SOMETIMES IT FEELS SO GOOD TO JUST SIT BY YOURSELF, RELAX AND NOT TALK TO ANYONE.
IT IS NOT THAT YOU ARE NOT DOING ANYTHING. YOU ARE. YOU ARE LIVING IN THE PRESENT, SOAKING IN THE “NOW”; OFTEN WHICH WE DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME FOR.
~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller
2nd Edition, May 2nd, 2024. 8.20pm
It was about 3.30am when I decided to hit the sack or turn in. It was a good evening, where I managed to publish an article and get some other work done. It did not take too long for me to fall off sleep.
I was up bright and early in the morning at 9.00am. It was a public holiday today, celebrating Labour Day. My cousin Chris, and his wife Evelina; was coming to pick Jeannie and I up at 10.30am, and together, we were going over to their friend, Allen’s place. Chris introduced Jeannie and I to Allen when we met at Grand City Restaurant in P.J. (1) a few months ago.
Traffic was quite smooth and after multiple x multiple turns, we arrived. I was trying to get my bearings to see exactly where we were in K.L.. (2) All I knew was that we were somewhere in Sungai Besi. (3) “Sungai Besi” is Bahasa Malaysia for “Steel River”.
It was good to meet with him again. His beautiful condo was definitely a place to unwind, chill and relax. Allen saw to it that it had all the trappings of comfort. In it, included a very large maintenance free, wall mounted aquarium. What else could one ask more of? The aquarium was his tv.😁
We weren’t there for very long as we had to leave, and take a short walk to a cafe for lunch by following Allen. A friend of his was joining us there.
As we arrived at the cafe, so did his friend, too. Introductions were made. Sidney is a very close friend and former La Salle School, P.J. classmate of Allen’s.
The cafe was Called, “Memorie”; with it’s tagline, “Taste of Eurasian”. That was going to be interesting.
We sat right inside, which was the front of a ship. No kidding. Jeannie said, we could stand in front of the ship and pretend to fly, like in the film, “Titanic”. Not to mention, sing the song, “I Believe I Can Fly”. Doesn’t sound quite right. I think it’s, “My Heart Will Go On”. Must be because I am not quite a fan of Celine.
Jeannie and Evelina did most of the food ordering. I ordered the Shepperd’s Pie. Allen ordered a green curry noodle (I think) dish, which did not have any shrimp ingredient – just the way he liked it.
The food arrived quite fast. It not only looked good, it tasted good as well. The Shepperd’s Pie came with some french fries, some leafy stuff and half a cherry tomato. Yes, half a cherry tomato. So, the focus zoomed in on half a cherry tomato instead of the whole dish. That fact stuck in my mind. The Shepperd’s Pie had the usual mashed potato baked as atop layer of the pie. The pie’s filling was beef. I thought it would come with minced beef. Instead it came withy chunky pieces. Tasted good. In fact, all the dishes were good.
There was lots, o.k., o.k., “multiple” stories told of school days and what they did. I had a little bit to share of La Salle P.J. School days as I studied there when I was in Standard One through Standard Three (Year 1 to Year 3 in “today’s terminology). I still remember when my Standard One class teacher, Mrs. Lee, came to our house one day to complain (share her concern), that I was slow in class. I didn’t think of myself as slow. I just did not want to waste time on trivial matters like Year 1 school work. I had big dreams and I was making plans on how to achieve them.💭😏
We adjourned back to Allen’s condo for coffee for some of us, and the hard stuff for the others. Sidney shared a lot about playing squash on wide courts, as he was still playing at tournaments “at his age”. I don’t quite using “at his age”, “at our age”, etc; as it is meant to indicate that we are suppose to slow our pace down, or we can’t do this or that anymore. So, here, when “at his age” is mentioned, it is meant to indicate that he plays in the “Masters” – indicating the seniors’ age group.
The view from the condo was quite breathtaking. It was slightly hazy. We were told that the night view can be spectacular. Looking at the picture below, you can see that construction for high rise buildings are still on the go.
By the time we left, it was half four, or half past four, or 4.30pm in the afternoon for some, and evening for others. We all thanked Allen, who was the perfect host. He invited us to go over again soon for another good “session” like the one we just had.
