George Town and more - February 2016

The Kai Tan San - Cantonese ribbon twist egg dough biscuits.  Green Lane, Penang. 
Photo credit : S.K.Teoh

Call this the Bubur Chacha or the Pungat, it is a vegetarian dessert only made to celebrate the close of the Lunar New Year festivities.  Baulkham Hills, north-west Sydney.

Baked Fujian biscuits and snacks - the Chinese providers and bakers from Penang and Perak now do face competition, have adapted to modern technological processes and have consumers at every age. 

Changi Singapore Airport knows how to captivate for the Lunar New Year of the Red Monkey.

Barista cafes are sprouting up in the colonial quarter of George Town, Penang.

A mate and I anticipate over our natural banana leaf plates, as the restaurant crew place dollops of pickled vegetables and spicy condiments.   The Kerala Restaurant, New World Park, George Town.

Valentines often fall close by to the start of Lunar New Year.

Pork jerky on display - popular amongst the southern Chinese, it is a treasured gift for families and relatives during the festive period.

Mass movements of people occur preceding and after the start of the Lunar New Year in East Asia.

Possibly not so healthy, but hell of yummy - the Choon Pniah or deep fried spring rolls.  

Mee Jawa, simmered in a spicy gravy with potatoes, tofu cubes, prawns and a squeeze of lime.

Typical coffee shop scene in Penang Island - for breakfast, brunch or lunch, you can have your choice of several street food offerings, each priced under one American dollar.

Not for the uninitiated - the Chee Cheong Fun, sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and accompanied by tasty Hoi Sin and chili sauces.

Soy sauce stirred egg noodles with Char Siew cuts, veg, pork dumplings and a serve of vinegar infused green chili rings.

Wide flat rice noodles are cooked on a hot wok and garnished with meat cuts, eggs, prawns, veg and a corn starch finish.

Busy, busy.

This young kid knows how to multi-tasks in taking care of Daddy's food stall and catch up on his Smart phone.

Making fresh pastry on the spot.

Making Roti filled with love.

Nothing like a reunion over an eight course Chinese dinner.  The Tropicana Chinese Restaurant, Klang Valley outside Kuala Lumpur.   
Photo credit: Not determined

Sonoma Bakery Cafe - Waterloo NSW

Sonoma breads use simple ingredients like sea salt, sourdough starters and organic flour.  Their signature creations are the Sonoma Miche, with a stand out caramelised crust and the Sonoma Mission, with a contrasting inside of custard feel covered by a golden chewy crust outside.   There is also the pervasive and unique smoky flavour.....

The inspiration for Sonoma bread came from the delights of wood fired ovens and naturally fermented ingredients.   A hundred year old mixer from Bellata NSW came into the picture, together with some California influence in the form of American Allan Scott.  Bellata lies in north central NSW between Narribri and Moree -  and was the home base of the Sonoma founder's grandparents.

Standards like soy and linseed plus walnut fig and raisin are available along side an eleven seed loaf and a Kalamata olive and herbs combo.   The bite and look of the various breads here do stand out as being different.

Muesli cookies are lovely to me but you can also have other options like raw natural, spelt, maple and almond plus honey and spice combinations.

Coffee blends are divided into body and spirit labels.  The former, which I prefer, is stronger, taste more nutty and earthy, suitable for milk based orders and has a buttery and velvety body.  The latter has more complex sensations, with more of cocoa and fruity after taste, so they tend to be more acidic and body smooth.   The Single Origins are from Ethiopia, Kenya and Guatemala.

Sonoma has come a long way since 1997, when founder Kerry Connole began his operations with sons Christian and Andrew.   Along the way was a stall at Paddington markets in inner suburban Sydney.  Perhaps a key development in the Sonoma story was son Andrew's sojourn to and stay in California with Chad Robertson, an icon in sourdough.

Their emphasis on organic sourcing and a then rather unconventional way of baking have remained their trademarks and reputation.   Retail outlets are not large and remain true to village and neighbourhood embracing roots.   Such an ambiance do go well with the inner city and beach locations in which they are currently located.   They contrast with other commercial players in this space - oh no, I would not want to pick a loaf from Coles or Woolworths again...

