Bits and Bites!

Alt. Title: Yet Another Random Post about Whatever Things that I had the Other Day and Whatever Bits in My Life that I Fancy Of.

-Saturday 16 July 2011-

As another week going to wrap up, I had a couple of urges (those adventure on a whim type thing) circling inside my head: One is to visit the recently opened Tesco Tanjung Pinang all the way over Straits Quay at Tanjung Bungah or enjoy the food and firework over Bon Odori 2011 at Padang Kota, Georgetown. Torn between two choices, I have to weigh the pros and cons of going to any of the event. Some of you might be wondering why I would want to visit a Tesco, a hypermarket but what tempted me to go there is their food outlet tenant plus I could always take a short stroll to Straits Quay and check out more gourmet offering. The thing that stops me though is that I will need a change of bus over Komtar and the trip will be inevitably exhausting. Money matters too in times of austerity so sadly the adventure to Tanjung Pinang will have to postponed for the moment. Next: Bon Odori 2011. Pros: Okonomiyakis and Takoyaki and Yakisoba and all the other random food stalls...and oh also the dances and fireworks. Cons: The area will be completely jampacked of people, the food as much as I lust it is overprices (more so in times of austerity) and Visual kei cosplayers who think this is Anime Convention (If you can spent all your money on make up, fake eyelashes and dye, why don't you just wear a yukata and blend in. I moe 萌え men in yukata too.) plus coming back with sore legs because of all the walking and standing. There's goes the two urges, pacified by practical needs.

Just as I was fretting about my urges fleeting away, I chat with an long time acquaintance of mine and he reminded that Saturday is also the day when Sungai Dua Pasar Malam is on. Oh right! Being cloistered in campus too long means one tend to forget whatever is happening outside and Sungai Dua Pasar Malam is one of the thing that I convenient forget all the time. Why it never settles in my mind for the past three years in university? Anyway, Sungai Dua Pasar Malam had quickly replaced all those urges and immediately after I woke up from nap, I changed my clothes and heads out to Sungai Dua, with random pasar malam goodies and grocery shopping at Tesco in mind.

The sky is still bright at 6.15pm! Just look at how nice the weather is!

Reached Sungai Dua gate and realized the familiar bright orange SnJ Giftshop (which shuttered for quite a while now) has been replaced by drably designed signboard which features two prawn above a bowl of noodle...because it's Berkat Permai Restoran now. Apasal yang papan tanda utama tu salah dari segi tatabahasa tetapi yang sepanduk kat dalam tu betul? Tak paham la!

First stop: QQ Ramen House over Yellow House which is adjacent to Pasar Malam for dinner first. They're now offering daily set meals that includes a main course (ramen or rice), a drink and a dessert from RM 7.90 onward so of course the lazy, penny pinching me opt for that. I chose Braised Pork Meat Ramen, mix fruit juice and herbal jelly for RM11.90.

This is me trying to make up whatever precious time that I waste away by napping or slouching in front of my lappie doing random stuff while waiting for the main course to come. NEED MORE READING.

So this is how a set meal looks like. Not much comment with a tinge of meh. Good enough to fill up the stomach, the pork is tender, the ramen's springy but the broth is meh.

After my dinner, it's time to check out what's been offered over the pasar malam.

Walked all the way inside and back out again just to survey what's available plus at this point of time, I am still kinda full and I have a shopping to do. While most of the offering over pasar malam is pretty generic with a plethora of unhealthy deep fried stuff and also random cheapo products and clothes,  there are a couple of food stall that stands out from all like gem. Will come back to that later.

After a quick survey around Pasar Malam while making up my mind on what to buy, I went over to Tesco first for a quick shopping.

What did I bought: the usual suspect of instant noodles and crackers while chips because of sudden desire. Bought two packs of Maggi Mee Pluz Dried Instant Noodle because there's a promotion going on making it the cheapest on the shelf. Same thing for the Mister Potato Tomato Flavoured chips. Julie's Cream Cracker however is not what I initially want because what I want is the Hup Seng Cream Crackers which is what I call the gourmet class crackers. It was offered the last time I came over to Tesco Extra but not this time/sold out this time apparently. So, Julie's Crackers for the time being and it tastes of disappointment. And oh, I also missed out the fresh batch of RM1 doughnut over the bakery at the entrance of Tesco Extra too. Dang. Nevermind about that, there's pasar malam to go!

