Classy.

I got a fantastic deal on this hotel when I stayed in Singapore last year (I was there for work, so I didn't pay anything at all actually).  I picked it because a) it's the same name as my hometown and b) it looked really nice.

It's everything you want in a hotel - luxurious, elegant, and yet comfortable and homey.  The service is outstanding.  I recommend taking a dip in the pool at night when it's lovely and warm outside and you can overlook the city lights glittering on the river.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: The Fullerton Hotel Singapore
Date: Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 7:50 PM
Subject: Our way of saying "Thank You"

Dear Guest,

Thank you for staying with us at The Fullerton Hotel Singapore. I hope you had an enjoyable trip in Singapore and that your experience with the hotel was a memorable one.

Voted one of the Best Hotels in Asia in Travel+Leisure's Top 500 in 2008 and among the Top 50 hotels in Asia in Travel+Leisure's World's Best Awards in 2007, The Fullerton Hotel Singapore prides herself as a masterpiece of modern comfort and elegance. Transformed from the Fullerton Building which was built in 1928, this 400-room luxury hotel represents the splendour and grandeur of its time.

As part of the hotel's 8th anniversary, we would like to thank you for your support through the years. We are delighted to offer you a 1-year complimentary subscription* (March 2009 to March 2010) of the well-read, widely-circulated Travel+Leisure magazine, the definitive voice on holiday destinations from family-friendly resorts to romantic getaways.

It's our way of saying, "Thank you" and we hope to welcome you back to The Fullerton Hotel Singapore very soon.

Warm regards,

Louis Sailer
General Manager
THE FULLERTON HOTEL SINGAPORE
1 Fullerton Square
Singapore 049178

Foodie Tuesday: Eggplant is growing on me

I really hated eggplant until recently.  And not because I didn't give it a really good chance.  I tried it grilled, fried, baked, steamed.  I realized that sometimes, it was insufferable (stringy, bitter, flavorless), and sometimes, it was pretty good (mushy, but in a good way).  I started to tell people, "I'm not crazy about eggplant, but it depends how it's prepared."

Then, I "discovered America," as my mom would say.

I realized that it wasn't exactly eggplant I hated unilaterally, but American eggplant.  You know, the huge fat kind, usually found sliced into thick circles and either grilled or baked into chewy eggplant parmesan.  There's something about it that makes it rather noxious.

I realized I really like Chinese eggplant (the long thin kind, sometimes called Japanese eggplant), especially the way, har har, the Chinese cook it.  I'm not being racist, I swear!  I find Chinese eggplant to be more tender somehow, with an uncanny way of soaking up all the flavors you bathe it in, whether it be spicy garlic sauce, or curry, or teriyaki.

Tonight, I decided to branch out a bit and tried Italian eggplant prepared the way my former Iraqi roommate did it (see below): sliced thin lengthwise, then toasted on the pan with a generous drizzle of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.  It came out delicious, just tender enough on the inside and a bit crispy around the edges, like a slightly roasted, thicker banana chip or something.

Do you know how many kinds of eggplant there are?  At Berkeley Bowl the other weekend, I saw no less than 5 kinds (pictured below). The Italian I bought, and then American, Chinese, Thai, and Indian. Crazy.

Nerds of the world unite.

Robots FTW!  One of the high school students I interviewed for my admission to my alma mater this year has been really involved in this crazy robotics competition that is held every year by US First.

Teams of students design robots for gameplay, which involves picking up these multi-colored balls and shooting them at designated targets.  Robots are big - human-sized! - and the arena is like a small stadium, thronged with people.

I kind of want to go watch it.

Meet: Barbara Butler

If you are rolling in $ and want to spoil your kids silly, or want to make them the most popular kids on the street, why not splurge on a custom play- or tree-house from Barbara Butler, who makes a living carving handmade play structures out of sustainable redwood.

A dear friend of mine used to do marketing for the artist.  The artist got her start twenty-odd years ago building decks for the likes of Bobby McFerrin, who requested a "unique play structure" on top of all the other work she was doing to his backyard.

I like how brightly colored the pieces are - and how sturdy they look.  I have to admit I always dreamed of having a tree-house and outfitting it with modern luxuries like a rug and cozy place to curl up and play board games.  There is just something delicious about the idea of holing up in a secret hideout, isn't there?

