Rounding Up September II: Makan!

Prologue: Probably there are no afterlife of either kind but at times it sure does feels like we're currently living in one of either kind.

As the procrastinating grad student that overstayed his welcome a long time USMers who somewhat knows his way around Penang (thanks to RapidPenang, MyPublicTransport and now Google Maps for integrating RapidPenang's route information in its Get Direction.), I had been playing guides to my younger bro Tate and his pals in exploring the best of Penang especially about foods while making new discoveries and excursions I wouldn't have made if I were alone.

15 & 16 September (Saturday & Sunday) back to back Georgetown Excursion:  My younger bro and I went for a late morning-early afternoon spin around Georgetown with specific purpose of eating Penang Road Laksa and Penang Road Cendol. Food came reasonably fast so all well there. Hop on the CATbus to Padang Kota and checked out the famous Mee Sotong that I have heard quite often but in the end deterred by the long waiting line in front. Then quite sometime later on other occasion, my younger bro and his friends went back again to check out the mee sotong and it turns out the long line is for people who wish to takeaway and those who eat there will be served immediately (something like that). Dang. Anyway, my brother told his fellow Sarawakian friends about this so we went back for another trip of Penang Road laksa again, this time however during late noon because we went to BJ first for quick survey for gadgets for my younger bro. Imagine my horror looking at the snaking lines in front of Cendol stall and Char Kuey Teow with hordes of tourist unleashed from tour buses somewhere, each stalls with tens of backlogged order which will took hours to clear. I waited like an idjit under burning afternoon sun just for that measly plate of char kuey teow which I gave up in the end because I was hungry, thirsty and hungry. Another thing I learned from that trip: that kopitiam extracts a 50 cent surcharge for any bowl of cendols that was brought into their premise which makes it essentially a 25% tax for that bowl of RM2 cendol you ate within the kopitiam instead of standing outside. Will I go back again? Probably not in the closest time. In my own post-trip research, turns out that it's actually the lesser visited stall that has better cendol compared to the stall which has ridiculously long line. It's just that the tourist favourite just know how to do better marketing compared to the humbler rival. Definitely a mental note worth making.

20 September (Thursday): a dosage of home at Carpenter Street Cafe behind Sunshine Bayan Baru. Order my usual Tomato Mee because I am feeling a bit peckish, Tate ordered Angchao Meesua while Michelle ordered Laksa. Verdict: very close but still somewhat missing something, probably a taste of home perhaps. Meanwhile, learned an interesting reason why there are no Tomato Kuey Teow (Tate originally wanted to eat that): according to auntie, the commonly used kuey teow here is just not that suitable to be stirfried in order to make tomato kuey teow. Hmm, is it because the kuey teow that's widespread here is more of a thin, hor fun type of kuey teow?

23 September (Sunday): Pulau Tikus/Gurney Paragon dinner time exploration again with Tate and Michelle. My first time of going to Pulau Tikus Night Market on own effort by taking RapidPenang 304 bus from USM. Introduced them to lok-lok as dinner before moving on to TongPakFu for sweet glutinous rice dessert and then wrapping up the night with a bowl of Taiwanese Shaved Ice at Meetfresh Gurney Paragon. Meanwhile, the second phase of Gurney Paragon is growing smoothly while the forecourt is decked out with lanterns in time for Mid-Autumn Festival. Another interesting observation: the mall management has fenced up the rhythmic fountain area, probably because of all too many cases of idiots walking straight into the fountains without realising that it has be turned on, blending seamlessly to the open space.

Now talking about trips I wouldn't have done if I were alone:

28 September (Friday): Jelutong Night Market with Tate and fellow his newbie mates. Despite how famous it is among student community, through my five years here in Penang that I have only been there ONCE and it's only because I went along with Sistahs who drives hence this trip is also my first time going with my own effort. Turns out it was quite convenient to go there too being served with 301 and 303 for only RM1.40 fare. Jelutong Night Market basically half-encircled around a flat and follow the general layout of trinkets in the front and FOODS at the back. No pictures of food however because my hands are occupied with fingerfoods such as charsio paus, bishop's nose, gyozas, takoyaki, korokkes while Tate explored other local fares. We did have a proper dinner however over there at a Pan Mee shop in which Tate and Michelle engaged in superspicy pan mee chilli-belacan roulette in which just the mere sight of it is good enough to make you imagine the horror of shitting flame. Another thing I do notice however that there are some familiar stalls that usually appears in Sungai Dua Pasar Malam on Saturday which means they basically go around all pasar malams around the island every night.

