Craving for Yong Tou Foo

I dreamt of eating Yong Tou Foo two days ago. It made me really want to just make a trip to Singapore to satisfy my craving. However, we had no plan to go back Singapore for the moment.

When I told Seb about my dream, he said "Why go back Singapore just for that? Yong Tou Foo is just soup with veggies." Sigh. He just did not get it. This is my comfort food and the fish paste in the veggies makes this dish so unique.

When Seb was in Boston last week, he had a great dinner at an authentic Malaysia restaurant. And they serve Yong Tou Foo. Was that why I had my dream of Yong Tou Foo?

Next week I will be going Helsinki for three days. I will try to convince David to dine with me at the Panda Restaurant opposite our client's place. I had been to Helsinki so many times but never try this Chinese restaurant. I doubt they serve Yong Tou Foo but maybe there would be other comfort food.

Since Singapore is too far, Seb promised to go Chinatown with me this sat to get some Chinese vegetables. He is extra accommodating to me at this moment. He has not much of a choice. A pregnant woman's wish is the husband's command.

Il y a deux jours j'ai rêvé que j'étais en train de manger un Yong Tou Foo. Ensuite, j'ai vraiment eu envie de faire un aller-reour à Singapour afin de satisfaire cette envie. Néanmoins, on n'a pas prévu de visiter Singapour pour le moment.

Quand j'ai parlé à Seb de mon rêve, il a repondu "Pourquoi aller à Singapour juste pour ça? Yong Tou Foo est juste une bol de soupe avec des légumes." Zut. Il n'avait rien compris. C'est un aliment me réconfortant et la pâte de poisson dans les légumes fait toute la différence.

Seb était à Boston la semaine dernier et il a bien mangé chez un restaurant Malaisie. En plus, il y avait le Yong Tou Foo. Ce n'est pas par hasard que j'ai rêvé de ça.

La semaine prochaine, je vais aller à Helsinki pendant trois jours. Je vais convaincre David de diner avec moi chez Panda qui est en face de notre client. Je suis allée à Helsinki plusieurs fois mais je n'ai jamais essayé ce restaurant asiatique. Je ne crois pas qu'il serve du Yong Tou Foo mais peut-être y aura t-il autres aliments réconfortant.

Comme Singapour est trop loin, Seb a promis d'aller à Chinatown avec moi samedi pour acheter les légumes chinoise. Il est beaucoup plus accommodant envers moi. Il n'a pas de choix. Le souhaite d'une femme enceinte est un ordre pour son mari.

Bias news

Go to this link. (http://www.asiaone.com/specials/foreignspouse/)
It says four in ten Singaporeans marry foreigners.
The images only show asian women with ang moh men.
And if you read the various articles proposed, most interviews were on local women with ang moh husbands.

Yet when you read the article, it mentions that out of the 8086 Singaporeans who married a non-citizen, 6200 were men and 1886 were women.

Aren't these images and interviews mis-representing the facts?
This gives the wrong idea that singapore girls prefer to marry ang moh while in actual fact, local men marry more foreigners than local women. Three times more!

PS: Ang moh is singlish for Caucasians.

Felt like in Singapore

My family came and left. Put them togather in a room and right away, I felt I was transported back to Singapore. Auntie Lily made me pineapple tarts and in the morning, while watching the chinese program on TV, there was this surreal Chinese New Year atmosphere.

Mom made ‘Wu-Xiang’ in Singapore and steamed them. She then froze them and brought them over. My freezer was full of them but in two weeks time, we had already finished more than half of them. They were yummy. She also made some chilli sauces for me and my friend Sandra.

While my family was here, I was pampered with home cooked Nasi lemak, Bak Kut Teh, Lontong curry, authentic fried mee hoon, gluntinous rice with dried shrimps, mushrooms and peanuts, Otah (yeah, Auntie Lily brought them over) among mom’s other signature dishes. They brought so much food stuff that Seb could not recognise our kitchen. Auntie Lily even showed me how to make a pandan cake with pandan leaves from her balcony.

Other than just spending time in the kitchen cooking, I brought mom and gang to visit the usual tourist sites in Paris. We spent four days in Pays-Basque, South-west of France and we had good weather. It was chilling but there was sun. The scenery was great with the mountains and seas within view.

When we came back from Pays-Basque, it turned cold in Paris. We spent most of our time playing bowling on the WII game. Mom and Auntie Lily were really expert. Auntie Lily scored more than 180 points though she had never played real bowling.

It was great having them over. We were amazed that my grand-uncle aged 73 was able to walk as much as we did. My sister had Roquefort and liked it.

Mom will visit again next year. Till then, I miss the three dishes and one soup she prepared for dinner.