Sorry about the delinquent updating.  Photos will be fixed soon and new entries to come!

Friday night I went out and partied like a hardcore Asian.  The night started past midnight at a Karaoke joint where we had overflowing pitchers of Tiger beer.  (Lest you think the entry ends with my eventual collapse into a corner, I had a Diet Coke.)  There were also little bar snacks filled with caramelized peanuts and shrimp chips.  I love shrimp chips so.  I've tried every single brand in the Asian foodmarkets and this is by far the best:

And this was the kind they had in the bowl!  Glorious!  So after I had introduced myself to everybody and we had established a base level of comfort with each other (about twenty minutes or so) I proceeded to pick out all the shrimp chips.  I don't think anyone minded.

What are your karaoke songs?  My go-tos are normally Madonna, Britney Spears and Kelly Clarkson.  But I discovered that night that the song "Animal" by Neon Trees is awesome to sing because it's upbeat the entire time so there's no instrumental pause during which you are forced to wriggle awkwardly in your seat.  I was challenged in this particular outing because all the Asians wanted to sing Chinese pop songs.  I know only one Jay Chou song and this announcement was met with profound disappointment.  But Chinese pop songs are pretty formulaic so I caught on rather quickly: butterflies, sadness, don't leave me, suffering, la la la.  Got it.

The night progressed, as the great ones always do, to more food.  A local Singaporean took us to a late-night noodle shop.  There, for under $4, you can find delicious wanton mee.  The recipe for handmade noodles have apparently been in the family for decades.  The bowl contains noodles (dry), cai xin, slices of barbequed pork, a few dumplings, and a delicious red sauce to spread over the entire dish.  See below:

The dumpling is peeking out in the bottom center of the photo.  Note that this is not entirely representative of what wanton mee looks like.  I may have eaten the other dumplings and most of the meat before I remembered to get my camera out.

Good, cheap food is undeniably one of the perks of living in Singapore.

The noodle shop is located at 72 Joo Chiat Place should you ever find yourself in town.