It's a little past midweek everyone but don't worry, the weekend is coming soon... For now, all we can do is just, well, survive.

Anyway, on a lighter note, what do you think this is?


a) Some sort of weird curry.
b) Soaked tissue paper.
c) Pat's attempt at roti prata and curry sauce.

Hmm... If your answer is c, then you're correct.

When Pat was in Singapore, there was one thing he loved about our country.

Not the cleanliness... Not the merlion...

Not even Lee Kuan Yew...

But roti prata!

For quite a few times, whenever I dropped by his place on the weekend in the past, I would get a phone call first thing in the morning. The first time he asked, it was something like this.

"Hello, Renee. Can you buy prata?"

"Huh? Tampines don't have meh?"

*in a tragic tone* "Don't have..."

"Ok lah. How many you want? You want with egg and onion?"

Pat proceeds to make his order.

"3? Siao! Ok lar you can finish or not?"

"Surely."

And thus I would be lugging a packet of freshly made prata and aromatic curry to his flat. Then he would get out the bowls, plates and cutlery and we would eat in his room.

Even now, after he's left Singapore, he does get a hankering for prata. So, imagine his delight the other day when the local supermarket stocked something we Singaporeans take for granted.

Pre-made frozen prata.

It's everywhere in SEAsian shops, but they don't sell it in China, at least till now. In fact, when he reached the supermarket, it was the very first shipment. The supermarket attendant was placing the food on a shelf and he grabbed it immediately. It was made in Thailand.

I got to know this a few days back. Next to the prata on the same shelf was the the curry sauce powder mix. He bought it all. Then, on msn that night, he asked me this.

"Erm... can I use milk?"

"Coconut milk better."

"We don't have that here."

"No coconuts?"

"Nope..."

I had forgotten that there were no coconut trees in Suzhou (they have a temperate climate). They don't even import the coconuts from overseas, simply because nobody there needs them. I guess that's why curry in his area tastes like crap (he said it, not me). Coconut milk has this aroma to it that really makes curry smell good.

So, finally, he cooked the curry sauce and prata and emailed me this photo. The curry was chicken curry, but the meat's not in the picture. As was his usual habit, he had drenched curry sauce all over the prata bits so that it was swimming in curry.

He told me that the curry was not spicy (oh the horror!) and that it tasted a bit odd. As you can see in the picture, it's rather watery. However, the prata was just fine (I think he baked it).

Sensing his enthusiasm, I promised to bring him to eat Indian food the next time we meet (papaddum, begedil etc the works).

And then he surprised me again.

It turns out he bought seasoning for chicken rice as well. - -'