The end of my #365 makan project

In 3 days time, I will finally finish filling up the Facebook albums (3 in all) which shows what I had for lunch. This was my entry on 2nd February last year announcing the project : My #365 makan project

It was supposed to be mostly what I eat in Malaysia. However, I went to Jakarta, Mumbai, and Kazakhstan in 2011. I included a few of the lunches I had there and I managed to experience for the first time eating horsemeat (a bit tough but just as yummy) and horse milk (so very sour like drinking vinegar). Some food I ate during lunch like apple, bread and junk food are in the album too. I think I only had one or two buffets. And I relearned how to appreciate rice. How I ate rice the whole year of 2011. Basmathi, briyani and white rice. My rice album is here.

If you are curious what I eat the whole year of 2011 and certain part of 2012, just see these albums on Facebook :

My lunch album 1

My lunch album 2

My lunch album 3

2011 : The year I learned to love rice

Yep, am born and raised in Malaysia where the food is always partnered with rice. There are so many type of rice and the way it is cook that there Malaysia imported from so many countries. So, in a way, it is weird for me to just get acquainted with rice.

I am so not really into rice when my wife and I eat out that she would go to her mom's when she wants to really eat rice (which she always eat with sambal tempoyak, which I still hates). 

So, this year of 2011, I start to eat rice. A lot. Some are rice-based. Some are flour-based. You get the idea.

I want to say it was due to my wife. However, it was the making of a friend who loves to eat by the name of Jahabar. 

He loves to recommend places to eat and most of them consist of rice as its main dish. The beauty of it? All these places are well known to my wife. And we sometimes eat without the presence of others. Just the two of us.

Here are some of these rice places :

How to make lemang in modern times

The last time I join the festivity of making lemang, it was when I was still just a wee lad. Not wanting to let a tradition dies, I just want to observe and participate which lead to the most important event : The eating part! When my wife said that her family is going to make some lemang at her kampung in Tapah Road, during the Eid ul-Adha, I just jumped into the opportunity to join them. 

Lemang are sticky rice which are cooked in bamboo stick and eaten with whatever you fancy but usually it is eaten with another dish called rendang, which are meat cooked with spices and coconut which are fried until it turn much like fried brown sauce. Making lemang is not rocket science but it does take considerable effort.

So, here are the steps :

The bonfire is prepared

The banana lead is made into a cylinder and inserted into the bamboo

In the meantime, the womenfolks were getting the santan prepared while cooking the rendang

Rice is inserted into the bamboo

Coconut milk a.k.a santan is inserted into the bamboo on top of the rice until it is settled

The bamboos filled with rice and santan are lined up near the fire until it simmers

Every half and hour (depending on the heat) the bamboos are turned so all sides get cooked properly

 

The lemang will simmer until it is properly cooked

In order to eat it, you cut the bamboo into half from the top, cut it into small pieces and eat it with rendang

Conclusion : Nyums!!!

Selamat Hari Raya!

Seems that the argument is how Malaysia seems to have changed the way they greet one of the most celebrated day in Muslims calendar. There are two eid in Islam. Eid ul-fitr and Eid ul-adha. One is after a whole month of Ramadhan and the other is after the Haj season in Mekah.

The form is still the same. 

The evolution goes like this :

Selamat Hari Raya  - > Eid Mubarak -> SHRAF

The first is the Malay word for Eid ul-Fitr and the second one is how Arabs greet each other and the final one is the short form version which seems to circulate among the youngster.

However you say your greetings, have a great Eid and as is a norm in Malaysia nowadays, be safe on the road. Happy holidays too as Malaysia will have 3 days of holidays due to Eid being during Merdeka/Independence Day celebration at the same time on 31st August 2011.

And eat moderately. It will be a shame for those who manage to lose the pounds to gain it back so soon.

The iftar tango....

