271 replies to this topic

[JustKay]

Hi!

I guess I should begin by introducing myself. Call me kew ('kyü), short for Qistina.

I live in Malaysia's model intelligent township about 50km from the capital city Kuala Lumpur, and adjacent to the new administrative capital city Putrajaya.

I am a SAHM, with 4 kids ages 4 to 12. I quit working about 8 years ago to concentrate on being a full-time Mommy. 6 years ago, I began baking goodies at home for sale, mostly to friends, family, and acquaintances.

Back in the 80's I had the opportunity to live in Canada, where I studied Computer Math at one of the universities in Ontario. I loved it there, and still miss it very much. Given a choice I would have stayed there and work, but I had to come back.

After about 2 years of being back and working in the field of my training, I realized that I didn't want to be holed up with machines and data all day long and eventually found myself in Personnel/Human Resources. I enjoyed what I did very much. I was first assigned to the Recuitment Section, then on to Compensations and Benefit and later to Employee Relations where I was also in charge of the cafeteria. We had about 4000 employees working round the clock on 8 hour shifts then. The cafeteria services was leased out to Gardner Merchant of the UK and I thoroughly enjoyed working with them. During that time, our cafeteria was known to be the cleanest and the best within Penang.

I really loved my job, but when I was pregant with my third child, I decided that being a Mommy is more important to me. So, when my oldest child entered kindergarten, I quit my job. It was then that I had time to dabble with my other passion which is baking. My Grandma was a baker and my Mom, although she didn’t really pursue that as a career, loved baking and always did so for friends. Apart from the baking, I also now have a small home-based web services business.

I should warn you that we don't eat any designer or elegant food at home everyday. And I hardly plan out in great detail as to what we'd eat. Gone are those days. Now, I much prefer to take it easy, so to speak, and work things out according to the changing demands. Some days I cook, other days I just want to be lazy. Weekends are rest days, we eat out.

Breakfast is usually a hurried affair of bread or cereal and juice or milk for the kids before they leave for school. DH, he just wants a cup of coffee. And as for me, I eat whatever I want.

Today, I had a Butterfinger Wafer for breakfast followed by some ice-cream. Butterfinger Wafers are not available here - we received a box of goodies from a friend in the US - hence the excitement And I needed to be real quick about it. I had a cake to deliver this morning, some 40km away and then come back in time to pick up my little girl from kindy.

I seldom eat lunch because the kids have lunch at school and DH works too far away to come home for lunch.

So, mostly I will talk about what we have for dinner. But I will try to eat a proper lunch the next 3 days.

And you've been warned, it will be nothing like those you've seen before .... where you see them prepare/eat elaborate and elegant food.

Everyday meals are a simple affair. And as I am currently over my head with things (but I've been asked to blog for several times that I feel guilty of saying no ) , I don't foresee preparing any time-consuming dishes.

I will blog for the first 4 days and then TeePee will take over the next 3 days. Perhaps, we can see the similarities or differences between what a typical Malay family (mine) eat for everyday and what a Chinese family (TeePee's) normally eat.

Feel free though to ask questions and I will try my best to answer them.

I will talk about today's dinner in a bit. It's only 5:30pm here now and we don't eat dinner till about 7:30pm or so.

Edited by kew, 08 March 2005 - 01:24 AM.

[helenjp]

Yeees! Looking forward to hearing more!

First question: what DO those Lotte Cream Chocolates you are fond of look like? I can't figure out which one you like!

[Shiewie]

Woohoo! Kew and Teepee are bloggin at long last! Take banyak gambar ya (lotsa pictures).

[spaghetttti]

Malaysia rules!! Hello kew & Tepee, my ASEAN neighbors, I am so happy to see your team blog from my neck of the woods.


Hope you will enjoy blogging, because it will certainly be a pleasure spending this week with you two!


So, it's almost time for dinner, what's for makan malam?



Selamat,
Yetty

Edited by spaghetttti, 07 March 2005 - 04:16 AM.

[JustKay]

LOL guys!

We had dinner about an hour ago and I've just finished washing the dishes.

I have to be quick about this 'coz I have a cake to bake for tomorrow.

I made 'yellow noodles' soup for dinner. An easy and quick complete meal. I took pictures but they don't come out too welll. I've just got this digicam last Sunday as our previous one broke, so I'm still trying to figure things out. I'll learn me how to use this yet! Hopefully within the next day or two.

The smaller kids do not like vegetables and seafood in their soup so I took the veggies and seafood out for them and leave the chicken meat and eggs in. The way I do this is that since veggies and seafood are added last, I have a strainer thing that I put veggies in and let it simmer for a while. After that, I take the strainer out and take a portion of the soup out for the kids. Then I added back the veggies & seafood to the soup. I then added some cornstarch to the soup to thicken it .. DH likes it that way.

