During my recent trip back to Miri, I caught up with cousins and aunties and uncles. And, of course, meals. Here’s one that’s very interesting.

This is an interesting flower to eat. Known as Bunga Kantan in Malay, it’s also known as the Ginger Flower or the bud of a Torch Ginger.

Auntie C cooked the flower with some green chillies and onions. And, surprisingly, the chillis were not spicy at all because they apparently were young chillis. Hence, no kick / spicyness. But definitely a great favourite.

This flower is also used in Tom Yam soup as well. Seriously, it’s very delicious.

Here are other links on Bunga Kantan @ Ginger Flower. (And I forgot to take pictures of them growing in my parents’ garden).

Bin Gregory’s Yard
Human Flower Project : Carrying a Torch for Malaysian Cooking
Ecology Photographic (2 left pictures)
Ali Baba : Anyone up to buying Bunga Kantan online?

On a side note, apparently there’s an Encyclopaedia on Asian Food.

Well, the Miri International Jazz Festival came and went. It was a blast and awesome too. Although, there was downside of the drink prices going up (something to do with the hotel increasing sponsored drink prices including mineral water… hmmmm?) half an hour into the 1st day of the festival.

Anyway, Trevor and the Universal Blues Band were a blast and definitely one of the better acts of the day. Here’s some clips courtesy of Dad. I’m going to leave it up until Trevor or Danny screams at me to take it down. ^_^ The video quality would be better with better graphic cards (at least, I sincerely hope so!!).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKx-Mns0qY0]

The above clip is a lovely song that was fitting as it was also Mother’s Day that Sunday. There’s more in YouTube but I screwed up the uploads. So, now have to redo it and get it uploaded or something.

Oh, the comment about Trevor’s relatives from Bario coming down for the concert? It was aunties, cousins, nephews and nieces as well as his Grandparents. His granddad sat on the VIP seat whereas his Granma went up in front with the rest of all the Kelabit relatives were. Where? It was on the lower right of the stage. His Granma was even dancing the night away! Sorry guys, no shots.

Enjoy people!

This happened during my trip back to Miri.

Dad calling me on the handphone.

Dad : Wena, are you still in Boulevard Shopping Center?

Wena : Sure thing.

I walked to the supermarket only to come across a problem. Calling Dad on handphone.

Wena : Dad, there’s a bit of a problem.

Dad : Ha ha!

In the end, I bought the Sawi Bunga since that’s the one Granny buys. Phew!

Hi readers!

Drive safely tomorrow and hopefully it wouldn’t be too much of a wait to poll.

Sadly I won’t be polling. I thought that it would happen while I was in Miri but it didn’t.

SPR put my voting station in Miri when I ask them to move me to Kuching. Sigh. Oh well.

Next poll. In the meantime, it’s just waiting and watching the results come out.

Oh, I wanted to post something simple up today. I was thinking about what DieHardX was saying about how bad the Vietnamese Buffet was at Marriot Miri during the April Promotion. How he mentioned that they didn’t have much fare in terms of prawns, crabs or squid (sotong). Thinking back, I remembered seeing some Prawn Rolls, Crabs cook in something in the main buffet and I think there was a Squid Salad as well.

But you know what? Regardless of how I post about the food I eat or how DieHardX feels about it, it’s going to be downright impossible to bring the actual flavours of, say Vietnamese food, out of Vietnam. Unless, you have the right chefs, of course. Another example I can take is that Granny’s Nyonya Cooking is my favourite but that’s just me. Some folks may not like it so much but that’s alright.

For the dessert posting up the other day, to me, it was very nice because compared to what I’ve eaten elsewhere in Sarawak, of course Marriot would be better. Well, in terms of dessert buffet that is. So it really is a comparison of what you have already tasted before and comparing to what you have tasted before.

Now, before someone goes and yells at me, I can also say that on the evening of Friday 12 May 2006, that Thai Buffet at Marriot was alright except for the fact that the Tom Yam Soup had too much salt inside that it was inedible and one of the Thai desserts (sago with coconut milk) was also salty instead of sweet. I wasn’t the only one that made this observation to the staff but other people as well.

However, on Sunday 14 May 2006, the Tom Yam Soup flavour was now better but not as spicy (no shiok) and the desserts tasted a lot better than before. So they do listen to the guests which is a good thing.

Speaking of which, need to put some pictures up but will leave that for tomorrow. I’m now moving my tush on an exercise ball in an effort to lose weight. It is now my “chair” while I use the computer.

As for dining again at Marriot, well, I have to wait until my next Miri trip. Good thing parents know the people there so we do get good treatment. Comes with always dining in that hotel.

Connection back on. Now, the following pictures are more than enough reasons to go and dine at Marriot in Miri. The desserts are as tasty as is shown in the pictures. It’s mouth-watering enough for me to forgo the main meal. Well, close to anyways.

If you have the Premium Card, it’s really worth the discounts. I mean, RM68++ per pax at the buffet at Zest (their coffee house) Restaurant and if it’s only 2 people dining, it’s an instant 50% discount. Of course, the more people, the less the discount until it caps at 25% with 5 or more people having a meal together.

More pics after I sorted out my PC and camera. Oh, PC problem was one of the RAM went kaput so put in a new one. Voila! Hopefully, this would last for a fair bit yet.