The Tragedy of the Number "48"

As I commented in my friend's blog, for the past 7 or 8 years, I have been buying clothes only from Kamdar (usually the one in BJ Complex). They have this brand of cotton trousers, Icon, that featured my size (currently 48").

But on a recent visit there, I was dismayed to find that the biggest size in that range is now only 46", instead of 56", which it once had. And the only two colors with size 46" were dark blue (eeww... like factory pants) and biege (which I already have 3 pairs).

Anyway, the pair that I had on that day was actually originally 44" in size, but it "grew" with me (that's what I like about 100% cotton pants, apart from its durability, light-weight and breathability), so I decided to try out a few pairs that were 44" in size (hopefully, they will stretch to my size after some time).

The color that I really wanted to get was this - kind of teak brown (it looks different in the picture though):


But it was a very tight squeeze. I felt like a bak-chang (glutinous rice dumpling with pork). Notice how it hugs to my thighs, and makes my hip looks comparatively wider. What a disappointment...

By the way, before you get the wrong idea: I only took the pictures as comparison, to help decide which pair(s) to buy. I'm not some camera-wielding fitting-room pervert.

Then I tried on the dark brown pair - I didn't want to get another pair of dark brown, but I would have to if it was the best choice among the worst:


Same size with the previous pair - 44" - but notice that the cutting is slightly more generous in this pair.

Then finally, my second choice in color: greenish/bluish gray (I think it goes well with that blue shirt I had on at that time).


Therein lies the mystery of the Icon trousers: the same size again, 44", but this one has the most generous cutting.

Well, what can I say...

So I bought the greenish-bluish gray pair.

***

I am not a jeans guy... but on that same day, I saw a pair of tan-colored jeans, and I fell in love with the color (not the jeans; I consider jeans to be too heavy for comfort). I would have bought it for the sake of the color, but I couldn't find my size. :-(

But, no, it wasn't because the jeans were too small...

The only size available in that color is 50", so, unless I grow another two inches around my girth, I don't qualify to wear them. =.=

***

In the same day, I was twice disappointed by trousers size: first, I was too big (the Icon trousers max out at 46"), and then I was too small (those tan-colored jeans only come in 50"). I mean, what's wrong with being 48"? T.T

Dumbo: Gourmet Extraordinaire - #2: Tiger biting Pig

I was sauntering along Carnarvon Street waiting for my wife to finish shopping for books, and I came across an eatery (I shall reveal the name later), whose branch in Bayan Baru I had patronized before, so I decided to have a bite of something there.

I had always wondered about a breakfast dish that they regularly feature, called, literally, "tiger biting pig" (虎咬猪). When I first saw this entry on the menu, the image that jumped into my mind was as shown below:

Poor piggy.

By the way, I drew the image using GIMP Portable. It is packed with quite a lot of features, considering that it is a free software.

Anyway, I only go to their Bayan Baru branch for lunch, so I never had the occasion to try this suggestively-named delicacy...

But there I was, in Carnarvon Street, and the time was around 10.30am (they serve breakfast till 11am), and I was feeling like having something heartier than that bowl of Hokkien Mee I had earlier for the first breakfast. Now, time for the second breakfast (yeah, Samwise Gamgee is one of my favorite heroes of all time).

So I sat down and ordered the "Tiger biting Pig", along with a cup of soy milk.

When the thing came, I couldn't help but laughed at my fanciful imagination prior to that moment of revelation. Here's what the dish looks like:


Yeap, a piece of stewed pork (plus some pickled lettuce or something) served in mantou (Chinese steamed bun).

Anyway, to be fair, it tasted good. I mean, I've always loved pork stew, so, that is totally up my alley. And although I don't really like pickles, in this dish, the slightly sour pickles actually served to offset the oiliness of the pork stew and made the thing enjoyable to the last bite.

Hmm. That would make me the human who was biting the tiger that was biting the pig...

Or, if you consider the fact that I was born in the year of the Tiger, it would be the human born in the tiger year biting the tiger that was biting the pig...

That's too complicated. >.<

By and by the way, that eatery was Mommy Wang's. They deliver lunch from 11am to 3pm. For RM5, you get rice, a main dish (chicken, pork, etc.), half a stewed egg, and three vegetable side dishes. And if your total order is below RM50, they charge an additional 5% for delivery. Quite reasonable IMHO. But I forgot their phone numbers... =.=

Oh, in case it wasn't obvious: the place is extremely non-halal, of course. ;-p

Dumbo: Gourmet Extraordinaire - #1: The Sad State of KR Roasters

Today, I decided that in this blog, Dumbo will also play the part of a gourmet extraordinaire, and enjoy the fun of criticizing other people's cooking. :-D

The first thing that shall come under my knife - literally in both senses - is Kenny Roger's Roasters. Pictured below is the roasted lamb that I had the other day.


Now, before I continue, I must say that I loved KR Roasters (note the past tense). I mean, it was the place where my girlfriend (now wife) and I had many dates in those innocent days. I loved (again, note the past tense) the roasted chicken, I loved the garden pasta salad, I loved the mashed potato, and above all, I loved (ditto) the muffin. O! The muffin! I should even say, it was the muffin. There was no other!

But, now, how low it has sunken!

Last month, a bunch of colleague and I went to the KR Roasters in Qb mall, and one of the colleagues - who is a fine cook and baker herself - ended up reprimanding the cook. And I would not blame her, for, on that occasion, we found the food to be of the sad states as described below:

1) The pasta in the garden pasta salad was practically raw (I mean, yeah, salad is supposed to be raw vegetables, but NOT the salad!), and soggy from being soaked in some broth or something;

2) Practically all the muffins were uncooked in the middle;

3) And the chicken was forgettable.

So we vowed never to return there for any more meals.

