Fish, Shellfish, Joint Complex Sample & Allergies

 

On Euston station I was offered samples of Joint Complex. 

I was a bit suspicious. However, when I went online I discovered that it is sold at Boots chemist, which has a branch near Baker Street station. I am obviously over 50, was walking with a stick due to a recent problem (which seems to be gradually improving). Medications are more likely to be needed, or wanted, by the elderly, so if you are handing out to a targeted audience, or those willing to take samples, I was an obvious target. I still had questions.

1 Do you need it?

2 How do you take it?

3 What do the reviews say?

4 What does it cost? I thought it was quite expensive, if you buy enough for a month or three months. If you commit to a bulk purchase, it's a good idea to be sure you need it, like it, don't suffer from side effects, and will continue. 

5 Do I need any supplements? My doctor's just tested me for deficiencies. I have ostopoenia, which means in danger of osteoporosis which is more serious. Bones like a fragile honeycomb with holes. So, after a fall from dizziness, I am concerned.

I should be able to get nutrients from my diet. (However, I do already take calcium supplements. In theory, even in winter in the UK I should be able to walk in the sunlight for 20 minutes to half an hour every day during daylight hours. In practice I am in a desk job and am scared of getting skin cancer and falling over.

If I need a medication which is only available on prescription to prevent overdosing or reaction to other ingredients, I should be eligible to get it from my doctor. (Although doctors may say that if it is not a medicine required for a permanent condition, just an over the counter medicine you might require once for a temporary condition, you should be able to save your time and the doctor's and NHS money, by asking the pharmacist for advice. Then buying what you fancy or supplements you need to take temporarily because you are travelling or crossing time zones without access to fresh food. 

5 What are the ingredients? It lists fish. When I told the person handing out the supplement that I was allergic to shellfish, he took back the sample and said, "Better not take it, then."

Later in the day I went back through Euston and another person was handing out the free samples. I took one of each of two colours.

I went home and hesitated to try them because of my fear or eating or drinking anything made with shellfish.

However, when I discussed this with my husband later, he said that calcium often comes from fish bones, and supplements might include cod liver oil, neither of which are shellfish. 

I went onto the Boots page to look for a list of ingredients. It also says fish. I was still in doubt. I kept going round and round the system of Frequently Asked Questions, which were mostly about delivery, and not ingredients. Then I found phone numbers. For the UK or Ireland.

The UK one was 0345 609 0055, This did not specify whether it was only office hours, such as 9 or 10 to 5 or 6 pm, Monday to Friday, or seven days a week and 24 hours, which it could be if there was a call service with overseas staff in a different time zone or on shift work.

Another alternative is to go into my local pharmacy, in the suburbs, preferably midweek, on a non busy day, or the big one in central London.

I made myself a sample of one of the drinks but did not like the taste. However I think I left it to stew for too long or did not add enough water. 

The instructions told you how much water to add. But it was all in measurements. I never weigh anything. For me, measurements have to be in tea spoons or tea cups. Preferably with a drawing, nice and large, not teeny print in a similar colour to the coloured background. I don't mind seeing the accurate measurement, to help others, but it is not sufficient to guide me. If you were on holiday in a hotel you might not have a weighing machine handy.  

Given that some of the customers are creatives like me, and others are elderly and can't read small print, lose their reading glasses, it would help to print text large and drawings of tea cups and spoons nice and large.

I read the reviews on the Boots website. One customer said they disliked the taste of one version of the product, and looked forward to trying the other flavour. Good. I'm glad it wasn't just me finding the drink too strongly flavoured. 

AI revealed this about the ingredients

Joint complex" can refer to a supplement or a type of anatomical joint. As a supplement, it is a blend of ingredients like glucosamine, collagen, and MSM to support joint health, cartilage, and mobility. In anatomy, a complex joint is a joint with more than one articulation surface, plus an articular disc or meniscus, like the knee joint. 

Joint complex as a supplement

• Purpose: Supports joint health, cartilage, bones, and connective tissues. 
• Key ingredients:
  • Glucosamine: A building block for cartilage. 
  • Chondroitin: Supports healthy cartilage. 
  MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane): Another popular ingredient for joint health. 
  Collagen: Provides structure for bones and cartilage. 
  Vitamins and Minerals: Vitamin C for collagen production and antioxidant support, and Vitamins D, K, Copper, and Manganese for bone and muscle function. 
  Herbal extracts: Such as turmeric extract or Boswellia and ginger to support inflammation management and flexibility. 
  Hyaluronic Acid: Promotes joint lubrication and smooth movement. 

Useful Website on Joint Complex Powder In A Sachet

https://reviveactive.com/products/joint-complex?variant=31549026467926

What's kosher, where? Breakfast, brunch, Bagels and kosher food at SoYo restaurant, Golders Green. Compared and contrast with halal

 We were looking for a restaurant near Brent Cross Shopping centre for a meeting with friends in the near future. One of the group wanted a kosher restaurant. 

What do kosher and halal food have in common? No pork. Why? Because they both follow a rule from the book of Leviticus (Latin for laws) in the bible. Jews refer to the bible. Christians added the New Testament about the life of Jesus, and called the original bible, which Jesus followed, the Old Testament. 

Why no Pork?

The rules about eating kosher, not eating pork, were dropped by the ardent follower of Jesus, Paul, when preaching to non-Jews about the messages of Jesus and the Resurrection. 

Moslems came along. They followed Mohamad.  (His name is spelled in English various ways, depending on how you translate the Arabic letters into the Roman alphabet. Nowadays you might conform or to be different the different countries with different pronunciations.) The Moslems kept the old, traditional, rule about not eating pork. Some people say the Christianity is Judaism made easy, whilst Islam is Judaism made difficult. (One month of fasting for Ramadan, whereas the Jews have just one day at the Day of Atonement. Christians give up one food for lent. Jews give up all kinds of food for the period including and surrounding the seder.