On our way back, we were met with sputters of rain along the way, nothing much. We reached home at about 5 on the hour. I thought I’d go on my 10km walk. However, the skies thunders gathered and before long, the rain followed.,
Addendum (I wonder if we can call it this. By jove, we can. 😁): May 2nd, 2024; 8.20pm:
Allen added that I missed out on mentioning us reminiscing on some of the Malay hits of the ’70s and ’80s by “Freddie & the Flintstones”, “Search”, “Alleycats” and many more. Oh yes, and Allen is quite the singer and dancer: he’s a good singer, he’s nimble and he’s got the moves.
NOTES:
1. Petaling Jaya or P.J. as it is more commonly referred as, is a city in the state of Selangor, Malaysia.
2. K.L. or Kuala Lumpur, is the capital of Malaysia.
3. Sungai Besi is Bahasa Malaysia, which literally translates to “Steel River”. It was a historical mining town with many heavy industries such as steelworks, waste steel plants and other steel industries. Sungei Besi Tin Mine site was the largest and deepest open cast alluvial tin mine in the world and in Malaysia. The town has since developed from a large area of village settlements. wikipedia
I guess it’s one of those days…You know… when something does not go your way… I was working on this article and had put together something. Was half way done. Then, my wife Jeannie had to go on an errand to the shops nearby. I volunteered to go with her. I thought I had saved my work before shutting down my pc. It didn’t save. I think my pc shut down faster than it could save. Well, that means, my re-written / typed / Logi keyboard thumped work, should be better than the first one lost.
It was a good day to start with. It was like a day off with plenty of time…no I will rephrase that, “quite a bit of time”, free. The tasks I set out to do until now, was completed ahead of schedule. So, extra time to spare. After a couple of hours extra rest, I felt I needed to do something.
I have talked in my earlier articles that we may have forgotten how to enjoy the extra free time we have (1) . People become fidgety and load their time-schedule with more things to do and then complain that they are so stressed with too much to do and too little time to do these tasks.
It is something somewhat like the phrase, “No choice”. It is very common among Malaysians. However, there is no such thing as no choice. There is always a choice. Whether you choose to take action or not doing anything is a choice.
Wanting to jalan-jalan (2), my wife, Jeannie, the Batik Influencer; and I, the Hatted Writer😉; decided to take a drive down to Starling Mall in Damansara, P.J.. (3) It has no connection (I think) with Star Bhavan and Starbucks, just because of it having “star” in its name. It was more of Jeannie wanting to go there – change of scenery. The last time we visited the mall was several months ago.
Traffic was slightly heavy. It was smooth flowing. We arrived at the mall in under half an hour. The first thing we got there was to look for food. No wonder I am 76.8kg!
We came across this little restaurant at Foodies’ Nest called “Triple Happiness”. Their menu was basically noodles or rice based. We ordered “Roasted Pork Mihun Curry”. Jeannie and I had a heavy brunch, so we decided to share 1 bowl of this meal.
It did not just look good, it tasted great to the very last drop of the curry. Simply delicious. It came in a normal size noodle bowl. There was a generous serving of big pieces of siew yuk, half a hard boiled egg, tofu, green long beans, bean sprouts and spring onions. The meal was spicy, but not to the extent that you would perspire profusely. It was so good to the very last drop. It is a “must try” for those who can eat this. After our meal, I went up to the lady at the Triple Happiness restaurant and complimented their food as “excellent!”. She thanked me for the compliment.
After our meal, Jeannie and I will usually go our separate ways – she to the stores she likes, and I, to the ones I like (which were very few). However, whenever we come to this mall, we will together, visit “Tiny Bench” first. It is a store that was started by two young ladies, selling local leather products. When I last spoke to one of the owners a few years back, she said they put in many a day with very long hours. They have done well for themselves.
The first product I purchased from them in 2015 was an A5 notes 6-ring binder which I still have today. My decision to buy this leather binder was because I was impressed by the quality build and the leather materials they used for their products. Their prices were reasonable, too.
