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Oft misunderstood soul. Shy, reserved, likes to stay in the background, but inevitably mistaken as not shy, extrovert etc. Originally meant to be a culinary blog, but in due course discovered man does not live on cake alone..hence the waffle.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Welcom Home, Narco Nic and Mrs Baumgartner

The highlight of last week was the return of the Baumgartners. He used to work in an unnamed Swiss Company here in KL, where he led life to the fullest. Scuba diving every 2nd weekend, partying till he dropped, and ironically, it was in KL that love between him and his pakistani wife blossomed.

Now based in Kobe, where the famed beef comes from, they came "home" for a holiday, the 2nd time since they left our shores for the land of the rising sun. I guess KL as a holiday destination for expats or people earning USD, is a cheap destination. The night they arrived, it was quite late by the time they settled down etc, so we had a quick drink at Q Ba, in the Westin, next to the Marriott where they were staying. The Q Ba is really filled with an older, but happening, well heeled crowd, who clearly can afford to pay the exorbitant amount for drinks. (forgot camera that night, so no pics)

Day 2, we brought them to Bijan for dinner. Bijan, pronounced Bi Jan as in Janakuasa, not bee jhan in the french way, and it simply means sesame seed in Malay. Seeing as to how Japanese, and Western food were out of the question, I thought some traditional Malay food would go down well with their palates. The food, I have to say, without bias, (the owners are my friends) is rather good. Makes you eat lots of rice. Corkage is exorbitant though, at RM50. You are probably better off just buying their wines.






An array of local delicacies, in a non mamak setting. Rendang, Curry Pineapple with Prawns, Duck in Dark Soya Sauce, Chicken in Sambal and Petai. The teh tarik ice cream was rather yummy; have been trying to get the recipe off the proprietoress for ages now, but its a jealously guarded secret.

The next day, the couple left for Tanjung Jara, Terengganu, and stayed on for the next 5 days, returning only on Friday. I had arranged for their old friends to meet up for drinks, at his favourite haunt, La Bodega Lounge....sadly, it must have been something in the air, only 2 people showed up for drinks. A bottle of Anejo Cuban Rum, several whiskies and a bottle of champagne later, we were in high spirits. Turned out to be a great night, thanks in a large way to the wonderful staff at Labods.



That's me doing some dialogue from some play


The following night, was their last night here, and they very kindly bought dinner at Thai restaurant in Bangsar, Lanna. Godma was there to catch up, and we brought the kids as well to say hallo.



It was great to see you guys, do come home again soon.

Friday, May 19, 2006

Grease Is The Word


Of course, when I first heard that Grease was coming to town, I was completedly indifferent, as I had seen a production in Melbourne before that was err.... put it this way, it gives some of our local crap a run for its money. (eg the recent Pygmalion, etc). But when the members of the distinguished Cheese Platter mooted the idea, my heart kinda fluttered a little, because, to get a "date" with these people is almost as impossible as meeting John Travolta or Olivia. So, the idea of spending an evening with them and others, did seem like a pleasant alternative to Thursday night shopping in Tesco. And with that affirmative answer, in retrospect, I see the wings on my dollar notes flapping.

After blowing RM170 on tickets, dinner had to be a semi spartan affair, in the KLCC food courts. I usually enter KLCC from the Lorong Kuda end, and know exactly where to park and which escalator to take, when I go for the MPO. This time, because I was running late, I took the nearest entrance, which was off Jln P.Ramlee, and I must have spent 10 minutes going around the deepest basement looking for a familiar spot. Of course, what I didn't realise was that I usually parked on a different level, so nothing looked familiar. Anyway, despite being almost last at the food court, I finished my food first, as I was ravenously hungry.

The anticipation built up as we traipsed through the underpass in KLCC leading towards the KL Convention Centre. I discoverd that "Queen of Sorr" is soooo easily embarrased. Just do a jig or sing to her in public and she'll flee you like you have the bubonic plague. It was with great delight, therefore, to embarrass her by suddenly bursting into song and dance in that KLCC underpass. The others, namely Duke Onesto, KO3, Princess Pariah, Principessa Oliva, Lady Gray watched in mild amusement as the Queen turned a darker shade of scarlet.

