The nasi lemak brunch....

It’s that time of the year again. Its Christmas time and I get to play dress up and attend my wife’s departmental Christmas party. Since I don’t work, I spend most of my time in jeans and t-shirts (and thermals and sweaters in the winter), so I don’t get the chance to dress up very often. Over the weekend, we went to the Malaysian Association of the Netherlands Annual Gala Dinner and we decided to dress up for that. This is us before the event:

Before the Gala Dinner... we looked goooood

Besides that, I’m stuck for ideas. I've spent the whole morning just hanging out at my favorite watering hole, the Coffee Company at Korteporten in Den Haag, and followed that up with walking around aimlessly for another hour or so. Then I came home and spent the last 2 hours reading comments on articles posted on a website dedicated to Liverpool Football Club (I read the articles in 15 minutes). Now I’m just waiting for the time to get ready and head off the Louwman Museum for the Christmas party.

Since I’m not doing anything else, I thought I might as well write about the events over the past weekend, particularly Sunday when we had our nasi lemak brunch. As I mentioned in the last post, I left the invitation open, anyone who wanted to attend would just have to read the post and let me know that they were coming. You’d think with that type of invitation, I’d probably have to cook for 100 people. But not here in Den Haag, I had a guest list of 5 and a half and even then, at the last minute, someone couldn't make it.

So I was left with Fazrin, Merlyna, Siti and Shaukatt being the 4 and little Khaleef making up the half. Brunch was scheduled to start at 11.00 and at 8.30 that morning, my wife got a message from Siti telling us that she was already hungry and couldn't wait to come over. I hadn't even started cooking yet.

The guests. From top to bottom: Fazrin & Merlyna, Siti  & Shaukatt, and Khaleef

 It usually takes me about an hour to cook nasi lemak, but this time I had to allocate a bit more time because I was planning to serve fried chicken with the nasi lemak. I started cooking at 9.30 and by 10.30 I was done with the nasi lemak. At 11.00, Siti, Shaukatt and Khaleef arrived.  I was only half way through cooking the chicken so I could feel the daggers coming from Siti as she was probably expecting to eat immediately upon arrival.

In a way, I was feeling a bit under pressure. This would be the first time I was going to cook nasi lemak for friends since I started writing this blog. I knew expectations were going to be high. As we sat down to eat, I grew more anxious and nervous. What if it turned out to be a disaster?

After my first bite, my fears quickly disappeared. It was exactly how I liked my nasi lemak. The rice was perfectly cooked, not too creamy or heavy and the sambal had the right balance of hot, sweet, sour and salty. Everything tasted right. I got confirmation of that when Siti asked if she could take some of the sambal home if we had extra.

The fried chicken on the left and the sambal on the right

But what really brought a smile to my face was that we almost finished the rice. As a general rule, for the 2 of us, I normally cook about 1 cup of rice. If I’m feeling really hungry, about a cup and a quarter and even then we’re usually stuffed by the time we finish it. If I base my calculation on that rule, 4 cups of rice should have been enough for all of us. I added one extra cup just in case anyone was extra hungry. But then, when I poured the rice into the cooker, there wasn't much left in the bag, so I poured the whole thing in. In total, I cooked about 6 and a half cups. THAT WAS A LOT!!!!

Anyway, all in all, it was a success. I spent the rest of the day with Fazrin and Shaukatt watching football while my wife, Siti and Merlyna went shopping. They left Khaleef with us but being the nice boy that he is, he didn't create too much of a fuss and we managed to enjoy the games on the telly.  

Plans for the weekend...

It started snowing about an hour ago. That’s the first time snow has been sighted this year in Den Haag. For me, it’s not truly winter, until you see snowflakes drifting down past your windows. That’s the real sign of winter and a warning that the temperatures are going to drop further.

I have this love hate relationship with winter. I hate winter because every day is the same as the day before, it’s wet, windy and overall, very dreary. But I also love winter because it gives me the opportunity to put on my body hugging thermals and I DO look good in body hugging thermals. YES, I am that vain and I’m sure most of my friends will be able to testify to that fact (sometimes I can’t walk by a mirror without taking a peak at how good I look). It’s a shame that I always have to cover up the tight fitting thermals with a t-shirt or a sweater on top.

