The Digital Awakening

My Guardian Angel

Peter Tan — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:12:55 +0000

We have been together for eleven years. Wuan is still as caring as she was when we first met, and much more. Many times, I ask myself what I have done to deserve such a wonderful woman. She ensures that all my needs are looked after. She wakes up at 5 am in the morning, every morning, to cook my lunch before she goes off to work. She watches over what I eat like a hawk to keep my declining renal health in check.

We can talk about anything and everything. Our interests are similar. We seldom have disagreements, almost never. She knows what I have in mind even before the words leave my lips. She spurs me on whenever I begin to lose hope. She gives me hope. She inspires me with her optimism. She is that spurt of energy that carries me through the last mile. With her, I have no worries. Life is a bliss. She completes me. She is all that is white and pure. She must be an angel. She is!

MY GUARDIAN ANGEL

There were times when I wished
I could hold you close and tell you
how much my life has changed
because you cared enough
to show me how beautiful life still is

You cared enough to tell me
that I still have one true friend
who accepts me for what I am
and believing that nothing is impossible
if I dare to take the first bold step

I want to tell you that I appreciate
all that you have done for me
the times that we spent talking
and the times that you kept my heart warm
on those cold lonely nights

Thanks for being there always
for listening and understanding
you are truly one of a kind
and I cannot help but wonder
if you are my guardian angel in disguise.

Circa 2001

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Authentic Hakka Nyong Teu Fu

Peter Tan — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:21:04 +0000

Hometown Yong Tow Foo at Ampang Point.

If there is anything about Mum’s cooking that I miss most now, it is her nyong teu fu. That is yong tau foo in Hakka. The ones she made were as authentic as they could be. I have yet to find one done they way she did them. I have eaten what were claimed to be Hakka yong tau foo but they do not taste the same, not even close. For the longest time, I have been hankering for those like Mum’s.

It is a blessing that Mum’s second sister, my Jee Ee, uses a similar recipe. Whenever I am in Penang, I would visit her at her home in Ayer Itam. She is my cousin Ah Huat’s mother. I knew she knows the recipe but it just never crossed my mind to ask her, until yesterday.

I was going through some photographs when I came across some of yong tau foo that Wuan and I had when we went to Ampang Point recently. Coincidentally, I had also blogged about liking bitter gourd yong tau foo just before that. Some temptations are simply too difficult to resist. I picked up the phone and called Jee Ee and asked her for the recipe.

Just like Mum, Jee Ee does not quantify ingredients by weight. Two of this, half a catty of that, about twenty grains of this – I had a hard time following her. In the end, I only have a rough idea of how much each ingredient should be. Most importantly, I got an inkling of what the two secret spices are. These two spices made their yong tau foo unique in aroma.

One of these weekends, I am going to get Wuan to experiment with the recipe and see if we can recreate the flavour of Mum and Jee Ee’s Hakka nyong teu fu. It has been such a long time I have sunk my teeth into some. In the mean time, I will just have to make do with the Ampang yong tau foo from Restoran Foong Foong. They serve the best yong tau foo I have eaten so far, that is apart from the nyong teu fu that Mum used to make.

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Deep Fried Bitter Gourd At Passions Of Kerala Penang

Peter Tan — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:51:16 +0000

Deep fried bitter gourd – Passions of Kerala, New World Park, Penang.

How can something bitter be delicious? That was what I used to think about bitter gourd until I was initiated into eating bitter gourd omelette many years ago. I then progressed to drinking bitter gourd and pork ribs soup. That was less palatable but Mum said that it was cooling for the body. I used to run around under the sun and that was supposed to help.

Much later when Wuan and I were dating, we used to share a cup of bitter gourd and green apple juice whenever we were at Jusco Supermarket. This combination made the drink bitter and sour at the same time. Still we drank like it was nectar from heaven as bitter gourd was believed to be detoxifying as well. I have also grown to love bitter gourd yong tau foo, preferably deep fried and served with some gravy instead of in soup.

