Simple Life

A good friend of mine visited me recently and bought me some dragon fruits.

She told me she doesn't know how to tell if the dragon fruits were ripe or not. My maid told me she knows as she planted them at home. Out of curiosity, I asked her what else she planted at home. Durians,

coconuts,

bananas, chilli, coffee beans. She also reared chickens and planted vegetables (considered organic as she didn't use pesticides on the latter).

I presumed she goes to the market to buy fish if she wanted some. She replied:"Don't need. Just go to the river to catch". So basically, apart from rice, she just need to go to her backyard (and river) to get whatever she needed for lunch and dinner. She also brought some bananas and chilli to the market to sell.

Her purpose of coming to Singapore to work is to save up for her son's future education and to buy a piece of land to build a house (she doesn't want to stay with her mother-in-law). I told her I envy this kind of lifestyle. She told me I could go stay with her once she had her house built.

Looking at the food prices here, everything (I really mean everything) has increased. I have to compare prices between NTUC, Cold Storage and the wet market before making any purchases nowadays.

Third world countries, the costs of living are so much lower. The thought of migrating to a third world country has formed in my mind.

GM of Food Outlet Responded

The General Manager of the food outlet has responded to my complaint of 'sharp object found in mee siam'. To be fair to them, the Facility Manager of the outlet did reply to my email the next day (as I did not leave my contact number for them). He explained upon receiving my email, they had inspected their kitchen but could not determine where and how the plastic could have mixed with the food.

He also assured me that they will continue to review their food handling process to ensure their food safety and would like to compensate me for this unpleasant experience. Hence he would like me to contact him for further clarification. I left my contact number to the manager via email.

The next day, the GM called me personally (to my surprise). He apologised for the unpleasant experience that I had gone through. He also told me that he has inspected the kitchen and reviewed their food handling process by checking with the packing staff and even their supplier who supplied the containers. However he still could not find out how the plastic had gotten into the food. He ensured me that they will be more careful to prevent similiar occurrence and would like to make up to me in the form of compensation.

I explained to him since I was not hurt by the incident, my feedback was not to ask for compensation but merely wanting them to improve on their food hygiene and safety. The GM insisted saying that my feedback was very important to the company for improvement. He asked me to give him some time to arrange for the cash vouchers so that he could hand them to me personally.

Today, he came and handed me the cash vouchers personally. I never expect a GM to handle this case personally, let alone meeting me in person. I would expect the company manager to handle it and probably mail the vouchers to me. I must say throughout my conversation with him (via phone and face to face), he has been very sincere.

Would I continue to patronise this food outlet (they have outlets island wide)? Yes I would. Afterall, it is a local brand that comes a long way..

Sharp Object Found in Mee Siam

I bought mee siam from a well known food stall this morning for breakfast. While I was enjoying it at home, suddening I felt something sharp poking at my tongue. Immediately I stopped chewing and spat out the object. It turned out to be a hard plastic with sharp edges at both ends. It measures about 2.5cm long. I checked the plastic container and its cover. They were intact; so it was not chipped from the container.

I decided to take a picture of it with the receipt and emailed the company for an explanation. That was this morning. Till now I have not heard from them. Should I raise it to the relevant authority, NEA? It gives me shivers when I think about children or old folks or anyone who happens to bite on it and it causes bleeding from the gum or tongue or worse, swallow it and it cuts through the esophagus?

Serving Expired Food

A friend of mine has recently left a pre-and-after school care centre in the east. Apart from many other reasons that had caused my friend to resign, one of the main and intolerable reason was that expired food was offered to the children for tea break.

A left over birthday cake (that was kept for nine days) was given to the children as snack during tea break. While my friend had reminded the bosses to buy fresh snacks for the children and not to serve the cake, they insisted on doing so.

Did we not learn from the Geylang Serai market mass food poisoning incident in April 2009? How could people be so unethical and irresponsible?

I like to know if you parents out there would offer cakes that are kept more than a week to your children. I had asked a sales person in a bakery shop how long can I keep a cake. She told me to consume within three days and must be kept in the freezer compartment of a fridge.