I’ve been taking my kids to this spot in NYC called the Urban Hawkers Center. Inspired by the vision of the late Anthony Bourdain, it focuses on selling Asian food, much of which coles from Southeast Asia, my far side of the world.

My kids especially like this stall that sells traditional breakfast food – including toast with kaya (a jam made with coconut, eggs, and pandan) as well as something called half-boiled eggs. The latter is why my maternal grandfather died relatively early of a stroke as he and his family ate so many eggs as it was the affordable choice of protein. These foods were from my childhood and they are nostalgically tasty and comforting.

The other stalls selling Malaysian cuisine are ok. Some try to adapt, modernize, and jazz up these traditional dishes to varying results. To be honest, several feel like half as good for twice the price.

Mayte it’s because I’m slow, but I realized Malaysian food, at least the hawker, street version, is often comprised of cheaper ingredients. When one looks more closely, you’ll see a lot of rice, noodles, vegetales, and very little meat.

But it is tasty.

Because of the creative use of spices, sauces, and flavoring. It works.

I remarked on this to a friend of Korean descent and he said that much of his culture’s food was derived from similar concepts – cheaper ingredient such as root vegetables, usually fermented over long periods of time. Meat was expensive and usually reserved for royalty.

I reflected more on this phenomena and thought it’s not a stretch to find parallels with life. That saying about lemons and lemonade can be extended. With the use of time and creativity, various situations can be transformed, even made into a classic, legendary situation.

In some ways, that’s the mark of a true master. The ability to see and create the possible out of little or limited resources.

Even out of nowhere or nothing.

That soft boiled egg is delicious and how it’s made is a matter of proper technique. And apparently a murder weapon.