The Petit Bretton butter cake or more correctly, the Kouign Amann, is more for sugar loving devotees, with creme patisserie loaded between layers of sugar,  butter and flaky pastry.   I like the cherry cheesecake strudel, although there are other favourites like the almond croissant,  Pain Au Chocolat, hazelnut brownies, banana loaf slice, quiche and the fruit Danish.

There are seven outlets in the greater Sydney area, but mainly clustered in the city centre and on the sea board side, including Balmain, Bondi, Woolhara, Paddington, Glebe and Rose Bay.


Sonoma Bakery Cafe Waterloo is located at 2/9 Danks Street in a suburb not far from Oxford Street in Darlinghurst and Moore Park.
Telephone: +612 9699 1920
Opening Hours are from 630am to 3pm every day.


 

It was the Night before Easter

Tradition tells us more than two thousand years ago, a wandering couple could not find a place to rest for the night. There was no shopping, no seafood to rush for, no traffic jams, no rich sugary snacks, no holiday, no hams and the most important gift was already with them, but yet to come. The only lights were the stars in the night sky. All they had was sheer determination, hope and purpose. And they were turned away at many places along the way.

Even then this couple found a barn and their infant was born in such unassuming circumstances.

Fast forward around three months and two thousand years later. The Bunny and Bilby chocolates are wrapped in paper gold like glint and wait on shop and supermarket shelves.   The climate turns to cooler in the southern parts of continental Australia.  Many families are looking forward to a four day weekend.  Many are planning driving trips across some corner of this vast land.  Some families catch up, some others go camping.  The air is nippy in the evenings, the colours of the sky change.

These two important religious dates in Western civilisation calendar - Christmas and Easter - are significantly celebrated in nations with an inherent Western Christian civilisation.  In Australia, they are the biggest holiday periods of all - also helped by the warmer, summer period in which they fall on the calendar, in contrast with the Northern hemisphere winter.  Christmas in this Great Southern Land is associated with surfing, beach sleep outs, barbecues and dressing down.  Easter sees the arrival of cooler nights, fresher air outdoors and a divide between the first and second school terms.

The festivals are religious inspired but are they fully marked according to the rituals, requirements and regimes of Christianity in all its varied forms?  Maybe not by everyone who professes to be Christian - and especially not with rising non-Christian demographics who now call Australia home.  The latter group do get caught up in family gatherings, shopping sales and seafood rush that the media popularise and mainstream society enjoys. The question is whether the religious meaning may have been under played in all this rush for gift spending, travelling and generally creating fun for the kids.

Why do we have Easter eggs, when they signify the arrival of spring, hope and renewal, in a land of falling brown leaves and drop in temperatures?  Why do we have cut pine trees to place in our houses when the flora is verdant and blooming outside?   Do we still take care of boxes on the day after Christmas?   Why do otherwise sane individuals spend so much on shopping after Christmas, when one has enough gifts shared and exchanged the day before?  Why do sales of chocolate hit a peak to mark an occasion with hope for mankind and nothing to do with sugary stuff and cacao?

Many people make travel plans around the Holy and Easter weeks.  More often, strikes at airports occur then than at other times of the year.   Late March and April sees a synchronisation of almost comparable moderate temperatures in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.  So commercialisation strikes again, with cruises, getaways and back packing plans all becoming reality.  

The origins of pre-Christian festivals may explain the timing of Christmas and Easter.  However, there are different opinions on this matter.   The reference in the Bible to shepherds attending to their flock of sheep when the infant Jesus was born can suggest it was already spring time, instead of early winter.
On the other hand, the Gospel of Luke states that the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary at the time of the spring equinox, which is in March, and so a birth in late December is logical.

The Romans had an important festival called the Saturnalia celebrated in late December.   The Jewish Passover almost coincides with Easter.  The Bible does not mention any specific calendar dates for the birth and cruxification of Jesus.

To me, the more significant matter is that both key occasions are acknowledged and not so much as to when.

So when you look at the full moon tonight, the least thing you can do is to remove yourself from the trappings of modern day conventions of  festive occasions. There is more than meets the eye.