YOU WERE BORN TO WIN.
BUT TO BE A WINNER, YOU MUST HAVE A GAMEPLAN… TO WIN.
LEARN TO SIT BACK AND OBSERVE.
THEN,
PREPARE TO WIN.
EXPECT TO WIN.
~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller
BE A WINNER
#LauraAtkinson
SOMETHING’S BREWING
MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
Keep these dates and times for this exciting and fun time.
You are all warmly invited to come. Come with your families. Come with your friends. Come with your neighbours.
JUDITH, MY TUDOR FRIEND AND NEIGHBOUR
Tudor is England, a little enclave in Subang Jaya. It is a little (yes, little; as it is made up of just over 190 houses) in this private section of Subang Jaya. For those of you who have immediately pulled out the map of Subang Jaya, and / or England trying to verify and find the “England” (not English😉😁- you will know by the way they speak. “Like that one oso got mah / meh / lah!) of Subang Jaya; or if Subang Jaya is in England; first of all you are a bit (maybe a lot more) out of date. Today, nobody makes use of maps. It is A.I., ChatGTB (or is it ChatTBC or ChatGBT), CoPilot or Google. No need smart one, oso can. The Queen’s (now the King’s, though not as popular) English has been run over by the English of people in the street, Malaysia. Haha.
Judith and her husband, Rueben; are our good friends from our Tudor neighbourhood. They live a street (though “road” is more commonly used in these parts) away, about 3 minutes walk away from us. Judith and I have found a sort of new common interest, even Rueben is into it – tattoos.
Some years ago, when my daughter, Laura was in early teenage years, she said she was going to get a tattoo one day. So, as a means to deter her or even delay the idea from her getting one; I said, “If you get a tattoo, so will I”. There I said it, with a hint that it might be one that is the same as what she gets. I was quite sure (not very sure, mind you) that it was sure to put her off the idea of tattoos, or put it on the backburner for a long time to come.
Guess what? “Long time” was so long that it snuck right up on me without me even realising it. Fast forward to October 2023: Out of the blue, Laura said, “Dad, I am getting a tattoo this Saturday”. Remember, I am not one of those normal parents who might have retorted, “Over my dead body, young lady!”. I said, “o.k.. Remember the deal I made with you? If you get a tattoo, so will I. Well, so will I”. There, I said it. That otta (supposed to be, “ought to) give her second thoughts.
My advice to parents who want to play the “I dare you” game”: it ain’t gonna work. Laura said, “Ok”. Now, I was stuck in a bind. I didn’t want to get a tattoo, but I had to. 😂🤣🥲😥😓😭😰
It started with my first tattoo:
Before the guy even started microscopically hammer-drilling the tattoo in, I asked, “Is it over?”. The rest as they (Who are “they?”) say, is history.
Judith and Rueben both have pretty unique, bold tattoos. Impressive, especially Judith’s latest.
From my first tattoo in October 2023, to the latest – my 7th. While Judith and I were discussing through text just after I showed her via WhatsApp, my 6th tattoo; she said she would also like a copy of my newly published book, SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT.
I personally delivered her copy to her home. Jeannie was with me at that time. They started talking about Jeannie’s JEANNIE’S OWN Batik Capes. It so happened that Jeannie had her latest creation with her. Judith saw. Judith acquired. 😁
I also took the opportunity to show Judith my 7th. and most painful tattoo. I sort of designed the picture for the tattoo a little bit. The picture shows ideas and sparks of joy coming from reading books (perhaps mine?😉), the galaxy and lightning strikes to seize the moment. I may right an essay on my tattoos…will see.
Judith is now amongst the growing number of Tudorians from our Tudor neighbourhood who owns a copy of SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT. Someone today, asked me if there are enough copies of the book to go around. I told her that my publisher is at hand to get more copies out.
Jeannie and I had such fun catching up with Judith, even if it was for a little while. Judith is one of those who is the future of today. Bright. Endless possibilities.
WHEN BROTHERS OF DIFFERENT PARENTS MEET
Where have all those young years gone? What happened? All of a sudden, reality hits, we are still very much the same as when we were in school, well at least since our memories serve us well.
A few weeks ago, there was mention in our La Salle@75 WhatsApp (that’s a Social Media communication app on devices like smartphones, electronic pads and computers…for those who aren’t sure) about us, guys, getting together for a physical meet up. It has been many years since we last had one.
Mak Weng Kit straight away replied, “I’m in”. I, too; was game and thought it was a capital idea. As the saying goes, “Time waits for no man”, weeks went by when the suggestion was made.
