26/09/09

I'm off to China today. It's a well known fact that blogspot is banned there, I shall try my utmost with the updates using proxy servers, etc.

Laterage.

25/09/09

I'm serious

When you get the chance this halal restaurant at Jalan Ipoh is worth a visit.

Adrian's Nasi Campur.
The brinjal (aubergine) curry alone warrants a destination status for this restaurant.

Mee Goreng
The one I had yesterday was better. I'm still on a lookout for the bestest but time is running out fast.

Incredible Murtabak.
This is roti filled with spicy minced mutton and onions.

There they are again. Three girls and their Papa.

Uncle 3

Dinner at the Long House

The Hokkien Spring Roll of Po Piah is on the menu tonight.
The popiah event is a good excuse to get everyone together, it epitomises an ideal social tuck.

Some of the ingredients that go into making a popiah.

I premise that if you're tolerant of murky vids, then here's one I prepared earlier.

Three is really enough for the average person.
They were absolutely delicious, thanks Aunt 2.

Lest I forget, geckos are really the flies on the wall in every household here. They don't bother us and we don't likewise. The insects obviously beg to differ.

24/09/09

***Due to a massive cock-up on my behalf the above isn't a Proton!***

Proton Cars
Malaysia wouldn't be one without them. 3.86 out of 5 cars here are Protons. A triad of government subsidies, high import duties on foreign cars and the token patriotism is accountable. If Jeremy Clarkson were to evaluate the car, the BBC would be banned in its entirety here.

Aunt 2
Mum and Grandmother of the folks below. She's also one of my favourites, a strong sense of validity to all the questions thrown at her is always guaranteed. She ought to have been an advocate.

Breakfast of Pisang Goreng (Banana Fritters) and...
There are some alarming rumours about vendors adding drinking straws to the cooking oil to prevent the batter from going soggy and thus maintaining a longer-life crunch. I shudder to think about the toxic consequences but rogue practices like this are rife in this part of the South East Asia!

...Fan She Tan (Sweet Potato Balls).

The bananas are so naturally sweet, toffee and syrup are unnecessary.

Lunch at The Royal Lake Club

A posh and private sports club for the well heeled needing more than a respite from the hoi polloi.

Hai Yen and Pei Yi
Mother and daughter making the art of photography lemon squeezy.

Coconut Drink.
The whole fruit was like a meal unto itself.

Mee Goreng, Rojak and Teh Tarik
All Mamak (Tamil Muslims) classics.

Pei Yi munching on her California Roll, amazingly she had three of them!

Ikan Bakar
Grilled Stingray, all spiced up no less. The fish compared to our skate from Grimsby is probably analogous to the comparison between the luxurious turbot and plain plaice.

Cousin En Loong and Missus.
Hai Yen is actually very tall (she's from Xi'an don't you know!) and EL is standing on a step above her. EL is public school educated but thankfully didn't turn out to be a clenched-arsed and toffee nosed git!

Their girls-

The eldest and the cheekiest.

Twin major.
Quiet, selective and straight hair.

Twin minor.
Assertive, sociable and wavy haired.

The Long House.
The house my Granfather built more than thirty years ago to house the entire clan, think of it as four detached houses conjoined into one. These days most of the young ones have all but moved out, I guess it's down to the Western necessity of privacy that has been embraced.

The photo gallery needs updating, the huge fourth generation is missing.

Mum's rather delicious fried rice dinner.
For those who suffer from chronic insomnia, a cure is at hand here.

23/09/09

Day of indolence and not much else.

Curry Mee
Or laksa or maybe not. I think the idea was to create first and foremost a chicken curry and then with a carb choice of either rice, noodles or bread to suit one's whim. Curry Mee is more watery and generous on the chicken pieces whereas the denser laksa is concocted primarily as a noodle soup dish.

Tiffin dinner...

...of fried chicken, sambal ikan bilis (anchovies), fried tofu and beans and mercilessly overcooked beansprouts. Sook Yian prepared a meaningful salad to offset the discrepancy. I gladly accept that I'm fastidious.

Mum's living room, the din courtesy of the kids is part and parcel.

