Smuggling Kek Lapis

Hari Raya has just ended and many of my coursemates are back! They brought back some delicious and famous Kek Lapis (Layered cake) from their 'kampung' . We usually meet our coursemates during the class hours and how should we distribute and eat during the class?

Simple!

Just as the title says, we SMUGGLE it!

And the lecturer did not even notice a thing about what all of us are doing in front of him. (this smuggling needs some skills to disguise)

Smuggling the layered cake around the class inside a lecture hall with the lecturer in front of us noticing nothing!

Speaking about Kek Lapis, Sarawak is famous for its layer cake. One of the best layer cake in town is just across the  Kuching Waterfront. Kek Lapis Dayang Salhah is the name of the shop. The layer cake here is famous because it is homemade and it taste good. We can reach there by using boat rides or 'sampan' or through the land journey via the Satok bridge (much longer distance).

There are more than 39 types of Kek Lapis offered here with the price ranging from RM10 to RM75 excluding other fees such as postage and special order. For more information, please visit their website here.




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Thompson Corner Laksa Sarawak

Location: Tabuan Jaya, Kuching

Shop name: Thompson Corner

Food: Laksa Sarawak (also offering claypot rice and other foods)

Price: RM5.50 for the large bowl

Date: 29 September 2009

Since one of the Opto class cancelled, 6 of us (2guys 4girls) squeezed into a Perodua Viva with the bags and files dumped at the back of the car.

Proceed to Tabuan Jaya, Thompson Corner to have a bowl of Laksa Sarawak

Look at the sizes offered at this stall. We ordered various sizes of Laksa Sarawak, be it small, medium or large as shown in the picture above. Did anyone notice the size of the prawn?! And the numbers of cockles in the bowl??

UPDATE

Various types of Sarawak Laksa which could be found in Sarawak of course! :D

The lower right picture is a home made sarawak laksa.

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30 Facts about Kuching

1. Kuching is the only city in the country where motorist can 'turn left when exit is clear' legally!

2. More than 50% of houses in Kuching are Semi-D and bungalows which is more than any other cities.

3. There are more satelite dishes in the backyard of Kuching houses than other place combined together.

4. 80% of Kuching preety girls go out without make-up,wearing simple short, T-shirt and japanese slippers.(o.O)

5. There are more potholes on the road than on its people faces. Comparing with Georgetown, number of potholes in Kuching are 50 times more.

6. Kuching is a place where it is strictly no car honk territory. You cannot honk at other motorist, if you do, road-rage ensues. (That is if you are lucky...)

7. Comparing Kuching to other big cities, they have the least number of jobs currently available posted in jobstreet.com

8. Public transportation in Kuching is one of the worse. If you saw a public bus in Kuching, you are very lucky that day. There are quite a number of taxis available in Kuching but, it also come with a price! Most local citizens, that does not possessed own vehicle, will use the service of 'van sapu' which is cheap vans that replaces buses and taxis. But, only available at certain places.

9. Kuching is the city where the majority of family in here have the motto of 'one person one car' and not 'one family one car'. When the children get their license, they will eventually have their own car. Form 5 student will drive to school. Even when fuel price hiked the number of cars in a family will still be the same.

10. Kuching is the only city in Sarawak where DAP won.

11. The most luxurious shopping complex in Kuching is The Spring which is 1/10 the size of Midvalley Megamall in KL, 1/3 the size of Gurney Plaza in Penang.

12. One of the largest supermarket chain in Kuching is Everise.

13. They have 2 main cinemas and its the only cinemas, which are Star Cineplex and the recently established cinema named MBO.

14. There are helicopter patrolling the city skies everyday, but crimes are still rampant (in certain areas). Police officers are mostly patrolling in crowded area but other than that, one can hardly notice the existence of police.

15.  Kuching's roundabout is very very very big compared to other cities. It has the size of almost 1 and half the size of a football field. They could even build hundreds of houses inside the roundabout and thousands of plants and trees in it.

16. The people here often refer the location in the city by using the word "mile". Example are 3rd mile, 4th mile, 5th mile and so on.