Anyway, since the weather is not very encouraging, I’m more or less stuck in the house for now. Rather than waste my time this morning watching the idiot box (I can do that later today), I've decided to make plans for the weekend. I've got a couple of friends staying over this weekend. They will be in Den Haag for the Malaysian Association of the Netherlands Annual Gala Dinner which will be held on the evening of Saturday, 8^th December 2012.

I have a lunch invitation on Saturday at a fellow Malaysian’s house somewhere in Den Haag (I haven’t got his address yet). In the afternoon, Fazrin Edzuan Jamaluddin and Merlyna Aillen Kraal will be arriving from Antwerp, Belgium, and we’ll all be attending the Gala Dinner that evening. Fazrin and Merlyna will be spending the night at our place. So my Saturday is fairly packed.

Sunday morning is usually tennis time. I joined this group of 6 Malaysians who play tennis on Sundays. So far, I've missed a few sessions because I was traveling and a couple of sessions had to be cancelled because we didn't have enough people as others were traveling too. For this Sunday, I’m not sure if tennis is on. Three of us will be attending the Gala Dinner, so we’re not entirely sure if we can get up early that Sunday morning to play tennis. And on top of that, another one of us will be traveling that weekend. So we might not have enough players. Then there’s always the weather which might put a dampener on our plans.

Rather than living with the uncertainty, I've decided to make my own plans this weekend. Since I have guests over this weekend, I have decided to make nasi lemak for brunch. It’s the perfect substitute. In this kind of weather, all you’d be doing is warming up, you won’t sweat much playing tennis. If you eat nasi lemak, and the sambal is hot enough, you will definitely break into a sweat. So in a way, it’s a better Sunday morning activity compared to tennis.

I already have 2 guests and I’m still contemplating on whether I should invite more.  I enjoy entertaining friends, but I do try to keep a limit on these kinds of invites. I like chatting and catching up with friends but I wouldn't enjoy the occasion if I have to shout at them from across the room. Taking this into account, I have decided that I should invite a few more people over for brunch. I think a limit of 8 or 10 people would be nice. I just need to figure out who I can invite. Maybe what I can do is just leave the invitation open. Anyone who reads this post is welcome as long as places are available. All they have to do is just inform my wife or me that they would like to come. First come, first serve.

Now that my plans for the weekend have been settled, all I have to do is figure out what to do for the rest of the day. Maybe this afternoon, if the clouds stop pouring stuff that will make me wet, I might just drop by the gym (I think there’s too many maybes there). 

P.s. I haven't exactly cleared these plans with my wife. So, these plans are still subject to change

UK Trip (Part 3)

Yeay!!! There is a part 3 to this story. I didn't really expect there to be one as my writing depends on my mood. I guess I am in the mood to write but I don’t really have anything else to write about (Hint to Ida Faiz back in Malaysia). Before I go on, I think I should prepare everyone who reads this blog (all 12 of you) that if you’re looking for more rambling on nasi lemak in this post, you will be terribly disappointed. I won’t even be mentioning nasi lemak (except for these 1 or 2 instances). This post is more about the rest of my trip which doesn't involve any nasi lemak at all.

Just to let you know, today is the first day where the temperatures here in Den Haag has dropped below zero. That’s what my wife’s phone seems to say. I’m not sure what my phone says. Sometimes it gives a different temperature reading compared to my wife’s even though we both use the same brand of phone, with the same OS and the same app to check the temperature. Maybe the weather pattern is a bit different at her office (which is a staggering 2 kilometers away) than it is here in the comforts of my house.

Oh Yes! Back to my story. UK Trip Part 3.

Photo taken 2 years ago

I think in my last post I mentioned that we spent the night at Highworth, which is a small market town just 30 minutes from Swindon. I decided I wanted to have a light breakfast (not sure what my wife wanted to have but I noticed it wasn't very heavy either) as we were planning to head to Bath. My main aim to get to the historic city of Bath was to go to Sally Lunn’s House, home of the famous Bath Bun, which is located in the city center. We arrived just after 9.30 and headed straight there.

A bit of a history lesson. Sally Lunn was a Heguenot refugee who came to Bath in 1640 escaping French persecution. She found employment with a baker located in Lilliput Alley and introduced the creamy yet light and delicate bun which has now become famously known as the Bath Bun. The original and very secret recipe to this bun is now passed along together with the deeds to the house. Over the years, a lot of imitations have cropped up including the “London Bath Buns” but none have been able to match the deliciously light original Bath Bun.

