My opinions on yummy food I have no freaking clue how to cook.

Cuisine from a different culture than your own can be intimidating. While eating okra and artichoke was perfectly normal for my childhood, I can only imagine what it must look like to the unfamiliar. Okra looks and tastes a little like it could be monster snot (a characteristic I find particularly endearing and nostalgic) and a person could starve to death before they figured out the way to eat an artichoke. But despite my love for spikey green vegetables, I'm actually a rather picky eater. Ask my mother. Consequently when I visited Singapore at some time during the last decade, I thought everything there was disgusting (see my previous thoughts on Durian fruit). So disgusting, that I came full circle. Logically, the food wasn't likely to kill me, and since Mc Donald's there didn't taste right (and I don't like McDonalds anyway), I figured there was no harm in plowing into anything and everything I could get my chopsticks (or fingers) around. If it tasted horrible? No harm, no foul. But to my surprise, a lot of it tasted great... no amazing. Turns out my great grandma was right after all. You should never say you dislike something until you try it. And I'm going to add... try it more than once, over a period of six months, and if you still don't like it then fine.

While I can't take you Singapore, I can take you to San Jose, which is very nearly the same thing (at least parts of San Jose).
First surprise? Tofu. I know, yes, soy's got a bad rap in the health community these days. Estrogenic...makes your men grow breasts... something like that. Who knows. All I know is that it's delicious in almost any form, but particularly deep fried. Holy Toledo. Lemongrass, wild mushroom, chili flavored...it's all good.

Who needs a donut shop?


In second place we have eggrolls that are stuffed with...crack? Not all eggrolls are created equal and these are the King of eggrolls. No, I'm serious, that's the name of the restaurant. King Eggrolls. While I typically like all eggrolls, these are way better than any others. They're not too cabbage-happy and they have some secret ingredient that gives them the most amazing flavor ever. They're so good, that Bethany and Kevin served them at their wedding. I can't confess here how many I ate, because it is truly embarrassing.





The bronze medalist today is Bao (but certainly not in third because it doesn't taste delicious).




It's a steamed bun type thing stuffed with bbq pork (or a variety of other things). They are like biscuits wrapped around country bbq. Wow. The only bad marks I give them are for not being gluten free, otherwise they would be perfect. A heavenly little morsel with a surprise on the inside. My kids would have been a fan if they were eating that weekend.



See what I mean? Bao and fried tofu. My taste-buds cannot get any happier.