More Rattan Furniture

Apparently, I am really getting into these Rattan sets. This new line of "Nest" products is from the Danish company Cane-Line. What I really like about them is that they have the artistic design quality of Franco Albini's classic pieces. Each piece like a piece of art, and this is what is somehow missing with the new rattan furniture which is mass produced. I should really get to that store in Seremban to see if they still have the round ottoman I want to pick up.

Light Fixture in Office Bathroom

I'm getting ready for B to make the mirror over the sink/vanity in the Office Bathroom as the Ikea mirror selection didn't have a mirror that would work here. In my recent post here, I shared the photo above which shows the weird yellow fixture over the sink/vanity that doesn't go with the bathoom or the other light fixture over the jacuzzi.

Close up of the yellow light fixture

So I looked around for some cream colored acrylic paint to try and paint the back part of the fixure, I didn't find the cream color I wanted, but found some pearl off-white paint with a bit of metallic in it. So I thought I would give it a try. Using my finger to rub the paint over the fixture, I didn't want it to look to solid. I wanted the paint to be slightly translucent, so that the color underneath was still present. Just wanted to downplay the brightness of the yellow color.

Here is a shot of the fixture after painting. It looks better and blends into the wall much better. But it's still an ugly fixture. For now, we use this and when we spot a nice fixture for over the sink/vanity and a vertical fixture to compliment it for near the jacuzzi, we can change them.

Galangal Plant Growing

Awhile back I wrote about the Galangal Rhizome I found at Family Store see here. I wrote that I might try to buy some roots from Family Store, and so I did. I put one rhizome in wet paper towel and plastic to see if it would grow leaf shoots. I let the bag sit for a couple weeks. Eventually I saw a green shoot and moved it to the Laundry Room where there is a large window. It keeps growing, so I guess it works. But now I'm pretty sure I don't want to put Galangal between our house and our neighbor's for privacy as I originally was thinking in my post here. I am currently thinking about Bamboo for this part of the property. But concerned bamboo will get out of control. Anyway, I need to find a place to plant this Galangal in my garden sometime soon... maybe the back corner.

Buying Ground Coffee in Malaysia

I like real coffee opposed to the instant type which is quite popular here in Malaysia. So finding good ground coffee isn't impossible, but a bit of a challenge. I can always go to Starbucks and spend a huge amount on a bag, but I didn't do this in NYC and I don't want to do it in Malaysia either... The best and most economical I find is at Tesco which sells about three varieties of Tesco Finest (the one in the photo above is Java Sumatra) and costs about 9.99rm for 227g. It is decent enough.

With the exception of "White Coffee", the best ground Malaysian coffee I can find in Seremban is 'Kapal Api' (about 4rm per bag). It really isn't good by itself at all! It tastes like Turkish coffee, bitter and strong. So when the selection of the Tesco coffee is running low (as it is now) I sometimes mix the Tesco Brand Coffee with the Kapal Api and it comes out as a good daily Coffee mixture.

I should write a whole post on White Coffee sometime soon.

Water Hyacinth in Bloom Already

It has amazingly been only two days since I took the photos of my new water bowls with the Water Cabbage and Water Hyacinth floating plants here. And this morning I woke up to a fully blooming Water Hyacinth. Where did the flowers come from? The plant must truly be one of the fastest growing plants in the world. The Water Hyacinth blooms, strangely, look much more like small Iris flowers than the bulb type Hyacinth flowers I grew in New York. I can't believe how fast the flowers grew and bloomed. But, then again, many things here in Malaysia amaze me in terms of how fast they grow.

2 Asian Water Bowls for the front of the House and a Big Vase/Planter

R liked the water bowls to my surprise and even suggested getting one for the patio too. We bought a large black one for the front and found a large planter/vase in dark grey/black to go next to the water bowl. We will eventually get a big plant for it, maybe a palm.

It became clear to me why R had agreed to get the bowls so easily, apparently, he liked something he saw outside a store in Seremban, it was a big water bowl with only big green leaf flowers floating in the bowl. He said he wanted something like that. So I went back to the site of said water bowl and had a look for myself. After doing some searching online, I determined that the green leaf 'flowers' R likes are Pistia or commonly known as Water Cabbage or Water Lettuce. And so I went about finding some Water Cabbage to fill our new bowls. Not easy in Seremban, but I finally found a place and bought all they had. They scouped the Water Cabbages and all of their roots and sludge into plastic bags. I came home and then washed off each 'rosette' and added them carefully to the water bowls. I was going to use the Water Cabbage in the front larger black bowl and add a small flowering Lotus with its lily pad type leaves to the blue water bowl on the patio. However, at the nurseries I found out that water Lotus plants, along with other water plants' roots need to be in soil at the bottom of water bowls.

