PLASTIC BAGS AND THE ENVIROMENT

It seems that the Selangor government is trying to go green by imposing a ‘no plastic bag day’ every Saturday in the state. That’s right, no plastic bags will be provided when you shop at places like Jusco, Giant, etc…….. hell, Jusco will provide plastic bags to the shoppers who wants one, but wait, you will have to pay rm0.20 for each bag……….. Plastic bags have suddenly been the boegyman to the enviromental cause in the state of Selangor.

Now, just stop and think for a minute………. What? Pay an additional rm0.20 for a plastic bag on Saturdays? Who are you, Jusco, trying to fool? Are the prices of goods cheaper on Saturdays? At Jusco? At all other establishments who pratice ‘no plastic bag day’ in Selangor? a big NO! Are the cost of the plastic bags given out free on other days calculated into the selling price of the goods? YES! Well, it’s starting to look like the consumers are getting less for their hard earned cash on Saturdays in Selangor…………. I’m quite sure that there are other ways to save the enviroment, other than not giving out plastic bags which, by the way, we have paid for when we buy anything from these establishments.

Ikea and Jusco have come out with re-useable shopping bags and are selling it to their customers. Good idea………….. especially if the bags have your company’s name / brand printed on it……..Wait a minute, is’nt that free advertising? Last time I remembered, a sponsor paid me good money to paint my car white, deck it with his brand and go rallying. So, consumers, don’t be fooled into buying those bags…….. buy some other bag that does not force you to advertise for free.

Now, some of you will be thinking ‘ this bloody botak is just a jew in disguise, not willing to pay for a plastic bag’. Ok. this botak might have a solution in the quest to saving the enviroment.  How about bio-degradeable plastic bags? Those are supposed to be good, right? Or how about re-cycling the plastic bags given out every time you go shopping. Like using them as trash bags, instead of having to go out and buy the trash bags. Or even better, will the city council’s trash collectors collect trash straight from the bin instead of insisting on having all trash bagged? Millions of plastic bags will be saved then. Good, right? NO! Because the plastic bag manufacturers will go bankrupt if we don’t use plastic bags. Not good, right?  Saving the enviroment is all well and good, but at what expense? There are other ways to save the enviroment. Re-cycling is a good start. Car pooling too. Take a bus or train if you have to, instead of driving your car with only you sitting in it. Stop cutting down hills and trees to build commercial or residential units that we don’t really need. It’s greed that drives these developments, not need. Go check out how many people in Selangor have more than one property under their names, how many abandoned projects and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

When I first came to stay here, there was this hill, all nice and green, not too far from my house. Now that hill has been cut down slightly, and it’s more botak than me! Please, that’s not saving the enviroment. So I say, bring back the plastic bags, in the bio-degradeable form, and NO to ‘no plastic bag day’!

Solutions to ” Why like that” situations

Shah Alam, Selangor. A township that has no, yes, you read it correctly, no 4D shops. My good mamak friend, that goes by the name of Shah (no, the township was not named after him), would drive all the way to the Klang Bus station or subang jaya just to get his three times a week chance of making some money that would make him rich for a while. Most of the times, it’s money down the drain, but somehow, when the moon’s about to turn blue and with lady luck showing her pearly whites to him, an additional trip down to the same 4D shop is necessary, unless he uses the winning ticket to pay off a debt.

There are no pubs or bars…….. Strange, because I thought I saw the Carlsberg factory located in Shah Alam too. So, no gambling, unless it’s the illegal kind, you know, those so called “cyber cafes” ? No alcohol, too. What about a movie? What movie? No TGV? You got to be joking! No, I’m not joking. No movies either. Unless it’s the guy walking up to you asking if you want the latest pirated versions of the movies being shown anywhere else except in Shah Alam . So how about a relaxing massage, with all the side orders, chinaman style………..no. so far, there has been a lot of NO in this article, yes? So, what do they do to have fun in Shah Alam? Not much, if you’re a gambling, alcoholic, movie buff, sex crazed chinaman. But, wait. All is not lost. There is Hope . a light at the end of this long dark politically and religiously correct tunnel. What if I were to tell you that there are two shops, yes TWO shops in this fine township that would set the heart rates of chinamen all over this fine town racing towards the point of having cardiac arrest? Yes, my good chinamen friends, (and the two malay boys that I saw eating at one of the shops more than two years ago) I’m quite serious about the cardiac arrest part, as the char siew and roast pork are seriously to die for here!

