Ever wondered how boating on hot water would feel like? The water today smelled absolutely heavenly. I swear that it smelled very much like the herbs in a Chinese traditional medicine store. The water appeared so colourful with all the tiny objects floating in it; green, yellow, brown, white, red... The water was 'polluted' with 'creatures' and objects of different colours, shapes and sizes. 

Perhaps, the one thing that made the water look all the more mystifying was its temperature. Steam emanated from those waters and paddling was definitely a challenge. We had to be extremely careful while paddling so as not to suffer from any unfortunate scalding as the water was probably at its boiling point. Despite that, the three of us took our time, the few hours of paradise, chatting away. What a wonderful idea to celebrate our pre-Christmas together. As if the water was not 'polluted' enough, we personally handpicked a few more colourful items to be thrown in. Seeing the item soften as it hit the surface of the water was such a delightful sight. 

"Plop!"

Having starved the entire day, our gastric juices were overflowing so much so that we could almost hear our stomachs crying - "FEED ME!"

Using designated curved 'paddles' that looked like ordinary kitchen scoops with a strainer, we scooped up some of the colourful objects onto our plates and wolfed the first serving down without further ado. Boy was that delicious! Before your face turn a shade or two paler, let me bring you a sigh of relief by saying that although we went 'boating', we were boating on land. What we really did was 'steamboating'! That explains the boiling temperature, colourful and 'polluted' water that we were 'paddling' on.

Steamboat, a specialty of East Asian cuisine, is otherwise known as "hot pot" by which people gather around a table with a hot metal pot filled with a delicious stock, simmering, in the middle. Different types of ingredients are then thrown into it to be cooked. Such meal is popularly practiced particularly during winter in China. Although we are not on Chinese land, families here do find it a thrill to 'steamboat' occassionally amongst themselves. While traditional steamboat usually involves meat, ours was of course, meat-free. The meal was specially-catered for vegetarians just like us. 

Some meat-eaters have tried to convince me that steamboating MUST contain meat ingredients. Otherwise, it just isn't steamboat! Bah!! Whether you go boat with a powerboat or sailboat, it is still boating, isn't it? I personally do not think that it makes any difference if one steamboats with meat or vegetarian ingredients. After all, the entire purpose of food is to fill the stomach. What more can one ask for when it does exactly just that along with a few other bonus points thrown in such as being able to socialise and spend time with your loved-ones as we await the ingredients to be cooked?

Since it is a Friday night today, I wish all of you a wonderful weekend! May you have a lovely time with your family and friends.

Love and light,

Genevieve