will i am's delayed diary

December was a month of meet-ups. Apollo topped the list with two dinners, one for an omakase dinner at Hisho , and another later in the month to celebrate an early Christmas. I wasn't particularly impressed with the Japanese food, but I was really stuffed at the end of the course. The Christmas dinner was a home party to jointly celebrate the Winter Solstice as well. Fortunate enough to have Mei join us. The kids had a great time making tang yuan , while the adults sipped on sweet wine, and nibbled on loaded fruitcake. In the run up to Christmas, I managed to meet up with Cutiepie at the Gardens Mall. And as luck would have it, reconnected with a Form Six classmate whom I had not seen since finishing STPM. Out of the blue, I also had coffee with an ex-subordinate of mine because he wanted some career advice. Then there was another Japanese dinner with Janvier and his hubby. With Janvier, its always more of a drinking session. Breezed through the first half, stay tuned for the seco...

Tater was in town in early November, and as usual it centered on conversation over comfort food. Lounged in his room at The Westin first, and admired the complimentary KLCC Twin Tower chocolates that were compliments of the house. Once Tater freshened up, we crossed the road over to Starhill to visit the cafes there. COME True Cafe  looked the most attractive so we sat down there. Nearly every table had a plate of creme brulee souffle pancake on it, so we naturally also jumped on the bandwagon. Three of us broke our Eslite virginity after catching up over a couple of pineapple americanos. Our dinner at  El Iberico  centered on their signature aroz, and of course Tater wanted dessert. The churros were a great way to end the meal. Before we called it a night, we had more coffee at Feeka . Tater had a fun time flirting with the barista while he ordered his sticky bun latte. Maybe someone wanted to get some sticky buns that night. :P 

Checked out from The Tudor early the next morning, and headed to Chang Jiang for breakfast. An old  single-storey bungalow serves as a cafe, and coffee retail space. Business was really brisk. I don't recall the food being very memorable, but I can say for sure that the instant coffee is more expensive at the HQ than in KL! Ridiculous. Mum and I attended the 10:30AM Sunday mass at St. Michael's Church. Anyone approaching the church would first be greeted by the Catholic cemetery flanking Church Road on both sides. The main church has two towers, and has a bronze statue of St. Michael Archangel at the entrance. Churches usually have a Marian grotto, but at this Ipoh church, the statue of Mother Mary is located in an oriental pavilion.  The moment we left the compounds of the church, our Ipoh food hunt officially started. KH gave me strict instructions to get his favourite kaya puffs from Sin Eng Heong . BIL dropped me by the road and I hopped into the store. A man with a full ...

KH kickstarted my birthday celebration in September with a scrumptous lunch at Bref by Darren Chin . Knowing my preference for tentacle porn, KH ordered grilled octopus tentacle, and also duck confit. Strangely, the most memorable item of the meal was not the seafood or the poultry, but the potato pave that was beneath the duck leg. My first time having the deliciously crispy slice of 'thousand-layered' potatoes.  Next was coffee at Kopi & Studio , a cafe so quiet that we could be as lovey-dovey as we wanted. In KH's mind, a perfect date must come with a trip to the cinema, so we watched "A Haunting in Venice". Entertaining enough, but Kenneth Branagh is not a memorable Poirot for me. Later in the evening, we had a mid-autumn party hosted by Sim. Think its my second year joining. Same bunch of of people, but some fresh faces as well. Tapau -ed some pork pizzas from Skippy's , and at the same time took some photos at my old Phileo Damansara office.  Lots of...

Keeping with my BEC's tradition, Malaysia Day is reserved for our local pilgrimage trip. In 2023, we chose Teluk Intan as our destination. On our way out of Kuala Lumpur, we flew past the famous broccoli-like Giam Kanching trees over the Rawang Bypass and stopped at Kuala Kubu Bharu. We participated in a Malaysia Day mass at St. Paul the Apostle Church , a parish that's as old as Malaya. Fr. VA Michael celebrated the mass, and after that he gave our group a special blessing. On the way out, our bus got caught on a telephone line. Luckily we got hold of some long poles and managed to get ourselves out of the kerfuffle.  Continuing on, we had a short photo stop at Sungai Selangor Dam  before arriving at Church of the Most Holy Redeemer , Tanjung Malim for a private mass. The celebrant was Fr. Vincent Paul. We were a tad late for lunch, but luckily Ban Heong was not far from the church. No complaints about the food in terms of taste and portion.  Pushed on to Teluk Intan, a...

It's really no mean feat planning a holiday with friends-- getting everyone to agree on a time, place, and actually getting the flight tickets. KH, SimonLover, ForIHaveSinned, and I passed that phase-- we were going to Phuket during the Thaipusam weekend! Made a cafe date at Mimi Daifuku , and tried to tresh out some of the details. Being old school, ForIHaveSinned had a notebook with him on top of an iPad to organize his thoughts. In the end, I think we membawang-ed  more than any actual planning. LOL. But we were very sure of one thing-- we need a hotel room with private pool or something similar for our hiao photo sessions!

Before flying back to Malaysia, KH and I attended Sunday mass at Church of the Sacred Heart on Tank Road. The community is small enough that the priest actually blessed the September babies, parishioners who had wedding anniversaries, and couples who were trying to conceive during the announcements. The church has beautiful marble altars with intricate inlays, with two side altars dedicated to Mary and Joseph. Candles are lit high on the altar that the sacristan needs to use candle snuffer.  Made lunch plans with Tater at Maguro Brothers , Tras Street as KH is a big fan of expensive tuna. We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food, and the friendliness of the service. KH was happy with the otoro-don, and maguro ribs was also perfectly grilled. With a little persuasion, the waitress got us drinking out of traditional masu cups. It was such a spectacle, that it influenced the adjacent table to do the same. Haha. And what does one do after getting a little tipsy on...