On the other hand, in some ways Judaism has stricter or more extensive food restrictions. No shellfish. No milk eating at the same meal as when meat is served. This is either the word of God, or a humanitarian rule that you must not kill a milk feeding calf in front of its mother, using the milk to cook the calf. (Calf cooked in milk is a classic and popular dish in Jordan, still, nowadays, in many places in the Middle East, as I discovered to my amazement, on a press trip to Jordan on a Rolls Royce car rally. 

This rule accounts for the fact that SoYo restaurant has two branches side by side in Golders Green. One serves meat. The other serves only fish, eggs, and milk based dishes. 

How do kosher and halal differ in supermarkets? Both have no pork. The Jewish section has no shellfish. As I am allergic to shellfish, crustaceans and molluscs, this suits me very well. 

Where Are Kosher Restaurants?

You will find both kosher and halal food sections in supermarkets all over London but particularly in the East End of London and North west London. For kosher sections in supermarkets, bagels in supermarkets, and Jewish style or kosher food in delicatessens and restaurants you could look at (alphabetically) Edgware, the Finchley Road, Golders Green, Hendon, Stanmore, Temple Fortune. 

A relative suggested several places in the area. We vetoed a family favourite, the cafe in the Hendon park by Hendon Central station. Great for a sunny day in the park. 

We wanted something more formal, more exciting and filling, with a chance to sit and talk to friends at leisure. But not as luxurious and expensive as a Michelin restaurant, and the upmarket Chinese Kosher restaurants.

B & K

Our favourite for a big meal in an informal setting is B&K, Hatch End, and Edgware, is a salt beef, deli, take away and restaurant.

Bagels in Brick Lane

How about a bagel? London has two famous bagel shops in the East End, in Brick Lane. At least one of them is open very late, possibly all night. Before going anywhere, check the times. 

Sabbath and Sunset

Strictly kosher restaurants have to close dusk to dawn on the Jewish sabbath, which in the UK means dark falls early evening on Friday in winter. So the restaurants won't be open Friday evening, in winter.  However, they will be open Saturday. 

In summer, the sunset time is different. You can find out by a diary, the newspaper, or your watch, or mobile phone, or computer or kitchen or oven clock (or rather, when you can see three stars).

Bagels - Why The Hole?

I started researching bagels when I turned my family history into a novel (still yet to be printed and published - next job!) I was looking at the lifetime of an ancestor on my father's side who came to the UK from Ukraine, from Lemberg, as it was then called in the 1880s. At that time or earlier Bagels come from Poland, Ukraine which was at different times under different rulers and languages, and Western Europe. 

One story goes that bagel sellers would put bread on a stick and make a hole in the middle of the bread to thread bread onto the stick. 

Another story is that the hole was for the benefit of the buyer. Why? Going back a few centuries, houses did not have a cooking range or oven, which would have been a fire risk and required fuel. Every house head food buyer or cook went to the baker with their dough.  Or, if travelling, bought ready made food. 

Another theory goes that when the householders were shopping, housewives, men if women were not allowed out of the house, workers, or travellers, would buy bread to take home or eat later. The buyer would thread the bread on a string around their neck in order to leave their hands free and keep the bulky bread handy (or hidden?!).

So there you have the story to entertain yourself or tell your friend next time you eat a bagel or kosher food or halal food.

Two options in northwest London.

So Yo restaurant

They have more than one branch. You can book a table by phone.

Useful Websites

For both the Golders Green and Edgware branches:

https://soyo.co.uk/

Update on my visit in the next post.

American English - British English

take out - take away

Kosher Food If You Are Allergic To Shellfish, Pork, or Milk products

 What do you not get at a kosher restaurant?

Kosher food follows the laws in Leviticus (which is Latin for laws) in the Hebrew bible (which was later translated into Greek, then Latin and English). 

The rules are

No pork products.

No shellfish.

No mixing of milk and meat. That means that kosher restaurants either serve meat and imitation milk, such as soya milk for coffee and dessert. Or they are milk restaurants and serve no meat.

If you don't eat meat, only fish, then your option would be a milk restaurant. 

If you are vegan, to avoid meat, you could go to a milk-only restaurant, but be careful to ask and make it clear that you want milk-free dishes.

If you are allergic to milk products, or cannot tolerate them, like about ten per cent of the Chinese and Asian populations, then 

Free Of Shellfish!

It suits me. I am allergic to shellfish. When I was a child, my school friend's parents gave me crab paste from a pot, which had no ill affects. In the Sixties prawn cocktail was the thing. Prawns would often appear as a garnish on white fish, in salads, in sandwiches.

However, later in life I was very ill after eating crab sandwiches, by mistake. I saw the pink and pointed, thinking they were salmon. 

I had another bad experience, after a king prawn. After I vomited, I continued retching all night, over the bath. I had swollen eyes and a swollen mouth. 

I kept scratching. I had a rash like chicken pox all over my face. The hair on my head felt like I was on fire.  I had a rash all down my body.  

Prawns are a feature of Asian food, a constant worry to me when eating out in Asia. Prawns also pop up as garnish everywhere. In Asia you can find prawns in rice and soups, even after the Chinese staff and bystanders acting as interpreters assure you there is no shellfish.

 In Korea we had a guide cum interpreter who spoke to staff and assured me, 'no shellfish'. I took a spoonful of the soup, which tasted sour, and asked her to check again. She assured me no shellfish. I took a second mouthful and my mouth started to zing. I dug around through the mush at the bottom of the bowl and produced a prawn! 

I rushed off to rinse out my mouth and make myself vomit up what I had eaten. Interpreters in Singapore and other countries have often assured me no shellfish. Lots of people don't understand what shellfish are.  I now avoid all kinds of prawns and shellfish. So, for me, a kosher supplier guaranteeing no surprise shellfish is great. 

In north-west London you will find lots of kosher food in supermarkets as well as restaurants and delicatessens.

