November food!

It's already December... Seems only yesterday that Movember came around... I think the wave of assignments and stress just made me lose track of time... ANYWAYS. I can remember that I had lots of food~

Vietnamese curry chicken rice - RM11 (inclusive of service charge) @ Mekong

There's a Vietnamese restaurant at campus called Mekong, and usually I have no idea what to eat there, because to be honest, I'm more of a routine eater, unless I'm interested in the menu. If I were to eat at Mekong, I would, by routine, order the beef noodle soup (pho, I think, but I can't be sure).

I could have skipped lunch that day (and saved myself some money), but I ate anyway. It was nice - mildly spicy, fragrant enough, and I liked that the rice wasn't dried out. The soup that came with it was regular radish soup, generous with the pepper and spring onions.

What I call the takoyaki pancake. I have no idea how much this costs.

We occasionally get dinner from the nearby night market on Tuesdays, if it doesn't rain. Usually I would opt for either fried carrot cake, curry meehoon, or something from the nyonya stall. That is, until my younger sister once brought this home.

I would consider it a takoyaki, but flat. After all, it's topped with the same things, and it basically tastes the same to me. Apart from the over-abundance of mayonnaise, this would be a rather filling (slightly indulging) dinner option~

Seollungtang (beef bone soup) @ Oiso. Weird... I wrote down the price of it...

I'm all up for anything beef, which is why I opted for a Double Cheeseburger instead of my usual Spicy Chicken McDeluxe at McDonald's when I was working at the 4th MCE. I love Korean rice (and Japanese rice), but the soup itself... Let's say the previous restaurant (B-Station) provided a thicker, more flavorful soup.

Homemade luncheon meat and cabbage soup!

My grandma had been immobile for about a month, and was staying in a home temporarily so that she could recover with 24/7 care. So my mum took over the cooking (since we had stopped catering), and this is what she would make occasionally.

I know it's not the most attractive pot of soup there is, nor would it be the tastiest, but I'll tell you - you get addicted to this stuff. Have it with some carbs, and there you have a rather balanced meal - you have the meat, as well as the veggies. And it's so simple to make - just chop up both ingredients, add water, and cook!

Indomie goreng - RM4 @ Star Teh Tarik.

I befriended Vincent in November, and he's from Medan, Indonesia. We took to Whatsapp and Facebook messages, and one time we were talking about mamak food. He suggested I try Indomie goreng, which is the Indonesian counterpart of the Maggi goreng, which is essentially fried instant noodles.

One day, while having lunch with Melissa, I was reminded that there was no rotis available from 12-3pm, so instead of ordering my usual Maggi, I tried this. Despite my previous assumptions that Maggi and Indomie were the same, this had a different flavor to it.

My Maggi goreng would sometimes be doubled, if I wanted a fuller meal, but Indomie goreng is not something I would double - flavor-wise, it numbs my entire mouth. Still nice, though - something different~

Nuggeto set - RM9.90 @ Arisan.

Back when Taylor's had the "day market" thing going on every now and then, Arisan was the stall that always appeared - Taiwan-style fried chicken. Ever since working at Dami, I have a taste, or you could say obsession, with certain Taiwanese foods.

I prefer ordering the Nuggeto over the Choppo -just because I prefer boneless Taiwanese fried chicken. The fried chicken itself (this particular one) wasn't much to shout about, though I'll give it credit for not being dried out.

The thing I love most about Arisan is the Sweet Potato Crunch - I have finally found the cheaper (and sad to say, tastier) alternative to deep fried sweet potato dusted with Taiwanese sour plum powder. Maybe it's the way they cut the potato - Dami usually has theirs thick and chunky; Arisan's is more slender.

Charcoal Nuggeto set - RM10.90 @ Arisan.

Apart from the regular Nuggeto (you can opt for chili powder as well), there's the Charcoal Nuggeto. I have no idea what difference there is ingredient-wise, but I can tell you that it's different in color, and flavor. The Charcoal Nuggeto has a more smokey flavor, ending with a punch of charcoal-ish after-taste.

I'm not a fan of sesame seeds, but for this, it somehow enhances the flavor of the chicken. Arisan has value sets from RM9.90, and comes with the Sweet Potato Crunch, and a drink of your choice~

Fresh shrimp dumpling noodle soup set - RM6.90 @ Cook's Idea

It was a day to remember - I skipped class for sleep on purpose for the first time since degree started, then Jasmine came over to my place to pick me up for... Cook's Idea. It's a place where some memories have been placed...

The first time I came here, was when I went out for a day of badminton with Jasmine - we had this for lunch. The place specializes in homemade egg noodles, which are so bouncy and fresh. There's a variety of types of noodle dishes that you can choose from, but they use the same noodles. The drinks menu is also quite extensive.

I was down with a mild stuffed nose and a very slight throat irritation that day, so I opted for this clear soup noodle, just in case my initial choice of curry noodles permanently damaged my throat and sinus. The shrimp were so fresh and juicy! The set came with a drink~

Gardenia Twiggies Snack Waffle Cake - RM0.60 each @ 7-11.

I was really tight on cash at the end of the month, due to poor financial planning, and... That's all I can blame it on, because it's the only thing that caused the lack of money. ANYWAY, Jasmine had a seafood tomyam with rice at Kampung Chili, the new restaurant on campus (shitty service, thank you).

I had some of her soup, and her boiled down tomatoes, but it obviously wasn't enough for lunch. I went opposite to 7-11 to find something to eat, and to my disappointment, the Hi5 Japanese custard buns were out. I hadn't tried these before, so I took one flavor each (the other one was blueberry - not a fan).

The Butter Maple tasted like... pancakes with golden syrup - lightly fragrant. The chocolate one was tasted exactly like most other Gardenia chocolate stuff, and I wasn't too fond of that...

***

So, it's December. Everyone's talking about the end of the world, but then there are scientific predictions that there will only be an alignment of the Universe, and that will make the entire planet Earth black out for three days and three nights.

What do you make of this? Are you sure the world is going to end precisely on 21st December? Or do you think Earth will just black out for 72 hours, then que sera, sera?