The one dish that keeps me wanting more is the deep fried bitter gourd from Passions of Kerala in Penang. It was love at first bite for me. Whenever we ate there, it was a must have dish. The batter that coated the thinly sliced bitter gourd gave it crispness and aroma. It was delicious whether eaten as is or with banana leaf rice. I have not found another place that makes it as nice as at Passions of Kerala. No prize for guessing correctly where I will head to the next time I am in Penang. Bitter can be delicious. You better believe it!

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When Did Mid-Life Pass Me By?

Peter Tan — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:10:44 +0000

I am in my forties. That realisation just hit me although I am four years into it already. I have never dreamt of this day, dreamt of living to this age. Forty was so far in the future when I was in my teenage years. Forty still seemed far away when I was in my twenties. I never thought about it when I was in the thirties. Now here I am!

Where have all the years gone to, three decades of them? It felt like such a short while ago when I was a teenager living life dangerously. Mid-life has whizzed past without me noticing. Despite determining to do it, I did not live life fully in the twenties and thirties. I feel that if I do not live life fully now, I may never know what it really is like. Most of all, I owe it to Wuan to make our lives together meaningful.

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I Want To Smack Telekom Malaysia

Peter Tan — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:23:25 +0000

On February 1, Wuan and I went to TMpoint at Ampang Point to do several things. First was to cancel my phone account in Penang, second to disconnect Wuan’s phone here, third to apply for a phone here under my name and get the OKU entitlement (waiver of monthly rental), cancel Wuan’s Streamyx account and finally apply for a Streamyx 1.0Mbps OKU Package for RM66/month. The service counter was on the upper floor and Wuan had to go up by herself to do the necessary while I waited at the ground floor.

The counter staff told Wuan that we do not need to go through the hassles of cancelling and opening accounts. We could apply for the discount for Wuan’s existing phone account by filling up some forms, submitting our ICs, my Kad Kenal Diri OKU and our marriage certificate. At the same time, we could apply for an upgrade to Wuan’s Streamyx the same way. We did not have the last item with us, so the staff gave us an email address and fax number for us to send the marriage certificate to which we duly did when we got back home.

Nothing happened after a few days’ wait. I spoke to three persons at Telekom Malaysia’s call centre but they could not do anything. Wuan and I went to TMPoint again to enquire on February 11. I waited in the car as we could not find a parking space. The same staff who served Wuan previously attended to her again. He said he did not receive the marriage certificate and worst of all, he could not locate the forms that we submitted. So we started the application process all over again.

On March 3, I Twittered about the predicament of having to wait for so long and the Streamyx account still not upgraded. Pierce of blog.kuchingfest.com got @TMCorp to respond to my complaint. In fact Pierce had given me the email address of the CEO of TMNet earlier but I told him I did not want to escalate the issue so high up yet. Perhaps, I should have, to save myself from so much grief. I provided details to @TMCorp via direct message and someone called Wuan to check the next day. I had expected the matter to be resolved by yesterday looking at how long our applications were not attended to. Nothing happened.

After nearly 1 month from the second time we submitted the application and still did not get an upgrade, I got impatient and Twittered about it again today. Pierce picked up the matter and directed it to En. Rahimi Jalaluddin from Business Development at TM Consumer. En. Rahimi gave me his contacts via Facebook. I called to provide him with the details which he promised to look into and get back to me by tomorrow. Hopefully, it will be resolved soonest possible. Thanks Pierce. I owe you one. Pierce also put up an entry on this issue here. It is a pity that I need to go so high up to get attention to my complaint. What if it is someone else who do not know somebody who knows somebody high up at TM? How is he going to get his issue resolved.

Update: March 13, 2010
The technician finally came to install the modem at 8pm. Everything seems to be running fine now. Thanks to En. Rahimi of TM Consumer and Pierce for expediting the process. Much appreciated.

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