Latest news with #Siham
Malay Mail
26-06-2025
- General
- Malay Mail
Crazy for cockles? Get your fix at SIHAM啦 in Kepong, along with other bites like ‘kam heong lala' and deep-fried baby squid
KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 — In this line of work, a question I'm often asked is: 'How do you find these places?' The answer is often a mix of word of mouth, a few trusted sources, and going through lots and lots and lots of duds. For every meal that makes it into a story, there are plenty that don't. But this might be the strangest way I've stumbled across one. A few months ago, I was settling in for a movie when a guy in the row below started scrolling through Xiaohongshu, screen brightness cranked up to full blast even as the cinema dimmed for the trailers. The modest trappings. — Picture by Ethan Lau Annoying, yes. But also strangely fortunate, because just before he stuffed his phone away, I caught a glimpse of a plump, bloody cockle dangling from a toothpick, and the words 'SIHAM啦' glowing on-screen like a lighthouse in the dark. I made a mental note to follow up on it, and later found it to be a quaint little shop on the ground floor of some flats in Kepong, where diners sit hunched on plastic stools, gorging on cockles and a variety of other gently cooked molluscs and snacks. As the name suggests, the main draw here is boiled siham (RM4), served just about half-cooked, still juicy and bloody as they should be. 'Kam heong' is something done very well here, most obviously on this 'kam heong lala'. — Picture by Ethan Lau Of course, it isn't blood; it's haemoglobin. That iron-rich liquid gives cockles their distinctive metallic flavour, sharpened by a tangy green dipping sauce or masked by a sweeter red chilli version. There's no need to be dainty about it. Pry the suckers open with your fingers and go in with a toothpick. Your fingers might smell a little funny after, but there's a sink for that. The young couple at the table next to mine weren't fazed. They must have had at least four portions between them. But the first thing that hits you when you walk in isn't the smell of cockles, mercifully, but the unmistakable smell of kam heong. The aroma of curry leaves and dried shrimp is baked into the air, thanks to the steady stream of kam heong lala (RM10) flying out. 'Kam heong' okra is another highlight. — Picture by Ethan Lau It's a classic dish for a reason, and while it would go great with rice, I think it's more fun to treat it as our bold and proudly Malaysian version of moules marinière. Preferably washed down with a cold beer. Sucking on each clam is the whole point, and when the sauce is this punchy and savoury, it's hard not to go back for seconds. Another delightful way to enjoy the sauce is with the kam heong okra (RM7.50), which turns into a much moister affair thanks to the vegetable's slight sliminess. More beer-friendly snacks follow, this time deep-fried. The deep-fried baby squid (RM10) features tiny, ultra-crispy specimens scattered in a garden of fried curry leaves. Addictive and dangerous, the deep-fried baby squid is sure to warrant more than one order. — Picture by Ethan Lau They proved so popular that my parents started fighting over them, even after we had ordered three rounds. Each one is smaller than a fingernail, and it is all too easy to pop five or more into your mouth at once. Even the non-seafood snacks like the nam yu chicken wings (RM8) and Kepong moo ping (RM7.50) are compelling. The wings may look plain, but are anything but, carrying the trademark salty funk of nam yu. Kepong 'moo ping' is nothing like Thai grilled pork skewers, but it's a great snack. — Picture by Ethan Lau The moo ping is not really moo ping at all. Instead of marinated pork slices grilled on a skewer, it is a deep-fried patty heavily scented with kaffir lime leaf, giving it a strong Thai accent. Juicy and well seasoned, they do not even need the sweet chilli sauce they come with. Yet another one to go with an ice-cold beer on these hot, testing nights. SIHAM啦 G12, Pangsapuri Seroja, Laman Rimbunan, Kepong. Open daily, 5pm-12am. Closed on Tuesday. Tel: 017-992 3540 Facebook: SIHAM啦 * This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal. * Follow us on Instagram @eatdrinkmm for more food gems. * Follow Ethan Lau on Instagram @eatenlau for more musings on food and mildly self-deprecating attempts at humour.
