: : Cakes : :



Found another old pic stashed away in Amah's old albums. Meet my cousin who now has a son that looks exactly like her in this picture.

: : Breakfast + Lunch = Brunch : :

And so brunch it was, on Saturday morning last week with two aunties. Well, brunch at 8:30 a.m. in the morning that is. Thought we'd try out some delicious dimsum at Da Chin Hua but turns out that they didn't have any that morning. So, we settled for other food instead.



Seaweed soup in the morning to help soften the mee later. Think it was complimentary.



We had some kiaw though. Kiaw is pork dumplings which is extremely delicious. Think it was steamed although the chef mentioned that it was fried. Didn't seem fried to me.



The kiaw came with some vinegar and chopped cook garlic. Went very well with it.



Ah! The dish was handmade noodles with beef soup. We saw one of the waitresses making it out in front and it was simply delicious. Definitely better than the local ones found around the hawker centers.



We also ordered some char kway teow @ fried kway teow. Believe me, it tasted different than the ones we usually find at hawker centers.

I can't quite describe the food that we ate here. Everything was tasty and delicious. It's definitely a real adventure for anyone going to this shop because even though the food looks like normal fare in any restaurant, the taste is very very different. Try it out!

: : Dinner Menu revealed : :

Tried to post this up twice last nite but the PC rebooted itself. Seriously need to do something about the graphics card. Sigh.



The aftermath of a collison of two bodies with a bowl of chicken curry. Luckily, not a lot of it got spilled. Hmmm... still, a bit of a waste of a good curry though.



Popeye food! Well, spinach with salted ikan billis @ anchovies. Tastes really good. That's how anchovies are eaten here : salted and dried in the sun until it becomes hard and tough.



Midin @ fern stir-fried with chillis and belachan @ prawn paste. All-time favourite for everyone because it's crunchy, never bitter and slightly sweetish. To me anyways.



Courtesy of Felix's Mum : Pork Leg stew. Not sure whether she cooked it or bought it. Well, certainly went down well with my uncles. Luv the mushrooms.



Kailan @ Chinese broccoli cooked in oyster sauce. Classic dish, that's for sure. Although not shown here, it goes extremely well with scallops and black mushrooms.



This was either the peanut soup or the seaweed soup. It look more like the peanut soup to me but I could be wrong. Both were black but equally tasteful. What is a Chinese meal without soup?

That's it folks. Off to work. And Streamyx came back on. Yay!

: : Memories : :



Found this picture yesterday evening at my late Amah's house. Took a shot of it. The lanky young boy is my Dad.

Hi Dad.

: : Dinner at Batu Lintang : :



The centerpiece for this particular dinner last weekend at my late Amah's house was the roasted dishes. All the other dishes were put around the dish. Definitely a traditional Chinese family meal with the vegetables and different varieties of meat shown in here. Would fulfill the requirement for a square meal. The trick is to take a little bit of everything and not to attempt to gulp everything down.

So, recognize any dishes? Brings back loads and loads of memories no? How about guessing the dishes? Drop a little note in the comment line.

How many people was fed during this period? About 20-25 people I think. And, we were all very very full afterwards.

: : Another Asian Food Blog : :

Here's another food blog on Asian cooking with pictures and recipes. Check out Min's Food Journal.

It's now 12.30 a.m. and I'm already hungry from her pictures!

: : After Breakfast with my two aunties : :

Potential Stand-up Comedians. Discussion on errand to do after breakfast.

Auntie I : I need to go to a photostating shop.

Auntie II : Why do you need to go to a photostating shop?

Auntie I : (Glaring over her reading specs) To copy lah!

While driving on the road.

Wena : Aiya! Slow drivers always drive on the right lane in Kuching. Grrr...

Auntie II : Slow drivers die young. True!!

Hahaha! I laughed so hard whenever I'm with the two of them.

: : Crappy Streamyx ~ Part II : :

The vendor dude came in the morning. Cheh! Thought he confirmed evening yesterday. Well, he didn't deny it so what I heard is correct. Anyway, modem settings are alrite. Phew! Apparently it's the line connection in the entire area I live in. He had 10 complaints so far. Doh!

Then again, it's bloody well time Telekom started upgrading the telephone lines in Tabuan Jaya which is old. Very old.

Not to mention the power outages we get during the dry and hot hot season. With everyone turning on their aircon on at once, it shorts the substation. Adoi!

