It's Not So Quiet, Shh Shh

So the year's winding down, and everyone seems to be having a havoc time, holidaying (for those clearing their leaves) or working (or making a show of it, anyway). Over here in drownedglass land, all hell seems bent on breaking loose at my job site. No rest for the wicked? Mayhaps, but all I can do over here is pester those responsible to get the problems solved pronto, year-end holidays and annual leaves be damned.

In between placating clients, pushing colleagues and pummeling contractors, there's still time enough for me to patter away on my keyboard, perhaps reminisce about the year that's just about to pass on... but you know, the end-of-December miasma is not just making me slack on work, my brain's kinda on auto-pilot mode which means I can't really write this post either. Hence, the meandering (even more than usual). Ah heck, I'll just be lazy and recap the highlights of my 2008 that managed to get blogged about :P

January: The month of firsts... My first and (I swear) last experience of letting fish eat me. Also my first (and hopefully not last) taste of Delish cupcakes. And the first of what would turn to be a semi-regular gathering with a bunch of real titties!

February: What else, but Chinese New Year (it's a short month) and that never-to-be-fulfilled non-resolution.

March: I turned 32 *yawn*. More significantly, there was plenty of food, especially meat. And Cook said hello to me... ME!

April: Stork delivered a boy (like, finally)! Began mulling over migration about this time, though I'm lingering on still.

May: Went to heaven, then to hell, and found a little hope. It helped that I had a new toy to play with.

June: A lousy time, and not just because of the exorbitant fuel price hike.

July: Compensated by throwing myself into SYTYCD Season 4, and, inspired by the choreography and songs, made up not one, not two, but three stories. I guess dream therapy helps.

August: Had started my exile at the end of June and barely had time for anything - be it friends, family or blogging. All work + no play = dull boy.

September: Seems like the exile was cutting off my social life to the point where I got all maudlin over meat.

October: Things picked up with the return of a certain prodigal, and gay ol' times were had with the ex- (and the practically-ex) bloggers - including the rather terrifying introduction of jiu hu char into my potluck repertoire and the uttering of what is most certainly the quote of the year.

Novemeber: A very good month indeed - completed my dream collection, a wish finally came true, and I rediscovered my roots... "di sebalik batu", so to speak.

December: With things to look forward to, I take a wistful look backwards. But the year is drawing to a close, and with that comes high spirits and the inevitable family drama (or perhaps it was just me storming in a teacup... as usual).

All in all, I had a very good year indeed. The job's so much better than my previous one; my circle of friends has grown wider, yet no less cosy; there's stuff to look forward to (at least for a little while); and generally things are looking kinda up, despite the downturn. Who knows what tomorrow would bring, but it doesn't really matter. I've learnt that I have grown enough to face all sorts of shit now, and what with such wonderful people surrounding me, everything will be quite alright, as long as we hold on together.

Happy New Year, everybelly!

I Love You But

You make plans for the holidays and I go along with it. After all, I don't see you guys all that much and even though I'll have to forego other things, I'd be glad to.

Then you make changes to the plans, and that's okay, I can accomodate that.

And then you change them again at the last minute, as if I don't have my own things to do.

And you tell me it's okay if I'm too busy to make time for you, like that's an actual option.

Now my holiday plans are screwed.

Thanks.

Things A Mother Needn't Know: Example 19

Me: Hi, Mum!
Mum: Hi! Where are you?
Me: Oh just driving home from annual dinner.
Mum: You sound happy...
Me: Happy? Ah, no lah... I'm just drunk *giggle*

You just gotta love year-ends!

Ode To The Wrinkled Walrus

T'was a fine Sunday, about mid-morning
Perfect for leisurely mamak dining
Came uncle with his trotters
In nothing but his boxers
And gave 'casual wear' a gross new meaning

Like, how hard is it to put on a pair of shorts?!

Pounds Lost, Pounds Gained

This is what happens when pong-pong people get bored on a day off and go berjalan-jalan aimlessly.

First, we eat (but of course): spicy gon lo pan mee in the heart of KL, in a restaurant called Kin Kin. Amusing anecdotes are scrawled (rather uglily) on the walls, and everything's standardised to the point where there's a sign proclaiming "no big no small", which I take to mean that you'd be rude to talk about the size of their... erm... servings.

Thereafter, it was off to have a walk in The Gardens. Amazingly, we spent quite a bit of time just strolling through a single floor. It's quite evil, really, with all the sales going on. Almost convinced some of the others to buy a really soft and comfy jacket from Puma...

And then the real shopping started. In, of all places, Robinsons. All those extra 20% off for Maxis users just did us in. How did four guys wind up spending over an hour just looking at bedsheets?! Everyone had something to buy - I myself ended up with an olive green bedsheet and olive green placemats. As the Hokkiens would say (sort of), it's cheap and it's green...

