It is early August and the sun is continuing to blaze itself at a high of 36 C in this beautiful city of Vienna. This would be the very first "proper" summer that I am experiencing - not that I have not experienced summers before, but summers in Wellington, New Zealand (where I have lived for about 8 years before my big move to the Northern Hemisphere) tend to go no higher than about 25 C. On days where the southerly winds are blowing through the city, summer days can feel like winter nights! So the first time I went out of my apartment on the first hot summer's day in Vienna, it was an absolute shock to my system. Oh the relief when I stepped into an air-conditioned tram! (Not all of them are!!)
On hot days like these, salads are my usual go-tos during lunch breaks. I find the experience of eating salads incredibly satisfying: biting down on a sweet, juicy cherry tomato and letting all its loveliness just ooze in my mouth. Oh, Joy! My favourites tend to centre around salads that have any combination of the following: Lamb's lettuce, spinach, rucola, goat's cheese, haloumi, nuts (either pine nuts or walnuts), avocado, some sort of small pasta (fussili or macaroni) and of course, to crown it all of, cherry tomatoes. I like my salad dressings to be relatively acidic, so I sometimes go a bit nuts with the vinegar. Here's a snapshot of a relatively hefty salad that I've just made for dinner. I don't know about calling it "weight-loss friendly", but the bacon made it extra yummy!
I must admit that my enjoyment of salads came much later in life, probably during my 6th or 7th year of living in New Zealand. Not that I have not encountered salads before my move down south, but salads were very much an "imported" product into Malaysia. I don't pretend to know the history of Asian cuisines, or even Malaysian cuisine for that matter. But I do know this: If I were to have served a bowl of salad to my grandparents, they would ask me as to why I didn't cook the vegetables. And if I were to answer that that is how its supposed to be eaten, they would have looked at me with very confused expressions and reply: "But we're not bunnies!..."
While the climate in Malaysia all year round is not unlike the hot summers of Vienna - averaging 30 C with humidity levels ranging anywhere from 77 to 96, Malaysians always tend to eat warm food for all meals. WARM. Even breakfast! Our most popular breakfast dish - the infamous Nasi Lemak - is warm rice with boiled egg, served with a side of hot sambal sauce, deep fried anchovies and cucumbers (just the cucumbers, not a salad with cucumbers!) Sometimes it is served with beef rendang or even curry chicken - BREAKFAST! Ah such wonderful memories.
Of course, salads are no longer viewed with such suspicion. The mingling of cultures is most wonderfully expressed in the evolution of cuisines. That salads are becoming more and more common in Malaysia, and also enjoyed by many Malaysians nowadays, is, for me, a thing to be celebrated. Not so much because of dish itself, but for what the acceptance of it signifies: that what is foreign, imported and different can wonderfully enrich cultures and cuisines!
Naturally, I am craving for a good Nasi Lemak now. But also for something with tomatoes and goat's cheese. Hmm.. tough decisions!