For dessert, I didn't make anything special. Just fruits ... mangos and honeydew. And the kids had more of the American candies to satisfy their sweet tooth. Tonite it was Reese's PBC.






And the cake I delivered this morning - Toblerone Cheesecake.

Edited by kew, 07 March 2005 - 10:50 PM.

[touaregsand]

I'm looking forward to this blog. Will you be taking pictures of the open air markets over there?

[Tepee]

Teehee, Kew, looks like we're alike in so many ways, this blog may well be done by one person. Anyway, more about that later.

About your pics, now's the time to be trigger-happy. Click, click and click away till you get the shot you like. Your dinner's great, by the way.

Touaregsand, if Kew doesn't make it to the open air markets, I'm sure I can oblige...uh, I mean DH, coz he's the one who does the marketing on Saturday.

Had to edit the spelling of Touaregsand; what a mouthful!

Edited by Tepee, 07 March 2005 - 06:51 AM.

[Sartain]

A blog that starts with Toblerone Cheesecake , wow!

Thanks for taking the time to share, Kew. Will you divulge the recipe for the cheesecake?

Blog on!

[Laksa]

Go Kew! Go Teepee! Malaysia boleh!

The soup you made for dinner looks a lot to me like sup tulang (beef bone soup). Does it taste like it at all? Does it contain similar spices?

Do you bake a particular type of dessert more often than others? Do you make both Western cakes and Malaysian kuih?

Never having lived in KL before, I am surprised to see, when I visited last month, many KL residents eschew a good and proper Malaysian breakfast of nasi lemak or roti canai, (or in my case, both nasi lemak AND roti canai), in favor of a cup of coffee or a piece of toast or nothing at all. What is up with that?

A hot breakfast is so easily obtainable in Malaysia, available at almost every street corner, so one can't use convenience as an excuse. What I would give to exchange my breakfast of wheat bran for a hot, fluffy piece of roti canai every morning!

[Pan]

Nice cake, Kew!

Your family, such picky eaters-lah! Why so much susah punya? (="Why so much trouble?", sort of.)

So what's with the honeydew? Back in the 70s, we smuggled some honeydew seeds into Kg. Merchang, hoping that they could make a lot of money growing honeydew during the glut of watermelons in season, but the plants all withered and died. I'm guessing the honeydew is imported? From Australia, perhaps? Good Malaysian watermelon not good enough for you picky eaters, is it?

[JustKay]

The soup you made for dinner looks a lot to me like sup tulang (beef bone soup).  Does it taste like it at all?  Does it contain similar spices?

It's similar to sup tulang but very minimum usage of spices. I only added about an inch of cinnamon stick, a couple of cloves and a pod of cardamom. This is more flavorful though as it's a fusion of the various ingredients - that we don't want the spices overpowering - chicken meat, prawns, squids, eggs, carrots, celery, mustard greens, young corns. I would also normally add fish balls but I didn't have any yesterday.

Do you bake a particular type of dessert more often than others?  Do you make both Western cakes and Malaysian kuih?

Moist Chocolate Cake and Toblerone Cheesecake are the most popular. And trifles.

I mostly make western cakes & desserts.

Never having lived in KL before, I am surprised to see, when I visited last month, many KL residents eschew a good and proper Malaysian breakfast of nasi lemak or roti canai,  (or in my case, both nasi lemak AND roti canai), in favor of a cup of coffee or a piece of toast or nothing at all.  What is up with that?

Hmph ... it's all the hype about being super skinny is good I guess. But really, the mamak stalls and nasi lemak places are still very popular in KL.

Back in Johor, lontong would rival nasi lemak & roti canai. (I'll post a recipe for lontong so you guys know what it is )

Can you get the frozen roti canai/roti pratha where you are? The Kawan brand is not too bad. Definitely better than Kraft's. In a pinch, I'd eat this with Brahim's bottled sambal sauce.

Edited by kew, 07 March 2005 - 11:18 PM.

[JustKay]

First question: what DO those Lotte Cream Chocolates you are fond of look like? I can't figure out which one you like!

I guess I'll have to answer the first question on this blog eh?

I have tried googling for a picture or something so that I can show you but nada. Maybe they've stopped making them? The last time I had them was like some 8 years ago.

I Japanese chocolates and treats.

[JustKay]

Nice cake, Kew!

Thanks. I can bake yummy cakes but I am hopeless when it comes to decorating them. I have now resorted to using molded chocolates and chocolate cut-outs. I can copy all kinds of fonts pretty well though.

