Enjoying herself. With my Compaq 64GB, playing continuous music for her.
Where have the 23 years gone? I ponder on this question as I sit here, in the car, thumb typing this essay out on my Samsung Galaxy Fold 5, while in the mood of pondering or is it wondering? I will have to go with “pondering”.
I am sitting here in the car, waiting for Jeannie and Laura, while they shop for groceries at Aeon in Subang Jaya (1). We had just come from Mid-Valley Shopping Mall (2) after having lunch at Oriental restaurant and then doing a bit of shopping. Oriental was crowded, with a long queue as usual. While Jeannie and Laura waited in queue and made the orders at the same time; I made a bee line to Harvey Norman. It was quite a nice afternoon at Mid-Valley. As I wait for Jeannie and Laura; I tap, scribble, write and gesture-make commands on the Fold 5 with the S-Pen (besides the thumb-typing, coming up with this article; they, the two ladies; are getting groceries to stock up for the weekend.
I made a quick round to the usual favourite shops while we were at Mid-Valley, to check out special offer deals, if they had anything new. I stopped in at Planet Traveller, Crumpler, Samsung, Flash Gadget, Hat Attack, Teva, Harvey Norman, Timberland and the Nescafe booth where they sell the capsule coffee machines. It was more of a browse through. I was done in about an hour. So was Jeannie and Laura. I caught up with them at Bath & Body Work.
As we headed back to Subang Jaya, I suggested we stop by at Good Ground Bakery on our way in. (Story for another day). We had a nice, late afternoon slice of dark chocolate cake, a big pastry puff for eats. Laura had a chocolate drink while Jeannie and I both had a calamansi cooler each. The drinks were real thirst quenchers on such a hot Thursday afternoon.
These two pictures of Laura are at my work station.
Laura did the two pieces of art above 👆 on my Samsung Note 2 (at that time in 2012), using the S-Pen. Notice her eye for details. Amazing! Laura was nearly 12 years old when she put the Note 2 through its paces.
Singapore
At Universal Studios, Singapore.👆
A couple of recent pictures 👆taken at Starbucks, Empire Gallery Shopping Centre..
This was taken at The Carpenter’s Daughter (TCD) on Mother’s Day. With us (Jeannie, Laura and I) are Praga, her fiancé, (sitting on her right); and Christopher (my cousin), and his wife; Evalina.
Much of our get togetherness was always at the dining table, be it at breakfast, lunch, coffee / tea afternoon or dinner. These were the times when we all needed to do the same thing – eat / have our meals. And, many times when we were with family.
One for the album. A recent Atkinson family picture.
An evening recently, when Sarah Atkinson, was able to join us for coffee at Marks & Spencer, Sunway Pyramid.
“O.K. You caught me. I am still gonna eat.”This was a good candid shot.
When Laura was there to celebrate Jeannie’s and my MBA graduation. Not too long after that, some 20 years or so; Jeannie and I, were there for Laura when she graduated from university.
This was a time when Laura was embarking on a new adventure; when she was leaving for the U.S. for her tertiary education.
HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAURA! MAY GOD SHOWER HIS CHOICEST BLESSINGS IN ABUNDANCE ON YOU. LOVE YOU MUCH MORE THAN FOREVER!
NOTES: 1. Subang Jaya is an urban city in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. 2. Situated in K. L.. Kuala Lumpur or K.L. as it is commonly known in these parts, is a bustling metropolitan city. It is the capital of Malaysia.
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.
Who wants to know? Who wants to know?… The song being blurted out from the speaker.
A visit to the Scottish restaurant. Just after mass at St. Thomas More Church in Subang Jaya.
As a gust of strong wind blows across the street (instead of “road” for this description)…it kicks up a lot of dust….tumbleweed rolling. Not many vehicles… a rare long moment or moments where Taipan is not clogged with traffic crawling.
So, yeah… Waiting for our food. Made the order through faceless, talkless, broad… Yes, I’m talking about the screen where you just scroll up and down, down and up; sideways – left to right, or right to left. Make a mistake and start all over again.
Funny, how with all this technology available, the special offers for the days of during a special offer period – they all don’t show up on these huge screens. Something like “Today, all food is on the house, yes absolutely free…
Terms and conditions: Provided you wear a Scottish kilt, play a full Scottish song with bagpipes (not provided. Bring your own) and dance a jig, all at the same.
In small print👆
You will have to check for special offers on an app on your phone. Possibly…just possibly…you were notified through your email, which by the way would most probably be on your phone; of the special offers. The only way to take up this offer is to turn up at the restaurant, stand in front of the big order screen, tap on a “redeem” icon which has a 60, 90 or 120 second time limit to lay claim for this offer, key in the code that shows up after the redeem button is pressed in the app on your phone to enjoy $0.75 off the burger that they (the restaurant) want you to buy. That sounds easy enough.
This is all well and good if you are tech savvy. Most people just want to order their breakfast, lunch, dinner, a snack, a drink or just a simple ice-cream. There are sure not coming to a restaurant to be dazzled by all the technology. They aren’t going to say, “Oh Wow! Look at all the technology that I have to go through! I am impressed with the testing of my know-how just to order some fries. Let’s do it again.”
For those who are not as tech-savvy as the ones who are, it is going to be quite a pain. Not to worry, you will get the hang (hopefully the system does not hang) of it once you come to restaurants such as these, often enough.
