Light tasters

Did some entertaining recently at home and here are 2 dishes which are easy to make and light...

Gnocchi with home made pesto.

Chocolate mousse.

The chocolate mousse is an easy tackle as it requires no baking, just some heating up and a good whisk:

Ingredients (makes 8 mousses):

1 tablet of a fine bitter black Swiss chocolate (100g)

1/2 cup cocoa powder

4 eggs, yolks and whites separated

Kahlua and Grand Marnier (both or either)

1 sachet gelatine powder (7g)

Sugar according to taste

1 1/2 cup full cream milk

Infuse and melt the gelatine powder with some cold water/milk and set aside. Melt the chocolate over heated milk and incorporate the cocoa powder to form a thick chocolate sauce. Add the gelatine mixture to this sauce. You may add some Kahlua at this point for some kicks...

Beat the sugar and egg yolks until a creamy consistency, adding in a dash of Grand Marnier. Fold in the hot chocolate sauce, set aside.

Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and beat until stiff peaks forming (like a meringue). You may add a tablespoon of icing sugar during the last cycle to stabilise the meringue. Fold this with the chocolate mixture and carefully pour into individual ramekins. Set in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

KKB

Two weeks back, at the onset of the semester break, I went for a drive to KKB - Kuala Kubu Baru since I haven't seen it for awhile now...my father was actually from here (Kerling) and I remember travelling from Raub to KKB on occasions as we had cousins and aunts there. Not anymore, helas. The thing that really sticks in my head is the journey itself through the winding mountain road and Orang Asli with their rattan backpacks at the town square...actually near the fruit stall at the town's entrance (there used to be huge rain trees and the town was a lot less 'hot' than now...).

A cascade at the Gunung Semangkok Permanent Forest Reserve.

View of the dam built for water and electricity hunger of the Klang valley, submerging parts of Kg. Pertak, an Orang Asli encampment. We used to picnic here when I was a child...

Another view from the hillslope off the main trunk road.

A Terap fruit, same family with the jackfruit. The ripe fruit has a very strong aroma, velvety skin but tiny white fruit inside with tiny seed. The seeds are good roasted.

First impression of the now KKB...

old pre-war shops...

Found an old Hainanese Coffeeshop. Like everywhere else in Malaysia, Hainanese coffeeshops are synonymous with pre-war Straits Chinese settlements in most towns that dot the Peninsular West Coasts.

One of the most iconic Hainanese dish besides the famed Chicken Rice: Hainanese-styled Chicken Chop. This one has strange presentation but the taste was not bad.

People still live in old town houses like this one!

An old cinema converted into a psychedelic snooker center...

Hallmark of Strait Chinese architecture - aligned corridors of shops for the tropical heat...

Magnificent Koompassias of Betau Valley

As one drives along the not so new route from Pos Betau to Bertam Valley, one cannot but observe many magnificent examples of mature Tualang trees (Koompassia excelsa) along the route. They are unmistakable because of their towering crowns resembling a broccoli head above the forest canopy and their hallmark -  a smooth, huge trunk that only opens at the top, fanning out like a broccoli. They can reach 80M or so and often, honey bees make the Tualang their preferred home due to the fact that not many wild animals can get to the canopy of a Tualang. Another bonus for the Tualang is the fact that its timber is of not much value in the market, thus sparring it from the chainsaws (Chinese lumberjacks call this tree "Pow Pei Cheng", meaning green bark that cracks because the tree doesn't take sawing well and often ends with cracked trunk, rendering it 'useless'. Another thing is the actual density of the wood - the light yellow and light weight wood does not stand well against the elements...). That having said, the hunger for wood will not leave this massive giants standing around for too long as the once virgin jungle valley is now again facing the onslaught of chainsaws brought upon by human greed...

First among many, and definitely among the finest examples...it is interesting to note that this magnificent giant doesn't belong to the Dipterocarpus family, a family of tropical hardwood trees that is found mostly in the lower elevation forests in Malaysia. It actually belongs to a very extended family of plants called Leguminosae that gives you your beans!

 close-up

 Another huge one around the bend but covered by the forest...

This rather 'green' example smack on the side of the road...

A vertical panoramic view of the tree.

 Another extremely tall tree perched on the ridge of the mountain.

An incredibly old tree seen from a bridge over a wide gorge. Notice the tall palm tree behind the Tualang and try to figure out the size of this tree!

A vertical panoramic view...

 A closeup.

The valley that houses many magnificent trees...how long will Nature last against the greed and follies of man?

 Notice the "little" crowns of trees resembling a broccoli - there are huge Tualangs among theese...

 Then, sad views like these...the vegetable farming activities in Bertam Valley are fast encroaching into the lower Betau Valley and this is the result...man always wins at first (economic gains) but pay later with environmental disasters.

All too common signs along the route from Betau Valley to Ringlet at the Cameron Highlands: "Mind the entry/exiting of timber lorries"...