Thursday, August 7, 2008

Of Laksa Asam and a good friend...

I was in Kuching for a few days the other day for a conference, and was working on my slides for my presentation at the hotel room on Monday afternoon, when the phone rang.

It was one of my MT friends.

She is one very hard-working mom, I tell you. A high-flyer, and very good at what she's doing. And she's somebody whom I would say, memang tak boleh duduk diam. She was (still is) on a 2-week MC, and suddenly found that she had so much time in her hand at home, and so, she decided to cook for his brood and the brood's Ayah who had just come back the day before after being away for about 10 days.

The menu - Laksa Asam.

Apparently, she was flicking through our alma mater's Recipe Book (Dari Srikandi untuk Srikandi) and just could not decide on whether to cook Laksa Asam or Laksa Johor. She called just to clarify on some of the ingredients and instructions to whip up a mean laksa dish for her family. She finally decided on Laksa Asam, when I told her that it would be the less remeh between the two :)

We said our bye-byes, and I continued working on my slides.

A few minutes later, an SMS came from her -

"What do I do with d laksa? Rendam air panas n toss? Kan?"

I texted -

"Hehe...If fresh laksa, jz rendam in boiling water 2-5 mins dependg on types. If dry laksa, boil water first, add laksa n boil til soft. Gd luck!"

Then came her reply -

"Tq! Yeay, almost done. Errr...Bibi tanya, letak timun nggak? Bagimana sih, bu' Shana? Kasi in timun nggak?"

I replied -

"Timun ricik halus for garnishing - x need 2 put in kuah. Other garnishg sliced bwg besar, lettuce, chili padi, telur rebus, mint leaves, limau nipis. PETIS. YUMMY!"

And she came back with -

"Mak oiii? Bnyk nyer!"

Hehehe...She never fails to bring a smile to my face everytime she speaks, e-mails, SMS, and of course, when she blogs - even when her heart is not smiling sometimes...

So, to my friend (you know who you are), I hope the Laksa Asam turned out better than what you expected it to be, and that your boys enjoyed it sehingga menjilat jaghi. You should give yourself more credit when it comes to cooking la, kawan...

And more importantly, I hope you are embracing the hikmah well...

One of these days, I'm going to call you up for your Ketam Masak Lemak Kuning recipe, okay?

In the mean time, have a good rest, and enjoy the time with your heroes ;). And if you ever feel like cooking Laksa Johor - errrr, please call J*!

Hahaha...

Take care, my friend :)

(((((HUGS))))))


P/S : You did say I could blog about this didn't you? ;) Hehehe...

20 comments:

MrsNordin said...

I think I know who you're talking about here. Yang anak dia nak "ghabbit" tu, kan? Hee.. hee...

wanshana said...

Ghabbit?!

Errr...More like "ikan yang ada mulut panjang tu" now...

Hehehe...

Waterlily said...

No no no.. I think dia demam sebab lama sangat menyelam cari dolphin..heh heh heh...

Shana, one of these days, do post some recipes ya..and to this person who's in the midst of her expedition mencari ikan lumba lumba - get well soon!

Cheers!

Lee said...

Hi Wanshana, hey, I love assam laksa! Reading it makes me dying to have a bowl, maybe two! Ha ha.
Gosh, you a gourmet cook too, huh?
Have a great weekend, Lee.

IBU said...

Wah! Wah! Wah!!! Wan Shana d up & coming blogger blogged about a 'good friend' and her adventure in the kitchen?

Wohohoho..... fofular la kejap kawan dia tuh!

Shana...shana...shana....I got to know about your cooking & culinary expertise during Tmn Tun bujang days. With housemates like Abid & Onair, all the delicious secret recipes of yours were shared without sparing any details. er... but they all tu .... verbalised jer lah, bagi "kecur" air liur. Masaknya tak jugak. Ceh!

And I wondered - sapa cikgu home science you eh? oooh.... not the same as mine, patutlah! hahahaha....

Hmmm...they say, the way to a man's heart is thru his stomach. Patutlah Tuan Doc sayang sgt-sgt kat yewwww!
As for my Ayah, alahai... kesian lah dia kan? As fate has it, he's succumbed to just me! Ka..Si..Hannn!

Nanti kita tepon your good friend tu and ask about the eventual outcome of the asam laksa okeh?

And eh! your good friend tu, tak gheti duduk diam? Is that like - tak ghenti cakap or cannot sit still? Or both? Aiyerrrrr.....

MamaEta said...

Hi shana....kita pun cam boleh sangka kawan MT yang sorang ni....he he...( napenya mc lama sgt....)...

Send my salam ye kalu u sms kat dia...

p/s:..Diisni banyak kali experiment masak yg pernah tak serupa gambar itu buku masak...ish..isk..isk..

Anonymous said...

Hehehe... I've tried laksa johor & laksa sarawak but never asam laksa. Nanti klu I nak try I text via ur blog ok? ;-)

Kmar said...

Shana,

Familiar aje nama 'kawan' you tuu.. he.he.he... Apa nak buat, anak-anak semuanya Power Rangers. Kalau ada Supergirl, boleh jugak give a hand with cooking kan??

Berguna jugak buku Resepi Srikandi tu... !!!

wanshana said...

Waterlily,

Or lama sangat menyelam cari ikan kembung/mackerel/sardine nak buat laksa asam... :)

Errr...nak post recipes here? Boleh, tapi without the pics coz' my dishes semuanya boleh harap rasa aje kot, tapi rupa horror...Hehehe!

wanshana said...

Uncle Lee,

No need to be a gourmet cook to masak kuah asam laksa my style. All ingredients campur-campur and boil for an hour or so....tadaaaaa - sudah siap! :)

I bet aunty also can cook a mean asam laksa, betul tak? :)

Enjoy your weekend, Uncle Lee.

wanshana said...

Ibu,

BOTH! My good friend tu tak ghenti cakap AND cannot sit still. Hehehe!

You la tepon my good friend tanya outcome laksa asam hari tu - you sorang aje ada nombor tepon dia, kan, kan, kan...?

Ha-ah, my sifu SRT - Mrs Yap. Yours was Pn. Rosnani kot? Tu lah sebab - you tak leh focus coz'dok risau tengok dia pakai kebaya dia yang ultra-ketat masa cooking demo kot? Hahaha!

Errr...many ways to a man's heart actually. Menurut tuan doktor ada a few access points, and apparently stomach is NOT one of them... Heheheh!

wanshana said...

Eta,

Betul lah tu tekaan you... Hehehe!

Rajinnya you masak ikut recipes DSUS tu. But, I just noticed they've left out or mistyped a few things in the recipes I sent in. E.g. for the Shandian Curry tu - the ketumbar and the jintans should be in powdered form sebenarnya.

Anyway, selamat mencuba recipe-recipe baru :)

wanshana said...

Ja,

Boleh. No problem. My recipes ni semua pretty basic and main campak-campak ajer mostly.

I ni memang kaki laksa - all the laksa under the sun I suka! Mostly, I suka MAKAN laaaa....Tapi, tak suka MASAK! Hehehe...

wanshana said...

Kmar,

Memang berguna buku DSUS tu! Ada one time tu I buat door-wedge, and another time pulak, I buat pelapik hot drinks I...HAHAHAHA!!

Frankly speaking, tak sempat lagi nak try any of the recipes in it. Next cuti sekolah kot? (Yeah, right...)

About girls more prone to helping in the kitchen, have to say that not ALL girls are interested in cooking, etc. I have two living proof at home! Hilman is the one who shows more interests when it comes to helping out in the kitchen, etc.

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Guys, Shana punya mee rebus tak boleh tahann! Zaman undergrads lagi dah pandai masak.Masa tu I cuma survived on fish and chips.Credit is to mommy dia lah, yg memang masak apa pun sedap and rajin bagi we all makan anytime any day kita semua lepak kat keramat zaman baru baru grad dulu.Allah bless you always auntie! Yus.

aiz said...

kak shana, laksa johor kalu...nak ikuttttttttt!!!!!

wanshana said...

Yus,

Amin. Thank you :)

My Mom dah tak berapa larat nak masak and buat makan-makan dah now ni. In fact now when we go back home, we all tak bagi dia masak dah. Normally we would just buat potluck aje.

We all miss her cooking, of course, but, we'd rather not let her take charge of the kitchen when anak-menantu and cucus are around her. Nanti lauk penuh dua meja if she were to have her way!

To tell you the truth, I never did help my mom in the kitchen AT ALL dulu coz' Lala & Yong would help her out all the time. Only started cooking during my A Levels in the UK - thrown into the deep end and had to feed myself. Kalau tak, kurus kering... Hehehe!

Then baru realized that I actually enjoyed cooking, and the rest is history :)

My mee rebus? Have been quite some time since I last cooked it (last raya to be precise!). Have been getting a lot of subtle requests from a lot of quarters lately for my mee rebus. One of these days, insya Allah ;)

Take care.

Kak Teh said...

Ketam masak lemak?? Oh no...dont mention it now! lemah kak teh dengar ketam. Rasanya - will make a dash to the oriental supermarket to get a fe packets! I can only make sambal crab - cant handle masak lemak.

wanshana said...

Aiz!!!

I pun nak ikuuuuuuttttt kalau Laksa Johor!

K.Shana tak pernah buat Laksa Johor ni - pandai makan ajer. But, maybe, if I get one very good (and easy) recipe, I can try to cook it, insya Allah.

But, if laksa asam, mee rebus, kuey teow goreng, nasi ayam, briayani, etc., insya Allah bisa diatur, and Aiz boleh 'ikut'. ;)

wanshana said...

Kak Teh,

My good friend punya ketam masak lemak ni really 'fowerful' tau. Kalau gathering kat her place, or if we all buat potluck, that's one of the wajib dishes that she cooks/brings. Masak bukan sikit-sikit pulak tu. Kurang-kurang 5 kilo!

Either that, or she would serve/bring tembikai... Hehehe!

Hi-5! Myself pun, I can only masak sambal or sweet n sour ketam ajer.

I say...am salivating now! Hahaha!