...lam mee, lam you...

Hahaha!!! Got ya!!! This is not a love story, nor something erotic!!! It's about noodles!!! Birthday noodles or more locally known as Lam Mee.

In those good old days, Lam Mee is usually prepared at home during auspicious days, especially birthdays. When a patriach or a matriach celebrated a birthday, Lam Mee was a must, since noodles have always been a symbol of longevity in life to the Chinese. The whole family would get themselves involved in the preparation of this dish - taugeh to be liam (peeling the bean sprouts), koo chai (chives) to be cut, meat to be boiled, prawns to be blanched. Eggs will be beaten and colouring added - yellow and red - then fried and cut into stips. Garnishes include spring onion and fried garlic. And boy, the amount they had to cook for one day!!! The Lam Mee will then be served to guests and even sent to homes of kins in tiffin carriers.

Nowadays, like anything else, Lam Mee is available commercially in coffee shops and restaurants. In this blog, I would like to recommend the one in Fettes Park morning market. This aunty sells Lam Mee with soup that you will want to ask second helping for. There is only one stall selling this noodle in the market. The stall is the first stall you will walk pass the aisle. For RM2.50 per bowl, you will get a fair share of noodles, a prawn, some filament crab stick, chicken meat, garnish with spring onions and fried garlic. And the best, is the sambal to go with the noodles. The soup does not really have a strong aroma, but it leaves you wanting for more.

Ratings : 7/10

Then there is the Lam Mee made by Lao Tze Amy (Yoga teacher). As hers is not for commercial purposes, although she made them for charity food fairs, she has lots and lots of leow (extra garnishes with meat, crab meat, prawns, etc.). Always told her, if she sells hers at that price, she will close shop in no time!!! It is usually Lao Tze Amy's mum who cooks the soup (giving credit where it's due). Hers is truly yummy...and a hot selling item in charity food fairs.

Ratings : 8/10

...finally, mrs wong!!!...

Congratulations, Mei Mei...my dear "sister" in my work place who has registered to be officially known as Mrs Wong (Wong Thai to Bong Bong). After christening you with so many names (Alzheimer's; SLB; Yim Chim Phor, Low Moh...etc.), finally one that will be with you always...Mrs Wong.

We decided to throw Mei Mei a surprise lunch today in the office. Ah Mah, Bong Bong, Ah Cheh and myself got Mei Mei a butter cake from Sunflower and of course, KFC for her. KFC used to be one of her favourites, but she needs to reduce 5kgs (so claimed her doctor...in which I told her to tell her doctor, she is to be married to Mr Wong and not the doctor, so why is the doctor asking her to lose weight!!! Hahaha!!!). She wants to go on a water diet, but I told her, that would make her bloat with water retention!!! Pay me for consultation lah!!!

Mei Mei, I purposely got you the KFC to jeopardize your diet plan for today!!! Beware, more to come!!! And the butter cake, well...you know my craving for it for the past few days and since it's your day, "what is better than to make the excuse of getting the butter!!!"

Anyway, here's wishing the new couple Mr & Mrs Wong Beng Hooi (huh??? not thaaat new lah...phak thor so many years already!!!)...happiness always!!! May you be blessed with many many children!!! If Mummy failed to be the next "Ribena Berry", then may you be it!!! :P

...a stranger in the kitchen...

Since we are still in the month of the hungry ghost, I have this story to tell that was related to me by a friend. Gosh, how I love ghost stories!!!

It happened two years ago, during the seventh month in the Chinese calendar, in one of those apartments in Greenlane. Hmmm...I have been sworn to secrecy not to reveal which apartment is that (as it may scare some of my other friends who stay there).

