Baby Fly

Yesterday morning as I was about to get out of the shower, I noticed a flying insect hovering my head. Since I hate insects, flying or otherwise, I decided to put it out of its misery.

I swung my arms frantically hoping to strike it down. Unfortunately, the sneaky little vermin was far too quick for me. I was at the verge of quitting, when suddenly Frankie the Fly decides to take a break on my shower curtain. I was about to bring down my Thundering Hand of Death upon Frankie when I realised that this was no ordinary fly. It was tiny - less than half the size of your garden variety housefly.

Then it occurred to me - Frankie was a baby fly!

And suddenly a flood of emotions came upon me. Poor little guy. Uncle James' Thundering Hand of Death must have scared the little fella. He's just a baby. And just like that, I let him go. I had him, and I let him go. He was a vermin, for goodness sake! And I let him go. I could kick myself.

I tell you, fatherhood does the weirdest things to you. Heh!

Tallest Ice Kacang In The World?

size does matter

Ais Kacang is probably Malaysia's favourite dessert. If you're Malaysian, you've probably had one or two in your life! In Taiping, the most popular place for Ice Kacang is at the Market Square, right above the Larut Matang supermarket. Here you'll find a cluster of 5 or 6 stalls selling the stuff.

During my schooldays, Ice Kacang was almost a daily affair. It was after all, only 40 sen back then. We'd hang out at stall No. 3, whose proprietor was an affable elderly couple who'd accommodate our weirdest request. Usually, at 10 sen more we'd order our dessert tall.

The Chap Chiam, literally "Mixed Sharp" in Hokkien was just your regular Ice Kacang - with the usual peanuts, corn, kidney beans, grass jelly and cendol. But here, the guy would pile on a mountain of shaved ice and he'd drench it it coconut milk and gula melaka (palm sugar), all 8 inches of it. And when Ice Kacang gets that high, that's when you taste heaven!

And then the challenge begins. As we boys ate our Chap Chiams, we'd thump the table to see whose mountain of ice would topple over.

We were dumb kids. Now, we've grown up to be dumb adults who'd probably still do it just for kicks!

Journey

We're going on another holiday. Yaaaaayyy!!! This time its Hanoi.

This one's gonna be the last holiday Mae and I will have for a long, long time. With Baby arriving late August, we expect our live to take a major turn. For one, we'll have to forgo our holidays. A lot of it will have to do with the fact that Baby will be too young to travel. Also, at the early stages of his life he will need Mommy more than ever. So that rules out any travel minus Baby.

But aside from the physiological reasons, we expect that it will be difficult to part from Baby that early on. Over the course of the pregnancy, Baby has become such a big part in our life that we've become awfully attached to the little guy - despite the fact that he hasn't technically arrive. Besides, we would like to be there at the milestones of Baby's development. The first time he sits up, when he starts on solid foods, when he takes his first steps, when he utters his first words... stuff like that has suddenly become so important.

I have always loved kids whilst Mae had never really been a fan. But over the course of the last few month, I have seen such a major change in her. Sometimes when I peek into the room, I see her cradling her tummy and talking affectionately to Baby. Other days she'd be singing to him. And occassionally she'd read the bible to him. As I look at my wife on her journey into motherhood, I am overwhelmed.

Anyway, on Friday is our lesser journey. This one takes us to Hanoi, Vietnam for 4 days and 3 nights. So if you don't see any updates on this blog, you know why. :)

Oh yeah, if you've never told your parents you love them you probably ought to. Now's as good a time as any.

Grandma

go ahead, make my day

My grandma is the toughest grandmother on the planet. Yes, that means she can take on any grandmother out there, kick some butt and still make it home on time for breakfast. What else would you expect from a tobacco-smoking, profanity-spewing old bird? Despite never having gone to school, this tough cookie is well stocked on wit, humour and sarcasm!

Growing up in Grandma's house was quite an experience. As a strict disciplinarian who took no shit from us youngsters, she wielded the cane like a samurai, his katana. Whenever we got out of line, we got it bad. If she had kept up her tyranny till today, chances are Social Services would haul her in for child abuse. Once, as a strapping young lad, my uncle threw caution to the wind and went fishing in a disused mining pond. Despite being warned by his mother of the dangers of fishing in a mining pond, the young man found the lure of a big catch too tempting to refuse. Unfortunately for him, she found him out. So when the boy returned, she grabbed him by his hair kicking and screaming and dragged his sorry ass into the bathroom. There she scooped up buckets of water and splashed it up his face making sure it went up his nose - stopping only after she was convinced that he learnt what it felt like to drown! Hahahhahah!!!!

