A Patch of Treasure in the Middle of Nowhere

Last week my two good friends and I went to Dallas to attend a wedding.   On our way back, we stopped by a small Texas town with a population of a little over 7,000.  We decided unanimously that 1 hamburger on the way to Dallas is one too many for our Asian palate.  So, we decided to brave our way into a little humble looking Thai restaurant.  We had second thoughts once we were parked in front of the little parking lot, to go or not to go?  Once we came to a conclusion that Fried Rice is hard to mess up, we took a deep breath and headed in.
At first glance, I saw that the little walk way to the main entrance was covered with very healthy looking plants.  On closer examination and much to our delight, we discovered that they were Thai Bird's Chilie plants.  That was one warm and spicy welcome indeed !

The little restaurant looked clean and smelled a little over sanitized, probably too generous an amount of bleach was added to the cleaning solution.  We were the only customers there but at least we saw a few friendly and smiley Thai faces at the counter.  That was encouraging!  We inspected the menu which surprisingly had quite a few authentic Thai dishes.  We were pleasantly surprised with the tasty food, probably a little too toned down for us, but perfect for the Texan palate.  But all in all it beats the burger by far.

We started a conversation with the owner's daughter and I complimented her on the gorgeous Thai Bird's chilies up front and she told us that her mom planted them and has a garden behind the restaurant.  She invited us to take a look at the garden and of course we accepted the offer enthusiastically   We walked to the back garden with much anticipation.

It was a healthy garden with tons of Thai Bird's Chilies and Basil, Vietnamese Mint, Yard Beans, and different varieties of Eggplants.  All these plants love the Texas summer heat.   The couple asked us to picked all we want.  It was like Christmas under the Texan sun!  Not only did we enjoy a great lunch but we also walked away with a treasure trove of fresh herbs.  We thanked them profusely and will definitely stop by to visit if we are in their neck of the woods.
Now, let me share some of this treasure with you especially you who loves Thai food !

Sun-dried Thai Bird chilies 

Thai Basil

Vietnamese Mint

Eggplant

`Memories of `Supper'

 "Supper" in many parts of Asia refers to the meal taken later in the evening after dinner, usually between 9 pm and midnight.  Many times it can be the most exciting meal of the day!  There is an endless choice of things to eat at supper time from the humble kaya toast and a cup of tea or coffee, local cakes, a variety of shaved ice desserts, hot dessert soups of all kinds, steamed buns with all kinds of fillings, rice and noodles of all sorts. An inexhaustible list ...  you can find all these wonderful food on the streets, coffee shops, hawkers, passing street vendors and also at food courts and eateries in shopping malls.

Below are some of my personal favorite 'supper noodles dishes' when I use to lived in Malaysia . It is always special when I get to eat supper with family or friends as I am an early-to-bed-early-to-rise type of person.  I have fond memories of my uncle (whom we used to stay at the same house with) bringing supper home to the family most nights as he had a night job.  My brother got to partake supper lots of nights as he loves noodles and was much better at keeping awake.  If I am lucky, I will get some left-overs the next morning! Now I can bring some of these dishes to my table to share with my family.  These dishes still bring the same warmth to my heart every time I cook them. 

Hokkien Noodles

Wat Tan Hor - A medley of meats/seafood 

in creamy egg sauce

Cantonese Fried Noodles - Meat/Seafood & Vegetables

in Creamy White Gravy over Crispy Pan Fried Noodles

Char Kway Teow - Fried Flat Rice Noodles with Shrimp,

Garlic Chives and Bean Sprouts in Special Dark & Light Soy Sauce

Fried Rice Noodles (Chow Mei Fun)

The Breadman (Roti Man)

This is the latest version of the Breadman on his 'more' modern motorbike (instead of a bicycle) riding through a neighborhood)

I look forward to seeing the breadman every afternoon at around four when he comes to my neighborhood. It is a normal site to have a group of women and children crowding around him as he parks his bicycle and opens up the big cone bread cover of a huge cylindrical container strapped to the back of his bicyle. I've often wondered how a seemingly small man can haul and balanced this huge load around.  Besides that he has loaves of bread hung around the handles of his bicylce at every possible space he could find around the big bread container.  He may be quite a hazard on the road but who could deny that his services are invaluable.  He delivers bread right to your doorstep and in the good old days he even offer you to buy bread on credit as he scribbles in his little notebook the amount you owe him.

I can see the excitement on the faces of children surrounding him. There are sweet buns filled with coconut, cream horns, sweet braided bread and other big whole loaves. He cheefully keeps busy, slicing bread, making change and attending to each customer as fast as he can. I can still smell the aroma of the fresh baked goods as I stood there waiting for my turn. What is it going to be today (hard decision), cream horns, the scrumptions coconut-filled sweet buns or a buttery cookie. Oh, let me not forget the sandwich loaf that mother has asked me to buy.

