will i am's delayed diary

Agong's birthday gave me a long weekend, but what does a long weekend mean during the MCO? Work and chores. In the afternoon, mum was suddenly inspired to paint the living room. I took SimonLover's advice and bought a mini roller for the job. It really did make the job easier, and there was less wastage. Although we just painted two walls, I was aching in several places the next day. Just as we finished cleaning up, Sis asked us over for a steamboat dinner. A perfect end to a busy day.

University of Malaya's Astra Zeneca vaccination center at the Examination Building has a capacity of 1,000 vaccinations a day. Chose this venue because of the proximity, ease of parking, and relatively low capacity. We left the house at 8:30 AM, and arrived at the KL Gate of the university before 9:00 AM. Traffic was extremely smooth as most people were working from home. The security guard let us in after checking the appointment date on the MySejahtera app. The security guards checked the appointment date a second time before allowing us into the parking lot. It was just a short walk to the building. I was surprised to see so many people loitering outside the building. Were they too early for their appointments? We joined the line to enter the vaccination center. At the entrance, the RELA stopped me from going. Turns out that they don't allow anyone to accompany unless absolutely necessary. Hence the reason there were so many people outside. Anyway, they had sufficient staff ...

When there's an impending lockdown, the Chinese will start stocking up. Doesn't matter that markets and supermarkets will continue to operate. What's the most important item? Not rice, not toilet paper, but PORK. That morning at the market, the butchers closed up early. And since the regular pork was sold out, customers raided the organic pork shops like An Xin, and Long Farm. Even the more premium Sanbanto saw brisk business. Buy, buy. buy! No pork, no life. What's your must-have item during a lockdown?

My father had only one elder brother. Perhaps if my grandfather didn't 'vanish' during the Japanese occupation, they would have had more siblings. While growing up, spending Chinese New Year with my cousins in Teluk Intan was a highlight of the year. Once a year, we would make the 8-hour journey from Kuantan ( no highway back then ). In the family, I was the youngest, so I would tag along my elder cousins for fun and games. Back then, it was a whole lot of fun with Moon Travelers, Thunder King, King Cat, and other fireworks. When indoors, it would be hide and seek, and perhaps a game of carom. Sometimes they would bring me a long for a bowl of lai fun or the famous chu cheong fun . Among my cousin brothers, the second eldest was called Starry. He was the most artistic of the lot, and eventually started his own business dealing with events and advertising with his wife. They had two beautiful daughters, but somewhere down the road, their marriage failed, and his business su...

The MCO put a big damper on Hari Raya Puasa for the second year in a row. Because no visitations were allowed, the Muslims needed an alternative way to celebrate. The answer: fireworks, lots of it. From night flowers to red crackers. No holds barred. The super shaky photo is of my neighbour's kids playing sparklers in front of their porch.   On the first Syawal morning, Muslim men also missed out on their congregational prayers at the mosque. So what to do after breakfast? Put on your pretty clothes and go to AEON! At least one can get a little Raya feel there because the staff are in baju Melayu  and baju kurung , and Raya songs are blaring over the PA system.   In the evening, I received Raya cookies from my neighbour. Raya complete. 

NotMyPM announced another round of MCO for several states starting from the 13th of January till Boxing Day. On the eve of the movement control order, KH and I went out for dinner at nearby Bukit Jalil. Brew House at Aurora Place was teeming with customers. Last chance to have a beer with buddies I guess. Looked kinda scary because it was packed. We ate at Nonya Platter instead. Shared a plate of Portuguese fried noodles and a hot teh tarik . The meal didn't leave KH satisfied. He wanted more! Headed down to Super Seven to look for some roasted meat, but the non- halal section was not operating. Opps!    Took a leisurely walk back to Bukit Jalil City in search of our second dinner. Discovered Goong Bar which looks like a gay bar / bistro. Can visit when times are better. Hopefully it will survive. In the end, we ate pork noodles Like Mee Noodle House . A pretty thick pork broth, but not to KH's liking. I won't be going back because the waiters practically throw the menu o...

Boxing Day brought mum and I to the specialist clinic. Mum's appointment was due, and we spent quite some time there waiting for the doctor. Business was brisk. Many MCO pregnancies. Huhu. As usual, we had our favourite Teochew fishball noodles at You Noodle House . And because it was too late to go to the OUG morning market, we went to the nearby Puteri Mart instead. The concept is pretty good, everything under one roof. Basically a mini morning market with all the additional requisites-- pharmacy, prayer paraphernalia, clothes, household items, etc. A good selection of vegetable and butcher stalls inside. Fruits seem a tad limited.  Two appointments that day. Danny invited KH, Ivan, and /I to his house for a mala hotpot lunch. In my opinion, it's such a waste that good pork bone broth was used as a base for mala soup. Can't drink any of it. Sad. He kept feeding us big prawns and Sakura rolls. While stuffing our faces, it was also a money talk about investment opportunitie...

