As Suanie Sees It

Last Saturday, KY invited me to tag along to one of his food reviews. Since he can be a blur case sometimes, we ended up at the Canton-i in 1Utama, instead of the new branch at Midvalley Gardens where the review was supposed to take place. So, apologies to the others for making you and your tummies wait, heh.

The others were Sunny and Sid from Big Boys Oven and Kong from PRkraft. Our host was Jackie, special assistant to the CEO who was a most friendly and amiable lady. She got us a thirst-quencher of a dragon-fruit juice each, then proceeded to order a LOT of food for us hungry lot.

She was also a bit worried that we were taking too much time snapping photos of the food, because some of the dishes are best served hot. Heh. Don’t worry, we are used to eating not-so-piping-hot food.

Clockwise: egg tarts, uh I don’t remember what this is, piggy buns with red bean filling, roasted bbq pork pastry

The egg tarts (RM 5) were very delicious! I really loved them, and I got some back for my mom to try. Maybe the reason they are so fantastic is because they contain lard. Hah! As always, the pig makes all the difference. The wheat buns with pomelo seeds (I think) was something I’ve never had before. I’m still unsure about it. Didn’t try the piggy buns with red bean paste (RM 6) that day but I had some when I was at Dragon-i with my family the next day. There’s a photo of that later. Didn’t try the roast BBQ pork pastry (RM 5) either.

Clockwise: deep-fried cuttlefish pancake, prawn wonton noodles, stewed pork rib wonton noodles, carp fish balls and lettuce congee

The deep-fried cuttlefish pancake (RM 13) was fantastic! KY and I couldn’t get enough of it, heh. Their signature prawn wonton noodles (RM 11.80) and Japanese stewed pork rib wonton noodles (RM 12.80) were nice; the noodles were light and springy, and the broth for the former was good. The carp fish balls congee (RM 11.80) is a Canton-i speciality. It’s apparently a very popular dish in Hong Kong, and they import the carp from HKG regularly. It’s definitely something new to me, and I guess it’s an acquired taste thing, as the smell, taste and texture is rather strong.

Clockwise: roast siu yok and char siew, marinated cuttlefish with bean curd, veal ribs in black pepper sauce, roast goose

Sid loved the siu yok and char siew (RM 24.80), being an avid char siew fan. The taste and texture of the char siew was akin to the Seremban char siew in Aman Suria. As for the siu yok, it was all right but I’d prefer the one in Pudu, heh. The roast goose (RM 32 for a regular portion, RM 68 for half and RM 132 for the whole goose) was a hit. What’s the difference between roast goose and roast duck, ar? I don’t like roasted duck but the goose was fine. The steamed American veal ribs with black pepper sauce (RM 13) was tender and tasty. I found the marinated cuttlefish to be a bit tough, but apparently that’s how it’s consumed.

Clockwise: shark fin dumpling in superior soup, deep-fried durian fritters, milk with ginger sauce, chee cheong fun with yao char gwai

The shark’s fin dumpling in superior soup (RM 15) was my 2nd favourite (the first being the egg tarts). I wouldn’t order shark’s fin by myself, but if it’s in front of me I’d eat it. The soup was superior indeed - light, clear, tasty… just how I like it. I didn’t try to durian fritters (RM8) but I saw the cooks peeling off the durian flesh from the seed, so I know that it’s fresh. Sid liked it, I think. The double boiled fresh milk with ginger sauce (RM8) had a tad too much ginger for my taste, so I couldn’t finish my portion. They use buffalo milk; I’m not sure of the significance. The chee cheong fun with yao char gwai (RM 7.80) is not something I’d recommend. Not that it was bad or anything, just that I didn’t find it to be special. There are plenty of other chee cheong fun options for you to choose from anyway.

Egg yolk in custard bun, and me with my favourite - the egg tart!

That’s Sid’s hands covered in bun and melted egg yolk. I am a fan of this type of buns, so I’ll definitely get it when I go to Canton-i next.

There were a couple of other dishes that I didn’t take photos of, nor try. You can imagine how much food we ate! We also had milk tea, made with evaporated milk imported from Holland. Refreshing.

Happy foodies

Canton-i is in 1U and The Gardens in Midvalley. I kind of want to go back again, heh.

If you’ve always wondered what wailing banshees sound like, feel free to drop by my place come Ryan’s shower time. Ryan sometimes cries when he does not get what he wants. Ryan sometimes whines when he’s told to do something that he does not want to do. Ryan ALWAYS screams when he has to go get himself cleaned. I have no doubt that our neighbours are well-acquainted with the loud howls and whimpers that come with his loathing of the shower two times a day.

