Shall I compare thee to an eggplant?

It is a curious thing, our love affair with food. Sometimes the feelings of passion do not surface until one's tastebuds mature. Like a girl who discounts a perfectly lovely man and potential lover at first glance on the sole demerit of his crooked teeth, or all-too-wide smile, so we pass judgment on the fuel on our plates, often dressed enticingly for the purpose of seducing our palates. You would think bright colours would do for a child. After all, sweets are coloured brightly and attractively and my favourite ice-cream was the rainbow paddle-pop, precisely because of the rainbow, and my other favourite the kueh lapis, of which my favourite colour is the first layer of bright red. But no, my hospitality did not extend to... the horrors.. bell peppers. They were cut in chunks and presented with chicken, and my mother forced it on me. I protested with tears and a mock spitting, it was too strange, the taste of it. Nevertheless, she expounded their health merits at the dinner table with a vengeance. It was conflict that recurred, it was almost a ritual, this haggling over bell peppers, and lady's finger (okra), and eggplant.

In a child's mind, vegetables are for the most part-- green. Anything else was an anomaly. Certainly purple is a strange colour, sliced-up barney presented on a platter, with gooey slime at that. There was no way it was going to be palatable. Not on my life.

Ten thousand miles and many years later, I found myself in a foreign land, living a life apart from my mother's wild gesticulation of health food. The first time we made spaghetti, the boy and I went to the supermarket for the ingredients. "Green peppers," the boy said, "green peppers will enhance the sauce." Certainly not. " Your mother didn't teach you?", he asked, nonchalant. I did not respond. Certainly she did. Not wanting to seem uncooperative or unsophisticated or ignorant, I timidly chose a green bell pepper. There was only one way out, chop it down till its negligibly small, and so I did. But boy, was the boy right? I never tasted green bell peppers until then.

And then there's the red. Sliced, juicy and plump red peppers lined the fika (coffee) table after church, and also for breakfast in Jerusalem, to be eaten with cheese, cucumber, tomatoes on an open top sandwich. The Swedes crunched on it and talked over it, as if it was the most casual thing to eat in the world. Well, how could one treat with hostility what was so loved among the majority? So begun my acquaintance with the red bell pepper, and soon I joined the ranks of them chomping and crunching over talks of the weather and the world. My mother would be proud of me. I will bring her the good news.

Over skype, there was no time for niceties,

Mom! I was triumphant. I am eating bell peppers!

"Bell peppers are good for you. Their vitamins are...." She began her usual rant, as if I was still protesting against it. Never mind, it'll take some time for the news to sink in.

One perfectly lovely and lazy evening, I caught a whiff of a most delectable scent from the kitchen, and followed it promptly (I am often led by my senses). My German neighbour was baking something in the oven. What is that? I peered cautiously.

"Oh I'm roasting rice in a red bell pepper."

Sure enough, that was a red bell pepper sitting comfortably in the oven. Illuminated by the warm orange glow of the oven, it was every inch the forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden.

Wow I didn't know it smelled so delicious. My German neighbour gave me an impish grin, and returned to his room, leaving me alone with the bell pepper, confused and bewildered at my sudden influx of passionate feeling towards that past forsaken vegetable.

Then there was eggplant. If your memory served you, you would remember that I have sworn not to like it on my life. Well, i suppose we must be used now to the ironic workings of the universe. I am sorry to express that I have had to eat my words. There is an interesting theory, one could begin to love someone, crooked teeth and other flaws notwithstanding, if one was irrevocably betrothed to him. It was the case with me and eggplant. I had no other choice. Austrian airlines only served beef with eggplant, and I was hungry. It was a staring contest, to sum it up. Will you eat me or will you go hungry, the purple taunts. Yea, well...yea we could be friends, I ventured.

I chanced upon my Canadian Indian neighbour making lasagne. What is that? I quipped my usual.

"Oh I'm making eggplant lasagne, having a few friends over for dinner."

Ooh, you like eggplant?

"Yea well it pretty much works with lasagne."

Indeed. His friends took several helpings of it. Judging by the smell from the oven, and how easily their conversation flowed, I'd say it was a huge success. And that to me, was eggplant making its grand debut.