Over the years, we have bought more leather note binders for Jeannie and Laura, leather key-rings, leather bookmark tags and other items from Tiny Bench. They have an interesting range of multiple product lines and have opened several branches in various shopping malls.
Jeannie shopped for some clothes and got something for Laura, our daughter. It is a local traditional outfit in a very nice, striking, elegant shade of red.
We spent another hour or so at Starling before heading back home. Our ride home was smooth traffic all the way. It was a very pleasant and enjoyable evening.
I’ve completed this essay, and saved it, too.😅
NOTES:
1. http://leatherpotato.com/2024/03/10/lemon-coffee/
2. Jalan-jalan is a Bahasa Malaysia word for travel.
3. P. J. short for Petaling Jaya, is a bustling city in the state of Selangor, Malaysia.
For as long as I can remember, the Batik Influencer kept turning on her charm to influence me to take her to the beach. And always, there was something that always seemed to clash with the dates we wanted to go; which weren’t many.
Then, Laura went to Port Dickson (P. D.) (1) with her friend for a wedding. And stayed for the night. And went to the beach the next morning. And spent some time there.
That set Jeannie’s sights to go the very next weekend, which is this weekend, the Chinese New Year hols. Laura booked us in last Tuesday….or was it Wednesday? Anyway, we were set.
Our Sunday itenary was to go for the 8.30am mass at St. Thomas More Church, then go for breakfast somewhere nearby and start our journey to P. D. at 11.00am.
Sunday (that is today), came. We went for the 8.30am. mass at St. Thomas More church. Check☑️I found mass quite entertaining… the Music Ministry…let’s just leave it at that.
We passed by a couple of Indian restaurants with the hope of having roti canai for breakfast. They were closed. On the second day of Chinese New Year! Can you beat that? One would think that they would capitalislze on all the Chinese coffee shops, kopitiams and restaurants that are closed because of the lunar holidays.
Then, we heard bagpipes being played in the distant background…no, our car is Japanese, not Scots. And the bagpipes…imaginary, as we decided on McD’s – reliable for being open everyday.
We had a quick breakfast… The Batik Influencer ordered a “hash brown wrap” and iced coffee and I; a sausage with egg McMuffin and iced coffee. It was a quick breakfast. I wanted to go back home for a short rest before going on the fairly long drive. We anticipated that we were going to have more than our fair share of the blazing sun. To give some perspective, P. D. is closer to the earth’s equator than Subang Jaya (2). Hence, it definitely was going to be much hotter in weather temperature.
We started our journey at noon. As we got on the Seremban (3) highway intersection from the highway route that we got on from the Toll plaza, we got (3 “got” [s] ) smack into the usual jam at Nilai. It seems perpetual as any time of the day is a crawl. Got past that jam about half hour later and it was a breeze drive all the way for about 5 minutes.
Now, it was the Seremban traffic crawl heading down South, for as far as we could see. For those heading to Johore (4) and Singapore, you have my sympathy.
As we turned off to the P. D. highway, there were pockets of jams, all a few minutes each. Jeannie insisted we used Google maps and I said I knew the way. However, Google Maps showed the way that was shorter, at least on Google Maps itself. I decided to follow the electronic guide. We didn’t know what was in store for us next.
We followed the directions shown by Google Maps. It took us into one of the small Malay kampungs (villages in English). We went through some very narrow roads (more like dirt tracks) and very tight and bumpy turns. The map showed the sea was so close by.
I kept turning to look at the back seat to see if we picked up some chickens and goats. The movie, “SHADOWS IN THE SUN” was still very fresh on my mind where Welson Parrish drove and crashed the publisher’s car into a chicken coup.
We managed to get out of there without picking up any chickens or goats. If we had gone the way I knew, we could have avoided this “scenic” route.
The Batik Influencer said, at least now, I had a story to tell. Possible title, “HATTED WRITER’ S FEATHER IN THE HAT”.
We’ve checked into our room. I chose to pen this down, while Jeannie does some office work. We’re waiting for the sun to go to the other side of the equator, at least a little bit, when the temperature outdoors will be cooler before venturing to the outdoors, itself; feeling the white sand and the wet sands of the beach, soaking in (that should be from the wetness of the seas of the Straits of Malacca) the many colours and hues of the sky, the sun and the many sounds of humans, enjoying the simple pleasures of life – playing on the beach and in the seas.
