watching mum cooking bone soup

Soup, broth, stew..?

My favourite dish, soup, or is it stew? maybe it’s defined as broth.?? who cares… Let it be fish, beef, chicken or vegetables, they are just too enticing, A personal liking. While I do like grilled, steamed or stew style of cooking, Soup or any resemblance to soups, will always be number one. Mum makes the best in the house, so when she was cooking soup this fine afternoon, I couldn’t resist to pester and be a busy body.

What’s in there…

Cow’s bone with some meat attached, approx. 2.5kg

Tea time at the highlands.

A cup of tea..

Seems all that familiar, but then again.. it’s not that simple. I realised a lot of things about tea that I had not known before, all because of wanting to blog about my recent visit to Cameron Highlands, a very big tea plantation in Malaysia. I googled Cameron Highlands, which lead to, tea etiquette, tea brewing, tea recipes, (capputeano, mint tea, cinnamon tea, almond tea, holiday tea..?? ) and on and on until I didn’t want to read anything anymore about tea.. I have nothing against tea and do drink tea occasionally and while some do regard tea drinking as a ceremony or even having its own social significance, I do enjoy a cup of tea with my own style and preference. Yes.. there’s an article teaching on how to enjoy a cup of tea.

Going there

Is not a cup of tea… there are buses and taxis, but the frequency is not that encouraging and going there by your own car might be the best choice. It is accessible either via KL, Tapah or Kuala Lipis, With an average road trip of two hours from those points.

The landscape is one that is to be admired when first reaching here. Green valleys and hills decorate the surroundings and make for an astounding view. Climate there is described as cool wet, very humid and due to its high altitude from the rest of the tropical landscape, it has a unique almost different ecosystem.

Went too far on my off-day.

After work,

I packed some clothes in my small backpack, took my camera and 35mm prime cheap lens, 2 battery and wallet, sufficent for one night and two days, the destination took an hour and twenty minutes of flight time from my home airport. All started because my friend had persuaded me to go and join him to come along. Since the air fare was not that expensive, I just followed suit and enjoyed the journey.

Manukan Island

Kinabalu, Sabah is well known for Mount Kinabalu and apart from that, the beautiful beaches that surrounds the state. There are still even more beautiful and more exotic locations reviews online but Manukan Islands is one of the closest to Kota Kinabalu City. The Boat fare both ways is around RM30 and fees for various activity there depends on what you want to do, and how much you are willing to spend. Personally to enjoy and have all the experience there, I guess you would have to get a budget of around RM300-RM500, And some courage as well, because some of it might be a bit scary and extreme for some that do not know how to swim.

view from the beach.. sunny day and it is hot.!

I did not ask for a holiday….

Time off..

So I got some time-off from work and with a whiff, decided to get on the move and away, maybe go see some friends and at the same time go sight seeing as well. To what seemed destined, there was an offer for the flight ticket and with a few clicks, my trip was booked and confirmed. Few weeks later, I started packing light, very light, shorts, shirts, towel, camera, batteries, charger, and was waiting for departure.

Georgetown

Penang is a state which is geographically divided by the sea, so part of the state called Seberang Perai, is in the Malaysian peninsular mainland, while the other half of it is on an island called Pulau Pinang (Penang Island). Confusing it may seem, Seberang Serai, and Penang Island, is under the political state of Penang, and that’s the way it is.

Georgetown, is a city, located in north-east corner of Penang Island and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, making it a very interesting place to view architecture and cultural townscape.

nice classical design

watching mum cooking fish curry

mum’s curry…

Cooking curry is no big deal.. it’s easy, simple and straight forward.. but you got to have the right skills to get it correct. Being an infrequent cook at the kitchen, I admit that it’s something not very easy to do.

Mother on the other hand, having years of cooking experience, seems to be able to prepare a dish of fish curry flawlessly and without even a hint of hesitation. Every process and flow at the kitchen smoothly executed.

Ingredients for fish curry; Note: exact quantity used depends on one taste buds and experience.

Fish, about 500 gm. The proper kind of fish for curry is important. Bear in mind that not all fish are suitable for curry, best done with fish that won’t fall off when stir cooked in a curry stew.

5 garlic cloves. blended

5 shallots. blended.

1 packet 5 gm, curry powder.

3 lemon grass.

1 cup coconut milk.

2-3 kaffir lime leaves (daun limau purut) for that lemon like aroma.

ginger.  1 cm thumb size.

2-3 asam keping. Garcinia atroviridis a.k.a Sour Slices/ Sliced Tamarind/ Tamarind Skin – gives the acidic sourly taste.