“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.
Phew! What a hot day, today is! The skies had a bit of an overcast, which looked like a good time to do my 10km walk.
I started my walk at around 2.30pm. The weather was very warm, with times when the sun’s rays (or sunshine) sneaked past or through the overcast skies where the light grey clouds provided the shade. The walk was hot but not as hot as yesterday. Yesterday, was not piercing hot, but dry, humidyfying hot.
It was cooler today, but make no mistake, the humidity was as uncomfortable as ever.
Had a refreshing cold shower when I got back and was ready for the rest of the day.
Picked Jeannie and Laura up from their respective places of work. The traffic was good, not too heavy. The weather was clear all the way, compared to what seemed like torrential rain at this time, yesterday.
We were a few minutes early for Laura. Jeannie walked over to the MyNews store nearby, to get us a couple of cold drinks. She of course, took the opportunity to buy some of her favourite junk snacks.
Laura and Jeannie both, talked about their day at work. Some ups, some not so ups, busy – their day at the office was good.
Got Laura to the gym just past seven. So, now, “What to eat?” Since we had some grocery shopping to do, we thought we’d have dinner at the SS15 (1) Kwai Sun coffee shop / Kopitiam / restaurant. After dinner, we could walk next door to K. P Mak, the fruit grocer, to buy one whole watermelon. The whole watermelon, even when cut into big, chunky slices; would last us for nearly a week. A refreshing fruit for hot weather like this.
Jeannie order claypot noodles (2) and I, my usual – “Sing Chow Mei Fun” or Singapore fried noodles. (6)
Jeannie’s meal order: Claypot noodles. It came with egg and lup cheong.
Jeannie’s meal was cooked in a… you guessed it: claypot. I am not too sure whether it is just for style, the noodles being served in a claypot or whether there is a distinct benefit in cooking the noodles in a claypot or whether there is a difference in taste. #2 in the notes, suggest there is. I have yet to try a meal like this.
The claypot noodles is prepared and cooked with a black sauce. It comes with a single-fried egg (3) and lap cheong (4) in the main dish. To me, lap cheong is an acquired taste.😁This meal also comes with a little side dish of cut chili padi in black sauce. (5)
Having fun with this new fangled feature. Trying out the A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) camera feature. Here, I created a copy of the rim of the claypot, separately.
Jeannie said her meal was “a bit on the salty side” (local description for being a “little salty”). This was her main meal for the day as she did not have time for lunch. She visited a relative who is in hospital during her lunch break.
My “Sing chau mai fun” or Singapore fried noodles, tasted good as usual. The meal was not overly spicy this time. The “volcanic heat” spicyness (that is not even adding the chili padi yet) was toned down this time. It sort of made me think that this meal was prepared by a different cook. The guy that usually prepares this dish – you perspire (drip in sweat) profusely just by looking at it. That is how chili hot this meal usually is. You suffer eating it. However, you will come back for more.
Most restaurants, coffee shops or kopitiams prepare this meal with tomato sauce. The taste will tend to be more tomato sauce or sweet in taste. However, here, at this restaurant, you get to taste the noodles as it should be. You can actually taste the noodles with the fried egg in it, long beans, fishcake, 2 small prawns (which I put in Jeannie’s plates as I don’t eat prawns), carrots, bean spouts, cabbage and spinach.
It comes with a small side dish of chili sauce. Don’t let its orange colour fool you. It is really potent and should be eaten with caution. The best way of eating this is to lightly dab your chopsticks in it, then pick an amount of the meal with it that you are going to put in your mouth. In this way, you will safely eat your meal, at the same time get the taste of the chili sauce. It does taste very good.
Kwai Sun Restaurant is the place to come for good “Sing chau mai fun” or Singapore fried noodles, at least in Subang Jaya.
When you ask for “Sing chau mai fun”, the taste and even what it looks like will vary from one restaurant / coffee shop to another. Most of the chefs (cooks, really) are not formally trained. One cook to another will give you what they think this meal should be. Through experience, they improve on their cooking skills. This is one way of trying the variants of this meal.
