Posted on 30 March 2008 @ 10:33 in Food, Writing
Hoxe’s Cafe, one of my two favourite writing places, is under new management.
The cafe had been rather unpredictable recently when there would be days it wasn’t opened for business. So yesterday evening, after a good time out (visiting mother and attending a reading at Silverfishbooks in Bangsar), I headed on home, keeping my eyes on the cafe as I drove past to see if the lights were on. They were. Altho that was not guarantee it was opened; I once went by only to find it was opened, but closed for a private function.
Anyways, it was opened yesterday evening. Same menu, but in a laminated sheet rather than in a booklet. Same items. Unfamiliar person serving, tho. I ordered my usual, and settled back to read my purchases from Silverfishbooks.
There was a group of young women huddled over the computer. Soon they were screaming over what turned out to be a Japanese pop concert playing on the computer. Granted the cafe was not crowded for a Saturday night, but it was still unusual for customers to be behaving in such a manner.
I noticed one of the servers going up to another customer with a cupcake. From the look on the customer’s face, he’d not ordered the dessert. Later, after I’d finished my dinner, I was served with a slice of walnut carrot cake, “compliments of the chef”.
When I eventually left – I stayed to read and write a while – one of the women detached herself from the group and walked up to the cash register. “Is this place under new management?” I asked and received a yes in reply.
Oh, that’s why those young women were behaving like they owned the place. They do own the place, but continue to maintain the same menu and prices.
Good idea on the menu and prices. With it, they’ve maintained at least one regular customer. Me.
Yay, girl power!
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Posted on 21 March 2008 @ 14:45 in Stress Busters, Travels
Two years ago (2006), they were in a “competition” to be named. Now, they are in another “competition” to be selected for the Beijing Olympics.
As part of the Beijing Olympics attractions, eight panda cubs from Wolong will be chosen to go and stay at the Beijing Zoo. The public has been asked to vote for who they think should be included:
Wolong Cubs for Beijing
The 16 shown on the page include my Yoong Ping aka Feng Yi, Judy’s Qian Qian and also my picture buddy from last year, Lang Lang. Yoong Ping is currently at #2, Lang Lang at #8 and Qian Qian at #10.
They all have their own info pages:
Yoong Ping
Qian Qian
Lang Lang
It is so nice to see recent pictures of all three of them!
I’m revising my travel plans for this year to focus on getting to Wolong in August and also Beijing for a couple of days.
Meanwhile, I was supposed to fly to San Diego this weekend for a couple of Janis Ian shows next week, but something came up and I couldn’t. The Cerritos ticket has gone to a fellow Rudie, Azure.
Just as well, cuz now I may be Beijing bound, along with my Yoong Ping.
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Posted on 17 March 2008 @ 13:32 in Being Silly
Years ago, when my brother started living and working in Singapore, he rented a room with a family with two boys. He told me the younger boy said his favourite food was taufu, which he preferred to chicken “because no need to chew, can just swallow.”
In my case, my favourite lunch is a toasted cheese sandwich, because no need to use knife to spread on bread. But that’s just me …
I’m reminded of a fable my mother told me when I was a kid. There was this man who was so lazy to get his own food that when his wife went away, she tied a huge biscuit to his neck that he could eat easily. She came home to find him dead because he’d nibbled the biscuit to his limit and was too lazy to stretch further to eat more.
Sorry for this crazy post, which I’m writing as I eat my toasted cheese sandwich. And please don’t ask me what’s the moral in the fable my mother told me. I can’t remember.
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Posted on 15 March 2008 @ 11:03 in Fun Stuff
Having your own set of wheels is what a lot of youngsters look forward to as a sign of one’s independence. But I’m not a youngster anymore, and having driven my own car for the last 17 yaers (I didn’t get my licence till quite late in life), I’m beginning to welcome not driving. Especially into town.
A couple of times when I had to go into town, I’d parked my car near the Taman Jaya LRT station (the one I call AmCorp Mall LRT). But it cost RM3/- in an open-air car park. Which often meant I would return to a hot car left a few hours in the sun.
A few days back, I had to go into town – lunch with a favourite cousin, followed by meeting with my (one and only) client, both at Suria KLCC. I knew I wouldn’t be driving in, and started thinking of an alternative to the Taman Jaya LRT station.
Now, I live near the IKANO Power Centre which offers a free shuttle service to and fro the Kelana Jaya LRT Station, and is across the road from the Tesco hypermarket where I can park my car indoors and for free, too, if I went in and bought something.
So this was what I decided to do – park at Tesco and take the free shuttle to Kelana Jaya LRT station. But it wasn’t as easy as it sounds. The shuttle service ran on a schedule, so I had to make sure, especially for the return journey, not to miss the bus. If I did, I would’ve had to get a taxi, which I didn’t want to (just call me “cheapskate”). Instead, I went online to check if there was a feeder bus service between Kelana Jaya LRT station and IKANO Power Centre. There is. I took note of the bus number; this would be my back-up plan in case I missed the free shuttle service.
The day of my little “adventure” came. I did as planned, parking my car at Tesco and going to IKEA for breakfast (yes, this was not only a part of the plan, but a “given”).
I’d decided to take the 11:00 a.m. shuttle, so there was plenty of time. At that hour of morning, there weren’t too many people waiting for it. It was an enjoyable ride, I had an elevated view of the surroundings and saw things I would never have seen if I’d been driving and concentrating on the road and the other cars.
It was a 15-minute ride to the LRT station, and maybe another 40 minutes to Suria KLCC. By car, it would’ve probably been more, what with the various traffic lights and traffic jams, too.
For the return journey, I decided I would aim for the 5:30 p.m. shuttle back to IKANO, and to leave Suria KLCC around 4:30 p.m. The timing was good; my client had to leave before then, so we wrapped up our meeting in time. When he heard I’d taken the LRT, he was anxious that I got the train back before the rush hour began. I have a considerate client.
“Maybe another 40 minutes” turned out to be less, as I arrived back at the Kelana Jaya LRT station around 5:00 p.m., in plenty of time for the 5:30 p.m. IKANO shuttle. I didn’t have to use the back-up plan after all.
Back at Tesco, I made a quick trip in and grabbed something off the shelves to qualify for free parking (yes, “cheapskate”).
That evening, I recounted my little adventure to my sister, adding that it would be easy to have a day out in town from now on. She laughed at me.
The IKANO free shuttle bus schedule and route map:
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Posted on 9 March 2008 @ 11:33 in Food, Memories, News
Last night, amidst the quiet celebration as I stayed up waiting for the results (thanks to the Malaysiakini site), I heard rumours of riots in Klang. My first reaction was curfew? And then … oh no, I have no food in the house! I was online with a friend, and told him we didn’t have a problem with food during the May 13 curfew because our shop (we lived upstairs) was between two sundry shops (as they were called in those days) and got supplies from them. That was one of the better memories from that time.
Speaking of Malaysiakini, I’d called my sister to tell her the good news each time I saw them on Malaysiakini, and her reaction was “are you sure or not?” She had a point. The results on Malaysiakini were mostly unofficial. But it took the longest time for the TV stations to post the official results. And it seemed to me they were only posting BN victories.
If it weren’t for Malaysiakini, we would’ve been kept waiting for the results much longer. Thank goodness for alternative news sources.
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