Sept 17 - 27
1) It has not sunk in yet that in literally a week, I will be continuing my medical studies in Penang. I have only just gotten used to life back in Malaysia, with my family by my side, and with our usual routines back home. All of this seems to have whizzed me by. My mom has been incredible in making me feel right at home, by making plenty of soups and desserts (agar-agar and kuih) that she perfected since the lockdown began. At the very least, I get to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival (i.e. the Mooncake festival) with my family before leaving for Penang. After that, it will be back to clinical practice until my (touchwood) graduation a year and a half later.
2) I had earlier anticipated that I would have much more free time back home, since I had around a month to spare after returning from my Masters in the UK. However, circumstances have kept me busy, and I instead found myself travelling around getting stuff done. I am being deliberately vague here as I rather not share news until it is official. Nevertheless, that has not stopped me from going out with some of my friends, and even meeting up for a game of badminton at the stadium.
3) I shall be even busier next week, with all the packing up to do, as well as the actual moving in to my new accommodation. Thankfully, we managed to find a nice apartment in Berjaya Court - a mere 1.5km from my medical school. I've visited the area when I went to Penang two weeks ago, and it promises to be very convenient and ideal for daily commute to the hospital. As it is, I will be busy anyway with mentally (and physically!) preparing myself for the next rotation (i.e. psychiatry) when I return to clinical medicine. Hopefully, the next postings will be just as fruitful and exciting as my previous ones were.
4) This year has been a really crazy year, with the pandemic changing everyone's lives in some way. Here's hoping that the rest of the year will compensate for this, with good news and better outlook for people worldwide. And on that positive (if rather cheesy) note, I'll end my blog post here. Thanks very much for visiting as always, and have a great one. Cheers!
A much anticipated meet-up with many of my childhood friends!
(l-r: Wei Yue, Nicholas, Chung Hou, Jonathan, Eve, Nathaniel, Cheang Kok Wah, Kho Tat Ping, David, and myself)
Lunch with my good friends at the Ipoh Sports Complex, right after a game of badminton :)
(l-r: Paul, Subesh, Myself, Joseph)
Trying a new restaurant called "Mama Noodle Cafe"
The restaurant specialises in a type of noodle called 老鼠粉 ("rat tail noodles"), so-called because the shape of the noodles is long and tapered much like a rat's tail. As you can see, there are many versions, from "dry" (without soup) or "wet" (with soup) to curry options,
A nice photo with my parents - behind us is the Kinta River, one of the main branches of the Perak River (itself the second longest river in Peninsular Malaysia after Pahang River).
My mom's sticky rice with mango (a traditional Thai dessert made with glutinous rice, mango, and coconut milk)
My mom showing me how she makes her famous kuih seri muka (lit. pretty face cake) - a traditional two-layered dessert with steamed glutinous rice forming the bottom half and a green custard layer made with pandan juice (hence the green colour).
The completed kuih seri muka :)
Celebrating the successful cake making session with a photo!
Most of us became friends while in secondary school, while some of us go all the way back to primary school. It was really nice meeting up with everyone after such a long time! :)
Nick recommended the black pepper chicken chop rice - not bad indeed!
Today my mom bought back some snow skin mooncakes, so-called because of their snowy white "skin", made from frozen glutinous rice
Unlike traditional mooncakes, snow skin mooncakes are not baked but instead eaten cold. Here we have three different fillings for the mooncake
Another pastry with red bean filling that I have no idea how to translate haha soz...
For lunch, my dad and I tried this chilli pan mee (served with soup), at a restaurant in Bercham
The stall served some really nice pot stickers too (also known as pan-fried dumplings)
On this day, my mom decided that we had ate out enough times and that she wanted to prepare a nice home-cooked meal for us. And this is the end result!
My mom made noodles with minced pork and mushrooms, plus a healthy side of leafy greens, and a big bowl of fish-ball soup
A very wholesome meal with the whole family <3
Not everyone may be familiar with the actual name of this dish - 月光河 (lit: moonlit river). The noodles are supposed to resemble the shimmering river while the egg yolk represents the brightly lit full moon. Stirring in the runny egg yolk into the piping hot noodles gives the noodles a really smooth and slightly creamy texture :)
This weekend, we visited the Coco Cafe - located inside Aeon Mall Ipoh Klebang
This would be a traditional breakfast (which we have decided to get for tea XD)
Basically it's just kaya and butter toast, with two half-boiled eggs, and cups of hot teh tarik (milk tea) and coffee
As you can see, everyone is all smiles when the food arrives!
Smiley face created using two egg tarts and a kaya puff
This evening, my mum and I went for a reunion/gathering with my relatives at a famous Chinese restaurant called East Ocean Seafood Restaurant, located somewhere in Menglembu.
(the Chinese characters translate to "mountain peach wine")
My mom and I <3
The way food is served in Chinese-style restaurants is that communal dishes are brought out one by one from the kitchen. The starter is usually a cold dish, followed by various meats, veggies, and seafoods, followed by either a rice or noodle dish, and finally a dessert to finish off. This is the first dish, consisting of fried yam with minced meat
Crispy roast duck served atop some lovely steamed buns
The crispy duck skin perfectly counters the silky smooth and tender duck meat
"Marinated herbal drunken prawns" - essentially prawns marinated in a herbal broth and cooked in wine before serving. The prawns were really fresh, and the broth itself was exploding with flavor from the strong herbs
Duck meat salad - I am not familiar with the exact ingredients in this, but all I know is it i) had duck meat; and ii) tasted delicious - so I just dug in!
Broccoli with enoki mushrooms
Congee with roast duck meat (the third entry to use duck meat in the dish)
For dessert, we had a thick version of sweet red bean soup - a delightful way to wrap up the evening
Wild boar curry with rice is incredible
Some of the smallest bananas I have seen haha (my pinky for comparison)
Nasi lemak - surely one of if not the most representative dish of my country :)
Tonight, mom made some milk tea for me <3
Lunch today was banana leaf rice with my dad
Four mooncakes :)
The Chinese characters on this mooncake read "伍仁" referring to the filling of five different types of nuts and seeds, held together with maltose syrup. The most commonly used nuts and seeds include walnuts, pumpkins, almonds, peanuts, and sesame seeds.
A rare "twin" banana
As you can see, the bananas are really joined together
Today my parents decided to give this new restaurant, called Hyderabad Recipe, a try
We had their chicken dum biryani, egg biryani, mutton biryani, and specialty chicken curry
I absolutely loved the fragrant biryani, paired with their unbelievably tender mutton!
We finally got round to trying the A&W outlet here in Ipoh. Usually it's packed to the brim with people...
Had to go for their famous root beer float as well as their coney dogs
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