My container garden is growing by leaps and bounds! The big blue tub is mixed lettuces and they are starting to grow like crazy, as are the radishes and onions. I should be able to thin and use some green onions starting next week, so I'm excited about that! I won't have to buy them anymore!! Can you say WOOOHOOO!!
Swiss Phil is the one who chose Singapore and he also was kind enough to send me an email full of research! I think he must have ESP because I've been super tired and if I had to do it, it wouldn't have been this good! So a big THANK YOU to Swiss Phil!! Singapore is a huge melting pot with the largest fraction of the population being of Chinese origin. Singaporean cuisine is an example of diversity and cultural diffusion, the influences coming from Chinese, Indian, Malay and Tamil cuisines. In Singapore's hawker centers, traditionally Malay hawker stalls are selling halal food may serve halal versions of Tamil food. Chinese stalls may introduce indingenous Malay ingredients or techniques. This is the fusion that makes the cuisine of Singapore a cultural attraction.
Singapore chicken rice is simple, but complex...just as you might imagine Singapore to be. You start out with water, smashed garlic, ginger, green onion and, although the recipe calls for a whole chicken, I used 2 breasts and 2 thighs. I brought this up to a boil and put a lid on the pot and turned off the heat. As tempted as I was to open the lid, I left it for an hour. Then I drained the chicken and ran it under cold water and stuck it in the fridge. Bob had a late day today and the last appointment wasn't until 2:30 this afternoon. So I just prepped everything and had it ready to go!
I love shallots and onions of any type! They do not like me!! I cry everytime...doesn't matter what I do...put them in the freezer, peel them under cold water...doesn't matter. So chopping shallots always takes me some time.
These are the aromatic ingredients for the rice part of the dish: shallot, garlic and ginger.
A famous club in Singapore is called The Clinic. Diners are seated in wheelchairs. The apertif is served in "saline drip" bags. Your starter course is served by waitstaff in a slightly blood smeared smock from a serving area likened to an operating room. The food, though, is reported to be 5 star!
One of the garnishes in Singapore Chicken Rice is sliced cucumber. I don't know what it is with me and cucumbers but I just can't seem to eat enough of them!
Another garnish is chopped tomato...
And, of course, green onion...I cut these at an angle just because I like the way they look that way.
Another garnish is chopped tomato...
And, of course, green onion...I cut these at an angle just because I like the way they look that way.
Singapore is one of the richest states in east Asia due to it's strategic port location. It is made up of 63 islands, including mainland Singapore. Singapore is located on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula and it is 85 miles north of the equator.
I started the rice by sauteeing the shallots, garlic and ginger...then add cilantro and rice and chicken broth and...
I promise that this is better than any Rice-A-Roni you will ever have. I'm not ashamed to admit it, I love Rice-A-Roni...but this is way better!
Bob did try to eat, but just couldn't, so I made a smoothie in, what I thought, would be the spirit of Singapore. Actually, I don't know if it is, but, what the hell....poor guy's gotta get some nutrition in him! This contains a buttload of quartered strawberries, 1 banana, 1 can of papaya juice, 1 container of vanilla yogurt and 1 tablespoon of soy protein powder...
Like I said earlier, I pre-made everything I could...so I wound up refrigerating the chicken. I wanted to heat it through, so I crisped up the skin in a mixture of canola and sesame oil. Be warned, though, if the chicken has any moisture in the skin, whatsoever....
the grease will reach up and bite ya! Sweet Jesus, that sucker hurt!!
Here is Bob's Singapore Smoothie Sling...in my collector Alaskan Amber Iditarod glass....he knows he's special if I let him use that!!
And my Singapore Chicken Rice dinner....OMG! This is super good! If you don't have to take a break in the prep, it takes right at an hour to make it.
I would like to thank the 51 people who voted for next week's country. Bob pulled BroncosFan and SeHawkGal out of the hat. BroncosFan chose France and SeHawkGal chose Australia. This is the closest vote I have ever seen and I thought that I would have to flip a coin, but by holding the vote open for 5 extra minutes, georgi porgi came to the rescue with the deciding vote. Next week, we are off to France.
I started the rice by sauteeing the shallots, garlic and ginger...then add cilantro and rice and chicken broth and...
I promise that this is better than any Rice-A-Roni you will ever have. I'm not ashamed to admit it, I love Rice-A-Roni...but this is way better!
Bob did try to eat, but just couldn't, so I made a smoothie in, what I thought, would be the spirit of Singapore. Actually, I don't know if it is, but, what the hell....poor guy's gotta get some nutrition in him! This contains a buttload of quartered strawberries, 1 banana, 1 can of papaya juice, 1 container of vanilla yogurt and 1 tablespoon of soy protein powder...
Like I said earlier, I pre-made everything I could...so I wound up refrigerating the chicken. I wanted to heat it through, so I crisped up the skin in a mixture of canola and sesame oil. Be warned, though, if the chicken has any moisture in the skin, whatsoever....
the grease will reach up and bite ya! Sweet Jesus, that sucker hurt!!
Here is Bob's Singapore Smoothie Sling...in my collector Alaskan Amber Iditarod glass....he knows he's special if I let him use that!!
And my Singapore Chicken Rice dinner....OMG! This is super good! If you don't have to take a break in the prep, it takes right at an hour to make it.
I would like to thank the 51 people who voted for next week's country. Bob pulled BroncosFan and SeHawkGal out of the hat. BroncosFan chose France and SeHawkGal chose Australia. This is the closest vote I have ever seen and I thought that I would have to flip a coin, but by holding the vote open for 5 extra minutes, georgi porgi came to the rescue with the deciding vote. Next week, we are off to France.
My groceries came to $12.21 for this week, which left $7.79 to go into the Beach Bag. The total after week 18 is $116.82! That's not too bad and I never really thought about saving change before, so this pretty cool to me!
Until we meet in France next week, peace, love and all that jazz!!