30 September (Sunday): Inner City Excursion with Tate and Michelle. Looks like joining round island trip organized by clubs and societies does help in getting savvy with local fares and it was Tate and Michelle who became a guide to me! First stop: pork innards soup over a kopitiam located at Lorong Kampong Malabar off Penang Road which has contains almost every edible parts of pork from brain (!, very silky texture), meat (sliced meat and meat balls), liver, kidney (!, I think it does taste a little of wee) to intestines in a very rich broth. We ordered just bowls of soup without the rice because it's still early in the evening. Went to Love Lane (top right: the heartbreak phonebooth is forcibly chained together "happily ever after"), dropped by an art gallery (no pictures because they are afraid of copycat BOOO) in which you can sent a postcard to the future (OK not really, it's just that you can put the date way ahead in the future and they will help you sent it over by then and by the time you receive it, it's as if it has been sent from the long forgotten past when you are having a holiday in Penang.) before went for a pitstop at a cosy 50 Cafe/Corner which is located right Lebuh Muntri/Love Lane junction which is basically a backalley. Ordered mushroom soups and cheesecake which is quite flavourful. Dinner time and we head back to Chulia Street for Pasar Malam, famous for its wantan mee and curry mee. One downside of visiting favourite haunt for tourist and local: ridiculously long waiting time ESPECIALLY that wantan mee. The stall is manned by a grandma (which her only function is boil the noodle. She will not entertain anyone.) and her families, churning out plates after plates of wantan mee. Even though the curry mee stall uncle came later, the curry mee actually came first and when people who came later than us got their plate of wantan mee first, that's when it's obvious that THEY FORGOT OUR ORDERS. One reminder later and only then they quickly made our order. No doubt that Chulia Street Wantan mee with its extra pork crackling is delicious, sometimes it still made me wonder whether is it worth the one hour wai for it. Oh well, at least I have a seat to sit and wait unlike the Penang Road Char Kuay Teow wait.

Sometimes good things are just around a corner too with only requires walking outside from USM.

Such as 43 Cafe's Pork Burger including first try of their Egg Pecah Toast (runny eggs on toast) as well as their new menu item (bottom): Fork Pork Burger which is basically fork-shredded pork burger instead of the usual meat patties.

Or how about family stir fries of Gim Hin a.k.a. little wooden house. While I went there quite often for dinner during undergraduate days with the SISTAHood, lonely postgraduate life means that it has been quite a while since the last time I've been there. Luckily for me however when I tag along with Tate when he went for dinner with PUCS/XiaXiangTuan peeps as a part of their newbie welcoming activity. I am definitely the oldest people there. This collage is basically an showing how the dishes being chowed down as time goes by. Dinner that night: Stir fry cabbage, lemon and salad chicken, specialty hotplate egg tofu, egg omelette and stir fry fish fillet.

OK, the fries here is definitely the usual crinklecut fries available at cold storage anywhere but to go along with it, Khaleel Nasi Kandar has come up with a divine recipe of what they call a tartar sauce which is basically mayonaise, garlic and etc in it. I rarely had dinner at Khaleel and even if I did have, I usually ate alone. Fries will usually comes in when one goes out in group which is ridiculously long time ago for me. Their chilli sauce however is chemically disgusting.

Meanwhile, the USMers resident fast food outlets of KFC and McDonald have come up with new menu item as well just to tease the market during September. KFC had come up with Green Curry Rice which is basically two pieces of fried chicken, a scoop of rice and a side of green curry. Meh. As for McDonald's, they came up with Samurai Burger which is basically beef patties in teriyaki sauce which made it quite on a sweet side. McShaker made a comeback again for the occasion with order of large meal and this time is Katsu Curry powder which is not quite spicy just like typical Japanese Curry. Another item on the set meal which I didn't try however is their Sakura McFizz because it's basically Ribena Sprite, a drink way too common back in any self-respecting cafe in Kuching but a total novelty here. I wonder why.

That's all in the chapter about eating in the month of September I suppose. Stay tuned for future posts which may or may not be a backlog of September or new things in October.

Epilogue: I think it has become a recurring habit of some sort that I will only blog if I ever make that very little progress in my writing.

Rounding Up September: USM Convocation (Expo) 2012.

Prologue: ...and just by posting it on relevant pages on relevant time that it immediately became the most visited (though it's not certain they actually read it through or not) post of all time. We are back to our regular scheduled broadcast: rounding up September in the month of October!

Yet another attempt of multisensory reading experience to set the mood right: Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah! (cover by Johnny Mercer) The song itself is kind of short though so feel free to loop it as you see fit.

Universiti Sains Malaysia's 46th Convocation Ceremony was held on 19-23 September 2012. Besides scroll, academic regalia and mortarboard, convocation week also means...