17. The majority of people here sleep early and wake up early. Some sleep as early as 8pm and wake up at 5am. Even youngsters sleep at 11pm and wake up at 7am. Even when its holiday. Even if they sleep late, they will still wake up early.

18. Many shops in the cities start to close their shop at around 6pm to 10pm at night.

19. Majority of the people in Kuching is more family minded than money minded.

20. Places that a tourist would most probably visit when they are at Kuching are Jalan Song (for the foods), Friendship park (for dating), Waterfront area (for the culture), cultural village (for the culture also), Damai Beach (for the beach), Santubung (for hiking) and various national parks (for the animals and plants).

21. Foods that should not be missed when visit Kuching are the famous Kolo Mee, Mee Po, Kampua mee, Laksa Sarawak, Kek Batik/Lapis, Kueh Chap and 7th mile teh C peng.

22. When you order fruit juices at food courts, prepare to face the curious and blurry expressions from the locals there. Why? Local people seldom order fruit juice and fruit juices in Kuching is quite expensive. They mostly ordered Teh C Peng or Teh C Special (3layer drink).

23. Kuching has one of the luxurious and largest DUN (Dewan Undangan Negeri) building or could be said as palace.

24. Roadblocks in Kuching are mostly in collaboration with the armies. There will be trucks, polices and armies holding M16 rifles, on standby mode whenever there is any roadblocks. (Maybe the bad people here are very bad...)

25. But, the majority of people here are more civilized minded compare to other cities in Malaysia and most of them are very friendly.

26. Various languages are mastered by the locals here such as Sarawak language, Iban language, Bidayuh language, Hokkien language, Mandarin language, Bahasa Melayu, English and so on.

27. Don't be surprised if you see non-malay speaking Iban/Sarawak language and malays speaking mandarin. Its a norm here.

28. Majority of local guys here have tatoo on their body.

29. Do not expect all the long houses to be made of wood, built in the middle of the jungle, with no electricity and water, surviving with only river stream nearby! Its not true. Most of the long houses here are already developed and looked like a long terrace house with abundant electricity and water supplies.

30. Most cars in Kuching are imported cars such as Porche, Mazda RX8, Nissan Skyline, Toyota, and Honda (this shows that the people here are quite rich). However, there are also a lot of Perodua Viva and Kancil (for renting and economic usage).

Any more facts you would like to add please leave in the comment. :D

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Love: The Moves (Part 3)

"So does anything work?" Mark was saying. "What are the moves of courtship?"

"The first moves are all in your head," I said. "When you're enjoying a social activity with a girl, you should admit to yourself that it's inherently unlike a social activity with a guy friend. Call it what it is: A date."

"That makes it sound like it might lead to something," he grumbled.

"It might lead to something. That's the point. Dating generates expectations. The problem in our time isn't that it generates expectations — because it ought to generate them. The problem is that too often it generates either wrong expectations or conflicting expectations."

"What do you mean by that?"

"By what?"

"Wrong or conflicting expectations."

"An example of a wrong expectation is when the guy thinks he's entitled to sex. The sexual powers are too powerful to play around with outside marriage."

"I see that well enough. What about the conflicting ones?"

"For instance when the guy views the girl just as someone to have fun with, while the girl views the guy as someone she might be interested in marrying." I smiled wryly. "And I have to tell you, in a case like that my sympathies are with the girl."

"Why?"

"Her biological clock is ticking a lot faster than yours. From a purely physical point of view, you can father a child at almost any point in your life, but she has to have children while she's young. So it makes sense for her to be viewing every date in terms of possible marriage — and it's childish and selfish for the guy to expect her not to."

He grimaced. "So from your point of view, the whole purpose of dating is for the girl to find a suitable marriage partner."

"No. For both of them to find suitable marriage partners."

"Don't put any pressure on me or anything, Prof."

I laughed. "You call that pressure? I could put a lot more pressure on you than that."

"Like what?"

"Like saying that you shouldn't date anyone you wouldn't consider marrying."

"Hey, wait," Mark said. "You're going pretty fast. That's not in the Bible, is it?"

I smiled. "No, Mark. Do you think that lets you off the hook?"

"Doesn't it? After all, we're Christians."

