Note from the editor, Diana Khoo:
There is a reason the year end is, for want of a better phrase, the most wonderful time of the year. Schedules are finally easing, the year’s to-do list is whittling down, plans are being made (and, better yet, executed) for family vacations, catch-ups and gatherings, and there is a general feeling of merriment in the air. Even if we do not subscribe to any particular festivity, few can ignore the significance of one year’s end and the start of another.
It is in this light that our spreads for this issue are all celebratory, be it Christmas entertaining or the all-important reunion dinner tablescape to usher in the Lunar New Year. But, of course, not every day needs to be a feast of epic proportions. It is just as important to dine well daily. We are fortunate to have been given first dibs on debut author Jasvinder Kaur’s cookbook, Champur, which will be launched in the first week of December.
Jasvinder is also the daughter of the late Karam Singh Veriah, the brilliant and renowned lawyer and one of Malaysia’s greatest champions of the poor and voiceless. As her mother passed away when she was just nine, Jasvinder took up the responsibility of cooking and caring for the family — a duty she found she had a natural gift for. Today, she sums up her culinary journey, along with family anecdotes, in this beautifully presented compilation of delicious, practical and nourishing recipes. An important addition to every kitchen library, Champur makes the perfect gift too.
Social media might show us how everyone is criss-crossing the globe and enjoying vacations once more. Should you, however, feel you are not ready to brave globetrotting just yet, find solace — and design inspiration — in this issue’s three featured homes: one in beautiful Bali, another in London and the last, in the Algarve in Portugal. All the homeowners have links, familial or otherwise, to Malaysia but have since answered the siren call of life in a faraway land. We trust the stories will, to paraphrase French-American editor Diana Vreeland, let your eyes travel. And we hope you enjoy every page presented. Till the next issue.
Haven is complimentary with every copy of The Edge Malaysia (Dec 5 issue). Get the Winter 2022 edition at your nearest newsstands now.
