Last Night A Piggy Saved My Life...

I'm not going to apologize for not posting for so long. I've tried. I have about 5 drafts that haven't been posted... cobra stories of overnight trips to Jakarta, sudden bouts of rudeness to random strangers, being fired, being promoted, and then being unfired.

They just weren't remotely adventurous in my eyes.

I get into these mini-funks. Smaller funks within one harder, stronger, faster, better funk. Funk Jrs. Things that I normally enjoy just don't do it for me. Food doesn't taste good, driving is a chore, slave to the gym (that is definitely a new one), and the worst part is that music doesn't sound the same. I'm not being melodramatic and poetic here... I'm serious about having those feelings. I can be eating whatever it is my heart truly desires at a certain moment, but still feel only 75% of the true joy a moment like that is supposed to bring.

Then I had a breakthrough. Suddddddddddddenly only.

I woke up late for work that morning and there was something different in the air. For the first time in about a month and a half, I had a craving for something... and it was Bak Kut Teh!

HAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! A Spicy Sparerib Consomme according to these guys.

Bak Kut Teh is the swinerrific slice of heaven that, to my knowledge, was created by the amazing Chinese cooks that wonderfully grace our shores. It is truly comfort food. Side of the road, supper time, good company, preferably somewhat intoxicated, neighbouring table of drunk Indian men, swinerrific spicy sparerib consomme, heaven.
I have driven many kilometers to eat Bak Kut Teh. I will gladly make the trip. It is worth every cent to travel and have to work a little hard to find your meal.

I used to have some very close BKT kakis but Penarik moved to India and I just kinda lost touch with the other one. I have one in Kerstana, but it is still too early in our Pork relationship for me to say that we are a serious item... or at least that is what I thought.

I had been thinking about it the entire mouth-wateringly long day. I stopped by the gym first to apologise to my long term goal of being Sexy Koobz by running 2.9KM in 20 minutes (I'm becoming the Fat Boy who Could!) and then doing 200 situps instead of the usual 100. I was going to eat it without rice. I was going to just sip the soup and pinch on the paiquat. I was going to change, baby, I swear, give me one more chance. It was the flavor I was after, not a big fat bastard meal.

I picked up Kerstana and Mighty Joel Young with no more diesel left in El Stormo and went straight to fill it up. A few wrong turns and twice encircled rotaries later, we were in Kepong Baru and stopped at the 1st stall after the Giant Prawn Mee Neon sign. Closed. U-Turn to the fat chinese guy standing next to a Bak Kut Teh sign 500 meters earlier. Closed. More Kepong driving followed by a wonderful decision to go to Damansara Perdana for some fancy lad BKT in a shophouse there. Closed.

One more right behind it, but part of a larger coffee house. Closed.

PJ Old town... but the only music on the radio was a Boyband Festival and my Giant Burger CD case was nowhere to be found.

Picked up Cobra Commander for a fill-up of his own before going for recce of the Old Town location. Closed. More Old Town driving and found oft closed Heng Kee to be opened. Dropped CC back at his den and then headed straight back to Heng Kee.

I ordered for the three of us and by the time the food came, the conversation had come to a stop. I think on a normal scale of 1 - 10, the BKT was probably a healthy 7... but due to my recent abstinence, this meal ranked a massive 37. I carefully prepared my helping and said a subconscious Thank You to the powers that be and started to stuff my bloody face. The meat was chewy but not rubbery and had a nice balance between fat and lean meat. The soup was flavorful but not pungent. My teeth sliced through the skin of the tau foo with ease but then there was another bouncier, juice filled world hidden in the middle. The fresh red chillies were tangy, the fresh green chillies were dynamite, and the evenly chopped garlic swam happily in my little soy sauce dish.

Two big bowls of rice and 4 soup refills later, Mighty and me were leaning backwards in the chair and groaning in pleasure. Kerstana finished all her rice which was an accomplishment all in its own.

But there was something about the meal that brought me back to life. Normally when I stuff my face, I can hardly walk back to the car but tonight was different. I was skipping down the back lanes of PJ Old Town, talking absolute nonsense to my 2 newest BKT buddies. The air felt clean and my shoes fit just right. I think it was the combination of going to the gym AND eating like a fat bastard that helped cancel out any big meal guilt or other related stupidity. When I got into the car again, my Giant Burger CD case had magically reappeared and as I flipped through it, it became evident that only the Chemical Brothers would fit the moment.

Which brings me to my next point... I am usually very non-committal when it comes to naming favorite music or movies or things like that, but I can firmly say that the Chemical Brothers would be on a desserted island with me (along with unlimited petrol, a 150 KvA generator, a 5:1 home theatre system, and countless other things). I've got their last 4 albums and all of them are brilliant. Their music makes me want to make movies so that I can use their tracks as a score. The progression and the layering of their samples are remarkable, unpredictable, and have the ability to span many musical genres.

Take "Galvanize" feat. Q-Tip for instance. It is their first single from their new album "Push the Button". It touches both dance and hip-hop without alienating fans of either forms. Q-Tips lyrics remind you about rap's power to inspire and motivate and also the argument that rap is actually a more audio friendly version of poetry. Their Arabic sounding sample in the background helps you wiggle your hips, the pounding beat makes you nod your head, and the general feeling of the song helps you galvanize all that into dancing like a bastard. They even throw in what sounds like a normal, steadily building progression... Q-Tip and the Brothers do a call and response of as the layers peel back and just at the peak, when you think everything is going to come crashing back in at breakneck speed, it doesn't. It just goes back to normal... and to me, that anticlimax is such a welcome climax to the normal warm up- build up- orgasm- pillow talk nonsense that most dance music tries to force on you. That formula is for sex.

I dropped off Kerstana and Mighty Joel Young and managed to squeeze in some halla halla time with Pizza The Wong before hitting the proverbial road. I drove and drove that night... I did the whole Middle Ring Road loop from Bandar Sri Damansara, all the way to Ampang and then on to Bukit Jalil and then Shah Alam, the edge of Klang, before dipping down into the NKVE and following it all the way to the Jln Duta exit and finally back to my hood. Wasn't gloomy, wasn't depressed. Was just revelling in BKT and beats. El Stormo was handling like a dream and slicing through the empty lanes.

I'm so close to having my self back. I'm just forcing myself to wait patiently... and not force it. When I counted up my demons, I saw there was one for every day. With the good ones on my shoulders, I sent the other ones away.

Sorry for not writing for so long.