Book Review Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mother’s Will to Survive by Stephanie Land.
Like last week, the book I am reviewing this week is by a Seattle area author. It is a memoir of her hard-scrabble, (nearly) single-mother life and how she climbed out of that life to save both she and her daughter.
At 28-years old Stephanie Land is about to make her dream of attending university and becoming a writer come true, when she finds out she is pregnant from a summer fling.
All plans go on hold for the next five years as Stephanie struggles to feed her child and keep a roof over her head. With constant verbal abuse from the father of the child as well as little support from a boyfriend, Stephanie works as a maid in homes all over the area she lives in outside of Seattle. Making barely enough to get by, Stephanie sees the nitty-gritty of people’s lives as she cleans the homes of upper-class middle America, while only rarely ever actually meeting or talking to them. She sees unhappy couples, dyeing and depressed old people, families who aren’t exactly the perfect picture they show the world. All while barely making minimum wage.
Neither of Stephanie’s parents are supportive or in her life. She has no one. After living in a mold-infested apartment for a year she realizes the mold is making both her and her daughter sick. She has nowhere to go. Her resources are exhausted.
Stephanie finds an advocate at a domestic violence non-profit where she was a volunteer. Through this advocate she begins to realize her own worth and that she can make some changes in her life. She applies for scholarships and financial aid and gets what she needs to re-visit her dream of college.
And obviously she does very well there, as she now is a well-respected freelance author with work featured in The New York Times, New York Review, The Washington Post and many other publications. She focuses on social and economic justice as a writing fellow for Community Change.
We had six lovely days to leisurely explore the beautiful city of Kuala Lumpur. You could easily see most of this city in three days, but we have the time and enjoy taking our time, which is exactly how we explored KL. If your travels take you near this city, plan some time here. It is worth it. Here are our recommendations on what to do in Kuala Lumpur.
Sultan Abdul Samad and Merdeka Square
The Sultan Abdul Samad Building is among Kuala Lumpur’s earliest Moorish-style buildings, it was built in 1897 and named after the reigning sultan of Selangor at the time. Originally used by the British during Colonial times, the building is most beautiful after dark. Across the street the wide green Merdeka Square, also known as Independence Park is a lovely oasis in the middle of the city.
Eco Park and Hanging Bridges
A surprising find right in the middle of the city (and coincidentally right across the street from our hotel). The Kuala Lumpur Eco Park is a hidden jewel. The forested park is home to a number of swinging bridges that take you up into the canopy to view the flora and the skyscrapers beyond.
Petronas Twin Towers
These iconic towers were the tallest in the world from 1998 to 2004. They remain the tallest twin towers. The design looks somewhat like a tall tin can, but at night they glow beautifully and can be seen from miles around. We went to go up the towers on a Monday, only to find out they are closed on Mondays. But we have been up many tall towers so we really didn’t mind. Looking at them from below was really enough for us.
Masjid Wilayah Persekutuan Federal Mosque
We have visited beautiful mosques all over the world, but our visit to this mosque was the first time we were greeted with such grace and hospitality. This mosque has a design similar to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. It’s a bit out of town, but we took a Grab (Uber) from the Batu Caves and it only cost a couple of dollars. The Masjid Wilayah Persekutuan Federal Mosque has a visitor program that is so welcoming. They provide women with the appropriate covering before giving a free tour with an English speaking guide. Our guide was named Noor and she was the sweetest person. Since we arrived right before prayers (we didn’t know that) she invited us to sit in and witness the faithful at prayers. It was a wonderful opportunity. She then gave us a lovely tour and insight both into the mosque and her faith. I highly recommend a visit.
Batu Caves
We have also visited several Hindu Temples in our travels, and are often struck at how different they are from Mosques. Where Islam has no idols, no flashy temples and only worships one god (Allah), Hinduism has many gods, lots of color and idols that the faithful pray to.
The Batu Caves is a Hindu temple and shrine that attracts thousands of worshippers and tourists, especially during the annual Hindu festival, Thaipusam.
