Heavenly breakfast

The scene had always been the same as we walked towards the coffeeshop after parking the car in front of an empty looking shophouse. The place had always been busy, bustling with people from all walks of life; people stopping by for a quick bite before going to work, retirees who had nothing better to do than to hang around chitchatting over a cup of kopi-o, looking and observing people who walk into the coffeeshop and eventually find something bout the people to talk about. There were also those who prefer to mind their own business by flipping through the newspaper while waiting for their food to arrive. Or people who stopped by for a bowl of noodles after their morning walk/jog or a trip from the wet market. Such is an example of a typical scene you will almost always find in a Chinese coffeeshop.

In a way, I find it very.... comforting, nice to watch and observe :) It gave me a feel of home, a place where I came from.. small, peaceful quiet little island not found in the world map and yet in existence. Heads turned as we made our appearance and tried to squeeze through among the sea of people trying to locate an empty table. Normally he would go for the table to reserve a spot for us while I head straight to our favorite noodle stall to place our order.

It wasn’t hard to notice us. A bunch of people wearing uniform (which explained we work all the way on the other side of the island) who’s crazy enough to drive so far to get breakfast. We are addicted yes, can’t find any other stalls that sells it better than this one. Now that I think bout it, it’s like a weekly ritual that we will be there at least once a week. The craving comes now and then and most often, we succumbed to the craving.

The aunty who was assigned to take orders gave me a look of acknowledgement (or at least I think so) when she saw me. It almost felt as if she knew right then what I was going to tell her before I even open my mouth.

“Two bowls of noodles; one large one with both yellow noodles and bihun and the other small one with only bihun, both with extra chili”

Same default order. Like always.

This time around she did not tell me how long to wait. Normally she will warn me in advance that the food will take at least half an hour to be ready. Not that it will make a lot of difference for us since we’re there anyway so why not just wait right? No warning, I took it as a good indication.

True enough, we didn’t have to wait long. Two bowls of hot spicy noodles were set in front of us in 10 minutes or so. Mass production of saliva formed in my mouth as I looked at the red spicy soup. Then I remembered something I always take with the noodles.

PORK LARD!

I went to the stall where big bags of pork lard were open ready to be scooped. Anyone can take any amount as they wish to. I don’t know, for me, since the first time I tried eating it with pork lard, I can’t seem to be able to go without it. I happily walked back to the table with a small plate of pork lard (full) in my hand.

I poured in half the amount of pork lard into the soup and let it soak for a little while. Then I mixed the chili with the soup and noodles. My first bite almost send me to heaven, just like always. It was definitely as good as before. Soup was thick and full of prawn taste, and not to mention they were not stingy with the amount of prawns and pork meat given. And the addition of pork lard just made it better for me. Too much of pork lard disguised the taste of the soup. The strong aroma of the fried pork lard overide the prawn-ish effect of the soup. Some prefer the prawn taste, I prefer the pork.. so it depends on one’s preference really.

With the rate of spiciness we were going at the moment, we needed two glasses of “cham peng” (a mixture of tea and coffee) to drench our thirst and lessen the effect of our swollen lips :p Simply awesome… no regrets.

As always we walked out the place with at least a pair of eyes trailing after us…. but who cares when you’ve just been to heaven and sent back to reality again to face the same mundane shit you have to endure on a daily basis.

Ah yes, so true that it’s those little satisfactory things in life that make your day. Just don’t be too picky and the window to happiness and self satisfaction will seems even bigger now.