I find that my cravings have been playing a prominent role in my life lately, dictating where I spend my time after leaving the office. Prior to coming to Singapore I had been making myself kimchi fried rice like it was the only sustenance that could support me. Then upon coming here I fell into a pattern of wonton noodles or a rice noodle soup. I had a brief stint with prata, salads, and the occasional you tiao as well. For dinner I got obsessed with Crystal Jade La Mian, which has minced meat and mushroom noodles. I then happened upon Din Tai Fung again, which has a nice big bowl of hot and sour soup that I love (not to mention the xiao long bao, of course).
Monday night Typea took me to place apparently well-known for its gyoza that still retain some juice inside. We arrived as they were washing up for the night and managed to snag the last twenty they had for the day. The tartness of that vinegar had quite a bite to it and my mouth was numb for awhile, but it was oh so good. Then last night, Mizu directed me to a place that has dumplings, where I also got a large bowl of hot and sour soup. Boy was that HOT and SOUR! It truly lived up to its name and had me gasping for air as I gobbled down the dumplings drowned in vinegar. I couldn’t quite taste the dumplings because my mouth was on fire and the sourness didn’t help, but it was still delicious.
Recently I was reminded of Gushi’s and had a sudden desire to get their kimchi fried rice, which has a similar burning effect. I can’t wait to go back and make kimchi fried rice, the family soup, and rice noodles with tomato, eggs, and mushrooms. Mmm mmm good! I also can’t wait to be able to get marinated mushrooms at Ralph’s and huge jars of pickles from Costco. I had to resist the urge to buy more pickles last night because I think too much sour at a time makes me a bit nauseous. I keep staring at this empty jar on my desk and regretting that though. I’d also like to get some more salad so I can dribble Italian dressing all over it. Right now I’ll settle for some kimchi ramen though. 🙂
Well, it’s that time again and everyone at UCLA is done with finals and have been spending the past few days graduating. Today marks the final day of all the ceremonies, from commencements to departmental graduations to the ethnic-based ones. I’ve been getting e-mails on the AKPsi listserv of people talking about taking pictures together, attending their respective ceremonies, and otherwise celebrating the Class of 2009’s achievement. It’s really a festive time of year, as everyone has summer on their sights and just this one last hurdle before induction into the world of alumnihood. For just a moment, any worries about the future can be set aside as we focus on the here and now and rejoice in the completion of a degree.
It was a nice overcast day for the most part, which kept things cool. Thankfully, the rain stayed away though and allowed us to enjoy a very nice time at the park. Apparently a lot of people are blood donors because the place was packed! From the bus that took us from Boon Lay to the park to the line to get in, we could tell it was going to be a crowded place. It was still great fun though, as we made our way from penguins to flamingos to macaws to hawks to ostriches, and so much more! There was even this beastly creature that was huge and rather ugly, with remnants of a dino-like crown protruding from his head. Along the way, we came across a pelican feeding, where we were told about the seven types of pelicans in existence, and then got to see an entertaining bird show with all kinds of fun tricks.
At the end of our trip, we took the tram for one more spin around the park and headed out to meet up with some of Mizu’s friends. We stopped by the gift shop hoping to find a cute penguin pen to bring back to Starfish, but they didn’t have any. 🙁 We also came across this free pearl offer (where they would extract it in front of you), but it was only for real ticketholders. 🙁 I was so sad because I really wanted one so I could bring something back to Chatty to thank her. Oh well. We then squeezed back onto the bus to take us to the MRT and took a nice long ride to Ang Mo Kio to wait for Mizu’s buddies. Typea’s been using my iPod touch to play Tap Tap Revenge (it’s like DDR but with your fingers on the touchscreen), which Mizu also enjoys, so we played a few rounds challenging each other as we sipped on some drinks.
Though I’ve been getting little tastes of Singaporean culture throughout my time here and occasionally something will remind me of China, it wasn’t until last night that I truly felt a strong cultural impression in everything around me. We had gone to East Coast Park, where there’s an outdoor cafeteria of sorts with stall upon stall of laksa, satay, dong dongs (I can’t remember what they were called), stingray, and who knows what else. I felt at once lost and amazed among all the dishes I’d never seen and had hardly heard of before. Paths cut through the park to allow bike riders, rollerbladers, and other such athletic activities to ensue. A little stage consisting of a piece of carpeting and a half watermelon backdrop provided the scene for an acrobatics show. On one side, we could look out across a small patch of trees to the ocean beyond, which was filled with ships.