A limestone outcrop located just north of Kuala Lumpur, Batu Caves has three main caves featuring temples and Hindu shrines, including the giant statue of the Hindu God at the entrance to the 272 Rainbow Stairs.
Batu Caves are easily accessible from KL Central Station via train.
Thean Hou Temple
Thean Hou Temple is one of the oldest and largest temples in Southeast Asia. Overlooking the city, the six-tiered Buddhist temple is also known as the Temple of the Goddess of Heaven. Built by KL’s Hainanese community in 1894, it is set on a hill and offers wonderful views of the city.
Supposedly a perfect place to watch the sunrise over Kuala Lumpur, we visited in the late morning and really enjoyed this beautiful place.
Little India and Chinatown
Kuala Lumpur is a melting pot of ethnicities and cultures and taking a bit of time to wander through Little India and Chinatown provides wonderful insight to these thriving cultures in Malaysia. Both neighborhoods are filled with an abundance of places to eat, excellent shopping as well as people watching. KL’s metro provides easy access to both.
Off the Eaten Track Food Tour Malaysia
We are so glad we booked with Food Tour Malaysia, because what we got was by far one of the best food tours we have ever been on. Off the Eaten Track was a wonderful tour not just in Kuala Lumpur proper but at several stops in the suburbs outside the city. I can’t recommend them highly enough. Possibly the best thing we did in all of KL.
Roof Top Bars
We read a lot of reviews that talked about the rooftop bars in KL, and even though we are rarely out after dark, we did get to two of the three we wanted to see. The Deep Blue rooftop bar and the Heli Lounge Bar we absolutely recommend for the stunning view. The Heli Lounge is a helicopter pad by day, outdoor bar by night. Crazy. We didn’t get to the rooftop bar at the W Hotel but we sure heard great things about it too.
Subway and Monorail and Grab
We always get to know the local metros in every city we go to – and are amazed how often we talk to travelers who are afraid to use public transit. KL like almost all other major world cities has a clean, efficient and inexpensive Metro/Subway, train to outlying areas and a short monorail to some neighborhoods not served by the metro. Throughout Asia we also use Grab reliably. Grab is the Asian version of Uber, works just the same but its way cheaper!
What we missed
Well we should have gotten to everything given we were in KL for six days, but we did leave behind a few things we wanted to see including Botanical Gardens, the City Mosque, the Jalan Alor Night Market, the Islamic Art Museum and scores of music and live theater options. I guess we will need to come back!
By the way, we stayed at the amazing Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel and we absolutely loved everything about it. $100 a night in the Executive Suites included breakfast, high-tea and evening cocktails with food. Our room was beautiful and we enjoyed the pool, workout facility and spa. And a block from the metro.
Thanks for being a great place to visit Kuala Lumpur! We loved you!
Book Review The Girl Who Wrote in Silk by Kelli Estes. Only after I started to read this book did I remember that I found The Girl Who Wrote in Silk by Kelli Estes through a list of books by authors from the greater Seattle area…that of course being where I am from. I added it to my list for that reason, without knowing much more about it.
I want to support local up and coming writers, and I think Estes has a great future as a writer, even though this work of hers shows her as a neophyte author. I actually loved the plot but my only objection is when an author uses coincidence to further the plot in a way that seems far-fetched.
Beyond that, the story is beautiful. A tale of a wealthy young woman from Seattle who discovers a beautifully embroidered silk sleeve hidden under the stairs of her ancestral summer home in the San Juan Islands.
The novel unfolds in two parallel stories; that of 21st century Inara searching to find out whatever she can about the long hidden blue silk embroidered sleeve and Mei Lein a young Chinese immigrant living in Seattle and then the San Juan Islands a century earlier.
How are these two women connected? What is Mei Lein’s secret and why did she hide the embroidered sleeve under the stairs? What garment does the sleeve belong to and what story might be solved if that garment could be found?
Estes weaves the tale, adding a few too many coincidences to wrap it all up in the end, but this first novel for Estes is tender and thoughtful and leaves a message that we can forgive the sins of the past if we are brave enough to do so.
