According to the guide books, blogs and some contacts I have made in Singapore, if you want an oven in your apartment you must ask for one. Most apartments do not come with an oven. I found this very odd. Why would you not have an oven for goodness sake. Then I started to think about it. It is always 88 degrees on average and high humidity, 87 plus percent every day so just why would you want to cook in an oven. I have heard stories of ovens shorting out in Singapore if they are not used frequent enough because moisture builds up and then when you turn it on it shorts out, sometimes shorting out many apartments around you. Some Singaporeans use a counter top oven by T-Fal that is really a big toaster oven but big enough that you could cook a bundt cake if you so choose. One must use caution when using these ovens if they are on and under a cabinet it can start the cabinet on fire and if you are 50 or so floors up..... not to mention the landlord and your neighbors would not be happy with you but it really does happen over there.
They also cook very different in Singapore, I am not even sure at this point how different but I am sure I will learn once I get there. We did tell our housing agent that we want an oven, I am too much of a foodie to not have an oven if there is an option. However, I am looking forward to expanding my horizons and learning some new ways to prepare our food.
While in the hospital, I was watching an episode of house hunters in Japan. The man looking for a new house would get all excited when he went into a kitchen with an oven. The ovens, however, were very small, definitely not your standard American oven.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh...50 floors up! I think I would be requesting an apartment on the lower 10!
ReplyDeleteYes..Randi..you definitely need an oven. And that torte looks delicious!
Looks like I can communicate from here to you. I've been able to read your daily blogs but can't seem to recall how to send you a message back. I'll have to get Brit's help before she leaves for campus on Friday. Your mom gave me tomatoes, peaches, cucs, and zucchiniyesterday after I babysat Harper. So today I made tomato sauce.I'll make some more tomorrow. Did you hear that Kelly and Jeff and kids have a litter of 5 new puppies at their house---- in their living room in a swimming pool? Just what the new bride needs! Britt is here now---Obviously!
ReplyDeleteHere ovens are actually very rare. They do have those box ovens that you are talking about though & some of my friends use those for basic foods. We had our shipped in from a larger city, because I totally agree- food and cooking is important to me & helps w/ stress and longevity. However, you're right- cooking in Asia is different. I don't know about Singapore, but most people here just cook on a stovetop(burners)& have a different style of cooking. They tend to use woks all the time, so it doesn't seem as important to them to use an oven. The oven is for Western food while the burners are more for Eastern food. -Kim
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