Jumbo Seafood Restaurant Ambience - See The Sea And See Fish Food In Tanks

East Coast Seafood Centre sign. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I went to Jumbo seafood restaurant in Singapore in the early days when it first opened and there was only one Jumbo. We were taken there by local Chinese Singaporeans. In those days the East coast - actually on the eastern half of the south coast - seemed far away to the Brits and American expats who had been enticed to Singapore on generous packages which kept them living in the expensive centre. The inaccessible East was inhabited by Australian expats who shunned the city centrer and liked wide open spaces, nearness to Changi airport to hop back home, only four hours to Perth or seven to Sydney, and a view of the sea.

Jumbo seemed to describe the size of the fish pulled out of the tanks beside the indoor tables, and the vastness of the premises, the size of an aircraft hangar, like being at a wedding.

On my most recent visit an English visitor was boarding a cruise in Singapore on her way to Sydney Australia, a retirement era treat. Again, Jumbo was our choice, because both the location and the food would  be a novelty for her. She was staying two nights in a city centre hotel surrounded by skyscrapers and enclaved marinas.  We arrrived early and stopped to look over the railings towards the ships in the sea surrounding us. 'Where is my cruise ship?' she wondered.

We looked down at the sand. Imported sand? My memory of one long ago visit was of sand flies as we supped drinks at a bar near the sands. We discussed whether the sands were imported. I had taken the precaution of showering in citrus scent shower gel and wearing long sleeves and a long skirt and covering exposed areas with insect repellent and checking somebody had packed Stingose sting relief. My fears were unfounded. This time we ate indoors and not a fly in sight. Maybe flies are seasonal. (But fogging takes place weekly to kill mosquitos in local condominiums.

Our seating was far inside. No matter. We had already enjoyed the view. Best of all was being beside the fish tanks. Like a trip to an aquarium at the zoo.

Big fish, grey fish, were swimming around urgently. Smaller pink ones had large mouths and eyes like cute toddlers, looking at us visitors questioningly. I felt it was quite worrying to think they were about to be killed. Should I smile, act friendly, deceiving them?

Anxious fish in seafood restaurant. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Was it kinder to smile, giving them false friendliness and false hope? Should I act like the firemen who reassured the desperate people on the top of the tower block inferno, Grenfell Tower, in London, that hope was on its way, knowing that it wasn't?

In the next tank were vicious looking claws of black and red lobsters. I was glad they were behind glass.

Other white creatures were still, motionless. Why? On closer inspection I could see why. They were tied.

Why tie them up?
One diner suggested, "If you don't, two of them, in an enclosed space will fight each other."

Later, I realised another reason why, when I saw a human hand coming down into the water to grab seafood intended for the next meal.

I watched, mesmerised, to see the hand descending two or three times. Then the scenario changed. Down came a green net on a dark stick. The hand was at a safe distance.

The net made two waves - at the eluding seafood. The net made it easier to grab. Finally, success for the net. Failure for the food-to-be.

When I first came to Singapore, live fish in tanks in restaurants were a novelty. In London fish was frequently frozen, chopped into neat squares and oblongs, or bought in big packs, without heads.

Fish tanks in restaurants are no longer a source of amazement for their very existence. But watching the living fish in constant movement is still eye-catching.

How do other diners feel about looking at living fish and shellfish about to become dead fish?
I asked another diner.
I got a shrug, "It's fine."

Jumbo Restaurant Branches
Jumbo has branches in several areas of Singapore as well as other countries. For convenience, you might choose a central location or one nearer you. Next time I would take a visitor to the branch at Jewel in Changi Airport to see the giant waterfall. Steps from the subway trains, the MRT. To come back from the East Coast branch of Jumbo we had to walk back to the pickup point and wait for our booked taxi.

However, I still reckon that the East Coast branch has a marginal score over city centre restaurants. You are aware that you are on the island of Singapore, standing looking out to sea and the ships before your meal.  Whether you are a visitor or resident, being on the shore contributes to part of the Singapore experience.




Flag of Singapore.

You can find six branches of Jumbo in Singapore including one in Jewel shopping mall attached to terminal 1 at Changi Airport, Ion shopping mall, on the corner of Singapore's centre, Orchard Road.


Several are in China. Three are in Shanghai, one in the capital, Beijing, and one in Xi'an, famed for the teracotta warriors.

Morea around Asia: in Taipai, capital of Tiawan, in Ho Chin Minh, capital of Thailand, and Seoul, capital of S Korea.

If you can't reach any of these soon, you can buy sauces for a DIY dinner online from their eshop.

,

Useful Websites
https://www.jumboseafood.com.sg/en/home
https://jumboeshop.com.sg/eshop/

About the author, Angela Lansbury.
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please bookmark your favourite posts and share links with your friends and family.

Table at 7, Singapore's East West upmarket special occasion restaurant

Problem
Guaranteed good food? Both Western and Eastern?

Answer
Table at 7, run by chief directors Karl Dobler (who does the Western cooking) and Eugenia Ong (wo does the Eastern cooking.

We were given

Bread and oil.

Starters
My companions went for the shellfish. I am allergic to shellfish and opted for a juice. We shared a half bottle of sparkling wine - Champagne.

Main courses
One of my companions, who does not eat red meat for health reasons, as advised by a doctor, chose had the cod from down under, different from the cod we get in England which is heavier. Excellent.

I like poultry but I had eaten chicken rice at lunch time. (Not a grammatical error, although it does indeed mean chicken and rice, the dish is known as Chicken Rice.)

I chose the meat which came with potato. A reasonably-sized portion which left room for dessert.

Dessert, crumble and coconut ice cream. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Dessert
Delicious.

Coffee and Chocolate
Coffee looked rather dull. No chocolate?

Ah - the chocolate appeared after the coffee, to sweeten the bill.
One chocolate for each person, three or us, three chocolates. Just right.

You would think that would be obvious. It is to you and me and the directors of this restaurant. But on many occasions I have had two chocolates for three diners, or four or five chocolates for three diners.