Finally, there was spinach. A kindly Swedish lady took to me, and we began cook-outs at her place. Frozen cube spinach was melted with cheese, mushrooms, chili and onions in the pot, and to say the least, I became receptive to Popeye's diet.

Well, what can I say? Would you love a foreigner in your own land? Perhaps you would love the same foreigner in his land.

Perhaps it may not have been love at first sight if he had been dressed in a polka-dotted shirt?

Eggplant with rice? No.
Eggplant with meat. Yes

Bell peppers in huge chunks? No
Bell peppers, chopped, in a stew? Certainly

Spinach in lasagne? Heaven, and it creates colour
Spinach in leaves? Sorry.


Perhaps we are all frivolous that way.

But one thing is for sure, my lovely Swedish and other international friends have re-shaped my attitudes towards some of my former enemies: I have been introduced properly and civilly to some of the most wonderful and versatile vegetables in the world, because of your exceptional diplomatic culinary skills. And for that, my mother would be proud of you.


A note: They are the same by any other name. Bell peppers: Capsicums, Paprika
Eggplant: brinjal, aubergine

1.5 years later...

Almost a year and a half later, here I am re-visiting the pages of my past. It is almost as if I cannot bear to write another page of memories for fear of washing out all that had transpired. But by-gones must remain by-gones if we are to live continually in the present. The journey has been tough, insightful, delightful and sometimes painful, but thats not the point. The point is, it has not ended. The parables and stories in our lives do not conclude until we leave this world, and there is hope for a bend in the river. As in all stories, we should expect the unexpected, because we are not really the author of our own lives, are we?

Culinary Adventures! (Part One)

Our status is currently: students living on a budget. So the following are some simple meals we've prepared at home.This is a picture of the beef stew I made. Credit goes to http://www.videojug.com
Potatoes, carrots, beef, tomato puree, leftover port wine, butter, chicken stock. After simmering for 2.5 hours. This is what you get! Delicious and comforting on a cold day.
Here is our Mexican styled Popiah. haha.. the tortilla! Easy to make. bought minced beef, and spice mix. Pan-fry with onions. Serve on tortilla with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, red pepper, cucumber and lots of taco sauce. Great for a no frills lunch!

On one particular day, I was fretting over what to cook for dinner. I had some very precious beansprouts from malmo china town and it won't last long. I also had cold fresh chicken in the fridge. What could I possibly make out of this? Didnt take long for the lightbulb to illuminate: Chicken rice! So i compared many chicken rice recipes on the internet, and found a suitable one for the ingredients I had in the fridge. Here is the final product:

First I took about 5 cloves of garlic and sliced some ginger, spring onions and boiled it in a chicken stock. Rub the chicken with salt, and added it to the stock. Boil for 5 mins. Turn off the fire and let it sit for 25 mins. After that I plunge each chicken part into cold water for about 30 seconds, and served with some chicken soup, soy sauce and sesame oil, arranging it on this plate with cucumbers and tomatoes. Didn't take any pictures of the rice. But I pre-fried the uncooked grains first with oil , garlic and ginger before transferring it to the rice cooker to cook with the chicken soup from the chicken. haha and it worked! The rice tasted somewhat oily like the ones you get in the hawker centres!

And here is the last of our precious beansprouts:
Panfried with carrots and oyster sauce. It was quite delicious!

On another afternoon, I chanced upon a salmon offer in ICA, the supermarket we usually go to. 89crowns for 1kg of salmon! (thats about 20+SGD) for 1 kg. Usually its 159crowns per kg. So I hurriedly got 600g of salmon about (11SGD) which can last me and the boy for 2 meals. And here is what became of one part of it: Teriyaki salmon.


Because it was so fresh, I merely panfry it with a little olive oil and some garlic, before adding teriyaki sauce. You can see its quite pink in the centre. And thats how I like it. Slightly undercooked! The accompaniment to the fresh salmon is what else, every student's favourite meal: Pasta. (cos its cheap and easy to cook)

The sauce here in the pasta is made quite simply by frying garlic and onions, adding mushrooms, and usually, capsicium (but I forgot to buy) and euroshopper pasta sauce for 9.90crowns about $2+SGD. Can be used for the 2 of us for 4 pasta meals. Or one pasta meal and one huge lasagne.

