Of towers and coffee shops

This time round, there are more changes since my last visit to Kuala Lumpur. Near where my daughter lives, an abandoned condominium tower has resumed work and the structure is rapidly towering into the sky, adding yet another change to the skyline. It's certainly getting more crowded in KL as new towers sprout up like mushrooms.

There are too many of these towers and the high density of people, not to say the number of cars, make such housing developments unattractive in terms of space and traffic. One can say the traffic jam begins in these housing areas as cars crawl out from respective feeder roads onto the main ones.

However the more people there are, the more economic opportunities there will be for the people in the service and food industries. The coffee shops proliferate everywhere offering all kinds of food and drinks at any hour of day.  It is not uncommon to find different stalls operating in the mornings and afternoons. Last night we scouted out a new place (new to us) and the food a la homestyle cooking was good. We plan to go there once more to try out the German pork knuckle which is one of my hubby's favorite dishes. I enjoyed the sambal prawn petai ( spicy prawn and smelly beans ) though I wished there were more petai rather than onions.

Tonight my niece and her husband are hosting a dinner for the family and we have been invited. It's to a place we've not been before so I'm looking forward to this.

This morning we had a different type of noodles for breakfast, what is known as pan mee but tweaked to make it different from the usual stuff. Instead of the flat noodle, this was like the stringy noodles and it was served dry with the usual ikan bilis ( fried anchovies) and vegetable ( tow kei) eggdrop soup. We had to add special roasted chili to the mee and therein lies the difference. The taste was unusual and had a "kick" to it. I forgot my camera so I don't have a picture of it.

All kinds of  food can be found easily but to "sniff" out the special ones, you need the locals to tell you where to find them. My son who lives in Singapore insisted that we try this one so my daughter took us there. She had been introduced to it by her cousins and my son found it very special when his sister took him there to try it out as pan mee is his favorite breakfast whenever he is back in KL.

Every trip home to KL is a gastronomic trip! Eating all the food that I miss in the Land below the Wind (Borneo Island) and drinking the thick black coffee is a taste of paradise! I look forward to each trip with gusto and with a gleam in my eyes when I think of the treat in store for my palate. Besides, it's durian season again!! (those 'smelly apples' as my nephew used to call them but now he's a great fan!!) Oh, how not to put on weight???? More on the benefits of the durian in my next post.

Another Festival

How time flies! Another festival has come, been celebrated and gone by. The school children won't be back to school until Monday. They had about ten days off!!
However, the Chinese-medium school children returned to their classrooms much earlier, the rationale being that they are non-Muslims so they do not need so many days off.

The practice of having "open-houses" is a good one and is not anything new. Years and years ago, more than fifty years ago, in fact, this concept of "open-house" was already in practice. You could always pop-in to your friends' homes when it is festival time, no invitations needed. However it is slightly different today. You usually don't pop-in anymore, not without an invitation.

"Open-house" is usually a very happy occasion, whatever festival you are celebrating, be it Hari Raya Puasa, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Christmas, etc. and guests are always welcome. Even your children's guests and their friends, whom you may not know - all are welcome. There is usually a free flow of food and drinks, lots of tidbits and of course a lot of laughter as folks catch up with the latest updates, tell jokes, play cards, fireworks, etc. etc.

I'm looking forward to celebrating Hari Raya with one of my dear friends who went away to Perth to visit her relative. She will be back at the end of the month and both Tina and myself are looking forward to her delicious dishes that she always produces for the Raya. Mmmmm..... thinking of it already makes me drool...

Another friend just left today for her Mediterranean cruise and will be away for about two weeks. Yet another is back in KL with her grandchildren. This is the beauty of having grandmas. Whenever the son or daughter is in need, all they have to do is to send an SOS and grandma goes running! Such are our family ties, especially in Asian societies. The extended family can always be relied on to lend a hand.

Mind you, grandpas are also very handy. They make good chauffers, chaperones, and their somewhat bent shoulders still provide a good place to have a good cry. My grandchildren have their usual spats and the grandparents have to step in to end those sessions, which sometimes turn into crying and shouting bouts. Children will be children, quarrelling and screaming at each other, too stubborn to give in to the other..... I don't remember my children having such tantrums and fights, but then they were a few years apart whereas these two grandkids are very close, just a year apart. Thank goodness, their memories are short and very soon they are good friends again.

So Hari Raya was quiet this year, with many people going away for the holidays, and the roads were so pleasantly clear of traffic. It was a breeze to drive. Now that school will reopen on Monday, the madness will begin all over again. Sometimes, it is a necessity to get away, far from the madding crowd! Many people have already begun to go away during the festive season. No more hosting open houses as it is too much of a hassle and these days when you do not have the help of a housemaid, it is very difficult to have an open house, even if you have the food catered. It is the aftermath that discourages you. The cleaning up after everyone has left. The floor has to be mopped, things have to be put back in place, the garden has to be cleaned up, etc.

I myself stopped hosting the Chinese New Year open house in my home in the Land below the Wind, the year after my mother fell ill. The year she visited me was the last year I celebrated, having the complete "do" with the lion troupe etc etc. The lion dance troupe was from my school, raising funds and the boys gave a great performance, imitating the movements of the great cat, tearing open the oranges and eating them, then portraying a satisfied creature, lying down and scratching its hind quarters, etc... etc. The climax was when the lion scaled the thick bamboo pole to "catch" the red packet tied together with the lettuce leaves dangling from the upper floor of my house. The cymbals clashing and the huge drum beating out its stirring tempo added to the merriment of the guests. This was one of the loveliest rainbow moments of my life, having my parents, my friends and students together, celebrating the Chinese New Year.

