Makan Galore! Little One's first food trail!

Ask any Singaporean, what is the best way to experience Singapore? Likely the answer would be eat the local food. Most of the food mentioned here are found in Malaysia. Maybe in Indonesia as well.

Even though that is the case, these food are usually taste differently in different places. That is because most recipes are adapted in such a way to suit the local taste. So where is the best place to find local food? Hawker centres and food centres, I say. You can look at this blog post compiled by Sugar, Spice, Everything Nice.

"Singapore is a melting pot of races and has been celebrated as a successful multi-racial society. One of the best ways to experience Singapore’s unique identity is through food. Much of our local cuisine is made with a fusion of different spices and ingredients from different cultures, passed down from generations and influenced by cultures of immigrants who came to Singapore in the early days.

Through our fun-filled food trail around Jurong, our student National Education (NE) ambassadors and student councilors will share with participants their knowledge of the ingredients, origins and food culture that accompany Singapore’s iconic dishes through interactive activities. Some of these activities will be conducted through an app that participants will download. As participants move from one food location to another, they will also be introduced to iconic or interesting locations within the Jurong area.

Our nation’s fundamental belief in mutual respect and harmony has enabled the nation to come together as one and allowed us to eat at the same table, regardless of race or religion. We hope our trail will allow participants to better appreciate our local food culture and celebrate Singapore's success as a racially harmonious nation built on a rich diversity of culture and heritage."

extracted from mysg-trails

Yes, the above description of trail attracts me. Which Singaporean does not love food? Hence, I signed my whole family up.

Upon reaching ShuQun Primary School, we borrowed an ipad from the school. It has an app to complement a food trail that was to be conducted soon. The main purpose of the app is to learn more about Jurong and also the food that we would be tasting that day.

The ipad with the App

There were games too. Little One was trying to make the correct number and type of roti prata. 

Yuhua Village Market and Food Centre

Our first stop was to Yuhua Village Market and Food Centre. We arrived by chartered bus. The student guides brought us to 3 stalls to introduce their food, namely, Soup Kambing, Ice Kachang and Rojak. We were also given samples to taste.

Left:  Rojak stall
Right:Dessert stall where Ice Kachang is sold.

Left: Rojak
Center: Ice Kachang. (We get to pour our own syrup and condensed milk)
Right: Soup Kambing

Believe or not, I have never eaten Soup Kambing until that day. It was spicy mutton soup. Little One does not fancy any of them except ice kachang which I had introduced earlier.

Taman Jurong Market & Food Centre

This food centre was my favorite food hunt with my ex- colleagues when I worked in Jurong. I love the Bak Chor Mee at 58 Minced Meat Mee and the Lor Mee at Feng Zhen Lor Mee. However, we were not here to eat these then.

The food introduced here were all spicy: Roti Prata, Bak Kut Teh and Laksa. All of these are my favorite food and it was my first time eating them from the introduced stalls. I was happily digging in all the food. Little One only ate a little of the Roti Prata because the prata were topped with curry which was too spicy for her.

The familiar escalators that leads to the food centre.

Student guides introducing the spices used for Laksa. These children took turns to introduce us food!

Left: Roti Prata stall
Center: Bak Kut Teh stall
Right: Laksa stall

This is the best shot among all the food.
Left: Roti Prata
Centre: Bak Kut Teh
Right: Laksa

Jurong West Street 52 Block 505 Market and Food Centre  

Jurong West Market and Food Centre

We were introduced to Hokkien Mee, Chicken Rice and Soy Beancurd. Little One had been talking about wanting to try Hokkien Mee and this was her chance!

Little One digging in Chicken Rice which was her all time favorite. The jelly like substance was soy beancurd. Sorry, as I am not a fan of Hokkien Mee, I had passed my portion to hubby to consume. 

Stalls introduced at Jurong West.
Left: Hokkien Mee stall and Soy beancurd stall (side by side)
Right: Chicken Rice stall

I do not know how but Little One manage to "escape" out of the app and start to do her own drawing.

Ayza's Restaurant

This is actually a coffee shop close to the Jurong West Food centre, really. And it is close to the school too!

