Thursday, July 26, 2007

Home away from Home


Bright and early, I boarded the bus and headed out to meet Kak Teh at Malaysia Hall. There was no water to be seen anywhere along my route and I was waiting in front of the Bayswater tube stop - where the familiar figure of Kak Teh came up the street to meet me, and gave me a big hug. We started talking and did not stop until lunch time!

I knew it would be warm and wonderful to meet her, but it was underlined to me that she embodies all that is true and warm of the Malaysian personality - and to many of the community here, she is the heart and home away from home. Meeting her brought me in touch with a whole part of Malaysia inside of me I had not visited for a long time, and it was a gentle homecoming.

I think the cafe at Malaysia Hall is worth a visit. I will confess I was so intent on the conversation, I barely tasted my food! There is no picture of the nasi lemak as I had demolished it before I thought of taking a picture - aiyah, not a food bloggerlah! In the picture you can see the curry puff and a bit of the roti canai, a pot of my Frankincense potion, YM's book (for Kak Teh) and some Terengganu rendang and Asam kepala ikan that Kak Teh kindly brought for me.

Of course I would have carried on till dinner if I could, but I had an appointment with the Tower of London. Ahh, I drifted away back into the bowels of the city, the happy hum of friendly words in my head.

15 comments:

Kak Teh said...

msiagirl, hey thank you! Such kind words. You didnt mention that we asked them to scrape the rice pot for us! Thanks YM for the book and most importantly for bringing us together!

psst - i keep looking in the mirror - no change yet! the lines are still there but I am hoping and splashing on the cream!

msiagirl said...

Kak Teh: hee hee ya we got the crusty rice at the bottom of the pot!

psst - I hope you are also getting some beauty sleep because miracles are 99% effort, 0.5% cream, 0.5% other divine intervention.*grin*

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

Looks like you had a nice time in London. Your experience meeting up with Kak Teh must have been similar with your first meeting with us here in KL, I'm sure. It's wonderful how we can all meet on blogosphere, form new friendships, meet up in real life, and become tighter friends.

You asked them to scrape the pot?? LOL.

Kak Teh said...

lyrical lemongrass - we insisted that they scrape the pot! and watching over our shoulders just in case other customers got to it first! But its the company that's priceless too!

Kenny Mah said...

My three dear ladies,

I'd scrape the rice bowl for you anytime you ask. And more. ;)

Ahem.

Hugs,
Kenny.

Anonymous said...

Dear Msiagirl,

I love "Kuo Pa" in Mandarin, crusty rice at the bottom of the pot. I always order BiBimBob (rice top with meat and vege) on a clay pot from Korean Restaurants.

So, you met with the famous blogger lady? First Kenny, LL and now Kak Teh. Exciting!

msiagirl said...

I am a lucky lucky girl that I got to meet all my favourite people in this amazing blogworld. (ps. all my realworld friends now think I am weird...well actually, what else is new?)

LL: The pot scraping man was rueful but resigned, I am still salivating thinking of the sambal. Sighhh.

Kak Teh: There's no way they say no to you!

Kenny: Some of your favourite ladies here on one page. All happy to hug you. Auntie auntie!

lee ping: Have you had persian rice cooked with dill, and it has a layer of lovely crunchy potatoes on the bottom of the pot. YUM!

WokandSpoon said...

Oooo, curry puffs?? YUM

msiagirl said...

W&S: Nothing beats a hot out of the wok currypuff, esp on a rainy day :) Must look up the pastry - sometimes before I had kiddies, I would get a packet of puff pastry and make the filling and bake a bunch, since I don't like deep frying. Satisfies the craving anyway!!

Kenny Mah said...

Apa ni "Auntie auntie"? All I can see are sweet young things in the prime of their womanhood. Lucky is the chap that's me...

Oh, your description of Persian rice with dill and a cruncy potato base sounds fantastic. I'd love to try some... I eat so poorly as a singleton... no wonder I keep getting skinnier and skinnier... :(

Kenny Mah said...

P.S. Reread LL's comment about your first meeting with Kak Teh being similar to your first meet-up with us. Wish I was less fatigued when we met though. You'd have gotten the full, unadulterated Kenny instead of the watered-down, skim-milk version... :P

Oh well, there's always next time... ;)

msiagirl said...

Kenny luv: make sure you get lots of sleep and rest before I visit next year! Was v happy with meeting Kenny-as-he-is-in-the-moment, enjoyed my visit, and will enjoy my next one even more!

Kenny Mah said...

Will do! I so need to get more rest and sleep... weird thing is, these days I can't seem to nap. Wake up most days around 7:30am (sometimes at 6:15am if I head to gym early) and get to bed by 11:30pm or 12-ish latest. And nothing in between no matter how groggy I get in the middle of a working day.

I've become so BORING and unable to fully enjoy the many pleasures of snoozing... :(

Somebody save me!

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

no bayswater four seasons roast duck??

msiagirl said...

Aagh! I could do with more rest and sleep but some nights I really have insomnia!

Kenny: Get that rest whenever you can or you'll end up hyper like me - or I'll end up hyper like you ;)

Joe: I did do the duck at Bayswater one of the last times I was in that area! It was good!