will i am's delayed diary

Ever since I found out that black coffee has 0 calories, I had been opting for long blacks and americanos at cafes. But at home, I mostly drink 2-in-1 coffee premix. The non-dairy creamer ain't good for you, so I decided to brew my own coffee. Got myself a subscription from Perk Coffee that came with a free drip starter kit. What I got was : Hario V60 coffee drip Hario filter paper Measuring spoon 250 grams of freshly-ground coffee I was sorely mistaken when I thought that I could use any old kettle to brew my coffee. It was practically impossible to control the flow of hot water. Because of that, I had to spend a little more money to get a gooseneck kettle. After going through some YouTube channels, I was able to make my own delicious cuppa. So far, my favourite is the Brazil Cerrado. 

KH introduced me to his new friend KV over dinner. The dinner place was called Ah Tan Kitchen over in Connaught. KV works in the food and beverage industry as a supplier, an interestingly he does tattooing on the side. While we were having the butter chicken, soggy abacus seeds, and fried pork, he described his journey into inking the human skin. From the sound of it, there really is no accredited place to learn. His beginners class was months of sketching on paper. During the next stage, they practiced with synthetic skin. According to him, many advanced courses were con jobs. Guess in this kind of trade, its important to apprentice with masters. But anyway, being an amateur tattoo artist is no way to make a living, hence the day job.  Then we went to Beans and Yogurt on the other side of the main road. The "Beans" refers to coffee beans, not soya beans. I ordered a long black to make up for the lousy white coffee I had during dinner. And we shared a slice of chempedak cak

For my 40th birthday, I had a craving for crab. Took me quite a while to decide on a venue for it. A balance between quality and price. Finally decided on Crab Meet at Taman Bukit Mayang Emas. Apollo, Lifebook, SK, and KH were there to memeriahkan majlis . For maximum satisfaction, we ordered the so-called XXL crabs, but they weren't that big la. A decent size. The star dish was the salted egg crabs that came stacked like a pile of Jenga. It came with crispy yam sticks which made it even yummier. Actually, my favourite is sweet and sour crabs, but their version was disappointing. Too sour.  Apollo recommended Beans Depot for after-dinner drinks. It was located in a very quiet area of Ara Damansara. Dark and deserted after office hours. But it was great because there was a good selection of single origins coffee with various brewing methods. That night alone the barista brought out the syphon, V60 dripper, and nitro cold brew keg. The affogato was good too. Another interesting thi

The year 2020 is memorable because: Pandemic. Underwhelming Wawasan 2020. Turning forty. On the eve of my birthday, my family celebrated with a HaiDiLao steamboat dinner. SK got me a four unicorn cake from Foret Blanc. On my birthday, I took the day off. First thing in the morning, I got my birthday bang, and then KH brought me out to lunch at Kingstreet Cafe . Weird that this cafe is located in a quiet location in Seputeh, attached to a furniture gallery.  Loved the Guiness beef bowl though I couldn't detect any hint of Guiness.  Didn't have our coffee there. Ventured to Kenny Hills Bakers instead. The whole place was a chaotic construction site with little parking. We parked our car further down the road and walked over. When we arrived at the bakery, the line had already snaked outside. And the interior looked mighty cramped to me. Snapped a few photos and left. KH drove us to 163 Retail Park, a new place for me. The place looks like any other shopping mall, but the differen

KH invited me to join a mid-autumn festival gathering organized by his sharing group. In case you're wondering, the sharing group is a group of gay guys who have monthly gatherings to discuss on different topics. Every month, a sharer will choose a topic to talk about, and they will have a discussion about it. It was my first time joining them for any activity. The party was hosted at a part of Sentul that both of us had never ventured to. The host operates art classes out of his house, so its a patchwork many artistic works ( male nudes in the master bedroom ). When I first arrived, I was greeted by many new faces. Most of them sat cross-legged on the living room floor with a long line of low tables arranged across the middle. I got myself a drink, found myself a seat, and smiled awkwardly while making some introductions and small talk. After waiting a short while for the late comers, the emcee made a speech, and we had a small ice-breaker. As it was a potluck, everyone brought a

Back in Kuantan, mum bought a second-hand white Iswara Aeroback. From Kuantan, the car was transferred to Kuala Lumpur where we used it for years. Although not the easiest car to drive with its manual transmission, and lack of power steering, that car was my baptism of fire in the Klang Valley's more challenging traffic. That car served us well for many years. An ex-colleague of mine even gave it a nickname-- Iswara Skyline. However, due to old age ( the make is 1996 ), the car got harder and harder to maintain. Until one point, the car could no longer withstand the city's traffic jams without overheating. And the car's rubber seals had all dried up causing it to turn into a swimming pool every time it rained! The pandemic caused the car to fall into disuse because I had stopped driving it to get to the LRT station. In a few short months, the battery died. Since the situation wasn't going to improve anytime soon, I decided not to change the battery. A few months later,

Once a year, my BEC organizes an outing. In the pre-pandemic days, we would usually have a day trip. In the past, we had ventured as far as Melaka. In such restrictive times, we settled for a small gathering at the Bukit Jalil Recreational Park. Bright and early, we had a socially-distanced warm up session on a grassy field. Then some of us went for a jog, while the rest opted for a Taichi session. At the end of the gathering, we had a breakfast potluck. For the first time ever, I had mooncakes for breakfast.   At night, we had a Japanese dinner at Zakuro , Bukit Jalil. Food there was pretty good, and the owner was very friendly. Then KH went to buy a whole burnt cheesecake from Say Cheese Cafe . After that, we had a short grocery shopping trip to Super Seven. Stopped at Nyonya Platter for a yumcha session. Their sets were so attractive we abandoned the idea of just ordering drinks. Ended up with teh tarik , sirap ros , asam laksa, and kaya butter toast. As though we weren't stu