Tekka-Tac-Toe

Amy and I love to entertain and cook.  Obviously we love to bring friends and family around the table to break bread, but it also means that we get to cook and sometimes even try new things on dinner victims...I mean guests.  Singapore is an amazing place to experiment with new flavors due to the abundance of fresh produce and exposure to new recipes from a variety of cultures.

We make frequent visits to the Tekka Market in Little India.  Wet markets are fresh food markets- sort of like a farmers market. They are called that because the floors are wet due to the cleaning of the floors, ice-melting, fish-cleaning and vegetable-washing. (We wouldn’t advise you to wear your new Prada sandals here.)

They have pretty much everything you could ever want in a wet market from fruit, vegetables and spices to little sharks, huge prawns and chickens chopped up however you’d like. (See Why is your time more important than mine? for more information on shopping and lifestyle in Singapore.)  There are plenty of things in the market that we can’t even identify. The Tekka Market is known for having great vegetables and meats. There are other markets that specialize in areas such as flowers (Tiong Bahru Market) or live big turtles, frogs and eels (Chinatown Market). Here is a great website highlighting the five best wet markets in Singapore if you’re interested.

Clockwise L-R : The line of cars to get into the parking lot for the market; the butcher; an overhead shot of the fish and meat part of the market; the Tekka Market is located off of Buffalo Road. 

We learned a long time ago to never go grocery stopping on an empty stomach so our first stop is normally to grab some curry at the hawker center (think mall food court) at the market.  Amy knows she can get me join her at the market if it includes a curry meal.  My favorite stop is the naan place to get some gobi (cauliflower/potato dish), dal (lentils) and garlic naan (a flatbread).  Amy heads a few stalls down for some rice with chicken served on a banana leaf.  All of that amazing food and we are usually so full we could burst for under $13!

Our next stop is at Chia Vegetables. What I love about this shop is that the people are very nice and helpful but they also have great prices.  We can get a full basket of vegetables for the same price as a head of lettuce and some brussels sprouts in the grocery store. 

From here we normally head to get some fruit.  There are a few good places to get bananas and a variety of citrus fruits if you go exploring. (They have great mango here!)

On our last trip we decided to make a purchase from the fish and meat section of the market. We didn’t adventure too far outside of our comfort zone, but we did acquire some delicious prawns for our Sunday night BBQ with friends. They were delicious!

When you come visit, we will take you on a tour of the market and treat you to some curry.

Until then,

Raegen and Amy

Why is Your Time More Important Than Mine?

In keeping with the theme of an educational blog we thought we’d give you an insight into a part of everyday life in Singapore. 

Many of you have asked about shopping here. We have more shopping malls than we have combined fingers and toes with Louis Vuitton and Hermes galore. Running your everyday errands is a whole other story. We don’t have a Target, Wal-Mart or even a glorified grocery store around here so running errands becomes a serious undertaking. Dictionary.com defines an errand as a short trip undertaken to perform a necessary task or commission. I guess I should actually change my word of choice because no errand here is short. 

It took me a few weeks to admit that everything takes at least 3-4 x longer than it does at home (including laundry- fun I know!) It was hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that I couldn’t get into my car and hit Target to grab the essentials. Then off to the grocery store where they had everything I need for a week’s worth of food while driving through Starbucks on my way home and then unload everything with a few trips into the house. That’s the American way!

Well first of all, we only have one car so I tend to run errands on foot or via public transportation. I finally had to break down and bought a “granny cart.” I suppose I should fondly name it Dorothy after my wonderful grandma who had the same cart.

While lots of stores have on-line ordering and delivery the challenge becomes the fact that you’re not picking your own produce, meats and the online selection can limited and websites aren’t very functional here. I have found a great site/app called RedMart that is great for non-perishables. It’s nice to have someone deliver your cases of water to your door when you have no car but beyond that, I haven’t been successful.

Gotta love having to carry everything from the D.I.Y store along with your home office printer all the way from the store, onto the train and home. 

Although all hope is not lost as we do have a store called Mustafa in Little India, which is the closest to a mega store that we’re going to get, not to mention it is open 24/7 and is supposed to have some great curry. The store is a city block long and stacked to the ceiling on five floors with items. The nice part is they carry a ton of brands as well as food, jewelry, electronics, non-perishables, sporting goods, cleaning supplies (allegedly...I still have yet to find these.) This store is so overwhelming that I regularly shop with my headphones on and peaceful music playing so I can avoid sensory overload. One of the other challenges with this store is that you have to go early before all of the helpers arrive after dropping the kids off at school (around 9 am) and before the local residents of that area get off of work. You also have to avoid weekends as I’ve been told it’s just chaos...no thank you!

Our home leave is coming up in less than two weeks and you’ll find us at Costco, Target and Amazon.com loading up on the essentials that we can’t find here (there are quite a few items on our list.)

Happy Trails,

Amy & Raegen