: : Crappy Streamyx : :

Right, I'm pissed. When people complained so much about Streamyx, there is more than an ounce of truth to it. More like a kilogram or at least a ton of truth in it. So, let's do a chronology of it. Yes, I'm irritated.

Thursday
Got it installed. Came home to find a new modem connected and my uncle in joy. Didn't know the vendor was going to install it then.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Could connect on with no problem.

Monday
Couldn't log on at all. Afternoon and evening. Called Min Yen and she said hers was fine (lives a few lanes down the road).

Tuesday
Min Yen called to ask whether I managed to connect on after all. Told her no, because still couldn't connect on. Found Streamyx helpline to call me back. Never did. Spoke to cousin who said that I should have left the modem. Maybe I jammed up the node. Okie then, to call Help line tomorrow.

Wednesday
Have concluded that the Streamyx helpline is just a message box and a way for Telekom to make money from telephone calls to the line as it makes you wait for about 3 min before you are able to leave a message. Left a message to phone me back. Never did. Spoke to the dude that installed the modem. He said that he only warranties for 2 weeks and it slipped my mind that he just installed it last week. Anyway, he said he will check for me. Fine.

Thursday
Spoke to IT sifu at the office. Said that I need to check if ADSL is connected. Came home at lunch to try it out but didn't have the userid or password. Darn. However, managed to connect to streamyx but only for a short while. So, called the vendor dude again who said that he will come by after 7 p.m. to take a look at the settings. Never came. Too irritated to call him. Will call him tomorrow.

Now I have so many advice on how to connect to streamyx :

•Leave modem on but can leave computer powered off
•Leave both the modem on and the computer on with streamyx line connected
•Know how to set the settings on the ADSL
•Be around when the vendor is installing the modem else it'll be difficult to troubleshoot problems afterwards
•The chances of the installation not being correct is extremely high according to many friends who are connected to streamyx. Doh!

So, I'm back to using my dial-up modem and on my Jaring account. It was definitely very fishy when another vendor called me up on Friday to ask to install in my connection. Will call the vendor tomorrow and give him an earful about not turning up.

On the other hand, the pictures of my sister's wedding invitation card cheered me up a bit. Have a looksee here.

: : Meat : :



A meal complimented by delicious, scrumptious and definitely tasty roasted meat in the form of char siew @ sweetened roast pork, siao bak @ roasted belly pork, and roast duck. Courtesy of Felix's mother who is a darling for taking the time and trouble to buy this for us during the weekend of Amah's passing. We had it for dinner along with some other goodies.

Where did she buy it? Honestly, I don't know. Got a bit dizzy running around tie-ing red string onto colour hankies, jotting down donations from visitors, passing out hankies and packet drinks to visitors, sneaking into the aircon room (wooppps!), snapping up pictures for Tua Ee and others who couldn't make it, and catching up with my relatives on the latest news and old stories about Amah. Basically, helping out wherever I could which wasn't much compared to having to organize the entire do. All of my cousins were runners whereas my aunts and uncles were chatting with the visitors and doing the tough bit of making sure all arrangements were carried out by Sunday.

One thing's for sure, black pants and white shirts are on my shopping lists. Never know when it'll come in handy.

: : GE 2004 : :

4:30 p.m. Sunday 21 March 2004. At late Granny's house. The conversation is an abbreviated version.

2nd aunt : Aiya! Forgot that today have to go and vote! So late already!

Someone : Still got time lah! Can someone drive her down?

Someone else : Get Ah Wei to drive her lah!

Yet Someone else : He's not here lah.

My Mum : Wena's got a car. Can drive her down lah!

Wena : Yeah, Auntie. Can, I don't mind.

Cousin : Me too.

Wena : Sure. No worries.

4:45 p.m. Outside the school. Speaking to a policeman.

Wena : Pakcik! Masih buka kah? (Uncle! Still open for voting?)

Policeman : Ya ya! Masih! (Yes yes! Still open!)

Wena : Auntie, you're lucky. Still open.

Policeman : Oi! Buka pagar! Ada orang tua sini! (Oi! Open the gate! There's an elderly person here!)

Cousin : Wah! Good good. No need to walk so far.