The Curry-Puff/Doughnut Man

Memories of the curry puff went back as far as when I was a 6 year old kid. The 'Curry Puff/Doughnut Man' was a friend of the family. It seems like my aunt who is an excellent cook was the one who helped him out when he first started his business. He is one of those diligent people who build his business one brick at a time, in this case one curry puff/doughnut at a time. He had his little vending food cart parked at the neighborhood square almost 7 days a week.

His place of operation was one of those favorite places that my brother and I like to hang out during school holidays. It was one of those simple joys of life ~ hanging around to watch him work, from deboning meat(he scrapped every tiny piece of meat off the bones until the bones literally shine!), dicing potatoes and then putting it all together for the filling to making the dough for the curry puff pastry. Cutting out the pastry, wrapping the puff and then frying it. Wow, did he worked hard!...now that I make my own curry puffs.


That is where I first learn how to crimp curry-puffs. I stared at him for hours on end, amazed at how he moves at lightning speed and still managed to produce very uniformed puffs. When he is in a good mood and he has too much to do, he will let me help him just a little but always under his watchful eye. He made all kinds of filling for the curry puffs, chicken, beef and mutton. Besides curry puffs he also makes doughnuts, hmm...coated with fine castor/fine granulated sugar that melts in your mouth.

A couple of years ago when I went back home to visit, he told me that he is now semi-retired and his son has inherited the business and has expanded the product line.

This memory will stay with me everytime I smell or bite into a curry puff! Food has a way to stimulate so many of our senses and thoughts.

(“Just one whiff of a scent from the past can bring forth a flood of feelings and vivid memories.” ~ The Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, Chicago)

This recipe is at http://thegluttonsquare.blogspot.com/2010/06/curry-puffs.html

These unforgettable melt-in-your mouth doughnuts! 

Today feels like a 'Nasi Lemak Day'

Nasi Lemak is a Malay word that literally means 'rice in cream'.

I remember many mornings of waiting in line to buy a packet of Nasi Lemak while I was teenage schoolgirl. Most of the time my packed lunch are simple butter and jam sandwiches or leftovers from last night's dinner but there are days that my mother will give me some money to buy lunch. That is a real treat!

Before I walked to school in the morning I will go across the street to buy some Nasi Lemak. The owner of this food vendor is an elegant Malay lady. She is modestly dressed, always with an apron wrapped around her. Her long black hair is combed into a neat bun, she is soft spoken and pleasant. There was always a long line of people waiting to be served and I hope she will move a little faster so that I would not be late for school.

There are two big stacks of cut newspaper and banana leaves at her little wooden table and little metal containers/pots of condiments like sliced cucumber,sliced hard boiled eggs,fried anchovies, braised water convulvus,roasted peanuts and sambal anchovies. There was cuttlefish and chicken sambal if you are willing to pay for some special additions. She has a big wooden bucket of cooked steamed rice (rice is steamed in coconut milk and flavored with few pieces of knotted screwpine leaves).

She will scoop a little rice onto a piece of banana leaf lined with newspaper and will add a few slices of cucumbers, small spoonfuls of fried anchovies,roasted peanuts and sambal. Then, she will artfully wrapped it up into a neat little packet.

The sweet aroma of the freshly cooked rice and aromatic spices in the different sambals will always linger in my memory. There are cold winter mornings that I would wake up and feel like this is the perfect day for 'Nasi Lemak'. After 22 years of marriage my American husband is just now a new Nasi Lemak fan and now joins me to say 'Today feels like a Nasi Lemak Day'

Swallowing Clouds ~ The Essence of Won Tons

I have fond memories of a 60 something silvered hair couple (they are probably the first generation of Chinese migrants to Malaysia). They run a little food stand in a coffee shop selling noodles with won tons and Chinese barbecue pork across the street from my house.
You can either get the noodles and won tons in soup or have the noodles "dry" mix with some oil, soy sauce, sesame oil. They served this with pickled sliced green chillies in light soy sauce.


The noodles are freshly made wheat ones, each serving is rolled into a ball and lined neatly in the display glass cabinet. I remembered that he was very particular with cooking the noodles in a big pot of boiling water and he has another big stainless steel basin of cold water in which he immersed the cooked noodles to remove any excess starch. He will then immersed it back in the hot water to just warmed it up before tossing it with sauce or serving it with soup. Fresh water is consistently added to the big pot so that the noodles can be cooked in lots of water "the best way to cook any pasta".




I always stood in line fascinated by their almost ritualistic way of preparing their dish, I found it most entertaining, there was never a dull moment watching the meticulous way they prepare the dish. I get the feeling that they do enjoy cooking and selling noodles and really took great pride in what they do.