how to cooked satay

there was this one time my lecturer told us about how she handle an interview for student diploma in culinary arts. this one boy sit in front of her with full confident and told her how much he wanted to become a chef. so my lecturer asked him a very simple question "do you know how to prepared satay?" with confident the boy answer yes. and my lecturer asked him to tell her how. then the boy told her. 

1. first we kill the cow!
2. then we cut the cow!
3. then we cucuk the cow!
4. and last we burn the cow!

my lecturer was shocked. other interviewers laughing out loud. when hearing the whole class laugh out loud including me. the method of preparation is correct but he missed the marination part. hmmmmmh... 

the journey begins

as a little kids, i never thought that i will end up with cooking. i always thought that i'll be a policewoman, an army, women football player or an artist. i loved drawing. i loved playing football. since i was a bit tomboy (not a bit, a lot) so i always prefer something adventurous and rough. 

i fell in love with drawing. i love to express myself into picture that i drew. during my high school year  i took arts classes. and i became one of the student that our art teacher thought will embarked in arts and design school. drawing painting become my passion. 

however i always loved food. i loved to eat. i loved to help my aunties cooking. i even waked up at 3.00am every Hari Raya Aidilfitri night to help my auntie prepared meal to eat for breakfast. i knew that i'm a food lover. but it never occur to my mind that i will  embark in this journey deeper that i ever thought.  

after finishing my high school every student has to choose what diploma they want to take. of course i choose diploma in fine arts or diploma in photography. but my parents wont let me to do that. they force me to choose diploma in culinary arts. oooh how i hate them during that time. even when the time i had to come for the interview, i told the interviewer (which is my mom's friend) that this is not what i want. i want to enter diploma in fine arts. i didn' t want this. 

as mom expected, i've been accepted to enter this diploma. diploma culinary arts. every first class the lecturer asked us what do we expect from this diploma, what we want to be and why do we choose this. and as always, i told them the truth. i didn't want this. my parents wants this. some of my friends even thought that diploma in culinary arts was some kind like the arts of designing hotels rooms and lobby. some thought it same  like entering arts and design school. when they knew what it is about they was shock. 

as i began my journey as a culinary arts student i started to open myself to it. and from the moment i hold i knives in my hands, i knew that i will not be disappointed with it. some of my lecturer maybe rigid like a soldier. they scream, yelled at me. throw things at the students. some will cried but me i faced the challenge or maybe bad mouth behind them... hehehehhe.. but nevertheless i know that they only want the best for us. they want us to prepared for our practical year. they want us to know the real situation in the industry. and for that i just bear with it and go with the flow. 

i loved to cook. i loved food. i loved to eat. i loved to read cookbooks. and i never regret with my decisions to open my heart for this beautiful journey. my food journey.. although once in a while i tumble upon food mishap but that doesn't make me want to stop experimenting, trying, searching new food. now it's a part of my life. and hope it will be a part of my future children lives too....  

FOOD MISHAP - the story of ulat mulong

as a food lovers, i always challenge myself to try new foods. i either ended with happiness and joy or frustration because the food does not achieve to my expectation. but sometimes i either ended at emergency ward or with food poisoning.

during my time at sarawak, i always tried new food. their cuisines are different from what i always consume here. sarawak nasi lemak is being served with salted fish. i loved their forest vegetables like midin and their pansoh manok (chicken cooked in bamboo). 

then i stumble upon this one tiny creature, ulat mulong or sago. i heard about it before. some people said that it taste very soft and rich and fatty. it can either being consume raw (alive) or cooked. usually people either stir fried it with butter or grill it. so i dare myself to tried one of this. i bought 5 nos of ulat mulong at pasar satok. my adopted mother teach me how to cook it. simple just saute with butter or margarine. 

when i consume it, i felt somehow disappointed. the taste was not up to my expectation. it taste almost similar like dried prawn. a bit salty and that's all. nothing special. or maybe i over cooked it. 

a few minutes after that i felt itchy the whole body. i looked into the mirror and saw my face like alien. oh god what happen to me.. am i had an allergic reaction? my adopted parents rushing to the hospital. on the way i felt hard to breathe, my dad so worried up until he stop at the morgue house. wrong place.... he then brought me to the emergency ward. there all the nurses and the doctor was shock when heard the cause of my allergic. some of them just laugh and some asked me what were i think even them the sarawakian doesn't eat that thing. they give a jab and worts.... at the wrong place. my hand was so hurt i almost cried. i can't even moved my hand. stupid nurse i mumble. then i fell a sleep. after i feel better, i went back. 

up until today my adopted parents still remember this moments and me too. i miss them so much. i miss sarawak so much. hope in the future i able to go there again and of course eat ulat mulong again. but this time i want to eat it alive.... yeay.... 

the FORGOTTEN

as modernization luring into our country, many new technologies enter our homes. these new technologies makes many of us replace the old kitchen utensils with the new one. all of these old kitchen utensils nowadays can either be found in museum or in our great grand parents home. we rarely see urban people have traditional kitchen utensils at their home. younger generation nowadays unable to experience how it feels like to work hard to prepare food. all u need to do is to push one button. they can only sees all this when they browse through internet or hanging out at the museum. 

bahulu and kueh bakar mould

soy miller

old style kitchen

grinder

coconut graTER

kitchen

coconut grater

grinder

as a future parents, i don't want my children to experience this way. starting from now i collect all the traditional kitchen utensils. so in the future i can show to them what we have before blender, mixer, robocoup and others....

