the counter, palo alto

It’s Singapore week in the Bay Area! Lots of SG friends passing through which means lots of meals to be had and lots of gossip to be shared.

Vinny arrived first so I picked him up fresh from the many-houred flight and took him to a burger joint. Hello, we’re in America. Everyone gets a burger on arrival. He’s a big In-n-Out fan but he has a whole week plus to satisfy those cravings. Instead, we tried out The Counter where a sorta awkward but nice enough waiter shuffled us along in our burger journey.

bi-rite creamery, san francisco

Yes, it was late. Yes, it was cold. Yes, it was raining. Yes, we got ice cream.

Post- Burma Superstar dinner, post-performance at the Women’s Building we hoofed in back in our high heels to the car. Despite the drizzle and my aching feet we made a detour to Bi-Rite to join the line of other smart people satisfying their sugary dreams. Verdict: worth it. Want more.

burma superstar, san francisco

I went to Burma Superstar and took bad pictures. Let me share them with you.

craving of the day: baby mangos

I’d like a baby mango.

If I’ve timed this correctly by the time you read this I’ll be enjoying a mango or two in the land of mangos.

kim moh beef noodle, singapore

Gary is one of those rare Singapore specimens.

He has a car.

A car that takes him to places that are otherwise arduous journeys for those of us relegated to the (actually pretty awesome) public transportation system in Singapore. As a last hurrah Gary took me to one of the randomest noodle joints ever. It resulted in me being: grateful (yay a car), confused (where the hell are we), stuffed (oh wow so good), and angry (thanks for sharing your favorite food place as I’m leaving and will probably never be able to eat here again).

Did I mention that it used to be a Western themed tavern?

spize, river valley road, singapore

Did I mention that after that chicken rice meal Therese and I were hankering for something sweet? Well we were. We ended up at the coffee shop next door that sold loads of different prata.

It’s banana cheese prata served with curry. I’m not sure what possessed us to order this particular combination.

It was good and we ate it.

merry christmas my loves

This year I made a few batches of chocolate bark to give away and share. They are pretty easy to make. Just melt chocolate in a double boiler (I did 2 batches of 16 oz), pour out onto pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray and lined with parchment, sprinkle on some mix-ins, press down to get them situated, and then stick in the fridge to let them harden.

I did one batch of s’more style bark with marshmallow and graham cracker and one batch of darker chocolate with dried cranberries and pistachios. When you’re all done wrap them up in tissue paper and wrap them like a pro.

I hope your belly is full of good food this season. I hope you’re grasping for the inhaler through bouts of uncontrollable laughter. And I hope you’re spending this Christmas with the people you love the most in this crazy, crazy world. ❤ xoxo

boon tong kee little gourmet, singapore

I haven’t had chicken rice in over 6 months. That’s a lie. I did have a chicken rice sometime in July/August in Menlo Park. It was not so good so I like to pretend it never happened.

This chicken rice episode definitely did happen though. River Valley Road was not exactly what you would call convenient for me location-wise but it does have this nice strip of eateries that were bustling on the night we made it the area.

To your right: full on traffic (we sat outside right up against the main street). To your left: glistening plates of chicken rice.

the next great singapore food tour

Before I left Singapore we had another Singapore Food Tour (seriously, you could probably have an infinite amount of these in Singapore – there are so many places to eat).

Actually, wait. I have a few, unrelated things to purge from my brain.

– Yesterday I found a dead frog on the table in one of the conference rooms at work. Dis.gust.ing. How did it get there? No one knows.

– I am totally obsessed with watching Top Chef All Stars. I DVR each episode and then watch it about 5 million times. No, not just because of Dale Talde. (Although it’s a nice bonus.) The challenges are freakin’ crazy this season and you got some pretty badass chefs on the show. Except for Jamie who keeps flying under the radar…

– My brother got me the Momofuku book for Christmas and now I really, really want to try the cereal milk custard and the ramen.

– I’m leaving for a trip to Asia in a few days and I’m not packed at all.

– I wore boots over my jeans for the first time 2 days ago. I’m still recovering.

– I hate this laptop.

Okay, I feel better. Where were we?

Singapore. Food Tours. Let’s talk about it.

portobello road market, london

I love me a good market and London has LOADS of good ones. After my brother and I had parted ways in London, I trekked back to the city with my cousin (who has been living in London for a few years now) to spend some quality girl time.

I had two objectives on this lovely London day: 1) find an old map of Singapore/Southeast Asia and 2) eat something good.