Photo of the Day

Jenna, who asked Dave to take a picture of "me wearing my sandals".

Photo of the Day - What jet lag looks like

5:15 pm; kitchen table

A Change of Seasons

We interrupt our on-going Singapore report to
bring you this important announcement:


Spring has arrived in Minnesota.

Ah..........

There is, of course, still ice on the ground


but we took our first outdoor walk today and saw
neighbors in shorts. Actually, even more significant was
that we saw neighbors, period. Therefore, we concluded that
The Thaw has begun and human beings are once again
populating the streets. And that is worth cheering about!

And now, back to our regular feature on er..... Summer in Singapore.

Singapore - Flora

It is always a treat to visit Singapore in the middle of
winter here in Minnesota. For one, it isn't freezing
there, and the humidity heals our dry, cracked skin some.
For another, the green and colorful plant life is such a
welcome change from the white barren snowy landscape
we've looked out on over the past months.

And what plant life!
I only wish I knew all their names.

Some of our more distinct trees:
Traveller's Palm



Coconut Palm








Some very cool leaves


(Flame of the Forest)



and flowers
Spider Lily








Allamanda


Ixora



These are the flowers that I most miss from Singapore
when living here in Minnesota - orchids:

And because there are just too many flowers to photograph
in one short visit, here are photos from our 2005 archives,
taken while we lived in Singapore when Emily was little.



Frangipanni















Flame of the Forest






And because I really quite like orchids, here is a montage
of more orchid photos, also taken in 2005:








Preeeeetttty.

Singapore - Food

Here follows just a tiny, tiny sample of the food we ate in
Singapore. Mostly we were too busy actually eating to
take photos of everything we were eating.

Some of the fruit that we had on our Must Eat List:
Mangoes on sale in the market


Starfruit, pomelo and mango


and one on our Must Not Eat list: Durians (what a pong!)

and this very interesting fuji apple, the Chinese character
(prosperity) on which was part of the skin coloring, not a dye.


Some of our favorite spicy food:


Roti prata/roti canai with chicken curry:

and roti tisu - made with a little condensed milk, fried crisp
and rolled into a cone (the kids loved this):

Mum's glorious beef rendang


and our meal at Muthu's Curry Restaurant -

including that lovely bowl of basmati briyani on the left,

cabbage

mysore mutton (fried mutton with cashews)

chicken chuka vuraval and rice on a banana leaf

and papadoms -

a meal we had an encore of some days later with family in
mum's house, with takeout of the similar dishes from
a rival eatery, Apollo Banana Leaf:
Mmmm. We can't get enough of curry.


Chicken and mutton satay:


A Japanese rice-filled omelette at a fun restaurant
with our friend Eunice:


and some of the hawker fare that was, as we
like to say in Singapore, "cheap and good":


Vegetarian bee hoon (rice vermicelli)

soon kueh (savory shredded turnip, bamboo shoots,
shrimps and a lot of other ingredients wrapped in a rice flour shell)

putu mayam (a net of rice vermicelli eaten with
light brown sugar and fresh grated coconut)
- a common Indian breakfast

and air batu kacang, a dessert of shaved ice and
various syrups, jello cubes, sweet red beans,
creamed corn and evaporated milk:

So much to eat, so little time. Mmmm.


Next up: the flora of Singapore.