by Paul on March 30, 2010
Do you take vitamins or dietary supplements? Sure they’re working? Information is Beautiful has a wonderful chart that shows graphically the effectiveness of various dietary supplements. The chart shows me two major things: first, there’s way too much money spent on ineffective supplements and second, our diets are way out of whack if we’re needing (or even thing we’re needing) all these extras.
I’m personally in the camp of no supplements. Find the vitamins or supplements you are told you are lacking and find a real food that gives what you’re missing. 9 times out of 10 when it comes to food science they find down the road that they were wrong with the supplement and you need the whole food / whole diet to get the best effect. Plus why on earth would you take a green tea pill when green tea is so yummy 
For a better look at why food science is constantly changing it’s mind when it comes to healthy and harmful ingredients (a lot of the time these are harmful ingredients food science introduced in the first place) and why isolating particular ingredients from foods might not provide all that you’re needing check out In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.
Paul
by joanna on March 26, 2010
Unlimited dim sum at this stylish art-deco Shanghai gem
Paul and I are hopelessly addicted to dim sum. For me it started when I lived in New York. My half Chinese cousin and I used to head down to Chinatown on Sundays where she schooled me on the leisurely lunchtime tradition of rolling food carts filled with dumplings and tasty bites and Yum Cha (drinking tea). For Paul dim sum really clicked when he lived in Thailand and visited the South where a local friend introduced him to a dim sum street stall – thereafter it became a breakfast ritual in Bangkok. And part of the fun of living in Asia is the easy access to traditional dim sum. As it turns out there are many styles, although it originated in Southern China in the Cantonese style in local teahouses where they served snacks with the tea. Today it is a weekend tradition from Bangkok and Singapore to Hong Kong and Shanghai, usually focused around the family reconnecting over a lunchtime meal. And when in Shanghai, one can indulge in this tradition where dim sum is served in the stylish, Chinese art deco environs of Lynn Modern Shanghai Cuisine near Nanjing Lu. [keep reading…]
by joanna on March 26, 2010
Classic Shanghainese cuisine in this traditional restaurant near Huahai Lu
Paul and I spent a great deal of time in Shanghai this winter. We traipsed about enjoying top-end international food at places like Stiller’s, Jean Georges, Laris, M on the Bund, T8 and more. So when we were speaking to a Shanghainese friend and she asked us where we wanted to have dinner, we said “something that is typical Shanghai, please.” And what better way to experience local food than with a local person guiding you through the menu and introducing you to classics and family favorites? So it was that we found ourselves at Liu Yuan restaurant on a drizzly Sunday night for a guided Shanghainese culinary experience. [keep reading…]
by joanna on March 22, 2010
An outstanding Cantonese meal with impeccable service
I have a great fondness for Chinese cuisine. And at the top of my list are both Sichuan and Cantonese. Living in Chinatown in Singapore one might expect the best Chinese dining to be here…and while this is not entirely incorrect, we were recently blown away by a lunch at Summer Palace in the Regent Hotel. They have recently reinvigorated the restaurant with the addition of a new chef and the makeover of the interior. Having never visited before, I cannot comment on the degree of change, but one thing I can say is that this is the best Cantonese I have had outside of Hong Kong. It was, in a word, outstanding! [keep reading…]
by Paul on March 19, 2010
Joanna and I are attempting to eat at as many of the Miele Guide Top 20 Restaurants in Asia as we can this year. Don’t really know how we decided to pursue that… I think accidentally when we realized that we had dined at a few and were about to dine at a few more. And so on our last trip to Shanghai, we decided we had to treat ourselves to a meal at Laris. It’s the highest rated non celebrity chef restaurant in China (not to take anything away from the Robuchons), coming in at spot number 8 on the list… just below one of our personal favorite meals of the year – Gunther’s. Unfortunately that step down from 7 to 8 was a longer one than we were hoping for… [keep reading…]
by Paul on March 16, 2010
Hey all,
A favorite time of year for NYC food lovers is Restaurant Week, a yearly chance to sample some of NYC’s finest at lower than average prices. It was only a matter of time before Singapore, being as food focused as it is, did a restaurant week of it’s own. If you haven’t already booked, do so quickly as the restaurants are quickly filling up (I don’t know if 53 even lasted 10 minutes!). There are some regualar dining options offering 3-Course lunch sets for 25++ and 3-Course dinners for 35++! The premium restaurants are 40 and 55 dollars for the same courses… still a good deal if you’ve ever seen menu prices at FiftyThree or Garibaldi.
