The girls have abandoned us.
It’s Deepavali, they tell us, over a phone call, over text messages and private tweets, we have got things to do and places to be. We have got new sarees to wrap around our lithesome waists and festive bindis to anoint upon our pretty little foreheads.
We have coconut trees to dance around, to tease and hide and call a-cuckoo from. We have got entire Bollywood dance routines to rehearse and to perform. We are far too busy, they sing, far too busy, ding-a-ling-ling.
You boys are on your own.
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And so it is, the menfolk are left to their own devices. And you know what happens when guys are given the freedom to do as they please, when the cat’s away and the mice can come out to play?
Of course you do, and you’d be quite right too. We boys get to eat.
Far from saying the ladies would conspire to starve us, but for the sake of their latest diets or the new dress just bought (two sizes too small, as always), they are hardly to encourage eating that would induce significant heart beating.
And after awhile, even the most supportive of spouses tire of salad greens, no matter how fresh or leafy they may be. Men, real men, are meant for meat, you see.
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A band of brothers thus gather for lunch – HairyBerry (or Mister Rambutan as he sometimes suggests as an alternative), Unkaleong (he of Men’s Health Magazine cover-calibre abdominal muscles and George Clooney-shiny white teeth), A Lil Fat Monkey (the funniest and farniest fellow you would ever meet, and twice as sweet), Devil Wears Prada (the muse who inspired the famous FatBoyBakes‘ soon-to-be-famous Heavenly Nuts, and whose credit cards may well, one day, launch a thousand Prada flagship stores), and humble ol’ me – and man, are we hungry or what?
If you are paying attention, dear reader, your bet oughta be on HUNGRY.
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Since some of us are coming from PJ and some from Kepong and some from the Zoo (well, not literally, that’s almost Ampang, is what I mean), we decide what would be wise would be somewhere in the middle, somewhere in the heart of the KL city centre.
And which heart of Kuala Lumpur beats truer and longer than Imbi? Authentic and old-school, these semi-hidden alley-ways and arteries may cover only a small area but what treasures are there to be found!
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Which gem won the toss of the coin, you ask? The answer may well soothe you and excite your tastebuds at the same time – nothing less than the stately and ever dependable Soo Kee, famed for their fried beef hor fun and their sang har meen.
We make our orders quickly; we are famished. Fortunately we are their first customers, seated even before the stroke of midday when the cooking commences. The pot of hot Chinese tea arrives within minutes and glasses are filled and topped with ice-cubes – it is a hot day, after all.
Sipping on our freshly-chilled tea, we wonder not what the girls are up to – whether their sarees are being admired or their dancing sufficiently titillating – nay, we are only wondering how long more before our first dish lands on our table.
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Patience is a virtue, or so we have been informed, and in this case, the wait is worth it as an aromatic breeze begins to waft towards our table and envelops us. We detect curry (the spice from the leaves rather than the powder, darker and more immediate) and the pungent blows of good quality dried prawns. There is a decent hint of fresh garlic and of dangerous little bird’s eye chili.
(Oh, don’t you agree that cili padi makes everything oh so much better? I know I do.)
And so we fall in love with this wondrously fragrant plate of kam heong la la before the clams even had a chance to warm our table. Love inspires quite an appetite, and soon the plate is wiped clean by our hungry chopsticks.
So. What’s next?
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Larger-than-life fresh water prawns, split into halves to offer up their milky meat and gorgeous roe to a bath of runny, yolk goodness. Resting gently over a bed of quick-fried and extra crispy thin noodles, this is the King of All Noodle Dishes – the awesome and awe-inducing Sang Har Meen.
Talented fingers and deft chopstick play make short work of the tender prawn meat, teasing the bashful morsels out of their confining shells. One final slurp of the comely broth, and it’s all gone already.
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We want more.
Clams can’t clam up our desire. Fresh water prawns can’t water down our appetite. We are hungry men, we like our meat, we want more.
Ah, but patience, patience the waiters sing to us, as they waltz around our table and our neighbours’ – patience, please, if you want more. Patience shall be rewarded, more fabulous flavours are in store.
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So we grunt our reluctant approval and we wait once more. We watch as one of their seasoned kitchen helpers expertly fold pieces of oil paper into origami – edible origami when the pockets are filled with pieces of chicken marinated in ginger juice, oyster sauce, sweet garlic and the indispensable rice wine.
