What does colour taste like?

Food day out at Soo Kee on Jalan Ampang (oops) Medan Imbi.

Photos taken by a Lumix GX1. - EXPressive mode and intentionally over-exposed.

Just so you know, the last photo was taken at a speed of 50km/h. Really, talk about sharp and fast auto focus.

Book: She's Leaving Home by Monica Trapaga.

I got hooked because the cover was nice. And each page that follows was nice. The whole book was nice. To look at. Because I'm not a very fervent cook, neither am I very good at it. But I get inspired by creative and motherly cooks to be a better person. How is that so? When life gives you a lemon, you make zest out of it. That's how.

Monica Trapaga is a mother of many and an extremely big hearted cook. From her personal notes and the way she speaks of each personal recipe (now available to everyone), just shows how much love she has for people. I think she's the ultimate connection between Man and Raw Ingredients :) Her pots and pans are like magic wands that zap heartiness into each meal.

My favourite quote: There is nothing more satisfying that homemade soup. Whenever I've wanted to let a person know that I really love and care for them, I make them soup. It fortifies the soul and seeps into every nook and cranny of the body, rejuvenating, nourishing and energising with love

Okay. My mission from now on to all I love: SOUP ;)

Sparks Open Library Project

Malaysia: Bizarre soups!

I'm loving this book called 'Malaysia at Random'. Have you ever heard of these two soups before?

1) Gearbox soup - essentially a mixture of either cow or sheep bones boiled till almost disintegrated, so that you can suck the marrow out with a straw.

2) Torpedo soup - ahem, no prize for guessing which part of the bull is used as a vital ingredient in this spicy soup to increase your manhood's performance. It costs a whopping RM15 for a bowl yo!

Okay, I think I just lost my appetite. Photos from Simon Seow's blog. Stuff like that, you simply need another person to take up the challenge instead. According to his blog, it tastes... fine. After he downed a coupla beer that is. Take a look at his challenge - yea, you're supposed to gobble everything. As in, e.ve.ry.thing.

Book: Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin.

Dry sarcasm with a larger-than-life attitude, Kenny Shopsin's entire life and character in between two hard covers. It doesn't just sell you the shop (no matter how hard he tries not to) and the dishes sold in the shop, it sells you his philosophy - of staying small and accountable to his passion and dreams, not fame and fortune.

I'm amazed with the neverending list of weird sounding yummies generated from the book, which is really a reflection of the menu. I'm quite doubtful with some food combination stated but then again, I don't think Shopsin would care for anyone's doubt.

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed reading this book and the first thing in the menu that I'm gonna try making? Corn Chowder. Hmm... What better way to start the New Year than experimenting with some food stuff and friends ;)

Shopsin is a small and personal restaurant on Essex Street, New York. You can find a similar set up in Malaysia at Checkers (Damansara Heights). Great place for deep porcine affection - ribs and all - minus the overwhelming food list and attitude.

You can borrow it here at Sparks' Open Library Project.

Why Japanese food tastes so good?

The Chinese believe in the 4 tastes - sweet, sour, bitter, spicy.

While the West buddies believe in sweet, sour, bitter and salty.

And then there is the 5th which is called the umami. It's the full-bodied taste that turns water into a kind of food which is soup. Most of us would remember Ajinomoto which when translated is 'the source of taste'. It is essentially an amino-acid salt or better known as MSG (yup, the stuff that urban legend says makes you go bald). Ajinomoto was advertising itself to be the 'umami', the 5th taste in our palate. I don't know how credible that claim is but this extraordinary 'taste' can also be achieved if you use meat stock or dashi (a type of Japanese kelp broth) minus the hair falling bit.

Japanese food essentially tastes so good (other than the fact that they use nothing short of the freshest ingredients), it's because dashi is used as a base for most of their cooking (soups, sauces, etc).

The simplest way to nail that umami taste, unknown to many, is when you add just a tiny bit of salt onto raw tomatoes. Yup, you've been having that for as long as you can remember and wondered how on earth salt and tomatoes can taste so... full-bodied for lack of a definition then. Well, now you know.

Wait no more.

Awhile ago, we talked about foodie blogger turned do-er. And were hoping to see more Malaysians 'do' instead of just 'talk talk talk talk talk'. I guess there's no need to duplicate a local webbie just to get people into the action. Newly launched imcooked does just that. Cook it, film it, share it. Now it's up to videocam makers to consider how to create vcams that can stand all that heat in the kitchen. I mean, it isn't easy to grind, chop, fry with your right hand and record all these actions with your left. Hmm. That just opens up a whole new can of... spaghetti, doesn't it?

Malaysia doughnut craze?

