My KB days: Sweeeeeeeeeeeet Kota Bharu…! (Still here in Kelantan…)

More pictures of traditional kuih, most of them sweet to the point that my teeth ache…

Clockwise: the ones in plastic wrap are buah tanjung (right), then nasi kaya with layer of glutinous rice, next to it is nasi kaya without glutinous rice, the mash potato look-alike is tahi itik (no, it’s not some shit…) and the gold-like folded strands are jala emas.

Again, clockwise: the dark pancakes are akak (right), below it are bananas soaked in sugary soup @ pisang sira, and those tofu are tauhu sumbat @ stuffed deep-fried tofu, my favourite, and they are not sweet.

Another favourite of mine, jemput jemput bawang @ deep fried flour-and-onion batter. This one is a bit sweet.

And oily, that I no longer need manicure. But still quite nice.

Apam bakar (traditional pancakes), served with nyior (grated coconut). Maybe I am wrong but it smells garlicky but tastes like cinnamon. They are other versions, made with banana or extra egg. Depends, can be sweet or just-nice-sweet.

My KB days: Medan Selera Buluh Kubu, Kota Bharu (I’m still in Kelantan…)

We all felt like eating som tam so all of us headed to Medan Selera Buluh Kubu to look for it. I managed to snap pictures though some end up lousy thanks to my “skill”. And after observing the many turns and landmarks, I was at lost and now unable to explain the road…

Anyway…

Despite being a weekday night, the crowd was quite huge. Apparently the pasar malam is being held every night. Most are food vendors but 2 stalls are noted selling pirated CDs.

When I saw all the kuih, I wondered how they still have the appetite to nibble sweet stuffs at night after dinner. As usual, I don’t recognize most of them since I’ve never eaten any before, except for some of my mom’s favourite.

Bottom left, the white pudding – like thing in leaf wrapping is tepung pelita. Next on the right, the one with sticks are chicken intestines in coconut-based gravy (kuah percik). The rest, I rest my case. Even my local relatives were at lost since they don’t eat those either. Hey, not every Kelantanese likes sweet stuffs...

Colourful cream cakes. Anybody notice the birds and umbrellas?

Pulut durian @ glutinous rice served with durian and santan (coconut milk).

This one is sotong pulut @ squid stuffed with glutinous rice.

Surprisingly, chicken wings are popular here too. These are marinated and coated with honeyed sauce, a nice sweet-spicy combination. 1 piece for RM1.30 – RM1.50, not bad. I thought only in Sabah I can find this, but back in Selangor also they are selling well.

When they run out off wings, the other chicken parts would be put up and are popular too.

Laksa, a local favourite. Laksam is another variant of it in Kelantan but served with the same fish-based broth.

By 9.30 the crowd has dwindled and usually the stalls are almost done with their selling.

I was taken aback a little actually by the mess and odor of rubbish as we approach the place. But within the pasar there’s no trace of it so you’ll manage to forget it. So far I haven’t been hit by diarrhea or food poisoning, since we select the cleanest stalls only. But this kind of scenario is almost always found everywhere in any pasar in Kelantan so bear with it a little I guess…

This is som tam, a Thai salad: raw kangkong, long beans, grated young papaya or mango (I preferred mango), cabbage and tomato tossed together in lime juice, dried prawn, shallot, garlic, chili and crushed nuts. Sweet, sour and crunchy. If you don’t want to cry your eyes out, tell the vendor to prepare yours less spicy.

My KB days: the polystyrene war

Back then I thought only UMS (Univ. Malaysia Sabah) is doing the anti – polystyrene war thing. But they use an equally environmentally unfriendly product to replace polystyrene container, plastic containers, telling students to recycle it by using it over and over again when they pack food from the café. Ha! From what I see, all those plastic containers either ended up heaped and unwashed in the washroom, or thrown away despite the fact that they cost RM0.50. Next, the café felt that the plastic container campaign is putting a strain on their budget so they switched to plastic bags and they still charge us RM0.50 o_O; While this cheaper alternative reduces the mess in the washroom, it doesn’t change the fact that again, they are using an environmentally unfriendly product.

Which is why, it was a pleasant surprise to find that they are using either hawker-style oil-based paper, or a biodegradable container made of palm oil waste here in USM (Univ. Sains Malaysia). The campaign was started in main campus (Penang) around early 2008 before extended to the health campus (Kelantan).

Here’s how a biodegradable container looks like.








It’s not just the fact that polystyrene is environmentally unfriendly, it’s also because they have a long term effect on health that this campaign was issued.


A poster on anti – polystyrene container campaign: The White Coffin.













Save the Earth! And ourselves, of course. Peace ^_^


By the way, this was my lunch that day from the USM café. Chicken chop, nothing to shout about, looks like banana fritters at first glance, but edible.

And cool chairs in the library. Nice to zzz in...

My KB days: the picnic on Galeri Tengku Anis ground

After a hectic week, this is a nice retreat. I’m not very familiar with the road so I can’t really outline the direction. It’s suppose to be somewhere near Pantai Sri Tujuh.