Prices range from $12,000 - $175,000.  Yes, which is more than some "real" houses!

Crock-Pot Adventures: The Inaugural Beef Stew

At the risk of branding myself as a shameful homebody, I'm plunging ahead with more posts about food.  My programmable oval 5.5-quart Rival Crock-Pot, which I bought for just $25 at Target several months ago, as been sitting in its box in a corner of my kitchen for a long time.  Until last night, when I opened it, determined to cross another thing off my 2009 List of To-Do's. I have never cooked anything with a slow cooker in my life.

There seem to be schools of thought when it comes to slow-cooker cooking. One sees slow-cookers as time- and labor-saving devices you can just "set and forget" in the morning, so it will cook all day and be ready for you when you get home from work.  Most traditional slow-cooker cookbooks seem to use a lot of packaged/processed foods like canned soups.

The other sees the huge potential of the slow-cooker as a gourmet instrument, adding complexity and flavor as it slow-cooks for hours at a time.  I fall into this category, as I can certainly appreciate what slow-cooking at low temperatures does to pork and beef.  This, in my mind, translates directly into mouth-watering delectable chilis, stews, and braised meats.

I bought the Not Your Mother's Slow-Cooker Cookbook from Costco yesterday.  I read a lot of (negative) reviews about both the cookbook and the slow-cooker, and realized a lot of people simply don't follow established best practices when it comes to slow-cookers, and then complain about the shoddy results of their own ineptitude.  Things like:
  • A slow-cooker should always be filled between 1/2 and 3/4 capacity (so food doesn't burn on the one hand, and has room to "expand" on the other).  So if your pot is bigger, you have to make more food.  Duh--you wouldn't cook a tiny amount of food in a big stockpot either.
  • How you layer things in the pot makes a difference, because of the way heat is distributed.  The recipe I tried said to put potatoes and carrots on the bottom, and meat on top.
  • The idea of "set it and forget it" is limited.  But doesn't it make sense that you should check on it a couple times in the beginning or towards the end, to make sure things are coming together and the flavors are right?  It's okay to open it up and stir things around (I also found that stirring took care of the "wateryness" I found in the morning--anyone who understands thickening agents like potatoes should know that!)
Anyway, the first thing I made was a recipe called Mom's Beef Stew because I had almost all the ingredients on hand and it was the perfect thing for a rainy President's Day weekend.  The recipe called for great nutritious things like Yukon Gold potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, mushrooms, peas and beef chuck.  Flavor came from paprika, soy sauce, wine vinegar, salt and pepper.  The only adjustments I made were:
  • Added garlic.  The recipe didn't call for it and I thought that was strange, but went along with it.  In the morning I tasted it and knew it was missing something.  So I threw in about 3-4 cloves' worth of crushed garlic and it fixed the flavor problem.
  • Used fresh green peas ($1.49 at 99 Ranch) instead of frozen.  So much better!
  • Added 3 small diced vine-ripe tomatoes instead of tomato paste
  • Used chicken stock instead of beef, because that's all I had
Things I would do differently next time:
  • Brown the onions instead of the beef before putting into slow cooker.  Either way you get that nice caramelized flavor, but my beef came out less tender than I wanted it, prolly because I cooked it too much on the skillet.
  • Add LOTS of garlic, at the beginning
It was enough for a large meal for 2, plus tons of leftovers for freezing!

Japanese curry over chicken cutlet

This is what Garry and I made for dinner last night.  He was in charge of the cutlet (pounding out the chicken breast, flouring it, egging it, covering it with panko and pan-frying it to perfection).  I was in charge of the curry sauce (started w/ onions and Yukon Gold potatoes, carrots, and then adding the curry goodness), and the veggies (sugar snap-peas stir-fried with garlic).

It was a huge success.  The chicken breast from Nob Hill Foods has proven amazingly tender and juicy; Garry's panko crust was perfectly crispity-crunchety, and the sauce was great.  Only thing that could have made it even better would be an over-easy fried egg on top.

Chicken-cauliflower Redux

With the chicken and the roasted cauliflower I made the other day, I re-hashed a new dish: chicken-cauliflower orzo!  I was originally thinking some kind of long pasta, but I realized I love orzo because of the soft way you can just scoop it into your mouth.  So, voila.  This took me to the end of the week.