A Different Kind of Fast Food

As we were driving aimlessly this afternoon, we happened to pass by our favorite kopitiam which we hadn't visited for quite awhile now. Since we were near the place already, we decided to have dinner there. And besides, it would be an excuse to try something new.

I saw this lone cook at this stall furiously flipping his laddle as if he's trying to fight something inside the wok in front of him. Let's just say he was cooking fast and sending food out to his customers like a mean production line. I wanted my food served fast too. And hot.

Choosing something new for today wasn't that hard after all. A no-brainer even! ;-)

Back On The Saddle

I finally got back on my bike after a month and a half hiatus. When October started, the regular afternoon/evening rains also came with it. Just about this time also, I started sketching in a frenzied pace(relatively speaking... hehe!). Last weekend, I finally got back to my old bike route around Melaka. This time, with a sketchbook in tow.

I must have passed by this area more than 10 times already and it was only that weekend I knew that it had a cultural significance being the ruins of an old chapel, Ermida de Rosario(Rosary Chapel) built during the closing stage (1790-1810) of the Dutch Occupation. Now, only a few of its foundations remain.

Here I frantically tried to "finish" the sketch as a light drizzle was coming in. It was one of those few times that I forego with the pencil roughs and went straight to using a pen. It was liberating! I should do this more. And I will.

Tree Sighting

Glad to see a Christmas tree at this coffee shop that I've recently frequented more. They've also got piped-in Christmas songs to go along with it. Now that's the ambiance that I want... that I need.

I started laying in the washes and planned to finish it on-site until I noticed the cafe was about to close already at 11pm!
  While still in the mood for laying in the colors, I continued doing so upon reaching the house. Just because it felt good seeing that "tree".

People Watching

I enjoyed my Kung Po chicken dinner so much the other night that I just resorted to people watching.

Chee Cheong Fun Master

This Aunty deftly made those chee cheong funs in no time. It was amazing to watch her make every order at such a fast rate.



Chee Cheong Fun as described by Wikipedia:
"A rice noodle roll (also translated as steamed rice roll) is a Cantonese dish from southern China and Hong Kong, commonly served as a variety of dim sum. It is a thin roll made from a wide strip of shahe fen (rice noodles), filled with shrimp, pork, beef, vegetables, or other ingredients. Sweet soy sauce is poured over the dish upon serving. The rice noodle is also known as chee cheong fun where chee cheong means pig intestine, and fun means noodle; this is because the noodle resembles the small intestine of a pig."

Craving For Dimsum... on a Tuesday!

It has been awhile since I had proper dimsum for breakfast. It was the Diwali holiday here in Malaysia last Tuesday. No work. But with the body clock still on, I woke up ready for work only to find out that it's a holiday. Then I suddenly craved for dimsum. Lucky there one neighborhood kopitiam serving some. I just had to go and get my fill.
 

A Conversation

"A Conversation" is an old sketch from March 24, 2012 and since I'm playing catch up here, it should be okay to share old sketches. I did this on-site at The Baboon House. It's a cafe that serves the best burgers this side of Malacca and totally deserves a blog post or two on its own.

This was done on a Moleskine Sketcbook which isn't exactly cheap and so this was my first time doing a two-page sketch. I guess with the paper being expensive and all, I was just gingerly using it from time to time. Never really wanting to fill it up. Now, two-page sketches like this will be my solution to finally filling up this old Moleskine. And I also decided not to put color washes in because the paper just doesn't take watercolor kindly.