Tasting Agnes Chang’s Cooking

We were at the venue in SS2, Petaling Jaya yesterday at 1.30 pm. By then, there was already a big crowd registering themselves to collect door gifts. They were mostly lady senior citizens. At 2 pm, the event began. The room was overflowing by then. Late-comers were directed downstairs to watch a 42” LCD live telecast instead.

There was about 10 men, mostly accompanying their wives. I was one of them as I had to "eng-siew" my wife. The session was held mostly in Mandarin and Cantonese and off and on, there was a snippet of English. After a brief introduction, Agnes Chang came on stage and she promised us 3 sumptuous dishes she will prepare for our tasting.

The first dish was a Thai dish – Tomyam Tunghoon (glass noodles). This was to be followed by the Tangy Mango Chicken with Cashew Nuts and finally; the Hawaiian Salad.

In between the cooking demonstration and before the tasting session, we were bombarded with high-octane talk by the three sponsors of the event. However, this was to no avail as everyone had 'shut off' and was eagerly waiting for the sampling to begin. Soon trays of goodies in tiny plastic saucers came out. During each sampling session, you could hear the chorus of approval for Agnes - “hou sek! hou sek!”.’

Before you know it, we were already on our butts for 4 long hours. As you know, the typical Malaysian will leave once the main event is over. And so after tasting Hawaiian Salad, the audience started drifting out. I left as well.

For me, it was a good afternoon spent, if you have nothing better to do. For the sponsors, I doubted they manage to sell many of their products yesterday.

Well, that is the Malaysian way….they come for the freebie…

You have to expect that….

Quote of the Day:

“Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.” Harriet Van Horne

Heartsong-Heartstrong