Tea was ice-cream (did that sound conflicting?) at BR Cafe. We were craving for the waffle ice-cream but the darn place was not offering the Maple Walnut ice cream to go with it! How can?! Talk about not doing their menu any justice. And the service staff, gawd, they're so slow-mo even their brains run in reverse... At least they were still serving Jamoca Almond Fudge, otherwise they may as well just close shop.

All that walking (and eating) made us wanna go try out massage chairs and such. So we went to all those usual places for sitting and kneading, and even ended up trying out body fat machines. Eeeks! I had the highest body fat percentage among the four of us... well, not entirely surprising to me lah. Even though my BMI was nicely average, my body fat was measured at 24% - that's like borderline acceptable... as in bordering with obese! Oh my gawd! I insist it's the fact I don't retain water all that well that's screwing with the bioelectric impedance analysis...

That revelation was such a downer that I had to bring everyone to eat BKT for dinner just to cheer up! (Actually I was planning that even from the night before, but as my mom said, I'm a "drama king")

What with all the eating, shopping, and eating again, it looks like my plan to save up some pounds (sterling, £) and shed some pounds (mass, lb) is going oh so perfectly well... just with my pounds mixed up. Urrrgh!

Sigh, and as if to add insult to injury, I had to go to a tailor to get measured for a uniform today (how many 'to's are there in this sentence?)...

Auntie: Your waist 35", okay?
Me: HAH??? But I'm wearing 32" pants!
Auntie: *measures again* Nope, it's 35.

OH MY GAAAAAWD!

*faints*

Please. Step Into The Light

It was a Friday night. I was stuck outstation for work. And I was bored.

'Nuff said.

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you, dear
Leona Lewis (covering Snow Patrol) : Run

I Still Feel The Same?

In the spirit of nostalgia, I've been revisiting music from the 80's. I know, I know - of all eras! But there's some guilty pleasure lurking in there, getting reacquainted with the likes of Debbie, Tiffany and PSB.

But dear god, never did I think I'd get back into ultra-cheesy SAW-manufactured pop. Like, I was innocently listening to the radio in my car the other day, and before I knew it, I was gaily (yes, gaily!) singing along with Kylie and Jason. Somewhere in the back of mind, a small voice was saying, "What are you doing?" but it was like I was possessed and I simply couldn't, wouldn't stop.

Guess I must have been extra chirpy that particular evening.

Especially for you
I wanna tell you I was feeling that way too
And if dreams were wings, you know
I would have flown to you
To be where you are
No matter how far...
Kylie Minogue & Jason Donovan : Especially For You

Ada Udang...

Journeys are wonderful things. Seeing different people in different places, living minutely different lives. But sometimes, it's the journey home that truly surprises you, particularly when that journey is taken with people who do not know this place as well you do.

You get the chance to see familiar sights through a visitor's eyes. You explore roads you often simply pass by without a second thought. And just like that, the town where you have lived half your life suddenly seems fresh again.

Thanks guys, for being such fantastic company. And thanks also for taking me on this journey of rediscovery.

Round my hometown, memories are fresh
Round my hometown, ooh, the people I've met
Are the wonders of my world
Are the wonders of my world
Adele : Hometown Glory

If Wishes Came True

Naughty or nice? With X'mas less than a month away, I guess now's a good time to talk about the things I've been wishing for. Surely I deserve them, for I've been nice. Well, maybe I've been naughty too but we're talking about being naughty in nice ways ;-)

1. Things that make me go awww...

I'll start this easy. Despite being thirtysomething, I'm not ashamed of being still in touch with my inner Calvin. So wickedly adorable stuff like this raunchy reindeer is always welcome. Feel free to buy one for me, at kidrobot.com :D


2. A better bedfellow

I've said time and time again, I'm fine sleeping without air-conditioning. But the sad fact is, I'm a rare breed (rare enough to ask WWF for help, I warrant), and people who'd want to sleep with me, more often than not, aren't so cool about sweaty sex in an unchilled room. So it looks like, sooner or later, I gotta hook up an aircon in the bedroom, for the sake of nuzzling, cuddling and "dot dot dot". Of course, an Energy Star rated one would be good - save money, save the world! I suppose I could afford to get one but there are so many other things clamouring for my hard-earned money. Things like...


3. A 3G WiFi phone with GPS

Like, so much of my life is online these days I'd even be chatting with friends around the table and have side conversations online with those same people! Most phones would get you online but WiFi gets you online for free (when you're in a hotspot anyway). Unfortunately, there aren't too many models boasting WiFi and even less come bundled with A-GPS - not exactly necessary, but I've seen how well it works first hand, and it helps for people like me who like to get off the beaten track in the hunt for nice shots. Of course, shots like that would be best captured with the use of...


4. A Digital Single-Lens Reflex camera

And it's gotta be a Nikon! Don't get me wrong, I love my less-than-a-year-old P60, but obviously I can do so much more with a DSLR. And I'm getting so into taking photos I'm starting to feel like I wouldn't really mind lugging the baby around wherever I go.These things come with a hefty price tag, though, and that's before all the extra lens and accessories. The cost of D40 with kit lens alone would pay for the air tickets to get me to...


