Singapore Series: Little India

Little India is quite a substantial neighborhood in Singapore, where, yes, you guessed it, Singaporiean Indians live.

This particular stretch of streets in a complete opposite to orderly, manicured streets of the city itself.  Little India is so colorful, vibrant, fragrant and bustling with all sorts of people.

Of course, there are tourists, but mainly it's shopkeepers, tailors, that set their sewing machines right on the pavement outside the clothing shops, fruit sellers, fresh flower garland vendors, sari-clad ladies out for grocery shopping. 

It's a moving, breathing, talking and gawking mass, so full of Eastern spirit and sensibilities, something that is not so apparent in Westernized Singapore.

Here is what we saw in Little India:

Fresh Flower Garlands for Temples

One is not to smell them - their fragrance is an offering to gods of the temple

Tex-Mex

Wrong kind of Indian

One of major temples

Mosque

To be continued...

Singapore Series: Die, die, must try!

Back at the beginning of November we had a short holiday and decided to explore Far East with kids.
I've never been to that part of the world and was really looking forward to explore Singapore.
Needless to say, we all fell in love.

To me, any trip should be treated not only as a sightseeing outing but as a culinary adventure as well.  Singapore provides just that.  We didn't go to any fancy restaurants, but frequented street food stalls instead - they are called Hawker Centers because in olden times food vendors use to hustle or hawk you to try their offerings.
Nowadays they do not hawk anyone, but instead operate in sort of covered market facilities under strict municipal supervision.

3 major cultures and cuisines inhabit Singapore - Chinese, Malay and Indian, resulting in mouthwatering gastronomical paradise.

Here's my "Die, die, must try!" of Singers:


1. Lau Pa Sat Hawker Center (Mostly Straits Chinese Cuisine)

Satay Vendor

Not as easily excitable Satay Vendor

 2. Maxwell Street Hawker Center (Chinese Cuisine)

Dumplings Soup and #19 (I can't pronounce it, but it was DELISH)

All the food is made in front of your eyes - dumplings are filled, noodles are boiled, vegs are chopped

This is where the soup, dumplings and #19 were made!

3. Fruit Stalls in "Little India" 'hood

Alfonso Mangoes (not allowed to export to US)

4.  Teh Tarik /Tarik Tea - Singaporean Chai Tea Latte (lots of spices, lots of sugar, lots of milk)


If you want your Teh Tarik to go, you pay a little extra and get this ingenious contraption.  No spills.

5.  Cool Pearl Milk Tea on a humid day in Little China


Chocolate Tapioca (hence "pearl") on the bottom of cold milk tea. Refreshing.


6.  Dry Sweet Little Curiosities Sold Everywhere

Press Salted Jujube? Grape Prunes?

To be continued...

Kim Kardashian in Dubai

Spanx favorite customer and Ray J co-star landed in Dubai few days back.

Kim Kardashian arrived in Dubai to promote charity she feels deeply about. Oh, wait, she doesn't do charity.

Ok, then she's here to bring awareness to region's social issues. Oops, she wouldn't know and care about that one either.

Well, perhaps she came to Dubai to enrich and educate people back home about Emirate's rich culture and traditions? Power of dubious celebrity used for the worthy cause, at least?

No?

Kim Kardashian is in Dubai to promote opening of milkshake store.

Here's what she did while here:


1.  Reminded us why she is famous in the first place:

2.  Demurely posed like a true lady:

3. Got upstaged by her own 50+ years old mother:

4. Did a lot of this:

5. Covered up for a change:

6.  Took a pic with a local gentleman:

I'm sure she did a lot of other things that brought her some handsome appearance fees, but i don't really care.
Do you?

20 Most Stylish People in Dubai. Really?

Normally I don't do that.

But I was just curious as what other people think, so here it goes:

Couple of weeks back local edition of Time Out published a list of "20 Most Stylish People in Dubai".

Frankly, I'm befuddled by their choices, particularly in Male Category,  but then again, who am I to judge, right?
Perhaps I'm not on the same page as what Dubai's army of delusional editors deems "Most Stylish".

So, dear readers, you be the judges instead:

It looks like Most Stylish Men in Dubai either regularly overcome with desire to wear bow-ties with shorts or they just throw on whatever they find under the bed, peg their pants and call it a day.

There's one entrant, however, that i really find truly well dressed.  No Lady Gaga-esque sunglasses, no pegged bloomers and no button-ups a la Jessy James from Monster Garage:

Right?!  I even like his choice of bumble-bee socks - makes you go "Hmm, I haven't had a Honey Cake from Spinney's in awhile..."

you can see more of this here: http://www.timeoutdubai.com/dubais-20-most-stylish-people

Images via www.timeoutdubai.com

Laduree in Dubai

I think I need to get out more often.

Few days back I was schlepping around Dubai Mall and was quite surprised to stumble upon small Laduree cafe. In case you did not know, Laduree is venerable French patisserie, landmark destination to take pix while in Paris and place to indulge in some of the best macaroons France has to offer.

Well, Dubai's own branch of Laduree is crammed into some dark and spooky corner on the last floor of Dubai Mall, sandwiched between forever empty Nina Ricci boutique and some other overpriced store. It opened the doors to Dubai sugar-craving crowd back in summer of 2010.

Now, I'm not a fan of macaroons, but I appreciate the aesthetics.

Laduree Religiouse. Yeah, I dunno either...

Laduree Cupcakes

Did you know, that Laduree collaborated with Sephora (macaroon-scented make up and beauty products), , Louboutin, Marni, Lacroix, Galliano and my personal fave - Mickey Mouse?

Laduree For Sephora

Loubs for Laduree

Loubs Macaroons - Get it? Red Soles!

Marni For Laduree

Lacroix for Laduree

Galliano for Laduree

Matthew Williamson for Laduree

Mickey For Laduree