Whatever, Dude
Note: This blog is quickly turning into a blog about food in Singapore. Not that I have a problem with it; I've been eating some very tasty food here, and staying indoors at restaurants is a great way to beat the heat.
Unfortunately the weekend had to end, and Nima and Anji had to go back to work and school on Monday. I took Monday morning as a time to sleep in, now that my body's recovered and fully adjusted, and catch up on emails. Originally, I was supposed to have left for Sri Lanka by Sunday night, but my project was yet again delayed.
Speaking of Sri Lanka, the main government and rebel LTTE group had a successful round of peace talks earlier in the week, and scheduled another meeting later on in April. Hopefully, these agreements will bring more stability to the north and east regions of the country.
Anyhow, I spent much of Monday catching up on personal affairs and surfing the net, posting blogs and catching up with friends and family. I went our to run some errands, and decided to surprise Anjali and Nima and cook some eggplant Parmesan since neither has had home cooking anytime recently. I went to Cold Storage, the local supermarket, and bought most the ingredients for what was going to be a nice dinner - that is until Nima nixed it. See, Singapore, like many tropical climate areas, is a home to many bugs and pests, and it takes diligent (or militant in Nima's case) cleanliness to keep them away. Nima was concerned that my cooking style (a little sloppy in the kitchen) combined with an already untidy kitchen - Janny her housekeeper has been on vacation - would result in an invitation for the bugs to party at her apartment. So we postponed the home cooked meal to another time. Instead, we looked for a new restaurant that neither Anji nor Nima had been to, and ended up choosing the Whatever Cafe near Chinatown.
Nima and I met up at her place and took the MRT to Outram, and after cutting through a park and a back alley, found the restaurant. Whatever is home to not only the cafe, but also a yoga studio and bookstore. The theme of the place is very spiritual/new age/hippie/etc. The cafe is purely vegetarian, and there are lots of tasty-looking options. Anjali ordered the fettuccini with mushroom and tomato sauce, which was satisfying and homely. Nima ordered a bleu cheese salad with vinaigrette dressing - a dish somewhat difficult to find because in Asia cheese is not very common and quite expensive. I ordered the veggie burger but they were out of that item, so I had a cheese, pesto and onion jam sandwich. To be honest, it turned out far better than I expected. The onion jam was particularly tasty, and it gave me an idea of how to use an apple & vidalia onion relish I purchased from Harry & David which I haven't used. The only disappointing part of my dinner was the organic ginger ale that I ordered, because I assumed it was fresh-made but in fact it was canned, imported from California (and it was pricey at $5SGD). The value was okay, as dinner with beverages ran a total of approximately $30USD for the three of us, however we all agreed it was well worth the price to get a taste of more traditional organic vegetarian fare.
Unfortunately the weekend had to end, and Nima and Anji had to go back to work and school on Monday. I took Monday morning as a time to sleep in, now that my body's recovered and fully adjusted, and catch up on emails. Originally, I was supposed to have left for Sri Lanka by Sunday night, but my project was yet again delayed.
Speaking of Sri Lanka, the main government and rebel LTTE group had a successful round of peace talks earlier in the week, and scheduled another meeting later on in April. Hopefully, these agreements will bring more stability to the north and east regions of the country.
Anyhow, I spent much of Monday catching up on personal affairs and surfing the net, posting blogs and catching up with friends and family. I went our to run some errands, and decided to surprise Anjali and Nima and cook some eggplant Parmesan since neither has had home cooking anytime recently. I went to Cold Storage, the local supermarket, and bought most the ingredients for what was going to be a nice dinner - that is until Nima nixed it. See, Singapore, like many tropical climate areas, is a home to many bugs and pests, and it takes diligent (or militant in Nima's case) cleanliness to keep them away. Nima was concerned that my cooking style (a little sloppy in the kitchen) combined with an already untidy kitchen - Janny her housekeeper has been on vacation - would result in an invitation for the bugs to party at her apartment. So we postponed the home cooked meal to another time. Instead, we looked for a new restaurant that neither Anji nor Nima had been to, and ended up choosing the Whatever Cafe near Chinatown.
Nima and I met up at her place and took the MRT to Outram, and after cutting through a park and a back alley, found the restaurant. Whatever is home to not only the cafe, but also a yoga studio and bookstore. The theme of the place is very spiritual/new age/hippie/etc. The cafe is purely vegetarian, and there are lots of tasty-looking options. Anjali ordered the fettuccini with mushroom and tomato sauce, which was satisfying and homely. Nima ordered a bleu cheese salad with vinaigrette dressing - a dish somewhat difficult to find because in Asia cheese is not very common and quite expensive. I ordered the veggie burger but they were out of that item, so I had a cheese, pesto and onion jam sandwich. To be honest, it turned out far better than I expected. The onion jam was particularly tasty, and it gave me an idea of how to use an apple & vidalia onion relish I purchased from Harry & David which I haven't used. The only disappointing part of my dinner was the organic ginger ale that I ordered, because I assumed it was fresh-made but in fact it was canned, imported from California (and it was pricey at $5SGD). The value was okay, as dinner with beverages ran a total of approximately $30USD for the three of us, however we all agreed it was well worth the price to get a taste of more traditional organic vegetarian fare.
posted by SM at
3/01/2006 10:27:00 PM
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