Fooling around with A. I. (Artificial Intelligence) photography. Here, the prawn was separated from the meal.
After our dinner, Jeannie and I walked over to K. P. Mak, nextdoor; to buy a watermelon. We asked their “expert” watermelon chooser worker to pick a good fruit for us; which he did (I think. Hope the fruit is good).
We then stopped by at Jaya Grocer in Empire Gallery Shopping centre to get a bottle of decaf coffee (it has been quite a while since I last had a decaf), and a few other items; which included another cold drink. The temperature seemed to be climbing as the evening wound down. What would be nice right now is to have an A.B.C.…
NOTES: 1. SS15 is a bustling town centre (the first town centre) of the city of Subang Jaya, in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. “SS” or Sungai Way-Subang The SS in the neighborhood’s name stands for Sungai Way-Subang. Addresses in PJ are standardized. The town is divided into numbered sections (seksyen), which are denoted with just S (eastern PJ), SS (central and western PJ), PJU (northern PJ), and PJS (southern PJ). 2. Claypot Noodle also known as “nga poh meen” or “sar poh meen” is a popular hawker dish in Malaysia. The dish came piping hot, usually served in the individual clay pot the noodles were cooked in. Health Benefits. Despite being relatively low in some nutrients like fiber and protein. marketboy.sg Is Claypot good for health? According to Ayurveda Specialist at Dr. Vaidya’s, Dr. Surya Bhagwati, “cooking in a clay pot not only has a variety of health benefits but also makes for an easier cooking process and in the end, a more flavorful and nutritious dish. Due to its numerous health benefits, Ayurveda suggests cooking in a clay pot. mitticool.com 3. In central and northern India’s English-speaking middle classes and mid-level restaurants, “single-fried” refers to sunny side up (also known as a “bullseye”). 4. Lap cheong (Cantonese, or simplified Chinese; traditional Chinese; pinyin: làcháng; Jyutping: Cantonese Yale: laahp chéung) 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. The taste of lap cheong is distinctly different from better-known dried sausages, such as pepperoni, dry chorizo, or dry salami. Instead of a burst of garlic and spice, you’ll get hit with a tinge of sweetness and a bit of saltiness. 5. Bird’s eye chili or Thai chili or more commonly known as chili padi in Malaysia; is a chili pepper variety from the species Capsicum annuum that is native to Mexico. Cultivated across Southeast Asia, it is used extensively in many Asian cuisines. wikipedia 6. Singapore noodles, or Sing Chow Mei Fun as they are commonly known here, or Singapore mei fun; is a very popular dish in Malaysia as well as the US. It is made with thin rice noodles stir fried with a rich savory curry sauce and loaded with vegetables, meat and seafood. It is a matter of debate where this dish really originated.
A touch up, a minor one at that; is supposed to be with minor pain. “It is only logical”, as Spock of Star Trek would say. Hah! I think this is an irritating pain.
One thing led to another, and I began looking for another tattoo on the net. I was just going to see what was new, that was all. From one set to another to another, to other sites…the latest…the greatest…2024 small tattoos… for men… finger…arm…shoulder. The internet was flooded with what everyone of them said of the sites they were promoting: theirs was the best.
Then to choose one which has a meaning.. a symbol…, there was an infinite number to choose from. I stayed away from the ones that looked scary. I didn’t want to choose one that if I was to wake up in the middle of the night, would scare me out of my skin.
I chose some designs, finally; after more than an hour of searching. They each had a nice meaning linked to it. My final choice was between a rose and the word “continue”. I chose to give meaning of my own: Rose is a symbol of life, love and beauty. In any situation, it picks itself up and continues to add value to beauty and its surroundings. The word “continue” means we have to continue to strive for more than the best in all we do.
Like in most times, I always sought the opinions of the ones closest to me. Laura just had her second tattoo done. She said it was between the rose and the wave pictures. The rose ended up as the winner.
Rose
Wave
Before last night, I had no plans of getting another tattoo. I was just going for a touch up to the last tattoo I had done, only.
