Malaysia - part 3 (the rest)

It wasn't all about the roti canai, really. It just seemed like it.

This was a particularly good one in KL with Mei Ling.

And this is the roti man at the market. I like his hat!

We were only in Taiping about four days, but Jason became a regular at one particular roti shop - this would be why:

Meanwhile, apart from the roti, we were in Malaysia for the wedding of my lovely cousin Tyng Yee. Here is groom David, as tradition dictates, begging to be let into the bridal room. The bride has the right to demand whatever she likes in exchange for entry, which meant David had to sing a song, do some pushups (he contracted these out to various male relatives) and eventually gather the boys around him to try and force his way in, in the process finding out that the various small female attendants inside were a lot stronger than they looked.

But he made it inside, and why wouldn't he want to, with Tyng Yee looking this gorgeous inside (don't worry, we weren't there at the time).

Erm... some random final photos. A really huge prawn!

The first breakfast upon arrival - a plumptious plate of chicken blood.

And Lake Gardens looking serene.

Malaysia - part 2 (the food)

Best meal of the trip? Debateable, but this is the one Jason remembers - chicken taugeh with Ipoh hor fun in Ipoh.

'Chicken skin that melts in your mouth like butter' quoth my father blissfully, for at least the entire three hours before we got to dinner.

And silky silky noodles! My favourite bit.

As were these - special plump little Ipoh beansprouts, like nowhere else in the world. Apparently it's the padang water.

The aftermath:

But mostly Jason went back for the teh tarik:

And the nasi lemak:

And the durian, even though it wasn't the season - my mother practically leapt for the steering wheel from the back seat to get us back to this stall, the only one we saw for our entire trip.

Stinky goodness.

And there was crab. Lots of crab.

Fingers shiny with deliciousness!

And beautiful, beautiful oyster pancakes.

And otak otak.

And curry mee.

And roti canai, but so much of that it will need its own entry.

Grace feeds a monkey

I forgot to add these as well to the last post. Here is Grace feeding a monkey:

Here is the aforementioned monkey (baby in tow):

Here is a pretty butterfly. I also have a video of a hornbill regurgitating a nut and feeding it to his mate and babies who were holed up inside a tree, but have not mastered the technology to post it.

Malaysia - part 1

We just came back from two heady weeks in Malaysia to see my cousin Tyng Yee married, and also to eat a lot of food. More on these two things later, when I get extra photos off my brother (currently in the air) and Grace (still in Malaysia). But for now - random stuff:

Here is Grace striking a tourist pose in front of the Petronas Towers!

Here she is on top of Maxwell Hill.

We also went swimming at the swimming hole of my childhood, Burmese Pool, a refreshing mountain stream.

Grace didn't much like the following photo, but it is the only one I have where you can see more of the surrounding rocks, so I have made it small so you can get the idea, but can't see any features taken at an unflattering angle in too much detail (apart from the giant feet).

Here are me and Mei Lyn enjoying tapas and wine in KL:

And, er, here are Jason and Leong:

Taiping is not a large town, but it seems to have the world's largest Tesco. It's so big, they put their staff on rollerblades (apparently OH&S standards are slightly different in Malaysia). Here we are standing at cash register number 40! Grace was a bit embarrassed because only minutes before she had been telling me about the ridiculous sight of a woman she saw having her photo taken before the shopping-mall-tacular splendors of Chadstone.

Jason was particularly chuffed because he had been on the search for his holy grail - 4 in 1. Until now, the best he had found was 3 in 1 (coffee, sugar and creamer - just add water!) But Tesco was to exceed his wildest dreams...

That's right! Five-in-one! We never really worked out what the other two things were, we think one might have been ginseng, the other might have been powdered water. Just add water!

Here is intestine on a stick. Don't worry, it's not my intestine. Well, it was my intestine. I got to eat it. But it wasn't MY intestine.

Finally, don't slap tigers!

Hamish - 1995-2008

Small dog, big love x

Les supplementaires

Jason ne se rappelle pas son mot de passe pour acceder au blog, alors c'est sous mon nom, mais c'est lui! Bruit de tambour........!

JASON:

Une petite pause cafe dans le milieu du desert. Quoi de mieux qu'un bon 'Fodgers' a la matante Johanne avant de repartir pour notre route.

Les dunes magnifiques.

J'ai appris a lance des lances. Je suis maintenant pret a chasser le kangourou.

Coucher de soleil.

La pedale au fond!

Gilding the lily

Even though we had a FANTASTIC holiday up north, we still managed to get even more from our holidays by going back to Casa Luna in the King Valley where we went for our extensive, one ENTIRE DAY honeymoon back in 2006. Here I am enjoying a glass of wine in the lounge, enjoying Gwenda's delicious cookbook library.

And here is the dining room. Unlike 2006, it was just me and Jay - one table, this view!

Entree: an antipasto plate, including these beauties - eggs with bagna cauda and salmon roe.

And a baked tomato stuffed with rice and mint.

And a glass of wine, I think it is a Wood Park Roussane.

And the main course - Jason's favourite! He is still talking about it, and will be talking about it for years to come I think. Cotechino sausage wrapped in veal, braised in... something, served with gnocchi alla romana.

There are also three cheeky dogs on site to wear you out by making you throw their disgusting slobbery ball for them for eternity! Lucky they are so nice and cheeky. This is Jack and the middle one whose name I don't remember. Coco isn't in frame, but she was being bossed around by the two boys anyway.

Here is Jason and breakfast! Or at least the herd of Welsh black cows who donated a few members for our breakfast sausages. I salute your deliciousness, cows!

We went to Beechworth while we were up there. I bought a flan tin and Jason some cheesy stuff that Natacha will get to enjoy soon! We decided to take it back to the car, whereupon we discovered THIS:

It was a GIGANTIC huntsman - you could see its eyes and every hair on its hairy hairy legs... ewwwww! We stood around like complete wimps for ages until a couple wandered by and the kind bloke advised us on how to deal with it, and then even more kindly, dealt with it for us. It scuttled out onto the door and he brushed it hastily onto the ground, where it lay on its back, twitching and freaking us all out and the lady was weeping, 'kill it! Kill it!' and Jason and I were hopping around trying to decide what to do when it flipped itself over and scampered under the car and I said, quick, let's drive away before it climbs back in! and Jason said OK! and then I got in the car, but he took AGES to get back in the car because he was checking for the spider and I said if you take that long to get in then it will definitely climb back in the wheel and freak you out while you are driving and he said OK and got in and we drove away and we never really found out what happened to it, so spent the next two days being Very Cautious when getting into the car.

Finally, here is a photo for Lauren. Don't get in the car! Bad side-effects!