Counting down 30 days

It's exactly a month until we arrive in Singapore.

And in preparation, Jude and I have been talking ourselves into a frenzy about the food we're going to be chowing down during our 3-week trip (as always...). It started with this list that he stumbled upon (which I barely agree with, but then again, we haven't been home in two years, so who knows what's come and gone in the Singapore hawker food scene?...) and then tonight, in a spur of inspiration, Jude decided he was going to make char kway teow, a much beloved fried noodle dish from home. Greasy, sweet, savory, and pungent- char kway teow encapsulates all things yummy about Singaporean hawker food. I was beside myself with anticipation...

We had to adapt the original recipe a little to suit Sophie and also the ingredients we could (or couldn't) find. Which means 1) no fresh cockles and 2) spaghetti as a substitute for egg noodles because of Sophie's allergies (no scoffing, you purists- it worked brilliantly). It was actually quite easy to find fish cake and preserved Chinese sausage so we at least managed to preserve the integrity of most of the main ingredients.

Chef Jude hard at work at the wok

Jude made two batches of noodles- one Sophie-friendly version with no egg or chili paste and the other with the works, i.e. extra garlic, stir-fried egg, and a pungent, spicy chili paste. And both were equally A-MAZING. I was literally standing right next to him, picking up the noodles with my chopsticks as he was still stir-frying... It was that delicious.

Our grown-up version

We weren't sure how Sophie would take to char kway teow- she hasn't actually had anything quite like it. But clearly, being a Singaporean foodie is in her blood and she practically inhaled the noodles from the moment we set it in front of her. When I asked if she could share her noodles with us, this was her response:

Shielding her char kway teow from her parents

Best of all, throughout the evening, Sophie called out several times, "Thank you, Dada for making me the noodles!"

Singapore hawker food, watch out- we'll be unleashing Sophie Yew on you!