Coco's Grooming (And Japanese Cheesecake)

Coco  :  Please, no photos!  You are the one being interviewed today.
Mom  :  Oh, so sorry.  I thought you look so pretty after I groomed you.
Coco  :  Now, where did you learn your grooming..er..skills?
Mom  :  The internet.  They have pictures of schnauzer grooming.
Coco  :  *gasp*  Why did you stop sending me to the pet shop?
Mom  :  Expensive and they kept increasing.  You want toys or expensive haircut?
Coco  :  Toys, of course.

Coco  :  Oh really, I insist that you stop taking my photo.
Mom  :  I just want to show the world how pretty you are.
Coco  :  You do realise that you shaved me too close to the skin?
Mom  :  Oh..um..I forgot to attach the comb.  It has been a long time since I last cut your hair....
Coco  :  And you nearly drew blood on top of my head?
Mom  :  I am SO sorry...people tend to be forgetful, especially when they're middle-aged.

Coco  :  I cannot face the world anymore!  Your grooming makes me look fat!!!!
Mom  :  That's not true at all.  It is your love for tidbits and sweet stuff.  Don't blame me.
Coco  :  I have uneven patches all over me and my forehead is so bare you can see wrinkles there!!
Mom  :  I am SO sorry, Coco!  How can I make it up to you?!
Coco  :  Belly rubs.  At least one hour and preferably longer.  More tidbits and toys.



And I want more of that Japanese chizukeki!!!  You didn't give me enough.  Where is that chunk going to?  Don't you know I love cheese?  And cakes?  You owe me.  *SULK SULK*

WHAT??

You're having THAT without ME?

Sorry for being away for so long!  Aunty Tooki suddenly has a new obsession with all things cake and so has been busy kneading and sweating over flour and butter and the hot oven.  It is something new to me so a lot of failures along the way (a benefit to Coco, Wawa and homeless dogs) but I'm coming along....

There is a little story behind this photo.  Before I could finish shooting, Coco accidentally (questionable) pulled off the tablecloth.  My cup broke and the cake went splat on the floor.  She apologised and cleaned up the mess before I could find my rag.  Did you ask me where Wawa was when all this drama took place and why it wasn't him who swallowed the cake?  A new neighbor moved in last week and the whole village seems to have been visiting her and her new home so Wawa has been super busy barking/trembling/pissing at imaginary murderers outside the door....:((

Have a nice weekend!!

Agricultural Exhibition

I went to 2 exhibitions on Saturday.  The first one was a bit lame, showcasing some food products and crafts of Sabah.  Here's one from Sabah, a beaded wrist band from Matunggong, Kudat.  They are made by Rungus, an ethnic tribe of Sabah.

I prefer local Sabah coffee (sorry, bias) over imported ones.  The best ones come from Tenom (about 3-4 hours car ride from city center).  Yit Foh is one of the well-known ones.  If you visit their factory, you get to drink coffee for free and you also get a free tour around their factory.  When in Tenom, don't forget to visit the Agricultural Park.

The 2nd exhibition I went to was definitely more interesting.  It was an agricultural exhibition and there were so many booths displaying their goods, we couldn't finish visiting all.  This is one of the best (in my opinion) by the Agricultural Department of Sabah.

A long display of fruits.  The ones in front are mengkudu (used to make noni juice, purportedly with lots of medicinal properties), followed by guava, star fruit or carambola, red dragon fruit, mangoes and furthest brown ones are called salak.  Salak has an outer layer that resembles snake skin but the flesh is fragrant and sweet with slight sourish taste.  Very tasty.

A variety of tubers.  The green ones at bottom left corner is called bread fruit or susukun and as far as I know, only eaten deep fried in a sweet batter.  Delicious!

One booth chopped off a rubber tree and planted it here, complete with cup to collect the latex.

 A booth just for cats!  None for dogs.........:(

Sabah has 3 universities (I think) and Universiti Malaysia Sabah is one of them.  I can't find its land size but I think 999 acres.  What a shame, no mention of land size in its website!

 Fancy apparatus to extract oils.  This is cinnamon oil, if I am not mistaken.

