I'm crazy

Recently there's study says taking and sharing photo of foods is a sign of mental illness. Citation needed. Too lazy to look for the source but it's somewhere on the internet la.

So here, nasi lemak on omelette. Yeah, I like to do this. When I am lazy I just get a RM1 nasi lemak and cook an egg or two. And then taking a photo. And then eating. And then digesting. And then disgusting. 

I am crazy a bit lately.

Cravings

I love food, especially on Friday because my name starts with F, food starts with F, Friday starts with F, see?

Back in Ann Arbor, I used to crave for Kroger's two dollars fish sandwich. Right after Friday class is my groceries shopping time in Kroger.

Just $2 for a cheap nice fish fillet with cheese in the bun, and tartar sauce!

So after I unpacked two handful of groceries bags, settled down, get a cup of coffee, or soda, then devoured the sandwich! My typical relaxed Friday afternoon.

Fast forward >>>

My craving now is McD Value Meal when I am not having lunch with friends.

Get a value meal, get a Sprite, no ice. Back home, get ice, get orange, get blender, pchewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, the authentic Orange McFizz is ready!

Then all ready to be devoured! 

Little things, happy Fridays.

I wish I'm back in USA again

Sometimes.

I love Malaysia. I love Melaka. But sometimes, just sometimes, I wish I'm back in USA, or Ann Arbor to be specific, because there are some great things there. Foods!

Yeah yeah I know people call Malaysia as food paradise but in the U S and A there are many awesome foods not available here.

One. Arizona Tea.

Cheap 99cents drinks. Best for drinking while doing exam revisions. Many flovors but the the Green Tea with Honey and Ginseng still the best! 

How I usually consume Arizona Green Tea? I decide the house is not suitable to study, so I walk to Dude or Shapiro Library, buy a drink, then read a bit, drink a lot, read a little bit more, then drink again. Repeat process seven times. Then the drink finished. Stomach very full. Cannot study anymore. Then pack up and go back home. So in the end I can never done revision and I have full stomach.

Two. Jimmy John's

$4.50 subs. Best is Totally Tuna :) Full flavored creamy tuna with crunchy cucumber and lettuce, juicy tomato and the best thing ever alfalfa sprouts wrapped in the best tasting bread! Omnomnomnom. Subway has no chance beating this! Maybe this is the best food ever created. 

Good for lunch, good for dinner, good for breakfast, good for supper, good for anytime, even in dream it tastes good. 

Three. Angelo's 

Angelo's in Ann Arbor is the favorite weekend brunch place :)

Simply amazing waking up in the morning taking bus then taking a stroll with friends to enjoy the hearty breakfast. Good food great atmosphere.

Four. McDonald's. Yes McDonald's. You read this correctly, McDonald's.

Yes. McDonald's. And I'm lovin' it.

Why?

Because they have iced coffee, vanilla or hazelnut flavored, and it's good coffee, and it's just $2.69

So instead of Coke I'll have iced coffee every time. And in the States they have dollar menu so I can have chicken burger or beef burger or TWO apple pies for $1.00! Imagine I can get all for just $5.69. One iced coffee, one chicken burger, one beef burger plus two apple pies. What I can get for RM5.69 back here in Malaysia? hmm, nothing much.

So look at what you can get for $5.69 in McDonald's

So many good foods. So many other great foods actually. Now I wish I'm back to Ann Arbor, not sometimes, but most of the times. 

lalala...I'm hungry.

When I'm hungry...

When I'm hungry, I eat.

Other than all the typical American foods [spaghetti burger ham fries steak] which can be really unhealthy and make you feel bad, I also eat [cereals apple banana carrot spinach] , which can be really healthy and make you feel good.

But in between bad and good food, there's something special. It's called exotic food. It's not exotic somewhere but it's exotic here.

First, it's chili.
Americans hate hot and spicy chili and they deny the existance of chili because their chili sauce is totally hot-less. And you see NO chili sauce in ALL (almost) restaurants because they have tomato ketchup and BBQ sauce only.
So where's the real chili sauce? It only exists in asian restaurants and the famous one is Sriracha 'rooster' chili sauce!

The hottest sauce :)
And they are really anti chili...even KFC has NO Hot & Spicy choice...

Then, it's roti canai
I miss roti canai so much until I buy this onion roti paratha from Jolin Tsai's Grocery shop.
roti paratha = roti prata = roti canai
Just pan fry it and a simple roti bawang is done :) at least it's not that expensive.
"Roti bawang + 1 teh tarik!" So mamak
Yeah, and this is the teh tarik...


Next, instant noodle
I rarely eat instant noodle here because those 20cents Nissin ramen is just like Maggi mee, the more I eat, the worse it tastes. But there's one instant noodle that I love: Nong Shum Shin Ramyum

hot and spicy Korean noodle...but it costs 89cents...oh never mind, satisfaction is more important

Last and not least
bun or pau. char siew pau, kaya pau, whatever pau, there's no people selling steamed fresh pau here but there's frozen pau here.

tried so many yet none is good...

oh there's much more exotic foods I want!!! but I'm in an exotic land...

last and very last...and the best
3in1 Aik Cheong Coffee, available $5.79 @ China market

the aroma of home...
the coffee that I smell everytime I going back home...
the coffee that made just 2km off my home...
the coffee of my cup...

