I heart Asia

Asia is such a magical place with weird and wonderful sights, sounds and smells at every corner. Every day, the goal was to have a fresh coconut water which revitalizes and hydrates the system and comes with a long list of health benefits (apparently Madonna is a now a big fan and has bought shares in a coconut plantation). 

But for us we just LOVE the fresh, cool, crisp taste and needed to have at least one freshly cracked open for us a day, if not two! The picture below shows one of our yummy coconuts - a heart shape was created when it was hacked open.

In Singapore you can get the best street food for under five Singapore dollars or eat at a Michelin starred restaurant for $500 on the same street. Trying out the street food at local hawker markets is an experience, they are hustling and bustling places with Indian, Malay, Thai and Chinese foods all being sliced and diced and served up under one roof. There are stalls for every type of food imaginable and even some interesting market traders selling delicacies that we were curious about but never seemed to get around to trying - next time!

 We took a pass on the pig's organs this time.

The above is from an award winning Hawker stall called Thunder Tea rice - the dish is made with green tea and packed with extremely healthy ingredients like fish, beans, basil leaves, green tea leaves, mint leaves, parsley, coriander leaves, okra, cabbage, tofu, long beans, and spinach. It is amazingly yummy and you can feel the goodness go into you while you are eating it.

Check it out if you are in Singapore any time soon. There are 3 locations.

Thunder Tea Rice
China Square Food Centre
51 Telok Ayer St.
#01-31

Amoy St. Food Centre,
7 Maxwell Road
#-01-11

Food Republic @ Vivo City
No. 1 Harbour Front Walk
#03-01

Life is like a box of chocolates....You never know what you're going to get. Had a crappy day today and thought of two things:

1. Forrest Gump's saying - Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are gonna get (so true!)
2. When life hands you a lemon - make lemonade (as there is nothing else you can do, non?)

A few friends made me smile this evening and while was moping along the street this morning, on the way to the tube I saw the Queen's horses doing their morning trot along Elgin Avenue.

The sight of those horses and carriages and the young soldiers on them always makes me smile like crazy - I don't know why but I think it is the sound (you can hear them coming far before they arrive), strength and beauty of the horses and the smiling faces of the riders (not a bad job to have each morning - trotting through London on a horse!) I sometimes stop and just take a snap with my camera phone. Anyhow that brings me to the chocolate reference above and the Queen.

There is a new chocolate made by the Queen's chocolatiers called Prestat - eating 2 squares a day can give you enough antioxidants that you need. It is true as the press release comes with a whole other page of studies and tests carried out on this magic chocolate. Ain't no need for Madonna to give you a shot of B12 up your arse, just have some chocolate!From the PR for Choxi- Alternatively, you could eat more than 1lb (0.46kg) of Brussels sprouts or over 5lbs (2.3kg) of apples! It is available nationwide from larger Tesco stores. Weight for weight, Choxi+ dark chocolate contains almost 20 times as many antioxidants as blueberries.

It tastes good too! Somehow it has not broke into mainstream media but am sure once it does it will fly off the shelves. Lemonade recipe to come another day that I am feeling miserable!

From East Sheen to Claridges to Randall & Aubin
Early afternoon drinks at Claridges...the bar was ok, it is your average posh hotel bar, the julep drink was a bit too strong but the hot chocolate was perfectly choco-liscious. There were bottles of champane and wine on the menu for £4,000-£12,000+ now if you are spending that much on wine/champagne surely you are too rich and hopefully you are supporting tonnes of charities in third world countries, non? (I hope so!)

Anyhow...the best part about the Claridges experience is the grand, art deco staircase in the lobby and the ladies room which brought you to another era - absolutely beautiful - the staff are also quintessentially polite and make you feel at home.
Dinner was at the wonderful fish restaurant in Soho called Randall and Aubin, we had the cutest waiter - Roberto who was superb and recommended the best starter and Argentinian wine - he took very good care of us and was so cute!

Starters - scallops with a caper and garlic sauce. Mains - I had the crab salad and DJ had the langoustines which were fab - but so small - I am used to big fat lobsters from The Lobster Trap - like Dorothy said, 'Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore...'

The gay friendly establishment had the best looking waiters and they played classic Madonna which made the meal and atmosphere even better. Of course, my handsome dinner partner got lots of stares from the men ! Thx for din din DJ.

I was spoiled Saturday & Sunday evening with some fine food and drink....what a lovely weekend - my kitchen did not see me at all :)