 How mushrooms are grown in Sabah.

Commercial orchids for sale.  Wild orchids are just as beautiful, if not more, but sale is prohibited (protected species).

Our beloved Borneo Orchid!  Don't know if that's the official name but that's what my mother called them.

We didn't finish our agricultural tour because we had to rush to this place for a farewell hi-tea.  A workmate has just retired so friends decided to come together for a meal to bid farewell to her.  She is very happy that I can no longer pester her on the phone for supplies. 

Love men who look after their wives' handbags when they go to the loo.  And the wonderful thing is he's HAPPY about it!  All of us went to college together, worked in the same ministry and grew old together.  I think we may have fought together, can't remember.  I now pester his wife for supplies.

After all that food and nice, warm feelings I dropped in to see my brother who just got discharged from the hospital not too long ago.  Um..I haven't visited him for ages and this is the first time I've been to this house so I was very happy to find a little pond there.  Lots of animals to qualify this post for petblogville!!

 I'm petrified by your brother!  He's a grouch!

I know, Mr. Frog!  It runs in the family but I am the exception!

Your brother's a grumpy neatness freak!

I know, Miss Egret...that runs in the family too!  But I am not as bad as him...I live with hamsters and dogs and you will always find crap and piss in my house!  And fur!  And urine-stained pawprints!

Goodies From Sarawak

One of my workmates had a holiday in neighboring Sarawak a few days ago and she brought some goodies back for us.  Malaysia is divided into east and west by the South China Sea and there are only 2 states in East Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.  Sabah is the part in orange and famously shaped like a dog (thereby qualifying this post for petblogville) while Sarawak is that part colored yellow.  Brunei, a country in its own right, is the tiny pink area (but $$$ giant) in between gigantic Sabah (but no $$$) and Sarawak.  Kalimantan is Indonesian territory and together we make up the island of Borneo.  Come to think of it, Borneo looks like a (fat) schnauzer.  A little bit of Geography there and now for the goodies....

One of Sarawak's specialties is this very, very colorful layered cake (kek lapis) which I heard takes a whole tedious day to cook.  Well, the colors are very striking and these tasted minty, sweet and sourish....um, advisable to pray before you partake.

I also got this cute key chain from her - an Iban girl dressed in traditional costume.  Iban is one of the ethnic groups of Sarawak.  Very nice of my workmate.....a heartfelt thank you from me!

Open House & More Food!

I was invited to another "open house" last Saturday.  This former colleague and long time friend holds an open house every year and to say that she is a good cook is just not enough.  Superlatives are needed.  My nephew had curry beef on top of his biryani rice.  Biryani is rice fried in ghee (lard) and cooked with all kinds of spices and raisins.

Buried underneath that sauce is "lemang" or glutinous rice cooked inside a bamboo trunk, stem, piece of cut bamboo.  It is cooked in an open fire.  The bamboo is then cut open and discarded and the rice is cut into rings and served.

One of my favorites - jackfruit or nangka cooked in coconut milk, salted fish and spices.

This spicy chicken was really, really good!  We had 2nd helpings even though it wasn't our intention......and when I asked my nephew why all that food and curry is sticking to his face he said he wants to leave some so he can lick them in the car.....\o/

Ooooh just had a phone call...Dr J has invited us all to his "open office" lunch tomorrow!  More good food....no doggie news for today.  Sorry Wawa and Coco!

Friends, You Are Fantastic!

My 2 colleagues decided to have an "open house" (or open office, rather) for the Raya celebration today.  Open house is a tradition among the Muslim community where anybody can go to your house uninvited for the celebration.  That would include strangers who will not be turned away.  And strange children popping into your house and popping their hands into the cookie jars and asking for money gifts.  I take my hat off to these 2 ladies who cooked up a sumptious lunch with almost nothing in the office kitchen.

My office is a delapidated building and all of us are just waiting for it to be demolished.  We are hoping for a better building, preferably concrete.  The ladies sweated and cooked in the delapidated kitchen and the preparation probably began at dawn in their homes, judging from some of the cooked food that they brought.  This is "lamban" - glutinous rice wrapped in leaves and steamed.