The Guardian
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Gaza Mon Amour: Palestinian love story finds romance in the rubble
Issa (The Crown's Salim Daw) is a 60-year-old bachelor. Every night, he takes his fishing boat out to sea and brings his paltry catch to the market the next day. At the same market, his heart is captured by Siham (Succession's Hiam Abbass), a middle-aged widow who works alongside her divorced daughter Leila (Maisa Abd Elhadi) as seamstresses for a struggling clothing store. As Issa tries to muster up the courage to propose to Siham, he finds in his fishing net a nearly lifesize antique statue of Apollo, the Greek god of light – equipped with a fully erect penis. Its title echoes Alain Resnais's 1959 classic Hiroshima, Mon Amour, which follows a pair of lovers across a bomb-devastated city. But Gaza Mon Amour does not indulge itself in melancholic discussions about the traumas of war. Instead, the film is a gentle reminder that love is a flower that can bloom for anyone, at any age and in any place. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning With surly visuals underlined by a plainspoken cinematography and a muted colour palette, Gaza Mon Amour traces the streets and the houses its characters frequent. The sidewalks filled with rubble, the rooms draped in darkness due to daily power cuts all seem to suggest pain and suffering. And yet the characters radiate with enchanting romance and absurdist comedy; their dialogue brims with bickering and banter about old laundry and going to the loo in one's dreams. Daw lends Issa a childlike bashfulness – like a teen experiencing their first crush. The old fisherman dances in his kitchen after striking up his first conversation with Siham. 'I've decided to get married,' he confides in his younger sister Manal (Manal Awad), who is complaining about his ripped undergarments. Aside from his sincerity and vulnerability, Issa is also devilishly charming. As authorities question him about the phallic statue, Issa's impish rebuttals puncture what would otherwise be a terrifying encounter. Meanwhile, Abbass is luminous as the resolute Siham. In her eyes, we see hope, joy, resentment and guilt. Behind her stoicism is a veil of melancholy nobody can see through, except perhaps her daughter Leila – who is dismissive. As Siham stares longingly at the portrait of her late husband, her daughter struggles to keep her dream of university education ablaze. Dreams permeate every gloomy frame of the film. Political turmoils are only alluded to obliquely in Gaza Mon Amour – and perhaps most poignantly through the characters' unrealised ambitions. 'When will this shitty life be over?' utters Samir (George Iskandar), Issa's friend, as he fantasises of escaping to Europe with his family. Issa, too, reminisces about how 'clean and wide' the sea was as he remembers his first love, who often skipped school to walk on the beach. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Despite his pragmatism, Issa still secretly dreams of a sea that stretches further than 10km from shore, a sea where he does not need a permit to roam, a sea where he can take the woman he loves without fearing gunfire from Israeli naval patrols. The film grants him a love story after all, daring to depict a Gaza where the sound of bombardments can be drowned out by the pitter-patter on an umbrella shielding two wistful lovers from the rain. Gaza Mon Amour is streaming in Australia on SBS On Demand and available to rent in the US. For more recommendations of what to stream in Australia, click here
The Independent
10-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Gaza's forgotten victims: Starving one-year-old Siham, swamped in newborn clothes
Drowning in baby clothes intended for newborns, Siham stares with hollow eyes at the hospital wall, struggling to make a faint cry. Just one year old, she is emaciated and sick from consuming contaminated water and food since being born in a displacement camp in southern Gaza. Her mother, Ikhlas, 28, who fled Israel's ferocious bombardment of northern Gaza four times, says she was herself so malnourished she struggled to breastfeed. With no baby formula available since Israel cut off all supplies to the besieged Strip, Ikhlas was forced to feed Siham regular milk, which only made her daughter sicker. 'We used to eat bread, sometimes with thyme. Now we are dependent on rice and pasta because we ran out of flour,' she tells The Independent from the Patient's Friends Benevolent Society Hospital (PFBS) in Gaza, where medics are fighting to keep Siham alive. 