Comments on: Restaurants

By: Lara

Lara — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:04:51 +0000

Gee, would this be the same welfare committee that hands out fruit on “Healthy Eating Day,” and is responsible for the “Eat Healthily” fridge magnet at our apartment?

You’re probably losing weight because I’m cooking so badly. Sorry! Well, maybe not….

By: ram

ram — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:57:16 +0000

Speaking of eating out, I had my comprehensive health checkup today. I was dreading it because the questionnaire asked how many days a week I eat out. My answer was 7. I have to wait for the test results, but at least one number is positive. I’ve lost some weight since coming here, according to the scale at the clinic. On the way back to my office, I found out that the staff welfare committee (yes, there is one) had set out lots of yummy fried food and good thick coffee in the common room

By: Lara

Lara — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:15:53 +0000

Hm. I know what you mean. Singapore food has a lot of fried elements, but overall you’re not stuck eating solid blobs of butterfat (butter, cheese). And the meat is in little bits and pieces, not great greasy chunks. Of course it’s not fair to compare it to bar food – that’s supposed to be oily and salty, to encourage you to buy more beer.

Is American food more fatty? The European base for it certainly could be – when we watch Julia Childs we are agog at how much butter and cream she adds to stuff. Is it the serving sizes? And the gross amounts of extra cheese and greasy meats American food outlets add to pizzas make them way more dangerous than the Neapolitan original, with just mozzarella and maybe some anchovies. OK, time to reread “Fast Food Nation.”

I do have a certain amount of glee in not cooking, but if Ram eats out all the time he grows unhappy. So I tend to make dinner fairly frequently. But since I’m away from my native heath I cook different stuff – partly as an experiment with the sorts of ingredients I find in the shops, partly because I can’t stand spending much time in our stuffy kitchen, and partly because I can’t find the sorts of ingredients and equipment I have at home. To get peanut butter that we like – no sugar or preservatives – without paying for it as if it were medicine, for example, we have to make it.

I find, though, that there’s a surfeit of possibilities. Sometimes we go to these food centers and I just can’t be bothered to decide among the fifteen types of noodles and twenty-six soup bases, the foods of seven different cultures. I just want a damn sandwich!

By: Mei

Mei — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:41:54 +0000

Do I sense glee in not having to cook every day? I like your cooking, though.

We had dinner today in Tied House at Mountain View, a local brewery and sports bar. The food was quite good, but I was shocked by the amount of solid fat and protein in every dish — we could even taste the calories! The Asian restaurants, especially small and casual ones, don’t seem to put much more grease than home cooking (with the exception of Sichuan cuisine, perhaps), therefore it is a lot more feasible to skip cooking at home in a place like Singapore.