DJ Bitterbarn

Many people start threads with apologies and I'm Canadian, so I decided to start with two:
1. Sorry this is not a proper DO.
2. Sorry if this runs up too close to the actual SIN DO.

Unfortunately, I can't make the SIN DO but the real kicker is I only miss it by a week. I have dates and flights booked, grandparents organized, and time off approved. We've got award tickets and revenue tickets and toddlers and adults playing musical seats across all of the time zones, some of them twice. Changing it by a week is effectively impossible. But the plans they are what they are and I had all of this sort of arranged months before I found that thread, so I'll make it work somehow.

Anyway. The Scenario:
Through the power of planning in advance I have somehow talked a cooking school in Singapore to adjust their schedule to fit around mine. What this means is that I'm tentatively booked into a Singaporean cookery class on the 3rd of January, 2014, (11am) with Cookery Magic. I've already put off posting this for almost a month, so you can get the idea of how far in advance I booked. Based only on reviews and my emails with them I'm already excited for this. However, this is still tentative: she requires a minimum number to attend and I am, of course, still only one person despite my best efforts (imagine the carpool lane benefits if I could succeed, though).

I talked about this with MrsBarn and she's still quite keen to sit on the fence with it. We both like the idea of doing another class together and she may still do it, but we also know that the idea of a whole morning to herself is very appealing. So that brings the number of participants to ... possibly two. One, using rounding. Two is the minimum we need for the class, so it's possible, but this gives her the opportunity to sit on the fence for longer.

Now The Proposal:
I am certain there are Flyertalkers in Singapore. I hear it's a popular place for people like us. Some of us also like food. So my question is if there is anyone who will be in SG on Jan. 3rd 2014 (it's a Friday) and who would be interested in attending a 3-hour Singaporean cooking class with me. Already I can tell you what's on the menu:
Ability is irrelevant. Hilarity will probably ensue regardless of how good anyone is at cooking.

I think what might be easier is if I get an idea of who's coming and run it as first-come-first-served until we hit that max number. EDIT: I have confirmed with the teacher that the max number is TEN. I'm also going to set a cutoff date of Dec. 26, because that's the day before I leave and I'd rather give her time to prep and so that I can organize less while I'm travelling.

EDIT: (wow, so this made the email, eh? Guess I need to be more clear with plans). Because this was sort of a one-off thing, the plan after the course was to go over to Joo Chiat, possibly for a late lunch/early dinner/second lunch/pre-dinner/fifth breakfast/what-have-you at 328 Katong Laksa and/or (probably and) Tian Tian. Then there was the plan of walking up to Geylang and eventually meander over to Old Airport Road Food Centre. So it wouldn't just be making and probably eating food, it would be making and probably eating food and then walking so that we can eat more food for anyone who's interested. Drinks are, of course, a given. Unless you're not into that, in which case that's cool too. We can all get along. We can also talk about what we will or won't miss at the DO the following week. Or if you will attend the DO, you can come and tell me what I will miss.

So I post this in hope that someone out there will both be in SG on the 3rd and would be interested in a three-hour Singaporean cooking class. It'll probably be a good time, and I'd be glad to see you!

EDIT: Attendance List. Max 10 Attendees.
1. DJ Bitterbarn (confirmed)
2. paulyras (tentative)
3. paulyras (tentative)
4. lowjhg (tentative)
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Sweet Willie

this is absolutely a proper Do, one I'm sad to say is too far out for me to commit to but if at all possible, I'd love to take part in, especially the chili crabs.

When Mrs Sweet Willie & I were on Bali, I just missed getting into a cooking class of local cuisine, bummed about that one. I take cooking classes ever so often to keep up on things, especially if it teaches me about technique(s) or ingredients I'm not familiar with.

PS: I went ahead and edited the title to make the date clearer as 03-01 is viewed differently depending upon where one lives.

DJ Bitterbarn

If you suddenly find an opportunity to make it, I'm sure it will be fun. The class comes highly recommended by anything I've read, and the official corporate title of the lady running is "Food Sorceress". That sealed the deal for me right there.

You also aren't the only one saying it's pretty far out to plan. I'm having trouble getting anyone I know to confirm anything for this trip, although you'd think it would make it easier!

BTW: thanks for the clarification/fix on dates. I've been trying lately to stick to ISO 8601 for my dates (not just because they're easily machine-sortable, either) but I also understand this is not the most popular date standard in the world. January is much less ambiguous.

Singapore_Schwing

I just moved to SG, and think this sounds fantastic. I can't quite commit yet, as depending on when our dogs get quarantine space and when our house in the US sells, there is a chance I'll be back in the states.

My hope is both my wife and I will be there and able to participate. Perhaps I missed it, but what's the drop dead date to commit? How many people are to looking for ideally?

Cheers,

Paul

PS- Assuming we can make it, definitely count us in for drinks (and more good after)!

DJ Bitterbarn

So to answer your question, I have no idea! But bear with me, because there's a reason for that and since I saw the email I've kicked my organization into "serious" mode and started getting that sort of info from Ruqxana, the very nice lady who runs the course.

Before this point, the plan was to see if anyone was interested because we couldn't do the course with only one person and while MrsBarn was interested, she was also interested in going to the spa and meeting us afterward. So to give her the most flexibility, I posted to try and recruit some company just in case she didn't want to cook that day. Judging by the speed of your response, we may have a turn-out.

So going forward, I've asked Ruqxana how many people max she can accommodate and when she needs to know. As soon as she gets back to me I can put together an attendance list and finalize details. I hope that's either today or tomorrow, and we'll see how it goes.

I'll post more as soon as I know, but for now I'll put you down as "tentative". And yeah, it'd be great if you could make it!

lowjhg

put me down as tentative

DJ Bitterbarn

Update: I now have confirmation of the max number of attendees. That number is TEN. I will also set the cutoff date for registration at December 26th. This is all now in the first post, including an attendees list.

Sweet Willie

I am unable to make it.

I let a rookie mistake pin me into a trip to Aruba by not paying attention to the cancel/modify dates w/o penalty (in fairness to me, it was 90 days in advance, that is the longest I've ever seen on a reservation, for instance the other hotel we have reserved on the island is 7 day prior cancel w/o penalty)
I guess I have to go to Aruba, sorry to miss this.

Please post a trip report of the class, to me this will so much more interesting than what one ate while flying in F

DJ Bitterbarn

Sorry we'll miss you, too. But Aruba would probably be a pretty good time, especially over the holidays.

I have a pretty poor history of posting trip reports (I just never find the time to finish one) but I think I have to make an effort for this trip. Then I can do a comparison to food in F, too. And, of course, I will use it to introduce the game I've created but can't say any more about. (But I'll bring game cards for the class, in case anyone else wants to play. It's a "play at your leisure" game and can be easily modified for anywhere, really).