I do not know what to make of this. It is not as if the kid has to do it himself, being privileged enough to have a kakak to wash him as if he was an after-dinner dirty dish. But mention to him, “Come Ryan, shower time!”, he turns into the most impossible lil’ tyke. To be precise, a most impossible kicking, yelling, screaming, crying, whining, pleading, sobbing lil’ tyke.

I related all this to Kim. She thought about it for a while, then suggested that I tell Ryan a story about boys who don’t shower. Basically adapting Johnny The Vegetarian Shark to Johnny The Dirty Shark, or something along the lines of. I thought it was a great idea, as I honestly didn’t think of it before. I decided to try it on Ryan that very night.

Once upon a time, there was a shark who lived in the ocean. His name was Johnny, and he has many friends because he is a vegetarian shark. That means he does not eat meat or fish, only fruits and vegetables. That’s why he has many friends who are fish, because they are not afraid of him. One day Johnny decided that he did not want to shower any more. So he stopped showering, and soon he became dirty and smelly. Then all his friends started to avoid him because they did not want to be friends with a dirty and smelly shark. Johnny became very sad and he cried. After a while, he realised that his friends were very important to him, and he wanted them back. So he decided to shower again. Then all his friends came back and Johnny was a happy clean shark again.

“Oh,” Ryan said slowly… “Now I want a second story!”
“But did you understand Ah Yi’s story just now? The shark didn’t shower, and he became dirty and smelly, then no one wants to play with him!”
“Yah. Now I want story about Winnie The Pooh!”
” -_-” Goodnight, bye.”

I bet my mom would know what to do. My mother is possibly the most fantastic storyteller I know. Sure, being a teacher and surrounded by kids all her working life helped, but I myself never had a teacher who could tell a tale the way my mom does. She makes up stories on the fly, she improvises on Pixar’s works, she uses different voices for different characters, she fuels your imagination with the most descriptive situations, sights and sounds. Like magic. It is little wonder that all kids love her. Ryan positively adores her, and if he could worship the ground that she walks on, he would.

One of my strongest childhood memories, as is my sisters’ is the Peter and Jane Ladybird series. It is very fundamental English — Peter, Jane, this is Peter, this is Jane, I like Peter, I like Jane, Jane likes Peter, Peter likes Jane and so on. Of course the difficulty and vocabulary increases with each book, and I read them well into high school. If you have kids, I suggest that you get the series for your children. They don’t really come cheap, but I think it’s a great way to introduce words and grammar to your kids. But make sure that you spend enough time to read aloud to them, else they’d just be yet another book with words and pictures.

My sister had purchased the entire Peter and Jane set for Ryan, and she and my mom have started reading it to him. So the other day, Ryan hauled up one of the books and brought it to me. “Can you tell me a story please, Ah Yi?” I took the book from his hands, we both laid down on my bed propped up by a stack of pillows and I began,

“It was a sunny day… Peter was still in bed… Mummy came in to wake Peter up… Wake up Peter, she said, the sun is up. You should be out in the sun. Peter woke up and asked, Is Jane up yet? No, said Mummy, I am going to get her to wake up now. Peter got out of his bed and went downstairs… bla bla bla you see the Mummy opened the window hor? You see the sun or not? What is this? What is Peter doing? What is the colour of his T-shirt? Where is Jane? Is her Mummy going to wake her up? Got sun hor.. they should go out and play hor….”

Me being one of the most impatient people I know, managed till about page 12 or so. By this time, Peter and Jane had already been up and about, gone to play with boats with their friends, rescued a stray toy boat with the help of a man with a real boat, went swimming and jumping into the pool, walked past a row of shops, walked up a hill and met a farmer who gave them an apple each, and reached their friends’ house which was a farm up the hill. Seriously, how many activities can a couple of children manage in a single day without adult supervision?

So I closed the book and proclaimed, “THE END!” Ryan looked at me, puzzled. He quietly took the book from my hand and flipped to where I’d stopped reading. Then he turned the page over…

“AH YI, GOT SOME MORE!!!”
“Where got.. no lah no more already, they went home already.”
“Got, got! Here, here!”
“Errr…”

At that moment, the maid knocked on my door for it was Ryan’s dinner time. Hurrah!

What? I think I’m an awesome auntie already, okay.

Ryan loves stories. He’s a bright kid, yes but even the brightest 3 year old is unable to comprehend words and sentences that form stories, so that means he loves other people reading him stories. I don’t remember when his parents started reading him bedtime stories, but it’s an almost everyday thing now where he would insist a story with his Milo before drifting off to sleep. Sometimes he would try to squeeze two or more stories from you, but I am usually too smart to fall for that, hah!

