Popiah obsession

Help! My dear amore L is obsessed with popiah and I can't stop him! So I figured if I can't stop him I might as well join in. Heehee. I swear he must have tried almost every popiah joint in town and was particularly inspired when he saw this current local food documentary hosted by Mark Lee on tracing the origins of local Chinese cuisine. That episode showed how popiah (meaning 'thin wafer' in hokkien) came about from the Fujian province of China - usually in Xiamen and its neighbouring Chaoshan area during the Qing Ming Festival.

So 2 weekends ago, Fifi and I brought him to reputedly the best popiah skin maker in S'pore - Kway Guan Huat at the Joo Chiat area (est since 1938). He could understand why it's so popular - the popiah skin is made by hand next door on seasoned black skillets and it's strong yet soft, embracing a delizioso mix of ingredienti. Ahhh... Incidentally the shop also offers some kick-arse beef dry/soup noodles. I slurped down a $5 bowl and fed L the handmade beef balls.

Last weekend, I also surprised L with the combo 5 durian platter from Goodwood Park Hotel - showcasing 5 different durian sweets including the puff, hazelnut tart, Oreo cake, pandan coconut cake and strudel. L went matto and he relished everything slowly in 3 days while grudgingly wondered aloud why he couldn't shed more weight. Non e' copla mia!

We also visited J & A's newborn girl at KK and I almost cried in joy at the sight of the panzarottina (L nicknamed her 'the little croquette'). Just over 2kg, she's a little pink bundle and her perfectly round head full of hair is the size of a big Fuji apple. Big pat on the back to J who's so brave all these 7 years and had to endure rounds of expensive and painful treatments, but they never gave up and remained hopeful and cheery! A real inspiration to all.

Since we were near Newton Circus hawker centre, we decided to brave the throat-ripping seafood touts there and see if it is a worthwhile food destination. Not according to us. The touts were still in full force and it was crowded and warm. We didn't know who to trust there. The only popiah stall was crap (ugliest popiah ever) and the bbq stingray was miserable at $10 but the rojak stall next to DBS atm was quite good and left us with a nice salty finish on the palate.