Hawker and Wet Market

One of my goals while living in Singapore is to sit on a board.  The Centre for Non-Profit Leadership is a local organization that matches individuals such as myself with openings on non-profit (charity) boards.  As part of the leadership development program, they require that volunteers attend 5 training courses.  I've taken 3 online, but the last 2 are classroom only.  I had the pleasure of spending this last Saturday in one of the classroom only courses learning all about Non-Profit Regulations in Singapore, and non-profit governance.  The topic, when paired with a lack of sleep due to a sick child and no caffeine, made for several hours of head bobbing.  The lunch break couldn't have come soon enough, and much to my delight it turned out to be an exciting time.  I discovered a new Hawker center and wet market.

What is a Hawker center?  They are open-air food courts/centers with many vendors selling a variety of  inexpensive food (Wikipedia).  They are typically found around public housing, or as they are called in Singapore, HDB (housing development board) flats.  They are by no means like "public housing" in the USA.  It's Singapore- they are nice.  Some expats live in HDB flats if they are lucky enough to find one.

For lunch, I ordered a 1-meat 2-veggie set which included a huge scoop of rice.  I only paid SGD $2.90 which is USD $2.28!!!!  For $2.28, I got  homemade sweet&sour pork, bok choy, eggplant and rice.  Unbelieveable!!!!  How can they buy all the ingredients, prepare them, keep them warm and then handle the sales transaction for only $2.27?  What on earth is their profit margin?

Of course, then I bought a diet pepsi for I think SGD $1.50 which is USD $1.18.  Something doesn't add up there.

But the biggest find of the day was not the Hawker center, but the Wet Market, which is an open-air market where vendors sell fruits, veggies, meats, fish, flowers, and more.  They are all over Singapore.  Most of the expats I know don't bother to go to them, but its quite an experience. The pictures and captions speak for themselves.

Fruits and Veggies

More veggies

Fishmonger

Fish on ice

Look down a passage way

Prawns

Squid (I think)

Crabs

Scary fish parts (saw lots of fish head - rolly polly fish heads)

Durians (I believe)

Dessert shop

Pedal Go-Karts at West Coast Park

My preschooler did not have school today due to  parent-teacher conferences.  Yes, parent-teacher conferences for a preschooler!  So we needed something fun to do.  Over Christmas, he attended a camp where they rode pedal go-karts.  He loved it so much we decided to go again.

BERG Lifestyle Private Limited operates a rental shop near car park 2 in West Coast Park.  They have several different types of go-karts and the seats are adjustable.  They even have two seaters.  The  prices were reasonable.  It was $22 for the two of us for 30 minutes.

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Secret Men's Business

Before we moved to Singapore, we had a conversation with a cultural relocation consultant who was a local Singaporean.  I asked her if she thought there would be any stigma assignment to me because I was a male trailing spouse.  Her reply was something like "I am not sure.  I've never heard of any male trailing spouses."  This was not a confidence builder!  I did some Internet research and found that while it is less common, male trailing spouses do exist and the numbers are increasing.  Oddly enough, I have met several mates by happenstance.  For instance, one morning a few days after we moved into our apartment and before the kids had started school, I was taking the kids for the walk.  As we were heading back, a guy exited the subway and struck up a chat with me.  I came to find that he was a stay-at-home Dad who was loving it.  Another time, I took a cooking class at a local restaurant called the Coriander Leaf.  There were only 10 people in the class, but as it turned out, another guy was again a stay-at-home Dad.  (He'd even sold his business in the UK to move here!)  Finally, a female colleague of my wife's was moved here and you guessed it, another male trailing spouse.)

But as you could imagine, female trailing spouses, the infamous expat wives, are more common.  They are at all the swim lessons, gym lessons, soccer lessons, etc., and out for the morning tennis matches or coffees.    So it still feels a little strange and make me feel like less of a man.

But this week, I finally found a social group for male trailing spouses.   They are a group from the Australian and New Zealand Association (ANZA) called Secret Men's Business.  It's a bunch of men, most of whom choose not to work.  They meet up twice a week to golf, and once a month to have lunch and beers.  Some men were older and a few were around my age.  All very interesting and easy to talk to.  I can't wait to go next month.