Night time reading for most kids but Godzilla art for Nic.

They knew I was working there and chose to disregard as such by forcibly emptying the bin of toys to declare their intentions instead.
Ryan and Ethan- thank you(s) very much!

22/09/09

An epic upload of pics from a magnificent day out.

Stayed overnight chez Henry and Liz in Sungai Buloh, a town north of Kuala Lumpur.

Breakfast of roti canai at a local Tamil restaurant.

Swirling and turning the dough into a paper-thin sheet.

Folded four times to make a pseudo puff pastry base.

Griddled with loadsa ghee and additonal Planta margarine.
Ghee almost sounds like a swearword when it comes to dietary issues, clarified butter seems more forgiving.

The usual accompaniments of fish curry sauce (no morsels as standard) and dhal apply.
The best roti still comes from Uma Rani, see here.

Driving through rural Selangor.
Our destination was the small town of Kuala Selangor on the west coast of the peninsula.

Climbing up the steep steps leading to Bukit Melawati.
You know you're old when you've been lagged behind at some distance!

The lighthouse on top of the hill is supposed to be iconic to the town of Kuala Selangor, but no mention of it in Mikipedia.

There's always something about the sky near the coast...

...and unlike KL, no smog to speak of.

Not quite the Amazon, but the country still has a decent amount of rainforests. Catch it while you can.

The benches don't look too unlike the headstones found in the Chinese cemeteries nearby.

Nephews Nic (6) and Ethan (3).
Boisterous and hyperactive are polite descriptions of them.

Their Mum, Liz...

...and Dad, Henry.
I've been incessantly reminded that we look alike.

Nic gaining a good depth effect of...

...the eagle.
If only I had a 500m lens. A group of keen birdwatchers from the States were euphoric with the sight, one of them even went on to say that it was more difficult to see their own bald eagle in the wild.

The top of the hill is also home to an old fort in ruins. The Dutch were responsible for these historic remnants, the fort was constructed to protect the lucrative tin trade in late 18th century.

Hitching a free ride on board the hill bus
(We found out later that it wasn't supposed to be free, just a case of poor policing and the staff have given up on the passengers' leisurely hopping on and off antics. Henry did at the end of the day make a purposeful contribution.)

Long-tailed macaques or monkeys.
This lot are less extrovert than the one shown below.

Our next destination.

The girl who sat next to me on the bus.
She totally ignored the scenes on the descent, she was fixated by my camera.

Male Golden Pheasant captured at the forest reserve of Taman Alam Kuala Selangor.

And his missus.

Mangrove plant life.

Cheeky monkey.

The small fishing village of Pasir Penambang.
The cars shown belong mainly to the city folks from KL in search of a seafood meal.

Sleepy village, time forgotten shops.

Hyperactivity postponed for the time being.

The seafood restaurant, perched rather precariously on wooden stilts.

Food is one of the primary reasons why Malaysians thrive on getting together. They'll also travel great distances just to have lunch or dinner.

Mum and a tired looking Ethan hoping for a glimpse of mudskippers.

Steamed Grouper.

There's only one way to serve fish freshly killed from the tank, simply steamed.
Delectable.

None of us were that hungry after the roti breakfast. In addition to the fish we had some forgettable butter prawns and excellent locally grown beans.

For afters Henry popped over the road to the bakery.

One can't beat deliciousness that come out straight from the oven.

Bay Tay Saw.
Hokkien biscuit filled with sticky maltose.

The boy has regained his form and relishing the warm biscuit.

This is a fishing village, so the following snapshots apply.

Salted Fish.

Prawn Crackers shop/factory.

Sun drying the discs of precooked crackers.
You can forget about the ones they thrown in at the Chinese takeaways back in Britain or the prepacked supermarket variety; this the real thing and they contain real prawns.

Bucket of Pissing Prawns.

The one shown is around 5" long. They crawl with their legs and I think of them as aquactic woodlice. The pissing tag comes from the excitable squirting of water when they're manhandled. Like crayfish, they taste bland.

Fisherman/fishmonger/villager taking a well earned break away from the frightful sun.

A big thank-you to Liz and Henry for an illuminative Sunday Tuesday.