5. Melbourne

I so wanna go back there again, even though I've heard about how much it's changed. But somehow, something stopped me from hopping onto the free air ticket bandwagon. Probably I was worried about my work schedule, and the expenses I'd incur. But now I know it was really the holding out in the hope of a better offer. Something like cheap tickets to...


6. London

Yup, I've been wishing for this for almost two years! And as of today, it's officially OFF my wishlist. Although I had to be my own genie in this case and pay for my own air tickets, and I'm taking chances here by flying long-haul on budget air. Still worried about my work schedule and expenses, but ah heck, screw them! Just in case though, I'm updating this wish from "tickets to London" to "sponsors for accomodation, meals and transport".

*BIG HINT to all you people in London* :P


Bonus: World Peace

I really do want world peace! Joystick, peace and love!

The Ti*ni@s!ng Race Klang Valley

Whew! What a day it has been, running around the valley, trying to accomplish quite a number of things in a single Saturday. Got up early, gave the apartment a cursory scrub and I was out the door by 9:30 am.

Checkpoint 1: Suria KLCC
Task: Purchase a discounted copy of Absolute Sandman Volume IV
Found out that the tome was out, was available in Kinokuniya, and what's more, Kinokuniya's Christmas sale has started! Unfortunately it was not 30% off as I had hoped (could have saved RM100!) but 20% was still a good discount. Got in as they raised the shutters and left with the satisfaction of knowing I wouldn't have to wait anymore to get my grubby hands on the final volume of the whole series. Hooray!

Detour 1: Yulek, Cheras
Task: Service the car
It was time to service the car and I figured I really had to get this done this week in anticipation of maybe needing to do a spot of travelling next week. Decided to pay a trip to the old neighbourhood to see if, by some unlikely chance, the hot young mechanic was still working there. Alas, he was not, unless he had transformed into that fat and ugly AND short guy working there. Damn! On the plus side, I had a chance to have my brunch there, something I haven't done since I moved out of that particular suburb. Not that the food was great, but simply for its nostalgic value.

Bonus Task: At any point in the day, get a Toffee Nut Latte from any Starbucks outlet
Despite having to do all that, I managed to arrive at my next destination at about 12 pm. Plenty of time to stroll around, check out CD's, buy some toiletries, and yes, grab a takeaway coffee. The Toffee Nut Latte is one of the things I look forward to when Christmas swings around. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy, not to mention feeling like a New Yorker when I strode down The Street with that cup in my hand. Got stopped and pestered by a rather desperate credit card salesman (not a cute one though) who wouldn't take no for an answer. I smugly told him he was gonna make me spill my coffee, flipped my hair, and I waltzed off, leaving him gaping like a fish that was not drowning. More or less.

Checkpoint 2: The Curve
Task: Locate buddies and complete one Body Jam class
Toffee Nut Latte in hand, I found Eugene and Kyen easily enough, sitting in a kopitiam. I blatantly sat down with them with my "outside drink" (see, I can walk on the wild side too!). Caught up on the weekly gossip (these two are capable of accomplishing in one week what I might need a month to do), then dragged our butts to gym. Did not actually complete the class but I suppose it's alright cos I only skipped the cool down and I'v always made it a point not to cool down to the strains (literally) of Beautiful Liar, anyway.

Detour 2: Bukit Jalil
Task: Meet up with several people, one of whom will lead everyone to the next destination
Supposedly we were to go to Port Klang for seafood. But the combination of distance and lack of familiarity led us to consider other options. In the end , it was qwazymonkey who led us to...

Checkpoint 3: Kelana Jaya
Task: Eat sea creatures. And some land ones, too.
With WiFi, Saoba, qwazymonkey and assorted hubbies-in-tow, I found myself in a restaurant with a suspiciously red-sounding name, City Star, not too far from Dataran Prima. Service was wanting - it took them forever and then some to put our orders on the table. Thankfully, the food was pretty good, so all was forgiven once our bellies were full and happy.

Final Task: Present cakes and gifts to the birthday boy
After dinner, everyone adjourned to my place so that we could sing off-tune birthday songs, play with the presents, and generally act silly in private. The birthday boy walked in to find a tray of mini cuppacakes and a basket of bitches waiting for him. A fun time was had by all. Well, maybe except for the token straight fella who was missing his football game but we're not the type to understand such things.

Man, I'm now looking forward to spending Sunday doing nothing much altogether.

Delightfully Delirious

Ohmygawdohmygawdohmygawd...

OnsaleintheUS from 5thNovember?
Stockavailable instore now??
30% off 600selecteditems (verylikelyincludingthisveryonethatI'vebeenwaitingfor)???
Starting TODAY?????

Isogottadropeverythingandthrowmyselfattheirdoorswhentheyopen!

(wish me luck)

Flowers In The Wind

I didn't have a boyfriend at that time
T'was supposedly a love just to pass time
Friendship was the excuse that I gave
So why is it that I'm still giving chase?

(Reinterprated from here)

It would seem that I never pursue, much less fight, for what I want. Perhaps it's just the way I am. But it seems that way because what I want is not quite as concrete as what most people want. And what I want most is often what the people I care about want.

I do fight. Just not so obviously as most would, for the reasons most do.

I do dream. But they're dreams built of emotion rather than ambition.

And when I love, all I seem to do is let go.

But this is me, dreaming.

This is me, fighting.

Halcali : Long Kiss Goodbye

The full song's available here, complete with lots of neon gear :P

The One That Rules The Roast

One thing good about living in the valley - you can find some really good char siew around here. And I do mean really good. So when (admittedly, quite some time back) Cubitt proposed to have dinner at a restaurant that serves THE BEST char siew, the lesbians, the Londoner and I all flocked over to Hoong Loong in Damansara Jaya to find out just how true those rumours are.

Of course, this being a full-scale Chinese restaurant, we didn't just have char sio p'ng. We ordered a few fancy dishes (which cost quite a fancy bit).

We had mango chicken, which was nice; tofu with seaweed and mushroom, which was delectable; and the kailan was green and crisp.


"Interesting" would be the perfect word to describe the twin-style pomfret. The meat was carved out and wrapped around slices of mushroom then steamed. The bones were then deep-fried into crisps. The crispy bones were just like a snack; while the meat, though very nicely steamed was kinda lost when eaten with the mushroom. I think I would have enjoyed the pomfret more if it had been done Teochew style.


But of course, the whole reason we were there in the first place was the char siew. So did it live up to its reputation?

Well, the meat was succulent and well-flavoured. The honeyed sweetness of it made me think I was eating bak kua, except with "real" meat, so to say. Which is a good thing. I loved it, and it definitely ranks among the best in the valley.


But is it THE BEST? Well, yes, if you like your char siew lean with no hint of fat to threaten your diet. Personally, I prefer my char siew sinfully layered with porcine grease.

Therefore, as far as my tastebuds go, the top three char siew places to go to in the Klang Valley are:

#3: Hoong Loong Restaurant, Damansara Jaya
If you like char siew to be all meat and no fat, this is the place to go. It's tender, sweet and juicy and definitely the best lean char siew ever! Do expect prices beyond the norm though, as it's a real restaurant.

#2: Meng Kee, Glenmarie
They've crowned themselves the Char Siew King but they're number two on my list cos twice I've been served the lean portions which were quite dry and not so palattable. But if you ask for (and get) the fatty parts, well then it's really really mouthwateringly yummy. Pricier than the average char siew but well worth it.

#1: Sungai Besi Wan Tan Mee, Chan Sow Lin
Melt-in-your-mouth fatty char siew, complemented with out-of-this-world shrimp sambal paste, this is my personal favourite. If that's not enough, they serve kick-ass wild boar curry and yummy-tummy suey kao as well. Not cheap but not actually expensive, you'd just have to risk the possibility of getting smashed by a random wayward Merc while savouring the superlicious char siew there. Which, as I see it, isn't too bad a way to go after all.

A Stuffed Pig. And The Things They Stuffed Me With

Ahh... steamboat. Just the thing to warm you up on a cold winter's night. But it's not winter here in good ol' Mal-to-da-Aysia. In fact, it's never winter here! Still, a steamboat dinner is nice to have once in a while in the company of family or friends when the rain starts pouring down.

With that in mind, lil' fat monkey and I gathered a few friends and tromped over to Coca, noted steamboat restaurant chain. Curiously enough, we ended having almost everything on the menu (well not almost everything, but still a lot) except steamboat.

Go figure.

As it turned out, Coca isn't just a steamboat restaurant. It's got plenty of either stuff on their menu, mainly Thai-ish style seafood dishes. And we couldn't help but be tempted to try a little of each.


We were a little late for Halloween but not too late to find ourselves face-to-face with a wolf in sheep... erm... I mean, shrimp's clothing. That would be the Stuffed Prawns, where fish paste is literally stuffed into a prawn shell then deep fried. It had a very interesting taste, more meaty than any self-respecting fish would be but then I suppose fish that disguise themselves as prawns may not be very self-respecting. It was a bit on the salty side, though. A case of taking the food out of the sea, but not the sea out of the food, perhaps?


We also had the Curry Crab. It looked just like sweet and sour crab, but the flavour was definitely... different. We had a side of fried man tou to go with it, which made a really good companion to the dish (not much of a bread person myself, but I'd eat fried anything).


Since McCutie has an aversion to crustaceans, we ordered the Pattaya BBQ Chicken for him. I must confess, I stole some of it. Hehe. A good move it was, as the chicken turned out quite nicely, in a honey-teriyaki grill kind of way.


Back to the seafood - Thai-style steamed fish. Yummy yummy. As "Thai-style" would suggest, it was sour and a little spicy (but just a little), and sorta tomyam-y, probably due to lemongrass. Steaming fish like this can only work with fresh fish, and this fish was assuredly fresh. I think I might have even walked past it on my way in, but I'd rather not think of that, thank you.