⭐️⭐️⭐️Three stars for The Girl Who Wrote in Silk, by Kelli Estes. Read last week’s review of 11/23/63.
Taking a cooking class and going on a food tour in every country I visit is a goal I have. And I accomplish it often, but not always. But when I can I always enjoy it and over the past couple of weeks I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing two countries, two cuisines, too delicious – the food of Taiwan and Malaysia.
Taiwan
We spent six days in Taipei Taiwan. We weren’t really tuned in to the Taiwanese cuisine, half expecting it to be just like China. But unlike China, Taiwan has been strongly influenced from Japan (with historical influence also from Portugal and Holland) and it’s noticeable in the cuisine. The Chinese influence comes primarily from Eastern China (Fujian). And certainly the fact that Taiwan is an island, the cuisine has a much stronger focus on seafood than much of China.
Scallion Pancake is one of our favorite foods we discovered in Taipei Taiwan
GoTuCook
A search online led me to Chef Calvin at GoTuCook. Thorough out our world travels I’ve taken cooking classes large and small, in cooking schools and home kitchens, from world famous chefs and humble housewives. And usually my favorite experiences are the ones where I have one-on-one time with the instructor in their home. This was my experience with GoTuCook.
The beginnings of a delicious shiitake mushroom and chicken soup
We met early in the morning at the Beitou metro station from where we walked to experience the bustling thriving market and the local vendors selling to the local people. I always love this experience with a local who can explain unusual ingredients, answer my questions and enlighten me to this way of life long gone in America.
Me at the busy Beitou morning market
Next we headed to Calvin’s apartment, set up perfectfully for cooking classes. I had chosen three dishes I wanted to make ahead of time from a variety of options listed on the GoTuCook website. I chose as a starter Jellyfish Salad and for a soup course a chicken and mushroom soup and for our main course two kinds of pork dumplings.
My pretty dumplings ready for the steamer
I liked both the jellyfish salad (requires an overnight soak of the chewy jellyfish in the fridge before prep) and the fragrant soup with a broth we cooked with chicken feet as well as meaty parts from the blue chicken, but my favorite was the dumplings.
My new friend Chef Calvin of GoTuCook
Making Chinese style steamed dumplings takes some practice. I’ve done similar work in classes before (making empanada in Argentina, pirogi in Poland and dumplings in Vietnam) but it’s still a chore to get your fingers to make the beautiful designs if it’s not a task you do everyday. We made pork with cabbage and spices and pork with corn and different spices. And then we ate!
Of course we had leftovers and I brought dumplings and jellyfish to my husband who was back at the hotel.
I really enjoyed this class and plan to tackle dumplings on my own soon. I recommend GoToCook if you visit Taipei.
The pork “burger” was one of the best things we had on our Taipei food tour
Taipei Eats
We also took an amazing walking food tour with Taipei Eats where we expanded our Taiwanese cuisine knowledge with Taiwan Pork “burger”, stinky tofu, betel nut, scallion pancake and much more. Taipei Eats was one of the best food tours we have ever done. Our guide was amazing, there was so much food and we learned some interesting facts while meeting local people as well as other travelers from around the world. Such a wonderful experience!
This is probably the one and only time for me with the Stinky Tofu
Malaysia
What a country Malaysia is for a foodie. This remarkable country is a melting pot of many cultures, and it shows in everything, especially the food. Malay food is often spicy, and nasi (rice) features often. Eating with your hands is common. Pork is rarely featured in this cuisine because most Malay are Muslim.
Learning Indian cooking in Kuala Lumpur
On the other hand, many Chinese immigrated here in the 1800’s when this land was a British colony and the Chinese food is abundant, and often includes pork. Noodles, chicken and dumplings are also widely enjoyed.
And then there is the Indian food, representing the vast number of Indians living in Malaysia. The use of pungent spices and curries, more noodles as well as lots of vegetables make up this delicious cuisine.