Your family, such picky eaters-lah! Why so much susah punya? (="Why so much trouble?", sort of.)

LOL! They are, aren't they? I'd rather not fight them and let them have their way and finish a meal.

So what's with the honeydew? Back in the 70s, we smuggled some honeydew seeds into Kg. Merchang, hoping that they could make a lot of money growing honeydew during the glut of watermelons in season, but the plants all withered and died. I'm guessing the honeydew is imported? From Australia, perhaps? Good Malaysian watermelon not good enough for you picky eaters, is it?

My son tried a few times to grow the honeydew but everytime they grow big enough to start fruiting, they die. The seeds will germinate easily though. He's growing a papaya tree at the moment. It's about 4' high now. It's only 1 tree so I hope it's a hermaphrodite or he'll be rather disappointed. Good chance it will be one though as the seed was from the Papaya Eksotika.

I have no idea where the honeydew comes from

[Pan]

The wonderfully perfumy Malaysian papaya totally rules! Anyone who visits Malaysia has to get some of the sliced fruit in plastic sold by vendors on the streets. Papaya, pineapple, jambu air ("water apple"), etc.

[Pan]

Hmmm...hermaphrodite papaya. What would that taste like?

[JustKay]

Hmmm...hermaphrodite papaya. What would that taste like?  

The tree that is.

[Pan]

Kew, do you grow any food plants in a garden? If so, tell us about that.

[JustKay]

This morning, I had had to meet a customer at a gas station and so I decided to try the Nasi Lemak and Kuih Lapis sold there.





Nasi Lemak is rice cooked with coconut milk instead of water, along with some ginger, shallots and ocassionally fenugreek seeds or cinnamon is added.

Kuih Lapis is a steamed dessert and made of rice flour, coconut milk, rose water, sugar, flour and some cornflour. It is then steamed layer by layer.

Lunch was fried Koay Teow (flat rice noodles).



And for dessert , I had ice-cream.



These reminds me of the days when I was little. Whenever Mom made these desserts, she would make extra so I could freeze them.

Now, Wall's make them as lollies. They are actually not too bad, considering that they are mass produced.

Kacang merah = red beans
Kacang hijau = green beans
Pulut Hitam = black glutinous rice

Each dessert is cooked similarly. Coconut milk, sugar, palm sugar and the beans/glutinous rice and some Pandan leaves for the aroma. It's not as thick as a pudding but more like soup.

Edited by kew, 08 March 2005 - 02:03 AM.

[JustKay]

Kew, do you grow any food plants in a garden? If so, tell us about that.

Oh yes! Should I take pictures of them? There are mango, jackfruit, banana, calamansi and kedondong trees. And curry and pandan plants too, I think. I don't plant them - the gardeners do.

Btw, I *am* taking better pictures, am I?

edited to add kedondong's botanical name, Burseraceae

The tree you see in the picture on the website is the of the 'original' specie. Many years ago they have successfully cultivated a better variety. The kedondong trees that are planted nowadays don't grow that big anymore. The fruits are more abundant with a softer skin, and the meat less 'stringy'. Kedondong makes good pickles.

Edited by kew, 08 March 2005 - 01:49 AM.

[Pan]

I'm sure we'd all like to look at pictures of the food plants in your garden.

[Shiewie]

Yes kew - pictures of the trees and fruits! We want pictures of everything - great time to test out the new camera !

How do you eat the kedondong? (The kedondong fruit is somewhat like a crunchy green mango with and odd-looking seed that has spiny fibres sticking out all over). I like it with a dip of dark soy sauce, sugar and cut red chillies.

(edited coz I type badly )

Edited by Shiewie, 08 March 2005 - 02:12 AM.

[JustKay]

Yes kew - pictures of the trees and fruits! We want pictures of everything - great time to test out the new camera  !

How do you eat the kedondong? (The kedondong fruit is like somewhat like a crunchy green mango with and odd-looking seed that has spiny fibres sticking out all over). I like it with a dip of dark soy sauce, sugar and cut red chillies.

Dark soya sauce and sugar for me. Or with sambal rojak.

Unfortunately, we hardly ever get to pick the fruits. Just yesterday I saw a few bunches of mangoes .... today they're gone. Grrr ....

[Pan]

What do you think happened to the mangoes?

[Laksa]

I have no idea where the honeydew comes from 

I think they grow certain temperate fruits and vegetables in the Cameron Highlands, where the weather is cooler. I wonder if it could have come from there?

The pictures are great, kew! I liked the pictures when they were bigger too.