Ayza's Restaurant

Food introduced were Ayam Penyet, Nasi Briyani and Mee Soto. By this time, all of us were already full. We hardly had time to digest the food we consume earlier. But, they were thoughtful to pack the food in mini containers for us to bring home. As Mee Soto is a soupy food, it was best to consume then.

Ayam Penyet stall

Nasi Briyani Stall

Mee Soto stall

Nasi Briyani (back) and Ayam Penyet (front) for us to take home and my bowl of Mee soto
The packet contains Indian Keropok which Little One learns to enjoy!

All in all, we were very pleased with the food trail. We learnt pretty much on the origin and the ingredients used. We understood that the students had put their effort to source for information. I think it is not easy. Of course, we enjoy sampling the food even more! lol...

There will not be another Jurong food trail but if you are interested in trails conducted by students, you may wish to take a look here. Some of them are DIY trails which you can download the app to learn about the places while others are student guided trails.

Linking with :-

Jane's Walk

Jane’s Walk is a movement of free, resident-led walking trails inspired by Jane Jacobs to explore our neighborhoods. A series of walks will be happening on the first weekend of May because Jane Jacob's birthday falls on the 4th of May. Some walks may happen simultaneously, so do check on the list of walks and decide on which one you prefer. This is my first walk and I get to learn a lot more about this little red dot. I signed up more than a couple of the walks. On the 2nd of May, it was my longest day out as I signed up for 3 walks! Below are some highlights.

Former Clifford Pier and it's red iron cast lanterns. (Hence it's also named "Ang Teng")

Remains of a village in Bukit Brown cemetery. This used to be a toilet.

Fresh water stream at Bukit Brown

"Live tomb"of Chew Geok Leong and its iconic Sikh guards. These pair are the only colored ones you can find in the whole cemetery.

Former house of Tan Yeok Nee. Pity that we did not have the privilege to go in.

Church of the Sacred Heart. Love those stained glass.

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Coconuts in front of Hindu temple. What is the significance? Ever wonder?

Alexandra Canal and its development

We spotted kingfishers too!

Bird Corner in Geylang Serai

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Grapes are growing in this hidden garden!

This is the place where non -Muslim converts to Muslim

The famous Putu Piring!

Ray fish are found to be sold here in one of the best wet market of Singapore. - Geylang Serai Wet Market

I hope I would be able to blog more about these soon.

Half a day at Gardens by the Bay

One of the holiday programme was to visit Gardens by the Bay because Little One loves the waterplay located in the Children's Garden.  

We visited on the 28th Nov but what a surprise we had as we ventured down the site that day. Spot something different here? This was taken in the evening on our way back.

Festive sights!

Yay! Spotted this? Gardens by the Bay is one of the place which we love to visit during the festive months. Last year they had various free skits and workshops. This year, Christmas Wonderland! 

This is free admission to public but standard ticketing charges still apply for admission into the Conservatories (10% discount is available if you purchase online) at Gardens by the Bay. Below are the dates of event.

The Luminarie light sculptures :from 29 November 2014 to 1 January 2015,

Festive Markets:from 29 November 2014 to 21 December 2014. 

Yuletide in the Flower Dome Conservatory: 17 November 2014 to 6 January 2015.

Greeting Arch

 Below photos are random order. We have been walking to and fro, round and round the gardens. Seriously, at certain point of time, we were lost but not totally lost. We tend to spot things that we did not see previously. And guess what we have not seen all the sculptures mentioned here

Don't you love these dragonflies on the Christmas tree? Dragonfly is the logo of Gardens by the Bay

Clockwise from top left: Cute Snowman, stunning Cassa Armonica, Festive Market booths selling different merchandise and Spiegeltent (a travelling 'mirror' tent from the Netherlands. You could dine here)

The maleficent Spalliera. Without its dazzling lights, does it reminds you Queen Elsa's caatle? It snows at certain timings
7:30pm - 7:40pm, 8:20pm - 8:30pm,
9:05pm - 9:15pm & 9:45pm - 10pm 

Spiegeltent (Up close) Look at those deatils! Beautiful, isn't it?

