Van-Laza Blogs

Hunger does things to your mind. We’ve been air bound for almost 7 hours and the last meal of chicken briyani served by the Air Asia stewardess, is a memory fast fading as my brain is now sending urgent messages to my stomach which has been somewhat spoilt by the unusual eating habits of the past three weeks.

I had not only devoured the surprisingly delicious briyani but also the lasagne that my husband pre ordered. And now I am hungry again.

While waiting for Pak Nasser’s nasi lemak as promised in the menu tucked in the seat pocket in front on me, my mind does its cruel trick dredging up memories of culinary delights that we had been spoilt with during the last trip. Going back to my own home cooked food does not seem a very attractive prospect.

Now let’s see what the stomach had been subjected to lately.
(I am continuing this piece after a sorry excuse of a meal, which I ransacked in the kitchen. Sharing the milk with Snowbell, I had my very early morning tea with milk and cereals. Now I long for those dangai and pulut sambal from that stall at the junction of Bukit Pinang)

Just soon after landing at LCCT, we were taken to a corner lot restaurant somewhere near Bangi that boasts all kinds of soup – and one that is making me drool all over the keyboard now is soup keting. I should have taken pictures of the soup, but common courtesy demanded that I exchange niceties with my siblings and siblings in law who had taken the trouble to fetch us at the airport. I chose not to ask what keting is but proceeded to eat it with the enthusiasm of one deprived of food for a whole month. Be warned, soup keting in all its delight has hidden explosives in the form of finely cut chilli padi. That not withstanding, I finished a whole bowl before proceeding to wipe clean the platter of mixed satay before me. Simply yummy. The hubby, jetlag setting in at quite a speed, chose mee hailam but regretted it almost immediately. He was not very impressed.

There was certainly something in the air during this trip, and it was unmistakably durian. It seemed to be durian galore everywhere – five or six for 10 ringgit and I went crazy. We made a visit to the pasar tani where I bought lemang and on the way back bought several durians. Suffice to say that was not the first durian binge in three weeksLooming large in my mind right now are butter crabs at the seafood heaven near Vistana Hotel. I think the place is called Hokaido. Jijah and Isa, knowing my penchant with things crustacean, took us there for supper. There were also lala and crab sambal. The proverbial “Mak Mentua lalu di belakang pun tak sedar” was quite apt here.

You can trust Jijah to find the best food in town. She has the nose for it. One fine afternoon, she and husband Isa took us to Aunty Aini’s, a kampong food haven tucked away in Kampung Chelet, Nilai. The kampung style setting puts you in the mood for good old kampung food. There were ulams and masak lemak and soup tulang – the most delicious I had ever tasted. I have never been one for ulams and masak lemak and left it to hubby to finish them. And I must add that proprieters of De Chenge as reported by Puteri Kama in her entry here, could learn a thing or two about customer relations. Both Aunty Aini and husband were so friendly and even had time to sit down and chit chat with us.

With Jijah, I took a sentimental journey back to Alor Setar, starting out at about 5 am to catch the 07.15 Air Asia flight. We both grew up in Alor Setar but after the first few months of Primary One together at the SAS, we were separated, only to meet up again after Pak was transferred back from Yan to Alor Setar. We continued our friendship that took us to most of the fine eateries Alor Setar could offer, and to some of the most wonderful gerais our trusty old bike could take us.

The main aim of the journey was to visit Kak who had just been discharged from hospital after a knee op, but of course dear siblings of mine exiled in Bangi would not hear of a visit back to Alor Setar without a pilgrimage to their dearly beloved adopted uncles, namely Abu of the famed mee Abu and Zakaria of Laksa Teluk Kecai..