Speaking of tomyam, the Seafood Tomyam Soup was dee-licious! Thick the way I like it, strong sour taste without being overpowering, spicy but not stomach-churning spicy, and even a little sweet, which I believe is thanks to the loads of prawns that were swimming in the soup. I like...


Honestly, I was too stuffed by then to properly enjoy the desserts. This coming from the guy who frequently tells anyone who cares to listen that he has a separate stomach for desserts. The Thai-style desserts were pretty run-of-the-mill though whoever came up with the idea of serving durian paste with the Mango with Glutinous Rice should be commended (or shot, depending on whether or not you're a fan of the king of fruits). Maybe I'd try the Cendol with Durian the next time I pop by, but right now I'm still too stuffed to think about it.

Yes, even though it's been two days since I had that dinner.

Damn, there goes my hopes of slimming down for the year-end.

Afterhours

Sometimes it's nice to see a place after hours. After the sun's gone down. After the lights go off. When the facades are free from the maddening crowd. And the souvenirs are safely hidden behind closed doors.

Jew Who Char?

Potluck. A social meal where everyone brings something to the table. Literally.

I'm normally all for potlucks. I get to polish my *ahem* culinary skills without having the headache of catering the entire meal, plus it's a way to experiment with new recipes and unleash them on unsuspecting friends.

But, wow. THREE potlucks in two weekends? I can't really do that wide a repertoire in so short a time frame.

Bringing my standard fruit salad to one party (for like, the nth time already) and buying my way out of another (someone's buying cake and needs some financial assistance? Count me in!), I still had to dish out another... dish. And boy, had I some serious competition to contend with.

The menu was already sounding like a lineup of traditional favourites - Kitty Satay, Spotty Pong Teh, Cubitt Wine Chicken and Twin Style Prawns... even a continental dessert in the form of a lovely Snowy Bread & Butter Pudding! And oh, starters as well, painstakingly put together into a platter of Jaymaki Rolls.

What with all that food already, I figured I'd go low profile and serve the vegetables. Not wanting to do a generic chop suey though, I drew inspiration from the Straights Chinese (but not necessarily straight Chinese) and decided on ju hu char - literally, cuttlefish fry, even though it's really shredded turnip fried with dried cuttlefish and not the other way round. Simple enough. Or so I thought.

Three supermarkets later, I finally found dried cuttlefish in Giant. And realised that turnip, known to us as bang kuang or mengkuang, is actually called sengkuang in supermarket speak. The drama-ness.

I tweaked the recipe I found from Audrey and measured my ingredients by sight. Dangerous, cause my eyes are rather greedy and always hungry. So I ended up with two large turnips, four carrots, a few handfuls of soaked dried chinese mushrooms, two dried cuttlefish (all julienned) and several cloves of garlic (chopped coarsely), fried in olive oil and light soy sauce in a small wok that barely contained everything (in fact it didn't cause I threw away about a quarter of the turnip). I was ready to feed a small platoon of hot, starving soldiers.

You know, potlucks are also about popularity. As in, "I brought this dish so you're gonna keep eating it if you're my friend. Even if it kills you" kind of thing. A clean plate would indicate a succesful socialite. Fine, it could really just mean the food was very delish but we're polite society, and in polite society, there's always the issue of giving face.

So how did my ju hu char fare? I ashamedly admit that only half the plate was eaten. Yes, I have bitches for friends. But then again, I served enough for two dozen when there were only eight of us to eat it.

I guess my friends don't hate me, after all. At least, not that much.

Keeping Life Simple

Being over thirty is certainly not over-the-hill, but still I can feel I'm not so young anymore. Two consecutive nights of disco-dancing last weekend had left me quite exhausted and susceptible to minor ailments. Heck, even two consecutive nights of potluck parties is leaving me a little worn out.

Which is why, I would suppose that it's just as well there's nothing much going on in my life right now. Well, that's not exactly true since work's been keeping pretty occupied. But it still adds up to the fact that I don't have much of a life.

So whatever life goals I might have had are now shelved away and collecting dust somewhere in some forgotten corner. Only two things occupy me these days:

1. Eating

2. Boy-watching

Luckily for me, I can normally count on having good company for either (or, more often than not, both). Best of all, it's served with freeflow gossip and bottomless bitching.

So I say thank you for the gossip
The scandals I'm bitching
Thanks for all the joy they're bringing
Who can live without it?
I ask in all honesty
What would we be?
Without a rumour or some slander, what are we?
So I say thank you for the gossip
For giving it to me

Moo Of The Day

Egg yolk smells like smelly small boys
Spot

How a conversation about food turned into a queer (and I must say unverified) insight about boys. Apparently, she'd done some sniffing around.

Literally.

Comfort In A Crunch

Perhaps it's the urge to splurge now that it's the weekend.

Perhaps it's the thought of having to spend yet another week out in the middle of nowhere.

Perhaps it's the lure of fancy pre-expiry chips going at 99 cents per pack (available at Cold Storage Subang Parade, go get it NOW!).

