will i am's delayed diary

People go to the wet market for fresh meat and fresh seafood. Seafood Stephen is a combination of both. His T looks sprayed on. Spotted him at OUG morning market. Worth waking up early to go to the market right?

'Twas a short trip, we check out on Boxing Day. We picked up mum as well, as The Tribe was not done with their travels. First activity of the day was breakfast at the famous Cecil Street Market . Many stalls were not open, and it was a Sunday. Does not compute. We found a table near the entrance, and went hunting for food. I queued for Lum Lai Duck Meat Koay Teow Th’ng , while KH joined the queue for Chulia Street Curry Noodles. My queue cleared pretty quickly, and I managed to carry the hot bowl of soup noodles back to the table with my shaky hands. KH didn't enjoy my success, and gave up because his line didn't move. He returned with Hokkien Mee instead. Many of the market's kuih stalls were near our table, so we had an easy time to make a selection. I made another round, and randomly bought a packet of nasi lemak from a grumpy old lady. I didn't quite get the price, so I just gave her RM50, and I got a balance of RM47.50 back. The price shocked me because it came...

On Sunday morning, mum and I went out to Taman Tasik Titiwangsa for a walk around the park. Arrived before 7 AM, so there was still ample parking along Jalan Temerloh. I misunderstood KH, so he was parked at another side. As the name suggests, it's a park around a lake, and its a big ass lake. Separated into the East Lake, and West Lake, both are connected via a short canal with a couple of bridges. The ecosystem of the lake seems well-maintained as efforts were taken to plant reeds, and other aquatic plants. The water was so clear that one could easily make out the fishes in it. In comparison, Taman Bukit Jalil's ponds are like overcrowded muddy aquaculture ponds.   The park is well-organized with clear paths for runners and cyclists. But Malaysians don't really care for such things. Haha. We'd be all over the paths. In places like Stanley Park , one could easily get run over by cyclists or roller-bladers. Overall, we didn't quite like this park due to the lack of ...

The OUG Morning Market was still in a sad, suppressed state due to the MCO. DBKL did not allow open air markets to operate unlike the adjacent city councils in Selangor. When mum and I were there on Saturday, plainclothes enforcement officials threatened the vendors with summons and confiscation. The enforcement officers did cart away some goods much to the chagrin of the vendors. The vendors closed their stalls, and stood around grumbling about their predicament. Times had been hard for them because the situation had continued for more than a month. Some vendors rented empty shop lots, and others moved into the coffee shops. Even my favourite breakfast noodles were now operating inside OUG Lucky Restaurant . And a good crowd gathered in front of Fah Lian Trading because they were distributing food supplies to the needy. According to KH, they had been giving out groceries for a few days now.  Back home, I had fun with a can of foaming agent that BIL gave me. Pretty useful to plug u...

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?

The coming Monday was the winter solstice, so many stalls at the OUG morning market sold tang yuan desserts, or tang yuan  dough ( which is actually just kneaded glutinous rice flour with colouring ). Mum bought neither as she would be making it from scratch on Sunday. After we got home from the market, I took mum to Midvalley Megamall for some last minute Christmas shopping and to get a look at the Christmas decorations. I did most of my Christmas shopping online, but mum didn't have the chance to get anything with the constant babysitting due to my sister and BIL's busy period at the office.   Before starting the presents hunt, we had lunch at Eatz @ Hong Kong , the first restaurant we saw upon entering the mall. When it's a late lunch, one should never be too picky. Liked their stir-fried seafood pasta, and ice bath yinyong . A tad expensive though. Mum did manage to get gifts for nearly everyone on her list. Never an easy task. Many had the same goal judging by how l...

There's this legendary shop at the corner of Jalan Awan Besar and Jalan Hujan Emas 4, opposite the BHP petrol station in OUG. When I first moved to KL, it was a kopitiam for many years. Out of sudden, it transformed into a fruits shop. Not long after that, it reinvented itself into a mixed rice shop. It was very famous for charging Michelin Star economy rice prices. In it's latest reincarnation, the place is now Yi Feng , a Hainanese cafe with amazing business. Mum and I rarely ever go to that side of the morning market, so I was surprised when mum suggested we eat breakfast there. Although it was a full house with a queue at the front, we secured a table in about 15 minutes. Curry wantan noodles is one of the signature items ( we had been eating curry noodles nearly every week ). For best impact, I ordered the 'Three Treasures' version with siew yuk , char siew , and poached chicken. Not bad, but not a must-have.  In the evening, we went to CEO Kitchen and Bar at Ser...