The foyer area of the Plenary hall was Arctic conditions, I half expected so see some escaped penguins from neighbouring Aquaria. Anyway, we trooped in, after numerous loo breaks, to our seats which were like 3 kms from the stage. The plenary hall is humoungous. Not a suitable venue for musicals, because its too huge.

Anyway, from the start, the speakers were experiencing some kind of delay, ie, front speakers and rear speakers not in sync, which was terrible, for it resulted in some kinda shockingly annoying echo. Didn't help when the broads came on in their high pitched falsettos. Lady Gray who was sitting next to me was equally irritated. I had to resist the urge to stand up midway and go and report the matter. But fortunately, miraculously, almost, toward the end of THOSE MAGIC CHANGES, they rectified the mike. (I think it was then). Having ruined the first 20 minutes, you'd have expected a marked improvement. Mooning was good. Freddy My Love was good. Greased Lightning was crap. Completely so no oooomph. Might be suitable for a 80s disco. (as in a disco for 80 year olds). The first half was only an hour. We spent the entire intermission bitching about how bad it was. KO3 even fell asleep, wasting a good RM85.

But the worse was yet to come. The 2nd half did nothing to redeem itself, except for Beauty School Drop Out, which was a new take, coz the teen angel was sung by this black woman, gospel style, which was excellent. The highlight of the entire show. Hopeless Devoted to you was HOPELESS. One of my favourite songs, It's Raining On Prom Night, wasn't featured. Rizzo's There Are Worse Things I could Do, well, true, there were worse songs that were sung, so it wasnt the worst. The "I got chills, in my direction", was prophetic, as it sent chills down our spine. I am amazed at how bad the quality of singing was.

Well, if you are reading this, and are contemplating going for the musical, PERISH all thought. You will derive more entertainment with your money just by flapping it around in front of your face.
The stage at the Plenary Hall.



This is us posing for a groupie pic after the show. Forgot to do the thumbs down sign.


PS: I've started blogging about gym again on http://fatboybakesatgym.blogpsot.com

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

When Old Friends Remarry

He is a widower, she a widow. Both have 2 boys. He's Malaysian, she Singaporean. Now what are the odds of these two people hooking up? Oh well, as I said before, a measure of how close a friend is, is how far you are willing to travel to attend their wedding. Since this one was in Singapore, it was kinda a no brainer, that I had to be there. Only hitch was, the wedding dinner, which was to be at Raffles Hotel, was on Sunday night, whereas the church wedding and luncheon on Saturday morning. Of course, being the good Christians that we are, (cough choke), I guess our presence at the church ceremony is more important than being seen at the Raffles. So, it was a painful choice I had to make. Staying on for the dinner would mean staying an additional TWO nights. Which will make it 3 nights in Singapore, which is a long stay. Very Long.

The ceremony was held in the Chapel of the Trinity Theological College, in Upper Bukit Timah Road. I figured that everything in Singapore is within 10 minutes of each other, by cab, so took a leisurely breakfast (near where I was squatting, courtesy of good friend, in UE 2, Clemenceau Ave), trying to recover somewhat from a night out with friends the night before. (nothing that is bloggable here).

The ceremony is singularly one of the nicest, and most memorable I've attended thus far. The bride was accompanied by her two sons, down the aisle, and she stopped halfway. The groom started crooning "My One and Only Love". Now, usually I would cringe, and find it exceedingly tacky that a groom would do this, but in this particular case, I found it exceedingly moving instead. It helped that the groom's voice wasn't like William Hung's. Then he walked down the aisle, and greeted the bride, rested her from her two boys, and walked back up the aisle towards the altar. I love ceremonies when the couple kneel. They knelt at some point. My ideal wedding is that of Maria to Captain Von Trapp, in the Salzburg Cathedral. Long aisle, beautiful church, kneel, stand, walk, kneel.....

I digress. And the presentations....now, I've heard some pretty awful presentations at weddings, but I have to say, this was a talented crew on board. The soloist who played the piano at the same time, and the duet-ists who gave a pretty good rendition of "Household of Faith", a difficult duet actually.


A lovely wedding. God bless you both.







The younger crowd.