Tag: food

My hovercraft is full of eels

So I’m enjoying a tasty traditional Khmer spicy soup somloo mjour krueng (US$3.75 plus 0.50 for a draft beer- the US dollar is used here more than local currency in tourist areas) at the Khmer Family Restaurant on Pub St, and after asking for fresh chillis (which, in my defence, was pictured on tip of the soup) and I realized I hadn’t learned any Khmer words yet.
Since there is WiFi I google phrases and get to omniglot. The last phrase is the one in the title and links to…
Check out the many translations for this Classic Monty Python phrase.
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UA BusinessFirst meal

On the IAH-HNL flight. It is indeed in between biz and first.
Plus a warm roll, though no whole wheat rolls. WTF! ? :-)

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This was preceded with a ramekin of warm nuts and followed by a custom sundae. Mmm. I also waltzed behind the curtain and gave some drink coupons to a Cdn couple I had met on the previous flight.

On the downside, the power port is some goofy thing which is not a cigarette lighter plug and definitely not a normal outlet…

Plus snack before landing after almost 8hr flight:

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IT: Amalfi Coast: Ravello details and photos

Below are some more photos of Ravello, the hilltop town (at 300m/1000ft high) just past Amalfi and Atrani, which has attracted its share of famous people over the years (e.g. Gore Vidal, Greta Garbo).

The town is literally on a hilltop, small enough to easily cover on foot.
Besides fabulous the coastal views, the main tourist sites are the cathedral and 2 villas with gardens.

The cathedral, on the main square, has a little museum, a carved marble pulpit supported by six lions, and a relic of holy blood which allegedly goes from translucent to bright red one day a year.

We skipped the 2 villas due to the rain and the fact that you can see the views from elsewhere in town for free. The 13th century Villa Rufolo is right off the main square but is mostly ruins. Villa Cimbrone is at the other end of town.

There are also quite a few 5* hotels on the peak, also with spectacular views and worth a peek in the lobby/garden.
And yes, things tend to be pricier up here.
The air temp is also a little cooler but still comfortable.

On the east side of town is a concert hall on the cliff, which has spectacular views and some bizarre, cool, large sculptures.

We ate lunch at the Ristorante Garden which is on the east side of town right by the bus stop (recommended by Rick Steves and coincidentally right next to where we were escaping the rain under a tree). The food was great (if a little more expensive than Atrani/Amalfi) and ended with a complimentary shot of limoncello liquor. My mixed seafood consisted of mussels and 3 types of clams; very tasty and filling, larger than I expected for 13 euros.
The Italian Post Office ATM just down the street (where our driver stopped on the way to Atrani) works well will all manner of foreign cards (both Plus and Maestro!)

Transportation note: a public bus does go from Amalfi Town to Ravello. Or for hard-core hikers, you can hike up from Amalfi Town or Atrani.

IT: Amalfi Coast: Ravello, Minori, Maiori (on scooter)

Made it back safely on the scooter.

Shortish ride on the scooter due to serious rain today (despite only 60% chance – the rest of the week is 0-10% chance of rain each day).

We drove up to Ravello, where we enjoyed a great lunch while it was pouring rain. The fabulous coastal view disappeared into the fog…

Then after 2 false directions, we returned to the coast and drove past Minori to the more downscale town of Maiori (also more of an Italian tourist crowd vs foreign tourist). The architecture was not interesting, but food and drink was much cheaper there, e.g. €1.80 vs €3 for a cappuccino or macchiato.

We picked up a nice bottle of local wine (Costa D’Amalfi Terre Saracene from Ravello) for 9 euro, plus a half kilo of plum tomatoes for 1 euro, and drove back to Atrani where we picked up a Cappriciosa Pizza for €5 from last night’s resto (“Mistral”) which surprised us as the pizza is listed at €8 if you eat in. We enjoyed our pizza with extra pomodoro (tomato) and bottle of red wine as the only guests on our rooftop patio, enjoying the views and the Miami-like internally-lit white resin planters and furniture.

And remember that cell phone recharger I bought in Singapore? It came in handy today, as the battery was dead (after Susan’s Angry Birds game while it was raining post-lunch) and we were able to enjoy an hour of music over a romantic rooftop dinner.

Regarding parking: there are often free scooter parking zones marked my narrow white lines (and a sign, though that doesn’t actually say “free”) as opposed to the pay parking which are blue lines (usually sized for cars).

Side note relating to breakfast: the hills are full of lemon and orange trees (hence the limoncello liquor made in the region). At our hotel’s breakfast buffet were freshly picked oranges and lemons, some with stems on them. The oranges are tasty and juicy, and today I squeezed a fresh lemon into a glass of sparkling mineral water and, wow, did that taste refreshing (as good as the five euro drink the day before)!

SG: more food photos

A few more meal photos:

SG: Day 4/Sun dinner with Sue and friends + info from locals

I met up with my friend Sue and her boyfriend and two more friends for dinner on Sunday,

Starting from City Hall MRT, it’s a 15 minute walk through underground shopping arcades to and malls to reach the Esplanade on the north side of Marina Bay.

We ate a tasty seafood dinner at the open-air hawker centre with a view on the water, despite it threatening to rain (luckily we only got a handful of drops, as the covered tables were all taken). Family style of course. With a beer, dinner came to S$23/US$18 each.
While I enjoyed the stingray and always enjoy trying something new, I don’t think it was worth the premium price (though not as expensive as chilli crab!)

Good conversation, nice to meet new people, good food, being outdoors. Excellent evening!

After dinner we walked south along the bridge (towards Merlion Park) to watch the nightly light show put on by the Marina Bay Sands hotel (both laster lights and a lit fountain).

Some tidbits of enlightenment about life in Singapore from that evening (i.e. from locals):

  • Singaporeans go for the 5 C’s: credit card, career, condo, car and carat (as in wedding ring). i.e. big families are certainly not a priority with mine and younger generations
  • Before you can buy a car, you have to get a COE – Certificate of Entitlement. There are limited numbers of these auctioned off each month, sometimes as high as S$80,000/US$64,000!!!
  • The other way the gov’t limits cars in the city core is via ERP – Electronic Road Pricing on various roads/times in the core city. Every car has a little transponder box on the dashboard.
  • Good places for walks in gardens/outdoors: Southern Ridges (parks connecting to Mt Faber), Singapore Botanical Gardens, MacRitchie (tree-top walk), Sungei Bulok, Lower Pierce, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve