SE Asia

Today we had a day off!
We got taken for breakfast, then tagged along with Lili and Popo's weekly trip to see her Dad. He lives in the next state over from Kuala Lumpur, but it only took 40 minutes to drive. On the way, Lili pulled over at a street stall and bought us some snacks as she was worried we'd get hungry! We tried deep fried cempedak, which is a fruit very similar to jackfruit, however fried it was very mushy and neither of us liked it much.
As soon as we arrived at her Dad's, Leon was put to work chopping down some bananas in the garden which no one else could reach (he's very tall, 6'5!). We got a lil tour around the garden, a lot of which Lili uses in her cooking at Sarang, and got to nibble on lots of different vegetables and herbs.
Lili and Popo then left to go visit her auntie who lives nearby, and we sat with her dad. Well Leon talked to him and I promptly fell asleep on the sofa.
In the afternoon we explored the nearby mall and found coffee and arcade games to entertain ourselves. We then got snacks at some nearby stalls which Lili had recommended. As we were finishing off our food, Lili pulled up in her car as she was also grabbing food, so we managed to get a lift with her back to her dad's! Lili's brother and his kids had arrived for the family meal Popo was cooking up. We stayed for a bit, before getting a taxi to the nearby night market.
The market was surrounding a town square, and the streets were packed with food stalls. We did a lap, before going to the durian stall and purchasing a Durian. It called the king of fruits, and is super popular is SE Asia but particularly in Malaysia, plus it's Durian season so they're EVERYwhere. We asked for the sweetest fruit which we quoted £16 for!! So instead, with some help from a local, we picked up a much cheaper smaller variety to try. They tap it with a cleaver knife to check it's okay, the split the spikey fruit open and hand it over to you in a basket with some gloves.
Durian has a very distinct potent smell, so much so it's banned on public transport and in most indoor spaces (like hotels). It wasn't actually as bad as either of us were expecting. Was oddly creamy, nice initial taste but then a very strong funky aftertaste.
Feeling very brave for trying, we then went to seek out some other food to get the taste out our mouths haha. There was so much choice, we only managed a few dishes before feeling stuffed. But it was definitely the best food market I've been to so far! So much choice and really lively, we were the only westerners I spotted other than one other lady. We bought some popcorn tofu and the lady running the stall wanted to get a photo of us for her Instagram ha.
We then got scooped up by Lili and Popo just after 9, and driven home.
Even though the next morning the restaurant was closed, there was a last minute cooking class booked in, so we got taken to an early morning fruit and vegetable market to pick up supplies, then to a local buffet for breakfast. We helped set up for the cooking class. The people taking it were a family from Saudi, and had asked if there were other people participating in the class, as they didn't want to be the only ones. So very luckily, me and Leon got to join in and cosplay as travellers who had signed up for the class, and not people who worked there!
The cooking class was a lot of fun, we found out more of the history of Perkanan food, and got a proper tour of the herb garden. Perkanan or Nynona food names are inspired by the merchants who settled here. The main curry we made was called Kapitan curry (captain curry) and the roti jala we made alongside it, looks and translates to net pancakes.
We were divided into teams and cooked up dishes, it was created into a competition and marked up on presentation and taste ( we won).
We sat down and enjoyed the rewards of our cooking, then after the family left we had to go back to being volunteers and help clear up. Lili took us out for one final dessert run for the three of us, and Leon was leaving in the morning.もっと詳しく