I'd only been seeing him for a month before it was Christmas time. And honestly I don't think I am anything that is worth special merit-- so when the boy said he wanted to take me to a nice restaurant for Christmas night, I thought 'ooooo! He'll prolly spend 50 dollars on my dinner and a bottle of wine!' Instead he treated me to a surprise 7 course dinner 70 stories over the beautiful skyline of the small island nation that is Singapore.

I could see it all. It took my breath away. 

Immediately out of the express elevator, the sweeping staircase opened out toward the towering windows and fanciful modern fusion wood slacks that were just slightly remanicent of the slats I saw on old photographs of my mother's school days. They spiraled toward the south face of the resturant where there we could see the lights of Marina Bay Sands and the skyline of the rest of the city. Below us was the Esplande, an open shell along the winding sparkling rivers. We could trace all of the Quay areas, from Robertson, to Boat, to Clarke.  It was one seamless string of lights like colored pearls. We sat in a circular booth with the bar and the band to our right, and the entire island of Singapore in the front. From where we saw the city, it looked large enough for us to scoop them in our hands and cup them to our faces. 

I wish I had a camera, and I wish I had taken the menu card from the table, and I wish i had written down the courses while they were still fresh in my head. I actually wish I were still back there in the beautiful moment of it. While I'm here in Singapore, I haven't had the opportunity to cook much so it's not that much of a surprise that I haven't had that many recipies to share with you. So while I'm still in cooking limbo, i was going to start sharing a few resturants that I have found or have been taken to while here in Singapore. 

This first one is the most special to me in that it is the first time anyone has ever taken me to a fine dining restaurant for a date. Mind you, I don't like being considered high maintenance but there are a few things that I am very refined about, and fine dining is one of them.  I appreciate cheap food, in fact a lot of the time I prefer it, but I can taste the difference between good dining and expensive dining and luxury dining. Sometimes I wish i didn't. Christmas day, I was glad I did.

- ---- - -  -  - Stamford Swissotel: Equinox -  -  - - ---- -

Bread and butter: Which you think would be pretty standard stuff, the butter was some of the most delicious that I have ever had. The simple joy of delicious butter was surprising and delightful. I had to literally force myself to stop eating it. They started us off with champagne and a few party favors. It was Christmas day after all; and though most people partied on Christmas Eve, Greed and I were glad for the little toys. There was a popper, a Christmas cracker, little noise makers with sparkly tinsel... and well... love. 

Course 1) Bruchetta: I wasn't particularly impressed by their bruchetta. It was delicious, and there was a subtle hint of truffle oil, but I would have preferred a salad of a sort. And actually, I scratched the roof of my mouth on the biscuit. It worked as a way to whet my appetite. I was a bit full from the Mojito that I had in the lobby, but I was glad for the savory sour tidbit. 

gaspacho: I actually really liked the gaspacho, it was a simple cold tomato base but it had a pleasant refreshing and smooth flavor that cleaned my palate so nicely. They said it was complimentary, it was yummy. 

Course 2) Lobster and crab bisque: Our first hot dish was a generous bowl of lobster bisque. It was slightly thinner in texture than i expected from a bisque but the flavor was all there. Chunks of crab and lobster were sprinkled in the rich and creamy orange soup. I think I remember a curl of cream and small flecks of parsley, but I could be just painting a portrait of my feelings in this memory. 

At this point, I was so speechless I couldn't think of anything nice to talk about with Greed. i was so absorbed in our current surroundings that I wasn't sure if there was anything else to talk about. At this point I searched for a pen, and when I couldn't find one, I snuck next to him and held his hand. 

Course 3) sea bass with cream caviar sauce: The slice of sea bass was about two inches by two inches of poached white sea bass, the skin was removed but the gray tan of the back could still be distinguished from the rest of the white meat. It rest on a bed of light greens, and was blanked in a cream sauce with the hint of garlic. It was sprinkled with capers and black caviar... my favorite of the non-main courses. It was a soft savory taste after the slightly tangy precourses. 

We had started talking about family, and they offered us mashed potatoes that we shared. and I was kind of surprised that he took my hand this time, he's a warm handed man. ... and then for some reason I couldn't help but wonder what it would look like if a dragon attacked the city. We'd have the best view.

Course 4) Fillet Mingion: The main course was served with grilled brussels sprouts and buttery, creamy, almost soupy, mashed potatoes. The main course was switched between him and I, my rare went to him and his medium rare came to me, we switched half way. But it was a beautiful piece of meat, soft, tender, sweet-- And Greed really liked the sprouts... which was fine cause I didn't actually want them. Even though they looked beautiful. 

