Food, glorious food

Hi everyone. We are now in Singapore, and with the benefit of staying with Brendan's penpal Jo (who is a lifesaver!) we have access to the internet and can do some decent blog entries. Before Brendan launches into a review of the last week or two, we wanted to put up a bunch of photos of some of the amazing/fascinating food we have experienced on the trip so far...so here goes....

1. Durian - this is a bizarre looking fruit that can be found absolutely everywhere in Malaysia (and usually by the truckload - i am not kidding!). The smell is unmistakable - Brendan doesn't mind it but I really can't stand it and it seems that a lot of people can't because there are signs everywhere on the public transport and in hostels saying that Durian is banned on the premises! It feels like a firm custard consistency and about the same colour. As for the taste...I spat mine out pretty quickly...Brendan wasn't too far behind me. Well, at least we can say we have tried it.

2. Sugar Cane Juice - very tasty, sweet but not sickly sweet and incredibly refreshing on a hot day - found in heaps of food courts and market areas.

3. Noodles - noodles everything - fried, noodle soup, curry noodle (you want it and they got it). Along with rice, noodles are the other staple that we have been living on and man they are good. A massive noodle stir fry or noodle soup packed with lovely red chili that will burn your head off usually sets you back 3RM (about 1 Australian dollar) - go Malaysia!!!

4. Chicken - Chicken is by far the most popular meat in Malaysia (I am having some major red meat cravings at the moment...need an Australian steak!) and Malaysians "do chicken" in every way possibly imaginable. Perhaps the strangest recipe found to date was in a night market at Kuala Treggenau where a whole chicken was dipped in batter and then deep fryed (that has to trump KFC's approach to healthy chicken). (see the photos in the Malaysian album).

5. Laksa/ Curry Mee - I believe we reviewed this slice of heaven in a previous entry...enough said.

6. Nasi Campur - Basically a Malaysian smorgasbord where you start with a plate of plain rice and go crazy adding on anything you want...can be fantastic such as the one we wrote about in Kota Bahru, however, can also be tragic and have you regretting it very much the next day (need to get in early when it is made fresh, otherwise it can sit there all day...enough said).

7. Sata (pictured above) - concoction of fish meat with shallots, ginger paste and coconut soaked rice which is then wrapped in a banana leaf and folded into a cone shape. It is then placed on a bamboo stick over a bbq. Quite a strange end result, but really quite tasty.

8. Fried meat - one of the things we really haven't got into is the copious amount of fried everything meat like...You go to any night market and you will be sure to find a stand similar to this one with all sorts of fried goodies.

Ok, that is enough for now. We have had heaps of great food that we haven't mentioned but I am sure we have made you hungry enough. We have added a bunch of photos to the album, so check them out. Bye for now!
//Kate