The long awaited Asian holiday has finally arrived!
Yesterday was a full day in transit... 9 hour flight from Syd to KL, 4 hours in Kuala Lumpur's LCCT airport (where we spent a few hours chilling out at Starbucks with Mel and Mike), then a 50 minute flight to Penang. We finally arrived in MP's family home town of Bukit Metarjam at around midnight... and it was straight to bed as I had already turned into a walking zombie.
MP described Bukit Mertarjam (BM) as a town similar to Taree of Sydney. Small town with houses sprawled all over the place. But that's where the similarities stop. Driving around BM, you do witness life in a third world country. All the run down vacant shops, the stray animals on the sides of the streets, the piles of rubbish at the front of people's houses... Iots for the mind to take in.
We spent today driving around BM in search of the best Malaysian grub. MP's "Ah Yee" (I.e. auntie) and his cousin Pete, took us to all these local haunts known for serving "the best" of everything. For brunch, we drove to a place which specialized in "the best" taro rice with pig stomach soup. I ate the taro rice and took a nibble of the pig stomach, but ended up devouring a bowl of Asian meatball soup instead, which Ah Yee kindly ordered for me in anticipation of my sensitive Aussie stomach. After brunch, we drove around in search of seasonal fruits. It is the start of the Summer fruits season in Malaysia, which means a tropical feast of durian, rambutan, mangosteens and lychees. In BM, you don't venture into a supermarket for fruit. Rather, locals set up stalls lining the side of the road, showcasing their harvest. Ah Yee has a keen eye for good fruit and she scoured stall after stall, finally walking away with a Durian and bags of lychees and mangosteens. It was fruit heaven.
For afternoon tea, Ah Yee drove us to a renowned local vendor who made "the best" "mung jung kueh", a kind of sticky cake with has a thin layer of crisp on the outside, and crushed peanuts, butter and sugar on the inside. We ate it hot as it was fresh from the pan and it was absolutely sublime. Afterwards, we drove to a little shop which served "the best" Cendol in BM. Ah Yee told me that they made their coconut milk fresh (i.e. it does not come from a can). Boy does that make a difference! The Cendol was a perfect balance of shaved ice, coconut milk and gula, with thin green Cendol jelly and perfectly cooked red kidney beans. At this shop, we also found these trianglular, banana leaf parcels which MP had always told me about. This was traditional Nasi Lamek (Coconut rice). Because we were quite full, we bought one to share between the two of us and It only cost us a dollar twenty ringgit! (I.e. forty cents AUD). We picked one which had anchovies and egg... honestly, that little parcel of rice was better than any Nasi Lamek you could buy in Sydney for $10-$15 . MP and I scraped up every last rice grain and thought about buying another. But Ah Yee told us that we should save our stomachs for dinner...
For dinner, Ah Yee and Ah Tiew (MP's uncle) took us to a secluded restaurant in a small village, an hours drive away. The Asian alfresco style restaurant situated next to a farm, is renowned for it's amazing fried pork knuckle. So we ordered that as well as steamed snapper, fried squid, prawn noodles and stir fry potato leaves. The food was unbelievable. The steamed snapper was topped in this delicious chilli, soy bean and shallots sauce. The moorish fried squid had a hint of curry powder in it's crunchy coating, and the pork knuckle had perfect crackling covering a layer of soft chewy fat. It was an amazing meal and the perfect end to our first food filled day in BM.
The whole day has been unbelievable. It was on the car ride home from dinner, as I reflected on my day, that I realized how lucky I am to have married into a great family with a cultural background so different to my own. Today just would not have been possible if I was a tourist. I am the luckiest.
Photos to come.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Guardian Angels
I believe know that every event happens for a reason. Every person that we meet... It is all exactly as it should be.
This week, I had lunch with a colleague who I was only introduced to a few months ago. It's only the second encounter we've really had outside of day to day work liaisons, but after lunch yesterday, I knew I was meant to meet him. That I was meant to meet him at this exact point in my life.
He reminded me of thing I've forgotten. He shone light on the ideas, the beliefs and the notions, that I've always held, but seem to have ignored in the past few years. He reminded me of life's purpose. He reminded me of my purpose. He reminded me of the gift I have and how, unbeknownst to me, I may be using it every day to help those around me.