I decided to buzz Weng Kit for us to meet first, to start the ball rolling with the hope that this will begin a more than once meeting on a regular basis. Then, others can join us in our future meetings.
It was good to know that Weng Kit kept busy by being “Grandpa” to his five grandchildren, two of whom live abroad. He told me that he could only meet after 1.00pm because he had to pick his granddaughter up from school. He made a suggestion that we meet in the coming week at Starling (another place where all the “stars” meet? [in reference to my other articles written about Star Bhavan]) Mall in Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya; or any place I suggested. He would be there.
I counter- suggested Happy Mansion, Section 17, also in Petaling Jaya; as there usually is ample parking space there. Date: The coming Monday. Meet time: 2.00pm. Weng Kit agreed. It was set. The meeting of the year. I was thrilled that it was an “all systems go” for our meet. The following explains why…
Come Monday, I was out on my walk, probably faster than I usually do, in the build up to 2.00pm. Another reason for my faster walk-than-usual was probably because I was held up by my morning replies to my emails and social media. There seemed to be more than the usual numbers, and people seemed to be responding faster to my responses of their original messages to me. I crossed the allocated time I set for this daily morning exercise.
I completed my walk in the nick of time. Had a shower, got ready and spruced up a bit more than usual. Texted / messaged / Whatsapped Weng Kit at the time I was leaving my house and told him I would be at our meeting place, Good Blue Men before 2.00pm.
Traffic was good from Subang Jaya all the way to the venue. I arrived a few minutes before 2.00pm. Weng Kit, arrived just after me, before 2.00pm, too. Punctuality.😁😉
We were both really happy to meet, face-to-face, after many years. The last time we met was our La Salle 1975 batch gathering in 2014. Since then, it has only been through social media.
Weng Kit is a happily retired from business, businessman. The head of a growing “Mak Weng Kit” clan (his son, the third of three children; is getting married at the end of this year), Weng Kit and his wife devote their time to their children and grandchildren. Weng Kit is also an avid golfer, marathon runner and adventurous road bike cyclist going on long cycle trips.
However, his keep-fit activities have temporarily come to a stop because he recently had a knee-cap replacement. Which means, taking things real easy. However, Weng Kit is still looking really good.
Weng Kit has been keeping abreast about Laura, Jeannie and family through all the articles I have been posting on leatherpotato.com . The latest being Laura’s marriage. And of course, the publishing of SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT.
We talked very fondly about the past, the time when most of our La Salle friends were in our (Atkinson) No. 21, Jalan Ladang house (which was a few hundred meters away from school). From early morning to late night, every day. The guys used to stay over, too. My sister, Jennifer, had her friends from Convent School stay over, too. 21, Jalan Ladang was a pretty big house. It had a very large compound, all round, with a badminton court, too. Our usual day activities were badminton, football, hockey, table-tennis, and darts. We had many dance parties there, too because of its big courtyard just out of the living room. That house sure had many, many, many great memories.
We talked about all our cherished friends and teachers, many are no, longer with us…Hock Chai, Andrew Rozario, Kien Tat…. our teachers like Mr. Ho Chai Fong, Mr. Julian Xavier and the Lopez brothers (Mr. Joseph and recently, Mr. Anthony), among others.
We talked about those who were our temporary teachers like Dr. Khoo Phaik Choo, who was a temporary teacher when she was 20 years old, and we boys, 13. Over the years, she has become a renowned Paediatrician in Malaysia. Another temp teacher was a person by the name of Kenny. He was a fun teacher, always cracking jokes and communicated well with the boys, maybe because he was not that much older than us.
Yes, we, the boys from the 1975 batch have been blessed with an amazing spectrum of dedicated teachers. A couple more of such teachers today are Mr. Michael Xavier; and Mrs. Sivakumar. Mr. Xavier, who is in our Whatsapp group, never fails to wish us with his “Good morning guys and take care message, each morning. Mrs. Sivakumar, whenever we reach out to her, will respond to us. She never looks a day older than when she taught us in class back in 1972. She was our History teacher in Form Two.
Soon, far too quickly; it was time for us to go back to our family lives. But not without Weng Kit having gotten his very own personalized copy of SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT. He paid far more than the price of the book, which I thanked him for and said that it will be passed on to a needy cause. Weng Kit has always been a generous person.
We took this picture👆, too. Definitely one for the album.