I got to the Dr Ink Studio a few minutes before my appointment time. I had to go through the usual: one of the employees sprayed a light disinfectant around me. I met Soon, who was his usually very pleasant, polite and courteous self.
Soon showed me to the chair that I would be sitting on , while he did the touch up. I also told him about my choice of the rose.
Should I say, “Ouch” or “Oo-la-la”? My first tattoo touchup.
A touch up, a minor one at that; is supposed to be with minor pain. “It is only logical”, as Spock of Star Trek would say. Hah! I think this is an irritating pain, somehow even more painful than when it was first done.
Before Soon started on the new tattoo; I asked him multiple x multiple (instead of using the word “many” – being American) questions like how much pain will I really be going through since that the thumb area was a sensitive area with constant movement. I was expecting him to say, “It isn’t going to be very painful”. However, he said it was going to be slightly more painful that the tattoo done on my arm. My questions were based more on my concerns of taking care of the tattoo just after its done for the next few days. He allayed all my concerns.
I said, “Let’s do it!”
Then, I realised it was shaving cream, which had disinfectant properties, too. Here, Soon shaves off whatever hair(s) I may have in that area.
At first, I thought this was a disinfectant, applied.
Whatever residue balanced, is wiped clean.
Steady as it goes: the exact placement where I want it to be and where it will look at its best all the time.
The stencil-ed picture is transferred on. The stencil is then removed before the procedure starts.
The ink.
The outline already looks good.
The saline is supposed to lighten the colour of the ink a bit (I think) to create hues of colour(in this case, black).
The procedure: Microscopic injecting of the ink.
One painful leaf almost done. The rest of the picture to go.
Done. The masterpiece.
I was impressed with the professionalism that Soon displayed in carrying out this task. All you gals n guys wanting to get tattoos done, should see Soon.
Should you get a tattoo or tattoos done? If you are thinking about it, now is a good time as ever.
A rose is but a rose… unless it’s tattoo-ed. Then, it is a rose, tattoo-ed. It reminds you that life is about love, and love is about life.
NOTES: The ink is injected INTO the skin. Artists create your tattoo by injecting ink into your skin using an electrically powered tattoo machine. This machine looks and sounds like a dental drill, with a needle that moves up and down to puncture the skin between 50 and 3,000 times per minute.
The Monday after Taylor Swift was in Singapore. No, I did not go for her concert. However, (I replaced the word “but” with this. “However” does not sound brash like the word “but”) it is the Monday after Taylor Swift performed her week long string of concerts in Singapore. I am not really a Swiftie fan like the Australian Prime Minister. I like more than “some” of her songs; not all of them.
On our way back from K.L. after picking my wife, Jeannie, and our daughter, Laura; up from work, we were caught in the usual snail pace traffic jam. One would think; after going though this daily evening task for months and years, we would be used to it by now. Well, traffic jams are one of those things that we do not want to get accustomed to. We are a nation of motor vehicles. Our roads, streets, highways…are not coming on stream fast enough to cater for this blizzard of motor vehicles.
So, what do we do? We chug along, impatiently patiently to get to out destination with our nerves intact (sometimes – barely). The car radio is kept off since there is more noise from it with its constant advertisements than from the traffic outside the car.
As we are meter-ing (We are averaging speed momentum at around 6kph to 8 kph), the question of what would we like to have for dinner. We want some place that is air-conditioned as the humidity is still high, though a bit lower than last week. So, we want comfort. Then, the offerings of what type of food, if Indian, will it be at the Taj or the Star, if Chinese food, will it be the coffee shop in SS15 or Kar Heong for their chicken rice and siew yuk, or do we go for Scottish food at McD’s?
We (Jeannie and Laura) quite quickly decided on the Star (Star Bhavan) because the restaurant is air-conditioned, clean, brightly lit, fairly easy to get parking (this is where the Taj loses out – parking is limited). Most important the food is superb and at decent reasonable prices.
Laura’s rice “set”, with masala chicken, potato, curry and papadam.
