Hometown Restaurant.

No fancy spread...expensive décor....just cheap melamine and plastic cutlery.....
....and where the cooking is done by old aunties/uncles who have been cooking for ages from recipe passed down....

......where waiters/waitresses are the children on school holidays ..and the chief waiter (captain)..is the spouse of the chef ...recommending the catch of the day.

..and ....plates...crockery...used utensils are washed by grandmas/dads....too old to for any jobs on the frontline....yet still healthy enough to be gainfully employed...( money is never enough especially when one is old ).

..... the service.....erratic....and dependent on the general well-being of the day...whether there has been a quarrel....or argument ...when the plates and various paraphernalia are set down in “I don’t give a damn” manner...and the cooked food are serve in “I don’t give a damn” manner..

.....unashamedly indifferent ...the foods are cook in “I don’t give a damn” saltiness...spiciness.............oiliness..................burniness (if there is such word)
.... ... and come three quarters cook from the kitchen that reminisce a chicken slaughter house...(if you know what I mean).

..but on a good day ..It is a culinary delight minus the frontline service.

Menus are non-existent ..Cooking comes in three simple ways on how the ‘catch’ is to be cooked: ...... Steam with ginger, tomatoes..wine.......fried sweet and sour.......or stir fried in spice and chili.

....for example........Steam Pomfret......Sweet Sour crab ...and Spicy Prawn..and to provide a balance diet to the protein...I can have Blanched Vegetables in light garlic fragrant soy sauce.

The price is surprisingly... UNfair..Unjust....Unwritten ...there two different price settings.......one is for the locals...and the other for the outsider. The only reason why I patronize the local joint is because I love the charm of the easy casual no-frills dining
...and the nearest experience to “Mum’s cooking”.

What's with them....

LUCKY



STEADY


What’s with the dogs........in a space of a year ....Ashitaka went under the surgeon’s knife to remove a leg (documented earlier).....that climaxes in the last two months...starting with Trusty’s operation to remove the cancerous cyst (documented earlier)...somewhere in May.....

.........Gosh!!!!!!!...followed by Steady’s infected right ear that called for many followed up treatments...to clean and dress the wound until it heals ..........OMG!!! ...the wound opened up again due to scratching .........and OMG....OMG...OMG!!!!! maggots infested it...and subsequently took her back to the good Doctor .....the Dr. painstakingly dig out the maggots from the ear...and to make matter worse, the maggots ate through the ear digging a tunnel through to the inner ear....:faint:....Sam..we..and the maid ....nurse Steady until she recuperated fully with the Good Dr. constant monitoring and the daily administrating of antibiotic injection .

..Gob bless you Dr. Kanda

......OMG...OMG...OMG...OMGGGGGG!!!!!!......Lucky’s ear swell into a ball due to scratching...it was a freak incident.......dogs have been scratching their ears for time immemorial ...nothing ever happens...bbut my Lucky boy...somehow fractured the blood capillaries and blood starts pouring into layer inside the ear lobe like a plastic bag.....

...initially, we thought that it was mosquitoes’ bite...we administered Mopiko......then..Burnol....then Calamine...then we figure it was wasps’stink...we administered iodine.....then insect’s bite ointment ....then gave him panadol....then..
......antibiotic cream...then dettol....then to Dr. Kanda

Dr. Kanda suggested operation as the only option....to drain the fluid and scrape the ears inner wall........and an appointment was made and Lucky ends up on the surgeon’s table.
Luckily....Lucky recover fully...and running about like a sunshine boy.

Dr. Kanda understood my financial position and he just told us to pay him when we are comfortable....it has been a week since...ThanK you Dr. Kanda.

Born free.

Born free, as free as the wind blows
As free as the grass grows
Born free to follow your heart

Live free and beauty surrounds you
The world still astounds you
Each time you look at a star

Stay free, where no walls divide you
You're free as the roaring tide
So there's no need to hide

Born free, and life is worth living
But only worth living
'cause you're born free

Stay free, where no walls divide you
You're free as the roaring tide
So there's no need to hide

Born free, and life is worth living
But only worth living
'cause you're born free

Still at the Banquet.

Wisdom propound that it runs in the family.....Science promulgate that it runs in the blood....Genetic substantiate DNA ...the inherent testimony of the composite makeup of a person.....
...................and I say, ...we cannot choose our parents !!!

Talent runs in a family....just like the little girl of 4 years who sang a Chinese folk song called “ My Daddy lost his spectacle” on stage without a single off-key. This little ‘sweety pie’ is the second generation niece of the groom.

Come to think of it...the only talent I inherited from my blood line is the ability to talk and also the inability to sing......My earliest ancestors were Kings dating back 500 years ago....I still fumble at the thoughts of what talent/s I inherited from great old papa.