I hope I gave him something in return. Even if it's just an ear for his own personal predicaments. He shared with me this great life philosophy he holds, where he feels that his purpose is to turn every frown he encounters, into smiles. At the end of life's journey, if his frowns vs. smiles balance sheet tips in favour of smiles, then he has served his purpose. He would have done good... What a great philosophy.
He also reminded me that every day you get the opportunity to start over. Just because today is a terrible day doesn’t mean tomorrow won’t be the best day of your life. You just got to get there.
I have always believed in Guardian Angels. But the static drone of life, often blocks my ears and blindfolds my eyes to them. Only after they leave do I realise who they were and what they did for me.
I'm so grateful that I recognise this one. That I can say to him face to face, thank you for coming into my life.
This week, I had lunch with a colleague who I was only introduced to a few months ago. It's only the second encounter we've really had outside of day to day work liaisons, but after lunch yesterday, I knew I was meant to meet him. That I was meant to meet him at this exact point in my life.
He reminded me of thing I've forgotten. He shone light on the ideas, the beliefs and the notions, that I've always held, but seem to have ignored in the past few years. He reminded me of life's purpose. He reminded me of my purpose. He reminded me of the gift I have and how, unbeknownst to me, I may be using it every day to help those around me.
I hope I gave him something in return. Even if it's just an ear for his own personal predicaments. He shared with me this great life philosophy he holds, where he feels that his purpose is to turn every frown he encounters, into smiles. At the end of life's journey, if his frowns vs. smiles balance sheet tips in favour of smiles, then he has served his purpose. He would have done good... What a great philosophy.
He also reminded me that every day you get the opportunity to start over. Just because today is a terrible day doesn’t mean tomorrow won’t be the best day of your life. You just got to get there.
I have always believed in Guardian Angels. But the static drone of life, often blocks my ears and blindfolds my eyes to them. Only after they leave do I realise who they were and what they did for me.
I'm so grateful that I recognise this one. That I can say to him face to face, thank you for coming into my life.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Another week... another feast
It's been a momentous week. Thursday, 3rd of May was the day MP and I got back into the black, and we celebrated with a nice "Date Night" meal at Cafe Lyon in Lindfield.
We drive past Cafe Lyon almost every day. I don't know why we waited so long to make a reservation. But after last night's meal, you can bet your cotton socks that we'll be back.
This cute little French Bistro really surprised us. You can choose two courses for $55, or $65 for three. Both of us scanned the dessert selection first and after seeing the Pear Tart Tartin (with Butterscotch Sauce and Vanilla Bean Ice-cream), we made an executive decision that no matter what, we had to make it to dessert.
The menu was simple yet had a good variety. Four entrees, four mains and four desserts. They also had the Specials (one of each course). MP ended up selecting all three of the Specials.
For entrees MP had the Scotch Egg which came on a bed of crunchy celeriac with a rich Balsamic dressing. I had the famed citrus cured salmon, spiced avocado and crunchy prawn tempura. This was the dish Terry Durack rated as the "Must Try" in his Good Living review.
They had us hooked at entree...
We were both really impressed! The flavours were fantastic and you can tell that every ingredient on the plate was well considered.
For mains, MP had the Lamb Shanks with polenta and Eggplant Jus. I had the Quail Ballotine, which had chestnuts inside. It came on a bed of braised red cabbage. MP won out with the mains - his lamb was cooked to perfection.
But the biggest surprise came at dessert time. MP selected the Special which was Profiterroles with vanilla bean ice-cream and a decadent chocolate and Grand Manier sauce. It was yummy...
... But my Pear Tart Tartin was ethereal. A full pear poached to absolute perfection, wrapped in a crunchy pastry and drizzled in Butterscotch Sauce. The Vanilla Bean Ice-Cream accompanied the warm pear perfectedly. One word - Amazing.
It was a wonderful meal. The perfect end to a stressful work week. And the perfect start to the weekend.
It was an overwhelming week at work. I have so much to do before we go on holidays. I hate working on weekends, but I don't think there's much of a choice this weekend. Just have to keep reminding myself that holidays are only 14 days away...
I also stumbled across a beautiful blog challenge from Ez at Creative Comforts - Things I'm afraid to tell you In a nutshell, the challenge is based on the idea that within blogland, people's lives appear shiny, pretty, happy and perfect, when in reality, life is very different and we are often afraid to reveal how things really are. I've been reading blog posts from all the inspirational bloggers who have taken on this challenge. This post by Lynn has especially struck a chord. I've been a follower of Lynn's blog for about a year, as I am a big admirer of her letter-press business Satsuma Press. After reading her post, now I'm an big admirer of Lynn.
