My old car…

I went to the post office to renew the road tax for another year and the nice girl at the counter said, “Uncle, next year, you have to go and pay at the Land Transport Department office as we have been printing all over the card and there is no more space left. You will need to get a new one.” For the uninitiated, we can do this at the post office and for a fee of RM2.00, we can get it all done there and then without a hitch…and what the girl said would probably give you an idea how old my old car actually is.

It has been running pretty all right and would probably be better had it been given more tender loving care but lately, my missus seemed to have a lot of difficulty getting it started in the morning or at anytime of day. It couldn’t possibly be the battery as she just had it replaced with a new one not too long ago. Her mechanic told that that there was nothing wrong with it and that it was quite typical of old Proton cars…and she insisted on taking his word for it. Eventually, I decided to take it to my mechanic and true enough, the timing was all out and had to be readjusted. The automatic windows in front, both the driver and the passenger side, had not been functioning for years and years now. Imagine entering the car on a very hot day and not being able to wind down the windows!!! I asked the guy at the shop and he said that I could replace the automatic controls with manual ones and I agreed to the proposal.

Now, everything’s ok again though I would not know how long it would last…and after I had left the garage, I stopped by this coffee shop in the vicinity…

I was here before and did not think that the mee sotong that I had was all that great and I never came back again. The cafe next door in the corner of the next block had closed down and there is now a pub in its place. This time around I decided to try the rojak mamak (RM3.50)…

…from this stall…

…in the shop.

It was quite nice with an egg…and some bits of cucur (fried fritters), fried tau kua (bean curd cake) and cucumber and sengkuang/mangkuang cut into thin strips and the kuah (gravy) was pretty good, I would say.

After I had left the place, I stopped by my regular Malay kuih (cakes) stall at Bandong and I was attracted by these…

At first, I thought they were what they call batang buruk (rotten log) but they were not. They call them jejari Vico (Vico fingers) and the lady said that they were nice and would melt in the mouth…

I tried them when I got home and they turned out to be like some kind of biscuit with a generous sprinkling of milk powder and maybe, sugar as well. I’m afraid they did not really tickle my fancy, unfortunately and to me, they were not something that would blow me away, not in the least…and at RM3.00 for 10, I thought they were a bit too expensive.

I would very much prefer these…

– fried popiah (spring roll) coated with sweet chili sauce and topped with a sprinkling of crushed peanuts. Inside, they had a little bit of taugeh (beansprouts) and thinly sliced cabbage and carrots…

When cold, the skin may no longer be all that crispy and may be a bit hard but I like the taste…and at 3 for RM1.00, I would think that these would, at least, be very much more affordable.

So what have you been doing lately? Anything interesting going on in your lives?