Suzy's Teenager Dates

Where's Suzy?

Last night:

What did you do when you were a teenager? Le Monsieur asked, as he eyeballed the hordes of teenagers loitering around the shopping district.

Hmmm, I did a lot of sports in school every day. At the same time, I had to study hard so that my parents wouldn't stop me from playing sports.

Don't you go out with friends? What about dating? Where did you go?

Well, that was in the early 90s and I was a nerdy kid from a good school. My friends were all really sporty and we hung out in school playing ball. Basketball, netball, hockey,... For dates *blush* it was usually a movie and then dinner. And the guy would send me home around 10pm, never after midnight. That was my curfew.

Where did you go for dinner? Hawker centres? Food courts?

*Indignant* Not hawker centres! Not for a date! That "Russian" restaurant Shaslik with nice steaks was a favourite. There was always Milano Pizza or Swensen's. Or Jack's Place. Japanese food wasn't common then. It's funny. I haven't been to any of these places for a long time.

* * * * * * * * * *
So today, we went to Jack's place for lunch and I'm very happy to report that the steaks are as good as I remembered: tender, succulent, and the perfect medium rare. And the prices too! They still served the potatoes with sour cream, bacon and chives, though I skipped the bacon this time. They even had the same green checked tablecloths. Le Monsieur liked it and I have a feeling that we'll be back there again very soon... For a date, no less!

It was nice for me to revisit the restaurant after so many years. I am glad that it had survived the times and retained its character over the years.

And you, where did you used to dine when you were a teenager? Have you been back since? Does it still exist? Does it bring back nice memories?

Have a great week of Christmas shopping ahead.

Love,
Suzy

M*A*S*H

All lined up, and eyes looking front!

The first time I had mash potatoes was in KFC at Bukit Merah Central. They were known as Kentucky Fried Chicken then, and served with real plates and cutlery. What a treat it was! The flavour and texture was completely new to me then. The mushroomy chickeny gravy was delicious. I could eat tubs of it, and I did.

The first time I tasted homemade mash potatoes was when my German housemate Susie (not Suzy) made it. She used her Grandma's secret recipe that required raw egg yorks, milk, cream, butter and salt. Try as I did, I could never get the proportions right. I've lost contact with Susie now so I'm kicking myself for not paying more attention in the kitchen years ago.

But the taste of the Susie's mash made me sit up and take notice. The yellow of the mash was as intense as the texture was creamy smooth. The taste was rich, but didn't take anything away from the comfort reassurance of potatoes that we knew so well. She had taken the humble mash potatoes to a whole new level in my universe. Never had I tasted pureed root vegetables like that! Susie's Grandma was truly a genius.

These days, with low-carb diets being fashionable, and the proportion of obese Singaporeans increasing, mash potatoes are a great no-no on the dining table. "No carbs after 8pm," declared a friend. Another friend quipped that it was supposed to be 6pm. Yet another said: "No carbs all day long!"

A great pity, I think. Because out there, Susie and the Grandma, are still churning out their amazing mash potatoes. Given the chance, I will eat them anytime, night or day.

Did I mention how creamy smooth it was...? MmmmmmMMMmmmmmmm...

Have a good week ahead
Love
Suzy

Forbidden Food

Medium rare is not allowed

While in Tokyo, I went out to dinner with a few female colleagues. Of the 6 Japanese who were at the table, 3 of them had worked overseas for a few years (USA, Germany and Thailand). Besides me, there were a 3 colleagues from France, one based in Malaysia, one in Japan and the last from France. So it was a very international and interesting group, and I felt privileged to be a part of it that night.

Our conversation revolved around many topics, sharing our very different cultures and work experiences with each other but it invariably went to food. One of the French ladies was pregnant - she told us that she could not take sushi or drink any alcohol, something which was very difficult for her since she loved raw fish. The Japanese women exclaimed astonishment, they ate raw food and drank (in moderation, one quickly added) all through pregnancy. How can we avoid sushi, another woman exclaimed. This is Japan!

Sake labels outside an izakaya

Apparently French women were told to avoid non-pasteurised cheese and raw food all through pregnancy. Cigarettes, caffeine and alcohol were out of bounds too.

I remember an American friend telling me that she had to avoid a long list of food, including fishes with high mercury content. She carried the list around with her and showed it to the waiter in every restaurant that we went to. It must have been common practice in the US, for all the waiters handled her questions professionally and in a knowledgeable way.

Besides the usual cigarettes, caffeine and alcohol, I don't know if there are any taboo foods for expectant mothers in Singapore. My mother is often "blamed" for taking too much dark soya sauce when I was in her tummy because I turned out dark-skinned and have a dark birthmark on my body. My sister-in-law avoided all dark-coloured foods throughout both her pregnancies. My niece and nephew were indeed fair-skinned and extremely cute.

What forbidden foods are there for expectant mother? Are they scientifically proven or just old wives' tales?

To eat or not to eat...

I'd queued for an hour in the cold for this on my previous trip - but it was worth it!

... that is the question.

I love to eat. That's the simplistic way of looking at it. I love more than the actual act of consuming food. I love thinking about what to eat, where to go or if I'm cooking at home, I love planning what to cook, how to balance the taste and colours so that the palette and the eyes are titillated before the tastebuds.

And with the wedding date creeping closer, I have started thinking seriously about *gasp* losing weight. It's almost a sacrilegious thought for me. Going on diet? That is a huge no-no for me since my teenage days when I saw many close friends succumb to anorexia to achieve that fashionably skinny look.

But although I have no dreams of being a princess on my big day, I don't want to be a pumpkin either. And a pumpkin in a white dress is not at all a pretty sight.

