Confessions of a City Slicker

I called Perodua’s service center to have the rear seatbelts installed in my daughter. Knowing that the new regulation will be enfored effective next year, there is bound to be a long waiting list.

I just didn’t realize exactly how long it is. The earliest appointment I can get is FEBRUARY 3RD 2010 AT 3.00 PM!

By 2010, I don’t even know if I have upgraded to a newer, spiffier daughter already. Hey, one can dream, right

Anyways, I was lucky to be able to get through in less than half an hour. I know someone who tried to call them at around 4.00 pm and it was after 6.00 pm before he managed to get someone on the line. What I did was keep redialling the only one of their three lines that has a busy signal. No use calling any of the other lines because they will go voicemail after a while and you would have wasted your money.

Meanwhile, according to the girl I talked to, it’s still OK to have passengers in your backseat even if you don’t have seat belts there yet. You will only be issued a summons if you don’t have your rear seatbelts after 2011.

Let there be:

Hope in every heart
Love in every home
Peace in every land
Neighbors hand in hand
A surprise in every stocking
A gift in every tree

THIS IS CHRISTMAS TO ME

The above is the lyrics from one of the most meaningful Christmas songs that the choir sang. I could have been more original, but I think that the words put everything eloquently enough, LOL.

Merry Christmas to all and may Jesus bring hope of better times to come, considering the current situation in the world these days.

This year the Nativity scene in my church is placed outdoors with Jeruselam as a backdrop. Beautiful, isn’t it?

Here’s the scenario.

Turkey’s all thawed out and ready to be preped. You make sure the bird is all cleaned, even give it a good rub with sea salt. You insert the stuffing and close off the cavity.

Now you’re ready for the good part - preparing the concoction that the bird will soak in for the next few days until it is roasted.

But…but…but…

Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Where on earth did you put that precious recipe?

That’s the problem when you only take out something for reference once a year.

You know you put it in a folder with all your choir song sheets, but for the love of God, you can’t remember where you put that folder. And since the choir has started giving out copies of songs to be sang at a particular occassion, keeping the folder around has become redundant. You think it’s in your car, but since it’s after midnight, it’s too late to go check it out.

Your bird is all ready and sitting in the baking dish. What do you do?

Go check out your blog, that’s what.

I remember I made a post about it last year, therefore I know that my precious recipe is archived.

Otherwise, I’m screwed and there will be no big bird for the big Christmas party coming in a few days.

These pics are just too cute to not share.

Mee has found a comfortable between the stacks of things under our coffee table to snuggle in. Isn’t she cute?

It’s wonderful having a pet again. Even if it is only part time

The opening dance for WBDD will consist of over 20 dancers. Conny will start teaching the dance routine to her Advanced classes and from there, she will choose those who qualify for the opening dance.

Gosh! I really want to be involved. But with so many students in the Advanced classes, there is only like a 50-50 chance of me getting selected.

This is one routine that I must practice my ass off for to get right.

The dancers will not be performing on stage but amongst the audience this time.

But…here’s the funny thing, though. Somehow, I don’t feel natural performing. I just love to dance and would seize any opportunity to do that. But I feel ackward when performing. It’s not the many pairs of eyes that are going to be on me or the pressure to not screw up.

It just doesn’t feel natural for me.

Yet, I really like being on stage. Funny huh?

Remember some time ago there was a scandal involving a very prominent HK heartthrob and a few of his also famous GFs where, urm…, pictures of said people in compromising positions were leaked all over the internet?

It got so bad that said heartthrob dared not set foot in HK soil without police protection because the triads were out to get him.

I didn’t really follow the progress at that time because I’m not really into the whole HK showbiz thing. While other people were busy Googling up those pictures, I only saw what little that were forwarded to me by friends. Those were really tame.

Recently I came across a blog that publishes those photos. From what I saw, man, those HK chicks should really do something about their lawns. While I have nothing against women who prefer to go au naturel, maybe because their guys like it that way, but puh-leeze lah, take some time to ensure your lawn is well manicured, especially if you’ve got lalang growing left, right and center :p

At least the Malaysian chicks featured there have the decency to go for a bikini wax. There was one with a Brazilian.

Goes to show the girls in these parts are not so deprived after all, huh?

The hunger was gnawing at me as I drove home from the gym. Suddenly, the prospect of going home to instant noodles doesn’t seem so appealing anymore.

So what will it be?

Char hor fun?
Char koay teow?
Hokkien mee?
Beef koay teow?

Then it caught my attention.

I was waiting for the lights to go green at the junction of Cantonment Road and Burmah Road when I saw it - this little unassuming cafe at the opposite corner. Other than the big banner in front advertising Francis Western Food, there is nothing else that tells you what this cafe has to offer.

I have heard about this place before and been wanting to try it out. Just that I have also heard about the long waiting time there, so I passed out several opportunities to eat there.

Decision made, I quickly cut into the right lane as soon as the lights were green. As luck would have it, there is a strategic parking spot waiting for me - not too far to walk and brightly lit.

Alexandra Wong wrote about this place in The Star once. She mentioned the stern looking owner, Francis, who looks like a very strict headmaster that you only dare to speak to him in a meek, polite voice. She’s right. When I saw him, I can’t help but feel a little intimidated by his hard stare.

There were menus on all the tables so one does not have to stand in front of the frying pan while deciding what to order. Dishes were categorized according to their meat - poultry, fish, beef/lamb and side dishes.

There were standard cooking methods for each meat category - baked, deep fried, cordon bleu, bacon wrapped and cheese baked, if I remember correctly.

I think Lillian picked up the bacon wrapped baking method from him. It’s basically wrapping your meat with bacon strips so that they don’t get overcooked in the oven. I tried it out once but it was a disaster. My chicken ended up undercooked, but the bacon strips did lend a wonderful smoky flavor to the meat.