In the meantime, let’s make light and easy plans for galavnating around P. D..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This article would have been published earlier on in the evening, if not for it getting lost somewhere in the back office. I was going to launch it at the same time as the one just before this that was published. I had to seek my daughter, Laura’s help; to try and recover the article.
There must have been a clash of two articles because this which I wanted to publish as I had already seen the final draft, was launched at the same time as the previous article which meant both articles would have been published.
Long story short; I managed to retrieve it from another sector, had to modify it slightly and re-add the pictures in
NOTES:
1. P. D. (Port Dickson) /is a seaside town, located in the state of Negeri Sembilan.
2. Subang Jaya is a city in the state of Selangor, Malaysia.
3. Seremban is a city in the southern state of Negri Sembilan, Malaysia.
4. Johore is the southern most state of Malaysia.
It is Sunday evening or described as “afternoon” in some parts of the world. Just about to start on a new article. Actually, I’ve put down a couple of lines yesterday, in my ideaSketchpad💡, a topic I want to touch on.
The colourful Christmas tree lights are blinking chirpily (“colourful” way of describing them). We’ve got two Christmas trees up. Jeannie put them up and decorated them very beautifully. One tree has some of our keepsakes from our travels as decorations on it. Christmas carols are coming over the air, softly, in the background; via the Google Home Mini.
Actually is another word for “honestly”, “really”, “truthfully”, “to be honest”. When a person uses this word, or it’s equal meaning of honesty, really, truthfully, to be honest, what I mean to say, the list goes on; it sort of creates a doubt of what you are saying, said or did. It also gives a hint of a lack of confidence.
Having said that, Michael Shumacher and many other Formula 1 drivers, used “honestly” and “to be honest” frequently. And they sure did not show any lack of confidence.
Here, the reason I used the word, “actually” is because I thought I had not much to go. However, I seemed to have spun a side essay from what I intended to write about.
This is Deepavali, the “Festival of lights”, where good triumphs over evil. Jeannie and I went down to Section 17, Petaling Jaya for lunch. She said I had to try this place for their Siew Yoke. I will write about it in an few days. This area in Section 17, was where Jeannie and I used to come for dinner after work, when the open air stalls were around. That was over 25 years ago. Now, stands “Seventeen” a shopping mall / residence and office block; imposing and quite odd to be so close to the houses around it.
On our way back to Subang Jaya, we stopped at this restaurant, “TBX”; not “TRX” I am reminded by Chris, my cousin. He has been talking about this place and invited me to join him for a coffee a few times, and all times, I was not free. I do not want to term it as “cafe” because I don’t quite think it fits the bill. It is kind of nice. Quite pricey, too. I will be writing my initial take of this, too.
A quick check on this place on the net: it has quite a few good reviews. Mine will not follow (Tow the line?) that trend. I will write on the experience that we had this afternoon. Overall, it is a nice place, airy, gives the impression of sitting on the porch.
I am going to go for my 10km walk now. I have to work out all the food that I have eaten over the last couple of days, especially the sugar. Besides the walk, I had plans to go to Mid-Valley Shopping Mall with Jeannie. We will have to give it a skip.
When I get back from my walk, I will then get cracking on the essay I intended to write in the first place.
NOTES:
It was a Friday morning, last Friday that is; that I was on an errand to the local grocer. It is quite fanciful, the term “local grocer”. To malaysianise “local grocer”, we more often than not call it “provision shop”.
The term “provision shop” seems too general and really does not indicate what they actually sell. For that, you need to be Malaysian. Mostly all Malaysians know that a provision shop or “kedai runcit” (pronounced as “Ke-da-iee roon-chit”) is a general store that sells different food products like: Beverages · Biscuits · Breads & Spreads · Chocolates & Sweets · Condiments & Sauces · Dairy & Chilled food items. Many of these shops or stores also sell general household food and non-food products, too.
