Enough

this has to stop. i need sleep.

July 14th, 2006

Really Me

it’s been a sad month. i’ve been feeling dejected - dejected about missed chances, unachieved goals, distrust issues, and the fact that time is way too fleeting. i’d go on and on about how i cant believe it’s already mid July, but i dont really want to think about it.

recently i’ve had this need to just break away from people. familiarity breeding contempt is dangerously the situation of the moment. so i took some time off for myself today after college (did i mention that i missed 2 classes and was severly late for the other 1, for which my team was first in line to give a presentation?) to just do stuff i want to do alone. it was awesome. i spent an hour in How & Why reading book after book on interior design and architecture. this is really something i cant do if someone was with me - i’d feel so edgy and i’d be constantly worried if they were bored. so ironically, i always end up looking like the bored and fidgety one instead … and so we leave. but this time, it’s all cool. i have no one but myself to cater to. i want to stay and read, and so i do. i even buy a book. one that i wont be reading… but it just felt right to buy it. i saw it on the shelf a month ago, and subsequently placed an order for a new copy on a whim, though immediately after that i wasnt sure if it was a good idea to get it. but now that i’ve seen it another time, it’s confirmed - i do want it. i’m pretty sure it’s the right book.

after that i treated myself to ice cream at New Zealand’s. who cares what Lam (trainer) will think! what i need is cookies and cream in a waffle cone with hot fudge! the last time i had this exact combo, i bumped into Robert who was with Chew’s sister and another guy whose name i forgot. marcus i think. it was so awkward cos i havent seen Robert in so damn long. i remember he asked me, “so do you still live at the same place?” and i laughed and said, “robert! it’s only been 6 months!”. but 6 months is a long time. i bumped into Robert again yesterday at Mid Valley. he walked right into me on purpose, going aiiiiiiiiyaaaak and making me freak out cos i thought i’d hurt a stranger badly. it was a nice bumping-into this time around - no awkward questions or uneasy shuffling of feet. we’re cool now.

i lean against the railing for a while, eating my ice cream out of a waffle cone, and just looking at people below walking past me. i can see a lot from my vantage point. what i cannot see however is a restaurant that has grown to become special. it’s directly below me and a little bit to the southeast, unfortunately i cant see through floors. and i cant see through people’s obstinations and my own mind games. sometimes i think if i just took things less seriously and were more of a 21st century girl, i’d be a lot happier. i wouldnt be asking why? so much. anyway back to the restaurant. it’s got meaning now. a hidden meaning, but still. maybe over time i’ll learn how to uncover the secret more efficiently, at the same time making it look like i wasnt the one who uncovered it. but until then, i shall just blame a dying interest and seeming arrogance.

MPH the bookstore is the next place i wander into. it’s nice to not have a plan, nice to just wander. sometimes i question why i only feel like this on some levels but not all. like i’ve always known myself to be an impulsive person who never really plans for anything, but does everything on a whim and at the very last minute possible. but then there are times when i practice caution unrelentlessly and almost staunchly, to an extent that it becomes ridiculous. so does that mean i am impulsive or not? or a little bit of both? i looked at recipe books in MPH. never really got why people pay so much money for them when you can get better recipes (with reviews too!) online. stared at the bestseller shelf and instantly remembered why i never feel comfy sneaking reads in any MPHs besides the one in Mid Valley or 1U. this branch, like all the rest, feels too small and too dark and too inadequate and not well stocked enough. i dont stay long enough to read a few synopses or to buy a book… this isnt MPH Mid Valley!

after buying a few cards for the July and August babies, i bounded over to Starbucks. as usual i dont finish my drink. i’m really just there to see if the baristas are nice. is it just me or are Starbucks baristas damn interesting people? young and quirky and cute. they know good music too. when i was finished with Starbucks i went shopping. shopping makes me happy usually, but sometimes it depresses me too. today it was a little bit of both. today is a fairly dualistic day. and that’s quite unsettling. what is a dualistic day? does that mean you are at the ends of both extremes or are you in the middle, in between both? when people ask me so how was your day?, and i say, ‘it was good and bad’, i always feel like it’s a weird thing to say. just like when people tell me that, i believe that they are not telling me the truth. anyways the moneychanger dude at the currency exchange next to The Social asked me if i was from the States. and i said yes, but like, i’m totally here on like summer school? and then he asked where in the States and i thought of Chris and i said San Francisco. and he said ahhhh but you look Chinese? and then i said, hello? that soooo doesnt make me any less Americannnnn. he said sorry. then i laughed and said no lah i bluff you only, i’m from KL wan. he laughed too. it was a funny conversation, one that lifted my mood considerably. i later had to go back to exchange more money and this time i told him i was REALLY from Nebraska (puppy i thought of you). hehe he didnt buy it this time. so much for farces eh?

