Maybe it's the flu I am having, or it could possibly be that my short term memory has gone all askew. It seems like just now Ayu's sunny face brightened up my bluesy Monday when she showed up at the frontdoor, the house really feels empty without her infectious guffaw, the guest room looked especially dull without Ayu's eclectic sense(of decorum). The house is quieter without her calling my name when something exciting came up over the net. Oh, a little grasshopper told me that the best way to entertain a Penangite is to feed and take that person shopping. And knowing how the internet is akin to a life support system to this brainiac(in a good way), I surrendered my loyal laptop for her recreational use. So all that plan to fingerpaint, visit art galleries, museums and stuff was just a plan, lah.
So, that afternoon, she came and we sat down over Angus O'Neil Rootbeer and chatted. Aishah took some time to warm up. She practically ordered everybody to follow her to the study, and showed off how internet-savvy she is. Sapa la ajar anakku jadi eksi borak ni?
We went down to the playground to let Aishah mingle with the neighbourhood kids. Before long, CA came home, to pick us up to grab a lil din dins. We had planned to take Ayu to this Indonesian Sate place at Jalan Gelenggang, Thomson, sekali tutup. That's ok, takde rezeki. So we headed to Adam Road, to let Ayu sample the Nasi Lemak. Alas, the whole food square was closed too. Hmm, maybe Ayu was jinxed. And then it struck me, tis the season when Hungry Ghosts roam the land. So devotees were busy making offerings. Many makan holes closed early.
So we had no choice but to go to the touristy satay place at Lau Pa Sat. Ayu will post the pictures of the food we ate. One thing I can confirm though, people of the southmost regions of the peninsula, can NOT cook Paadprik. Good thing the chicken wings and Mee Pok were superb as usual. I would not say the same about the satay from Gerai No 8. It used to be fantastic, but the regular pakcik and makcik were not the ones operating the stall. What a shame.
Next we drove to Woodlands to meet Ely's parents and to pick up the goodies Ely sent me. I called Ely's kampung several times for directions, I really thought I spoke to Ely's mom, so there I was, calling Tety, Ely's sister (hallo Tety!!!) "cik" in total wonder how young Ely's mom sounded, and how exactly like Ely! We got there with the biggest tub of ice cream I could find at the store, and greeted by Ely's Bapak, Cik Ghani, Tety and two nieces. We were quickly ushered to the oh-so-cosy living room where a spread of goodies were already waiting. There were Pisang Goreng Amerika(well they were Ely's bananas from SF) and roti boyan, complete with sambal tumis. Aishah had fallen asleep right after dinner so Anwar minded her in the car. Rugi besar tak naik...Ely's mom was away at mengaji class, she must have missed her geng gebang after a month away. Cik Ghani and Ely interchangably gave me the recipe of roti boyan, and a nifty trick to make em round pastries with instant prata too. We chatted like recently reunited relatives, if I had forgotten I was married and had my husband and child waiting downstairs, I would have stayed overnite dengan penuh tak malunya dan tak sedar dirinya. I had a great time gomoy-ing Tety's girls and kissed cute lil Gegirl(the cat) before I had to leave, not without reaffirming with Cik Ghani that we were henceforth sedara (which only means I can come and makan-makan again right, Tety?). Tety and I shared a giant hug before I left. Tak dapat peluk Ely, peluk Tety pun okay, to which Cik Ghani said, bau sama. Muahaha.
We skipped downstairs with goodie bags in our hands, like two lil girls trick-or-treatin', even CA had an animated look on his face when he saw the bagfuls of See's Candies. If anybody had a digicam then you would be able to see how giddy we were. The drive home was bizzarely blase.
We started late the next day, as we chatted a little past midnite under the covers. A lil like what I would do with my own sisters when they come over. Ayu had one of the laptops with her, so she must have slept much later. I woke up feeling a little woozy and heavy, and the phone rang, Ely called reprimanding, well sorta, us for being in communicado after getting our candies. Well,that's how you keep us kids quiet right? Ely had only 6 minutes, so we chatted like 2 MRTs running concurrently, on parallel tracks, racing our I love yous and thank yous.