Well, the two shops used to be under the same management, but after a recent “divorce”, they are now two separate businesses. Having to attend to a breakdown in the area, my two friends and I, (looks like the word “two” is becoming as popular as “no”) decided to give in to our chinaman cravings and went to what used to be the branch at Glenmaire for lunch. We were greeted by a smiling waitress who showed us a menu. On our way to the table, I spied on a sign that suggested that roast goose was available. Oh! What joy! But unfortunately, they only do the goose in on Sundays only………… so, beware, if you are a goose and they tell you that your goose is cooked…… on a Sunday. So I proceeded to place our orders. Wantan mee kosong, a plate of char siew, a plate of roast pork, and a bowl of prawn wan tan soup. The drinks came with fancy Hong Kong style glasses, you know, like those jars with a handle kind of thing…….

The char siew, needless to say, was excellent! Meat that consisted of one quarter fat and three quarters of lean meat marinated and roasted to perfection! Sweet, succulent, melt in your mouth char siew! What more can a chinaman ask for? Well, except for a beer, gambling, an erotic message………You know, I just had this about two hours ago and my mouth is watering….. not the massage, stupid!

The roasted pork was also just as good. Crispy skin, just about the right combination of fat and lean meat, not too salty………Oh man! I want some more……… The massage with the hot babe would be fine, too!

As with every chinaman business, legal or not, you have to be very careful when you get the bill. The wan tan that came was not the prawn type but the ordinary pork type. But on the bill, it was shown as the prawn wan tan……… the wan tans were normal, nothing to shout about. As for the mee, the texture was just about right, and the vegetables that came with it was done just right too……….

So, if anybody tells you that there is nothing good for a chinaman to eat in Shah Alam, you know what to do!

BTW, no goose was thrown out of the windows during our visit to this fine establishment…… it was’nt a Sunday:-P

HOW FAR WILL YOU GO?

I come from a pretty close knit family that loves good food. We eat almost anything. The best form of meeting up with all our cousins in when we go out for good food most Singaporeans, generally speaking, will really go off the beaten track if the food is good. I know, because I’m one of them. Recently, one of my cousins came to kl for a short holiday. Shopping-wise, they were pretty much disappointed as the famed great Malaysian sale was not on yet, with the exception of those two ringgit plus slippers that his wife managed to get at jusco. ‘Looks like we’d be better off spending our money on food’ he commented. So I brought him to Canton I, which happens to be, in my opinion, the best place for Hong Kong street food in Malaysia.

First, let me say that the food was so good that I forgot to take pictures of them, so if u notice a missing egg tart, or chopsticks digging into the won ton mee, my apologies. Heck, I actually had to go there for a second round of food as I totally forgot to take some pictures of the other stuff that we had there! That just shows you how good the food actually was! With the exception of the aromatic duck spring rolls, which, in my opinion, should not even be on the menu, as I felt it’s just a good way of getting rid of left-over roasted duck parts, all the other stuff that we had there was just excellent! This really saves me a flight to Hong Kong, especially for the won ton mee!

Let’s start with the starters, the egg tarts. Nice fillings, not too sweet, with a light pastry, the egg tarts were almost a melt in your mouth sensation. The won ton mee was easily just as good as any of the best in Hong Kong. The texture of the noodles is just right, that spring in the noodles still there when you bite into it, and the accompanying Hong Kong kai lan just blenched to perfection. As for the won tons, they followed the true to perfection recipe of the correct combination of prawns, port and some kind of salted fish, which made the soup that it was served in really tasty.

 

can't wait to dig in....

 

 

supposed to have 3 pcs.....

Next were the fried noodles with mushroom and sliced pork. This was another excellent dish. The noodles, which were the same as the wonton mee noodles, was fried just right, with what tasted like a combination of garlic, soy sauce, onions, bean sprouts, eggs, finely sliced chillies, pork slices, mushrooms, and wait……. Did I detect a trace of pork lard? What can I say; I’m a sucker for such fried noodles! This was one of the dishes that were so good I forgot to take a picture of it before we ate and I was only too glad to have it a second time just to take the pictures!

Another carbo dish we had that day was the chee cheong fun with you tiao. Sounds funny, right? The you tiao was wrapped into the chee cheong fun, served with the usual chee cheong fun sauce. Here is a pretty weird combination……. Soft, fine and smooth on the inside, slightly crispy, airy and slightly salty on the inside, it’s a collusion of textures, all in your mouth. Quite pleasingly weird, but good too, all at the same time.

