Keeping safe

My previous post on secrets made me think of this quote that I shared several years back. (wow, eight years!)

Si le talent suprême est de faire croire qu'on en a, la meilleure façon de garder un secret est de faire croire qu'on en a pas.

Donc la meilleure méthode de ne pas se faire voler son argent serait de faire croire qu'on en a pas. Ça explique alors, pourquoi tout le monde se dit pauvre ces jours-ci.

Not sure whether I've written about how people these days love saying that they're poor, while putting everyone else on a pedestal saying "rich". Looks like I've been slow on the uptake on this one.

(Short translation: From the previous quote, I guess I can conclude that these days people are trying to keep their money safe by pretending that they have none.)

Secrets

People really amaze me sometimes.

The other day, a few of us were eating together when the topic of a mutual friend came up. Three of us had heard about a recent happening in this mutual friend's personal life. The fourth hadn't. I can't remember who brought up the topic, but suddenly Number 1 and Number 2 were discussing it openly. As I held my tongue and tried not to give too much away... Number 4 (who didn't know anything about the story) suddenly reprimanded Number 1, "That person trusted you with this secret, you shouldn't tell people about it!" Probably because Number 4 thought that Number 1 was telling us stuff that we didn't already know.

And Number 1 justifies it by saying, "We all already know about it." I was like, "But we shouldn't be talking about it in front of Number 4!"

Number 1 agrees. "Yeah, yeah, we can't tell you about it." (said to Number 4)

Not a minute later, Number 1 continues talking about the same topic. *smacks head in own mind* I can't remember how it transpired, but Number 1's justification this time was that "Number 4 won't tell anyone about it right?" *almost faints*

That is NOT how you treat confidences. (though in this case, it seemed to be a rather open secret, so... I don't know how much it mattered)

This reminded me of something another friend posted on Facebook some time back. He was lamenting the fact that he had been told a huge secret which he had a great urge to share. (but then he added that he wouldn't share it... not sure whether he managed to do that in the end :P ) And another friend commented that maybe one day he would find that actually everyone knew the secret but was just keeping it "secret".

That observation actually hits the nail on the head. If everyone were to act like Number 1 above, telling anyone about something just because "they wouldn't tell other people", and the ones who are told go ahead and tell others because "they wouldn't tell other people"... in the end the whole world would know. Hello, secret that everybody knows!

Really hard to trust people these days, huh?

Two farewells in a week

This past week I attended two farewell gatherings. One was for a Polish colleague who was leaving for home after a short business trip here. The second was for a new colleague who was leaving us just after three months!

For the first farewell, we went to Zi Wei Yuan Steamboat in Raja Uda for dinner. This place is especially famous because of its milky fish soup. It was really tasty, and I liked it that they refilled the soup with actual soup instead of just water. But... we all felt really thirsty afterwards. :s

Photo taken when the food had just arrived; unfortunately two people hadn't arrived yet!

The second farewell was lunch at Mizi Bistro at Krystal Point. This one was not that good... some of the others said only a few dishes are really good; the others are just so-so. I must have picked a so-so dish...

Photo taken at the end of the meal

Hehe, what a coincidence; on both days I was sitting next to the guest of honour! :P Anyway, I'll pass on listing out the names this time.

I didn't take any photos myself, so thanks to those who passed me the photos!

Chicken chopping

Sometimes I wonder, do those people who sell chicken actually cook chicken themselves?

I usually ask them to chop the chicken into smaller pieces for me, and it rarely turns out well...

For example, today I bought half a chicken. I asked the seller to potong empat (cut into four) for me. And... he cut out three pieces (on the left, in the photo below), then asked me whether I wanted to cut the remaining (huge!) piece into two. I said, err...better cut it into three.

How do they expect me to cook one dish with a whole leg and half a wing? -_-

Though actually, after chopping it like this, he made to take the leg and chop it again... but I said never mind. Where there are joints, I can handle... it's just the hard bones that I'm lazy to battle with. :P

I keep things

And this is proof.

This is from about 20 years ago. I can't remember exactly how it was, but I think we were going to visit my uncle and aunt around my birthday, and my cousin sent this gift voucher to me beforehand.

Now this is how you do things! 