You see, I love stories as well. I’m sure my mother told us sisters stories when we were younger, but somehow I don’t remember them. Maybe the memories will pop up later, as they often do.

Like I said, I love stories. I just don’t like telling them. To be precise, I don’t like telling stories to kids. It is not easy (for me) to think of tales that are safe and not scary, punctuated with morals, ethics and good values. Sure, I love to tell stories to my friends and have them tell it to me in return, but I doubt Ryan nor his parents would appreciate stories such as, “My friend was driving along the highway, and suddenly he saw a female with long hair and white dress standing by the side of the road…”

Once or twice a week I’d tell Ryan a bedtime story, usually when his parents are busy, sick or just when I find myself with enough patience and goodwill to wield a tale or two. The conversation goes like this:

“Ah yi, can you tell me a story please?”
“Okay. What story do you want?”
“Uhmm…. I want…. a story about… shark!”
“Okay… shark.. hmmm. Once upon a time….”
(Ryan grabs his Milo, jumps into bed, prepares to suckle from the bottle and waits expectantly)

The last two stories I told him had sharks for leading characters, as per his request. The first one was about Johnny The Shark who lives alone in a nice house in the ocean. Johnny The Shark has many friends — fish, octopus, starfish, seahorse… Johnny The Shark also happens to be a vegetarian. That means he doesn’t eat meat or fish; he only eats fruits and vegetables. That is why he has so many fish friends, because he doesn’t eat them for dinner.

One day, Johnny The Shark decides to visit his parents, who live on the other side of the ocean. He packed a basket filled with fruits and vegetables for his parents, and went on his way. Ding dong! he rang the doorbell. His mother opened the door and was glad to see him! They hugged, and Mama Shark called out to Papa Shark who was upstairs. Papa Shark was also very happy to see his son. Johnny The Shark then presented his gift basket filled with fruits and vegetables to his parents. Mama Shark looked at it and said, “Uhmmm.. but son, we are sharks. We eat meat and fish. We do not eat fruits and vegetables.” Johnny The Shark replied, “Yes mom, but I am a vegetarian! That means I do not eat meat or fish! My best friend is a fish and I do not want to eat him. Instead, I eat apples, oranges, broccoli… they are nutritious and good for me too!” Then Papa Shark got very angry and he said, “No son! We are sharks! We eat meat and fish! We do not eat vegetables! Take this basket away!” Johnny The Shark was very sad but he did not want to make his father angrier. So he took the basket away and hid it in a corner in the kitchen.

The next day, Papa Shark was very sick. He could not get out of bed at all. Mama Shark and Johnny The Shark were very worried. So they called a doctor to see what was wrong with Papa Shark. Doctor Shark came to the house, and he inspected Papa Shark for a while. Then he said, “I know what is wrong with you! You have been eating too much meat, and you do not eat fruits and vegetables at all! That is not good!” Papa Shark weakly replied, “But… we are sharks… we eat meat… we do not eat fruits and vegetables…” “That is true,” Doctor Shark replied, “but it is important to have a balanced diet! You cannot just eat meat all the time! You must eat fruits and vegetables as well!”

Then Johnny The Shark remembered his basket filled with fruits and vegetables. He rushed to the kitchen where he had hidden the basket, and took out an apple. He gave it to his father and said, “Please dad, please just try this… it’s an apple and it’s very good for you!” So Papa Shark took the apple and ate it.

The next day, Papa Shark felt a lot better. He was not as sick as before, and he could get out of his bed without feeling ill! He called Johnny The Shark over and he said, “I am sorry son, for scolding you the other day. Now I understand we must always try something new!” And Mama Shark was very happy, and Johnny The Shark was very happy.

Rather lame, I know. Should Ryan remember this story when he grows up, I hope he wouldn’t think too poorly of his auntie who related such a story with weird nutritional and diet information to him. As for now, he is still a kid so his response was, “Papa Shark so naughty, he didn’t want to eat fruits and vegetable! I eat fruits and vegetables, I am healthy, yah?”

So that worked.

Link.

Yesterday Lainie asked me to teman her to the MacFair at Pavilion. Turns out, she was carrying a lot of cash in hand and didn’t want to go out alone. Then I found out exactly how much cash in hand…

That’s just half of it…

Now she is the proud owner of a MacBook pro…

Another one bites the Apple dust

Then I showed her how awesome my Panasonic Lumix TZ-15’s zoom capability is…

From the same angle as the photo before this, only 10x zoom

She was majorly impressed. Doesn’t take a lot of effort to impress people these days

Just for showing off purposes, here’s another example of how truly awesome the zoom is…

View of KL Tower from Zouk KL

Same spot, 10x zoom

Ta-dahhh!