Posts Tagged ‘food’

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Singapore: Day Three

June 26, 2012

Posted by Kanga.

Well, we finally managed to get out and enjoy the day while the sun was up instead of jet lagged napping.

three pancakes, pitcher of syrup and butter

It began with breakfast at a restaurant just down the street from our hotel. “All day breakfast” is a good thing. The pancakes you may recognize. DaddyBird’s entree is scrambled paneer and toast.

toast and scrambled paneer

This plus hot chocolate and masala tea set us back $19.40 ($15.18 US). Then we walked to the nearest metro train station and travelled by train.

nearly empty hallway

As you can see, mid-weekday traffic is light.

map of the metro train system

sign showing how short a child must be to ride without a ticket

We were tall enough that we had to buy tickets in order to ride.

tourist pass ticket

They have tourist passes. We bought a three day pass for $30.00 ($10.00 of which is refundable upon return of the pass card). With this we can ride unlimitedly on bus or train. Very handy.

street in Singapore's Chinatown

We took the train to Chinatown.

German sausage stand

In the middle of Chinatown, we found an Austrian running a German sausage stand, of course. On our way back to the hotel we stopped and got some sausages to go. Yummy!

another street in Chinatown

mug of lime juice, can of Kickapoo Joy Juice, and a mug of barley water

We stopped for some refreshing drinks – lime juice, Kickapoo Joy Juice, and barley water.

pigeons in a park

We stopped to enjoy the pigeons in the park.

large painted fans

There were many things for sale.

two plates filled with sliced roast pork and duck

We stopped for a late afternoon meal of char shiew, roast pork, and roast duck. ($4 worth of duck, $10 worth of pork)

saute greens

Kang kong (greens) – too spicy for me. DaddyBird had to eat these all himself.

Chinese pork dumplings

Pork dumplings.

bottle of Jungle Beer brand porter beer

To wash it all down, a Jungle Beer Porter (brewed in Singapore) and a Stone Brewing Arrogant Bastard Ale (brewed in CA, DaddyBird’s home state).

bottle of Stone Brewing Arrogant Bastard Ale

Both from the Good Beer Company.

The Good Beer Company shop

Then it was back through Chinatown to the metro, then through Little India to our hotel and sleep, sleep, sleep.

Posted in food, Singapore, travel adventures | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

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Singapore: Day Two

June 25, 2012

Posted by Kanga.

Indian food

We slept late and went to a little restaurant next door to our hotel for “breakfast” around 2pm. For those not familiar with Indian food, the white thing in the middle is called idly. It is a plain bread that has a little zip in the taste similar to sourdough. The four puddles at the top are sauces to be eaten with the idly. They are all too spicy for me. The bowl at the left is a soup called sambal. It was a little spicy, but mild enough that I could manage it.  The bowl at the right is curd rice (like rice and cottage cheese together) and as long as I pick out the pieces of chili pepper, I can eat this.

small cup of coffee

We also had coffee. The whole lunch was more expensive than we expected. We are spoiled with our Fujairah prices. Each piece of idly was $1.65 (Singaporean dollars, $1.29 US). The total for the lunch of 4 idly, 2 curd rice, and 2 coffees was $19.35 ($15.14 US).

This was followed by a shopping trip into the Mustafa Centre which is a humongous shopping centre across the street from our hotel. It is, in fact, multiple buildings connected by under the street passages. You can buy most anything there if you are hardy enough to find what you are looking for. Surprisingly, it was easier to find a book light than a hair brush.

The shopping trip was so exhausting that it was followed by napping.

Next on our agenda was a walk back to the Arab Street area and dinner at Kampong Glam Cafe (Malaysian food).

mug of soda, ice, and small limes

Lime Soda

bowl of peanut sauce, hard boiled eggs, tofu

Gado Gado – peanut sauce, hard boiled eggs, tofu, and miscellaneous other ingredients.

noodles, chicken, garlic, onions

My non-spicy noodles (name of dish unknown) – noodles, chicken, garlic, and onions.

rice and chicken in a spicy sauce

DaddyBird’s nasi goreng (rice) with spicy chicken.

This was followed by a taxi ride back to the hotel and much more sleeping. We will try to do something touristy, eventually.

Posted in food, Singapore | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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Singapore: Day One

June 24, 2012

Posted by Kanga.

busy pedestrianized alley with lots of shops and restaurants

After checking into our hotel, we were off again to meet up with our friend, Adrianna, in Arab Street.

Mexican bar

We had some lovely nachos at this Mexican bar, Piedra Negra.

bar covered in mosaic tile work with a large bird sculpture

There is a lovely bar covered in mosaic tile work and a large bird (condor? quetzal? Quetzalcoatl?)

small lizard clinging to the wall

And a nice little lizard clinging to the outside wall.

