These R A Few Of My Favourite Things...

Maggi Assam Laksa is one of the few flavors unique to Singapore.  You don't get them anywhere else in the world except maybe Malaysia.  It's got a nice soury tangy flavor which I like very much.  Have been eating this since I was a kid, and when you have great friends who courier such simple things to you living so far away from you, it really does make your day, week, month or year.

Thanks to my dear friends Richie & Gen, I keep getting a constant supply of my favourite stuff.  Tastes from my childhood which I still remember & cherish till today.  These are tastes you've grown up with and will never forget.  For me, I'm a true blue SINGAPOREAN in every sense of the word, and that's why I miss such simple things so terribly.

When I'm feeling a little down & home sick or just mostly on Sundays, I will open up a packet of my favorite Singaporean comfort food & make it for myself.  On some days, the feeling just gets to overwhelming and tears will just well up in my eyes while I'm cooking in the kitchen.  I will always wipe away my tears as soon as someone walks into the kitchen...

I feel that food is the bond that binds us to our home & families.  How many times have we enjoyed funny & wonderful moments with our families.  Sometimes it may even turn out to be a lecture session from your parents.  I know I've had loads of lectures at the dinner table.  My dad was a loving but no-nonsense man who always believed in inculcating manners, ethics & discipline in me.  He was also a very religious man who would keep telling me to pray, pray, pray!!!  At that point of time, especially as a teenager, it used to be the most boring thing to do!  I would only go to church on Sundays to hang-out with my friends.  

As I grew, food became something that brought friends together.  Singapore is a food paradise, you can find any cuisine your heart desires.  We Singaporeans are "Foodies", we all love our food and it's a national past-time to eat & check out new places to eat.  The food business in Singapore is the best business to get into!  Do you know that most hawker's in Singapore are very rich?  Some of them can even afford to drive a Mercedes Benz!!  Something which is way beyond the reach of a normal office worker!!  

I remember that as adults, we would always meet up with friends over the weekend for a meal or buffet at some restaurant and we would sit there for hours just eating & catching up with each other.  Most Fridays would see me & my colleagues sitting at the coffeeshop under my block chilling out after work.  We would have our seafood "Zhi Cha" and enjoy ourselves talking, joking and just having fun with each other.  Sometimes we would have so many people joining us that we would have to squeeze together tightly round the table, but it used to be such great fun!!  

Edward, Prem, Mr & Mrs Chan, and all our other "kaki's", I must say that I really miss those days!!