Food for wimps

Since we've been here, I've been pretty wimpy with food. Or maybe it's just prudent given I'm usually trying to feed a 3yr old who doesn't like "spice" (a.k.a anything with flavour) and a baby who is just discovering there's stuff people want you to put in your mouth. Either way, I've been cautious of all the delicacies that I'm sure are just waiting for me in restaurants, cafes and street vendor carts. But I have been noticing them...

There's the cooked breakfast provided by the hotel each day which includes such items as "Gordon Blue Chicken", "Homemade Pastels" and "Spaghetti Neopolitan" which along with being funny to read, are interesting choices for first thing in the morning. Or the chaps by the street with buckets of fry-able goodies on top of their cart waiting in the sun to be cooked on demand. Or in the beverage line, the  men who peddle around on their bikes with packets of instant coffee, milo or tea dangling from the front basket and bottles or urns of hot water on the back, ready to make your morning brew. The shopping mall options are nominally a step up in quality, and have all manner of interesting items - "chicken floss" rolls being one that sticks in my mind (and no, I have no idea what that actually is!).

With the advice "if you can't peel it, cook it or boil it, don't eat it" ringing in my ears, and a kitchen stocked with two small saucepans, a frying pan and a microwave, ideas for eating in have been challenging.  Not to mention trying to identify some of the ingredients! Pasta and sauce we can do, although careful choice of the (not very cheap) sauce is required - my first attempt caramelised when I heated it up a little too much due to the sugar content! I've even managed a chocolate pudding or too (once I found something with "baking powder" in English on the side), but my repertoire is sadly diminished and we're all, I think, feeling the lack of veges. We are making progress however. I discovered fruit and vegetable wash the other day, so now have something made from citrus extract and olive leaves that is supposed to remove chemicals and other nasties from produce rendering it safe, or at least safer, to eat  - rinsed with bottled water of course. We're generally sticking to imported versions for now though so have been enjoying Australian grapes, NZ apples and Californian oranges alongside the local pineapples, melons, rambutan and snakefruit.

We've also found a few really tasty places to eat out. There's a fabulous Malaysian restaurant called Penang Bistro that does truly excellent roti canai (roti bread with curry sauce), crispy beef that Eamon loves, and even strawberry chicken which was very tasty. We have found through experience that it's not the place for Friday night take-out however - despite being about 4-5km away, Kieran & Eamon took over 2hrs to get there and back last week thanks to Friday night traffic! We were also invited to Sunday brunch (more like lunch) at the Hyatt yesterday which was really good, and a fantastic treat for Eamon as they have a whole kids area with playground, biscuit icing, colouring, balloons, even Barney! Not somewhere your wallet wants you to go every week, but a nice treat nonetheless.

In the long run, I can see we are really just going to become more adventurous or face several years of dietary boredom, not to mention miss out on the amazing cuisine this place has to offer. I just hope my stomach is strong enough!