Gastronomical Adventure

Hehehe.... a bombastic title from a makcik in a kampung, don't you think?


Well, due to the boredom of the mundane office work, I decided that a 2 days leave was appropriate. So I took leave last week on Thursday and Friday. I only worked 3 days for the last week. Besides that, Kak Long was due to return to campus before the 19th June. I thought maybe spending time with her and maybe engage her help in cleaning my house would also be appropriate. There is a small room in my house which I turned into a pantry/store/ironing room (very multi-purpose room) which is in a mess. I thought of tidying it up a bit. Well it was the plan, however, the plan didn't really materialise. the room is still in a mess.

Spending the last week at home, meant that she could ask for special menus. Kak Long did just that much to the "complaints" of her younger siblings. Not that they complained that I treated her special or anything, but the complaint was more of "bila hang balik, kami jadi gemuk lah" hehehe. They love the food as well. When hubby teased Syia that she was getting very "bulat" or fatter, Syia would say, "This is mama's fault. Why she has to cook so good food." Heheh..


Me being the non-gastronomic expert or a cuisine chef, far from being a diva chef, cooked in my own simplisitic, campak-campak, orang kampung style. Improvision is my middle name. Nonetheless, we had such an adventure trying out some western recipies.

First was the Fish and Chip, after a few tips from the reader I think it turn out quite well, enough to satisfy a very "cerewet" hubby. It was more of a seafood platter rather than just the fish and chip. Because the fish and chip, was served with squid and mushroom fried in batter and some mixed veggie salad. Hubby liked it so much that he bought more veggies (cabages - the normal and the purple one, baby tomatoes, lettuces etc) for more salad but he forgotten the mayonaise/coleslaw sauce.

The following day, I seasoned some chicken, I was lazy to de-bone the chicken so instead of making a chicken chop, I made it into a fried chicken instead. But I made a black pepper sauce to go with it. Of course the black pepper suace comes from a bottle, I just need to add extra sliced button mushroom, a bit more sugar and chilli paste. OK, it may sound odd but, first of all, I need to suit the Malaysian taste buds of my family, and the black pepper suace-in-a-bottle usually are very sour. I definitely need to find a good original black pepper sauce. Any pointers?

On saturday, I was not at home for half of the morning. I had a seminar to attend. Hubby had bought some prawns and fish home on Friday evening. He requested for kari udang for the following day. Had to wake up real early to cook the kari udang before leaving for the seminar. On his own, for lunch hubby bought kari umbut pisang. The middle part of the banana stem was cooked into curry with beef. It was rather nice actually. Hubby likes to find unsual stuff may it be for food or plants. The curry is popular amongst the kampung folks as one of the dishes served at a wedding. Usually the umbut used comes from some wild species of banana. They are chopped into small pieces cooked into curry with beef.

Back from the seminar (it wasn't an MLM seminar OK), Kak Long asked if rice needed to be cooked. Instructed her to cook less than the normal quantity. The plan was to cook spaggetti bolognaise on that day. We (Kak Long, Angah and I) went shopping for things Kak Long would need to bring to campus and bought a packet of a spaggetti and 3 sachets of Maggi Bolognaise sauce (or i would use Prego in a can sauce too). Of couse things coming out of the can or packets, are usually not as good as original but with a little bit of improvision, walla, you have got an Italian recipi served on your table. But then, I wouldn't dare to serve it to anyone with either one of these names Alfredo, Roberto, Claudio, or anyone with names which rhymes with fettucine, macaroni, or penne etc. I would expect this comment from them for sure,

"C****o" oooopppppsss, No,no they are too much a gentlemen to swear in front of a lady (although I have heard it too many times already)

"Mama mia N, please, please....." With hands together in a gestures as if pleading with you.

"Please don't call this spaggetti bolognaise. Please don't even call this Italian"

"It is a sin, it is not Italian food, you can call this food but not Italian food"

Hehe, for sure they will puke at the sight of my gastonomic trials with their menu. Don't mess up with them with regard to their food, they are very proud of their cuisine, which to them is the best in the world.

But for me, even if the menus are good, a home cooked meal, whatever the origin of the food would still be the best. Definitely it would NOT be in it's original form and style, but for a Malaysian, I would say to be tasty to the Malaysian taste buds, we just need to improvise a lot. Sorry lah, what to do, we Malaysian, where can we eat something not spicy. Sure cannot lah!!!

Those who are really good cook, please lah don't laugh at me :-( I come from kampung only, so not pandai lah, to cook western food. :-)