In hotels on several occasion I have had one chocolate on a double bed with a hotel booking for two persons and two lots of clothes for a man and a woman - you'd think they might notice two of us and two toothbrushes. I once phoned down and said, Please send up a second chocolate within five minutes. Alternatively send the police after ten minutes because the person who didn't get the chocolate is going to murder the person who ate the chocolate. There was a silence. I don't think their English was up to the translation and the British humour. I repeated, Please send another chocolate. We have one chocolate. Two people need two chocolates.

Two of the dishes were unavailable. As compensation they offered a free juice drink to the other two diners.

Bill - a whopping 300 plus Singapore dollars for three, actually less in pounds sterling. Glad I was not paying.

Unless you have a big budget, I would describe this as a special occasion place.

What can they do for you for a special occasion?

Birthdays
Another table had a birthday dinner. the birthday boy (a middle aged man with friends) received a dessert with a candle and happy birthday written in chocolate on the plate and the recording and/or staff and guests singing happy birthday which alerted me to look.

Again, full marks. (I went to an Italian restaurant in Singapore and asked what they can do for a birthday. They looked at me warily as if I had asked them to poison the emperor. Obviously too busy and not in need of business nor happy birthday customers.)

Washroom
The washroom at the back on ground level, convenient for everybody, able bodied or not, drunk or sober but tired, no time wasting up and down stairs. Soothing candle in the cubicle.

Decor
Black and white with a few pictures. Subtle. Nothing distracting. Understated. I'm a colourful person and like Las Vegas. If you are like me, you might be disappointed. If you prefer subtle, you will be relieved. Your eyes are on your companions and your food.

WEBSITE & ADDRESS
Karl Dobler
+65 9660 9480
KARL@TABLEAT7.COM

ENGENIA ONG
Tel:+65 9666 4241

Salut Private Dining Pte Ltd
7 Mohamed Sultan Rd
S'pore 238957
WWW.TABLE@7.COM

(65 is the code for Singapore if you are ringing from overseas)
Facebook TABLEAT7

Food Allergies Or Addictions? How to ask for sugar, nuts and shellfish or no sugar, no nuts, no shellfish in Malaysia

Problem
What are the words?

English - Malay / Indonesian
diabetic - diabetes
no sugar - tanpa gula

salt - garam

sugar - gula (Both words contain the letters u, g and a. Look at a packet of sugar and you will see the word gula which will remind you. Which is the packet of salt or the packet of sugar in meal or on the table. The word gula tells you it's sugar - so don't put it on your potatoes! If you don't see the word gula, before absent-mindedly adding it to your coffee, taste a couple of grains or check the label. Gula or sugar is good in coffee.

Annoyingly the Malay word for salt also has the letter g, the letters g, and - but no U.
No letter u - then it's not for you, especially not when drinking coffee or tea.
Sugar and syrup are gooey and delicious, gula, good.

Longer word with m at the end more likely to be salt which garam.
Garam is salt. I can garam or guaran-tee) the garam is salt and you will not want it in your coffee or tea.

Just imagine you are drinking coffee and tea with friends. Which would you choose, gula or garam. Keep it simple, gula.
Every time you see it on the table, remind yourself by telling others or asking which is which.

allergic to shellfish
allergic to nuts

I like salmon
I like nuts
I like shellfish

I like salmon
I can eat salmon

I can eat cashew nuts
I don't like peanuts


diabetes - diabetic
tanpa gula - no sugar

gula - sugar

alergi terhadap kerang - allergic to shellfish

alergi terhadap kacang - allergic to nuts

The words for shellfish and nuts look similar. The ang ending appears in lots of nouns - easy. Penang, kerang, kacang.
Both shellfish and nuts start with k. Easy.
E in shellfish. ER. Kerang looks and sound a bit like crab.

Saya suka salmon - I like salmon (I love it, like to suck on it - suka=like; it's super - suka - like it lots)
Saya suka kacang - I like nuts
Saya suka kerang - I like nuts
Saya suka salmon - I like salmon
Saya bisa makan salmon


NUTS!
English and English - Malay
I am not allergic to nuts. I am nuts about nuts.
Do you have / serve  them ? Apakah Anda memiliki / malayani mereka?
Almonds
Brazil nuts
hazel nuts
marzipan
mixed nuts
pine nuts
pistacio nuts
walnuts
pistacio ice cream
chocolate and nuts

If you are not allergic to nuts, but love nuts, easy to ask for them because the words are similar or exactly the same:

Malay - English
Saya bisa makan kacang mete
Saya tidak suka kacang
saya suka
kacang almond - almond nut
Kacang brazil - Brazil nut
kacang hazel - hazel nut
marzipan - mazipan
kacang campur
kacang pinus - pine nut
kacang pistacio - pitachio nut
walnut - walnut
es krim pistacio - pistacio ice cream
coklat dan kacang - chocolate and nut

Not peanuts (also known as ground nuts)

Saya bisa makan kacang mete
Saya tidak suka kacang

Finally, when you get what you want, smile and say:
English - Malay
thank you! - terimah kasih!

If you are visiting another country, copy these words into Google translate, then check with a local person on the plane or in a restaurant, so see that the translation is correct and colloquial and that your pronunciation is understood. Try it out in a busy place where everybody speaks English, before you are somewhere remote.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teacher, tutor and workshop leader of learning English and other languages for Toastmasters International clubs worldwide (especially London, England and Singapore).

East meets west in the Trump and Kim Jong-Un Lunch Menu

Problem
What could I learn, or try, from the menu enjoyed by Trump, and Kim Jong-Un, two top world leaders in the news? I'll give you my Western and British view of this meal choice. Although I have lived in the USA, and Singapore, and been to south Korea and Korean restaurants in London, England and Korea, I have my own biased viewpoint.

Answers
Starters
Prawn cocktail is an old favourite in the UK from the 1960s. Good.  Avocado salad is a modern salad, with tasty and filling avocado supposedly having health benefits as well as tasting subtly good. Yes, that's ok by me.