When you peel the leaves open, it's that white thing on the plate which you eat with chicken rendang (doesn't look very appetising in the pic but it is DELICIOUS) and sprinkled with "serunding" (spicy beef floss).  Of course, you can eat it with other things like peanut gravy, curry beef and vegetables.  The ladies also whipped up "mee laksa" (spicy noodle soup) of which there is no photo because I was hungry and too weak to hold the camera and it was too delicous and before I knew it my plate was clean.

If all that food is not enough to stave off your hunger, there are all kinds of cookies.  Home-made, not store bought.  I understand that throughout the fasting month, the women in the house will be laboring over these cookies for the big day.  The chocolaty one in the middle is called "Almond London" - an almond inside a cookie insulated coated with chocolate.

 These are modern cookies - bright and colorful.  I just can't get over the purple ones made to look like mangosteens (my favourite fruit).  In order to eat them without guilt, I popped over to the lab this morning and had my glucose tested.  It was IDEAL, so cookies, here I come.

These are traditional delicacies.  I just admire the way these 2 colleagues could whip up all these in one morning for everyone at the office.  I struggle to cook for a small crowd of 6.  I will get hot and flustered and by the time I sit down at the dinner table, I have no appetite to eat.  To show my appreciation I helped them to wash up.  A little.  They were too hospitable and didn't like to see me wash up.

Eggs? We Like!

I just love hard boiled eggs.

Although it does make us fart a bit.

Sorry?  It stinks?  I think I ate my egg too fast.

Imported Bananas No Good To Eat!

I don't like bananas. My favorite food is carrot, ok?

I love bananas but this is imported. I only eat bananas grown in Sabah!!

Anyway, I will stand guard over it.
(The selfish dog also stood guard over Coco's share.)

Milky! We Like!

This is one of Coco's favorite titbits (every titbit is her favorite).

It is also, obviously, Wawa's favorite.

There is no doubt about that.

I Am Dreaming Of....

What are you dreaming of.....?

Are you dreaming of Wawa....?

No...we are dreaming of butter cookies...hungry....

Body Weight

I have discovered why Coco hasn't been eating her food. She has developed a taste for the sweet and salty and didn't think much of my tasteless boiled chicken. She survived on dog titbits and sweet cookies for weeks but surprisingly didn't lose that much weight - only 0.5kg. Wawa on the other hand has put on 3 to 4kg. Inspite of unrestrained eating, I have only put on 0.5kg and my BMI shows that I am still (grossly) underweight. My overweight and obese colleagues (not insulting them but that's what their BMI indicated) think, sleep and breathe diet. They eat very little but have not lost any weight at all. The nutritionist who gave us a talk said we must eat a great variety of food. I agree. She says for breakfast, make sure we eat at least 7 types of food. I disagree! I am more for food combining and eating one type of food at a time so as not to overwork our system. In theory, I am all for natural hygiene principles but in practice.....hey, that's protein + carbohydrates in the picture! A no-no! But I was very hungry after all that housework....

Pisang Goreng (Version 2)

Besides frying bananas whole or split, you can also mash it up before mixing it with the batter. I prefer it that way actually but it requires a bit more work. Between the 3 of us we finished the whole plate. Coco, Wawa, we cannot eat this everyday or even every week, ok? It's bad for our arteries.

Pisang Goreng

When I was small my mother used to make pisang goreng (banana fritters) for afternoon tea. Her pisang goreng was sweet, greasy, a bit burnt and limp. Pisang goreng sold these days are very, very thin, hard and slightly salty with no sweet taste. Unscrupulous traders fry it with straw (yes, plastic) to make it firm. This low down and despicable trend has spread to my country. These days it is common to eat it with a spicy sauce - an Indonesian culture. Unheard of in Sabah in the olden days. I wanted my mother's thick, sweet pisang goreng today and since nobody sells that kind I just had to fry my own. It goes well with kopi-o. Sweet, black coffee. And it is especially delicious on a cool, rainy afternoon.....