Enjoying Spring

Very cliched I know, but the month of May has really flashed by very very quickly. I am really enjoying these 2 months of Spring with the nice cool weather and the great expectations the comes with Spring. I was down with a nasty long winded cough for 2 weeks which restricted activities like golf and getting my meager planting program going.When I said meager I really mean it as I only plant some chillis and herbs ( daun kesom, coriander and mint) in my very tiny garden. The threat of frost during the Victoria Day weekend, which is the traditional start of the planting season really put back the planting by one week which is a big deal in the short growing season in this part of the world.
Apart fom missing golf with my cough, 2 rounds had to be cancelled due to the weather. On one of the rounds we actually played 5 holes but had to stop due to lightning. On top of being sick and no golf, the Toronto Blue Jays went on a 9 game losing streak, which is one of the longest in franchise history. Mercifully we have won the last 2 games against the Boston Red Sox and I played a round of golf yesterday in vey nice 15 degree weather. My cough is now completely gone and everything is now kosher in my little world.

Gulai Tumis

Made Gulai Tumis or Nonya Assam Fish for dinner the other night. The picture above does not really do justice to the tasty halibut collars used for this dish. Halibut is eminently suitable for this dish because of its firm sweet white flesh. "Collars" is a less expensive cut compared to the usual steaks that this fish comes in. I like the fatty and oily parts that comes with the collars. As a comparison these collars are $3 per lb compared to the steaks which are about $7 per lb. The traditional fish used for this dish in Malaysia is white pomfret which I also like. I buy nearly all my fish from the frozen section of the Chinese supermarkets. They are usually of better quality than the so called "fresh" fish sold. These "fresh" fish is presented usually as steaks and it is difficult to tell whether the fish is fresh or not. I only buy "fresh" fish when they come whole when I can tell from the eyes (clear) and gills(dark red) whether they are fresh.