The parcels of chicken soon pile up into a small mountain, a peak we wish the chef would scale soon, and tip those magical packets into his wok…
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… and our wish is eventually granted, and with such panache as the chef slips the parcels into the hot oil like secrets to be serenaded, allows the golden liquid to crisp and colour them before fishing them out like pearls from the sea.
He lets them rest for a minute or two while we salivate and watch closely to ensure no one else would make a grab at these treasures before we do. This waiting game, it’s one we swiftly learn to play or learn to regret when the last piece is gone, to our dismay.
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Finally, the chef nods his assent; the parcels are sufficiently rested, the juices have been absorbed by the greedy chicken meat. The waiter brings the platter over to our table and announces the dish in pride and in triumph.
Hooray!
Carnivores that we are, we waste no time in separating the paper from the precious portions of poulet. Bite, bite. Ravenous. Chew, chew. Tastes ravishing. Oh delicious. Yum yum.
We even remember to wipe our lips with the complimentary perfumed tissue after investigating and ensuring nary a scrap was left. Satisfied. Burp, burp.
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We are almost done.
We sip more Chinese tea. We banter back and forth, discussing the weather and such. (This line of conversation soon runs dry when one considers the rather consistent and cyclical nature of our tropical clime. It will rain when it wants to rain, whether it’s convenient for us or not.)
Certain selections of fore-digits are displayed, to demonstrate their inherent and irrefutable beauty. We grunt some more, just for practice.
The chef, in the meantime, keeps whistling his favourite tune, and will not begin on his signature dish until he is done. Let’s hope he has less than ten bars left to hum.
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The pièce de résistance. The famed Soo Kee fried beef hor fun.
Imagine smooth, silken strands of flat noodles swimming in a mystical gravy that shall not be named for fear of it losing its delicate flavour. Imagine emerald slivers of spring onion and sharp-yet-sweet tasting slices of young ginger tenderly dancing with a perfect melody of egg white and yellow. Imagine pieces of beef that literally dissolve into meat and honey in your mouth.
But then, why should you have to imagine this beef hor fun? Why miss out on all the fun? Come, my friends, join us and have some yourself.
Come, before it’s all gone.
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SOO KEE Restaurant • 14, Medan Imbi, 55100 Kuala Lumpur.
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Copyright © 2010 Kenny Mah Ying Fye. Photography by Kenny Mah.
For an alternate take on our Soo Kee experience, try this Chinese-influenced, Bollywood-style ballad between the sang har meen and beef hor fun here, by Devil Wears Prada.
Kenny Mah believes in the good in people. He has been blogging for over ten years. No, his hands aren't tired. Yet.
ohh u just made the beef hor fun taste 10x better!! gosh i miss the noodles here.
@lotsofcravings: Hmm, I smell an opportunity there – Brisbane Beef Hor Fun? Hehe.
wow fulamak!!!!!!! i wanna join lah…damn i am super duper hungry now >< though i am gonna to sleep soon T.T… wait i saw prawns and crabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbs while reading… omg drooling!!! damn i am gonna meet them all now… night!
@fufu: Where got crabs? Lol.
the crab’s shell….nope??? ops… o.O probably i miss crab too much… ok gotta knock offfffff and meet my lovely crab now
on the eve of an hectic study week ,i saw this and for once i wanted to throw away my herbivorous attitude and just dive in the pool of these delicacies…
after an very dark weekend in which i learnt some lessons about helping others and its pit falls in a very hard way … this cheered me up :)
aiya, my attempt to put on a Diwali red dot on my forehead was sadly misplaced. No wonder my middle finger isn’t my usual pointing finger. LOL!
U sure ur not a food blogger? Cos you’re a pretty good one.
Stopppeeeetttt.
You are making me crave carbs…… :P
oh you just HAD to put the hunky UNKA before the errr.. sleep rude monkey la.. AHAHAHAHAHA – speechless. DIED-DED.
Oh that’s beef with hor fun? I thought they were ginormous see hum.. :D
And what’s with the finger? Notti boy.
Chi pau kai.. one of my favourites! Nom nom.
