The Weekender

Singapore - They're Just Like Us! 

Just because its 86 degrees out, doesn't mean we can't enjoy some mid-winter hibernation like the rest of you. Behold, my favorite part of the weekend - (which sometimes begins on a Wednesday) - some well-earned relaxation with the First Family of Alaska. 

A recap of weekend events: Friday night hibernation, Saturday morning New York style and a day adventure to Tiong Bahru.

A perfect Friday evening. In case you didn't know, out here (in my opinion) Indian food = Italian food in terms of comfort and goodness. 

I know we are so far behind on Downton Abbey, but we are hooked. Holy cow was this weekend at Downton was good! 

Michael could barely sleep all week in preparation for his new espresso maker and bagel delivery Saturday morning. With the death of all things electrical in our apt. we needed a new one. I don't know how to use it yet, but I love the kind of retro-chic look - and the coffee was mighty tasty to boot. The eternal question, will this [insert overpriced object here] work when we move back the states? That remains to be seen...
      

 

Do you even know how hard it is find a normal (much less, good) bagel in Asia? While these aren't actually from NYC, this is the closest we could find after weeks of extensive research. #expatproblems

(p.s. is that supposed to be a 'lazy cop' eating a bagel like its a doughnut on top of a donkey? yup, nailed it) 

The meat of our weekend was spent in Tiong Bahru. According to CNN travel, this is "Singapore’s oldest and hippest 'hood" so that's cool. I would say it's something like a Brooklyn to New York's Manhattan(?) I took the ol' camera out for the adventure. It was a really fascinating neighborhood - I wish I would have taken more pics, but I got the sense it was an older and more traditional location so I was more conservative with my snapping.

These mandarin plants are EVERYWHERE. They are considered a traditional symbol for Chinese New Year.

We picked out some plants for our balcony at the market. 

All around are these burning areas for Chinese New Year (and certain other times of the year). From what I understand, you burn Joss Paper, or sometimes its called heaven or hell money. This act is done to pass on money, or other valuables to your ancestors to be used in the after life - to ensure they have everything they need. In summary, to give a gift to someone who has passed. While I do not pretend to know much about Chinese culture, we are sure learning a lot during our first Chinese New Year in Asia! 

Sunday night I cooked up a mean lasagna (our favorite recipe) and we wound down with the Crawley's. 

Would you guys like to see more (and by more, I mean any) cooking posts? It's really not as exciting as you would think. I can pretty much get the things and brands I want just at 3x the cost. Most things are the same except the occasional non-pasteurized dairy product, or a suspect Chinese brand, or that one time I accidentally received $50 worth of ground beef the size of a small baby as a result of my incorrect metric system conversion. 

And finally, I leave you with this little Singaporean jewel. Singapore is well known for it's notoriously low crime rate and strict laws and enforcement. Honestly, how funny is this sign/system. This thing has been up for at least 2 weeks now. We were joking, that if this were NYC, this sign would have be a continually changing LED ticker of unspeakable acts. 

Bicycle theft? There goes the neighborhood!