Food

WIDE SPACES AND COFFEE

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

Early morning drive. Done the “sending to work” duties. Damansara Heights (1)… Heading back to Subang Jaya (2)…

The weather would have two groups of people, one for it; the other against. The group that would be against today’s weather…gloomy…the light grey / white-coloured clouds looked like they were on steroids, big and puffy…looked like it was going to rain…no sun…what a way to start the morning. Now, they don’t have a reason to use / wear their new over-the-top, shades (sunglasses), which they themselves thought they looked good in.

The group that would be in favour of today’s light grey / white-colored clouds would have been happy…a change from the over-bright, hot, humid weather…the sun’s morning bright rays are almost usually as hot as that of midday. Now, with the thick cloud over-cast, the sun’s over-bright rays are blocked. Woohoo! People can spend more time outdoors without having to slap and rub sunblock all over their bodies (though there will still be that tiny percentage of people who would still apply the sunblock for the “just-in-case-if the sun shows up”), exercise, gardening…enjoying the light morning breeze.

As for me, I didn’t think too much of it, except for this article, of course.

While I was on the Federal Highway (2), I got a call from my cousin, Chris, to join him for breakfast. I was able to answer the call, handsfree; as my phone automatically links to the car’s stereo system’s speakers via bluetooth. “Coffee Space” was his choice. The time was 8.45am, The cafe was already opened.

Even though the jam on the highway was causing traffic to move at a slightly faster than “crawl” pace, I got to the cafe by 9.15am. This was not my first visit to this cafe.

The first thing, which I think is one of its greatest strengths is that it is very bright and airy. I get the impression that it was modeled after one of those old colonial bungalows. Built during the days of the British rule in then old Malaya; many of them are still around all over (now) Malaysia.

When you walk in past it’s wide glass door, you will see a long purplish-greyish-coloured cushion benched sofa on the left, with small, round tables placed along it. The same type of round tables are placed all over the rest of the room / hall, spaced out so you don’t have the feeling of being cramped too close to each other. This is important to me, especially when I cut my food with a knife. I tend to have my elbows spread out instead of close to my body, when cutting through food. Do you have the same way of cutting your food?

Of the course the other reason for having tables further apart from each other, is privacy – when I am with people or when I am doing work.

However (this is a big “however”), I do not make a fuss about it. I just think that space between tables is an additional perk if and when available.

Big potted plants or mini trees, adds to the decor. They were placed all round the room, not too many of them which would have over-done the decor. Just nice, to add to the “dining by the porch” feel.

Chris ordered his favourite – Big Breakfast and an americano. He arrived at Coffee Space ahead of me, ordered his breakfast and finished it just as I came in.

I ordered a beef spaghetti and an americano. When my order arrived, I thought it was a bit much for breakfast. Good thing I don’t eat lunch on most days; this was going to be one of them.

The wide glass door, the row of wide windows above the door providing additional light and the high ceilings, gives this a touch of the old type colonial bungalows.
High ceiling fans for that “colonial-era feel”.
The long purplish – greyish cushioned bench. Comfortable.
My breakfast.

Coffee Space is more a restaurant than a cafĂŠ, at least that’s what I think. They have a good selection of breakfast and other choices of mainly western offerings on their menu.

Beef spaghetti. It looks good. Bet it tastes as good as it looks. It does, and did. Tasted even better.

The beef spaghetti was good. The presentation made the meal all the more appetizing. I enjoyed it. I did not feel uncomfortably full. It was just nice.

My americano – black, no sugar.

Chris and I spent some quality family time. The Olympics or the results coming out from it, did not dominate our conversation time. We somehow, seem to have lots of topics to catch up on. One is the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 Ultra. Fascinating watch. Discussion about it on another day.

Notice the cameraman? His cup of coffee is on the left.

Before we knew it, it was near mid-day. I had a whole lot of writing, picking up from where I left off on some of the articles. I have some articles that I would like to write on which is very niche. There are some that I would like to actually (there I go with that word) put pen to paper. We’ll see. For now, I have more than I can handle. Exciting!

NOTES:
1. Bukit Damansara in Bahasa Malaysia or Damansara Heights in English, is one of the most affluent business and residential addresses in Malaysia. It is located in the capital, Kuala Lumpur.
2. The Federal Highway links Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia on one end, to Port Klang (one of Malaysia’s premier ports) in the state of Selangor, which is about 50 kilometers (30 miles) away, on the other end.

SEIZE THE MOMENT

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

DON’T PRIORITIZE WHAT’S ON YOUR SCHEDULE.
TIME WASTERS.
BUT INSTEAD,
SCHEDULE YOUR PRIORITIES.

TIME WILL NOT CHANGE OUR LIFE. DON’T BLAME THE DISTRACTIONS.
TIME ONLY CHANGES THE EXPIRY DATES ON OPPORTUNITIES.

SEIZE THE MOMENT!

~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller

SIK FUN LA!

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

Wha-a-a-a-tt? Got to eat a-ga-a-ai-inn (said in sing-song fashion. Use your imagination)😲🤔? Oh, the chore of it. 😋😂!

Yeah, right! For Malaysians, this is a welcome “chore”. Generally, there are 3 main meals a day. Some people include an afternoon coffee (I prefer to call it this using “coffee” instead of tea for obvious reasons) and supper.

When you attend a convention in Malaysia, you will notice that there is a tea break in the morning and afternoon. This means 5 meals a day : breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, then dinner. O.K. We’ve got to admit that there are six meals (the sixth being supper) a day for the avaricious. Is “Avaricious” (1) the right word to describe the extra-hungry or over-hungry? Just having fun with the English language.🤔😁

We, meaning the Batik Influencer, who also happens to be my wife, Jeannie, as well; and I, decided to visit our nearby cafe restaurant, New Apollos for a bite. (2) If you think this coffee shop is chic… in a sort of way : everyone comes here in whatever style they which to impress on others: the very casual, just out of bed straight to the coffee shop (in pjs galore at times); shorts (here, shorts are taken to a new level of “shorts”), tees and slippers. On the other end of the spectrum are people coming in near full suit (dressed for business meetings and work. Something peculiar though. there are those full suiters who wear slippers instead of shoes. Is that a “photo-bomb” or what (possibly hear this from a young-er person)? We could have walked from our house to New Apollos. However, we decided to reserve our energy for the eating. We drove.😉

We got a table directly under the air-conditioning (3 – blade fan). I choped (3) the table first while Jeannie went to the stalls to order the food. The drinks guy came around. I ordered a kopi peng (pronounced koh peeh peh eng [as in egg]) (4) for myself and a kopi kecil (small in Bahasa Malaysia) for Jeannie. When you order just coffee or tea, it is understood that you want it hot, unless you state otherwise. When you add an instruction of “sikit / kurang manis (little or less sweet in Bahasa Malaysia) or sikit / kurang gula” (little or less sugar in Bahasa Malaysia); ain’t gonna happen. Haha.