It was late in the evening, when Mrs Lim came back from office. She was greeted at the door by her teenage daughter, Yina. In Mrs Lim's hands were plastic bags full of groceries she bought during her lunch that day. Her husband, as usual, was resting in his favourite couch with legs up on the wooden coffee table, exercising his fingers and thumbs with the television remote. After a few words of casual greetings, Mrs Lim went straight in to the kitchen. As the kitchen is adjacent to the living room, she was muttering away to Mr Lim about her day at work. Blah blah blah she went. She cleaned the chicken from the bag, heated the wok, diced some garlics, etc. (not going into details, as this is not about any recipe). As she was stir frying, from her corner of her eye, she could see Yina standing near the dining table behind her. So she motioned her finger to Yina, indicating to come over to help her. After a few moments, Yina did not budge from the spot.

Giving her teenage daughter the benefit of the doubt, that she didn't see her motion, she turned around. Alas, much to her surprise there was no one there. She stretched her neck to see if Yina was anywhere around, but all she could see is Mr Lim watching his television diligently. She then asked her husband the whereabouts of Yina and was told that their daughter is in her room, since greeted her mum at the door. Without giving any thoughts, she went back to her cooking. That was when she felt someone was standing next to her. Hoping it was Yina, she turned her head again and there was no one there, but this time she was adament but kept it to herself. As she went on cooking, she heard a very faint whisper in her ear..."Eow" (aiyoh...hungy in hokkien lah!!!). She brushed it off with some silent prayer.

After dinner and washing up, she carried on her usual night errands. Then off to bed. At about 1.00am, she was awaken by sounds in her kitchen. Sensing something is amiss, she opened her bedroom door and went out to check. She could hear the sound of her rice cooker lid being opened. Mrs Lim turned on the lights in her living room that beamed into the kitchen. She could see no one there...so, she thought it was either a lizard scavaging for midnite snack. She switched on the kitchen lights and walked toward the rice cooker. That was when she heard "Eow" again. She summed up all the courage that she had and shouted for her husband. She told Mr Lim of what happened.

The next morning, she met her neighbour, the old Mdm Liang and told her about the strange happenings last night. Mdm Liang told her, never to have left over cooked rice in her cooker during the seventh month...you will never know who will be paying you a visit!!! Hehehe :)

Stay tune for more...

...of him hiang and tau sah pniah...

When a friend comes visiting from outside Penang, most would ask me to take them to buy tau sah pniah (tambun biscuits - is that the same???). Without fail, they would mention Him Hiang or Ghee Hiang, to their confusion.

Well, actually there are a few shops that manufactures tau sah pniah throughout Penang, but none could surpass the popularity of Him Hiang, by reputation (good or bad) and taste. Tau sah pniah is a baked biscuit in the shape of a ping pong ball, with a flat base and has green peas/beans powdered filling. Honestly, Him Hiang makes one of the best in Penang, although the shop is well-known for turning away customers who did not place their orders in advance (I am not sure if they still practice that and if they do, they are doing it very well), but you can see the jam outside the shop and people coming out from the shop with boxes of biscuits.

Him Hiang is located in Burma Road (between Burma Road Gospel Hall and the Seventh Day Adventist Churb - directly opposite Green House). It not only sells tau sah pniah these days, it has a wide range of merchandise. It has pong pniah, beh teh soh, hniau pniah, dodol, salted fish, etc. but it is the tau sah pniah that puts Him Hiang in the map. It seems Him Hiang is a spinoff from Ghee Hiang. Ghee Hiang used to be the "big brother" in this authentic chinese biscuit industry up here in the north, but now, it is famous for it's sesame oil.

I have tried tau sah phiah from other shops, and so far, the only shop that could measure up to the taste of Him Hiang is Fook Lok Sau (Hok Lok Siew) in Noordin Street (Jee Teow Lor).

Ratings : 8/10

...cat in my dish...

To prove that catfish can be cooked in other ways than the usual curry...I ordered my favourite Cameron dish - stirfried catfish. And time and time again, to prove my taste remarkable taste buds, I keep taking people there for this special dish.

Cameron Seafood Restaurant is located at the entrance to the foot of Kek Lok Si. It is just directly across the big carpark...you can't miss it. It is not a fancy restaurant nor a run down coffee shop.