On November 1st, The Star published an article (photo) on the absurd queue of Malaysians, all waiting for a bite of the new craze in town - J.Co Donuts and Coffee. At first glance, KL-ites might think that they're having a slice of something ala Krispy Kreme. But what they didn't know is behind the all-premium facade of J.Co lies a proud Indonesian heritage. Same goes with the newly established Big Apple in The Curve. You think Big Apple = NY? Heck, no! It's owned by a proud Malaysian who actually cared enough to learn the art of doughnuts in the REAL Big Apple. I guess his hardwork did pay off as people were queuing up for doughnuts like there was no tomorrow! But. My question is. What's the sudden biggy with these buns with a hole huh?

Dunkin Donuts have been around for yonkers and they were either happily resting on their laurels or were about to go under, till these two donuteers came to save the day and pretty much revived people's craving for these little sweet things. Well, I think it's because if you're in the food industry. No, scrape that. If you're in ANY industry for that matter, it's about the ripest time it can get for you to introduce new ways of living. Awhile back, the craze was cupcakes. I don't think it has died down completely but people fancied the idea of having these cute little diabetic-inducing cakes as a replacement for our usual 1kg chocolate cake or whatever have you. Heck, did you know these little cuppa cakes can be a hell lot more expensive than the normal cakes if you count cost per gramme. What are Malaysians doing, wasting their hard-earned money like that!?

That's what happens when you have a sizeable percentage of the population laced with new money. In other words, young professionals who don't need to contribute anything to the household or double income earners who don't need to contribute anything to kids or double income earners who willingly contribute a whole lot of cash to their kids because of, well, what else but guilt. Well, whichever way you're seeing it, it makes perfect sense. New money earners have found this new sense of liberation from their income. Here stemmed the roots of narcism and incessant pleasure gratification. As in, the automatic habit of constant self-reward. There isn't a need to put a value to how much they are earning or how much the reward cost. The fundamental of this behavior doesn't change whether it's a new shirt or a new phone or even an overpriced piece of dough, ultimately it is because 'I now can'.

This phenomenon (although I know most of you would hardly call a donut fad a phenomenon) really intrigues me, which is why I'm gonna pledge some time to concentrate on a new research to find out the changing lifestyle of these urbanites (by the way, 70% of Malaysia is urbanised yea?) and what are the implications of various products and brands, and subsequently how these brands can meet the real needs of people in the midst of all these changes. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me this Christmas...

Foodies unite!

Calling foodies of the world, let's converge in iFoods.tv and share your family heirloom recipe with self-proclaimed chefs of Tom, Dick and Harriette.

I've been venturing into the kitchen of late, thanks to Jamie O's influence, who's probably one of UK's most renown celebrity chefs right now. I think why the Jamie Oliver brand is so appealing is because of his down-to-earth style of cooking and sharing of his homemade creations with viewers and fans. Needless to say, he's role in social innovation within the food industry also drew a lot of media attention worldwide.

Anyway.

The surge of food blogs in Malaysia over the past two years suddenly made everyone seem like a professional food critic. Some of these blogs are followed by a legion of fans while some are drawing thousands of ad Ringgit per month. Now my question is, will these blogs ever reach a saturation point? I mean after awhile, everyone would have blogged about a certain certain makan place at some point. Then what happens after that?

I think there is a great opportunity for foodie blogs to evolve into something bigger and more communal like iFoods.tv, locally. When every self-proclaimed food connoisseur in Malaysia have tried and tested every possible dish in Klang Valley (or beyond) (and I'm exaggerating), then the time is ripe to move into food creation (from thought creation). Although statistically speaking, the numbers of men cooking is still small but there is a visible trend of young singles living alone or young married couples without kids venturing into cooking - as an interest, not as a chore. They may still opt to eat out on a weekday (I mean, who wants to be near the stove when you've already felt that much heat at work right?) but on weekends, they may possibly go shopping and cook at home. I've had newly wed friends who are still trying and testing their hand in home cooked food. There's definitely something warm about it - men cooking for their ladies and ladies cooking for their men.

If this is a trend, then there will be huge opportunities for:

1) Kitchenware designed with masculinity in mind, using super sturdy and tough steel material that works like a Bosch tool rather than mom's favourite pot. That is IF more men are venturing into the kitchen, even if it's on weekends. While it is sweet and thoughtful to invite a lady over for a weekend dinner, Man would want to look impressive and not pretty in mom's apron.

2) More food communities like this one to inspire bloggers to do more food and share, and foodies to blog about their original culinary experience.

3) Recipes are no longer given like in the good old Kuali-days. Nowadays, people don't even need measurements! If you watch how Nigella cooks or how David Rocco prepares a meal, everything is according to the cook's guesstimate. There are no recipes and measurements on supers. So expect to see more similar videos floating online, produced by amateur cooks.

4) More social dinners amongst the young singles and/or young married couples who have their own place. A time to catch up with friends and strengthen bonds at home instead of outside.

5) More specialty shops selling suave and imported kitchenware from Europe due to the growing appreciation in product aesthetic of new home owners. The best time to showcase these products would be during the social dinners mentioned above.

These are just some of the related microtrends that could be fueling the new food phenomenon, should kitchen be the new hang out place. Now if you don't mind me, I have to go back and cook up a storm at work :)