Notice the new series marker. I should have started with this ages ago, frankly, instead of all the random titling.

KL is home, after all. Has been for almost two years now. It's the backdrop for most of the day-to-day travel and food that goes on at the moment.

And what a rich, eclectic backdrop it is, too... I continue to love KL.

COLOURS

-- Purple skies; purple toast (with milo and milk this time); nasi kerabu (mine) and Bandung (Nigel's); and a campus flower.

-- Lunch at Limapulo. This is obviously very much related to Limablas, which we visited just over a year ago. Forgetting what I'd had there, I was drawn again to the tamarind chicken, with warm barley to drink this time. Nice, though. Filling, not expensive, and handy for Quill. Get there prompt for mid-day, because it fills up fast. This time, we met the proprietor, Uncle John; we admired the interior (retro); and we were chuffed to find we could read the Chinese characters for 50 (I know...).







-- Venerable buildings, all sparkly in the sun.





BREAKFASTS

-- A feast of idlis (see the picture at the top) at the Idli Only Cafe in Bangsar. Rava idli (made, it seems with the rice equivalent of semolina, as opposed to ordinary rice); butter podi idli (fried in butter and topped with spices); and Manchurian idli (chopped up idlis in a sweet-sour sauce with vegetables). To drink: panankalkandu paal, which is hot milk, with palm sugar and spices. All totally toothsome. And -- best of all -- we didn't even try the half, so there are lots of idlis to go back for (AND they have home-made kulfi).

-- A pleasantly different take on Eggs Benedict, at Pigs & Wolf (pulled pork and apple slaw underneath the poached eggs, with a dijon mustard sauce on top).

SAGAS

-- Ladies of the Red Chamber, a dance performance at KLPAC inspired by the 18th-century Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber (which I really must read one day). Chinese instruments, beautifully played. Soft, elegant, harmonious movement by dancers in colourful, flowing clothes. All the panoply of Chineseness -- watersleeves, parasols, fans. Very atmospheric, as the characters glide between the real world and the dream world. "Truth becomes fiction when the fiction's real; real becomes not-real where the unreal's real..."



-- Rudy Habibie, the prequel to the movie Habibie dan Ainun, which we watched on DVD in our little house in Yogya (I subsequently read the book, and a biography). I enjoyed the glimpse (well researched, it seems) into Habibie's early life, and although it's a little over-didactic, it definitely has its inspiring side, and one of the messages is indeed "that there is hope for geeks".

-- Captain Fantastic, a wonderfully thought-provoking movie about a couple who opt out of society to raise their family in the wilds. The mother's illness and death not only raise questions in the children's minds, but also necessitate a foray into civilization, where other family members radiate disapproval of Ben's parenting choices. What's interesting is that you don't know who to sympathize with. It's true -- Ben is a dictator, and he's turning the kids into freaks. It's true -- the social and familial worlds created by Ben's sister and his wife's parents are so artificial you want to barf. Ultimately, Ben loses his nerve, and attempts a compromise. The last we see of the family is a kind of half-way house. The environment is rustic, but the old bus (Steve -- very covetable) is now a chicken-run, and the kids are going to school. Will this work out, we wonder...

-- Far from the stage or the silver screen, we have the ongoing saga of the Tudi Gong. He comes; he goes. We don't know why. Last week we found a Tudi Gong on the pavement on the other side of the road, opposite the shrine. The next day, the shrine had been occupied by someone else, who had brought a friend. The day after that, the shrine was bare; even its incense sticks had gone. I wish I knew the plot to this saga. Or maybe I don't.





-- On a lighter note, a food saga, namely, the story of maids of honour, which we sampled today at Newens, along with scones, cream, jam, and Margaret's Hope tea from Darjeeling.