I Want Cheese

I. Want. Cheese. Three little words that could get Jesse-boy a little sibling to play with.

I've been thinking that it's about time Mae and I tried for a little girl. Jesse is 15 months now. If we behave like horny responsible adults, then we ought to give the boy a little sibling to play with. I mean, the boy seems so lonely sometimes, it's almost heartbreaking. *ahem* Besides, Mae and I aren't getting any younger. I don't want to be working through my 60's just trying to put my kids through college. So it's perfect timing that makes perfect sense. To me, at least.

"But we only just got Jesse," Mae's concept of time continues to perplex me. Two years to have another kid if far too short. Me sitting on the john for a measly 20 minutes is far too long. As far as Mae is concerned, she's never ready for any kid. Come to think of it, if I hadn't forced myself on her the last time, we wouldn't have had Jesse.

I'm kidding. I promise. :)

Being an awfully good negotiator, I cut a deal with the wife - when the boy starts talking, it's time. "No, when he says his first intelligible sentence," Mae counter-offers. "Okay, okay, when he says 'I want cheese', okay?" I craftily suggest. It was failsafe. Jesse loves cheese and he know what I'm taking about when I say the word. And so we shook on it. Like business people do.

Unfortunately, sometimes I'm too smart for my own good. The boy can't say 'Cheese'. He can almost say 'I love you' but no, not 'Cheese'. It's driving me nuts. I should have picked a simpler sentence. *sigh*

Walking Tall

For the last few months, Mae and I had been wondering when he'd finally let go of our hand and walk off on his own. On Saturday, just out of the blue, he upped and walked about flashing all of his 8 little teeth, smiling at everybody.

Expectedly, we're overjoyed. It's like striking the jackpot. But without the money and the glamour. And the hot chicks trying to score a rich boyfriend. Still, we're euphoric. Heh!

I was out on an appointment in the morning. Mae called me and announced the good news. "Today your son is walking," Mae said proudly, "and all on his own."

I was a bit sore that I had to be out for a meeting. But unfortunately, Daddy's gotta help put food on the table. And as though he understood, when I came home, the boy gave me a little treat. He got up, walked to me and put his arms around me and buried his little face in my neck.

*sniff*

Some things are better than hitting the jackpot. Not many, but they're there.

Famous Ipoh Beansprouts Chicken

a taste of Ipoh

Unless your dietary orientation forbids it, you can't ever go to Ipoh without having the city's famous Beansprouts Chicken Kuey Teow. And famous, it is. Tourists arrive by the busloads, and city folks here never seem to have enough of the stuff.

The last time Mae and I had this at Ipoh's famous Lou Wong Restaurant, Jesse was just a couple of months from being born. And despite Mae voracious appetite at the time, we were not impressed. Despite our mild disappointment the last time, we decided to give Lou Wong another chance and this time around the folks at Lou Wong completely redeemed themselves!We ordered the standard poached chicken, beansprouts, pork meatballs and Ipoh's famous Sar Hor Fun (Kuey Teow) noodles.
The chicken is perfectly done, cooked just well enough to retain a juicy smoothness that is often absent from overcooked chicken. Similarly the beansprouts are poached just right, removing any taste of green but retaining its crunchy goodness. And characteristic of Ipoh taugeh, the sprouts are stout and crunchy. Both are drizzled with a combination of sesame oil and a delicious soy sauce mix. And in that mix is the secret of Lou Wong's success.

Lou Wong's porkballs were excellent - springy, rubbery and tasty, the hallmarks of any good balls. *ahem* And of course, we ordered ourselves a bowl of Sar Hor Fun each. It must be said that the noodles here differ from KL's ever so slightly with it's slightly translucent look and superb slippery smooth texture.

So, yes, this time around Lou Wong came through for us. We're not sure why our previous outing was a letdown. Perhaps it was the peak holiday season and the guys here decided to water down their stuff; or maybe they have re-discovered what made them famous in the first place. We may never know. :) Anyway if you're looking, Lou Wong is located on 49, Yau Tat Shin Road. It's somewhere in between Syuen Hotel and Super Kinta.

Note: By the way, some Ipoh folks have told me that other places actually serve better Beansprouts Chicken, like Ong Kee Restaurant across the street and this other one on Coven Street. I have, however, learnt that people's personal taste should not be trusted. Go where the crowd is. Thousands of people can't be wrong, right? :)

Pachyderm Phallus & Other Photos

The Taiping Zoo is a lovely place to watch animals banging ... erm... doing animal stuff. We took loads of pictures but here are the ones approved by the Home Minister of our home. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, while giving you my witty (*ahem*) commentary. Yes, yes, I'm trying to give Sashi and Zoo Melaka a run for their money.


