Hard Bread Story

 I got carried away during dinner last night and had to spend the next thirty-minutes walking around town.

That was when I passed by the back alley of a completely unimpressive shop with its kitchen door wide opened to passers-by. What's interesting wasn't the look of the shop, but the smell that caught my nostrils right from where I was walking by - the opposite side of the road.

It was the smell of flour doughs baking in ovens. The fresh aromas from the types of flours they use in the making of sourdoughs, baguettes, or any of those European 'hard breads'. I salivated. Though I had just cleaned half of a plate of chicken beriyani not thirty minutes earlier, such is the power these tough breads have over me.

So I crossed over to the kitchen door. Peeking and sneaking, if it was unlocked I reckon I would have barged through.. for what exactly, for a loaf of whatever that's baking, pray that they're selling.

It was locked and I turned into prowling mode. I walked and walked picking up pace into different alleys to get to the front side of the shop. Thugs be damned if they ever tried standing in my way or I'll break their neck.

I reached the front of the shop. The heritage door was slightly ajar. I could see the heavy bakery machineries. Just as I was pushing the door leaf on the right, the Adhan call for prayer began out loud from a mosque just 100 metres away. I wasn't about to shout into the shop with my inquiries so I waited for the Adhan to end. In the three minutes it took, I recalled of how I missed home when I was first introduced to these hard breads seventeen years ago. Malaysians aren't used to hard breads and I was a long way from home then. But perhaps from the days and nights sitting by the window watching the snow falls, savouring slices of these breads served in their baskets while waiting for my meals was when I started to love them, these hard breads. I've always loved it when it snows, so much so that it was enough to associate these hard breads to pleasant memories. So much so that it was enough for me to literally prowl this night following its scent from one back alley to another. I just had to have it, something.

Unfortunately I was told that they were not for sale. This place was merely the factory supplying these breads to a restaurant in town. I tried my luck and my charm, would've gotten away with a loaf if there was one that was ready, but every one of them was still baking in the ovens. Thankfully I had those three minutes to calm down earlier. So I had the information of the restaurant wrapped in mind instead and went home. At least that's something.

Thus today, I had some of the sourdough slices for lunch at said restaurant. It was enough. A warm-up to my upcoming new year's celebration trip to a nearby city with its very own 'French Quarter', and as highlighted by a European colleague, is where you can find the best baguettes ever.

Shop: Yin's Sourdough Manufactory @Promenade

Original post: 13th Dec 2022, Facebook.

Thank you for reading.

Sexhibition Art

I got invited to a sexhibition last weekend. Yes, it’s an exhibition around the topic of sex. Before you imagined anything like a back-alley thing and dark dingy room, no, it wasn't anything like that. Nothing scandalous other than of course, the obvious. Allow me to walk you through it.

New Year in Chiang Mai - part 1

I am here in Chiang Mai solely for the New Year, thanks to the very encouraging write up by https://www.ensquaredaired.com/chiang-mai-new-years-eve/.

I've always been curious with the mass lantern release experience. Whenever I heard anyone mentioning a personal experience of being in the middle of it I'd tend to lose my cool, get one step excited and insisted them on narrating their feelings on it. Well now I'm here, and we're about to find out in three days' time. Meanwhile, let's narrate a little bit on my journey to Chiang Mai, the largest city in northern Thailand.

Being Charming

     If you've been to China House in George Town, Penang, you'll notice how narrow the corridor of this cafè is; and somewhere along this corridor, we were sitting minding our desserts when the usual happened quite unusually.

Final Part: KL - Central Market

My travelling partner and I unanimously chose the Central Market as one of the places of attraction to visit in KL. It wasn’t because we have never been here, it was more to us being what I would like to call, the tourist-have-beens.

Who has not been to the Central Market back in its glory days in the 80s and 90s?

It was even part of the essential place to visit in any school trips to the capital city of Malaysia. The real reason we chose to make a couple of hours stop at Central Market is for reminiscing sake – of the times we were here with our parents, barely the height of their chests, still holding on to their hands. Recalling the times spent with friends when we were still in school uniforms for after school extra classes, or just a spot for meet up before the high-end shopping malls, Starbucks and the “20-Cool-Cafes in KL” trends began.

Back then, Central Market was the place.