Went back to pasar malam...and picked up the prizes.
 

First up: Chicken Cracklings which is basically deep fried chicken skin. Spotted someone having a bag of it while I was surveying around pasar malam so when I went back there after shopping at Tesco, I must have it as finger food. Spotted a stall that sells it and buy a RM3 bagful of cholesterol packed artery clogging finger food.  Was picking it out of my shopping bag while I am on my way back to campus and there's still enough left for me to take this picture. (flash for vivid color.)

And then there's imitation shark fin soup or 碗仔翅. ChengFai claimed that this is his must have every week so I have to try it out on what makes it so nice and after having a first spoonful of it, I know it's going to be worth the RM4 of it. The soup has this thick almost jelly like texture and it's flavorful with healthy douse of vinegar in it. To add on to it, I added RM1 just for the abalone slice. A gem indeed over Sungai Dua Pasar Malam. Won't mind adding it to my weekly indulgence.

I think visit to Sungai Dua Pasar Malam on Saturday night might have its place in my subconscious routine after all...as long as someone over Facebook reminds me of pasar malam!

-Friday 15 July 2011-

Just as I am flushing with excitement with my debut in academia next week, I've to make myself look presentable. A visit to the laundry for dry-cleaning of my blazer, red shirts and long pants is a must. Just as I was ready to head out to laundry at Sungai Dua, immediately appears in my eyesight is a neatly folded sheet of papers tucked under my door. Almost in a instant, whatever excitement that I had at that moment was doused. The one thing that USM is especially diligent of: THE RENTAL INVOICE. The monthly reminder of my perilous journey as a postgraduate and the tedious walk up the hill to Bendahari. *sigh*

I tried to reason myself about the importance of next weeks event and I even brought the blazers, t-shirts and long pants out from my hostel building but then sense of duty and austerity measure overcame me and I head back to my room instead. I think it didn't smell too bad and people won't notice those minute wrinkle anyway.

It was 11:40am and I said to myself: will I be able to make it before the lunch break. Taking a bet, I rushed over to BSN to withdraw the money needed and make a dash uphill to Bendahari...only to see the door locked up and shuttered. It's FRIDAY and they close at 11:45noon and only reopens at 3.00pm before closing again at 4:30pm. UNBELIEVABLE.

I made my way of disappointment back to my room (with a pitstop over Cahaya Gemilang for cheap but heavily peppered nasi campur.) and waited (and sulked) until 3pm before heading out again. Around 2.45pm, it started raining. There's nothing more discouraging for a long walk uphill than a sudden shower. Determined to clear off the rent however, I heads out again with my faulty lil umbrella. As I was heading down from Bakti though, a battered Daihatsu slowed down beside me and the driver wind down his window and offered me a ride. I know in normal circumstances I should just reject it but because I've never encountered such situation I before, I was sort of flabbergasted and before my paranoiac sense kicks in, I am already sitting in the backseat. The moment he asked whether I am going to Bendahari or not (maybe he saw the neatly folded invoice in my hand. Good observation I say) that I was assured that this is a genuine offer of ride. He, Abdullah from Yemen, engaged me with small chatter on our short journey there asking about my major and progress of my research (...which I answer sort of sheepishly with "starting data collection") and where did I come from. To my pleasant surprise, he knows that Sarawak on East Malaysia because he had an Iban Cardiology Phd student as acquaintance and now the Iban Dr. is now working over Sarawak General Hospital. (I deduced that Abdullah might be a Phd in science too but guiltily the sociophobic me didn't make the effort to ask him about it.)

Not too long later, we reached Bendahari. He bid farewell to me and sped off while me walking towards Bendahari with an oddly warm and fuzzy feeling inside my heart. A day made by a stranger's deed. Oh Allah please bless this good Yemeni samaritan even if this is just a short ride to Bendahari. Maybe I should be less sociophobic from now on and actually start knowing the neighbours around my block. Maybe. A day that could've been pretty shite was made better because of a helping hand.

