Idiosyncrasy: Me, Myself

Idiosyncrasy – the syncing of idiots all in one place (Rojaking, 2011)

As the name suggest, this segment is targeted at consolidating idiots in this blog.

Before I begin writing about other idiots around, I think it’s only fair that I begin with myself. After all, being a true Malaysian, I must comply with the Malay proverb that says, “Satu jari tunjuk olang, 4 jari tunjuk balik sendiri” even though I have no idea how the 4^th finger is able to point back to oneself (but 3 is good enough)

There are of course many times where I am guilty of being an idiot, but I think the most apparent one would be my idiotic expectation with my wife.

Some of the idiotic expectations I have are:

a.       To have the house spanking clean everytime

b.      No messiness at the dining table

c.       No toys lying around on the floor

d.      No un-wash plates in the sink

Of course from an outsider point of view, my expectations might seem legit. I feel like I work a lot more (cause I have to do the 9am – 6pm while her hours are flexible) and because of that I deserve to come back to a perfect looking house, I deserve to put my legs up and call it a day, I deserve to frown upon her when I’m not happy with how things are done and I deserve the right to choose what to do and what I don’t feel like doing. To top it all up, especially when I come back late tired and all, I have an extra right to darken my face, be sarcastic and show my frustration all because I’m the breadwinner! I’m the man! I’m the MCP!

Just plain stupid.

Oftentimes I forget how much more tired she is. True she has very flexible hours (ie not bounded 9-6, work from home etc), but that doesn’t mean she has any less to do. Her typical day goes like this (WE DO NOT HAVE A MAID):

Work work work..

6pm – Have dinner & feed baby @ in-laws

7pm – Back home

8pm – Put baby to sleep

8:30pm - Wash clothes

               - Wash bottles
               - Wash pump

               - Pack baby’s bag for the next day

               - Cook baby food

 9:30pm – Baby wakes up – put baby back to sleep

10:00pm – Complete work brought back from office

12am – 7am – Sleep – Disrupted sleep every 2-3 hours as she breastfeeds the baby and has to keep waking to change the baby’s position (Left, Right, Left, Right). And if the baby cries… she’s the one that soothes the baby back to sleep while daddy just sleeps on like a pig or fidgets around in frustration that my sleep is being disrupted.

Many times, I totally fail to understand the amount of things that she needs to juggle and how tired she has to be at the end of the day. I know if I was to go through what she has to go through EVERYDAY, I would probably end up buying wood, knocking it to a square, digging a hole and burying myself in it. All I have to do most of the day is to do my 9-6pm and I’m pretty much a free man in the evening.

When I was in between jobs, I took up the challenge of taking care of the baby the whole week without sending her to my in-laws… and by the time my wife reaches home in the late afternoon, I was already so drain and could not even do anything for the rest of the day.

Having gone through 30% of what my wife goes through should have given me added empathy and that’s why I am putting myself in this blog post. I am an idiot.

How can I expect my wife to achieve my crazy expectation when I myself could not even do it when I was doing 30% of what she was doing? How can I treat her with such sarcasm just because I had a tiring day? How can I frown at her just because my boss was an idiot too on that day? 2 idiots don’t make a right.

So easily I forget the sacrifices she has made and how much more crazier her live has been. So easily I ignore the fact that I myself am irrational with my expectation and forget the other amazing stunts she has achieve and so easily I stand on a pedestal thinking I’m the king of the world and my rights are right.

I am an idiot.

To my beloved wife, I stand here today guilty of being an idiot. I’m sorry for the times I was sarcastic, assuming your life was easier, and having unrealistic expectations on how things should be. I know you had to put up with my hurtful comments, stupid looking face when I am frustrated and being plain lazy by not helping you out enough. I am sorry. I definitely promise to always try to understand the burdens you have to go through everyday and make it a point to help you our wherever possible. I love you and I’m sorry for being an idiot.

Next up… my best friend…

Piggin Out @ Reggae Mansion (K.L.)

Last Friday, I decided to meet up an ex-colleague in Masjid Jamek area for lunch. Since it was her area, I left it to her to decide a place for lunch.

Reggae Mansion is located along Jalan Tun H.S. Lee and it looked like a nice place to eat. It’s a hotel/motel/backpackers inn/hostel  cum dining place. The outside really did look like an English mansion while the inside had the feel of a bar but yet comfortable enough to just sit, down and chit-chat.

