Phatman luk-luks...

There are at least 50 varieties of meat and seafood items in a single serving
Dunking your skewered meal in boiling hot water is the way to savour luk-luk
Mussels - my favourite
Pig's nose, ya got to love it!
The Fat Man Steamboat stall at Lorong Kenari in Pusat Bandar Puchong

If ya had no idea what I am talking about, let me share about luk-luks (skewered hot pot items). I grew up eating these snacks in Chow Kit and one my fondest memory, is a the 'Kum Seng' or Golden City theatre which is now Dynasty Hotel. There is a stall selling skewered goodies and the usual morsels that you will find on a batang lidi or palm stick, is the pig's liver, kidney, intestine, processed squid, meatballs, fishballs, kangkong leaves, shrimps, cockles, teochew wantan and the list goes on. Luk-luks as they were called, was a common feature in the 70s. Right through the ages, the snack survived and in the 90s, stalls selling this kind of food had slowly dwindled.

Just overnite, their numbers shranked. And the very few places that you could find them are at places like Pudu, Seri Petaling and Cheras. These operators are now mobile. They either sell it from a sidecar motorcycle or from a modified van. Now, as time progresses, came this 'Fat Man Steamboat' that you can see in housing areas. At Pusat Bandar Puchong, they are now a common sight and as a matter of fact, Fat Man did have a stall there. Now at Lorong Kenari 3, you will find at least four stalls selling the same thing at night.

So, what is my favourite? It has to be the artery clogging 'Chee Thau Phei' (pig's nose) that is still cheap as dirt. I mean, where on earth would you find a piece of pig's flesh skewered on a toothpick with a cucumber? Its 50 sen! Artery clogging it may seem and cholesterol inducing -- I simply love em! Its cheap and deadly to certain quarters. Anyways, my choices are : raw mussels, kangkong, processed squid (this one is a killah!), Teochew wantan and fish rolls and the all-time favourite 'Ngao Keok Pau' or duck' feet wrapped in pig's liver, char siew and duck's intestine! Woooohaaaahhhh!!! That's what I call REAL FOOD! So, that said, I leave you with this thought : "You are what you eat!"

'Lorong Selamat' Char Koay Teow..

A zoomshot from my Nokia N82 of the couple at work
Kopi-O peng and a fresh plate of Char Koay Teow
It can't get any better than this generous serving at USJ 14

If you have been following my work, I did mention of an elderly couple who sells char koay teow at USJ 14. They run a small stall in a coffee-shop and had a very good run from 8am - 11:30am from Mondays to Saturdays. The name of the stall is 'Lorong Selamat' Char Koay Teow and some dude actually did some legwork to get the lowdown from the uncle who helps garnish the meals once his wife is done frying it.

On a scale from 1 - 10, I'd say this stall scores an easy 8. Its simple and has all the ingredients one would expect. What I marvelled the most, was the uncle's eye for detail. He garnishes the fried noodles with pork rind. Or in simple Cantonese : Chee Yau Char. (not chee yuk char). The noodles are not too oily, dry and salty. This couple got it right and a big plate of koay teow mee (my favourite) sets me off at RM4.50. As a matter of fact, they did brisk business on weekends and the waiting time is about 25 minutes. I was patient enough to wait for my turn and the eating part didn't take more than 5 minutes. But the time the last shred of noodles went into my mouth, it was a done deal. So, was it worth it? Absolutely!

Car battery blues..

Last night, my two-year-old car battery went dead. My fault cos I didn't top it up with battery water. was told that two years is about the max life cycle of a wet battery.

And there I was, in my long sleeve, a tie and sweating like a pig in the basement. I managed to get help and at the same time, got a colleague of mine to help jump-start the car. It was in the nick of time cos I had to attend a formal function and another colleague of mine was waiting for me to hand him the table ticket.

I made it in time to get the whole shenanigan done with and reached home past midnight...

Anyways, since the battery was as good as gone and the car is my only way of getting around, I was ready to pay at least RM220 for a new maintenance-free batt.
Went to a workshop in USJ 19 which is purty trustworthy in terms of service and pricing.

Found out that the wet batteries are sold at RM180 a pop, while the dry cell type has an asking price of RM200, which is about RM20 more. Jumped at the deal cos I don't want to go about the chore to top up the casing every three months. My usage is purty heavy because I have an in-car charger for my Nokia N82.
Anyways, I got the battery installed and the old one, well, truly bashed up piece traded-in at RM15 a piece. So, its RM15 off the retail price. Total spent – RM185. The least I can say is that I'll have two to three years of uninterrupted use of the batt before a replacement is in place...