Our meal. Clockwise from the drinks: Kopi peng (No guesses for who ordered this drink; hot coffee or kopi kecil (small); roast chicken rice and char kway teow.

Jeannie ordered a roast chicken rice set for herself and for me, char kway teow. Jeannie’s roast chicken rice set had a generous serving of rice, roast chicken and slices of cucumber on a separate dish, a soup that looked like a vegetable soup and not forgetting, a little container of chili, specially made to go with chicken rice. Chicken rice without the chili is chicken rice incomplete.

A closer look at our meal from a different angle. What you will notice is that chili is sort of staple food. It comes with almost every food in Malaysia, except for ice-creams and other cold desserts (to name a few).

The roast chicken and cucumbers came with a sort of brown sauce on them. It tasted as good as it looked – delicious. Jeannie, at times, likes to pour spoons full of soup into her rice to make it “wet”. Dipping the sliced pieces of roast chicken and cucumbers into the chili sauce, then adding rice and eating it – simple food. Satisfying to the tastebuds, satisfying to the senses. Sipping hot coffee with it, Jeannie was happy with her meal.

You have a choice of roast chicken or steamed chicken. This is roast chicken.

Fried kway teow or as it is more commonly known as: char kway teow.

My char kway teow order came in a banana leaf dark green colour plate to give that “char kway teow served on banana leaf” feeling. It looked good…not too oily…well, maybe a tad bit more than I would have preferred. It had tougey (you don’t say, “bean sprouts”. You will see a questionable look on the char kway teow-er’s [cook / frier] face) and a few strands of what looked like egg, vegetables, fishcake, prawns (5)….have I missed out on anything? Oh ya, kway teow, too. Stir fried in a black sauce, charred lightly and accompanied by the staple food of Malaysia – chili sauce.

You may think Malaysia is a mixed bunch – we are. We are inter-wined in our language and culture and are loving it. That extends to our food to where the names of the dishes can be mixed: Indian, Malay, Chinese, English, etc. Take for example: “char kway teow” is Chinese. Char means stir-fried. “Char” is also an English word. (6)

The char kway teow on a dark green plate. It tasted so good. This guy has been operating his stall at New Apollos Restaurant for many years. He has a technique of balancing and bringing out the flavours of all the condiments with the kway teow. He does not add chili paste into his stir fry process (unless you request for it). The chili sauce that comes with this meal is for those who want to tease their tastebuds with spiciness.

I enjoyed my meal. Not too filling; just nice to get by. I sipped at my kopi peng, while savouring the taste of the meal just eaten. We soaked in the atmosphere of the surroundings, peoples’ usual morning hangout, those in for a quick meal before or during work. It had its fair share of business.

Jeannie and I had the next chapter of our day to attend to – looking forward to the future which was the next moment and beyond, ahead of us.

Picture #1

Picture #2

Picture #3

NOTES:
1. Avaricious: showing an extremely strong wish to get or keep money or possessions:
The idea is to shift the bad debts of the avaricious and the greedy onto the shoulders of middle-class people.
She turned out to be a crafty and avaricious politician.
Cambridge dictionary
2. “A bite” means to get something to eat. It refers to food. Grab A Bite’ is an American expression – and it means to get something to eat but to do quickly, because you don’t have a lot of time.
When do you want to go grab a bite?” “I don’t have much time, so let’s grab a quick bite.”
3. Char kway teow (sometimes also spelled as char kuey teow, is a stir-fried rice noodle dish from Maritime Southeast Asia of southern Chinese origin. In Hokkien and Teochew, char means ‘stir-fried’ and kway teow refers to flat rice noodles. It is made from flat rice noodles or kway teow of approximately 1 cm or about 0.5 cm in width, stir-fried over very high heat with garlic, light and dark soy sauce, chili paste, whole prawns, shelled blood cockles, chopped Chinese chives, slices of Chinese sausage, and bean sprouts. Other common ingredients include fishcake and belachan.
Originally developed and catered to overseas-born Chinese labourers in the Southeast Asia region, the dish has achieved widespread popularity within the region from the late 20th century onwards, particularly in Malaysia and Singapore. The dish has also acquired a reputation of being unhealthy due to its high saturated fat content, as it is traditionally stir-fried in pork fat with crisp croutons of pork lard.
3. chop – (From English) Used to tell someone to do something fast. chope – Slang for reserving a seat. Derived from chop; to leave a mark. Malaysians have a habit of leaving objects on seats or tables to reserve places (usually tissue packets). Sometimes also pronounced as simply “chop”.
4. “Kopi” means coffee in Bahasa Malaysia. “Peng” is in Hokkien, a Chinese dialect word for “ice”. 
5. In North America, the term “shrimp” is used much more frequently, while the word “prawn” is most often used to describe larger species or those fished from fresh water.
6. partially burn so as to blacken the surface.
late 17th century: apparently a back-formation from charcoal. (English)
late 16th century (as cha ; rare before the early 20th century): from Chinese (Mandarin) chå .
Oxford dictionary
It looks like the Chinese were using this word first.

COCONUT TART, COFFEE AND TEA

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

Alfresco at a kopitiam

It’s another beautiful morning. The 24 inch computer monitor screen stares brightly at me, waiting to display anything that I command it to. The Logitech MX Mechanical keyboard has its keys eagerly waiting in anticipation to be tapped on and, produce corresponding letters, words, paragraphs and essays, to create an article, which is conceived in my thoughts.

