Beneath A Bent, Grey Sky

Sigh, the downside to having a big holiday to look forward to is having nothing much to look forward to when said holiday is over. Oh well, there's still Labour Day and Wesak, at least, so it's not too gloomy.

In the meantime, I'll just rummage through my photos, and remember what a fine time I had.

Oh and p/s... remember this raunchy reindeer? I have one now!

Much-a Emo?

Leave me out with the waste, this is not what I do
It's the wrong kind of place to be thinking of you
It's the wrong time for somebody new
It's a small crime and I've got no excuse
Damien Rice : 9 Crimes

You. What are you doing here? No, you shouldn't even be near.

You, who are cruel temptation of bittersweet temptation.
You are hot and you're cold, you're subtle and you're bold.
You have me caught, you intoxicate my thoughts.
You're so wrong for me yet how I long for thee.

You... you are... fried premium air-flown Japanese sweet potatoes with soft-serve ice cream, topped with green tea sauce and red beans.

You are Matcha Imo, at MOF.

OISHI!
*thumbs up*

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!

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*

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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)

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?

Heaven

It's like the memory of childhood,
when all was right with the world.

It's like that moment you first fell in love,
when love was ecstasy and grace.

It's like a spoonful of heaven,
and heaven could be tasted there, right there,
on the tip of your tongue.

Sweet.

Delightful.

Very. Nearly. Orgasmic.

...

Snowie's Panna Cotta. NOT available in stores.

Spider Picks And Supper Pigs

Haven't been to the movies for ages, and finally went to catch one (I think for the first time this year), just last week.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a nice movie, if you're into fairies and goblins and such. Nice, not necessarily amazing, but nice, nevertheless. It's a simple children's fantasy tale that's not too complex. Things do get resolved a little too tidily, but hey, like I said, it is a children's tale after all.


Freddie Highmore does a commendable job playing identical twins with polar personalities - one broody and rebellious, the other all freshly scrubbed and neatly buttoned. Either way, he's cute (in a non-pedo way, I must add) and he's got that boyish charm working for him. It's also good to see he didn't rehash his earnest-to-goodness Charlie character from that other film about the chocolate factory. Sad to think adolescence will be corrupting him all too soon.

Anyway, the movie did leave me wanting for a bit more, since there just weren't enough fairies and nymphs and pixies to slate my thirst for the fantastic. Looks like I'd have to turn to the books then. Yes, they are children's books, I know, but there's five of them, and from the excerpts I read, there's a whole lot more to the story then what had been portrayed on the screen.

In conclusion, do watch this movie for a light, fun romp that won't hurt your brains or eyes. Don't worry too much about the hows and whys and you'll be able to enjoy the show.

And oh yes, if you need a spot of dinner or a late-night meal when you're done with the show, consider dropping over at Sungai Besi Wan Tan Mee for their famous fare. Recommended orders include the flavorful curry wild boar, sumptious suey kao, and quite possibly the best char siu in KL. Don't forget to grab a big dollop of their really good sambal as well!

I know, I know... again with the food!

It's just a roadside dining place with plastic tables and chairs, and as you can tell, they're not concerned about pretty presentations. But hey, this is food that's so good it's literally spilling out of it's plate, so I'm quite prepared for the messiness.

I'd give it two thumbs up, but I'm just too occupied with eating everything in sight.

More Meaty Goodness

As a follow-up to the Meat Market Sunday, I had another meaty Sunday a couple of weeks ago, thanks to my cousin who somehow figured that's how his little 4-year old should celebrate her birthday. She seemed to have fun, she did, though I'm not sure if she ate all that much. Happily, the food did keep us adults engrossed enough not to notice the kids running about helter skelter.

Anyway, if you like your Korean BBQ and the Ampang Point area is too far for you, consider popping over to USJ Taipan's Dae Jang Gum. It is authentic, though not in the royal-kitchenmaid-turned-imperial-physician way you might expect from a place bearing her name. In fact, you may even find it strange to walk into a Korean restaurant to find an entire wall covered in a painting of some street in... Penang, perhaps.