I would have loved to be the rose among the thorns.. :D
Errrmm I’m drooling over those dat can be served on beds rather on plates :p
And wats with the monkey and his finger??? kekeke
@fufu: Those are PRAWN shells lah, brader… Man, you must not have crabs in awhile to not tell the difference… Come, come, let me take you out for some prawns & crabs!
@vimesh: Hehe, this wouldn’t be the first time a “herbivore” as you put it found his/her resolve wavering in the face of Soo Kee’s meaty offerings… But hold strong, my friend!
I can introduce you to some great vegetarian mock meats when you visit KL! Best of both worlds, sort of. Yay.
@A Lil Fat Monkey: It was a decent attempt, though. Hehe.
I saw it more as a display of the finely designed contours of your terrific third finger… But aye, I guess there is a reason why it’s generally not used for pointing at stuff, haha.
And aye, I am sure I am not a food blogger. I don’t have the steely resolve to consistently review dishes nor offer sound & unbiased critique. Not that this has prevented some folks from food blogging anyway… ahem.
@J the chocoholic: Crave CARBS or crave CRABS? Or would you be happy with both? I know I would, haha…
@ciki: I’m sure that’s simply a matter of opinion. Certainly many readers would find the lil FIT monkey quite a hunka hunka too. Hehe.
@gfad: Ewww. That’s definitely NOT see hum. I’d most assuredly not wax lyrical about cockles, thank you very much. Hmmph!
And me thought that finger was quite becoming… for the monkey boy. Heh.
Chi pau kai, parcel chicken… droolworthy food by any name would taste as delicious, right?
Where were you, our Abu Dhabi damsel, our desert rose? We thorns were so lonely withoutchu…
@babe_kl: Beef on beds or beefcakes? Tee hee.
Robson Heights is our Lakehouse – same place, different time.. :D
S’been raining – the desert rose is blossoming in the oases.. :D
@gfad: Haha, just tell me I’m Keanu and you’re Sandra (and not the other way round), and I’ll be fine with that.
Can we just skip to the bit where you give me mouth-to-mouth and resuscitate me? (There was a scene liddat, right? I’m not hallucinating again, am I?)
And hooray for blossoming desert roses… so cantik. Hee.
Just leave me some eggyolk squid in the mailbox, will ya? And nasi lemak. And see hum. :D
@gfad: Can. Can. Dunchwan. (Eww.)
Why dunchwan? I’m offering you an outlet to get rid of all the see hum you dunchwan wat.. :D
@gfad: Err… But why one earth would I have any see hum in the first place? Wasn’t the whole point for me to stay away from the stuff?
Then again, not sure how well the salted egg yolk squid would hold up via our postal service either… Oopsies.
It’s Lakehouse, remember? I get the squid immediately after you put it in.. :D
Make me happy with see hum, canornot?
@gfad: Errr… Oh, ya?
I guess I’m more like Keanu than I had initially imagined. Is memory loss the same thing as wooden-ness?
And yes, dear Sandra, my darling bullock, I shall make you happy with see hum… I just need to send Sean over your way. He probably farms the stuff in his free time. Hehe.
What a load of Bullocks! You are an Anthony Hopkins of writing. :D
Sean probably gets a gourmet supply from some fancy remote organic see hum farm. :D
@gfad: I’m an Anthony Hopkins of writing? What does that mean? That I write with a breet-eesh ak-sen or that I write scary, cannibalistic stories?
Actually I get all the scary, cannibalistic stories I need from Sean – He Who Probably Gets A Gourmet Supply of Cockles From Some Fancy Remote Organic See Hum Farm.
P.S. I been a bad, bad boy. Sean must hate me now for all these naughty talk. Bro, we tease, we merely tease. You know we all lub you too.
*makes bambi eyes, ala devil wears prada*
What notti talk? It’s just see hum wat..
(Hi Sean! I’m GFAD. I’m a seehumolic..) :D
He’s one of my favourite actor, always guaranteed to deliver. Sad that most ppl only associate Sir Hopkins with a cannibalistic character out of the so many varied and brilliant performances he has given throughout his illustrious career.
@gfad: My vocab not good ma. I guess what I meant by “naughty” is simply “speaking of someone in a friendly, good-natured, ribbing manner whilst they are missing from the conversation proper”… Something liddat lah.
(Hi Sean! Hi GFAD! I’m Kenny and I’m a seehumphobe.)