"Nope. When certain Corinthians threw in Paul's face their slogan that everything not forbidden is permissible, he replied 'but not everything is beneficial.1 Thinking like a Christian means a lot more than doing what the Bible says; it also means thinking like the Bible thinks, even about things the Bible doesn't mention. That includes having respect for human nature as God designed it, like the difference between your biological clock and the girl's. It also includes realism about temptations."

"Well, OK, I guess I see that. But what if the girl knows I'm not interested in marrying her?"

"How do you know she knows that?"

"Because she says so. Why are you laughing?"

"Sorry. I happened to remember what my wife said about that to one of our nephews the other day, and she's very funny. Her advice was that if you're dating a girl and she says she understands that you're not interested in marrying her, don't believe her."

Mark was scandalized. "You mean I should expect girls to lie?"

"No, no. Well, yes, they do sometimes, but no more than guys do, and that's not what I mean. It's just that if a girl says she understands a thing like that, she doesn't understand herself any better than the guy does."

"I don't get it."

"Have you forgotten already? Think of Molly, Mark, think of Molly."

He winced. "I get it."

"Any more questions?

"Lots. What about this? You say that I shouldn't even date anyone I wouldn't consider marrying. But what if I'm not interested in getting married at all?"

"Are you not interested in getting married at all?"

"I don't know. I haven't thought about it much."

"Then start thinking now."

"Why? I don't have to get married, do I?"

"No. But there's a good reason and a bad reason to avoid marriage, and the matter isn't just up to you."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Some people — especially guys — avoid marriage because they're too selfish to get married. Actually marriage and family are one of God's ways of breaking us out of our selfishness. So that's the bad reason."

He raised an eyebrow. "What's the good reason?"

"Jesus says that a few people are set aside by God for an unmarried way of life for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.2 Paul talks about this too.3 But Jesus makes clear that the single life is difficult. Those who are called to it should follow it; those who aren't shouldn't try. So it isn't just a matter of going your own way. In fact it's the opposite of going your own way."

"So if, say, I was called by God to singleness — "

"Then common sense — creational common sense, the common sense about human nature that I called 'thinking like the Bible thinks' — says you shouldn't date at all."

"Because you'd be tempted?"

"Yes, that's one reason. And also because it would be cruel to arouse expectations of possible marriage which it wouldn't be right to fulfill."

Mark blew out his breath through his mouth. "I don't actually think I'm called to a permanent single life."

"Maybe not. Let's suppose you're not. What then?"

"Then it's OK to date. As long as I date only girls I might consider marrying."

"Right. Any thoughts about what sorts of girls those might be?"

"Um — compatible girls?"

"Naturally, but what else do you need to know about them?"

"That they share my faith in Christ?"

"Right, that's a scriptural absolute, and I'm sure you can see why. What else?"

"That they're — hmm — mature? Of good character?"

"Good. Go on."

"That's all I can think of."

"In the creation story, God blessed our first parents and then told them to be fruitful. Good thing for you and me that they obeyed that better than his commandment about the tree."

"You mean I should be looking forward to having kids? So I guess I shouldn't date a girl unless she would make a good mother, too."

"Right. Just like she shouldn't date you unless you'd make a good father."

"Me being a father—that idea's a little hard for me to wrap my mind around, Professor Theophilus."

I smiled. "It's easier to do it than to envision it. We were designed for it."

"Do you have kids?"

"Several. Anything else you find it hard to wrap your mind around?"

Mark thought for a moment. "Yeah. One more thing."

"What is it?"

"Suppose I did decide I was interested — in marrying someone. I mean if she was — still — interested too."

"Go on."

"Suppose she was all those things — and I did feel something for her — though I'm not sure exactly what."

"That's hard for us males to sort out."

"Why is that?"

"I don't know. I have a theory, though. Want to hear it?"

"Yes."

"There's a part of the brain that communicates between the sensitive, emotional side and the rational, analytical side. It's said to be smaller in men than in women."

"So?"

"So my theory is that we men feel all the same emotions that women do, but we just don't notice."

Mark gaped at me for a second or two, then burst out laughing. "Are you serious?"

I grinned. "Only half serious. But you were saying?"

