Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand Oh My!

We are finally back from our Asia vacation and lots of eating and learning! Now home, I'm ready to share what I have learned with my client meals and everyone else! Our first stop was Singapore where we spent 3 days exploring the city. The food was a mixture of all of Asia. There was lots of choices especially in the food market areas. It was a great opportunity to try a little of everything. This photo is from the market area and was garlic fish. It was served up on a platter

with burners under it to keep it hot while eating. This market was separated in areas that were different types of cuisine. There was Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Burmese, Indian, Dessert (Ice Cream, donuts, pastries, bubble tea, teas, cookies and much more) and one Taco Stand! In addition, the street outside the market was lined with individual stands cooking Satay and there were probably 40 of those. It was hard to choose what to eat. It was also hard to find a napkin anywhere! So, bring your own when in Singapore!

My husband Dean heard from friends that when in Singapore you must have Chilli Crab. This is not usually a street food item, but served in restaurants. One of the

most famous places to get it is a restaurant called Jumbo's. We scoped it out and had to have it. Here's the photo of the Chilli crab (yes that is how they spell it!). It was a little spicy but not overly spicy. It's served as an entire crab in sauce with a side of white Jasmine rice. It also comes with the cute little apron, tools and gloves! (Which were needed!) I did bring home some spice kits to make it along with spice kits for Black Pepper Crab. Since crab is pretty easy to get around me, can't wait to give it a try. Of course, the kits didn't come with instructions, so I'll have to figure that out.

We then boarded a cruise that took us for the next 15 days to visit Brunei, several stops in Vietnam, several stops in Thailand and ended in Bangkok where we ended our trip. This was a great opportunity to try the foods in the different areas and what we found is that many of these are similar to each other in many ways. One of the best things

we discovered was Pandan. This is a leaf that is grown in tropical Asian areas and it used to flavor desserts, teas and other items. We fell in love with this flavor. In the picture at one of the stops we had in Vietnam, we had Pandan tea with bee pollen and a squeeze of kumquat juice. Delicious!!! Hopefully we can find it in America at the Asian markets. I did bring home some tea just in case I can't find it!

Thailand was very fun and the food was absolutely delicious as well. We were able to visit the outdoor food markets where most buy their items, but most people just eat at the street markets. These little markets are everywhere and have just about anything you could grab and eat. Most items were able to be held in your hand, and you could see people just sitting/walking around eating. It was easier for them to eat from the markets because the traffic was so horrible that it would take them a long time to get home and there was no time to cook dinner. Made sense!

In this photo the vendor was selling these mini coconut pancakes.

This vendor was making meringue circles with grated egg filled tacos

This vendor was selling all types of food on sticks.

We spent our final days in Bangkok where we stayed an extra night so we could check out the city. It had lots of traffic and great food. Happy to be home after a 17 hour flight and get back to work!