Hmm, Hannibal Lecter’s not my fave role of Sir Hopkins. Wanna make a guess which it is?
Hahahaha.. touche!
Neway, everything is kong ming jing dai, out here in the open, available to one and all.
Hungry now. Gonna find me a dog to stuff into a roll.
See? Mixing up all the conversations! :D I’ll get back to you on your favourite Sir Hopkin’s role. Let’s see if we know the enigmatic Mr Kenny at all.. :D
@gfad: That’s true. We are totally open… to the suggestive prowess of the still-absent Sean, I venture. Notice how he’s not even here yet and we have already diverted the discussion of today’s topic (sang har meen & beef hor fun) to see hum… AGAIN?
The man’s truly Da Man, aitelyu.
And I shall reserve comment about the dog and the roll. Have fun with the stuffin’ though. Tee hee.
And Mr. Kenny ain’t enigmatic at all. He is, after a meal at Soo Kee, quite often rather aromatic though. Ahem.
Carbs! Carbs! That is my weakness.
(or one of them anyway)
I want hor funnnn. :D
(on a separate note: wah. Mr hairy rambutan has lost a lot of weight ah! So skinny already)
@J the chocoholic: Haha, I think carbs are everyone’s weakness – Malaysians especially, since we must have our rice and our mee and kway teow and carrot cake, and so much more!
Long Live Carbs! Yay!
(On your separate note: Aye, Mr. Hairy Rambutan certainly has. Colour me extremely envious. Cis. But then, he eats then run. I eat then eat some more. Sighs.)
Not a good idea to come here & see all these sinful dishes just before lunchtime! This is making me ravenous – u bad notti boy!
@Pureglutton: Oh yes, I have been a most naughty boy… You aren’t thinking of punishing me by spanking me with your hardwood angkoo mould, are you? Tee hee.
Can’t help but notice that it’s 1.30pm now, and 1.30pm on the clock in your first photo. =)
@Michelle: Really? How auspicious! Maybe we oughta buy 4D or some sorta lottery, eh? Hehe.
I see the great joy of male bonding.
“Hehe, this wouldn’t be the first time a “herbivore” as you put it found his/her resolve wavering in the face of Soo Kee’s meaty offerings”
i know and the million dollar question is to be or not to be …. :)
gosh, i’m so late to this commenting party! though i TOTALLY agree with GFAD. the beef in the hor fun looks like see ham. honestly. :P
(hi kenny! hi gfad! i’m sean, and i’ve eaten at least 12,800 cockles during my 34 years on this earth. really) :D
i was forced to put devil’s chinese-language entry (dunno if it’s mandarin or cantonese or hokkien) through my trusty translator, and this is what i got:
“A strange fate, so that encounter a shrimp-mile cattle live in the grasslands.
Shrimp said to the cow, the envy of his life.
Can look at the rising and moonset, experience seasonal changes,
A butterfly companion bees, flowers and trees can also be heard singing in the breeze. . . . . .
Cattle shrimp, said he is also very envious of his life.
Like the vast blue sea the same day.
Roam free in the sea, can experience fly.
Shensui sea there are countless secret treasures, and the mermaid can also hide and seek.
At this time,
Lala really could not stand the side. . .”
this only proves that you two really are a match made in poetry heaven (or hell?) after all. your verses are both baffling! what’s “shrimp-mile cattle” anyway? :P
oh, i lurrrrrrve the sang har meen here, but u know, there’s an outlet just across the street from here called “soo kee’s son,” (which was apparently established after some family feud? i dunno) and i think the version at the “son’s” place is even better! though they don’t have the paper chicken :D
I’m usually used to being stuffed, not doing the stuffing..
You’re not talking about Legends of the Fall, are you?? I’d guess Shadowlands. Or Remains of the Day.
@jemima: Male bonding. Uhm, yes. Quite. (Sorry, for a minute there I misread the word as quite something else.)
@vimesh: I doubt Hamlet himself had quite this dilemma. Nor did he have plate after plate of sang har meen and beef hor fun to tempt him with, ahem.
@Sean: Trust me, mate – I can differentiate my beef from your see ham. They look quite different, I assure you. For one thing, the beef’s thicker, longer, larger… well, generally beefier. Ahem.