The gift in question was a Garfield bag (hence the clue). The bag is no longer around; I think it was thrown out after it got old and moldy. (unless if my mother still has it stashed in a cupboard somewhere... but I don't think so)

Edit (26 Aug 2015):
My mother found the bag!

Still looking new. Garfield doesn't look a day older! Haha...

Reason to not have a browser home page

The other day at work, I opened up Firefox and saw this red panda winking at me.

 So cute!! ♥

Firefox has these ads on its home page each time I open it. Sometimes it is nothing much, but once in a while something interesting pops up. Like this one!

At home I have my Firefox configured to re-open all my tabs from my previous session, so I never see its home page. I wonder what I have missed! :P

Who's the best driver?

The other day we went to Kimberley Street for the koay chiap. Afterwards, we went to Chulia Street just to see what food they were selling there, since we seldom go to Georgetown at night.

On Love Lane (at the junction from Chulia Street), we spotted this car:

Those are some huge Garfield and Winnie the Pooh!

Some friends in the back seat as well

And a yellow duck in the back!

A little behind the car there was a trishaw (can we call this a trishaw?).

World's Best Driver

Extraordinary vehicles in Georgetown

After having the duck in the previous post, we happened to pass by the Esplanade and saw the Transformers on display. I knew they were there but hadn't taken the time to come and see them. So we stopped a while for photos.

The trees in the background get a little in the way of taking good photos.

After that we happened to see an interesting pedal-car on the road.

We were in the car and they were going the other way. I thought I wasn't going to get my camera out in time to get a photo, but then they suddenly stopped. Turned out they wanted a photo too!

And I managed to snap a photo of the back of the pedal-car. Umbrella bicycle rental, anyone?

Duck in Penang

When my parents were here, we went to try a restaurant called What The Duck. I guess you know why they chose that name!

Anyway this restaurant specializes in duck dishes, so every one of us ordered duck. They also had other dishes though, for those who don't like duck.

duck confit

white wine braised duck

Indonesian crispy bek-bek (something like that)

duck à l'orange

What we ordered were basically French dishes, except for the Indonesian crispy duck with its spicy sauce (sambal?) and rice. The duck confit (confit de canard) was cooked using vegetable oil instead of duck fat (I saw this online), so maybe that was why the duck taste was less strong (makes it much healthier though). Probably because of that, I preferred the canned confit de canard I had tried in France (in which the space not filled with duck was filled with solid duck fat!). The dish still tasted good, just not my idea of confit de canard. The sauce that came with it was a light brown sauce, rather mild I felt.

The white wine braised duck had a really crispy skin and a white wine sauce that we all agreed was the best. It came with a side dish of ratatouille! (partly hidden under the duck)

The duck à l'orange (basically orange flavoured duck) took 20 minutes to prepare (we were asked whether the wait was okay). It was duck breast with an orange sauce. Three of us declared the sauce horrible (it had a certain smell; I'm not sure what was the ingredient that contributed to it), but my father declared it delicious. I found the duck meat good; reminded me of the magret de canard that I had in France. The duck breast was cooked medium rare; when we ordered, the waitress asked us whether that was okay. The medium-rareness was probably why my brother didn't like it so much. (On a side note, a few friends had been to this shop as well, and one of them told me that he didn't like the duck à l'orange, but it was because he liked the sauce and didn't like the duck. So... I guess this dish brings out the most mixed reactions!)

Back to the Indonesian duck dish. The duck was crispy, as the name promised. Sprinkled on top were some veggies and fruits, I think, probably capsicum and green apple and others; I didn't take the time to figure it out. The sambal-like sauce was rather nice too, I can't describe the taste but it wasn't very spicy.

Overall I liked the dishes (maybe because I like duck in general?). The price was around RM20 per dish. The good thing is, if you don't order drinks they will give you plain water for free. We didn't know that so we ordered a couple of drinks to share, and they brought us water for the remaining two people.

Facebook memories

Facebook has taken to randomly reminding you of what you posted a year (or a few years) ago. Today it reminded me that I have been Facebook friends with a colleague for 2 years!

This was posted together with a couple of photos. I decided to share this because they were teambuilding photos, nice ones that I had posted on this blog as well.