I'm off again tonight, to Tokyo this time. Will I be able to resist the temptations of Japanese delicacies?

To eat or not to eat...

Appreciate what you have, have a glorious week ahead.

Love, Suzy

Down Under



Cateract Gorge, Tasmania


I had a wonderful time in Melbourne and Tasmania. There's nothing like fresh air and lots of nature walks to whet that appetite. And being in Australia, we were spoilt for choice in terms of food. Take, for example, our first day of the trip.

First stop, breakfast in Melbourne. Our friend, an almost Melbourne native now that he's been there for a few years, brought us to a few alleyways cramped full of cafes. They were all serving dishes piled high with eggs, bacon and sausages. Portions are big here, our friend warned us, and so we shared a super large breakfast plate with extra sausages.

Italian ladies serve up a mean plate of pasta

A walk around the city and we then piled into an Italian place for lunch. We sat at a large table in the kitchen, right in front of the buzzing stove as the Italian ladies went about their business of cooking, gesturing animatedly with their hands, talking a rapid-fire of English and Italian at the same time. The pasta I had was good but simply being able to sit there and watch the ladies in action, made the experience better than being in Italy!

Dinner was a pub affair where we all ordered huge succulent steaks that came along with fresh salads and chips. Needless to say, we tried all the beers they had on tap and then ordered some more.

Le Monsieur comtemplates the sea

A cheese plate came along at another watering hole later that night, Le Monsieur was very pleased to announce that the Aussies make their cheese as well as the French do.

And so it went, the rest of the trip Down Under, we ate and drank very well everywhere we went. The meat was good and the seafood, excellent. Of course, we were not there only for the food. We also did nature hikes and met with a lot of the local animals. Le Monsieur loves the wombats while I, I simply love the Tasmanian Devils...

Aren't they cute?

Eat, drink and be merry!
Love Suzy

On the Road Again

Milo, anyone?

By the time you read this, Suzy is on the road again. And this time, it's a holiday! A real one with Le Monsieur. Not a weekend tagged at the end of a working trip, not a trip to accompany visitors, not a trip to attend a wedding, no no no, it's a real vacation complete with cameras, guidebooks, visa applications, car rentals, mountains, lakes, beaches, flea markets... the whole works!

What awaits me on the other side? Cool weather, Mother Nature, wonderful wine, thirst-quenching beers, good simple food and friendly natives. I'll be in Australia... and coincidentally enough, it was in Perth that I first tried my hand in cooking. I had thought of it as a chemical experiment then: a bit of this, a dash of that, apply heat. And if it doesn't explode in your face, it's good enough to eat.

I haven't been back since those days in the "kitchen-laboratory". I'm truly excited.

Do you remember the first time you tried cooking? Or had to cook for someone really special? Did it turn out well?

Enjoy food, enjoy life.
Love, Suzy

Family Dinner

Ever since I could remember, my family had always had our family dinner on Sundays.

It meant a lot to me that the family sits down for a meal together. We are not the most talkative family nor are we good with sharing our feelings. Oftentimes, there was little in terms of conversation. We just ate together, what more could we ask for in a conservative Chinese-ethnic family?

When our grandparents were living with us, we would eat dinner out so that Mama could have a day's break from housework and cooking. Our usual haunt was the chicken rice at Queenstown food centre. I was still too young to appreciate the garlicky chili sauce or the piquant ginger sauce, but I loved drowning my chicken rice in the sweet dark soya sauce. It's still there, this stall.

The other place we frequented, which didn't stand the test of time, was steamboat at the Henderson market. In addition to the raw slices of fish, prawns and meat for the steamboat, they used to serve tempura prawns. They called it "yap pun har" Japanese prawns in Cantonese. I loved that! And when nobody was looking, I would feed the crunchy tail shell to the stray cats that hovered hopefully around the tables.

Then we moved on to the sliced fish soup in Chinatown food centre and the Hokkien restaurant in Amoy Street. And as my siblings and I started working, the places we went to became progressively upmarket as we took turns paying for dinner.

When I moved to Europe, I would time my calls around 9pm in Singapore, when the family is basking in their after-dinner contentment. They would pass the phone around with nothing much to say except to tell me what they just had: fish soup noodles, sashimi, fried noodles, Thai curry,... It varied every weekend and I didn't want to miss a single dish. Somehow, knowing what they had eaten for Sunday dinner made me feel closer to home.

And as my brothers and I got married or moved out, our Sunday dinners became the only time Mama can feed us nourishing home-cooked meals. The dishes became double-boiled soup, steamed fish, prawns and lots of vegetables. After dinner, we would be force-fed with a week's worth of fruits as my parents, like all Chinese-ethnic parents, fret needlessly over malnutrition.

Yesterday, my father texted me. Preparg chix curry and minestrone soup 4 2moro dner.

I'm counting down to dinner tonight - only 5 more hours to go. His minestrone soup is quite out of this world...
*drool*

Be well. Eat Well.

Love, Suzy

I hate Mondays

Don't you sometimes wish that you have a giant chopper knife like this?

I did, this weekend.

I wished I had it for the mosquitoes that feasted on my sweet blood as I pruned my plants by the front door...

I wished I had it when door bitch at the bar that my friends and I were trying to get into was, well, being bitchy...

I wished I had it when there were just too many things to do and the weekend is coming to an end...

Well, looks like Suzy has the Monday blues, on a Sunday night. I hope the week gets progressively better.

Love, Suzy

PS. Wouldn't it be a funny sight to see me waving a chopper at the mosquitoes buzzing around me?