The fried turnip cake was just like some that was being served in the local tim sum shops. It was served with bean sprouts, eggs, prawns, chye poh and spring onions. My wife really enjoyed this dish the first time we came here, but it seemed that the cook today was not in a good mood or something, as it did not taste as good as when we first had it.

depending on chef's mood, from excellent to normal....

Now, for some real meat……… the roasted pork belly and roasted pork ribs was a good combination. Sweet and salty. The belly had a nice crispy skin on it, and the ratio of lean to fat is 50/50, just right. Not too salty, with that light crunch of the skin when you take the first bite, truly, heaven (you will go there too, if you were being good and have this dish every day:-P). As for the ribs, they were generously coated in char siew sauce, not too sweet, just right, and the texture, oh, it was the fall off the bone kind of ribs, just the way I like it…….

 

damm good!

The one other dish that I had on my other visit to take pictures of the food, was the durian puffs. Imagine a goreng pisang. Now, take away the pisang and substitute it with durian. Is that heaven on earth or what? For the durian lovers out there, this is a must try!

 

 

Still waiting to see when I can get my hands on the roast goose that I see on the menu. It seems that it’s always not available whenever I go there. According to the people in hong kong, one of the legs of the goose is normally sold at a slightly higher price than the other. Apparently that leg tastes better………. Need to taste how far that is true…….. till the next time………….

DECADENCES

Something that you definitely don’t need for day to day existence but would be extremely good to have……….. Such as, a Rolls Royce……’ would sir like to have it with an oxford-educated cow’s hide? Or maybe the options list would be something like this…..

1. Diamond studded tyre valve caps
2. Chinchilla fur steering wheel covers
3. Polished silver rear view mirrors
4. A space for the Vienna Boy’s Choir in the boot (I’m sure wacko jacko would like that…..)
5. Foot massager for the driver (Donno how it’s gonna be done while driving)
6. Autopilot feature
7. Crystal windscreen
8. 24k solid gold gear knob

Not very necessary to have those, but quite good to have too……. Like this guy I know who’s got the absolutely most quiet Proton Wira I know of……….ok, the engine was off at that time…… but when you’re sitting in the car when the engine is on, you would think that you’re sitting in a Rolls Royce. The soundproofing in that car was really to the extreme….. The sound system was excellent, but when it came to the nitty-gritty, like the get-up and go, the car drove like it was carrying a ton of garbage…..oops! Sorry, sound proofing, amps, another battery to power the amps and speakers that would put Zouk to shame. Not to mention the fuel consumption too, as it’s a 1.5 auto….. I’m more of a bread and butter performance kind of guy, the car must go fast in a straight line, even faster in the corners, stop on a dime and be as fuel efficient as possible. When I asked the owner of that Wira if he felt that his car was slightly sluggish on the go and if he felt the fuel consumption was on the high side, he said that that was the price to pay for such comfort………..

Well, what if I tell you that for only RM55++, you could have food that was served to the Chinese emperors of days gone by? RM55++?????

My makan kaki and good friend Karl and I went to this place called Ah Yat’s in PJ for lunch today. The menu was as follows:-

1. Cold Prawn Jelly

ok only......

2. Double Boiled Shark’s Fin W/Winter Melon and Ham

bye bye sharks.........

3. Fresh Abalone With Assorted Dried Seafood Platter

will die for........

4. Braised Pork Belly Shanghai Style

sure die one!

5. Poached Vegetable W/Superior Stock

for the scared die one........

6. Steamed Rice W/Pork Ribs in Clay pot

not too bad.......

7. Chilled Mango Pudding

 

The lunch started with the sharks fin. (I think the service crew screwed up as the prawns should be served first) the really tasty clear broth was nice and rich (rich being the main word used in this review as you have to be rich to have this every day), thanks to the winter melon and the humble yunan ham (the kind that was made out of necessity….. there were no fridges then). The shark’s fin was also of a decent size. What more can I say……..this soup was really good.

