My day at the supermarket...

I picked up b'fast there and lunch. Nasi Lemak wrapped in banana leaves, Nasi Ayam in lunch box and some fish balls. "Nasi" is fried rice. "Ayam" is chicken. So my morning b'fast bill came to about MYD 8.50 and my lunch came to about the same. I was hungry by 5:30pm, time for afternoon tea; went back to the supermarket and bought a curry puff and 20gm of the thousand layer cake I used to enjoy in Regina when mom baked it. All in all, before our dinner tonight, I spent MYD25.00; that is about USD$7.50 to fill my stomach. I didn't get any Starbucks or anything remotely Western. When in Rome, I like to do what a Roman does. It was so funny seeing all the Westerners in the Western shops and the locals in supermarket getting cheaper local food. Maybe I'll venture into a Starbucks just to see the price of a Grande regular.

The local food is so flavorful, no need to buy the high fat content and non-nutritional commercial Western standardized food. Though I saw DD in the food court, maybe a cup of coffee there; it's my US substitute of non-Timmy's Robin coffee. DD = Dounken Dounet.

Tonight went to Top Hat for supper; that the price was not cheap. The two of us spent MYD201.00 (including tips, 10% service charge and 5% gov't food tax). Iron-wife: mango, watermelon, mixed fresh juice, mango salad, a pasta dish and a sago dessert; me: a Gin Martini, Top Hat, Ox Tail stew and Jendoh (complimentary). Top Hat was basically little crust cup and the filling was stir-fried veggies. O the Ox Tail stew was good! Not as good as Marsan's though. When I looked at the bill, I was charged additional for having a Gin Martini; Gin MYD20 and the Vermoth another MYD20. Funny huh? The complimentary Jendoh - yes, I had the hotel made the reservation for us and the staff pull out a complimentary dessert voucher. Jendoh is a very common dessert in SouthEast Asia; it has green flour strips, red beans, shaved ice and palm syrup dropped on top. Soooooo good. O yeah, this restaurant was a on the NYT.com recommended list for KL. And it is only a slow 10-minute walk from our hotel across the park.

As promised to some who are hating the snow and one who has a knee laid up for two weeks, here is the picture of some warmth; sorry not much shorts there as this is a Muslim country. The picture is taken just behind the Petronas Towers. It is the centre piece for the KLCC park I mentioned earlier. (*Note: Shanghai temperature is sub-zero currently.)