I love tropical fruits, and I couldn't get enough of it while in Malaysia. But my parents, who live there, prefer to eat imported fruits, like oranges, apples and grapes. My dad says tropical fruits like rambutans and papayas are so commonplace that he's sick of them.

Living in the states, I feel the same way about apples and oranges.

[Laksa]

This morning, I had had to meet a customer at a gas station and so I decided to try the Nasi Lemak and Kuih Lapis sold there.

How was the nasi lemak? What else came wrapped with the rice in the banana leaf?

Lunch was fried Koay Teow (flat rice noodles).

Did you cook the kway teow yourself or did you take out? What was in it?

And for dessert , I had ice-cream.

Ahh.... ais potong. Would gladly give my right arm for some ais potong right about now. I almost had to when I was in Carrefour at the Megamall back in February. I spotted a six-pack of aix potong in the freezer and had to have it right then and there. I took it to the cashier and paid for it, and walked back into the supermarket, ripping open the pack, and started biting off big chunks of the ice cream. Apparently, that sort of thing isn't done in KL, and the security guard wasn't too pleased. I think the guy must've been close to 60, and looked more like a greeter at Walmart, so I thought better of messing with him, and wisely left the store.

Kew, do you know why they're called ais potong (potong=cut)?

My favorite is the pulut hitam flavor. Is this a new flavor? Don't remember seeing it when I was a kid.

Edited by Laksa, 08 March 2005 - 09:22 AM.

[helenjp]

Kway teow, yum! My husband and I used to go and eat kway teow at the late-night Chinese cafe in Auckland when we were working all night on translations.

Do you ever make kueh yourself, or do you always buy them?

Surprisingly, some gourd-family plants just won't set fruit in hot weather. Unlikely, but true (and sad).

Look forward to seeing garden pictures!

[lexy]

ooh, a mango tree in the backyard … I'm so jealous! when my mum was growing up in Africa they had one, and the fruit was so juicy they had to eat the mangoes in the pool to keep the mess to a minimum

[Ms Congeeniality]

Kew, the soupy noodle sure look delicious. I can almost smell it. Looking forward to pictures of your curry plant.

How do you eat the kedondong? (The kedondong fruit is like somewhat like a crunchy green mango with and odd-looking seed that has spiny fibres sticking out all over). I like it with a dip of dark soy sauce, sugar and cut red chillies.

Absolutely love kedondong. Most memorable is with sambal belacan (shrimp paste), as relish to stimulate the appetite on those hot days.

Recently bought what looked like sliced kedondong from the fruit-stall in Sungei Wang Plaza. However it didn't taste like the kedondong from the old days ie. sour & fibrous with a lot of crunch. This one had less fiber, and tasted a little bit sweet... almost like guava minus the fragrant.

Anyhoo, I had the sliced kedondong sprinkled with sour plum powder. Speaking of sour plum powder, fruit hawkers seems to be the only place one finds it. Haven't seen it sold in any of the super-mega-hyper-markets around KL. Isn't this bizarre?

[touaregsand]

Hmmm...hermaphrodite papaya. What would that taste like?  

neutral tasting.

[JustKay]

It didn't rain tonite so we went to the Pasar Malam (Night Market) as planned.

Surprisingly it was busier than normal and taking snapshots was difficult, what with my temperamental digicam. I tried. So please excuse the rather poor picture quality.

For some reason, quite a few snapshots of the overall place were erased. In those pictures were various stalls selling all kinds of things from clothes, shoes, bags, sundry goods, kitchenware to toys and plants.

My first purchase was the Murtabak which is kind of a savory filled pancake. Good murtabaks are a hard find nowadays. Vendors tend to use a lot of onions and very little meat in the filling.



I bought 2 Roti Johns for the boys. This is almost like the murtabak except that it uses bread instead of Roti Canai dough. A cross between a burger and Murtabak?





I got 2 packs of fried noodles that were fried in a super-sized frying-pans. I took pictures but the digicam Gremlin must have eaten them.

There were so many different kinds of food sold (and this was only a small pasar malam!). I wasn't able to take pictures of every stall. But here are a couple of them:


A steamboat stall.


These are keropok (fish crackers) and various other fried goodies, including fried battered chicken carcass.

For dessert, Apam Balik. The Apam Balik I bought has sugar and creamed sweetcorn as the filling.



and Apams for my girls



I also bought some boiled corns-on-the-cobs


These corns were surprisingly good. Usually they would have been boiled for too long and hence loses it's flavor somewhat.

I also saw something I know nothing about. The PakCik said they are called Buah Kederas and used in making a salad. Maybe someone else knows.



Please bear with the pictures for now. I'll get them photoshopped and re-post.