Laksa

That suits us perfectly. Thanks for the info! We'll still be in for an eG get-together though.

Thank you for riding along! I cannot wait any longer for the next blogger. Ending my blog feels like going cold turkey after smoking crack non-stop for a week (I imagine). I need to get my fix from the next blogger. Where is she!?!

I would love to know if and when an outing at C46 will be organized again. Would subscribing to this topic be the way to get notified? I would prefer to eat with a larger group than with just my wife as she doesn't necessarily eat all the dim sum items I like, beef tripe and chicken legs, for instance. Dim sum baskets tend to have 3 to 4 items each, so my experience is that dining with a large group would mean that we can sample widely, and would allow us to have seconds (or thirds) of only the things we like. P.S. I just don't know enough people in Poughkeepsie who are willing to travel that far for the sole purpose of eating.

An eG member called The Beast has already asked me if he could use it as his avatar.

When's the next time you'll be in Poughkeepsie, the ultimate destination for seekers of sucky nasi lemak? Okay... let me take down your mailing address then.

Please, take my bottle and help yerself. To Everyone: Thank you for your kind words. If you've read the blog until this post, you have shown great fortitude putting up with my silliness and irreverence, and my foolish fascination with melodrama.

misgabi, take your beetroot and soak it in water for a month and you'll have something similar to what I got out of that can. Australian pasta sauce recipes I've seen tend to specify tomato paste and canned tomatoes or tomato puree rather than what Americans call tomato sauce. I wanted to say tomato sauce here = tomato puree in Oz but then tomato puree is really an ingredient in tomato sauce. Maybe there is no such thing as American tomato sauce there? smallword, I can see your question keeping me entertained for hours. Ok, I'm gonna say "spaghetti sauce", and barring post edits, that's my final answer, Regis.

It's last call at Pub Laksa. I've had a wild time sharing our week with you all. Thanks for tuning in. Here's to your health! Slainte! 乾杯！and good night.

In the beginning, there was promise and hope. I had wanted to make a hamburger. I thought it'd be nice to add a little twist - an Aussie burger with the lot. There's nothing unusual about that. Millions of Aussies eat it every day. Again, the ingredients are duly assembled. Nothing you haven't seen before. Granted, Americans may find the beetroot and egg a little odd, but it's a "ha ha, those crazy Aussies", and life goes on. Note that in Australia, ketchup is called tomato sauce. I browned the beef patty in the pan with butter and threw on a couple of slices of a nicely aged English cheddar and left it in a warm oven. I then sauteed the onions and then fried the egg. Got some lettuce and tomato. Those go in a burger right? Instead of a bun, I cut two slices off a loaf of "Italian" bread. Got a few slices of beetroot and I was ready to assemble the burger. After putting all the pieces together, I found this on my plate: Oh Lord, what monstrosity have I created this time? I don't know whether to eat it or lock it in the belfry. Not being able to find a belfry in my village, the only honorable thing left for me to do is to devour it. By my twisted mind this beast is spawned, so into my dark gullet it must descend. Aussie burger with the lot with thick cut fried potatoes and salad:

I get that a lot.

Ah! If you think that cone looks like a PITA to make, check out the picture in my link. The Indonesians have another name for it, apparently. Tumpeng. Not surprisingly, it's for special occasions.

Hmm... I have no idea what you're referring to. Does cone-shaped rice have another name or is that it?

tryska, redeem yourself now by offering to eat my crappy nasi lemak. The Asian herb site you found is a great reference. Vietnamese laksa? I gotta try that!

Oh great! Thanks for sharing that with me only now! Right after I've made my crappy nasi lemak because I had to use canned coconut milk. The nasi lemak is waiting for your return in the fridge. You're eating the rest of it.

Not only do I not have a scraper, I would be too lazy to use it if I did. If only I could buy little bags of the grated coconut.

Laksa leaf? That's a Peninsular/Singaporean extravagance! No, I don't remember it being used in Sarawak laksa, but others may want to correct me.

A colleague at work is leaving, so we organized a farewell lunch for him at a local Chinese buffet. The Chinese buffet's ubiquity in sub-urban America is surpassed only by the dullness and uniformity of its food. Yet the local neighborhood Chinese buffet always seems to be packed. The food is definitely edible -- don't get me wrong -- as long as your expectations aren't set too high. I have my own theories as to why buffet restaurants are so popular. When I think about it, the entire premise of a buffet restaurant is really a well-disguised insinuation that questions my eating ability, and indirectly, my manhood. "All you can eat for a fixed price!" Why, don't you think I can eat that much? To me, the buffet meal has nothing to do with receiving nourishment. It is in reality a duel between diner and restaurant. The restaurant has insulted my honor, and I demand satisfaction! The following quote from Daniel Benyshek, the nutritional anthropologist at the University of Las Vegas, best expresses my buffet strategy: Appetizer: The restaurant we went to also had a Mongolian barbeque. What can better than all you can eat freshly cooked food? This guy's cooking up my meal: Noodles with just about everything, cooked in every sauce I could find. On the side is a chicken kebab.

