DimSumDolly* - the different morsels of the life of a foodie

'Steal Food' 偷吃

The other day I was reading the Chinese section of my paper 我报 and one of the headlines in the entertainment section screamed that Japanese comedian Tomonori Jinnai was caught 'stealing food', i.e. 偷吃. The article then went on to report how he apologised to his wife, Norika Fujiwara, and fans for his misconduct.

I'm not sure about other dialects, but I know for sure that in Mandarin and Cantonese, the term 偷吃 means that a man is fooling around behind his wife's or girlfriend's back. In Mandarin the two characters are pronounced 'tou chi' and in Cantonese 'tao sek'. It just occurred to me this morning as I was waiting for my bus to work that this is an example of how food is linked with language play. It seems that the Chinese people love food so much that even life's carnal pleasures has to be linked to food. Well to be fair, food IS one of life's carnal pleasures, to me anyway. Ha.

偷吃 is indeed an apt metaphor though. And one that, in my opinion, is subtle yet to the point in its underlying meaning. However the actor's apology for his lascivious greed came too late as Norika Fujiwara has decided to divorce him. Good on her! Guess real life isn't that funny for Jinnai after all.

The Green Room Cafe

I can't believe I haven't been to The Green Room Cafe located in the heart of Bishan Park after all this time. I live really close by, yet I never bothered to check it out until one Wednesday afternoon when I was on half-day's leave.

I met up with a friend there for tea, and we spent about 2.5 hours chatting and lounging around on the comfy sofa with the fan spinning above us. We chose to sit on the patio rather than indoors. After all, the point is to be surrounded by all that lush greenery.

It's a vegetarian cafe so maybe not a place for the carnivores. I only had the peppermint tea there so I can't comment on the food and drink.

It's a nice getaway from the hustle and bustle of Singapore and is perfect for a lazy afternoon. You just need to use a little imagination and keep your vision to a 10-metre radius, and you could almost believe you were in Bali or some nice tropical paradise.

Fook Yew T-shirt

I'm not normally a fan of the clothing line New Urban Male but I find their Lust Supper series in their vintage line really cute! It's cheeky and smart and has a lot of local flavour - in more ways than one!

I helped good friend, A, get this shirt and shipped it to Australia. He spotted the T-shirt while he was here on holiday but they didn't have this particular one when he was here. Later I saw the last piece in the outlet located at The Cathay and promptly bought it for him. There are T-shirts for Bak Kut Teh, Chwee Kueh, Ang Ku Kueh etc.

Check out more of the T-shirts out at their website.

Linguini

Whoever knew linguini could be something so romantic? I never knew one of my favourite types of pasta has been written about in such a lyrical and romantic way. If some guy wrote a poem like that for me, I'd marry him straight away. :p

Linguini

by Diane Lockward

It was always linguini between us.
Linguini with white sauce, or
red sauce, sauce with basil snatched from
the garden, oregano rubbed between
our palms, a single bay leaf adrift amidst
plum tomatoes. Linguini with meatballs,
sausage, a side of brascioli. Like lovers
trying positions, we enjoyed it every way
we could-artichokes, mushrooms, little
neck clams, mussels, and calamari-linguini
twining and braiding us each to each.
Linguini knew of the kisses, the smooches,
the molti baci. It was never spaghetti
between us, not cappellini, nor farfalle,
vermicelli, pappardelle, fettucini, perciatelli,
or even tagliarini. Linguini we stabbed, pitched,
and twirled on forks, spun round and round
on silver spoons. Long, smooth, and always
al dente. In dark trattorias, we broke crusty panera,
toasted each other--La dolce vita!--and sipped
Amarone, wrapped ourselves in linguini,
briskly boiled, lightly oiled, salted, and lavished
with sauce. Bellissimo, paradisio, belle gente!
Linguini witnessed our slurping, pulling, and
sucking, our unraveling and raveling, chins
glistening, napkins tucked like bibs in collars,
linguini stuck to lips, hips, and bellies, cheeks
flecked with formaggio--parmesan, romano,
and shaved pecorino--strands of linguini flung
around our necks like two fine silk scarves.

Substituting Wine with Tea 以茶代酒，不成敬意

Here's another one of my attempts at translating Chinese articles. This one's about the phrase 以茶代酒，不成敬意 which means something like my respect and sincerity towards you is no less even though I'm substituting tea for wine in my offering of a toast.

This phrase is often used by people who don't drink wine and want to toast their guest with a cup of tea instead. The phrase allows them to remain polite towards their guests and not show any sign of disrespect. However, many people are probably unaware that the phrase was coined by the fourth and final emperor, Sun Hao (孙皓 242 - 284) of the state of Eastern Wu (东吴) during the Three Kingdoms period.