And our favourite is:
Haha! Pig Liver's Mee Sua. For some reason, our caretaker here does not provide as with many bowls. Lots of plates, but not bowls. Think maybe Westerners don't really use bowls, cos they drink soup from a soup plate. So we have to use these plates as well for soup. The tur qua here is really cheap. A fresh piece of pig's liver from the supermarket costs about 9 crowns. $2+SGD, and can last the 2 of us for 2 meals. so thats 4 plates of tur qua mee sua. Our guess is that the people here don't really know what to do with it. On many occasions, when I was slicing tur qua in the kitchen (an activity which I really enjoy, cos I love the feel of the soft liver), many corridor mates have come to ask me what that was. What I told them, pig's liver. They usually do a double take. hahaha.

Then there's sweet and sour pork:
Heh. I was really enthusiastic about making the sauce for this myself. But, as it turns out, a quick check on sweet and sour pork recipes on the internet will show that you need rice wine to make the sauce. We went to system bolaget (a state monopoly in Sweden for alcohols) to find that the only Asian wine they stock is Sake. Oh well, so the sweet and sour sauce is from a bottled sauce bought from the supermarket. Still, it serves us well and taste quite authentic. Thanks to my family who sent corn flour from singapore, I could fry the pieces of pork first. (though i'm no good at frying, can't guage when the oil is hot enough, or when its too hot) and then fry the condiments, a generous helping of onions, green peppers, and garlic with the pork in the oh-so-delicious sauce. Very appetizing!

There is one dessert we've made several times: Italian panna cotta.

The Italian "panna cotta" literally means cooked cream. And the recipe is courtesy of www.videojug.com. Vincent really loves this dessert. It requires simmering cream with milk, and sugar. After which, we will add about 100g of dark chocolate into the mixture to melt, whisking together to blend. Then adding 3.5 gelatin sheets, before refrigerating overnight. This is one of the favourites with our guests.

Then there are the frequent dinners with others when we will each cook something and share, and partake in a big feast!

And the steamed egg in the middle of the setup was cooked by me! recipe courtesy of the spoletorp south singaporeans.

A big feast shared in the midst of hearty conversation! Company is always the best appetizer!
More coming up! Thai green curry! Chicken paprika! Baked fish! Lasagne!

By the way, we can sympathise with you when we read about the rising price of rice in singapore. Be assured its worse here. A 2kg bag of rice here can set us back by about 6SGD, and thats only for 2kg at the cheapest supermarket.

How to live richly when poor

April is the month we begin our new life, humbled by our bank accounts. Thousand miles away from home, we have become cooks, tenants, accountants, and homemakers. Boy, do we love our adventures, and we treasure the memories of all our visits to exotic places. But as we've painfully learnt, such memories are expensive and our journeys and may I add, mishaps, have zapped our savings in Singapore to zero, and the search for high and lofty experiences in wonderful places must give way to paying the rent, feeding our stomachs and buying course books.

I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong, I still cherish every minute that I have here in Sweden, although I'm keenly aware that our current situation merits a new perspective on lifestyle and creativity in stretching the Swedish Crown. I will see it optimistically, as a personal project to make the most delicious meal with the least amount of money, to find pockets of nature in this little town of Lund to visit, instead of taking an expensive trip to Norway, on the most scenic route in the world.

We have 2 more big adventures to look forward to, lack of money notwithstanding, because we believe in the value of these experiences: 1. Study Tour to Jerusalem. (need I say more, to go to the Holy City and feel the light gentle touch of centuries of history) 2. Planning the trip of our lives for our siblings. (and I must say I think I'm more excited than my sister that she will be taking her first airplane ride when she visits us). It's no fun travelling alone, its more fun to bring suakus along like anthony and esther, that we will feel the joy all the more.

Till May and June, there's April, and April will be the month of living simply, as poor students in a foreign (expensive) land, and so be it, being poor is an experience, a challenge, a project, and why not? a fond memory retrospectively from 2020. ( I hope I'm at least richer than I am now)
An interesting question for you: Would you rather be poor studying in Sweden or rich working your socks off?