I've always thought that I was pretty honest and transparent in my writing. But if I was, then I wouldn't have been so scared to make public this blog which I started in 2008, a good three years before this one.
Royal Escapades was my "dear diary". A private outlet for me to post my honest thoughts and opinions about life, which ranged in light and dark shades. When I decided to create a public blog to document my journey to start a crafting business (yes, that was my original brief for this blog. Yes, I know I have digressed...), the thought of making Royal Escapades public was not an option. So until two minutes ago, this private blog was only visible to me.
I have just noticed though, that over the last 6-12 months, I have stopped posting exclusively on Royal Escapades. There are even posts over this period, which appear on both blogs.
Maybe it's because I've had less bad days... or maybe I became braver in posting about the bad days here... I don't know. But it's time I reveal the things I'm afraid to tell you.
We drive past Cafe Lyon almost every day. I don't know why we waited so long to make a reservation. But after last night's meal, you can bet your cotton socks that we'll be back.
This cute little French Bistro really surprised us. You can choose two courses for $55, or $65 for three. Both of us scanned the dessert selection first and after seeing the Pear Tart Tartin (with Butterscotch Sauce and Vanilla Bean Ice-cream), we made an executive decision that no matter what, we had to make it to dessert.
The menu was simple yet had a good variety. Four entrees, four mains and four desserts. They also had the Specials (one of each course). MP ended up selecting all three of the Specials.
For entrees MP had the Scotch Egg which came on a bed of crunchy celeriac with a rich Balsamic dressing. I had the famed citrus cured salmon, spiced avocado and crunchy prawn tempura. This was the dish Terry Durack rated as the "Must Try" in his Good Living review.
They had us hooked at entree...
We were both really impressed! The flavours were fantastic and you can tell that every ingredient on the plate was well considered.
For mains, MP had the Lamb Shanks with polenta and Eggplant Jus. I had the Quail Ballotine, which had chestnuts inside. It came on a bed of braised red cabbage. MP won out with the mains - his lamb was cooked to perfection.
But the biggest surprise came at dessert time. MP selected the Special which was Profiterroles with vanilla bean ice-cream and a decadent chocolate and Grand Manier sauce. It was yummy...
... But my Pear Tart Tartin was ethereal. A full pear poached to absolute perfection, wrapped in a crunchy pastry and drizzled in Butterscotch Sauce. The Vanilla Bean Ice-Cream accompanied the warm pear perfectedly. One word - Amazing.
It was a wonderful meal. The perfect end to a stressful work week. And the perfect start to the weekend.
It was an overwhelming week at work. I have so much to do before we go on holidays. I hate working on weekends, but I don't think there's much of a choice this weekend. Just have to keep reminding myself that holidays are only 14 days away...
I also stumbled across a beautiful blog challenge from Ez at Creative Comforts - Things I'm afraid to tell you In a nutshell, the challenge is based on the idea that within blogland, people's lives appear shiny, pretty, happy and perfect, when in reality, life is very different and we are often afraid to reveal how things really are. I've been reading blog posts from all the inspirational bloggers who have taken on this challenge. This post by Lynn has especially struck a chord. I've been a follower of Lynn's blog for about a year, as I am a big admirer of her letter-press business Satsuma Press. After reading her post, now I'm an big admirer of Lynn.
I've always thought that I was pretty honest and transparent in my writing. But if I was, then I wouldn't have been so scared to make public this blog which I started in 2008, a good three years before this one.
Royal Escapades was my "dear diary". A private outlet for me to post my honest thoughts and opinions about life, which ranged in light and dark shades. When I decided to create a public blog to document my journey to start a crafting business (yes, that was my original brief for this blog. Yes, I know I have digressed...), the thought of making Royal Escapades public was not an option. So until two minutes ago, this private blog was only visible to me.
I have just noticed though, that over the last 6-12 months, I have stopped posting exclusively on Royal Escapades. There are even posts over this period, which appear on both blogs.
Maybe it's because I've had less bad days... or maybe I became braver in posting about the bad days here... I don't know. But it's time I reveal the things I'm afraid to tell you.
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