But then I suddenly noticed that there was something wrong with the timestamp.

In 15 hours?

Now I'm guessing that we became Facebook friends not on the 17th (which is today), but on the 18th. So Facebook actually reminded me a day earlier to post this, so that my friends could see it on their news feed the next day. Hmm... talk about planning ahead!

As of now, I can see it on my timeline, but I don't think it's showing up on the news feed yet. Someone I tagged in the comments was also able to see it, so I think people can see it if they actually come to my profile page. However, it probably has not been "broadcast" to the public!

Hehe, that was quite an investigation into the workings of Facebook, huh? They make things too complicated; that's why it was necessary!

Of grazing mindlessly

Recently there is a new public service announcement on the radio. (I have heard it too many times; it's not that new any more) It says that we should not eat lunch at our workdesk because "studies show" that people who do that tend to eat more. The reason, according to them, is that eating while doing other things leads to "mindless grazing".

Now I don't disagree about the "mindless grazing" part. If you are munching on snacks, then yes, I don't doubt that you would just continue munching if you weren't thinking about it. But here we are talking about lunch. If you don't go and have lunch somewhere else, it probably means that you brought lunch to your desk. And how on earth are you supposed to "graze mindlessly" if the food you have brought is all eaten up? Surely you would not bring more than one portion of lunch to work?

What were they thinking when they drafted out that PSA? I wish someone could enlighten me.

The real tomyam

Previously I blogged about a famous tomyam stall on the mainland and my visit to its branch in Air Itam. Well, on our way back from Ipoh, we took the opportunity to go and try the original!

Don't really know what to say about it, so here are photos!

We choose the ingredients we want, which is why each bowl looks different. The noodles are at the bottom. Actually my bowl (the third one) looked the least appealing, because the golden needle mushrooms that I took were dumped all over the top. My mother took that as well, but hers didn't look that bad because the mushrooms were hidden by other ingredients.

The soup here was thicker and spicier than the one in Air Itam. They also had a wider variety of ingredients. But making a trip to Raja Uda just for this... I'm not sure it's worth it! If I were in the area I wouldn't mind...

Annonce

Someone shared this on Facebook. A translation is below.

Looking for:
an electrician to re-ignite the sparks between people
an optician to change their view
an artist to paint a smile on all faces
a mason to build peace
a gardener to cultivate thought
and a Maths teacher to re-teach us to count on one another.

Food in Ipoh and tigers on the highway

We made a day trip to Ipoh last weekend. Basically a short trip for the dim sum and also try out a restaurant that was featured on TV.

After our dim sum breakfast, we took a walk in the old town to pass time. This was the first time we were visiting the area. The main attraction that my father was determined to find: Concubine Lane.

It is a small lane where second wives used to live (well, something like that; not sure whether I've got it exactly right). Now some of the houses have been converted into small shops. I didn't see anything much interesting other than the entrance to the lane - with its new touristy name plate - so this is the only photo I've got.

Just opposite the Concubine Lane there was a small quaint (somehow this word seems the most appropriate to describe it) area. There was a rather posh restaurant (posh but quaint, if you know what I mean... posh as in higher-priced, but with an old-fashioned, hence quaint, design) there, called Plan B (later you will see why I mentioned it), and a few other small shops.

There was a wall for love locks; specially designed for that purpose, it would seem.

Then there was a shop selling old-fashioned items (don't think they can be called antiques yet), and also ice balls (we didn't buy any).

In front of the shop there was a whiteboard with the warning: No ice balls at Plan B area! I guess posh restaurants don't go well with ice syrup drippings all over the floor.

Then there were some interesting letterboxes. Since they were right in front of an apartment entrance, I think they were actually in use. But I'm not that sure about it...

What do you think?

Then there was this take-away coffee window.

Coffee to go

The shop front was decidedly less interesting.

Beside the "coffee to go" window, a painted mural, rather faded.

There were also some other people walking in the area; seemed to be a few locals bringing out-of-town friends around. When we were passing by the mural, one of them was saying that there used to be a bicycle attached to the wall (like the mural in Penang, I guess). Now the bicycle is behind a locked gate (I don't know why).

