SINGAPORE: OH MY, THE FOOD HERE IS SUPERB

My food perspective on this holiday was quite different to any before. Previously I would have been (subconciously) trying to lose weight before the holiday - I mean I perpetually spent at least 90% of my life in that state. This time I had gone with a sense of no food is banned and a daily "treat" is a must. What this did for me is promote a sense of "as I'm not coming off a diet, there is no need to gorge myself on everything that I'd normally be avoiding." I went away with one goal in mind and that was to remain binge free - eg no secret eating to frightful quantities of mainly junky foods (I mean who overeats themselves on fresh fruit for instance). No feelings of shame, embarassment, failure and self putdown. I'm proudly binge free since 10 June now and its a great feeling.

So the food in Singapore was amazing. I love a big buffet breakfast where I can enjoy a range of foods including fresh fruit, muesli, yogurt, seeds, dried fruit, fresh breads and the must have dessert to finish with (usually a small danish, croissant or muffin.) In between those I also had either eggs of some sort or went all out and had a selection from the Indian buffet. Now I know that most people couldnt stomach this but I'm a pretty adventurous eater so I was having roti bread with hard boiled aggs and channa, a mild lentil style curry. I also tried a marinated fried chicken (usually a wing or mini drumette) that I swear was an upmarket version on KFC hot and spicy (YUM!!). I also tried some mini fish cakes, steamed buns (from the Chinese buffet) and an assortment of other interesting tidbits. If I didnt like it, I left it on my plate and I never loaded my plate up with an obscene amount of food only to leave most of it there as many people do - I mean were you seriously thinking you'd eat 4 sugar donuts, 2 chocolate muffins and 3 pieces of french toast after your plateful of bacon and eggs???

Breakfast saw us through for several hours. Often a coffee would be all I needed early - mid afternoon and then we enjoyed our usual beer o'clock around 4pm. On a couple of days I overdid the cocktails and nibbles with 2 Singapore Slings and way too many nuts absolutely filling me up. Aaah holiday cheer gone overboard (as you do).

One night we had dinner in the seafood restaurant in the resort and I had a Asian fusion inspired linguine marinara that was to die for. The sauce was based on lime and chilli making a delicious backdrop to the incredibly fresh seafood. On some nights all I wanted was a salad due to the heat and not being overly hungry. (I think thats called "balance" LOL)

Finally a few observations / comments from the food perspective:

• Good coffee is as rare as hens' teeth. I had one good coffee in 8 days. The rest varied from adequate (Gloria Jeans) to woeful (The Coffee Bean).

• Both Peter and I indulged our love of Asian sweets made from a glutinous rice or sago or similar (for the life of me I cant remember what these were called).

• After a long hot day prowling around Universal Studios or the Singapore Zoo, I can sink a cold beer faster than the Titanic on its final submerge.

• At many eating establishments its cheaper to buy a cocktail (even the large sizes) than a standard glass of wine. Go the cocktails, I say!!

• The local pineapple and bananas were delicious and plentiful. If I could have smuggled a bag of bananas home in my luggage I could have sold them for less than current retail and still made enough money to pay for our trip ....... hmmm food for thought.

My guesstimate is that I gained about 1, maybe 2 kilos while away but after a few days back and eating like I normally do, thats pretty much gone. And I cant tell you how great that feels.

Tomorrow's instalment will be my shopping so I must get my camera snapping away and photos downloaded to include in my post.

Cheers all

M