The bun comes with a variety of toppings, sweet and savory. I have never tried any of the savory toppings such as the Smoked Salmon Bun, Roast Beef, Creamy Brie (this actually sounds interesting) or Welsh Rarebit. I have always gone for a sweet topping. In fact, I've only ever had one type of topping which is the Cinnamon Butter topping. The bun is served with a topping of melted cinnamon butter and a slice of lemon on top. When you look at it on your plate you wonder how could something so simple be so famous, but the moment you put it in your mouth, you feel as if there’s a small explosion mixing the sweet and salty cinnamon butter together with the crunchy and creaminess of the toasted bun. You just can’t help but to close your eyes and enjoy the sensations.

The famous Sally Lunn's Cinnamon Butter Bun

The Coffee and Walnut topping (pic courtesy of my wife)

My wife had the Coffee and Walnut topping which was equally as good. I had a small bite from her plate and I wished I had some more. Maybe I should have just ordered another one.

Left: The after effects of the floods.
Right: Cross Guns
(again pics courtesy of my wife)

After walking around Bath for a couple of hours (shopping, what else) we headed out to Avoncliff, which is a small village just a few miles from Bradford-Upon-Avon. Cross Guns is a typical English pub located in Avoncliff right next to the river Avon. Going there was a bit of a gamble as the area had experienced some heavy rains and had flooded the day before. The effects of this flooding were very obvious when we got to Cross Guns. A couple of their tables were in the river waiting to be fished out by the proprietor when the water level recedes further.

The menu at Cross Guns is fairly simple. It consists mainly of traditional English food. I had a meal here once 18 years ago and I remember it till today. That time, the steak was particularly memorable, but this time, the starter and desserts did it for me. For starters, I had the Cross Guns Mushrooms which were sliced mushrooms cooked in a creamy garlic sauce (couldn't take a photo of this as my phone had run out of batteries). This dish was absolutely divine. For dessert, I had the Spotted Dick, one of my favorite traditional English desserts. The Spotted Dick is a steamed suet pudding which consists of dried fruits served with a creamy custard sauce (once again, no photos of the one served). At Cross Guns, the pudding just melts in your mouth together with the creamy custard making it a very appetizing dessert.

The Cross Guns Mushroom. Absolutely delicious.
(Battery ran out so once again pic is courtesy of my wife)

Not the one that I had but it does look good

After Cross Guns, I was stuffed. We hadn't really made any plans for the afternoon.We had booked a hotel in Warwick for the night but e didn't really feel like heading straight straight there since it was still only after 3.00 in the afternoon. So we headed to Bicester Village an outlet shopping center located in the heart of Oxfordshire, for, surprise surprise, some more shopping. We spent almost 3 hours there, walked the entire breadth of the outlet village twice, and eventually arrived at our hotel in Warwick at almost 9.00 in the evening. Overall, it was a day of indulgence. In fact, the whole trip was about indulging ourselves. If we could find a place for a nice relaxing massage, the whole trip could have been a perfect pampering holiday.

P.s: To find out more about Sally Lunn's House and Cross Guns, visit their website. Here are the links:

Sally Lunn's House

Cross Guns

UK Trip (Part 2)

Before I continue on to Part 2 of my UK Trip, let me first apologize to Teddy and all my readers. I got the name of Teddy’s bistro slightly wrong in Part 1. It’s actually called the “Malay Cuisine and Bistro”. I only realized this last night when I visited their Facebook page to get some details of the bistro. A big APOLOGY for that mistake.

Moving on, after we finished our meal at the bistro, my wife and I headed to Liverpool. I was planning on catching a football game between my favorite team, Liverpool FC, and BSC Young Boys from Switzerland. Surprisingly, for someone who wasn't keen on watching a football game, my wife was more excited than me throughout the game. She made more commentaries about how the game was going on and about our defending. We should watch more games together (but maybe we should wait until it gets warmer).

The teams lining up at Anfield. Unfortunately we were on the opposite side

Overall, the game was an exciting one, but the end result wasn't good for us. The game ended in a 2 – 2 draw, and I have to say, we were very bad at defending. We took the lead twice and due to our lapse in defense, they equalized twice.

