Food makes the world go round

My mum, buying vegetables from a wet market in Singapore

Spices in a spice shop in Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market

A variety of food at the Reading Terminal Market

Amish Apple Dumplings


I love going to the market. Be it a neighbourhood farmer's market in Singapore like Tekka Market, the Pike Place Market in Seattle or the Farmer's Market in Los Angeles on 3rd and Fairfax, I love the way that cultures, spices and scents mix and mingle in a heady tapestry...

Growing up in Singapore, I often heard Indian hawkers speaking in Chinese dialects, or Chinese hawkers touting their wares in Malay. I love the fusion that ensues in multi-cultural Singapore.

Even here in Los Angeles, I've picked up a couple of choice greetings in Spanish, I've acquired a taste for tamales and tacos, buy pastries from a Iranian pastry shop, and have a bowl of Japanese Ramen noodles every now and then.

I was in Philadelphia last year, and I made it a point to visit the Reading Terminal Market. I was delighted by what I saw : Amish apple pie, European crepes, Indian Paneer, Cajun catfish...

And the list of shops read like a United Nations of Food : Sang Kee Peking Duck, Spatoro's Cheesesteak, Lancaster County Dairy, Dutch Eating place, Kamal's Middle Easter Specialities, Profi's Creperia, Nanee's Kitchen (Indian Food), Little Thai Market, Le Bus Bakery.

I wandered and let myself be led where my senses took me and ended up in a spice shop where I found Sweet Hungarian Paprika, Turkish Apricots, Garam Masala, Apple Pie Spice, Taco Seasoning, Agar-Agar Powder (swallow Globe Brand), Worcestershire Sauce, African Red Pepper Mombosa, Japanese Sakura Cherry Blossoms, Sulawesi Toraja, all sitting together comfortably on the shelves.

This would be the ideal world, of shared food, shared smiles, all cultures and people in one nice warm brickhouse, coming together for food, conversation, commerce and laughter.

Maybe the United Nations should just get rid of their nice sterile building and opt to have their meetings in a farmer's market instead. :)

Kitchen Confidential

It's almost magic.
Taking all these various ingredients, feeding them
fire and water, wave your magic spatula, sprinkle
a little water and voila!
You have your dinner.

I spent the past week pottering around,
following my mother-in-law in the kitchen,
taking notes and getting my hands dirty.

It was delightfully domestic in a way I had never
thought I would enjoy before.

I can now add Sweet and Sour Pork, Wood Mushrooms and Stewed Pork,
Dried Chilli and Ginger Chicken, 'Shao Bao' ie. roast pork buns
and Red Bean Buns to the list of recipes I know.

Now, to whip them up, without the watchful eye of my
mother-in-law...therein lies the challenge.

I think there is a song in here somewhere.