Food, Culture and Identity

As an essential component of our culture, food is also central to our sense of identity (Fischler, 1988). . What we eat, how we eat, and when we eat reflect the complexity of wide cultural arrangements around food and foodways, the unique organization of food systems, and existing social policies. Food plays a key role in human socialization, in developing an awareness of body and self, language acquisition, and personality development. As Barthes (1975: 510) argues “[s]ubstances, techniques of preparation, habits, all become part of a system of differences in signification” and we communicate by way of food. As we learn what to eat, how to eat, when to eat, we learn “our” culture, “our” norms and “our” values and through this process we learn who “we” are. Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote in the early 19th Century, "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are." There exists a rich body of literature examining the socioeconomic and cultural variations in foodways, expressions of ethnocentrism through food habits, impacts of food taboos, and identification of “otherness” through food (Avakian, 1997; Bell and Valentine, 1997; Bordo, 1993; Caplan, 1997; Fieldhouse, 1996; Gabaccia, 1998; Lupton, 1996;Mennell et al, 1992; Warde, 1997). These studies examine how our food choices are shaped by various individual, cultural, historical, social, and economic influences. From a sociological perspective, patterns of change and resistance in food preferences also offer us insights about tendencies for acculturation, assimilation, adaptation, social distancing, integration and consequent improvements or risks to quality of life (Capella, 1993).

the horseshoe crab

i always remember my grandmother always cooked for me horseshoe crab. since she lived near the muddy shores, she always catch one or two horseshoe crab per day.. i loved horseshoe crab. she either boiled it with some ginger, onion, garlic, lemon grass or just roasted it.

the taste as i remember was a bit bland so u need to eat it with some dippings like soy sauce with bird's eye chilli to enhance the taste. i loved it.. u have to remove the exterior part of the crab and the shell then u can enjoy the meat. as i recall this one time my grandmother caught one horsecrab with egg inside it. so ate the whole lot of eggs. and a few minutes after that i felt so dizzy. i start to laughed with no apparent reasons. i felt like a drunk person.. yah..... i've been poisoned by the horseshoe crab roe.. luckily the drunk state of mine only happen for few hours.. after that i fully recover. and although the headache was unbearable it never stop me from consuming this crab......

as a muslim, better get drunk by eating this rather that get drunk because of alcoholic beverages... HARAM.... 

cow's brain anyone??

 not many appreciate this part of cow. it's because its full of fat and really dangerous for person who have high blood pressure and heart diseases. the first time i consume this part was during raya haji. my sister's mother in-laws cooked for me cow's brain masak lemak.. the taste is so overwhelming and undoubtedly delicious. the rich taste of coconut milk and the brains makes the dish so easy to be eaten and hard to stop. not many enjoyed this dish like i did. many said that its fattening and can cause heart attack in split second. well maybe that's true. the combination of the fat contain in the brain and the fat contain in the coconut milk make it a heart attack in a plate. 

how to wrapped ketupat palas

step one

step two

step three

step four

step five

step six

step seven

and finally

Cameron Highlands.

from i was a little kids, my parents always brought me to cameron higlands. it became our routine to came to this place every year. its always fascinate me not only with it beautiful view but also fresh vegetables and fruits.. 

the beautiful tea plantation....

 the assorted broccoli...

 me and the vegetable farms... heaven

                                                                           the fresh sald

 me and lovely and fresh lolla rossa

 the assorted fresh fruits...










and  fresh herbs.............. love it soo much

 

 the amazing view of tea plantation

 and leek farm..... the best............

Pasar Payang, Terengganu

i always adore pasar payang terengganu. everytime i went to terengganu its a must to go this place and buy food and many things. 

kitchen utensils

 there this awesome cooking utensils that almost being forgotten by the young generations. 

keropok kering

 assorted kerepok made from fish, prawns and squid.. loves them... and many many types of foods..

spices

Lovely spices...............................

telur penyu

 and the famous and yet endangered turtle eggs...

last but not least, no matter how many times i've been to this place, it never bores me. i can't wait for my next trip this year during hari raya... weeheeee

Ketupat Palas

My father is from Terengganu. every hari raya aidilfitri my aunties will prepare ketupat palas. it made from glutinous rice, wrapped with daun palas and either cooked it in boiling water or cooked in coconut milk. it have chewy texture, more chewy compare to normal ketupat. it have a rich taste of coconut milk. ketupat palas usually being served with serunding or rendang.  this dish is not only famous at Terengganu, but also Kelantan and Kedah. each state have their own cooking style and serving style. 

Local stories passed down through the generations have attributed the creation of this style of rice preparation to the seafarers' need to keep cooked rice from spoiling during long sea voyages. The coco leaves used in wrapping the rice are always shaped into a triangular form and stored hanging in bunches in the open air. The shape of the package facilitates moisture to drip away from the cooked rice while the coco leaves allow the rice to be aerated and at the same time prevent flies and insects from touching it.

my childhood memories

since i was a little kids i always adore my aunties both of my parents side cooking. they have their own uniques way of cooking and it always suited with what i wanted. they also loved to cooked everything that i wanted and always asked my opinion on their cooking. and of course i always give the best compliment to them.
however, i hated my mothers cooking. she's always butcher the food. everything always a mess. almost every food turns out bad. but she didn't care. she hates to cook up to this day. she always either forced me to bought food from outside or cooked for myself. the only food that i love was her ayam masak merah and mee hoon soup. but unfortunately for me, she rarely cooked it.
but nevertheless the best part of it, it gives me a lot of opportunity to try other people cooking. my dad always bought us to the restaurant from small scale to up scale to dine in. he also thought us to appreciate Japanese cuisine and of course sushi.