I slipped my camera behind the bars of the gate to snap a photo of the bike. Lazy Lane this time... I wonder why. There are also painted ladies on the wall... again, I have no explanation for this.

Then there was this... I think it's a shop, but I didn't really take much notice of it at first. Not until I saw the hopscotch pattern on the ground, beside the Tok Tok blackboard.

See the hopscotch pattern on the left?

These two shops were a short distance apart, so I would not have connected them if not for the names...

It wasn't until I walked back (from the place in the last pic to the place in the second last pic) that I saw that I had missed something:

Escargot hopscotch. In other words, a snail-like hopscotch pattern. Creative. This is in front of the coffee shop (the actual front of the "coffee to go" shop). These shops are probably all owned by the same person.

I like this area because of the quaint, kitschy feel to it. Makes it different from the shops we usually see.

We had Ipoh white coffee and caramel custard in one of the coffee shops. We also ordered some pork satay (they had pork meat and pork intestines; the intestines were cooked just nice!). I only took photos of the custard though.

The custard was really smooth. This shop is supposed to be famous for it; see the custard on its signboard? (the green signboard)

There is a narrow alley between the two shops, and there were tables set up even there! The alley also leads to that kitschy part that I mentioned earlier. That area sorts of wraps around the coffee shop on the right.

Then, for lunch we went to try the restaurant that we had seen featured on TV. It's called Sri Mahkota; or by its old name, Sri Maju (I didn't take a photo of the shop front). The specialty there is yong tau foo (or should I say yong liew?)

They also had yong tau foo in soup, but I didn't take a photo of it because it looked more "normal"... and anyway this was our second order of the crispy items. The first time round, we ordered a mixture of crispy and soup items, to try every kind.

And the highlight, which to me is more important than the yong tau foo... the beef soup. There is beef and tripes in the soup, together with a few chunks of white radish. They also had beef balls - two types; one is the normal kind, and the second one with ginger. The problem with the second type was that the ginger pieces were HUGE! The taste was rather overwhelming, so I didn't like it. The normal beef balls were not bad, but nothing compared to the actual beef :P The beef balls also came in a different soup from this one... I guess they were cooked separately. The actual beef soup was way better.

This soup is also our second order (we didn't re-order the beef balls); this soup was so flavourful, we finished it all up (we usually don't drink up the soup when we eat outside, but just take some with the food). This was definitely my favourite dish of the day.

On the way back to Penang, we stopped at the Sg Perak rest stop. In the car park, we saw this tiger!

Why is it in a glass cage? Turns out it was to scare away monkeys.

It says "patung" on the signboard, which could mean that it is a stuffed tiger, or a tiger figurine. I wish I could touch it and see...

Actually on the way to Ipoh, I had seen the same thing beside the highway. We passed too quickly to see what it was, though. So now I know! I wonder how many tigers are tasked with this job... hehe.

Gathers In restaurant

I recently found out about a small restaurant that serves more uncommon types of western food, at affordable prices. Online reviews said that the braised lamb shank was a must-try, so we made sure we ordered that. We even reserved in advance so that we could be sure their lamb shank wasn't sold out.

By adding on RM6, we could get a set meal with drinks, mushroom soup and garlic bread. Not too special...

The highlight was the lamb shank! (RM28.90) The meat was nice and tender, and the vegetables were cooked just right too. No complaints here!

Beer batter fish and chips (RM14.90) for the non-lamb eater. Nice and crispy as expected.

The clone of a famous tomyam

I have heard again and again of a certain tomyam noodle shop (or stall?) in Raja Uda. Recently a friend told me that they had a branch in Air Itam. Since I am rather lazy to cross the bridge over to the mainland (which is why I haven't tried the Raja Uda tomyam till now), we went to try the one in Air Itam last weekend.

We could select the ingredients we wanted and then choose our soup/noodles. We could also choose rice or porridge (there was even tomyam porridge!). I took maggi tomyam.

The white piece is a fish-ball thingy. (not exactly a fish ball since it isn't ball-shaped, right?) The soup was nice but I didn't find it exceptional. My friend said that the fried fish slices were smaller than the ones in Raja Uda. According to her, even the soup looked and tasted different. So I guess I haven't really tried the Raja Uda tomyam yet.