Food Friday

Friday at work was a short day for me thanks to my afternoon appointment with the Ministry of Manpower to get my employment pass allowing me to work here.  Of course it did not mean I had to skip out on my groups two hour lunch!  This week for Friday lunch my group took me to the Bedok area and I had my first taste of Chicken Rice, one of the infamous dishes of Singapore.  We ate at an outdoor Hawker Center and had quite the feast of food to dig into.

From left to right: Bean sprouts, roast chicken, regular chicken, some animals liver (I didn't eat that) and tofu in the back right.  Everyone got their own plate of rice. 

So the verdict- chicken rice is quite tasty!  I liked the roasted chicken better and it was even better dipped in some chili/ginger sauce with some rice and bean sprouts- YUMMM.  The tofu was also very good too.  No verdict on the liver...I told my co-workers I prefer to stay away from the organs of animals...and their heads/hands/feet.

After my employment pass appointment in downtown, I had plenty of time to walk around by the river walk across from Clark Quay (pronounced Clark Key).  And then once the rain picked up I hopped on the MRT and headed to my end of the island.  Once I made it back, I took a nice walk along a path just outside of my complex.  I saw lots of colorful houses like the ones below.  Of course I couldn't believe how smack close together they were!  

Alright so back on the food Friday theme, I had to go out and get dinner all on my own!  Doesn't seem like such a big deal until you realize you have no clue what things are and are relying on pictures to help you decide.  But I was brave and walked to one of the hawker centers just a couple minutes from my condo.  I decided on a bowl of noodles and dumplings and a cool iced lemon tea.  

Left to right- broth, noodles and dumplings, and iced lemon tea.

Orange bowls, orange chopsticks, orange spoon...seems like the dinnerware that might be used by my orange-loving boyfriend haha.  This photo was taken before the little old man that I ordered from kindly insisted I used a fork for my noodles as I was clearly struggling enough to need some help.  I was a little offended, but grateful when I was able to eat more than half a noodle at a time.  Overall it was a successful dinner, well mostly successful...I had to make a necessary purchase on my way home:

Tissues and wet wipes, everyone's friend when eating at a hawker center and good for everywhere you go in Singapore.  Why are these necessary you ask?  Because napkins haven't really gained popularity at the hawker centers I guess.  I've also heard that putting your pack of tissues down reserves your table. Luckily there are plenty of places that sell big packs of tissues all around so I grabbed this cute pack of Penguin Premier.

Well that's my food Friday for you all, don't worry there's definitely more interesting food to come...