Street food of the Year

SSL Noodles.

My tastebuds are now in a lovey-dovey mood with various noodles this stall has to offer. Despite the fact that you could see Remies playing hide and seek, it is still one of the most popular ones in Desa Setapak area. If you love Ratatouille, you should have no problem understanding why such a prestigious award goes to SSL. =p

Meet Plastic. Off-peak hours.

My fave- Gai Bei Yok Choy Xue Xu Meen. Their drumsticks fared better compared to Colonel Harland Sanders'.

Note: Do expect to pay a 20% premium for their street atmosphere. Irony, but true! =)

Blogging at war zone

Explosion of bombs, firing of guns, blah blah. I'm now at a cybercafe, people around me are so obsessed with all those games. A group of secondary students shouted at several hundreds decibels just now to celebrate their (typing) victory, louder that what American armies did when they successfully conquered Afganistan and Iraq.

This is a war zone without real bloodshed. We studied in History that Malaya gained independence without any bloodshed, too, right? Hm, I suppose our late Tunku and friends were some of the world's best gamers.

Singapore in shower.

My recent trip to Singapore brought me another familiar stamp on my passport. Well, I must say the trip did stimulate my tastebuds again. Neither my tougue nor eyes can forget the sexy dining experience at The Hooters. Their waitresses are so sexy that even the most pretentious innocent guy on earth would like to glimpse at them. Some sensitive boys, like primary kids, might even find its washroom orgasmic, as they have sexy waitresses watching over you near the urinals (just pictures la!). =p Anyway, till now I still couldn't believe that I had S$40 (S$160/4pax) dimsum at a famous-but-I-have-forgotten-what-its-name restaurant, near Orchard. The dimsum was great, but the taste was quite similar to Ipoh's famous... and I started to think Ipoh's dimsum is a bargain!

The crowd-puller. Queue to enter.

Some of the things we had.

Places visited were almost the same as my previous trips (didn't revisit Changi though), but it wasn't boring at all, as they always have lotsa new attractions to offer. (I've blogged about my recent trips over here, here, and here.)

Back home, we had a family raya gathering at KLCC Traders- a place I fell in love since my very first encounter with it sometimes ago. Our room, facing KLCC park, was truly awesome. DIY postcards can be made anytime, due to the magnificent view it has. Staying here has made me dream of owning a unit of Avare.

The view from our room. This gonna be the best postcard on earth.

The rooftop's Skybar is definitely the best bar in KL, offering the best view of the city centre, better than Luna Bar (though the latter has a greater washroom)!

Skybar.

The view from Skybar in the morning.

Thanks to nice coconuts during our buffet lunch at Jogoya Starhill, it made my urine smelled so good that reminded me of the best coconuts on earth that we had in Bangkok, last December. The buffet was really an ecstacy to my tastebuds, too much varieties and yummy. That night, we hopped into the hotel's buggy to Suria KLCC, to get a surprise birthday cake, and we celebrated mom's belated birthday together with relatives who visited us. :)

Ecstacy to the tastebuds. Her tongue proved it!

525 kilometres

It's time for tiger to be coached by lion.

Cause: Plenty to blog but not enthusiastic to write.
Effect: Nothing to read.

Cause: Plenty to blog but too enthusiastic to travel down south.
Effect: Nothing to read. More topics ought to be blogged.

Sigh, all these while I've been accumulating topics. I have been wondering what would happened if blogging is to be made compulsory by God.

Anyway, I'm having my three-minus-one weeks semester break right now. Instead of living 218 kilometres north of the capital, I'm now 307 kilometres south of it. Yesterday, I travelled 218+307=525 kilometres from Taiping to Singapore- by land.

I suppose the border between Singapore and Malaysia is among the most active in the world. Every weekdays, a huge number of people, including students, travel accross the border as early as predawn. Most of the students who cross the border every early morning are Johoreans who want a much much much better education system (no typo, mind you). But still, I found the situation rather amusing when it comes to this way:

One day, in a certain part of Johore,

5.45am

Neighbour : Hi, Mrs. Singa. Where are you going?
Mrs. Singa : Ohh, I'm sending my kids to another country to study.

