As things start to unwind in old town Petaling Jaya (Fondly referred to as P. J.), where small businesses and shops close at half day (The big corporations and public services have to maintain full day), the activities start to unfold.
A person watching the very, very long string of firecrackers going off. I did not video it because there was a lot of echoing of sound in the area.
While I was working on a new article, Jeannie announced that she had to go down to PJ (it should be “up” as PJ is north-east of Subang Jaya) to pick some sewing accessories up as the shop in Subang Jaya closed early today, due to it being the eve of Chinese New Year and Chinese employees had to go back early to celebrate their reunion dinner with their families. (Did you take all that in with one breath?) When she said “she” had to go, it naturally meant that “we” had to go.
Red, red, everywhere. This shop sells everything forChinese new year. Jeannie rang (an old form of saying she called up by telephone) them up about an hour earlier, saying that she wanted to go over to get something from them. They obliged and stayed open for Jeannie until we got there.
Within minutes, we were in the car, heading to Section 1, old town, P. J.. The traffic was light all the way down…er..or is it up?, to P. J.. Traffic was a breeze all the way to P. J. Jeannie turned on the Google Maps app for directions. It was unnecessary as I knew the way, though I had not been to that area in a while. I told her that she could switch the app off. However, she still kept it on.
When we were around that area, Google Maps were giving some unusual directions. I decided to follow it thinking it may have the latest in traffic direction flow in the Section 1 area. It was acting weird, directing us to the factory area which was always leading us to a particular road with a dead-end.
I decided to follow my sense of direction. I had to go against the traffic direction to get out of where we were and go to where I think this shop was. Got to the shop within minutes.
Inside the shop, everything red and gold. They even had little red (why of course) fire crackers decorative blinking (in a good way) lights, minus the sound of exploding fire crackers.
One of the people at the shop had already prepacked the things that Jeannie wanted. The Hatted Writer (hatless on the trip), in the meanwhile, was absorbing the “Chinese New Year” Chineseness of the area. One of the shops nearby, set off a long…very long string of fire crackers. Since the area was quite empty, it created an echo which made the exploding fire crackers even louder.
I went to inspect the area after the last cracker crackered, amidst the dense smoke lingering in the air, left behind from the exploding coloured paper and gunpowder (?) like material. I suppose the louder the noise and longer that it can last, coupled with messier the place, means greater prosperity.
We were sort of glad to have had a glimpse of a Chinatown style of Chinese New Year eve atmosphere. We headed back to Subang Jaya soon after that, to pick Laura up to have tea (coffee actually) at “KUEH”, possibly the only local cafe to be still open at 4.00pm.
NOTE: Though coffee is definitely the more popular and trending beverage in this day and age; you don’t hear people say, “Let’s go have coffee”. Its more, “Let’s go for tea”. Is it because coffee is an all day long beverage and tea…well its confined to “tea time” meaning late afternoon / early evening.
It was mid-morning when I Whatsapp-“ed” (tested / sent a message) to my cousin, Chris. I received a phone call from someone just before that, bringing up a matter that I let it slide because I thought it was resolved. Apparently not. It was like a thorn (a tiny one at that), pricking my foot.
As for the word “Whatsapp” I am not sure if there is a past tense “ed” to it. Sounds better. Over here, in Malaysia; you can use the word in any scenario, whether it is past, present or future; it is just “Whatsapp”.
Chris asked if I was free at 2.00pm. If yes, whether I could wait in front of New Apollos. By now, you should have guessed this is not NASA’s aerospace programme. New Apollos is a restaurant that has a variety of food offerings.😉😂
He said let’s have afternoon tea (for me, it’s coffee as I don’t drink tea). That sounded good to me.😁
Usually one to keep time, Chris messaged me to say he was running a little late… He turned up about 5 minutes past the scheduled time.
Hopped or jumped (whichever way you would like to look at it) into his car; he drove towards Subang Jaya’s town centre, which was about 10 minutes away. He U-turned back on the main road and turned into the SS18 area. For you to get an idea of where this is, I have included a map of Subang Jaya / USJ below. We parked in front of this place called, “Kueh”. Interesting. This was my first time to this cafe.
“Kueh” means “cake” in Malaysia – any cake of Malay, Chinese, or Indian origin. When we opened the door to enter…
Nice, simple neon sign.
Nice! This was not what I had expected. The decor was pleasant. I liked what they did to this place. And it was aircon (Malaysian for air-conditioned), too! Which meant it commanded premium, upmarket prices. I sat near the neon lighted picture which decorated the wall on the other side of the dining area. I was attracted to it because of its colours. It has been a long while since I’ve seen neon signs.
We had to move to another table which could have more people because Chris had invited some of his friends over, too. We moved to a table next to the large Assam Laksa mural on the wall. It looks so real and inviting.