As we walked in to the restaurant, I noticed all their vadai, currypuffs and other snacks. I immediately chose 1 of each variety (a total of 5), packed them in bags (self-served) for takeaways as breakfast for tomorrow.
Indian doughnut (“donut”, American spelt), known as methu vadai.
Parapu vadai and a sort of kueh ringkas style in a ball.
Two different types of currypuffs.
Laura went for a rice set. She chose rice, masala chicken, potato and papadam. Here meal did not only look good, it tasted good, too.
Jeannie’s order of roti canai telur (egg). You can see the egg on the left, bottom, of the roti canai telur.It came with a spicy curry and what looked like dhal gravy.
My order of Nescafe ice, kurang manis (less sugar).
Jeannie ordered a roti canai telur (1). She ordered a hot tea to go with her meal. The tea looked good and I’m sure it tasted good, too. I am not a “tea” person.
Jeannie’s ordered tea.
This was the third time I ordered roti canai sardine; 3 visits in a row. It must have tasted so good that I had to keep ordering it. It did! This simple, yet fabulous meal, was served with a spicy curry and dhal gravy. RM5 or US$1.07: that was how much it cost.
Star Bhavan is clean and brightly lit; making it a pleasant experience each time we dine there. The food is consistently good. You are most likely going to come out of there each time, a happy and satisfied customer. This restaurant has its star shining brightly, for sure.
My order of roti canai sardine, with a spicy curry and dhal gravy.
Right to left: Laura in white, me, the Hatted Writer; and Jeannie.
NOTES: 1. Roti Canai telur. “Telur” means egg in Bahasa Malaysia. 2. Star Bhavan is in SS14/1, Subang Jaya. Subang Jaya is a bustling and lively city in the state of Selangor, Malaysia.
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.
Monday evening. Time: 6.07pm. Place: D.C. No, not Washington. Damansara City.
Jeannie and Laura are with me after work. Laura was not going to the gym this evening. Getting back to Subang Jaya was the usual crawl, slower than a snail moving in reverse.
We did not have that usual question pop up: “What are we going to have for dinner?” Laura straight away said that dinner will be at that Scottish restaurant (I learnt this from a very good friend who resides in South Carolina, and is about to celebrate his 85th birthday soon – Richard [Dick] Black). This was / is usually an everyday tough question – “What to eat?” Now that that was settled, getting back to Subang Jaya would only on a fairly good day, take an hour and a half.
I already had in mind which McD’s I was planning to head to, when Laura said, “You are planning to go to the SS15 drive- through”. I said, “Yes”, mainly for the ease of parking. This restaurant had a more spacious layout for a comfortable dining experience.
After a long while, we were on the Federal Highway and passed the suspension bridge next to the former Motorola factory. Traffic was still at a crawl here, when normally, we would be able to pick up the pace. The reason for the longer than usual crawl was that a DHL truck had broken down on the fast lane (far right of the highway). Once we passed this truck, the traffic was smooth sailing or was it rolling as we were on the highway, not on the river? We got to the Scottish restaurant a few minutes later. I was obviously dressed for the occasion. I had my newly acquired Tartan design (and material? -wool?) flat cap on.
Laura and Jeannie made the orders. I had the usual – Beef Prosperity burger which is dressed with black pepper sauce. It came in a combi set with a large packet of fries and coke. My first experience with prosperity burger was 30 years ago, when I went on a Prosperity burger lunch date with a girl I had eyes for.
The prosperity burger is on sale only at McD’s for a limited time each year just before Chinese New Year (CNY) (Lunar New Year), till just after CNY.
Laura and Jeannie both ordered the hot ‘n spicy fried chicken, also in sets with drinks and fries. Jeannie ordered apple pie as dessert for herself.
The rectangular shaped prosperity beef burger was absolutely delicious. With spring onions and black pepper sauce.
The prosperity burger was its usual – really good. It has maintained its taste, quality and size for over 30 years (all but a couple of years where what looked like a reduced size burger and the black pepper sauce was not up to par). It came freshly prepared. I had to delicately unwrap the burger to prevent getting some black pepper sauce on me.
