A cool and lazy Sunday afternoon in Bangsar
What I would like to have now is a bowl of piping hot Maggi Curry Instant noodles – that is so steaming hot that it will fog up the pair of eyepieces of any unsuspecting four-eyed dude who could not resist the temptation. My craving is absolutely justified. It has been raining for the past few days in Kuala Lumpur. Even though is half past four in the afternoon, the city is all snuggled up lazily under the cloudy grey sky. Coming Monday is the birthday of Sultan of Selangor. Like half of the city folks who took the chance of this long weekend to “balik kampong”, the afternoon Sun has unapologetically taken a siesta, allowing the little multi-coloured windmill at my balcony tap-dancing away to the tunes of the wind chimes.
Not far away from where I live, the hawkers are busily setting up stalls in preparation for Pasar Malam. The night market offers a wide galore of fruits, vegetables, fish and typical Malaysian snacks. I think I shall go for two rolls of Stadium “po-piah” today. Apparently the stall owner made its name selling po-piah in his younger days outside our national stadium. Hence the eye catching paint job on the front panel of his stall - “Famous Stadium Po Piah. Minimum Take Two”. I wonder if he wore his bell-bottom pants and combed his hair like a curry puff during his younger days as a hawker.
Since I get started on food, it will be very unfair to leave out my favourite peanut pancakes. This is the only stall that is still doing peanuts pancakes the Brunei way. The crust of the pancakes is crispy with an unmistakable smell of the Planta margarine. Sandwiched between the crispy crusts is a generous layer of chopped peanuts and crunchy sugars ; and with more butter of course. One bite into the peanut pancake you wonder if the time has set back to 30 years ago. Like the Macik in Brunei, this macik wears the same batik sarong and tucked her hair under the Malay lady cap. Something does change recently. Nowadays I see a young man, who looks like the son of Macik, being the head chef whipping up trays and trays of delicious pancakes, while macik busily chatting and serving her regular customers.
What makes Bangsar Pasar Malam different is the florists, or I shall be more specific, one particular florist who is Vivien’s father. Vivien is the friend of Kim and Kim is my best friend. Vivien and daddy owned a flower farm in Cemaron Highland. She grew up attending to flowers, selling flowers and loving flowers. Almost all the bistro at Telawi gets their weekly supply of fresh flowers from them. I have not explained why Vivien’s Father Daughter stall is so famous. Vivien’s father likes to sing and specifically sing about his flowers. Here is his song, and the only one song “Roses are red, Violets are blue, with this flowers, I chase away your blues”. It does not matter that his pitch is always out. Everyone walks past his stalls with a smile even if they do not buy his flowers. Not not I am suggesting a good singer makes a good businessman, but certainly fun and passion attracts customers.
The sun is out now. Let me get myself out of my lazy chair and make my way to get my peanut pancakes.
posted by Vegie @ 8:45 PM
1 Comments:
Wah! Peanut pancakes, you know how much I crave for that or not? I kept thinking abt it recently, the peanuts, the sugar, the sultanas in the pancake all melt in your mouth....! And popiah! I am drooling!
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