Next came the prawn, and I literally mean prawn. The prawn was in a fruit cocktail jelly with the tail sticking out……. Not a really great dish, it’s only saving grace was that the prawn was fresh

Then came the dish that I was really waiting for, the Fresh Abalone with Dried Seafood Platter. It consisted of one abalone, one serving of fish maw, one serving of dried sea cucumber and a Chinese mushroom, all in Ah Yat’s special sauce. First, the abalone. Its texture and taste was excellent, unfortunately, the abalone was a bit on the small side. Let’s put it this way, if u harvested this abalone in Australia, you’ll be in for trouble as its pretty undersized. The fish maw was cooked to perfection, so was the mushroom and the sea cucumber. All fine ingredients hers, no cheap stuff. Together with the special sauce, the taste sensation was like a finely tuned formula one engine at 15000rpm……..sweet music!

You know, when I say that the pork belly was to die for, I really mean, to DIE for! The piece that was served had equal amounts of fat and lean meat on it, braised to perfection and the taste was heavenly (extra simvastatin for me tonight).the meat fell apart just as expected, the texture was excellent. The meat was served with the sauce that it was braised in, together with three melon balls(donno why they needed the melon balls, the dish was excellent even without them) I’ve not had any braised pork belly this good for the longest time.

After these two extremely rich servings of heavenly delights, the poached vegetables with superior stock did not seem so superior………. The baby siu pak choi was a tad over done, and served with a broth which included ginko nuts. After cleaning the taste buds with a bit of Chinese tea, the dish suddenly came out of it’s own, the broth was just right, thanks to the ginko nuts, quite enjoyable………

The Steamed Rice w/Pork Ribs in Clay pot suddenly tasted very ordinary after all those dishes, hell, even I can come up with better tasting pork ribs to go with the rice. Maybe they should have substituted this dish with a serving of their Seafood Sang Mee, which I really enjoyed on my last visit………..

As usual, all good things must come to an end. The dessert served was the Mango Pudding. It came with real bits of mango and sago seeds inside, and a pitted cherry on the top. I’ve always loved pitted cherries, and good mango pudding. To have them together really made the meal! The pudding tasted really fresh, no acidic taste, just right in the sweetness and that oh, all so good pitted cherry!

 

Some may argue that during such trying economic times, RM55++ can be put to much better use, such as having 13.75 lunches of wan ton mee at the neighbourhood coffee shop, or 18.96 roti telur and the o ais limau breakfasts, but it you really have the cash to spare, this is one treat you really should not miss!

THOU SHALT NOT LIE

Walking along Petaling Street in the good old KL, you can see lots of shops selling the latest bags from LV, Coach, branded perfumes, shoes from Nike that have yet to be launched, DVDs of all kinds, branded shirts, copy watch, sir? We got all the best brands, Tag, Rolex, etc…….……… you get the drift……….

All these are in fact, and some of them, very good copies of the originals, sometimes even a keen eye is not enough to tell them apart from the originals…….. Unless you take the ‘Rolex’ watches apart and find the movements are from a Japanese brand………. The wallets, some say, even comes with the ‘warranty’ cards………… The qualities of the DVDs are not too bad, too. You seldom get. Copies recorded from your local cinemas, now they tell you these are ‘master copies’………. Whatever fakes / copies that you want, you might just find it here…….

Further up in the peninsular, north of the border, the copies are more rampant. ‘what grade do you want?’ from a obviously fake adidas t-shirt ‘ sir, this one not released to public yet, will be coming out in this year’s spring collection’ to a extremely well copied Prada handbag ‘ sir, this one got warranty card’, damm, even some of the girls here are fake…….’sir, want good time? I give you good time…….’ And when you go for the ‘good time’, you ask yourself ‘damm! That down there looks something like mine!’

Even further up north, there are a species called the ‘fake virgins’. Don’t know how the plastic surgeons do it, but the hymens that are thorn the first time magically re-appears after some fine craftsmanship………. Even virginity is not safe from fakes anymore……

Now, coming back home, there are fakes that can cost you your life. Fake ‘gentleman’s help’ medicine has been going around, causing many an old man, or in some cases young men, to literally ‘die cock stand’. These fakes, like fake brake pads, engine oil, auto trans fluid, spark plugs, are not good for your, or your car’s health. Some fakes, in the case of the spark plugs and atf, are so good that sometimes you ask yourself if it’s the original that you’re getting. In doubt, consult your friendly mechanic of go to the authorised service centre and prepare to pay a bomb.