"Oh, yeah. Suppose I asked — this girl — to marry me — and she said yes. What then?"

"I'd say 'Congratulations.'"

"That's not what I mean. I mean, what are the moves for engagement?"

"I'd say the moves of engagement take care of themselves. Except for one thing."

"What's that?"

"When two people know they're going to be married soon, they begin letting down their guard. Actually this is one of the most important times to keep their guard up."

"You mean sexually?"

"Of course. For example, they may have every intention of remaining chaste, but spend every waking moment alone together. That's a formula for disaster, because being alone with the beloved is supposed to be arousing; that's how God made us. So they need to spend their alone time where there are other people within view."

I paused. "But aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself, Mark? We were talking about dating. You haven't even decided whether you want to marry Molly."

Mark startled, then gave me a sheepish look. "Oh, yeah. I forgot."


---THE END--- 

(Article was written by J. Budziszewski)


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Love: Reasons (Part 2)

"What?"

"What did she change them from, and what did she change them to?"

"From friendship rules to dating rules."

"But that's not exactly what she said, is it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You quoted her as asking something like, 'What do you call what we've been doing?' So she thinks you're the one who's trying to change the rules."

"But I never said we were dating!"

"But weren't you?"

"Don't I have to think it's a date for it to be a date?"

"Do you have to think a car is a car for it to be a car?"

"This isn't like that."

"Mark, when two people of opposite sex enjoy a social activity, it's called a date."

"But it wasn't romantic."

"Not all dates are romantic, but any date is potentially romantic. That's why steady dating produces expectations, especially among girls. Life is short. Why should they waste their time dating guys who aren't serious?"

"We were never romantic."

"She thought you were."

"Yeah, well, I guess that's true."

"And are you so sure that it makes no difference to you that Molly is a girl? Would you worry like that if some guy wouldn't return your calls?"

"But she didn't say we were dating either. Not before. Once someone asked if we were dating, and she answered before I even had a chance. She just laughed and said, 'Oh, no, we're just friends.' See? She did change the rules on me."

I sighed. "Mark, these days neither girls nor guys seem to want to admit that their dates are dates. But they have different reasons for not wanting to, and those reasons kick in on different occasions."

"What do you call the reasons? Start with girls."

"I'm not sure, but I think one common reason girls today don't call dates dates is that guys today think 'date' means 'sex.' The idea of dating as courtship has almost disappeared."

"I don't pressure girls for sex."

"Does she know that?"

"She ought to. She knows I'm a Christian."

"I'm sure she knows that sexual intercourse outside of marriage is contrary to Christian principles. But a lot of so-called Christian guys do pressure girls for sex. How does she know that you won't?"

"I haven't pressured her yet, have I?"

"But you say you aren't dating, remember?"

"Oh. Well, yeah."

"She might think that one reason you haven't pressured her for sex is that up to now she's gone along with the myth that you aren't dating."

"Maybe," he admitted.

"There's another reason."

"What is it?"

"Often girls these days don't call dates dates because guys these days are so afraid of commitment. You won't say that one doesn't apply to you."

Mark shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"You see, the girl may feel that the only way the guy will ever court her is if he doesn't have to admit that it's courtship."

"All right, I see your point. What do you say are the guy reasons?"

"We've already covered the first one," I said. "Girls are right — guys these days are afraid of commitment. It's part of their fear of growing up. And there's another reason. Fear of failure."

"Fear of failure?"

"If you're 'just friends' and she says no to pizza, it's no big deal. But if you ask her on a pizza date and she says no, it's humiliating. To relieve the pressure, guys don't call dates dates. That's related to another girl reason. Most girls don't want to humiliate guys, so if the guy doesn't call it a date, they go along with him."

"Stop. You're bringing back memories of junior high school."

"That's just it. Some guys never quite get past that stage."

"Are there any other guy reasons?"

"There's one more, but we've covered that one too."

"We have?"

"Sure. You mentioned it yourself."

"When?"

"Right at the beginning of the conversation. You said that the rules of relationships have changed and that you can't even tell 'who's on first' any more."

"It's true."

