Josie, Oscar and I embarked in our journey from Brisbane to Paris on the 5th of December 2010 with one 10k bag each and one big suitcase full of Christmas presents.
Our first flight going from Brisbane to Kuala Lumpur was at 11:50pm. It was to last 8 hours followed by a full day stop-over in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The airline apologised for the airplane due to be replaced next month by a Boeing 777. I did not think much of it at the time but as soon as I got in, the plane felt a bit run down, with stuffy air. Oscar started complaining about dust allergy that I tried to keep under control with Ventolin, quite worried at the prospect of having to keep it under control for another 8 hours, and then, Josie said her stomach was aching... Yet, it got worse. For the first time in my life, I suffered acute motion sickness. Although I had nothing in my stomach (last meal had been taken 4 hours before departure), I got stomach spasms, and after 6 hours of that, I got quite distressed : non continuous speech, shaking. I asked immediately the steward to look after Oscar closely due to his asthma, but the steward did a very lousy job. Fortunately, Josie took over, and they were both good. It was so bad that I had thoughts about staying in Malaysia for ever, and began to worry about visa...
I left the airplane in Kuala Lumpur assisted. The crew even asked me if I wanted a wheelchair, but I said no. I was rescued by the Red Crescent Doctor at the airport: it was an old Muslim man of few words, who endeavoured to take my blood pressure on top of my jogging jacket. He said my blood pressure was perfect, but that he would have to give me an injection, because my stomach would not handle anything. I said yes. He was very calm, and I could see that ‘rest’ and ‘peacefulness’ were part of his way to handle things, of which I was extremely grateful. He ordered me to rest for 10mn on the table after the injection. The children were let in but they had to be quiet, and he dimmed the light as a nice gesture. While I rested, he went to the chemist and got the exact amount of medicine to address motion sickness so that I could need to finish the journey ... AND ... IT WORKED!
It was 6.30am local time in KL. We did not have to leave the airport to get to our hotel, the Pan Pacific, where we spent the morning trying to catch up on sleep. Josie did sleep but not Oscar who had slept quite well in the plane already.
Around 12.00pm we went for lunch. We were so surprised to find ourselves in such a luxurious hotel ( 5 stars), compliment of Malaysia Airline to make up for the fact that they moved our flight departure slightly.
The lobby was marbled, a huge waterfall was near the pool, and we were invited to take part into the lavish buffet downstairs for free. Hum... it was a bit of a shock when I saw Oscar coming back from the buffet with three quails in his plate!
At 2.00pm, a nice 4WD came at the hotel door to collect us for what was going to be a wonderful experience. Thanks god, I did not cancel it ! We were being taken our Malaysian Cooking Class. We were welcomed into someone’s home business venture, in a ‘what seemed’ a very friendly and tropical KL neighbourhood.
The first word that drew my attention was SALAT, which I think (if I remember well what they told me) meant ‘delicious’ in Malay or Arabic, I am not sure. They had opened the place especially for us on a Monday, this was so lucky, we’d have a private lesson for three. In the kitchen, we had one kitchen bench each, with all stoves, cooking utensils and ingredients we could need for our three dishes.
 |
| Cooking Ingredients |
Under the large veranda, was a large wooden table and chair for us to enjoy the meal that we were about to cook. Our instructor was called Saadiah. She had worked in a KL famous restaurant as a cook hand. She was in black veil with a great smile and happy character. She told us she had 6 children, that the first one (now 28) had been conceived four month after the wedding, to which she added swiftly, and with a big smile : ‘not much of a honeymoon !’...
Saadiah was a perfectionist. It was as if she had worked out all the possible mistakes we could have made, and that she had anticipated how to avoid we made them. We were under strict supervision, and the three dishes were performed ‘perfectly’. Oscar graduated from ‘breaking an egg with one hand’ – she was not joking about the technique! She was particularly found of Oscar that she supervised very closely in each of his movement. As he was showing fast progress, she said to me: watch out he does not take over the kitchen !!!
I understood that the kitchen was not a place ‘that should not be taken over' easily.
I said to her: when one cooks like you, one should not cook FOR people but WITH people when you invite them. She replied this was exactly what she was doing ‘with her children’ when they were coming over to visit her. I got inspired to do that one day too.
We cooked fish in banana leaves (steamed), chicken curry in a small brass pan, laced savoury creps to eat with the chicken curry, and Onde Onde (rice flour coloured balls with liquid heart the melts in your mouth, boiled in water, and rolled in fresh coconut).
We then had a tour in the garden to identify many herbs I had no prior knowledge of. Oscar learnt how to grate a coconut properly.
We had our meal with the business owner, a young Malaysian woman married to an Englishman. She asked us to write down something before we left about our experience. Saddiah was rewarded by Oscar’s words: ‘if I was living next to your house, I would come here every day’
That is what I call A compliment!
We got driven back to our hotel where we could sleep for 4 hours before our next flight to Paris at 11:20pm.