Laura and Jeannie enjoyed their fried chicken. It looked really good. However, there was no space in my stomach for the chicken, what with we having to finish two mountains of fries. The food looked like it was way more than the three of us could eat.
We did have a nice time. The drive-thru’ was not overly crowded and it was generally quiet. It was a good chill time for us family. We treasure our family togetherness time.
Just before we tucked in to our meals. Me, with the red tartan flat cap.Notice in the middle picture and the one just on top. The guy with the tartan hat was holding his magic wand, a.k.a. (also known as) the “S-Pen” from his Samsung S23 Ultra; and shooting pictures while Laura held the camera phone at the right distance away to have all of us in the picture.
As for the girl I had a prosperity burger meal lunch date 30 years ago – she is now my wife.
Every day is a new day. For the last 30 years, save but 1 day; it has not just been any new day, each day.
For the last 30 years, save but 1 day, it has been with Jeannie. I never in my wildest dreams (pun?) and imagination would have thought that she was going to be with me as my life partner.
It all began 30 years ago, when I was one of the facilitators for the RCIA (Rites of Christian Initiation for Adults) programme at Church of St. Francis Xavier, Petaling Jaya. We facilitators, together with those walking in this 9 month programme; organised an outreach event to “Rumah Faith”, a children’s orphanage / home in Kajang (1), Selangor.
We gathered at the arranged meeting point early on the Saturday morning of January 18th. The sky was fairly gloomy, with large light grey clouds hanging (literally).
Jeannie arrived with her sisters. We decided to carpool and I quickly asked Jeannie to come in my car. I think that since my car was 2-doors (it was a near brand new [I already had it for 9 months] white, Ford Laser TX-3 1.8i (with the “T-spoiler”); the other people chose to go in the other cars. Which left Jeannie and I in my car.
We had a very good eventful experience at the outreach. The day ended early evening.
Come Monday, January 20th; I wanted to meet Jeannie again. By now, I had her office contact. I had to find some excuse just to meet with her. So, I telephoned (yes, “telephoned”) her and told her that I was nearby her office, whether she would like to meet for lunch. Her office was in the heart of K. L. (2) That was a huge fib! I was in my office in another part of K. L. Traffic snarls were notorious at that time and I had about 20 minutes to get to her office. She said, “O.k.”
I was to meet her at the lobby of her building, and then, we were to walk over to McD’s for our lunch. Her lunch break was limited to an hour, and I didn’t want to make it seem too forward. So McD’s it was. I put the “boy-racer” (that was what the Ford Laser TX-3 1.8i was known at that time. It was a powerful road machine) through its paces, nervously; managing to get to her office just a few minutes late.
We both ordered a McD’s “prosperity burger”. It was our first time trying this burger out. I think it was the first time that McD’s had introduced this burger. It was during lunch that Jeannie told me that her birthday was the day before (yes, I asked; trying to get as much information about her as possible).
From here on, it was history. We try to get the prosperity burger at McD’s every year. So, come every Jan 20th anniversary, we go for a prosperity burger meal.
Jeannie; our daughter, Laura; and yours truly (me or I? That is the question.)
These last 30 years, save but 1 day; Jeannie has been what a wife should always be: my better half. She has always been there for me. If there was anything that needed changing, it would definitely be my dancing.
Happy and Blessed Birthday, Jeannie!🌹🌹🌹❤️❤️❤️🌹🌹🌹
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.; Dec 31st, 2022
NOTES: 1. Kajang is a city in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. 2. K.L. is short for Kuala Lumpur. It is the capital of Malaysia.
Not too long ago, more like a month or so; we i.e. Jeannie and I started with Christmas preparations. It was more Jeannie than me.
For starters, she put up Christmas trees, yes…plural in “tree”. Not one tree, not two trees, but three trees. There were decorations in various parts of the house that was put up earlier on.