We ended up finding a pen and were drawing dragons on the paper. 

Course 5) gorgonzola: on a biscuit. 

After swooning on the rich and lush flavor of the cheese course. Greed and I started noticing the mother at the table before us. The entire time we had been there, she was eating her dinner with her poor exhausted baby girl sleeping completely zonked on her shoulder. I hate kids, but their kids were so good. The father was swirling a glass of white wine while their six year old son sat quietly playing on his DS. We talked about children and the respect we had for the mom who skillfully and single handedly (literally) ate her dinner in peace.

Course 6) chocolate brownie: thing... with little chocolate flakes that were propped up like sails and mushroom shaped buttons of whipped cream and chocolate drops. I finished it since it was a small course, but really, it was chocolate. The rich and melty texture was most likely the best part of the rich and lush dessert, but I didn't like it. I enjoyed the 'mushrooms' and since Greed noticed i did, he carefully scooped one of his from his platter and did a sweet little mushroom transplant. and he plopped the mushroom on top of my chocolate square before laughing at me. 

So... I really like this one. And I hope he really likes me too... 

Course 7) red wine sorbet: New culinary goal, make a red wine sorbet-- or any kind of alcoholic sorbet. It was literally a half glass of wine... just sorbet. Initially all I could taste was the alcohol-- but after I figured it out, I started treating it like a red wine that I had to let melt onto the pallet. It was a very fruity wine, and I'm not sure if they added fruit to the dessert itself, but I tasted cherries and dark berries. Not strawberries... sad, but warm and tingly.

We took our time leaving. I wanted to absorb the moment we had in the heavens. He let me hold his hand all the way to the elevator, even as I took him to the window and stared out at the evening skyline. Then we just giggled our way to the exit talking about how it would have been funny if we had waited to go up the elevator till the next couple went up. Throw them off. We skipped back to his home. For those of who know me, you know what we were planning on doing all night-- Firefly marathon!

The food and the sights were fabulous, but in the end, it was just another (extremely) nice resturant. What made that night indescribable to me, was the way Greed made me feel special. Equinox, the best part of my Christmas.  

Da Final REVIEW: 

Luxury Dining-- (pick one per year) 
 

+      (3.5) Food --  Great! delicious. Beautifully presented, and well balanced. 
                (1)  Price -- Very high. Unfortunately, over 200SGD a person. 
    (5)  Location --  AMAZING! There is no way to describe it in a way to completely capture the beauty. 
+         (2.5) Food/Price --  Value for food is kind of expensive but not completely unjustified.
       (4)  Location/ Price -- Worth the view, it was out of this world 

Verdict; You're going for the atmosphere (or should I say 'stratosphere')-- trust me. =} 

A friend taught me the true reason we make easter eggs. TO FIGHT THEM.

Now, I suspect here this derives from Rooster fights, might as well start them young right? I kidd. But the story was that in her family, she would take the eggs and smack them together till one  of them cracked and the uncracked one will fight the next egg. This will continue till there is a champion egg, and that egg is then crowned the Easter Egg! Victory! for like... a little while before it gets eaten. In my head, I see it like a championship game. Tier 1, everyone's egg fights another egg, then the champion of the two matches progress to the next tier. My eggs were not at the competition,s o I don't know how well it would have fought, but as I am a competitive person I would have been sure to train my eggs hard to win the tournament and kicked the other egg asses.

We spent about an hour making food and dying eggs, and in the time she did 11, I had decorated 4. yeah. 4. Apparently I need more egg dying skills. 

Meanwhile; Happy Easter Everyone.

 ------------------BATTLE EGGZ-------------------

Ingredients:

• eggs...
• Food dye/packet dye
• vinegar
• Water
• Birthday candles 
• Sharpie

Battle armor Instructions:

1. Boil Eggs till they are hard boiled! We did ours for 20 mins. Set aside to cool.  
2. Prepare dye; I think food coloring works, but we used the little pellets of color that came wit the box. 
3. 3 tablespoons of vinegar and a pellet till it's all dissolved. Then add a cup of water to dilute. 
4. Use birthday candles and Sharpie to draw patterns on your eggs. You may do all at once, or one at a time. 
5. Dye eggs in your color of choice, the longer you wait, the darker the egg. Fish them out with a spoon or a ladle or a hot pot net if you have one!
6. for additional smears, take a cotton swab and dab spots of color on your eggs.
   a) For a scratched look, rub the corner of a dry paper towel over dabs.
   b) For a marbled look, rub with a damp paper towel.
7. Set aside to dry.  

