This is going to last me 3-4 meals (two days of no cooking, woo!), since I made two types of sambal to go with it, one with anchovies and another, with squid. When I’m done with the rice (steamed with coconut milk, onion, garlic and ginger), I’ll probably eat the sambal with bread. It really makes me happy to know I can create stuff just as good as what I get back home (and perhaps better than what they serve in shops because of the fresh ingredients). Being self-sufficient is good, and of course, what’s a Malaysian without her nasi lemak?

Ingredients

[A]

2 red capsicums, sliced slantwise (substitute w/ 1/2 a bell pepper if you can’t take heat)
1/2 Big Onion (chopped)
3-4 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 piece of ginger, around 6-7cm in length and 3 in diameter (sliced in thin strips)
1/2 a stalk of lemongrass, shredded to strips

Everything Else
1 potato, cut into wide (but thinner than wedges) strips
2 Chicken Breasts (cut into strips)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
dark soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon powder (or around 3 pieces)
vinegar

Instructions

(1) Heat some canola oil in a non-stick frying pan or wok. Fry the taters till they’re done. Lift and drain. Remove most of the oil till there’s just enough to cook [A].
(2) Add [A] and let it get soft.
(3) Add the chicken strips. Stir-fry until the chicken is cooked.
(4) Drizzle in the soy sauce, just enough to cover the chicken, and then add the vinegar. There should be a balance between the two because you don’t want it to be either too salty or too vinegary, the soy sauce is for flavor and not to drown the chicken (I’ve made this mistake before, eh). You could add water if you want more gravy
(5) Add 1/2 a teaspoon to 1 teaspoon of sugar, and salt to taste. Add the (freshly grated) pepper and cinnamon powder.
(6) Add the fried potato, then let everything simmer.
(7) Lift and place in your super-nifty bowl/dish/whatever.

Notes

This is merely an improvisation/variation of the Malaysian Masak Kicap,(literally, cooking with soy sauce). I had it with my rice porridge and the ubiquitous green beans. It is best served with regular steamed rice. Or, the chicken could be turned into sandwich filling though you may want to cook it dryer then. Or just remove it from the gravy, eh. It’ll probably last me 3-4 meals.

This is the only kind of food I’ve wanted to eat for the past few days. Yes, I’m sick, and sick Asian girls need their rice porridge.

Instructions, for the Curious

The rice porridge is a no-brainer, just dunk rice in the pot, wash it, put lots of water and wait for it to boil. For the anchovies (if you actually like anchovies, that is), just look for dried anchovies, asian style (ikan bilis). Fry till crisp, push to one side of the non-stick frying pan, add thinly sliced big onions and capsicums. Stir together till the onion and capsicum soften. Lift. Blot with plenty of kitchen paper so there won’t be excess oil.

For the green beans:

1. Blend three cloves of garlic with one red onion and 2 capsicums (modify based on your comfort level).

[Optional for the blended mix: 1 teaspoon belachan paste, or dried shrimp or both. I say optional because I have a feeling a vast majority of my readership would not be comfortable with these two ingredients and they’re not really necessary. The oyster sauce and the fresh shrimp w/ the garlic provides enough flavour.]

2. If you’re adding fresh shrimp, fry them in the oil first and then lift before adding the blended mixture in. For last night, I used the leftover oil from the anchovies.

3. When the blended mixture is sizzling, add the green beans (about two handfuls, how’s that for measurements? Ha!) that you’ve already cut into 3-4cm long pieces (I was lazy and just snapped them instead of using the knife).

4. Add the prawns, a dollop of oyster sauce, some soy sauce, and pepper to taste.

5. Cook till the beans are done. Lift from the fire.
—-

Basically, they’re just there to add flavour and accent to your rice porridge. A little bit goes a long way.

*the three ingredients: ikan bilis, dried shrimp and/or shrimp paste/belacan should be available in asian supermarkets or Chinatown, depending on where you’re at. I’ve had no problems getting this stuff in Brisbane.

** And oh, that’s hot orange pekoe tea, with orange blossom bush honey.

Queensland Performing Arts Complex, taken from the CityCat.

I must confess to approaching this reading with some trepidation. John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction and On Becoming a Novelist had created so many positive resonances in me that I didn’t think I could bear it if Grendel wasn’t good. Well, on some level I knew it had to be good, but that creates its own sort of tension, doesn’t it? You read the craftsman’s thoughts about his craft and the process, this in turn creates this almost sublime fear of viewing the work. Some part of it would be the fear that you overestimate the writer, another part feels as though you’re intruding, after reading about the process.

Needless to say, most of those thoughts flew away after I read the first page. I couldn’t put Grendel down, mostly – diving into a well-known tale from a different angle. Gardner’s Grendel bears some similarity to other sympathetic beasts – Tad Williams’s Caliban, Mary Shelley’s monster in Frankenstein, but is a creature that is wholly unique.

He does a study of a character who is neither human nor beast, provides us not just the savagery but the unholy joy in existence, the confusion and the awkwardness of life’s beginning, of being out of joint with the civilized world. The humor was the best part for me. Grendel behaves exactly the way one would expect a beast on the outskirts of humanity would behave, with all the intelligence, savagery and humor that one could ask for. An articulate creature, he is spellbound and yet resentful of the poetry of the meadhall; his motives for both carnage and mercy are both erudite and poignant, and yet, Gardner’s Grendel never allows us to sympathize with him. No, he knows full well what he is, and he revels in it. Interspersed within this narrative are mythopoeic elements, poetry and even some metaphysics. The contemplation of the nature of the universe makes this book larger than life, lifts it beyond the “sympathetic view of the beast in a classic work of fiction” angle and presents us with what I would definitely tag as a work of strong literary merit.

The complexity of the portrayal of this character pretty much left me breathless. I was a bit afraid also that I wouldn’t do this book justice, reading it on the heels of Ombria in Shadow, but this was masterful and (dare I say it?) quite brilliant. And the best part is this: Now I know I can take the advice in his writing books with less reservation!

Note: Reviewed as part of the Mythopoeic Award Challenge. (My list of projected reads is here)

There are very few books by Patricia McKillip that I have not read; Ombria in Shadow was one of them. A welcome respite, to drift back into her worlds of ambiguous magic and uncompromising wonder. Unlike many writers in the genre, McKillip has a solid handle on what makes magic and wonder work. She makes it work so well and effortlessly because she knows this one secret some of us self-conscious ones still have a problem with: do not over-explain or over-justify; leave gaps in the story, so the reader can infer/create their own sense of wonder. And there’s all the lovely textured prose and imagery as well.

Ombria in Shadow wins my vote as one of my favorite stories by her, particularly because she rounds up her tale of wonder with characters who are warm and identifiable. Ducon, Lydea, Mag and Kyel are all strong characters, even when they are being ambiguous. They are also original in both their storytelling functions and their individual characteristics. Not all of her stories resonate with this particular frequency of warmth. The story takes place in Ombria, a city that has a magical counterpoint. We are never told exactly what this counterpoint is, it rests like a subtle chorus, a finger, or a frisson that tells us this tale is mythic and larger than life. It is perhaps one of the more lyrical of her tales, and one that delivers right till the last part. My only disappointment is that the copy of the book that I borrowed from the library did not have a Kinuko Y. Craft cover.

Note: Reviewed as part of the Mythopoeic Award Challenge. (My list of projected reads is here)

I have no idea who these people are. I just want to show you guys the clouds. Look up there!

I prefer traveling by CityCat whenever I can. The bus service is relatively efficient, but nothing beats sitting outdoors, staring at the river and the sky while the wind buffets you.