I think what Weng Kit and I felt which we did not talk about, did not see the need to, or there were no words at that time to describe it; was the aura of re-uniting in person. That is friendship taken to a different level.
We will work towards making meetings like this on a more regular basis. We don’t need a major reason to do so. However, Weng Kit reminded me that this is our 50th anniversary year of the 1975 La Salle Klang alumni. I told him that I am in with him, to organize a re-union of sorts for the boys of that year, and the teachers, too. That will be interesting.
SEIZE THE MOMENT WITH SPARKS OF JOY AND BATIK CAPES THIS WEEKEND
What a fun time it was for the Batik Influencer, Jeannie (who oso [the word “also” pronounced this way by some people here😁] happens to be my wife); and myself, recognised by more and more people as the “Hatted Writer” (This recognition is gaining traction), at our stint at Amcorp Shopping Mall last weekend. It was fun from the word “Go” when we set up our booth until we packed up to leave.
People started streaming in, browsing all the things that were displayed on the tables. Soon enough, others started checking the various Batik Cape Creations under the JEANNIE’S OWN label. Before long, the buying started. JEANNIE’S OWN Batik Cape Creations were very limited in stock, making it exclusive to those who purchased one or more of them.
Off and on, Jeannie and I managed to get short rests here and there during the day. I have to admit, I managed 40 winks…ok ok…it was 57…I counted😉😂. That super short power snooze was a great help as I had about a couple of hours sleep before getting up to come to the mall. The reason for the short sleep (or lack of it) during the night was because I had a couple of essays I had to work on, while the ideas were still fresh in my mind.
Over the weekend, multiple numbers of the book were snapped up. I had a lady who was an avid reader stop by. After reading the back cover, she got a book. I was happy to personalise it for her.
Another book acquirer was Derek Fernandez. He is one of the senior guys at MCMC, heading a very major portfolio. He showed me an app that he and his team had developed, one that is going to put “Speedtest” an excellent app itself, until now, in the bin. With this new app, you can test the broadband speeds from wherever you are. When testing the speed in an area, even if in a shopping complex as such, and the speeds fall below its approved level, it will send the speed result to the broadband provider and at the same time, to MCMC to take whatever action necessary.
Several people who had purchased the book earlier / previously, also turned up, just to chit- chat. Many were curious as to how I came up with this book, and discussed the various articles and chapters. They are eager for me to write my next book. Wow! That is motivation.
As the saying goes, “How time flies when we are having fun”, holds true. Before long, the weekend came to a close.
Now, this weekend, which begins today; is at hand. Both, Jeannie the Batik Influencer, and I, the Hatted Writer; invite all you beautiful people, to come by. “You come by now, you hear!”, a line taken from the very famous tv show, The Beverley Hillibilles of the 1970s / 1980s.
Address:
Amcorp Shopping Mall,
Booth 1.08, 1st Floor, ,
8, Jalan, Persiaran Barat, Seksyen 52 Petaling Jaya, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Date: March 15th – March 16th, 2025
Time: 10.00am to 5.30pm (can be extended to 7.00pm)
SPARKS OF JOY – LIVE THE MOMENT: THE BOOK
Author: Alan Ian Atkinson
“Writing this book was my journey. Reading it will be yours. A glimpse into the most important lessons I’ve learned.”
Just off the printing press.
Available now.
Coming to all major book stores soon.
You can also get your copy through me for yourself, family and friends. I will be more than happy to personalize your copy.
PERFECT: CHAPATI AND NESCAFE ICE KAW
A day of driving, miles and miles; 2 hours 57 minutes on the road travelling.
Was I travelling outstation, in between towns, from one state to another (inter-state by another description)? You can say a little bit of all of the above.
My daughter, Laura sent me a message that she needed a ride back to her house after work. I immediately agreed. Her office is somewhere North East (depending on where you are at) of Kuala Lumpur at Damansara Heights.
I did the usual (most of the time. How many of you would tell some one who is waiting for you that you are just around the corner, when actually you have not started your journey? ) and left the house 5 minutes to the hour of 5.
It had begun to rain heavily. I was hoping that it would stop quickly as I did not want the car to get wet in the heavy rain. I just sent the car for a good wash and vacuum this morning. After about half an hour, the heavy downpour did not look like it was going to let up anytime soon, so I made my way to Laura’s office.