Anyway, seeing how much I love my cheese, of course I ordered the cheesy pork chop priced at RM15.00. I really wanted the sirloin steak, but at RM22.00, the price was double that of Little Chef’s. Maybe one of these days when my budget can bear it, I’ll go try it. Little Chef never got my medium rare steak right.

The place was already full when I arrived so I expected to be there for a while. Surprisingly, I saw Francis popped my pork chop into the oven in no time. My food arrived soon enough and it was a big portion, almost comparable with Mizzi.

Look at all those yummy treasures hidden under the cheese. There’s mushrooms, a generous helping of shredded ham, tomato, and even a pineapple ring that I only discovered halfway through my meal.

The pork chop itself is rather tasteless, but whatever sauce Francis used, sure is good. It’s tastes vaguely familiar, yet I can’t really put my finger on it. I also didn’t quite like that the cheese was not chewy enough, so Francis probably didn’t use mozzarella cheese. Still, it’s better than Little Chef who only uses a piece of sandwich cheese. The other accompaniments that comes with the meal, now they were superb!

The garlic bread was soft on the inside, yet crispy on the outside. I noticed that they put an aluminum foil on top before popping them into the oven. Guess that stops it from being overcooked.

The side salad, that I didn’t touch but the potatoes exude a heavenly buttery aroma, like when I make my own mashed potatoes. Add the parsley to that and it’s just that perfect kind of combo.

I was the last customer to leave. Checking my watch, I noticed that it was just a little after 9.00 pm. I didn’t look at the banner to see what time they closed. Since Francis was not too busy by then, I managed to chat with him a little. Like what Alexandra discovered, he’s actually quite a nice man.

I asked him which one of the dishes he considers his specialty but he can’t name one. However, there are different recommended dishes each day. Note they are “recommended” only. No special prices if you order them.

So yeah, I will definitely stop by again, hopefully next time, it will be for a date with the sirloin steak.

Oh yeah, there was a really lovey dovey couple at the table next to mine doing the “I feed you one bite, you feed me one bite” thing. Thing is, they couldn’t be more different than night and day. He looks like an engineer, while she was sitting there like a lang chia poh, shaking her legs non stop.

Love really is blind, after all

Well, I did it!

I attended the first WBDD committee meeting yesterday and somehow committed myself to producing their promotional video. How the heck did that happen? And I thought all I will be doing are ushering duties during the night.

I’ll have to discuss with Conny what how she wants it done. If it’s a simple matter of taking bits and pieces of existing videos and putting them together for a 30 second commercial, that shouldn’t be a problem with the tools I have. But if it’s something that requires shooting additional footage and stuff like that, weeeeeellllll, that’s gonna be a big problem because I know nothing about this sort of thing.

Keeping my fingers crossed that the finished product doesn’t have “AMATEUR” stamped all over it LOL.

But, I’m not gonna worry about all that yet. I always believe in crossing that proverbial bridge when I get to it.

It’s a sad thing what Conny said during the meeting, that most people who volunteer to help out only want the excuse to parade around in a beautiful costume on that night. They’re not really interested in what needs to be done before the big night.

They can sure use all the help that they can get, especially with finding sponsors. I already have a few parties in mind to approach, but I won’t be able to do anything yet until I get the sponsors proposal.

Meanwhile, thank you, Eleen for giving me the push to take it up. You always believe that I can move mountains if I put my mind to it. Muaks!

Conny will be holding the first World Belly Dance Day committee meeting on Sunday. I’m really interested to join the committee this year. I’m sure there is something I can contribute.

Setting up the whole thing can mean a lot of work but at the same time, I believe that it can be so much fun, especially if it is something that one is really passionate about.

Speaking of passion, I think I’ve found mine in belly dance. I mean, I’ve joined other dance classes before like latin, jazz and all that, but none of them can hold my attention for as belly dance. Hey, has it been three years already?

Anyway, back to the subject at hand, while a part of me wants to contribute something for WBDD, at the same time, I also want to be able to sit down and enjoy the food and performances as well.

If I have to play a part in the committee like being an usher and all that, I’ll be busy the whole night and don’t get to watch everything. Well, I think I’ll get to watch but I won’t get to enjoy it.

Oh decisions, decisions…

Being able to learn new things while at the same time, expanding my network of contacts versus enjoying a night of belly dancing and good food.

What shall it be?????

This refers to the affliction where you want to buy anything and everything that catches your eye.

I’m lucky that I only get a really major attack of this affliction like once a year. Around this time, actually

Maybe it’s because the clothes that are on sale during the Christmas season are always the best compared to other times of the year. So it is during this period that I replenish my wardrobe. It is also imperative that I do it before the season ends and CNY rolls around because by then, every time I go to the shopping malls, all I see is red.

Red is not exactly my most fave of colors.

But I also count myself lucky because once I decide that I have bought everything I need, the affliction goes away. I can go wandering around the shopping malls the whole day and not buy a single thing after that.

Other than that, there are the odd times that I get the Chau Bak Jiu syndrome, like when Revlon has a something new or I happen to come across a piece of clothing here and there that catches my eye.

And oh, as an avid belly dancer, I do have the tendency to snap up hip scarves when I see one that is unusual. Conny has some new stock in her studio recently and I already chose two of them for myself.

My gym bag is already pretty heavy with all the hip scarves that I carry around in it. Looks like I’m gonna have to make other arrangements for them or else I won’t have room in there for anything else LOL.

Well, it looks like I’m almost over the Chau Bak Jiu syndrome now, thank God! Otherwise, I’ll be eating grass come end of the month :p