Problem
What do you take with you from England, if you miss the place where you spent your holiday or university years? Or if it's your home and you are sent out to live in the Far East?
Story
I arrived in Singapore with my suitcase, waiting for the household goods to arrive. My husband was out working so I met up with other ex pats at the American Club, The British Club and the Australian Club.
I invited a new friend back to my condo for lunch. She was keen to see it because she was flat-hunting, and fed up with sitting around in coffee bars all day.
We sat in my kitchen having a coy coffee, and some British biscuits. Outside it poured with rain. We had planned to walk to a nearby hawker centre, but she was happy, she said, to partake of whatever I'd got, just something on toast.
Baked Beans
I looked in the cupboard and all I had was a tin of baked beans. That's more of a breakfast or a tea, hardly a lunch. I was embarrassed, mortified.
"So sorry,' I murmured. "All I've got is baked beans."
She danced a jig, "Baked beans! Baked bean! You darling. That's wonderful! You have no idea. I would die for baked beans. I've just come from Papua New Guinea. We were in the capital Port Moresby. You can't get baked beans there. People would kill to get baked beans! Yum, yum, yum!"
Scottish Shortbread
Baked beans are not the only food which creates craving, in Singapore. A Singaporean (ethnic Chinese - speaks perfect English) had studied at university in England. He asked me to bring him Scottish Shortbread.
So I did. my family and friends thought it was a strange request. You can buy Scottish shortbread in supermarkets in Singapore, the upscale expensive supermarkets. Besides, bringing it over from England in my hand luggage, would risk ending up with a pocket of crumbs.
I though about it. If I were to buy a new friend a coffee or a drink, or to invite them to my house and buy a packet of biscuits, it would cost the same. But because I had taken the trouble to bring them all the way from England, according to Chinese unwritten law, he was indebted to me for life.
How much is that worth, to have a friend who is forever indebted to you? Of course, I now have to consider whether I need to bring more biscuits every trip.
But that's the ex-pat life. You can't even count on reciprocating. You are just in a big pool. Everybody helps everybody else. You help A, who helps b, who helps c, who helps you.
What do I take to Singapore, or stock up with for when I am on my own, or if it rains? In Singapore at our first flat we had no hot water in the kitchen. You had to boil up water in the kitchen. A brand new flat, in the 1990s, in a smart building with a swimming pool.
Our latest rental flat had no oven or grill, only a hob. You don't want heat in the kitchen. Cooking takes place in the open sided scullery on the back balcony, with the maid's room and her toilet and shower. The tins of sardines to be eaten cold were fine. But the Fray Bentos steak and kidney pie which needed to be cooked in an oven was no use.
Eventually we bought ourselves a grill and free standing table top cooker.
Back in London, I got out a Fray Bentos pie, the steak and kidney pie. They also make a chicken pie, but the steak and kidney is the best.
We have eaten them for years. When we first married, a steak and kidney pie was divided between four of us. Now we eat half each.
I discovered early on that the instructions are on the bottom of the tin. After you have used the tin opener to remove the lid, you cannot read the instructions.
Today I discovered two solutions. Firstly, you always buy two tins. That way you can read the instructions from the underside of the second tin. Use the knowledge that you must have two tins as an incentive to buy another one to bring your stock back up to the minimum required numbers of tins.
What do you do if you don't have two tins? The solution is to photograph the underside of the tin before turning it over. In fact, once you have done that, for the rest of the year you don't need to buy two tins just to see the instructions. You have the photo taken earlier on your phone or laptop.
Well, I must go back to my pie. If you have a pie, or Scottish shortbread, enjoy it If not, simply enjoy imagining it and add to your shopping list for your next trip to the UK.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please bookmark your favourite posts and share the links with your friends.
Story
I arrived in Singapore with my suitcase, waiting for the household goods to arrive. My husband was out working so I met up with other ex pats at the American Club, The British Club and the Australian Club.
I invited a new friend back to my condo for lunch. She was keen to see it because she was flat-hunting, and fed up with sitting around in coffee bars all day.
We sat in my kitchen having a coy coffee, and some British biscuits. Outside it poured with rain. We had planned to walk to a nearby hawker centre, but she was happy, she said, to partake of whatever I'd got, just something on toast.
Baked Beans
I looked in the cupboard and all I had was a tin of baked beans. That's more of a breakfast or a tea, hardly a lunch. I was embarrassed, mortified.
"So sorry,' I murmured. "All I've got is baked beans."
She danced a jig, "Baked beans! Baked bean! You darling. That's wonderful! You have no idea. I would die for baked beans. I've just come from Papua New Guinea. We were in the capital Port Moresby. You can't get baked beans there. People would kill to get baked beans! Yum, yum, yum!"
Scottish Shortbread
Baked beans are not the only food which creates craving, in Singapore. A Singaporean (ethnic Chinese - speaks perfect English) had studied at university in England. He asked me to bring him Scottish Shortbread.
So I did. my family and friends thought it was a strange request. You can buy Scottish shortbread in supermarkets in Singapore, the upscale expensive supermarkets. Besides, bringing it over from England in my hand luggage, would risk ending up with a pocket of crumbs.
I though about it. If I were to buy a new friend a coffee or a drink, or to invite them to my house and buy a packet of biscuits, it would cost the same. But because I had taken the trouble to bring them all the way from England, according to Chinese unwritten law, he was indebted to me for life.
How much is that worth, to have a friend who is forever indebted to you? Of course, I now have to consider whether I need to bring more biscuits every trip.
But that's the ex-pat life. You can't even count on reciprocating. You are just in a big pool. Everybody helps everybody else. You help A, who helps b, who helps c, who helps you.
What do I take to Singapore, or stock up with for when I am on my own, or if it rains? In Singapore at our first flat we had no hot water in the kitchen. You had to boil up water in the kitchen. A brand new flat, in the 1990s, in a smart building with a swimming pool.
Our latest rental flat had no oven or grill, only a hob. You don't want heat in the kitchen. Cooking takes place in the open sided scullery on the back balcony, with the maid's room and her toilet and shower. The tins of sardines to be eaten cold were fine. But the Fray Bentos steak and kidney pie which needed to be cooked in an oven was no use.
Eventually we bought ourselves a grill and free standing table top cooker.
Back in London, I got out a Fray Bentos pie, the steak and kidney pie. They also make a chicken pie, but the steak and kidney is the best.
We have eaten them for years. When we first married, a steak and kidney pie was divided between four of us. Now we eat half each.
I discovered early on that the instructions are on the bottom of the tin. After you have used the tin opener to remove the lid, you cannot read the instructions.
Today I discovered two solutions. Firstly, you always buy two tins. That way you can read the instructions from the underside of the second tin. Use the knowledge that you must have two tins as an incentive to buy another one to bring your stock back up to the minimum required numbers of tins.
What do you do if you don't have two tins? The solution is to photograph the underside of the tin before turning it over. In fact, once you have done that, for the rest of the year you don't need to buy two tins just to see the instructions. You have the photo taken earlier on your phone or laptop.
Well, I must go back to my pie. If you have a pie, or Scottish shortbread, enjoy it If not, simply enjoy imagining it and add to your shopping list for your next trip to the UK.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please bookmark your favourite posts and share the links with your friends.
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