snippets of conversations i overheard in Bangsar today :

“and i already spoke to the engineering team..” - plump middleaged caucasian man walking up the steps to Bangsar Village

“i dont know how to make that” - caucasian brunette to her caucasian brunette friend at the vegetable aisle in Bangsar Village’s supermarket

“but i spend a lot of time with Wai Yee too!” - guy with a group of Coffee Bean staff having dinner at Nirwana

“she’s so like that wan la. sometimes i dont know what the hell it’s going to take to change her.” - girl at the table behind mine in Starbucks, to her boyfriend. she was having a caramel macchiato.

“this is the 4th time i’m telling you” - tall lanky indian guy with a light blue shirt on the phone

“MUMMMM CAN I HAVE A SUPERMAN BOOK” - young toddler at MPH with a bowl-cut hairstyle

“jason, dont yell” - mother of said toddler

“it’s fuchsia, honey, not pink” - flamboyant male sales assistant at Blook

30 comments July 13th, 2006

5-3

we went to watch the finals at the Hilton over drinks, croissants (french) and tiramisu (italian). i was so smug when France scored the first goal, giggling at the complete buffooning of the Italian goalie. i’m so totally winning this game, i turned around to say to him, you sure you still wanna bet with me?! but then when Italy scored a header i wasnt so happy anymore. i panicked slightly when Vieira was exchanged .. but it was when Zidane was sent off that i knew i was doomed. i was so moody i couldnt bring myself to finish my cookie.

and then Italy had to win. 5-3 in penalty shootouts. omg.

i’m not usually this into football. but let me tell you why this match holds particular significance to me. this is what i could have won if France had won the Fifa World Cup Finals :

3 dinner dates
1 hugeeeeee box of Leonidas chocolates
1 mega ice cream excursion
1 dress from any label i want
1 rendezvous with a special someone

and

RM1000 worth of shoes.

HELLO?!?!?! damn pain okay!!!! i’m like so depressed now. there goes that BCBG dress i reeeeally wanted. and omg all the SHOES that could have been mine……

righto. so i’m going to go drown my sorrows in Tmn Connaught dim sum right now. i predict a lot of asian food for me in the next few weeks, because i am going on a pasta and pizza strike. and a latte strike. and cappucino strike, and a tiramisu strike. basically anything that’s Italian, i’m not going to eat.

:( :( :(

cry with me.

36 comments July 10th, 2006

We Have Become A French Toast Nation

i remember when i was 14 and Kim Gary had just opened in Mid Valley. cheese baked rice was still quite new to me. and i cant recall the exact moment i first tasted Kim Gary’s french toast, or why we’d ordered that, but i do know that i was head over heels in love with it from day 1. i remember i loved it so much that i told my then-boyfriend that i loved Kim Gary’s french toast more than i loved him. and the boyfriend after that. and the boyfriend after that. and all my boyfriends to date. in fact, i think i’m going to wake my dad up right now and tell him i love Kim Gary’s french toast more than him.

it’s been several years since then - and just like the mushrooming of steakhouses, or fruitjuices in humongous mugs in the year 2000, Hong Kong restaurants and cafes have been mushrooming as well. there are lots of places now that serve the ubiquitous cheese-baked rice in dimsum baskets as well as Nissin noodles (we will never really know if it’s truly Nissin) and all those weird colourful drinks with names like Blue Sunset and Gem of the Sea. so when it comes to HK restaurants, we’re spoilt for choice. but i’ve got 4 favourites - the only ones i keep going back to!

and here i’m going to pit them against each other! :D hehehe. they are the Kim Gary chain, the Wong Kok Char Chan Teng chain, Tsim Tung, and Food & Tea. this is gonna be a comparison of their borsch soup, sandwiches, cheese baked rice, and of course, the absolutely heavenly HK french toast :)

1. Borsch Soup

to be honest, i have no idea what borsch is doing in an HK menu. the ones we get here taste and look nothing like the original beetroot borsch - in fact, it’s more tomato and onion than anything else! but it’s still damn good, so who cares :P in HK borsch soup, there is typically onions, carrots, cabbage and capsicum all boiled in a thin tomato base. very yummy! i much prefer it to the Campbell shit they try to pass off as mushroom soup in the HK restaurants here.

