Have you been in a situation where you had a good time with family or friends? As the day comes to a close, everyone says their goodbyes and bid “fair thee well” (got meh?), the very common statement that springs out from someone or more than one person, we must “ketchup again, soon”.

Most times than none, the “ketchup again”, rarely ever takes place soon enough.

I was on WhatsApp with Sharon and she said we, that is she, Lorraine, Jeannie and I; should meet up since it was over a month since we last met. She was responding to my article I wrote on Jings Specialty Coffee, a nice café in our new neighborhood. She wanted to go there.

I said, “It’s a holiday tomorrow and Jeannie will be at home. Let’s meet tomorrow morning.” She straight away jumped on the idea with a quick “OK”.

“Tomorrow” came. The main event of the morning was my 11km walk. I covered 15,000 steps – my daily exercise – brisk walking.

Sharon and Loraine were at our doorstep (actually Sharon first. Loraine was parking her car in her usual spot whenever she visits us. ) at 2pm on the dot. She suggested we do lunch. However, Jeannie and I had our lunch at noon.

They said they wanted something hawkerish (hawker like) food. And they were looking forward to coffee at Jings.

We suggested New Apollos (definitely not a re-branding exercise by NASA).

New Apollos restaurant – “coffee shop” as they were called back in the days when identification was more simplified. “Restaurant” gives you an image where people are dressed in “chefs'” outfits including the puffed up crooked hat. In ‘restaurants” such as New Apollos, the cooks are usually dressed in t-shirts, shorts and slippers. Their food tastes just as good, if not better than those in their fancy outfits.

It took us quite sometime to get to New Apollos from our house. The four of us: Loraine, Sharon, Jeannie and I had to pile into Loraine’s 2-door, 2+2, sports car first. Then, the long drive of about 2 minutes. Good thing there was ample parking at that time, as the lunch crowd had left.

Jeannie gave them a “tour de Apollos” of the hawker stalls that were still open (their “chefs” were still there).

Sharon and Loraine settled for the “house specialty” – rice, transformed into flattened noodles, fried in a dark source together with some (a little) green vegetables (specially chosen by the vegetable farmer. It can be considered as “organic” as they were grown from the ground) tougey (bean sprouts), kerang (a.k.a. cockle or edible shellfish), a dash of vinegar and some other condiments. What makes this the house specialty is a couple of duck (yes,the quack, quack type) eggs were cooked in this meal. It may sound simple. However, the chef knows precisely how many “klang-klangs” (the sound made when the chef turns over the food in the wok with the stainless steel Chinese Wok turner “spatula” with wooden handle) he has to make before adding (throwing) in each of the condiments. The result: Char Kuey Teow (not sure if it is the “famous” Penang, Ipoh, Klang or Seremban). This meal was served with a little Chili, in a separate section of the dark-green food plate.

We were supposed to have coffee at Jings. Since these two ladies were having their lunch here, I suggested Kopi Peng as a drink while waiting for them to consume their lunch. The three ladies had the same drink. “Kopi Peng” is a combination of languages for “Iced Coffee” with sugar and milk. “Kopi” is a Malay word for coffee; and “peng” is a Chinese dialect (Hokkien) word for cold. Couldn’t get more complicating than this.

After the char kuey teow and kopi pengs; we were quite full and were not really keen on going for specialty coffee.

“Do you eat durians?”, Loraine asked Jeannie and I. Both of us said we do.

Evidently, a truck full of the thorny fruit had caught her eye, their eyes (including Sharon’s).  For the benefit of some readers, these are not “duran” (That was a very popular singing group in the 1980s – “Duran Duran”). It is spelt as “d-u-r-i-a-n“.

One would be hard pressed to miss it. It was right in front of the restaurant, parked by the roadside, along the kerb (sidewalk, if you are American).

We were all smiles. Could it have been due to the intoxication of the aroma from this “King of fruit”? Or was it because we were about to enjoy the deliciousness of the various variants of this fruit? Answer: Both.

This durian seller had set up a canopy tent by the side of his lorry (truck). He put out a couple of tables with chairs so that his customers can “dine” with some form of comfort. He provided thin plastic gloves for us to pick the fruit up so that our hands won’t have the lingering smell. This seemed like a novel idea at first. He also provided bottles of water for us to drink.

The evidence is in the pudding….durian.

The Fredericks sisters were…are a riot. Loraine started giving instructions on the fine art (proper way) of eating durian. For the love of life, I thought we just pluck the fruit out of the pod, put it in our mouth and eat.

Sharon showed us how to dance the jig just before eating one of the variants. Again, I thought just pluck the fruit from its pod and eat.

We had so much fun that afternoon. We ate, joked and laughed. And ate again. The things Sharon did in school. She was the “Minnie the Minx” of her time. And Loraine, being the elder sister, always got in trouble for not teaching Sharon better. Sharon the angel. Loraine the guardian angel.

Jeannie and I look forward to our next “ketchup” / catch up session.