2.00pm

Neighbour : Hi, Mrs. Singa. Where are you going?
Mrs. Singa : Ohh, I'm leaving this country to fetch my schooling kids back from another country.

Initially, the above situation seems weird but the current state of Malaysian education system has made it not-at-all.

Shall update more, soon.

Water is much tastier, in this circumstance. =p

Something I revisited...

I can't believe that I have to do Add. Maths again. People say Chinese are born with a calculator embedded in their brains. Well, I'm an exception. Due to my poor Add. Maths' foundation, I'm obligated to revisit my SPM texts for some practice on certain chapters- from ground zero! Darn.

I found my ex-school's test pad inside. Hm, what a nostalgic practice!

Last fortnight, we spent our day in Ipoh again after my third appointment with dermatologist at Fair Park. We had dimsum, and this time was at Ming Court (Not our usual, Yoke Fook Moon anymore). Gosh, the restaurant was as sardine as the Putra Lrt during peak hour! Just like others, we waited for our seats by standing there. Lol. I wonder why Ipoh folk never get bored with their dimsum.

At Leong Sin Nam Street, too.

I guess it's a taboo to order orange juice in a dimsum restaurant...

They need a point of sales system. Currently you can order 11 plates and might just end up paying for 2 plates. Embedded calculator isn't flawless.

Thanks to our high metabolism, we can eat a lot. We went on for their salted chicken somewhere near Gunung Rapat. It was quite yummy but the place was really hot. Hey, I know sweat is kinda salty, but they don't need it for their that lil soup, ryte? I conclude that their salted chicken was great for take-away, not dine-in.

So much Ayam Garam boxes, it was meant for take-away!

Again, Malaysia will be celebrating its Birthday. Our nation is gonna be 50 year-old, but many of our politicians are still racist and naive. I shall see who should I cast my very first vote to. Hm.

Anyway, Happy 50th National Day to all colour-blind Malaysians.

p.s.: I've watched some great movies/cartoons recently- Simpsons Movie, and Ratatouille. Both were awesome, but Ratatouille was the best and definitely not to be missed. :)

I heart Remy (and cheese)!
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Suddenly I remember...

...that I've promised to post at least one posting a month. Okay, I'll blog a very very short, picture-less one, because I need a nap after this, plus the biggest reason- today is the dateline for my July posting. =p

It has been a pretty busy month for me and I seriously hope that the next would be a much relaxing one. I must say that I'm a lil frustrated with my team mates who didn't contribute for our group projects. Okay, I know I shouldn't elaborate but I dislike that kinda people. Aha, that's all for now. I need my nap. Really.

Very very short, indeed. *Pfft*

I wasn't even nominated...

I was anticipating the award of 'Best Procrastinating Blogger of the Year'. Unfortunately, I found that this is an unexpectedly competitive award as procrastinating is the norm for many bloggers that practice hibernation. Anyway, here goes the summary of the various things that I've wanted to (but didn't) blog. =p

A) Semester break

Aw, my recent semester break gotta be the longest break i've ever had. It was supposed to be a usual three weeks, but i had five. Thanks to my examination which ended a week earlier and the 'skip-able' first week of Semester 4 with my 'P' licence ('P' for 'ponteng').

Five weeks at home? For some, it might be darn boring, but not for me, especially the weekends. All of my weekends, except one, were spent in outstations. Being a patriot, I cuti-cuti locally. We have set foot on Penang, Ipoh and Ipoh, Cameron Highlands, KL and KL, again. Guess what, I was the one who drove for most of the journeys. The most enjoyable one was the route that leads all the way up to Cameron Highlands. :)

A great place to film 'Cameron' Drift.

As correctly pointed out by my friend who blogs at hiddenmcky, there isn't much 'oomph!' in Cameron Highlands. Nevertheless, it's always fun for me to revisit a place where I've been absent for years.

The Smoke House at Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands.

