Sometimes I will get episodes of homesickness.
Sometimes it will be because I talked to my family over Skype or received an sms from a friend, or an MSN from a student.... Sometimes it would be an email.
Sometimes it would be scenes I see outside.
A lot of times it is food though. If we are eating fast food or whatever it doesn't hit. Cos I mean, MacDonalds or STarbucks taste the same back home and here. It is when we decide, ok, we are eating out this Sunday and we really don't want to have western food. Let's try this Chinese restaurant.... And when the food comes and we taste it...
That's when it strikes, bad... The food always taste so different. The same dish, but different taste, and of course, we don't think it is nice at all.
And when I want to cook something and cannot find the proper ingredients, it strikes too...
Right now I am thinking so much of the Red Pearl Bubble Milk tea I buy at Jurong Point's Cool Station. I walk over there almost 2x a week to buy it, cos I'll be on the way to library with kids, or to Yamaha, or to JP to get something.
Why did I think of it? Cos kids were online looking at this PBSKids site on food around the world, and suddenly Bubble tea came out, and the site says it is a Japanese treat with tapioca pearls in it.
After it got me started I just began to think of all my fav food, like how we'd eat the laksa at Sungei Rd, while dh waited for his bike to be fixed at Ah Boy's (during courtship) and then later, always when I went to KKH for antenatal check-ups. That laska stall doesn't give chopsticks with their noodles, cos they feel confident you'll spoon up every bit of their laksa.
Then I thought of all my mom's and mom-in-law's cooking too... Sigh... never ending...
So instead of flowers now, let's feast our eyes on some pics of my fav food!
At least you all can go out and get some if you salivate and drool, but I can only think of it... :-(
I managed to find almost all the food I miss,
Ok, fruits I miss: (in order of preference) [don't see them here at all!]
1. Durian
2. Mangosteen
3. Dragonfruit (kids fav too)
4. Rambutan (kids fav too)
5. Starfruit
6. Longan/ Lychee (kids fav)
7. Duku
8. Papaya (kids fav)
9. Soursop
10. Pomelo
Drinks I miss: (in order)
1. Milo (homemade Godzilla, but actually any form, hot/ cold, ice cream, sweets)
2. Bubble tea (JP fav)
3. (fresh) Soya bean milk and curd (Boon Lay fav)
4. Sugarcane juice with lemon! (Boon lay and Adam Rd)
5. Green tea (the cold kind in the can/bottle)
(No, I don't miss Bandung, although it is a famous local drink. Somehow, never liked it)
Desserts I miss:
1. Almond beancurd longan
2. Red ruby
3. Ice Kachang (the attap chee too!)
4. Cheng tng
5. Bubur chacha
6. Green bean soup
7. Anything sweet potato and tapioca
8. All those kuih! Bengawan Solo etc...
(this pic here shows durian ice kachang)
Snacks: (not in order)
1. Esplanade's Glutton Bay BBQ chicken wings
2. Old Chang kee's almost everything
3. The curry puffs Mag used to buy from Clementi for us
4. All those Peranakan and other snacks Woon Keat bought for mtgs too
5. Fish balls!!!! (why can't I find any decent ones here?!?)
6. Seaweed!!! The Tao Kae Noi fried ones...
7. Preserved fruit and sour plums (umeya etc)
8. Muah Chee
9. Zhu Chang Fen
10. Bak Kwa
Food: (roughly in order)
1. My mom and mil's cooking (too many dishes, but my mom's salted fish bean sprouts, beef noodles etc are what comes to mind)
2. Hainanese chicken rice (Pei Hwa School Food centre's)
3. Crabs! Chilli crab (with the fried mantou), black pepper, anything!)
4. Hokkien mee (Esplanade Glutton Bay's, served on the leaf) [below left]
5. Satay (chicken, pork, mutton then beef, in that order... and Pei Hwa FC's got really good ones) [above right]
6. Fish Noodles (must be Cu Mi Fen, but can be fried fish or fish slice, and can be milky soup or clear soup). I also like just the fish soup with rice. Yummy. [below left]
7. Roti prata (no need to say more, every kind is nice) [above right]
8. Kangkong (can be sambal or the chilli garlic kind, my mom does it nice too) [below left]
9. Char Kway Teow (I don't go for the "hum" though) [above right]
10. Yong Tau Foo (Old NIE's staff canteen one, right Mary?) [below left]
11. Fish (actually I miss many kinds, but got one pic here to represent... I miss Ikea's salmon, miss Fish and Co., miss BBQ stingray, and silver pomfret here. My mil does it this way.) [above right]
12. Mee Siam (below left) and Mee Rebus (below right)
13. Nasi Lemak (Adam Rd one brings back a lot of memories. esp when we had invigilation for pract exams and were locked up in the labs, then the Physics trs - teck, law, ronnie, chiu wai - or Woon Keat will buy for us. I remember going to buy with Yew Tin one yr too, cos I wasn't on duty then. :-) The chicken wings there, to die for also)
14. Bak Kut Teh (like the one in Kulai, Msia actually cos that is sentimental too, we stop there to eat when going to visit relatives. I like the yam rice and the fried Yu tiao to go with it). [below left]
15. Carrot cake (I like it white and more crispy actually. BUt this looks equally yummy. Dh likes it black, so we don't share this particular dish when we order it outside. :-)) [above right]
16. Don't know if these should be under snacks instead... :-) Chwee Kueh (Tiong Bahru? Boon Lay also not bad) [below left]
17. Pau... oh.. didn't realise that i miss it too, till I saw this pic. JP has a very good Pau stall. love the fish cakes there too. and the har kau. ds1 loves this too and can eat them as a meal.
There are plenty more actually, but I will just list the favourites, else the list will never end...
And I need to go search for my lost files now, since I got some good links from Yingyun/ Junbin and Josh, the kind souls....