I have green fingers

Today I received a certificate from Mayor for making his city flowerful.


Oh it was the first community work I've involved since I came here and usually I'm not keen on doing community works but flower + green = my favorites so I signed up at the second I received an email about the event!

And I never knew my friends were joining until the day before the event. Great:)

The tasks were easy...

First we got a green T-shirt and dispatched to designated location.
I love green!

Second we listened the instructions from the gardener...and introduced to petunia and another flower which it's not aunt Petunia's favorite flower so I forget its name...

So this is petunia


Third we dig holes and put in the plants...not blossomed like the photo shown above...but soon ;)

Finally we want to make the flowers happy by giving them cocoa aka chocolate...they love chocolate as much as we do! It was aromatic chocolaty smells in the flower beds when we poured in cocoa shell mulch.
and all done!

Hmmm...then we walked back to the gathering point and had drinks and pizzas...Instead of using
the city council used this
to put the iced drinks...wah...

So next time if you passed by here....

And happily ever after!

Another Amazing Adventure @ America

This will be a very very long post...to save your time, just read the summary

Summary: I went to Washington DC, Philadelphia, UPenn, New Jersey, and Pittsburgh with a friend. Then I came back. The end.

Long story: A journey that confirmed & planned just a few days before the journey. After the finals, with limited money left, but with my enthusiasm of travel, I agreed with Sharon's invitation for a trip.

A backpack, a small one, but everything for 5 days' needs are fully loaded. A journey begins! in an beautiful evening, from a small town of Ann Arbor.

Holding my Amtrak tickets, eagerly waiting for first train. Upon announcement, we went out the station and discovered that a bus is waiting for us...not a train! Huh? Ok...thruway ticket = bus. A bus bring us from a train station to another train station to board a train...

Oh...it was Wednesday April 23 9pm. And we were heading to Toledo!

@April 24 12:30am, a delayed train finally arrived

And first time stepped in Amtrak, Capitol Limited.

Yeah, @ 7am I finally woke up. But actually I was awake most of the night...susah tidur
then I felt something strange...the train was at halt!

Why huh? but at least it stopped beside so at least could see the river flows with beautiful sun hanging(?) on the sky, with flowers blossom in the spring...

And 1 hour passed...finally announcement was made and the delayed was due to a freight train...ok. Then 2 hours passed! What, still not moving!

And finally! after they realized we were bored with the scenery, the train moved! Hurray! But wait a second! the train was moving backward!!! HUH? ok...they are so considerable they reversed the train so we can have different scenery...(real situation: the train reversed to change track, u'll know why later)

Then after almost 2.5 hours. We were moving forward again! And finally we saw the freight train moving @ 5mile per hour beside us...no wonder...but I wonder why they never changed the track earlier to pass the turtle train...

And after so much delay, we arrived in Washington DC @ 4pm!

And in the limited 5 hours (3 hours stolen by Amtrak), we walked to so many places:

following sequence: Union station > US Capitol > US Botanical Garden > The National Mall > Washington Monument > Thomas Jefferson Memorial > Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial > Lincoln Memorial > Bush Memorial...wait! where got?! > Vietnam Veteran Memorial > The White House > Chinatown > Verizon Center >McDonald > Amtrak to Philly!

And actually I met bush at the White House! and I kicked him! and I just left safe & sound...you know, the bush...not that Bush...

But actually I almost detained in Guantanamo Bay with Harold & Kumar because I left my bag unattended while taking photos...luckily I was wearing a green shirt so the police officer thought I'm just a Greenpeace member and ask me not to demonstrate in front of the White House, but the green house...with Al Gore the ex-Vice President to promote reduction of green house gases...what the craps I'm writing??
*the red words are truth [never leave your bag unattended, esp near bush and never pretend to be a terrorist, or else you'll be treated as terrorist]

Next, @12:00am April 25, Philly


@Philly I stayed in Ryan's room while Sharon in Yie Lyn's. And while they were busy preparing for finals we were having our holiday...

The first morning was just amazing :) while I was in bathroom looking at mirror wondering why I have so many pimples, a sweet girl walked in and I was stunned for a moment, and I "Hi" and she "Hi" back and basically I forget what I did while she washed hand and then "bye"...ok, it's Upenn, coed dorm...

And that started my first day (April 25) in Philly! With City Pass, We've ventured more places in Philly than our friends in Upenn did :) [2 days vs 2 semesters]


So, places we went: 30th St Station > Upenn > Franklin Institute > National Constitution Center > Reading Terminal Market > See the bell > Penn's Landing > Columbus Memorial >Korean War Memorial > Vietnam War Memorial > Chili's > Independence Visitor Center > Tour Philly with double decker bus > Eastern State Penitentiary (a really nice jail) > Philly the American 1st Zoo > Banana Leaf Malaysia Restaurant (nice foods) > A Hong Kong Restaurant or bubble tea & duck rice! oh I wonder why Americans don't eat duck but eat turkey > lots of parks > New Jersey (Adventure Aquarium) > See Rutgers @ Camden! + etc etc

And the last hour in Philly+NJ was truly an amazing race! We were across the bridge in New Jersey @ 11:45am @ Adventure Aquarium. Our Amtrak @12:42pm. One hour, enough la. But after we farewell with penguins, we discovered that the next NJ Riverlink train come @ only 12:18pm/ what! That'll be very late! We need to get to WalterRand Transit Center, 8th St Station before 30th St Station!

click to experience the journey!