Ancient Malay cultures enjoyed this rice flour treat
No matter what ethnic background, the people in this country love fried foods and fried chicken, seafood, samosa and much more are popular both as street food and in restaurants.
Off the Eaten Track
The food tour we took in Kuala Lumpur was very unique and one of the best ever. At the end of the evening we had sampled twenty-four (yes you read that correctly) foods of this diverse and delicious country.
A very local Chinese Soup with veg, chicken and tofu
We signed up with Food Tour Malaysia for their Off the Eaten Track tour and were met by our guide Timothy at a subway stop in a suburb of Kuala Lumpur called Petaling Jaya where we began our gluttonous odyssey at an outdoor Malay neighborhood food court that operates 24 hours a day seven days a week. Here we found just locals enjoying the foods they loved. We had Nasi Lemak wrapped in banana leaf; ota ota, a smoked mackerel wrapped in palm leaf; a rich goat and potato soup; fried chicken and fried tempeh. I was full before we left this first stop.
My husband Arne recruited to work on the “carrot cake” stir fry – one of our favorite things we had on our Kuala Lumpur food tour
Next we headed to probably the best night market I have ever been too, also in the suburb of Petaling Jaya. Here we learned about the popular “carrot cake” (not a cake in the sense we are used to, more of a pressed tofu), we had spring roll, noodles, dumplings and sweet Chinese daun pandan filled with peanuts.
Mackerel cooked inside a palm leaf
Next we headed to a very local-only Chinese open air restaurant to sample more noodles cooked over an open fire and a delicious soup with chicken, okra, long beans and potato.
Daun Pandan a sweet Chinese treat
Our final stop was an outdoor Indian restaurant, and we were the only non-Indians there. And darn it I was so full I couldn’t really enjoy the amazing feast of roti, lentil dal, curry, a giant fried pancake with a coconut curry dip, fried chicken and mango smoothie. Roll me home. What a night it was. If you are ever in Kuala Lumpur, do this tour – but pace yourself!
Banana Roti a sweet Indian treat
The Versatile Housewives
To round off our food frenzy in Kuala Lumpur we spent one morning with Ruth, a cooking instructor who brings the flavors of her native India to visitors in Kuala Lumpur through her business The Versatile Housewives. We learned to make one of India’s most famous dishes, biryani, with a group of local university students in Ruth’s kitchen. Biryani is a rich and flavorful traditional dish, often served at weddings and ceremonies. It can be beef or lamb or chicken. We made a chicken biryani. The flavors of this dish come together by slowly preparing the fresh ingredients of caramelized onions, vegetables and spices like cardamon, cloves and pepper as well as herbs like cilantro and mint. After slowly blending all these flavors with rice and chicken, the biryani is served in a giant bowl and enjoyed communally. Check out Ruth’s website for a great selection of delicious Indian recipes.
The beautiful Biryani we made with our instructor Ruth
No matter where you travel, diving into the culture through food is the most interesting and tastiest way to engage with locals, learn history and culture and broaden your culinary chops. Be brave! Eat the world!
I am not a Stephen King junkie. I think the only book of his 61 novels I have read was Carrie when I was in high school. That said I have loved some of his movies; The Green Mile, Stand by Me and Shawshank Redemption is possibly my favorite movie of all time.
Oh and I have to give a shout out to Rose Red (TV Miniseries) because my son had a cameo part in that movie! He was so cute.
But I digress. Stephen King books aren’t usually my cup of tea. But 11/22/63 kept showing up on lists of must reads, and then my friend Sue said it was here book club’s favorite of the year. Seemed like it was calling to me. And even though it was published in 2011, I’ve finally come around to reading it.
This book is a behemoth. More than 850 pages. What an undertaking King pulled off with this book. Apparently it too was a mini-series that I never heard of.
So by the title you can assume the book is about the assassination of John F. Kennedy on 11/22/63. But the focus of the story is much broader. This is the story of unassuming high school teacher Jake Epping who travels back in time through a “rabbit hole” found by his friend, in an effort to stop the assassination.
