Bekang...

...anybody?

It is another Terengganu delicacy which I remember having for the first time when I was eight years old in Pasir Panjang. It was during a school holiday and I was staying at a relative's house to prepare for a function. It was quite vague but I remember lining up before this old lady who had a reputation as the best bekang maker in town. If not, why the line was so long with people waiting patiently to get their hands on the bekang.

The bekang comes with two sauces, the sweet sauce and cream sauce. My preference is the former. The sweet sauce (above) is brown in colour, most probably due to the use of brown sugar while the cream sauce is white.

The bekang basically is made from rice flour and eggs. According to my mother, the bekang will taste perfect if the right mix of the two ingredients is achieved. However I found the current makers of bekang tend to hold back on the eggs which makes the bekang a bit less tasty.

Nowadays, the place is no longer there. The old lady most probably has long gone to meet the Maker. We can always look for the current version but it is not what it used to taste like. Then again, we always think that foods from yester-years taste better than their counterparts today.

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Lets Bludaa...

...Everybody!

Ever since Awang Goneng mentioned the name 'Blu-daa' in his account of 'Growing Up in Trengganu' the traditional 'paun' has been making some sort of comeback, and a successful one too. Now it is quite easily available at markets such as Chabang Tiga and Pasar Payang though I have yet to see it on the shelves of Giants.

mad redo1 has his fair share of 'blu-daa' since and I must say, it is quite fulfilling (who won't after consuming ten of them!)

So, why don't you have one too... the next time you find yourself in Terengganu.


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Blown Away...

...at Anfield.

Going back ten years ago to the month of May, Arsenal fans congregated on the away section at Anfield to watch The Gunners taking on defending champions Liverpool in a match that will decide the destination of the First Division title.

Two Scots were at the helm of both teams, Kenny Dalglish for Liverpool while Arsenal were coached by George Graham. Both were legends at their respective clubs during their playing days.

Liverpool were the favourites and they needed to draw or in the worst case scenario, just a single goal defeat which seemed very unlikely as they were unbeaten in front of the Kop all season long.

Alan Smith glancing header from a free-kick put Arsenal ahead. However it seemed Liverpool will settle for the 1-0 defeat as it meant they would be crowned champions again. Steve McMahon famously indicated they were just one minute away from achieving that objective.

However, with just moments to spare Arsenal managed to break down another Liverpool attack and John Lukic threw the ball to Lee Dixon who played it directly into Liverpool's half. Smith laid the ball into Michael Thomas's path, aided by a deflection suddenly found himself with just Bruce Grobelaar to beat.

He kept his cool and prodded the ball past the goalkeeper and as the ball hit the back of the net, Thomas just lost control in wild celebrations with his team-mates.

That morning, I aced my economics paper.

Then yesterday another thrilling match was played between the two with Liverpool needing to win in order to push Manure all the way for the Premier League title.

True to script, the home side banged on Lukasz Fabianski's goal throughout the first half but to no joy. The young Polish goalkeeper who had a match to forget against Chelski on Saturday displayed the reason why Arsene Wenger brought him to the Emirates in the first place.

Then against the run of play Arsenal took the lead. Andrei Arshavin finished smartly as the Gunners capitalised on an error by Javier Mascherano and went off the pitch at half-time one goal to the good.

Unlike their predecessors in 1989, the current Arsenal defence are more vulnerable and against Liverpool there was always the possibility of them conceding.

True enough, ten minutes into the second half the home side was already leading 2-1. At that time I did not see us coming back but Arshavin certainly proved me wrong.

 Calm and composed he drilled home the equaliser after Fabio Aurelio gifted him with the chance in the 67th minute. As it was previously, the lead did not last long and a well taken goal by Torres five minutes later brought the score level again.

I thought the match will end all square but when Fabianski's punch found Walcott, whose pace brought him into the Liverpool area, I thought we could find ourselves winning the match. The England youngster found Arshavin whose left foot shot showed the quality that he posseses as the Russian beat Pepe Reina for the fourth time in that match.

But when it was announced that there would be five minutes of added time, I knew that we would concede again. Sadly, I was right but it was such a match that a draw was the right result for me.

How I wish our local football could be at that level.


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