Prologue: In fact, it's already way passed the midway of the month of July and this is only the first post of the month?!
The two month's semester holiday will be reaching its midpoint soon. Unlike last year in which I broke down in making the decision whether I should go home for the holiday or not, this year I am actually feeling much more adamant of actually staying back in campus and not going home. Probably the horrible reality (and a decision that must be done) of actually extending my candidacy for another semester in order to finish up my research (I think it's already been approved if my Campusonline profile is correct.) as well as other unavoidable circumstances (one of them which I will mention later in this post) has warranted this situation to occur. Till this day I still wonder why the hell did I embark on this reckless pursuit (despite feeling confident three years ago. Come to think of it, the three year anniversary of my overstayed graduate student life will be coming in a few weeks time. How celebratory.) and am I going to survive.
Anyway, let's not get bogged down by pessimism but instead let's look at some foods that I enjoy had specifically for the holy month of Ramadhan. While the month of Ramadhan is a month of fasting and restraint for Moslems, it's definitely not the case for the heathen atheist me that look forward for the Ramadhan bazaar in order to try out foods that otherwise won't be available or won't try on some other days. So imagine how excited I am when I discover one of the places that has ramadhan bazaar is Hamna Apartment area (where the weekly pasar malam usually is). So immediately on the first evening of Ramadhan itself (10 July, Wednesday), I made my trek over there...
...only to discover the stalls that opened there can be counted with fingers. I wonder where it's because its only the first day and most other vendors are not ready yet or it really is just it?
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| In the end for the first night of Ramadhan, roti john is the only proper Ramadhan bazaar thing that I bought. For the main course instead, I finally got to try out the well-patronized mamak stall that made Bali-Bali its anchoring place before moving to its own place (and still well frequented) right beside the original Bali-Bali premise after Bali-Bali closed down. Chicken, omelette and brinjal on Biryani rice (I think) for RM6. The price is about right I think for outside mamak place. |
Fast forward to Saturday (13 July) in which I am certain there will be full range of stalls on sale because of the weekly pasar malam that I finally get the thing I've wanted for the longest time without having to make the trek all the way to Bayan Baru.
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| NASI KERABU, how much I love you. Nasi Kerabu topped with beef and salted egg for RM4.80. As side, two skewers each of bishop's nose and gizzards. Delish. |
The enthusiasm for Ramadhan food somewhat peters out as days goes by however mostly in direct correlation with the dwindling number in the bank account as well as general lethargy so the pursuit for good Ramadhan sungkei (Oh sungkei is what Sarawakian called berbuka. I've been embracing my Sarawakian-ness ahead of the Golden Jubilee. Might just cover it tomorrow!) is not as aggressive as I desired or able to be. So for the past ten days of Ramadhan, I've only been out for four night specifically for sungkei purpose and the following two are the last one.
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| Sunday 14 July: around the same time as well I noticed KFC has a come out with a seafood set meal that comes with crab sauce so I bought Seafood Delight Western Set. The sauce is quite nice actually but of course KFC isn't a place that I can go all too often so this is one off trial trip. |
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| 16 July: Back to mamak stall again but this time, beef, tofu and omelette. |
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| For the rest of the weeks (and in fact, for the most of the July), I've been living on instant noodle diet with particular highlight for the Thailand Pork Noodle (which I think it's wonderful because it's actually designed to be cooked by adding boiling water only! Of course being a glutton I am, I add extra noodle and that's why it looks ridiculously full on the resulting picture). In fact as of yesterday, I've finished all twenty packs of it and downed about another twenty other more. With campus cafe pretty much closed for the day, extreme lethargy and precarious financial standing, instant noodle has become a staple diet for me at the expense of my liver and kidney and the rest of my physical and mental state. |
In an related story (contributing major CRATER in my already dire strait of economy), I will be moving out from campus accommodation (as my contract expires after spending a full three years in campus and I don't think they appreciate my extension...which I weird because I thought university will try to make the most out of their grad student) to a new rented place outside for the first time of my life.
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| ...so this will be the last time this neatly folded envelope and the tiring trip to treasury will be featured in any of my blogpost. I am quite frustrated at the fact that it will took them about a month to actually process my request to return my RM720 deposit (I actually lost track how much money I was charged as deposit. In fact, that's HUGE!) after I've returned my key officially. |
...so this is my life so far. Meanwhile, still waiting for a few email responses (conference related), extra incomes (I think there are one or two pending one) while continue wondering what the hell is going on with my life...as well as actually doing stuff. Eventually.
Epilogue: As a random closer, this is 500th blogpost I wrote! To be fair thought, there are a few in the draft posts list that's actually a false alarm because of false save and such but who cares! It's 500th! That the most achievement I have done for the past...don't know how long. Besides making progress in Candy Crush Saga. And I cease to function effectively in real life.
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