Haze Haters In KL

There's a new kid on the blog. If you haven't already discovered Haze Haters In KL, then go there now. Brownie the Colleague From Hell keeps bugging me to post a photo since the blogger is a friend of hers. But it is a nice little blog which may, perhaps, archive all our grouses, visually. And so I'm plugging our new blogger friend. Here's what they have to say:

We want a proper page to display all the pictures before we can ask our Indonesian friends to have a proper look at it. So this is a temporary site. But send your pictures to laychkoh@gmail.com and barrieo@gmail.com now, and we will do the rest. Remember, think of it as a Pictorial Petition. Spread the word!

Uhm... okay. End of plug. Now go fire up your cameras and submit your pictorial protest to Hazehaters.

I'm thinking perhaps the blogger should gives us some guidelines - like the size of photos to submit. That would help standardise the look. Damn, I'm so anal with these things. *sigh* Okay, okay, go, go!

Smoke Gets In Your Haze

Last night, as we closed shop for the day, I saw a couple of colleagues firing up their Marlboros at the corridor. "Dammit, you guys are not helping," I scowled at them. "We're fighting fire with fire!" the wise-ass of the two replied. As I walked on, I realised they weren't the only ones. It was the same with the other offices in our building. All the smokers were out on the corridor contributing to the haze.

And then I remembered. Smokers can't really help it.

At the peak of my smoking career, I was sucking up three packs a day. I was pulling an all-nighter one night when I felt a sudden urge to light up. Unfortunately for me, it was 3:00am and there was nary a cigarette in sight. I had done all 3 packs that day and now when I needed it most, I was all out.

And so I sank to new depths. I scavenged the ashtrays for half-smoked butts. And when I found one, I dusted off the ash and dirt and stuffed it between my lips and fired it up. I dragged down hard and the putrid smoke of a stale cigarette filled my black, tar-laden lungs. It was as vile as you could imagine - stale smoke in my lungs, ash on my lips. It wasn't my finest hour, but I didn't care. When you gotta smoke, you gotta smoke.

The haze must be the worst we've gotten this time around. I'm not sure if it might help but if millions of Malaysian could quit smoking right this minute, maybe the haze will lighten up a little. So, quit now. Do it for your country. If there was a better opportunity to show your patriotism, this would be it. And just in time for Merdeka Day too! Heh.

And say, if you're in the midst of quitting when the urge hits, you could always drag in a few lungfuls of the haze.

Home-Made Riches

kaya raya!

Last Saturday, Mae and I had dinner at Paramount Garden with Jesse and Roma in tow. Mae and I were busy stuffing our faces with some nice Hokkien Bee Hoon when a lady approached our table and stood by my side, "Would you like to buy some home-made Kaya?"

I turned to look at her but before I could even say a word, she quickly wrapped up her sales pitch, "Okaythankyouverymuch!" and walked on to the next table. I was stumped! And from what I could see Mae, with strings of noodles hanging out of her open mouth, was equally flabbergasted. The poor woman. She must have been turned down so often that her response had become quite automatic. Either that or she just didn't like my face. By the time I regained my composure, she had walked on to the far end of the coffee shop. I waved her back.

"You did not wait for me to answer," I smiled as charmingly as I could to break down her defenses. "I'm so sorry," she apologised, "but some people don't like to be disturbed when they're having dinner." She was right, of course. People do tend to swat off salespeople, as though they were flies. And occasionally, you'll even find the extra-rude ones who just plainly ignore you as if you didn't exist. They're the ones who continue about with their business and don't even turn to look at you or tell you, "No."

Nobody deserves to be treated like that. Especially not anyone trying to earn an honest living.

We bought a small tub of her Kaya. As I paid her I told her, "You shouldn't have to apologise for trying to make a living." That night, Mae and I went home and ate Kaya. And as we did, we realised that the lady owed nobody any apology. For she made the finest Kaya we had eaten in years. Hopefully, she may find success in her venture.

I Don't Like To Sleep Alone

Mae has been bugging me to let Jesse sleep in his own cot for awhile now. "It's about time he learnt to sleep on his own," Mae explained.

"But I slept in my mother's bed till I was 12 and look what a wonderful guy I turned out to be," I protested. Truth is, I have grown accustomed to seeing out little boy sleeping in between us. There's just something comforting seeing Mae and Jesse sleeping peacefully by my side.

But Mae puts forth a good argument. Let's just say it doesn't take to much to convince me that Jesse belongs in the cot.

And so, on Tuesday, we let the little guy sleep in his cot at the foot of our bed. It was disconcerting to see him sleeping there all on his own. What if he got frightened in the middle of the night? What if he woke up to find his parents not by his side? Would he ever think that we have abandoned him?

I didn't sleep well that night. Neither did Mae. But Jesse, on the other hand, slept like a... erm... baby. And just like that, we're in our third night tonight. So far so good. If this keeps up, I'll give the boy a great big reward.

I was thinking, a baby sister might be a good reward for a good little boy, no? *ahem*

Women Are Shallow Too

I've been thinking.

My wife, along with millions of womenfolk around the world, say men are shallow. "You men only go for attractive women," and so the women scream. And elsewhere, ugly women of the world slip into oblivion. But are men really shallow? And what of women? Don't women want a good looking partner too?