King takes his time with this story, filling the plot with exciting detail as we follow Jake’s efforts to change history. Not a simple task as he learns the past does not want to change, and the past throws obtacles at Jake, nearly killing him on several occasions. As Jake says over and over in the book the past is obdurate.
Jake makes multiple trips through the rabbit hole, and of course on each journey he meets, befriends and even falls in love with people from the past. Jake also makes enemies, gets to know Oswald and the other players in the JFK assassination and finds out changing history is not always the best course of action.
Although I felt a few parts of the book dragged, I also feel King’s detailed story is crucial to the complicated plot and thus justifies the length of this meticulously comprehensive book.
Does Jake succeed? You’ll have to read the book to find out.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Four stars for 11/22/63 by Stephen King. Read last week’s review of City of Girls.
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Seeing orangutans, gorilla and chimpanzees in the wild has been a long time goal of mine. Last year I checked off my bucket list seeing sloths and toucans in the wild. This year I’m totally focused on primates – including visiting endangered primates in Borneo.
And that is what has brought us to the far northeast region of Borneo and the Sepilok Forest – home to the beautiful but endangered orangutans as well as the bizarre and endangered proboscis monkeys.
On our river tour, Sepilok Borneo
We spent three days in Sepilok. Flying into the Sandakan airport we traveled by Grab (Uber) thirty minutes to our destination of the Sepilok Forest Edge Resort. I can not recommend this place highly enough. We loved our beautiful little chalet with veranda and outdoor shower (an indoor one as well). The breakfast was outstanding as were the two fantastic dinners we enjoyed in the restaurant. Just $80 per night for two with the breakfast included.
Dinner at Sepilok Forest Edge Resort
We arrived around 3:00pm and unpacked and took a short rest – very short because we had pre-arranged an evening boat tour through the mangroves. The tour was promoted as a Firefly Tour but it was way more than that.
Fresh Coconut at sunset
First we drove about 20 minutes to a teeny village in the mangrove marsh where we were served yummy Cassava fritters and tea before boarding a small wooden boat. Our guides took us through the watery world of mangroves and it reminded me of our time in Bangladesh and even looked a bit like the Amazon and even the Everglades. We stopped to admire some long-tailed macaque monkeys grooming each other high in the trees.
Sunset in the mangroves
We stopped on a tiny island where we were served fresh coconut and watched the sunset. Once it was dark we headed back into the mangroves in our boat and the fireflies lit up the night. The trees along the channels looked like lighted Christmas trees and the little bugs made me think of Tinkerbell. Returning to shore we were served a simple and delicious Malaysian meal of curry chicken, sweet and sour tuna, soup, rice and vegetable fritters. All of this cost $55 per person.
But the fireflies are also endangered, like so much else in this beautiful region. Learn more about the fireflies here.
Next morning we were up early and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in the open air restaurant before making the 15 minute trek to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center. Entrance fee was $7.50 each.
Did you know the words orang utan means forest human in Malay? When you watch these animals up close it is remarkable how humanlike their behavior is.
Mama and baby at feeding time
This is an amazing place working to keep the orangutans from becoming extinct. Over the past two decades the orangutan population in Borneo has dwindled from 200,000 to only 11,000! The main reason this is happening is deforestation. Native forests are being eliminated and in their place mile after mile after mile of palm oil trees are being planted…pushing the orangutans to the brink of existence. Palm oil is used in thousands of products commercially produced. Everything from ice cream to soap. It’s likely you have products in your home right now with palm oil as an ingredient that has come from Borneo.
This is a palm oil nut from a palm oil tree
Young male orangutan getting exercise
At the Sepilok Orangutan Reabilitation Center two things occur;
Wild orangutans learn to come here to help supplement their diet during two “feeding” times a day. The wild animals, especially nursing mothers, that are unable to find adequate nutrition due to the dwindling native forests come to the reserve and receive fresh fruits and vegetables.
Injured or orphaned orangutans are brought from outside the region to receive medical attention or to learn necessary skills to survive in the wild. All with the goal of releasing these animals back into the wild when they are ready.
