Singapore chilli crab and Hokkien mee!

heheh, no, I didn't cook these dishes!

We went to a Singapore cafe last night for dinner (Shiok! cafe) with HL's classmate, Ben and his wife. Before the dinner, HL was already dreaming of his hokkien mee, and we did order that, plus sambal udang, nonya fish, poh piah, roti prata, beef rendang and of coz, Singapore chilli crab!

The waiter and waitress at the cafe are Singaporeans studying here - the cafe is owned by an aunt.

We were expectedly excited looking at the menu of Singapore dishes, and ordered as much as we could for 4 people. Boy, were they good! We think they are as authentic as they can be, considering it is here in the States (I did find some of the dishes too salty though - probably to cater to the taste buds here)...oh, but the crab used is their local Dungeness crab (which is not so fleshy) and not our big, fat, juicy Sri Lankan crabs - disappointing but better than nothing...

Anyhow, it was a very satisfying meal, and our first taste of Singapore dishes after 3 months!

Hopefully, we can venture out once in a while in the next few months to try other Singaporean or Malaysian dishes...

pancakes!

I made these for breakfast - cheap and good. A box of ready pancake mix cost only USD 1. For the 2 of us, I only need a cup of mix and 2/3 cup of water.

This reminds me of my hostel days in NTU, when me, my flatmate and floor mates used to have these "culinary" sessions in our common kitchen, cooking dinner and making pancakes for supper or breakfast.

I used to pride myself for making delicious pancakes with bananas and eggs (Wanli and Baoqi, you guys can testify to that right? ;P)

Christmas holiday outing

Outing to an American's home all decorated for Christmas, that is.

Christmas is an important season for Americans, as they celebrate the good year that has passed, and more importantly the bonds between family and friends, and the spirit of sharing and giving.

The I-center organized this outing, and we went to Charlene's house, which was really very lovely, set among lush greenery and decorated with all things Xmas! Each of us brought a snack to share - I baked some peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips.

I wasn't feeling too well, so did not eat anything when I was there, which is quite a shame as the spread of goodies there was simply mouth watering and appetizing!

Later, we sang Christmas songs and shared stories of how Christmas is celebrated in different countries, including Mexico and France, and also the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

cable car ride & view of SF city

went to SF city yesterday to meet Madeline and her friend - they are on a West Coast holiday from Singapore!

we went up to Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill, and had a fantastic view of the city (including the city's tallest building, Transamerica Pyramid, standing at 260m) and San Francisco Bay with the Bay bridge and Golden Gate bridge in the backdrop.

I had my first taste of the much touted cable car ride - the ride at night proved to be an extremely enjoyable experience, as the city lights up, including Xmas decorations which are already up!

This is the link to the pics taken:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AcNGThi1ZNGLvY&notag=1