One would have thought that working at home would be less stressful, but the reality was completely the opposite. Pressure was turned up because my CEO wanted to take advantage of the situation by rolling out a solution that's tailored to the lockdowns. We worked day and night, with remote commands coming via emails, What's App, and Microsoft Teams. The whole episode did 'wonders' for my skin. I started getting stubborn acne along my jawline. So annoying. Acne is usually no biggie for me, but my last encounter with stress-related acne drove me to a skin specialist. Solved that problem with a dose of antibiotics, and a prescription of retinol cream. This time round, I didn't want go on that route. I had to experiment with several products to find something that worked. And it didn't help that I kept touching my face, especially when faced with problems at work. Sigh. Blemishes. Blemishes. Found this to be the best combination so far : Nu Skin Epoch Yin Yang Mask ...

Breakfast after my regular Saturday trip to the wet market was made more interesting by a call from Mei. MiniMei was in Batu Pahat, so she was looking for breakfast kaki . Mum suggested that we go have dim sum at Restoran Phangkey , Happy Garden. RMCO or not, the Chinese must have their dim sum . We stood in line for roughly half an hour before we got a table.  The food was good, but the environs definitely leave a lot to be desired. They actually have some sort of weird contraption processing the food right at the five foot walkway. LOL. Once we had our fill of the steamed and fried goodies, we headed to Zen & Co for coffee. The catch-up session was long overdue. A lengthy session of swapping MCO stories. Glad to hear that Mei's business wasn't adversely affected by the pandemic. 

Bored Malaysians went delirious over Dalgona coffee , a beverage that went viral on social media. Basically milk with thick instant coffee froth poured over it. I made my own minuman MCO which is based on caffè shakerato. I combined a sachet of Café Phố iced coffee with half a sachet of Antong Mocha. Dissolved the mix with some piping hot water. Dumped the mixture into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Did a little shake ( and twerk ), then poured out the contents into glass. Sprinkled some Hershey's cocoa powder on top before serving ( sure to make KH choke ). Tada! 

What's the best indication that the Covid situation was getting better? The opening of 4D outlets. The aunties and uncles were definitely not fazed by the new SOP. Plenty of money saved up during the MCO. Mum and I  SK bought a new Joyoung pressure cooker from China. She organized a pepper pig stomach soup with black garlic party that was cooked with her new kitchen appliance. Black garlic's colour comes from the  Maillard reaction . Pretty mild in flavour. In my opinion, the soup wasn't great. Felt that the pepper corns didn't meld with the pig stomach. In the evening, KH and I went out paktor -ing at Equine Park. We had our dinner at Jack & Steve Grill . Shared a plate of pork chops and some barbeque wings.  Then we had coffee and cake at Day 9 Kitchen . The hojicha burn cheesecake was an eye-catching item on their seasonal menu, but it wasn't well-executed. 

In usual cases, the longest I could go without a haircut is two months. Due to the pandemic, it was dragged till three months. Made an appointment with my stylist and he fit me in. Mum was itching for a perm, but chemical treatments were not allowed just yet. When I arrived, the door was locked. Guess it was to discourage walk-ins. When I got in, there was the standard scanning and temperature checks. Additionally, I was made to wear plastic gloves, those they give you to eat pork ribs. Noticed that the cafe wasn't open. My stylist wore personal protective gear, a face mask, and a face shield. He wore gloves, and had a  disinfectant fogger. He admitted in such working conditions, eight appointments a day was all that he could manage. After I sat in the chair, I was covered with a disposable plastic apron. Other than that, it was business as usual. There was an additional MYR5 charge for all the extras.  KH and I had a lunch date after my haircut. I had a simple beef bowl at Ne...

SimonLover was missing Thailand, so we had a Thai dinner at Aroi Mak Mak in Petaling Jaya. Goes without saying that KH joined us, but Drew ( previously known as QueerRanter-D ) was an uncommon dinner guest. Ever since he separated from Apollo, he was a tad bored, so we got him out of the house. The food at Aroi Mak Mak was just average in my opinion, but at least they had some decent vegetarian choices for Drew. For the first time, I had deep-fried kangkung. SimonLover says that it's a Malaysian thing at local Thai restaurants.  Naturally we looked for a place to yumcha after dinner. Omulab was full to the brim with a a long waiting list. That good ah? KH suggested that we go to Er Lou Cafe which was located on the second floor, a few doors down. Had the whole place to ourselves. SimonLover was in the mood for tong sui , but the the funny thing was, they didn't let him order it ala carte. Furthermore, there was an ala carte option for tong sui in the menu. In the end, Simon...

