Fear of .....?

Fear. Now, that’s a word that many of us can relate to. Being human, it’s natural for us to fear the unknown. However, I do think that people go overboard sometimes. Like fearing a bespectacled boy like Harry Potter, for instance.

I am always amused at why books/movies like Harry Potter and Da Vinci Code even warrant a religious discussion. Because to me, these are purely entertainment. I very much doubt that watching a two-hour movie like Harry Potter is going to make people want to join the occult. Surely it takes more than just a movie (a PG-13 rated one at that!) to want to sell your soul to the devil? No doubt the invasion of the vampires will soon get some people’s knickers in a twist again.

How amusing it is that people fear books, movies, setting foot in other places of worship, yoga, sport anything that resembles a dragon or worse, participate in the funeral rites for one’s parent. Did these people honestly believe that by indulging or participating in any of the above their faith in their religion will diminish? Or wiped out? Is it that simple? If their faith can be so easily shaken by something as trivial as these then obviously they need to rethink their faith. And no, I did not just pluck these examples out of the air. It’s unfortunate but I do happen to know people who fear all the above. The last example is most upsetting. I think it's unbecoming for a child to refuse to perform funeral rites for his parent because it is against his religion. Surely God will not begrudge a person a final act of filial piety?

I’ve been to many places of worship, participated in the activities, have had Christian cell group meetings at my home and even pray alongside my children at night (to Jesus Christ!) but I’ve never been tempted to simply rush out and convert to Christianity. My faith in my religion has never been shaken and it will never be.

My point is, do we really need to be told that we can’t do this, can’t watch this, can’t do that? Are we incapable of making our own decisions? It is an inherent part of human nature to be curious about things and being restricted means added curiosity equals to mistakes. Anyway, we don’t need moral guardians, well, at least I don’t need them because they are an absolute insult to my intelligence. I just wish that people have a little more faith in themselves instead of feeling threatened by everything that comes along their path. Life is just not meant to be lived that way.

Best fish paste noodles @ Old Town

Where do you go when you crave for some good old-fashioned noodle soup that's packed with goodness? Me? I go to a little stall at the back of a house in Old Town, PJ. This little stall has no name, hence no signboards and is only known through word-of-mouth. It can't be seen from the road either because it's hidden right at the back of a house. The word-of-mouth advertising must be serving them well because it's packed with customers and waiting time for a bowl of noodle soup can stretch from 30 minutes to 40 minutes.

So, what makes them so different that people are actually willing to wait that long for a bowl of noodle soup? It's the best I've ever had. I usually order the flat rice noodles (kuey teow) and my bowl of noodles come with a very generous amount of vegetables, 3 big pieces of very tasty fish paste (yee wat) and a piece of stuffed tofu skin in a very light sweet broth that doesn't taste of MSG. The amount of vegetables in that one bowl can easily match 3 bowls at any other stall.Of course, if that's not enough, you can also add sui kow (dumplings), stuffed tau pok, stuffed brinjals and stuffed bittergourd. Be warned though, the sui kow portion is huge and is very filling! I like to add the stuffed beancurd skin. It's really delicious.They also serve pork noodles with minced & sliced pork and liver. As you can see below, the ingredients are so much more than the ones served elsewhere. The best thing about this noodle stall is not because of the generous portions of ingredients that they serve. Instead it is the wholesome goodness of the noodle soups that taste like it's home-made that keeps me going back for more.

Restaurant Extra Super Tanker - 2nd visit

This post is a couple of months overdue as I totally forgot about it. We had a farewell for a colleague and since most have not been to Restaurant Extra Super Tanker, we decided to have the farewell lunch there.

We actually ordered quite a lot of dishes but I won't put everything up here again because I've already reviewed those dishes on my first post.

We ordered a whole suckling pig which was delicious! The skin was crispy and although parts of the suckling pig were a bit fatty, it was still very good.

The Steamed Lucky Fish with BeancurdRoll & Bamboo Sheet were smooth and naturally sweet. We liked this dish very much. It's very light and is perfect to offset the cholesterol-laden suckling pig.We also had Fried HK Cabbage with yam in soup. This dish is surprisingly tasty although it looks simple. I didn't think yam and vegetables would mix very well, so I am surprised that it did. The vegetable were cooked with cubes of yam and dried shrimps in a very sweet stock.I'm not usually a fan of fried rice, but the recommended Special Yam Fried Rice was very tasty. It had bits of salted duck egg yolks, ham and yam and was delicious to the last grain. Very yummy indeed!

We were too full to order desserts by the time we were done, but it was a very satisfying meal.

Roasted Goose at Spring 99 Restaurant @ Glenmarie

We were treated to a roasted goose dinner recently with a group of friends. I've never heard of Spring 99 before this, but I was told that it has very good char siew (barbequed pork). So obviously I jumped at the opportunity when we were invited to dinner at Restoran Spring 99.

We were served roasted goose, char siew, steamed chicken and a bevy of other dishes. I was very keen to try the roasted goose as it's not something that's easily available in Malaysia. Apparently the goose is imported from Shenzhen, just like those served in Hong Kong. I love roasted goose from Hong Kong, it's a can't miss dish whenever I visit. The roasted goose served at Spring 99 was very good. I liked the crispy skin and the meat was tender too. If you needed any indication on how good the roasted goose was, I ate a whole plate all by myself. We were also served the steamed chicken but I can't comment on it because I didn't try it. I was too busy eating the goose.The piece de resistance is of course, the char siew. The char siew served were "pun fei sao" and it was totally delectable. It sounds like a cholesterol-laden dish, in fact, it is, but all that caution will be thrown to the wind the moment you pop a piece into your mouth because the char siew melts in your mouth, literally! It was so good! I usually like my meats lean, but I'll make an exception for this one. The char siew were coated in a sweet sauce and were very addictive, especially the slightly charred bits that gave it a smoky edge.

To counter all the oily food, we were served blanched ladies fingers (okra) that were tossed in a lime-based sauce with bird's eye chilis. It's a very interesting way for eating ladies fingers. The ladies fingers were still crunchy and the lime-based sauce were appetizing and certainly helped us clean our palate after huge helpings of roasted goose and char siew.

I also liked their house specialty drink called Seaweed lime. It's a very refreshing drink made with seaweed that gave it some bite.

Restoran Spring 99 takes orders for the roast goose (3 days advance) and also does other dishes on weekend nights.

It is located at 3 Jalan Peniaga U1/35, Hicom Industrial Park, Glenmarie, 40150 Shah Alam, Selangor.

Tel : +6012-302 9698