Ayu woke up shortly after, and I made a simple breakfast of teh tarik and chee cheong fun with sauteed chicken bits and shitake mushroom.
After that we both had our laptops on, she was supposed to book her ticket home, while multitasking of course-she's been internet deprived for days, and I checked emails. And then off to the mall nearest to my house to buy the inlaws' some butterfly kueh and curry puffs before we headed towards Tampines. Not before we gobbled some Old Chang Kee goodies ourselves, washed down with Jolli Bean Soybean Milk.
When we got there, MIL nagged me for being late. Muahahaha, notty notty me. First thing first, I opened the gold box of truffles to be kenduri-ed with the people I love. One bite and I was quickly taken to another realm which felt like having multiple org***s on a roller coaster ride.
We were at Tampines because I needed MIL to mind Aishah while Ayu and I go out gallivanting. Well, actually, to go and get Ayu her ticket home and to meet Rabi'ah for dinner. I thought we were going to manage to slip out without being forcefed by darling MIL. No such luck. And how beautiful was her kari ikan, sambal belacan, ikan selar goreng, kerisi goreng and fried baby bokchoy. Ayu will post pics. Drooool. Sungguh tak menyesal.
We then proceeded to Tampines Mall on foot, guilt conscious. Sesampainya di sana, we ooh aah's over the latest fashion-not for me though, but for our slim fashionista, lah. Too bad we were in a hurry. Ayu scored a nice sequinned clutch. I sniggered devilishly. Ely is right, I am a bad influence when it comes to shopping and eating. Off towards the interchange we went. We saw Rabi'ah from a distance and I panicked, I did not get her anything. The nearest shop was Swensen's so quickly I thought, one nice choclit coated ice cream cone would do it, lah. But then I remembered, Rabi'ah was fasting. Luckily there were nice tins of mooncakes on display so I got her the Vegetarian Lotus one. Dinner was at a Middle Eastern place called "Samar". We got seats that looked like the inside of a harem, with cushions, lanterns and carpets. The faint smell of sandalwood matches the dizzying splendour of little lights coming out of those swaying lanterns. We had flatbreads, baba ghannouj, tabouli, lamb shank, roast chicken, lamb racks between us. The drinks were equally exotic, Kamaradeen, Karkadeh and Lime granita.
Well, I am a picky foodie after all, I would say the ambience was superb but the food, let's just say, I won't go there again lah. The experience in the company of the two wonderful girls made up for the shortcomings, I also liked the idea of being able to lunjur kaki after wrestling to cut a strangely liat lamb shank which was supposed to be slow cooked. Oh please don't let me start a long restaurant review.
Balik-balik, we lepak-ed in Ayu's room before I gave up cause my old age overcame the better of me. I am pretty sure Ayu spend several hours on the net before she too succumbed to the calling of Lala-land.
The next day, we breakfasted on Kueh Teow Tom Yam and Tau Sar Pau, and chatted with each other after. Check this out, we were seating next to each other in my tv room, exchanging messages over YM. Kak Tenah and Ely soon joined us. So, aren't we confirmed internet addicts?
I had to start the last meal I was planning to sumbat Ayu before she left. So our lunch at teatime(breakfast was at lunch,kantoi la, Ayu and I share the same biological clock) was chicken roasted with apples and grapes, lemony eggplant salad, wild mushroom soup, fruity saffron rice, Ajwain flatbreads and mint dip, washed down with San Benadetto with bubbles. We were too full to wash the dishes, I simply closed the door of my kitchen, had a couple of Godivas with Ayu, chatted a wee bit while watching my anak-anak ikan.
And then it was time for Ayu to go and meet a friend, last minute before she took off. We dropped her off at Raffles City, I held back tears as I told myself that this is not going to be the last time I see her. She had promised to take Aishah on a spaceship to see the moon one day after all. Until we meet again, my dear Ayu, arrivederci!
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