Get excited and enthusiastic about your own dream. This excitement is like a forest fire – you can smell it, taste it, and see it from a mile away.
~ Denis Waitley
After a futile search through two supermarkets, I was delighted to finally locate some pandan leaves in the Asian grocery shop on Dixon Street! I also took the opportunity to practise my (now very rusty) Mandarin with the lady there.
In between preparing dinner for my flatmates tonight (garlic-mustard-red wine-rosemary-salt-pepper-treated lamb which they will be subjected to shortly), I googled kaya recipes and ended up making my own jumbled version of kaya with pandan, coconut cream, eggs, sugar and a tiny bit of salt. This was my first time making it – it took around 40 minutes and lots of endless stirring. Bad photos aside, I think it turned out alright – creamy and sweet, and not overbearingly so. Though I think there is room for improvement, I am happy with it as a first attempt.
Mmmm, kaya and butter on toast, what a cure for homesickness. :-)
treehousekitchen 
Although I’m not familiar with kaya I think I’d like it from what I’ve heard of its ingredients. Good to know that pandan leaves are easily found in Wellington – I can go look up all those recipes that use them now!
I don’t think kaya is too commonly found in this part of the world! If I come across some good kaya here I’ll be sure to let you know (I still haven’t perfected the recipe)!
Pandan smells amazing, I feel – like a Southeast Asia and plant twist on vanilla essence. there’s a very long post on pandan cake (something else you can get easily in Singapore) here: http://ieatishootipost.sg/2010/05/how-to-make-pandan-chiffon-cake-almost.html