Last night, when we turned in to sleep, we switched off all lights, the darkness in our bedroom quickly brought our heartbeats to a resting pace. The air-conditioning above, was blowing a cooling air; silently. The blowing of the cool air was audible enough to be heard. The silence was loud, something that we have been accustomed to as we closed our eyes and fell off to sleep.

The maintenance team / section of our bodies swung into action, replacing unusable cells, replenishing those that have been used; repairing all those areas that need repairing. All this taking place during our rest, preparing us to meet the next morning, lively with energy and zest. This happens every time we rest. It is the purpose of our rest.

We had a very pleasant trip to and from Kay Al (pronounced this way by locals in general) (1), when Jeannie, the Batik Influencer, and I; dropped our daughter, Laura; at work. As we were getting off the Federal Highway and on to the second ramp into Subang Jaya, the second most common question popped up: “Where shall we have breakfast?” The first most common question is, “What shall we eat?”

Jeannie was quick to answer, “Let’s go to Kaw Kaw Pak Kopi in Taipan”. Good suggestion. We got to the restaurant in no time at all. Getting a carpark slot was fairly easy, too.

Jeannie, making the orders; me getting some work done. This was a sort of “alfresco” atmosphere / style. The orange wall is of a building across a narrow lane / road from us.

We both agreed that we just wanted a drink only. However, as we walked into the restaurant, it had rows or attractive pastries that were calling out to us. They all looked so good. We still wanted to maintain the “drinks only” today. The spirit is willing, but our taste buds are weak.😂

We ordered a coconut tart, yes one only. A former Prime Minister in his late 90s, was asked how he kept so slim, fit and healthy. He said, “When you see food that you like, just eat a little of it, not too much”.

The coconut tart. This picture does not do it justice. It tasted better than it looked.

For drinks, Jeannie ordered an iced black tea, no idea what that was; and I, I ordered a “kopi peng” (2). When Jeannie took a sip of her drink, she said that it was very strong. I would presume so. The drink was the blackest shade of black. It seems this drink is one of this kopitiam’s (3) best sellers. Wow!

Jeannie took a first bite of the coconut tart. It tasted not bad (opposite of quite good?😉). The size of the tart does not have room for too many bites, nibbling at it maybe. I took a bite. It was nice. Not too sweet. The crust was firm yet not too hard. It encrusted the coconut fillings well. I savored on the gratings or fibres of the coconut fillings – actual coconut. It was good. The about 3 inch diameter size of the tart was gone before we knew it. Reasonable price of RM2.80 or US$0.60.

My order: “Kopi Peng”

My kopi peng was ok. I did not order kaw kaw (4), thinking it would have come kaw kaw as standard, living up to the kopitiam’s name. I should have ordered kaw or kaw kaw to have more taste of the coffee. Many of these coffee shops or kopitiams, have their own blend of coffee. Besides the different coffee beans used, the method of roasting and the length of time the beans are roasted will provide a wider range of “blends” of coffee for the coffee enthusiast.

The black tea that Jeannie ordered. It was very…er.. black indeed. Too strong for Jeannie to finish in an hour.

Our order: Black tea, kopi peng and coconut tart.

The atmosphere / mood was very relaxed and quiet. I could get some work done while talking with Jeannie. I like the idea of being in a different locale every time, as it adds to my “chest of experiences” of what I see, hear, feel, think and idea create.

Before we realised it, an hour had gone by. The coconut tart was enjoyable while eating it, not too big, just about the size of eating something that we like, but not too much of it. I was done with my kopi peng. Jeannie took her unfinished Iced black tea with her. It was time (which is all the time) for us to move to the future: the next moment.

About a 360Âş view of Kaw Kaw Pak Kopi

NOTES:
1. Kay Al or K.L. is short for Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. It is one of the many cities and places of attractions in Malaysia for tourists.
A new study has revealed that Malaysia was the most visited country in Southeast Asia during 2023 – further indication of the nation’s recovery and meteoric rise since the end of the pandemic era. Malaysia welcomed a total of 29 million tourists last year, outstripping more established neighbours in the process.
panaroma-destination.com
2. (“ko-peeh peh-eng”)”Kopi” means coffee in Bahasa Malaysia. “Peng” is in Hokkien, a Chinese dialect word for “ice”. 
3. Kopitiam: kopi means coffee in Malay, and tiam is the Hokkien word for shop. Hence, Kopitiam translates literally to “coffee shop”.
4. “Kaw” originates from the Chinese dialect, Hokkien; which means “thick”. When you hear “kaw-kaw”, it literally means “very very thick“. Kaw or kaw kaw is normally used when ordering coffee at the local coffee shop.
Malaysians have taken it to a new level to mean “very serious”. He got into trouble with his employer “betul betul kaw kaw” for losing a big clientele account. “Betul betul” is Bahasa Malaysia for “exactly” or “rightly”.

TRIPLE CELEBRATIONS

/ Alan Atkinson / 2 Comments

It’s my birthday…again? Mum asked in jest. The word “jest” (1) became or was made quite popular when two past politicians (they still think they are or behave as though they are [said in jest]) used it to make fun of statements and reports made by media, for and against them.

Jeannie, the Batik Influencer and my wife; Laura (our, Jeannie and mine) daughter; Praga, Laura’s fiancĂŠ and me (yours truly, the Hatted Writer); were up in Klang, last morning (Saturday), to visit mum and dad, since Praga could not make it for this evening’s “do”.

So, it’s Sunday evening. Mum, dad, their children and their families got together to celebrate mum’s 87th birthday. We take birthdays and anniversaries as gifts and blessings. Besides celebrating mum’s birthday, we celebrated dad’s & Mum’s 68th wedding anniversary. Mum related a story that when she was very young, a couple friends of theirs celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. At that time, 25 years was such an achievement not to be taken lightly. “And the couple looked old / aged”, she said. Now, she is celebrating 68th with dad, and 25 just does not look nor seem so long after all.

It was Father’s Day, too, where we fathers were wished “Happy Father’s Day!” A triple celebration.

One of the biggest highlights of the evening was that we all came together. We are more often than not, caught up with multiple things and events on each of our personal calendars, to manage to pull this event off. Even then, we still had some of the family members missing from today because of their tight schedules.