Wah! After the amazing journey, goodbye Philly!

But the real journey is not ended!

Next: Pittsburgh!

@8:30pm April 27, we arrived in a quiet city of Pittsburgh. The streets are just empty at night and the only opened eatery was McDonald (again...)

At the scary place it's better to wait in the station until next train to Toledo to take bus, again...

And @ 8:30am April 28, back to Ann Arbor!

Wah...next adventure: New York!

No Money = No Food

Warning: article below contains ambiguous/confusing words/ phrases that might cause a syndrome called "whattheheckareyouwriting!"

Food is essential for life...you know that.

Money is a must for life...you also know it.

So food = money

Thus, no money = no food
The picture above already proven my statement. It's indisputable.

Here's another proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

------- :)

That's my intro, now to main points.

Living animal needs energy, so human acquires energy from food. In order to get food, we need to buy food. Before you can have the food, you have to pay for the food (or you can pay yourself if you are the food producer).

And the current issue I'm discussing is insufficiency of money, which directly related to food.

As information researchers of Ministry of Public Service (MPS) in the states, we are now facing delayed allowance payment, which directly pose a great survivor threat for some of us, including myself. However, some reseachers are doing extra researches so they fare better in the crisis. Or some of them have a solid financial background who can live luxuriously even without allowance or extra money source.

As for me: a guy who eat so much and never grow taller; a guy who too preoccupied in eating until forsake the chances to do more jobs, the situation is critical.

Hope the relief will come soon so the I can continue to grow taller...my aim is taller than Yao Ming.

Durian . Dance . Dandiya . Dan lain-lain

It was a great Southeast Asia Night In UMichigan last Saturday! A great showcase for Southeast Asia countries!

Indonesia Malaysia Singapore Thailand Vietnam + Cambodia. Foods, band performances, cultural performances, sketch!

As part of proud Malaysia community in Michigan, I performed in an Indian dance! I just don't know why...I'm never been a good dancer but then I've danced in a few occasions, at least I never spoils the dances :)

So the Malaysian performance was about a Indian & Malay couple in long long time ago...their relation is disapproved by parents and reborn into modern Malaysia and continue their love story...with Dandiya(Indian dance), Ulek Mayang and Chinese Fan Dance to embellish the story.
Here's the video!

Southeast Asia=foods.
So we have our nasi lemak! And what we can have for RM1 in Malaysia = USD3
It definitely looks good and tastes great, but sambal can be more spicy...maybe it have been modified to suit non-Malaysians?

And nasi lemak always come with durian! (is it?)

Don't expect to get cheap durian here...1 = USD 10!
Other than durian and nasi lemak, there were chicken rice, rojak, beef rendang, Goi Cuon (Vietnamese spring roll) etc. And not to forget "Chi Kut Teh" from Malaysia! Huh? It's the chicken version of bak kut teh!

It was a real Southeast Asia night!

So far so full until terbalik

Too long never update so this is a simple post that clearly shows that I love to eat and can eat a lot.

Proof:
Broken fork!

Eat too much until it breaks!

And hopefully by the end of the year I can grow 10cm taller? Impossible?

Snow and spaghetti!

So how's life in United States? It's a spaghetti life!

It's too cold outside and you won't feel like to just having supper outside...here supper = malaysia dinner. So spaghetti is the best dinner in room, other than ramen...here ramen = malaysia instant noodle.

Nissin Ramen 0.2 USD/Pack, cheap lo...spaghetti 1 normal pack only USD1, pasta sauce only USD2/big bottle. Very saving la. But wah...like that everyday die lo...so have to eat apple! pack of 10 USD 2.99, ok la. Then having some milk in the morning, 1.89L only USD2.09. Then cereal USD3.99. Oh ya...I don't know why we manage to get ham at USD1 per pound! Wah great deal!.

Those were my meals in US. Never been to any restaurant even after almost a week. Why? first 2 days stayed in Red Roof Inn, dinner prepared by seniors, USD5/ pack. Then morning having great breakfast. Lunch either too busy to eat or no mood to eat...luggage trouble...very very troubling...have to buy clothes or else die lo...one Lee jeans USD24.99,
levi Strauss USD19.99. Tshirts 3.99 and 6 and 6. And socks and towel and underwears:) Luckily I brought a thin blanket from Malaysia Airlines :)
Then I had McDonald...first meal in US! I had BK, and just had turkey ham sandwich this afternoon during orientation.

Wah, it's really cold outside...luckily jackets are with me...
sunny snowy day...but then it turned gloomy soon...it is nice when there's sunshine...

Just registered classes...tomorrow having first class!