Then, I made the mistake of going to another KR Roasters last week - the one in BJC.

I tried their new roasted lamb, with - again - garden pasta salad, potato salad and savory rice. Well, what a disappointment I was in for! This time, I found:

1) First of all, they practically forgot that the lamb was roasting in the oven, and the poor thing spent a whole 20 minutes in the oven! It came to me slightly singed, and, of course, ghastly overcooked;

2) The gravy was VERY, very salty; the only other discernible taste is the black pepper;

3) Again! The pasta! Uncooked and soggy!

4) And the savory rice was far from being savory - it was almost tasteless;

5) Potato salad... well, it tasted like potato. Which says something about the dressing...

6) And the muffin was on the verge of being slightly undercooked... it was edible, but I missed the fluffiness that it used to boast.

Come on! KR Roasters! Shape up! Clean up your acts!

I mean, don't hire just anybody as your cook! Get someone who is really qualified! Get someone who knows how to bake! Get someone who knows how to cook pasta! Get a REAL cook!

Hire all those school-leavers all you want, but don't let them in the kitchen! (except for mopping the kitchen floor and doing the dishes, that is.)

I long to fall in love with KR Roasters again... *sigh*

Dumbo's Motivational Wallpapers: Part 3

Today, while traveling along Greenlane, I noticed the official residences of the High Court Justice and the Southwest District D.O.; the compounds of both mansions were spick-and-span.

Then, just another one or two kilometers down the road, I came along the Penang Home for the Infirm and Aged. The grass in the field has overgrown.

And I became very sad.

I don't know much about government business, but I believe the maintenance costs of the compounds of the former two mansions must be coming from government coffer (they are, after all, "official residences" of high-ranking government officials).

But I'm sure the High Court Justice and the D.O. can well afford their own gardeners. So why doesn't the government pay for the basic upkeeps of such welfare places as the Penang Home, and let the high-ranking government officials pay for the maintenance of their own homes? After all, who is the poor and needy in this case?

An Elephant in a China Shop

Today, I changed the caption under the title of this blog to:

"An elephant in a china shop is an over-cautious elephant. There are so many beautiful things around him, and he knows that he is clumsy, so he has always moved through life a wee bit too gingerly, to a point where it seems he is afraid even to live to the fullest. Well, that, hopefully, is going to change soon."

Honestly, when I chose "An Elephant in a China Shop" as the title of my blog, I had no idea why I did that. All that talk about "writing a post about what an elephant is doing is a china shop" was just a bunch of nonsense I wrote at that time for not knowing what else to write.

But today, it suddenly dawned on me that, indeed, I had thus far been an elephant in a china shop: a clumsy being, surrounded by so many delicate things (past achievements, present possessions, etc.), he is afraid to venture forth again, fearing that he would destroy those beautiful temporal things surrounding him.

Well, that, hopefully, is going to change.

Yes, it is going to change.

***

But first, I need to buy another desk for all the things I am going to do...

Dumbo's Motivational Wallpapers: Part 2

My lazy nature is showing... it's been more than ten days since I wrote in this blog.

So, here, I'm using this Dumbo's Motivational Wallpaper to motivate myself to write more in this blog.

"Make yourself heard!"

Never mind that it's just a bunch of nonsense!

Never mind that you make a jerk out of yourself!

Be loud and obnoxious rather than be forgotten!

Hear me!!!

...

I think I'm kind of cut out to be a politician, eh? ;-p

My "Happily Ever After"

This is another comic strip loosely inspired by another poem, 天窗 (skylight), by 郑愁予.

It might worth noting that the strip contains the only complete Chinese poem that I wrote, which was especially written as the vehicle of this story. I've written a dozen English poems to date (one of which has been shared in this blog), which is a curious fact because Chinese is my first language, and the one that I think I can safely say I am better at.

***

(Note: to read the strip, start from top right, go from right to left; please open it in a separate window or tab to read the inlaid texts more clearly.)

The three lines of verses that open the strip in the top right corner, which I borrowed from "skylight", are roughly translated as below:

Ever since I had the skylight installed
it is like stripping away the frost that covered my body
I am the spring in the northern land that cannot be contained

And the story goes like this:

Panel 1:
"Boring years,
are like gray uniforms that are daily laundered..."

Panel 2:
No, I should change that to "days"...
"Boring days,
are like gray uniforms that are daily laundered..."

Panel 3:
"... gray uniforms... in the closet..."
No... "are circulated in and out of the half-opened closet..."

Panel 4:
"... circulated..."
Circulated, then what?
Ah, I've got it...
"circulating in and out... washed by the ever-flowing time... aging, fading..."

Panel 5:
SMACK!!

Panel 6:
(Young lady) "You have been pacing up and down in front of my house the whole morning, what is your malintent?"

Panel 7:
(Young man) "That hurts! What did you do that for?"

Panel 8:
(Young man) "I was just working out a poem! I wasn't even bothering you!"

Panel 9:
(Young lady) "You were writing a poem?"

Panel 10:
(Young lady) "Hahaha... haha... hahahahaha.... you? A poet? ... hahahaha... hahaha..."

Panel 11:
Hahaha
Hahaha
Hahaha

Panel 12:
Boring days
are like gray uniforms that are daily laundered
circulating in and out of the half-opened closet
helplessly washed by the ever-flowing time;
Before it grows old and fade
pin a flower to its lapel...

The days of the gray uniform with a flower on its lapel
are like the daily laundered
gray uniforms with flowers on their lapels
in the half-opened closet
washed by the ever-flowing time;
Who cares if it fades?
As long as we are happy...

(Old man) "Poached eggs in clear soup again?"
(His wife) "Isn't it your favorite? You even wrote a poem about it..."

***

That, to me, is happily ever after. :-)