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...

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...

Tried my level best to catch up. Finally I'm blogging about 2023, although its 2024 in just a couple of days. No parties, no raves for New Year's Eve. Typical for me to spend it at church although in recent years, there's no fireworks or fellowship. Just the mandatory mass, and "Year in Review" video.  In the first week of 2023, there was already a wake service for a fellow BEC member. The death statistics have been higher than usual. On a happier note, the year started with a gathering at Apollo's house. His mum cooked up a storm again, and we had good bitching session. In terms of the Lunar Chinese New Year, preparations were heating up everywhere. The morning market was flooded with new year goodies, and students peddling calligraphy. Along with it, the signature traffic gridlock. At church, decorations were also in full swing with help from various Mandarin BECs. All sorts of design ideas were thrown around, and combined with a mash of whatever we could fi...

Christmas 2022 was memorable in the sense that there was a water cut on the 24th. Many a Christian housewife nust have been pissed with SYABAS. Christmas morning mass at church experienced a windfall turnout, no doubt bolstered by the seasonal CEO ( Christmas & Easter Only ) parishioners. Met up with the Tribe for a meh lunch of quinoa nasi lemak La Juiceria Superfoods . Then it was a 40-minute wait at Oomph Bukit Jalil, for a crazy noisy dessert session. Frankly, the lack of noise dampening at the place really annoys me. The kids were much more interested with the opening of the Christmas presents back home.   Later that night, I pulled on my red jockstrap, and  red Tartan pants to attend Terrance and Phillip's Christmas potluck. Lots of food ( KH decided to bring pizza much to my chagrin ), fun, drinks, and coffee. For some reason, the party is always segregated into the dining table gang, and the living room gang. And among the guests, there will be a midnight ga...

Out of the blue, Sharky introduced a new friend to the group. The fella was a Malaysian who had spent a lot of his life in the UK. Recently, he relocated back to his kampung , and was eager to meet more friends. Met Kenni over dinner at 8Haus , Jalan Sin Chew Kee together with Kenji, and of course Sharky. Kenni told us that he had walked all the way from Jalan Petaling, which is something that most KL-ites would agree that is 2000 steps too many. Over dinner, we did some prying, and it was revealed that Kenni was back in Malaysia to reflect on his career choice as a child specialist. He was hoping that he could perhaps pursue something in the realm of dance. Totally different paths. As shocking as Kenji's liking for BKT although he says he doesn't like pork.  Years and years of reading about my food escapades, you would not be surprised to learn that our dinner extended to WUDI Cafe a few doors away ( too little carbs for the youngns ). Often there was a group of geilou on th...

Over the weekend, KH and I had two visitors from out of town. Firstly was Mei and MiniMei. Met them for dinner at Gluttony , Taman Desa for dinner, and the main event which was a round of stout at Mamamon . Secondly was Zemien and long time boyfriend, Paige. Both of them were in KL for several weeks, working out of a serviced apartment at Star Residences. Back when I was working at Megan Avenue II, the towers were still under construction, so it was nice that I was presented with the chance to take a look inside. Zemien gave us a very professional tour, so much that I thought he was selling us a unit. We had a look at the pool, the gym, the urinal with the unobstructed view of Kampung Baru, and the rooftop with the biggest mosaic mural wall in Malaysia.     The boys wanting a very local experience, so we brought them to Chuan Kee for some old school Malaysian Hakka cooking. I had never been to that part of town, and judging by its looks, it's really old. The place was fu...

Terrance and Phillip organized a small mid-autumn gathering at their home. According to the invitation, everyone should bring a mooncake. I was thrilled to see that because there was a deluge of those traditional sweet cakes at home. Terrance had just inadvertently turned his party into a dumping ground for mooncakes. Bwahaha. Before we made our way over, KH and I had dinner at Omega Pork Noodles in Sri Petaling. Don't see what the fuss is about. Couldn't care less about their RM7 unlimited drinks bar. After dinner, we had a dessert at The Hungry Lab . A simple lava cake came with plating, and a dramatic dry ice fog. At 8:00 PM, we made our way to Phillip's condo, and only then did we realize that dinner was provided. LOL. Must have missed the memo.          The lights were dimmed, a few lanterns were up, and golden oldies were playing in the background. As the guests streamed in, the pile of mooncakes on the dining table grew larger and larger. Terrance and hi...