Whatever the reason may be, I'm all set for another week of afterhours pigging out on junk food.

Perhaps it's just because I'm a pig, is all the reason to it.

Nutty Monkey!

You see, I have a thing for peanut butter chocolate ice cream. Unfortunately, it's not something you'd easily find in the supermarkets. So much so I finally decided to take matters into my own hands. Quite literally.

Having scoured the ice cream aisles of KL without success, I ended up bringing home a tub of regular chocolate ice cream. And a jar of crunchy peanut butter. Softened the ice cream and stirred the peanut butter in bit by bit. Diced some bananas and threw those in as well.

As simple as that, and there is now a tub of chocolate banana & peanut butter ice cream sitting in my freezer. Probably not for long.

Bon apetit!

How The Meat In My Hand Mellowed My Heart

Had a haircut. Had a burger. Burger was more expensive than haircut.

Even before adding the coke and fries.

But at that very first bite, with it's juices slipping along my tongue, it set me to reminiscing as images surfaced unbidden.

The greasy grills of Lygon Street.
The "Love Our Song" commercial.
The weekly Ramly at the Thursday night neighbourhood pasar malam of my childhood.
The JD at TGIF.
The Aussie I had attempted to make at home.

I suppose it's inevitable for someone like me to have memories embedded in my tastebuds. After all, life for me happens one meal at a time.

Portobello Mushroom Cheeseburger @ Carl's Jr

A Rendezvous In The Rain

Cold, grey, rainy days.

Something about them that drive people to seek out warmth and comfort. It certainly drove me out, cruising down the highways as slips of rain speckled my windscreen only to be swept away by the wiper blades.

I pulled over at some quiet corner, and got out. Stood beneath the eaves. Stared at the rain a bit. Rubbed my arms for a little warmth. Turned around.

And there you were.

I casually walked over, then walked away again. I sat down at a table, not too far from where you were. Averting my eyes. Trying not to stare. Hoping you wouldn't notice the hunger that burned behind my eyes.

But perhaps you did.

And you came over to where I sat, carrying with you a heady scent. Exotic, a hint of spice, perhaps. Oh, how you intoxicated me.

You came close, oh so close to me. And your gravity pulled me closer still. Inch by inch, nearer and nearer, until you touched me, your heat caressing my lips, your taste burning on my tongue.


...


I have to say... the nasi lemak was wholly average but boy, the wild boar curry was pretty good. Warmed my body and filled my belly - about all it really takes to keep me happy.

Nasi lemak @ Everyday Food Court, Puchong

Emerald Empire: Dreams Of The Old Estate

My Own Sweet Time

Getting posted to a place that's like almost a half-hour's drive to not very much, and working practically from sunup till sundown, day in and day out, I haven't had much time to stay connected (other than the occasional sneaks into cyberspace while I'm still in the office and the higher-ups have all left). Thankfully, I've got my weekends back so at least I can still make the trip back to the valley and say hi to my laptop, and my couch, and my bed, and yes, my downloads.

Oh, and my friends as well. Of course. *cough cough*

Which is why I'm really appreciating my weekends now. Like, clean up my place? Whatever for? I've done enough work for the week, thank you. And it'll only be dirty again the next time I come home.

All I wanna do is kick back, relax, eat, drink hit the gym for that one time in the week, catch up with my friends (preferably over a drink, snack or meal), gossip, watch a movie, eat some more, download stuff, and be generally very merry (which normally involves eating as well).

I didn't pencil "spilling a large Coke onto my feet" or "losing my driver's license" into my itinerary but they happened anyway. Thankfully, I was wearing slippers and not my new shoes, and also, the good people of Cathay found my license and kept it for me, keeping my off-work drama to a minimum. Lord knows I have enough drama at work to deal with.

But it's back to the hinterlands tomorrow and I gotta get up at an ungodly hour so I'm not gonna think anymore about what to write and just throw some pics at you. Pics of FOOD.

Of course.

*cough cough*

Beef Soba in soup at Okuchi, Kota Damansara

Pasembor (Indian rojak) from stall in Section 17, PJ

Aforementioned stall in Section 17, PJ (as recommended by a lil' fat monkey)

Hometown Glory / A Tale Of Two Priorities

I’ve been walking in the same way as I did
Missing out the cracks in the pavement
And tutting my heel and strutting my feet
“Is there anything I can do for you, dear?
Is there anyone I could call?”
“No and thank you, please Madam.
I ain’t lost, just wandering”
Adele

"But I can't stay," he said, "It's stifling here, caught in this small shell, living the same small life, going through the same small routines, with the same small people. How can I go on like this?"

"But I can't go," I said, "What with my job, and my family, and bills to pay and ends to meet. How can I not see things through?"

And he said, "But there is so much out there in the wide, wide world. Cities to see and countries to roam. Different people with different words, different cultures, different lives."

And I said, "But this is where I belong, on the grass that I have mown, with the people that I have known, inside these walls that I've made my own."

