Monday March 15(for real)

[wildpurplebarry]

We had breakfast at the complimentary breakfast buffet. If you've had a complimentary breakfast at a hotel in the US, this is nothing like that. There is tea and coffee, of course, but also green tea.  Because Singapore is a country with great influences from Chinese, Hindu, Islam, and the British, the offerings were very multicultural. There three kinds of  cold cereal, always the same, corn flakes, cocoa krispies, and something that looked like little sticks. Once a week oatmeal was on the buffet table. The rest of the week congee or chicken congee was offered. It is something like slightly soupy cream of rice. ( the chicken one had chunks of chicken in it) The condiments for congee are; sesame oil, sliced green onion, some little bits of things that were a little crunchy, but wasn't bacon, and I think something else. there were three kinds of melon, cut into cubes, two kinds of luncheon meat stuff, smoked salmon or smoked tuna. various breads bagels , butter, jam, and cream cheese. on a separate table were five or six different types of danishes, pastries, and doughnuts. The doughnuts looked a lot like yeast doughnuts, but were actually cake type. There were always six hot dishes. Among the selections were: Chinese vegetables in a sauce, that reminded me of something you would get at a Chinese restaurant here; some type of eggs, scrambled or omelet style, with or without tomatoes or mushrooms;( I was recently interpreting a class that discussed the use of colons, semicolons, and commas for lists. I hope I've gotten it right.) hash browns; bacon;baked beans; Chinese little shells with a seafood filling; Chinese bun-like things with red bean paste or lotus filling; and other stuff.(Because of the various eating habits of the different cultures, everything, like bacon, from a pig, was also labeled, "(PORK)" and there were always vegetarian dishes. You can see that there were dishes from many different cultures. There was one I couldn't figure out. Salad. Salad was only offered for the breakfast buffet. Even in the big restaurant downstairs, the only meal where salad appeared at the buffet, was breakfast. I don't know which culture it is that has salad at breakfast.

I kept meaning to take a picture of this elaborate buffet, but never managed to remember.