Melaka – for an EGG ICE CREAM

 
          When Melaka or Malacca (in English) was founded in 1262, one wouldn’t have gotten an egg ice cream. Forward 858 years and this is the only place in Malaysia to get a perfectly formed EGG ICE CREAM.

 

      Melaka was named after the tree where a Palembang prince from Java, Indonesia rested when his boat reached our shores. While mulling under this tree, he noticed a mouse deer (neither a deer or a mouse) kicking his hunting dog into the river.

      A bit astonished at this brave feat from a small shy animal, he decided to build his city here. Malacca is in the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites becos' of its long history of being first colonised by the Portuguese in 1511, then by the Dutch in 1641 followed by a temporary British rule in 1795. 

18th Century Dutch architecture is seen in this Anglican Church built by the Dutch in 1741. The ceiling rises to 40 feet and the year 1698 is inscribed in the church bell.  Drawn by me!

    Going to Malacca is a right of passage for Malaysian students. We get dragged to Malacca for a day trip of history lessons on the Dutch, Portuguese and English influence. Melaka has a "rich" Peranakan culture where the Chinese immigrants married the local Malays during the 15th and 16th centuries.

        Adult Malaysians flock here for a very different lesson - to taste the melting pot of the different cultures created from the infusion of foreign and local flavours. 
Savvy K and her friend E made this food trip after being "locked in" for 127 days in Selangor. Their food trail began at the river front with a couple of beers. 

Dinner was at the Portuguese village (a must for all visitors) 

where for 125 MYR (30 USD), they had "lala" clam soup,

salted egg prawns (expensive at 55 MYR (3 USD) of total bill), omelette and 

fried "sotong" squid. 

The next day, they found their way to the famous Yong Peng Fish Ball stall. 

 

Note the many red bowls of noodles they sell daily. Pasted at the bottom half of the stall are all the food reviews.

  Front bowl is E's - spicy & hot curry noodles. The plain dry noodles with fish ball soup is Savvy K's who like me, cannot take too spicy food. Gives us the runs!! 

After moseying along Jonker street where 17th century old shop houses still stand, I am not sure if its brunch or lunch they shared next, but it sure looked like breakfast to me.

And at last they had the famous cendol (shaved ice with red kidny beans, green jelly, gula melaka and coconut milk).

 In 2019, CNN named cendol as one of the top 50 world's best dessert , so remember if you do visit Malaysia, it is cendol you MUST try.

And this is my favourite - cendol/ice kacang (peanuts) with Musang King durian, Burp!

Note: All photos taken by Savvy K

JUICE ON THE RUN

Thory gets his cake.

 What can you do when you are on holiday and the hotel only serves boxed juice. Nothing much really, unless you have this nifty portable juicer. 

It's light, it's cool and it really juices.

Gizmo Man had some tricks up his sleeve. This time, he returned from work and proudly bought out this gadget. “See what I got for you? Good or not?” 

Then he proceeded to “whirrlll” the juicer with a magician's flair. Me being the damper said, “what for? Have to keep buying batteries.” 

   He promptly replied, “Think I stupid ah? See, can charge from plug point or computer. NO BATTERIES."

It is actually quite a remarkable gadget, nice for a glass or two of juice without having to wash a bulky juicer.

 Here, I am juicing only one orange, it can easily juice lots more. 

The blades are small but sharp. It is marvelous as I can drink directly from the gadget with the pulp, or only the juice as it comes with a screw-on-top strainer. 

But why stop at orange juice, add on:

     🙈 wine and some fruits, for a Sangria

  🙊And a tequila margarita sunrise on the rocks

 at sun set.

Ahhh … my evenings have just gotten a whole lot better.

 As we say in Malaysia, "Jangan (don't) stress, Relak, lah."
Thory is 2-years and still as greedy 🐷.

MONKEY BUSINESS AT HOME

🙈 HELP! 🐵

MONKEY invasion in my back yard! SCARY when they just glare down at me.

    Caesar 's on the prowl and looking for food.

         They came in troupes, 

walked along the side walls/roof tops to the front 

where our trash bins are kept for collection. 

Unfortunately, they are a bit messy and do not tidy up after rummaging.

        One afternoon, Caesar just strolled in through my window and stole a bunch of bananas.

Fortunately, it was quite polite and did not take my banana hanger.

 They are the long-tailed macaques. 

        Thory doesn't like monkeys much, unlike Bobbi the monitor lizard whom he looks forward to meeting every afternoon. 

        But its a good thing. These monkeys are quite ferocious and attack in a gang.   Poor Thory wouldn't stand a chance.

Caught on video

MY STAINED GLASS WINDOW

I guess if I can’t have a stained glass window, I can colour one. My first attempt colouring the Cathedral Stained Glass Window Book. Thanks Lan Boey for this fantastic present and connecting me with cathedrals. This book of 120 stained glass windows should keep me at home till the vaccine for Covid-19 is ready.

 On a more serious note, reintroduction of a stage 3 coronavirus partial lock down was implemented in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia on July 8. But debate over wearing masks 😷 is still raging worldwide, even when Covid-19 cases are spiking. WHY?
 
CNN reports Florida's more then 10,000 daily new cases is now a  norm!
Arizona has the highest 7-day positive rate in US. 
   It is amazing to me then, that some governments can only ADVISE its citizens to wear masks, but not make it a MANDATE. Thus, as of Monday, 39 states in US have issued some form of directive on mask wearing, but NOT COMPULSORY. 

STERN WORDS from DR. ANTHONY FAUCI,
US TOP INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT

WEARING MASKS IS BASED ON SCIENCE, NOT POLITICS.

SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is NOT a HOAX

THORY AND BELLE HAVE VISITORS

Thory and Belle getting more attention in one hour than what they get in one day.

 Yesterday, Boey, her son Mel Han and wife Mei Keng came over for a visit. Boey wanted to give me the owl T shirt she drew, 

another chilli red T-shirt, a colouring book on cathedral stained glass windows (of which I have started) 

  and my 2020 qigong calender (opps, we are already in July).

All presents long overdue, cos' of the five month disruption from the infamous coronavirus.

     And guess who was the most excited and got maximum quantities of pets and stomach rubs. Thory was already jumping all over them once the car door was opened. He was running all around finding new angles to “greet” them.

   Of course, like all children, Thory had to embarrass his owner by pleading for snacks

  KISSING,

AND sniffing in the wrong places. 

And after blogging about masks yesterday, Boey gave me this classic one. 

"Visit us again, always welcome" says Belle. 

Belle's pix taken by Mel Han.