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Curry and Cars in Singapore
The cars here in Singapore come in all styles, including some expensive ones you don’t see just anywhere: Maserati, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Jaguar and so on. The ones I find the most amazing are the small ones.
There’s this one little car that’s quite popular. A pair of them would make a great kid’s gift; roller skates. They’re roomy enough on the inside for four. Mice, that is. As long as two of them are pre-pubescent. You think I’m kidding? Heck, they even had to shorten the name, just to get the label across the back. It’s called the Kangoo car.
In other news, I see where Taco Bell is (re)entering the Mexico market. Talk about carrying coals to Newcastle! This is worse than taking snow to Antartica. But wait! They’ve got it right this time, they say. They’re not trying to sell Mexican food in Mexico, they’re selling American food! Brilliant. I think maybe the guy who invented New Coke and smokeless cigarettes is behind this one, still looking for a winner. Taco Bell should put him back in his straghtjacket and take him home to his asylum, before too many Mexicans get hurt.
Police in Singapore arrested and jailed a most dangerous criminal this week. Dubbed the “Curry Puff Bandit” by the media, he was directly accused by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the National Day Rally in May. He was accused, and is now convicted, of tax evasion. Seems he made about $1 million or so selling curry puffs from street carts in the Ang Mo Kio District over the last three years. That’s a lot of curry puffs! He reported income of about $3,000 each year. He’s gonna do hard time: Two sentences of two weeks each, to run concurrently. And pay a find of over $196,000 Sing. Good thing that’s not real money he’s spending. Also a good thing that we don’t have debtor’s prison in the U.S. anymore, either.
Then again, if we did, maybe we’d get some quality curry puff vendors out on the streets back home. I don’t know how this all works, exactly.
Of course, we’ve got our own problems back home, what with the meat recalls and the pot pie scandal. Too bad, I usually enjoy pot pies.
I did learn something important yesterday, an Idea Whose Time Has Come, in fact. I was on my way home from the bookstore and I took a shortcut through the McDonald’s at Great World City. (I was just passing through, honest.) I saw a line at the sauce station. They have these big condiment pumps, with ketchup (tomato sauce here) and chilli sauce in them. You just grab a cup and pump, as we do in the States. (Oddly, no mustard. I guess it’s an acquired taste.)
The line was for the chilli sauce. Each person had their Big Mac open on their tray. I watched: They were pumping the chilli sauce on top of the Mac, then putting the top back on! Brilliant!! A way to rescue an American icon. The flavor is much improved; at least that’s what I hear. I’d never try that myself, of course. Not when traveling, anyways.
When I get home, I’m going to start carrying around a container of my very own chilli sauce, so I can properly enjoy any fast food that gets in my way. In the meantime,
Enjoy the Heat!
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