Slow days.

Last Friday was the very last day of exam, another academic year has finally come to an end and the campus is now deserted devoid of students. It doesn't mean that the campus stopped working though because the campus staff as well as the postgraduates (and some undergraduates who stayed back for various reasons) are still around though. Year end holiday also means that cafe business will operate in reduced capacity with less stalls open during day time and usually closed at night. This means that more often than not, I will be forced to venture out of my room off campus to find food. Stepping out of the room has become much more arduous recently due to heat wave sweeping across Malaysia with haze carpeting major urban area after days of continuous drought. You don't feel like doing anything in scorching heat, that include keeping my blog alive as well as postponing my Explore Penang plan.. Oh well, here are some random things that happened in my life since the last post.

-7 May (Saturday)-

Back to Carpenter Street Cafe again for lunch, this time to check out Tomato Mee.

Tomato Mee, one of the more unique item in Kuchingite's cuisine. West Malaysian might feel weird about the Tomato based soup but AWW YEAAHHH for Sarawakian!

Verdict: It is indeed DA REAL THANG. No doubt the key ingredient here is the noodle imported all the way from Sarawak deep fried to crispy golden brown. (We don't use the ready made YeeMee usually used for similar dishes in Peninsula) The best way to eat Tomato Mee is to let the crispy noodle soaked the tomato soup until it's soften enough to be picked up using chopstick but not until it's too mushy and lose it springiness. The topping is the usual slices of charsiew meat, pork liver, prawn and vegies but sometimes other stuff can be added too like squid or slices of fish cake or fish balls in other version of Tomato Mee. Besides using the crispy noodle, Tomato mee can also be served with Kueh Teow which was wok fried earlier before pouring in the tomato based soup. I hereby testify that Carpenter Street Cafe served authentic Sarawakian/Kuchingite Cuisine and all of you who haven't step on Sarawak before can have a sneak peek of what we can offer for your palate here. For people using GPS, here's the coordinate: 5°19'35.4212''N 100°17'11.3888''E. One last test to go: Kolo Mee served in red. I WILL BE BACK! (If the weather permits of course.)

-6 May (Friday)-

Impromptu dinner dates with the SISTAHood Penang Chapter as an early celebration for TailouWong's birthday which will come in a few days time (Happy Birthday Ah Wong!)! This time we went a lilbit further to Fettes Park, Tanjong Tokong to tried out what Penangites says as DA PLACE for Western Cuisine: James Foo & Family Western Food. For GPS user: 5°27'9.4939''N 100°18'10.1354''E.

It's located at the ground floor of a seemingly purpose built building which I assumed own by them. The building itself is located at a corner of a road junction making it visible from all around.

It offers quite a range of offer in their menu ranging from salad and soups to chickens and porks and fish before reaching rhe higher end with lamb shank and sirloin steak.

Dinner mates: Ah Ham and Chan Pao.

And TailouWong.

The premise is filled to the brim at all times and the environment can be noisy too so do not expect a romantic date or quiet moment with friends though! The wait between order and the arrival of food can take a while as well but understandable because of the crowd. Now, the food.

The presentation is fairly simple with fries and buns on a side, mixed vegies as garnish and main dishes of decent portion. This was Ah Wong's Holland Chicken.

Mine was Chicken Cordon Bleu.

ChanPao's was grilled salmon. I didn't managed to take Ah Ham's order but it was Chicken and Fish Mix.

I think the main attraction of JF Western Food at Fettes Park is that they served Western food at an affordable price (Best of all, no tax whatsoever!) and staying truthfully to the adage "what you pay is what you get", the food is decent but not that it's stellar that it will blow you away. Consider it Western food for commoners. The amount of crowd can be crazy too so expect it to be very noisy unless of course you too chat loudly with your companion.

-9 May (Monday)-

Forced to find proper meal of campus because the cafe closes. (I am back on following my instant noodle as one of the meal of the day again. Blame it on discount at Sunshine Bayan Baru.) Venture off campus to find food at Sungai Dua but feel kinda lazy to walk to Bali-Bali when Lita is closed...and that's when I saw the familiar red coloured sign slightly further down the road.

What was ShuangXing Kopitiam last time is slowly turning into KOPITAN Restaurant which I assume will be like those retro-chic Oldtown Kopitam-esque outlet to lure the campus population. Looks like the new students coming in September will be spoiled for choice...for air conditioned place and price that sometimes ripoff. Let's see how will it fare when it open...Now I kinda missed the economical rice that I tapao-ed from ShuangXing last time.

The always smiling Colonel Sanders disarming you and your wallet.

There's a new menu item in KFC recently: KFC OR Chicken Chop combo that comes with a glass of Mountain Dew and Chicken Chop topped with mushroom sauce. That's what I originally thought I will get when I order it...

What I actually get however is definitely "Indah Khabar Dari Rupa." The chicken chop is small and the portion of the sides are miniscule at best. I have been duped once again by glossy ads that distort perceptions of reality. This is how fast food rip off your wallet, kid. Should've just stick to the good old Snack Plate. The amount of meat on snack plate is definitely more than the puny chicken chop on this plate. For RM10.50, I get a decent Chicken Cordon Bleu from Fettes Park Western Food which is reasonably full. If it wasn't for the gas from the soft drink (they're out of Mountain Dew too grr!), I won't be even half full.

Last but not least, some bit of reality.

AWW YEAH. My conference paper for PPA-13 has been accepted! GREAT SUCCESS! Can't wait to see it printed in the conference proceeding and let other people quote it!

Epilogue: I have been ensnared in procrastination...even though I am supposed to work on the final bit of my thesis proposal as well as powerpoint for it before I submit it to the department before being presented. It's only one small part left and yet I am not even bothered to lift a finger. Slow, unproductive day indeed. Will I even survive the scheduled presentation next week. Better work on it...soon.