Fish Pie

Its been almost 2 weeks since the surgery and am feeling bored at home. I decided to put together a fish pie as I had the ingridents and its not spicy and easy to eat. It's a recipe that my aunt verbally described me some time ago and i decided to give it a go.

I didn't really enjoyed it the day it was made, but tasted better the second day onwards. Actually I tend not to enjoy the food that I cook, especially immediately after cooking it. Somehow being tired from slaving in the kitchen affects my sense of taste.

Hari Raya Makan@Herda's

Having just been discharged from the hospital, I went home but was not able to get any restful sleep as the aches I had all over was bothering me. By 7pm I was hungry again and don't think I can have porridge for a third meal in a row. So with nothing to eat at home, I head over to Herda's for Hari Raya dinner. Wondering what I will be able to eat as I had trouble swallowing and was told to stay away from spicy food, I just told myself that I would have some of the least spicy dishes.



Mee siam has been a staple at Herda's during previous Hari Rayas but this year there was nasi minyak, dalcha, ayam masak merak and prawn sambal. Bummer. I got myself some rice and dalcha, but a minute later threw caution to the wind and took a piece of ayam masak merah. Then another. And some prawn sambal. And more rice. Swallowing food this time was not too hard for some reason and was I really chugging it down. Perhaps I was subconsciously making up for the terribly bland food that I had the past 24 hours, though it was more likely to be pure gluttony. The spicy dishes didn't bother me.... not until later of course. Sitting on the sofa after the meal, the pain got so intense that I regretted not bringing my pain-killers with me. Of course I was laughed at while I grimanced in pain. Which made me laugh and laughing hurt like hell. I think I was laughing at Shan who was laughing at me grimace. All I could do was to sip iced water to soothe the pain...and even that hurt.

Hospital Food

I got carted out of the operation theatre at 2.30pm feeling groggy from the anesthesia. I tried to sleep but the nurse kept coming in every hour to take my blood pressure. My throat felt dry and gums sore from what I think were clamps that were used to keep my mouth open during surgery. At 5.30pm I was irritable and very hungry, having not eaten since 10.30pm the night before. Dinner came at about 6.30pm. On the tray that came with the grub was a printed slip of paper that said "therapeutic diet". The nurse did tell me before the operation that eating and drinking is supposed to help my heal faster so you can say that I was undergoing food therapy.


On the menu was porridge with minced meat, minced vegetable and soup. My throat was pretty sore and felt weird. The meal came with ice cream-2 cups of Magnolia chocolate and vanilla swirl. Its one of the perks of getting your tonsils removed. Woo hoo!

Next morning I had oats. Half a bowl took me an hour and a half to finish. Swallowing was difficult.

Lunch was more somehow easier to eat and didn't take as long to finish. The meal arrived before I was to get discharged. It was porridge with a finely minced vegetable slop, minced meat with tofu and herbal soup.

Open house at Herda's.....It's only a 10min walk away from the hospital but I don't know if I can or should. The ayam masak merah was calling but I was pretty full from lunch and needed to get some decent rest so I just took a cab back home.

Hari Raya Makan@Rehan's

Next up was Raya lunch at Rehan's. His mum's food is to die for though this year's makan was a bit different from previous years as she prepared soto. The sambal for the soto was a killer and we were all perspiring as we spooned the spiced up broth with lontong, bits of succulent chicken and bean sprouts into our mouths...


There was also the mandatory sambal goreng that is one of the best that I have had and hati that I have a great aversion to.


Shan was very intrigued by some purple biscuits.


and some strange reason I was given a rude gesture for helping wash the dishes.

ICB Food

Ice Cold Beer is probably my most favourite watering hole but I have to say the best thing about ICB is the food. I actually know people who don't drink that just go there for the grub. If I ever quit my drinking habit, then this is one bar that I will still come back to. The pizzas are thin crusted though I am sure they use tortilla skins as the bas. And the chicken wings are just too good. Its actually shrimp paste chicken that you can order at any zhe char place but the wings here are always done to perfection.