Here, Malcolm, who is a Pastor; a singing Pastor, a person that is liked by everyone; said a blessing over the food.
The “grand” Atkinson, dad; with his two youngest granddaughters.

We gathered around the table, where Malcolm said a special blessing for mum, especially for continued good health. Then, for the food. The food was as usual, plentiful. It was a combination of Asian and western food. Everyone brought something different. Though there was a lot of food, including desserts; Alana got tempted for ice-cream potong (3) and ordered it with Grab delivery services.

A family picture. Left to Right: King (Kheng) as he is more often referred as, is Sarah’s boyfriend; Shirley (late brother, Nigel’s wife); Sarah, (Shirley and Nigel’s daughter); the birthday queen, Mum; the Father’s Day King, Dad; Uma (Malcolm’s wife), standing behind dad; Alana (Terence’s & Mabel’s eldest daughter), who is also the eldest granddaughter Atkinson, Laura (Jeannie, the Batik Influencer’s & my daughter), who is also the youngest granddaughter Atkinson; Mabel (Terence’s wife); Terence; Malcolm; the Batik Influencer; Jeannie and yours truly, me.

When we had our fill with dinner, we moved over to the living room, where everyone was relaxed, chilling out and chatting on many subjects; just catching up and bring each other up to speed with their daily going-ons.

The bir-ther-day (how some locals here still pronounce “birthday” in a unique way) was soon readied for the birthday song. However, not before pit-cher (another Malaysian local pronounced English word, “picture”) taking session. Jeannie organized this quick session. Quick because we all have become picture-taking professionals, experts and veterans. Once, the multitudes of pictures were taken from several smartphones, the long, single candle on the cake was lighted and we sang “Happy Birthday” to mum. We sang in the right key and timing – music is a gift we inherited from dad and mum.

The bir-the-day (as some would pronounce birthday) cake.

We stayed on for the cake and also the ice-cream potong and continued crisscrossing chats with each other (most of us did that). Somehow, there never seems to be enough time to say all that we want to say as it was soon time to call it a night.. The three celebrations of Mum’s 87th birthday, Dad’s & Mum’s 68th wedding anniversary and Father’s Day does not only mark the end of the year that has gone past, but ushers in the “new year” for each of these events with an abundance of love, joy and experiences to come.

NOTES:
Photographs are courtesy of Sarah and Kheng.

1. “Jest” means a thing said or done for amusement; a joke.
2. “Do” can also means party, celebration, reception, bash, gala, fĂŞte, shindig, fete, function, affair, blowout, dance, blast, ball, occasion, get-together, binge, fund-raiser, benefit, formal.
3. Potong means “cut” in Malay, referring to rectangular popsicles that are cut into portions from a bigger block. Made of coconut milk, skimmed milk, corn starch and sugar as basic ingredients, they fused it with flavours such as yam, durian and the most popular, red bean. makansutra.com

THE “WHY” IN BEING A FATHER

/ Alan Atkinson / 1 Comment

“Today is my day”. And so I am made to believe. Until…

“You still have not done an article for Father’s Day?”, asked Jeannie.

I thought I get a day off today since it is Father’s Day and on a Sunday; to boot.

We made it to St Thomas More Church just in time for mass at 8.30am. This was even after having parked our car (double-parked in an orderly fashion) about a couple of hundred meters away. Jeannie brought an umbrella with her just in case. Though there weren’t those usual dark rain clouds lurking around, the sun was no where to be seen. The sky had an overcast, with patches of light grey here and there, dabs of white, hints of dull light blue – a bit like the skies of Decatur, Illinois, U.S.A.; after a snowfall (or is it “snowfell”?) morning during winter.

As soon as mass was over, we had to rush to our car so as not to hold traffic up. Then, Jeannie started, “You still have not done an article for Father’s Day?”😅

The reason I am “Dad” / “Father”. Picture of Laura when she was about 2 months old on her baptism day. The other was with her Year 2 class in school. These pictures are placed at my work station.

“Coming, coming. First, breakfast (not “breakfast first”😉). We had to go to Court 2 (Goodyear Court 2 in USJ 2) (1) to buy “chee cheong fun” (2) for dad as the Atkinson family was meeting in Klang to celebrate Mum’s 87th birthday (her birthday was on June 14th), Mum’s & Dad’s 68th Wedding Anniversary today and Father’s Day. Dad loves the chee cheong fun from the stall at Court 2.

As we were walking in the restaurant, a very cheery lady passing us by, wished us “Good Morning” quite loudly. Even though she had a face mask on; we could see her face smiling and very friendly. We found a a table quite quickly though the place was quite crowded for the breakfast session.

Many stalls offering a wide variety of food. This is the front view of the restaurant. If you look closely, you may think there are white hanging lights. They are not. They are raindrops creating a special effect 😉 It was raining quite heavily.

Now, this is how to hold chopsticks. The lady, eating what looked like char kway teow (3), seemed to be in ecstasy. The char kway teow here is really, really good. You can tell by the lady’s expression. The guy in the white Tee, showing how to hold the handphone with chopsticks.

Jeannie ordered Wan Tan noodles. A while later, the very cheery lady who greeted us as we got in the restaurant was the one who served us our Wan Tan noodles. I told her that I had to have a picture of her taken with us. She gladly obliged.

The very, very, very cheery and pleasant lady, Amelia. She is a graphic designer by profession. On her weekends and holidays, she helps out in her family business which is running a Wan Ton noodle stall, here. With her top notch PR, people will always to come back here for more.

The Wan Tan noodles came with char siew and siew yuk (additional order). It was really, good.

The Wan Tan noodles was very delicious. The char siew was char siew, and the siew yuk was siew yuk; not just sliced pieces of pork. My kopi “o” ais kosong was pretty decent. Quite good. Breakfast here at Court 2 was good.

The Wan Ton noodles set, which includes wanton soup, and a small container of green cut chili. And my kopi “o” (meaning no milk) kosong ais (and no sugar). “Kosong” is Bahasa Malaysia for “empty”. “Ais” is Bahasa Malaysia for.. you’ve guessed it: ice.