One of Kenji's many food cravings was Klang BKT. KH recommended Links , a weird name for a BKT restaurant. A family-operated place with limited servings. Much of everything that we wanted was sold out. Argh. Garlic pun takde . Cannot brain. Just took whatever they had. Then it was shaved ice desserts at Queen of Spades , a random choice. Left Klang with some takeout-- mui choi bao from Klang Food Center , and Angcle Peoh 's assam laksa .  KH was nursing a sore throat and he still went for heaty BKT, and ice desserts. He had already complained about a scratchy throat during our Friday dinner date. Other than that, he seemed OK. On Sunday, mum and I attended a Corpus Christi procession on the church grounds. The last procession we had was before the pandemic, and the route involved public roads and the adjacent housing estates.  On Monday, I too had a bit of a scratchy throat. Didn't think much about it, and met up with Tater and Ray for dinner at JJJ Ya . The ice-cold Suntor...

After years and years abroad in Canada, Kenji has finally relocated back to Malaysia. The usual scenario-- to help out in the family business. Long before his return, we had already been discussing what Malaysian food he would like to gorge on. Picked him up ( still not braving the Malaysian traffic ) from his new place in Shah Alam, and brought him to dinner at T.J.K. Little Wok . Not exactly a famous place, but KH chose it because of the proximity, and variety. Kenji looked well, but he wasn't exactly thrilled about his homecoming. Hopefully he would get a hang of things soon enough.  No makan-makan session would be complete without dessert. Deliberated with Sharky and found that Subang was the closest option.  Soypresso piqued Kenji's interest because he has a weakness for those taro and yam balls. Why stop at one dessert place, right? Before calling it a night, we went to Roji Monster Ice Cream . They seem to put googly eyes on everything, but imagine my disappointment w...

Tater was back in town, so KH and I headed out to the city center to welcome him. We worked from Wu Di Cafe  while waiting for our Singaporean VIP to arrive. While waiting for dinner time, we did some catching up over coffee. On our way out, we noticed a bunting advertizing a local BL web series called "Wu Di In Love" . If you haven't guessed, the series revolves around the cafe, and I've seen the MC ( guy with the strong eyebrows and jawlines ) hanging out at the cafe. Perhaps he's the owner.  Dinner reservations was at  8Haus Cafe . Been wanting to try the food there since the last visit to the area. Chose two varieties of roulade and some truffle pork. Then it was time for some booze at Sin Chew Kee Cold Drinks Store . Definitely worth toasting to our log awaited reunion. Hope to see more of him in KL when his regular schedule is confirmed.   P.S.: Tater gave us belated Christmas gifts. Super skimpy and sexy. Which do you think would suit me, and which woul...

Well, well, well, Will.I.Am has finally exploded into 2022, and its just Q1! An accomplishment worth celebrating? Haha. On the last day of 2021, I had a production migration that went a little south, but the team got it settled by midnight. Had to forego NYE party, but I would rather have my beauty sleep. On the first day of 2022, KH organized a lunch at Copper Mansion in Petaling Jaya. It was a nice Peking duck meal with mum, Connie, Little Connie, and KK. Business was brisk, with many people dining out. A good sign for the new year.  "Can Lou Sang or not?” "Sorry sir, not yet start"  Bwahahaha. 

