will i am's delayed diary

A month before, received a wedding invitation from a cousin from my mother's side. My mother was amused that when he came, he didn't bother to call up whether we were home. When we picked up the invitation card from the letter box, mum was amused for a second time because she was addressed directly by her name. Rules, rules, rules. Anyway, the wedding was on a Sunday night, so we planned to go after church, and return on the night itself. SK tagged along. It was good to have another driver on such a journey. Before the long drive, we had lunch at Nyiru Cafe , the new name for Cafe Kesom. Food seemed similar. Nasi Kerabu was as good as I remembered it, but the Nasi Dagang sucks. We made good time, and arrived at Teluk Intan during tea time. Made a stop at Alex Tea House , a random choice. The exterior was made to look like an old village house, with the entrance flanked by a pair of mulberry trees. The interior was very dark, and every time the door opened, a slash of s

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

During most of secondary school, the buzzwords were "Wawasan 2020" and "Rakan Muda". Those two things were a cure-all. Well, the latter had been trampled into obscurity, while the former is staring us in face right now. Are we a developed nation? Far from it. But whatever the case, we must continue to grow. And to grow, one must start the year right. Between KH and I, starting the year right is having a paktor session on New Year's day. We met up for breakfast at Restoran New Lian Hin in Kuchai Lama. I had the pork noodles, while he went for the sinful nasi lemak with curry chicken. From there, we made a little skip and hop to Little Jungle Coffee House for their specialty iced coffee called Geng Chow Bing . It literally means Super Iced. For the uninitiated, it's a large mug of frothy kopi ping topped with in a incredible huge chunk of iced kopi o . Sounds interesting right? But I personally don't like it because it reminds me of iced mocha. Also

As it was the end of the year, the Majlis Perwakilan Penduduk Wilayah Persekutuan ( this was during the PH days ) had organized a "Back To School" event for the needy. They distributed schoolbags, school shoes, and school uniforms to the B40 residents of Muhibbah PPR, single parents, and orphans from the House of Victory. Mum and I helped out from morning till afternoon. In the evening, we had another event in church. In 2019, the theme for my church's appreciation night was "The Wild Wild West". All members of the church's various ministries were invited to attend a night of dress-up, feasting, and fun. Although mum is not a member of any ministry, I managed to secure a ticket for her via my BEC. A month before the party, I started planning our costumes. Sourced everything from mainland Chinese suppliers. The only worry I had was that the items would not arrive in time. Main components were the cowboy hats and paisley wild rags. For myself, I further

Boxing day was kinda boring, so SK suggested that we have a nice coffee session at Day Nine Kitchen , Taman Equine. One thing I like is that they often have seasonal specials. For Christmas, they had spiced cake, and spiked coffee! Not surprising that the cake wasn't to SK's liking due to the cinnamon, but she definitely approved of the whisky in the coffee. A great way to while the afternoon away...

The tradition of a Christmas meal with Gratitude started in 2011 and continued in 2012 . For some reason, it stopped, and we suddenly revived it in 2019. Immediately after Christmas morning mass, mum and I stepped on it to make it to Klang for a special lunch. Arrived at nearly the same time as SK and her globetrotter friend from Singapore, CG. They met at Stonehenge and kept in contact since. Gratitude had just removed the roast chicken from the oven, and was just beginning to plate it with the roasted vegetables. He had cooked up a storm to make up for the lost years. In addition to the chicken, there was a herbed salad with feta cheese, spicy aglio-olio spaghetti, potato salad, pork chops, and fruits. Everything was delicious. Gratitude really spoiled us. Dessert was Neopolitan ice cream with strawberries, and we even had Moscato during over post-lunch chat. Christmas dinner was with The Tribe back at Equine Park. Ordered Hakka dishes at Restoran Ker Jia Zhuang . Bored of the

From past experience, I dare to say that mum's not a big fan had of dim sum. Imagine my surprise when she suggested that for lunch after church. Didn't have to scramble for a suitable restaurant because I recently had a great dim sum lunch at Oriental Treasure , The Sphere just a couple of weeks back with my colleagues. Among the recommended items are the pan-fried radish cake, white egg tart, and crystal prawn dumplings (two huge prawns inside). Although it was just the two of us, we still managed to rack up a bill of RM120. The Sphere is an interesting concept. The whole area well-designed with lots of greenery, and is very pleasant to look at. Mum and I actually went cam-whoring at the common areas and at the numerous uniquely decorated food and beverage outlets there. Dessert and coffee was not far from our minds. Made a stop at Sunbather Coffee for a long black and a parfait. Not exactly cheap, but quite interesting. After lunch, we headed to Apollo's hom

Construction along Lebuhraya Bukit Jalil had been going in for years, and finally the building by Ho Hup was ready for business. The place was called Aurora Bukit Jalil, and we found about it because of the many buntings advertising the grand opening of Super Seven, one of the anchor tenants. Super Seven is actually an offshoot of NSK, but without the wholesale section. The crowd was crazy with loads of people taking advantage of the daily, and membership specials. Even the lucky draw counters were swamped. Many of their customers were actually the foreign workers who lived nearby, probably those working at the Pavilion 2 site. There were some restaurants on the higher floors, but looked pretty dead otherwise. In the afternoon, sent mum out to get her hair permed at OUG. It was so hot that we stopped for cendol on our way back. It was the Winter Solstice, so mum made some tang yuan. Normally we would eat in, but Sis suggested that we eat out for a change. Hotpot was quite a

KH single-handedly planned a Christmas party, which I think was his first. I was very surprised. He event set a theme~ White! The venue was at The Narra , and everyone had to bring a gift. Guests came in three phases. The first were mum, SK, JJ and his hubby, Ban. Next came Mei and MiniMei ( her daughter Jaq ) who drove in from Batu Pahat. Last of the lot was Cikgu J and King, who were in very much of a hurry because they had a train back to Ipoh to catch ! Although things didn't run like clockwork, we still managed to have a decent dinner, complete the gift exchange, blow out a birthday cake ( December babies ), have a quiz with giveaways ( Nu Skin Korea facial masks! ) and camwhore ( raided the stage for props )! I would say that that KH's party was a success. P.S.: Ban was lucky enough to get MiniMei's first canvas painting titled "Nemo and Jellyfish". P.P.S.: MiniMei loved the Japanese style hair accessories that mum got for her.

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

Kenji, the cutie from Vancouver was in town, so it was our obligation to fatten him up with his favourite foods. Long before his arrival, we had quizzed him about his cravings. We narrowed it down to Hokkien Mee. And deciding which shop took another long process. On the appointed day, we met up at his home in Bukit Jalil. Said a quick "Hi" to his parents and passed him the packs of BKT herbs that he had requested. All of us ( Kenji, KH, Sharky ) went in one car to Jalan Dua in Cheras. When we arrived, we couldn't find the hokkien mee stall. Disaster! My research was lacking. Turns out that they close on Sundays. Opps. At the last minute, we made an on the spot decision to go to Mun Wah which was thankfully just ten minutes away. The whole table was filled with their specialties~ hokkien mee , pak ko ( something new for our VIP guest ), fried chicken wings, and fried fish cake. Pretty decent quality, but I don't think it's a must-have for me. Escaping th