Christabel here. I love food (isn't it obvious?). How can I describe it? Food, glorious food. There are simply so many varieties all over the world. But here are some of my personal favourites. Let me warn you first, this will be long. If you love food, you should read on!
CHICKEN. The most famous poultry eaten by people all around the world. I love it when it’s baked or roasted; sitting in a pan of hot runny juices, or steamed with the skin taken off. I love Hainanese chicken rice. I love to see the pale yellow slices of steamed chicken atop a mound of fragrant rice, with a slight aroma of garlic in the air. I love grilled chicken, which is simply perfect with a squeeze of lemon juice and eaten with fresh salad. I used to love fried chicken, but not anymore. I can still remember the taste; crispy and fragrant, with that perfect CRUNCH and the slight dribble of oily juices. The skin was pure heaven and I never gave much thought to fats at that point.
I love CHOCOLATE too. Chocolate is pure yet extravagant. I am a total chocoholic with a penchant for dark chocolate. I guess you can say that milk and white chocolate is too mainstream to me? Chocolate is dark, rich and seductive, with its strong ability to make people sigh with pleasure. The feeling of chocolate melting in your mouth is pure ecstasy. There’s something about chocolate that makes me squeal with delight and longing. Plus, it’s perfect as a dessert, or a topping for any ice cream, cake or pudding.
ICE CREAM is one of my top favourites. My favourite flavours are peanut butter (Udders has the best one) and chocolate mint. Sometimes, relaxing with a tub of good old fashioned vanilla is blissful too (vanilla ice cream and hot brownies is the perfect combo). I love the feeling of this wonderfully cold creamy concoction on my tongue, spooned straight from a cup. Hot crispy waffles go really well with ice
cream too. I remember when I was younger my grandma used to bring me to the Gelare outlet near my house every Tuesday for waffles at half price. I would
stare at those golden waffles topped with balls of creamy sinful ice cream
greedily and polish them off with chocolate sauce and maple syrup.
IKEA FOOD is the bomb. I
seldom go to Ikea nowadays. I used to go there a lot last time for the reliable
priced meals. I loved the breakfast set of French toast, baked beans and
sausages, as well as the thin pancakes with a hard-boiled egg, drenched in
maple syrup. I also had a strong relationship with the Ikea Swedish meatballs,
which is still a crowd favourite. It was a perfect harmony of 10 round chunky
meatballs with floury potatoes, brown sauce and that lovely cranberry sauce. I
hated sharing my meatballs. As a young kid, I also liked the tomato pasta,
chicken nuggets, Daim almond chocolate cake and onion rings. They were comfort
food that could only be found in Ikea. When it got too crowded, I would always
go to the basement for their simple hot dog and load it with tons of messy
ketchup. I was a big fan of their $1 soft-serve ice cream. It was sooooo good. I
still love it. In fact, I’m craving for some now.
I love MEATS. I have to
admit, I can never be a Vegetarian. I’d probably fail after less than a week! Soya patties
and mock chicken are big no-nos for me! I like to call myself a carnivore,
but after all one can’t survive on a diet of solely proteins. Other than my top
fave chicken, I also like beef and pork. I love meat made in all sorts of varieties! Ribs, ham, cold cuts,
stew, broths…. It's really easy to grill or BBQ meats and
you can also come up with all sorts of fun marinades. Stews, when eaten hot, are
comforting and warm. Stew just reminds me of The Hunger Games’ lamb stew. Ham and cold cuts are great eaten in sandwiches, pasta, salads etc. Just go crazy.
JAPANESE CUISINE is one of my
all-time favourites. I love sushi, especially those with tamago (roasted egg),
corn, egg mayo or crabmeat. I also have intense cravings for cold green tea
soba at times. They are fabulous! I usually order it when I eat at Japanese
restaurants. Ramen is also good with the typical egg, chashu pork, seaweed….all
in a bowl of steaming soup. I love the bouncy pale yellow ramen, all brimming
with hot goodness. Seriously, you can go to ANY random ramen restaurant in
Japan and it’ll be good. Other than ramen and sushi, I am so in love with
teriyaki chicken and Tako Yaki, which are octopus balls (not literally ahem). My school finally
has a Japanese stall and I am now able to satisfy all my Jap cravings.
BREAKFAST FOODS have always
been an important part of my life. As people always say “breakfast is the most
important meal of the day”. There are so many interesting breakfast foods
available. Singaporeans typically enjoy the authentic kaya (coconut jam) toast
and two half-boiled eggs. My favourite part of a kaya toast is the thick slab
of butter wedged in between. The thicker the better! People usually end off with
a steaming cup of hot Kopi. There are other Singaporean breakfast favourites
too, like Nasi Lemak, fried Bee Hoon, carrot cake, fried dough sticks with soya
bean milk…. I used to visit the Tampines Round Market every Saturday. I
exceptionally loved the Nasi Lemak. Being a typical primary school kid, the crispy chicken wing, egg and Taiwanese
sausage were my faves. My dad would also order the fried black noodles, which
usually came with egg, a chicken wing and oily veg. I enjoyed that tremendously
too. However, sometimes I prefer my breakfasts to be a little more
“westernized”. Usually on school days I just have toast, or cereal or any
little snacks etc that my grandma buy. There’s simply no time on weekdays to
have a long sit-down breakfast.Weekends are the best ones to have some. The American breakfast is wonderful, with the usual culprits like
eggs (I like mine scrambled), bacon, sausages, French toast, tomatoes,
pancakes, mushrooms, hash browns….the list goes on. I love making pancakes. Stir the batter, attempt to form
perfectly circular pancakes, an expert flip by my grandma and there you have
it, pancakes! Of course, maple syrup or cinnamon sugar is essential! I just love lazy mornings, best perfected with
some good breakfast.
My favourite thing to cook?
EGGS. Research has shown that regular
consumption of eggs may prevent blood clots, strokes and heart attacks. What’s
more, they have natural vitamin D, are great for the eyes and reduce the risk
of getting breast cancer, all due to their proteins and amino acids! There are
tons of ways to have eggs. Scrambled, baked, fried, steamed with custard,
fried, as an omelette, boiled, hard-boiled, poached….. I love scrambled eggs
the most. Fried eggs with runny yolks are also the bomb, best eaten with some
simple black sauce or salt & pepper. Everyone should eat eggs every week.
That should be all.
Conclusion: food is good. That's also the reason why we created this blog.
People who love to eat are
always the best people.
-Julia Child
-Christabel
