My staple diet in Singapore was rice in its many and varied forms. Something I should add that I thoroughly enjoyed, even though my diet has now changed again and a knife and fork is called for in New Zealand.
Chop sticks were the utensil of choice in Singapore and I mastered these many years ago, so felt completely at home in any foodcourt or kopitaim.
How I wish though that we had been able to use some of the new adaptions of the humble chopstick:
The combination glasses and chopsticks set may have many virtues but I have yet to think of one.
Then of course we had the HDB-inspired combination of clothes peg and chopsticks. I can envisage these anchoring washing on the bamboo poles that sprouted from the upper stories of the HDB blocks.
Finally we have a nifty design which is both a sauce dispenser and chopstick set
A quick squeeze of the chopsticks and a squirt of soy sauce embellishes the dish. Struggling with a piece of kampong chicken might result in an overdose of the sticky black fluid but this is clearly a minor inconvenience.
It is truly remarkable what the human mind can dream up in moments of complete idleness!
We all knew that Australia's bid to host a future World Cup was doomed when they trotted out a severely plasticised Crocodile Dundee as part of their promotion. Most people could understand Elle McPherson's presence but a botoxed Paul Hogan was a step too far.
By comparison, the 'Alpha Male' remained in his Moscow lair, secure in the knowledge that Russia had its bid in the bag.
There was no need for Mr Putin to follow the steady stream of ex-Presidents, Prime Ministers and nuptial-contemplating Royals to FIFA's European headquarters.
Money talks when it comes to football's governing board and little else matters. Recent corruption allegations should have reinforced this understanding and people delude themselves if they think otherwise.
It is not just football; witness the recent debacle of the Commonwealth Games in India.
The reality of all of these global sporting events is that it is a select number of multi-nationals who make money out of them and these corporations and individuals are not really worried where an event is staged.
Sure, there is political kudos for those who win the right to stage a world sporting event but the real financial returns are few and far between, if at all.
It is highly debatable that the common man reaps any economic benefit at all from global events being staged in their country.
Usually there is a huge PR spin during the bidding process to sell the idea to the country and an equal amount of professional justification to cover up the real financial numbers at an event's conclusion.
Those countries such as China and Russia who can marshall the resources of a nation with little fear of a public backlash, will continue to stage "successful" sporting events.
Others should count themsleves lucky that, in these times of economic uncertainty, their bids for the FIFA world cup hosting were unsuccessful.
The latest revelations from Wikileaks is very much in peoples minds and they are causing huge embarrassment for the States.
While MM is renown for his straight talking on any subject, I think he will be very displeased to see a private conversation about the North Korean leader being aired across the Net.
The Guardian has the full text of the communication posted on its web site. If you read the memorandum in entirety it would seem to me to be a frank and fairly astute assessment of the political machinations of North Korea and the perspective of China.
"The next leader may not have the gumption or the bile of his father or grandfather. He may not be prepared to see people die like flies. China is calculating all this. They have their best men on the job. They want to help the United States to advance common objectives. But they do not want the South to take over the North, MM Lee said"
