will i am's delayed diary

The pandemic practically killed my Starbucks habit. If not for my free birthday cake reward, I wouldn't be ordering a ristretto bianco. Haha. The new normal had changed some Starbucks SOPs. The tumbler discount is still there, but they no longer take the cover. And for the first time ever, when I collected my drink, there was decent latte art on it! Perhaps its just the barista at IOI City Mall. Lucky I reckon.  HaiDiLao had a more drastic change. No more long waiting lists to dine there. Lost its luster. Their staff actually don a sash, wear cute-sy hairbands, and venture out with flashing light sticks and hunt for customers in packs. Wonder if they will survive in Malaysia. 

KH alerted me to the existence an Instagrammable place in Cyberjaya called Tamarind Square . In today's market, it's not enough to serve good food, have good variety, or sell something that is special, the architecture and design of the venue must also be attractive. The place is actually just a little down the road from D'Pulze if you're familiar with the area. When I turned in, I realized that they do not collect parking fees, and the place still looked to be under construction.  According to the website, Tamarind Square is an attempt at "reinventing the village charm" with an urban village concept. Community meets commercial meets arts and culture. Reminds me of an episode of South Park.  The design is a meld of Malaysia shophouse, shopping mall, and village square. All connected with bare concrete, steel, and greenery. Brought to you by the same people behind PJ Trade Centre. We emerged from the parking lot right at the so-called village square. Retail spa

Revisited Xenri at Old Klang Road after a long hiatus. Still as expensive as I remember it. Haha. Perhaps that's why I stopped going. KH had an appointment at All Thai which was located at Jalan Awan Hijau, not far from my dinner venue. He recommended that I try a new cafe located above it, called 6Yi Cafe . It was pretty interesting place with a semi-retro feel, and a feature wall that looked like it was decorated by The Hulk. One big hole in the middle of the cafe. And the cafe has a resident cat that lazes around, behaving like it owns the place. I kinda liked the Black & White, a fizzy coffee drink. Their cakes are in limited supply, you might or might not be able to try their Rum & Raisin Chocolate Cake. Think the share the same cake supplier as Morrow at Jalan Hujan. I left mum a while, and made a quick dash downstairs to join KH and his friend, who worked as a part-time private investigator. Never had I met anyone who was in that line of work. That was about it, ju

In the past week, I had Peking duck twice with two different group of friends at Restoran F1 Kitchen , Puchong Jaya. For just MYR50 per bird, it was quite a steal. As if that wasn't enough, the meat-travaganza continued with Gratitude at The Birdland and Fat Cow at SS15 Courtyard. From the name, its obvious that they specialize in poultry and beef. Ordered two portions of steak with foie gras, one hobayaki style, and the other sumibiyaki style. Hobayaki is a style of cooking on dried Honoki leaves, giving the meat an extra smoky flavour. I found the sumibiyaki better. Don't order the Hokke because there's no mention of fish in the restaurant's name. The staff manning the restaurant seemed mighty young to me. They all look like apprentices.    Next up was coffee and cakes at Naj & Belle . We sat right at the entrance of the mall, with a whole lot of human traffic, and flies for some reason. Not exactly ideal. The rose almond lychee crumble ( what a mouthful ) l

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. 

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. 

A couple of years back, KH made a pair of spectacles at Kuchai Lama. It was large, gold-rimmed, and kinda octagonal. The frame was badly tarnished and the lens coating was crappy too. So we made a trip to Aurora Place, Bukit Jalil to get a replacement at QOOP. The hunt for the right pair of frames too quite some time. In the end, we decided on a pair of dark tortoiseshell frames. The optician too a long time to determine KH's power ( and it was obvious that it was no fun for him working with a face mask and face shield ). Mum also got a new pair of reading glasses. And hunting for a pair of suitable frames was also a big challenge. A customer was actually waiting for KH and mum to finish. Enviable patience. I would have gone shopping or sat down at a cafe instead of waiting there.  With both Herculean tasks out of the way, we celebrated with a kopi session at Nanyang Kopitiam . The place was cheap, and served decent local coffee. Both kopi c and kaya butter toast was MYR1.50 each.