Cameron Highlands is more than just tea leaves, it also supplies fresh vegetables and fruits for the country. I especially like their unique pearl corns and strawberries. Unlike the strawberry farm which I visited in Paignton, the growers in Cameron Highlands use the hydroponics-way of planting, rather than growing them on earth. Besides that, it also grows flowers for overseas market, which made Malaysia one of the largest exporters of flowers. Hm, I guess these are all the 'oomph' of the highlands. Anymore? I guess no. Sigh, how pathetic. =p
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B) Being a Cantonese Semi-illiterate
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I've been watching Cantonese soap dramas since I was a small kid. So I expect myself to converse reasonably well in the dialect. Besides, mixing around with my KL friends has also improved my Cantonese vocabulary in some ways. I know 'Petpet' isn't merely a disposable diapers' brand. I also know that what's the meaning of 'tiu', though I've problem understanding what 'nia seng' means. Despite that, I still found my proficiency below the 'pre-beginner' level. Sigh, here are some of my embarrassing moments of being a Cantonese Semi-illiterate:

i) A few months ago, I thought of ordering a glass of soya bean milk in a food court near my college. Since he asked for order in Cantonese, so I answered "tao sui". He (apparently a foreign immigrant) said "mou!". Then my roomate corrected me that I should call it as "tau ziong". I thought "ziong" means "glue"... Anyway I was wrong. Cantonese is as complex as Mandarin.

ii) Recently, we were having dimsum as dinner in Ipoh, and I asked the waiter for a "zi kan (tissue)", and he gave me a spoon. I thought he was stupid, but he wasn't. I then realised that tissue and spoon have almost the same pronunciation. Maybe I as a Cantonese-stupid pronounced it misleadingly. tsk tsk tsk.

Dimsum at Leong Sin Nam Street.

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C) May 23rd, the day I became a senior.
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Time flies and it has been a year since I started my college on the same date, last year. College life has been fulfilling and fun. The things that I've learnt over here are possibly something that I wouldn't have learnt if I studied elsewhere - simply priceless and made me happy with the path that I've chosen.

On the May 23rd this year, I, together with other Course Committees hosted part of the Mass Call orientation programme for our juniors. The enrollment for my course, Finance & Investment, has increased from last year's 92 students to 120 students, but the number of juniors in the lecture hall during the 'Get-To-Know-You Session' that we hosted was far more than that as the students from the course of Banking & Finance were joining us too. The best part? We were the speakers!


The whole session went on pretty smoothly, except for the campus tour, which we were required by the organizer to bring hundreds of them for a tour around the darn huge 186-acre campus! Anyway, it's really sweet knowing that many of them will be reading the map and asking for directions to the lecture halls, tutorial rooms and so on in this transition period of theirs. =p

Lecturer gotta face this if his students couldn't locate the lecture hall.

He lectures alone. He listens alone.
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A brief tour of Taiping

Petroleum is fun to be burnt. I spent my whole afternoon driving, as one of the newest competent drivers in town. I revisited the various landmarks of Malaysian’s wettest town in an exceptionally hot and sunny day.

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Pit Stop 1: My secondary school.
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I was supposed to get my Sijil SPM from the office and get rid of the school, but the fond memories of my schooling life prompted me to wonder around the largest school in town, even though the temperature was as high as in Saudi Arabia.

A miniature of my alma mater, courtesy of Friendster Groups: Hua Lian.

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My school had changed in certain aspects. It has a new awful theme of brown and white in some of the main buildings. Sigh, I came to the school at the wrong timing, which was why I met virtually all strangers; none of them were sixth formers. I saw some of my ex-teachers, and the canteen operators. Just as few years back, Mr. Papindar Singh was still wearing a typical red turban. Ms. Rosmawati was still teaching Kemahiran Hidup in a similar tone, at the same lab. Mr. KK Lim looked as strict as last time. The Canteen A operators still struggling to come up with turnaround plan to compete with Canteen B. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, minus a hundred of yawns. Hm, so here you are: Hua Lian revisited...
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Oh, my big 'brownie'. That's the administration block. The first two floors are offices, while the rest are class rooms. My classes were there for 3 out of 5 years.

A slice of Nature Supreme Pizza, in front of the school hall.

The inner-part, surrounded by hills. It has classrooms, more classrooms, basketball courts, and a better canteen.

Not-so-new-anymore Form Six block under a misleading cloudy sky - it didn't rain.
Hm, does Diamond water help in studies?

