Richmond Park Views

Raye received a request for a blog posting showing the views from our apartment here in Singapore. To get oriented, here is a Google map that is centered on our building. It's located under the "Elizabeth" that is the street name. You can zoom and pan to look around or just click on the link and get a larger view. Our apartment is located in the corner of the building which is at the "bottom" as seen on the satellite map; our living room windows face south-southeast.


View Larger Map

The photos are also in a picasa web album.

The First Fast Trip Back to USA

We made our first trip back to the US to attend our niece's wedding in Cincinnati. It also happened to be Paul's 35th class reunion.

The adventure began at 4:30 am Thursday morning (September 18) when United called to let us know our flight to Tokyo had been cancelled. After talking to their US reservation staff enroute the airport and for about 30 minutes after arrival at Changi, they came through with alternate arrangements that got us to Cincinnati an hour later than originally scheduled and in time to attend the end of the rehearsal dinner. We were impressed and grateful.

The family time was terrific. We were able to pose for a great family photo. We also were able to have an outing for Skyline Chili and Graeter's ice cream. And through the technology of dry ice, there is now Graeter's ice cream in Singapore -- at least in our refrigerator! Paul & his sister made a fast trip to Jungle Jim's the quintessential foodie destination.

The reunion on Saturday night was a treat. Our class has been able to have these every 5 years, thanks to some terrific people back in Cincinnati who get together and make it happen.

Early Sunday morning came too soon as Paul began the 28 hour trip back to Singapore (via Chicago and Hong Kong) and Raye returned to Dallas with Erica & Jackie. She returns to Singapore on October 2 after working, visiting friends, and celebrating Rosh Hashanah at Beth Torah.

The Scary Nut

Today at the office I learned about a Malaysian tradition associated with the Mid-Autumn festival -- the boiling and eating of a special type of water chestnut.

Here they are called ling kio. In English they are called water caltrops.

My colleague even had one to show me. Wow, I'd never seen anything like it before. It's the scariest nut ever.

The connection with the holiday is based on a legend in which an immortal fairy falls in love with a human cow herder. Against the rules, they get married. As punishment they are separated and only get to see each other once a year - during the moon festival. The shape of the nuts are a reminder of the story.

I think they would be awesome things to hand out during Halloween, especially in Austin, TX.

Mooncakes & Moonpies

It is the mid-Autumn festival here, a major holidays on the traditional Chinese calendar. Also known as the Moon Festival or the Mooncake festival, it is celebrated throughout east Asia, including Japan, Korea, Viet Nam, and Malyasia.

And of course, here in Singapore.

The basis for the holiday is the Chinese legend of the "woman in the moon", Chang'e. There are several variations to the legend; all of them have her floating up to the moon from earth and being associated with a rabbit that lives on the moon. This is why the posters used in advertising all have her pictured with a rabbit. The 2007 moon probe launched by China was named Chang'e1, and the legend was referred to during radio exchanges during the Apollo 11 lunar mission.

Dating back over 3,000 years, this holiday has developed a wide range of common and regional traditions. The two most obvious (as in commercial) ones are mooncakes and pomelos. You can find both on sale all over the city and in wide ranges of quality and price points.

Pomelos are the largest citrus fruit (can be 2x larger than a 16" Chicago softball). Very moon-like.

Mooncakes are the more ubiquitous. They are everwhere: huge road shows in shopping malls, sidewalk booths, at hotels, and specialized bakeries. We recently went on a seasonal tour of Chinatown, which is - as you would expect - mooncake central in Singapore. We got to sample several varieties and tour one of the bakeries.

Mooncakes have a skin of phyllo like pastery which is either brown or white (snow skin). The filling is traditionally lotus seed paste and has one or more egg yolks baked inside - the yolks representing the moon. More yolks are better (and of course more expensive). Other fillings are used: sweet bean paste or mashed dates. There are also modern adaptations, the most intriguing is a local Haagen Dasz one that uses dark chocolate as the crust, vanilla ice cream instead of the lotus seed paste, and a round dollop of mango sorbet in lieu of the egg yolk.

How do they taste? Well... different. They are very rich and heavy; a serving is a small slice. Raye is not a fan; Paul likes some of them. We both wondered if these are the cultural equivalent of fruitcakes: the gift that keeps on giving, so to speak. Apparently not. It's traditional to sit outside under the full moon and eat mooncake together as a family.

Mooncakes are not to be confused with moonpies: Mooncake is traditionally served with tea. Moonpie is traditionally accompanied by RC Cola.

Maybe next year, we'll import some moonpies and RC - just for variety.