Best place to hang out on Kangaroo Island: Kangaroo Island Brewery
Happy Fourth of July! On this day meant for being outside and having beers and BBQ, I want to tell you about my favorite place to chill on Kangaroo Island, Australia. How I wish I was there in summer again!
Kangaroo Island Brewery is the best place to chill and have a beer on Kangaroo Island. With choice craft beers and comfy digs, there’s no where else I wanted to be after a long day of sightseeing. This was one of my favorite things to do on Kangaroo Island.
I’m bringing peanut butter next time. How I ate low FODMAPs on the road!
Eating while on the road can be tricky if you want to try to eat healthily. It might be even harder to stick to some dietary restrictions. I started low FODMAPs in early 2016, and it has helped me with anxiety, bloating, and other related health problems. I knew that traveling while avoiding certain foods would be difficult, but I had a general plan going into it.
My gut issues started in 2012, after have a few incidents where I needed to take antibiotics (one of which may have been Lyme disease). I didn’t really understand what was happening to my body, or what the other symptoms were such as fatigue and brain fog. Eventually, I stumbled upon the nutritional research on FODMAPs.
The English Breakfast, $24 SGD [Review] Skinny Pizza (Westgate Mall, Jurong East, Singapore)
Pizza! I couldn’t live without it. Recently, I shared a pizza at Skinny Pizza in Singapore (Westgate Mall, Jurong East). This is my Skinny Pizza review.
Its style of pizza uses a crunchy, cracker like base instead of the doughy base that pizza is known for. This is probably what makes it so “skinny,” because it will have fewer calories than a traditional pizza crust (even thinner than thin crust). I’m a New Yorker, so I’m a little tough to impress when it comes to pizza.
Skinny Pizza in Westgate Mall in Jurong East, Singapore
Continue Reading
Ambience was nice at W 39 Bistro, I'll give them that! [Review] W 39 Bistro review (Clementi, Singapore)
The nice part about living in a new place is finding little things tucked away that make you feel like you know a secret. W 39 Bistro is one of those things. It is smack in the middle of a residential area (landed properties, aka houses, which are not that common in Singapore). It is in the West along the East-West line, the nearest train station is the Clementi MRT station.
I went to W 39 Bistro on two occasions: once for brunch, and once for dinner. The brunch wasn’t a real brunch, because we only ordered coffees and the bread basket. The dinner was a light one, where we only ordered appetizers and tapas and no mains. I had some issues with feeling really cheated on one dish, but overall the experience was ok.
Continue Reading
What should the next theme be? #morethemeparties
It’s that feeling of things aren’t quite right. It’s not hard to live in Singapore, but it isn’t perfect. You’re not exactly depressed, but you can’t call it happiness either. I’m calling it the Singapore Slump.
Why is this happening to us?
My friends and I have narrowed down some of the reasons to be the price of alcohol and the incessant heat and humidity. It isn’t a city that is very friendly to people without very much money, which I’ll discuss in more detail in an upcoming post. We’re trying to make the most of it by working hard when we need to, and then getting creative with more theme parties. Otherwise, it is easy to fall into a state of routine where your mood is at a constant low.
Continue Reading
[Recipe] Spicy chocolate cookies, experimenting with vegan substitutes
I’m proud to say that I am participating in a book club! Many people stop reading for fun after they reach adulthood, and I’m also guilty of that. I’ve tried to stick to my reading goals for each year, but only read a measly 5 books last year. (I read 15 books the year before, and 18 the year before that!) So I am excited to get back on track while also enjoying the company of others.
A group of women at the office do a monthly book club, and this month’s book was The Professor and the Madman. Now, in order to celebrate the Britishness and insanity of the book, the theme for our book club meeting (and food festivities) was Crazy Tea Party!
Continue Reading
New food habits and food shopping in the city
When it comes to food, I’ve been shifting towards a whole-food, plant-based diet over the past 3 or 4 years. The first few changes were to stop forcing myself to eat mean (or animal protein) when I didn’t feel like it, and to start eating more different types of greens than the ones I grew up with. Now that I’m in New York City for a few months, I’m also really excited to try local products like Granola Lab. There are so many cool things coming out of New York, Brooklyn especially!
What I have trouble with is how to balance all of the possible adjectives: seasonal, local, sustainably harvested, whole, unprocessed, unrefined, fresh aka not frozen or canned, non-GMO (genetically modified organism, usually corn and other plant products), no preservatives, organic, raw, natural
Continue Reading
[Recipe] Mini Onigiri (Japanese rice balls) recipe
I really like onigiri. Each time I’ve been to Japan, I’ve eaten at least one per day. They are a cheap snack you can get in all convenience stores and keep in your bag for when you need a quick energy boost. Traditionally, they are palm-sized triangles of rice with fish or other things in the middle, with a rectangular piece of seaweed wrapped around it. This recipe is for a smaller bite-sized version using Japanese style pickled vegetables.
First step is to decide what you want to put in your onigiri (rice balls). Today I have rice mixed with pickled vegetables, but you can also have rice with salmon in the middle or algae or anything else you want.
[Recipe] Basic Bean Dip/Spread
Mmmm, bean dip. It is a nice addition to any sports viewing party, alongside the staples of salsa and guacamole.
This basic bean dip is great for parties or potlucks, or just for a snack when you get home. It can go well with chips, crackers, or toasted bread. It is super easy and quick even though these instructions might look intimidating!
Continue Reading
[Review] Authentic Japanese ramen at Menya Musashi in Star Vista
Earlier this week, I went to Menya Musashi at the Star Vista (Buona Vista MRT station). It had been a while since I had a good bowl of ramen. I didn’t even have ramen when I was in Japan a few months ago in June, but finally got my fix.
I ordered the tomato tontoro (see photo)! It’s a new menu item that features a tomato based broth. It also has a scoop of mashed potatoes, slices of tomato, 2 slices of meat, half an egg, a sheet of seaweed, and scallions. I’ve only had broth this tasty in Japan, so I was really happy with my choice. The noodles were good, but nothing too outstanding. The real story is in the broth! It is thick, but not so much so that it is too rich to sip from the spoon and not feel gross. The rest of their menu is based on their 3 main broths: black, white, and red. The white is a tonkotsu broth made from pork bones, giving it a deep flavor. Next time, I think I would try the black. Continue Reading
Hey, I'm Chewy! I'm a science journalist currently living in New York. I'm an introvert who likes to see new things and learn. Here I write about my travels and musings about food, places and cultures. Check out my photos, reviews, and random thoughts!