And you did not Google-translate Devil’s post. You did not. Oh you did. Oh dear.
To be fair, it’s actually really poetic in Chinese. Starts off all-romantic, then takes a rather amusing twist towards the end…
As for Soo Kee vs. Soo Kee’s son, well, I guess only another trip will put this feud to rest! Jom pegi?
P.S. Gonna get Devil to translate “shrimp-mile cattle” for you, assuming he doesn’t faint first after reading your version of his post. Heh.
@gfad: “I’m usually used to being stuffed, not doing the stuffing..”
Uhm. I’m not sure if that it’s TMI or just me reading things I’m not supposed to read. Er…
And no cheating now. That’s three guesses. Pick one. Go on. See if you’re lucky. Hehe.
Wot’s TMI? ^_^
Am I even warm with my selections?
*gives Kenny a friendly scowl & exits*
@gfad: TMI = Too Much Ingredients? What with the thick sausage stuffing and all…
As for Sir Hopkins & my fave film of his & your guess(es): Quite warm, yes. Heh. Now, make your FINAL guess…
@jemima: Aww. Why the scowl and why the exit?
Shadowlands. :)
@gfad: Good guess. Would have appealed to the indie film lover in me, plus it had Debra Winger.
But I can be a populist too, thing is. My fave Anthony Hopkins film is The Remains of the Day. Such an understated performance. Chilling (in a non-Hannibal Lecter sorta way) and yet we empathise with him.
And as much as I love Debra Winger and Jodie Foster – they ain’t got nothing on Emma Thompson. (Yup, I’m of the camp that believes your co-actors do affect an actor’s performance; it doesn’t improve it so much as enhance it as both actors play off of each other. Chemistry’s the word.)
Lovely catching up with you guys. A 3 day weekends should be a pre-requisite every 2-3 work months, so that we can laze around and catch up over food more often :P
@unkaleong: A most excellent suggestion, bro! Where do I sign the petition? Hehe.
You finally tried it! YAY!
@aly: Yup! Been meaning to try it for ages – and your blog post on it with Lil Chef was the first post I read about Soo Kee too! Thank you, dear.
And let’s not forget: Yay!
cheee pau kai!! Ahem
i wanna eat!
The beef hor fun is definitely worth calories!
But u can translate Devil’s poem yourself, since u claim to be fluent in Cantonese/mandarin! Hehehe.
Hmmm, if soo Kee is what it takes to get u out of tmn desa, I suppose it’s worth the effort to brave the non-airconditioned rigors of imbi. I was nearby at jln alor tonite after watching ‘unstoppable,’ but I ate nothing and just watched my friend gobble up his unhygenic-looking char siew noodles :D
P.S. Maybe when ‘Thor’ opens next year, u all will have a new favorite Anthony Hopkins performance :P
@A Lil Fat Monkey: Some would be nice right now, wouldn’t it? Ahem.
@keropokman: Calories? What calories? My theory is that when we are eating food that is this good, the calories miraculously drop down to zero so that we can eat more and more.
I shall name this Kenny Mah’s Makan More Theorem. Open to all to write theses on it via real-world experiential learning, i.e. more makan! Hahaha…
@Sean: That’s me for Conversational Chinese lah. Devil’s usage of Chinese is far more chim, er, classical. And poetic.
Beyond me, is that.
You were at Jalan Alor and you ate NOTHING? How very unusual, especially for one who thinks nothing of inhaling half a dozen eggs at a single sitting (and probably goes on to take care of the other half dozen at his next sitting).
Come, come, let’s go explore the wondrous cuisine of the unwashed masses, of the non-airconditioned streets of Phila… er, of Puchong? Kepong? What other far, far away place can you think of? Heh.
P.S. Oh it’d be a new favourite performance alright but Sir Hopkins wouldn’t be the actor I’d be watching out for… *winks*
I SO-MUST-HAVE-THE-BEEF-HOR-FUN!!! *SLURP*
Great catching up with you guys on Deepavali. Thanks so much for organizing this! Hey, we should go give SSS (Soo Son’s Shop) a try. :)
Fantastic pics and description of the food. All the essentials of a food blog. A great food blog. :)
@gina: YOU-SO-MUST! *slurps back*
@Nic: Ooh, I wonder if the Triple S will turn out to be the Triple Threat (to his sire’s original shop, that is.)