“One, two, zoom!”
He lost.

As we made our out of the restaurant to pick up the chee cheong fun for dad; We passed by the stall where Amelia was stationed at. She introduced us to her parents and her sister. Her father and mother showed us many pictures, stories and satisfied customers’ comments on their phones. They told me that Mr. Kong’s grandfather started the business. Then, his mother took over. Now, he is running it. Soon, the 4th generation will take over.

Mr Kong cut pieces of his best char siew and pork ribs for me to try. They were really good. They definitely have earned and deserve the recognition of being amongst the top 50 Wan Tan noodle stalls in Malaysia.

Amelia’s father, Mt Kong; the head of this business. There is a newspaper article pasted on the side. This Wan Tan noodle stall is voted as one of Malaysia’s top 50 Wan Tan noodle stalls.

The whole Kong family are very friendly. You should definitely visit “Kong’s Wan Tan Mee” when you are in Subang Jaya looking for a reasonably priced meal.

Here, with Amelia (with the yellow face mask) are her parents in front and her sister, standing at the back.

What a great start to Father’s Day.

The “why” Father’s Day (which is every day) is so special to me:

HERE’S WISHING ALL FATHERS A CONTINUING JOYOUS, HAPPY, FANTASTIC AND AMAZING HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!!

NOTES:
1. USJ2 is part of the city of Subang Jaya in the state of Selangor, Malaysia.
2. It’s just simply a flat rice noodle dish that is normally rolled up and served with simple sauces.

IF KNEES COULD TALK

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

It is dark now. Not totally dark, though. The porch lights of both my neighbours’ houses from across the street, are on.

The skies are rumbling in the near distance like it is having gastric. Hearing the tarp, tap, tip of raindrops hitting the ground at a constant even pace, like they are keeping time with music. But I don’t hear music. The rumbling sounds of the sky are like sounds from coming from a large circular drum – the drummer using big padded mallets (1) and striking on it in a way to create that rumbling, muffled sound. The sky and raindrops must be the ones “performing a musical number”, It must be a deep jazz number. The drums don’t seem to be in time with the sound of the rain drops falling.

It rained in the late morning to mid – afternoon, too This hampered me from going out for my usual 15,000 steps, over 10km walk until the later part of the afternoon. There was still an overcast sky which kept the high warm temperature at bay. However, I managed a decent 10,000 step count with a fairly average speed of 5.2km/h brisk walk. Was done in an hour 25 min, showered and went for my next appointment on my schedule.

Now, while writing this essay; every few minutes, I get up, walk to the fridge to look for something to munch on. Or even to take a sip of coffee. No snacks. Just sliced watermelon or pears. Though this day has generally been a wet / cool day (or is it a cool / wet day?), I still felt like I needed something cooling. My coffee was kept warm in my Hydraflask tumbler, even though I kept in in the fridge. Taking a break from the screen every few minutes gives me a chance to refresh for the moment, and possibly gather my thoughts. Who knows? It may create different perspectives of the same subject.

If knees could talk, what would they say?

The other day, (yes, that day if you are wondering which day this was); the Batik Influencer, my wife; Jeannie, and I; sauntered into a cafe for a bit of a chill out time. We thought it was going to be just the two of us.

The cafe was quite crowded, did not seem like there was a table for us. Then, I spotted one, one of those cafe, small-size tables, but great for the two of us. The table was a low table, which now reminds me of a couple of holidays I had in Hanoi, Vietnam; a few years ago. Most of the tables and chairs there, were low (closer to the ground). Here at this cafe, the chairs were of normal height.

The table could accommodate an order of a couple of drinks and maybe some pastries to go with them. What it could not accommodate were our knees. Our knees were higher than the table top. This meant that he would have to do a bit of a stretch and bend forward slightly, to reach our food and beverages from the table. It was fine…

Jeannie ordered a latte and I, a lemon/orange drink with ice-cream soda (I think).

Knees showing…

Just then, my cousin, Chris, and his friend; showed up. The four of us managed to huddle around this small table. Then, our friend, Jino, walked in the door. Now, there were 5 seated at the table for two.😁

More knees…

From the table’s point of view, it saw 5 pairs of knees, surrounding and staring at it. The table was not shocked or surprised. It was used to knees staring at it.

Knees, knees and more knees. The plates were placed on the table to keep it level. (Just kidding). It’s a wonder how a table for two, accommodated five in the end.

As the 5 pairs of  knees looked at the table, they looked at each other, too. If they could talk, what would they say? “Fancy meeting you here”, my knees would have said to Jino’s. Chris’ knees would have said, “We’re quite tired from this morning’s walk exercise Chris put us through”. My knees would have said, “That’s nothing. We have to put up with 10km brisk walks everyday”. Jeannie’s knees would have lamented, “It’s been a long time since we last went dancing. However, we get exercise from Jeannie’s walks in the neighbourhood, where she meets and exchange plants, flowers and food with neighbours”.

Other topics would have included the weather, new places they have visited and the aches & pains they are going through.

Do knees have minds of their own? Do they have dreams and ambitions? If they had minds of their own, would both the knees of each person be in constant agreement as to what they want to do, or where they want to go?

Are there times when our body wants to go in one direction, our knees in the other.

As of now, we have to be happy that our brain is in charge and controls our whole body, including the knees…for most of us at least. There are people who would tell you otherwise, where their knees do as they please. 😂

NOTES:
1. Mallets are sticks that have thick material pieces at the end. This material completely changes how the sticks sound when they strike drums and cymbals. The thicker the material at the end of a mallet, the warmer the sound will be.

A SRI LANKAN BREAKFAST

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

Not just The Lankan, but The Lankan at Seventeen

The usual question popped up…as usual, “What to eat?”; Jeannie asked as we were making our way back home to Subang Jaya, after dropping Laura (our daughter); off to work in Kay Al (also known as “K.L.” (1) to the local folk around here. At the point of her question, we had just turned in towards P.J. from Jalan (road) Damansara.

Jeannie, also known as the “Batik Influencer” because of her passion for batik, especially Malaysian batik; suggested we have breakfast nearby from where we were; perhaps in Section 17. She also suggested we try some place new. She already had an inkling as to where she wanted to go: “The Lankan At Seventeen”.