I must pass on the octopus as I'm allergic to shellfish.  Although I used to eat prawn cocktail, I got caught out by Pacific Prawns and crab.

Main Courses
Beef rib was served with Red wine sauce on the side because Trump doesn't drink. That suits me, too. I am not keen on alcohol in food. A waste of good alcohol. Masks the true flavour of good meat.

Desserts
Chocolate tart.
Ice cream. Vanilla - sounds a bit dull, but I bet it really tasted of vanilla. Cherry coulis. That means cherry sauce. Bright colour to contrast with white ice cream and sharp flavour.
Can't go wrong with chocolate and ice cream. (Any refreshing fruit - well, they did have the cherry sauce?)

Kim Jong-un is keen on Western alcohol.
For me, no wines.  If I were him, I think I'd rather have a take home gift of alchol. When you are meeting a world leader on camera, discussing nuclear weapons which could blow up the world. getting drink, drunk, tipsy, is not a good idea.

It sounds like a good meal, with enough mixture of the familiar and the special and surprising.

Website
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44447714 - the menu from the BBC

Author

Sheraton Towers Hotel, Singapore, For Fountains, Food and Well-dressed Toastmasters

A well-dressed, handsome young man at the Toastmasters meeting in the Sheraton Towers Hotel, Singapore. Notice the royal blue shirt with the colours on the collar and sleeve edges. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Problem
What to eat first in Singapore, Eastern or Western? What was your favourite childhood food? That was the question asked as an opener to visitors at a Toastmasters International meeting in the Sheraton Towers Hotel. The responses included chicken rice (a Singapore favourite), ice cream, and assorted Asian dishes.

The Sheraton Towers Hotel plays host to the Toastmasters Club of Singapore the first three Mondays of every month. Most meetings are open to members of the public and for twenty dollars you have an evening of entertainment, coffee or water and a savoury snack from the buffet before the meeting starts, more water with lemon or coffee and more of the savoury food plus some kind of sweet snacks and fruit in the interval.

The food choices rotate. Sometimes you get shellfish. Today something of everything, rice, noodles, cheese sandwiches, Indian flat bread, avocado sauce, an Indian fried dough circle (a bit chewy) and watermelon, so refreshing.

Next Monday is the club's AGM and not for visitors. Occasionally a meeting is postponed for a holiday or other reason. So it might be in your interest to check it is being held. Use Find A club and email them the day before.

Toastmasters has about 250 clubs meeting in Singapore. I attend one almost every day. If you want to save money, you could go to one of the many clubs which don't charge visitors a fee.

So why go to the events at the Sheraton Towers Hotel. What is the advantage?

The Sheraton Venue
You will meet professional people who are not short of twenty dollars. You get to see the magnificent Sheraton Towers hotel. I never tire of looking over the balcony and admiring the indoor fountains. So long as you don't mind risking a shellfish buffet occasionally (I am allergic to shellfish) you will mostly find something good to eat and drink.

Sheraton Towers Hotel Toilets
The toilets are elegant and plenty of toilets with seats, orchids in the toilets, music. (Toilets at the other venues, Community Clubs, are a bit unpredictable, often have the toilet paper outside the cubicles, and only two or three toilet cubicles of which one will be a hole in the ground.)

Even the lifts are elegant. The stairs are carpeted. On the upstairs landing are seats and before or after a meeting you can sit and stand undisturbed enjoying the elegance and calm.

Why Choose Toastmasters Club of Singapore?
If your evening is Monday, then this is the biggest and best club. I have visited more than fifty Toastmasters clubs in Singapore (plus others in the UK, China, Czech Republic and Thailand). The two big and bustling clubs are AIA (American Insurance Association) and TCS. AIA is Thursday. They are an in-house club for the business, and like most in house clubs, you are expected to be invited personally by somebody who knows you and you have to give up your identify card for inspection at the entrance to the building. They have one meeting a month in-house only, the other open to guests, most of whom are members of other Toastmasters clubs or Toastmaster VIPs.

What does TLC do well? Huge numbers of people. They might have 30 guests. Plus of course their own members. (Other clubs can vary from ten to twenty-five attending, except for the Xmas party which generally attracts a crowd.) TLC has a stage. The screen is set up and the two flip-charts are to hand for anybody who needs them. (Unlike clubs in church halls and pubs in London, England where you are told, "If you'd asked me, I'd have brought the screen and projector and flipchart. Do let us know next time.)

Impressive Organisation
At TLC and AIA everything is set up. AIA is even more technically organized. They start the meeting by playing music and marching in with the club banner. One technology expert sits with his laptop writing the names of speakers and projecting them onto the screen.

You can imagine my surprise the first time I attended AIA when they announced the table topic (impromptu speech picked from the table) and saw my name on the screen. They had typed my name into the laptop, and projected it. Easy enough to do, if you are a techie expert and do it all through the meeting every time. But hardly any other club does it, except on special occasions such as contests and awards nights.

By the time the Sheraton meeting ended I was on a high. The last two meeting I won the ribbon for best speaker. This time I did not get to speak. But I networked with several interesting people before the meeting and Hotel during the interval.

During our meeting at Sheraton Towers Hotel when a novice speaker spoke quietly I was distracted by laughter and chatter from another event. What was it? I shall reveal all about the food delights of chocolate and unusual ice cream in the next post.

Author Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Handy Portuguese Words For Restaurants When Ordering

Problem
How to order?

ORDERING
Do you have a menu?
We’d like some drinks.
We’d like some food.
I am ready to order.
Is it fresh? It is fresh fruit?

Do you have fresh fruit?
Do you have freshly squeezed juice?
I am allergic to shellfish.
Do you have sugar-free - somebody is diabetic
Can you ask, please?

No, thank you.
May we pay?
How much is the bill?
Do you have an address card?
The food was terrific.

Yes, please.
I’ll have this.
for my wife, husband, //friend, guest,// the lady, the gentleman - the child, the boss
Do you take credit cards?
Is service included?