Before I continue with the food, my friend dropped the bomb after we’ve ordered. She said, “This place was recently caught up in a controversy where they disallowed Malaysians from making reservations to stay.” If I had knew it earlier, I would have definitely not agreed to the place. In any case, it turned out to be true. Read the report here. Really ironic, you have a business here but not offer your business to the locals… *scratch head*

Anyways, since it’s been a while that I have had pork knuckle, I decided to have their Roasted Pork Knuckle (RM38) while my friend ordered a Pan Fried Salmon (RM18).

Roasted Pork Knuckle

Make sure you bring along the below items.

  

Apart from the vinegarish tasting décor lines on the side, the pork knuckle pretty much looked like slabs of meat on top of each other covered with brown/black sauce. The meat was not tender and soft but still edible.

The best part was actually the skin. It was black, super tough and just gross (it feels like it was fried, frozen, fried, frozen, fried, frozen, fried, frozen, fried and served). I am totally not exaggerating. Me being me, brought up to not waste food even if it was not nice, I used the knife provided to cut through the skin (to make smaller chunks before trying to chew and swallow it). After several attempts, I could not even cut through the skin!!! That’s just crazy. It was like a hard piece of rock!!! I know I should have just thrown the skin at the glass door to prove how hard and tough it was… but me being me… I stuffed the skin in my mouth (what made me think that my teeth were stronger than steel.. I do not know..), chew.. chew.. chew.. chew.. AND I STILL COULD NOT CUT THORUGH THE SKIN!!! Finally I had to spit it out and it looked pretty much the same before putting it in my mouth.

Pan Fried Salmon

I did not taste the salmon, but a glance at it didn’t look very appetizing. The salmon wasn’t simply just pan-fried but was coated with a thin layer of flour before pan frying it.

The strange thing was the sauce that was served for the salmon was also the same sauce that was served for the pork knuckle. Two very different meat originating from two very different worlds and one sauce to bind them together… mana boleh…?

In conclusion, apart from the controversy they were caught up in, the horrible food, there would be no reason to visit Reggae Mansion unless you would want to treat your eyes to good looking waiter and waitress – which coincidentally does not cost anything if you order plain water.

Location:

53, Seksyen 12,

Jalan Tun H.S. Lee,

50000 Kuala Lumpur

http://www.reggaehostelsmalaysia.com/mansion/

Piggin Out @ Marmalade Café (Publika)

Last week, we celebrated our daughter’s 1^st birthday at Marmalade Café (Publika). We first got to know about the café from a friend who held his daughter’s 1^st birthday party there as well (Marmalde Café used be located at Plaza Mont Kiara).

Moving from Plaza Mont Kiara to Publika has its benefit as its really quiet and you feel like the world is all yours. No noisy cars, people walking about, kids screaming, smashing plates and utensils, chairs being moved here and there and waiters buzzing in and out… none of that… just plain quietness…  

One of our favorites dishes here the last time at our friends daughter’s birthday party was the Quiche and Aglio Olio. Sporting a deal from www.milkadeal.com.my, we immediately bought enough vouchers for our family.

As expected their Aglio Olio was superb. Nicely flavored with big pieces of fresh prawns, mushrooms, broccoli , tomatoes and a healthy load of olive oil. This is one pasta that we keep coming back for extra servings. Addidctive.

Aglio Olio (RM24)

Next best was their Fetucinne Salmon. Rich, creamy with an innovative addition of seaweed.

Fetucinne Salmon (RM24)

We ordered 2 different sandwiches to share – Club Sandwich & Scandinavian Sandwich. I exceptionally loved the Scandinavian sandwich. The smoked salmon and capers went really well together. The Club Sandwich was nice but nothing really special about it.

Club Sandwich (RM18)

Scandinavian Sandwich (RM20)

Last off is the salad – Sounds of Havana. Nice to see, nice to photograph but once eaten, considered screwed (personal preference). A bit too much of ingredients used and makes you feel pretty messed up at the end (din quite like nuts in my salad)… the ingredients were… lettuce, roasted chicken cube, pineapple, coconut salsa, pepper, cashew nuts, haloumi cheese with honey mustard. Feeling messed up already rite…?