In the year 252, Sun Hao's grandfather, Sun Quan (孙权) died of an illness, and passed on the throne to his son Sun Liang (孙亮). After some political disputes, Sun Liang's brother Sun Xiu (孙休) took over as emperor. Before his death, Sun Xiu had designated that his son take over as emperor and appointed his right-hand man Pu Yangxing (濮阳兴) and General Zhang Bu to assist his son. However, Sun Xiu's body was barely cold in the ground when both Pu Yangxing and Zhang Bu commented that the appointed crown prince was too young for the throne and instead helped the 23-year-old Sun Hao to become emperor.

When Sun Hao first came into power, he was a benevolent ruler who helped the weak and donated generously to ease poverty amongst the lower rungs of society. However, this was short-lived as he soon became a cruel and draconian ruler who indulged in alcohol and women. As Sun Hao loved to drink, he frequently held banquets that saw him in the company with all the statesmen and courtiers. His banquets had a rule - every person had to drink at least seven sheng (升) of wine (a 升 is a type of container meant for wine). Whether or not one could drink, one would have to imbibe every drop of wine in the seven sheng.

Amongst his courtiers was a person named Wei Yao (韦曜) who could drink only up to two sheng. Wei Yao was the teacher of Sun Hao's father, Sun He (孙和) and his position was akin to a prime minister. Sun Hao especially looked out for Wei Yao, and knowing that he could not stomach any more wine, he secretly had Wei Yao's wine switched to tea and so that he wouldn't be embarrassed and put in a spot because of his inability to drink.

Wei Yao was an official who was morally upright and just, and he was often critical of Sun Hao, saying that he ridiculed his officials for his own fun and leisure. Over time, this would hurt and destroy the people who worked for him. In time to come, Wei Yao was thrown into prison and executed.

In the year 280, the state of Wu was invaded and destroyed by the state of Western Jin. It wouldn't be wrong to say that it was Sun Hao's drinking that caused the downfall of his empire.

Go here for the Chinese text.

Been Plagiarised

I found out a few days ago that I had been plagiarised by a blogger. She had taken chunks of text from two blog entries I had posted last year and passed it off as her own on a recent blog entry of hers. She had used text from my posts Are You Happy? and Move On. More specifically, the following paragraphs.

As much as I'd like to say I am, by all accounts, happy, a stronger part of me wants to say otherwise. Perhaps it stems from the fact that I'm not finding meaning in what I do for a living. Yet, dropping everything to pursue something else is impossible. For me, there seems to be this eternal conflict or dilemma, which ever way you want to call it, between what I like and what actually pays a somewhat decent wage. I am afflicted by the constant inverse relationship of the two. I still can't quite figure out what path ahead I should trod.

I've been feeling down and demoralised of late, feelings primarily brought on by stuff that's been going on at work. When you suddenly suck at something you thought you were pretty good at, your confidence sinks to a new low; you're consumed with self-doubt and you can't seem to think properly anymore.

She had also put up the exact same lyrics from the song 'Move On' which I had posted on my blog. After the discovery of the misappropriation of my words, I left a comment on her blog saying I noticed that she has used some of my text in her blog entry and while flattered, I'd appreciate that I be attributed for it. I shall be nice this once and not put up the URL of the said blog so as not to turn this into a shame post. I checked in on her blog the next day after I posted the comment and discovered that she had written at the end of the blog entry 'Extracts from dimsumdolly'. In the process, she had changed her blog design to one that no longer had a field where readers could leave comments. Hmm.

Well, erm, should I say thanks for the swift action? I don't know, 'cos this really shouldn't have to happen in the first place. To this blogger and whoever is thinking of using someone else's words - it's NOT cool to pass off someone else's work as your own. True, I may be no academic, scholar or accomplished writer, but I don't like the idea of being plagiarised. In the academic or journalistic world, plagiarism is akin to career suicide. Yes, the things I blog about may not be considered as 'serious' publishing, but plagiarisim is fundamentally wrong.

I don't mind being quoted, but it has to come with proper attribution and not just 'Extracts from dimsumdolly'. I expect that you indicate exactly which text have been quoted and attribute accordingly. If you need help in proper referencing, please refer to the APA Formatting and Style Guide.

Thank you.

Any Cute Waiters Out There?

