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| As you can see, none of the children really get along very well. |
So I have completely lost track of where I am supposed to be with this bloggery. Jordan has been writing like mad this morning before breakfast, so I am super excited to post his blog.
We got back late Sunday afternoon, and Ali gave his friend Richard a call. Richard is yet another member of the original KL brat pack of Ali, Allie, Mariam, Penny and Richard. Richard is originally from Scotland but has been living in Malaysia since the late 80s (Ali is a bit vague on these facts, so Richard, if you are reading this blog, feel free to bop him over the head next time you see him). Richard is married to Sharon, who is Malaysian, and they have Findlay who is 2. They immediately came over. A mini reunion for Ali, Allie and Richard, the three of them went off to get Chinese takeout for dinner, talking a blue streak. When they eventually got back, we all piled around the table and more stories were exchanged, with Richard keeping us in fits of laughter – he has your typical warped, joke-a-minute British sense of humour. It was really lovely and silly and I wish I could remember half of it.
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| Post-swim scarfing down of too-hot crispy springrolls |
Monday – a hang out day, finally – and Allie and I took the kids to the ‘Club’ to swim in a series of pools with slides. Allie and I sat and drank coconut water from carved out coconuts (I know, it’s all really quite difficult, you know...I can feel the sympathy vibes from across the globe, really I can). The skies opened up with a massive storm after about an hour or so, so we ran into the covered restaurant and ordered a snack of spring rolls for the kids which seemed to disappear in two seconds. What spring rolls? I don’t remember seeing any springrolls. Just happy wet kids headfirst towards the middle of the table. Drove back home and made a simple pasta dinner for our hosts – a break from all the land of nasi (rice), chicken and fish. I got fresh basil, garlic, cashews, olive oil and yes, even romano, and made a batch of pesto. But I accidentally passed the fish section in the grocery store (called The Village Grocer – the selection and quality of which would put any Canadian store to shame) and couldn’t stop myself from picking up some rather large and ridiculously fresh prawns (at $5 a kilo). The extra cashews not used in the pesto landed in a frying pan in olive oil with garlic and a bunch of spices I found in a drawer (for the salad); they then lept out, making room for the fresh, head-on shrimp to soak up the remainder of the garlicky-spicy oil as a partner-in-crime for the pesto pasta. We also made a quick salad with sliced pears, thin strips of green mangoes, whatever greens I had found at the store, the spiced cashews and a dressing of sorts made from plum vinegar and bits of bottles found on the fridge door. (As some of you know, this is something I tend to do at other people’s houses and quite enjoy...finding odd sauces and mixing them all up). It all seemed edible in the end. Oh, we even found a loaf of sundried tomato bread in the adjacent bakery which was slathered with heavenly creamy organic butter. See what I mean? A bit of straying from our Malaysianisms of the previous week, wot wot.
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| Anton and River having a lovely moment... |
Tuesday was River’s birthday – he turned 10 at 5:45pm (I tried to wish him a happy birthday when he woke up, but he soon corrected me...what was I thinking?). Allie bought a leg of lamb for the auspicious occasion, and I was on deboning duty. With Allie and family off for lunch at her Mum’s house, we decided to head out as well for a bit of shopping, getting a ride to the rapid transit (metro) station from Anton who was on his way to the studio for a meeting. We went to the Central Market in KL – a stunning place full of fantastic shops and all sorts of lovely bits and pieces things. We all loved it. Upstairs was the ‘food court’, and again, it really makes our mall food courts an embarrassment. At this spot, anyway, the food court was done in stunning dark wood, super clean, not noisy, with big framed open ‘windows’ to look down on the indoor market area. We had a great time, although not enough time, so we promised ourselves we would come back next week to finish off our shopping list for friends back home.
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| Happy Birthday, River! |
Back at the home front later that afternoon, we jumped in the pool for a swim or hopped in the shower (something you are doing constantly here given the incredible heat and humidity) got the lamb deboned for Anton to grill on the ‘barbie’, and we gobbled it all up, with Allie’s apple, beet and cabbage coleslaw and Ali’s bbqed spuds and some Aussie cabernet sauvignon to wash it all down with. Ridiculously decadent, really. Crazy. But splashing-out-holiday-crazy in a good way. We gave River the game Upwords as a birthday prezzie which the kids played while Allie, Anton and I hid chocolate Easter eggs (why not?). 110 chocolate eggs to be precise. Yes, counted so all would be found. Chocolate eggs, Malaysian heat... think about it. Then the kids had to divide them up fairly, keeping 12 each, the rest going to the shelter. Sweet.
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| The kitchen hub at Planet Morgan with superwoman Jatmi who kept everything in order |
Lastly, Ali and Anton booted it over to Ali’s family’s house to get the van, because we were leaving for Taman Negara the next morning...early.
sweet...
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