So during my 5 day trip down south, the first thing czeeyong did was to fatten me up. One of his goals of dragging me down to Johor Bahru was to prove that KL food sucked and JB food was way better.

This has long been stated to the point of being very annoying. Honestly,every single time we eat out in KL it's "Seriously next time I'll bring you to JB you will realise it is so much better than this!"

However, there is some truth to that!

Not the bit that KL food sucks (I really do not think so), but the fact that JB does have good food. Which is a shame really, because JB is not really known for being a food hub compared to say, Penang or Malacca.

The first day we were there, I was treated to some Bakuteh.

Bakuteh there was served in individual portions in a bowl, and not in a clay pot where everyone takes from which is the norm in Klang or in the city of Kuala Lumpur.

I think we had pork knuckle. It was really good! The taste was a little different than what I was used to, but nonetheless, delicious.

There were two versions of the bakuteh that we had. One was a little bit saltier I think, and the other was the normal version.

The saltier one tasted a little bit better. So do order this if you're there.

We had a side condiment of taufupok

and salted preserved vegetables. Nyum. I loved this.

I loved this picture that czeeyong took of the smiling uncle! He very nicely obliged to have his picture taken.

Address:

Restaurant Soon Chiang

41, Jalan Maju,

Taman Tebrau Jaya

80400, Johor, Malaysia

I'm sorry that these are 13452354245 pictures of me.

Anyway, all these pictures were taken on our day trip to Singapore last Sunday! We woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed, eager to go to the island to look around and hunt for awesome food, or at least hope to. The night before, I researched and wrote down the names and addresses of places I would like to eat, and would not break czeeyong's wallet. All I can say is, DAMN SINGAPOREAN HAWKER FOOD IS CHEAP. Relatively. I mean if you compare it dollar for dollar.

random art on the walls at an MRT station. What it actually is, is entirely up to interpretation.  have half a mind to draw a circle, paste it up on the wall, and hire a ton of current art critics and make them tell me what a visionary I am. I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. But it's interesting anyway. So is my circle.

Me in the MRT. The reality is, I cannot. fit. into. those. jeans. anymore. Damn.

The speck in the photo is me. taken by czeeyong to show how tiny i am in perspective. Hur Hur This was taken at the steps of.... some mall near esplanade. I can't remember the name since there are a bazillian malls near the esplanade. It was either Suntec City, or Raffles City or something else. Seriously, there are a bajillion malls on the island. I guess it doesn't hurt to have a couple more. Oh wait, it says MARINA at the top right corner of the photo. HAHAHA. It was at the steps of Marina Square.

pretty picture of the marina bay sands from afar.

the esplanade poking out into view. It was also freaking fucking HOT when we took this photo I swear it was like being inside a broiler.

smiling in pain.

Couldn't let the wind action go to waste, so here, another photo!

The gorgeous skyline of Singapore in the late afternoon at the Esplanade waterfront. The Merlion is the little speck in the middle of the picture spewing water. It's really tiny. Sorry, ignorance playing a part here but seriously, the way people kept harping about it on tv and elsewhere, you'd would have thought it to be as big as the Statue of Liberty.

I loved this picture I took of the water, and the sky, with the Singapore flyer in the distance. If only the ugly metal thingy was not blocking the view, I'll be a happy hippo.

I have to run off for an interview now, continue layta!

i've been absolutely spoilt rotten since i (followed) was shipped by czeeyong down to his hometown. since i've been here, it's been a never-ending journey of food, and more food. i think my waistline has expanded by several inches. even though i hate to admit it, i think czeeyong has won the challenge of proving to me that JB indeed has great food. everything is different here, from their deliciously saltier wantan mee, to their herby bak kut teh. it's not that KL does not have good food, both do, just different.

we made a day trip to singapore by car on sunday, and made the effort to go on a food trail, in a bid to hunt down nice hawker food in the red dot. it was not impossible, and contrary to assumptions that they have bland, tasteless hawker food, some of it indeed taste pretty good. i had my yummy max brenner chocolate again after two years of not tasting their waffles. czeeyong mentioned that it was the only waffles he thought was delicious. OM OM OM.

pictures to come after i have edited them. it takes a little bit of an effort now that i don't have a mouse with me.

one night, out of the blue, hock called me. (hopefully his internet will die and never ever work cause' i did not ask permission from him to put this up).

so he calls me in the middle of the night, and i pick it up, wary and suspicious.

"HI YOU ARE A GIRL AND YOU COOK RIGHT?"

=.=

I SUPPOSE i am. a girl. i mean. and i cook. sometimes. i mean i try to not burn my cooking, if that's what cooking is supposed to *be*.

"ya..." I replied, still suspicious. You have to understand. Hock makes me suspicious most of the time , like he's perpetually up to no good.

It's a compliment.

And hock calls me randomly, for random stuff. This one time it was HELLO, DO YOU KNOW THE DIRECTION TO THIS PLACE. And this other time it was HELLO DO YOU KNOW IF THEY HAVE TAXIS HERE. By now, I fully anticipate any question from him and I do not flinch and wonder why. Because it's hock. Just accept it. And I also tell myself that it's because I am so brilliant and so smart that he likes to come to me for answers because he knows that I will give him all the best answers there are.

Ohoho.

No I am not being smug.

"What's tartare sauce!" He asked me over the phone.

"It's black right??? With honey in it right?"

Uhh...

I racked my brain, thinking of all the tartare sauce I have had in the past, and whether any single one of them was black and tasted anything like honey. To be honest, when he asked me whether I knew what tartare sauce was, I thought he was going to tell me a dirty joke or ask me a riddle.

"Nope. I think it's white. With Stuff in it. You eat it with fish and chips."

What the heck is black with honey then???

:p

No idea, hock. Never tasted anything like it.

And I have not heard from him since, so I hope he's still alive after my suggestion to substitute tartare sauce with mayo and don't worry, your senior will not notice.

are you alive, really?

oh, if you are, can i ask your permission to put this up?

i loved this kitschy mismatched homey cafe that czeeyong and i stopped by for a cup of coffee and a sandwich on sunday.

i loved the peeling paint, the knick-knacks, the paper mache decorations and the various jumbled tables and chairs that dotted the restaurant. each chair is different, and so is each table.

if i had a home, i want it to be like that. imperfect, but me.

this star is really too pretty! I want one!

i like this picture enough for it to be my wallpaper

they clipped the bird onto the lamp!

czeeyong's drink- wondermilk with butterscotch flavour

Really yummy california turkey sandwich with a salad on the side

the right portion of the store where the kitchen and reception area is. the cupcakes looked really good but i really did not have the heart to pay rm4.50 per teeny tiny cupcake. IT IS DAMN SMALL. ONE MUNCH AND IT WILL BE GONE.

sorry i'm such a pig.

The outside of it.

Can we go back there sometime soon ?