Miaeng Kam 

Ingredients 
 20 kadok leaves
 1 cup fried groundnuts (fry without oil)
 20 dried shrimps
 1 lime, peeled and sliced into very small pieces
 2 cm ginger, sliced into small cubes
 3 shallots, sliced into small cubes
 1 cup coconut flesh sliced thinly and cut into 1/2 in.  strips. Fry without oil for 2 minutes
 5 cili padi, sliced
 

Sauce
1 cup of gula melaka, 10 dried shrimps, 1 cup  of water, Salt (simmer till gravy thickens)                         

This dish is an appetiser or starter and for the uninitiated,  a little instruction would be useful to enjoy the various  flavours in it. First, roll the kadok leaf into a cone  shape and fill it up with all the ingredients little  each. Add in a dollop of sauce and fold the top in and  eat the whole packet to enjoy the combination of flavours.                         

Research in Flower Preservation 

Flowers  Are Forever. This phrase is actually a title of a book  on dried and preserved flowers which was published by the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development  Institute (MARDI) in 1996. This short note is not an  advertisement for the book but rather to highlight the  research work done by the person behind it: Zaharah  Hassan, a senior research officer in MARDI.

The research and development activities on flower preservation  in MARDI started since the late 80's. Among the research  emphasis was on utilization of various local plant materials. Some unwanted materials such as grass and sedges, or  even lallang, which is one of our noxious weed that  grow wild everywhere could be beneficial to us.

Together with her research team, Zaharah has utilised  various preservation techniques including drying and  pressing. She studied various aspects of dyeing, bleaching,  drying, storage, packaging and even product presentation.