This was a surprise to me and I wasn't really prepared to put soil at the bottom of either bowl. Because we put pretty black polished pebbles in the bottom of the black bowl and the blue bowl has a beautiful blue glaze color at the bottom (of course now, I see that it doesn't matter because with all of the water plants, the bottom doesn't show anyway). Nevertheless, I opted only for 'floating' type water plants for these water bowls. At another landscape shop, I found a lovely blue flowering floating plant (in the photo above it is the plants with the tube and bulbous stems in the bowl). I brought the plants home with blue flowers, but the next morning the flowers were totally gone. Maybe because they were nearing the end of their blooming, or maybe because of the stress of the transporting/transplanting the flowers died. Weird though, they buds totally disappeared. This blue flowering plant, I searched it and found it, is a "Water Hyacinth" check the wikipedia article on the plant and how they are one of the fastest growing plants in the world. The Water Hyacinth is also considered invasive because it grows so quick that a formation of multiple plants can block ships from traveling through waterways due to their thick roots. Very interesting. Let's see how fast mine grow!

Blue water bowl on Patio with Water Cabbage and some strange flat round floating leaves made up of numerous diamond-like leaves

We went back to get a big blue bowl for the patio so that there could be two, but the large blue bowl was imperfect. We should wait to see if the place gets another or one in black/blue.

Asian water bowls

Today's an exciting day... R has said he will come to look at some water feature bowls at the local landscape center in Seremban after lunch today!!!! I want to show him the 'bowls' I'm not sure what they are actually called. But they are planters that don't have holes in the bottom and are glazed inside so that you can put various water plants in them. I plan to put water lilies!!!! I'm thinking about placing a big water bowl 32" round and possibly a 24" round and 18" round as a group of three on the tile section at the front of the house that is currently empty (see above). But maybe just one big one and planters of plants instead, I don't know.

These are the biggest and best I could find in Seremban (photo above 32" round). I would prefer plainer, but maybe the black ones are ok. Will get R's opinion on the matter.

Inside the 24" water bowl.

24" water bowl

Below are some photos I collected of water plants inside bowls. I have seen other, better images but can't find them right now. Oh, and the local ones I see around are even more beautiful. They look best when it looks like they have been there awhile.

Landscape Planters in Malaysia

We have been looking for planters for around our property. I haven't really found any large black pots in square shapes (which I would prefer) in Seremban. Actually, I haven't found anything perfect yet in Malaysia but I haven't been to many garden stores in Selangor where there is a better selection. But, of what I did see, the delivery costs (as the items are fragile) seem to be high and the selection isnt that much better. I think it's best to pick something from Seremban. So I was at the garden center near my house where I happened to find some nice dark grey /nearly black matte pots which aren't bad. And at 6Rm each, they are cheap. But the problem is they only had 6 and the pots themselves are a small. I figured I'd buy them to get some plants going in the yard and can move these to the back of the house if/when I find something better. So I bought a few plants to put in the two pots at the front of the car park and planted them.

A shot of the pots at the Seremban garden center

AAI places 4 pots along the wall by the front door and am now looking to see what kind of plants I can buy for them as it is low light in that section under the front patio. I will be looking for other pots/water bowls for the front section of the house that is tiled (will post soon on that).

Mysterious Vine Growing on the Property

The other day I noticed this mysterious vine growing down from the rambutan tree at the back of the property. It's like it appeared out of nowhere and is now hanging down with lots of green fruits (?) about 3 1/2 feet above the ground. It looks like a long beanstalk vine. How strange. Things grow very fast here in the tropics.

Now what is it??? I should research what this fruit is and if we can eat it.

Kensington Seremban

Considered one of the best 'western' food restaurants in Seremban, this Kensington is in the Oakland area (not far from the new Tesco). We were told by someone that the restaurant is owned by a couple who lived in the UK for a number of years and now live in Seremban. There is another newer Kensington over at Terminal 2, Era Square in Seremban Town, but R and I have never been to that one. This Kensington is easier for us to get to. So yes the decor is dated! But the food is good! Someday we should try the newer location maybe the food is even better?

Usually we order steak, but we didn't feel like it on our recent visit for an early dinner. We opted for the 'Sizzling Chicken with cheese and ham'. It looks like a mess, but tasted good. We both commented, this is not something I would have ordered when I was living in New York City, far too heavy... but in Asia, its nice once in awhile to get something like this especially for the thick melted cheese and ham which aren't regular ingredients at restaurants here. So for one night it was good. Not sure we would order it again though. I think the plate was 16rm.

We also usually order the Moroccan Rice (normally with chicken, but since we ordered the other chicken dish we went for the seafood version). Well, the rice is always good and the side salad is so tasty. Those big prawns were very good. Not sure the price of this, but the whole meal including an appetizer of two giant fresh oysters stuffed and covered with cheese was 58rm.