"Just airing the balls, nothing to see here! Move along."

"Sorry Harry, I'm not spending a lifetime with a cold-blooded animal like you."

"Are we there yet?"
This could have been a better shot had I been quicker on the draw. There were a whole bunch of them - about 6 - walking in a line. Oh well.


"Come home, Juliet, it could never work out. You're just too different."

"Zebra is ze piece of clothing to hold up ze boobs."
I was so close I could almost touch this guy. And for some reason, this fella just stood there while we took photos and stuff.


"Whatsamatter kid? Never seen a guy skinny-dipping before?"
Jesse really loved the otter display. He was almost falling asleep when we got here and seeing the otter perked him right up. Otters have showmanship, I'll tell you that much. That's Grandma's hand on Jesse's head, guiding him towards the otter. Hehh!


"No Entry, okay!? I'm still sore."

"All that hump and no action... *sigh*"

"Is that another trunk or are you just happy to see me?"
We were walking up to the Elephant display when Mae told Jesse, "Look boy, elephant shit-shit!" I had to educate her, "Look again, honey!" "Whoaaa!!!" I guess we're just not getting the most of our Astro Animal Planet subscription.


This one is of Jesse enjoying himself stepping on the paw-prints they painted on the ground. All in all, we enjoyed ourselves. There's nothing like watching animals caged-up like... erm... animals. But seriously though, I think the Zoo in Taiping has done a pretty good job. The animals are well cared for and their enclosures very well designed to resemble their natural habitat.

Clever people, these Taiping folks. Heh!

Monkeying Around

Whenever we go home to Taiping these days, we always go to the zoo. It's like an unwritten parenting rule of some sort. So there we were over the weekend introducing Jesse to his animal friends when suddenly Mae grabs the boy and starts running towards some monkeys.

"Jesse, see! The monkey piggy-back his friend!" Mae shrieks excitedly in broken English to the equally excited boy. We had been carrying him on our backs and so he understood the term, piggy-back well enough. And so, mother and son ran enthusiastically towards a group of monkeys roaming around the zoo compound.

And then, Mae made an about-turn. "Okaaaaay," she rolled her eyes, "they're NOT piggy-backing!"

It's never a pretty sight when animals do what animals do to make more animals. I whipped my camera and ran towards the subjects but alas, Guy-Monkey came before I went.

Up North

Yesterday Mae, Jesse and I along with Roma packed up and left for a short vacation up north. Actually, it would have made more sense to go during the DeepaRaya break but I wasn't terribly excited with the prospect of travelling with hordes of Malaysian on their Balik Kampong exodus. So here we are, going home a week later.

And since every trip up North is mostly a makan trip thinly disguised as an act of filial piety (*ahaks*), we decided to stop for the night at Ipoh. This was so we could sample a taste of Ipoh's famous Dim Sum. Which is also why I'm up and about so early during a vacation. We had breakfast at 6:30am this morning. We have heard of the legendary Foh San Dim Sum but quite a few Ipoh folks have pointed out that Yoke Fuk Moon was way better. Anyway, expect some photos and reviews will follow when we return. :)

We have the rest of the day to explore Ipoh's culinary delights before we head on up to Taiping. Thanks to the wonder of Wikipedia, we have adequate recommendations [click!] to keep us busy for the rest of the day. All you Ipohans out there, if you're reading this and think you can do better than the Wikipedia, we'd appreciate your recommendation in the comments - ideally with explicit instruction on getting there.

There goes the diet. Oh well.

Old Wives' Tale?

For the last couple of months, Jesse hasn't shown very much interest in the solid foods that we've been giving him. He used to chow down a small bowl of porridge when in the first few weeks that we fed him solids but lately we're lucky if he can manage half a bowl.

Roma says that toddlers do that, especially when they're about to start walking. Apparently, kids have some kind of biological sensor that tells them they should slim down to facilitate an easy start for their first steps.

"Old wives' tale," I dismiss the story, pointing out to Mae that it's a little bit of a stretch. "But that's what Kim's Chinese babysitter told them as well," Mae, too, was perplexed. Thereafter, we heard the same theory in a few other places as well. Which makes me wonder if enough people believe in this, would it make it more true?

Meanwhile, Jesse has gotten quite thin. Yet, he's still not officially walking just yet - just a few occasional steps here and there, which I suspects he makes just to humour us.

If there's any truth to that story, then the boy had better get cracking before he withers away. Already, he's starting to look more and more like those creepy little guys from Mars Attacks!