Our daughter turns four years old this week, so I am now in a frenzy of planning her birthday party. We decided to try a pizza-making party along with a party game or two. Plus I will make two cakes: One for the home party and one for her preschool. So far this has been easier said than done.
We splurged and bought a Singapore (240 volt) version of a standard KitchenAid mixer for a small fortune — twice the price as in the United States — to avoid burning it out by using a transformer and it gives us a shock every time we use it. Except for when I brought it to the store for repair. So far there are no clear answers as the home outlets and appliance each test okay. Tomorrow’s quest is to find a different plug adaptor.
I also looked for pepperoni and fresh mozzarella and got another shock. A ball of buffalo mozzarella somewhere between the size of a golf ball and a tennis ball for US$12. We need about eight of them so I compromised and got packaged Danish mozzarella instead. Still, two pepperonis and five small packages of cheese came to about US$40. That’s what we get for not going with something Asian.
On the bright side, we tried a bagel from the New York City Bagel Factory (of Singapore). It was decent and only US$1. Elysia thought it was not quite dense enough but I thought it was pretty close to Columbia Bagels of New York City. Sadly, they have closed.
Years ago when I lived near 108th and Amsterdam I was walking home late one night past a notorious crack house. Usually I walked around the block but this time I was halfway down the street when I saw someone approaching. I crossed the street, he crossed the street. He demanded that I give him some money, his friend sitting in the car parked next to us lighting up a crack pipe.
I explained to the guy that I had just spent my last dollar at the bagel store down the street and, not knowing what else to do, offered him the brown paper bag. He seemed a little confused but okay with it. So I asked him to wait a second as I reached in the bag, tore off half the bagel for myself, and gave the bag back to him.
They were that good.