Re: Your comments of a food blog – I’m sure I have no idea what you mean, haha.
yes, quite, errrm, interesting imagery. a shrimp speaking to a cow, while butterflies, bees and flowers sing in the background. maybe it’s meant to be a reference to chinese cultural folklore? but i could almost imagine it as a modern disney animated movie! :D
jln alor was a post-movie supper stop (the movie? ‘unstoppable’ … worth watching for chris pines a.k.a. captain kirk, and some decent train-running-wild scenes), but i didn’t feel like eating any chinese food, heheh. though i did have a quarter-bottle of white wine left over from dinner, and managed to finish it at the jln alor stall by pouring it discreetly under the table into a small mineral water bottle, and then pretending to drink mineral water when it was actually wine :D
yay! puchong actually is becoming quite a diversified food hub. there are now at least two (semi-pseudo) german restaurants there that serve pork knuckles, cheap. perhaps we can keep that in mind as an option. otherwise, i could also drag u to the faraway enclave of hartamas :P
p.s. i’m not sure if u’ll be watching out for the actor who plays thor or loki. or perhaps, fandral the brave :D
@Sean: Actually it was an original idea by Devil that I encouraged. Rather than wax lyrical about the dishes directly, more fun to imagine the original contributors to those dishes doing a Bollywood number on each other, Chinese-style, before the court jester (here in the form of the lala) intervenes and gives them all a reality check.
It’s more Inception than anything A Lil Fat Monkey may have asked me to attempt, heh. (Inside joke this, sorry.)
I would watch ‘Unstoppable’ for the same reason but Devil is more enamoured with a treasure-seeking film by Luc Besson (or what I think is a treasure-seeking film, given the poster palette being so similar to ‘The Mummy’ movies).
And ah – the ol’ wine in a mineral water bottle trick. Been awhile since I did that. But for me, it’s usually red wine in a Ribena bottle, haha.
< -- To be continued -->
@Sean: And no matter how much gastronomic variety Puchong may offer – I find it highly unlikely that Devil & I will move our asses that far away just for some grub.
For that matter, our friends assure us (and we believe them) that Subang’s a great place for chow too, but so jauh lah. We are Lazy with the capital L, you see.
(But perhaps one day, for the pork knuckles. The almost-German-former-student in me calls for it.)
Strangely enough, we do hit Hartamas (or at least Desa Sri Hartamas) ever so often. The highways make it easy. Devil, Ladyironchef (our houseguest for the weekend) and I dropped by Haute Food Co. just last Sunday for some lovely coffee and cake.
P.S. Well, I can always get started with Thor before moving down to Loki. Hehe. (Triple Threat Trivia: Chris Pine that you just mentioned, starred (sorta) with Chris Hemsworth in the film ‘Star Trek’ – what other connection do they have?)
hmmm, i just spent the last 30 minutes perusing chinese classical poetry online. very haiku-ish. can’t find any that i really liked (they all seem so emotionally restrained), though this one could be your mantra the next time u’re adrift for weeks away from KL:
“Trees shed leaves, and geese are flying south;
The north wind blows, here on the river it’s cold.
My home is at the bend of the waters of Xiang,
Far beyond the edge of the clouds of Chu.
Travelling, I’ve exhausted my tears for home,
I watch a lone sail at the heavens’ end.
The ferry’s gone – who can I ask where?
Darkness falls beside the level sea.”
ahhh, ‘adele: rise of the mummy.’ i’m giving that as miss for now, since it doesn’t have any u.s. release date yet (as a personal quirk, i try to only watch movies that get screened at some point in american theaters) :D
i had a really good pork knuckle last week at damansara perdana, for only RM45. though i generally shy away from knuckles, since it’s difficult to eat much else if u’re only two people sharing a gigantic knuckle.
but yeah, i know the feeling about wanting to stick to easy-to-reach territory. that’s why i eat in the city on 4 out of 5 weekdays, to keep my time in traffic at a minimum (and yikes! i just heard thunder! arghhh.)
p.s. that’s such an easy question lah. the answer: both their names are ‘chris.’ duh :D
@Sean: Very haiku-ish? Are you saying that classical Chinese poetry is kinda… Japanese? Devil might well faint at that claim.