And so, without any other exciting adventures to share with you in the immediate days ahead, this post marks the beginning of the series: how to live richly when poor. I will try to chronicle how we get by our daily lives on cheap but good food, and the leisurely activities that we will embark on that are cheap and fun! So stay tuned!

Many many thanks goes out to both our families for lending us that extra finances. It may sound cliche but we can always count on family. Having said that, we will return the debt, in cash AND in kind.

Prague!!

The BOY says:

And finally, our final leg on our 9-day trip through ‘slightly-off-centre-and-to-the-east’ Europe was Prague, capital of the Czech Republic. Having heard horror stories of pickpockets, scam artists and other would-be undesirables, we were on an extra high alert when we got here. However, the city proved surprisingly peaceful and accommodating, something we really needed after a 6-hour train ride.

The Prague Skyline

After a good night’s rest, we embarked on our own walking tour of Prague, trying to take in most of the major sights around the city in an afternoon. We made our way past the Prague National Museum, the famous Wenceslas Square (which is not really a square, just a wide road), under the powder gate, through the Old Town Square, across the St Charles Bridge and finally arriving at the famous Prague Castle. By this time, we were totally beat and gave up trying to do anything else and took the tram back to our hotel where we napped the rest of the afternoon away until it was time for dinner, where we went for a simple Chinese ‘cze-tzar’ meal and retired to our hotel room soon after.

The National Museum of Prague

Wenceslas Square (the museum in the background)

The powder tower

The famous Tyn Church at Old Town Square

The world famous astronomical clock!

St Charles' Bridge

The next day, we went straight to the Prague castle, determined to get a thorough run-down on this attraction on the last day of our trip. Having accidentally alighted at the wrong train stop, we found ourselves outside of our handy map and somewhat lost. Fortunately, Prague castle is big enough of a landmark for us to gravitate towards and we eventually entered the medieval compound through the back door. Here, we saw the actual Royal Palace, St George’s Basilica and the famous St Vitus Cathedral. Once we had taken enough photos, we headed straight back to the Old Town where we signed up for a river cruise on the Vltava River and did our sight-seeing on something other then ‘Bus 11’.

The castle gates

St George's Basilica (one tower is bigger then the other to reflect medieval gender status)

St Vitus' Cathedral

The guide that we registered with for the river cruise told us an interesting fairy-tale story about Sir Bruncvik and his lost sword. Bruncvik was a native Czech who went abroad to seek out adventure. And as how fairy tales go, adventures usually find the protagonist. After numerous adventures, one day Bruncvik stumbled into a forest where he witnessed a cosmic battle between a lion and a 9-headed dragon. Bruncvik decided to help the lion and together they defeated the dragon, chopping off all of its head. From then on, Bruncvik found his best friend in the lion and vice versa and the 2 of them became inseparable. With the lion, Bruncvik came to another kingdom in a strange land who were plagued by demons. Naturally, Bruncvik and his lion made short work of the demons and the Kind awarded Bruncvik with a magical sword that allowed him to chop off the heads of all his enemies just by shouting ‘Off with your heads!” and knighted him Sir Bruncvik. By this time, Bruncvik had grown tired of adventuring and began to make his way home to Prague (naturally encountering many adventures en-route but none a match for his magical sword of course!) where he reunited with his wife and died a ripe old age. Sadly enough, his lion and best friend, died of a broken heart just days after his death. The lion lives on as the 2-tailed lion in the state symbol of the Czech Republic. As for Bruncvik’s sword, it is said to be lost but many believed that it is buried under his statue at the St Charles Bridge and one day, when the Czech Republic is threatened again and lay at the very edge of ruin, the statue of St Wenceslass, patron saint of the Czech Repulic will come to life, uncover Bruncvik’s magic sword and lead the Kinghts of Blanik (knights said to be sleeping in the mountains of Blanik) to battle and slay all of Czech’s enemies and bring peace and prosperity to the land again. As you can see, ‘Praguers’ as they fondly call themselves are either extremely imaginative or very very free.

Sir Bruncvik!

Saint Wenceslas!

The cruise was a novel experience. Immediately upon getting onto the small boat, the crew, all decked out in sailor’s uniform, served us some gingerbread and hot wine. The hot wine was really peculiar at first but in the unrelenting cold, it came in quite handy. Our river guide gave us a quick run-down of all the major sights we could see from the boat and some interesting tidbits about the city as well. Unfortunately, our refreshing ride lasted only for about 30min and that was it.