I revisited, I snapped, I sweated, I fled. Oh, gosh, I guess global warming is getting more serious. Having a school in the lake garden that surrounded by hills didn't help much. Duh.

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Pit Stop 2: Taiping Town

Taiping Lake Garden. This picture shows you the evidence of hidro-tropism. =p
On the left is the country's oldest market. On the right is a small food court, Siang Malam - a venue for 'rain-betting' activities.

Theatre Road. Nah, we no longer have theatre or cinema in Taiping, but we preserved the old name of the road. It's a heritage. :)

Main Road.

When my dad was a kid, he used to stay in one of these shop lots in Kota Road.

Kota Road.

St. George's Institution, the alma mater of my daddy and grandpa.

Treacher Methodist Girls School, the alma mater of my mommy.

SM Convent, my sisters' secondary school.

Oh, btw, what makes an ISO-certified school, huh?

Municipal Plaza. It houses the biggest wet market in town, where some housewives gather, gossip every early morning. It's our local version of Wisteria Lane. =p

Taiping Buddhist Temple. It operates a kindergarten which I studied. I met lotsa friends there on Tuesday's Vesak Day.

Beautiful sunset in Kamunting, Taiping.

What drives me? McFlurry! =p

P.s.: Click here for my posting on Taiping food!

Taste buds civilisation

Americans are really good in establishing their own F&B businesses and reformat our taste buds to be their creations’ best friend. French fries might be originated from France, hamburger from Germany, and the best coffee bean from Java or Africa. But it was Uncle Sam’s families who popularized them, and we heart them more and more, day by day.

I suppose the history of Malaysian and Singaporean’s kopitiams could be traced back to centuries ago, even before the first European explorers arrived in America. In fact, I believe Parameswara was holding a cup of kopi ‘o’ while resting under the Malacca tree in 1400s. Besides, I also believe that Portuguese navigator and statesman, Afonso de Albuquerque drank cups of iced coffee ‘o’ before seizing Malacca in one of the hot and dry day of 1511. However, it was Coffee Bean and Starbucks that managed to popularize them in 1960s and 1970s, respectively. Do you know why? I seriously don’t.

If Colonel Harland Sanders and Ray Kroc were still alive, they might have been the current Secretary-General of the United Nations and the President of the United States, if they chose to venture into politics, rather than just preparing the best fried-chicken, milkshake, hamburger, etc. Nevertheless, I could still see the bright future of our kopi ‘o’ (even I prefer frappuccinos), and the exotic varieties of street food. Yea, the latter is what I wanna blog about now (sorry for that long-winded introduction, =p).

Now, let me introduce you some of the really great noodles around my domicile.

A) Yee Fu Mee (aka 'He Fooled Me', =p)

A well-known street food among Kamunting folk. They have been selling their yummy menu since 1980s. 'He Fooled Me' is people's all-time favourite. Despite the large number of people standing near the stall waiting for their order to be prepared every night - for two decades, none of them has managed to duplicate their secret recipes! It has no name. So we usually call it: Esso, he fooled me! - because it's situated beside of the Kamunting's Esso station. Oh, fyi, they were not using Esso gas cylinder, it was Shell! It caters for weddings, too.

This was how he fooled me!

B) Wanton Mee
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This awful-looking restaurant houses the town's awesome Wanton Mee. It's situated opposite of Medan Saujana's 7-Eleven.

Ironically, it was the maid who made me the noodle. She has been working there for years, safe-guarding the recipes from being duplicated. Look, she stared at me furiously when I was taking pictures! Gosh, we need more maids like her.

One tonne noodle? Nah, the portion was less than 100 grams, just good enough for supper.

Craving for more? Let me bring you to the one of the hawker centres in my hometown - Taiping Casual Market...

A very oddly-name Casual Market. I have no idea how it was named. Hm, a dress code, I suppose. It houses some of the best hawker foods in town. Not forgetting the best and not-so-fruity's Ais Kacang.

Uh oh, that guy with a pink shirt didn't obey the dress code!

Stall No.48 serves one of the best desserts in town...

...'Leng Chee Kang'.