The Little Sages

For those uninitiated, there is a spanking new premium shopping outlet in Gohtong Jaya, Genting Highland opened just recently, which would appease the appetite of any shopaholic. But we would now like to talk of appeasing another type of appetite. En route to this shopping outlet is a row of shops with lots of restaurant in Gohtong Jaya, and amongst these shops is a hidden gem – Restaurant Yoong Kee.  Is this one of the best food in Gohtong jaya?   We were there for both lunch and dinner because yes! You just cannot get enough of the good food. For lunch we ordered the “Wat Tan Hor” (Kuey Teow Noodles in egg gravy) and the fried bee hoon with white bait. Both dishes were excellent. The “Wat Tan Hor” was very aromatic with wok hei and juicy prawns. But for me, the fried bee hoon with white bait at Restaurant Yoong Kee took the crown. Spot on in taste with just the right amount of saltiness and crunch with every bite of the tiny white bait. The total bill came up to RM 27 for a me

Are people with anxiety and depression weak? Hopeless? Helpless? Hypochondriacs? Depression and anxiety are, in majority of cases, emotional signals that your psychological health is not ideal and that your psychosocial or relational needs are not met. As deeply relational beings, humans have need for good relational value in areas of family, friendship, romantic partners, group/occupational/social identity and of utmost importance relationship with themselves and the extent to which they feel proud and accepting of themselves (or the reverse) 7 . Let us take an example, if you break an arm and go to the emergency room they don’t say you have a pain-in-my-arm disorder. The pain is the signal of the problem – a broken arm. Similarly, anxiety and depression are signals of psychosocial needs and threats. They should not be considered alien feelings that need to be eliminated or fixed, any more than we would treat pain from a broken arm, coldness and hunger with pills that takes a

As the 14th General Election looms before us, it occurred to me why can’t we be like when we are at this restaurant named Ali, Muthu and Ah Hock? While eating your nasi lemak and ayam goreng , you listen to Sam Hui’s 1980s song, together with the next table of Malay ladies and the next table of Indian and Chinese patrons. As you sip your teh tarik , an Indian song takes over the air waves. And you eat your mee goreng accompanied by the soulful sounds of a Malay (jiwang) song. So is this a food review piece or not? Yes, I will get to that in due time.   But I am compelled to pen down my feelings while at this restaurant, I feel this is how our nation should be. Different, tolerant, united and able to get along with each other in peace. The extent of years of divisive and self-serving politics has had a deep, apparent and unfortunately lasting effect on how we now interact with others from different cultures and religions. There is a real yearning for the years gone by when all t

Fancy eating chicken rice with a backdrop of “Build me up buttercup” blasting from the speakers? Travel back in time in this age old establishment filled with songs from the swinging 60s called Restaurant Satellite, located on Jalan Gasing. This corner stop is famed for having one of the best chicken rice in Klang Valley. Restaurant Satellite may have a strong 1960s vibe to it, but they did put in some modern features that made the visit more pleasant, like the cooling mist sprays and homey greenery. We ordered the steamed white chicken and roasted pork. The roasted pork was excellent with crunchy skin with every bite, yet still juicy from the appropriate layers of fat in between. The chicken was steamed to perfection. It was good but if I were being prickly I would say some parts was a tad dry. We also ordered the bean sprout from Restaurant Satellite. The bean sprouts were pretty big, plump and crunchy. And excellent healthy embellishment to the chicken rice and ro

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, wouldn’t you want to start it in the best possible way with the best tasting meal? With that thought in mind, the dynamic duo started a quest to find the best breakfast buns amongst the bakeries in Klang valley, we scoured popular bakeries in the Klang valley and sampled 6 buns. The breakfast buns were sampled randomly based on convenience as we transverse Klang valley in search for the next good meal. The buns were judged based on the following criteria: Freshness Softness or plumpness Taste Can it be eaten alone without any additional butter or jam? Probably the most important criteria because breakfast buns often need to be eaten on-the-go. Price range between RM 4 – 6 for about 4 – 6 buns The first sample was called Hokkaido bread, the No.1 seller from Shokupan bakery inside Aeon, Sunway Velocity. The Hokkaido bread from Shokupan scored high in terms of freshness and plumpness as demonstrated by the photo below. But

For some, the new year is a time to review the year that had just passed and look forward to the new year with anticipation of better things to come. There would be the usual new year resolutions etc. For others, 12 midnight on the 31 st December is yet another chime on the clock. But this new year for me was meet with a feeling of indifferent and not one of renewal and hope. For the year that has just come to end had been very turbulent, full of seemingly insurmountable challenges and wrought with misfortunes. For a while, it felt like living hell on earth and that I was stuck in a runt. But on the last day of the year something, someone, some higher power showed me a glimmer of hope. In the morning on the last day of the year while waiting to go to church, I was sent an article from Harvard Business Review by Nicolas Petrie on “Pressure Doesn’t have to turn into stress”. The main key point of the article was to avoid rumination. What is rumination? To avoid rethinking p