It's not been an easy week. When we moved to Malaysia last time, a new semester and an upcoming conference were not looming as they are now. The area in which we were house-hunting was narrower. The commuting was simpler. Aller Anfang ist schwer, as the Germans say (I don't know why, but this always sounds better than "every beginning is difficult").

Thursday was particularly dire and discouraging. Our best decision that day was going to watch The Hundred Foot Journey, and sharing an orange pancake stack from Pancake House afterwards.

But we have to keep focusing on the positives. And there are many.

We're living in a hotel, for goodness' sake. We have our room cleaned, and our breakfast prepared, and our newspaper supplied without any effort on our part. (I wish the hotel hadn't got hold of the "doctor" title, though. I've already been asked which hospital I work at, and I live in dread of being woken up at 3 am because a fellow guest has had a heart attack...)

I've now encountered both bits of my new campus. One is bucolic. You can see the hills, and hear the birds singing. The other is downtown and city-slick. You can have lunch in an upscale mall just a couple of hundred metres away. Not a bad combo, I guess.



And, as always if you're Prudence, good food compensates for a lot of setbacks. I have gladly reacquainted myself with Assam laksa, Hainanese chicken rice, claypot chicken rice, and teh tarik.

Not to mention bhuja mix! The adjoining Midvalley mall has an outlet with a great selection of snacks, and a friendly salesperson who lets you try things. ("No, too bland. Do you have a spicier version?")

And the Cititel's warm, flaky, buttery croissants make a particularly nice breakfast treat.

But the stars of the food week have been mooncakes... As one Star article put it: "What are the best mooncakes wearing this season? ... Mooncake has become rather trendy and fashion-forward - it is not your tradition-bound cake anymore. The air of anticipation we feel come September is not unlike how we look forward to a new fashion collection."

This week we have partaken of a goodly number of these delectable and beautiful items.

Your newfangled mooncake has a light, soft "snow skin", and all kinds of adventurous insides. We purchased two (at no little expense, it has to be said). The first was a "Heavenly Gold" ("snow skin with pure premium Musang King Durian"). It was so awesomely durian-heavy that we wondered if we were contravening the hotel's no-durian policy. Delicious, of course. You really can't go wrong with durian. The second was an "Autumn Jade" ("snow skin jade pandan with parmesan cheese, mandarin orange infused chocolate soft center"). You could taste every single flavour in this one, and they complemented each other perfectly. Fantastically good eating.



But the traditional offerings are classics for good reason. A good "baked skin", soft and luscious lotus paste, a salty egg yolk: what's not to like?



Aller Anfang ist schwer. You just have to hang on in there until it's not the beginning any more. And keep eating, of course...