Cooking

In spite of the fact that eating in the Hawker Markets is cheap, tasty and boasts a wide variety of food that pretty much pleases all of us, the other night young Andrew was yearning for a family meal - at the table, in our present home, American style. Seemed simple enough - per his request I bought chicken ($12 for TWO chicken breasts), a can of beans, some bar-b-que sauce and a watermelon. Perfect summer meal. Since the pits were all reserved, I decided to do the job in the oven. No flaws in the plan so far.

I do not fancy myself to be a great cook, but do I like to think I am a fairly intellegent woman, with at least a basic mastery of stuff like bar-b-que chicken in the oven. The oven ostensibly swings both ways - offering both microwave and conventional options. Apparently, the pictorial instructions at the top of the oven are multi-national, thus stupid-proof. Naturally I could not decipher them. No problem! I had found, in an earlier search through the apartment, an owners manual for every appliance in this place. Very convenient. And if I spoke French, German or something that could have been Chinese, Japanese or perhaps Sanskrit, I would surely have found them invaluable. Sadly I do not. Once again, for the roughy 8 millionth time in the last week, I was flummoxed. Luckily for all of us, I did get the microwave going in 30-second increments.....

It was worth the wait.