So, if one doesn't want to walk the long walk to the polling station, do a good deed by bringing the elderly to vote. As for me, my polling station is in my hometown Miri as SPR did not recognize my current address but rather my address on my IC. Well, I've now applied for the new MyKad, have since changed my address to the current one, making it easier to vote in Kuching. Luckily the BN candidate also won the Parlimentary seat for Miri. Phew!

: : Generosity : :

During the weekend when the funeral arrangements were made and waiting for family members to arrive, cousins and other relatives were buying food for the family. Here is the midnite snack that we had.



We had chai kueh @ fried yam with egg, siao bee @ steam pork dumplings wrapped in wantan skin and char siew pao @ white buns with sweetened pork meat.

We all caught up with stories of Amah over the table and throughout the next three days. Stories that some of us have never heard or new ones from friends and relatives that happened over the years. Happy stories. Sad stories. Funny stories. Even now trying to remember everything is a bit hard. Must write it down one day.



The last picture I had with Amah was some time last year. This was taken in November 2003 when my Dad was in town and we went to visit her. Sad to say that I wasn't so close to this grandmother, having grown up in a different town which was about 50 minutes after by airplane. I did managed to catch up with tales of Amah over the years and more recently, during the gathering of the family to remember her passing.

: : A Reply from the owners of Mazmazza : :

I received a very nice email from the owners of the Egyptian restaurant, Mazmazza. Here is an excerpt of the email :

Hi !

I came across your "mum-mum" website by chance. I am
impressed by it and
how good the quality of your pictures.

Bravo !!

You did very nice shots on Mazmazza (site & food) - thank
you very much.
It's a pleasure to know someone whom appreciates our food &
place.

Apart from making resevations, however, all is very welcome
to just walk-in
to our restaurant. It will be our greatest pleasure to
extend our best food
& hospitality. Feel at home... relax & have good times
with friends and
families.

Thanks again Ms Wena and I'll try to keep you posted on
future events taking
place at Mazmazza.
We try to organise events from time to time so that our
customers can have
great time as they enjoy good food & relaxing ambience.

They have regular belly dancing shows but you'll need to call them to check on the date and time as it's not a regular do. Call 02-62977473 / 62977472 or 93864450 (Jamilah) for details.

Wish I could go there again but unfortunately, have to plan for another trip to Singapore in order to do that.

: : Granny on Doctors : :

Took Granny (the one I live with) to the doctors' today. She saw more than one. This was after seeing the bone doctor :

Granny : (looking thoughtful) Wah! The doctor now old lah. Last time I saw him long time ago, he still got black hair one.

Wena : Aiya! Everyone is younger than you lah. They're also getting older like you lah!

: : Ramzi : :

Dear Ramzi,

You sound like someone who seems a bit lost about something, hence the need to lash out on my tag-board pertaining to my late grandmother.

Am I mad? Good question. The feeling that I feel at the moment is not anger but sadness that you are acting like this. However, at the end of the day, if you're hoping that I will get angry and hurt from your comments, then I can tell you that I'm not. For I know my grandmother is at a better place which is free from worries and stress. I'm glad that she left this life peacefully without the pain from a sickness and disease. The entire family is grateful to the Lord for taking her so mercifully and gracefully during this time.

I think you will need to think : what have you to gain from your actions? Are you hoping for me to flame you? Or to be traumatize by your words? I'm not. However, I will take down your comments from the tag-board out of respect for my grandmother's memories and also for the family.

Regards,

Wena

: : Thank you : :

Dear all, thank you for your kind wishes, thoughts and greetings. The funeral service is tomorrow as we are waiting for almost the entire family to come. Going to be another long day tomorrow at the church and cemetary.

Please do not call the phone number. It's my uncle's and aunt's, not mine. :p

: : My Amah : :



Meet my granny from Dad's side of the family. Fondly known as Amah throughout the family, she passed away peacefully today at 3 p.m. This picture was taken from her old passport, from the 70s.

: :

No posting tonite or the next few days. My other Granny (my Father's mother) just passed away today. She is over 90 and her health isn't so good.

The regular Granny (the one I stay with) is hearty although she needs to go for a doctor's visit on Monday. Will be bringing her as she need to have her cataracts remove from her eyes.

: : China Jump : :

Joni : Excuse me but have you seen a lady with loads of shopping bags around her?

Waiter : Yes. She's sitting in that corner.