Outdoor seating Harry's @ Boat Quay.  Right on the river!

 

College Swim Scout Spotted at the American Club

Okay... Well not exactly... but there was talk of a college scholarship for my son..... from a Mom sitting next to me... after she saw his strong kicking. All unsolicited!!!

He's shown great improvement over the past month in his kicking and stroking, primarily because he doesn't mind getting his head and face wet.   With a kick board, he's crossing the pool with ease. He'll head to the corner of the pool jump in and swim 10 to 12 feet on his own. Finally, much to my surprise, he'll jump off a starting block by himself!!! It's great to see him progressing. I can't wait until he can swim all his own.

He does have to step it up though. His Dad and uncles were all swimming competitively at age 6. Perhaps having an Australian coach is not enough. Or perhaps we need to start daily lessons. Who knows. I am still finding the Tiger Dad within.

Children's Garden

Treehouse

This morning I took the kids to the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden at the Singapore Botanical Gardens.  It's a great place to take the kids to for a quick outing and to burn some energy.  The kids love the treehouse (left) which contains 2 slides, stairs, rope ladder, vertical ladder and a few seating areas.  Some other highlights include a water (sprinkler) play area, a sand patch, a maze, a rope bridge and a waterfall.

My child are too young to spend too much time learning about plants and flowers, but today presented the opportunity to talk to them about banana trees and pineapple plants.  I showed them  banana bunches and then tried to connect them back to the Banana Boat Song Day O song performed by the Wiggles.

Bananas

Bananas

Pineapple

Man lunch #4 hibachi grill at Wisma Atria

The no-thrills chef

Today was Man Lunch #4 with fellow stay-at-home dad John.  It was John's week to pick, but because his daughter had been ill for the past few days he did not have time to do research.  So we settled on the 4th floor food court run by the BreadTalk group at the Wisma Atria mall.  After surveying all the stalls and narrowly escaping the food whores (the greeters at food stalls who won't leave you alone), we choose a Japanese Hibachi grill.

If you are from the USA, you are probably grimacing at the thought of eating at a food court.  Well in Singapore, it's different.  The food courts rock!  The food is all fresh (with the normal exceptions) and made to order.  It's quite amazing and the US food court operators could really learn some things from them.

Interesting practices in Singapore:

• Food stalls/vendors do not sell drinks.  You get your drinks from either the drink stall or a drink cart that circles around.  
• Food stalls do not give napkins.  At best, you'll get a dinky drink-sized napkin.
• To reserve/save your table (which you should do before you get your food), you leave a travel-sized packet of tissues on a table.  This works well in most cases except when you get a tourist who isn't aware of the practice.

Back to lunch....

Set A - Fish, Shrimp and Beef

John ordered the Set A (SGD $15.50) which was fish, shrimp (prawns) and beef cubes.  I ordered the sliced beef meal (SGD $8.50).  Each meal came with miso soup, rice, bean sprouts and bok choy.  The food was a slightly over salted but good tasting.  What I didn't like was that the chef did not put on a show. Usually, the fun of going to an hibachi grill is the chef throwing stuff up in the air and putting on a show.  Today, the chef basically just cooked the food in front of us.  In summary, the food was good, but the experience was average.

Tiger Father or Need a Job

I am sure if it is because I am reading "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" or because I am not working, but I set a new goal for my 4 year old.  He is going to be the first person in our family tree to compete in the Olympics.  I am targeting the 2024 summer games.

What sport(s)?  He is very strong and fearless, which probably describes most 4 year old boys.  Nonetheless, I think he has talent in and an affinity for gymnastics.  He also loves swimming and jumping in the water so I am thinking perhaps either platform diving or the backstroke.  This morning I taught him the Cannonball and the Jack-knife, and he quickly added the Reverse Cannonball and Reverse Jack-knife to his repertoire.   As far as backstroke is concerned, he has a strong, fast kick and doesn't really like getting his face wet, making backstroke perfect.  He would probably be a sprinter rather than a distance swimming.

Next steps?  Buy books on the sports and find some good coaches.  Practice! Practice! Practice!  Up at 5 AM for practice.  Up until midnight studying.

Donations to help offset his training expenses are accepted and appreciated.

