Destination | .::A Contented Foodie::.

These are some of the pictures (mostly taken by OKK) during my trip back to Malaysia about one month ago, yeah, it took me about a month later to actually load these pictures. -Post vacation laziness-

Just a quick introduction of Malaysia, for those out there who’s never heard of it, or been wondering where Malaysia is. We are sandwiched between Thailand (on the north) and Singapore (on the South), with Indonesia on our left, and The Phillipines on our right (I am describing West Malaysia, Malaysia is divided into two different continents, East and West Malaysia). Anyway, we have Wikipedia for all these, so there’s no need for me to keep going on.

With three major races in the country; Malays, Chinese and Indians, our cultures, backgrounds, and especially food is indeed very spectacular in every way you can possibly imagine. One have to come and visit Malaysia to understand the colourful cultures and cuisines offered in this country. A picture paints a thousand words (and I have more than one, or two, or three…).

Enjoy~

Scenes from morning market:

Bags and bags of goodies such as dehydrated chinese mushrooms, fish haw, red dates, onions, black beans and etc.

Stalls selling tropical fruits such as pineapples, mangoes, watermelon (above pic), jackfruits, lychees, longans, cempedaks, durians, papayas, custard apples, and many more.

Freshly cut jackfruit (also known as Nangka in Malay). After de-seeding the fruit, always rinse it with salt water to wash away the dirt as well as to give the flavour of sweetness and saltiness at the same time. -yummy-

One of the stalls selling cheap homeware stuffs, you can find everything here, seriously, everything (okay, ALMOST, but still). Satu Barang RM1.00 (Translation: Each for RM1.00)

More stalls selling veges and fruits. The green leaves that piles in the white pail is screwpine leaves (or rather known popularly as pandan leaves). The effect is similar as vanilla pods. We use these leaves for its aroma, flavour as well as colour in both desserts and savoury dishes.

A lady frying up some Koay Kak (Fried rice cake).

These are popular sweet Malaysian delicacies known as kuih-muih (nyonya kueh).Two of my favourite kuihs are shown below:

9-Layered Cake (known as “gao deng kueh” in Hokkien). Thisdessert comprises of different coloured layers made from rice flour, sago flour and coconut milk. Each layer is stacked one on top of the other and steamed, one layer at a time.

Pulut Tekan – this marbleized white and blue confection is made with “pulut” (glutinuous rice), which lovely blue colouring is from the natural extract of the Bunga Kacang Telang or Blue Pea flower (Clitoria Ternatea). It is best eaten with kaya, a rich flavorful coconut jam. -yum yum-

Scenes from night market (pasar malam):

Putu Mayung – Indian-style steam rice vermicelli cake served with grated coconut and sugar

A friendly uncle selling fresh sugar cane juice

Stall selling fishes

Buah Petai or stink beans

OKK, posing with durian – the king of all fruits

More stalls selling cuts of meats (Translation: Meats and Stomachs, RM5; RM10)

Scenes from hawker stalls:

Several hawker stalls (can varies between 2-20,depending on the size of the hawker centre) come together under one roof, selling different kinds of foods and drinks.

Lok Lok – choose anything you want from the stall, then proceed to a hot pot of boiling water, dump the sticks of food inside, wait and eat with delicious sauces

Yummy Malaysian Foods:

BM White Wan Tan Mee (the one and the only in Pek Kong Cheng, Bukit Mertajam, Penang)

Curry mee – yellow noodles with broth made from coconut milk, topped with tofu puffs, bean sprouts, oysters, mint leaves, pig’s blood, and/or shredded chicken.

Needless to say, Satay- a must when visiting Malaysia

Char Kuey Teow – Penang’s signature dish

Laksa (top) – round noodles with fish broth and prawn paste; and Loh bak (bottom) – deep fried fishballs, prawn crackers, sausages, tofus, mostly eaten with chilli sauce and black sticky sweet sauce

From top, clockwise: Fish curry; Omelette; Yew Char Kueh (see below); Bah Kut Teh; Bah Kut Teh (dry version)

Popular breakfast choice – Yew Char Kueh with congee and/or soybean milk. Yew Char Kueh (or Yau Char Kwai in Cantonese) literally means Oily Fried Devils. It is also known as Chinese Crullers, yu tiao or dough fritters.

Ice Kacang – a bowl of shaved ice, kidney beans, cendol, corns and attapch’i (palm’s seeds), topped with syrups and a scoop of ice-cream, wonderful cold dessert for a hot humid day in Malaysia (a MUST)

Cendol – another popular icy dessert to try in Malaysia -consists of shaved ice topped with coconut milk, a green worm-like jelly made from rice flour, palm sugar and kidney beans.

Penang Road Famous Teochew Cendol store, situated in Penang Road

Last but not least, not forgetting the national’s dish:

Restaurant-style Nasi Lemak

Hawker-style Nasi Lemak (Triangle nasi lemak)

I went to Wellington for the first time this 2011 New Year after arriving in New Zealand three years ago. Having to travel nearly the whole South Island (Do I have to go to Picton?) and parts of North Island (which is mostly Auckland, really) for the past 3 years, Wellington became my next top destination on my list. So finally, I made it and now I can proudly cross Wellington out from my list.

We were down at Palmerston North to visit OKK’s brother and his family for Christmas. And thought, why dont we just go straight south to Wellington and celebrate New Year’s in Wellington. We have booked two hotels whilst our stay in Wellington, Abel Tasman and Ibis Hotel. I would definitely recommend Ibis Hotel, it was $89/night for a standard couple room and was well-worth the price. On the other hand, however, Abel Tasman Hotel wasnt really up to our expectation. Charging us with $105/night, the quality was quite low and the room was very dark.

In short, I L.O.V.E Wellington. I love how the city is constructed, how down-to-earth it felt the instance I stepped in, how quiet it is compared to Auckland. And most importantly, I *luurve* the food. As we already know or perhaps not (for some), Auckland is the heaven for Japanese and Korean cuisine whilst Wellington, Malaysian cuisine. Therefore, coming from Malaysia myself, arriving in the city of Wellington, heaven of Malaysian cuisine, of course, I found myself in heaven. In nearly every corner, every block and street, you can see names like Satay Palace, Satay Kingdom, Rasa Malaysia, KK’s Malaysian Place, Monsoon Poon, etc etc.

Though aside from Malaysian cuisine, you can find a lot of other yummies in Wellington as well. We dined in a Meditteranean restaurant (down Courtney Place), which has the most ambient atmosphere ever, with Greek decorations and water fountain, cloths falling down from the ceiling (I think, presumbly I was a little high on the alcohol that night). We also tried Caffe Italiano, Thai express and a couple of nice little cafes for brunch (The Palm, Hanava, Mr. Bun) on Cuba Street. We were told to try Cafe Paris (which were known to have the most awesomest breads and confectioneries) but being New Year and all, it was closed. 😦 Talked about dissapointment. Well, we will definitely try it again the next time we are down there.

Some interesting pictures during the trip (and also food pics, of course):

Varieties of pizza from Caffe Italiano (2 for 1 pizza night, Wednesday)