And yes, I was surrounded by bags and bags of shopping. Joni being cheeky or efficient, depends on how one looks at it. Hee hee! Had a good laugh at the way she described me to the waiter. I was waiting for her at Bobby Rubino's for the past 4 hours. Refused to budge with loads of shopping. I was actually sitting outside when it started to rain so had to move into the building.

After she picked me up and my bags of shopping, we loaded the bags into her car and went off to eat at China Jump. I'm impressed by the decor.



Hostess : Do you want to see on a high table? Might be very high.

Joni : Let me check.

Comes back.

Joni : It's alrite, gang. Let's go in.

And so we went. Then we attacked the menu. Hmm... loads and loads of goodies as shown in the online menu. However, I seem to be missing some pictures. I thought I took a lot of them but I guess not.



I think this was the calamari. Not sure if it was. Served with chilli sauce and tartar sauce on the side.



The quesadillas. Scrumptious, no? Or it could be the crepe. My brain was so tired that I couldn't think much further.



Perhaps this was the calamari @ fried squid? Ah well. Tasted real good.

I had the Fisherman's Platter @ squid, fish, chips. Yum! Too yummy that I forgot to take a picture. So, all of you have to made do with a description from the menu.



The chocolate fondue dessert. The chocolate wasn't very thick but it was a smashing hit with everyone, especially the marshmellows! Wow! Sinful and wicked. Makes one thing of wicked things to do. Hee hee!



After that, we all chop-chop off to Liberte's to catch Trevor (dude with the hat) and the ublues gang playing. They are currently on an ublues xperiment tour sponsored by Heinekans whereby they perform at different clubs and pubs every Saturday. I have some movie clips somewhere so will post them up soon.

Once the band finished their gig, Joni and Trevor drove me back to Annie's. Then it was a bath as well as packing. Then sleep at 2 a.m. Woke up at 5 a.m. to get to Copthorne Orchid Hotel by 6 a.m. to catch the 6.30 a.m. shuttle at Senai, Johor. Found out that shuttle leaves at 7 a.m. instead!! Grr... they never updated their online bus schedule. Doh!

Well, I met a German couple from Leipzig who were on their way to Kuching for a 2 week holiday filled with trips to Damai and a longhouse overnight stay. Drew them a map of Kuching city center for places to eat. Never did meet up with them again so don't know how they were faring. I'm sure they must be enjoying their stay in Kuching.

Last set of Singapore photos to be posted tomorrow once I get the names to the Indian dishes that I had.

: : SAYA Exhibition ~ Update : :

You can find more details about the SAYA exhibition here.
Includes a list of participants as well as a map of the location.

: : q & a ~ the photographic interview : :

I'm game. Are you?

via feli

: : Wena is Tiled! : :

After reading Roy's site, I decided to check it out. So here are the fruits of my labour. Picture was generated using Mosaic Creator.



Before getting tiled into pictures.



The picture after getting tiled. The itty bitty bits on the pic is from my collection of photos posted up on mum-mum's. For a larger picture that will show the tiny details, click here.

: : SAYA Photo Exhibition : :

dailymalaysia.org contributors will be taking part in a photo exhibition themed SAYA. Details as follows :

DATE: 27th march 2004 (saturday)
TIME: after 8pm
VENUE: the tropics shopping centre, damansara perdana (at
an MKLand owned shop

Although, my pictures aren't as great as the other photographers.

: : Spageddies : :

Waiter and waitresses : Evening, ladies.

First time I was greeted by every single waiters and waitresses while entering a restaurant. Anyway, I ended up at Spageddies for dinner with a bunch of old university mates. How we ended up there?

Carol : What do you feel like eating? We have a lot of variety at this Food Court in Paragon.

Wena : No Chinese food. Western food out as well since I'm having it for lunch at the conference.

Carol : Hmm....what else?

Wena : Had Indian last night so that's out.

Carol : We eat Italian then.

So, 5 hungry ladies troop to Spageddies at the basement of Paragon. The basement of this building is more busy than the upper floors. The amount of people traffic we saw eating and walking by was tremendous. Non-stop. Noisy in a muffled sort of way.



Seafood pizza! Haven't had a pizza in a long time.



And, it went very well with a margharita. Yum.