At least the owners really are Korean. But not as cute as those K-Pop idols look, unfortunately.

But yeah, the food is indeed good. Really good. My cousin did all the ordering so I'm not too sure what was what, but among the stuff I had, the one that really stood out was the pork marinated in some sort of sauce. It was really tender and flavorful.

Yummy.

Of course, be prepared to leave the place smelling of sizzle. After all, all the barbecuing is done right at your table.

Oh yeah, the tea's a tad dodgy as well. But other than that, it's an excellent place for a big, meaty meal.

Weathering Storms & Living Long

Been meaning to post sooner but sigh, it's been raining, it's been pouring, and me love life's been boring me to tears...

But I digress.

Meteoroligical and political storms aside, my parents have been squatting in my "loft" for half a week. So of course, there's been a little loss of privacy, and zero gym time for me.

On the plus side, my house is spick and span, even the fans and windows have been cleaned, my goodness. The laundry gets folded up neatly, and all the shirts and even t-shirts get ironed. There's breakfast waiting before I leave for work and dinner greeting me when I get home.

Sigh, but it's back to living like the slob I am now.

Sob sob.

Here's a token picture of food.


Mee sua, or longevity noodles, customary meal for chinese people celebrating their birthday (yes, for us, it's almost always about either prosperity or longevity, preferably both). As it so happened, my chinese lunar birthday fell exactly one week after my roman calendar birthday.

Which reminds me... happy belated birthday, darling!

32

So what's the perfect antidote to that huge-ass, meat-stuffed brunch I had on Sunday?

I don't know, but surely it can't be all the lemak I had for dinner that same day! Still, what the heck, I just had a craving for it and strangely enough it's one of those things that's not so commonly found in KL, and when you do find it, half the time it's just not done right. Surprising, since it's not all that hard to make.

So I perah-ed the kelapa (by which I mean I opened a can of coconut extract), chopped the carrots and long beans, shredded the cabbage, ground the dried shrimp, and threw everything into a pot to boil. A dash of turmeric powder and a scattering of salt, and there you have it... Sayur Lodeh, mixed vegetables cooked in coconut milk, which forms the basis of any lontong.

I opted for the lontong darat style, which basically is a dry-ish version of lontong. It's less messy, and more importantly, I don't have a pot big enough to cook sufficient gravy for the regular lontong. Hehe.


Just to make sure my guests got a bit more of variety, I got sambal sotong, satay and tea eggs to complement it. PLUS, meat floss to top it all off.

[ Hostess's Hint: Meat floss adds flavour, texture and fun to an otherwise bland dish. Try it with steamed rice, porridge, instant noodles, or like me, when making lontong for the first time and you want to have something to conveniently cover up any inadequacies ]

This year's birthday dinner turned out to be a much quieter affair compared to the previous two years. Everyone's so busy these days (or maybe my friends just don't love me anymore). In any case, it was kind of a relief because I always hate having to deal with the logistics of a dinner party for a dozen or so people. Sorting out what to seat people on, what to entertain them with, preparing enough food and diningware... I'm just not a party-planning person.

So in a way it was just nice that there were only six of us that night. We could sit comfortably around the dining table, and I could serve my guests using real plates and bowl and forks and spoons and glasses. And my pots and serving bowls are just big enough to cater a group this size.

Well, my thanks to C&J for ditching C's final company dinner in favor of my little do. Perhaps I should have organised a lucky draw to compensate your missing out on that one!

Thanks to the monkey and his McCutie for bringing the satay, the nasi impit (couldn't have had lontong without that!) and most of all, for doing the washing up. And yeah, thanks for the book as well... think I'll love it *Hugs*

And, of course, thanks to WiFi, for having the foresight to bring a cake, despite my telling everyone they needn't bring anything. Like, how was I to know I'd fail at making a cake, even if said cake was prepared from a store-bought premix per instructions on the box?

