As I published the essay, I was planning to hit the coffee scene. My cousin, Chris; texted me in the morning and suggested we meet at Good Ground Bakery (1) at 2.30pm as our usual neighbourhood cafe was closed for the day. Probably, the two co-owners at Jings would be out for a round of golf on a Wednesday afternoon. I can just picture them: in full raincoats and carrying the usually large golf umbrellas, opened; lugging their golf carts. O.k. they may have caddies doing that for them. Then, one of them pulls out a 9-iron (like I know anything about golf); whacks (drives) the ball over 270 yards, clear of the fairway to the highway. The ball lands a few millimetres away from the hole, just needing to be putted in.

Not really sure if they play golf in the first place. However, there are some avid golfers who frequent Jings quite often. The ones I know are Sally Lee and her husband, Jeff; and Snow and his wife, Mandy.

I was running late for my 2.30pm afternoon meet with Chris. It was close to 3 on the hour when my essay went “live”. I got to Good Ground Bakery at 2.50pm only to learn from Joanne, the employee who is familiar with us by now, that “your friend, the guy with the long shoulder-length hair, left a few minutes ago.”

I called Chris to tell him I had just arrived. I was held up due to the fact I was rushing out an article to be published at that time. He said he thought that I wouldn’t show up, so he left. Chris is a guy who is one for punctuality. Me, too. However, to day was not one of those times. I did tell Chris that if I commit to an appointment, I will show up. If I was not going to show up for whatever reason/s; I would inform the other party/s.

I headed back home. As I turned to Tudor homes; Chris called to say that he was heading back to Good Ground Bakery and it would be good if I could join him.

So, I did what came naturally: I kicked the sand with my right foot, swayed a bit from left to right and back and said, “Golly, shucks, aww ok”……. Actually, I said “ok” (minus the drama) and headed back to the bakery.

I was back at Good Ground Bakery 10 minutes later. By this time, the heavens (or is the floodgates?) had opened and the rain was beating down hard with a force like it was on a vengeance. I managed to find a car 🚗 park bay on the road. It meant that I had to make a 20 meter dash in the heavy downpour. I didn’t want to use the umbrella as it was too much of a bother to remember to take it back when I leave. I have forgetfully left a number of umbrellas behind where ever I go.

One of the first things I did as I got to the counter before sitting at the table was to browse though their from the oven to the shelves baked goodies. I decided to go for their cranberry scone again, and I ordered an Americano to go with it. 

When it was served, I noticed the cup, the same type that I usually have my coffee when I come here. The top half of the cup looked like it was coffee stained all round it. Sort of makes it look old. Another thing is that the cup and saucer looked like it was clay molded, more like a “do-it-yourself” molding. However, on getting a better look at the cup, the colour is the colour of the cup not a stain. The cup was commercially purchased, not homemade. I liked it because it seemed to keep the coffee hot for a longer period and it had a solid feel because it was heavy.

The scone looked really good. As I cut into it and took a bite without adding the butter and jam, it was delicious. The generous amounts of cranberries in it gave it that “reddish sweet” flavour to the scone. The butter and jam was like “icing to the cake”, as they seem to have taken the scone to the next level of greatness for scones.

Looking at the pictures, you can tell that the scone was literally just out of the oven. The freshness of its light, crusty top gives the scone a “must have” when one visits the Good Ground Bakery.

By the time I was half way though the scone, our friend, Jino, came and joined us for coffee. Jino never fails to share with us his experiences when he was the Numero Uno of Goodyear Malaysia. He has loads of knowledge that he is ever willing to impart with us and others. We had a good afternoon.

It was soon nearing 4.40pm when I had to leave to pick my family up from work. I am looking forward to another session with Chris and Jino. It is with sessions like this that we can impart our experiences, values and views with others. Not to forget an abundance of laughter and light-heartedness that comes with it.

NOTES:
1. Good Ground Bakery is at SS17/1A, Subang Jaya. Subang Jaya is a city in the state of Selangor, Malaysia.