Long Dinner

Have you ever had chinese food at a chinese restaurant that served better western fare than its chinese counterpart? If you consider Xin Wang (HK) Cafe to be a chinese restaurant, then I just did. Up till tonight I have had the opportunity to try its black pepper chicken chop with spaghetti, baked rice with fish and hot coconut. All of the above-mentioned dishes were fine; well, maybe the hot coconut was a tad expensive at $7.50.

My opinion of Xin Wang changed today when I tried the self-proclaimed famous Mongkok porridge (congee, actually): Century egg with tender meat (皮蛋瘦肉粥). The porridge came in a pot, served on a china plate, but the Mongkok-ness stops here. In it were three or four quarters of egg, with a few slices of hard pork, swimming in less-than-delicious porridge. For $7.50++ the portion or taste just couldn't make it. The chicken porridge/chicken rice/dessert stall at AMK Central hawker centre serves better chicken porridge at approximately $3.50 in a more generous portion with an additional fried dough fritter.

The Chocolate Apple Sensation (velvety chocolate cake served with two sour strawberries, 1x scoop of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream) at Cafe Cartel is pretty chocolatey and there is the 50% discount for after-9pm desserts. The apple was hidden well and the dessert was much more chocolate than apple. Still, I don't have much affection for apples and like the dessert the way it is.

Was a pretty long affair and reached home at 0030.

In a turn of events

Just had a worse-than-expected lunch: Pizza and tiramisu from Villa Di Parma. Felt like a wasteful spend of $29.70. After many rave reviews on the net and HungryGoWhere, I thought about having lunch/dinner with some friends over there. But prior to that I decided to try a dish or two from its menu. I chose the Pizza E Pepperoni because I liked Pepperoni Pizzas (and some of the other pizzas were hard to pronounce) and tiramisu. I bought takeaway since I was alone at home.

When I opened the box in excitement, my jaw dropped.

With my finger for size comparison. Ignore the missing slices; I was ravenous.

Okay... I didn't ask what size the pizza will come in.. But the box made it look even smaller.

Not the sturdiest of pizzas. Also, large contrast to reviews that said "lots of mozzarella!"

After heating it up in the oven I sandwiched two slices together and ate them as one. More satisfying this way. Also, it might be due to the fact that it had turned cold, or that I heated it up in the oven; the thin, hard base tasted like those of instant pizzas you get at the supermarket.

I don't really know what should real tiramisu taste like, but this one doesn't taste like any tiramisu I have eaten before. It tasted like cake with lots of cream.

But still, maybe the Kensington Park Road-located restaurant isn't meant to cater to audiences like me, so the taste is not the most agreeable. Pizza Hut/Sarpino's any day.

In contrary to reviewers, a smile was too much for the staff to offer, but maybe it was because I only spent a measly 30 bucks.

I'm coming home

My three bunk-mates have quickly evacuated their high-quality pods in camp to expend their leave. I am leave-less and lonely, looking forward to free meals three times per day and a swim or two on a precious sunny day. Of late, my transport expenses have soared, due to the fact that I have been making daily commutes to and fro home, in a bid to escape the monotony which presents itself from 1800 hours to the time when I finally call it a day.

Back as a trainee, I called home everyday and returned home if the nights-off timing allowed it. I relished the opportunity to spend time at the place where I truly believe to be home. It was a refuge from the training.

I have dropped those habits now, though I make more frequent trips back, made possible by my current appointment - when I'm busy, I really can't make space for anything else in a day; when I'm resting, I have a lot of time. But the routine has changed. I step into home not feeling the original sense of euphoria, kick off my shoes and put down my stores. I look around: Dad is sleeping, and Mum sometimes too, on the sofa, and my sister is living her life out in front of the monitor. I greet the people who are awake, take a breather at my desk and write down my expenses for the day. The shower follows, after which I quickly retreat to my room and live the two hours or so in front of my LCD screen. Sometimes there is delicious home-cooked dinner, but it doesn't matter, for I have started to prefer junk food.

Using the better amenities at home has become the reason for going home. The much higher download and upload speeds, the bandwidth that you didn't have to share with anyone else, save for a sibling, and a hot shower. And being away from the prying eyes of nosy neighbours, too, though that transformed into the prying eyes of a mother trying hard to become a part of her children's world.

I've never been much bothered about personal privacy, especially not at home, but for some reason, part of me has recently started crying out for that small space, specially for at home, at least when I'm cooped up in my bedroom. A safe haven for me to accomplish missions and side quests, without anyone asking probing questions about what I've been up to.

And of course, there are the strained relationships that I don't think anyone has noticed. I feel that my normal working-class family is slowly turning dysfunctional. Not in a very serious and lethal manner, but in a way that makes me feel that each of us is no longer assuming the role of a proper family member. The father figure is no longer present to me, and the mother seemed to have been trapped in the past. The sibling follows a dull and certainly unhealthy routine. I myself outgrew the waistline of a pair of trousers I bought more than a year ago. The family takes less pleasure in conversation and are either sleeping or not really saying much.

I catch myself looking forward excessively to gatherings with friends on weekends, just to get away from both camp and home. It is quite distressing, sometimes.

Interesting

Dug up some rather interesting articles resting amongst notes that I have recently discarded carelessly. Pretty good reads.

Another random piece of writing:

    I remember, when I first got my hands on my uniform, I was churning with excitement. I put it on using the buttons from the school uniform (because the original buttons were not yet issued) and examined myself in the mirror. No clothes have yet given me as much pleasure wearing them.


    I struggled to shine my boots the night before my first activity to no avail. I must admit I was irritated and afraid on the day itself, because my uniform was not up to standard.


    That was almost three years ago. Now, here I was, never more unwillingly so, leaving an organisation that had given me the opportunities to shine, of which I never grasp properly and I know that I am walking away with lots of regrets. How I wish to backtrack to where I had been, lost as a cadet, a rookie NCO, to learn everything right from the start.

    It is a terrible feeling to live with the fact that I have let down my teammates when they voted me into the campcraft team. It is pure anguish that I have lost the last chance to prove my worth as part of Rifle Team just simply because of a sudden uprising in emotions. It is saddening to realise that I have not been at the helm of leadership in any project. It is sickening to understand that I have adopted the incorrect attitude at the turn of many events and made so many mistakes.

    Nobody else knows how we feel when we pull and tighten ropes. Nobody can savour our experience as burns, blisters and calluses sprout across our palms and we nearly land the parang on our wrists as we chop wood. We had once radiated efficiency; at the space between the two lecture theatres, the parade square, the  field, and the logshed.

--§--

Had an enjoyable afternoon at Chef Daniel's at the top floor of Iluma the ghost mall. The shopping mall is undergoing a major face-lift so hopefully it emerges as a more sustainable entertainment complex. On the other hand, I liked the serenity, a far cry from the hustle and bustle right outside its walls. Prices are reasonable and service is good. But the company is the best. :)