will i am's delayed diary

Reunion dinner is usually a ten dish affair at my home although we are not a big family. The expedite the cooking process mum cooks some of the dishes in advance. Of course not all dishes can be cooked early but for some, it is ideal because it will add to the flavour. The two dishes that mum prepared on Saturday was stewed duck and springrolls. Watched mum sear the duck in a wok with star anise, five spice powder, cinnamon, greater galangal and palm sugar. The aroma was fantastic. Next she minced pork and added in diced water chestnut, carrots, black fungus and prawn meat. The filling was later wrapped with beancurd skin ( plus a surprise piece pig liver ) and fried. While mum cooked, I washed the cars. In the afternoon, we went to Plaza Damas to collect our new spectacles. SK's was still stuck at the lab due to its special requirements. Been a while since I wore rimless spectacles, so the light reflection from the edging was a bit distracting. My eyes would learn to ignore ...

Big Monster's school is located in Kuala Lumpur, so he had Federal Territory Day off. Little Monster's pre-school is located in Seri Kembangan so he was in school. Big Monster spent the day at his mother's office so mum and I only needed to handle the youngest. When we picked him up he was dressed in a red shirt. According to him, he had a CNY party at school. Most of his female classmates came in qipaos.  After picking him up, we headed to the TCM for mum's follow up. Her coughing was still as bad. The doctor blamed it on the food she had the night before at MaisonSK. She shouldn't have drank the herbal soup. And to make it worse, it was chicken-based. Even the pakchoy  was a no-no. Difficult. She prescribed another bunch of herbs and sent us on our way. We ate lunch at a nearby kopitiam . We walked there and the sun was shining brightly. Little Monster is a real Puteri Lilin . Rather than face the glare, he would just put his hands over his eyes and expect that ...

The closer we got to CNY, the worse traffic and parking I had to face at the OUG morning market. Quickly got what we needed and had breakfast at the newest noodle shop in the area. They only served Hakka noodles and YTF. Their noodles are quite good but the YTF is pretty expensive at MYR1.40 per piece. Mum was suffering from a lingering cough after her sore throat, so we went to Tai Onn Tong at Happy Garden to get a TCM consultation. The TCM practitioner checked her pulse and wrote up a long prescription. In addition to that, she limited my mum's diet to rice, pork and a limited choice of greens. Noticed two shops at the same row-- Zen & Co and Bacon & Balls. Will come back to try one of these days. Mum had a hair treatment appointment in the afternoon so I had lunch by myself. Boiled some Maggi instant noodles and matched that with leftover YTF from breakfast. Invited KH over for an 'afternoon delight'. Must admit that I wasn't feeling so energetic that...

KH & I marked our nine years together on the 28th of January , however the celebration only took place one day later on a Friday. We decided that it would be better since there wouldn't be an upcoming work day to put a damper on things. Bright and early in the morning, we took the train out to the city center. Took a leisurely walk to Feeka  and by the time we got there, KH was sweating already. Turns out that the kitchen doesn't open until an hour later so we left. Our breakfast venue was Restoran Kam Fatt  at Tengkat Tongshin. Noodles and kopi . After eating, we went back to the cafe for our second shot of coffee and slice pineapple-ginger cake ( I didn't like it at all, no sir ). Sipped our coffee and had morning small talk. At a nearby table, a lone woman in exercise gear was crying her eyes out, streaming some makeup down her cheeks. Earlier on she was on the phone with her girlfriend, pouring her heart out. At 11:00AM, we left the cafe to catch a movie at Th...

Spent most of Thaipusam replacement at home ( even breakfast was bread and fig preserve at home ). KH was out gallivanting with his colleagues in Klang, so I was left to my own devices. Used the time to continue spring cleaning my room. Mum made chicken porridge for lunch and we continued cleaning till mid-afternoon. SK suggested I take a break and brought me out for tea. She was hankering for soufflé, so I suggested Wild Sheep Chase. Got Wai to come along too ( he was dressed like he was going out on CNY1 ). For some reason, Wai and I have bad juju with Wild Sheep Chase. It was the second time that we went there only to discover that it wasn't open. Thankfully, Wai knew all the alternatives in the vicinity. He suggested Snickerdoodles near G ay Residence. It was located in a new shop lot area that was really quiet. There were interesting paintings on the wall, but no indication of why its called Snickerdoodles ( it's actually a type of cinnamon-sugar cookies ). They actual...

Woke up kinda horny on Sunday morning, but of course KH wasn't around to settle that. Did my morning stretches and got dressed for church. Mum had another massage scheduled after lunch so we ventured into Kepong again. Had a quick lunch at a kopitiam  and I ventured to Aeon Big while waiting for mum to finish her session. Owing to how close CNY was, the place was milling with customers. I walked in to find most Chinese customers pushing a cart full of packet drinks, carbonated drinks and beer. Mandarin oranges and other food stuffs didn't seem to be selling that well. I thought that I would buy something too but after looking at the obscene queues at the checkout counters, I gave up the notion. Picked Kwong Woh Tong  as my lepak  zone for the afternoon. Enjoyed a bowl of guīlínggāo ( minus the turtle ) while watching people push drinks-laden shopping carts back to their vehicles. Fell asleep when I got home. By the time I got up it was time for dinner at MaisonSK. B...

Mum complained of a sore throat on Saturday morning so she went to the clinic after breakfast. After getting her antibiotics, we headed to Hartamas Shopping Center for a trip to the optician. My last check was three years ago at Apollo's now-closed shop. Wonder if three years of staring at the laptop and smartphone had degraded my vision. And truth be told, my spectacle frame was showing signs and tear. When we walked into the shop, we were surprised to see Eva there! Didn't know that she stopped flying. She told that me that she was rusty after leaving the field for five years, but I agreed to be her guinea pig. The results indicated that my power did not change. Good news indeed! Still, I took the opportunity to get a new pair and add that blue coat to the lens. Supposedly protects the yes from the pesky blue light from digital devices. Against all fashion advice I have also gone back to a rimless frame. Can't stand wearing heavy spectacles all day! SK's power had ...