A simple and excellent melon popsicle, in Hong Kong:

For a shift of gears, I had an elaborate meal at Waku Ghin -- a 10-course tasting menu heavy on seafood, with local and japanese themes, served at a small bar with just 4 other diners and 2 chefs. The head chef is Tetsuya Wakuda, best known for Tetsuya’s in Sydney, which I ate at years ago and loved. Not that I’m a celebrity chef horse– all that really matters is the food. ...

My favorite chicken rice of four variants tried this trip (this time, with roasted chicken and slices of raw but mild ginger), for a bit over $2 US, back at the Roasted Delights stall in the food court at Bukit Batok Block 109 (which is mainly the food court for the adjacent apartment building):

I had Rojak (lower right) for the first time, as part of a quick lunch: Rojak is Malay for “mixture”, and I hear it varies vendor to vendor, but the one I had was a collection of fried (but still cool and crisp) fruit and crisp watery vegetables (including something that reminded me of jicama), friend dough, and an interesting spicy and sweet sauce that I think was peanuts, shrimp paste, chili, and a little sugar. I liked that it was a bit less in the sweet direction than many sweet and sour sauces. Refreshing, and a good side dish / appetizer. ...

Singapore isn’t a place I get excited about drinking a beer, since it’s mostly mild lagers like Tiger (good with spicy food, but that’s about all I can say for it) and other similar beers. Plus, a single beer can easily cost $10-$15 US. But holing up during a downpour over the weekend, I came across a bar with Little Creatures Pale Ale- excellent. Hops reminiscent of the Pacific Northwest, but leaning towards spruce or balsam instead of pine. My favorite Australian beer and up there in my favorite pale ales overall. ...

Another success: Yong Tau Fu (less than $3, in a food court at the end of a warehouse full of autobody repair shops and industrial supply stores, and in a stall with a ‘B’ health department rating, which some friends claim is the delicious sweet spot between authenticity and pathogen count): You stock a bowl with whatever greens, fish cakes, tofu, or other ingredients you want: Then you hand the bowl to the person behind the counter, tell them if you want soup or noodles, and they finish it for you. The person who recommended this particular stall said it were good because it’s not all pre-cooked ingredients– if you put tofu in your bowl they take it out and deep fry it for you right then, and certain vegetables they’ll also cook very briefly before tossing them in with the noodles/broth. You top it with chili sauce at the table, of course: ...

I just had Laksa for the first time, for breakfast, and I think I’m in love (I do like a savory start to the day). A spicy broth with coconut milk and chili paste, noodles, sliced fish cake, two hard-boiled eggs, fried tofu, shrimp, rice noodles, some other unidentified chewy bits that I think were seafood, and I’m sure other spices or broth ingredients I didn’t recognize:

Delicious “Sri Lankan Black Pepper Crab” from Long Beach Seafood (their signature dish). No single bite was too spicy, but the peppery butter accumulated in a slow burn… I feel only a little guilty for devouring a 2lb crab myself.

(still good the second time)

I can’t remember the last time I got takeout, but a rainy day and work insanity seemed like a good excuse. And Mission Chinese Food is so cheap, I had to order three side dishes to get up to the $15 minimum. Hainam Chicken Rice (w/ chicken fat, peanuts) Peanuts cooked in vinegar, anise, smoked garlic (amazing!) Pickled cabbage and chili (fine) Hot and sour cucumber with chili, dried shrimp, chrysanthemum (also excellent!) ...

I didn’t know Parabola was available outside of a few Firestone Walker tastings (they mainly use it as an intermediate beer they blend into their anniversary ale each year) , but City Beer managed to get a few bottles of it (for in-store consumption only, to prevent them from being scooped up and resold on ebay). A good surprise on a beerophile friend’s birthday. I don’t want to be that person who describes a taste as “dutch cocoa, with raisins and the tart fruitiness of a lightly-roasted espresso”, but apparently I am. ...

A friend and coworker made his own cured pork belly and wild boar salami (and I mean real running-in-the-woods, invasive, shot-by-a-friend wild boar, not the Texas-ranch-raised “wild boar”) . And a group of us had a little shindig pairing those with various smoked or barrel-aged beers: The beer highlights for me were the Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen, a smoked beer with a light touch (and I don’t like most smoked beers I’ve had), and The Lost Abbey Angel’s Share (bourbon aged, chewy, >12% ABV, strong– a sour cherry barrel aged version of that at City Beer a few years ago was one of my favorite beers). ...

Hey, this was a more successful than usual “leftovers hash”, and only 20 minutes. (cue typical low-light cell phone photo:) Some good pancetta fried at low heat. A little water added to deglaze the pan and get the crusty bits off the bottom. A minced shallot sauteed in the fat. Then a few brussels sprouts I had (sliced thin), a coarsely chopped head of broccolini, and a few big pinches of white pepper, for variety. With the pan covered, fried/steamed on medium-low heat (stirring occasionally) for about 10 minutes. ...

I splurged a bit on ingredients– some wild-caught (I’d just read Righteous Porkchop) salmon, between layers of sliced shallots, hedgehog mushrooms (so disturbingly spiny-looking when fresh…), black trumpet mushrooms, and kalamata olives, along with black pepper and Meyer lemon juice. No added salt (letting the olives stand in for that). I wrapped the whole stack in foil, crimped the edges, and baked it at 400 for about 17 minutes. Delicious! ...