'All the people of Gaza are living in a state of famine. If the crossings remain closed, I fear I will lose my baby, as some children have already died in recent weeks.' Across the devastated strip, families are trying to survive on rice, salt and water - including mother Wedad Abdelaal, whose three children including 9-month-old son Khaled are all suffering from malnutrition in a tent in al-Mawasi, along Gaza's coast. In the wake of the collapse of a truce in Gaza in March, Israel imposed a total ban on aid to the enclave, which is just 25 miles long and home to over two million people. Israel justified its actions by accusing the Hamas militant group of stealing aid to 'feed its war machine'. But it has forced families into famine-like conditions, and medics on the ground tell The Independent that people are starving to death, children are losing their sight, and babies like Siham may not survive. And so the United Nations, along with aid agencies and human rights groups, have sounded the alarm about the crisis and called on the international community to take immediate action. Donald Trump is due to visit to the Middle East next week—his first major international trip since resuming office in January. He is expected to visit Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, mostly to discuss arms and trade deals, though reports suggest he may also attempt to broker a Gaza deal. Ahead of the trip, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said a US-backed plan for distributing aid into Gaza would take effect soon, claiming 'several partners have already committed to the aid arrangement', but declined to name them, leaving rights groups sceptical. But pressure is growing for an end to the blockade. This week UN experts went as far as to warn Israel's allies—including the UK—that continued political and material support, especially arms transfers, to Israel 'risks complicity in genocide and other serious international crimes.' Amnesty International said this month that the ongoing two-month aid ban amounts to 'genocide in action', urging the international community to take immediate steps, including concrete measures to pressure Israel to lift the total siege and allow unrestricted humanitarian access across Gaza. Israel launched an unprecedented bombardment of Gaza in October 2023, following Hamas 's bloody 7 October attacks on southern Israel, during which over 1,000 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. Since then, Israeli bombing has killed more than 52,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities. It has displaced over 90 per cent of Gaza's population, and nearly 60 per cent of all buildings across the Strip have been destroyed. There are growing fears the crisis will escalate despite the outcry. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced plans to dramatically expand military operations and indefinitely occupy swathes of Gaza. This week, Israel's far-right security minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said Gaza should be 'completely destroyed' and Palestinians forcibly transferred to another country. Israeli officials say a final decision on the plan may hinge on the outcome of negotiations for a hostage deal, expected to conclude by the end of Trump's visit. Meanwhile, European leaders and humanitarian groups have criticised a plan proposed by Israel, to allow private companies to take over humanitarian distribution in Gaza. A separate proposal is circulating among the aid community for a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation that would distribute food from four "secure distribution sites" but drew criticism that it would effectively worsen displacement among the Gaza population. Back in the hospital wards, the families are desperate for supplies to save their children's lives as blockade remains in place. Two-year-old Hala, born just two months before the start of the war and treated in the same unit as Siham, weighs just over 3kg—the equivalent weight of a newborn. Her mother, Alaa, 24, says she was born with a condition that causes a deficiency in potassium and sodium, but her treatment was cut off in the bombardment. Now both mother and baby are suffering from malnutrition, and Alaa is also worried her baby might die. 'There was no opportunity to treat malnourished children due to the closure of most of the hospitals,' she tells The Independent in desperation. 'Now the crossings have been closed for more than two months and there is not enough food.'
Muscat Daily
24-03-2025
- Business
- Muscat Daily
Oman's chamber of commerce reviews tourism plans
Muscat – The Tourism Committee of the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) held its first meeting of the year via videoconference on Sunday, focusing on key initiatives under the 2025 and 2026 action plan. Chaired by Siham bint Ahmed al Harthy, the meeting reviewed efforts to enhance the business environment, support economic diversification, and promote tourism investment across Oman's governorates. Siham highlighted the committee's role in strengthening the tourism sector through collaboration. Members discussed participation in the Second Oman Desert Tourism Forum and proposed integrating the Tour of Oman cycling championship to expand the event's appeal. Plans were also explored for a mobile tourism workshop in Russia, following promotional efforts in Berlin and Taiwan. The decision was driven by growing interest in Omani tourism from Russia and Belarus. The committee reviewed the outcomes of the first Tourism Investment Forum held in 2023 and called for its periodic organisation with an expanded scope to attract global investors and offer incentives to major companies. To support localisation, members proposed a discussion panel for stakeholders, employers, and jobseekers to address employment challenges in the sector. Training programmes were also recommended to develop national talent. The meeting reaffirmed OCCI's commitment to positioning Oman as a sustainable tourism destination in the world.
