Explore Culinary Asia

Expect some spicy hot posts over the next two weeks from that mecca for foodies – Singapore. I’m ostensibly heading there on business, but Singapore being Singapore, business is often conducted over food. If Singaporeans aren’t eating it, they are debating the destination for their next food communion.

Still local on Saturday afternoon, I strolled on a five star day through Wallingford, one of Seattle’s urban villages. A sign at a service station made me laugh because it’s so me. The sign announced that “a balanced diet is chocolate in both hands”.

I’ve already packed my chocolate quota for the long haul across the Big Pond including a precious few from my dwindling stash of Debauve & Gallais, the only Royal French Chocolatier for more than 200 years.

With a bow to the French and a special thank you to the friend that gifted me with these superb chocolates, off I go to Singapore to rediscover what’s new on the food scene along with revisiting some old favorites in the company of my proudly food- addicted Singapore friends.

Does life get any better for a foodie?

Is Nancy on her soap box? Yep, but bear with me. This is easy, good for your health and the environment.

I started carrying my own eating utensils when I began traveling the backwaters of Asia as a precaution against picking up some pretty yucky germs. Nothing spoils an otherwise perfect travel adventure like being flat out and cursing your body for failing to protect you.

Now we know that it’s also good for the environment. Each year in Japan alone, chop sticks in land fills waste 90,000 tons of wood. And in the US, we are not only heaping our land fills with disposable food items, one environmental group has noted there is a garbage patch the size of Texas floating in the North Pacific.

Can you make a difference? You bet. Wrap a set of eating utensils and a collapsable cup in a bandana, toss it in your day pack and your’re ready to roll.

Doing the small things helps. More important, it empowers you to do more than the small things.
So with your own reusable eating and drinking tools, you’re now free to enjoy all that amazing Asian food!