So there are a couple of reasons why I love waitresses. First of all they are often beautiful and men love beauty and are drawn to beauty. It can't be helped. Secondly, waitresses mimic the behaviour of my mother - they bring dishes of nourishment to me. My mother was very much a 1950s mother and she served the family all our meals for years, thus creating this early association with love and the placing of a dish of food in front of me. (My mother also cooked the food, but I don't seem to love cooks; perhaps because I never see them.) And thirdly, I love waitresses because of the angle at which I observe them - I stare right into their asses and vulvas, two of my favourite spots, and when they bend over sweetly to warm my coffee, I catch glimpses of breasts, another all-time favourite spot. For example, my wonderful breakfast waitress in Brooklyn says to me all the time, 'Do you want a warmer in your coffee, honey?' And she smiles at me when she says this; it's so lovely; and I say yes, and she bends over and I sneak a peek at her kind chest. I only see shadows, but it's enough.

~ Jonathan Ames 'Eggs Over Uneasy' in Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone

I don't eye waitresses like Jonathan Ames, but I certainly do eye waiters that way. Hey, it doesn't hurt to have some eye candy to go with the meal, OK? So I've some waiters who stick to mind.

The most memorable being one who handed me the bill and my change in the restaurant Taillevent in Paris when I was there in September 2007. It was my first time eating in a Michelin-star restaurant and I was there for lunch with the Skinny Epicurean. The food there we had was divine and we were treated like princesses while there. The waiter who served us for most of the meal was probably in his late 50s to early 60s. White-haired but still very charming in his little banter and light-hearted flirts with these two Asian women. He tried to get us to order wine, but we weren't wine connoisseurs so we passed on it.

Anyway, it was only till the end of the meal that I noticed this cute waiter. I would liken his looks to a fairer version of Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal. My French waiter had light brown hair and a lighter skin tone and looked to be in his mid-20s. But oh, those eyes - and the best part, he was eyeing us! Had I been bold and brazen enough, I would have liked to have him for après petit-fours. That, by the way, is a course I just made up.

Alas, after three hours of eating, the Skinny Epicurean and I walked out of Taillevent happily sated and we walked off the meal by wandering around the charming streets of Paris. And it was forever au revoir to my French waiter. Sigh...

Another waiter whom I found cute was one who worked at Italian restaurant Carluccio's in their Covent Garden outlet in London when I ate there on an October evening in 2007. This dark-haired waiter was probably in his late teens or early 20s working at Carluccio's to pay for college or get some extra pocket money. Looked a bit like Gael Garcia Bernal too. OK, I gather you can surmise by now what type of men I'm attracted to. Anyways, so this Italian-looking waiter was very alert and on the ball, and was able to rattle off specials of the day the moment we sat down. He was prompt in taking our orders and made sure we had everything we needed. I liked his energy, alertness and of course the looks and the accent when he spoke. Waiter for dolce, anyone? :p

OK, in case I'm accused of being prejudiced against men in Singapore, I do have a waiter whom I thought was cute back home. Probably three years ago, I was having tea with two friends in P.S. Cafe in Paragon. There was a Singaporean Indian waiter there, prob in his early 20s, who had a really nice smile. He melted our hearts with that winsome smile of his. He was very alert and quick on the foot too.

So if anyone knows of any cute waiter about town, please remember to drop me a note. There's no harm in looking, right? :p

How to Eat Nigiri Sushi

Sushi platter, Ko, Intercontinental Hotel, Singapore

Here are some tips I learnt about eating nigiri sushi after reading the book The Zen of Fish. Nigiri sushi are those sushi with a slice of fish, squid, or perhaps egg placed on top of a small slab of rice.

1. Do not mix wasabi into your soy sauce and apply it indiscriminately - in Japan, sushi chefs would probably have put a little wasabi inside a nigiri, using a larger dab with fatty fish and a smaller one with lean fish. Extra wasabi is never served on the side.

2. Pickled ginger is not supposed to be gobbled down as an appetiser. Those slices of ginger are meant to cleanse the palate between servings of different kinds of fish so that you don't mix their flavours on your tongue.

3. Do not dip the rice side of your nigiri in the soy sauce. You should be dipping the fish side.

4. Eat your nigiri in one bite. Not two.

5. Use your fingers to pick up sushi - that's what most Japanese do.

The Lonely Palate

Let's face it: the truth about eating alone, despite our best intentions, is that nine times out of ten we eat badly. We eat inadequate food; we eat it too fast; and we eat it slouched over a computer or sprawled in front of a television, with all the enlightened social skills of seagulls. ... Eating alone is not nature's way. Babies never eat alone. They can't. Children don't, unless they're in tragic circumstances. Old people eat alone regularly and it's dreadful. No wonder they lose their appetities. My theory (and I have several solo dinners behind me to back it up) is that to compose a happy character, and thus contribute to making the world a nice place to live in, you've either got to be fed (that is, by someone other than yourself who cares about you), which feels good and means that you're part of something larger than yourself; or, you've got to be the person feeding (that is, other people - not just dogs! - that you care about). That has the same positive effect.