The next morning, we had planned to drive all the way down to Bath. I went to the University of Bath and had planned a visit to some of my old hunting grounds. The main purpose of going there was to go to Sally Lunn’s House and Cross Guns (more on those 2 later).

Somehow, after a shower and packing all our stuff, our plans changed. I remembered the menu board at Teddy’s place and started to wish that I had tried the nasi lemak. I suggested we drop by at Teddy’s place on the way south and my wife was quite enthusiastic about the idea. So once again, we took a detour (again, nowhere near the route we were supposed to take to Bath) and headed off to Stalybridge (and again, the thought of eating nasi lemak made me drool all the way).

Teddy's nasi lemak

The nasi lemak was absolutely delicious. The rice was less creamier compared to mine, which I suppose was due to it being cooked in a lot less coconut milk, but had cardamoms and cloves in it. These spices were a perfect substitute for the coconut milk as they also gave the rice richness without the heaviness of the coconut milk. The anchovies came on the side and not in the sambal, but the sambal was full of chopped onions (I usually blend my onions and put some of the dried anchovies in my sambal) and these chopped onions gave the sambal its sweetness. All in all, the nasi lemak was superb and because it didn't use as much coconut milk, you don’t get the feeling of wanting to doze off after (which was good since I was going to spend 2 hours driving on a boring motorway).

The nasi lemak also came with some chicken satay. When it comes to satay, I'm a bit of a stickler. My dad used to sell the best satay at night markets in Kemaman, Terengganu. We used to make our own satay and the peanut sauce that accompanies the satay. Every year, during the Eid celebration, we used to get huge orders for satay (in one year, the orders exceeded 80,000 sticks of satay). So my dad's satay was very popular in Kemaman (in fact, if you happen to visit Kemaman and there is a night market, you might still find a stall there which uses my dad's recipe. Look out for Satay Bistari and I can guarantee you that you will enjoy the satay).

Teddy's satay, although not as delicious as my dad's, had the right ingredients. The chicken was tender and moist while the peanut sauce was hot and creamy. Shame there was only 3 sticks of it. I enjoyed the satay although I do miss my dad's satay (Maybe on my next trip back to Malaysia I'll take a short day trip up to Kemaman).

Back to my story. We had to change our plans and not head to Bath that day. The extra 2 and a half hour detour (including the time it took for us to finish our meal) created havoc to our plans but it was well worth it. We ended up heading into the countryside around the Cotswold area to places like Chipping Campden, Stow on the Wold and Burford and went shopping instead (which was our plan for the third day). We spent the night in a very nice hotel at Highworth which is half an hour outside of Swindon. A bit of chaos to our holiday plans, but still a good meal and a good day.

UK trip (Part 1)

The title to this blog post implies that there will be more than one entry featuring my recent trip to the UK. To be honest with you, I´m not entirely sure how many entries there will be regarding this trip. At the moment, all I know is that there will be at least 1, maybe 2 and if I decide to indulge myself, 3 or more. So bear with me on this one.

For future reference, a particular trip to any foreign location will have at least one entry depending on the amount of good food we eat. Based on this logic, during our trip to the UK, we had a lot of good food. Like my wife said, the trip to the UK was basically an “indulgence” trip. We indulged in a good football game, good food and lots of shopping.

Let’s start at Birmingham International Airport, which is where we landed. We had decided while planning this trip that we wouldn't fly into any of the London airports because a) they were nowhere near where we wanted to go; and b) just too much hassle. So upon our arrival, we picked up our rental car, a Nissan Micra (which disappointed me a bit because I had booked the new Ford Fiesta which I was so looking forward to trying but wasn't available) and headed straight to Stalybridge which is on the outskirts of Manchester (nowhere near Liverpool but we had to go there anyway).

The cafe from the outside

The reason for this detour was to go and meet up with a friend of my wife who recently opened a café/bistro in Stalybridge (I would never have expected that someone would open a café serving Malaysian food in Stalybridge, it’s like a small town or more like a large village, not exactly remote but way out of the way for your average Malaysian). But E.N Rumly (Teddy), the proprietor, has somehow made it work. Most of the food on the menu is your typical western fare such as sandwiches, pannini and such, but you also have nasi lemak, fried mee hoon, satay and some other Malaysian dishes.