Keep the change.
Are you open for lunch /dinner?

ENCOMENDA
Você tem um menu?
Nós gostaríamos de algumas bebidas.
Gostaríamos de algum alimento.
Estou pronto para encomendar.
Está fresco? É fruta fresca?

Você tem frutas frescas?
Você tem suco recém-espremido?
Eu sou alérgico ao marisco.
Você não tem açúcar - alguém é diabético
Você pode perguntar, por favor?

Não, obrigado.
Podemos pagar?
Quanto é a conta?
Você tem um cartão de endereço?
A comida foi fantástica.

Sim, por favor. (Sim, like si, means yes.)
Vou querer isto.
para minha esposa, marido, // amigo, convidado, // a senhora, o cavalheiro - a criança, o chefe
Vocês aceitam cartões de crédito?
O serviço está incluído?

Fique com o troco.
Você está aberto para almoço / jantar?

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Sheraton Towers Hotel, Singapore, for wonderful waterfalls, watermelon and speeches

The Sheraton Towers Hotel, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The Sheraton Towers Hotel is conveniently steps away from Newton MRT underground train station and bus stops. If you prefer to arrive and leave in style, as you arrive you see a dear little man in a protective white hat who scurries around. He is kind and keen to help you summon a taxi or pull off a protective free cover for a wet umbrella. he has been there for years. He is a national treasure.

Inside the Sheraton Towers Hotel has lovely decor, including waterfalls. It's large, yet comfortable. 

Everything tastes just right. The fruit slices are arranged in a circle. 

The small chocolate brownies look like large dice with melting chocolate top and small pieces of crunchy pecan.

The rice with peas in it is filling but has a beguiling touch of healthy vegetable added to please the eye and mind.

I can't vouch for the crab croissant as I am allergic to shellfish. Nor did I try the noodles with shellfish. 

Kueh

Since it was a shellfish buffet I would have liked to know what was in the kueh. What is kueh? It looks like ravioli pulled out of soup, gone limp. Locals like it. I wish they had said what was in it. One guest thought it was chicken. I ate it. Another guest said it was shellfish. I rushed to the toilet intending to make myself sick and waited to see if I felt like vomiting.

Fortunately not. But it was unnecessary stress. Everything else was clearly labelled. Please label the kueh.

If you don't, how about another piece of the pecan chocolate brownie cake instead? Or refreshing red water melon?

If you want to meet people and be entertained, a large well established Toastmasters club, TLCS for short,  meets there on the first, second and third Mondays of most months. Arrive at 6 pm to pay your $20, Singaporean dollars, entry fee for guests.

Should you wish to join the club, the charge more than other clubs but meet more often. The meetings are jam,-packed two. Eight speeches at the last meeting I attended in January 2018, whilst most clubs have an average of four speeches. They had eight table topics too, opportunities for visitors to try their hand at standing on stage and trying out public speaking for one to two minutes.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Special Meals on airlines - should you order them? What you get - or don't get!

Problem
I often forget to order a special meal.

Solution
On my most recent flight I ordered a special meal. That was a mistake.

Special Meals
I had ordered a special meal, no fish. I won't do that again. I don't eat crustaceans nor molluscs. But I love smoked salmon. Once I ordered the no fish meal and was denied a meal with a smoked salmon starter!

Another year went past. I didn't order a special meal again. However, every now and then I'm on a flight where everybody gets prawns in the starter, and sometimes shellfish in the main course too. So I think, I must remember to book a special meal.

What's the advantage? You can be sure of getting what you need if you have an allergy.

Your meal should come up slightly quicker!

On the other hand, you have only one set meal. If you stick with the regular menus you have a choice of two or three main courses, and two types of breakfasts.

What was wrong this time (November 2017)? I had chicken plus a spicy sauce or puree vegetable. Hey, man, woman, chef, those of us who are allergic to shellfish are sensitive types. We are likely to be sensitive to spicy food as well.

The rest of the passengers, the uncomplaining, easygoing no-fuss passengers, who accepted regular meals, were offered the opportunity of Chicken Kiev - my favourite!

Luckily I was travelling as one of a couple, so I did a bit of nifty shifting, food swapping. I said, "I'll give you half my food, which is early, if I can have half of yours later?"

What was good? My special meal ended with a fruit salad. I have become a fruitarian. Fresh fruit. When I was a child I considered that dull. Now, I'm careful, after two members of my family have been on special diets. One late relative was on a diet to combat late-onset diabetes, no sugar in desserts. Another relative is in remission from cancer, no processed foods.

Speaking of which, as a mid-flight snack, I was offered crisps, pastrami - which is a processed meat. No chocolate or cereal bar. No piece of fresh fruit.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

What Is Or Isn't Kosher. What About Vegetarians, Vegans, Other Diets?

Kosher McDonald's, Argentina

English: kosher McDonald's restaurant in Abasto shopping, Buenos Aires, Argentina Español: McDonald's, kosher, en el Abasto Shopping, Buenos Aires, Argentina Deutsch: koscheres McDonald's-Restaurant, im Abasto Shopping, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date	9 February 2011
Source	Own work
Author	Geogast

Kosher
Kosher food laws followed the laws in the bible. The book of laws, translated from Hebrew into Greek is called Leviticus (then translated into Latin and finally into English).

The food laws include, but are not limited to the following:

No pork.
No shellfish.
No meat mixed with milk.

Food must be either prepared by somebody Jewish (so they know about all the above) or be supervised by a learned Jewish person such as a rabbi or shochet. (I remember reading that at the turn of the 1900s a wealthy orthodox man - I think there was one in Singapore - employed his own shochet to kill the meat and prepare it, when at home or when travelling, having first inspected the animal to see it was not diseased. )

Observing The Sabbath
The Hatch End branch of B & K, according to their website is now kosher. I had a chat with them once about this. They said as far as they are concerned, they service kosher food, like your mother does. But they can't get a Kosher license from the London Beth Din (or Manchester or any other UK city), which is an advantage because they don't have to pay for the inspection. The reason was that to comply with the Beth Din, they would have to close on the Sabbath, sunset to sundown, varying in the UK with the season (like restaurants and shops in Golders Green and North West London.

