Singaporean Food

Aloha Everyone,

There is no Singaporean Cuisine. What one find are blends of Malay, Chinese, Indian and Indonesian plus Western influences. In the Philippines, “Singaporean Restaurant” maybe loosely translated. Some have strong French influence while others are pure Taiwanese cooking.

Lugang Cafe is an upscale eatery with a large selection of dim sum size plates. J.J. as usual helped choose dishes that are healthy for my diet. The main dish of duck was excellent and so was rice porridge served hot with garnishes.

Nan Yang is a small and casual cafe where we frequented on our previous visit. Located within 7 minutes walking distance from our current hotel, it is very convenient.

I ordered Haianese Chicken Rice and J.J. had Laksa, made of rice noodles in spicy coconut curry soup with shrimp, fish cakes, eggs and chicken.

Price we paid at Nan Yang is about 50% less and of the good quality. The food is served steaming hot. It was the perfect place to go on a wet and humid night.

Aloha -- Cathi

2023 Merriam Webster’s Word of the Year

Aloha Everyone,

The winner of the Merriam Webster's Word of the Year is: authentic.

This selection is based on a word that dominated searches and high volume look up on the dictionary’s website.   Credit is given to stories and conversations about AI, celebrity culture, identity and social media.



On the positive side “authentic” is a desirable quality. Displaying authenticity can amass popularity and inspire others. On the flip side, authenticity could be regarded as a performance, according to Executive coach Rebecca Zucker.

Looking at Merriam-Webster’s word of the year shows our nation’s history. In 2022, the winner was “gaslighting” refers to a form of psychological abuse where a person causes someone to question their sanity, memories or perception of reality. 2021 and 2020, the words were “vaccine” and “pandemic”.

Following words are runner ups for 2023.

Rizz, Deepfake, Coronation, Dystopian, EGOT, X, Implode, Doppelgänger, Covenant, Indict, Elemental, Kibbutz, Deadname 

More so than ever, all of us around the world are interconnected. We are living in rapidly changing and challenging times.

Aloha -- Cathi

Shopping with Misadventures

Aloha Everyone,

The SM Mall of Asia (MoA) opened in 2006 (17 years ago) on reclaimed land in Pasay, Metro Manila. Currently, it is the largest shopping mall in the country and claims to be the fifth in the world.

Owned and developed by SM Prime Holdings, it comprises of 16 anchor tenants, approximately 663 shops that include 217 dining establishments.

MoA is frequently used as a site for parades, special events such as New Year’s Eve countdown, sporting competitions, etc.

The mall is a tourist attraction and welcomes a daily average foot traffic of about 200,000 visitors. Today, being a weekday and while there were families carrying Christmas purchases, the place was relatively empty. 

We were able to purchase a Barong Tagalog for J.J. (Formal Filipino attire for men). His sister, Bambi and her husband Tony) are celebrating their 50th anniversary this Sunday. The invitation stipulates for men to wear Barong Tagalog. 

Misadventures happened on the round trips from our hotel. Grab driver on the way didn’t say a word. He wouldn’t respond to J.J.’s instructions but he had a Google map on his phone and at least we could tell he was going in the right direction. After advancing a few feet, he slammed on the brake. So whenever his foot hit on the brakes, we are thrusted forward. The driving distance was about 5 miles but it took us an hour and 15 minutes. I tried to prevent myself from getting sick. It was an agonizing ride.

On our return, we took a cab. The exterior was rusty and had dents. This driver was chatty. He was outgoing and cheerful. He blessed us for our health, happiness and holiday cheers. But he also didn’t know how to drive. He spent his time grooming his hair when he was not stepping on the brake.

His license number “44” should’ve been a clear warning. Fortunately, we returned safely but crumpled, feeling hot, dusty and unclean. We put all our clothes in our room’s washing machine and I took a long shower!

Aloha -- Cathi

Lunch with Joy

Aloha Everyone,

It’s been a little less than 8 months since we saw our friend Joy. But there’s been significant changes in her family that’s affected her personally. 

As soon as we settled in the restaurant, J.J. and I found ourselves listening and hearing silent words that were coming out of her mouth. 

Jasmine is located inside New World Hotel across the street from Ayala Greenbelt 3.  It is actually within walking distance from our hotel.

New World Hotel is Singaporean ownership and so is Jasmine, its signature restaurant. Every week, they run promotions and today was “all you can eat dim sum” served in small portions. Selection was wide but one catch is you cannot take home any left overs.  In other words, order only what you can eat, no wasted food is allowed. That concept sounds very Singaporean

Cost for the three of us was ₽4,050 with (Joy’s 32% senior discount) inclusive of taxes and services. J.J. charged it to our Mastercard as Philippine peso, the equivalent of US$74.

Aloha -- Cathi

TSOKOLATERIA

Aloha Everyone,

Among familiar restaurants located in the Ayala Greenbelt complex, we spotted a new one focused on snacks and light meals. As the name indicates, nearly everything has a touch of chocolate.

J.J. and I ordered two vegetarian pizzas. On very thin crust, truffle and mushrooms on one and cheese and tomatoes on another.

Served with cheddar and local Mozzarella cheese with cherry tomatoes, it had a unique taste.

This particular branch opened less than a month ago it already had a waiting list for seats. The service was excellent, and the novelty of eating pizza pieces with chocolate drizzled with basil leaf appeals to young diners.

For us, this was one time dining place.

Aloha -- Cathi