Friday, October 22, 2010

Of Pulled Tea And Painted Statue

Reading Pakmat's post on pasar malam (night market) prompted me to share my following ecounters one evening at the night market:

1. PULLED TEA

Or teh tarik, a hugely popular drink amongst South-east Asians, Malaysians in particular. I think the following pics will amply describe the process of making this tea, without my trying to explain it.

This process makes the tea more drinkable i.e a hot tea won't be so hot so you can drink it quickly. The irony is that very rarely people who go to restaurants (very often run by mamaks or Indian Muslims) to drink this tea are in any great hurry.

Because the tea has been 'pulled' many times, it adds flavour to it from the combination of the tea, sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk. This is not unlike pounding spices and onions, etc with mortar and pestle as opposed to using the electric blender. The resulting 'awas' or combined paste will make a much better tasting curry.

Warning: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, NOT ON YOUR PERSIAN CARPET ANYWAY.

This one's ready to go. OK, let's do another one!

The longer the better

Pull,baby, pull!

The back arm twist



Almost done

Ya baby, from ceiling to the ground

Music from that radio provides the tempo


2. PAINTED STATUE

So what if you are jobless, or  a bored college student with nothing to do at night? You can always paint yourself up, put a big box in front of you and just stand still, the longer the better. But I guess you need to stand absolutely still for at least five hours to make your effort worthwhile.


This antic is in no way unique. It's kinda like the solitary violinist or the silver statue of Hay Street Mall in Perth WA, or the bushman on San Francisco jetty accross from Alcatraz, ain't it


You are allowed to improve on the painting too




Hey, no tickling, I'm a statue, remember?


Have a great weekend everyone!

11 comments:

Akelamalu said...

Pulling tea looks like a definite art!

Have a great weekend. :)

Grandpa said...

Akelamalu, yes it does take a bit of skill. You too...:)

Denise Covey said...

Hey Grandpa, this is a fabulous post, love the pics. Life there must be so different.

Seeing you're on a farm you might be interested in stationary engines. My husband Geo has a website dedicated just to them. You might find it interesting. He gets lots of visitors but no one comments. It would be lovely if you could pop by and say hello..:)

Thanks grandpa.


New Way Station

Grandpa said...

L'Aussie, Hi, thanks, good to see you here.

Will check out the link to your hubby's

Hart Johnson said...

I love food stands that also provide entertainment! Very cool! And I was once captured by a statue in Wales... I dropped a coin in his hat and he reached out to kiss my hand, then wouldn't let go until my friend ALSO dropped a coin in his hat. teehee. Love the painted one though! Great images!

Jenny Beattie said...

Hey Grandpa, I'm sure I had your link followed but when I did my Crusader check today... you weren't there. How odd.

I love the tea pictures. I've seen them making that in Chatuchak Market here.

Excellent pictures as always.

Grandpa said...

Hi HJ, welcome to The Farm! They are quite fun aren't they? The bushman I mentioned was a stationary bunch of leaves and branches on the pavement, then gave me a big fright when he suddenly jumped up on me. Then I decided to play the same trick on him, moved some distance away and hid behind a lamp post. When he came by I jumped on him - he was shocked! Everybody around the area laughed at our antics!


Hi Jenny, it is common in Thailand too, and Indonesia. Thank you.
I hope you'll be able to restore that link

Dr Sofea J.Ann Tan said...

wow...thats an awesome teh tarik from a little boy thr ..

love ur previous post too..
IM NOT BABY .. I M IRFAN -
thats so cutee !!

Grandpa said...

Hello Putri Ku, as they say here..
Thank you, and Welcome to The Farm

Chicken Wrangler said...

Quite the technique with the tea - and no, I wouldn't try that anywhere near good furniture or someone I loved!!!

Grandpa said...

CW you are right, he may end up with a first degree burn!