The first thing I did was clamored up the tower like the 7 year-old kids playing nearby. There I was struck by the blue sky and stood there gaping until the kids screeched nearby.

Down there, the folks were happily setting the line and fishing to their hearts content. nobody says that fishing is illegal here by the way, so...

Er, what fish is this again…?


I can see Tak Bai, Thailand! Actually I think anyone can swim cross this, provided no boat ram into the fella or something.

The gallery. I dunno what’s inside though.

So green and peaceful… I lolled off to sleep after that while waiting for more catches of the day…

My KB days: Kelantan (or more specifically, Tumpat), I’m back…

This time I was able to snap some pics of my visit to Tumpat. My relatives decided to go on a picnic and brought me along. On the way to Pantai Sri Tujuh, we dropped by Tumpat t get our supply of food and bait for fishing.

So this is the aunty that we always get our nasi berlauk and other rice from. She’s been here for quite some time already.

Kopes @ leftover parts of chicken (neck, liver, feet etc) to be served with rice. Pretty nice actually.



The usual scene in Tumpat market, upstairs, where folks tuck in for breakfast.

Same level, behind are the shops selling garments at unbelievably cheap prices which can still be bargained down.

Then we went down to look for my uncle. While waiting for him, the sweet smell of apam balik got better of me.

Always like this aunty’s one.

The usual scenery at downstairs of Tumpat market. Here you can find many local produces and products such as sos pencicah, keropok, budu, spices etc.

Beca! Nearly extinct. The one who man these are all into their old age.

Fav Sites: Local Recipe Sites

Suddenly... I realized that... I miss my mom's cooking...

Here I am... In Kubang Kerian... Without cinema... Nothing else to occupy my time aside from blogging, reading, living and sleeping... So i took to surfing up the sites I previously perused for recipes prior to exile, er, I mean, district posting (well, it does feel like one once in a while without all those entertainment and limited activities and no Internet. Sigh, I really am a spoilt city - gal...).

Below are all the sites that provide me with lots of experiments, er, recipes which I consider easy to prepare for my amateur level. Some are sites that I like to browse through and drool ^_^


Riezanie's Recipe Collections (Language: Indonesian / Malay)
http://riezanie2u.blogspot.com/

Wha… the first recipe that greeted me was “Sup buntut”… Which perked my interest to browse through as the authress claims to have “Koleksi Resepi dari pelbagai sumber / World famous recipe collections”. Seems like an Indonesian site to me, gathering form all the slang. But not bad, after you managed to figure out the language, this site provide a nice variety of Indon recipes with accompanying pics to give you an idea what you’re concocting for dinner.






Resipi Puan Raidah (Language: Malay)
http://resepiraidah.blogspot.com/

A recipe blog from a loving mother and wife with tons of lovely recipes ranging from daily Malay dishes to Indian cuisine to Arabian cuisine to desserts. Nice pics, easy and simple to prepare recipes, with side notes of suggestions on accompanying fares.

Mommy…







Resipi & Recipes (Language: Malay & English)
http://www.iresepi.com/

The heading boasted of Malay, Indonesian and Chinese cooking among the many recipes they have. The only thing lacking are pictures. The recipes covered are daily dishes, Western dishes, snacks and desserts, among others.







My Resipi: Jom Kongsi Resipi (Language: Malay)
http://www.myresipi.com/

Wowee! I like this one, it has many recipes plus a lot of variety. She even has recipe for ice cream, laksa, pencicah (dips) and snacks! Many contributors have helped expand this site with recipes and comments. To contribute, registration is required but free of charge.






Mesra.net (Language: Malay)
http://resepi.mesra.net/

Boasting over 6000+ recipes thanks to various contributors, this is one of the largest recipe portals. Since sources vary, look for recipes with high ranking to ensure that, er, what you pick is edible. From complicated to simple recipes of wide range, take your pick.






Koleksi Resipi Pilihan Diana (Language: Malay)
http://resipidiana.blogspot.com/

This is one of my personal favourites since it’s one of the first recipe sites I found and yes, the recipes are excellent and easy to prepare, to boot. In fact, many of my friends gushed over the recipes from this site.

The authress collects various recipes from many sources and tested them herself prior publishing. The recipes ranged from daily Malay dishes to special desserts and baked goods. She even has the recipe for takoyaki! (Cheers!!) She also includes some videos and cooking tips on her site.

CARI Makan & Resipi (Language: Malay)
http://makan.cari.com.my/

I positively drooled when the first page greeted me. Gorgeous, saliva – inducing pics graced the first page and many others as I went through the site.

This site covers wide range of recipe, from daily dishes of tofu, chicken and beef to desserts and traditional kueh and even bread. Lovely!!!

1001 Resipi (Language: Malay & English. Some recipes can be found in English)
http://1001resepi.com/

I like this site for the wide range of recipe provided plus cooking demo video. This site has many Malay recipes as well as desserts and Western cuisine. The authress also wrote many articles on kitchen tips and interesting places for eating out around KL and other parts of Malaysia. Nice pics to make you drool.

I like the glossary section as this is very helpful. Here she took care to translate the ingredients and even provided pictures which I find quite useful since I always managed to get mixed up with herbs ^_^.