Kensington

619, Jalan Haruan 4/9

Oakland Park

70300 Seremban

06-632-4851

other location:

No. 34 , Jalan Era Square 3

70200 Seremban

06-7687288

Making Homemade Bread in Malaysia

My first ever home baked bread sitting on willow pattern dinner plate

Yesterday I happened into the Bakery Supply Store located in Seremban in the small storefronts across from the Specialist Hospital. The Bakery Store has a few things that the other stores in Seremban don’t stock. Yesterday the Yeast section caught my eye which I must have missed last time I was there. I opted to buy Saf-Instant Levure Seche de Boulanger Dry Baker's Yeast in the small packets because I wasn’t sure if it was the right kind of yeast that I am used to in the States. I came home excited that I’m going to be able to make pizza crust with the yeast. So I am looking online and find that Saf-Instant made in France is one of the best Yeast brands world wide. It makes sense, the French do make good bread afterall! The Saf-Instant site explained this was the instant kind of yeast, which I’ve never used. The Seremban bakery store had some of the other Saf products available too, including larger size bags.

So as I am searching how much yeast to use to make pizza dough with the Saf-Instant product I came across some bread recipes. And then I found lots of blogs talking about Jim Lahey's, owner of Sullivan St. Bakery in New York City, ‘revolutionary’ home baked bread recipe which was featured in the NYTimes in 2006 here. Apparently, everyone in the US has since been baking this home bread recipe of his in their ovens at home. Well, I left NYC in early 2006 so I missed the article and knew nothing to date of the home bread craze going on since. Although I can say I have had some of Sullivan St. Bakery’s bread when I lived in NY and it was fantastic. It’s the kind of ‘gourment’ bread that’s been so popular in NY since the 90s and I would buy this kind of bread often (also to note this bread was always expensive starting at something like $4.00 per loaf and going up up up). One of the big bummers, in my opinion, of Malaysian foods is their bread selection. And Seremban has an even poorer selection than KL. So, I was thrilled, thrilled! to find a recipe to make this crispy type crust bread here in Malaysia.

So yesterday I started looking at the recipes online and other versions, but opted to start by making the original Jim Lahey recipe in the NYTimes figuring I could adapt it later. The only thing I needed was some kind of cooking vessel for cooking the bread inside the oven. I had seen some clay pots at the Family Store near my house, and I was fairly sure they would still be there. So last night I made the bread dough because it needed to sit out for 12 or more hours before the next step.

This morning the dough had increased in size and I went to Family Store and picked up a clay pot. Large in size it nearly fills the height of the oven. Based on Jim’s recipe I think I could have gone for a smaller clay pot, but the next size down there were only two at the store and the covers didn’t fit right on the top of the pots. So I went with the big one at 16.90RM (yes that’s under $6 US). I wasn’t sure if the clay pot was oven safe but for $6 bucks figured I’d give it a shot.... as my mouth was really starting to water for some of that bread.

Inside of this Clay Pot is glazed

Came home and did the whole recipe as called for. I think it was a success, the pot didn’t break or crack and the bread turned out good, there is some room for improvement both for taste and making the process simpler and less messy. R thought the bread could be more spongy and I agree, but overall not a bad loaf for about 30 cents (US). Oh, I might watch Family Store and see if they get any more of the smaller size clay pots, I would buy two so I can fit two of them in the oven at the same time and hence be able to bake two bread loafs at a time. One bad thing about this whole process is the heat from the oven in the house, like it’s not already hot in Malaysia!!!! So cutting down on the time the heat is on is a good thing and baking two loafs at once is better than two in a row.

Having a Cat in Malaysia

T sitting on his favorite chair in the Guest Room (chair is Ikea Snille)

T is around 9 months old now and we enjoy having him in our lives. We found him through Petfinder which is one of the better ways to find a pet in Malaysia. He has already had all of his booster shots (35rm per shot) and has been fixed (operation was around 140rm). I've spent time since September when he arrived finding different cat products, often times finding little selection at high cost. Relatively speaking the cost of having an animal in Malaysia seems higher in proportion to in the US in terms of cost of living.

One of the first things I searched for was good quality cat food. The imported brands like Science Diet and Blackwood and others are grossly overpriced. And I worry, as I have with food we buy for ourselves, about imported dry food. Even when the expiration date is far off, sometimes food like cereals gets stale very fast. Not to mention the possibility of bugs getting the product. So when I see that over 100rm bag of gourmet cat food sitting on the floor of the small and not really visited pet store in Seremban, I'm a bit skeptical. So what to buy? Jusco and Family Store have a number of brands of soft and dry cat food. Some are asian brands that I'm not familiar with. I tried a few of these as well as the Purina brand which I am familiar with. Sure, not a great brand in the US, but at least reputable. Purina foods here seem to pay more attention to nutrition and the food meets the standard set by the American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) as noted on their products.