Unfortunately, I was so hungry and so were the rest that we wallop the other 5 dishes. Completely slipped my mind to take pictures. Ah well. I recall having a chicken linguine covered with cream, clam spaghetti, a vegetable pasta dish, soft shell crab that seem very small, and one more dish that eludes me.

Address Details :
Spageddies Italian Kitchen
Paragon Orchard
290 Orchard Road #B1-08
Tel : +65-6738 7798

Later on, we adjourned to coffee and cake at Starbucks.

Another meal posting tomorrow! I have to find out the names of the indian dishes before posting it up.

: : The Sultan Room : :

Met up with Renee of shiokadelicious fame last Friday nite. Where were we headed off to? An Egyptian restaurant that has a belly dancing performance. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see it because the next session was on the 19th of March. AND, it's restricted to ladies only. No men allowed.



Took us awhile to get there as there was a massive traffic jam all the way to Arab Street. But, we finally got there to a lovely setting and we sat down amongst the cushions and low tables.



The lighting was very bright. Why? Apparently, the diners were accidently knocking the oil burners off the low tables. I guess because of sitting down for too long, one cannot get up without stumbling a little bit.

For orders on food, I left it to Renee to order it since she has had more exposure to these exotic cuisine than I did. I also wanted to be adventurous by not knowing what is coming or not. My only request was to have some pita bread. I love eating unleavened bread and it's been ages since I had decent pita bread.



We first had some appetizers. The yellow mush is a dish called Humus, made from chickpeas, olive oil and milk. The other dish on the far right is the Baba Ganoush, a dish made from eggplant/bringjal seasoned with oregano, chilli, salt and olive oil. I was in love with the Baba Ganoush, considering that I don't quite like brinjal. It helped that the pita bread was so tasty that it went down very well.



After the starters, the main course came. This was the tageen toley which is a beef stew with 7 different vegetables in them. The beef was extremely tasty and tender. Again, with the pita bread.



The other main dish was the Couscous @ wheat cooked in milk. The vegetables were also cooked in milk, hence the slightly sour taste in them. There were a couple of lamb pieces served with it as well. Or was this the beef and the lamb was on the tageen toley? Anyway, both was nice. Yummy!

Renee : Have some more! I'm eating more than you.

Wena : Are you sure or not? I don't think so. I've been eating the pita bread non-stop with the brinjal lah.

It was a marvelous evening with a wonderful dinner companion. We talk and talk and talk non-stop throughout the nite. How does Renee look like? A gorgeous and petite Chinese lady who should go into modelling. Seriously.

Address Details :

The Sultan Room
Mazmazza Cafe & Restaurant Pte. Ltd.
67 & 68 Bussorah Street
Singapore 199480
Tel : 6297 7472 / 6297 7473
Fax : 6297 1395

Bear in mind that one has to make reservations to eat here. The food took some time to arrive but the wait was more than worth it.

No belly dancing though. Ah well. Next time, perhaps.

: : Prologue : :



Noodles and chicken, said the waiter. So, noodles and chicken it is. Although, it was more of a linguine with noodles. It was alrite for plane food and it lasted me until I got into the hotel. Then, it was a quick rush to 7-eleven to grab a decent sandwich.

The strawberry mousse was... err... peculiar. Too fluffy and airy. Not used to it. The KitKat more than made up for it though.

So, must remember to start posting pictures of Singapore food.

: : Postponement : :

Sorry guys but you have to wait another day while I sort out my workload.

Cheerio till later tonite.

: : Which Ultimate Beautiful Woman are You? : :


You are a goddess!


Which Ultimate Beautiful Woman are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Errmm... errm...

Something doesn't quite fit in here.

: : I'm in trouble : :

Oh no! I knew I forgot to meet someone that I promised to meet in Singapore. Umami! Darn it! Should have made a list of people that I was going to meet up. Sigh.

Now, the next time to meet her is a REALLY big question mark. Dunno when I'll be in Singapore again.

: : Home Sweet Home : :

Phew! I'm back. Trying to recover from lack of sleep and aching muscles. It was a wonderful time in Singapore, meeting up with old friends and making new ones.

So, that's over now. Will blog about it tomorrow if I have time. One thing about being away from the office is the pileup of stuff that needs to be done. Sigh. Ah well.

Good nite!

: : Singapore : :



Dear all,

A quick note to inform all of you that I will not be posting any pictures until next week. I'll be in Singapore starting tomorrow night, attending a conference.