Hari Raya@the Sengari's

Shan and I arrived a bit too early at the Sengari household. Syereen was in the kitchen preparing vegetables for sayur lodeh whilst Syareena was vacuming. Their mum immediately delegated the role of begerdil maker to moi

Shan joined me a while later and we then squabbled over the size of our balls....

.....while Mrs Ibu fussed above the stove.


Syareena's mum bought some "ketupat". The girls tell me that they look a bit like a certain variety of feminine hygene products. Apparently you just boil the the packs in water and voila....



Their dad made lepat that is made with glutinous rice, peanuts, black eye peas and grated coconut wrapped in a coconut leaf. Good with serunding and sambal goreng satay(below).


Herda and Rehan arrived a bit later and we sat down to the spread that was finally ready...


Quail egg sambal, sambal goreng, sayur lodeh, sambal satay...mmmmmm

Begerdil and paru!

Ayam Masak Merah!

We realised that lepat really sticks to the plate

and Rehan had a bite of our electric blue murukku... it looks more like electricial wiring.


The right way to drink berry flavoured tea. Note the extended pinky.

Shan made this brilliant observaton.....this is a bar of chocolate? Scroll down and find out.



Hansel and Gretal would break their pretty little teeth if they attempted to eat through this...

Hari Raya@the Majid's

The Majid's were my neighbours from my old neighbourhood in Telok Kurau who moved away when I was about five. A five year old is probably how the elders best remember me...the chubby toddler who would romp around the neighbourhood naked (gimme a break I was one or two during my naturalist phase). For the past 4 years they would tease me about things like these but this year's visit did not have any of that. Maybe its their failing memories. Anyway here is the queen teaser herself Mrs Majid in her very garang no-nonsense kitchen operation.

You got to love those charcoal stoves. They have to be the epitome of a hip kitchen.


Of course I had to have the ketupat...home made summore. Mrs Majid is Peranakan so some of the dishes I think have a Peranakan twist like the ayam masak kicap which had a lot of ginger and onions, the rendang had slices of dried chilli in it and a sweet plum achar which I have never come across in Malay cuisine...

There was also ayam masak merah and sayur lodeh and serunding and sambal sotong and sambal goreng and nasi minyak and 2 types of achar loaded with garlic and shallots.... I could just go on and but I have to include a special mention about Amran's cookies... pity I didn't take any pictures of them or get to try them all but I was hooked with his macadamia and white chocolate cookies. The only problem I have every year is that there is just too much variety...Its hard not to let the flavours collide, especially in one sitting but its still so gooooood. Oishiiii!

Deepavali Delight

This is probably the most bo-chap Deepavali that I have ever had. With my parents out of town and nothing festive to eat, I took the mandatory oil bath(I feel very supple now) and went to the coffeeshop for a plate of chicken rice. I did do some Raya cooking at the Sengari household though. The girls had ambitious plans to make many kuehs but we only got around to making murukku in a rainbow of ghastly colours.

But first they had to bathe the cat.


the proud mother beaming down on her little...

The Murukku was really dangerous to make. The hot oil splattered violently everytime we put in a new batch. Yet I lived to tell this tale, but will just let the boils from the scalds I got to do the talking.

pretzel shaped murukku are all the rage this festive season

We stopped when it got close to the time to break fast. Syareena's mum made kacang phool and beehoon soup, but first we had to deliver some kacang phool to their aunt's place and to pick up some eggs to make suji cake(that we didn't make).


Enak sekali!

After dininer we were barely able to get off our fannies to get back to slaving in front of the hot oil for our edible art. But the girls who I suspect were deprived of playdoh as children soldiered on to make more innovative designs.

not sure if this was supposed to be a fallopian tube, a green wig or something else

I think this can be made into bling-bling

At the end of it all I was tired, greasy and very burnt. If we ever do this again, I think we will be needing these.