cool reasons to cook for halloween

From EMSL

Loosing my Durian cherry....

So, having been here for nearly a year (shit). I have finally tried Durian.

I got the shuttle bus home last night and ended up talking to Fred on the way to Holland V, he was showing me a great fruit store, and was shocked to hear that I'd never tried the fruit. So he insisted on buying one and having the auntie open it on the spot. (apparently you should only eat them freshly opened, otherwise they tend to ferment).

I have to admit it wasn't anywhere near as smelly as I was expecting. The part you eat is actually quite small, (the yellow part on the picture), which is a 1cm layer around a big seed. The texture is the first strange thing, which is something like mouse... The taste is impossible to describe. Totally unlike anything I've ever eaten. Not unpleasant, just very unusual. I can't say I'm hooked yet. This durian was fairly sweet (they range from sweet to bitter). Fred also told me (after) that, like asparagus, if you eat enough it will make your urine smell. The smell also sticks to your hands amazingly, resisting all soaps. You also keep tasting it for several hours afterwards....

So I'm not totally put off, I'd be prepared to try it again. But at least I've tried it now....

Eating, eating, eating

Kat's visit, unusually involved quite a bit of eating out... Here are the noteworthy places we found/revisited....

Blue Ginger
A very good Peranakan restaurant, near Tanjong Pagar. This place takes my prize for easily the best service I have ever had in Singapore. To the point where we ordered a bottle of wine, tasted it, thought it was ok, if slightly unusual, drank a bit before the maitre d' insisted on giving us a different bottle simply because it looked a bit darker than usual (in hindsight we both agreed it did taste unusual, not corked, but a bit more like sherry than a white wine usually does). The food was excellent, especially the otak otak and mackerel curry. Slightly more expensive than usual, but worth it for the service alone....

Da Paolo Pizza Bar
Still my favourite place for pizza in Singapore. Really good crispy base, good range of toppings. This is balanced/offset by the service, which has been consistently dreadful every time I've been. Ranging from being very slow (30 minutes just to order) to the waitress forgetting to order our pizzas. Still, your pizza will come eventually, it will be excellent when it comes, but perhaps order a bottle of Prosecco or two beers each (even these are slow) as the waiter is seating you...

Sun Japanese Restaurant

In an attempt to satisfy my woman's need for sushi, we went to Sun at Chijmes (near City Hall MRT). I love the sushi here, as it extends much further than the standard, salmon sashimi, tuna sashimi, rolls and wraps of most places. The california rolls with deep fryed oyster were wonderful, as well as the rolls with prawn and smoked eel. My favourite was the plate with three pieces of imported Japanese tuna, each a different cut, each visibly different colour, taste and texture. Ok, so I have never eaten sushi in Japan, but by the western approximations I've grown up with, this was far better...

Strange Deserts...

Kat and I had these strange deserts at the Shin Kushiya (Japanese Grill place in Vivo city). The left one is green tea ice cream with caramelised sweet potato and red beans (ice cream good, potato
and beans strange). Mine was black sesame ice cream with black sesame cream and a strawberry. Looks like chemical biproduct, tasted great.

yum...

Have just been walking around the (kind of) local area... just had a great little malay snack from a street stall. I think it was called Mutu Bambu (bamboo cakes). little white rolls, a brown filling which tasked of caramel, sprinkled with coconut shavings... very nice. (will try and remember to take a camera with me next time, then I can take post pictures as well as vague descriptions...)

Juice-tastic

Had a glass of Aloe juice with honey today for lunch... didn't know you could juice Aloe or use it for anything except hand cream... it was good all the same..