So, take a break, have some kuih muih @ little cakes, and just relax.

I'll be back soon to update this blog.

Wena

: : Gula Melaka & Gula Apong : :

Got an email from ST Ngiam from Singapore asking whether Gula Melaka is made from nipah or not.

> Hi,
>
> I came across your mum-mum blog when I was searching for
> info on gula
> melaka. Very nice.
>
> There's been a bit of discussion on the nature-singapore
> list
> (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nature-singapore)
> regarding the source
> of gula melaka. Everyone agrees that coconut can be used
> to make gula
> melaka. We're split on whether nipah palm can be used to
> make gula
> melaka.
>
> You refer to both a few times in your blog. Is it true to
> say that in
> Sarawak, gula abong is only made from nipah while gula
> melaka is only
> made from coconut ?
>
> How different are gula melaka and abong in texture, taste
> etc ?
>
> Thanks
>
> Shih Tung

My reply :

HI Shih Tung,

Wow! You're right about the discussion going on at
nature-singapore group. After your email, I went to join
the group to have a peek at what the discussion was all
about.

Anyway, I spoke for some time after dinner with my granny
and Uncle Cyril (who happens to be a nature lover, me not
really). Below are the findings of the discussion.

Gula Melaka - extracted from the flower bud of a coconut
tree. Several slits are cut into the bud and a pot is tied
underneath the bud to collect the juice. Then, the juice is
boiled until it thickens. Toddy is made this way.

Gula Apong - extracted from the flower bud of a nipah palm.
Same method of extraction as Gula Melaka.

Gula Apong is apparently bitter compared to Gula Melaka. It
is also blacker in colour but gula melaka is thicker.

Back in Penang in the old days when my granny was living
there (30s to the 50s), Gula Apong was not available there.
She came across Gula Apong when she moved to Sarawak in the
60s with my grandfather. She didn't develop a taste for it.
Anyway, Gula Apong would probably be more widely available
in Singapore and West Malaysia now as Sarawakians travel
back and forth looking for work or have settled down there.

Both Gula Melaka and Gula Apong are used in desserts as
well as for making kuih. Both need to be filtered to
removed out any debris leftover from the processing of the
sugar. Sometimes, there are bits of leaves and insects
still leftover in them but in Singapore, it's probably
filtered out already.

I was reading the details from Mr. Yap which is very
interesting. It could be that Gula Melaka is now made on a
larger scale using nipah but one would need to verify this.
Even cottage industries can be at a very large scale when
one puts one's mind to it.

I'll post this up on the blog and see what the response is
like.

Hope this was useful.

Cheerio!

Wena

So, what do you think? I'm wondering whether it's true that nipah palm is used to make Gula Melaka.

Please leave your views and comments in the Comments section at the bottom of this posting.

Thanks.

: : Is my blog burning? Tartine Edition ~ Nonya Style : :

Totally forgot about the fact that today was the day appointed for 'Is my blog burning? Tartine Edition'. Until I read Renee's posting, that is. Then, it was a scramble to think of what to do. Thinking thinking thinking about it, I recalled Lucia's comment about sambal hebi being eaten with bread. So, thought, why not?

Wena : Wei! You got sambal hebi (prawn sambal), wor?

Granny : In tin one got lah!

Wena : Wanna take pictures. Going to put on the internet.

Granny : Wah! Like that one kah?

Wena : Yalor. Forgot today that group of us are posting up about food eaten on bread (easier to explain Tartine this way).

Granny : OK! We heat up the sambal hebi first. Nicer lah!



We first heated it up in a pot of water. Once the water was boiling, the tin was removed. Opening it was pretty easy even when the tin was hot because of the can opener. One can turn the can opener without having to touch the hot hot tin.



The other ingredients were the bread and slices of cucumber. Already, the wonderful smell of the sambal was getting to me and Granny.



And there you go, Tartine Sambal Hebi. Very simple and easy to do. Not that eye-catching but believe me, the taste more than made up for it.

Thanks to Lucia for her suggestion many months ago!

: : 24/7 Tesco : :

Haven't been catching up on my blog reading yesterday so am now perusing all my links. From Jeff, looks like the limelight is pointed at Tesco's 24 hours operation.

