will i am's delayed diary

Year after year, I have difficulty clearing my vacation days. Even worse in the year of the pandemic, when vacations aren't even possible. Good enough to take the day off and do nothing at all. KH suggested that I tag along his busy day. Any day is automatically made brighter with a morning skank session. The breakfast of champions. The first appointment of the day was lunch with KH's ex-colleague. The original plan was to eat at Pelita, Jalan Ampang, but we couldn't get a parking space, so we shifted our lunch venue to Menara Hap Seng instead. Been a while since I ate lunch there. The old shops like Trattoria Il Porcellino and Starbucks had both closed down. The building is now connected to the adjacent office blocks. On the upper floor, there's a SugarBun - Asia Borneo Food ,   a new addition. Many Sarawakians grew up with this fast food chain. KH's colleague recommended that we try the Sarawak Laksa. In addition, KH ordered Sabah giant garoupa fried rice. Also no

Every year during the pre-Covid days, the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Chamber of Commerce's  (KLSCAH) Women's Chapter would organize a cultural event during the Winter Solstice. This year, we didn't have to make pots and pots of tang yuan , and there was no need to join the competition for best stall decoration. Must admit that it was tiring, but it was fun. With all activities shelved, winter solstice becomes a family-only affair. On Sunday night, mum kneaded the glutinous rice flour. Did the original white and also some other varieties with added Clitoria flower extract, Screwpine leaf extract, and purple sweet potato. The steamed and mashed sweet potato results in a dough that's less chewy, and actually easier to eat. According to mum, it's better to roll up the tang yuan and let it sit overnight before boiling as the texture will be better. On Monday morning, she boiled the tang yuan ( once it floats, it means its ready to eat ), and put them in a sweet g

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 lon

In mid-December, Cutiepie ( she managed to ditch her kids lol ) and I ( brought hubby along too ) had a long overdue birthday gathering at Midvalley Megamall. My birthday was in October ( you guys remember right? ) and her birthday was in November. Our debut into the 4th decade. We had lunch at Pho Vietz , a meal of bun cha and steamed rice rolls. At the restaurant, we exchanged gifts-- belated birthday presents, and Christmas presents.   The choice of Midvalley Megamall really brings back a lot of memories for us. It was one of our de facto venues for loitering during our undergraduate days. Sometimes we had hours to kill because we would have a lecture at 8 AM, and maybe another at 6 PM. Did some shopping and camwhoring before stopping at Jamaica Blue for coffee and lemon curd cake. A chance to rest our legs, and reply a work e-mail that I was being chased for. Someone forgot to factor in a monthly recurring cost of HKD10,000 into the proposal that we had submitted earlier. Opps. 

"I shall have Japanese for dinner tonight", I thought. Drove out to Shin Zushi at Jalil Link only to find that the queue had spanned easily two shop lots. OK, change of plans. Something more expensive then. Went all the way to Koyaku at Taman Desa. The service staff were running back and forth like headless chickens. When I managed to catch the eye of the head waitress, so just shook her head. Didn't even bother asking me if wanted to wait. Whattttt. At least I was still within my parking grace period. Tried my luck at the nearby  Eatomo . Plenty of tables. Ordered a plate of salmon sashimi and a grilled ox-tongue aglio-olio spaghetti. This is what happens when you die, die want Japanese. Haha. 

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

Received sad news that The Chief's mother had passed away. Took half the day off to attend the wake at Gui Yuan Crematorium and Funeral Hall. Before we went to the wake, met up Gratitude at Pokok KL Cafe for brunch first. My first time going into MAHSA College actually. SK and I entered through some service entrance located near the restrooms, and it turned out that we bypassed all the Covid checkpoints. LOL. Had to backtrack. Pokok KL is really like a greenhouse. Lots of natural light. We shared a nasi lemak , Caesar salad, and baked eggs. Decent food, but it can get really crowded, so go early. Surveyed the place a little, and found that in general, MAHSA College is very Instagram-able. Every strategic corner is designed for a photo-op with decorations and props. In the upper floors, one can find a nail salon, a soap boutique, a florist, a cafe, and some misc. shops.   When we arrived at the wake, the first day of Buddhist ceremony was ongoing. During the break, we had the chanc