Starting the 1st of June, my company started loosening the work-from-home policy and encouraged employees to return to the workplace. A staggered approach was chosen, with two teams taking turns on a weekly rotation. I was Team A, so I got to experience firsthand the new normal.  The biggest change on my part was that I no longer took the train to work. The trains were too risky in my opinion. In the early phases, traffic was excellent. Entering my office area required a temperature check at the boom gate. Funny thing was, the procedure was mandatory for the driver, not the passengers. Big loophole huh? The lift buttons were covered with plastic and supposedly sanitized periodically. Never once did I see anyone cleaning the buttons. And since the lifts were tiny, only two persons were allowed at any given time. Entering the office, I had to register and do another temperature check. I didn't wear a face mask in the office ( surgical mask : no, fake smile : yes ). Hand sanitizers we...

As the MCO wore on, more and more vendors started setting up open-air stalls at the OUG Morning Market. Supposedly illegal, but they risked it anyway. At least there was a safe distance between some of the vendors. Abang Polis were probably away because it was the eve of Hari Raya Puasa.  Mum wasn't happy with the conditions with some of the re-opened kopitiams at OUG, so we ventured to Taman Desa instead. Our first dine-out after more than two months was at Woo Pin . Our first taste of the new normal-- blocked entrances, temperature check, customer registration, and distanced tables. 

Due to work commitments, I had to make a visit to my office on Wesak Day to collect the company Macbook because my colleague needed it for iOS app development. The elevators were disabled, so I had to use the stairs to get to the sixth floor. Opening up the office revealed a snapshot of the day before the Malaysian Government announced that Movement Control Order. The waster paper baskets were full, hand sanitizers were on the counters, and the biggest surprise waited for me in the toilet. For some reason, algae started growing in the toilet bowl. Brown sludge crawled from the rim, down to the stagnant blue water's edge. Yuck. I quickly collected what I needed, locked the doors, armed the security system, and made my way out. Before going home, I made a short bread run. First was the sourdough from Wild Yeast , and secondly was the k ouign-amann from Bakery La . Truth be told, I'm not crazy about sourdough. I much prefer the sinfully buttery kouign-amann. Goes so well with a cu...

Must admit that not many people were lucky enough to enjoy a rich seafood paella in the comfort of their own home during the COVID-19 lockdown. This creation from MaisonSK had loads of prawns and contained real Iranian saffron. Delicious!

Ever heard of NADMA ? You're not alone. For the uninitiated, NADMA is AGENSI PENGURUSAN BENCANA NEGARA, the National Disaster Management Agency under the purview of the Prime Minister's Department. The first time I heard about them was when the Perikatan Nasional federal government declared that they were distributing free face masks to households. Distribution was no easy task, so they had to rope in the help of each Member of Parliament to make sure that their constituents would receive this benefit. The MPs would get their staff and volunteers to pack and perform door-to-door distribution. My housing area was taken care by DAP's YB Ng Sze Han, so we got the face masks from the Unit Tindak Kinrara. Each household received four face masks in a plastic bag, together with a small piece of paper with instructions for proper mask usage. Based on Facebook posts, seems that different places received a different number of masks. Guess its based on supply and how the packing was d...

One of my favourite's from mum's kitchen is yam cake. The recipe was passed down from my paternal grandmother. The characteristics of mum's version are generous amounts of cubed yam, dried shrimps, and fried shallots. Some people like lots of five spice powder in the batter, but not me. It's a great snack to have with Kampung Koh chili sauce, and the leftovers can be pan-fried for another level of enjoyment. Mum made this dish several times during the MCO. Lohmaikai is a dish that mum had not made in a long time. Think the last time I had it was back in Kuantan, probably two decades ago. We were lucky enough to sample it again during the MCO! Homemade lohmaikai is not soggy and soft like what you get from kopitiams and dim sum restaurants. When I was a kid, this dish was a favourite for breakfast. Mum would steam a whole lot of tapioca, then make a thick sauce out of palm sugar and pandan leaves. Very delicious, very sweet! Buburchaha is another gem. The combinati...

The MCO had revealed that frozen bao and dim sum are staple favourites among the Malaysian Chinese community. Factories went into overdrive, and every Tom, Dick, and Harry seemed to be selling frozen char siew bao , sang yuk bao , and siew mai on social media. Wouldn't be surprised if one of your neighbour's was a distributor. Can't deny it's popularity because it's delicious, easy to keep, and easy to prepare. Just stick it in a steamer and you have a hot meal. Great for breakfast or tea time.  Was  bao  and  dim sum part of your MCO diet?