So T gets the Friskies hard food at 14.99rm for a 1.5 kg bag. (this price is Family store, Cold Storage in Mid-Valley was charging nearly 18rm per bag and Jusco charges 17rm).

T also gets soft food. What is strange about the soft food selections in Malaysia is that nearly all of them are fish based... Tuna being the most popular, then all sorts of mackerel mixtures. T's favorite by far is Purina's Seafood Platter in Prawn Jelly! The cans come in 400g size and are 3.90rm each at Family Store. The serving suggestions on the back of the can are crazy though.... they suggest a cat the size of T or bigger should eat two full 400g cans of this fish a day!!! T is already battling not being overweight, I imagine how big his belly would get eating this much fish a day.

Cat Litter is also expensive here. A small bag of Tidy Cat (which you know isn't that great) is about 15rm. The fancier brands and clump kinds can run up to 26rm per bag!!!

What else have I noticed so far, well, I'm pretty turned off by the Vets here in Seremban, if we had a real medical issue with T I think we'd have to drive to the big state of the art Vet hospital closer to KL (I forget the name) because from what I have seen at three vets in Seremban, the medical is pretty sad for animals.

Oh another thing that is really interesting... Many many people cage their cats here in Malaysia in big 3 feet or 4 feet cages. I started seeing it on Petfinder and also other places. It's true most houses that have a cat also have a cat cage where the cat spends some or all of its time. I hate this and I couldn't understand why. Well, after having T for awhile I now understand why. I think it's because most Malaysian homes do not have screens on the windows. Therefore, the cats would escape and unless an owner didn't mind their cat being outside (to mix with strays, dogs and even other creatures like monitor lizards or snakes!) then the owner would have to cage if they wanted to keep the windows open. I still won't buy a cage, and our house is big enough that T can be closed off in a room for short periods. Otherwise, I bought a leash for him to put on when the patio doors are open and we are near the patio. He loves to go out on his leash. But guess what? Malaysian pet stores don't really sell yard leashes only short dog leashes for walking a dog. I had to have the yard leash mailed from the US... along with some cat toys.

Seremban Sprawl

View seen from Office window, our neighbor's car park roof

After hearing construction noise for a long time, I looked out the window in the office to see where the sound was coming from and I saw a bulldozer clearing a site within view of our house, just past our neighbor's house and outside of our gated community. This site has been empty and had some trees on it which blocked our view of the houses behind it and a far view of some stores along Jalan Tok Ungku and even further, a low mountain range. The bulldozer had already taken a number of trees before I snapped the photo above.

Well, by the end of two days, all the trees were gone and the space is now leveled. I found out that they are going to build a new bungalow on the land.

Area with circle was cleared after we moved in

This is the second time we have seen a bulldozer, the first a short while after we moved into the house when they were clearing a large amount of trees not far away (image above). The trees that were there totally blocked our view of Jalan Tok Ungku and made the view in front from the big windows on the second story family room lots of trees and green and only the one bungalow house that sits below us. Now there is a break in the trees and we can see, and sometimes hear, faint traffic traveling on the road.

Arrows show where buses are stored.

When we were thinking about buying the house we were concerned not about the other areas that have already changed, but if there would be any construction in the tree surrounded longterm parking lot in front of our house to the right. It is currently being used as a place for parking buses in storage (they aren't moved regularly); so we thought/think the land might be more valuable if it is sold and used for building.

The area's de-treeing has happened sooner than we thought. It makes us want to get some trees and foilage growing in front of the house asap so that if there are more surprises, at least we can maintain our privacy on the property. All of this said, we still have a very good piece of freehold land by Malaysia standards which is quite quiet and private. Only a few cars a day travel on the road right in front of our house because it is within our small 23 house community.

Jackfruit

Our Neighbor behind us brought over this bowl of fragrant smelling fruit. She couldn't tell us the english name of of it. So During breakfast this morning we sampled the fruit which has a strong pleasant odor and a rich multi-layered sweet taste. The Fruit seemed ripe but was also a bit 'rubbery'. Overall, a fantastic tasting fruit that we had never tried or seen before.

Each piece of fruit looks like a hollowed out flower bud.

After searching yellow-orange flower bud fruits of Southeast Asia and looking at many photos, I finally came to the conclusion that the fruit is "Jackfruit". Although most of the photos showing the inner fruit of Jackfruit online look like a lighter yellow color, I did see some that are more the yellow-orange color of the fruit we received. We often see these large pods at makeshift fruit stands along the road and often with the more round pod which we think is Durian. We have wanted to try the jackfruit but never got around to it as we didn't know how to cut the pods, or where to buy the fruit already cut. Well, now we know and we will be looking out for more of it!