Then, the wait for the order. Either your order number shows up on yet another screen, or it will be called up by a human being as the screen system is broken, or it is served when it is ready.
The belief is this system cuts down time to its “bare knuckles”, meaning that your order will be ready almost instantaneously, it does not. In fact, at times, it takes a longer time than making your order in person, over the counter.
Finally, your order arrives, and you are satisfied as all you wanted was a simple pack of fries.
The moral of the story is, “Don’t leave home without it, your hand phone, that is. At all costs.” Life is easy peasy with it.
On the highway heading east…. Camera in front… Camera at the back. High speed chase. Not sure if that famous actor… The one that acted in “TOP BUN PAKCIK” Tom Clues, was acting.
The scene was a guy in a Proton Jawa cut in front of a mid-size Honda (car enthusiasts will call it B Segment or C segment… don’t know which) at high speed. It was trailing a long trailer ( is there a pun in this?) and decided to pull out from behind it at the very last moment, cutting right in front of the Honda. The trailer was at high speed, I guess.
As soon as they passed the trailer, the Honda powered up all its Japanese horses (though they could be more Thai or Indo than Japanese, as most of the Hondas in Malaysia come from Thailand or Indonesia), gave chase and overtook the Jawa. The Jawa gave chase, came level to the Honda, then side-swiped him to run him off the road. Here, it is proven to be a myth that the Jawas are made from milo tin cans because this car was strong. The Honda held its ground. Presumably, Tom Clues was driving the Honda.
The Jawa side-swiped the Honda… a word from our sponsors… Youtube… and tried to push the Honda off. It moved just ahead of the Honda and knocked into the car. Then, it moved left, then right, then ran off the road and hit a road barrier. Here, the Jawa, tossed in the air… Tom Clues stopped his car ahead of the car being tossed in the air. You would expect Tom Clues to reach out to the Jawa driver while the Jawa was still in the air, flipping at high speed. Bubble burst because nothing like that happened. That was a scene from a Bollywood movie.
~ The End ~
In a rush to get back home for the long weekend holidays; people tend to get edgy. They should relax, pull over as many rest bays along the highway to relax, chillax and have a coffee. No need to rush. The above incident actually happened today. The characters and vehicles are fictional. I was having fun writing on the fly.
After dropping Laura off at the gym; Jeannie and I had that usual question pop up: “Dinner: What do you want to eat?”, I asked. “Up to you”, she said. I said, “I leave it to you”. She said, “Anything is fine with me”.
Now, you know how tough a question that can be. Though there are literally hundreds of restaurants around the area, we, without saying it; want something fast, tasty, cheap, reliable and not too far away from home. So, I said, “Let’s go to the Taj”. Jeannie agreed.
We were there within 10 minutes, had to drive around the car parking lot area three or four times before we got a parking. This was one of the easier days.
As we walked into the restaurant, we walked past the counter where all the food for the evening was displayed. I knew I was going to order either chapati or roti canai. They did not have any potato dishes on display. Among the many varieties available, there were two seemingly similar fried chicken dishes. We asked one of the waiters what the difference was. He said one was fried chicken. ookaaayyy. The other was chicken impossible.
“Sorry, what was that?”, I asked. He said, “chicken impossible”. I kid you not. That was what he said. Or at least, that was what I thought he said. I told Jeannie that we will have the chicken impossible, and to pick the pieces with more flesh instead of bones.
Chicken impossible.
We chose a table in the air-condition dining room. Though the skies have been overcast the whole day with short spats of light – to – heavy drizzles; the weather was still humid. Jeannie went for rice with vegetable dishes. I went for chapati. My favourite waitress (the Taj only has 1 waitress; the rest are waiters), Harmann; took our drink orders. We both ordered lime juice, no sugar.
Jeannie’s rice and her choice of vegetables looked really good. The long grains of rice looked fluffy and would have tasted delicious. Jeannie said that it was delicious – her whole meal was delicious.
Harmann served my order of two chapati and the chicken impossible. I decided to have chapati because my weight was inching its way up on the weighing scales, so much so that I hit 76.7kg yesterday. I scaled back on eating since then. I skipped lunch and also holding off the sugar. I am aiming to get back to 67kg, the weight that I was at in March 2019.
The chapati was good. 2 pieces was a meal by itself. The chicken impossible was ok. Pieces were chunky meat, fried but without oil. I think that was the difference between this chicken dish and the fried chicken. The curry leaves that were with the chicken (as you can see in the picture) were more to add flavour.
I thought this dish was going to be spicy. It wasn’t at all. Overall, the chicken was nice, but I prefer the chicken to be fried in oil and for it to be spicy. The Taj is more popular especially for its spicy food, besides it being a convenient place for fast and relatively moderate priced food. When I say “fast food”; it actually is fast served food compared to the fast food restaurants. You order your food on those large screens, make a payment and then wait. They are not as fast as The Taj or Star Bhavan and places like that.
If you want fast and reliably tasty food, this is the place to come to. Except, that the limited parking available can at times be a “hair-pulling” experience.
As for why the chicken dish is called “chicken impossible”, I think the waiter may have mispronounced it. I don’t know, but “chicken impossible” definitely sounds inviting; like something you must try.