But then again, aren’t all poetry, regardless of country of origin and/or language, supposed to be just that – poetic?
And I shall be adrift and away from KL sooner than later, aye. *readies to pine for kuala lumpur*
Adele? Isn’t that the English singer songwriter? (I love her first album.) Has she gotten preggers and this is about her rise as a mummy-to-be? Err…
Pork knuckles and thunder. That’s like a dinner date with Thor in Munich. Yay!
P.S. Not quite, but I guess I’ll give you that anyway, since you are correct. Chris & Chris. Hmm, sounds kinda yummy, no?
haiku-ish in feel, if not in structure? even in devil’s poem, the last line springs out of nowhere (ala haiku) and upends everything that came before it.
in fact, here’s my haiku reinterpretation of devil’s poem:
“Shrimp envies cow’s pastoral life
But cow wants to swim in the sea
La-la rolls eyes”
:D
hmmmm, hope u’ll be home by christmas at least, to put up the tree and lights, prepare the eggnog and do all that smooching underneath the mistletoe :P
i’ve only heard ‘chasing pavements’ and nothing else :D
it’s raining already. no pork knuckles for me tonite, but i’m hoping for some mee kolok in the city :P
p.s. chris’s keris sounds yummy too :D
@Sean: Ah, but Devil didn’t write a poem – it’s more of a short story, a fable of sorts. The lala comes on as comic relief after the saccharine exchanges by the would-be bovine-shrimp lovers before they ended up on our table as dinner.
Still, your haiku reinterpretation is pretty much brilliant. Devil’s gonna get a kick out of it when he reads it.
Methinks I’m gonna enjoy the eggnog than the mistletoe. Why do we need to kiss under some pesky piece of shrub when we kiss ALL THE TIME? And we oughta, too.
You should try the rest of Adele’s debut album ’19′ – her voice is rough-hewn divinity, aitelyu!
Mee kolok in the city? Oh wherever could you be heading? There’s a Sarawakian noodle shop in Taman Desa – are you coming over, bro?
P.S. ROFL. Speechless at this one. You totally win.
ouh, i just realized that he didn’t just write that one short story. he has an entire blog that he updates regularly (more frequently than some people too, ahem)!!!
some thoughts while scrolling through his recent entries:
http://bit.ly/bfRRJZ
—> interesting to note the differences between 2004 and 2010. while he remains perennially youthful (grrrrr!), he’s unsmiling and looks uncomfortable in all the 2004 pics. but in 2010, he looks happy and relaxed. wonder what changed in between, heheh :P
http://bit.ly/bb6Zur
—> i had to translate this as well. he says: “I call it happiness bread. Because a cold morning with, I Ikebukuro in Tokyo, eating this fresh-baked bread, accompanied by a cup of hot coffee, is really a very happy feeling! Happiness can be so simple and original, but when I can eat this bread, ah happy?”
such a heartwarming, contemplative contrast to your own entry which used the same photo! heheheh :D
re mistletoe: it’s called spicing up one’s love life. u could also do it through role-playing. dress up as santa and pretend to be leaving him presents underneath the tree when he catches u in the act. i’ll leave the rest of the script to your imagination :P
i’ve actually not been to the sarawakian noodle outlet in tmn desa (‘face to face’ or something, rite). good ar? maybe we could do a taman desa food crawl soon as well, after u get back from your upcoming outstation stint, and i can tick all these places off my list (i’ll bring three or four “mineral water” bottles along, ahem) :D
but no, am going to check out a sarawakian place in the city center today. read about it, errr, probably next week!
@Sean: Bah, humbug. He’s only begun to update it regularly of late. He went on longer spells of non-posting than I have in the past. Hmmph.
Interesting aside: Devil’s blog was featured in the WordPress Top Posts of the Day yesterday, his post on the sang har meen, beef hor fun & lala that we’ve been discussing.
I guess everybody loves… to eat. (Or failing that, reading about others who eat.)
Let’s have a look at Devil’s posts through your eyes:
(i) Agreed. He does lots happier, no? And I bet the happiness didn’t just come from a warm bun, hehe.
(ii) Not my fault he talks (and writes) so much. Not everyone can be a master of brevity like me, you know. Ahem.
