FOOD FOR THOUGHT

My posting is all about food @ eating out @ favorite food @ how we eat it and many more that I can think of. Whether eating during a wedding reception or whatever that concerned about food.

Good Food
My favorite food during weekend is Noodles soup with fresh fish and fish cake. It is a healthy food mix with pickle vegetable, slices of Tomatoes, Ginger and mix with juice of one ‘Limau Kasturi’. When you dipped the slices of fish to your ‘Chili Padi’ sauce it will make you sweat due to the hotness of the soup and the sauce. I tell you, even your in-laws passing by, you would not be aware. The restaurant uses only the fresh ikan Kerapu and besides the fish flesh you can also ask for the fish balls, fish skin and many more but it will cost more. The restaurant is situated along jalan Bundusan. Actually, there are two restaurants and both have the same taste. The other weekend favorite food that I really like is ‘Baikut Men’, ‘Pork Chop Men’, ‘Chicken Chop Men’ and Porridge (fish or Meat). Those foods are taken in the morning as my breakfast extravaganza.

Buffet – Kampung style
Most of us must have attended a Wedding reception or any party Buffet style @ala Kampung, where you find yourself lining up in a long queue. In my place for that matter, community hall is the most popular place for the reception for convenience sake. All the food and preparation of the hall can be done by your caterer and what have you. You just have to come for the reception and wait at the entrance of the hall thinking in mind that you get a good ‘Ang Pow’ from your invited guests. Forget about the food whether enough or not, let the food caterer worry about that, after all at the end of the day you’re the one paying for it.

Have you seen someone with a pile of food on his plate as high as Mount Kinabalu. I wondered how they would eat all those food. If there were ten dishes on the table and you take a portion of it, for sure your plate will be like Mount Kinabalu. What I usually take when there’s a buffet party, I just took the food that I like and I don’t embarrass myself with piles of food on my plate. If I need another helping then why not just help myself but don’t fill up your plate.

I attended a wedding of a relative who married from another District and observed some of embarrassing situation. I can’t even remember where there were so many children attending a wedding reception with their clothes good enough for ‘Mamalastic Burung’. I think it was a common situation for the host because they were well prepared for the kids. There were piles of take away ‘Tao Pow’ food for the kids. I thought the kids were well fed after taking their take away food but alas I saw them again queuing with the adults. I don’t blame the Kids but their parent should teach them the dos and don’ts.

Kampung Delicacies
There are some interesting dishes that our kampung folks like to prepare during some occasions. The most popular must be the ‘Sup Terjun’ as some like to name them. You don’t see the soup doing the diving as the words means. It is because everything from meat and spices and what have you; are thrown inside a big pot and boil till tender. If you’re a health conscious and have a history of high cholesterol and high blood pressure better don’t take it. Usually the best part of the meat is around the leg of Buffalo or a Cow. When cooked for a longer period of time all the meat and juices inside the bones will thicken the ‘Sup Terjun’. It is better to eat it with a group of friends with few glasses of the local brew called Lihing, Talak, Tuak and the most popular Beer …. Aramai Tii …until morning. Usually this soup is not served to the guest but rather as a side dish. If you intend to find out whether they have it, find your way to the back of the house and look for a group of people in the kitchen with a big pot nearby.

Outdated Practice
There was an outdated practice that’s no longer relevant with the changing time. Imagine the leg of a buffalo being cooked after 7 days without being refrigerated. It was practiced after someone passed away and a buffalo was slaughted to respect the dead. The leg of the buffalo must be hung to a tree and after the 7 days it must be cook and eaten. It was cooked just like the ‘Sup Terjun’ style. To those people passed our time, they had no problem eating it as it was part of their practices then. Can you imagine the taste and the smell of the rotten buffalo legs?

Disgusting Habit
I was attending orientation before proceeding for a course and we were staying in a Hostel and having a good time with friends from the same district. Every morning our groups would sit together for our breakfast. We were served with bread, fried noodles and half boiled Eggs. One day we were served with half boiled Egg and at that particular morning, my friend Robert was breaking his egg when it broke and landed on the table. Without even thinking my friend slurps the egg from the table with his mouth. It was really disgusting, until now when I saw my friend I will remember him slurping the egg from the table.

Appetizers
There are a lot of appetizers that you can prepare or buy from the Local ‘Tamu’ market especially kampong style appetizer. There is the ever popular ‘Nonsom Bambangan’ a preserved local fruits called Bambangan. Apart of preserving the Bambangan fruit, it can also be eaten after removing the skin and slicing the flesh. It can be mix with shrimp paste or ‘Belacan’, shallot, Chilli and a pinch of salt and can be taken with a bowl of rice as well as ‘Pinaasakan’ or Basungan cooked with a lime, Kunit and a lot of salt.

Conclusion
Some of us might not have experience the food and practices that being mentioned here but at least we know how we appreciate food and the practices then. Hopefully you guys out there did enjoy reading it.

dV