Ayer Itam, Penang

Here is an excellent Asam Laksa stall, must try in Penang, opened from 12 noon... very cheap, RM 2.30 per bowl.... 爽！！



THis fried Poh Piah stall is next to the Laksa stall, crispy and served hot!! Lovely !! RM 1.00 per roll only!! The springroll maker was very kind to tell us beware of the hot fresh poh piah before taking it. Good service!

Jeûne genevois “Genevan fast”

Dominique had brought a few plum tarts yesterday when we had lunch together, but I didn't understand the real meaning of this dessert, till I read this from http://www.24heures.ch/pages/home/24_heures/english_corner/news/news_detail/(contenu)/128570

Called the Jeûne genevois (literally, the “Genevan fast”), the statutory holiday has long been associated with the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. This event was marked by the mass killing by Catholics of Calvinist protestants, also known as Huguenots, in Paris and other parts of France in 1572.

But city records show that Genevans began the annual fast earlier, in 1567, in solidarity with protestants in Lyon who were also victims of repression. This day for dieting became an annual affair in 1640 and an official holiday - the first Thursday in September - in 1966. Mysteriously, the holiday has become associated with a delicious dessert known as the tarte aux pruneaux (plum tart).

According to Geneva’s chancellor, Robert Hensler, the canton’s top civil servant, the tart became a culinary tradition to allow women and domestic servants to pray and meditate on the fast day, free of worry from such duties as cooking. The tarts were prepared and baked the day before the Jeûne genevois, Hensler writes in an article that appeared this week in Geneva’s official gazette, the Feuille d’Avis Officielle. Using recently harvested plums, they replaced the regular meal on that special day.

What was once the only nourishment for 24 hours has now become a dessert to top off a festive lunch or dinner. It’s a fact that few residents seem to know, judging from a random survey of residents conducted by the Tribune de Genève. The newspaper interviewed eight people only two of whom drew the connection between the holiday and the protestant cause. None of them knew about the tarte aux pruneaux, including a baker and one woman who was nevertheless proud to say she cooks one from scratch every year.

I am lucky enough to pass a special day in Geneva!

vineyard, Geneva (Collonge)

Have invited Dominique and her friend Danise over for lunch yesterday, then we headed off to Collonge by bus, around 20 mins journey.
Behind a sunflower farm, there is a vineyard which is not too big, but full of grapes hanging from the plants. Looks delicious but visitors are not allowed to enter the plantation. Happy enough to see them at a near distance.