Our rustic tugboat.

The River Vltava

We took the time to go check out the narrowest street in Prague. This was extremely interesting. In order to avoid people getting stuck in the middle, this alley is actually controlled by a pedestrian crossing light, i.e. only cross when the green man flashes. Following that, we headed back towards Old Town and did our last minute shopping for gifts and souvenirs and as you’d expect of Goon, last minute snacking at the Old Town Square. After which, (since she is never full) we went to have dinner at a somewhat traditional Czech restaurant.

Looks like Goon should lose some weight.... block the whole street!

One of many reasons why Goon is getting fatter.....

Having nothing to do, I persuaded Goon to go on a Ghost Tour with me. Basically, a local guide brought us around the more secluded parts of the city and told us stories of ‘ghosts’ that are rumored to still haunt the area. It was interesting, but not fantastic. The tour company even arranged for someone to dress up as a ghost and burst out of dark alleys suddenly which I found pretty amusing. I caught him twice lurking in the street corner although I must apologetically admit that I kind of ruined his entrance for the third and final time.

And that was about it for Prague and that wraps up our longest trip yet. Not only did the trip take a lot of time, but a lot of money as well and as such, we won’t be traveling anymore until our next major trip which will be to Jerusalem!

Munich!

The BOY says:

We spent rather little time while in Munich, perhaps just over 2 days. We arrived on Sunday night and couldn’t do much but have dinner and retire to our hostel room for ‘Cluedo’…..

The next day however, we took a long expedition (2 hour train ride) out of Munich city to a small town called Fussen in order to get to the famous Neuchwanstein Castle. This was the ‘fairy-tale’ castle built by the ‘Mad’ King of Bavaria, King Ludwig II. Apparently, when Disney was designing their iconic Sleeping Beauty castle, they modeled it after this particular one. Neuchwanstein was truly a sight to behold. Situated on the foothills of the Swiss Alps, it was literally a castle in the clouds. To top off this fairytale experience, the girls were obsessed with taking a horse-drawn carriage up to the gates of the castle to arrive in true Cinderella fashion. “Insert yawn here.” For me, the horses kind of stank, the carriage didn’t really look quite impressive and I could have walked faster then the 2 poor horses that’s been dragging fat tourists uphill all day. We eventually got to the castle gates, albeit somewhat late but managed to pop in just before our dedicated admission time expired for the tour of the castle interior. Though far from complete (due to King Ludwig’s sudden, untimely and somewhat questionable death), the completed sections of the castle interior is one of the most opulent ones in existence. Solid gold decoratives, numerous tapestries and paintings of Wagner’s Operas and even a man-made grotto. This was truly a castle of castles. We were, as many have already guessed, not allowed to take any photos of the castle interior. Is it really because the camera flash damages the paintings? I think they just want monopolize the photos and sell it to tourists like us. It probably wasn't the best day to see the castle cause it was snowing/raining extremely heavily, which explains the somewhat blurry pictures.

Castle Neuchwanstein, a fairy-tale castle in the clouds

The other less famous castle, the Hohenschwangau.

Horse carriages to take you up the hill!

A section of the castle up close

The castle shrouded in the mist, now it looks kind of haunted.

After the tour of the castle, we took a walk to up the mountain trail to Mary’s Bridge, a metal bridge across the mountain valley. This was a nerve-wracking experience crossing the bridge because it was snowing ever so heavily and the metallic bridge was really slippery, and it creaks. After snapping some photos here, we went down to catch a bus back to the train station and thus was the end of our adventure here at the alps.

Goon walking up the mountain trail with a snowball on her head.

Goon and Mary's Bridge.

Goon in the forests, look how tiny she is.

