while I wait, I'll write a little.

Amish Bread

I read a recipe for making Amish Bread and I tried it.

The sweet smelling, pretty, crusty loaf is now cooling down in the microwave oven.

I honestly do not know how long it is going to last but I'm sure it's going to be well-loved.

I'll be making a few more loaves.

2007 Gathering

What: Annual 4/6 '04 gathering.
When: 21 Dec 5 pm.
Where: 510233

The Menu

1. Salad - Vege-stick salad - cucumber, celery, tomatoes with thousand island dip.

2. Finger food - Modified "tapas" and bagels with prawn roe cheese, liver pate and scallion cheese. Pringles potato chips!

3. Mains - assorted sausages, honey baked ham (oven warmed), char siew pork.

4. Carbohydrates - potatoes, pasta.

5. Desserts - Honeydew pudding with canned fruits. Possibly chocolates.

6. Drinks - coke, coke light, H&E green tea. Alcohol - BYO.

7. Halal station - pizzas.

Help needed

Cleaning up, milk runs (to clear rubbish) after the party.

Others

Please don't bring gifts and food; bring a hearty appetite, good humour and be ready to have fun.

Singapore hit by Ella

Salmonella, that is.

A well-known Singapore bakery chain, PrimaDeli, was hit by salmonella. More than 140 Singaporeans have fallen ill after eating the tainted cakes.

Apparently, the hazelnut cream and chocolate cream are laced with the bacteria and 4 (or was it 6) workers were carriers.

Let's hope those who have fallen sick get well soon and PrimaDeli can resume selling its cakes. I think the bakery's business is going to take a hit for some time. But they make great cakes and so I'll still patronise them. (Who would be cleaner than them after the stringent rounds of health checks?)

(But somehow, I think some quarters thought we are hit by Ebola.)