"The" Malaysian Breakfast Part I

When I was studying in Australia 5 years ago, I remembered drinking lots of milk that goes well with cereals or drink them neat from the bottle. As a budget student, breakfast has always been either instant noodles with eggs or milk with cereal or toast with butter or jam... nothing like the true blue Aussie breakfast of a hearty meal of bacon with scramble eggs, toasted bread and jam.

Malaysians generally have a habit of eating a lot for breakfast that could even be a portion equally as large as their lunch. This simply explains why nasi lemak is the 1 Malaysian (inclusive of Indian and Chinese other than Malays) staple breakfast. Nasi means rice and lemak means fat and oily. If you are a tourist visiting Malaysia (truly Asia?), you have not tasted Malaysia if you havent sink your mouth into this delicacy.

There are a few mandatory standards for an authentic Nasi Lemak:

1. Oily rice- Has to be cooked with Coconut Milk ;
2. Peanut and Anchovies - A lot of them ;
3. Two Slices of Cucumber ;
4. Topped with red spicy gravy cooked with chicken and onions- a.k.a. Sambal ;
5. One piece of fried egg ;
6. Served on a banana leave ;
7. Strictly NO chicken or any other meat dish ;
8. Cheap and affordable for the masses

Nowwithstanding the standards, here is a typical up-to-standard Nasi Lemak for your viewing pleasure

...usually served wrapped up into a pyramid shape...pictured here with Iced Coffee or Kopi Ais...

 ....when you unwrap it...

 ...take a closer look at it...

This is it, oily rice, peanuts, anchovies, sambal, cucumber, sambal and egg served on a banana leave, no chicken or other meat and cheap and affordable (costs RM 1.50)!

*edited* Strictly no meat coz the gravy from a rendang beef or curry chicken or a ayam masak merah or any sort of meat dish would severely overshadow the authentic flavour of the Sambal designated specifically for nasi lemak.

Here is where I bought it this morning...

This establishment is located at the side of a busy highway and with only an umbrella, she operated from as early as 6.15 am in the morning. This is one of the hardworking success story of a true Malaysian.

I really hope that the authorities will not raid her stall as she is really a small but significant contributor to the national productivity of Malaysian workers (including nurses evidenced in the picture), and she is a nice lady as well (didnt overcharge me). I wish her the best in her entrepreneurship.

...here's a close up picture of the Iced Coffee, locally roasted and freshly brewed... retails at RM 1.50, has hint of charcoal and bitterness...

This refreshing breverage goes really well with the nasi lemak...

Now tell me, do Americans really drink coke for breakfast? :s

Of Camera and Photography

Professional (FAT) or Compact (SLIM) camera....You may have noticed that most of the pictures posted on this blog are taken using a nokia handphone camera...

...nikon d3100 in the house...

When I say in the house, it really is in the house, sitting in my dry box. I bought this cam for RM 1,900 a few months back and it was hardly used after 1 month or so. 3 reasons to this...

1) Bulky and heavy
2) Lens easily condensed in tropical climate causing blurness to the camera for an extended period of time
3) Difficult to use by a third party

Whenever I ask a bystander to take a picture for us, most often then not the person may not be able to comprehend the point-and-shoot system of this camera.

This is because the point-n-shoot isnt really point-n-shoot coz you will have to point-press lightly and hold (until the lens autofocuses)-press completely. Now this sounds really complicated doesnt it?

Tropical climate is humid in nature, hence, if the camera is cold (i.e. you may be traveling in an air-cond car) and is exposed to the hot and humid atmosphere, you will see drops of water condensing on the lens and you will not be able to take any picture for a day at least.

I reckon I'll be saving up and will shop for a good compact camera in no time...

Consolation picture for DSLR...

...big ass telephoto lens...the biggest I have seen thus far...

Captured this picture during an investment conference held recently at Kuala Lumpur...he was at least 50 metres away from the Prime Minister.. and I saw it was like a close-up portrait framed on his liveview playback... enjoy!

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Kettler Weight Lifting Gloves

Last weekend I was looking around for gym gloves to improve my grip on on weights as well as bars whenever I visit the gym (Once every week).

There are a few brands selling this sort of glove, such as Adidas, Reebok, Grizzly and Harbinger but I decided to buy the Kettler brand which ranges from RM 50- RM 80.

...the grey micro fiber palm area feels solid and premium as compared with other brands or range...











I paid RM 79.90 for this pair at World of Sports, Subang Parade.











It didnt fit my palms very well at first but after a period of seasoning, now it feels great. I hit the gym this morning and tried to abuse it as much as I could but remarkably it hasnt had any signs of wear or tear yet.

Lets see how long will this pair of gloves survive...

Whats cooking at work?

An old saying goes... "anything cheap is never good and anything good is never cheap"

I've always had cravings for sweet things at work especially when I'm stressed. First introduced to me by a female co-worker, Rocky is the same stuff sold in Japan as "Pocky". Not to be mistaken, the ones sold in Malaysia are manufactured in Thailand

...Rocky rocks your pockets...

