serene’s posterous

We tried to satisfy my desire for popiah tonight at Layang Layang.
The three of us had roti canai, popiah, kangkong belachan, Hainan
chicken, chow kueh teow, together with a serving of chicken rice
and white rice. The kangkong belachan was tasty, but
the rest of the dishes were disappointing to various degrees. I guess
that's why we don't usually go to Singaporean/Malaysian restaurants,
because nothing really lives up to our expectations.

The roti canai was okay, but the curry was too thick and sweet. The
popiah was very disappointing because the popiah skin was thick and
waxy (probably defrosted from a frozen package), and the filling was
not finely cut and too watery. The Hainan chicken didn't seem to
have the right seasonings. And the chow kueh teow (char kway teow),
while reasonably delicious, didn't quite taste authentic. The chicken
rice wasn't flavorful too.

But despite all my complaints, we did enjoy our dinner. Just don't
think we will be going back there anytime soon.

I currently have a strong craving for popiah, which is a
kind of fresh spring roll filled with finely chopped stewed turnip, egg
and some sweet black sauce and chili. The key to great popiah is the
handmade whisper-thin and crepe-like popiah "skin". I don't know if I
can get something similar here, since the fresh spring rolls in Thai
or Vietnamese restaurants are not quite the same thing.

Photo of excellent popiah from Qi Ji in Singapore:

This is my current favorite quick meal. A 2-egg omelette with onions,
peppers and cherry tomatoes. Sometimes I would add some smoked salmon
into the mix as well. And for the green vegetables, I would steam
some broccoli in the microwave.

Suffering from a sore throat, and desiring a cold fresh cup of soy
milk with grass jelly. Unfortunately, I don't think I can get my hands on this beverage here, and will have to make my own version with canned grass jelly. But it isn't the same without the grass jelly "worms".

Breakfast today was steaming hot bowls of jook (rice congee) with fish
slices, and raw fish (!) dressed with lime, chili, ginger and green
onions.

     

Some recent snacks I have had.
a) Chendol
b) Vegetarian Bee Hoon
c) Pau (coffee and corn flavored!) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baozi
d) Siew Mai http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaomai
e) Dried cuttlefish
f) Wasabi peas
h) Unagi rice burger with pink guava juice from MOS burger
g) Milo Godzilla http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9_Milo
h) Durian
i) & j) Red fleshed dragon fruit

                     

We had good cheng tng today. We had half warm half cold because that will result in a slightly less sweet dessert and at a good temperature for slurping it down quickly. This version has ginko nuts, white fungus, longan and barley amongst other ingredients.

For dinner this evening, my parents and I shared Char kway teow
with hum (cockles), soup with fish slices, and Yong tau foo.

For dessert, we bought Beard Papa, which
are choux pastries filled with fresh whipped vanilla custard. I used
to have these more often many years ago when I was working at the
airport. I think the last time I ate it, more than a year ago, I had
insisted on a pit stop when I saw a store in SF.

We had excellent crab beehoon (rice noodles) for dinner. The broth had a deliciously sweet crabby taste. The other dishes were good too. We had fish and fried chicken with Thai sweet sauce and spinach with several types of mushrooms.

Also finally got my hands on those mangosteens! A little pricey and small but tasty.

I haven't had these in a while. Buah Duku
is another fruit that is only commonly available in South East Asia.
The fruit has this acidic sweet taste that I like. Still no sign of
mangosteens...