Now, there are some fakes that although not as good as the original, are also not hazardous to your health, only to be taken when in times of desperation, or, like me, too lazy to drive 300+km to have the real thing. I’m talking about the Singapore Styled Fried Hokkien Mee at the food court in a mall along Jalan Bukit Bintang. Man! You really got to miss home to eat something like that there! Then, there are the Chinese. Petaling Street, also known as Chinatown in KL, used to be run by the Chinese, manning their ‘copy watch’ shops and such, until they got rich and now, Chinatown should be called ‘Banglatown’ as the Bangladeshis are running the shops for the Chinese bosses.

The Indians, now, have gotten into the act too. I had the pleasure of having an Indian vegetarian dinner with a good friend of mine, Vijay, and his family. We went to this Indian vegetarian restaurant called Gopala Vegetarian Restaurant, ran by this chap that goes by the name, you guessed it, Gopala. All the usual suspects from any Indian vegetarian restaurant were represented in their menu, such as the chapatti, tosai, roti chanai (no telur or /and bawang here, after all, it is an Indian vegetarian restaurant) look further down the menu and what do I see? Fish curry? Satay? Chicken rice? Yong tau foo? Are my eyes playing tricks on me, or have I been working out too hard at the gym? These, found in an Indian vegetarian restaurant that specialised in ‘pure vegetarian foods’ and ‘no garlic or onions’?

Well, in the old days, fire crackers are lit by the Chinese during the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations. Now, the Indians, I guess (don’t quote me on this), after seeing the Chinese doing such with a big Merc in their driveway and thinking….hmmmmmm must do this so that I can get a big Merc in MY driveway, start lighting long lines of fire crackers during their Deepavali celebrations too…….. the only ones that really get something out of this will be the man in blue saying ‘tuan, ini………’

Well, back to the point. The Chinese has been having fake meat for some time now, fake chicken, fish, duck mutton, pork, etc. Gopala used these fake meats, mostly of soya origins, combined with his spices, to make a fish curry that rivals the one along the roadside in Bangsar. A blind man could’nt tell the difference, until he took a bite on a piece of ‘fish’…….. other than the fake fish, the dish really tasted like a really good fish curry, complete with the fishy taste. The curry went extremely well with the roti chanai. The satay, too, was quite good, chicken satay, I presume, as the skewered ‘meat’ tasted like chicken and the ‘peanut’ gravy tasted like the real thing. There was the usual tosai and roti chanai, not too bad…….. actually, quite good……. A mamak fried bee hoon, szechuan fried noodles (I don’t think you can get this in the szechuan province in china) and the masala tea (tasted really good, the spice infused tea with milk) all in all, a very good and satisfying dinner. This shop is located along Jalan Thambipillai, near the YMCA and opposite the tamil Methodist church……..must go back there again, especially for the satay…….Vijay, when will you be back in KL again?

MY FIRST POST

Just been given a new lease of life, and now living to the max & enjoying every minute of it. Of course, I’m currently taking it easy, but how do u keep a good guy down? Just sitting at home and doing nothing is not my kind of thing, I need to get around, doo stuff that i normally do eat what I like to eat, but unfortunately, I can’t do that as I really have to watch my diet……..so sad, as I’m a real foodie at heart…..

 

Another thing that’s close to my heart, besides all things with wheels, is football. The on-going asian cup is pretty exciting, and you can be sure that I’ll be supporting my national team all the way. Go! Lions! Unfortunately, Malaysia got kicked out of the tournament….. it would be interesting to see Singapore play Malaysia in a competitive match, not old Santok Singh and Company, complete with pot bellies and all, trying to play an equally old Quah Kim Song and our former “gelek king” Dollah Kassim and gang………..

 

Trying to lead a healthy lifestyle is quite difficult……. exercising, for example. As I’m not allowed to do heavy stuff, for the time being, I’m resigned  to get my daily workout from walking around shopping complexes, or walking up and down the stairs in my house…….. sad way of getting a workout, but, hey, all you have to pay for is the parking charges at the shopping complex and you have access to an air conditioned enviroment to do your workout……… no gym charges, you still get to see hot chicks while you work out, and if u need a drink, I’m sure there’s a shop somewhere selling mineral water of some isotonic drink to quench your thirst.

 

Well, as this is my very first time blogging, I hope that you can look beyond the spelling errors (I still don’t know how to move that “publish” thing out of the way so that i can use the wat so that I can use the spell check feature:-P) and see what it’s really like to be me:-)

 

Cheers!

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