While we were out hunting for breakfast, I spotted the same tourist I saw at Yakun the day before, having his breakfast at Toast Box. Recognized his topknot, painted nails, and Kodama tattoo on his hand. Guess he's kopitiam hopping for the duration of his stay. We gave kopi and eggs a miss, and went to Albert Centre for prawn noodles instead. Compared to Malaysia, Singapore's version is often porkier with the choice pork ribs or pig tails.  Met up POD, Nic, and Suzy over a delicious Teochew lunch at Sin Chao Gardens , River Valley Road. For the first time ever, I met Suzy's boyfriend. Both POD and Nic were their usual lou fu, lou chai selves, and they always had fantastic tales to tell. Everyone was busy, so we didn't have round two.  As luck would have it, HornyBF was in town, on his way out to Boston. Caught up with him with at Xin Wang , Suntec with a whole different click. The only other person I knew was Nivlac, Azzuro Hyperion's hubby. Being an impromptu mee...

The next morning, I woke up to an empty house. KH and Tater had gone for a morning run, and came home in sweat-drenched running tights. Quite the morning sight. The two lads got freshened up, and we went out to look for breakfast. When in Rome, do as the Romans do-- have breakfast at Yakun . Haha. Tater's favourite haunt is at Fortune Centre. A regular there. That Yakun is also popular with tourists due to its close proximity to several hotels.  Tanked up on kaya butter toast, soft-boiled eggs, and kopi c, KH and I went to Fort Canning to admire the long queue of humans trying to get a shot at the 'tree tunnel'. Not only tourists lined up, but also newlyweds. Quickly left and headed to Fong Sheng Hao at NEX to meet up with Justin and his 'superhero' kid, Sen. There was some good news that he managed to enrol his son into public school despite his complicated health conditions, but his custody battle with his ex-wife was far from over. Sen actually complained to his...

Over the long Merdaka weekend, KH and I made a trip down to Singapore to visit friends. Looking back at my passport, my last visit was in 2019, a few of years before Covid. At KLIA2, I actually bumped into my church member. Such a small world. We arrived at Changi way past lunchtime, so the hubby was understandably hangry. Randomly picked Tsui Wah at Jewel, and it was KH's turn to bump into someone he knew. I was amused by the way his ex-colleague's children were eating their lunch-- they sucked up strands of wantan noodles draped over their hands.  I'd have a fit.  Along the way to Tater's place in Bugis, we passed by all the memorable landmarks, Bugis+, Bugis Street, and Albert Centre, to name a few. And since it was the 7th lunar month, the spaces around OG department store showed signs of activities from the Hungry Ghost Festival. When we arrived, we were given the customary welcome bear hug, and peck on the cheek. That night, we didn't have dinner with our hos...

In August, I took one week off work to accompany mum on a pilgrimage to Bali. Yes, quite shocking when I heard about it because Bali is predominantly Hindu. During my last visit in 2009 , I didn't notice anything other than Hindu temples. For some of the participants, it wasn't their first trip out there. One lady told me that it was her 6th trip to Bali! The flight out was at 9AM, so we were out of the house by 5AM. The tour was organized by 72 year old gentleman, by the name of Uncle Jacob. With the help of his daughter and son-in-law, he had helped us get the boarding passes and luggage tags before we even arrived ( don't know how he did it ). All we had to do was use the self-service baggage drop.  Thank goodness there weren't any delays because Air Asia is often sucky these days. Ngurah Rai Airport's new terminal was really impressive. It did take a while for us to get out because the immigration officers were really 'not into it'. Also wasted more time...

KH brings me to the most interesting cafes for our Saturdates. Shan Mu is one such place. The cafe is located in Cheras ( KH was in his Cheras phase ), and the shopfront is not obvious at all. No signboard, just a small wooded plaque beside a closed wooden door with the Chinese characters for "mountain" and "wood". Look out for a clump of bamboo trees out front. Mismatched furniture-- mostly timber and driftwood furniture. Drinks are unique, but some are misses. Whatever the case, do try their vanilla choux. This brings us to an interesting topic of our paktor routine. More often than not, KH would complain that he is stressed trying to figure out where to go every weekend. He claims that I cannot visit a place more than once. Paired with my demanding tastes, and pickiness, he has to crack his head regularly. Frankly, I am not THAT demanding, but since he puts it like, I now just play along. Bwahaha. At least I am guaranteed a constant stream of places to review o...

In anticipation to our Bali pilgrimage tour, mum had to renew her international passport. Photo studios are now few and far in between. Found one in Happy Garden, just half a shop really, but the guy was good. The amount of photo editing he did was impressive. Stray hairs, asymmetrical face, earrings, deep wrinkles, all did not survive his Photoshop selection tool. That night we started a series of makan-makan to celebrate the May Babies-- mum and Little Monster. First it was House of Petai with its 'vomit beans' in every single dish, and its singing chef. Second was a shabu-shabu buffet at Wagyumore because Little Monster liked the spaghetti at the salad bar. Mind-blown. Third was Euro Deli  which was also right up Little Monster's alley. Let the kids try some lager, and they didn't like it!