Anyway, back to my story. When I was walking back to the car after getting a couple of things for the house; I saw a bright yellow colour background “A-Board” with the words “Jing Specialty Coffee”, by the side of an entrance leading up a staircase.
As I am an unofficial, self-proclaimed connoisseur of coffees, you know; all those coffees you will find in the littlest knooks and corners of a street, shopping mall, small town, and, yes, including the 3-in-1s, 2-in-1s and the coffee bags only type of coffees; I was curious (not “kay poh” [1]) as to what this was all about.
So, I walked up the stairs, opened the door and there it was. A cosy café right above the New Apollos coffee shop…er restaurant. It was nothing like I had ever seen…around these parts…our neighborhood.
It was a CAFE. Not the usual coffee shop or a stall. A café. Pleasant set up, comfortable. Soothing music playing in the background. Where we can have pleasant conversations without having to talk on top of our voices just to be heard like in some of the restaurants, coffeeshops, kopitiams or mamak. The restaurants, coffeeshops, kopitiams and mamak each hold on to their own charm and that’s what makes them a popular “go-to” place.
I met Eugene, the co-owner of Jings, a young gentleman; who told me that the cafe started business a week ago. Right now, they had several types of coffee on the menu, some of which were their own specialties. They also had various cakes on their shelves, all looked rich in calories. 😁
I told Eugene that I would be back another time.
When I got home, I texted (messaged / Whatsapp-ed) my cousin, Christopher and asked if he’d like to meet up at Jings Specialty Coffee that afternoon, though it was on such short notice. He was game for anything new.
We met at 2.00pm. There were a few customers already enjoying the café atmosphere. Chris ordered a tea and I had an Americano. The Americano is from local coffee beans, roasted in a special way, I think. This is supposed to differentiate the coffee here from other cafes. The coffee was nice.
We tried their cheesecake Biscoff. We were told that Eugene’s partner’s relative makes this cheesecake Biscoff and has orders from other cafes, too. We were also told that it was the least sweetest of all the cakes they were offering. The cake was nice, though we could still hear the calorie register ringing furiously in our ears.😁
Chris and I brought each other up to speed with regards to our going-ons and families. We thought this was a good opportunity as we don’t meet that often. With this café setting and ambience, not to mention easy-to-find-car-parking space in the area; we plan to meet more often in the future.
Eugene informed us that that will be putting pastas on their menu in the coming weeks.
“Jings”, the new neighborhood buzzword; is liked “Cheers” (a popular 1990s tv comedy show), for the USJ 4 neighborhood. A place for a nice cup of coffee in the morning or afternoon. This is a good opportunity for neighbors around the area to possibly get to know one another.
The address: 2a, Jalan USJ 4/6b, USJ 4, 47620 Subang Jaya, Selangor. It is just above New Apollos restaurant. Jings complements the local food cuisine offered by New Apollos. Check it out.
NOTES:
Grocer: Convenience store · General store · Grocer · Grocery shop · Grocery store · Retail outlet · Retail shop · Retail store.
[1] “Kay Poh” or “Kay Poh Chee” is a slang word commonly used in Malaysia to mean busybody.
Coffee, coffee everywhere. Many people enjoy a coffee or two…or more (yes, me😉) a day. You noticed I said “a coffee”. Does not work for tea. It does not sound quite nice if you say, “Many people enjoy a tea…”; but if you say “a cuppa”, people know you are talking about tea and not coffee.
When I talk passionately about coffee, it is not because I must have it or my day will be ruined. It’s just that it works well with me.
There are so many coffee establishments both big and small, everywhere. And, more keep opening. I welcome all, especially the startups; as many are creative with their “coffrings” (coffee offerings).
Themed outings seem to be the fad these days, at least that’s what I thought.
Then, I remembered rather vaguely, the preparations that were put into my wedding with Jeannie, 26 years ago. It started off with “we’ll do this” and “we’ll do that”… lot of excitement with lots of planning as ours was of two cultures coming together. Seemed so complex. Then, somewhere along the way, some smart alec suggested a wedding planner. All those around us seemed excited that we did have a wedding planner…initially…all with the exception of me, perhaps.
