SIGHT-SEEING AND SANUR

Our driver returned the next morning to take us for a little more sight-seeing on our way to Sanur to check into the next place we were staying. We stopped at some gardens for lunch - Nasi Lemak and Satay.

Our "villa" was one of those Bali places that looked good on Agoda but was tired and not well kept in reality. After discovering all the broken things and a murky swimming pool we laid back for a nap only to be woken up by a house now filled with fumes of burning plastic. The neighbor had built a bonfire and and burning plastic and it had filled our villa. That was the final straw. Joel hopped on his computer and booked a five star resort down the road and we left. 

CHANGING PLANS

Before we left we found out that Joel couldn't have any time off work and would be working nights the whole trip. Then he was summoned back to SF part way through the trip and had to forfeit his ticket home and purchase another at double the cost. Luckily I had gone through a reputable insurance agent and bought CFAR insurance which he can claim this under. We decided to go ahead with the edited trip but this is why Joel is absent for so many of the excursions but does make some valiant arrivals mid day and evenings. I cancelled our plan to tack on Thailand and opted to have us stay in Singapore again preferring a home base I know well when I'm solo with a senior and two kids in tow. 

After our first 4 days of sightseeing Mum and I sat down in a cafe and set our minds to booking all the rest of the trip details while Joel -- having his first day off on a weekend, took the boys to the adventure park. 

We met up at Vivo City Food Republic for dinner and gave the kids an even bigger overview of street foods in a slightly manic Disney-like setting. 

Breaking News: Poutine Officially Off The Bucket List

Frankly I had never heard of poutine until I was 20. Was I just terribly sheltered or did the whole poutine thing really become a trend around the year 2000? All I know is it's been a thing among both foodies and junk-food lovers for a while and everyone attributes it to Canada.

Joel decided to visit La Banquise poutinerie to see if they could satisfy my curiosity. And there we were, sitting on a picnic table with plastic forks in hand with about 4lbs of poutine in front of us.

So what did I think? Honestly, I'm not a fan. I fished around this sodding goo for a crisp fry and wished the gravy were on the side. And while I love cheese curds, their delicate flavour is lost in a gravy and they were just a rubbery texture floating in salty goo on sad mushy fries.

Joel ordered a meat lovers poutine with a MOUND of meats piled on top and he was similarly grossed out and ended up nibbling at the edges of mine instead. Austen barely touched his once he realized that it really wasn't as exciting as he'd hoped. 3 1/2 lbs of poutine hit the bottom of the park garbage bin and we walked home. Mission accomplished. Lets not do this again.

Wordless Post In Honour Of Montreal Bakeries

The Great Montreal Gastro Tour of 2016

I have to say the best time in life to visit a city like Montreal would have to be one where one is breastfeeding, long distance running or cycling because every foodie site I look at makes me want to EAT ALL THE FOOD. Luckily Joel and I are both on a 3,000 calorie diet and plan to take full advantage of that.

Joel has quite a list of places he frequents when he's there for all his business trips. I've compiled an ongoing Google map with recommendations from Joel and some friends. Anything to add? Leave us a comment!

Santa Monica Farmers Market

Eating across Paris

Paris is one of those places where you want to be able to say "I had the best meal of my life" but sometimes with all the tourist traps it's hard to really find a truly great meal. It's harder still to find a truly great meal that's not going to break the bank.

Before we left for Paris my good friend and fabulous Parisian, Noras, sat down with me one afternoon and shared her hidden gems of the city with me. I made several google maps that can be easily printed out for your next trek to the land of caloric bliss.

Smashed Chicken, are you feeling Lucky?

Ok, so in the Lucky Plaza mall there's this restaurant on the 4th floor that sells Indonesian food and it's popular enough that the lineup wraps around the corridor by 6:00pm. What do they sell? Well, we had smashed chicken and smashed dory fish. Basically it's fried meat with a crunchy dried shrimp topping, some tofu and tempeh chunks, side veggies on a banana leaf and then a chilli sauce that that's a little darker and hotter than the sauce for Nasi Lemak. It's served with a side plate of rice. Don't forget to order a crazy coloured
drink with condensed milk in the bottom.

