Singapore Adventure

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Blue Ribbon Winner
by venitha

"Anything else that looks good, Sarah?" I asked, filling out the order card at our favorite Thai restaurant, circling all our standards and then some.

"This." She pointed to a picture on the menu.

In town for three days, and she'd already honed in on the blue ribbon winner at the Asian dessert bake-off. Of course, mango with sticky rice is the only entrant in the Yummy category, what with all the other desserts fiercely food-fighting it out over in the Revolting section. The judges' eyes sting from air hazy with the yellow-gray smoke of durian stink bombs, and spectators must constantly duck great glistening globs of that land with a sickening splat, then ooze down the wall.

Over in Yummy, mango with sticky rice does not rely on its lonely status but puts on a dazzling, tantalizing show. Against a backdrop of golden honey fireworks, Chinese acrobats entertain to the lively strains of "Carnival of the Animals". Warm orange spotlights trace mango-slice arcs as the gymnasts effortlessly launch each other ever higher and higher, flying through the air in a taste explosion before alighting gracefully onto a pillowy sticky rice trampoline, playfully splashing sweet and creamy coconut milk in a perfect circle of dainty drops.

"One mango with sticky rice," I said. "Check."

venitha