All throughout my school days, school would always reopen on the first Monday in January every year. I do not remember when they changed that and fixed it on the 2nd of January, right after New Year’s Day. To be honest, I do not see what difference those few days would make, not that it would miraculously turn the pupils/students into geniuses.
The way it is, teachers would have to go back to their schools way ahead of time – many in the jungle or in the other states, far away from their home sweet home, away from the warmth and love of their respective families. They would hold their staff meeting right after Christmas, some before…and set aside a date for the kids to report…and on the 2nd of January, they would start teaching right away, no dilly-dallying. Obviously, that would mean that there would be no celebration of any kind for those poor teachers concerned to usher in the new year, none at all. After all that talk about family values, it is sad, isn’t it?
Well, we can console ourselves to some extent as it isn’t as bad as one year when some smart fella, the Minister of Education at the time, thought he could beat God at his game and started the academic year in December…to push the public examinations earlier to avoid the perennial floods in the east coast of the peninsula. Unfortunately, time and tide waits for no man and the floods came earlier so the problem remained and there were a lot of unhappy people at the time. Thankfully, they did away with that silly idea and switched back to January.
I mentioned in my previous post that we sent our girl back to her school in the jungle on New Year’s Eve for their staff meeting and she had to stay back there to register the kids in her class the following day, New Year’s Day and that was why she did not want to come back after the meeting (which dragged on till late, around 1.00 p.m.)…and that was why we had nothing planned, nothing on New Year’s Eve, nothing on New Year’s Day.
I had a pleasant surprise that afternoon, New Year’s Day, when Peter and Andy contacted me and invited me and my missus out to dinner…
…here. They close every year on New Year’s Day and on Labour Day, May the 1st – just two days in a year so they were free that day. We went very early, at around 5 something to make sure that we did not have to queue and wait for a table.
I ordered this so-called munchy platter…
…that I had seen people enjoying before. However, we could not order that even though my girl would love the fried calamari…
…and the chicken popcorn…
…as being coated with batter, they would not be gluten-free.
I thought both the aforementioned were really very good and went well with the special chili dip that came in the platter but this…
…stole the show. We could not figure out what it was – it looked like sausage cut into bite-size bits, pierced through with a skewer and grilled. I did ask one of the waiting staff members but she said she did not know and I did not bother to pursue the matter after that. It tasted something like ham or bacon and we all loved it!
The mixed grill platter did not look very big in the menu, served on something like one of those regular round dinner plates so I ordered that as well and when it was served, we were stunned by the size…
There was another one of that sausage-like thing on a skewer and we liked the beef…
…very much, very tender and very tastily done. The lamb was all right – I sure did not get all excited over it and the grilled chicken chop was nice too.
I wished they would not use those canned sweet corn for the sides though – it made the dish look kind of cheap. I imagine that with one can, there would be enough corn kernels for 10 plates, at least. If they had used corn-on-the-cob instead, that certainly would push up the dish to a whole new level and give it a lot more class.
Andy wanted the cheesey chicken…
…which turned out to be just the grilled chicken like the one in the mixed grill platter with a layer of cheese on top. I would prefer this, I think – the added cheese on top sure helped make it taste a lot better. Perhaps my girl would like to give it a try for a change on our next visit instead of going for the grilled lamb everytime.
We also had their Hawaiian pizza…
…thin crust and what we got sure was different from what all of us would be more familiar with. Yes, there were pineapples but instead of the ham or bacon, they had bits of freshly grilled chicken instead…and besides, I thought it could do with a lot more cheese. Personally, I would prefer their pepperoni that I had once on an earlier visit.
We all agreed that the food was really very nice but there is just so much of western cuisine that one can have especially when the servings are so huge so after a while, the law of diminishing returns started to set in and we all felt that we had had enough. Of course we could not finish everything, the four of us, so we got them to pack the leftovers for us to take home.
Thank you so much, Peter and Andy, for the invitation and for the delightful New Year dinner treat. We certainly had a lovely New Year’s Day, after all. Once again, a Happy and Prosperous New Year and may you all enjoy yet another successful one in the year ahead, 2019. Cheers!!!
WOW WOW WEST Sibu (2.296407, 111.885216) is 24 & 26, Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman – on your left along the road leading to the Sibu Airport, past the traffic lights junction where you would turn left to go to the Sibu General Hospital but before the next junction where you would turn right to go into Jalan Tun Ahmad Zaidi Adruce.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 