Weekend Recap - Chili and Black Pepper Crab and Cuba Libre

As you probably have noticed if you've followed along, Ethan and I have had quite a number of visitors joining us in Singapore!  Most of them were last minute trips and so it’s been good excitement being able to try new things with our guests as well as show them what we have come to enjoy here.

Last week Sucheta, a fellow co-worker from the US and alumni to our rotational program, came for work related reasons.  But lucky for us (and her of course) she was able to extend her time here to get a couple extra days to explore.  Later in the week, Ethan’s close friend and one of my former roommates Tracey came!  She was able to get a full week off to come and explore!


Ethan was able to take off last Thursday to give Sucheta and Tracey a full day of tours.  I met up with them later that night after work.  Tracey had just landed that day and needless to say she was ready to get some sleep after a long day of walking around the city!  So Sucheta, Ethan, and I headed to Harry’s bar for a drink.  We were enjoying each others company when we soon realized there was some sort of special gathering for a large group in the restaurant as they were singing at the top of their lungs and yelling at each other.  It was silly at first but as the night continued, it got a bit annoying.  Luckily we were in the far corner and just kept to ourselves.

Friday our group of four headed to Chinatown for a lunch of, you guessed it, xiao long bao!  We went straight to The Noodle Man and were seated right away.  Tracey and Sucheta both enjoyed the delicious, delicate, broth-filled, pork dumplings along with our other favorite crispy, fried tofu.  It was the perfect meal to fuel us through the afternoon.  The best part was the noodle man himself came over to our table to talk to us!!  Usually the noodle man stands at his noodle station and keeps to himself except when pushed by a customer to take a noodle picture with him (mine will come later don’t you worry).  But he came over and asked if Sucheta and Tracey were visiting and how they liked his food.  Basically Ethan and I have become usual's at this place and they know us well!  This was a really exciting feeling for me because as I've been living in what feels like a million and one places the past 5 years or so, I've always wanted to become a usual at a place.  Basically I've wanted to walk into a local bar or restaurant and have the Cheers theme song playing.

Sometimes you want to go, where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came. 

Ok sentimental moment over.  After we filled up on delicious dumplings we walked around Chinatown and found some cool souvenirs (which I can’t say what they are in case my family actually reads this).

No we did not buy these hats

Then we hopped a couple stops on the MRT to Little India per Sucheta’s request.  Thankfully we didn't have to walk through Tekka Market again (it’s a wet market and my western nose and gag reflex just isn't quite adapted to it yet).  The streets were decorated for the coming holiday, Deepavali or Diwali.  I’m not sure why there are two different names for it but here in Singapore it seems all the signs go with the former.  We entered the Deepavali village market which was set up in a street just for the holiday.  Thank goodness I’m not an inch taller as there were hundreds of flowers and decorations hanging from the roof of the large tent over the market.  It was beautiful and almost magical seeing the bright colors and gold accents all over the place.  Tracey stopped and got a henna tattoo which was beautiful!

 

Tracey getting a henna tattoo!

Laura's eyes with the beautiful decorations above

We then went into the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple.  We left our shoes outside and went in to find many shrines within the temple.  It’s such an interesting place and I can’t stress how beautiful all the colors are throughout the temple.  It’s a place that anyone could easily admire.

After a few hours of walking around and sweating (per usual) we headed back to get freshened up before going out for the evening.  Tracey’s dad has also been on a work trip here and informed us of a free concert being held on Orchard Rd.  Singaporeans LOVE their malls as most everywhere you turn there is another mall, so it only made sense that for the 5 year anniversary of the opening of ION Mall they held a big event.  (ION Orchard was the mall that I could see from my hotel room when I first arrived in Singapore).  We arrived to see a fashion show of an autumn and winter line.  Those poor models were in turtle necks, winter hats, and puffy jackets!  The show was outside and for some perspective, it was 7:30pm and I was sweating in a summer dress!  Finally Daughtry came on and we unfortunately could only stay for 2 songs so we had enough time to get to our dinner reservations.  It was still a great concert!

Fancy Models

Daughtry

So then the now five of us headed to Clark Quay to have a traditional Singaporean meal of chili AND black pepper crab at Jumbo Seafood!  I was in heaven as having both the types of crab in one sitting was an absolute treat.  These are seriously the best classic Singapore dishes I've had, hands down!  After dinner we had a beer at Brewerkz (gotta love that craft beer).  Although it did make me miss Sam Adams Octoberfest.  Lucky for me PubGearUSA will have a whole case of them waiting in the fridge for my quick trip home in November!  (Thanks PubGearUSA.com)!

After having some craft brews, Tracey, Ethan, Sucheta, and I headed to Clark Quay to see if there was a club that looked like it’d be worth checking out.  We landed at Cuba Libre which to get in only required you to order a drink, not bad considering other places require a cover on top of that.  I chose Mount Gay Rum and ginger ale yummm.  We had fun dancing to the live band and pretending we were excellent salsa dancers.  Somehow Sucheta and I even managed to get a free shot from one of the singers!  Once the band finished for the night we decided it was time to head home.

The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxed for me.  I had the aircon man coming to the apartment to fix my 2nd aircon to break in the past couple weeks!  So, Tracey and Ethan went out to explore more of Singapore without me.  But I took the time to sit by the pool and read, go to the gym, and catch up with some lovely friends back home.  I really do appreciate these quiet days.  The past few years I've been that person who has every second of her weekends planned which leaves me exhausted all the time.  So now I take those opportunities where I can soak up some sun and just chill whenever I can.

 

And that concludes my weekend!  I hope you all had a great weekend too!