Kosher - if you care, or care to know
However, since the supermarkets such as Tesco are selling kosher food in a chiller cabinet, and kosher wines, in a shop which is open on Saturday employing non-Jewish staff (who by Jewish laws, according to one law must be allowed to rest on the Jewish Sabbath, but that presumes they are in your employ and work on Sunday, or are allowed to work on the Sabbath like the kosher goy who can light your fire. (Elvis Presley was the one who lit the oven for the Jewish lady who lived upstairs.)

So, assuming it is OK for Tesco and other supermarkets to sell kosher food on Saturday, it should be OK. (It is rather like your Jewish mother or granny, if she is frum - meaning orthodox, serving food on Sabbath. How can she do that? She can say, 'this is one I prepared earlier'. In my view, logically, it would also be OK to be served by non-Jews who have a different day of rest.  Then it must be OK for the owners, who are not Jewish, or not necessarily Jewish. The same must apply to their staff who for a day of rest get Monday off.

Unfortunately, recently I have seen supermarkets cover their Jewish section on Jewish holidays, which is a real nuisance if you are on your way to an event and urgently need a bottle of kosher wine, whether it is to serve to Jewish people or be props when you give a talk to a mixed audience about the Jewish holidays.

Other kosher foods may be distributed around a supermarket, such as chocolates which are marked as kosher, in case Jewish people want to buy them, but are generally bought by any passer-by who happens to want a cake or biscuit.

In practice, I expect somebody could tell Tesco or another supermarket to cover their kosher section during a religious holiday or the Sabbath. 

However, large numbers of kosher items, packaged goods with the words kosher in tiny 10 point type, find themselves all over huge supermarkets. Matzos are often found in two places. In the kosher section. Again in the bread sections. The same goes for cakes, biscuits, chocolates, halva, wine. 

I am not an authority. This is just to give you a pointer as to what to check on.

Stories

Barmitzvah At An Italian Restaurant in London, England

What could go wrong?

1 To economize and for convenience, a non-Orthodox family holds their son's bar mitzvah party, not in a kosher restaurant, not at a synagogue hall or banqueting hall with a kosher caterer, but in a nearby smaller Italian restaurant. To please their more Orthodox Jewish friends the family has asked for a meal with no pork, opting for a fish meal so they can have milky coffee and desserts contained milk and milky white sauce on the fish. 

It is all very grand and appealing. We start with smoked salmon. However, the restaurant serves the starter decorated with prawns! 

Oops. Prawns are shellfish. Not allowed. What to do? 

Send all starters back? Chuck them all in the bin?

Surreptitiously remove prawns from the ones served to the first table? Or leave prawns as leftovers for the family and staff. Manage to serve the rest of the food without the prawns. Provide a fruit alternative to those ultra-fussy people who now suspect that the chef has simply removed prawns and sent back the contaminated smoked salmon.

Who will pay for the mistake? What about the delay waiting for food? The embarrassment. The stress.

The restaurant and staff are no longer there. This event was in the nineteen-nineties at an Italian restaurant in Hatch End which closed down and changed name and ownership and food nationality several times. The boy is now an adult. But we often talk about it. 

"Do you remember the time when the restaurant served prawns at a bar mitzvah!" 

"Oh, yes!"

2 You would think that the simple solution would be to stick to a vegetarian diet for everybody. Who could mind? What could go wrong.

Your Jewish friends are happy. Their Moslem guests knowing there's no pork will be happy. (Although one said you should not mix eggs and fish.)

3 What about your other international guests with assorted diets?

Some 'vegetarians' avoid meat but will eat fish.

Story

INDIAN DIET

We went out with Indian friends to Raffles Hotel in Singapore. Two married couples, English and Indian. We had a buffet, shared the food platters which included at least one meat meal.

A couple of weeks later, I invited my new girlfriend for lunch. I suggested an Indian restaurant. She vetoed it. She was eating vegetarian. I was puzzled.

"Why?" I asked. I thought you ate meat at Raffles?"

"Yes," she said, "But today is devoted to a different God, and I have to be vegetarian."

We went to a vegetarian restaurant. It took me a day or two to feel relaxed about this idea. I had grown up in England, at that time surrounded by people following two of the world's one God religions, speaking English. I went to a local Church of England secondary school, but the day's of the week in English are named after pagan or Norse gods. Monday is moon day. Thursday is Thor's day. I reasoned that the days of the week are named after different Gods.  

Christians change their diet. Catholics used to give up meat and eat fish on Fridays. Out of deference to the Catholic girl pupils and staff, my Church of England girls' grammar school on Friday served fried fish or a quiche containing eggs and cheese but no meat.

During Lent, Christians give up certain foods. Each household has a different diet normally. So each person can choose what to give up. (No point in giving up meat if you don't normally eat it.)

Jews give up leavened bread for Pesach (Passover). According to a Discovery programme, this might go all the way back to a rainy spring in Pharaoh's time. The moisture from one year's wet weather caused the stored grain to grow mould. It led to what used to be called St Vitus's Dance. The eldest boy child would be five years older than the next. The firstborn would get a double helping of food at late night dinner time, in the year of contaminated harvest a double portion of the contaminated food. Hence the death of the firstborn who were all found dead, slain by an invisible force in the night. 

To prevent last year's crop infecting the new spring harvest, all the old flour was finished off with spring cleaning. The mould situation was so serious that every year you had everything cleared out. Stored foods had no 'use by' nor 'sell by' dates in those days. Besides, the majority of ordinary people could not read.

Story

I went to visit Jewish friend whose daughter had married an ultra-Orthodox boy. I played safe and took them a pot plant. They said they would have to keep the pot plant in the garage during Pesach, in case it had any insects which would contaminate the house.