Sounds of Havana (RM19)

Overall, I would definitely visit Marmalade Café again for their quiteness, cosiness and AGLIO OLIO!

Location:

Lot G3-2, Publika Shopping Gallery,

Solaris Dutamas No 1, Jalan Dutamas 1,
Kuala Lumpur 50480, Malaysia.

Latitude: 3.171968
Longitude: 101.667259

http://www.ilovemarmalade.com/

ATHALIE TURNS 1...

Tomorrow Athalie (my other baby girl) turns 1 and I can’t help but to reflect back at the 2-years that that has passed… from the time of conception to the birth of Athalie.

In no way was the journey thus far a fast one (as claimed by everyone else around who constantly tell us “wah… so fast liow ho… so big liow”) and in no way was the journey an easy one… It was a journey where our lives were turned 180 degrees in the span of the 2 years... through the years I have shared bits and pieces of how different life has been for us so here’s a recap:

Item	Before	After
Getting ready to go out	45 mins	1 and ½ hrs
Night Sleep	8 hrs uninterrupted	8 hrs very interrupted
Afternoon Nap (on weekends)	3 hrs	1 hr
Going Out Items	HP, wallet & car keys	HP, wallet, car keys, milk feed, bottle, 2 types of snacks, flask, change of clothes, diapers, diaper cream, yu-ee oil, changing mat, wet wipes, breast-feeding poncho, stroller, baby bjorn.
Going Out Attire	Stylish	Backpacker (even to formal events.. thanks to the backpack with all her items in it)
Eating Out Setting	Nice, quiet, slow	Express
Breast Visibility Outdoor	0%	80% (of cuz covered by the poncho)
Couple Time	Everyday	Barely
Visit to the Clinic	Once quarterly	Monthly (sometimes weekly)
I call my wife…	Dear	Mummy

But change is change and we just have to accept it, adapt to the new setting and move on.

Taking a step back, the journey thus far has certainly exposed me to a new level of happiness that I have never experienced before.

The first time my heart literally leaped was when I saw Athalie’s heartbeat on the scanning machine. That split second moment of joy, thankfulness, awe and other unexplainable emotions just poured in. It wasn’t one of the moments where you shed a tear in happiness but it was a moment you are just frozen dumbfounded happy at the life that is shown on the screen (as small as it might be). It was INCREDIBLE!

Next would be her birth itself. Her delivery was a super long and tiring one but the moment she came out from you know where… all I could do was to stand in attention not knowing what to do or how to react to the life that was just born. For the past 9 mths, it was looking at her thru the screen and watching her grow. But now… it’s out, alive, kicking and screaming and I just felt incapable of handling something so fragile and precious (less I accidentally break her arm, drop her, squeeze her too tight). Still in the state of shock… I walked over to where they place her (some see-through bucket)… gently stroke my fingers across her arm and it was a beautiful moment. Beaitiful. Beautiful.

The other amazing experience with Athalie is watching her achieve new milestone every now and then… turning to her back and back, crawling, sitting up, standing up, climbing the stairs, climbing down the bed… and looking back at the videos that I’ve captured… everytime she achieves something… I automatically scream with joy (something which I certainly don’t do most of the time). The reaction is immediate, uncontrolled and totally unplanned. The excitement of watching her achieve something is something I cannot contain.

Finally, it’s the feeling of being loved by a daughter that brings about so much comfort to the craziness of the world. Her just falling asleep on my shoulder just creates so much warmth within me. To know that I am someone in the world. To know that the sacrifices made were all worth it for that single moment. To know that I did it. And these are some moments that I always wish would last a lot longer.

Athalie definitely brings about so much joy in the house. Her cheekiness, cheerfulness and cuteness just continues to fill the house with giggles and laughter at the things that she does. This is the one reason why I endeavor to leave work on time everyday cause it breaks my heart to see Athalie asleep when I get back from work cause that would mean I would not have interacted with her for 48 hrs straight! Someone once told me “It’s ok wan… later on in life only will make more sense to spend more time with her cause she’ll be more aware by then”… but that’s totally bogus… outright crazy. Life is very simple. The more time you spend with someone, the more attach you both become. I can clearly see this with Athalie. If I spend enough time with her, she becomes comfortable enough for me to put her to sleep.

