Hold the Rice, Please

As another weekend in Singapore comes to a close, my world seems to revolve around food. Friday was American food day in our household. It was bound to happen at some point and by the time the furniture delivery men left at 11:30am Friday morning, Emily, Elizabeth and I were all hungry and the fridge was empty. We made our way to the neighborhood McDonalds to try out the fast food in this part of the world. It was a positive experience, although I keep encountering the feeling that I'm taking up too much space in this small land. My double stroller cruises into the restaurant and I proceed to run over the foot of an employee. Apparently she didn't take me seriously when I said, "Excuse me." Glancing at the menu, I was taken aback that the only hamburger on the value menu was the Big Mac. Everything else was chicken or fish-based. I could have ordered the "Prosperity Burger" (otherwise known as the McRib) but instead opted for the Double Cheeseburger on the ala Carte menu. Say what you will about McD's but after a couple weeks of eating rice day in and day out, french fries really hit the spot!

Friday evening we went over to Orchard Road for dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (I wasn't kidding about American food day!) We strolled down Orchard afterwards and caught a taxi home when our legs wouldn't go any further. We passed by a spot that I'd love to check out - simply because I'm curious about exactly what they offer inside...

I have to mention that the weather this week has been beautiful. For awhile I considered that perhaps all this talk about steamy, humid weather was just an overstated reaction from folks who've never been to Houston. As it turns out, this weather we're having really IS unusual and I'm told I should enjoy this "winter" weather because it will inevitably turn oppressive by summer. We've turned off our a/c except at bedtime because being on the 10th floor facing north, we get a nice breeze through our place.

Saturday morning Brian and I took the jogging strollers out and ran along the river all the way down to the Singapore Flyer. It is the world's largest observation wheel, standing at 165m over Marina Bay. Unfortunately it isn't operational right now, following an incident before Christmas when the wheel stopped and left passengers stranded for 6 hours. Wouldn't that be a memorable experience with 3 small children? After making repairs and implementing new backup systems they hope to get it going again by Chinese New Year (next week) and I look forward to riding it soon. After it's had a few test runs of course.

On our way back home we stopped at the site where Sir Thomas Raffles of the British East India Company first landed in Singapore in 1819. At that time Singapore was a quiet fishing village and later went on to become a British stronghold before becoming an independent nation in 1965. It's funny to take a picture of his statue because it's pretty obvious that this is no little village anymore!

I had hoped to go over to the Colonial District and check out the Raffles Hotel and other sights in that area but our children had other ideas for the day. Mostly, they were just plain crabby and I feared taking them anywhere. Brian ended up taking them to the Botanic Gardens to run around while I stayed home and spent time by the pool. Finally, I had a chance to start my new book World Without End and work on my tan a bit. I read Pillars of the Earth while living in Germany on our last expat adventure, so it seemed appropriate that I should bring along the sequel this time.

I'm still working on stocking our kitchen and so far I can manage to bring home about 2 days' worth of food for our hungry family before I'm walking back to the the store for more. I cooked some snapper with pasta Sat evening and it was quite a hit with the girls. They're all eating well here and I'm happy about that, except that it empties the refrigerator too quickly! I'm finding that it's true what others have said about the availability of items in Singapore. You can get just about anything you want, if you're willing to pay the price. For example, a pint of Ben & Jerry's = $9.50 US. But, if you were craving some good 'ol American brands, at least you have the option to buy them. As for me, I keep striving to find local equivalents for what I buy at home whenever possible. I'd still like a coffee maker but from what I'm finding at the grocery store, I might just opt to walk to Starbucks a couple times each week instead. It's hard to find decaf coffee for starters. Add in the absence of Splenda and the mystery of finding something similar to half-n-half and it becomes problematic. A tall mocha at Starbucks runs about S$5 so I might just stick with that! And while I may be giving up coffee at home, Brian will almost certainly be going without liquor around here, since a bottle of Bacardi runs about S$50 (yes, that's about $35 US).

My plans for the week ahead include investigating preschools for Elizabeth since she keeps asking me when she's going to go to school like Megan and getting more serious in the search for a housekeeper. That topic alone will consume an entire blog posting for sure. I also hope to figure out how to operate our DVR so I can catch the Inauguration Day coverage and I'm excited about my new subscription to the International Herald Tribune. I could have read the Straits Times but it just wouldn't be the same, especially since they don't report on American football :)