The Runaway Cook

Today was AMAZING! We traveled to chinatown and experienced some culture there. I feel a little more like I'm actually out of the USA and just especially glad that we were able to escape the classroom.

It all started with our run to the wet market, which really is not wet. . .except for the cement under tables of fish and other edible sea creatures. Instead, it is filled with teeny tiny stalls each bursting with a selection of strange vegetables or exotic fruits. Each stall seemed to specialize in their own unique selection of goods, some dedicated to specialty dried items including dried squid and cuttlefish (used to make soups).

Although Singapore has no natural resources, due to it's small size and that the land they do have is mainly developed, they do have magnificent fruit and vegetable stands. The fruits here seem like some sort of Dr. Seuss drawing come to life. From the hot pink fin-like folds of dragon fruit peel or the Jurassic - size of the jackfruit, every fruit placed in the worn cardboard boxes is a natural wonder in every color imaginable. I went a little bonkers, I bought several fruits I had heard of like: rambutan, jackfruit, red dragon fruit, mangosteen, and lychee. . .and then I bought a few things that I didn't know what they were and still can't remember the names. Regardless, I was in heaven tasting all these sweet fleshy foods with their exotic floral and earthy flavors.

For the first time in my life I saw a stall dedicated purely to eggs, which are not refrigerated here. Eggs are seperated by size then by the strange action performed on them. For example century eggs. . . these babies are not 100 years old. No, they are preserved by an alkaline solution. Traditionally, the eggs wee left in a pile of hay and urinated on by the barnyard inhabitants to change the pH and preserve the eggs. However, today they use more cleanly means to turn the while black and make the feared food.

I tried a slice of a century egg thinking that is would be retched, but learning that it merely tasted like a slightly cooling hard boiled egg. (When I say cooling, I do not mean that is made me chilled but that it tingled and felt like mild mint, but not having the taste of mint. It was very strange.) Truthfully, This egg was almost normal, except for it's frightening color. I probably could have eaten a whole one inside a salad or something.

After the wet market we made our way through the many touristy stalls selling "fake"- handbags, souvenir fans and kimonos, and t-shirst with odd sayings. There was no blending in as 25 obvious americans waltzed through all in chef-whites. Shop keeps holle

red at us, "Hey chef" or "American" as an attempt to get us to stop and purchase something.

It was strange to get so much attention and how we seemed to stand out so much. In fact, none of us were prepared for how to purchase foods here and how different that method is from purchasing non-foods. For foods, first rule: NEVER TOUCH THE FOOD! Shop keepers proceeded to yell at us in Chinese and/or English with such a heavy accent that we could barely understand them. The good news, after just one mistake you know what to NEVER DO AGAIN. Also, there's no bartering on the price of foods, if the shop keeper likes you he/she will give you a few extra small fruits after weighing them just to say thank you. But if you're buying non-food stuffs then you must ask for lower prices. I actually got the price for and Item down 60% from the original price.

Wow... Sometimes I just can't believe that I'm doing this. I mean I can't believe that I'm able to tell you how to and how not to buy fruit in a foreign country. Sometimes life is amazing in even the simple things :)