~ Laura Calder 'The Lonely Palate' in Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone

Carrot & Chicken Keychains

Couldn't resist buying these two keychains when I saw them at the toy shop situated on the first floor of Tanglin Mall. I kept the carrot keychain for myself while the chicken has flown on a jet plane to Sydney to my sister who's born in the year of the Rooster. I'm such a sucker for such things!

Catching Up and Playing Guide

Aren't these little dimsum candles adorable??? Of course, it also means I'll never use them. And who but to give me this but my dear friend, A, who finally came to visit me in Singapore after knowing him all these years. It's always been me making trips to Sydney and catching up with him whenever I'm there. It's exactly a week ago that he flew back to Sydney.

Before spending a week in Singapore, A went to Bangkok with a friend and it was there that he spotted these candles and decided that he had to get them for me. I mean, seriously, it has my name written all over it.

A is a big fan of Hainan chicken rice and in the one week he was in Singapore, he must have had it at least five times. I'll need to confirm the final tally with him. But I didn't have chicken rice with him. On Monday night, I cooked Italian-style pork ribs for him. It's a dish I learnt while working in a farm in Italy. It was only my second time making it but thankfully it turned out well! Here's where we went and ate when I took him out:

1. Katong laksa at Queensway shopping centre - he wanted to buy a pair of Asics running shoes so I brought him to one of the cheapest places in Singapore to get it. But before shopping we grabbed a bite at one of the tiny stalls situated in the middle of the shopping centre. I ordered a bowl of Katong laksa each and introduced A to otah. I also somehow managed to charm and talk the Auntie there into treating A to a small plate of muah chee. I told the Auntie that it was A is visiting from Australia and has never tried this before and talked about how to make muah chee and what are the differences between the muah chee in Singapore, Taiwan and Japan. She probably found me very engaging and then decided to play food ambassador to A. Haha. After eating, we hit the shops and A ended up buying a pair of spiffy shoes and a Karrimor backpack.

2. From Queensway, we took a taxi to Chinatown. Walked around and then ended up at the hawker centre upstairs. Here, A promptly decided he wanted chicken rice. So he ordered a plate. While I introduced him to popiah and the drink which we call 黑白 (black-white) - a mix of soy bean milk and chin chow.

3. We then made our way to Orchard because I wanted to buy a pair of shoes. I bought my pair of red shoes and then we ended up at Food Republic at Wisma where he ate satay and I introduced him to rojak, which I like to deem as Singapore's version of a salad. I had the Hokkein Mee but I wouldn't bother queueing up for it again 'cos it's not nice.

4. The next afternoon, I took A to Little India and I went to Komala's to eat Dosai. I call Komala's the Indian version of McDonald's but I'd say Komala's food is healthier. It's just that they are so efficient and the way the eatery operates is exactly like a fastfood restaurant. I enjoyed my Dosai but I thought the mango lassi I ordered was way too sweet. I left most of it untouched. A had the Indian dessert Gulab Jamun, those dough balls soaked in sugary syrup. I'm not a big fan of Indian dessert so I didn't touch any of it.

5. On foot, we made our way to Bugis where we went to have some Cantonese dessert ('cos A was craving for sesame paste) at 记得吃 located along Liang Seah Street. I had the barley gingko nut dessert. We were eating all these at 6pm when dinner with Monoceros was supposed to be at 7.30pm!

6. After eating we walked around the Arab Street here and A got excited at seeing graffiti along Haji Lane. Like wah, spanking clean Singapore has graffiti! At 7.25pm, strands of prayer music sounded from the mosque, enveloping the area with a sense of peace against the backdrop of a sky that was a deep-blue canvas. It was an almost magical moment as we rested at a pavilion at the Malay Heritage Centre. After the prayer music stopped, we made our way to Bumbu at Kandahar Street where we met Monoceros and had a feast! Finally two of my best friends meet and we had Tauhu Telor, Pomelo Salad, Bumbu Special Fish, and Sayur Lodeh.

7. On a Saturday morning, I took A to Toa Payoh Lorong 1 market for breakfast. Going to a place like is as local as one can get. He was the only tourist there of course. We had Hokkein mee from my favourite stall called Come Daily Hokkein Mee (天天来). We also had fried carrot cake, chwee kueh and soon kueh. A went even further and had fried doughsticks (油条) and a red bean bun 红豆饼. I really don't know how he stuffed the last two in. I guess that's why we're good friends.

8. All too soon, it was time for him to head home to Sydney and at the airport (Terminal 3's food court) I introduced one last new food to him - paper/tissue prata!

A, if you're reading this, I hope you had enjoyed yourself and do come back soon!