7 Fast Food Facts about Worldwindows

I was tagged by New Kid on the Blog and After Giovanni.

Here it goes:

1. As a young teen I started to like cooking. My son is showing the same interest. The DNA. My wife - she learned to cook after our son was born. Visiting my girlfriend's family (then), my MIL (now) warned me that her daughter has a good life and there was no need for her to enter the kitchen. Loud and clear.

2. I love to eat and to travel. And eating out most of the time for many years may have qualified me to foodblog. I used to travel twice a month to an Asian capital except December. Translated into 3 months out of KL every year. Lots of chance to sample local fare. That got me some regional experience as far as eating is concerned. I also realized that some of my views on food are either dead wrong or rather narrow. As for worldwindows, the title is too big for my stomach (not seat). Take it as an unfulfilled aspiration.

3. My stomach is not made of iron. So I exercise self-control. I could not handle a lot of hot curry and spices. My mouth has no problem with spiciness! It's the day after. So I avoid these food while on the move lest I have to hunt down a toilet in some unfamiliar places. Done that many times though.

4. Food personality can be likened to that of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I prefer Cantonese. It's my point of reference and my comfort zone. Soup, anything steamed and stir-fried. Subtle and understated. Fresh vegs and herbs. Yet I do swing out. The grilled, roasted, baked, vinegared, braised, stewed and curried. Strong, pungent and flavourful.

5. My best country for Asian food is Vietnam. Not Thai. Having lived in Bangkok for 1 1/2 years I find the food there too spicy, sweet and sour. But still I missed it after a long length of absence. Just for the oomph. For communist era East European food like Ukrainian, Hungarian, Russian.... the variety and availability is surprise, surprise found in Mongolia. I have a list of food to try in my next trip.

6. Food blogs have changed my take on food and consequently life itself. These two are inadvertently intertwined. I love food stories from fellow bloggers. Through morsels of food lives unfold. Humanizing.

7. Given a chance I intend to run a successful and profitable cafe one day down the road. Great food, service and ambiance.

Desiring to understand the blogosphere, this has set me on a humbling course of learning from many. There are rules and etiquette. When lawlessness reigns the community dies.

In the midst of blogs (mostly food) I hear the small voices. And also small things shared that means a lot. Of hopes and dreams. Vision and direction. The joy and the agonies. Of hopes realized and opportunities seized. Or sometimes failures and defeats yet refusing to be cowed. The triumph of the human spirit empowered.

With this I hope to hear a bit more on' food' from:

ling239の咖啡花园
Pass The Sauce
Words from Malaysia

The River and the Fish
To mark this post I would like to share a story that I loved to tell. Never got tired of it. While in Jakarta, we read from the newspaper a write-up on a unique South Sumatran village. We decided to go and check it out. We flew into Jambi, just north of South Sumatra. Interestingly, Malaysian plantation owners has spread their operations here.
AdamAir - now defunct
From Jambi we took a taxi and headed south for 50km to the small town of Bayung Lencir. We stopped en route. We bought supplies from a small shack of a sundry shop. Food, fresh water and mosquito repellent are essential. Then we hired a boat. Instead of going upstream we went downstream in this huge river. By the time we realized it it was too late. We stopped at the riverine village for the night. Totally vulnerable.When life gives us lemon, just make lemonade. We settled in for the evening and chatted with the village elders and have some tea followed by dinner. Then they show us their river catch of the day. From the murky river pigmented by dead leaves (merciful not by eroded topsoil) treasures from the deep river was trapped in fish cages. It was the much vaunted "wild ikan tapah". Ask any river fish connoisseur in Malaysia, they will agree that this is a trophy fish. We bought two 1 1/2 kg fish from them for our meal the next day. Each kilo is RM4. The price in KL easily exceeds RM100/kg. We retired for the night on a floating platform which is part of the house of our very hospitable host.The next day the fish were cooked in 4 different ways. Curried. Fried. Sauced. Sweet soured. Just rewards. Lemon to Lemonade.

Comments

Ciki said…
cooking DNA ! how lucky... i was born w/o that chromosome! harhar. my husband has it though...
Precious Pea said…
Wahhh!! What a catch!!! Never tasted Ikan Tapah before. Do we have this type of fish here in Malaysia?
worldwindows said…
Camp... He started dishing stuff for himself and mom and pop at 13. If that's not DNA (maybe survival) I do not know what it is :-)

PP... There is a huge (40kg?) Ikan Tapah in KLCC Aquaria, rescued from the cooking pot after being caught in the Pahang River. It is also called helicopter catfish. I think Fatty Tiger offered this fish. Maybe caught by orang asli.
Babe_KL said…
darn lost my comment! hv to retype!!!

i love to read food blog with stories and background behind them. they make interesting reads instead of normal reviews. glad i found yr blog ;-)

i do read just that hardly comment cos i wanna squeeze in reading as many blogs as i could :p
minchow said…
Fantastic post - and you've summed up the blogging/interacting experience really well - humanizing! Here's to plenty more lemonade!
worldwindows said…
babe_kl... Yes background stories really carry and gives life. I like Eating Asia because of this.

55omljof... Cheers!
Selba said…
Interesting to know a little bit of you :)

I love Vietnamese food! :)

Whoaaa.. you have been visiting Indonesia many times! What do you think of Indonesia?
worldwindows said…
Its so easy now to get to Vietnam from KL with AirAsia. I have been to Vietnam 70X since 1995. Came to love their food very much!

Since 2004 been to Indonesia at least 25X. The food offered by the different ethnic groups and sub-groups are enough to take years to taste it all. Esp.like Sundanese and Padang. Ever heard about Rumah Makan Samba in Palangkaraya. The grill catfish there is yummm....

Indonesia is a beautiful country despite the inconsistencies. It exist everywhere. It is so rich in natural resources and its culture of the various people.

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