-Random Bites-

I had been guilty of snacking for quite a few times for the past week with Tomato Flavoured Twisties as my favorite after lunch snacking. As I walked back from CG to Bakti, the Bakti Minimart tempted me to go in and after going around the shelves checking out for cheap snacks, this is the one I settled on. The soury tomato taste is very appetizing that keeps your hard reaching into the bag to devour every bits of crumb.

This is what I had for today: Mister Potato Tomato Chip!

At one corner of my room though, there are two boxes of Tebaloi or sweet sago crackers that my parent gave me as a souvenir from homeland SARAWAK left forgotten...for almost A YEAR until last week when I finally chow it down with help of milo on two separate occasion. When I checked the boxes of tebaloi, it was EXPIRED for about a week already but when I saw that the inner bag was vacuum sealed, I was sort of assured that I won't die of food poisoning. (Tips about expiry date: DRIED, VACUUM SEALED food usually can last way longer than it's purported shelf life and the only thing that might deteriorate is its taste but otherwise harmless. Perishable food like milk and anything containing liquid however is something else.) So I braced myself, had those two boxes and look at me now, still alive and typing away in my blog.

-Random bits-

CONVEX (Convocation Expo) is back again for another year and they begin the sales of business lots over the fairground/Tapak convo. A few things that I noticed: what's with the blatant misuse of borrowing in its slogan: ANEKDOT MAHASISWA ASPRESIASI NUSA. I mean WTFFITS. From what I can see from their Facebook page, it's (or they TRIED to make) a backcronym from AMAN which mean peace but WHY ANEKDOT (anecdote) out of every word that starts with A in Malay or English language? To top this off, what the fuck is ASPRESIASI?! I can't think of any English word that can be borrowed and turn into ASPRESIASI with closest one being appreciation but forcibly borrowed into BM and it will become apresiasi not ASPRESIASI. It seems to me that they can't make up their mind between aspiration and appreciation so they make up this fuddle-duddle by amalgamating these two words while bastardizing borrowing convention outlined by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. Library has a copy, I have a copy. Want one? Last but not least of me taking a piss out of ConvEx (and other similar event): ConvEx for me is just basically just trade fair of random products, food fair with plethora of choices to eat your heart out and souvenirs stalls ripping off hapless parent for their graduating children and sprinkles of exhibition and culture shows and what not along the week. Being just a week of food and shopping (for non-graduating student like me. Two more years!), I just don't understand why the organizer put Millennium Development Goals or MDG as their mission statement. In fact, I don't understand why organizers of similar events here and there put up lofty slogan and vision while the actual implementation of it bear not even a gossamer of the mission statement. To put it this was: as thousands of crowd feed themselves to the brim over the massive foodtent over Tapak Convo, millions of people over the third world remain impoverished and die of malnutrition. I think this is just an effort to please the impressionable higher up by packaging this event in a way that it help in disseminating MDG while the cruel plebs just eat their heart out of Nasi Kerabu. OK, some of you might look at me as a ANAL RABID OLD MAN blabbering away but please, there are much better way of branding!

Today's Sunday and it was another great day with clear blue sky with fluffy cloud. It always feel good to look outside a window and see the sky unhindered by haze. Kinda missed home again. Finger crossed for everything that's going to happen next week and hope that everything will be as equally sunny and rosy.

Meanwhile, the Double Cheeseburger promotion is back by popular demand for three days from tomorrow (Monday) onward! Just print out the coupon and present it upon purchase! Should I made another promo run again before I heads down to KL for one whole week? I am very very tempted!

Epilogue: So in the end, I didn't feel like blogging about the escapade of early July with Syahmi and ChengFai at length so just head over to my Facebook photo album and see it for yourself. Meanwhile, I should start preparing for the conference next Tuesday and packing. I printed out my powerpoint slide so that I can read it before I hit the sack but there's some sort of uneasy feeling that I might be missing out something. Oh, what should I bring along! I must remember the CHEQUE though or otherwise I would just die at the doorstep. And of course, do not miss the flight! 9.40pm from Penang onboard Firefly! First time flying with a turboprop! Will I be able to sleep tonight? *giddy*