Tepee

Sue-On from Brandon, Manitoba....you asked for it! Mui = Rotting

Yay, Yetty! Missed you. I'm eyeing the wooden lesong...a beaut!

Thanks, Farid!

If anyone is interested in scrolling through pages of Malaysian Ramadan FOOD, FOOD, FOOD, just click on this link and go through the pages. These are taken by my photography mates, the friendliest bunch of people I've ever 'met'. Warning: You may have to change your keyboard after this. BTW, we are all speaking malaysian english in that site. If you need any explanation, just holler.

Mine is not Japanese in origin, but Taiwan. I've sung its praises here.

Glad you picked the right course, Sam! Thanks for taking us through the course, good job with the plaice fillet....eeww...your camera must smell now. The whiting I can get ahold of here are just a quarter of that size.

Brioche, thank you and thank your sister too! The seedlings arrived today. Now, how do I plant them?

Fengyi, the bit on the nyonya food pairing is appreciated!

First of all, Rambutan...your moniker tickles me! How the fruit is named is interesting, isn't it? Although, the mata kuching in some places are loosely called longan, I think it's smaller than the smallest longan, though. Perhaps, that's why longan is dragon's eye which is bigger than a cat's eye! For pictures of the fruit, pls scroll down to the middle.

What an excellent idea! And, we could have roasted grouse and woodcock in the menu. I've only tasted wild pigeons (many, many moons ago) and they were very good. My father was a hunter too.

Hmm...this banana could start learning chinese, as yours truly banana is doing. Would come in handy in doing research for your book. Great idea compiling all these sites into a thread, Hz! Doh cheh!

You're lucky I managed to find some long-burning candles....since we may have to wait a loooong time till you get to this restaurant. Cake is Sunny-as-Your-Disposition Citrus Chiffon Cake, with Whipped Cream of Koi Pond...the Koi* representing liveliness. Although you can't tell from this pic, the 3 candles on the cake are smaller than the 6 on the board. * There are some comments that it looks like a pig from this angle. Koi or Pig, dear birthday boy, it's up to you...

Mouthwash with an alcohol content of 20%!

Great! Thanks!

Do blather on...... I find this intriguing.

The red bean soup is served more often hot than cold. You can also make a thicker, sweeter version and turn it into ice lollies. Yum!

Ay yi yi....my head is swimming a little and I haven't drank anything. But, thanks, for the feedback, everyone!

Hi I've never used isomalt before and bought some (for months now) just so that I could one day produce that effect. Finally, I've something which requires that now. On melting the isomalt, do you need to add some water to it? Or just melt it as it is? Thanks in advance!

Usually with chinese banquets, you see a lot of XO's and such hard liquor. ((Wiping the visuals out of my head)) I would like to be educated in what wine goes with what chinese food, be it banquet or pedestrian fare. Bit of background...I'm practically a teetotaler, but starting on the journey of learning to drink (for health purposes, of course)....

Green Bean soup - I like it too, but it's too cooling for the female species...*cough* if you know what I mean.... White bulb - lily bulb...bak hup (cantonese), bai he (mandarin)...good for the lungs. Red bean won't soften? - make sure your beans are fresh. Beans which have been left on the shelves for a long time gets so hard that it won't soften no matter how long you boil it. Get red beans from Tin Chon (Tianjin); they are the best.

Air Mata Kuching. The guy with the Aji No Moto apron. I actually expected that would be 'highlighted' by Laksa. As usual, our jungle man was trying to be funny with words, a sour-graped triggered reaction, since he can't get his hands on those food.... Mini lesson in malay language Air - Is not the air we breathe. Think many more times condensed. It's water. Pronounced Ah yeer...but faster. Mata - Eyes Kuching - Cat Air Mata - Tears Mata Kuching - small fruit from the lychee family. Now, you can see why I was thinking of doing a daily bahasa lesson thing but in the end decided against it. Easy but not that easy. Michael, that wasn't tapai...just thick plain coconut milk.

Well, the holy month of ramadan is upon us. During this month, you'll find a myriads of stalls mushrooming in every neighborhood. In my neighborhood, there are at least 3 different 'ramadan food bazaars'. I couldn't make it to one yesterday as it was thunderstorming. But rain or shine today, I was determined to visit one. The skies cleared up for me at exactly 4 pm today, just as the stalls were opening. My camera's battery was running out, so I couldn't snap as much as I wanted to. Here's some of them. I'll do the labelling later...I'll let Laksa and Michael have some fun identifying them for a bit. Eat your heart out, guys....I've got a whole month to explore! I'll be adding pics as I go along, specially for you, Laksa and Michael.

My dear dai gah cheh, I'm sure I'm not as talented as you... The peels....I dry them first in the sun, then only I freeze them. Nuts are nice. Personally, I haven't added them like that before, but I've had soup with roasted peanuts in them. SNOW! What my girls would give to experience snow. I've only stepped on snow in high places (Mt Titlis and Mt Cook)...never during winter. What fun...I think.

Ooooh...tong sui! My variation doesn't have the ginger slices...never had them before in red bean soup. I'll try that the next time. Do you make your own chan pei? I do. During chinese new year, we save some peels...I'm quite adept at peeling a whole mandarin orange in one piece, er hem. Scrape out all the pith and dry them, then keep them in the freezer. Keeps forever. Coming back.....I do steps 1 to 3 like you do. And now, let me bring you back to the beauty of having a thermal pot.....I don't have to simmer the tong sui. I just put it in the pot, leave it alone and it'll nicely cook to a soft stage in 3 hours. When you talk about tapioca, is it something like sago pearls? Because that's what I use. Small sago pearls. And the coconut milk is freshly squeezed, first press. Bring it just to a boil, add a pinch of salt. The coconut milk is served separately, added according to personal preference. Have you tried putting cut-up gan sui joong inside the soup? Adds to the smoothness too. Yet other variations are adding gingko nuts or lotus seeds to the hoong dau sah. p/s You know what this thread made me do? I went crazy at the Ramadan Food Bazaar in my neighborhood when I sent my girls to tuition and violin classes. Will post later in the Elsewhere in Asia forum...camera's charging.

No...it's made with lotus seeds.