Identifruit

We just went through a market stall in Little India and grabbed a few things we were unfamiliar with and looked them up when we got home. This little guy we are still unsure of. Once cut open we couldn't even figure out what part to eat as the flesh is not really soft and "fruity." Any ideas bloggers?

Roti Prata mi amore

Parantha is a South Indian dish which was introduced in Malaysia and Singapore. It's known as Roti Canai in Malaysia and Roti Prata in Singapore. There are few foods that produce the levels of sheer bliss of a freshly fried prata.The pure unadulterated version is just feathery layers of butter soaked and almost pastry-like bread. In the picture above the plain one is in the front on the left. You can also have egg, cheese, onion or mushrooms folded into the dough while it cooks like the egg prata on the back left of the platter. On the right side of the platter are the typical curries served with prata, lentil dahl in the front, fish curry in the middle. This particular vendor also served up a dollup of his own special masala sauce on the back left. This meal is $2.00USD at our closest hawker centre. I also buy whole wheat prata from the grocery store which is sold in stacks in the freezer section. It's not as fluffy as the fresh but it does make a great quick breakfast with an egg and cup of iced coffee.

TWG - The legend, the tea

TWG is an ultra high end tea shop with a location on the Second Floor or the Ion Centre (near the Dior and Harry Winston). Despite its shopping mall location, TWG is a tiny oasis of old world quaintness with furnishings and packaging reminiscent of the East India Trading Company and colonialism.

The White Rabbit and Halia

 We've been doing some fine dining catch-up now that Joel's home for a while. Here are our latest two conquests:

The White Rabbit  A couple of weeks ago we visited the White Rabbit with some friends and went all out. We ordered the full set menu and bottles of wine to pair. The set menu began with smoked duck breast with hard-boiled quail eggs, baby asparagus and a creme fraiche chive dressing. The salad course was pan fried foie gras with pear chutney on a baby salad. The main was a braised veal lasagne with mushrooms and bechamel sauce and the dessert was the most interesting chocolate millefeuille with layers of fresh berries between thick crisp pastry and chocolate. I had a customized tasting menu with seafood and vegetarian options. The food was luscious but the service was very poor.

Halia Restaurant This is less of a household name in Singapore but it's really quite a special place. It's right beside the Ginger garden in the Botanic Gardens.  I usually wander past during busy brunch time and have never had the time or been dressed to go in. Last night we were actually on our way to Casa Verde on the other side of the park for dinner but arrived after it closed. Hungry and tired we were passing by Halia on our way home and noticed a few people still outside at 9:45 on a Monday night having dinner. The food smelled divine and we luckily weren't in running clothes so we thought why not?

All I can say is it was quite possibly the most romantic spot I've been in Singapore. The food is really lovely and the service was quite impeccable. We shared a pasta dish and the trout and sipped Rose on the patio with the sounds of the waterfall and the jungle around us. Happy Monday!  

A few tips: Eat late and avoid all the noisy tourists and make sure you sit outside. It's about -5c indoors.

Arab Street by Night

I love this area of town for the fabric and carpet dealers and the quaint side streets of shop houses. I've been here several times for dinner but haven't yet found any great middle eastern food but I keep coming back for the shopping.

A cool new expat hub down this way is Fika Swedish Cafe and Bistro. It's at the corner of Arab St and Beach Road. Mmmm crepes and cakes and affagato. Delish.

Dempsey Hill the Axis of Douchebags or foodie hotspot?

We live really quite close to Dempsey Hill which, if you haven't been there is a tangle of high end restaurants at the top of a hill surrounded by pretty trees. It's not that far from the central business district but it feels like an oasis after downtown.

Thus far we've sampled the fare at The Red Dot, CMPB and PS Cafe. Food in all three has been pretty good, menus are designed by a chef, food not always overseen by a chef... but nothing too catastrophic has happened either. It's all very pricey so be prepared to open that wallet wide.