I was speaking to a female colleague about this just yesterday. And I formulated a theory. Heh. The way I see it, both women and men go for looks - one way or other. The difference, however, is that men are honest about it. You see, when men are confronted with the prospect of ending up with a less-than-attractive woman, he says, "Euwwww! No way, she's bug-ugly." Now women on the other hand, when put in a similar situation, will merely say, "Uhm... sorry, no chemistry."

Chemistry? What kind of a crappy, non-committal, half-assed answer is that anyway? Trust me on this, even if they guy was ugly enough to scare the red out of a baboon's ass, I assure you he has chemistry oozing out of his crevices.

Let's be honest here, people. We all go for looks. After all, do you really want to be looking in the eyes of an uggo every time you wake up for the rest of your life? The good news is, cliched as it may be, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. So even if some people think you look like evolution skipped you by, chances are there's someone out there who'll appreciate your... erm... raw, masculine looks.

A lot of people think that Mae is way out of my league. And they're probably right too. But fortunately for me, for some reason or other, Mae saw something in me. Kinda like how Belle saw something in the Beast.

Yup, there's hope.

Family Photo

meet the family

No, no, no, it's not our family. These are the Soongs. They're the family in which our church play revolves around. It's Jesse's first acting stint though his role is only confined to this one appearance - on this photograph. Dad is played by Chris Chin, Mom is Ariel and Sis is Sarah. If you think Jesse looks a little blur, it's because he was. "Who are all these people!?"

A Little Less Conversation is our offering for this year's drama thing that my church has been doing for the last 5 or 6 years now. This time around, we're doing a light-hearted comedy musical centred around a man going through a bout of mid-life crisis who's only solace is in the King of Rock & Roll. Heh! Chris Leow and I wrote this with a little help from Julia. And if you didn't already know it, I'm a huge Elvis fan. Also, if you don't know it, it's my first stint as a playwright, so don't expect too much. :)

Our drama thing is open to public and is a yearly affair for our church - just to get people to step into our church and find out that, "Hey, church isn't as stuffy as I imagined it to be!" :) As such, seating priority is given to non church going folks. So, if you'd like to come, do call our church office at 03-78031526 and see if there are any seats left.

So there you have it. A story of life, love and rock & roll! And when you do see it, do drop by here and tell me if you liked it or if you thought it sucked.

Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun

scratching a seven-year itch

Seven years ago, I met a woman who would change my life forever.

Okay, okay. So maybe our encounter wasn't quite as life-changing as I put it, but she did introduce me to what she considered the best Chee Cheong Fun in the world. "It's so popular, you actually have to take a number," Favourite used to tell me. Favourite was a bit of a tease. She'd tell me all about it but never ever offered to buy some back, or even to take me to the place. And so I waited for the day that I would indeed savour the finest Chee Cheong Fun on the planet.

After seven years or longing and waiting, that day finally came.


Thanks to our Ipoh guide, MaiLing, we got there quickly enough and true to Favourite's words, we had to take a number. "You're 25, we're serving 19," the old lady snapped. "If you can't wait, don't eat," she added. I had waited 7 bloody years. An hour or two wasn't gonna hurt. And so to kill some time, I explored around the place. The first photo is the price list. You pay only RM 1.30 for a small plate. A large was RM 1.80 and an extra large would set you back only RM 2.20. Cheap! The place was bustling with people and the ladies were putting together a takeaway order. Some crazy guy was buying some 25 packets of the stuff.


Elsie and I went round to the kitchen. There we found an old gentleman making his delicious Chee Cheong Fun. "You're not the press, are you?" Uncle asked. "I don't want this coming out in any newspaper," he said. We assumed he didn't want to have to deal with a surge in patronage that might come with a press report. I assured him we weren't the press but I never promised I wouldn't promote his place. Good food was meant to be shared, and if I had to suffer doing it then suffer, I will!!!

The process looked simple enough. Just like he'd always done in the last 55 years, Uncle spreads a sheet of cotton over a steamer. He then brushes off any crease and proceeds to pour a rice flour batter over the thing.


He then sprinkles bits of cooked dried shrimps on the Chee Cheong Fun, after which he closes the lid and let the rice sheets steam. When it was done, he takes out the entire cotton sheet and scrapes off the Chee Cheong Fun on to a metal table. There, he sprinkles a little oil over the Chee Cheong Fun and proceeds to cut them into smaller sheets of six.

From here on, his wife takes over. She chops the sheets up into thing strips (like fettucini), drizzles a little oil over it. She then tops up the thing with sesame, fried shallots and pickled green chillies. The dish is finally served with a combination of a sweet and a hot sauce. I tasted a little curry oil in the dish, which I must say lends a nice, spicy aftertaste. The noodle is smooth and tender, and the cooked dried shrimps provides a nice contrast to the texture. Excellent stuff! Definitely worth the one and one half hour we had to wait.

I can't really direct you to the exact spot, since I don't know Ipoh very well. The place operates in the front porch of the proprietor's house, and it's at 1456 Pasir Pinji 5, Ipoh. This is gonna be a bit of a dilemma when I need to go back for more. *sigh* Anyway, if you're anywhere in Ipoh, do make the trip. But please, don't tell them I sent you. ;)