Cavalock and The Shake Shack Sanctuary

Never dropped by their first outlet here at Jewel and come to think of it, I have never ever even stepped into Jewel itself! Am I a rare breed or what? Anyway, me and the Baker-at-Home found ourselves at Shake Shack's latest outlet at Liat Towers earlier this week. In case you are wondering, the queue along sidewalk is the takeaway queue and it's not indicative of how crowded it is inside the restaurant. Cos when we were there, there was a queue outside but it wasn't packed at all inside. I had the same thing I usually have when I'm at their overseas outlets, their mushroom Shroom Burger. I still remember the first time at it at JFK Airport, I thought it was a mushroom burger with mushrooms and beef patty instead of what it really was, a giant but rather delicious mushroom patty.  The Baker-at-Home enjoyed her Shack Stack, first time having that. The Pandan Shake was meh. We miss the Black Sesame Shake from their Tokyo Marunouchi outlet so much.

Check this out! One of the many retro nuggets I just found at me Dad's house. Yah, been awhile since I did one of these retro posts. It belonged to me late Mom and it dates all the way back to 1963. It's still in damn good condition. Now I can imagine all them classy ladies opening up this here booklet in the salon back in the 60s and pointing to one them pages. Speaking of the 1960s, I'm finally catching up on Umbrella Academy Season 2. So far, so good. I just hope the ending doesn't suck and it makes sense. Having said that, I can live with a cliffhanger. As of this here typing, ah believe ah am in episode six.

Wow, this really made me reminisce bout me living with me aunts and uncles back when I was a kid. We always had Motown, country or even the occasional classical music playing somewhere in that old house. I reckon it's time to open me YouTube mix starting with The Four Tops. 

Cavalock and The Oxley Flapjack Fascination

Happy New Year Everybody!

If only we had something like this back when we were all living in the old family home. A Kith Cafe opened up at Winsland House along Oxley Road late last year. It's a nice little joint just a short walk down from where we used to live, where we can now all enjoy a breakfast of toast, eggs and pancakes. I know my late uncle would have loved a place like this. He spent half his life working and living in the US, and I remember how he would look forward to a ...er... non-local meal more than once. Hah!

I have never visited a Kith outlet before even though they are apparently almost everywhere. Now their light fluffy pancakes are what I would gleefully look forward to on weekend mornings. Just two pancakes, not too filling and just the way I like them. And their honey ginger chai is pretty damn good too. That ginger also kinda gives you a little morning kick.

Another thing that I noticed near my old family home is the traffic light across the road from Winsland House now has a 'Stop' button! Well, it actually had it about a year ago but for decades, it never had one. After all these years, the power is now back in the hands of the people! Well, I mean it's kinda obvious why it couldn't have a bleeding 'Stop' button cos it's at the Oxley junction where I can imagine a certain previous resident would rather his entourage not hit the brakes for the likes of us?

Cavalock and The Inevitable Return to Warhammer

Hah! Now this is what happens when you take on one too many hobbies. About a month ago, I decided to return to the world of miniature wargaming or the fantasy world of Warhammer to be exact. Actually it's more like the return to painting miniature figures than the gaming aspect cos gawd knows I have been playing all kinds of tabletop miniatures for the better part of my life.

Its been over two decades since I painted any miniatures and back then they were all made of heavy lead, today it's mostly plastic. That green porcelain palette is the same one since those early days of painting in the old family home. And I still suck at painting! Although it is extremely therapeutic but not a cheap hobby. It's really the new Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Skirmish rules that allow you to play a game using only a handful of miniatures that got me back into this British tabletop game. Manoeuvring your army across a terrain-laden table, charging into your opponent's figures then rolling dice to decide the outcome of each fight.

Seriously, why would anyone wanna go to Papa Rich when you can get a better serving of Nasi Lemak at Coconut Club at bout the same price? Been to the Coconut Club more than a couple of times already and the food and service have always been first rate. Introduced the joint to my gaming buddies last week and they loved it. Unfortunately they didn't get a chance to savour their famous chendol as the chef deemed that day's ingredients not worthy enough. But my friend was definitely impressed by their quality control. At least it's another reason to visit the place again with them.

So, really, am I the only guy now who has fond memories of growing up in that neighbourhood? I suppose everyone has heard or read bout the very public spat between siblings over an old house. I grew up in that area and life in the old family home with my late uncles and aunts were the absolute best days of my young life. I have walked past them Gurkha guards numerous times and was once wailing in my aunt's arms cos she wouldn't buy me a chemistry set. I remember one of the brothers would sometimes walk towards River Valley to taboa some food in the afternoon. At night, the road barriers would come down and the guards would change into their black military outfits. I guess back then everyone felt safe in that old neighbourhood.

Cavalock and The New Old Family Home

Ever since I left the rat race, any subsequent achievements have been more of a personal nature than something work-related. I mean it's no more fancy office projects or work milestones to signify one's life achievements, know what I mean? Instead my accomplishments for the year are extremely minor but more intimate compared to those still working today.

