My new favourite store

Finally today, I got well enough to step out of the house.  I still have bouts of coughs but I had no headaches, body aches or fever.  Anyway, even if I wasn't feeling well enough, I would still have to go out today.  We had a meeting with someone in town today regarding our business and so there was no choice.

I could handle the walk to the bus stop.  I could even run when I thought the bus was coming.  I also managed to get through the meeting.  The morning was looking great - windy and a bit cold, but the sun was out and it was a great day for a walk.

So instead of going home, we had brunch at a cafe and then went on a walk.  It was a good decision because I came across some exciting finds!  We passed the mini Chinatown where the Asian grocers are.  We have only been inside one of them and that one didn't have many ingredients that I wanted.  I didn't bother to check the rest out because I thought they were all similar and sold the same things.  But we had a lot of time today so we checked out another store.

I was pleasantly surprised.  I found stuff that I didn't think I could find - fresh pandan leaves that were very neatly wrapped, fresh galangal or lengkuas, soya beans, glutinuous rice and frozen prata.  I even found dried bamboo leaves that are used to wrap traditional Chinese dumplings called bak changs.  There were also lots of sauces, even the ones produced in Singapore.  I am so glad to have found this gem of a store.  Looks like I am going to be able to cook more Malay dishes in future.  And I'll even attempt to make pandan chiffon cake and kaya.  These are the traditional sweet treats back home.   

We didn't buy anything today, since we were in the middle of our walk and didn't want to carry anything in our hands.  But I am planning to return there very soon - this could well be my new favourite store!  When I do, I will be cooking dishes that I have not tried before.  Success or failure, I will write about them here, of course :)