The trip to Damansara was smooth despite the heavy rain. As I got into the PJ (Petaling Jaya) section of the Federal Highway, the rain had stopped. I got to Laura’s office a few minutes before she was supposed to finish work. She sent a message (or the local term is, “She Whatsapp-ed me”) to say that her boss had called her in for a last minute meeting. Being the great dad I am (pat on my back😇), I said, “No worries. Take your time”. Waiting for her gave me some time to work on an article, no, not this one; on another one. I am working on several articles at the same time. I saw a movie (I forget the name now) once of an artist who worked on several canvass pieces of art at the same time. She worked on whichever picture gel-led (pronounced as “jelled”) with his mood / feelings / thoughts at that time of his work. Likewise, I am doing the same.
My writings / drafts of unfurnished work are all on my ideaSketchpad💡. Some work have been on the backburner for months. Inspiration has not got me to complete them yet.
Laura was done with her meeting within half hour and we headed back to Subang Jaya. As we got into PJ; we hit the traffic jams. We used Waze to get us the shortest route. All of PJ was hit with massive traffic jams, full force. Waze led us through a route that we had never or probably used once or twice before. We were moving – slowly.
We got back to Subang Jaya within an hour which probably saved us half an hour to three-quarter of an hour compared if we took our usual route (which is using the Federal Highway) back. This new route helped us avoid the Federal Highway altogether. We went through SS3, Kelana Jaya, behind Paradigm Mall, pass the Glomac building, onto Jalan Lapangan Terbang Lama (I think), then onto the flyover that went straight into Subang Jaya, pass Subang Jaya Medical Centre, towards the roundabout near Sri KL school. (Those living in and around Subang Jaya will know this route, or at least, most of it.)
After dropping Laura off at her house, I decided to go to where all the stars meet for a comfortable and nice meal – Star Bhavan. Laura could not join me as she had other plans.
Star Bhavan is a restaurant that caters for a meal whether you are alone, or with someone or with a group of people.
I ordered my usual (most of the time) – chapati (such an easy word, yet the spelling can be a bit confusing. Localised [nowadays], it is spelt as “capati”, without the “h”) and Nescafe Ice Kaw. Ever since I started seriously working on reducing weight, I eat chapati most of the time. No diets. I have never been on a diet, at least consciously.
I go for my daily 10 kilometer (km) to 11km brisk walk, everyday; and on most days, I don’t eat lunch. I also minimise my sugar intake as much as I can.
It makes common sense: burn / work off more calories than what you take in to lose weight. No rocket science needed to come up with a “I’m on a diet, too”. So far, my weight has come down by 9kg and fluctuates between the 67kg – 69 kg band. It has been hovering around this range for the last one and a half months. I am still working at it. My target ideal weight is 63kg.
Back to my chapati and Nescafe Ice “story”. I often have this meal combination when I am here. It seems light but it’s just nice for me. Once in a while, I will add on an additional potato or a spicy fried chicken, chicken varuval or a spicy potato dish. Today, is one of those once-in-a-while days.
My meal was quick to arrive. There were three small side dishes that came with it – a “set” in the chapati tray. The “set tray” has 4 compartments, if I may call them that – one large and three small. The large one is for the main serving, in this case, it was the chapati. The three compartments were filled with what I call three different curry gravies. No, not right.
The white condiment was coconut chutney. The greenish condiment was some sort of potato dish, maybe it is a green curry. The other was a natural curry. 😀
I decided to “live it up” – I ordered an additional potato dish. This looked like a dry curry dish, promising to take “spicy” to the next level. It was quite unusual. It had big beans (the baked beans type) in it.
What can I say about this meal? It wasn’t fanciful nor was the dish patterned with sauces used to design or decorate. It sure was delicious, all the way, right to the last tiny flaked piece of chapati and dried potato curry with beans and coconut chutney. The only thing fanciful about this meal was the price, I guess. It was more than reasonable, I sure was satisfied. It was a good meal. And the Nescafe Ais Kaw – was just right. It complimented my dinner very well. I will be back for more meals in the future.
I picked up some bean vadai and currypuffs to go, for my next morning’s breakfast.
BARE FEET 10 KILOMETER WALK – Pt2
cont. from BARE FEET 10 KILOMETER WALK (28th January 2025)
Yes, this is part 2, a continuation of the earlier essay. After all, it was a long walk in the sand (most of the time, I was on the sand).
An early morning light, gentle cool breeze was blowing ever so softly. It didn’t seem to come in from the direction of the sea. It was not strong enough for people to pause everything they were doing to say, “ah yes, I feel the breeze”. Most things are taken as a given or for granted, or with a “so what?” attitude.