The Forgotten Reservoir

Keppel Hill has become a new place for exploration ever since the discovery of an abandoned and forgotten private reservoir (also known as Keppel Hill reservoir) dating back to 1905 made the news after it has been discovered by the National Heritage Board (NHB). This reservoir is located in the Mount Faber forest and is not marked in local maps since 2000 .  It served as a source of water for the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company, which was the forerunner of today's Port of Singapore Authority.

I love exploring such places especially one that has a long history. I knew my husband would never go to these forests and for safety reasons, I can't go alone either. Hence, when I saw that there would be a free guided tour to the forgotten reservoir, I immediately signed up for it. It would also be nice to hear more history of the place from the tour itself.

Charms of Katong Part 2

A continuation of previous post... our trail continues...

What made up of Katong? 
1) ethnic communities (Malay, Straits Chinese, and Eurasian)
2) famous heritage food and establishment (laksa, kueh chang and tau kwa pau)
3) heritage properties
4) most popular beach in Singapore

Katong is a place where the new meets the old. I would not say this is the only place that has such properties. There are a couple of places in Singapore which has the similar properties.

Left: Nice furniture at Ali Babar, a coffeeshop by day and a hawker bar by night
Top Right : Some new buildings spotted with modern architecture
Bottom Right: Katong 112, a relatively new shopping mall opened in 2011

Charms of Katong Part 1

The history of Katong begin as early as 1823 when Francis Bernard, the son-in-law of William Farquhar, started a coconut estate plantation in the district.This part of the land belonged to the rich and prestige in the past. It started mainly as mainly as plantations, then to a wealthy suburb, and now a residential area.

Katong is the name of an extinct species of sea turtle. It also means the rippling effect of a sea mirage when looking at a shoreline. Katong used to be near the sea. That is before the government reclaimed the land.

What does Katong reminds you of?
It reminds me of a very nice Malay song, Di Tanjung Katong. In this post "Charms of Katong Part 1" and "Charms of Katong Part 2", I would introduce some of these places shown in the video.

Where is Tanjong Katong?
Tanjong Katong used to be a beach stretches from upper East Coast Road to Tanjong Rhu. It is now residencial area. I just found out that there is a Fort Tanjong Katong . It is currently being reburied.

I went for the Katong Trail organised by Read! Singapore with a group of people lead by the very author of Sherlock Sam, Adan Jimenez. The authors behind the Sherlock Sam series is written by a husband and wife team under the pseudonym, A. J. Low which stands for Adan Jimenez and Felicia Low- Jimenez. To be very honest, I have yet to read Sherlock Sam series prior the tour, hence, I was quite surprised when I got to know he was the one leading the tour! No offence but I truly had expected a local born Singaporean to do it because of Katong's rich history. 

Adan introduced himself in the beginning of the tour at Marine Parade Public Library. He was born in California and immigrated to Singapore after he graduated in New York University. He lives here for 6 years. His wife is Singapore born and is a Peranakan! She used to live very near Katong and hence, Katong become the first place for Sherlock's first case. Unfortunately, she had an operation then and was not able to join us for the tour though she very much would like to do so. 

Adan said they have actually did a lot of research before writing the book, "Sherlock Sam and the missing heirloom in Katong." And I was taken by surprised that the author actually gave us an handout with loads of details about the places we were to visit in the trail. The authors (although Felicia was not there) were definitely very well prepared and full of passion about this place. 

Marine Parade Public Library and the Marine Parade Community Centre does appear in the story of the missing heirloom. These were the places Sherlock retraced and suspected Auntie Kim Lian may have lost her heirloom on her way to these places.

Author Adan Jimenez showed us where he and his wife got their inspiration to wrote the first book, Sherlock Sam and the missing heirloom in Katong.

I was so suaku (ignorant). I did not know that Katong is actually very near the library. I had expected a tour bus to take us to the destination! 

Sculptures #4 Along Singapore River and the nearby areas

This week, I am talking you a walk down Singapore river to both sides of the river bank, namely the Financial District and the Civic District, including the museum belt. I shall not dwell too much on history. This, I may save for another post.

Singapore River along Financial District

Kucinta cats (Singapura Cats) at Cavenagh Bridge

 Used to have 15 of these but only 3 were left at present.