Happy Birthday, Singapore!

I have never been to a National Day Parade.  I always remembered staying home to watch the National Day Parade TV broadcast, and when the National Anthem was being sung I would stand upright in front of the TV and feel a strong sense of pride being a Singaporean.  In my 30s, I stopped standing upright in front of the TV, but my national pride stood unwaveringly strong.  When I was a kid, I always remembered my grandfather telling me about how Singapore has transformed since her independence in 1965.  Then Singapore was between 10 to 20 year old.  Today Singapore is 43.

“Robert and I were thinking of bringing you around Houston…”, Sylvia said to me when we met in the break room last Wednesday. NASA VIP Tour to meet astronauts, US Military Base VIP Tour – Wow! Of course!  “Are you free this Saturday?”  I asked Sylvia.  Saturday is National Day, and both Robert and Sylvia will join me at Cafe Singapore instead.  It is their turns to be “tourists’ in Houston.   

Cafe Singapore is located along Bellaire Blvd.  As far as my google search went, Cafe Singapore is the only Singaporean cafe in Houston.  Sylvia picked me from Barnes & Nobles along Westheimer in her white beamer and we were on our way.  Cafe Singapore is a simple restaurant, nothing fancy.  There was no sign of National Day celebration or state flag, I saw the familiar merlion logo on the glass door.

~National Day Celebration~

While waiting for Robert (yes, he was late and needed direction to the cafe.  He is a tourist indeed.), we decided to start with milk tea, and chicken & beef satays.  The satays did not come with char-burnt aroma as we had in Singapore, but the marinade was nice with a tinge of lemongrass sweet!  Robert arrived.  Both Sylvia and Robert are into cuisine ~ they read, taste and talk cuisine, cooking and ingredients all the time.  They left the ordering to me so that they get to eat “authentic” Singapore cuisine.

The order list went Roti Prata (they call it Roti Canai here), Hainanese Chicken Rice, Bak Kut Teh, Beef Rendang, French Beans Belachan, and Mee Goreng.  I had wanted to have laksa, but they only has nonya curry noodles which I decided is not authentic to me.  Helen, whom I believe is the owner, told us that the taste may vary from home due to availability of ingredients.  I pointed out “cheese puff?“, and Helen quickly told me it is local American food.  Helen was born in Singapore, lived in Malaysia briefly and has been in US for the last 19 years.  She added that the cook is from Singapore too. 

When the dishes arrived, I just had to do it and I have preempted both Sylvia and Robert - I took out the Singapore state flag to have that moment captured with my Venezuelan and Mexican friends.  We happily tucked in.  I felt so contented to have a taste of home since arriving 6 weeks ago in Houston.  The Hainanese Chicken Rice with the chilli as well as the Balachan that came with French Beans deserve special mention, every dish was good.  They had replaced the thick yellow mee in mee goreng with spaghetti-thin egg noodles.  There  were three other tables of Asians and I assumed we are/were all from Singapore.  The meal came to US$60, and since we had Singapore food, it was my treat.

Before we left, Helen asked me where I got the Singapore flag from.  She had wanted to put up both Singapore and American flags in her restaurant.  I told her my hubby sent the flag to me from Singapore.  I gave the National flag to her and she offered to pay me.  Oh no!  I will be proud if she fly the flag in the Singaporean cafe.  

We decided to go food-tasting next at Andre’s Pastry & Cafe @ River Oaks.  The mango mousse, strawberry fruit tart and the creme brulee were simply sedap!  As we left the restaurant, I did something hilarious.  I walked to a car and open the passenger door, the driver turned and let out a gasp, just as I did in disbelief.  I quickly shut the car door, too shocked to apologise.  Then Robert turned round, realised my boo-boo, and broke into laughter.  Then I stole a glance and saw the relief smile from the driver’s face as he entered Andre’s cafe.  We all laughed hard indeed. 

Robert left to join his friends to watch The Mummy.  Sylvia drove me to Kemah Boardwalk in Galveston Bay, in the city of Seabrook.  A google search showed that ”The city of Seabrook is a 12.5-square-mile community located 30 miles south of downtown Houston along the shores of Clear Lake and Galveston Bay”. It was a family weekend atmosphere in Kemah.  The fish market was closed by the time we got there, we headed back to Houston feeling contented … tired. 

~An evening at Kemah Boardwalk~

A significant day to spend with good friends in Houston, Muchas Gracias!  Happy Birthday, Singapore!