Actually, the cake turned out fine but fell apart when I tried to take it out of the pan. Seemed that I missed out on the instruction that said "line the pan with baking paper". Sigh. So while we could technically still eat the Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Crumble (formerly to be known as Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake), it would have been a little bit difficult figuring out where to stick a candle on that mess of cake pieces, sliced bananas and melting ice-cream.

Incidentally, WiFi bought a "Crystal Orange" cake. I wondered if it was by coincidence that the baker had come up with batches of this, so soon after Chinese New Year.


All in all, I had I nice weekend before my birthday, what with the brunch I had and then the dinner. My birthday itself was spent quietly with no fanfare whatsoever in the office, followed by a relaxing spot of BodyBalance at the gym.

It turned out that there was a teensy bit of fanfare, after all. Joining yw[2k] and the other gym kaki for dinner, I was surprised by Wingedman popping up with a cake (with a cake, I said, not out of a cake). Eeeks! Just what I need, more cake... but at least it wasn't some space cake from Amsterdam!


Thanks, everyone, for making this a nice, cheery, drama-free 32nd birthday! I can only wish the rest of the year would be as pleasant as the last few days have been :-)

Make Mine Meat

MMM...

Marvelous. Mouthwatering. Merriment.

MMM...

Meat. Meat. And (ohIthinkI'vediedandgonetocarnivoreheaven) More meat!

This is what Sundays are about. Crawling out of bed at ten, heading over to a posh address for a spot of brunch with a bunch of friends. Brunch that consists of processed cows, pigs and lambs. Oh yum.

This might have been how we agreed on it:

Me: Let's have dinner on Wednesday.
Nut: I got a cramped sole.
Snowie: Spot's sprained her back.
Spot: That's cos you didn't milk my udders for over a month.
Wingedman: I've got plans to go gambol about among the tulips, wearing clogs... and only clogs.
Me: ... Erm... okay... how about a carnivore's brunch on Sunday then? I heard good things about this place...
Nut: Ooh... that place is AMAZING!
Snowie: Count me in!
Spot: Moo too!
Wingedman: Omg I'll hijack the next flight out and meet you guys there...

Well, I did say that might have been how it went...

Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately) Wingedman did not manage to hijack a plane. Maybe he overslept or something. But the rest of us followed the scent of burning fats all the way to Fogal's Meat Market at Plaza Damas, and gathered over a mighty big meal of mmmeat.

When they say it's a Big BBQ Breakfast, they weren't kidding about the BIG. It's seriously big enough to feed two adults with healthy appetites. Even adults with appetites as healthy as mine. Two steaks, two sausages, two grilled tomatoes, bacon, egg, hash brown, toast and mushroom, literally topped with butter (see that pack of SCS sitting on the bread?).

The two couples at the table, of course, each happily shared a plate of mass murder.

Sigh, it would seem that the tyranny of St. Valentine continues beyond February.

Poor single me, having no one to spread the fats with, had to forgo all that, and instead, settled for just a plate of french toast and bacon.

With a side of hash browns.

And a pig sausage.

And oh, a plate of mushrooms as well.

Which turned out to be a mini big breakfast, anyway.

Spot and Snowie (bless the cow's multiple stomachs) had enough room to squeeze in a dessert, which they very nicely offered me a wee bite. Now I'm no fan of dates (the fig... and perhaps, to a much lesser extent, the experience as well) but this sticky date pudding is absolutely dreamy.

Nut had promised the presence of hot, young, blond-haired, blue-eyed Aryans, waiting on us. Unfortunately, they weren't there that day, though there was a cute, dark-skinned fellow who greeted me and showed me to my table. In the end, it didn't matter - I was too busy eating.

In between the munching, there was also much chatting and laughing. This is definitely the kind of Sunday I love waking up to.

Anyway, I had a really good time. And thanks again, Spot and Snowie, for the wonderful treat!

Remember peeps, it's MMM... Meat Market at Mont Kiara.

(Okay, technically it's Sri Hartamas, but that doesn't start with an M)

:P