Merry Christmas! This blog is still alive, it just went into hibernation mode for a while.
November, an eventful month for me, came and passed by so quickly. Besides turning a year older, my dear maternal grandfather passed away peacefully at the age of 94. He had a long healthy life, and lived it to the fullest, enjoying the last twenty years of his life in retirement, helping to raise his grandchildren and spending his free time painting, a hobby that he picked up when he was a young man.
I also left my job to take a break. (So I have now joined the un-employment queue…a first in my adult life.) It feels freaky. I have no idea what I am going to do next, but I tell myself not to fret too much about it. I should just focus on the moment and enjoy NOW.
We are almost at the end of December 2013 with 2014 peeking at us from around the corner. Time seems to whiz past even faster when I am not working. I should have plenty of time to blog now but I just cannot seem to get myself back into the groove. There seems to always be something to do! Having said that, I do have plenty of back-dated posts to put up. A beautiful wedding. A gastroporn-ic weekend trip to KL. A ‘memorable’ trip to ClubMed Phuket – memorable for totally the wrong reasons. A stay-cation at the Capella in Sentosa. Catching up with friends. Strange, now that I am writing stuff here, it doesn’t feel like I have been terribly busy. So what in the world have I been doing?
I am just going to start with my pig-out weekend in KL. It is always easy to warm up with food posts. 🙂
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Bright red umbrellas and lanterns giving off a festive atmosphere in Petaling Street, Chinatown. This was where we stopped for supper after we arrived in the city.
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Kim Kian Kee Restaurant, the zi-char stall that fed us a delicious supper. A stall that definitely won’t pass the hygiene rating in Singapore but some dirt is what gives street food its character.
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KL black Hokkien noodles.
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A very yummy plate of crunchy greens. The reason why the plate of vegetables tastes soooo good is because it was cooked with lard. Whenever I am faced with the dilema of consuming a plate of goodness laced with artery-clogging lard, I always remember what my granny likes to say – lard is un-processed animal fat, so it cannot be too bad for you! My granny is a lover of junk food and all things unhealthy. And I doubt her view will pass muster with any medical/health guru, but considering the fact that this comes from someone who has lived till 92 without any major illness (unless you consider gout, rhumatism and vertigo), we try not to argue with her.
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Restoran Win Heng Seng, an immensely popular old-school coffeeshop around the Jalan Imbi area. It has two stalls selling glorious pork noodles. I have never tasted anything close to what these two stalls serve, in Singapore, or anywhere else.
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Stall number 1: Kway teow (flat rice noodles) topped with minced pork and some kind of a sausage in a dark sauce. It is accompanied by a bowl of hand-made pork balls in a clear, flavourful broth. The noodles and pork balls were superb, and had me squealing away in delight.
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Stall number 2: Bee-tai-mak (also known as ‘rat’s tail noodles’; made with rice flour, it looks like a rat’s tail, not that any part of a rat’s tail goes into it) topped with lard (yaaaay!), also accompanied by a bowl of pork-bone broth with slices of pig’s liver, pork and vegetables. The broth was out-of-this-world! I immediately felt sorry that I had agreed to share this bowl of heaven with my three other friends.
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Right after eating the noodles (which was a last-minute decision fuelled by gluttony), we headed to a Hainanese coffeeshop called Wong Mei Kee for our ‘actual’ lunch of the day.
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Succulent roast pork and juicy roast chicken. It was amazing how I felt immediately hungry again when the mouth-watering platters of meat were placed in front of me. Not after the noodles and some bits of other stuff that we ate before this!
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We had a fairly light dinner of hotpot before heading to Marini’s On 57, a club located on the 57th floor of the KLCC. Beautiful paranomic night view of the city with the spires of the Petronas Twin Towers looming above us. I am way too old for the loud, thumping noise in a club.
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Claypot chicken rice at Huen Kee. I have been told that this place makes one of the best claypot rice in town. I have never cared very much for claypot chicken rice but this was really good. The side-dish of salted fish enhanced the smoky flavour of the dish. I could be a claypot rice convert if I eat this often enough.
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The open-kitchen at the front of the restaurant where they cook the rice on charcoal stoves.
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Coffee at Coffee Societe at Publika, a hip residential-commercial enclave away from the main city area. I really like this place. It has an interesting mix of boutiques, galleries and cafes, and you see none of the usual big brands and chain shops.
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We squeezed in a last meal of chili pan-mee even though we were already bursting at the seams. I have never eaten this before and it was so good. Very spicy and super shiok! My tongue was on fire afterwards and took a while to cool down. Perfect for the chili aficionado.
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To end it all off, we each downed a wheatgrass shot to cleanse our system…! Eeeewwwww. 🙂 But our insides felt squeaky clean afterwards!