anthroblogia

It's customary for bloggers to do an April Fool post on the 1st April, but I'm too unimaginative to think of a good one - so I thought I'd tell you about a very famous April Fool's joke carried out by the BBC. In fact I think that the BBC usually does one every year, and it's quite fun to try to spot it on their website.

In 1957, when TVs were still small black and white boxes designed to look like a wooden cabinet, and olive oil was only sold in chemists in the UK, the respected program Panorama broadcast a 2.30 minute sequence on the spaghetti harvest in Switzerland, narrated by the venerable Richard Dimbleby (BBC).

Some of the classic lines are (Source):

"Spaghetti cultivation here in Switzerland is not, of course, carried out on anything like the tremendous scale of the Italian industry. Many of you, I am sure, will have seen pictures of the vast spaghetti plantations in the Po valley."

"Many people are very puzzled by the fact that spaghetti is produced in such uniform lengths. This is the result of many years of patient endeavour by plant breeders who suceeded in producing the perfect spaghetti."

"the harvest is marked by a traditional meal... This is, of course, spaghetti—picked early in the day, dried in the sun, and so brought fresh from garden to table at the very peak of condition. For those who love this dish, there is nothing like real home-grown spaghetti."

Check it out


For many, the really funny thing was how many people believed it - some even calling the BBC to ask where they could get a 'spaghetti bush'

Banana leaf is one of my favourite foods, and whenever we feel like eating out, I'm almost inevitably (and boringly) going to suggest "Banana leaf!".

So last Sunday, we decided to check out a banana leaf place near our house. We walked there - a walk of about 15-20 minutes through the suburbs of Kelana Jaya (and I should have put on some suncream, as I ended with a very red neck!). On the way we saw this unusual frontage on a house


closer up, you can see how it's an elaborate scene with Lord Ganesh - apart from that the house looked completely normal though.


We got the the shoplots and ordered daun pisang, as well as some fried tengiri... yum...


One of the things I like best about banana leaf are the extra bits that come with - fried potato chips, pappadom, and especially cili goreng!!


Man, I'm drooling just thinking of them. Cili goreng are chilis that have been dried in salt, which draws salt inside the chili; then they are dropped into boiling oil, and scooped out as soon as they rise to the surface. Delicious, and although you can buy them in some shops, they are the best when they have been freshly cooked.

The meal for two, with two pieces of fried fish and two drinks each came out to RM22, which is OK. I didn't do a proper blogger job of getting a photo of the sign/getting the name and address (tsk, tsk) - but here's a map of where it is.


And here's a close up of that cili goreng again - oOOOooooohh it's sooOO hot