Freestyle demo

The Weekend's outings

My wife and I spent Friday night at the Marina Bay Sands at an event held by a bank for its' clients.  The night began with hors d'oeuvres on the terrace at South Beach bar and restaurant, a beautiful setting overlooking the bay.  The finger foods were delicious especially the mini-hamburgers.  The lamb chops looked good, but I didn't get the opportunity to try them.

Next we stopped at High Society for a quick dessert before heading to the Lion King.  I had a tart and my wife had a cupcake.

Finally, we had made our way to the Marina Bay Sand Theatre for the Lion King.  We were probably about 10 rows from the stage just to the left.   The Lion King was the inaugural production at the theatre.   Everything about the show (costumes, music, production) was amazing.  They even weaved in local references (like "lah" and the Merlion) in the script which drew big laughs from the audience.

Saturday we took the kids to Seb's Bistro (and The Playground) in Rochester Park.  Rochester Park is a lush and swanky little patch.  We sat on the beautiful patio/terrace with one of our kids while the other went into The Playground which is an indoor play area for kids.  It costs $6/hr which is expensive in my opinion, but its worth the price if you want a little quite and calmness while you eat a meal with your spouse.  The Playground had a train table, dress up costumes, and more.  According to their website, the target age on the first floor is 2 - 7 which the basement is for ages 7 - 12.  (You may want to double check this.)  My wife and I both ordered sandwiches which were great.  We ordered a plate of spaghetti for the kids for $15 which was pricey for the amount we got.  All in all, we enjoyed it and would go back.

Saturday night we left the kids at home so we could grab a bite to eat and do a little shopping.  We ending up eating at Secret Recipe.  My wife picked the restaurant which she later confessed was based on the dessert options.  (I don't blame her.)  To our surprise, they were "out" of items on the menu.  Out of diet coke.  Out of black forest cake.  So it was bit disappointing, but we got over it.  

I must digress for a minute to write about one of the most annoying customs in Singapore.  Restaurants bring out items in the order in which the kitchens gets them ready.  Last night was annoying because our appetizer came after our meals and drinks.  We ordered chips and dip.  Seriously, how long does it take to "prepare" chips and salsa?

Enough ranting... Back to the blog....

Today (Sunday) we took the kids down to walk around Marina Bay and the Sands.  The bay is so beautiful with the backdrop of all the buildings and such.  We took a picnic lunch and ate by the water.

ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands

Bridge at Marina Bay Sands

Ice Skating Rink in Marina Bay Sands Shoppes

The Wisdom of Crowds and Burger King

There is a rule of thumb that if you are in a foreign place and don't know or can't decide where to eat, look for a crowded restaurant filled with locals.  So far in Singapore this has served me well.  But, today this rule of thumb was broken.  I walked past a Burger King in a large, upscale mall on famous Orchard Road and this is what I witnessed:

In case its hard to see, its a line of people extending out of the Burger King and down the walkway.  I would guess the line was 30 people or more deep (starting from the service counter.)

I have young kids so I'll admit that I do patronize fast food restaurants like McDonald's and to lesser extend Subway, and that the Whopper is a decent burger.  But come on people, we live in a food mecca!  To get to the BK, they passed a fantastic sushi place, a huge hawker/food court, and numerous other restaurants.  Seems like such a shame.

Man lunch at Seah Street Deli (Raffles Hotel)

I started having a weekly lunch outing with the husband of one of my wife's colleagues. We are both stay-at-home Dad's at this point. In past weeks, we went to sushi and Chinese. It was my turn to select the place this week and I was in mood for a true New York style deli sandwich. I searched online and came across the Seah Street Deli in the famous Raffles Hotel. The reviews sounded positive and it was an excuse to finally get to visit the Raffles Hotel so we went.

The atmosphere was nice and clean, but kind of cheesy. We were floored when we looked at the prices on the menu. The most absurd item was a $9 can of diet coke. They brought us the can of soda and a nice mason-type jar that was popular in the US in the early 1990's. We joked that the fancy glass explained the price. The sandwich prices were equally shocking- $28 for a rueben and coleslaw. Not even Mayor Bloomberg would pay that price.

All in all, given the prices you can skip eating here and you won't be missing much. Do walk through the hotel though.