Thursday, November 23, 2006

One of my favourite parts about living in Singapore was the fact that you literally can never go hungry. It's not an exaggeration. Whatever the time of day, there is always a 24-hour kopitiam around where you could get a complete (and delicious) meal for under $3.

Over here, the food can be roughly divided into 2 categories - expensive and junk. Granted there are exceptions (and I dedicate a significant portion of my time sourcing these out), but as a general rule the only food items I can afford on my student's income are pizzas, sandwiches, burgers and fries.

Which means I have to learn to cook for myself. Living close to school comes with the anciliary perk of being able to go straight home afterwards and cook myself lunch. (Incidentally, campus food has the dubious honour of being both expensive AND junk. Unlike normal educational institutions where meals are subsidised, eating on campus is actually more expensive than eating elsewhere.) On Mondays, when class ends later than usual, I pack my lunch to school.

It was hard having to cook for myself at first. After a while, pasta with pasta sauce gets a little boring. Then I discovered something I never knew about myself - I can stir fry. I'd thought I never stood a chance, considering how frying seems to involve a certain element of culinary skill, of which I sorely lack. However, it came pretty easily to me, almost as if I'd known how to do it all along. Amazing, huh!



-- tee @ 2:20 pm |