BBQ'ed trout

We still have not seen any sign of a repairman for our stove (two weeks and counting), but fortunately, the weather is great for barbecuing.


I wonder if barbecuing is illegal too in Singapore...

Singapore Airport Foodz

Even the airport foodz did not disappoint, with a Kuey Teow that was almost as good as ours, and a glass of Amla juice (an excellent source of vitamin C, apparently).



There were loads of other interesting drinks on the menu, so I also tried a nutmeg juice. Not my favorite, but definitely interesting.

Economizing

To alleviate the problem of the big spending wife, and also because our stove is still broken which means that I am not so motivated to go to France to go grocery shopping, I am eating whatever I can still find in the cupboards. I was going for the usual combo of meat, potatoes and vegetables.

I found duck confit in the cupboards, and, as I thought we ran out of vegetables, decided that one piece was going to be the meat, and the other the vegetables. The next day I realized that we also still had a red cabbage.



It being slightly the wrong season for red cabbage, I decided to eat on the balcony, where it was still a bit chilly.

Pork Belly

Remember the last Saarbrücken post when we had Chinese food from our favorite restaurant, Sake? Me neither! Anyway, the day after that we made our own Chinese food. I still have a lot to learn.

Chinatown, Singapore

This morning, I made a quick visit to Chinatown, which featured tourist stalls, cheap beer, and probably a lively atmosphere later in the day. At 10 in the morning, it was pretty boring, however.

It also featured another hindu temple:

and a place where our parents could hang out if they visit Singapore:

Orchard Road, Singapore

Apparently, the most popular local pastimes here are eating and shopping. I can't say the fancy shops appeal to me much, but the buildings are pretty...

I just paid 10.50 euros

For half a liter of beer! (although I do get to drink it in on a very nice outdoor patio with a pleasant fan-generated breeze)

They had better offer me a very good salary (Yes! it looks like they will make me an offer soon. Even the university president(!!!) told me so, so it had better be true...)

Singapore -- day 2

After a night of not-too-much sleep, I had breakfast in the Indian restaurant next door. This was not a great success, because the combination of jet lag, not being used to the heat and humidity and a spicy breakfast made me feel really uncomfortable. Fortunately, it only lasted for a short while, and after that I explored the Muslim quarter and Little India.




I met a friend from Cornell for lunch. Unfortunately, the photos of the food did not work out, so just some pics of the two of us.

Singapore!

I landed in Singapore about 4 hours ago, and I am loving it!

I've probably broken a dozen laws already (is there a law against jaywalking, because I seem to be the only one doing it?!), but this place does not seem half as uptight as I thought it might be.

My taxi driver honked and swore at another driver who made a right turn from the left-turn-lane, and then threatened to throw an egg at her. He had a plastic bag filled with raw eggs hanging from his steering wheel just for that purpose! (Unfortunately, the latter is not quite true, but it is a good story.)


My hotel for tonight is in Little India. Tomorrow, I am moving to Orchard Road, which is apparently filled with high-end shopping malls, but today, I am still paying for my hotel myself, so I am in a lively but somewhat seedier area.


At the recommendation of Damla, I had dinner at Banana Leaf Apolo. It was right across from this little field.
It was a great restaurant with long wooden tables shared by different groups of customers. The people next to me on the left were Chinese, and on the right were Indian.


Unfortunately, our old camera refuses to focus (and also, I am not Frans), so the photo really sucks. The food, however, was awesome! I ordered way too much, and had fish curry (slightly sour, very very delicious) and chicken masala (also extremely good, with really beautiful spices).


I tried to use lime juice to encourage my stomach to digest faster, but to no avail, and I only managed to finish about two-thirds of the food.

A nice stroll around Little India followed dinner, and now I am back in my windowless hotel room, getting ready to go to bed.

Profi Chinese Food

Long time no see at our favorite Chinese restaurant in Saarbrücken, with the unfortunate name Sake. The food was even better than I remembered!



We had the usual Hong Kong duck and Ginger Meets Chicken.



Yum-o!

Pulled Pork

We used the residual heat of the barbecue to smoke some pork. Wonderful for dinner and lunch!

Cow in the Living Room

We bought a cow. It's lying in the living room.

Advice Followed

We followed Ellen's great advice and fired up the barbecue for the first time this year for some great ribs and wonderful sweet potatoes!





We can tell that spring has really sprung here by the fact that Eis Paul's truck is ringing its bell every evening in our street again.

Instant Favourite

This is only the second entry for the ESC 2012 I have seen, and it is my instant favourite for this year's title. Hilariously awesome/awful! (Just keep on watching: "An understated and slightly mournful ode to lost love, it bursts into life after two minutes and is followed immediately by a rapturous round of applause across the entire continent. Well, that's the idea anyway." according to the Guardian.)

Telegraaf Buys a Photo

Thank you Telegraaf!

(Link to original post with this pic.)

Williamsburg, VA

I know all of our readers are rooting for me this time: if I get the job I was interviewing for last Friday, you can all come and visit us in Colonial Williamsburg. Hurray!!!

Williamsburg is smaller than the town I grew up in, and this is the non-colonial city center:

Everything is extremely pretty, which freaks me out a bit...

Other notable facts about Williamsburg, VA are its two large outlet malls, an insane number of pancake houses, and an infinite number of golf courses. Definitely enough to keep you all happy for a visit (although the idea of potentially living there takes some getting used to). The job seems exactly right for me, though (let's hope they think so, too).

Coming up this Friday is a visit to a slightly more exciting city for another interview...

Let's be interactive...

I think it is time our readers leave us some comments again. So tell us when (if ever) you think our stove will be fully operational again, and leave suggestions for dishes that require at most two small ceramic burners and/or an oven.

More Foodz

Hutspot with sausage.



And the usual peppers.



Our stove broke down after this: only the plates on the right hand side are working. Let's see how long it takes before we can really cook again.

Home Made Chinese Foodz

The dong po rou was not quite there yet, but these green beans were awesome.

Breakfast

Brie and pear. Yum.

Quiche

As you can tell, this quiche is one of our favorite recipes right now.

China Restaurant

We tried another Chinese restaurant. The food was mostly what we would have expected in a good restaurant outside the city of Beijing.



But the fish (below) was not so good: it tasted like ground spices, and was too spicy. That, and the "The Nines"-effect afterwards, made us decide not to go back to this restaurant.

Hilvaria Studio's