Home cooking re-loaded

I've discovered that when I cook I should close the kitchen door to keep the spicy vapor and heat away from the air conditioned rooms of the apartment. Then I swing open the balcony door (just off the other side of the kitchen). It's like a mini sweat lodge in there. Cooking becomes meditative because I can't wander round the apartment or fiddle with my phone while I'm shut in there and all I can hear is food sizzling, cicadas in the garden next door and the far off hum of the city. I emerge in a blissful warm, spicy bubble with a steaming bowl of curry.

This is a vegan, organic Thai green curry I made for myself this evening. It turned out great considering I'm not a Thai cooking expert. I was delighted to find that it was spicy enough to melt paint.

Chinatown & temple tours

We are completely exhausted after a long full day on our feet. The afternoon we hit the pavement and headed down into the Orchard road shopping district (which is just high end mega-malls and has nothing to do with former orchards). We both successfully found running shoes though we woefully realized that we should have purchased them before we left California. Even our friendly shopkeeper informed us that he shops for his running shoes when he travels to to US.

In the evening we met up with our friends for a beer and then a walk around Chinatown where we visited two temples and then had fantastic Tai food at a busy food stall. The first temple we found appeared to be hindu (though I'm not an expert on this and would welcome any other ideas) and we happened upon it right as they were starting a ceremony and a feast.

The next temple was Taoist and in stark contrast to the former temple it was clean, orderly and had mysterious locked chambers where we could hear monks within chanting. In all, a feast for the eyes, amazing day and the most spicy Som Tum salad we have had to date.

Click on the photos above or click here to see the album of pictures we took tonight

Hiking and Little India

We were up early today to meet up with our new friends and go on a hike around the Nature Reserve. Beautiful area and our 7km hike only just touched one little corner. As you can imagine hiking in 30 degree weather in this humidity is a sticky hot situation. We headed back into the city in search of some refreshment. Little India provided us with a great lunch, cold Tiger beer and a vibrant street life to explore. Click on the pictures above to check out our day on flickr.

-Stacey

Victoria, week one

Joel is just coming to the end of his week in Victoria and will depart for Toronto tomorrow morning. It's been a frenetic week to say the least. Our days were just action packed with all the moving details: the truck arriving at customs, moving things into storage, long meetings with the bank to open accounts in Singapore and all the things we are trying to sell on craigslist at the same time. Anyone need a projector?

Our evenings have mostly been spent in our parents homes with family all around, cooking and enjoying multi course meals fit for royalty. Heirloom tomatoes, duck, steak, freshly caught Sockeye, breads from local grain, wonderful smelly cheese and so so much wine. We got to see Joel's family from up island, my uncle and aunt and Grannie, all our siblings and of course parents and a few friends too. It's been another week of good-byes, non-stop food and good company.

The Bucket List

As our weeks here dwindle away we've been working our way through a bucket list of the things we set out to do before leaving. I took our friends Jon and Christine wine tasting in Sonoma on Friday and enjoyed my final trip to our favourite tasting room at Sojourn. We drove around the headlands and up Mt Tam too.

Joel and I have been out to some new restaurants in the area and in fact haven't really cooked at home much in the last while. Our latest finds that we whole heartedly can recommend are:

123 Bolinas which is at that very address in Fairfax. It's a new wine bar with a small tapas menu and a great selection of wines by the glass or half glass and wonderful cheese plates. Cozy atmosphere and choc full all the time.

Picco in Larkspur has been on my list to try for ages. It's a popular night spot in the neighbourhood for casual fine dining. Our dinner there was fantastic, don't miss it if you're in that area.

Next week we set sail for the legendary Chez Panisse...


-Stacey

my Yelp link

Recent reviews by Stacey E.

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I've been reviewing restaurants for the past few years. All of my reviews are on yelp in case you ever want to re-trace our gastro tour of the planet.