We’re unfortunately leaving right in the middle of the week for the Maldives, but are using the days we do have in town to try out a couple restaurants we’ve been wanting to try (Garibaldi’s, Krish, and I’ve personally only had Prime Society at tasting events).
If you haven’t yet made reservations check out the site. It’s super easy to browse the restaurants and make a reservation… you don’t even need to make a phone call. This an exciting and cheap way to sample some of the city’s best, trendiest, and most controversial restaurants. They should be on top form as these are specially designed menus and they know that many could be visiting their locations for the first time… so hopefully everyone will be stepping up their game and putting their best plates forward.
Restaurant Week Singapore
Monday the 22nd till Sunday the 28th of March
Paul
by joanna on March 15, 2010
We got on a plane and flew to get our ass kicked military style. Was it worth it? You bet!
I used to do a bootcamp workout when I lived in Bangkok through Fit Corp Asia. A friend at work told me about it…in retrospect I am not even sure why I was interested….she told me “sometimes people work so hard they puke” and “you will be seriously challenged, I doubt you can keep up.” While these words should have scared me, they did the opposite and intrigued me. I think it was because I was in my mid-30’s and simply just wanted to see what my body could still do. And so bootcamps became part of my fitness regime when living in Bangkok and I loved it. It was hard at first but with each session I saw my fitness level increase and after a short time I was in amazing shape. Not skinny, but a strong healthy body I was proud of. And not only was I more fit, but also even when I wasn’t working out, my energy level was sky high.
However, I will confess since Paul and I moved to Singapore last year, my workouts have been, in a word, erratic. When I did my taxes recently I discovered why…I had been out of the country and traveling more in 2009 then I had actually been at home in Singapore. That’s more nights in hotels than in my own bed! As such, you can imagine my workout schedule, and thus my fitness level, has been seriously impacted. When traveling, I had replaced after work training sessions with drinks and dinners with colleagues. When I actually find myself in Singapore, I have a trainer through UFit who I have been really happy with – but it is not his fault I cannot maintain a regular schedule. So when my former Bangkok trainer Daniel told me he and 2 other trainers from Hong Kong and Singapore were putting together Asia’s Biggest Bootcamp in Phuket, Thailand, we had to go and check it out. I envisioned a bootcamp weekend to be just the kick start I needed to get back on track. [keep reading…]
by Paul on March 11, 2010
Hey all,
Next week if you’re feeling up for wine tasting or event of some kind, why not do some drinking for charity? Our good friend Chris from PengWine is organizing a fund raiser to help out with the recent damage done by the 8.8 richter scale quake in Chile. The proceeds from the event will go to help less fortunate children through VE-Global in Chile.
Those who attended our last event at El Toro know what to expect – the great food, generous tasting portions, and refreshing Pisco Sours. For everyone else, do yourself a favor and come out and enjoy yourself while doing a small part to help out with Chile. Haiti is receiving a lot of attention these days, and rightfully so. But it’s good to not forget about other countries recently effected by tragedies… those that don’t have international singing sensations raising funding & writing charity songs for them 
Click here for info on the event
Paul
by Paul on March 10, 2010
Hey all,
I think my favorite days of the year go – Christmas, my birthday, and Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry’s. Seriously. It’s free ice cream, what’s not to love? In Singapore, to be honest, I’ve grown to prefer the smaller boutique places over the big multi-national ice cream chains (save the random late night Magnum or Cornetto), but a lot of that comes down to how expensive Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is in Singapore… I’ve had whole meals for the price of a couple scoops.
But cost isn’t a factor on this day. I’m thinking this year I’ll rent a van, get a small group together and travel to all the different Singapore locations. Been wanting to try all the new, to me, flavors – like Chocolate Macadamia Nut & Dublin Mudslide (hope that tastes better than it sounds ).
Mark you calendars and be sure to make a visit to a Ben & Jerry’s outlet in your area on March 23rd, 2010! Hit me up if you want in on the van tour
Ben & Jerry’s
Paul
Hey all,
We’re noticing a lot of new visitors to the site thanks to our nomination for Best Culinary Travel Blog from Saveur magazine. I thought I’d do a quick post to say hey, give you a short run down of what we’re about, and a sampling of some of our articles. So if you’re visiting Accidental Epicurean for the first time or want a refresher…hit the jump. [keep reading…]