Mom and Baby looking healthy and well fed
We saw dozens of orangutans while we visited the reserve…some just wandering around or swinging through the trees, others during their feeding. The reserve is not a zoo – there are no fences keeping these wild animals in. They come and go as they need.
This young orangutan was strolling along the path at the same time we were
It was a joyful experience and a dream come true for me!
We knew almost nothing about the funny looking proboscis (meaning nose) monkeys, but found that they too are suffering from deforestation. So on our final day we headed 30 minutes away to the Labak Bay Proboscis Monkey Reserve. Entry fee $15 each.
A dominate male proboscis monkey
The facilities here were not as nice as the orangutan reserve (and twice as expensive) but we still really enjoyed seeing these strange animals with the Jimmy Durante nose. I was astonished at the size of the males and their strength as well as how they can jump like kangaroos. Unlike orangutans who live a pretty solitary life, the proboscis monkeys live a harem kind of hierarchy with one dominant male overseeing multiple females and offspring.
Looking pensive
I learned a lot about all of these animals in our three day visit and we also saw macaque monkeys, one wild boar, and giant monitor lizards to round our our wildlife adventure!
Monitor Lizard about five feet long
An interesting note – monitor lizards are the only native animal thriving in the palm oil plantations. In fact, they are growing incredibly large and due to population explosion of monitor lizards they are more aggressive. A clear sign of an eco-system out of balance.
The animals come in large family groups from the forest to the center to feed.
Although there were many tourists, we met no other Americans. It’s a long ways to come from the USA, but if you can it’s worth a visit. I truly enjoyed visiting endangered primates in Borneo.
Young male – he seems to be contemplating his future
We look forward to more primate encounters in the months ahead, but we will never forget our amazing time visiting endangered primates in Borneo. Fabulous.
I need to preface this review with two things before I can tell you how I feel about this novel;
First – Gilbert. If you have only read her work Eat Pray Love then in my opinion you don’t really know her work. I HATED Eat Pray Love. Yeah, yeah I know….everybody loved it. I did not. HOWEVER her novel The Signature of All Things is one of the best pieces of fiction I have ever read. And so I know that Gilbert is a talented writer.
Second – City of Girls is about Sex. A lot of sex. In fact this book is about a woman who LOVES sex. However there is really only one sexual encounter in the story that is descibed in “detail”. Otherwise, the main character in City of Girls just has sex – and a lot of it. If you can’t get past that you won’t like this book. I could get past it and see through it to a character that was lost and searching for love and fulfillment in a period in America where women rarely got both. Gilbert writes the emotions of this story brilliantly. I listened to this book on Audible and it is one of my favorites this year.
So, Book Review City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert. Her third novel and her fourth book (EAT is a memoir not a novel). In this story we meet Vivian, a very old lady looking back at her life and telling the story of it. We aren’t sure who she is telling the story to, until very late in the book.
Vivian’s story begins when she is 19 years old in the early 1940’s, has just flunked out of Vassar and her parents have sent her off to her Aunt in New York City, as they have no idea what else to do with her.
And thus Vivian’s life adventures begin as she is swept up into the theatrical world surrounding the Lily Playhouse run by her Aunt. In the company of risque theater people, actors, actresses, dancers, rich New York patrons she finds herself basically unchaperoned, and living a life she never could have dreamed of.
Quickly she looses her virginity, falls hard for an actor, betrays a close friend and scandal ensues. She is a survivor however and finds her way back, although never all the way back to some of the people she loved the most but who cannot forgive her.
In the end, Vivian has a full life, sexual partners too many to count, and is a successful business woman in a very unique way for a women of the time period. And in the end, her life has meaning in an unexpected way as she finds true love, but to a man she can never have sex with or even touch. A lesson here? Definitely.
I enjoyed the characters, the story and Gilbert’s writing. The plot so completely different than The Signature of All Things, yet similar only in the strong female character busting out of the constraints of the era they were born into.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Five stars for City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert. Read last week’s review of The Invisible Woman.
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