What a day it has been. In this sweat-wrenching weather where the sun seems to take delight in making everyone perspire every drop of moisture out from their bodies, we still have to continue our everyday day-to-day activities in a cheery manner – that’s what all the motivational gurus preach on the centre-stage platforms, always with a secret or two (or more…for a price) to share.

It was around lunchtime. The Batik Influencer, Jeannie, who is also my wife; has another talent. She’s a great cook, whenever she can find the time to do so. She prepared lunch – all that I like. She knows that I don’t spend too much time in the eating process, meaning that I am over with my meals quickly. She had a heavy breakfast and was skipping lunch. So, it was just me.

My meal was macaroni, a piece of fried chicken, corned beef, green peas, baked beans and pineapple cubes (the last four items were canned products).

I remember an aunt of mine, Aunty Maryjane Atkinson (Uncle Ronnie’s [dad’s youngest brother] wife), saying to me, “Your wife is going to have it easy, when you get married. All your food will be mostly canned food”. This was in the late 1970s / early 1980s, when I, was a young-“er” adult. I used to travel by bus from a little town of Klang in the west of Selangor, to what I thought was ultra modern and hip to live in, Petaling Jaya (1). I would usually stay the weekend or long holiday with Uncle Ronnie and Aunty Maryjane. I am not sure if Aunty Maryjane realises how not so very far away from the truth she was going to be from that statement she made over 40 years ago.

This, to me; was a totally awesome meal. I did not focus on the brands of each of the items of this meal. The macaroni was of the right texture and nice as a base starter. I could never figure out why each piece is in a “U-shape pipe bend”, like the ones plumbers use to join two pipes at the corners. Maybe the guy that “invented” macaroni was a former plumber and this u-shape pieces made him an instant millionaire.

The green peas came in a lightly sweetened gravy. This type of green peas I like. The “fresh” green peas (not the canned type), I am o.k. with it but can do without; it won’t be missed.

Not oily or excessively oily, you know the type when you empty from the newly opened can, you can see caked hardened oil (whitish in colour), this corned beef is really good. It can be eaten on its own, or used as a sandwich filling; it is delicious.

If a meal or particular type of food is good, I will give a review. I have a simple scoring system. I do not publish comments of meals, food or restaurants if my personal experience of them, their scoring falls below “5” (1 being the lowest, 10 the highest). I think, maybe, just maybe, a particular meal for instance that fell below “5”, – the person that prepared it, may have had had a bad day. and needed another chance to re-assure the restaurant’s customers that he could come up with good meals.

Then, came the baked beans and cubed pineapple in lightly sweetened syrup – more add-ons to an already awesome meal. The baked beans added more colour to my already very colourful food. They were great, too. Loved the taste. Some baked beans can (not the “can” itself😉) be a bit bitter, and others – quite mushy. Some of the brands of canned baked beans offer big beans but they don’t have the baked beans “ooomph” taste.

The pineapple cubes in syrup was a nice touch as a dessert to conclude lunch. Cold, just out from the fridge, took a few cubes in a cup with a bit of its lightly sweetened syrup; it was a great meal.

Lunch was awesome because Jeannie was home. If lunch was left to me, I’d put almost anything between two slices of wholemeal bread. Preparation of meal – less than 5 minutes, eating of the meal in the balance of the said 5 minutes. That is, if I remember to have lunch. Most times, I forget.😁

While I chose not to name the brands of the various food things that made up lunch today; I was quite eager to find out how good the new “Milo Intense” was.

The past few days, while travelling towards P.J. from Subang Jaya, on the Federal Highway, there’s a large, wide LED advertising screen, stretching across the total width of the highway (both heading to PJ; and coming from PJ, going towards Subang Jaya) that caught my attention. That’s what these electrical billboards are supposed to do. It worked. The chocolate drink, Milo; was advertising a stronger 2.5 times more intense Milo drink than its normal beverage offering. The part that got to me was “2.5 times stronger”. So, I had to get it.

I was a bit disappointed when I finally saw it on the shelf of a grocer. It was being sold in 10 sticks pack per big pack. We usually buy a 1kg or 2 kg pack which can last us for a fairly long time. However, I decided to get the 10-stick pack, just to try it out.

I thought the actual, original Milo was finally going to be offered in Malaysia. The Milo in Australia and New Zealand was actual chocolate-ee (or is it – “y”?) Milo. The Milo imported from these countries is available at certain popular grocery stores. It comes with a hefty, more than double the price of the local Milo.

It was not. It was more like additional cocoa powder added in – fair enough. It was like the “Van Houten” type of cocoa. You get that lingering taste at the end of the drink.

Interesting – it does advertise that there is less sugar in this beverage. I liked the drink. This drink will take some getting used to, for those who are more accustomed to a milky rather than strong chocolate-y taste. There are quite a few brands, both local and foreign; that offer good chocolate beverages. Milo Intense is the new kid on the block.

My lunch and Milo drink was a good break from work. I take many breaks during work. One of the reasons is I have to take a short half minute break at least, from the computer every half hour. This is recommended by health studies that our eyes need a break from the screen. And, we must get up and stretch from an otherwise long sitting session. I feel refreshed by doing so. New ideas come in, many-a-time, not on the essay I am working on but something that I could look into. Many of them are zany haha and takes me into a new dimension of things. If only I could write 3 or 4 articles, all different genres, at the same thing. That would be something, wouldn’t it?

NOTES:
1. Klang and Petaling Jaya (P.J.) are cities in the central state of Selangor, Malaysia.