During the Aidilfitri weekend, mum and I took up Gratitude's invitation to gallivant at Kota Kemuning. KH also joined. Truly our first soc-food outing since the relaxation of the MCO rules. Met up for breakfast at Pun Chun ,  Bidor's most famous export. When I was little, we would usually stop at their flagship store to have the famous herbal duck soup. Our usual stop en route to Teluk Intan. But as the years went by, we stopped going. Think we got sick of it, and found that the quality had dropped. After going cold turkey for so many years, we were pleasantly surprised.The herbal duck soup was flavourful, without being too salty. Plenty of duck meat, and there was no rancid oil taste. Also loved the large and springy  wantans . A breakfast outing to Kota Kemuning would not be complete without a visit to Brew N Bread . They had the temperature and registration SOP in place, but I don't think there was any social distancing for the seating. Full house! Coffee was great but t

  International Women's Day is celebrated on the 3rd of March, highlighting the importance of women's rights, and achievements. I remember that it was a Sunday, and I brought mum, the most important woman in my life, out to lunch at Ichiriki , The Gardens Mall. Our full pork lunch began with a decadent kurobuta katsu topped with grated cheese. Next came a belly-warming pot of motsunabe, filled to the brim with minced pork balls and tender pig stomach. Extremely satisfying. As the day wore on, it rained quite heavily. Mum and I stopped for a cup of latte at Jaya Grocer. As luck would have it, I bumped into my primary schoolmate from Kuantan there.  That was IWD lunch. IWD dinner was arranged with my mum's friend, whose son is one of the founding partners at Down To Bones . Guess the pork theme from lunch continued right through to dinner! She treated us to a nice dinner of signature pork ribs, and mushroom soup. I noticed that they have a new variety of pork ribs now that

The day after Ren Ri is the 8th day of the Lunar Chinese New Year. At night, the Hokkiens will go crazy over the Pai Ti Gong ritual which involves elaborate preparations of food offerings, prayer items, sugarcane, and fireworks. It's the CNY season's second wind. Some households turn it into a major gathering of family and friends. The energy can be felt at the morning market as people do last minute shopping for the occasion.  In the afternoon, I had a lunch date with SimonLover. The main point was for him to pass me an underwear stash. Haha. He helped me buy some stuff from the STUD warehouse sale. We met at Happy Sabah Pork Noodles , a place that serves sang nyuk noodles. It was too hot to chat there, so we moved on to ATE TEA Cafe .  Here's my stash : STUD scribble swim shorts STUD camo swim trunks STUD camo mesh brief -  Thank you SimonLover! <3   Zara camo socks -  Thank you SimonLover! <3 <3 Aussiebum Pride Mesh brief - Thank you SimonLover! <3 <3

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...

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

Ever heard of stir-fried assam laksa? If your interest is piqued, give it a try at Well Cook Gourmet Restaurant . The name of the restaurant is a little of a put off, but ... Interesting, but not something that I will go back again and again for. Stir-fried Mee Java is also on the menu. And forget about the prawn noodles. Watch out for the crowds. Since I was already in Subang, mum and I gave The Foxhole a try too. Was amazed by the waiting list. There were two tables outside, but the need for air-conditioning was too great. Waited for half an hour before we were offered to share a table with another couple. Coffee was good, but I wasn't impressed with the burnt cheesecake ( too soft! ). Perhaps I will return to try the mains.

Called in late on Friday because I had to patch a punctured tyre. Took me less than ten minutes, and MYR5, which is cheap by usual standards. Decided pack a box of keria gula melaka for my colleagues before heading to work. I had to wait around half an hour for them to whip up the first batch. Towards the end of my wait, I observed a peculiar scene at the stall. A lady filled a wok with a bunch of palm sugar. Then she fished out a packet of rock sugar and proceeded to wash it with water. Once that was done, she slashed the top with a pair of scissors, and the contents joined the gula melaka in the wok. I squinted my eyes, and then it dawned on me why she washed the packet earlier~ the rock sugar in the wok was crawling with ants. Lol. I wonder if the batch the lady was packing for me at the moment had a similar secret ingredient. Haha. Later that evening, I had a dinner date with SimonLover, Boon, and KH. Boon wanted to eat at Grub by Ah Hong . SimonLover and I were able to g

On Saturday, I went to the wet market as usual. It wasn't too late, so I had the time to fix up the tyres on my Iswara Skyline. Definitely did not want a repeat of the scary skidding incident a few years back. Drove to Equine Park to visit my regular tyre shop. Moi : I want to change my tyres. Lady : Let me see. Hmm. Front tyres 2010. Back tyres 2012. The sides all cracked lo. Moi : Change all lo... Haha. Has it been that long? She suggested Goodyear which was RM138 a piece. Told her to proceed, and I went searching for a place to wait. Ended up at an Indian coffee shop for teh ais , but I didn't stay long because there was too many mosquitos! Went a bit further to LT Fang Cafe which provided both air conditioning and WiFi. A much better choice. Ordered some soft boiled eggs as I was a bit hungry. Before I finished the eggs, I received a few calls from the tyre shop informing me about several other more parts that were in dire condition : absorber, satay bush ( Mal