Then we were off to a Chinese restaurant for dinner, A.B. Ah Meng Kitchen.

open air, alleyway restaurant

Where we had

prawns covered in salted egg and deep fried

Salted egg prawn ball – prawn (shrimp) with corn coated in salted egg batter and deep fried. Very tasty!

deep fried fish skin

Deep fried fish skin – just what it sounds like, fish skin lightly battered and fried until crisp. Tasty, but one of those things you know isn’t good for you in the long run. DaddyBird wants to go back for more.

vegetables with mushrooms in a creamy sauce

Vegetable with Golden Mushrooms – which is not what I would have guessed by the looks of it. This was tasty also. (Tasty, my overused word of the day.)

mug of beer with ice in it

And beer with ice cubes.

cat curled up and sleeping under a motorcycle parked at the side of the street

Here is the first of what will be many cat pictures.

Then we toddled off to our hotel and slept and slept and slept some more.

(Apologies for blurry pictures. My camera was on the wrong setting which has been rectified and the pictures will improve.)

Posted in cats, food, restaurant, Singapore, travel adventures | Tagged , , | 1 Comment »

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Barbecue

May 12, 2012

Posted by Kanga.

small rectangular metal containers with burning coals

We recently attended a staff barbecue. Barbecue, Arab style. We’ve eaten this food many times in restaurants, but this was the first time for getting in on some of the preparation ourselves. The meats were already cut, marinated and mixed with appropriate ingredients. All we had to do was put them on the skewers or form it into patties.

meat, tomatoes, onions on skewers

There were lamb chops, kofta, chicken tikka, and lamb tikka. The food was delicious and the company was friendly. A good time was had by all.

Posted in chicken, food, socialization | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment »

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An Anniversary Not Forgotten

May 4, 2012

Posted by Kanga.

Earlier this week DaddyBird said “What are we doing Thursday?” I stupidly said “Is there a reason we should do something Thursday?” Oh, yeah. That pesky wedding anniversary has come around again. Needless to say I am not the romantic in this relationship. This was an improvement over last year when we both missed our 10th anniversary remembering it a week after the fact.

So, what did we do on our anniversary? Well, we started by driving around town to find the Afghani restaurant that I had previously seen, but couldn’t remember exactly where it was. This led to stopping to photograph stray cats and dogs around dumpsters. There were eight around one dumpster, including kittens. Unfortunately, we can’t take them all home and pamper them. (If I were independently wealthy, I would have a cat sanctuary.)

a stray cat next to a dumpster

We did eventually find the restaurant.

restaurant sign

We had a really delicious dinner of mutton bukhari (the rice dish – there are two large pieces of lamb/goat meat under that rice), grilled meat (I didn’t get the name of that dish), hummos, chana dahl (lentils in a tomato sauce) and lovely bread. The red substance in the small dishes is a cold soup or thin sauce made of tomatoes and spices. It was a lot like salsa. Very tasty. It was clear that they had used fresh, ripe tomatoes. The hummos was also very fresh tasting. On the whole, yummy! The entire meal cost us 41 AED ($11.00 USD)

plates of rice, meat, salad, hummos, and bread

Then it was onto the main attraction – The Avengers movie. I find it hard to describe just how good this movie is. All superlatives seem insufficient. As we walked out, DaddyBird asked if we could see it again – immediately. I insisted on waiting until the next day. It is action packed and witty. Perfect.

The evening was not over, yet, however. We finished with a trip to Baskin Robbins because DaddyBird was in the mood for a milkshake and it is hard to find a good milkshake here. I went for the banana split.

There you have it. An anniversary well celebrated.

Posted in animals, cats, celebration, food, Movies, restaurant | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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The Stables

April 22, 2012

Posted by Kanga.

three story building with horse sculpture

We stopped into The Stables for an afternoon snack.

wooden tables make of barrels

The second story is a lovely pub decorated in a horse riding motif.

booth shaped like a horse stall

Including booths like horse stalls.

big screen

Being Saturday afternoon, there was football (soccer) on the big screen.

onion rings

DaddyBird was happy to discover that the onion rings were actually made of sliced onions. (There are too many fake onion rings in this town.)

apple rhubarb dessert

I had an apple rhubarb crumble.

empty dishes in the shape of a face

Even the dishes were sad when it was gone.

The prices were quite reasonable. Two beers, onion rings and apple rhubarb crumble came to 70 AED ($19.00 USD)

Posted in Dubai, food, restaurant | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments »

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Basement Taverna

January 3, 2012

Posted by Kanga.

bearded man sitting next to a large wine barrel

You may remember the basement taverna from our food tour post. Nothing would do, but DaddyBird had to go back and have another meal there before we left Athens. We got a cozy little table right next to the wine barrels. The owner makes his own wine in these barrels. DaddyBird says it is the best retsina wine.

plate of yellow mash with lemon, peppers, olives and onions

A reprise of the fava mash (actually made with yellow lentils, we suspect).

a bowl of vegetable stew and a bowl of chick peas

We didn’t really order anything. They recognized us from two days before and automatically brought the fava mash, chick peas and vegetable stew. He asked if we wanted fish, but we had more than enough, so declined it.

open basement door and the kitchen area

Here’s a glimpse of the doorway and the kitchen area. The menu is limited – just three hot items, fried fish, and bread. We saw a variety of clients, from old Greeks to blondes in leopard print coats.