The many variety of kuih (another way to spell “kueh”) were prepacked, displayed and stacked in rows. You just had to pick up whatever you wanted, order your drinks and sit at one of the tables.
Chris took a packet of currypuffs and ordered his usual tea. I went for my usual long black coffee.
Chris suggested I try the Australian pastry. It looked like a cake with cream on top. He mentioned what it was called a couple of times… And I still did not get it. It did look yum. I could not wait much longer to have a go at it. Come to think of it, what’s and Australian pastry doing sitting with everything else Malaysian, food wise?
Me with the “whatchamacallit” and my tall black. I still did not get the name of it….yet.
After much thinking and a bit of deep research… yes, wikipedia; I found out the name of the whatchamacallit pastry: “Pavlova”. It doesn’t sound very Australian, does it now? Like “boomerangue”, “mirangdownunder” or “messycreamydelite”.
The pavlova looks big. However, it is quite a light pastry. The base is made from eggwhite and sugar, similar to meringue pies. Then, it is whipped cream on top with a bit of fruit (in this case, it was strawberries). If it was tested with a caloriecounter’o meter, it would show a high calorie count.
Yes, yes…I’m getting to it. The taste. Cutting into it using a teaspoon with a long handle; the meringue base did not crumble. Taking a piece with a bit of everything into my mouth, it seemed to melt simultaneously in my mouth, creating a nice blended taste. The base was a bit over the sweet level. It reminded me of the times, many years ago; when my mum used to make lemon meringue pies. I always liked the sweet base of the pies.
Chris ordered currypuffs (a packet of 3) and tapioca cake (a packet of two). Both looked good. I had to give the currypuff a try. It tasted okayyy, sort of currypuffiisshhh. There was a hint of spice from the curry paste, which was pretty good.
Gino and his wife, Angie; came not too long after that. Our usual topic of conversation these days… no, not Taylor Swift, BTS or Cold Play. No, not too much about the weather, too; as we know that now it is back to being temperamentally hot. Our conversation centers around whatever exercises we do daily, how we are consciously working at keeping fit. We share about our daily family living, too. The main idea usually is how we can help each other out through our sharing. The underpinning factor is that we laugh a lot, mainly about all our scrimps and scrapes in life’s experiences. Life is too short to be serious…. all the time.
Clockwise: Me having a go at the pulut hitam, Angie, Gino and Chris.
Chris had to mention that KUEH served Pulut Hitam (Black Glutinous rice) and Pulut Kacang Hijau; both favourites of mine. I didn’t know that they had it, as I walked right past them. The large jars of these desserts were on the right, as we come into the cafe, just before the shelves of all the packed kuih. Tempted, I definitely wanted to give them a miss because as it was at that time; I had eaten more than I should have already.
Chris said that I had to try it. Tempting…If I was to take, I would take both. We had to serve ourselves. The bowls were fairly big so I limited myself to one. The calling for pulut hitam was stronger than that of pulut kacang hijau.
After eating a few spoons full of this dessert, I liked it. It was pretty good. My benchmark of taste measurement was comparing this to what my mum used to make. She would make it quite a thick dessert. This was a bit watery, not as watery as most places that make it as well. This had pandan leaves added in for that pandan flavor, like that of my mother’s. The biggest difference when comparing what my mother used to make and this and others like this is: the coconut milk is never added in the pulut hitam at the time of making. It was always left separate, for each person to add depending on his / her preference. In this way, the coconut milk is fresh and does not dissolve its essence.
Time flies past fast when we are having fun, and this was no different. We parted with a couple more jokes (one or two for the road). When Chris and I parted, I quoted him the “famous” quote that my father used to say, “Don’t overdo what I won’t overdo”; the quote that Chris remembers all too well in our growing up days.
Map of Subang Jaya / USJ
NOTES:
1. Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert. Originating in either Australia or New Zealand in the early 20th century, it was named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova in honour of her, either during or after one of her tours to Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s. Taking the form of a cake-like circular block of baked meringue, pavlova has a crisp crust and soft, light inside. The confection is usually topped with fruit and whipped cream. The name is commonly pronounced /pævˈloʊvə/ pav-LOH-və or (in North America) /pɑːvˈloʊvə/ pahv-LOH-və, and occasionally closer to the name of the dancer, as /ˈpɑːvləvə/ PAHV-lə-və.[3][4][5]
Recipe A pavlova garnished with whipped cream, passionfruit and lemon sauce, mint leaves, kiwifruit, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and a boysenberry. Main ingredients Egg whites, caster sugar, fruit The dessert is an important part of the national cuisine of both Australia and New Zealand. With its simple recipe, it is frequently served during celebratory and holiday meals. It is most identified with and consumed most frequently in the summer time, including at Christmas time. Wikipedia
