will i am's delayed diary

Every year, the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall's Women's Division would either organize a cultural event for the Winter Solstice or the Lunar New Year. The Winter Solstice event didn't happen, so they organized the 11th "Love the Lunar New Year and Reunion" Cultural Carnival  instead. As usual, my mum's society was invited to take part. We had a stall to decorate and a themed dish to prepare. Our chosen dish was a lotus seed and lily bulb tong sui . As with all the other participants, we also made enough for a public tasting. In addition to all the member Chinese associations, several other regulars were also there, namely MySkills Foundation ( representing the Indians ), Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association (MACMA), and IKRAM ( representing the Malays ). Other than food, other important cultural aspects were highlighted, like dance, percussion, Chinese calligraphy, lantern riddles, Chinese paper cutting, origami, flower arrangement, and a d...

Thought about doing a follow up post about  CNY at the morning market , but I decided otherwise when I found this shot of Peachy Patrick . Once in a while he helps out his parents selling biscuits and various snacks. I'm naturally attracted to his arms, but on that day, I noticed that he has quite a cake too! Pretty peachy.

Over the years, I had made several friends on Instagram. Many of them from different countries. Guru B is one of them. He works for a university in Kentucky and shares a lot about his daily life. Reading is very much part of his work, and he takes long walks in his neighbourhood. Often, he would also showcase his beautiful garden and its pretty blooms. In 2019, he asked for my mailing address, and I received two things in the mail. The first was a Christmas card with a handwritten letter, and photos from his past trip to South East Asia. The second was a parcel that contained a Christmas present! A surprise Jack Adams thong all the way from the other side of the world. Thank you for the very first pair of Jack Adams in my collection.

This is Bob, my neighbour's cat. As you can see, he is belled, with a cute polka-dot bow around his neck. For reasons only a feline can appreciate, Bob loves to 'infiltrate' my house. Not like I feed him. Not like I encourage him. When nobody's looking, he would slip in through the front door, and sneak upstairs. But he is usually discovered due to the tinkling of his bell. The moment I confront him, he runs helter-skelter, in and out of rooms. Takes some time, but he eventually figures out how to get out of my house. These days, I never leave the front door open if nobody's sitting at the living room. Even if we were in the living room, Bob would try his luck. LOL. How does one solve a problem like Bob?

Are you familiar with the Japanese term fukubukuro   or lucky bag? During the Japanese New Year, merchants offer a mystery bag filled with unknown contents that's supposed be at a huge discount. Nowadays, the bags are usually not so mysterious anymore. The contents are published, or at least partially. In 2019, I decided to purchase the GX3 Lucky Bag ( Christmas edition ) which cost a little over JPY9,000. Two options were available - boxers or briefs. I went with the briefs because that collection came with a fundoshi ! The bag contained 10 pieces of briefs, with 5 pieces made known upfront. The remaining five would be a surprise. As I am not a regular customer of GX3, it took me some time to decide on the size ( discussed with Tater as he was interested too ). With most Japanese sizing, taking one size larger would be wise. A brown paper bag arrived from Japan in January. Inside was my ten pieces of sexy underwear, and some cool freebies. I really loved the big fleece blank...

A month before, received a wedding invitation from a cousin from my mother's side. My mother was amused that when he came, he didn't bother to call up whether we were home. When we picked up the invitation card from the letter box, mum was amused for a second time because she was addressed directly by her name. Rules, rules, rules. Anyway, the wedding was on a Sunday night, so we planned to go after church, and return on the night itself. SK tagged along. It was good to have another driver on such a journey. Before the long drive, we had lunch at Nyiru Cafe , the new name for Cafe Kesom. Food seemed similar. Nasi Kerabu was as good as I remembered it, but the Nasi Dagang sucks. We made good time, and arrived at Teluk Intan during tea time. Made a stop at Alex Tea House , a random choice. The exterior was made to look like an old village house, with the entrance flanked by a pair of mulberry trees. The interior was very dark, and every time the door opened, a slash of s...

The MCO has made me realize how much I miss going on my weekly morning market visits. This post about the CNY hustle and bustle at the OUG morning market will help tide me over for now. Every year, this lady would sell colourful longevity peaches for the altar. To keep things fresh, she would introduce some new variation as a sales gimmick. Nice to look at, but not for eating. Plants and flowers also sell very well during the CNY season. The Chinese would decorate their homes with plans and flowers to create a 'lively' atmosphere. Among the staples is the coiled bamboo stalks which are called "Guan Yin Bamboo". More elaborate varieties can be found at plant nurseries. These kids are selling Chinese calligraphy with auspicious words. Pretty skilled work if you ask me. Good strategy as well because its by donation and their cost is not high. Customers won't underpay them, and probably some generous people would overpay them a lot! A good way to earn some m...