OUG morning market finally updated their SOP by implementing a "no mask, no entry" policy. So funny to see mahjong tables used at the temperature checking and registration checkpoints. The management tried to limit entry to these checkpoints by using barricade tape, but it's obviously a very porous border. Well, better than nothing. At least I didn't see any Karens making a fuss. On top of that, they tried a one way traffic flow as well.  Mum and I went to Taman Desa for breakfast. A very unlikely vegetarian breakfast at Kuchabe . Wouldn't be there if not for the buy one, free one promotion. Their curry noodles is super thick, and bursting with coconut milk. The local coffee is also great ( a not so local price of MYR5 ), and topped with foam.  

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. 

On the first Saturday after the MCO was declared, mum and I risked a quick visit to the OUG morning market to restock. Cars and crowds were absent from the usually boisterous market. Parking was easy to find. We gave each other wide berth and turned our faces. Like playing a childhood game. All of the open air stalls were not operating. The Marketplace OUG was open, as well as some of the shop lots. Once we saw the crowding at the entrance, we shook our heads and left. Not gonna risk it. Went to tapau breakfast at one of the less popular adjacent roads, then left. So what did I do on the first weekend of the MCO? My taxes. Zzz.

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! ...

As it got closer to CNY, flowers were going at bargain prices. The beautiful blooms were such a cheerful sight to behold. The prayer items were also pleasing to the eyes, for example the cute plate of fishes surrounding a longevity peach. Made with pressed rice flour and no doubt industrial coloring, its a modern twist to a traditional cake. Happiness at the morning market was replaced by annoyance at my AirBnB. Had to deal with a never-ending plumbing problem at the kitchen. Some idiotic guests shoved food stuff down the sink, causing problems for both the kitchen and washing machine drainage. Ugh! My mood during the evening picked up because SK treated mum and I to a Japanese dinner at Jyu-Raku , SS15. Ordering is never a difficult thing when dining with SK. She would just breeze through the menu and pick out all the good stuff. Easy-peasy.

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.

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...

CNY fever had been initiated at the OUG morning market. Rats and mice take center stage. Was a bit surprised when Vince told me that one couldn't find apam balik at the Bangsar morning market, so I went around showing him how easy it was to get the traditional snack at OUG. He was excited by the big pan variety. Personally, I prefer the smaller apam balik . Later, mum and I went to settle some stuff at the Airbnb. We were there till late, so ate lunch at Top Chef Food Court . The vision is to have collection of "up-and-coming Superstar Chefs" all under one roof. Pretentious names never work lo. Business was lukewarm, and the food not superstar standard. But the interior is not like your run-of-the-mill food court, but instead use a lot of mismatched furniture, up-cycled wooden planks, and even sports cast-iron chandeliers. Mum and I weren't impressed by the Ipoh shredded chicken hor fun . The kopi had some oomph though. Post-lunch, we met up with SK and CK...

Mum has a quarterly appointment with her O and G specialist at Puchong, so we skipped our usual morning marketing at OUG. But that doesn't mean we can't do our marketing elsewhere. Right after the appointment, I made a stop at the Taman Wawasan morning market. The stalls are arranged around a food court. When we arrived, the sun was already out, and the unfamiliar layout made it an unproductive visit. But its interesting to note that pork is openly sold in the open over there. In the evening, KH and I attended a wedding at Hai Tian . One if his colleagues at Nu Skin were getting married. Little did I know that it would be the last time I ate at Hai Tian. Just a few days later, the signboard was changed. Quite a landmark Chinese restaurant for the Taman Equine area. In the afternoon, mum deep-fried some nian gao wraps. Crispy on the outside, and chewy on the inside. Brought a bunch to the banquet so that we could nibble on it while waiting for all the fashionably late gue...