Sungai Petani Week One
On November 22nd, we took a train from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Sungai Petani, Malaysia. Our host, friend, and teacher for the next three weeks, Tan Kai Yee, welcomed us to SP at the train station with a smile. It is his second time hosting WWOOFers and our second time WWOOfing. Before going to the farm Kai Yee drove us to an Indian restaurant for lunch. The restaurant was a bit like a buffet style, where I got to point at what I wanted and the server placed it on my plate. I tried a little bit of nearly every vegetarian item they had and it was all tasty.
After lunch we drove to Kai Yee's farm located on a solar farm in the middle of a residential area of Sungai Petani. The solar farm is owned by his uncle and not associated with his farm, Floreo Agrotech. It was fascinating simply looking around and taking in our new home for the next three weeks. I was excited to see that there were papaya trees! The structures here are open-air with a roof of solar panels. This seemed to be perfect for the rainy afternoons here. On our way to the greenhouse full of lettuces and herbs I saw the "alien plant" I had seen a few other places in Malaysia and asked what it was. Kai Yee told us it was called roselle and said we could try it! The crisp red petals tasted refreshingly bitter. I later learned that these flowers have many uses from being turned into jam to being cooked into syrup. For dinner Kai Yee made us a delicious pasta dish with mushrooms, ultra fresh greens from the greenhouse, and walnuts. That night we went to the grocery store, which was especially fun for me. We saw lots of new fruits and vegetables that I was excited to try. The ramen isle was quite impressive too!
After a nice rest we had a nice breakfast of eggs, fresh greens, and toast. Kai Yee then showed us his process of feeding the 3 chickens and tanks full of fish in the morning. He has 1 tank of small tilapia, 2 tanks of larger tilapia, and 1 tank of a larger type of fish. The large fish managed to splash me quite a bit as they were eating! He also showed us his two turtles. He told us that turtles are a good luck symbol here. We also helped Kai Yee prepare a mix of cocoa pete and compost for a microgreens kit he is selling. For lunch we went to a restaurant and got rice, sweet potato greens, tofu, fried lotus root, and nutmeg juice! I had no idea that people ate the greens from sweet potato. Kai Yee said they harvest the young greens. During the rest of the week I saw sweet potato greens as a common menu item and found it so curious that it isn't more popular of a dish in the US. The fried lotus root was my favorite dish here, there were Indian spices on the dish that made all the flavors pop. After lunch we did some work inside, as the afternoons are quite hot and humid here. For dinner we went to an Indian restaurant called Chennai curry house. I tried a new drink called a red bean smoothie that basically tasted like a chocolate milkshake! Peder tried a mango lasi for the first time.
During our third day on the farm, Kai Yee had to run some errands so we made our own breakfast of toast, mushrooms, coffee (Peder had eggs too) and the sweetest mini bananas. Another partner of the farm, Renise came to the farm this day and taught us how to transplant lettuce. She said that the larger the roots of the lettuce, the stronger the plant. We started talking about meditation and yoga, which led to a lunch where we got to meet her yoga teacher, Cheron! Our meal was delicious, another buffet-style where we could point to what we wanted to eat. This one was special though because it was a pay as you like restaurant where volunteers were serving food. A buddhist organisation runs this inclusive space that allows people of any income to eat a delicious meal. People who come and eat at this place are asked to donate what they can for their meal, there is no set price. Of the few signs I could actually read, I appreciated their effort for no food waste and encouraging people to eat vegetarian. Before eating, Cheron said a prayer thanking the farmers and individuals who put effort into growing the food we were about to eat. I appreciated this a lot and have thought about it during many future mealtimes. We had rice with some curries, tofu, beans and lotus root. After the meal, we had a great conversation about Art of Living, a non-profit that Cheron works for.
That night as we were cooking dinner I remembered it was thanksgiving! I laughed a little inside as we sat down to our freshly cooked greens, water chestnut, and beer. We had guava and dragonfruit for dessert! It was my first time having fresh water chestnut and guava. The water chestnut tasted very similar to jicama. The guava had a very unique texture that was softer on the inside where the seeds were and a bit more firm closer to the rind. After eating the seeds, I looked up if it is okay to eat the seeds and luckily it is!
Our fourth day we had toast, mushrooms, freshly picked bokchoy and Chinese kale, and coffee brewed in a teapot for breakfast. After a bit of work we went to a food court full of new and exciting foods to my eyes. Kai Yee suggested a green soup with rice and spices which both of us got, and Peder chose to get some fried noodles and dumplings. The green soup called lei cha (擂茶) was very refreshing with hints of Thai basil. Its name literally translates to "pounded tea" in english! To drink, we both had carrot milk, which I was a bit hesitant to try. After my first sip, I loved it! It was nicely sweet and encouraged me to keep trying new things, even if they seem a bit odd at first. For dessert Kai Yee suggested a fruit mix with an interesting sweet sauce made from soy sauce and sugar. Typically the sauce is mixed with the fruit, but we tried it plain just in case we did not like the fruit. The mixed fruit consisted of green mango, cucumber, pineapple, and jicama. I really liked the combination of the sauce and fruit, but thought having all the sauce on the fruit might be a bit too sweet!
For dinner we had a family style meal with birthday noodle soup, a special local bean (that apparently makes your pee smell quite potent), mixed veggies, and some more noodles. That night we finally tried a bunch of snacks we had gotten at the grocery store. They included pocky sticks, freeze dried durian, freeze dried mangosteen, green tea kit-kat, shortbread animal crackers, and seaweed lays! My favorite was the freeze-dried mangosteen.
The fifth day we had oatmeal with bananas, prunes, chai seeds, fresh papaya, coffee, and for breakfast. For lunch Kai Yee made us another tasty noodle dish with mushrooms fresh greens, and hard boiled eggs. Later in the day we went off to visit Penang for the Hin Between Arts Festival Launch party! This festival consumed our time for the next few days, and will be the focus of my next post.
p.s. I am currently posting blogs covering 1 week at a time in an effort to catch-up to the present. I have two more posts to go, and then I plan on writing a bit and sharing photos every day about the experiences I have. These daily posts should be a bit shorter and more detailed!
WHAT'S ON YOUR PLATE?
When is the last time you have taken the time to sit down and really be mindful of what you are eating? Do you acknowledge the individuals who have put an immense amount of work into growing what you consume? Do you take time to thank them, even if it is simply in your head? Next time you sit down for a meal, pause and think about the effort that went into this meal before you start to eat. Thank the individuals who planted the seeds, nurtured the plants as they grew, harvested, washed, and transported the food. If you are eating an animal, think about how how many people must have raised the animal, fed the animal, and put work into slaughtering the animal, packaging, and shipping the flesh. Think about how much you don't know about the process of getting food from the farm to your table. Know that if you are interested in learning more, there are tons of resources out there to help you learn more.
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