The contents of my fridge.

This morning I looked in my fridge and took a mental catalogue of all that was in it.

For someone who lives alone, I have a terrible food habit - I buy lots of food to fill my fridge and cupboards and end up not eating half of it. Perhaps it's the legacy left from growing up in Singapore where food was the symbol of both prosperity and family, but food for me has always seem to symbolize so much more than just a means to survive. An empty fridge is an incredibly lonely thing.

Today I have - yoghurt (both the drinkable and the little cup kinds)
eggs
dried scallops (sent from home almost a year ago now, good thing they last forever)
chopped up cabbage (ingredient for okonomiyaki later this week)
bacon (I made the most delicious carbonara the other day)
cream (not sure what I'm going to do with this yet.. perhaps a stew?)
green onions
been sprouts (made pad thai yesterday)
gouda cheese (good snack)
shredded parmesan cheese (maybe another batch of carbonara?)
brie cheese (I used this to make pear, bacon and brie sandwiches)
leftover herbal chinese chicken soup
barley tea (I make big pitchers of these and stick them in the fridge)
coconut milk (I made curry last weekend, maybe I'll make nasi lemak)
chrysanthemum tea
black tea
white and mint tea (yes I have a lot of tea, love love love iced tea)
flour tortillas

As much as I miss the food back home, looking at my fridge I wonder if moving home would converesely make me miss other kinds of food. Like good bread, a plentiful variety of good cheese, and ironically Japanese homestyle food. As much as Singapore has amazing food in restaurants, I really think that the everyday grocery stores in Singapore leave much to desire. Grocery store food in Singapore is both not quite fresh enough and kind of boring. Or perhaps I only feel that way because I'm spoiled here by being able to buy what I desire without thinking of the cost. If I were to shop at gourmet supermarkets in Singapore, perhaps I'd feel differently.

I wonder what my life would be like if I were home. It'd be incredibly hard to move back to living wtih my family again after having had the glorious freedom of being my own person here. Worst, I'd have to give up my kitchen. One of my favourite books in the world is Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto. I understand the narrator perfectly in that story because giving up my kitchen would be one of the hardest things in the world for me to do.

If I ever had to move home, having my own kitchen would be the best consolation. I've never been able to cook in Singapore because my mum won't let anybody use "her" kitchen. If I had my own kitchen however, in return for the sacrifice of good cheese, amazing fresh vegetables, and exciting ingredients to play with I'd get to experiment with old and new ingredients and ways to use them in Singapore.