Epilogue to Frog Porridge

A confession:

Over the course of this trip I dined on some extraordinary dishes. Some delicious feasts (Jumbo Seafood in Singapore, near Clarke Quay). A few items I don’t ever need to eat again (bad laksa; marmite chicken; frogs; avocado coffee). Some tasty foods I’d never expected to like (durian, frogs, tea eggs). Some fruits I’d like to eat all the time (mangosteen, snakeskin fruit, rambutan, mango & chili salad). A few dishes I liked a lot but ate altogether too often (fried rice with ikan asin (dried fish bits); noodle soup) And many things I’d never tried before.

The funny part of this culinary adventure—maybe something I shouldn’t admit—is that the very most delicious thing I’ve eaten so far this year was a fresh, gourmet, chicken pot pie that I bought in the Plaza Indonesia mall, at the central café, as a snack.

Chicken pot pie was one of my favorite foods as a child. That mall pie was the best one I’ve ever had. The irony only made it more savory still.

So you see, it hardly matters how far you roam or what you try. All of a sudden, the scent of something you loved at 9 years old can sneak up & lead you right back to where you started.