The Lankan At Seventeen. The decor is pleasant; quite unusual. Attractive.

It took us about 10 minutes to get there from where we were at the point of deciding on our breakfast choices. It would have been slightly quicker. However, getting across Section 16 to Section 17 took several minutes because of the long waiting for the traffic lights at the inter-section to change in our favour to green.

The first thing we liked when we got there was the ease of getting a parking space. The area, though there were several restaurants in the two rows of shops, was quiet. I think it would be very different at lunch time, when all the restaurants will be at over-capacity with guests / customers.

Very colourful. “Volume 1” of the menu. Are there more to come? Menus? Restaurants?

Then, as we got to the entrance, the pleasant, colourful mural of an elephant within its habitat, was on the left wall. The decor was simple, yet inviting. Jeannie and I chose to sit alfresco (outside) to enjoy the natural coolness of the day.

The menu – Offering a wide spread. Unusual descriptions like “Short Eats”, “Kottu” and “Kolayyal Rice Packets”. Interesting…

A young, pleasant-looking, soft spoken host / waitress came to take out order. Jeannie has been to this restaurant with her office colleagues on several occasions before, so she was quite familiar with its menu.

Coming to The Lankan at Seventeen was a first for me. The food and drink menus were on each table. It had some interesting, unusual descriptions like “Short Eats”, “Kottu” and “Kolayyal Rice Packets” listed on it. Jeannie ordered a thosai (2) and a black tea drink to go with it.

The drinks and desserts menu. Again interesting… “Sukku Mali Coffee” and “Kesari” for dessert. On it included Tiger beer’s competitor; “Lion Beer”. Which one is more fierce, I wonder. One would have to drink both beers to find out. Or a delayed reaction will only come about a few glasses.

We chose alfresco dining, to enjoy the cool morning air over the air-conditioned dining hall. The air-conditioning was quite cold for a fairly early morning breakfast experience.

I am not too adventurous when it comes to food. And, I was not too keen on having too heavy a meal. I ordered a plain appam (3), which in itself, was sweet. However, I was adventurous when it came to the coffees. I asked the host / waitress whose name is Nethmini, to describe the various coffees to me.

I got the spelling of her name correct because I asked her to write it in my journal notebook. She wrote her full name, making sure that she punctuated her “i”s with little circles on top of them instead of putting tittles. (4)

Nethmini wrote her name in here, with perfect circles punctuated on top of each “i” in her name.

I decided to go for the Sukku Malli Coffee Black. This was an unusual coffee, laced with a spice – cardamom. As the coffee was placed on the table, I could get a slight whiff of the cardamom. I took a tiny sip of it to familiarize my taste buds with it.. The cardamom had a sweetish, slightly bitter taste. In Malaysia, when you say the food is spicy or something in the food is spicy, it is believed that the food is spicy hot, besides it being temperature hot. However, spicy and / or the spices related to it, are not just peppers or chili. They include cloves, cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, star anise, clove, turmeric and other less know types.

Sukku Malli Black Coffee. This is coffee with cardamom spice in it. The coffee cup and saucer is a nice colour, with black spots decorating it. The orange perhaps announces that this coffee is with cardamom (its colour is a warm brown with a red-orange hue).

You have to acquire the taste of this coffee, especially when it is “kosong”, black with no sugar. I added a couple of teaspoons of brown sugar to it, to differentiate it’s taste of with and without sugar. I think for the average coffee beverage drinker, a bit of sugar will make a favourable difference.

Jeannie said her black tea was nice. I took her word for it. I am not a “tea” person.😁

The opposite view, when looking out of the restaurant. Nice weather for alfresco dining.

Jeannie’s order: Tosai.

Jeannie’s thosai order looked so cheery with a “smiley face”, as the presentation was simple yet very nice. It was interesting to note that the thosai was about the size of the plate. It was very presentable. And it tasted good. Dipped in the dhal and coconut chutney, it tasted even better.

The tosai was very neat on the plate, with the two small containers of dhal and coconut chutney placed next to it. “Smiley face”.😀

My appam came in a perfect crater-like shaped item. Again, the circumference of the plate fitted the circumference edge of the appam. Or was the appam made to fit the size of the plate? It was about the regular size of a usual appam (this, coming from an appam- eating expert? Yeah, right😏). Coconut milk which is commonly served in a small separate cup with appam; was not served. Jeannie and I thought that Nethmini (see, I am already used to the spelling of her name, with the regular tittles instead of those cute circles she wrote on top of her “i”s) forgot to serve it. Jeannie asked me to ask here for it. I said that I will try the appam first, without the coconut milk. “See how, first” (Malaysian way of saying “try first”).

My order: Appam, sweet. Perfect shape, nicely prepared. Tasted really good, even without coconut milk that usually comes with it.

It was a good think that I tried the appam first. On its own, it tasted sooo good. No need coconut milk! (Malaysian way of saying in conversations “not necssary”). The outer crust was firm and crispy, like a biscuit. The centre, was soft and sweet (not too sweet). A full meal on its own. Loved it.

I like the look of the appam. It looks like like a perfect splash of a pebble hitting the surface of the water, breaking its calmness; and then causing ripples after that.

My brekkie.

Jeannie’s brekkie. Jeannie’s tea was black because…she ordered black tea. What I found intriguing were the three holes at the edge of the saucer. Maybe, hot water is filled in these holes so as to keep the tea hot / warm for a longer time.

Another unusual thing I noticed was that saucer that came with Jeannie’s tea order, had three holes at the edge of it. I am not sure about you, but it is unusual to me. Maybe, hot water is filled in these holes to keep the tea hot / warm for a longer time?

Our breakfast.

It was what what we would call a perfect breakfast. The setting set us in that mood. The weather was good, the food was good. a great way to chill, recollect your thoughts if you like, do some reading, especially with real books which gives you the benefit of flipping through pages (preparing you to get a copy of my book when it is on sale at book stores. [hint😉]), have meetings or get some work done where quietness is preferred.

The Lankan At Seventeen is definitely a place you should check out.

Photo taken by Nethmini, our host for the morning.

