i lost a lot of weight while i was away at college in the US. you all know what they say about the Freshman 15 -– people usually put on 15 pounds in their first year at college –- but it was more like the Freshman –10 for me. i actually did do the whole late night pizza thing like a normal college kid, plus there’s a diner in the basement of our dorm that sells the yummiest sinful food, but because i often pull long nights in the library, i tend to forget to eat. this can go on for days sometimes, and so i lost a lot of weight over the academic year from my ultra malnourished diet.

but now that i am back in Malaysia, i’ve gained all that weight back. all 10 pounds of it. and then some. MALAYSIAN FOOD IS SO EVILLY GLORIOUS :(((

growing waistline and hips aside, i’ve been enjoying the blissful gluttony of being back home. my first meal when i came back for the summer was my favorite beef noodles! then banana leaf rice at Nirwana for dinner. and of course, bak kut teh the next day, which drove me insane with delight.

this post is actually written in conjunction with the latest contest by Lurve Multigrain Chips called the What’s Your Lurve Affair? contest, where one stands to win a Macbook Pro (don’t fight with me for this pls!!) by blogging about their Lurve Affair with anything at all. The top 3 winners also get to go on the 8TV Quickie show.

to join the contest, you have to blog about your Lurve Affair and creatively integrate the Lurve multigrain snack into the post as well. do email your details to lurveaffair@nuffnang.com as per the microsite, and remember to read and agree to the terms & condition before participating. the contest period is from 23rd June to 12th July 2009.

i DO want that macbook pro, so here’s my Lurve Affair post. books, costumes and flea markets were very strong contenders, but my Lurve Affair is with none other than Malaysian food :)

i have plenty of pictures from my homecoming food spree at my regular haunts, so i thought i’d share some of my absolute favorites:

Hokkien mee! this is without a doubt the one local delectable i’ve missed most, since none of the Malaysian restaurants in New York can even come close to recreating it. i’ve been craving Hokkien mee almost every day since i’ve been home, and have to eat some about twice a week or i get grumpy. Hokkien mee in the photo is from Ahwa in Jalan 222 in Paramount Garden, but that’s not my favorite place. if you can guess my favorite, i will give you one buck. Naeboo cannot play!

Char Siew Pau. this is the normal char siew pau from Chuai Heng, the dim sum place on Jalan Imbi, but the best thing there is their char siew polo pau. that stuff is simply heavenly — juicy, tender meat encased in a soft, slightly crispy bun mmmm.

Prawn mee from Little Penang, KLCC & Mid Valley. no, i don’t care what you say, this is my favorite prawn mee in the world and nothing is going to change that. not even the real penang. yes yes i know about Pulau Tikus but not even that!!!

Banana leaf rice at Nirwana. tambah the crispy bittergourd stuff, of course :) my favorite add-on dish from Nirwana is the ayam kicap, though Timtam is a big fan of the sotong.

Beef noodles at Yang Mooi in Pandan Indah. apologies for the lousy focus of the photo, but i was rushing to attack the noodles! they’re soooo good and so much heartier than the famous place at Tengkat Tong Shin near Changkat BB. trust me.

Cendol straight from the truck, slurped down with a plate of spicy crunchy Indian rojak while sitting by the street. sigh, a Malaysian institution, that. this cendol is from the popular truck in SS15 Subang.

haha i recently announced my love for Domino’s Banana Kaya Dessert on my Twitter and a couple of people expressed disgust. what are you guys talking about!! the banana kaya dessert is AWESOME.

Kaya toast, best paired with soft boiled eggs and a cup of coffee. bliss bliss bliss at 7 in the grumpy morning.

Pisang goreng. My absolute favorite is the one outside the Weng Hing coffeeshop on Jalan Imbi. the one from the little row of stalls in Sea Park is similarly good.

this is something i haven’t had since i came back – bak kwa and pork floss on a lightly buttered toasted bun. what a comforting combination of textures and flavors :) this one is from the long gone New Seaview in Subang SS15. not sure where there any more good bak kwa buns besides Seaview and the stall in Taman Segar -– most people just cant get the bak kwa right.

and finally, the notorious chili pan mee at Kin Kin near Jalan TAR or at Pandan Indah. as with hokkien mee, the week feels incomplete without a hot sweaty lunch of chili pan mee at either branch. when I was still in NY, i used to boil with such jealousy when folks like Yat announced on Plurk that they would be going to Kin Kin for lunch :( well, jealousy no more! chili pan mee, i has it. you know i really like it when i start making stupid lolcats references.

so it’s been a lot of eating for me since i came back. most days i schedule two dinners and two lunches just to squeeze in all the people i have to meet up with, together with all the food i’ve yet to have :P four birds in one stone! but the waistline has been complaining, and so does the scale every time i step on it. like today, i had an artery-clogging bak kut teh lunch with my colleagues… :(

luckily for me, the product of this contest that has to be somehow integrated into your blog post for the ‘What’s Your Lurve Affair?’ contest, is going to help me solve that problem!

Lurve is a multigrain snack that’s both yummy and healthy, which means Lurve should probably be replacing my super unhealthy diet for a while. it’s healthy because it has no artificial colouring, no added preservatives and is trans fat-free. i’ve got about 6 packs of Lurve sitting in my house from an overzealous run to the nearest 7-11. starting tomorrow i’m going to take one pack each day to the office for lunch in a bid to get back my pre-summer figure :(

so, had a Lurve Affair lately? :)

(also, do feel free to tell me if you think there are better places to eat any of the local food i mentioned above. i’m always game for jaunts to new places, and more so now because i’m in the midst of compiling a Best of Malaysian Food list. well, Klang Valley really, but you know what i mean. i dont believe that anyone goes to the place i go to for hokkien mee…!)