It doesn’t matter because after 3 generations....it was all downhill all the way for the clan with no break in sight...We failed you “Great Papa”.


See little girl sing >>>> talkthreetalkfour.blogspot.com

Michael Jackson

....you are not alone.........

Michael Jackson

The Wedding Banquet.

The Wedding Banquet.

I attended the Wedding Banquet last night......I enjoyed it thoroughly....the food was sumptuously delicious...outmatching those serve at very prestigious five stars restaurants in the city. I cannot understand why....this is the second banquet that I have attended here in this coastal town....and it is among the best ... ....food and all.

This update is not about food......it is my friend’s son wedding....it was just about the most romantic entrance by a newly wed I have had the pleasure to witness.

Both the bride and groom sang while making their entrance into the banquet hall......[and sing they can ].....because the groom is an accomplished singer...having sung for Kings...President... and dignitaries....and the wife is a musically trained.

Both of them.....are teachers, the noblest of profession.

The video clipping is not up to desirable standards but nevertheless you get to see the happening at the Wedding Banquet. ....and I was too busy indulging in............you know!!

Wedding Invitation.

Mr. Yap has been a loyal customer to the company for almost 25 years and over the period we have became friends.

So, when I received the invitation, I was very happy not only because I get to participate in the merriment of a marriage but more meaningfully I get to see a child who has grown up to be someone’s husband over a period of time that flashes by....... underscoring our coming of age.....and that in a year or so........ my friends will be the grandparents...and that’s one of life’s greatest gift.

......and with that I would like to extend my Heartiest Congratulation to both Mr. and Mrs. Yap (sr.) for being Successful Parents ...and to Mr. and Mrs. Yap ( jr.) may you both lead a successful life following the road laid by your parents...a road that was once just a path.

The King of Fruit.

This had been a very hectic and trying week...It’s too “hot”....stressful that I decided again to take Sam to the countryside to “cool” down.

... Nothing takes the mind away from the toil and broil of the ‘rat race’ better than a good drive to nowhere... [minus the traffic]......ending up in the Durian collection centre ...where we can buy the “King of Fruits” for a fraction of the price that we pay for in the city.

Here too, we have a wider selection of different so called “generic made-to-order, cutting edge technological invent” type of Durian.....of even more mind boggling “what/who in heaven”....and “where in heaven” did the name derive from...

.........We have today:

.....Mountain Cat King...famous for its rich creamy sweet taste..

.....Red grass prawn...famed for its Red orangy color with a tinge of bitterness..

....then we have ...Ah Kow’s cocktail...a new breed [not tried yet]..heard it tasted like sweet wine......

..and there is the early fav. called .. the Red meat crab...my fav. too though I am not sure why the name..

..then...the Hair Rejuvenator commonly known as 101 [hair growth hormones from China]........very VeRY rich creamy sweet bitter seedless....Yummy!!....not sure why the name also!

Today , we have .....21 [blackjack].....777 [jackpot]...102...103......333 [live forever]
808 [prosperity]...........008 [I prosper]..............888 [forever prosper]...and many more names and permutations.... [if space permits]......

...and NO!......we don’t have the 444 [die foever]...404 [forever die]

The Good Son.

I took the beaten track off- road to a small village to visit an acquaintance whom I have not seen for a while. I love the warm friendly people there.

Here I met the “Boss” of the small stall...it was like a step backward into time....about 40 years back.....
.........and in this modern era......it is like a life museum ...a reminder of the past
.......the conservatory of the bygone years etched onto the surrealistic templates of our conscience of what is now the extension of the new age morality accelerated beyond wisdom.

Today, the Story is about the Allegiance of a filial son.

In our country, where admission into Public University is based on “birth right of the right skin color” and not meritocracy....countless top grades students of other skin color were/are deprived off a chance of furthering their education giving ways to much lesser and inferiorly graded student of the right color. The country’s statespersons called it “Social re-Engineering”.....who are we to argue!!!

....and so countless parents like the “old uncle” slogged day and night to finance their children’s education.....hoping that their children will lead a better life than they themselves...thus breaking the chain of hardship...doing their ancestors proud with the unwritten ancestral pledges of each and every child of the Chinese origin by way of Confucianism ingrained into the very core fabric of the Chinese psyche.

Old Uncle is the “Good Son”.

Uncle’s son is now working in the editorial of a newspaper company.

* [He was educated in England]

.....uncle does not accept money from him because the cost of living in the city is very high and he wants him to save enough money to start a family of his own.

The elder daughter is married and uncle is staying with his wife and a young teenage daughter. He has no plan to retire as he still has to finance his youngest daughter’s education... She is 15year of age.

Happy Father’s Day.