My husband's roots

Adrian must be wondering when I would write something about his Pa's hometown. Well, today is The Day. Pa will be coming to see us in 3 weeks. A 24 hour journey isn't easy for any traveler; and more so for a senior traveler. We'll see how bad his jet-lag is when he arrives on May 31st. Hopefully not too severe coz we have a fury of activities lined up for you, Pa :)

Adrian's grandfather was a pepper farmer in Serian. A large number of his relatives still live there with the exception of an uncle, two aunts & his Pa who moved down to Kuching City many moons ago.

A short paragraph about Serian for newbies:
Serian is a district in the Samarahan Division; about 40 miles/64 kms south-west from Kuching City. Agriculture is the main economic activity here. During the weekends, this town is bustling with locals going up to the Indonesian border of Tebedu to score some cheap Indonesian (West Kalimantan) crafts and produce.

When we're back in Kuching, we usually spend half a day on Sunday at Uncle Simon's coffee shop. Uncle Simon is the youngest in Pa's family.

One of our favorite thing to do is check-out the market nearby. Adrian is usually stuck at the osphronemus goramy stall for a while. Goramy?? Kaloi, lah! Such a fish enthusiast, he is.

Some of the typical stuff you see at the wet and dry market in Serian :)


For those of you who don't know what this contraption is (see below), it is a coconut grater. The coconut tree is also known as "the tree with a thousand purpose" or in Malay "pokok seribu guna". Coconut water makes a delightful thirst-quencher on a hot day. Grated coconut & coconut milk is commonly used in many local dishes and this machine preps the white flesh for cooking.

Plugged to an electrical socket, it grates the white flesh into fine "hairs" in seconds.

Scenes from my [early] childhood: Grandma or my maid, the late Ah Nee (Bless her soul!) sitting on a low bench type thing; grating away in the kitchen. A manual coconut grater! Yup, no such thing as an automated grater back in those "dark ages". Tip: manually grated coconut yields a fluffier finish than automatically grated ones. Better for Nyonya cakes like ondeh-ondeh.

This is how it looks like - I'm trying my best to draw it for y'all ;)

Manual grater vs. the automated one (see above)

Anyone still has this traditional coconut grater at home? I must remember to take a nice photo of it when I go back next time. I've used it many times when Ah Nee wasn't in the kitchen, hovering round by back in case I grate my own fingers. Those jagged edges - very, very sharp indeed! A lesson well-learned. Shhh....ok?!