On this day, looking back, I am really thankful on how God has faithfully seen us through and through. From the time we planned for a child, to the wonderful gynae we had, to the birth, to her growing up, her temperament, her health, her everything. As tough and crazy it was, I know that God has never given us anything that we could not handle and Athalie has been an amazing baby and exceptionally well  behaved.

To my wife, who have sacrificed a lot more sleep and sweat than I have, thank you so much and I love you very much.

To Athalie, although Daddy once told someone that I am an easy going and would have no problem with you dating anyone by the time you were 18 cause you’ll be an adult by then… through this 1 year, my stand has changed (when I realized that I felt a strong sense of protectionism when I saw a photo of you kissing Andrew thru a glass window – though it was an innocent one)… I think daddy is going to have trouble letting you go even though it’s only been 1 year. Daddy loves you very much and thank you for bringing joy and happiness to both Mummy and Daddy… and Daddy is certainly looking forward to the many years ahead with you.

p/s Daddy is now an official member of DADD – Daddies Against their Daughters Dating

PIGGING OUT @ BALI

My blog posts on Bali would definitely not be complete without talking about FOOD. We were spoilt with amazing food throughout our trip and I believe this is one trip which we had different types of food for our meals (except for the seafood at Jimbaran-please don’t go, and at Segara – Kuta).

1. BABI GULING @ UBUD

I would definitely not do justice to myself if I did not start with the PIG. I was born in the year of the pig, love everything that has a pig part in it (intestine, kidney, stomach, ears, knuckle, tail, cheek, nose…) and I believe my vein flows with pig oil.

I was definitely excited to try out the much talked about Babi Guling @ Ubud and that was the first thing we did when we arrived at Ubud. Some have commented that our Chinese siu yok taste a lot better than that at Ubud but I beg to differ.

The Babi Guling in Ubud is loaded with flavor – spicy + heck load of other spices I could never identify. Putting a piece of the meat into your mouth just stuns you for the moment trying to make sense of the various flavors that co-mingles perfectly with the pork. The skin is crunchy (not hardish like our Cina wan) just nice. And to increase the pig oil supply in my body, I ordered an additional serving of skins but were told they didn’t have anymore… so I settled for another serving of meat…. Heavenly…

2. Bebek Bengil @ Dirty Duck Restaurant

The other super-licious food that is a must try would be their Bebek Bengil a.k.a Crispy Duck. When the dish arrives, take the knife and slice the duck… “Krrrraaaccckkkk” the sound of the crispiness breaking at the pressure of the knife already tells you… “This is yummy”. Needless to say, the duck was perfectly done but the best part was.. the entire duck was so crispy that you could chew off the bones (the smaller parts.. don’t expect to bite the drumstick).

3. Nasi Campur

We had the famous Bali Nasi Campur at this place called “Ketupat”. A nice sit down restaurant with reasonably priced food. I must say, the Nasi Campur is one food item that makes you really confused. The Nasi Campur is served with rice (of course) and 7-8 other dishes… ranging from meat, vege, leaves and sauces all on top of a banana leaf. All of the side dishes were really good that it’s hard to decide which dish would you like to eat.

4. Kopi Luwak

Never would I have imagined that shit would taste this good… and this expensive (RM100 for 100g). The coffee beans shitted out from the cat taste very aromatic… somewhat sweet without the lingering bitter taste.

Kopi Luwak is best drank without sugar (so they say), and expecting the usual bitter taste that my Nescafe O kosong or my Aik Cheong kosong would bring about, I was surprise that it tasted nothing like it at all. It was smooth with a sweetish aroma… even when I ate the leftover coffee powder at the bottom of the pot (unlike the coffee from Tarbush). So the next time I say “Shit you Rosmah for spending my money” I might just be referring to the sweet aromatic aura of Rosmah.

On a separate note... I was wondering if I should lodge a complaint with SPCA/PETA for animal abuse/exploitation. They make this civet cats eat beans it cannot digest.. the beans are shitted out WHOLE (imagine shitting marbles out everyday).. and the beans are sold… poor kitty… 24 hrs stomach ache everyday…

5. Satay Lilit

This is one satay that cost more than my regular RM0.50 per stick… but taste twice as good. Apart from the fish/crab/chicken meat concoction, it must have been the lemongrass stick that extends its flavor into the meat. The best satay lilit that we tasted was at this restaurant near Nusa Dua area where it was serve on top of a mini bbq pit to keep it continuously warm..