Here, was this stranger, fussing and telling (commanding?) us what we had to do and not to do. I could not recognise the original idea we had for our wedding. And, he kept tossing this word, “package” around with a loud cash register ringing almost every second he opened his mouth or flapped his hands in all directions. I thought I was getting married. Instead, I felt like I was a “prop” in a themed event; and I was paying for it! We decided he had to go as he was stressing me out.
Coming back to coffee. I wanted a change of scenery and to possibly try out new coffees. I ogled up for cafes and found what looked interesting – Gardenage by Craftman in Kota Kemuning. It is a cafe decorated by plants around it and within the cafe.
Getting to Gardenage (more catchy than its full name) can be a bit tricky, even for Google Maps. Once you get in the area (there is a “Gardenage” signage at the road entrance, pointing towards the direction of Gardenage. Then, it is easy as there are two or three rows of shop-lots, on their own. It is housed in a couple of shop-lots. Now, I know why they call it the “secret cafe”.
A head’s up: Best to make reservations. On the day we went, we did not make reservations and had to wait half an hour to get a table. Looking at the menu, this was more a restaurant than a cafe. Fancy food on the menu, commanding premium prices.
Coffee on the menu – not much of a choice. On the subject of the menu, you have to scan a QR code to view the menu on your phone. To me, that is a bit of a loss on the personal touch. Richard Kok, a fellow swimmer parent; laughed when I complained that the process of having the menu on your phone instead of a physical one, had it’s meaning lost, when a waitress had to come take down our orders. I think it would have been easier if there were checkboxes against the items on the menu. In that way, it would have saved us time of waiting for a waitress to show up and take the order.
The food was generally good.
There was a continuous flow of customers streaming in, which proved the food was good. It did give us the feeling that they kind of hinted we overstayed our welcome, that we could not really take our time, “chilling out”. We were there for about an hour and a half only.
Gardenage is also a nursery where you can purchase plants, pots and garden items. It is worth checking out if you are in the area and want something different in your garden.
A few days later, we were on a hunt for a new joint for our fix. To say we needed a fix perhaps is stretching it a bit too far. I am on coffee throughout the day. Leaving my workstation which is “live-streaming coffee” throughout the day, to go to another place for coffee is more for a change of scenery and try something new with coffee in it.
Tiennielicious (a tongue twister name) in USJ 4/1, in which I stumbled upon by accident is a fairly new start-up. It was one evening, after 5pm, that we, Jeannie and I; wanted to “ronda” (“ronda” a Malay word, sounds better than the English equivalent “galavant”) for coffee. I thought we’d go to Foliage Coffee, a first for us.
We arrived at Tiennielicious Cafe at just after 6pm, that Friday evening. We were kind of excited to have found a cafe that was so close to home, our own neighbourhood cafe. They had their range of coffees and cake. We decided we’d try their specials – I had their pineapple ice-coffee and Jeannie had their lychee ice-coffee. This was a sort of a fizzy coffee with fruit blended in it. Not sure if I have described it right but it was nice. The pineapple version does change in taste a bit when the drink gets warmer.
Their Lotus Biscoff brownies are worth talking about. It was totally yummy. From what we were told, it was homemade. In fact, all their cakes are. The waitress did not rush but spent time explaining when the cafe started, all the items on the menu and what their business philosophy was about. Though it was nearing closing time for the cafe, their customers were still at ease and relaxed. This cafe is on top of 7-11 in USJ 4/1. Worth going to for coffee and cake, especially if you are in the neighbourhood.
Foliage Coffee – the saga of having coffee amongst the lush, green surroundings of plants. It all started when an article of Theresa de Silva popped up on one of my social media sites. She was talking about coffee and plants and this “Foliage Coffee” she was a part of. She posted several pictures of this what seemed like a unique decor-ed cafe (at least to me). Jeannie loves plants. So, it was settled. This was where we would go next.
I phoned Theresa, telling her that we’d be at her cafe at 7.00pm for dinner. She told me the cafe operates till 7.00pm daily. It was then that I realised that many of these one or two store, personalised cafes have their business operating till 7.00pm to cater for those who just ended their day’s work and want a coffee to unwind and escape the daily going home traffic jams. This was when I searched for other cafes and found Tiennielicious (it is a mouthful to pronounce) and Gardenage.
