Back home in Malaysia!! Yum yum!

I'm back in the homeland.   It goes without saying that there's been a lot of eating,  looking at food and talking about food.  The whole family is super-psyched about Auria's Malaysian Kitchen and folks are literally throwing ideas and recipes at me.  I'm overwhelmed and touched with how eager everyone is to share their experience and knowledge with all the various types of food available here.  I hear "I KNOW where the best char kuey teow is in Penang",  to "this is the best and ONLY way to make a devil curry!",  to "so-and-so makes the best dry mutton curry and we should ask him how it's done".   My dad insists that we make a list of all the Malaysian delights that we want to eat lest we forget something  - oh! what a tragedy that would be!

I've spent a couple of days in the kitchen with my mum - what an honor and a blessing. On Tuesday,  we went to the Seremban wet market  - what is a wet market?  It's a primarily Asian phenomenon - you'll have to roll up your trouser cuffs and tread with care so you don't step into a puddle of dirty, fishy water.  As a child,  I would go with mum to the wet market most Friday afternoons after school to do the food shopping for the week - I rarely escaped without a yucky wet foot.  Over time,  I learned to maneuver very carefully and figure out where to put a foot and where to definitely NOT put a foot.  With fish and meat being butchered on location,  the floors are constantly washed to keep them "clean" ;o)  There are a few main areas  - produce,  meats,  fish,  and the dry goods area which is filled with rice, spices,  dried noodles and the like.  On the second floor,  there are egg and fruit sellers,  florists and the yummiest "food court" you'll ever come across.  The range of food items that are available in the wet market is astounding.  The experience of shopping at one is colorful,  complex and incredibly smelly with each section proudly boasting its very own range of smells.

I have loads of video of our trip to the market - but I'll leave you with just this as I'm too busy gathering new recipes and ideas to share with all of you when I get back to Brooklyn!  When I get home,  I'll see if the rest of it looks good enough to edit together and post.  Here's a short little video of mum walking through one of the many little alleys in the market to the onion and garlic man.  Mum has been buying her onions,  garlic,  ginger and potatoes from this man for over thirty years.  He speaks to me in Malay - he says "Hello,  how are you?" and when he notices that I'm shooting,  he poses with mum and then says "But my shirt is dirty!"  I tease mum and call him her market beau!  Scandalous!

Happy New Year to each and every one of the two of you who read this :o)  May 2012 bring us all much love,  laughter,  friendship and lots and lots of good eating!!

Auria