The following year, my mum passed away, during the Chinese New Year period. From then on, I always returned to the family home in KL for the Chinese New Year festivities as it was her wish that all the family celebrate the reunion dinner together at the family home. I don't host open-house anymore at my own residence. On the other hand, I may just do it once more, for my grandchildren, so that they can see at close hand, what the lion dance is like. In KL, one hardly sees the lion dance except in shopping malls but the atmosphere is different.

Grandmas get-together

Datin Hiew, Peggy, Jennifer

Two days ago, 3 grandmothers met up at the Turf Club for lunch.

Fried Tanghoon (glass noodles) ( We also had wat tan hor - fried flat rice noodles in egg sauce - and tomyam fried rice ( spicy fried rice with cucumber/pineapple embellished with a piece of fried chicken.)

One is my dear old friend (Datin Hies) of many years while the other (Jennifer) is my former student from ages ago. Yes, she's grandma to two young boys and she dotes on them. Which grandma doesn't dote on their grandchildren?

Being grandmother is a feeling like no other. I remember when my grandchildren were much younger, I used to play in the garden with them, kicking a ball together with them. It was a great feeling! Now they help me to water my potted plants when I'm away from home and they lay the table for dinner and help to clear up too. My almost eleven-year old grandson is a very responsible young tyke who sees to it that the windows are locked each night and the curtains are down before he goes up to his room.

My granddaughter is a lovely young lass with two dimples ( I only have one! ) and a temper as hot as her grandma's!! She has a well-developed sense of what is just and she can argue a point down to the ground with her mother. She will make a good lawyer in the courtroom one day if she is so inclined.

Alas, I will not see the dawn of that day! This is the only thing about grandparenthood. The realisation that you will not see the young ones develop into their full potential and that you will not be a part of their future.

So what did the three grandmas talk about? Not only about the progress of the grandchildren but also about spouses, how we occupy our time etc.

You know, these three grannies are jet-setters, flying between the capital city and home, to visit grandchildren and children who have flown the coop. (Lucky me, mine are staying with me....yeh yeh..) We are also into computers...... See? We are keeping up with the times, no matter that we only surf for information, to read the news, and to email. We are not afraid to hit the keys. My former student is very much into YouTube!

However this grandmother is trying so hard to learn more about building a website and is so frustrated by the lack of progress. She has spent no piddling amount trying to learn from the internet marketers but so far has very little to show for it. One other grandma plays games on the computer..... I admire her for her sharp mind as she is very much into games. Well to each her own!

Life is so full, isn't it? It is up to us to make what we want out of it, to make it interesting, to grab life with both hands, to enjoy the present and to always look forward to tomorrow. It is up to us to put rainbows into our lives, to color the fabric of our life with vibrant colors.

The more control we take of our lives, the happier we will be and the happier we are, the healthier are we. So to us grandmas and grandpas..... now is our time! We are much better off than the younger ones as they still have to build their careers, their homes and to save for their children's future. They are constrained while we are free. Isn't this a wonderful feeling?

Family Reunions

It's great to be part of a large family. When we were growing up there were lots of squabbles and tears and fights but now that we are all adults, there is a lot to be said for being part of a large family.

Large families are no longer the norm. Nowadays the family is usually a 2 or 3-child family. Some have only one child, citing that it is very expensive to bring up and to educate a child, especially if you want the child to have the best of everything.

But what a loss there is, to the only child. Not only will he miss having a sibling to share or squabble with...... think of the useful experiences that will serve him in good stead later on. The bond between siblings is like no other.

True, when you are young, you fight and hate each other but in the end, blood is thicker than water and somehow the closeness is always there.

I'm very lucky to have come from a large family of ten siblings, three boys and seven girls, me being the oldest. The youngest in our family is a boy, well, boy no longer but a very personable man in his prime, with a family of his own, a lovely daughter and a smart son, both of whom are now working in Down Under. All of us have come a long way and despite having lost two sisters to cancer, the ties and bonds are still very strong.

Whenever I'm back in Kuala Lumpur, the family seat, there is always a reunion of sorts. My youngest brother is usually the host and he gets everyone to meet for dinner. The last dinner was a few nights ago in Bangsar Village and the dishes he ordered were very tasty indeed although very pricey.

There were twelve of us, siblings and spouses with two teenaged children and my adult daughter. We dug into the dishes with gusto and by the end of the evening, we were replete with full stomachs. Here are some pictures of what we ate. I really liked the roasted pork- the two types, pork fillet (char siew) and the belly pork (siew yuk) with very crispy skin. The steamed garoupa was fresh but nothing out of the ordinary. The taufoo was nicely done topped with minced pork and salted radish ( choi po ). The hokkien mee, touted as the best, to me was just on par with those that I've eaten at other outlets. The chili could be improved as it was too dry, the belacan ( shrimp paste with pounded chili ) aroma wasn't there.

The other dishes were the

usual vegetables that can be

found anywhere.

The best part of the evening was the meeting up with my siblings and catching up......who's going where, when and further plans for the next catch-up session.

I made a date with my younger sister and her two girls for a special breakfast recommended by my son who had insisted that I check it out. He found it special and very tasty so that is something to look forward to, since my nieces are very busy and we hardly have time for a good natter. Sunday breakfast will do nicely indeed.