From my perspective, nasi lemak from restaurant - good. If I have to cook myself - it's anybody's guess. I am so envious that you can get nasi lemak from your local takeout; I have to drive 2 hours. But I think it's hard to refute the claim that nothing beats fresh leaves. I don't know what the restaurants here use, but the nasi lemak I had on Saturday night was mighty close to the ones I remember having in M'sia. More important than pandan, IMHO, is the coconut milk. If you want to do it properly, not messing around like what I'm doing in this blog, you need the milk from freshly grated (mature) coconuts. The milk, more than anything else, is what makes good nasi lemak good.

I used about 1 tablespoon for 3 cups of rice. I find the flavor is different from what you get with pandan leaves. Frozen pandan leaves are available in the States. Bangkok Market has some vacuum sealed packs that were imported from Thailand. If I cook nasi lemak again, I am going to try the leaves as I can't quite get my tastebuds around the flavor of pandan essence. Here's a gratuitous picture of frozen pandan (because I love posting pictures)

After I woke up this morning, I found this on my bathroom wall: Oh goody goody. I've been pondering what to have for breakfast, and now I know. Spider in the morning is a bad omen, they say. Yeaah! It's a bad omen for the spider when he chooses to mess with the hungry Wild Man! But... The longer the Wild Man looks at the spider, the more the Wild Man's heart softens. Itsy-bitsy spider, you are so cuuuuuuuute!! I can't possibly eat you! (Don't let that get out or it'll ruin the Wild Man's reputation) So... it's taro kuih from Sanur for breakfast instead. Ohhh... tiny tiny shrimpies, you guys are so cuuuuuuute!! It's okay to eat them Wild Man, they're already dead.

smallworld, I'm so glad you noticed (and care). After many dark hours of self-doubt, I vowed never again to inflict eGullet with my weak attempts at humor, but you've caused me to rethink that. Now see what you've done!

Oh no! I forgot there are Malaysians reading this blog. But really, I never planned to make "Nasi Lemak", just the rice.

After my kickboxing class today, I am too beat to cook much of anything. Some chicken curry from the freezer looks great, but I need some rice to go with that. Since I'm cooking rice, I might as well make it Nasi Lemak. For that I'll need some jasmine rice, coconut milk, and some pandan essence. I also slice some ginger and shallots for the rice. One can of coconut milk should go with about 3 rice cups of rice. Add salt, and enough water to get the right amount of liquid for 3 cups of rice. Since I'm having Nasi Lemak rice, I might as well have some anchovies and peanuts to go with it. Boy, I'm creating a lot of work for myself with all my "might-as-well's". Deep fry the anchovies Ms Congee had beheaded in hot peanut oil. I take them out as soon as they start to turn golden. Roast raw peanuts in a hot pan with oil and salt until they start to take on a darker hue. You do not want to over-roast peanuts as they will turn bitter. After the peanuts are done, turn down the heat and add the achovies. Sprinkle liberally with sugar and chili powder. Add more salt if needed. Here's the finished product. FunJohnny, this picture is for you! I didn't cook curry today, but these were some of the ingredients we used to cook the curry last week. The black blob is tamarind and there's cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves and cardamon pods in the clear plastic packet. If you squint, you can see that the curry powder comes from Syarikat Jaya Sakti Flour Mill. Curry powder from a flour mill? Something just doesn't sit quite right there. Let's take a look at the list of ingredients: Hmm... rice and flour used as a thickening agent!? I'm not sure what to think about that. We actually used a different curry powder last week. This pack of curry powder is brand new so we'll find out how good (or bad) it is next time we make curry. Nasi Lemak with chicken curry and fried achovies and peanuts.

I was just going to the break room to get some water from the cooler. What I found there caused me to succumb to the savage instincts of the Wild Man. Free food! Sandwiches and little muffins and danishes were laid out on two large trays. Without any rational realization of what was happening, I found myself juggling a handful of food and heading back to my office. The Wild Man has taken control. He is completely driven by the primal need to survive, but you may want to call it greed. I didn't even realize the Wild Man knows how to work a camera. Now I know how Bruce Banner must feel after the Hulk has wreaked havoc and destruction. The shame! The shame!

[EMERIL MODE]Let's try to keep this blog G-rated.[/EMERIL MODE]