......... of Steam Boat Porridge, intestines and stomachs.

Yours Sincerely had a very nostalgic reunion with an old, old college mate from Johore Bahru. We parted 30 over years old ago. Both full of gusto and zest to accomplish the best for the teaching profession. We met again grayer and more wrinkled and the brotherhood is stronger.

Our reunion was done at several top restaurants in Jb (Johore Bahru) over two nights. He made us feel very warmly welcome and this is the best part of his unchanging personality . On the last evening, we decided to do something simply. So, we did it over " Steam Boat Porridge." We used to do Steam Boat with plain or Tom Yam (The most abused Thai cuisine. I'll blog about it one day.) soup but this one was done in light porridge. O la la ..... delicious, refreshing and healthier.

The ingredients were more or less like the usual steam boat, but was also baited with sea cucumber, abalone etc. You know, those that might cost you a limb. Well, the choice is yours. If you want to save your limbs, don't touch them. Other ingredients which include pig's intestines and stomachs, for example, tasted excellent. They also added a variety to the bites and chews.

( Y S saw a stall like this in Ipoh and how he wished he had his camera with him to capture the sign " DITANGGUNG TIDAK HALAL" hung by its side. LOL )

Y S has also heard about the delicious pig intestine porridge at New Lane in Penang. So many friends have sung praises about this delicacy and salivated Y S. Y S had tried and the comment is that the intestines are certainly not well washed since they are still heavy with piggy stench ( It has to be piggy. What else?). Perhaps that is where the flavour comes from.

(Some stalls and shops only give you one or two strips of stomach and intestines. " Where got enough one ?" )

Over at home, the better half has started to venture into more adventurous cooking with lots of advice and tips from the sister-in-law from Kelantan. She is a superb cook. And like all cooks, they don't eat !!! She doesn't eat much.

The better half has started to experiment with crabs, the hairy life ones and also pig's stomachs and intestines which she would never touch in her younger days but ate when washed and cooked by others. LOL

Y S has been wondering why those stomach and intestines cooked in stalls and shops are so " smellyly " delicious. They are not fullyl washed so the flavour, though a bit stinky, is still deliciously stuck to the meat . Better half must have washed hers like washing clothes ( Maybe with Fab " Buku Biru " LOL ) and also disinfected them with "clorox." LOL. The stomach and intestines are immaculately clean and in the process "the baby is thrown away with the bath water."

God be praised, better half is experimenting with many new things these days. She does not have to worry because Y S would salvage everything, lock, stock and barrel, successful and also failed cuisines.

Life is for the living. Eat on before you lose your teeth.