Laura, her boyfriend, Praga; Jeannie and I had a nice pre-Christmas dinner at Chili’s. The food was good – we enjoyed it. I had a Margarita for the evening. It was kinda of o.k., could have been better. It was a good evening.
The next evening, we. meaning Laura, Praga, Jeannie and I; were at St Thomas More Church, Subang Jaya, for mass. We made sure we were early, especially to avoid a possible downpour of rain (it has been raining almost everyday. Reverend Father Simon La Brooy presided at mass. The time at church was wonderful.
One of the traditional events that we are involved in and participate is the gathering of siblings and their families at mum’s and dad’s home in Klang for dinner on Christmas evening. I think we have been doing this for as long as I can remember.
Notice the little lighted Christmas tree?
Shirley, Sarah and her boyfriend, King; were the first to arrive. We (Laura & Praga, Jeannie and myself) were the next to be at the scene. A few minutes later, everyone else started arriving.
There was a wide spread of food, including lamb and shepherd’s pie. We also had Christmas fruitcake flown in all the way from Canada, courtesy of Ray and Susan.
ALL IN THE FAMILY Front row, right to left: Praga (Laura’s boyfriend), Laura (Jeannie’s and my daughter), Jeannie, Shirley, myself. Middle row, seated; right to left: Susan (Raymond Arnold’s wife), Uma (Malcolm’s wife), Dad, Mum, Mabel (Terence’s wife), Sarah (Shirley’s daughter). Third row, standing; right to left: Raymond Arnold (Behind Susan), Jay (Ashley’s husband), Ashley & Alana (both are Terence’s and Mabel’s daughters), Terence, Malcolm and King.
Malaysians – a must for their food.
The youngest and the eldest.
The youngest and the eldest of brothers.
The middle one.
The Three brothers👆
And the caroling began…
Christmas won’t be Christmas at the Atkinsons if there was no caroling. Malcolm and Jay took the lead. Everyone whipped out their phone song sheets. How convenient. No real flipping of paper pages unless you add the soundlike flipping of pages sound to your whatsapp thread when you search for song lyrics.
There was a mix of Christmas carols and non-Christmas carols – favourites.
Dad, recording with his smartphone. He’ s almost like Santa Clause. He knows who is singing in time and who isn’t. The proof is in the recording. Everyone’s getting presents.
The singing goes on.
Christmas seemed a bit different this time round. It seemed brighter, with lots more laughter and joy. Yes, we are all slightly older this time round, probably wiser, too. Christmas with family is an integral part of our lives, I guess. We remember Jen and Nigel, who were with us in spirit; too.
Time for that activity again. It’s Saturday evening. How fast time flies before we are at the activity again. Yes, you know the one I am talking about. We talk about it almost all of the time.
Some of us have set times for this activity, some have set a number as to how many times we can get into this activity, and there are some, who are it all day long.
You know this activity – “Eating”. Sounds like a chore? I think not. Malaysians are eating experts, though they are coy with the “expert” title. They will prefer “developing expert status” as Malaysia is a developing nation.
Malaysia is blessed with a wide spectrum of food, that it is almost impossible to say that we have tried them all.
So, yes; it is Saturday evening and we were on our way to dinner. We got in the car, and started to drive. The usual questions (mainly two) popped up, “What do you want to eat?” and “Where she will eat?”
We were heading to Sunway Pyramid, the “happening Shopping centre” or at least that is what we would like to believe. That about narrowed down the number of restaurants that we could choose from.
Laura, who was going to meet us for dinner, suggested “Bananabros”. I said, “Why not Oriental?” No, not the Oriental Express or The Oriental; Oriental the restaurant. One of the main reasons I like that place is it is brightly lit. Jeannie and Laura agreed, so Oriental it was.
We had to laboriously physically climb a stack of large books from the LL2 lower ground floor to get to the restaurant on the Ground Floor at the blue wing.
When we got there, we had to queue in a fairly long “S”-shaped line for a table. This place is so popular. It is full house most of the time. We did not really have to wait too long as most of the people in front of us were families or in groups.
Laura joined us just as we were about to get a table. We made our orders.