With our host for the morning, Nethmini; all the way from Sri Lanka. The logo looks a bit like her. She has a similar head angle pose. I wonder…

NOTES:
1. K.L. is the popular version of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.
2. Thosai is a South Indian savoury, thin pancake made from a batter of various fermented pulses and rice flour, which is then cooked on a flat griddle. The dish is usually eaten at breakfast with accompaniments such as sambar (an Indian vegetable stew), curry and chutney. http://www.nlb.gov.sg
3. Appam (also known as palappam) is a thin, bowl-shaped pancake from southern India, made from a fermented batter of rice flour and grated coconut or coconut milk. dictionary.com
Appams are served with vegetable stew, kadala curry (chickpea curry), potato stew, vegetable korma, coconut chutney or coconut milk sweetened with jaggery. Dassana’s Veg Recipes.
4. A tittle is the small distinguishing mark you see over a lowercase i and a lowercase j – an interesting name because it looks like a combination of tiny and little. It refers to a small point or stroke in writing and printing.
5. Petaling Jaya (fondly known as “P.J.”) is a city in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. P.J. is divided into sections. Sections 16 and 17 are parts of P.J..

THE BURGER FAB

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

It was one of those eat-at-home days.

Just to settle a question a good friend, Dick Black of South Caroline, U.S.A., asked, “Do we ever eat at home?” The answer is, “Yes, of course we do. Once in a blue moon”.

When it comes to eating at home, there are no set rules. Rules as to how we should prepare our meals.

While it is said that we can take our own “sweet” (sugar lovers?) time to finish our meals since we are at home; it is not so for us, in our home. We are constantly on the go, with one thing after another to do / accomplish. It isn’t so much that we are pressured for time. It is just that we want to do more with our time. It is like going around the world in 80 days. (1) Doing more with our time is not just work only.

Laura, our (the Batik Influencer, Jeannie’s and mine) daughter, on returning back from the U.S. after completing her tertiary studies, introduced the “Work Life Balance” culture, that is prominent in most western countries (and possibly Asian countries, too). While the idea is not new, meaning it has been around for eons (2); the catchphrase of “work life balance”, is.

Staring at the big, 27 inch, computer screen, my brain (I hope it is that 😉) started forming words and sentences, that somehow, teleported themselves through “thinkwaves” (or are they thoughtwaves?) to my fingers, which were automatically hitting the right keys, clikety-klaketying (the sound of the keys as they are being thumped upon) on the Logitech MX Mechanical (linear) keyboard; to form the words that were first conceived of, in my brain. This was happening at lightning speed (I would like think so. More like Malaysian traffic jam speed).

Before I knew it, it was lunchtime. I was feeling famished as I only grabbed a coffee at breakfast. I did not want to go out for lunch. I thought I’d put together something from whatever food was available. A hunting we (I) shall go. I did – to the kitchen.

I rummaged through whatever food was in the fridge. There was corned beef, several types of vegetables, sliced spam (luncheon meat), hard boiled eggs, some grilled sausages, opened packets of various types of biscuits, cheese, butter, potato chips and crisps, some snacks and a couple of big containers of sliced watermelon. I noticed an unopen pack of burger buns, too. The pack of burger buns came with two variants – with and without sesame seed. I was already thinking up a meal.

I decided to have burger sandwiches (not one, but two), which to me meant that I did not have to cook up anything; just putting a choice of what was available in between the burger buns.

The boiled eggs and luncheon meat, placed on top of the corned beef, on the bun.

The burger buns already came pre-sliced in half. I must say that the buns looked really good, especially with a generous topping of sesame seeds on the top bun (or is it bun top?). It was evenly browned on the top, good texture without it being too soft or flaky. The buns was firm. The one without the sesame seed looked just as good. I wonder if the sesame seed variant was just for looks to create a difference from the other bun, or the proof was in the bun (proof is in the pudding, get it:)

The full burger / sandwich meal I cooked up – the first set.

I love corned beef. So, I figured that would be the base filling of the sandwich. The corned beef was cooked without any onions in them. Corned beef does taste good with onions, cut red or green chili, and fried potato chips (ok, ok. They are now called “wedges”. However, in my time [not such a distant while ago], they were called “chips”). But what was available was just plain corned beef. To me, that was just as good.

For the health conscious, look for a brand of corned beef with the least amount of oil. It can be a bit difficult to do this. You will have to try out the various brands of corned beef to determine which has the least amount of oil to your liking. You can do this over time and find the brand that you like the most. I am o.k. with most brands that are available in the market.

The corned beef, in all its “splendour”.

As I began putting the meal together, I began wondering how this was going to taste like. It had two of my major favourites in them, corned beef and spam / luncheon meat in them.

First, I spread a thick layer of corned beef, evenly on the opened side of the bottom half of both buns (2 burger sets). This itself, was a delicious meal on its own. Then, I added halved-cut hard boiled eggs on top of the corned beef. The meal was getting yummier.

A view of the other side of the burger sandwich.

Next, I added sliced spam on top of the hard boiled eggs to complete the first burger / sandwich set. At this point, I noticed that I had become even more hungrier than earlier on. I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into this burger. However, I soldiered on to continue working on the other burger.

Yes, the plate is large for this meal. I didn’t get tempted to filling it up with more things to eat. The restaurant science of serving with a big plate / small plate.

In the other burger, I placed the sliced-in-half length-wise and diameter-wise, chicken sausage on top of the hard boiled eggs, placed the top of the bun on and it was finished. Now, for the eating.

The spam / luncheon meat looked really delicious. The hard boiled eggs looked perfect for a meal like this.

I started with the spam / hard boiled egg / corned beef burger with the sesame-on-the-bun sandwich first. As I took the first bite, I could feel the sesame seeds springing off the bun, and pop, bursting with the deliciousness of sesame. The combination of what was in this burger – absolutely out of this world! Each ingredient was not over-powering the other. They “worked” together to please the eater (me) as I chewed on them. I read somewhere that a perfect bite is when you chew 16 times (not 17, not 15; but 16 times). The first couple of bites, I tried counting. I had to concentrate. Then, I gave up. It was too labourious. Plus it would have taken all the fun and enjoyment out of the meal.