...got sticks?...

These tasty biscuits coated with strawberry cream are aromatic and tastes great when bitten off stick by stick

...sold for a song at RM 1.90 makes it one of many affordable snacks for school children!








 



Recently while I was searching for this at a local 7-Eleven convenience store, I bummed into this...

... for the same price, Toblerone chocolate bar (RM 1.90) 'Made in Switzerland' ,milk chocolate (35g) made from cocoa butter (instead of palm oil) is definitely superior than local made chocolates...

...soft creamy milk chocolate with honey coated almond pieces in them...











This bar melts at body temperature, indicating higher cocoa butter content, which makes it superior than other palm oil based chocolate. Being a chocolate connoisseur, I'll have to give a two thumbs up for this...

Now who says goods things can't be cheap?

Whats cooking at Petaling Street?

Petaling Street is 'the' Chinatown(street?) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I have been here many times before and what I'm writing will be some local favorite places that offer affordable native chinese comfort food.











You'll find this place called "Penjaja Gallery Jalan Sultan" or "Hawker's Gallery of Sultan Street" as you walk towards the end of the street.

This place is usually packed during lunch time from Monday to Sunday as many local Chinese people will flock here to chow down. One of many favorites will be Yong Tau Foo which stands for "Bean curd stuffed will meat paste". The meat paste for the matter is more often than not made from fish paste and are fried before serving dry or soaked in soup.

Traditionally it has only been stuffed bean curd, but over the years, the establishments serving this food have worked hard and improvised and started stuffing a variety of vegetables such as lady finger, bitter grourd, brinjal or egg plant, big chilli as well as mushrooms!

...  Madras Lane was where they originated and they do not serve stuffed mushrooms...

Judging by the amount of customers everyday, there is no doubt that this establishment has been around for more than 30 years. RM 1 for 1 piece of stuffed vegetable is quite reasonable. I was told that the price per piece was RM 0.15 during their early days in business!

...workers stuffing  fish paste into brinjals and bean curd rolls before frying them....

This dish is typically eaten with rice, however, it is also acceptable to eat them with Chee Cheong Fun, a local delicacy made from rice flour, steamed in rolls and served with sweet sauce and chili sauce... and topped with sesame seeds

...this is a medium sized Chee Cheong Fun... for RM 2

I like mine with lots of sesame seed coz it complements to the soft texture of the rice flour noodles making it palatable.

 ...finally the Yong Tau Foo arrives

The way to judge a good dish of Yong Tau Foo is the texture of the fish paste that has to be bouncy and tasty. If the fish paste is not well cooked, you'll taste flour when you bite on it. But this hasnt been the case for any of my eating experience here. The dishes goes well with the Chee Cheong Fun.

This is Cendol, a local dessert made from shaved ice, adding coconut milk and green wormy jelly made from flour and topped with the mandatory Gula Melaka, which is coconut sugar. Being a fan of Cendol, i have had better cendol servings elsewhere.

After that, we headed down to walk along Petaling Street for another local favourite drink called the Loh Hon Gou or Air Mata Kucing, which is a sweet drink made from boiling winter melon and Buddha Fruit (Loh Hon Guo fruit).

... Besides being a tourist shopping haven, Petaling Street is also a good place to shoot a movie scene...

Looking at the actress and actor, I would like to think that it is a local movie production.

...here's KL's most famous establishment for Air Mata Kucing...

There are also other smaller stalls selling this drink but they just dont taste as good as this one. Period.

There are also a few other famous established eateries such as the wantan mee, roast duck, dim sum around the area which I hope will be reviewed in the near future... till then.. adios!

Big Mac vs Big & Tasty

I have always had either McChicken or Fillet'O'Fish at McD coz they are both the cheapest on the menu at RM 5.95.

I never had a recollection having eaten a Big Mac before in my life!...until recently, I had cravings for this sandwich...

...big mac...? got mac? (R)

... when I thought it was the biggest... now its contender... Big n Tasty!...

... and a closer look at this big ass burger...

4 o.z or 1/4 pounder of big ass patty

Big & Tasty (RM 8.95) - 1 big ass dry beef patty (4 o.z. each) with onions, pickles, lettuce, mayonnaise, cheese, tomato sauce in a sesame bun.

Big Mac (RM 7.95) - "two juicy all-beef patties (1.6 o.z. each), special sauce, lettuce (iceberg), cheese (American), pickles and onions, on a sesame seed bun (three-part)".

Special sauce owns mayonnaise and tomato anytime!... but whats in the special sauce?


After many rounds of trial and error, finally.... the ultimate concoction that may be the special sauce or at least tastes like it..

Try mixing the three sauces at the right portion as follows:

1/3 mustard
1/3 Chilli Sauce
1/3 Mayonnaise

The heart shaped chilli sauce was incidental... happens when you squeeze them nonchalantly from the packet...whether or not it is the recipe for special sauce, one thing for sure, it tastes superb for me!