The sun was up, not overhead. It was still in the distant east, but climbing at a steady pace to meet its overhead position at noon.
As I stretched my gaze to the edge of the sea in the distance, I could see ships, three of them, all keeping a safe distance between each of them, move from the south upwards to the north (I still have my sense of direction). This would mean that many of them would have made their way from ports in the east like Sabah, Sarawak, China, Japan, and other countries to the west, upwards to Europe and the U.S. Come to think of it, this would mean that vessels travelling from the east, going around Peninsular Malaysia; would be travelling on the right side of the Straits of Malacca, going up north to Europe and the rest of the west.
Therefore, vessels coming from the west, would use the left side of the Straits of Malacca (closer to the Indonesia), and go around the peninsular to head to the east. The narrow Straits of Malacca is one of the busiest sea lanes in the world, with about 94,000 ships (200 ships per day) (1) passing through it each year.
I got the walking exercise on the Samsung Health app on my Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 Ultra fired up. I think Samsung’s Health app is one of the most comprehensive health information trackers there is available today. It is worth noting that this is one of the most accurate health data providers. It tracks almost all of my health extensively on a daily basis. The caveat I place on it is that the information it comes out with are only indications to how I am doing, health wise. Nevertheless, I find it fun to use.
The length of the beach was only about 300 meters long. So, I was walking up and down, from point to point and return, quite quickly. At the beginning of the “journey”, the beach had quite a lot of people on it, though not enough to say it was crowded. After a few laps on the beach, I removed my cheap, rubber slippers and parked them next to where Jeannie had left hers. It was the spot, water-wise, where Jeannie was in the sea.
When I started walking bare foot (feet?), I had hardly covered a few hundred steps. I found that walking on the damp sand was easier that in the dry beach sand, where each step , I sunk in the sand by a few millimeters, and momentarily, lost my balance, due to the unevenness of the sand. This was kind of slowing me down, too; as I like to keep a quick pace and complete my daily walk within the 1 hour 50 minutes to 1 hour 57 minutes.
As I walked on the damp sand, my speed (pace) picked up. After a short while, I had created a trail of footprints back and forth. I knew they were mine. First of all the pattern and path were the same, to and fro. Then, the size of the footprints. It was size 8,9, or 10 (depending on which country measurement is used). I usually use US size 9.
Within an hour, the crowds on the beach had swelled up. People who were there for sometime, must have been wondering to themselves while watching me walk down the beach to the other end, and then return, then go down the beach again, creating laps, “This guy is crazy or what? (“Or what?” is very Malaysian. Not quite sure if a statement has been made or a question has been asked), patrolling the beach up and down”. What must have made them even more curious was that the sun turned up its heat, like it had a knob to raise or drop its temperature; and yet, I was walking like there was no stopping me.
During my walk, I allow my mind to roam freely. Sometimes, I take in the scenes around me, the people and any thing that may be out of the ordinary.
Letting my mind roam freely is freedom. No Artificial Intelligence (AI), Chat GBT or anything like that can ever mimic the mind of a human, that’s my belief. The creators of these technologies would like you to believe that these technologies do, until you ask them if their minds can be replicated. More important question, “Will they allow their minds to be replicated?”
As I passed the 8km distance I walked, I realised that I was at my usual regular speed as per my daily walks. Before long, I crossed the 10 kilometer distance, and hit 10.46 kilometer when I achieved the 15,000 – step goal.
Wow! I actually walked 10 kilometers barefooted. That was a record of sorts for me at least. It seems like a crazy thing to do when I think back. Sure, the beach and sand were kind to my feet. Not much pebbles or any other thing that otherwise would have hurt my feet. I did feel a couple of blisters building up though; but not too serious.
I walked back to my slippers which I laid next to Jeannie’s on the beach. They were gone, both pairs were stolen! I waved Jeannie to come up from the water and asked if she noticed someone around our slippers, as they had disappeared. Jeannie said she was too busy enjoying herself to notice any slipper thief or anybody that resembled a slipper thief (not that she or even I, would know what a slipper thief looks like).
It did not bother us as our “feet protectors”, otherwise known as slippers; weren’t expensive. We walked barefoot back to the hotel, satisfied with ourselves; that she spent time in the water and I, did my 10 kilometer walk – both having accomplished what we set out to do for the day.
If you have a chance to do something wild (not too wild, I hope) or something out of the (extra) ordinary, please share it in the comments. I am not sure if I will pull off another “stunt” like this again.