During most of secondary school, the buzzwords were "Wawasan 2020" and "Rakan Muda". Those two things were a cure-all. Well, the latter had been trampled into obscurity, while the former is staring us in face right now. Are we a developed nation? Far from it. But whatever the case, we must continue to grow. And to grow, one must start the year right. Between KH and I, starting the year right is having a paktor session on New Year's day. We met up for breakfast at Restoran New Lian Hin in Kuchai Lama. I had the pork noodles, while he went for the sinful nasi lemak with curry chicken. From there, we made a little skip and hop to Little Jungle Coffee House for their specialty iced coffee called Geng Chow Bing . It literally means Super Iced. For the uninitiated, it's a large mug of frothy kopi ping topped with in a incredible huge chunk of iced kopi o . Sounds interesting right? But I personally don't like it because it reminds me of iced mocha. Also...

As it was the end of the year, the Majlis Perwakilan Penduduk Wilayah Persekutuan ( this was during the PH days ) had organized a "Back To School" event for the needy. They distributed schoolbags, school shoes, and school uniforms to the B40 residents of Muhibbah PPR, single parents, and orphans from the House of Victory. Mum and I helped out from morning till afternoon. In the evening, we had another event in church. In 2019, the theme for my church's appreciation night was "The Wild Wild West". All members of the church's various ministries were invited to attend a night of dress-up, feasting, and fun. Although mum is not a member of any ministry, I managed to secure a ticket for her via my BEC. A month before the party, I started planning our costumes. Sourced everything from mainland Chinese suppliers. The only worry I had was that the items would not arrive in time. Main components were the cowboy hats and paisley wild rags. For myself, I further ...

Boxing day was kinda boring, so SK suggested that we have a nice coffee session at Day Nine Kitchen , Taman Equine. One thing I like is that they often have seasonal specials. For Christmas, they had spiced cake, and spiked coffee! Not surprising that the cake wasn't to SK's liking due to the cinnamon, but she definitely approved of the whisky in the coffee. A great way to while the afternoon away...

The tradition of a Christmas meal with Gratitude started in 2011 and continued in 2012 . For some reason, it stopped, and we suddenly revived it in 2019. Immediately after Christmas morning mass, mum and I stepped on it to make it to Klang for a special lunch. Arrived at nearly the same time as SK and her globetrotter friend from Singapore, CG. They met at Stonehenge and kept in contact since. Gratitude had just removed the roast chicken from the oven, and was just beginning to plate it with the roasted vegetables. He had cooked up a storm to make up for the lost years. In addition to the chicken, there was a herbed salad with feta cheese, spicy aglio-olio spaghetti, potato salad, pork chops, and fruits. Everything was delicious. Gratitude really spoiled us. Dessert was Neopolitan ice cream with strawberries, and we even had Moscato during over post-lunch chat. Christmas dinner was with The Tribe back at Equine Park. Ordered Hakka dishes at Restoran Ker Jia Zhuang . Bored of the...

From past experience, I dare to say that mum's not a big fan had of dim sum. Imagine my surprise when she suggested that for lunch after church. Didn't have to scramble for a suitable restaurant because I recently had a great dim sum lunch at Oriental Treasure , The Sphere just a couple of weeks back with my colleagues. Among the recommended items are the pan-fried radish cake, white egg tart, and crystal prawn dumplings (two huge prawns inside). Although it was just the two of us, we still managed to rack up a bill of RM120. The Sphere is an interesting concept. The whole area well-designed with lots of greenery, and is very pleasant to look at. Mum and I actually went cam-whoring at the common areas and at the numerous uniquely decorated food and beverage outlets there. Dessert and coffee was not far from our minds. Made a stop at Sunbather Coffee for a long black and a parfait. Not exactly cheap, but quite interesting. After lunch, we headed to Apollo's hom...

Construction along Lebuhraya Bukit Jalil had been going in for years, and finally the building by Ho Hup was ready for business. The place was called Aurora Bukit Jalil, and we found about it because of the many buntings advertising the grand opening of Super Seven, one of the anchor tenants. Super Seven is actually an offshoot of NSK, but without the wholesale section. The crowd was crazy with loads of people taking advantage of the daily, and membership specials. Even the lucky draw counters were swamped. Many of their customers were actually the foreign workers who lived nearby, probably those working at the Pavilion 2 site. There were some restaurants on the higher floors, but looked pretty dead otherwise. In the afternoon, sent mum out to get her hair permed at OUG. It was so hot that we stopped for cendol on our way back. It was the Winter Solstice, so mum made some tang yuan. Normally we would eat in, but Sis suggested that we eat out for a change. Hotpot was quite a ...