Ignore the idiotic commentary.
…. then, you get to sink your teeth into this:
Gentle Sarawak Friday, Dec 5 2008
food and malaysia and travel kuching, sarawak 10:28 pm
There’s something about Malaysia – its wide-open, reckless roads; unrelenting afternoon sun; and sprawling industrial estates along the highway – that causes an odd sense of displacement. If Vietnam reminds us of Singapore in the 70s, Malaysia may well be the late 80s; and if this is the case, since I was actually alive and kicking in the 80s, I should feel a greater, and more genuine sense of nostalgia while visiting Malaysia.
And I do, especially in Kuching, where a fairly large Chinese population resides. Colourful shophouses producing furniture, noodles, and coffins ply the riverfront, while grizzled uncles who grunt instead of speak provide much-needed directions and delicious noodles. The food is Chinese with a twist – exotic belacan midin, kam pua noodles, belacan beehoon with thick slices of cuttlefish, and guang bing or “kong pia”. Breezy, cosy coffeeshops where you have to sit meekly and wait for the proprietor to notice you before your order can be taken abound. And taxi-drivers – gruff, shrewd, yet by turns garrulous and kind, willingly come earlier than the stipulated time to pick their passengers up from far-flung places like the Orangutan Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, somehow mysteriously managing to slip pass the entrance without having to pay a fee, and announcing their presence with a sudden and hearty “did you see many?” when everyone is absorbed by the ongoing drama between the orangutans on the feeding platform.
Stopover in Bled Friday, Apr 18 2008
food and slovenia and travel poach 6:22 pm
On our way back to Ljubljana today, we stopped by Bled. One would have thought that we might have wanted to row on the lake, or climb up the hill to Castle Bled (which we didn’t do during our first transition here – instead, we trekked up a 685m peak that was, fortunately, completely deserted so I could take a much-needed toilet break at the top). Or maybe we would have wanted to stop by one of what the Rough Guide to Slovenia termed Bled’s ‘characterful’ restaurants for lunch.
But no, our main reason for stopping by Bled was to eat the marvellous kremna rezina and grmada as dessert after a largely average lunch at Bistro Arbor (situated in the terrible shopping center). The desserts can be obtained at a hugely popular pasticceria not far from the bus station. In the display shelves lie perhaps 20+ homemade sweets, but we had eyes only for the two we had bought back to our hotel 2 days ago. They are magnificent, with a faint taste of egg and a light tasty dusting of sugar on the flaky pastry of the kremna rezina, and the tantalising flavour of raisins and alcohol in the moist cream-topped grmada.
On our way to Bled, one of the women who worked at the bakery boarded the bus we were on. Strangely enough, Cindy only paid attention to her orange pants, while I remembered her face from the time she had recommended us those two desserts, and told us emphatically that grmada was not tiramisu though it looked like it. Does this show something about Cindy’s and my respective priorities in life (besides the fact that Cindy only pays attention to people’s lower physical halves, so watch out, men)?
Risotto with Artichokes Friday, Apr 11 2008
food and italy and travel poach 8:31 am
Last night’s dinner was risotto with artichokes and basil, followed by chicken with rosemary potatoes, crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. As usual, we were asked if we wanted white or red, and were able to direct the wine to the right glasses this time. This was accompanied by tough chewy Tuscan bread, and followed by “orzo”, which is not the rice-shaped pasta I am used to, but a decaffeinated sweet coffee. Finally, we had Haagen Dasz vanilla ice-cream with a drop of Cointreau orange liquer, and rolled off to bed after saying goodbye to Nonna, whom we will not see this morning before we leave for Bologna, la città grassa.