AWESOME BAWESOME BALI

My family (me + wife + baby) made our first trip to Bali recently. Through the years, we’ve heard our friends and family visiting Bali and the amazing place it is but was always pulled back by the fact that they don’t have a clean beach. My wife and I absolutely love beaches and have thus far only made travel trips to places with nice beaches.

That aside, we decided to give it a go. So as usual, we booked the plane, the hotel, the driver, for a 5 days trip.

These are some of the amazing things that we encountered throughout the trip. The irony of it all was we only went down to the beach by our hotel for like 2 minutes throughout the entire trip. :P

Day 1: Tanah Lot

A definite must go. The only regret we had was we did not spend enough time here. The view here was really breath taking and refreshing. Spending half a day here just chilling by the sea and admiring the batu-bata would be something we would really like to do the next time we’re here.

Day 2: 

Tegallalang Rice Terrace

Nothing but greenery here.

Paddy Field on the Hill

Kintamani & Lake Batur

The view here from the top is really spectacular with the volcano mountain on the left and the huge lake on the right. Most of the mountain is covered in black stuff from the outflow of the lava. Forget about walking down to the end of the road as you’ll be heckled by traders. Pick a restaurant, sippa cuppa coffee and enjoy the view

The Volcano

The Lake

Tirta Empul

This is one temple that puts culture back into perspective. Being born, bred, raise, indoctrinated in Malaysia, the schema is always… the gong (big and small), gamelan band and the keris is a definite culture of the Malay. But in this temple, you see all of that (even the music played is similar to that of a Malay traditional band)… for a HINDU ceremony. At this point of time, I just stood still trying to reconstruct the schema that I have been brought up believing in. I’m not going to speculate what came first, who adopted who (just like how our Negaraku ended up being some song from Hawaii “Mamula Moon”)… but the great big lesson here is this… there’s no such thing as supremacy. One culture is adopted from another and no one culture is superior from another. When you start making supremacy claims, you end up being the butt of the joke.. i.e. like how Hang Tuah is actually my brader.

The source o the Holy Water	Hindu Warriors 	BSB + 1
Amazing Balancing Act	Kids preparing for their dance	Bathing in Holy Water

To Hishamuddin, I apologize for calling you a racist when you raise and kiss your keris. I now understand you were also standing up for the rights of the Hindus.

Day 3:

Garuda Wishnu Kencana (GWK) Culture Park

If you feel like you have some spare change and for some reason feeling very charitable, then the GWK park is somewhere you might wannna go (Entry fee is IDR50k p/pax). There’s nothing much here except for 2 big statues; Wishnu and the Garuda.

Wishnu

Garuda

Gila

Krishna Ole-Ole Bali

This is seriously the FIRST place anyone should visit in Bali. It’s a shopping centre with everything you would be looking for in Bali (paintings, handicrafts, bags, clothes, food, souvenirs…..). Prices here are fix at a very very reasonable rate and you’re spoilt for choices here. The best part about this place is it gives you a feel of the price of the items for your further reference when negotiating with traders throughout your trip (Bali is one place you need to bargain… bargain…. bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… bargain… ). So if you’ve not have much experience in bargaining, do visit a few pasar malams first before going.

Our driver/ tour guide / baby sitter

Our trip was made perfect by our wonderful driver, Suryanto. When looking for a driver, our biggest worries were: 

i.Drivers that bring you only to places which they earn commission – like Kuching, Sarawak drivers;

ii. Drivers that keep jam breaking and make you feel like throwing up 

Suryanto was definitely none of the above. He was an excellent driver (trust  me, you’ll need one as good as him cause the roads in Bali is super small with loads of car). Not only did he bring us to really good and cheap restaurants, drove super smoothly, was super friendly, honest in every way possible, became our tour guide (he was not obliged to cause he was only suppose to drive us around), he also helped us to carry our baby girl around!!! We really appreciated the extra effort he put in. Allowed us some romantic hand holding moments. He really made out trip a memorable one.

So.. if you’re going to Bali and you are looking for an awesome driver to bring you about, here’s his contact:

Email: booking@rentcarinbali.com

HP: +62 8123842670

The rest of our 4th and 5th day was spent just strolling around town.