Malaysian Potluck

One of the best things about moving back to California has been the return to a place where there is diversity of color, culture, and cuisine.  (Wow, wasn't that alliterative?!)  We have been invited to several potlucks with old friends from Malaysia, and my-oh-my, these people know how to COOK!

Here is the feast as we surveyed it a couple of Saturday nights ago.  Right smack in front, with the sliced hard-boiled eggs on it, is bee-hoon, a rice noodle dish that was a staple of my growing up years.  The nice thing about Malaysian food is that it always includes many vegetables, in addition, of course, to all the yummy fried foods.

This particular potluck had an attendance of about 40 people, all connected to my home island of Penang.  We couldn't fit everyone in one photo, so this is just the picture of the ladies. Funny thing is, no one knew everyone, so it was a good getting-acquainted time with lots of laughter and "Penang-ite" insider jokes.  For example, not many people in this world, comparatively, know that "botak-head" is a comic term for a bald guy. Husband met several botak-head guys there who had recently shaved their heads, as he had, so he wasn't the only one.  (What's up with the trend of guys shaving heads? Is it something in the air?)

My dad had fun catching up with Brandon, one of his former youth group guys who is a real sweetheart, and also with Lucas, his former pastor from Penang. Stories flew, endorphins ran high, and my 85-year old dad looked like his old self in a few minutes, with 15 years of aging falling away just like that. Reconnecting with one's tribe is good for the body as well as the soul.

And the food! Oh, the food! This one was a rice-flour agar with pandan leaf product and coconut powder that's hard to describe.  I expected it to be sweet, but it was salty and delicious.

We'll end with a photo of the dessert corner before it was unwrapped. The goodies at the top and on the left are known as "nyonya kuih," which is pronounced "No-nyuh kway."  If you're interested in the vast variety of kuih, you can read about them and see some photos here.  I won't even attempt to make them in my kitchen, because they're really not all that healthy. But at a potluck?  Let me at 'em!  The following two weeks on the scales have tracked my journey of recovery....