Wednesday, September 13, 2006

WHEN I GROW UP, I WANT TO MAKE TEH TARIK IN SPACE

For some particular unknown reason, for a few years of my life, I was very obsessed about being an astronaut. At that point in time, I was rather ignorant of the fact that our country had no space program on it's own. I still remember the days when I used to weave my dreams about going to space, gathering rocks, hopping from planet to planet, meeting alien lifeforms, and not being too bothered with the pulls of gravity. Before I get marked as a raving lunatic, I should add that this was when I was about 9, so my ideas about space was err... kind of ridiculously imaginative.

Therefore, it should be no surprise to me or to anyone else that I was rather perplexed whenI heard that the 2 chosen ones for the space program were going to make teh tarik in space! What the hell? Tonnes of (definitely taxpayer's) money was spent to enable this program and all they want to do is make teh tarik? Had I known, I would have applied to be part of the program myself… I'm sure I would not need to be able to run the 100 metre dash in less than 10 seconds (I can't), or neither should my height be above 5 ft 7 in (I'm less than that) if my purpose was to make plain old teh tarik. (This, I'm assuming would have been the pre-requirements for any program that needs the participants to be physically fit) I'm pretty fit, I think... considering the amount of fully caffeinated coffee which has become an integral part of my mornings.

For the uninitiated, teh tarik literally translated means 'pulled tea'. It's nevertheless not as horrible as it sounds, and has been relegated to the status of the national drink - unofficially of
course!

16 comments:

  1. If were to make inything in space it would be a Soufflé. I wonder how much it would rise.

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  2. Hmmm...there must be something the scientists are not telling us. Maybe making teh tarik in outer space would benefit humankind somehow? :-D

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  3. kartik: it would be interesting to find out...

    lizza: yeah, and when the do find out... the discovery will be patented. Dang!

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  4. btw how do ya make a pulled tea? i'm very curious.

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  5. They usually have 1 mug (stainless steel, I think) filled with hot tea (and milk) and another empty one. Then they pour from the full cup into the empty cup which they place abt two feet approx. from each other and the process continues until there's a good amount of froth at the top of the tea.

    Apparently, this process not only cools the tea to a drinkable tempearture, but also adds some extra flavour :)

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  6. hey we do that here, In south india. Done with coffee though, mainly to cool it down.
    Ok this gets more interesting all the time. How do they do the pouring in zero gravity?
    Great exp to perform in space, much better than souffle

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  7. My mum used to do that to cool my tea!!

    its does indeed add flavour, and frothiness :)

    The pouring i think is the thing they are experimenting with...how does liquid behave in zero gravity, and can that behavior be controlled...i wonder if u can get splashed in space...

    SS

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  8. Obviously these people are taking serious risk of being badly scalded... they probably have special training to cope with this situation... and at the end they get to have a nice cup of tea.

    Also being from a tea-obsessed culture I have to ask.. does this "pulling" of the tea not make the tea go too cold?

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  9. mmmm... teh tarik. Jasema's is the best, though too sweet.

    I wonder how being in outer space will affect the taste?

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  10. Hmm.. Prometheus suspects it's something to do with 'Aim damn low, avoid disappointment'. What will they think of next, counting sheep? Now that would be fun, imagine some of the sheep get their tether snapped and drift into deep space, some other sheep have their EVA suit chomped upon by other sheep and thus become frozen mutton.

    Parts of Prometheus' anatomy have experienced deep space when they were kicked out of the rest of his body. Yucky place but the view is exceptional.

    Tea, now that's what the expat Prometheus misses terribly. The streetside 'cutting' (slang for a small dose of tea) beats the sweet bejesus outta them fancy Darjeeling Broken Orange Pekoe.

    PS: A hungry wild hound chasing oneself is a great motivator to do the 100 meters in under 9 seconds.

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  11. I have a feeling it's going to be that UKM doc la who's gonna get it ... you know la how it works here ... the cun-nest one would almost definitely win!

    What about making roti canai in space? That sounds soooooo much cooler than making teh tarek! :-)

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  12. kartik: yep, the teh tarik phenomena was brought here and popularised by the indian muslims

    silversabre: my grandmother used to do that when i was a kid :D

    aunty: hehehe, there are lots of 'happenings' regarding the pulled tea... there was this competition once, and contestants were judged on the furthest distance without spillage... the contestants and the stall/restaurant guys are definitely pros :D

    Apparently the tea doesn't go too cold... maybe the hot weather is a factor.

    anisah: Jasema's? A place in Tmn Tun?

    prometheus: hahaha... if sheep jumped in space (as i imagine them to do when attempting to count sheep), they'll be ultra slow...

    There's something about the streetside tea, huh? :)

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  13. pugly: so it's UKM doc who's the cute one... guess i learnt something new today... hehehehehe

    Are suggestions open to the public, by the way, they could try playing the yoyo :D

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  14. hell, yeah, it's in Taman Tun and also around PJ, I believe. Best place for roti canai and tosai. Where do you live, Terra? Oh, wait, revealing that might jeoperdise your secret-identity status, wouldn't it?

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  15. anisah: I see... well, i'd give you some clues and I'm sure you will be able to figure it out :)

    You know that KL is where the 2 rivers meet, and 1 river starts with G whereas the other starts with K. I live in the town that shares the name with 'K' river.

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  16. This is something I'd expect of the English, to be honest.

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