Fighting instructions: 

1. Hold the egg with two fingers, one holding the tip and the base of the egg. 
2. Smash!
3. Uncracked one wins
4. If both crack, you guys are stupid. 
5. Enjoy your easter!

I sort of stuffed up my search at the job fair this week, no one wanted to hire me. I was a bit upset Tuesday afternoon but I went to see some friends for fun anyway-- and I'm glad to have, because this meant that I got to watch the Purdue/Illinois game. Close and exciting. The way basketball should be. 

All Things Considered on NPR a little while ago had an article about the comment that journalist Bissinger had made about how 'white' people watching pro basketball was low because there is no white star for the white audience to relate to. I thought this was BS. I love watching college basketball because it's my team and it's exciting. I don't watch a sport and think, oh this would be better if a chinese person were playing so that I can root for him! Though, I did like watching Yao Ming, but that was because I met him at an airport coming home from a basketball tournament and not because he's Chinese. I miss Kramer and Hummel playing. But goodness do I love watching JJ and Etwan sweat.  His generation of watchers though, I suppose I can't count for. Just recently I had thought: I wish I was a college kid at the time when Michael Jordan was playing for the Bulls. How amazing and exciting would it be to watch a pro game with a sport's giant like that? 

Though, on a side note, Purdue traffic on game days blows hard chunks. Also they really need a better parking system in which they do not enforce it through douchieness. 

Which then brings me to what I had for dinner. Not that it was really related. Along with the oysters that I bought on Monday, I also purchased a sushi grade tuna steak. I'd eaten half and had half left, with it, I made a tasty skillet seared Tuna steak. I like to pretend that I'm fancy like that. I should start learning how to make more western food. And to you, my dinner. 

------------------o0O Soy seared tuna and Garlic rice O0o------------------

Tuna: 

1 1/2 inch thick sushi grade tuna steaks (I happened to have a block that was 1.5x2.5x4 in but youc ould prolly have something bigger if you wanted) 

3 tbs Tarriaki Soy Sauce (I like Kikkoman but you could easily use any other sweet and spiced soy sauce)

3/2 tbs Sushi vinegar (If you don't have sushi vinegar you could easily make some with vinegar (white or rice) with sugar! to your own taste)

1/2 tbs Vegetable oil

1 clove Chopped garlic

2 tsp Black pepper

Garlic Rice: 

3 cloves Chopped garlic

2 cups Cooked white rice (I like Jasmine!)

2 tbs Soy sauce

2 tbs Fish sauce

Garnish:

Fresh washed Watercrest

<'}:TUNA:><

1> Pre-heat oven and skillet to 400 Degrees F. This is okay for Jean because she was also baking chicken and an apple pie at the same time. If you wana use a stove top pan, then wait on this. 

2> Combine oil and chopped garlic in a small bowl and stir till garlic is coated. 

3> Add terriaki soy sauce, sushi vinegar and pepper to the garlic and mix. 

4> Marinate tuna steak in the soy and vinegar mix for 10-20 mins. Make sure the whole thing is coated but only the bottom needs to soak. During this time, I made the rice!

5> Take your hot thing (iron skillet in my case, frying pan in others) and pour part of the marinade on the pan. Sear each side of the tuna steak for 1-2 minutes on each side. Tuna should be a dark crispy brown color. If you are doing this on a frying pan, make sure the pan is hot before you start or you'll cook the creature through and that's not good!)

6> Use a sharp knife to cut half inch thick slices, the tuna should be a deep pink/purple color. 

<'}:Garlic Rice:><

1> Heat oil in a pan. Add garlic and fry till fragrant. 

2> Add rice, soy sauce, fish sauce and continue to fry until golden. 

Yeah... it's that easy. In the picture above, I kind of over-cooked the fish, I didn't mean to =( it should look like this. 

APPENDED: Alternate serving suggestions. 

At target there was a clearance on black pasta. Apprently it was flavored with squidink, which I like. =} I was disappointed a bit that the pasta didn't taste too much different form plain pasta, but that's what happens. It looks beautiful, so I decided to use it in the seared Tuna dish. It looked fantastic. Here's what I did. 

<']:Black not-squidinked flavored pasta:><

1> Cook pasta according to directions on package, I've noticed that if you cook it for too long, the pasta turns purple so to keep it the rich black pasta color, I hope you like al'dente.

2> mix 1 tsp itilian mix (with parsley, oregano, rosemary, thine and sage preferably), pinch of paprika and 1 tsp roasted chopped garlic in 1 tablespoon of extra Virgin Olive Oil. 

3> drain pasta then toss in oil mixture. Add salt, pepper and sesame seeds to taste. 

FYI, this time I seared my tuna in a George Foreman grill. lifted it up for grill lines!