The Indian "ArtsFest"

It was a cultural opportunity that we simply could not resist. The Zee cable TV network was bringing their Carnival to Singapore! And better still, the headline attraction was none other than Shahrukh Khan, the king of Bollywood.

A bit of introduction: The Zee TV network is the first Hindi satellite/cable TV channel. It provides the global Indian diaspora with a taste of home, showing Bollywood film, Indian cooking shows, news, reality shows, and musical shows around the clock. (It's been available in the US for 10 years.) And although the comparison is definitely apples to mangoes, Shahrukh Khan is somewhat the Bollywood equivalent of George Clooney.

So Raye got dressed in her salwar kameez and I put on a neru collar shirt I bought in India, and off we went to Suntec City on the MRT. Raye got several second looks on the MRT. To no surprise, the closer we got to Suntec City, the more and more we stood out as being outside the "target demographic" of the event. One Indian woman stopped Raye, took a long look at her, and simply said "Thank you, you have made my day."

Raye's too.

We'd bought our tickets in advance but it didn't save much time. The line to get in was long and there was a security check. Once inside, we picked up our goody bag of coupons and marketing literature and began making the rounds.

The room was blaring with Bollywood hit songs and there was a huge stage at the front with a subcontinental fashion show. I found it particularly interesting that the designer and models were from Pakistan. Looking around at the various booths, I realized that both Pakistan and India were represented. Apparently, combination of event-scale economics and the emphasis on cross-cultural harmony that is very much part of Singapore made this possible. And by the way, there were plenty of fans there from Malaysia and Indonesia who'd come in for the weekend. We were part of a crowd of about 10,000 people (according to the newspaper).

In addition to the main stage, there was an autograph stage, a cooking show demonstration stage (for Sanjeev Kapoor) a travel services area, a food court, and lots (and lots) of booths. The merchants covered just about everything one might imagine: clothing, jewelry, spice mixtures, those mouth cleansing seeds and stuff you get at Indian restaurants (more varieties than I've ever seen), astrologers, martrimonial services, ayurvedic medicines and treatments, and cultural newspapers.

It was wonderful walking around and taking a look. And we weren't alone: we saw a handful of other "out-of-demographic" folks making the rounds.

The various celebrities from Zee TV were making appearances (to the delight of the crowd) and signing autographs. However it became clear that the Bollywood King was going to be the very last person to come out and -- as interesting as it all was -- that would have meant spending the entire day there. So we took our leave from the carnival, happy with yet another interesting experience.

Birthday Weekend in Singapore

Here are a couple of photos from Paul's birthday weekend. Raye returned from the US around midnight on Friday night. Saturday night we went out to dinner again at Banana Leaf Apolo. It is in the middle of Deepavali season so everything there was beautifully lighted and very busy. We stopped by a specialty market, the cultural equivalent of a Hanukkah (or Christmas) shopping bazaar. We'll have more about Deepavali in a future post.

On Sunday, we were invited to a brunch hosted by one of the members of the UHC, the progressive Jewish congregation here with which we've affiliated. It was a wonderful chance to enjoy some lox & bagels (and many, many other wonderful treats). It was a great mix of people with ages ranging from early 20's to seniors, and geographical homes from Argentina to the USA to the UK to South Africa, to Israel. (The Israeli ambassador to Singapore was one of the guests.)

One of the non-culinary treats was listening to our host play the piano with an impromptu accompaniment by one of the students from the local music conservatory.



Monday morning meant back to work but not without the traditional breakfast in bed. Dinner was at home, with marinated leg of lamb using our favorite recipe. It's expensive here (and there's only two of us) so we bought a slice of the leg. Raye sacrificed greatly (i.e. her sense of smell) and surprised Paul by buying a durian for dessert.

It was delicious and wonderfully creamy. However, like a fine cigar, it had to be enjoyed outdoors on the patio.

Another noteworthy event of the day: Raye passed her written exam and earned her Singapore drivers license. (Now all we need to do is get a car...)

The Istana Open House

October 1 was a public holiday in Singapore in observance of Hari Raya Puasa, the end of the month of Ramadan on the Islamic calendar. Called Eid ul-Fitr in other cultures, the name used here is the Malay term. It means Celebration Day of Fasting.

To help commemorate the day, the official residence of the President of Singapore held an open house. Called The Istana (Malay for "palace"), it is the local equivalent of the White House. Except for 5 days each year, the place is buttoned up like Ft. Knox, so this was an opportunity not to be missed.

Admission to the grounds was free to Singaporeans and permanent residents. Foreigners paid $1. The optional tour inside the actual building was an extra $2. All admission proceeds and revenues from the sale of Istana-branded souvenirs go to the Community Chest charity. Pretty neat idea.

We didn't have the run of the place of course. There were armed guards everywhere and the activity was centered around the fairway of the 9-hole golf course. The gardens are beautiful and provided plenty of photo opportunities. Some families were having mini-picnics on the grounds.

The tour in the building was interesting and unfortunately, no photos were allowed. Some nice paintings and figurines (gifts presented to the President and Prime Minister) were on display. Among these was a nice collection of decorative animals which were very similar to ones that Raye had in our kitchen back in Plano. We got to see the rooms used for State receptions and other official functions. You can read more about the building itself on the official Istana web site. The open house link has some photos of what's inside.



The next public holiday is October 27 for the Hindu holiday of Deepavali (also called Diwali) -- the Festival of Lights.

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.