Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Spreading the passion . . . through the stomach too!

I promised some fun food pictures didn't I? Well before I show them to you, let me just explain what's it all about. Me and Ann Marie co-ordinated the recent YISS Prep Camp:

YISS Prep camp poster
beautiful poster designed by leonard koh

The main purpose of the camp was to prepare the service team for the upcoming annual YISS in June. Organised by Amplify Ministries (of which i belong), this is the 16th one since it started in 1990. Since our target audience is the youths in Singapore, our camps are conducted in a vibrant and energetic style. Even our designs echo that youthful vibe:

The lure of the Chocolixir

In case you're wondering what all this has got to do with food... here's where you find out. It has got something to do with this:

Do it yourself popiah

Yep, D-I-Y Popiah! Not done by me, but catered by this fantastic place called Old Longhouse Popiah. Why popiah you wonder? You see, we wanted to create a fun and lively atmosphere on the first night of the camp. We wanted to provide dinner and allow the participants to mingle and get to know each other better. I guess offering D-I-Y popiah is something out of the ordinary. I know that everyone had so much fun. It also helped that the popiah was seriously good! It has lots of good reviews that's why I ordered it from them. No regrets at that. You should try it someday, either at a dinner party or a get-together. It's good stuff!

Aside from D-I-Y popiah, we catered food from this company called Partylines. It's actually owned by our friend's friends. They offer anything from peranakan food to international buffet and even satay & bbq. But since we were on a tight budget, we had this simple fare:

catered dinner

Okay, maybe it wasn't that simple - we had chicken curry, fried bee hoon and cabbage & cauliflower dish. It was scrumptious! The curry was good and they even provided us with french loaves. I love eating curry with french loaves. This company is owned by this lovely couple Katherine and Andy. I want to thank them for agreeing to help cater food for this dinner even though they were so busy. They're very meticulous too - what with the set-up of the food and all.

You know what I said before about food bringing people together? I still stick by it. And especially if it's food that's fun and delicious to make, people will enjoy it tremendously. I know these girls are:

ladies hard at work
ann marie, cass and grace hard at work, making their own popiahs

But you know what. Even something as simple as popiah making requires skill. So it helps to have skilful hands like this guy:

Popiah master

He was the reigning 'popiah master' that night. His popiah was simply the best! See what I mean :

best popiah

I've never seen popiah that looked that perfect. And haha we didn't have any knives (couldn't find them) so he whipped out his swiss knife, washed and sterilised it and used it to cut the popiahs. My my, he certainly had many orders that night. Everyone was literally 'queuing', waiting for him to make them popiahs. Who's this skilful dude? He's Wilfred, and boy does he have lots of patience. He even taught me and ann marie his secret which will remain ours. hahaa...

Anyway that night ended great and there was also red bean soup for supper.

I hope you're not too bored with me talking about camp food and what not. I just find great joy serving through food, be it planning or actually cooking it. I think it's just in me. I cannot run away from food even if I wanted to!

Okay, here's one last picture for you:

Camp brekkie

What's that you wonder? Well that was our breakfast the next day. Camp breakfast yep. Our dear kitchen heads woke up as early as 5:45am to cook that big pan of eggs! It's one mean feat. And look at the amount of fruits.. and check out that nutella spread. Of course I had a slice of that.

The prep camp ended on Sunday and I was really pleased that it went well. You see, even through food, one can spread the passion. I won't deny that I love food alot. But I love God even more. As a Catholic, I'm always looking for opportunities to serve and I'm sure that with food, I can do a whole lot more.

Thank God for food! :)

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Old Longhouse Popiah
22 Lorong 7 Toa Payoh
#01-03
Tel: 9171-7157/9428-1828
email: oldlonghouse@myway.com

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Partylines Function Organisers
31 Bedok Lane
Tel: 6448-7477
email: dynaking@singnet.com.sg

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2 comments:

  1. Hi, interesting blog! If you like popiah, you can try the stall in Thomson Plaza foodcourt (it's the only stall there selling popiah). A bit steep at $2 per roll but it's about the best I've tasted so far.

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