One of the first and biggest adaptations when I moved to Singapore was food. I wanted so badly to eat the local options, but my digestive system wasn't as ready as my brain.
I can't pronounce many things I've tried (and mostly enjoyed)... Kway Teow, Bee Hoon, Goteng, Tosah Masala, Tam Yum, Laksa, and so much more. Many foods are served hot with rich sauces and flavours. Eggs are a popular addition to almost all Singaporean dishes. (I even tried to get western food one evening and ordered a club house sandwich - it came with a fried egg on it.) Economic rice is an easy and fairly healthy choice - you get a pile of rice and then select however many veggie or meat/seafood choices you want from about 30. Milo (chocolate milk sort of) and Kopi are probably the most popular beverages. Once I ordered coffee in McDonald's and received Milo. My daughter drinks hot and cold Milo, and we have powdered Milo in our cupboard. It's big here.
I've learned that eating in the hawker stands is part of the reason I feel so full. It's hot outside, and the hawker stands are open to the air and not air conditioned. The people working in each stand must be so hot! We've started to take our supper away and eat from home. This seems to be working better for us.
Of course, the international options here are endless as well. Last weekend, I went to an authentic Indian restaurant. They provide wash basins so you can wash your hands before and after eating. We ordered the set meal, which includes rice and a bunch of curry dips and sauces... all served on a big banana leaf. We ate with our hands... well, actually our hand (right hand of course). After eating about 1/2 of it, I was completely stuffed. We washed our hands, paid our S$9 (for two meals), and off we went. It was delicious.. and we viewed a little cockroach scurrying across the floor as we left the restaurant.
Meals are a critical social event. Families gather around pots of soup with a variety of side dishes - similar to a fondue. The Kopi Tiams are always full. And lunch, or macay, is highly important - you do not miss it. Our property agent even asked if we'd had lunch yet and would have delayed a meeting for us to eat if we hadn't.
My daughter and I have friends that practiced Ramadan. But we've never observed it the way we see it here. Many people go out to eat here - kitchens are often not designed for a lot of cooking and eating in Kopi Tiams is cheap. A couple of times we've been at the Kopi Tiam just before sunset. The place was filled with people sitting with food and drinks on the tables in front of them. They chatted, texted, or read, but they did not eat. At exactly sunset, a voice sang out on the speakers and everyone began to eat - breaking their fast for the day. It's a pretty incredible thing to witness. It was completely natural for everyone there, but it demonstrated great restraint to us.
Last week, we bought our first full basket of groceries. Buying groceries can be such a mindless activity at home... unless you're preparing a new gourmet meal for 20 of course! Buying groceries in a new store in a new country, however, takes some thought. My daughter and I wandered up and down the narrow isles, with others scurrying around us, in search of familiar food with some new additions. Meat is going to be a challenge for us - although we managed to find some skinless boneless chicken breast. We skipped the chicken claws fully skinned and needing a nail clipping.
I also got a bottle of wine at the grocery store so we can officially celebrate settling into our new home - the cheap bottle was S$22 (about Cdn$17). My daughter got pink guava juice.
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