Back to Malaysia - Day Four AM - The Martha Stewart Blog

June 10, 2010

Back to Malaysia - Day Four AM

On Saturday, the fourth day of our visit to Malaysia, our morning activities began with a tour of Pasar Tani, a comprehensive farmers' market. When traveling, I always love checking out the local markets and this is a great place to shop for local produce, seafood, meats and a large assortment of freshly prepared foods. After the market, we were given a tour of the very interesting Royal Selangor Visitor Center and Pewter Factory by Datin Chen, the grand-daughter of its founder, Yong Koon. This famous pewter factory is one of the oldest and largest in the world. It was so amazing to see 'live' the different pewter production processes from casting, filing, polishing, soldering, hammering, and engraving. We also visited their School of Hard Knocks, where we discovered that hammering pewter requires great skill.

: Here I am at the pasar with Najib, our wonderful guide, and his very kind wife, Aida Abdullah and daughter, Anis Athirah Ahmad Najib.

: Hand prints of children visitors to the museum

: It involved hammering around the wooden molds.

: Almost finished! It was a rather noisy experience.

: In the gift shop were beautiful pewter and silver objects. I loved this unusual tea set.

: And this elegant silverware

: The homemade tofu (center) was one of my favorite dishes.

: A whole truck load of the very stinky durian fruit. None of us wished to sample it.

: As I’ve already mentioned, crab dishes are very popular in Malaysia. These are blue crabs at the market.

: Fish head dishes are also very popular.

: A very friendly prawn vendor

: The prawns are sold with head on.

: Ginger root is widely used in the local cuisine and about 160 species of ginger (Zingiberaceae) occur in Peninsular Malaysia.

: A kitty in search of breakfast

: Chickens are sold with feet attached – cartilage in the feet make for rich soups.

: This is a stack of fish cakes wrapped in bamboo leaves.

: This vendor was selling an interesting assortment of culinary leaves.

: A very friendly young man

: Charming butchers

: These ladies are cutting open jack fruit, the largest tree fruit in the world. It’s part of the mulberry family and the seeds are covered with a delicious yellow flesh.

: A closer look at the jack fruit

: Fried snacks, such as these banana chips, are a real favorite.

: This lady is making a spicy chicken curry-like dish.

: Dried fish and more

: We were drawn to these very decorative and meticulously designed desserts called kek lapis.

: Pomelo, or Chinese grapefruit, is a very nutritious citrus fruit that I love.

: Chinese medicine is widespread in Malaysia and this is one ingredient.

: Memrie, Najib, and I are waiting to taste these crepe-like delicacies called murtabak.

: A close up of the murtabak filled with egg – The skin is the same as the famous Roti Canai and can be replaced by Popiah Skin Wrapper – Chinese Spring Roll Wrapper.

: A different kind of crepe called Apam balik – the same as we tasted the night before on Petaling Street

: Creamy sweet corn adds such great flavor!

: A variety healthy snacks, including glutinous rice rolled in bamboo leaf called lemang. The triangular shaped ones are called ketupat palas.

: Another chip-like snack

: Wonderful little lunch boxes – seafood, hard boiled egg, and vegetables

: So much assorted cooked food to choose from

: A variety of Asian noodles with various toppings

: Dried fruits including kiwi slices

: Shallots, garlic, and piles of dried fish

: This lovely woman is making a fried dough kind of dessert.

: A better look

: The dough is cut into strips before frying.

: These banana leaves are filled with savory rice, meat, and more.

: A variety of chili sauces and pastes

: We loved these natural bird houses, made from coconuts.

: This is dragon fruit, which tastes a lot like kiwi.

: Roasted chickpeas make a tasty and nutritious snack.

: Bamboo leaves, filled with fish cake, are roasting on an open fire.

: This is what the tasty interior looks like. As the bamboo leaf chars, it imparts a nice smoky flavor.

: One of the fish cake vendors

: This man, who is blind, sings and plays piano at the market every week. He has a very pleasing voice.

: This juice station looks like a great place to stop!

: Memrie standing in the bustling market place

: Here I am at the entrance of the Royal Selangor Visitors Center and the School of Hard Knocks Pewter Museum with Datin Chen, who is the grand-daughter of the founder of this center and the Director of the Royal Selangor Centre.

: Datin Chen’s grandfather is in the photo on the bottom right.

: A cute pewter crocodile – we were told that children especially love this piece.

: This is the melon-shaped Lucky Tea Pot. During WWII, a man bent over to pick up this teapot and in doing so, dodged a shrapnel that whizzed just inches from his head.

: Old pewter catalogues and designs

: This display is comprised of 1,578 kg of pewter shavings.

: We were fascinated by how pewter molds are made. Here are some.

: Ornate designs

: A mini Petronas Twin Towers model made out of pewter. It’s 1/50 the size of the real towers.

: This is the factory section of the pewter museum

: Pouring melted pewter into a handle-shaped mold – pewter is made from aluminum, antimony, and tin – which is readily found in Malaysia.

: Drawing precise lines on pewter cup

: Created a decorative hammered design

: That’s me in the background trying my hand at hammering pewter.

: Making straight, even lines was far more challenging than I anticipated!

: Sophie facing the same challenge – We have a new appreciation for hammered pewter.

: Here I am with Datin Chen and our bodyguard, Ismail, touring the lively museum.

: We also had the opportunity to make small, pewter bowls from a circular sheet of the metal. The museum calls this ‘The School of Hard Knocks’ – fortunately, we all passed.