"Of course it is. Pressure for sex, fear of commitment, fear of failure — all those things have changed the rules of relationships. Add to those things the feeling that men and women are adversaries, and things look pretty grim. No wonder guys aren't willing to call dates dates. They don't know what they might be getting into."

"Right!"

"The problem is that not calling dates dates doesn't work either."

"Why not?"

"Think of your dinner with Molly."

"Oh." Mark thought a moment. "So does anything work? What are the moves of courtship?"

To be continue... (Stay tuned for more!)

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How long have I lived?

I was born on a Sunday and since my birthday...
I've been living for 22 years
I've been living for 264 months
I've been living for 1,149 weeks
I've been living for 8,043 days
I've been living for 193,039 hours
I've been living for 11,582,387 minutes
I've been living for 694,943,229 seconds
I've breathed more than 110,000,088 times!
I've blinked my eyes more than 116,600,088 times!
My heart has beaten more than 810,767,090 times!

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Love: Change of Rules (Part 1)

It was only a little past 11, and the Union was almost empty. Expecting a quiet lunch, I chose a table where I could look out the window at the Quad. No sooner had I set down my tray than a familiar face materialized in front of me. "Expecting someone, Prof?" It was Mark Manasseh.

"Not at all. Pull up a chair."

He sat down with a plate of something I didn't recognize.

"What's that? Some kind of taco?"

"Haven't you ever had a gyro?" he said. "It's like a Greek taco. Gyros have been around a long time."

I shook my head. "Food has changed."

"Food isn't the only thing that's changed," he said, and lapsed into a moody silence. He chewed meditatively.

"So what else has changed?", I asked.

"Huh?"

"You said food isn't the only thing that's changed. What else has changed?"

"Oh. The rules. They're always changing them on you in the middle of the game. I can't tell who's on first any more."

"Who's 'they'? Has the Faculty Senate changed the graduation requirements again?"

"No. Actually I was thinking of a girl." He played with his gyro, then looked up. "I guess I'm not being very clear."

"Clear enough. Girl changes terms of relationship, guy confused. You don't have to explain."

"Maybe I should. We've talked about this kind of thing once before, and I could use the perspective of an, um, older person. Do you mind?"

I shook my head. "I have time. Being so old, you know."

He reddened. "I only meant — "

I laughed. "I know what you meant. Go ahead."

"There's this girl. Molly. She's a friend. But that's it: Just a friend. You know, we talk and do things together. But I talk and do things with all my friends."

"Do you talk and do things with them the same way you talk and do things with Molly?"

"Not exactly. She's a close friend." He paused. "But just a close friend."

I smiled. "Just very close."

"Right."

"And a girl."

"Right."

"When you talk and do things with her, are other people included?"

"Sometimes."

"Uh-huh."

"But I do things just with other friends too. Like I told her."

"Like you told her? How did the subject come up?"

"I'm still trying to figure that out."

"Suppose you tell me what happened."

"Well, we were hungry, so we were having a pizza together at Molto Alimento."

"Just because you were hungry."

"Why does there have to be another reason? Can't friends eat a pizza?"

"Sure."

"Anyway, we were almost done when she said something about how we've known each other for almost two years. I said yes. She said we've had a lot of fun together. I said yes. And then she said some other stuff, I don't remember what — you can't listen to everything a girl says or it would wear you out. I think I must have said yes to that too, which was probably a mistake. The next thing I knew, she was talking about how a girl needs a commitment or something. And I guess it took a few minutes for what she was saying to sink in, and I asked 'What do you mean?' And she said 'commitment' and spelled the word. And I said 'It's not like we've been dating or anything.' And she said 'What do you call it when we've been seeing each other exclusively for two years?' And I said 'What do you mean exclusively? I do things together with lots of other people.' And she said 'Not with other girls you don't' and I said 'Girls and guys both' and she said 'What girls?' And I said I couldn't think of any and she asked me why I was holding back and I said I didn't know what she was talking about and then all of a sudden she was crying and she left the table and the waiter brought the check and he looked at me like I was dogmeat and I couldn't find her and so I went home, and I keep trying to phone her but she won't return my calls and it's all I can — I mean I — well — "

He looked embarrassed and took a deep breath. "So that's why I say she changed the rules."

"From what to what?"

To be continue....
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