Our first visit to Foliage Coffee was for lunch on Labour Day, a public holiday. Located in Taman Desa, Kuala Lumpur; it was pretty easy to get to with the use of Google Maps. Jeannie and I were impressed by it being a standalone building or sort of garden, lush with natural greens everywhere.
I told one of their employees that I would like to meet with Theresa. Their employee said that she was not coming in that day. I texted her that Jeannie and I were at her cafe and we liked it. The next thing we knew was that Theresa and her husband, Edwin; showed up to meet with us. It was a nice gesture of them.
I had a burger and ice coffee. Jeannie had a fish (I think) dish and hot coffee. When I looked around, I wondered how the meals were going to be prepared as there did not have a kitchen there. A while later, the waiter brought our meals from outside the building. I thought that they got our meals from a nextdoor restaurant. But hang on… they are on their own.
Edwin and his family, started a business called “Rent a Pot” around 40 years ago. It is a business where they provide leafy, green decor to offices and look after the maintenance of these plants. Their customers can opt to change different plants, if and when they want a “new look” in their offices. Edwin said their business is doing very well as their customers like this type of “exchange” arrangement.
Theresa said they thought of this idea of a cafe in the garden as they had the perfect setting and locale.
Jeannie went on a self-tour of the place. She found the outdoor toilet rather fascinating. It was greens, greens everywhere, plants and more plants, even in the toilet. When we were leaving, I took a quick self-tour myself. Then, I found that their kitchen was outside in the garden, tucked away amongst the plants. Nifty idea.
Our second visit to Foliage Coffee was the very next day. We had Richard Kok, our swimmer parent good friend; join us for lunch. Like (here I am using this word in its proper context) Jeannie, he has an interest in plants. As for me, y-e-e-ea-a-ah, sort of; to a certain extent.
We had to settle for lunch that did not need a cook’s on-the-order preparation as the cook was on Raya (2) break. Mine was a sort of sausage roll (I had two – one a jumbo(?) and 1 normal), Jeannie and Richard ordered a sandwich, each. We had some sort of tortilla (I think) chips.
The double shot expresso was good. I enjoyed slowly sipping it. Though it got cold after a while, I still enjoyed it till the last drop.
We knew we were going to be at Foliage Coffee for lunch. So did the mosquitoes. I was bitten several times by them. The portable battery operated insect repellents were not working. The main one, hanging in a tree nearby, was not working, too. Minor issue. Their other patrons did not seem to mind.
We enjoyed the atmosphere and ambience of Foliage Coffee, both indoors and in the garden. We like the very relaxed mood it provided. Mind you, it is very conducive to have small business meetings there.
There are many writers who blog about all the cafes around. Many of these articles are “static” sort of propped for photos and the right words and things to say. They have their target audience.
I attempt to write on my feel and those around me, their experience at the time we were there – an objective view. Going to the same place again, as we did at Foliage Coffee; gives us a new angle to look at things. At Foliage Coffee for instance, our second visit was having lunch and coffee in their garden – a different experience.
All three establishments: Gardenage by Craftman, Tiennielicious (yes! Got the spelling by memory, correct) and Foliage Coffee; have their own reach of customers (I prefer this word to “patron” – sounds more engaging). If you want to try different things with “coffee” as a pull factor; all three are definitely worth checking out.
Back to the story of our wedding preparations… In the end, we had a wonderful wedding, simple…the way we had originally planned. The Rolls Royce Silver Shadow that was to be used as our wedding car broke down a couple of days before the wedding. We ended up with a friend’s BMW 7 Series which was just as good.
NOTES:
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Gardenage by Craftman,
8, Jalan Anggerik Aranda A 31/A,
Kota Kemuning, 40650 Shah Alam, Selangor
Tiennielicious Cafe,
20A, Jalan USJ 4/1, USJ 4,
47600 Subang Jaya, Selangor
Foliage Coffee,
9-1, Jalan Desa Utama, Taman Desa,
58100 Kuala Lumpur