I Heart Singapore

Ok, so it was Singapore Day last saturday. No, it's not national day; it's just singapore day (don't really know what that means). On a practical level, it translates into a whole bunch of singaporeans and their friends (6,000 of them!) congregrating at central park for free makan and free sunshine during the day, and another 300 of us swooping into the New York public library during the evening for cocktails and dinner. I was not at the day event because i had some Spanish concerns that overtook my Singaporean patriotism (i'm sure the other kacangs will have something more to write about on that).

The evening event, however, went far beyond my expectations. The cocktail hour was very classy, decked out with a spectacular presentation of hors d'œuvres on trays with orchid insets served by abercrombie & fitch models lookalikes. i was semi-seduced now. We bumped into some unexpected company (some welcome, others not so), did some checking out of our fellow country people, and then proceeded to the dinner hall for the banquet sponsored by Min Jiang restaurant of Goodwood Park Hotel (they will remind you of this a few more times throughout the evening).

The first thing that hit me was this I Heart Sg sign, which i thought was pretty in your face. But i figured i could Heart Sg the entire evening if it was as nice as the cocktail hour, which it turned out to be. I was told by our host from the Overseas Singapore Unit (OSU; part of the prime minister's office, no affiliation to Contact Singapore, New York Singapore Association, or the Kacang Puteh Club) that this event was conceived as a way to tie in the uncoordinated efforts of the various overseas singapore units (i'm paraphrasing), and that, no there was no agenda whatsoever except to get fellow Singaporeans in a foreign land together. Thoroughly seduced by now by the glorious food "sponsored by Min Jiang restaurant of Goodwood Park Hotel", which i was told was specially adapted to fit into the evening's chi-chi scheme, i believed him. Even when Kit Chan came forward to talk about how "there's no place like home", i continued to believe, probably drunk from the Mapo Tofu martini. I should have known better. At the end of an unexpectedly enjoyable evening filled with entertainment only a true Singaporean can fully appreciate, the whole cast got on stage and did a rendition of, you guessed it, "We are Singapore." I guess this is singapore's way of subtly reminding us that New York is NOT home, even if we call it so for now.









mapo tofu martini

jury duty

Last night, i got a letter from the subordinate courts, a subpoena to appear in person at the court for "wilfully" ignoring two previous letters to respond as a potential juror. i ignored the first letter, thinking it was a mistake. i put in a good faith effort to respond to the second online, where i was told by my American computer that i couldn't, because i am not American. And now, i am to explain in person, not online, why i failed to carry out my civic duties (green card or no green card), or face a fine of US$250. Has this happened to anyone else?

star gazing

okay, don't say nobody contributes to the blog. a little belated, worth putting on record nonetheless.

my mother always says i have a "straight eye", which means i see nothing in my peripheral vision. she said this the second time after i walked past her without blinking my eye. she was not pleased (on a related note, if i have ever done that to you, it's because of my "straight eye", so don't take it personally).

In bangkok a few weeks ago, while i was shopping at the mall, zhang ziyi (or ziyi zhang, as she likes to be called apparently) sauntered in front of me, with david gan and entourage in tow. My girlfriend pssted to me, and I had to look around before she said, “in front of you la!” huh? Oh.

The very next day, as I was navigating through business class in the plane to get to my coach class seat, I came face to face with Anthony Bourdain. The only reason I saw him was because someone taking his photo was blocking the aisle, and annoyed me enough for me to look at what he was trying to capture. There he was, right under my nose, smiling with no reservations for somebody's point and shoot camera.

so, that was two birds in two days. more than double my claim to fame in the last two years.

Singapore Day

The New York Chapter is eagerly anticipating the arrival of Singapore day. Despite one hiccup - moving the location from Bryant Park to Central Park, it seems to be this very well-run, extremely hyped event. There are four parts to it. A mingling pre-event for us to rub shoulders with the elite from Singapore flying in, a hawker event with well-known hawkers flown in from Singapore, a dinner with DPM with chefs from Min Jiang of Goodwood Park and a party to end the night.

See the list of hawkers
Adam Road's Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak
Casuarina Curry Restaurant - Roti Prata
Siang Siang Chwee Kueh
Killiney Kopitiam (Kaya and Roti)
328 Katong Laksa
Alhambra Padang Satay
Outram Park's Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha (Bah Kut Teh)
Newton's Thye Hong Fried Prawn Mee
MacPherson's Tian Jin Hai Seafood - Chilli & Black Papper Crab
Maxwell's Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice
Boon Tat Street ( Lau Pa Sat) BBQ seafood (Stingray/Skate/etc)
Huat Huat BBQ Chicken Wing & Carrot Cake

And we get entertainment as well (although I am not sure how they measured up against the stars I see on MTV - haha)
Kit Chan, Skye, Kevin Mathews, Hossan Leong, Jonathan Lim, Rodney Oliveiro, George Chan, Robin Goh, Judy Tan and Rani Singam

As befits a Singapore organized event, there are some weird requirements. For the DPM event, they asked for my address claiming I will receive a mailed invitation but I was sent an e-mail invitation instead. Mmm, is this a bigger ploy a la Big Brother?

No sneakers allowed in the club for dancing - but everyone wears sneaks here. I even managed to wear them to a 3-star Michelin restaurant.

Still all is well as long as the food delivers. My mouth is watering just thinking of the feast ahead.