A blog about food, history, data visualization, and more
Walking to the bus stop after dinner on my last night in Singapore in May, we passed two drink shops near City Hall with amusing names — “CoolBlog” and “SoyaBlog” — and a great slogan — “Be cool with a refreshing blog.” Each stand appears to make the standard collection of juice and soy drinks […]
(Updated, 2/7/17: new signs and maps in BART stations have numbered exits) It’s always interesting to ride public transportation systems in other countries. Riding the bus or subway in another land can be inspiring as I see good ideas (as an engineer, good ideas have an intrinsic value of their own), and also bring a […]
One of the culinary highlights of the trip to Kuala Lumpur was lunch in the Restoran Grand City in Petaling Jaya. Grand City specializes in the “banana leaf curry” meal. These meals appear frequently in regions of Malaysia and Singapore; I imagine that they are an import from South India.
In Malay, it’s Ais Kacang (literally “ice bean”, sometimes spelled Ais Kachang outside of Malaysia since c is a ch sound in Malay), a refreshing, surprising, slightly creepy dessert. The dessert starts with small scoops of little rice noodles (sometimes flavored with pandanus leaf), red beans, brightly colored jelly bits, and some corn. Next, a […]