 Every year, like any other year, the iftar or buka puasa part of Ramadhan will be in focus. People tend to go overboard when it comes to spending for buka puasa. Before I was married, in a family like mine where buka puasa is an event in itself, my mom tend to cook more than necessary as during those time Pasar Ramadhan or Bazaar Ramadhan were not as popular as it is now. We overeat on what our parents cooked for us, not some food which you are unsure of the quality of from a vendor who you suspect is only there to make money. All this thanks to a fast life of not being able to cook our own food.

Years back, when we were just married, my wife and I decided that we should do the same. Except for one delicacy which we will allow ourselves to indulge, we will only eat something which is well-prepared. Our Ramadhan routine changed but doesn't really change the way we overindulge. Only that we eat better food and something we are sure of being supposedly healthy. We also tend to cook more than necessary and we will try to eat and eat until the time for us to stop.

Once in awhile, we also tend to go out, book a hotel buffet and eat. I also treat the staff at my office the same. Hotel buffet is the norm.That is until 4 years ago when food prices started to rise and the realisation, we are overindulging in something we should take heed not to. 

Nowadays, at home, my wife and I decided we would slow down on our food intake. Iftar is just water and some fruits, usually dates and an apple. I will usually perform Maghrib prayer first before we eat a proper meal. Sometimes, I only eat after the Isya' and terawikh prayers. My wife will usually cook one rice dish and we will eat peacefully at home. I rarely do iftar in hotels anymore. This Ramadhan, I have only had iftar thrice outside of my home or either my wife's parents or mine. One is with my staff in which the hotel buffet has now become a proper catered meal at our office, complete with grill lamb and twice with a bunch of brilliant young minds whom I got to know through their blogs.

There's still half a month of Ramadhan. As we go nearer Syawal, I think it is important to do more ibadah than go eat. As for me, I am trying to lessen more time eating outside of my home but more time inside....

Tis bug called travel

Almaty, Kazakhstan town from the air

I love to travel. However, it does takes stretched the limited resources that I have especially when I travel to too many places within a short period of time. The resources are not just money but time and relationship too. As a business owner, your time at the office or at least within the vicinity of your office can help business gets done and problem solved. As someone who runs an office full of staff, though the responsibilities of managing it are divided with my business partner, we are always in the office if we are in Kuala Lumpur.

The Tian-Shen mountain range, Kazakhstan

The latest out of suitcase living for the past 2 months is my latest adventure in travel. As Ramadhan is near and my wife's sister is going to get married the end of this year (and the engagement is this month), I may not travel anywhere for the next few months. 

Mumbai old town

 Let me count the places I have been this past months. I went to Mumbai in early May, Jakarta at the end of May and in early June until nearly middle of the month, I was in Kazakhstan. I may not be as well-traveled as some of my friends who work and travel to foreign countries at the drop of a hat. Some just literally lives out of their suitcases with their spouses or drivers passing them clean clothes in newly-packed  luggage at the airports without them seeing the inside of their house for more than a month. At least, I travel as I please, and at my own device.

Blue Mountain, near Sydney, Australia

I don't think I will stop traveling though as much as traveling may tire me like no other hobby. I do travel within Malaysia when I have the time. I am also planning to take the car and travel within Malaysia to places I have never been to for quite a while. As much as you think you have seen it all, I always believe there are more to explore.

Ikan Bakar, Teluk Tempoyak, Penang

Any suggestion of places within West Malaysia any one of you think I should go? Especially where there's good food?

Horse meat in Kazakhstan

Am here for the 7th World Islamic Economic Forum and what better way to know a country but to try their food. So, horse meat is famous in Kazakhstan and I tried so many of dishes made from horse meat. Here are some of them :

Horse milk and camel milk (It taste rather sour. very sour)

Horse Meat Kurdiyak and Lamb with rice n spices

Pronounced sheatbread though not sure its real spelling

 Horse meat kebab

Besbarmak (horsemeat ++) and pasta dough and potato