NOTES:
1. Wikipedia
A NEW BEGINNING
It all started at 3.00am today. More to come. Stay tuned.
IT’S OUR 29TH. CELEBRATING WITH FAMILY
Some of the best moments of life are snap-shotted or roll ’em videoed to preserve them in memory. Preserving these memories for eternity? I think there are cloud services and social media sites that provide (offer) this service where all your content will be maintained for a period of time like a 100 years. For a fee of course. Not sure if it is renewable and who is to check that all content will still be up or preserved in its original form in say 75 years or so.
It was our (Jeannie’s and mine) 29th wedding anniversary. Looking back, memories of our wedding remain fresh in our minds.
It was a Saturday, which I planned to sleep in the morning, as our wedding ceremony was at 3.00pm in the afternoon. Ample time to get ready and get to church well before 3.00pm. However, that plan was dashed with a phone call at 7.00am in the morning.
“The flowers have not arrived”, exclaimed Jeannie in a worried voice. I had to go round P.J. (Petaling Jaya)(1). I called up Brenda Au Yong (one of the two people who would act as witnesses of our wedding), to help me find these flowers. Together, we went to many of the florists we knew in P.J., hunting for these specific flowers. After 3 hours of flower-searching, no luck.
Our wedding, which took place at St. Francis Xavier Church, was beautiful. Jeannie and I were relaxed and enjoyed it. The late Aunty Alzira Gomes (the late Uncle Joseph’s wife), took over the microphone at the choir section and sang “Panis Angelicus” impromptu. It was a welcome surprise.
Then, we had the customary tea ceremony, a Chinese tradition for marriage, since Jeannie is Chinese. We managed to get a couple of hours rest at Brenda’s & Martin’s house, before our reception at Loyola Hall in St. Francis Xavier Church itself. We had a Chef from the French Embassy in K.L. (2), who catered a wide variety of western and local dishes for the dinner. It was excellent.
Fast forward from then on 25th November, 1995; to now, 29 years later. What better way to celebrate, then with family. This time round, we had our daughter, Laura; and son-in-law (Laura’s husband), Praga; to grace this occasion with us.
We met for dinner at Benjy’s, a little restaurant in SS16, Subang Jaya (3). Located in an apartment building, a couple of blocks from AEON Big Supermarket; it serves western cuisine. The food served is good. There is ample car parking space (a big “+” point for Malaysians).
Jeannie and I got in slightly earlier than our appointed time. Laura and Praga arrived not long after. Being early eaters, generally; we soon got to ordering our food. Another good thing about Benjy’s is that the menu is not complicated and not overly crowded.
We all opted for noodle meals, our belief is that it was a healthier choice instead of the usual. heavy steaks.
Laura ordered “Bolognaise” pasta, Italian style. It came with a generous serving of mince beef in tomato sauce, with grated cheese on top. We knew it was going to be good because we have ordered this meal multiple times before.
Praga chose to have “Smoked Duck Pasta Carbonara”. It was loaded with carbonara. The presentation was a row of sliced roast duck pieces on top of the carbonara prepared noodles.
Jeannie went for an “Aloha”. It came with a bull’s eye on top of a big portion of chicken breast meat, together with garlic bread, some green vegetables, corn, a large slice of garlic bread and a side dish of black pepper sauce with some white cream (not sure what that was) on it. The black pepper sauce is always served with the white cream on it.
I, like Laura; ordered a bolognaise meal. I have been downsizing my meal intake in order to reduce my weight. The meals served at Benjy’s are generous portions in size. When, my meal came; it looked delicious. I had to finish it, since I did not want to waste anything. And finish it, I did. I felt really full and “regretted” that I over ate. My regret did not last long enough. I ordered a double scoop chocolate ice-cream. Sigh!
Praga and Jeannie went for apple crumble for dinner; whereas Laura shared a bit of my chocolate ice-cream. I thought the consolation was that Laura will share at least half the ice-cream with me. She only took one spoon full, which meant that I had to eat the rest. I don’t like the idea of wasting any of it. Though I did not say it out loud, I was not complaining.
It was a very pleasant evening. Having Laura and Praga join us in celebrating our wedding anniversary. made it all the more special. It has been some years since Laura last joined us in our annual celebration.
Jeannie and I look forward to many, many more years of married adventures together.
NOTES:
1. Petaling Jaya is a city in the state of Selangor, Malaysia.
2. K.L. or Kuala Lumpur, is the capital of Malaysia.
3. Subang Jaya is a young, vibrant city of the state of Selangor, Malaysia.