Happy Birthday, Singapore! (A breakfast, and a list)

Rice over here tends to be served sweet, unlike how we usually eat it back in Singapore. Since we were rather bored with our breakfast options (bread, cheese, oatmeal, cereal... and more bread, you get the picture), I thought I'd try making rice pudding instead!

In Europe, rice pudding is usually served cold with coconut and/or fruit as a dessert.  However, who says you can't have dessert for breakfast?  (Plus I thought it was a great way of getting in some protein into Junior J's diet during his "I don't want to chew meat" phase!)

So here's our own not so sweet recipe (serves 4), adapted from Jamie Oliver's "Jamie at Home":

Ingredients:

600 ml milk

100 g pudding rice (a short-grained rice would do)

Vanilla sugar (or honey if you prefer)

Strawberries

Strawberry jam (optional)

Steps:

1. Place milk and rice in a pot, and simmer on medium heat for 30 minutes.  Stir occasionally, until pudding is thick and creamy.  Add honey/vanilla sugar to taste.

2. Slice strawberries while rice is cooking.  (You can substitute these with other fruit like peaches or other berries.)

3.  To serve, spoon jam over the rice (the amount is up to you) and add the fruit slices.  Done!

Since this post was going live on National Day, I couldn't resist making a Singapore flag out of the meal, by adding cheese shapes too:

And if you're wondering about the red and white drink that went with the pudding, it was our own version of a smoothie, with yoghurt and strawberries blended with orange juice.  

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Speaking of National Day, here are some of the things that we miss about home:

:: Being with friends and family.  And attending church, and Sunday school for Junior J!

:: All the local yummies: We miss slurping the yummy beef noodles at Marine Parade Central.  We think fondly of the times we spent sweating it out amidst steaming kettles of hot water, and having oh-so-fresh steamed fish with our bak kut teh at Owen Road.  We miss queueing up at Adam Road for our Nasi Lemak, and in Chinatown for the silky soft kway teow that goes with our yong tau foo (ok, the queueing up not so much).

:: Being able to eat out, and feed a family a full meal (including dessert) for under $10.

:: Having roti prata and wanton mee for breakfast.  Our friends here are rather horrified when they hear that we have noodles for breakfast sometimes.  Even though there's a huge variety of dairy and baked goods to choose from, we would much rather have this:

:: The wet market at our doorstep.  And being able to buy baby kailan, and getting free chilli padi from the auntie at the vegetable stall.  (The other day, we were over the moon when a friend helped us to buy kailan from the Asian shops in Dusseldorf, which is 1.5 hours away!)

:: Those little pockets of nature that we have, from Sungei Buloh and mangroves swarming with fiddler crabs, and even those mean macaques that might grab your kid's lunch.

:: Being able to indulge in water play outdoors and not worry about catching a cold:

:: Pasar malaams and all their yummy oily goodies sold on a stick.  But of course, those that are located some distance away from home (having to hear Celine Dion croon "my heart will go on and onnnn..." a hundred times a night isn't that nice!)

:: Having access to so many beaches and the sea, and being able to wear flip-flops and shorts the whole day without worrying that your toes might drop off!

:: Our efficiency: Administrative processes over here take ages to complete, and people take some time to reply emails, which make us appreciate how fast things get done back home, and how streamlined our systems are!

:: NLB and Popular: We are going broke here, having to buy our own English books for the kids, and stationery here costs quite a bit more.

:: Daiso: For its craft and bento stuff and everything else under the sun.

:: And finally those quirky aspects that make our country what it is.  The aunties on the bus who used to give a newly vacated seat a few hard thumps before sitting down.  The crazy sales.  And even Singlish, because it reminds me of home.

Happy Birthday, Singapore!  And now, I'd better go and cook some instant noodles for supper, to comfort myself after all the food talk... but wait ah... a little bit more hor!

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This post is a happy collision between two fun blog trains that have been going on:

:: Breakfast for Champions:  Some mommy bloggers are sharing what they have been making for breakfast.  For more yummy recipes, click the button above!

Tomorrow, Jennifer from Little DinoEgg will be sharing about her tuna & corn wrap!  Jennifer is a working mum who wishes that she can relax while enjoying motherhood, but instead she has to deal with her feisty boy who is constantly testing her patience. She writes about everything that is happening around her at Little DinoEgg.

And...

:: Loving My Spot: Click the button above and be taken on a trip around Singapore.  Discover hidden gems, great eats and more!

For tomorrow, Summer, another mom staying overseas, will be writing about the things she misses about Singapore.  She is a media executive and part time Chinese teacher turned SAHM from Singapore.  She has a passion for writing, loves to travel and her life took a 360-degree change when she moved to Sweden four years ago and gave birth to the now 2-year-old Angel. She blogs at A Happy Mum, a place where she shares her joy on motherhood, DIY crafts, travelling and all things happy in life.