Kim Gary’s borsch isn’t as good as it used to be. it was so much better back in 2002-2003, thicker and heartier. now it’s kinda watery. it’s tangy with a strong capsicum taste, for you if you like capsicum. personally, i absolutely hate it, so i’ve grown to dislike KG’s borsch.

Tsim Tung’s borsch just sucks. it’s super thin, not tomatoey at all, and it tastes like a mouthful of capsicum juice. okay maybe the last bit was an exaggeration cos i’m super sensitive to the taste of capsicum .. but believe me, you dont want to order borsch at TT.

Wong Kok’s borsch on the other hand is such a delight. the taste of vege melds really well with the tomato, and although it’s a thin soup, it’s not watery like TT’s. it’s just one of those soups that taste so good you cant stop spooning it into your mouth! :D

Food & Tea doesnt have borsch so i replaced it with their Mushroom soup in a bread bowl cos it’s sooooooooooooo gooooood. the bread is crusty on the outside and soft on the inside, and is really fragrant. i have no idea what bread it is - all i know is that it’s not white bread. but whatever it is, it’s really good and compliments the soup so well. the soup isnt grossly starchy like most mushroom soups, and has just the right texture. it’s got lots of little mushroom bits too, and a subtle herby taste. it’s actually one of the best mushroom soups i’ve ever had!

2. Sandwiches

(at first i intended to compare only the beef n egg sandwiches - cos i think any eatery can just plonk luncheon meat out of cans or thaw out frozen ham and throw them onto bread and it’d all taste the same .. but bloody WK and F&T dont serve beef n egg. so i’ve got ham & cheese for both those places instead. blah. stupid WK and F&T. why?! beef n egg sandwiches ARE SO GOOD!)

let me just say that Kim Gary’s is the beef n egg sandwich to end all beef n egg sandwiches. the filling, as you can see from the pic, is super thick and super generous - the beef is succulent and sooo flavourful, the omelette soft and ample. plus the bread is lightly toasted (great texture) and has the nice light taste of butter. it’s so awesome.

and when you compare KG’s to Tsim Tung’s, you just wanna send TT’s sandwich back. it’s honestly one of the worst sandwiches i’ve ever had .. the egg is a paper thin omelette that’s disgustingly flourescent in colour??? beef is dry and overly peppery. sucks, dont buy.

as for Wong Kok’s and Food&Tea’s, there’s not much to say cos it tastes like any ordinary ham and cheese sandwich. though i liked Food & Tea’s more cos it was toasted. and the cheese was nicer. milkier. i donno. nicer lah!

3. Cheese Baked Rice

cheese baked rice, for those who’ve never tried it, is rice and meat coated with cheese and red/white sauce, and then baked in aluminium foil. meats of choice are chicken chops, chicken wings, beef, fish, pork. my personal fav is fish in red (tomato) sauce! chicken or pork chops go really well with the white (cream) sauce. the above cheese baked rice dishes are all with chicken chops in red sauce.

Kim Gary’s cheese baked rice, like its borsch soup, used to be better i think. in the earlier years, they were more generous with the meat and cheese, but not anymore. the sauce is still good - mild and subtle, with a really distinct asian taste to it. the meat is better than most, tender and marinated just right. but! the secret! to Kim Gary’s super yummy cheese baked rice is! … dumdumdum .. lotus leaves placed at the bottom of the rice! during baking, the rice really soaks up the fragrance of the leaves - and the moment a spoonful of the rice hits your tongue, the lotus leaf taste is unmistakable. really good, and lends such flavour to the rice. which is the upper hand that Kim Gary has above the rest when it comes to cheese baked rice.

Tsim Tung’s cheese baked rice is .. not too bad i guess. the cheese is really full-bodied, so if you’re a cheese fan then TT is where you wanna go. the red sauce however, is just tomato paste right out of the jar. it’s frankly too tangy for my tastes, almost rude. they could have diluted it a bit, i think, to make it taste better. but to be fair, i’ve got a few friends who love TT’s cheese baked rice.