KH took a long nap, but I fiddled with my phone instead. Our dinner plans were at Kirishima , Cititel. The Japanese restaurant was an easy walk from our hotel, passing by the famous Chowrasta Market. Only after we were seated that KH made a funny face and declared that he chose the wrong venue. A glitch in his memory. LOL. Managed to meet up with Pooh, and Drew2.0, who is a friends with KH ( very young, still studying ). Not impressed with the food. Got Drew2.0 to recommend us a place for drinks and he didn't disappoint. He led us to Chulia Street which was pretty happening. Parking was a bit of a challenge, but we managed to get a spot, and walk the rest of the way.  The LGBT speakeasy bar was located at a back lane, and we were buzzed in. A very intimate setting, just like a Japanese Izakaya place. Everyone sat at the bar counter ( and everyone seemed to know each other ), with the raucous bartender duo as the focal point. Didn't know what to order, so we just let the bartend...

Bright and early the next morning, we ventured to Kafe Ping Hooi for breakfast with The Tribe. The place is home to Tiger Char Kway Teow, KH's top pick for his Penang CKT fix. The place is definitely maintains an old school vibe with wooden booths and vintage mosaic flooring. The Loh Bak is also quite amazing. Cutiepie's parents had invited us to a Christmas lunch at their house, so we had find a place to kill some time. Queensbay Mall was pretty close to Paya Terubong, so that was our pick. Their creative director's choice of fire-red Christmas trees is really out of this world. Wonder if the decision is related to the fact that CNY is hot on the heels of Christmas. Did some aimless shopping, and later ended up at Coffee Bean for our daily allowance of caffeine.  It was nice to visit Cutiepie's childhood home, and see how a traditional Catholic household celebrates Christmas. Glad to see her parents, and I got to meet her sister too. The hot day was remedied with cold...

Terrance and Phillip were having a staycation at The RuMa Hotel and Residences in the heart of KL. It was Phillip's birthday, so he invited a couple of his close friends over for some after-dinner drinks at their room. Our original dinner plans were at Natalina, an Italian restaurant on the third floor of Avenue K. The upper floor looks better now after being given a facelift. Anyway, we didn't eat at the Italian restaurant because it was fully-booked. Plan B was Nando's . Haha. We walked around Avenue K and Suria KLCC for a bit before finally heading over to The RuMa. Explored the place a bit, and I must say that they put a lot of effort into interior design. When T&P were finally ready for us ( not sure if they were fooling around having naked a naked dinner in bed ), we went up to the room. Phillip's best friend arrived not long after, with his boyfriend in tow. Three couples, cake, and Nespresso. Didn't stay long because because T&P probably had bathtub ...

As promised, Connie organized a small birthday 'party' for her daughter who turned 5. In part, the party was to make up for the lackluster birthday in 2020 as well. KH and I arrived a tad earlier to help her decorate. As it was a surprise party, Connie got her best friend, Lynette to bring Little Connie out for a spin. Connie had settled most of the balloons ( thank goodness, I hate blowing balloons! ), so we were responsible for setting up the playhouse. Pretty much a construction job. Found that KH's pretty hopeless even with an instruction manual. With our combined efforts, we managed to set everything up in time. Little Connie was already restless, and wanted to return home. When Little Connie saw the decorations, her face lit up and gave a squeal! She loved the "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" balloons, and was excited with all the presents and pink unicorn soft toys that were stacked in front of the playhouse. And there was also a Frozen jelly cake to top it all off. Once a...

Commercial Mother's Day was always marked with restaurants running at full capacity, flowers, cakes, and massage chairs. With no shopping and no dine-in, sales of flowers and cakes should still be decent. At OUG morning market, someone was selling bouquets by the roadside, but business was very slow.   My sister and BIL got my mum a combination-- flowers on a cake. A butter cake was topped with waxy paper. A thick layer of rose-lychee fresh cream was smoothed over it, providing a bed for an arrangement of carnations.  And since a fancy dinner was out of the question, SK came over and we had a yakiniku dinner at home. Fresh ingredients with simple seasonings. Hope you had a memorable Mother's Day too.