...Convocation Expo which is basically a week-long fun/food/trade fair which take place as usual over the fairground right behind Dewan Tuanku Syed Putra (the main convocation hall) and Lecture hall foyer. In the week leading up to Convex, tents of various sizes and shapes spruced up all around the fairground, ready for all the prospective vendors to ply their trade.

As the Convocation week commences, the fairground is abuzz with crowds, Campus community or outside visitors alike are attracted by whatever that they fancied. Besides the usual stalls selling random graduation paraphernalia and commercial products (top row left and right), other bodies and organisations (within USM or from off campus) participated as well (for example on top row center: Muzium and Galeri Tuanku Fauziah or MGTF with their black air-igloo-dome thing probably related to space exhibits or something just to make money ofthrill the curiosity of kid. On the lower row center, special tent has been set aside for various research platform, course societies and such for showcasing their research work etc. PTPTN also set up an information counter as well for information.). Bouncy castle for excitable kid made a comeback this time but now with an ghost house addition right beside. There are different programmes/themes installed for visitors for different days of Convex and there's one day that featured pets and animals in which the Wildlife and Forestry Department were invited along as well bringing their exotic wildlife along for the ogling public eye. On the center row right is a cobra with its hood expanded probably weary of those poking fingers while an overly excited ferret/weasel thing (I have no idea what is its exact name.) climbing around its cage while poking hands trying to caress its fur. Of course, none of these feature is a bigger crowd puller when compared to the large food tent and rows of snacks and tidbits stalls!

They also have lucky draws as well to give away all sorts of random freebies (shampoos, toothpaste, discount coupons) from various sponsors in which yours truly actually got two free tickets for Night Safari at Taiping Zoo! Now, anyone wanna go Taiping with me? Better be quick because the ticket is only valid until 31 December 2012!

Here's a collage of what did I had over the fairground for one whole week of Convex: kebab and roti john (top row center: beef kebab, second row center chicken kebab, third row left roti john, final row left beef kebab together with coconut float/flurries drink which always appear over Pasar Malam Sungai Dua on Saturday but came in to Convex ground as well) is definitely a must have as evidently shown occupying 1/3 of the food I had and took pictures of. My first meal over Convex ground is the Buddhist Student Society's vegetarian stall's (their annual feature and more often than not, the only non-Muslim stall around the fairground) vegetarian set meal (top row left, RM 3 for three dishes and a cup of herbal tea), home made marsh potatoes and garlic breads (top row right, RM5 for two scoops of mash and three pieces of garlic bread), deep fried mushroom from Balik Pulau Mushroom Farm stall (second row left, RM2), nasi kerabu from Himpunan Anak-Anak Kelantan or HAAK's stall (second row right, supporting student business yo! RM4 I think), small pizza (third row center, RM5), a small cup of Marigold Chocolate milk before wrapping up the week with my final meal of Bee Hoon Soup (lowest row, center RM3.50).

Oh in case you noticed and wondered about the appearance of the official booklet for 46th Convocation Ceremony at the last picture (the one with Beehoon soup), someone actually left two of these booklet over the Freereading Corner outside the library despite how finely minted and memorable the booklet is for any graduates! So I decided to knick one of it took one of it under my care instead of letting it to rot and ignored over the freereading corner. Our new Vice-Chancellor Professor Dato' Omar Osman finally got his moment of being featured prominently in a Convocation Booklet. Meanwhile, spotted a familiar group of happy faces in the collages of happy graduates in the past year...

Of course, it's only fair to cover the actual Convocation Ceremony itself for a post that talks about Convocation Week so my heartfelt congratulations for all the graduates of 46th Universiti Sains Malaysia Convocation Ceremony. (I think Institute of Postgraduate Studies has the best graphic design/PR team among all institutions within USM. For their long graduation banners lining outside their office: a rainbow colour crayon writing-esque congratulations!)

...especially for fellow Bachelor of Arts (Translation and Interpreting Studies) or BATIan super-juniors of 2009-2012. Godspeed in all future endeavours whether its on career or further studies. Even though my mark in their life is quite insignificant (just one year) but I still got to know a few of them and so its only right for me as a senior (that seemingly never left, fortunately or unfortunately) to properly sent them off. Luckily I came out from my room just in time to take their group photo. Being the very last session on Sunday morning, it only involves School of Humanities and they came out at least an hour earlier than what I had before.

The weather was great with fluffy clouds and clear blue sky on that Sunday.  I wonder when is it going to be my turn again.

Epilogue: Made another teeny-weeny progress in writing...hopefully at least another small step forward this week or something. I am still wondering at the sudden influx of sideline work (with some income of course) these recent weeks as if these (profitable) distractions is a cue for me to get a job or something.