Wong Kok’s is so-so. theirs have the little mixed frozen vege (corn, cubed carrots and peas) in them which is like damn sesat. their sauce also tastes like those straight out of the cans, but is at least more subtle than TT’s. cheese is alright only lah, but the unforgivable was how bland the meat was. not very good cheese baked rice.

my brothers like Food & Tea’s though. it’s different from the other 3 places cos the taste of it is actually very Italian. the sauce has a very obvious bolognese taste to it cos they actually use oregano. cheese is mozzarella as well. overall, pretty good!

4. French Toast

and of course … the all-important French Toast :D Hong Kong french toast is basically white bread dipped in egg and then fried to golden perfection. they are then sandwiched together with copious amounts of chunky peanut butter as filling, then drizzled with honey-flavoured sauce (no, it’s not honey, believe me) and topped with a big dollop of butter. it’s so orgasmic. and one of the best comfort foods ever!

Kim Gary’s french toast is utterly fantastic. its quality has never wavered and i absolutely love it. everything about it is just in the right proportions - the honey sauce and the peanut butter and the butter just come very well together. it’s the perfect French Toast :)

Tsim Tung has good bread though - it’s thicker and softer and tastes eggier, but there’s not enough peanut butter and honey sauce on it.

Wong Kok’s could give KG’s french toast a run for its money - the one-up it has over KG is that it actually feels healthier and lighter. not a lot of butter and honey sauce is used, which is a good thing if you dont like your french toast too scarily unhealthy. when you cut into WK’s french toast, you find lots of ooey gooey sticky melted peanut butter goodness in the middle and that’s really niceeeee. the bread doesnt contribute anything to it though, kinda tasteless.

finally, Food&Tea’s french toast has a light taste and feels less fattening as well. the bread is excellent here, and the honey sauce is sparse as well. not too shabby :)

so, in a nutshell -

Best Borsch Soup - Wong Kok
Best Sandwich - Kim Gary
Best Cheese Baked Rice - Kim Gary (Food & Tea is a close 2nd)
Best French Toast - Kim Gary (Wong Kok close 2nd)

i just want to say that Tsim Tung, despite the bad food, actually has the best service. Kim Gary’s staff need to stop hitting on their patrons, and Wong Kok’s need some manners, and Food & Tea’s need to be more efficient. the common factor is that they ALL need staff who can speak english … sometimes damn headache wan when i want to tell them certain stuff and dont know how to say it in Cantonese :(

ambience-wise, KG and WK is where you go if you like the hustle and bustle, Tsim Tung is warm and comfy and friendly (with free wifi access!), and F&T is the quieter and more chillout place. pricing is more or less the same in all places.

Kim Gary
@ Mid Valley, Sg Wang, Avenue K, Sunway Pyramid, Jusco Maluri, Plaza Damas
Other must-tries : French-style fried rice

Tsim Tung
@ Pandan Indah
Other must-tries : Char siew bun, Char siew sou (bbq pork puff pastry)

Wong Kok
@ SS2, 1 Utama, Leisure Mall, South City Plaza
Other must-tries : XO rolls, XO fried rice, Handmade noodles with honey chicken

Food & Tea
@ Taman Segar (outside Leisure Mall), Berjaya Times Square
Other must-tries : Cheese baked spaghetti, Mantao with crab sauce

32 comments July 9th, 2006

You Dont Mean It

the other day, someone helped me with my homework. it was 4 in the morning. i was supposed to read a book for English class and come up with 2 metaphors for every chapter. because i had other homework and a math test to study for, and because it was (sorta!!) his fault anyway that i hadnt finished my homework, he agreed to help me do it. i actually found the whole situation pretty funny - both of us sitting at his dining table, him typing away on his laptop, while i sat there showing off to him all my 10/10’s for math and at the same time complaining about how i wanted to sleep and how i also wanted to eat wantan mee. in the end, we managed to finish up everything - though i was 40 minutes late for my 75-minute test, and i later found out that i only had to come up with 2 metaphors for 2 chapters instead of for 27 fucking chapters. i was pissed off, i was sleepy, i was fragile, i was confused, i was indignant, i was sad, i was regretful, but ultimately, i was really happy that day.

21 comments July 7th, 2006