Foodies Paradise

It didn't take long for us to discover that eating was the national past time here. Local cuisine is made up of Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, and Peranakan (Chinese with Malay spices) food.  In addition to Chicken Rice, another quintessential Singaporean staple is the Chili Crab. We waited to find a place which specialized in the dish. We found the restaurant by chance while walking in our new neighborhood. 

The sauce is heavenly! Order a side of buns to dip into it.

Before the feast

Use your hands instead.

Post-meal glow

Pairs well with Heineken beer.

We killed it!

Saw that sign from a distance.

Do they deliver? :)

To make you more hungry check out photos of other favorites.

Our favorite dessert - Mango pudding with sago

Weekend breakfast - Egg or Mushroom/Cheese Prata with Teh-O or Kopi-C

Cereal Prawns

Chicken curry hotplate, black pepper beef, and cereal prawns 
 

It's D'One!

We found the perfect apartment. It's located in Kembangan which was our ideal neighborhood. It's close to the MRT, has 2 bedrooms/2 bathrooms (out-of-town guests welcome), comes with designer furniture, and is within our budget. Finding the place also happened at the right time. We opened a local bank account, but didn't receive our checkbook for about a week and a half. The day we were scheduled to view the apartment in D'Gallery (our apartment) was when we received the checks. In Singapore, if like an apartment you must act quickly and give a deposit at the viewing. Or else the apartment could be taken the next day by another interested hunter. Once we set foot into the D'Gallery place we knew it was d'one. :) Apartment owners are also picky on who they choose as tenants. They don't review credit history, but rather your background (prefer couples instead of multiple roommates). The owner of this place rejected two other offers before ours, so we were worried at first that we wouldn't get it. Luckily, we were the "ideal" tenants and our offer was accepted. We wrote a check, signed a "Letter of Intent" so they couldn't rent the place to another interested party, and the place was ours. 

Front of Building

Front Entrance

Our street has plenty of eateries close by.

Left of our building

We moved in a week ago and have been enjoying the apartment so far. There was one minor issue though we discovered in the middle of our first night. While sleeping we were awoken by a screeching "cocka-doodle-doo!" We jumped out of bed and realized in disbelief that our neighbor had a rooster. Tony jokingly said, "where are we in the sticks?" Hahahaha...As funny as the situation was we didn't sleep well that night and were disappointed to know the rooster existed. We've slept better since (I bought ear plugs) and in order to make ourselves feel better, we secretly dream of ways to get rid of the rooster (sorry PETA). Check out more photos of the apartment.

Living Room

View from living room

Entertainment Center (T.V. included)

Dining Area

Kitchen

Induction Stove Top

Washing Machine (you hang your clothes to dry)

Guest Bedroom with Window Seat

Guest Bathroom

Patio

View from Patio (Right)

View from Patio (Left)

Master Bedroom

Master Closet

Master Bathroom

Rooftop Patio

Rooftop Seating Area with BBQ Grills

Hot Tub

Pool with Glass Siding

Where we'll be every Friday evening. :)

Garden Sculptures

Walkway to Pool

Elevator with more D'Gallery sculptures

2 Fast 2 Expensive

One of the first things we noticed about Singapore was the abundance of really expensive cars driving around.  When I first moved out to California I thought the Bay Area had a lot of fancy cars with all the BMWs and Mercedes I saw.  However the Bay Area doesn't come close to having the cars we see driving around Singapore.  We see plenty of Audis, BMWs, and Mercedes. On top of that we've seen Lamborginhis, Maseratis, Bentleys, and Rolls Royces.  When we had dinner at Marina Bay Sands our taxi followed a Rolls Royce into the hotel.  We not only see them at the expensive hotels and shopping malls but also parked in front of the cheap hawker centers and food markets.  What makes it more impressive is it can cost around $100,000 SG just to own a regular car and a Mercedes costs around $200,000 SG.  We've been told that Singapore has the most millionaires per capita in the world which I guess explains it. If you're going to pay all that money just to get a car you might as well get a really nice car.

Here are some pictures I've taken of cars around Singapore.  I plan to post more as I take them.

This Lamborginhi was being filmed in a commercial near my work.

The camera crew

A Maserati leaving Bugis Junction as I walk to work in the morning

It's hard to tell but the black car is a Rolls Royce

Outside our apartment in Bugis

The following cars were all seen near our new apartment in Kembangan.

 

Seeing all these expensive cars can make one jealous.  Nothing helps ease it, even if it's only a little bit, like some schadenfreude.  Especially if it involves a rich person.  This Maserati was seen near our apartment in Bugis.  And yes, it's getting a parking ticket. :)