Today's New Idea Magazine has what I think is an important albeit non-food story about me. It is about my relationship with reality TV star Robb Demarest from Ghost Hunters International and Haunting:Australia. This is NOT a bad breakup story. My marriage to Noah's dad was a bad breakup and you've never heard me divulge the details nor name him in » Read More
Yoga Home 500 Review
Some of you might know that once upon a time, before the “food thing”, I used to be an IT consultant. I was an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer), CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Administrator) and CNA (Certified Novell Administrator) and did contract work in Sydney and London for some 7+ years. Back in late 2014, baby Noah broke my » Read More
Tang Sifu
This post was written 3 years ago and published on Father's Day. My dad has since passed away. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I’ve never been hugged by my dad. Growing up, I was under no illusion that I was anywhere near the favourite of his 9 » Read More
The Hard Sell
‘Hello, sir/ma’am – come try Malaysian food – we have noodles, curry, satay, roti’ – called out my newest staff member to the passing crowds. We were trading at a market and he was obviously trying hard to show initiative and had been at it all day. I finally couldn’t stand it anymore and told him to stop. I don’t grovel for business; it’s just » Read More
Starting School – Seremban
I attended ACS (Anglo-Chinese School) in Kindergarten. I’d been raised speaking Hakka within the family, and Cantonese among the neighbourhood kids. The teacher spoke Cantonese to me. I remember a boy, Bernard Wong, taking a liking to me and bringing me candy every day. We hung out. Then one day, he started getting obnoxious. I think he’d » Read More
The TV
We lived on the 11th floor of the 14-storey high Templer Flats – Seremban’s Twin Towers – a welfare project for low-income families. 11 of us (9 kids plus our parents) crammed into a tiny 2-bedroom apartment. Each night the mattresses would be on the bedroom and living room floors to accommodate everyone. There was one toilet, which doubled as » Read More
Bob is Sexy
‘Oi, tukar, tukar!’ (Oi, change! Change!) yelled the Odeon cinema usher as he banged on the counter at my Dad’s canteen. He needed some change for whatever reason, and forgot to say please. I was furious; I’d had enough of his BS. At 15, I’d had a personality transplant; from a mild, soft-spoken and obedient kid, I’d turned into a » Read More
The Odeon
Throughout my time working at the Odeon, I had at best a love-hate relationship with it. It wasn’t always that way. When I was younger, I stayed at home whilst all my older brothers and sisters were out all day and night working. I wanted to join them, but thanks to my position in the family – 8th in a family of 9 kids – they didn’t really need » Read More
Choong Fee
It would seem in hindsight that he never stood a chance, even from the moment he was named as a baby. All the girls in our family have the middle name ‘Min’ and all the boys, ‘Choong’. His name was Choong Fee. Shortly thereafter, my mom saw a fortune teller. He told her it was a bad choice for a name. The Chinese are superstitious about » Read More