Vegans

The vegans are stricter than vegetarians who won't eat meat, and the no meat and fish eaters. Vegans won't eat anything taken from an animal. They won't have eggs, milk, milk products such as butter, cream, yogurt and cheese.

Ok, so we've cut out meat, fish, cheese, eggs, milk, butter, what else could go wrong?

The Jains only eat food from above the ground, so no potatoes. 

No fish and chips then.

Let's look at it another way. Who can we invite?

Let's invite the Chinese over for a Chinese meal. It is said that the Chinese eat anything (with four legs) except the table!

Oh, but what about allergies? One in four Asians has an intolerance to milk. The Asians are therefore not big on cheese. The Japanese don't like spicy food.

A Chinese friend of mine has one daughter who eats and drinks everything, another girl can't tolerate milk products.

My other good friend who is Chinese is married to a man who developed or discovered late in life that he had a gluten intolerance. She started a gluten free food business in Singapore. Her husband can't eat bread. Biscuits. Gluten is in everything. Or might be. As my husband once said of me, when I expressed lukewarm enthusiasm for accompanying him hiking up Everest with a Sherpa who would be carrying and cooking vegan rations, except for Yak food.) "Don't come with us, dearest. Even you enjoyed yourself, nobody else would!" 

Gosh - everybody's got a problem with something.  Those who don't have a problem today could develop an allergy tomorrow. So could I.

I think I'll just sit on my own and eat a grape and drink water. But I can plan my next restaurant meal. Let the other diners and the restaurant manager sort things out for themselves.   

Sometimes it seems as if the world's problems and difficulties are multiplying since I was a child, multiplying every day. But that's what happens when you travel and others travel to you. A constant discovery of new products and new ideas.

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

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Black Pepper Restaurant, Hatch End, Pinner, Amaretto Ice Cream and Beames-de-Venise Wine, for a Happy Meeting - And Moving Seats!

Problem
Where can you have a room to yourselves for a happy meeting with a congratulations speech? How do you get to sit near the VIP? How can you not get stuck with somebody who is boring all evening, and meet lots of people?

Answer
Black Pepper Restaurant in Hatch End.

Story
We spent the jolliest evening there in a room at the back. One of the ladies who organised the event brought along a banner saying Congratulations and a balloon.

We were congratulation a member who had become distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) which only goes to about one per cent of members of Toastmasters International Worldwide and involves a project turning around a filling organisation which is losing members, morale or money or all three. (In his case he blew new life into a flagging football club.)

Black Pepper Menu
Black Pepper has a menu with several choices for a set price three course meal. Whilst we waited for everybody to assemble I ordered a Prosecco.

The starter I chose was smoked salmon. Good.

My main course was duck with orange and saute potatoes and spinach. I have to say I was not thrilled with the main course. The duck seemed a bit dry. The orange sauce was tasty, but somehow the meal did not have freshness nor zing.

My companion chose rare for the lamb, then shellfish and had three glasses of wine and got an upset stomach. I'm allergic to shellfish and this is the third time he has been ill after a restaurant meal but I have been fine. I would suggest ordering meat medium rare rather than rare. Is it really worth risking food poisoning? I read that some restaurants won't serve meat rare but insist on it being cooked through.

I sat in the waiting room of the nearby local doctors' Medical Practice for a routine annual blood test and watched their loop of health videos. One of the health messages was to make sure meat is cooked through (especially on a BBQ when have the outside cooked or even blackened does not mean that the centre is cooked). The cancer websites warn you not to eat blackened food. But, back to the food and customer choices, everybody seemed happy with their food and evening at Black Pepper. Just a little blip.

However, the earlier disappointment with the duck was completely eclipsed by the delightful dessert. My dessert with amazing amaretto ice cream was wonderful. Flavourful. Worth going here just for the dessert.

The menu lists chocolate brownie with amaretto ice cream. Very rich. The friend sitting on my right found the combination of ice cream and chocolate brownie too sugary and rich and offered me a taste of both. So I got a double helping of the amaretto ice cream.

I asked for my apple pie to be accompanied by the amaretto ice cream instead of vanilla. I rarely manage to taste vanilla in so called vanilla ice cream. The amaretto is wonderful. But it's better with the apple. The large slice of apple is in a heavily sugared cake also. (Not quite as fresh tasting as the apple strudel from B & K. B & K is great for take away food and small groups, such as 4-6. But Black pepper, with its bar in the front, for a grander more glamorous event and group of 24-30 people in the back room.)

Drinks
At the end of the meal with dessert I ordered Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise, (that's the appellation, the name of the drink. I think there's another Beaumes-de-Venise with another grape, not Muscat. Muscat is my favourite, just the right sweetness for me, sweet enough. (From the town of Beaumes (cave) de Venise in France.

More details on the Beaumes-de-Venise wine from the website:
grapedeal.com / May 2106

Moving seats
In addition to having the room to decorate ourselves, and a chance to make congratulatory speeches, the organisers ran my favourite system of seating. After each course you move around (every fourth person changes seats, starting with the person fourth to the right of the standing organiser, who says, "You move (Michael or whoever) and so on clockwise around the table or horseshoe. That way the VIP gets to meet more fans, more fans get to meet the VIP, nobody monopolises the conversation, everybody meets several people, more fun, more new people met, and more business gets done arranging other social or business events.

It also means that husbands and wives who have seen each other all day get a chance to meet new people. You have more to discuss with each other when you get home afterwards.

Tips
1 You can buy banners and balloons in the party shop across the road from Black Pepper in Hatch End if you forget and decided you need anything at the last minute for a celebration. Another party shop is in Stanmore.
2 Look up reviews of the menu in advance to choose your choices.
3 Switch seats two or three times in a large group event.

Black Pepper Restaurant
461 Uxbridge Road
Hatch End
HA5 4JS
Tel: (+44) (0)208 421 4349

Blackpepperrestaurant.co.uk

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Please like my posts, follow and share.