Artisanal Tofu factory in Raub

I didn't know there is such a thing in raub recently until I saw it somewhere on TV - and a friend from KL asked for a visit which prompted me to find the place - deep in the heart of Bukit Koman New Village in Raub.

It is a simple factory, not more than the size of a small village house. The pressed beans are gellified into curd and pressed in cotton sacks, much like the fabrication of cheese. What was interesting was the fact that the tofu is hand-cut into small cubes and fried to become "Tofu Pok", a fried delicacy and also used for stuffing and other Chinese dishes. For me, they are best eaten fresh with chilli dip. The factory also produce soya milk (excellent) and regular tofu, all available fresh from the little factory 7/7....

Soaked soya beans are cold-pressed into a vat first.

It is then churned.

then left to coagulate

The mixture is put into cotton sacks and pressed like making cheese.

The resulting block of tofu is then cut into cubes

waiting for the fryer...

the fryer is manned by one person...

Fresh from the fryer to a bamboo basket to cool...

put on display trays for sale (and they go fast)...

an old stone grinder left at the entrance...

Visit to the Genting Tea Estate

Last Sunday, I was invited to a trip with MNS members to Dato' H.S. Barlow's estate in Genting Sempah. We were first given a brief tour of the estate's history told by M. Barlow himself (he wrote a book on Frank Swettenham's biography and the estate once was linked to him). Then, we went for a long walk around the 99-acre estate to see some of his prized collection of rare forest trees of Malaysia. After a picnic lunch at the very quaint gazebo at the end of the grass lawn, we were given a talk by M. Barlow on his extensive butterfly and moth collection: there were over 400 species of butterflies and 5000 over species of moth in the collection.

We entered from the back of the house through a steep staircase and through the workers' quarters...

 The front lawn was meticulously cared for and was fringed with huge clumps of flowering Bauhinias...

 The gazebo at the end of the lawn...

 The lawn end with a path down the slopes towards the forest garden...

 View of the house from the other end of the lawn...

 Nice rattan chairs for relaxation...

 The interiors reflect the colonial planter's architecture with rattan furniture and very open spaces and high ceilings for the tropical humidity.

A very long dining that can sit more than a dozen guests...

 One of the two sets of entomological cabinets used for housing the extensive collection of butterflies and moth caught in the estate's compound.

 Fruits of the very rare Shorea bentongensis - already extinct in the wild but thriving in the collection of the estate...

Another dinner chez moi....

We organised a dinner to fete the first timers to Raub during the school holidays...

 setting with yellow and white roses for the table...

 Seafood chowder of clams and prawn...

Recipe for the chowder (serves 6):

6 large fresh prawns

1 kilo of fresh clams, cleaned

1 bottle of clam juice

1 liter of tomato sauce (homemade from fresh tomatoes)

Olive oil

Garlic cloves: 2-3 finely chopped

1 cup of dry white wine

1 bay leaf

Chopped fresh basil

salt to season

In a large casserole, bring the sauce to boil, add the bay leaf, garlic and olive oil. Add in the clam juice and white wine and season the broth. When boiling for about 2-3 minutes, add the large prawns first. Once the prawns start to cook, add the clams and cover the pot for about 2-3 minutes. Open to see if the clams are opened to indicate that they are done. Discard any unopened ones. Add in the freshly chopped basil and serve at once with toasted bread.

 Salmon on mango with vinaigrette

 Capellini with oven roasted lemon herbe de Provence chicken

A classic dessert: Crêpe suzette

Casabrina revisited

We visited Casabrina today at the permission of its owner to show a friend from the city the kind of lush and luxury getaway one can have just a hundred kilometers away from KL...

 a gardener tending to the lily pond...

 the very large and handsome lily from the Amazon...

 an Arowana doing its round in the pond...

 cool understorey of the raintree at the entrance to Casabrina...

 view of the pool from the lobby of Villa Amertani

 the lush tropical jungle ahead

 crystal chandelier over a Balinese roof...

 vista of the rolling hills of the Main Range

 the shimmering floor of the horizon pool...

 don't you want to laze the afternoon away?

 an Archduke make-a-calling under a fig tree...

 spectacular view from Villa Aranya

 flower of the Frangipani floating over the pool...

An Oakblue Butterfly in the shady garden...

Cameron Highlands (Sungei Palas) on a bright sunny morning

Last Saturday, we went up to Cameron Highlands after such a long break not having seen the place: well, it is still as jammed up as ever with even higher number of cars in every turn and road border. Senselessness and uncivic-mindedness seem to prevail among the local drivers in our country...and if one do not know how to manœuvre big cars in tight mountain roads, don't drive them up the hills! It's expected to happen (get jammed up in tight passage, especially up the narrow roads to Sungei Palas). Luckily for us, the weather was fair and the angle of the sun seemed a bit unusual, almost like summer lights in Europe...

 While being jammed up, managed to snap a photo from the car window...beautiful vista of the tea plantation...

 The missus snapped this one - not a selfie: anyway, we couldn't stay long enough to enjoy the vista as more and more tourists were breathing down our back hounding for seats...

a worker's quarters

 View of the owner's villa at the crest of the hills...

 workers' quarters

on the way out...