For years I have raved about Malaysian food. My best memories were of Curry Laksa, Prawn Mee, and banana leaf Indian food. The food was the only thing that I looked forward to on this return trip. Sadly I have learned that with progress, things change. The food of my memory is not the food of my reality. Yesterday a group of us went to lunch. I didn't have much say in lunch and everyone wanted me to eat Nasi Goreng which is fried rice with deep fried and/or dried small fish in it. I very much dislike Nasi Goreng and refused. I ordered Chicken Rice instead. The food arrived in various stages and everyone dug in to their plates with slightly horrified glances at the minimalism of my plate. The chicken was really dry but that was actually a relief as I wasn't too worried about the food safety of the meal. The rice was rice. The guy next to me was happily munching away at his Nasi Goreng when suddenly, towards the last two bites, he made a face and...
spit out (I kid you not) a seashell!
Now that's a first and it could only happen in Malaysia! I could not stop laughing and continued to eat my bland and dry Chicken Rice.
Today I thought my lunch would be redeemed. We went for Curry Laksa which I happen to like. I couldn't remember the exact variation of the Laksa that was my favorite so I guessed. That's always a bad mistake in any country. I ordered Penang Curry Laksa which looked great when it arrived and tasted.....
really bad.
Turns out that this Laksa had sardines, not chicken as the protein. Since I ordered it, I had to sip away in silence and not admit that I made a mistake. There's nothing worse than making other people feel bad for your ordering mistake. (They would all take it as their personal failure) So I ate the noodles, hid the sardines under the sauce as best I could, and ate really slow so no one would notice that I wasn't eating at all. My god, it worked!
I have a free day on Sunday. My goal for the day is to be 100% in charge of my own eating. I will find food that I like that is both local in nature and tasty. I have hours to do this and it will happen. That's the word today. You'll all find out in 24 hours how successful I was in the mission!
spit out (I kid you not) a seashell!
Now that's a first and it could only happen in Malaysia! I could not stop laughing and continued to eat my bland and dry Chicken Rice.
Today I thought my lunch would be redeemed. We went for Curry Laksa which I happen to like. I couldn't remember the exact variation of the Laksa that was my favorite so I guessed. That's always a bad mistake in any country. I ordered Penang Curry Laksa which looked great when it arrived and tasted.....
really bad.
Turns out that this Laksa had sardines, not chicken as the protein. Since I ordered it, I had to sip away in silence and not admit that I made a mistake. There's nothing worse than making other people feel bad for your ordering mistake. (They would all take it as their personal failure) So I ate the noodles, hid the sardines under the sauce as best I could, and ate really slow so no one would notice that I wasn't eating at all. My god, it worked!
I have a free day on Sunday. My goal for the day is to be 100% in charge of my own eating. I will find food that I like that is both local in nature and tasty. I have hours to do this and it will happen. That's the word today. You'll all find out in 24 hours how successful I was in the mission!
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