Food Friday 8

Happy, happy Friday everyone! Well happy Saturday.  I apologize for the late post but it was Amber's last night in Singapore and so we stayed out late and when we got back near midnight this girl was ready to go right to sleep.

This week’s post had me extremely nervous as Thursday night rolled around and I had yet to try anything new this week PLUS I had barely taken pictures of any of my meals.  Talk about the stresses of being a blogger, hah!  Luckily, Glenn (the token Singaporean friend of my travels here in Singapore) knew just what to do.  Amber, Ethan, Glenn, and I had planned to go to Chinatown Thursday night for dinner so I could introduce my intense love of xiao long bao from the Noodle Man to Amber.  I know, I know if we all had a nickel for every time I talk about my obsession with XLB aka steamed dumplings on this blog we’d all be rich (and you could all afford to come to Singapore and eat them with me).  But I am happy to say that Amber is officially in love with them too and completely understands my obsession or she has an awesome poker face.  Hey I’ll take it as a win for team XLB!

Amber's photo skills

                

 

Above photos courtesy of Ethan

A Friend Comes to Visit and Singapore Botanic Gardens

Laura and Amber at Marina Bay

Saturday morning my friend and former roommate from my semester in Utah came to visit!  Amber has been teaching English in Thailand for the past 5 months and had a few weeks after her teaching ended to travel around.  Lucky for me her travels have included a week stay in Singapore!

Food Friday 7 - Century Egg

Well here we are once again recapping what Laura (and friends) ate this past week.  Lucky for you all I did not eat any heads, feet, or organs this week…though I did ingest part of a century egg YUCK!  (google it because if I write it I might get a bit sick).

For this week I want to focus on 3 meals because let’s be honest here, I’m sure you all don’t want to keep hearing about my undying love for xiao long bao (aka steamed dumplings) which I of course enjoyed on Niles last visit to Chinatown, Monday night!

Korean BBQ

Per request of Niles, we enjoyed some Korean BBQ for one of his last dinners in Singapore.  We chose a buffet style restaurant which meant all the delicious beef bulgogi Ethan could possibly eat!  Our grill included: bacon, marinated chicken, beef bulgogi, onion, and garlic.  As they were cooking, we enjoyed some sesame noodles and (not in the picture) some pancake type think?  Think scallion pancake – esk.  Once the meat and veggies were cooked, we took them off the grill and started assembling our lettuce wraps.  My favorite way to chow down was in this order – lettuce, white rice, sauce, meat, and maybe a piece of kimchi.  Yum!

7 Weeks and Goodbye for Now

This Wednesday marked 7 weeks since I landed in Singapore!  It’s incredible how fast time passes by yet I feel like there is still so much more I’d like to do while I’m here.  Looking at my first few blog posts it’s amazing to think of how far I’ve come from the shy, nervous girl in a new country.  Some days it feels like I’ve got the whole Singaporean life down and others I still feel completely new.  I guess it’s a good thing to be comfortable in a place where you are still stretched out of your comfort zone.

Today (Thursday in Singapore time) has been a rainy and surprisingly cool day.  The sad part of me would say that the weather is mimicking my emotions.  This morning I brought Niles to the airport.  For those of you who have been following along, Niles was able to have a nice long stay with me.  In those few weeks we had so many adventures together and I am so very happy that we could share this time with one another.  We’ve been in a relationship for a few years, most of which has been long distance.  His time here with me in Singapore was the most time we’ve spent living that close to one another in almost two years.  I wish I could tell you the secret to keeping a strong relationship with lots of miles in between but there isn’t really much secret to tell.  Some days it’s easy and others feel like it’ll be forever until I see him again.  This morning as I went to work I turned around to kiss him goodbye but he wasn’t there.  This afternoon I’ll arrive back from work and open the door but his smiling face won’t be there to greet me.  It’s tough but I have to keep moving forward.  Each day without him is another day closer to be with him.

All dressed up on the MRT!

Singapore Grand Prix Formula 1 Race and JLo

Sunday started off on the rocks for me.  My stomach had been churning since the bumpy and jolting ride home on the MRT Saturday night.  But Niles and I decided to take it easy Sunday morning and early afternoon as we had big plans later in the day.  When 4pm finally rolled around I was still not feeling my best but trudge downtown and was sure glad I did!

Niles and I excited for the race to start!

For three nights, the roads around the downtown area are completely shutdown to host the qualifying races leading up to the grand prix night race on Sunday.  We got tickets online and our passes were for zone 4 walkabout which meant we had a great area of the city to browse concerts, get food and drink, and an array of options for where we could choose to watch the race.