And so we danced, and so we swayed. Loving, fighting, laughing, crying. Holding on, letting go. But in the end, still he went. And still I stayed.

And here I stay still, till the day he tires of the wide, wide world, and finally comes home.

Dreaming With A Broken Heart / The Space Between Their Bodies

When you're dreaming with a broken heart
The waking up is the hardest part
You roll out of bed and down on your knees
And for a moment you can hardly breathe
John Mayer

Alfy lay half-awake, barely aware of the chill air from the airconditioning that blowing across his back. At least, not until it was replaced by the heat off the other body that now crept up to him.

"Good morning, handsome," said the breath that nuzzled his ear. Alfy could hear the smile in that breath.

A strong arm snaked around to his front, the hand just stopping on his belly, that once boasted of abs but now had gone a little soft with age. Something else strong and firm was pressing him from behind.

Alfy pretended he was asleep, and just as he decided this, the breath grazed his ear again.

"Pretending to be sleeping? What naughty dreams are you having then?"

Rolling over, Alfy opened his eyes... and the bed was empty on the other side.

Was he really dreaming? He should have felt surprised to see no one there. But he wasn't surprised. He wasn't angry. He wasn't hurt or even sad. The only feeling he had was a small sense of resignation.

He closed his eyes again with a sigh. Perhaps he really was dreaming, after all.

And he opened his eyes. And the light was right, and the bed felt as it always had. And when he rolled over, there was Jian, sleeping on his side, as usual. His back to Alfy, as usual.

Alfy's hand slid over to touch Jian, but it stopped on the space that lay between their bodies. How cool it felt in his hand. How smooth and unruffled. And how, how wide.

His hand shifted the blankets instead, and he got out of bed. He'd be late for work, if they did get frisky. More likely though, he'd wake Jian and Jian would be grumpy.

So Alfy washed, and dressed, and left their apartment, quietly locking the door behind him. It was then that he remembered that he hadn't kissed Jian goodbye.

But he couldn't remember how long it had been since he last kissed Jian goodbye.

Beautiful / Frenzied

Such pretty hair. May I kiss you, may I kiss you there
Me'shell Ndegeocello

X'shyreh flitted about, whistling flirtatious notes and batting her lashes at Yrkrzsh. Oh but he was handsome, the most handsome of all the males in their aerie. But she knew something else - as handsome as he was, she was even more beautiful.

And so she toyed with him - darting left, darting right, keeping the male's head twitching this way, that way, his eyes never tearing away. With each pass, strands of her fine, translucent hair brushed his face, teasing him with her perfume. The feathers of her wings stroked his chest, stoking the fire of his heat.

And the dance began. He grabbed, and she evaded his grasp. He spun around, and she poked her toe into his nape.

He reached.

She relented.

And they fell into an embrace, the female melting against the male, as if she was not close enough to him. As if she could never be close enough to him.

Swamped in the scents of their fevered coupling, Yrkrzsh unhooked his jaws and his beak dropped open, large and looming. Slowly, he devoured the acquiescent female whole.

Deep in his belly, X'shyreh savoured the feeling of warmth and security. His fluids surrounding her, she was not drowning, but rather she was disintegrating, losing her self, becoming one with him.

Her final thought: Come the spring, their children will break out from the shell of their father's body, to fly out into the world. And oh, they will be so beautiful.

The Third Volume: In Which We Learn A Little More Of Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair & Delirium (Who Was Once Delight)

I've dribbled, drooled, gushed and gasped over this enough times already last year and the year before that. Suffice to say, I'm still incredibly loving Sandman (even though it's been a little more than a decade since I first read it!), and I am so so glad I grabbed that second-to-last of the Volume III's in Kino last weekend at 20% off.

Thanks to the vigilant Wingedman for tipping me off! Haha. I suppose by now their stocks will be gone until the reorder comes in. Hehe.

Volume III covers the "Brief Lives" story arc, the tales told at World's End, and a host of miscellaneous standalone yarns, including the rather inspirational - "Fear of Falling".

I love "Brief Lives", mainly because of the heavy involvement of Delirium, one of Gaiman's most fascinating characters (kind of the Fool archetype who spouts all sorts of weird shit and and occasionally some really insightful shit just falls out). Dream, getting all gloomy as usual after get spurned (yet again), decides to tag along his sister in her search for their missing brother. Yes, all sorts of things happen, including yet another pebble getting cast into that murky pond of fate. Add that to all the other pebbles and ripples from the previous stories and you'd get... Volume IV of course.

The miscellany of stories in Volume III does serve as a little break. It's really the calm before the storm. Volume IV would be the last of the collection, climaxing the series with "The Kindly Ones" followed by the very beautiful epilogue, "The Wake" (of which a glimpse is given in Volume III).

I'm so looking forward to finally having the entire Sandman series in my collection. Thankfully, I don't have to wait that long as it's due for release come year's end, just in time for Christmas sales.

Yay!

Sergio Aragones' Gream?

Delirium/Delight

Little Endless!

Mama Mia!