This is a gem, well worth a second visit.

Posted in Athens, food, Greece | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments »

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Athens, Greece: Day Ten

December 27, 2011

Posted by Kanga.

This was Boxing Day or the day for glorifying the Mother of God. Not much happened, but we had an amazing dinner at O Mpakalogatos restaurant on Fokionos Negri Street in Kypseli.

red merlot wine, bottle of ouzo, bucket of ice cubes

Drinks – red merlot wine, a bottle of ouzo (licorice flavored liquor) and a bucket of ice.

tiny fried fish and green salad

Appetizers – tiny fried fish.

Baked potato – paper thin slices of potato baked with a grated cheese similar to parmesan, like scalloped potatoes, but less messy. (not pictured)

Large bowl of mussels

A LARGE bowl of mussels. Some of these guys were overachievers on size, too.

At this point we were thinking “our table’s too small.” Then, way before we could finish our appetizers, our main dishes came.

french fries, tenderloin, baked tomato, grilled feta cheese, green salad

This tenderloin was so tender that when I gave a piece to DaddyBird to try, he asked if it was meat or butter because it was so tender. Truly melt in your mouth.

DaddyBird’s meal was a bowl, same size as that of the mussels, full of spaghetti with shrimp.

ceiling light fixture made of an upside down colander

(We liked their light fixture, too.)

The food was very delicious and the portions were large. Very worthwhile. We had a leisurely dinner followed by a leisurely walk home.

What are we doing on Day Eleven? Why a food tour, of course. Good thing we do a lot of walking.

(We have Matt Barrett and his terrific Greece Travel Guide web site to thank for helping us find O Mpakalogatos restaurant and many other wonderful things in Athens. If you’re planning on going to Greece, do yourself a huge favor and check it out! A tremendously helpful resource!)

Posted in Athens, food, Greece | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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Athens, Greece: Day Seven

December 23, 2011

Posted by Kanga.

man wearing a hat

Due to the continued rain, DaddyBird needed a hat. This was the one and only style of hat in the shop. I like it. (Notice I had to turn the camera sideways to get the beard in.)

man walking down a marble paved street

We went to the downtown area which has been largely pedestrianized (no cars allowed). (It’s difficult to tell, but in the distance is the plateau of the Acropolis.)

yellow plaster sided church

This is the Church of the Metamorphosis.

back of the church showing old stonework

When you see it from the back, you can see it has gone through a metamorphosis of its own.

restaurant with murals on the wall

We stopped for a late lunch at the Saita Taverna.

a one half kilo carafe of retsina wine and two shot glasses

This is retsina wine. This a 1/2 kilo carafe. One can also get a full kilo carafe. It comes out of oak wine barrels stored in the restaurant.

grilled octopus and fried cheese appetizers

We ordered appetizers. They did not have sausages, which we had ordered, so brought the fried cheese instead. The other plate contains grilled octopus, which was delicious.

fried zucchini

The fried zucchini was very delicious and I ate most of it before DaddyBird had a chance. You snooze, you lose.

lamb chops on a bed of fries

Our main dishes – lamb chops and bakalairo (salted cod).

fried fish and mashed potatoes

The mashed potatoes were served cold with olive oil and a generous amount of garlic. I don’t need to keep repeating that this was delicious, do I?

shops on a pedestrian street

We continued our walk through the shops. Many of these shops carry touristy items.

sign of the Byzantine Church Supply

Before long we had entered a very different shopping area where you could get clerical vestments made or pick up a nice censer or candlestick for your Byzantine church.

small, ancient church

We diverted a bit to look at this wonderful little church. Behind it is its 19th century replacement which is currently under renovation. A man working at a nearby restaurant came out to talk to us and tell us about the churches. He was pleased to hear that we come from Oregon, which he is convinced is a state known for cowboys.

Posted in Athens, food, Greece | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

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Curry House

December 11, 2011

Posted by Kanga.

storefront of the Curry House restaurant

We recently had dinner at the Curry House (in Fujairah) an Indian, Arabian, Chinese restaurant. This combination is advantageous for us, because DaddyBird can have his food spicy and I can order non-spicy dishes.

textile wall hanging

1970’s decor is alive and well.

two metal bowls and ketchup packets

Condiments for the international menu include soy sauce, chili pepper sauce and ketchup. Ketchup (or catsup) seems to be the global condiment. We find it everywhere. I think sushi restaurants are the only places we haven’t been offered ketchup.

plates and dishes of food

I had garlic chicken, chappati (flat bread) and salted lassi (yogurt drink) and DaddyBird had three spicy dishes with plain appam (pan bread) and tea. All this cost us 66 AED ($18.00 US)

When we ordered, the waiter asked about spiciness and we were able to explain that my dishes should not be spicy at all and DaddyBird’s should be very spicy. We will definitely be going back regularly.

Posted in food, Fujairah, restaurant | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments »

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