gastronomica

breakfast in sitiawan

... the local fare consisted of, inter alia, a local dish translated from hokkien as 'vermicelli in red wine'. apparently it's vermicelli cooked in a broth of fermented red rice grains. well, something like that.. am not all too interested in the ingredients.. all i recall is that it smelt like tomato puree and worn socks (sorry!) and had an aftertaste of red wine.

sitiawan was a lot larger and more picturesque than i expected it to be (the sunset journey on the trunk road through quaint villages and paddy fields was especially breathtaking), and i've noticed that the local gastronomic offerings are an interesting hodge-podge of malaysian cooking.. from mixtures you never woulda thought of (laksa + lor mee (which strangely resulted in a neutral-tasting gooey soup stock), laksa + curry mee (this one's not bad as it combines the richness of curry with the pungent laksa ingredients)) to the most simple-sounding concoctions (kicap mee, or noodles in soy sauce) to, of course, the signature dish, i.e. the aforesaid horrendous rice strips in red potion i have just blasphemed. i guess it's an acquired taste city slickers like me wouldn't ever appreciate...

yes, very interesting culinary crafts, but after two and a half days i began to crave for real food (no offence!).. which i was finally gonna get as we set out this morning for...

lunch in ipoh

.. where we stuffed our faces with hor fun, pork satay and ipoh's trademark short, stout n' crunchy bean sprouts.

warning (which i never heed): if you're on a diet, avoid ipoh.

couldn't linger on in ipoh for too long, as i had to get back home for...

singing gig at a corporate function back in KL (and dinner!)

must say the evening was enjoyable despite first having had to get drenched in sweat during the hot and humid cocktail reception outside the bungalow (as Soul Doc says, they needed some o' those "Coffee-Bean fans"!). ain't easy to strut around in an unbreathable-silk cheongsam and 2-inch heeled sandals (incidentally, first time i wore heels after a month. knee injury, remember) while holding a glass of juice; for an entire hour.

dinner, finally, was a welcome respite from the heat.. or so we thought. still no fans. fortunately, the oxtail stew and sambal udang compensated for the hot weather.

the singing by the choir was great (though i can't say the pianist, i.e. yours truly, put up her best show :P). and the corporate people tried their best to be a sporting bunch. when we left at 1.30 a.m. there was still a long list of senior officers on the ('unwilling'?) list of singers.. i wonder if they all managed to get to work the next morning at all!