My, oh my.

Not even halfway through the top twenty of So You Think Can Dance Season 4, and, oh my gawd... already that crazyawesomequirkygenius *takes deep breath* breathtakingmindbendingamazingbeautifulbeautifulbeautiful choreographer Mia Michaels is Delivering. Yes, that's with a capital D!

Sigh...

I'm gonna shut up now cos really, her stories are so much better than mine.

This has got to be the best start to the show yet. Heck, fabulous diva runway coach extraordinaire Ms J even made a cameo appearance in it! Oh wait... was that Chelsea T???

I love emo stories like this. All that weighty baggage condensed into such small movements! Almost made me cry except I was too busy whooping over that 'assisted run' across the stage :P

Making SENs

Spam. Eggs. Noodles. The kind of dinner one has when one's Chinese and is a student living away from home with little money to spare. Or if one, like me, is Chinese, a salaryman, single, lives alone at home, and, on some days, really can't be stuffed to be eating at one of the few almost decent eating places dotting one's neighbourhood.

Thankfully, the few things in my fridge were enough for me to cook up a few twists on this Chinese collegeboy classic. Here are three (cos that's all I've managed):


The typical spam and egg noodles, just that I've thrown in a bit more stuff to round it off. Boil dried mushrooms and dried shrimp to make the soup base and cook instant noodles in it (practically any flavour you like, though I was using Mamee Duck Noodles). Throw in some of the soup flavoring that comes with the noodles, but not all of it, since the mushrooms and shrimp already flavor the soup. When it's done, throw in some pickled chinese cabbage.

Fry an egg and two or three (or more) slices of lanciao luncheon meat to go with the noodles.


Boil noodles, drain and set aside.

Fry chopped garlic with dried shrimp and cubed luncheon meat until fragrant, then add french beans and carrots with a sprinkling of water. Add oyster sauce to taste. Mix a large pinch of cornflour into a small bowl of water and add this into the wok when the vegetables are cooked. Bring to a boil, turn off the fire, and stir in an egg. Pour over the noodles and serve.

Throw on a handful of meat floss as well, if you want, for some added oomph.


Boil some beans till almost done, then add noodles and boil until everything's cooked. Drain and toss in a combination of sesame oil, dark soy sauce and oyster sauce.

Fry chopped garlic and sliced mushrooms until it smells nice and chinesey, then throw in mashed-up luncheon meat and fry some more. Turn the fire down low. Beat an egg and pour it over the lot, then fold the egg to cover. Serve it on top of the noodles.

...

Sure, it's nothing as mama-at-home-style cooking as what Ry has been busy with lately, but heck, he's cooking for someone while I'm cooking for one. Sure beats having plain instant noodles any day, though, and not all that much more work.

Saturday Night Worship

It's been a seriously long while since the gang gathered, so when wifi, jaq, qwazymonkey and I decided to get together, we of course planned it around (what else but) food.

We decided to visit the new kid on the block of upmarket restaurants lining Changkat BB - Weiner's! Oh wait... it's WERNER'S... hehe. Werner's is the sister eatery to Elcerdo, right across the street. I suppose they wanted to expand their market share, because while Elcerdo serves nothing but pork, Werner's caters anything but pork!



What can I say? The place is lovely, and the ambience is just right for having a romantic dinner. Not that the five of us were having a romantic dinner lah. Ahem.

Sole Fritters and Salad Nicoise

Food. Definitely nice, though some were better than others. The Salad Nicoise was fresh and zesty, and came with a huge chunk of grilled tuna steak. The sole fritters were pleasant, though I've had better fish with the fish and chips served in the streets of Melbourne and Capetown. What made it nice was the lobster cream sauce and asparagus, which lent subtle flavours to the dish. The duck ragout with pasta was also nice, but again, not outstanding.

Sliced Veal and Duck Ragout Pasta

Probably the best dish of the night was the sliced veal. The meat was tender and was nicely coated in a light brown sauce. The roesti potato served alongside made a great accompaniment.

We didn't sample the desserts, tempting as they seemed. Probably because by then, we were itching for some street fare, easily found just a hop and a skip away (okay, fine... several hops and skips away) down the road.

Prices, as to be expected, were on the heavy side. One salad, one pasta, two mains and two bottles of water came up to a smidgeon over RM200 for the five of us there. Yes, we were charged for the water. Personally, I don't begrudge a restaurant charging for water (though I also believe at the prices they charge, they can afford complimentary water), but at RM18 a bottle? I didn't check but I'm very sure that wasn't so much bottled water as it was water in a bottle.

Anyway, ranting aside, it was, all in all, a nice dinner in a beautiful place. The host was friendly and helpful, and service was quick and without fuss. Definitely a meal that would satisfy a gourmet, but kind of fell short for us gluttons. So we paid the bill, thanked our hosts, and stepped out into the balmy night...

And ventured down Tengkat Tong Shin to Ngau Kee for one of the best beef ball noodles in town.

Moo-rtifying second meal

Didn't I say we were gluttons?