The egg yolk in full colour, with the backdrop of the luncheon meat, corned beef and bun.

Before long, the first burger was gone. I wasted no time in working on the next burger. No sesame seeds popping out here. The grilled chicken sausage was nice. I would have preferred it bakar-ed (burnt in Bahasa Malaysia, the “ed” gives it the past tense feel) a bit more.

This is the 2 second burger “twin” bun set, but without sesame seeds sprinkled on top.

The grilled, sliced-in-half, lengthwise sausage; showing itself on this side of the burger sandwich.

Together with the hard boiled eggs and corned beef, it was great. Just like the first burger, it was gone before I even realised it. It may have lasted if I counted 16 chews per bite. 😁😂

Top view of the perfect dome-shaped, bun.

Compliments to the chef. Good quick meal. Extra delicious to the last bite. Then, it was back to clikety-klaketying of the keys on the keyboard, forming words and sentences, creating the next article / essay and more pages and chapters towards the upcoming book.

NOTES:
1. Around the World in Eighty Days is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a wager of ÂŁ20,000 set by his friends at the Reform Club. Wikipedia
2. A phrase that is often repeated by and therefore becomes connected with a particular organization or person, especially someone famous such as a television entertainer.

EVENING AT TAIPAN CITY KOPITIAM

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

a.k.a. TCP

Being a weekend, one would expect things to be a bit more laid back from its usual uptight, rigid, everything must be done in a hurry to meet ever increasing, closing in deadlines. Even the sun and somewhat the weather; were also on a chill (pun?).

The big, fiery, flame-spewing ball / planet, some 93 million miles away, can be imagined sitting on a long, white deck-chair; donning a pair of C De Cartier Precious Sunglasses (1) (get it? The sun wearing sunglasses!😉😀), sipping on a alcohol-free margarita (alcohol is flammable – the sun), eating kuachi (2); relaxing.

The Batik Influencer, Jeannie; and I, that is “we” 😃; decided on hawker food, at a kopitiam (3) in Taipan, USJ, Subang Jaya (4).

A kopitiam used to be more commonly known as a coffee shop 15 or more years ago. Calling a coffee shop a kopitiam sounds more fanciful and upmarket. However, what seems to be a trend is that the old style “kopitiams” with marble-looking tabletops are more and more popularly identified with owners / businesses who own and even franchise a number (which is growing) of such style restaurants, out.

Here, you can see the drinks counter. The drinks seller is usually the owner of a restaurant like this, sub-letting space to food vendors to operate their stalls.

These kopitiams or coffee shops used to be exclusive to Chinese food. In recent years, the food offerings have widened to include western, Indian, Punjabi and Malay food.

Taipan City Kopitiam is just next to the other coffee chop…er…restaurant (it is part of their name), “New Nanking”. It hosts a variety of different hawker food, mainly Chinese food. It does have one stall offering western food. I had in mind what I wanted for dinner. I have been to this kopitiam several times, but I don’t think I have ever ordered fried kway teow. This time I did.

Milo Ais kaw drink with char kway teow.

When the plate of fried kway teow was served and put in front of me… a whiff of the aroma from it, the hot smoke rising from it as it was just from the cook’s wok to the plate… the noodles were inter-twined with the tougey (bean sprouts in English, kuchai (5) and fried egg. The prawn (6) and lap cheong (7)… it was as though the whole dish was artistically decorated and placed…like one of those top 6 star restaurants whose chefs decorate the sides of the plate with sauces (this one no decoration la. Here you pay only RM9. Those fancy restaurants will charge RM125).

Don’t let it’s looks fool you. Not just another pretty dish. The fried kway teow did not only just look good. It was delicious to the last noodle on the plate.

The meal was finished almost as soon as I started. It was that delicious. I left the prawns and lap cheong for Jeannie, as I am not into that. The meal was good. It looks like there is strong competition between the char kway teow “chef” here, and the one next door at New Nanking.

Here, the lady in green, runs a vegetarian food stall. You can see the owners of the wester food stall, too. For drinks, Jeannie ordered “Limau Ais” (iced lime). I ordered a “Milo Ais Kaw” (iced Milo, strong).

The lady owner of the western food stall, who also serves the food to her customers; is well dressed with jacket, too.

Jeannie’s rice porridge meal.

Jeannie’s rice porridge meal was good, according to her. She ordered a sort of a sweet sour pork, what looks like a big portion of yam and spinach to go with her porridge. And enjoyed her meal, she did.

Jeannie, about to tuck in to her rice porridge meal.

At the back of us, are more stalls, including the one that sells wan tan mee. The wan tan mee here, is really good. You should try it if you get the opportunity.

We finished our meals, minum-ed (Bahasa Malaysia for “drink” in past tense [ed]😊). Jeannie said the next time we come here, we must support the stall that sells vegetarian food. Remember the blond-hair lady in a green shirt? Looks like the “next time” is going to be soon.

NOTES:
1. Cartier Precious sunglasses in rose gold, rimless with rose gold coated lenses. Dimensions: 62 mm lenses, 14 mm bridge, 140 mm temples. Price: US$8,495
2. Guazi (Chinese: 瓜子; Indonesian: kuaci), also called kwasi (Burmese: ကွာစေ့) refers to roasted plant seeds. It is a popular snack in China, Malaysia (kuachi) and overseas Chinese communities, especially in Indonesia. While directly translated as “melon seeds” it usually refers to baked seeds of the sunflower, pumpkin, or watermelon seeds. It is often served as an appetizer during banquets. Wikipedia
3. The term kopitiam in Malaysia is usually referred specifically to Malaysian Chinese coffee shops. Food in a kopitiam is usually exclusively Malaysian Chinese cuisine. Food courts and hawker centres are usually not referred to as kopitiams.
Wikipedia
4. Taipan is a bustling business centre in the vibrant city of Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
5. kuchai is a kind of leek, ranked-scented, green, growing 20 to 40 centimeters high. Bulbs are small, white and clustered.
6. Prawn resembles a large shrimp, many varieties of which are edible.
7. Lap cheong is a dried, hard sausage usually made from pork and pork fat. It is normally smoked, sweetened, and seasoned with rose water, rice wine and soy sauce.