Lemang Bonda Emma

Searching For Bonda

The Proof Of The Pudding Is In The Eating.

Unwrapped the old Chinese newspaper back home and the glutinous rice (pulut) is fragrant with coconut milk and is evenly cooked.

Remember to ask them to split open the bamboo tube. Don’t attempt to do it yourself unless you have a hardy knife and garden gloves. The bamboo tubes can be dangerously sharp.

A banana leaf is wrapped around the rice to add flavour and to prevent it from sticking to the bamboo surface when cooking.

From experience, I find the leaf sticking to the rice instead. In this case, it peeled off cleanly without tearing or leaving remnants.

The lemang comes in two sizes, RM10 and RM8. Go for the smaller one as it somehow tastes better. Even the cook thinks so.

I bought both types of rendang – RM8 per (generically named) tupperware to test. The chicken, unless you specifically request for thigh, is too hard.

Beef is a different story altogether. It is heavenly. It is almost like Indian Kheema, minus the peas. Coarse minced meat size and completely boneless.

Verdict: Lemang Bonda is indeed Awesome. Happy to have one of the most satisfactory lemang and rendang combos for Raya. Thanks again Aidi, for the recommendation.

Directions: The reason why first-timers and outsiders cannot find the place is that even the owners of the stall give a confusing address.

Lot 3424A Jalan PKNS is puzzling. On Google Maps and Waze, look instead for Jalan Bukit Badak, Kampung Melayu Subang. If you come from Pekan Subang, it is near the other end where Petron is.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 1250, f13, 1/60 sec.

#foodphotography #lemang #pulut #rendang #lemangbonda #review #delicacy #malayfood #hariraya #sonyalpha #a7r #zeiss

The Migrants.

The common house crows are so hated everywhere because they are intelligent, noisy and invade our environment. They expose our lack of cleanliness and the lack of proper street cleaning and rubbish disposal by local authorities. For exposing their shortcomings and failure to do their jobs, some heartless town halls resort to shooting them.

The intelligent and sociable animals were like “illegal” immigrants. They are native to India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. They can now be found all over South East Asia. It was speculated that a colony was brought in by British planters in Carey Island to control agricultural pests. They soon escaped and spread all over Klang Valley. Like an experiment gone wrong, as in the fictional Jurassic Park.

Scientists believe many adventurous crows also hitched a ride on cargo ships and got off at ports such as Port Klang and one of the world’s busiest ports, Singapore, where the stowaways transferred ships or made landfall.

Picture by my dear friend PuiSee Chu (https://www.facebook.com/puisee4) who was also in Kerala, India recently. According to her, the crows were waiting patiently and graciously for unfinished food at an al fresco diner in Cherai Beach Residency Kochi. You can find and see more of the hotel by locating it with Mycen Hotels Search.

See and book the hotel:here: https://www.agoda.com/partners/partnersearch.aspx?cid=1767713&pcs=1&hid=648821

See many hotels in Cochin Kerala here: http://www.mycen.my/cochin-hotel-deals-finder/

I’ll feature more of her Kerala pics which have the viewpoint of a kind, compassionate animal lover..

#crows #cochin #kochi #india #birds #raven

Super Kinta Lives

Super Kinta Lives.

Dear Ipohans, Emily Lowe, Vasanthi Mailany, Sylvia Looi, Alexandra Wong. Adriene Leong, Penny Teh and many I forgotten at the moment. Feel free to join the conversation in my Facebook if you are from Ipoh.

The new Movie Animation Park Studios (MAPS) in Ipoh is selling tickets above RM 100 a pop per head including children, even with opening promotions. Seems to me, a fairly big chunk for a family of 5. What you think? But then what do I know about theme parks and the costs of nurturing kids?

Amazing, a few years ago even Ipohans themselves said it was a sunset city with no future. The dead star of Kinta Valley resurrected itself with many new projects. Who would have thought? Now there is talk of the airport moving away to make way for skyscrapers in the city.

Go here if you need a hotel cheaper than an entrance ticket to a theme park.

http://www.mycen.my/ipoh-hotel-deals-finder/

Super Kinta logo to stir memories of old Ipoh, from FB psge The good memory with “Super Kinta Departmental Stores.”

#ipoh #perak #state #capital #maps #themepark #revival #kinta

Island In The Sun – Santorini

Chermaine Louise (@Cherietheangel on IG) is a Malaysian living in Potomac Maryland and works in Washington D.C. She flew from Washington to Budapest, Hungary to meet her partner. From there, they flew to Athens, Greece and then by ferry to the island of Mykonos, a LBGT tolerant and rave capital. Mykonos will be the first glimpse Cycladic Architecture for newcomers.- the ancient architecture is described as a harmonious mix of white cubic houses, cobblestone streets, pristine windmills, and ubiquitous blue domed churches. The landscape will blow the owl and panda embroidered socks off hipsters.

From there another ride on the Aegean Sea and the Cyclades islands to Santorini. What an adventure! They took the doubly fast SeaJet ferries. A regular ferry will take 10 hours. They started at the port city of Piraeus near Athens.

Santorini, the remains of a massive volcanic eruption in 1646 BC, attracts tourists from all over the world today. You will be surprised to know of the number of Malaysian and Asian couples who traveled there just for (pre) wedding photography. There is something magical about white wedding gowns against the white washed buildings of Sanatorini. I looked at some friends’ albums and can not find good pics free from selfies. Who can blame them when everything is so photogenic?

A tremendous effort by Chermaine in covering the island from sea level to the top of the cliff, bringing us a rare and non cliched look of Santorini – a real life Greek myth and legend. Also thanking her for her patience in answering all my questions. As always, I try to fact check everything.

Find a hotel in Santorini here: http://www.mycen.my/santorini-hotel-deals-finder/

#santorini #greece #greek #athens #cyclades #aegean #praeus #mykonos #island #thera #church #fira #oia #mediterranean #travelogue #architecture #landscape

Kerala Pictorial by Rian Maelzer

Kerala Pictorial by Rian Maelzer.

After seeing my Kerala post, my friend Rian Maelzer messaged me and said Kerala’s a tremendous holiday destination. “Easy to get around. Varied. Consistently fantastic food.” The veteran international journalist and seasoned traveler has a good eye for photography and he was there for a vacation with his family,

He kindly allowed me to share his gallery. Here are some pics I like, all unedited. I invite Rian to add more info in comment of each pic so viewers know what they are looking at. Interesting that he visited the world’s richest temple in Trivandrum where they found buried treasures worth USD 20 billion!

Book a hotel in Cochin or Kochi Kerala here:

http://www.mycen.my/cochin-hotel-deals-finder/

#india #kerala #cochin #kochi #munnar #landscape #mycenhotels #trivandrum #travel #gallery #travelogue