The next day, we went on a free walking tour of the city because firstly, its free and secondly, our train to Prague only departs at 4.44pm in the afternoon. Our Canadian guide brought us to all the major sights within the city area. An especially interesting place is the Frauenkirche or church of our lady, which is rumored to have been built with the help of the devil. Long ago in ancient Bavaria, the people decided to build an extremely grand and impressive place of worship. So they came together and started construction on the Frauenkirche. This naturally angered the devil and he decided to destroy this grand building before anyone could use it as a place of worship. So he walked into the front door of the church ready to raze it to the ground when he realized that there were no windows at all. So he thought to himself, that if this church were completed, it would be a church of darkness and nobody would ever think of using this place. So the devil summoned the architect and promised to help him build it if he would not put any more windows into the building. The architect agreed and the church was built in record time. (I can’t remember how long but it was really quick, hence giving the story credibility) When the church was completed, the devil came back to gloat only this time, he entered through the side door. Lo and behold, he saw streams of light coming in through numerous windows, choirs singing and everyone was happy and joyfully worshipping the Lord. The devil summoned the architect and demanded to know why he went back on his word. To this, the architect calmly led him to the front door and showed him into the church and sure enough, the devil could not see a single window from the front door. (This is really true because the pillars of the church block the windows from view if you look from the front door) The devil, having been outsmarted by a mere human architect was mad with rage and stamped his foot hard on the ground and vanished with a puff of smoke. To this day, the imprint of his foot can be seen at the front door of the church. Nice story?

Frauenkirche

The front door of the Frauenkirche

The devil's footprint?!

Notice that there are no windows?

The Frauenkirche is one of the few buildings still intact after World War II. The church was spared from being bombed by the allies not because of religious reasons but because the twin towers served as a landmark and reference point for the allies to target their bombing missions and thus, the pilots were ordered not to destroy it. Most of Munich’s other sights are recreations after the war but perhaps the most accurate ones in Germany as Hitler had a soft spot for Munich and ordered photos of Munich’s buildings taken before the war in order for reconstructions to be as accurate as possible. He did so as Munich was where he initially rose to power and the birthplace of the Nazi regime.

The Rathaus, the new town hall.

The old town hall

St Mary's Statue

St Peter's Church

The Munich Opera House

After the tour, we quickly went back to collect our luggage and headed to the train station where a 6-hour train ride would take us to our next destination, Prague.

Berlin, Germany!

The BOY says:

Well everyone, it’s been the end of a long journey, the longest trip we’ve done since our time here. It was a whole 9 days and we got to see 3 cities in all, Berlin, Munich and Prague. To condense our 9-day experience in 1 post will take up the whole web page so I’m gonna split it up by city…..

We spent 4 days and 3 nights in Berlin. The city was something very different from European cities that we’ve been accustomed to. Berlin is a very modern looking city with very avant-garde architectural designs all around.

The streets of Berlin

Berlin's Modern Architecture

The Berlin Tower

The first problem we encountered when we first got to Berlin was that the transport company was on strike. Yes, an actual strike. As such, the underground train, the trams and the buses were completely non operational. This bode well for the taxi drivers around town but took a toll on our feet as we had to walk and walk all day round.

Tram tracks with nothing running on it......

Our feet took us to quite some places during our 2 full days here. We visited the Reichstag building, Berlin’s parliamentary building, the famous Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Dom (cathedral) and made our way down to Postdamer Platz, the city’s central district. Here we saw some remnants of what used to be the Berlin Wall. Goon for some inexplicable reason found it exciting to buy a piece of the wall from a local souvenir shop. Maybe it’s just my lack of background in history…….

Goon jumping outside the Reichstag

The Brandenburg Tor

Goon in front of the Berlin Dom

Postdamer Platz

Goon in front of a section of the Berlin Wall

Here, we decided to take a trip to ‘Legoland’. I know what many of you are thinking but there’s nothing wrong with wanting to relive your childhood! (although we were the only people who were NOT accompanied by an adult….) There was a lego factory demo on how lego blocks were made, many lego exhibitions, an extremely slow ride and a 4-D movie. (I shall not ruin the surprise of 4D here....)

Goon and Einstein!

Goon in a lion's jaw

Goon with Harry Potter & Hagrid.

The next day, we also visited the Kaiser-Wilhelm Memorial on our way to check-out KaDaWe, which is said to be the world’s largest shopping mall. It did turn out to be an enormous departmental store but it just didn’t feel like the largest in the world, or perhaps I was just completely uninterested in walking around.

We took the scenic route...

The Kaiser-Wilhelm Memorial.

And well, that’s it for Berlin and we were on to Munich!