And while we all love Grandma, we always had the impressions that she was tough as nails - cold and unfeeling.

Then 13 years ago, Grandpa passed on. That day, she cried and cried for the husband who was betrothed to her in her teens. We had never seen her like that - choked up with emotion. It was the first time I saw her cry. And she cried for months and months after his demise.

For all the years they had been married, they had never quarreled. He brought home the bacon and fed the whole family while she faithfully managed the household and the kids. And when the kids grew up and he retired, she tended to him till the day he died. It was almost automatic, almost unfeeling. And yet under all that tough exterior was a woman who had grown to love her husband so much that she could not bear to live without him.

As I was growing up, I grew to despise the notion that any good can come out of love or marriage. It was my tough-cookie grandmother who rekindled my faith.

Taiping Chee Cheong Fun

the taste that time forgot

Breakfast on Saturday was the town's most popular Chee Cheong Fun. I introduced Mae to this during her first visit to Taiping and she got hooked ever since. So much so she dragged me up at 8:30am on a Saturday morning just to eat this.

It's a simple flat rice-flour noodle, eaten with chilli sauce and a sweet sauce (I think it's plum sauce) and garnished with deep-fried shallots. The secret of this dish is in the "Fun", the noodle. This one here is home-made and delivered to the stall in batches, every morning. If you eat here you'll notice that every time the noodle runs out, the customers will sit around and wait till the next batch arrives - in a steel box, on a bicycle!

And that has been the way it's been since I started eating this Chee Cheong Fun 20 years ago. The young man who used to deliver the noodle on his bicycle back then, has today taken on the mantle to run the business. And thankfully, he has enough respect for tradition and taste to do it the way his parents did it so many years ago.

If you ever go to Taiping, do check this one out. Just look for the hawker centre on the old circus ground (Pusat Penjaja Padang Sarkas) and you'll find it. It's not the best in the world but it's still pretty darn good.

Best Char Kuey Teow

as authentic as Char Kuey Teow gets

For those who have not been introduce to the wonder of Char Kuey Teow (CKT), it is a fried rice noodle dish and one of Malaysia's favourite food. The Kuey Teow is somehwhat like it's Italian cousin, the Fettucini. However, unlike fettucini Kuey Teow is made from rice flour. This is then wok-fried with shrimps, cockles, beans sprouts, egg and chives.

The take-away is packed in a sheet of newspaper lined with a large leaf (sorry, don't know the specimen). While most CKT sellers use a banana leaf, this is a pretty good substitute as it imparts a wonderful fragrance to the dish while preserving the moisture of the Char Kuey Teow. I imagine that this crude packaging might run afoul of some food and beverage laws in many places but here in Taiping, it's the taste that matters. So, none of that plastic bag or styrofoam box packaging for us. We like our Char Kuey Teow on a leaf just fine!

I could go on and on about how this CKT is superior to any other on the planet but I won't. (However you can read my email to the Seekers of Superb Char Kuey Teow right here! Hehheh!!) Instead, I will just say that if ever I was standing in front of a firing squad and they ask me what I would like for my last meal - this Char Kuey Teow from this stall in Taiping would be it.

My son is one fortunate kid. Even before he's born, he's had a taste of the finest Char Kuey Teow in the world last night. Tonight, he's gonna be twice as fortunate. Hehheh!!

Rain

when it pains, it roars

Despite the best of our intentions, we only managed to leave KL at 7:00pm.

While most of the drive was pretty uneventful, midway through the journey it began to rain cats and dogs. We decided to make a stop at the Tapah R & R stopover. In Mae's condition being 5 months pregnant and all, it's a good idea to stop every hour or so just to let her get down and stretch a little. But when we got there, we realised that we didn't have any umbrella in the car.

Since Mae and I pretty much the epitome of absent-mindedness, we had decided to put two umbrellas in the car. We thought that would be a fool-proof idea. Well, Mae left one in her office earlier that day. And I left mine at the Telekom office that very same day! So much for that plan.

Anyway, I braved the rain and borrowed one from a stranger at the R & R. Thanks to that little mess and the unforgiving rain, we only managed to get home at 11:00pm. Thankfully, we managed to get our Char Kuey Teow and still make it home in time for Survivor All-Stars. :)

And yeah, while I wasn't exactly a fan of Shii Ann, I am glad she kicked some Chapera ass! Yeah!!!