Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Sunday, 9 November 2008
My summer creation
Summer is just around the corner and the day is getting longer as we speak. This calls for summer food.
Last week Vera made her Thai dumplings called "Thoong Tong" for one of her clients and I had the good fortune to sample some before it went away.
Not to be left behind, I did my own summer creation, the sambals.
This one is the Malaysian Sambal Belachan.
And this is the Indonesian variety I learnt while living in Indonesia some years back. It is Sambal Terasi Tomat which simply means Shrimp paste and tomato sambal.
Before I left Indonesia, I bought a book of 40 different Indonesian sambal from across the archipelago. One day will complete the culinary tour of the archipelago with my mouth watering chilli. For now am waiting for the summer chilli picking season to start, which should be around the corner. My chilli plant has just come out of hibernation and soon will be full of red spicy chilli.
Last week Vera made her Thai dumplings called "Thoong Tong" for one of her clients and I had the good fortune to sample some before it went away.
Not to be left behind, I did my own summer creation, the sambals.
This one is the Malaysian Sambal Belachan.
And this is the Indonesian variety I learnt while living in Indonesia some years back. It is Sambal Terasi Tomat which simply means Shrimp paste and tomato sambal.
Before I left Indonesia, I bought a book of 40 different Indonesian sambal from across the archipelago. One day will complete the culinary tour of the archipelago with my mouth watering chilli. For now am waiting for the summer chilli picking season to start, which should be around the corner. My chilli plant has just come out of hibernation and soon will be full of red spicy chilli.
Durian
After more than 3 years, we finally got to eat the King of Fruits - the Durian. It brought back so many memories although this was a frozen one.
Can't wait to get back to Malaysia to have the fresh one.
Can't wait to get back to Malaysia to have the fresh one.
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Guy Fawkes day or rather night
The Gunpowder Conspiracy of 1605, or the Powder Treason or Gunpowder Plot, as it was known at the time, was a failed assassination attempt by a group of provincial English Catholics against King James I of England and VI of Scotland. The plot intended to kill the king, his family, and most of the Protestant aristocracy in a single attack by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening on 5 November 1605. The conspirators had also planned to abduct the royal children, not present in Parliament, and incite a popular revolt in the Midlands.
Now this historic event is celebrated primarily in the UK and in some of its former colonies including New Zealand. As this is not a widely known event outside the English world, I am assuming many residents here who come from the non English speaking world wouldn't have a clue why we are celebrating the foiled attempt of this bloke who tried to blow up Parliament some 400 years ago!
However, what is easily associated to this day, and quite visible as well, is the sale of fireworks. In New Zealand, the sale of fireworks is bannned in general but you get a window of 3 days (formerly 10 days) to sell them. During this 3 days, shops go frantic selling fireworks with signs posted at every corner of the street, motorway, up on trees, tied to bicycles and this was good - a man in swimming trunks holding a placard near the beach on a cold night! It was windy and snowing in the South. I wonder how much he got paid - or how much profit there was in it for him.
Now this historic event is celebrated primarily in the UK and in some of its former colonies including New Zealand. As this is not a widely known event outside the English world, I am assuming many residents here who come from the non English speaking world wouldn't have a clue why we are celebrating the foiled attempt of this bloke who tried to blow up Parliament some 400 years ago!
However, what is easily associated to this day, and quite visible as well, is the sale of fireworks. In New Zealand, the sale of fireworks is bannned in general but you get a window of 3 days (formerly 10 days) to sell them. During this 3 days, shops go frantic selling fireworks with signs posted at every corner of the street, motorway, up on trees, tied to bicycles and this was good - a man in swimming trunks holding a placard near the beach on a cold night! It was windy and snowing in the South. I wonder how much he got paid - or how much profit there was in it for him.
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