will i am's delayed diary

People had started turning up in hordes at the morning market during the final weekend before the lunar Chinese new year. New products continued to make an appearance at the last minute. A new store also popped up selling ikan belah belakang with sambal filling. Trust the Chinese to charge RM12 per fish, where you can get it for at most RM5 at a Malay mixed rice stall. Breakfast was YTF at Ker Yuen Kitchen instead of my usual breakfast noodles. Family Mart had just opened near Equine Park, so we went to give it a try. The sofuto I can understand, but I was a bit skeptical about the tomyum oden . Got a starter bowl and randomly selected a few stuff. I was sold on the first bite. The Tribe jio-ed us to have dinner at Say Cheese , The Link 2. Big Monster ordered their signature pork chop, so we were treated to dinner display with a butane torch right at our table. Alexander the Gay was in town, so I went to meet him at The Augmented Cafe , a Cina-Muslim cafe

Even before my Colombo trip , I was feeling unwell. A lingering illness deep inside my torso that couldn't quite manifest. Like an annoying piece of meat stuck between your teeth, that you can feel with the tip of your tongue, but can't quite dislodge. Couldn't take it anymore, so I decided to see the TCM practitioner at Happy Garden after mum's trip to the wet market. After a long wait, it was finally my turn. Her diagnosis after feeling pulse and sticking a tongue depressor down my throat : heat and wind. She diagnosed me three doses herbal soup with complicated cooking instructions. And while I was taking the herbal soups, I had certain dietary restrictions. In general, eat pork ( yay! ), and avoid white vegetables. A truly nasty concoction with a whole lot of dregs which I had to swallow as well. Once I was done, it was time for lunch. Mum and I ate at Wonton and Pho, just a short walk away from the TCM. Between us, we had a banh mi , and a plate of wantan noo

As it got closer to the Lunar New Year, more interesting things popped up in the morning market at OUG. Some new and innovative product releases for 2019. On top of the usual peach-shaped buns for the altar, I saw technicolour huat kueh this year, stacked up into mutant Christmas trees. And being the most popular foreign pig in China, Peppa also joins in the festivities. Spotted plushies of Peppa wearing traditional Chinese costumes, and also Peppa Pig CNY T-shirts. In the afternoon, I went to get my hair cut, while mum spent some time with her buddies at the DAP Seputeh service center. My stylist put some white gooey stuff in my hair (nothing remotely related to "There's Something About Mary") that turned it temporarily ash grey. Kinda cool. That night mum organized a Japanese dinner Jyuraku , SS15. She invited SK, LifeBook and Bless. The house salad was an excellent choice for a faux lou sang . SK did most of the ordering because she's a regular. Good food

At the morning market, the effects of the upcoming Lunar Chinese New Year were palpable. A buzz was in the air. Wallets and purses were loosened for a semi-restrained shopping frenzy. Many new stalls popped up to sell seasonal products, e.g. biscuits, snacks, new year cakes, decorations, etc. Heck, even Tulip luncheon meat opened a promotional counter. In the afternoon, SK organized a dim sum lunch at Grand Harbour, Da Men Mall. Joining us for the free lunch was Apollo and my mum. It was my first time at Da Men Mall, a very much food-first mall like Starling Mall. The restaurant was located at the highest floor where occupancy was the lowest. Huge swathes of retail space were left in the dark. Dim sum was pretty good over there. Recommended items are : wu kok (excellent crispy skin), scallop mai (crispy 'nest' on the outside, juicy inside), char siew roll (delicious char siew), pork ribs, red yeast shrimp roll (good combination of textures), and crab meat omelette (a

On Winter Solstice, some stalls sold the the colourful glutinous rice dough required to make tang yuan . Sold by weight, mum says that its pretty profitable because its mostly water weight. That day we ventured to Taman Desa for a fish head noodles breakfast at Woo Pin . Still love their fragrant and moist fried fish head, but the price is getting higher and higher. Lunch was just Marks and Spencers Rich Tea biscuits with a cup of hot Chek Hup coffee. Did some shopping at SuperSave and it was funny to see that Santa Claus and Frost the Snowman were already feeling the heat from the Year of the Pig although Christmas wasn't even over yet. We had our second lunch at Restoran Joylnn, Taman Damai Utama~ wat tan hor with kopi c ping . Really difficult to predict whether my mother is hungry or not at times. Our Winter Solstice dinner was at Banh Mi Cafe , Puchong Jaya with my sister and the Monsters. At night, we started making tang yuan for the Winter Solstice event at K

I was tasked to buy salted fish from the market. Came as a surprise that Sri Lankans like that stuff. They eat stuff like sambal ikan masin . Got him several chunks of the premium threadfin salted fish. Expensive stuff. For breakfast, mum and I shared curry noodles. Just the day before, SK was warded at Sunway Medical Center for acute abdominal pain. Turns out that she had a condition where water accumulated in her abdominal cavity. No reason was found even after an endoscopy and colonoscopy. The day after, mum and I brought big monster to see the GP after noticing him developing rashes with a lingering fever. He was diagnosed with chicken pox. Little Monster practically shunned his brother when he found out that his brother was developing blisters all over his body. Pushed him away and called him "disgusting". Brutal. 

Here's some of the latest shots from my usual Saturday PasarPride routine: A new vendor selling fermented black beans, fermented black beans, hot bean paste, and some varieties of nuts. The black beans were really fragrant, great for dishes like bitter gourd chicken. Fermented olives used to be real popular go-together for porridge. When I was little, 'sea chicken' used to be common dish on my dinner table. Mum would batter the weird-looking fish, fry it, and serve it with some sauteed onion rings. Doesn't really taste like chicken, and the fish has a natural stone-like ballast that is quite unique. Today, the fish is no longer cheap. A new stall popped up selling healthy breakfast options. The sandwich with purple and yellow sweet potato paste was really eye-catching. However, the pasar veterans still preferred the deep-fried sweet potato balls, and  ham chim peng ! SimonLover arranged dinner that night with TummyFull. Wasn't easy coming up with