Re: Santa Claus, mid-pause: Trust me, if it’s gonna be roleplay, it wouldn’t be Father Christmas we’d be dressing up as… Heh.
Yup! Face to Face! I have not had their kolo mee; I seem to stick to their classic dry House Speciality pan mee with their amazing dried chilli mix concoction. I keep scooping the stuff into my noodles – it’s SO GOOD.
Also, you don’t have to wait – just call me anytime you are in the area, and Devil & I will take you on the grand tour of the Best of Taman Desa. It’ll take us all of, I dunoo, five minutes?
And hooray for “mineral water”! Ahem.
i know what else happens when guys are given the freedom to do as they please; but no need to go into details there *wink wink*
this restoran soo kee looks so much like a local hong kong joint.
mmm, kinda miss that atmosphere…
(and wow, 68 comments!!!)
@mr sekimachihato: Hahaha… I got a feeling I know exactly what you mean also. *wink, wink back*
Restoran Soo Kee serves Cantonese-style fare; that brings it one step closer to a HK joint. Being a Malaysian eating establishment, they use more local ingredients and flavours… but still, Chinese food is always good.
(And maybe this would be the part where I share the fact that Devil prefers to read the comments rather than my posts themselves!)
wah! does that mean thousands of wordpress readers also had to open their google translators before scratching their heads over what a “shrimp-mile cattle” might be? :D
i’ll add him to my google reader feed too. it should be refreshing and enlightening to read the other person’s perspective on some of the same events that u write about :D
oh, but think of how fun christmas-themed role-play might be. if u were santa and he were the reindeer rudolph, u could compliment his nose (or any other prominent anatomical feature) and ask him to use it to guide your sleigh :P
just realized that kolo mee actually bears quite a strong resemblance to your tuaran mee. hmmmmm. ermm, i think my german colleague would love that pan mee u’ve described. she’s an addict, she goes twice a week for the famous one at jln tunku abdul rahman for lunch.
i’ve also never been to kuchai entrepreneurs park, which is kinda halfway between your home and mine. so sad hor :P
@Sean: Uhm, no. It means these WordPress readers can read Chinese?
And there are more Chinese-speakers than English-speakers in the world, dunchaknow that? Devil has a far bigger potential audience than either of us do. Suddenly I feel so dwarfed, hehe.
Is there anyway you can get all those Google apps to work in unison, automatically? Like, the feed comes in, gets translated into English for you? May require some Devil-ish voodoo, that it would, too.
“Guide your sleigh”? Oh, you are a dangerous one, you are. Does your wit get sharper the closer to the Yuletide season we get? Certainly seems so.
AS for Tuaran Mee vs. Kolo Mee: One’s Sabahan & wet, the other’s Sarawakian and dry. Very different, mate.
Go on, introduce your German colleague to me lah. I bet I’d love her. She may kill me once I try out my very, very rusty Deutsch though…
But there’s nothing in Kuchai, is there? You might as well just come straight to Taman Desa. Heh.
aiya, but those chinese-speakers are so fragmented, rite. the mandarin-speaking folks can’t understand the foochow-speaking folks, etc.
maybe u both could combine writing forces. whenever u’re away, devil could just google-translate his entries and post them in english on your blog. and vice versa. halve the work, double the productivity. who says sean isn’t the very soul of efficiency? :D
wah, that has the makings of a cool riddle. what’s sabahan and wet, and what’s sarawakian and dry? i bet some of the answers from other people might surprise us :P
hmmmm, this ‘pan mee plan’ (from here on, codenamed PMP) might very well work as a ploy to introduce her to you. she’ll definitely be curious to try the pan mee. will see if we can make it happen before she does her annual balik kampung for christmas :D
@Sean: Not fragmented, clan-nish, maybe. But Mandarin’s the default/standard that most Chinese use, so that’s sorta safe these days.
In KL, Cantonese the standard though, but folks can generally understand each other across the Mando-Canto-Hokkieno divide. (Hakka and Foochow are beyond my limited linguistic/interpretation prowess though.)
The Devil for Beginners? Life Wears Prada? Uhm, somehow methinks that isn’t gonna work, Soul-of-Efficiency Sean.
And let’s be fair here – I bet there’s an answer to what Sarawakian AND wet too. Heh.
Let’s PMP this festive Fräulein then! Woo-hoo!