Before making this trip, we had already told Teddy that we were going stop by to sample some of his food. While driving along the way, we got a message from him outlining the menu, White rice served with “Asam pedas ikan semilang (hot and sour catfish)”, “Sambal tumis petai udang (prawn in sambal)”, “Rendang daging (beef rendang)” and “Daging masak hitam (beef cooked in black gravy)” (hearing this, I ran out of saliva from drooling too much just as we reached Manchester).

From the outside, Teddy’s café looks just like any other café. With the exception of a sandwich board leaning against a tree just outside the café, there was nothing to indicate that it is a Malaysian café. In fact, because he only just recently opened, he didn't even have time to take down the sign from the previous owner.Walking in, I noticed the décor was quite simple. None of your usual “Visit Malaysia Year”and “Malaysia Truly Asia” posters, no “Wau bulan”hanging on the walls or bamboo pieces and dim lighting to create a “fake” Malaysian food stall environment. Just a bright, neat and clean dining area for the comfort of patrons.

As I was taking my seat, I noticed a few boards on the wall displaying some of the dishes served. Then I noticed the one on the wall opposite my chosen seat, “Nasi Lemak” my favorite meal. I started to get excited but I realized that Teddy had probably spent the last couple of hours cooking the menu he sent to us, so I wasn't going to make a big fuss out of it. So I sat there quietly while waiting for Teddy’s other guests, Rosnah Mu, her husband Simon Alexander and their 2 children.

The nasi lemak menu board

For starters, Teddy brought out 2 pieces each of homemade “Roti canai” with curry. For those of you in the know, making the dough for the roti canai is the easy part, spreading the dough to make the roti thin, light and crunchy is not the easiest thing to do. There is a special technique called “Tebar”or spreading which makes the dough very thin before it is folded over to form the roti before the roti is pan fried. Here is a video of this technique.

Teddy’s roti canai, was filling. The roti was light and crunchy, and the curry was hot and spicy. In fact, it was very hot and spicy, I had to mask some of the spiciness by dipping pieces of my roti in some sugar after dipping it in the curry (I like doing that anyway as it adds a bit of sweetness to every piece of roti that goes into my mouth). But it was excellent. I tend to sweat whenever I have some good spicy food, and after the third bite, I could feel the sweat exiting my pores on my forehead.

The "Asam Pedas" and "Rendang

Then, came the main meal (more sweating). The asam pedas, sambal tumis, rendang and daging masak hitam arrived at our table and my drooling, which had stopped the moment we walked into the café, started again. I am not a big fan of catfish, unless is fried till it’s crunchy, but I had 2 pieces of the fish in the asam pedas. And the rendang was superb, but my favorite was the sambal tumis petai udang. At one point I was a bit worried there wasn't going to be enough for all of us (the food came out in small bowls and we all had a huge plate of rice to accompany it all). But I was wrong. And surprisingly, after the 2 pieces of roti canai, I finished all my rice.

Devouring the main meal

The meal at Teddy’s place was absolutely delicious. I ate so much that I couldn't even have a bite of the dessert; in fact none of us could eat the dessert, which was a shame really because Teddy had already cooked it. I highly recommend to anyone in the vicinity of Manchester to drop by and have some of the sumptuous fare on offer at Teddy’s café. His café, the “Malay Cuisine and Bistro” is located at 57, Grosvenor Street, Stalybridge.

Teddy

P.s.      Looks like the entry on the Nasi Lemak will have to wait till Part 2

P.p.s.   Sorry there are no pictures of the roti canai, sambal tumis petai udang and daging masak hitam. I completely forgot to take pictures.

Looking ahead....

Todays weather

Before I go on with this post, I have a confession to make. I don’t check my blog very often. On average, I take a peek at the dashboard maybe once a week and even then, only when I feel like writing and posting something. So to all readers of this blog (probably 7 in total), if you post a comment on my blog, I apologize in my tardiness in moderating any comments. I hope this doesn't deter anyone from leaving comments.

It’s a pretty cold day today. Temperature is about 7°C but “Real feel” is 4°C. So today it feels like it’s pretty close to freezing. With the relatively thick fog and visibility down to 50 meters, I really don’t feel like going out (so all plans to go for a short run have gone out the window).

Since I’m stuck inside with not much else to do, I thought I’d write something. I haven’t got any new experiences relating to nasi lemak and on top of that, my memory has deserted me temporarily (another way to say I’m too lazy) so I can't recall some of my previous experiences either. Since that is the case, I thought I’d write about my plans for the next few days.