There are some great dishes I would recommend - sambal udang petai, claypot tau foo, curry fish, venison with ginger onions and the broiled soup of the day, but I never miss ordering the mentioned speciality - stirfried catfish.

The dish is served, with chunks of fried catfish meat (and head - not for the faint hearted) and stirfried with ginger, onions, spring onions and dried chili. The meat of this fish is smooth (almost as good as cod) inside and it's a little crispy on the skin. It is then covered with the sauce. Not too spicy, not too sweet, not salty....just perfect. I have always liked ginger, onions, garlic and spring onions in my food and cooking. Stirfried with thick soya sauce...it's simply lips smacking. Eat this dish with plain hot white rice. A must try for catfish lover. It's simply ring-a-ding-ding!!! Eddie finds it great too, don't you Eddie???

Ratings : 8/10

...my beloved ah kong and ah mah...

Before the days of groovy a-go-go in the 60s, "travolta" disco in the 70s, the Michael Jackson 80s, rapping 90s and the hip-hop at the turn of the century, there was the elegance of ballroom dancing.

My maternal grandparents had been in that era in Penang when ballroom dancing was the "in" dance move. (Now you know where I learnt my steps). People would gather at night and do the waltz, the foxtrot, the quickstep, the tango, the rumba, the samba and the cha cha in nightclubs and the Latin Quarter. They did what Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers did on screen.

My grandfather, A.B. Koid (27th January 1909 - 4th August 1984) was a dancing teacher. And my grandmother, better known as Baby Khoo (13th May 1919 - 29th March 2006) was a dancer in her own accord. They are both dancing cheek to cheek now in the celestrial ballroom.

Goodbye, Ah Kong and Ah Mah...thank you for being a big part of my life. I love and miss you both...

"One day, when we were young, one wonderful morning in May...You told me, you love me, when we were young one day..."

...when life gets tough...

Recently, there has been two cases of robbery...stealing from the poor to give to the poorer(?). It is sad that these robbers have to target on the poor and needy to make a living. It is no excuse why they have to rob two children homes. It is not an excuse to blame the high cost of living. Hey, there are part time jobs everywhere.

But why rob from the needy??? Hey robbers, they are on welfare lah...be more considerate lah!!!

On Monday (28th July 2008), a local daily reported that Rumah Kasih in SS3 Petaling Jaya, were robbed off it's van. The van is the only mode of transport to ferry the children to schools, tuition and for running other errands for the home. Three robbers armed with parangs, climbed over the close gate at 6.50am and rushed into the house grabbing a 12 year-old child and put the weapon to her neck. One more rushed to the caretaker and demanded money and threatened to kill her. The third, ransacked the house for valuables. Money and valuables in a children's home??? Helloooooo!!! What maybe not be valuable to the robbers maybe of value to the home. Think lah...be considerate lah. How much can you take from a children's home??? But these things mean a lot to the home. When the robbers could not find anything, they drove off in the home's donated 14 seater van. But I give a little credit, should there be, to one of the robbers who repeatedly apologized before escaping in a van. I wonder if he said "Thank you" too???

On Sunday (3rd August 2008), the same local newspaper reported of another theft from a mentally disabled children home but this time in Malacca. The Happiness Centre in Klebag, Malacca has 35 residents with mental disability from poor and broken families. And guess what the robbers took this time - 15 stainless steel and aluminium cooking pots!!! These pots are needed to cook special porridge diet for the residents. I think the robbers ought to be confined to this home for the mental sickness lah...

Please lah...at least do your home work before you rob...and besides, think of all those poor people who needs support from other to survive. Think of the inconvenience and trauma they have to add on to their list of unfortunate life. Have they not suffered enough??? Well, unlikely these robbers will be caught and punished by the law...but...oh well, let's just say, what goes around, comes around...and in this case...I hope it's DOUBLE!!!