Some thoughts came to mind after reading the comments :

Mom-and-Pop shops will die out.
Mom-and-Pop shops should start buying and then selling in bulk. There is a successful grocery shop in Tabuan Jaya, Kuching. It is only one shoplot but jam packed with goods that are definitely cheaper than the supermarkets and Giant (the nearest thing to a hypermarket in Kuching). Nearly everyone goes there to buy their groceries. Name? Top Point. And, it's been there for more than 10 years, I think. Still going on very strong. One can even occasionally find imported foodstuff there as they had to handle competition from Choice Daily, a supermarket specializing in imported food from developed nations (mostly Australia).

Market Demand for a shop that opens 24 hours
Come to think about it, it could be possible. Before 12 a.m., they cater to the professionals working late in the city. After 12 a.m., the shift workers leaving the various factories. If I'm not mistaken, with the 3-shift-a-day rotation, there is a change of shift around midnite, or thereabouts.

Higher prices at checkout points than on the shelves
Translates to taxpayer's money not being put into good use at the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs. Adoi! Adoi! Adoi! So, barcode price tags doesn't solve the problem, eh?

Poor quality fresh food for sale
The same as in any supermarket, be it a big hypermarket or smaller runned operations. Why don't supermarkets in Malaysia offer the food at cheaper prices just to get rid of it? They lose out at the end of the day for getting rid of rotten stuff. Wonder if it's because of some regulation in the Ministry preventing supermarkets from doing so, or are supermarkets trying to make a last effort for money.

Why am I talking about this? It's late and I couldn't sleep. Time-clock is messed up after last nite's 3 a.m. check. Also, in the earlier part of the night, one of the neighbouring houses is burning plastic or tires again. The smell is terrible. Argh!

: : Denis' Place : :



Friday nite. Supposed to have gone out for dinner with Min Yen, Jackson and Christina but got cancelled at the last moment. Anyway, Min Yen and I ended up at Denis' Place later on during the night as she wanted to meet up with an old friend, Joyce, before said friend left to go back to Melbourne.



Haven't been here in a long time. Well, it certainly look more 'filled up' then I last remembered it. There are now more decorations up then I last remembered.



I did a SINFUL thing : ordered Grilled Bananas which came with crepes, chocolate ice-cream and chocolate fudget. Bad bad bad Wena!



Joyce ordered this. I think it was chocolate ice-cream, chocolate fudge and half the amount of bananas that was suppose to be inside. Probably safer than my Grilled Bananas.

Well, the dessert definitely pepped me up with energy to last until 3 a.m. where I had to do a spotcheck. Ah well.

: : Where are you going to bring your beloved to eat this Valentine's Day? : :

Results of the Valentine Day's poll (50 people) :

An expensive restaurant : 28.0%
A cosy dinner for two at home : 24.0%
At a fast food outlet : 6.0%
At the hawker food court / mamak stall : 10.0%
We're not going to do anything : 50.0%!!!!

Adoi...

: : Teatime Snacks : :



I think these buns came from either Sunflower Deli or Southern Bakery.

Teatime snacks with Granny.

: : Terrifying Fish : :

Would you eat these fish?

I'd think twice.

Where do they sleep during the day?

via Metafilter

: : Guava : :



Noun : Guava, fruit.

Adjective : Grunchy, sweet, green skin, white flesh, sprinkled with samboi @ plum powder.

Verb : Hardens stool, enables constipation, cures diarrhoa. Seriously, it does.

: : Kolo Mee Pok : :



Sunday breakfast : Kolo Mee Pok!

Stall location : Cafe 168 (I think that's the name. If not, it's the small Malay cafe next to Siang Siang Food Court in Tabuan Jaya. It's along the same row as Zhunion Pharmacy and Petronas Gas.) The stall is located at the back of the coffee shop. The best tasting kolo mee in the whole of Tabuan Jaya.

Try it out.

: : Avatar : :



Luv my pink specs? I wear it in real life too. Ha ha!

Got it from here.

: : Another Asian Food Blog & dailymalaysia.org : :

Umami is another Asian Food Blogger, based in Singapore but originally from Ipoh. I'm tempted by the food pics. Go there, NOW!

On another note, I'm posting pics at dailymalaysia.org. Trying to restrain myself from posting up food pics.

: : Charlie-in-a-Kuali : :

Got this from Steph in the mail today. Thanks dearie!



Poor Charlie. Feeling the heat from a kuali @ wok.

More on Charlie here.