One of the things I'm rather proud of is how the baker-at-home and I finally fixed up my old family home. Transported it from the 1960s to the 21st century! We aren't living there as we got our own little apartment already and yah, if the price is right, who knows? :)

The metal wall ornaments in the above two pictures are or were the backdoor gate and window grills! Our designer/contractor decided to turn them into deco pieces!

Cavalock and The Nyonya Dinner Insolation

Mind-blowing lamb shanks done Nyonya style was the promise and Sri Nyonya was the destination. All seven of us Uber-ed and Grab-ed our way to the middle of nowhere in Petaling Jaya Kuala Lumpur that evening and was duly rewarded with some truly excellent home cooked Nyonya dishes.

Apparently the prized lamb shank is a house specialty that ain't on the menu and is something you gotta order in advance. And since one of the guys drops by at least a couple times a year to the restaurant, he kinda knows the old folks behind it and was able to make the call. As tender and tasty as I hoped it would be.

Everything else that came before and after that was great too. So this has got to be one of the most quaint eating joints that I have ever been too. Old photos, furniture and deco that reminded me of my old family home. Wish I could show more interior pix than food pix but there are people in the pix that may or may not take too kindly to me posting them.

I can't get enough of the dessert. Traditional chendol with I believe just the pandan green jelly noodles, coconut milk and gula melaka. None of that other red beans or fancy stuff. Then there's the exquisite spongy gula melaka cake. You see eight pieces and there were seven of us, guess who had the last piece? :)

Now the above first pix was taken before dinner and after dinner when we stepped out, the entire surrounding area was cloaked in freakin' pitch darkness. Except for a minimart further down that lonely stretch, the restaurant was only light source around. It really makes sense to Uber or Grab your way around KL cos no way you gonna wave a cab down in this part of town.

Oh, and speaking of the old family home, here's a look at our new "old" DB box or distribution board box. Renovation is almost done and I hope to post more pix real soon.

Cavalock and The Dinner Party Puzzlement

So on Saturday night, I was at a little intimate dinner party at my friend's apartment and it got me thinking about the idea or 'culture' of dinner parties here. I guess it's something we don't see a lot of, I mean folks here still meet up for dinner but it's usually for a birthday party or watching a football match or some group event like reunions, and it's almost always at a restaurant or zi char joint. I imagine for Singaporeans here there's got to be an important enough reason to meet up otherwise why bother and cooking dinner at home is too much of a hassle? Nothing wrong with that of cos. Most people I know don't really meet up at a friend's place, enjoy a full home-cooked meal together then just sitting at the dinner table and talking about stuff. All right, maybe a lot of people actually do dinner parties and I just don't get invited? Hah!

Anyway, I think dinner parties are fun and the subsequent dinner conversations are often really memorable. Cos usually there'll be dinner guests that you'll be meeting for the first time. Well, our hostess is from the F&B industry and naturally we were treated to a fantastic spread that night. The pesto pasta (or is it pasta pesto?) was amazing. She bought it while in Milan and the Italian chef who recommended it claimed that the handmade pasta was one of the most popular ones in the city. Its twisty little shape makes it ideal for pesto.

We had some devious boozy ice-cream too. Served in these beautiful vintage Babycham glasses. I actually had a set of those from the old family home but I threw them away! You can see from the last picture below (yes, I snapped a pix before tossing them into the trash bag), the logos are quite worn out and I don't think anyone would actually want them. Fortunately my friend got her set from someone else.

Cavalock and The Start of The Retro Renovation

My friend's third dessert joint Creamier at Gillman Barracks had its official opening on Saturday and I was fortunate enough to score an invite to the afternoon event. The place looks a lot better now that they got the outdoor furniture. Had a scoop of their new kaya toast flavour and it was as good as I expected. You can't miss the rich familiar pandan coconut taste and the tiny pieces of bread or toast in the ice-cream adds texture to the whole deal. Well, the place was wonderfully packed with families and friends. I even ran into some ex-colleagues form the old agency. Unfortunately an early dinner engagement that evening meant I couldn't stay for the lion dance. But I'll drop by again real soon.

Hail Cesar, The Hateful 8, Daredevil Season 2, American Horror Hotel, the list goes on. Yes, I'm finally catching up on my iPad shows. The last few weeks and I suspect the coming weeks as well, will be rather busy for me. Renovation works on the old family home is set to begin next month. Yikes! And it sure ain't cheap bringing a relic like that into the 21st century. The retro flooring and metal grills, we are definitely trying to keep most of them. Some can't be saved as they are cemented into the bloody walls and when work starts, they'll have to be ripped or jack-hammered outta them. I absolutely love those rows of air holes in the walls as the fresh air from outside circulates and prevents the entire place from getting stale. But they'll have be sealed shut cos the place is gonna be air-conned.