Nothing much will be happening over the next couple of days. However, on Thursday, my wife and I will be flying to the United Kingdom. The plan is to fly into Birmingham Airport in the morning, hire a car and head towards Liverpool to catch a football game (I’m a huge Liverpool fan). Along the way, we’re planning to stop somewhere near the outskirts of Manchester to visit my wife’s friend who runs a bistro in Stalybridge, 30 minutes from Manchester city center (the amount of time taken to drive from Manchester city center to Stalybridge was provided by Google Maps. I have no personal experience of driving that route so have no idea how long it would take).

At Anfield, Liverpool on 30th December 2011

Truth is, Stalybridge is nowhere near to being “along the way” to Liverpool. It’s a good 45 minutes in a totally different direction. But since my wife has graciously allowed me to watch a football game (while she will probably have to spend the evening in a hotel room watching whatever is on BBC), we will be making a major detour along the way (I also wouldn't mind some good Malaysian food too).

My wife tells me, the name of the café is the “Malay Bistro” (I have a suspicious feeling that she doesn't know the name of her friends bistro) and they serve fusion Malaysian food. I am not that keen on fusion Malaysian food. In my opinion, “fusionizing” (not sure if such a word exists but I guess you get my meaning) Malaysian food only corrupts the taste. But since the owner Teddy, has offered to make “nasi kandar”, I’m all for it (right now, I’ll drive 100 kilometers for a plate of good nasi kandar).

I am so looking forward to this trip. The football match will be quite enjoyable, but most importantly, the potential to eat some good Malaysian food (I will be doing a Google search for "Malaysian restaurants" in Liverpool). The UK has one of the largest populations of Malaysians living abroad. Hopefully I can get to sample more Malaysian food in the UK. We shall see.

A major problem

J. Mokhtar tagged me in this photo

Last week, I was tagged in a photo posted by fellow blogger J. Mokhtar (you can find a link to his blog in my blog list on the right). The photo was a picture of a selection of “nasi lemak bungkus” at the breakfast buffet of the Le Meridien Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. They offered 5 options for your sambal. There is the conventional sambal ikan bilis (dried anchovies) then they also have the options of sambal udang (prawns), ikan (fish), daging (beef) or sambal sotong (squid). I can’t testify to the tastefulness of the nasi lemak as I’ve never tried the breakfast buffet at Le Meridien before and JM didn't say if he tried the the nasi lemak either.

Upon viewing this picture, my wife decided she wanted to have some nasi lemak. She made this decision while rushing back from Brussels via Roermond (another brief shopping trip). It was good that she volunteered to cook it as she hasn't cooked nasi lemak since I moved here to the Netherlands (and also because I was in a rush to catch a football game and since we were expected to arrive an hour before the game started, I was planning to park myself on the sofa until the game finished).

Here are a couple of pictures of my wife’s nasi lemak (the nicer photo was taken by my wife).

My wife's nasi lemak

After devouring her nasi lemak, I had a major criticism. I have a problem with her nasi lemak and I haven’t told her about it yet. I thought I would reveal the problem here in my blog rather than revealing it to her personally. I think in most cases, this could be grounds for a divorce.

The problem I have with her nasi lemak is that she doesn't make it often enough. I had three plates of it that night and another 2 plates over the weekend. Besides my own, the only other nasi lemak that I can eat 3 servings in one sitting is my mom’s.

Her nasi lemak is different compared to mine. The rice she cooks is not as creamy or as rich as mine but it is still very good. Apparently she adds another ingredient, "fenugreek", into her rice. As I said before, a good sambal has to have the perfect balance of sweet, sour, salty and hot. Her sambal doesn’t have the intensity of these tastes but the balance is there. Although I prefer a more intense sambal, her version is perfectly balanced and it doesn't overwhelm your taste buds. Through all the tastes, you can still feel the richness and creaminess of the rice.

My version of nasi lemak will flood your taste buds with the sweet, sour, salty and hotness of the sambal mixed with the creaminess and richness of the rice. Together with the crunchiness of the fried dried anchovies, it makes a wonderful meal. My wife’s nasi lemak achieves the same objectives (a delicious meal that you can have over and over again) but with a lower level intensity.

Maybe next time my wife says she would like nasi lemak, I might just park my butt on the sofa again and wait for it to be served.