A Singaporean In Australia

I was struggling with a hot pot of bubbly boiling black liquid when someone knocked on the door. Boy, some of those chicken they sell in shops can be really large and hard to flip but I had to, to give it an even braise.

It was Singaporean mum, M, at the door, back to her chiobu look. She looked like she had shed some weight from her pregnancy. Each time she goes to Singapore for a long holiday, she will insist she gains a lot of weight from her binges. However when she returns to Perth, I see the exact opposite. Something going on in the airplane that I do not know about? Something about the atmospheric pressure in Perth pushes our fats in? Shrug.

I was very touched M took the trouble to pop by my place with a bunch of her famous "Lychee Grapes." She even left her baby in the car at the risk of being fried in the sun just to deliver them to my door. And there I was, not answering to her frantic knocks, flipping a chicken in braise broth. Well, the Lychee Grapes was actually made famous by Singaporean mum, M. I heard nothing of it before. Over the last 1-2 years, I've been hearing her ranting about it. "Those grapes taste like LYCHEE!" she claims. You know the feeling when someone has eaten the holiao and tell you how amazing it was and you can only purse your lips and say, "Bluff lah, they must be sour."

This year, since I have move into the grape zone, I have full access to beautiful vineyard views every day. Needless to say, when the grapes finally starts to ripe, I bring my family to stock up on grapes once we finish ours. Due to the freshness (they pick them on the same morning), they keep really well, easily going for 1 whole week without refrigeration without rotting. Believe it or not.

Well, if you look at how green the stems (above) of the freshly picked grapes are, try recalling the colour of yours when you buy them in the shop. Nearly all our food in Singapore are imported. Thus, we can never get freshness, unless you redefine fresh. As a matter of fact, we actually do. Just like the way we redefine quality of living, happiness, good education, world class public transport, floods and so on.

I initially found it strange that the vineyards here actually name their grapes. Well, some of us name our cars so.... They give them imaginative names like how those folks name ships, nothing reflective of how the namesakes are supposed to look or taste. How do you think "Sophia" look or taste? You probably will not think it is the name of a grape species. The "Lychee Grapes" that M kindly brought me was supposed to be called "Sable." Sable. What the fuck? Tell you what, I should open a vineyard and name my grapes, "Goli", "Bola Hitam" and "Raistlin's Magnificent Dragon Orb."

"Why you can find but we cannot find?" I asked.

"Sorry! I forgotten the name of it and told you guys the wrong name!" M said.

Anyway, I immediately snatched a grape from M and munched it, before she changed her mind and leave with her Lychee Grapes.