30-minutes-meal

I had wanted a freshly cooked hot meal for lunch. I was pressed for time. I had to settle with a meal from a nearby fast food chain restaurant. It tasted horrible! I could barely stomached the burger and the chips. Since the food were bought from a chain restaurant, there were probably nothing wrong with the food. It was probably my body rejecting unhealthy fast food.

Reeling from that experience, I thought hard and came up with an experiment: cook a 30-minutes-meal during lunch hour break.

My magic kitchen-in-a-box (a.k.a mini mobile kitchen):

The box is actually:

Something is cooking:

My 30-minutes-meal cooked using 30ml of spirit in that small groove stove:

Macaroni with egg, mushroom & carrot soup/broth followed by egg-less steamed chocolate cake, then wash down with a cup of hot 3-in-1 nescafe.

The experiment was a success!

Last and first micro adventure for the year - Part 2

We bid adieu after breakfast. I waved my companions goodbye from the hotel entrance. I rolled Black Beauty out. None of hotel staff mad any fuss about me rolling Black Beauty out of the lobby. Then I unfolded Black Beauty and made my way.

Black Beauty at the lobby

First stop was the clock tower of Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad. Previous evening I cycled along the road behind the building to avoid the polices and the city hall personnels. That day I took the opportunity to cycle in front of that famous KL landmark.

It was close to 11 am. The sun was beginning to sear. I took refuge from if by cycling in the shadows of the building. I thought I was the only one that took refuge from the hot sun. Among the shadows, I found others.

Steel steed vs real steed

The shadows brought me to the National Textile Museum.

Thankfully the security guard let me parked Black Beauty at the entrance next to his table. There was no where else to put the bicycle. On top of that, I forgot to bring my keys, thus, even if I wanted to, I could not chain lock the bicycle.

There were only four exhibition halls, two on the ground floor and another two on the first floor. The first hall have diorama of the textile making process such as batik printing and cloth weaving. The second and the third hall have the usual and the not so usual types of textiles. The last hall exhibits various acessories such as earings, neclaces and what nots.  Though small and limited, the museum have a decent display of various types of textiles. They have the clothes worn by the indegenious people of Malaysia as well as the usual "kain sarong batik".

It didn't take me long to complete the tour of the museum. I was glad to find Black Beauty still where I had left it. I continued pedalling. at 11.30am I reached the old Kuala Lumpur railway station.

The station's lobby was fairly deserted. I practically pushed my complete bicycle up to the first plaftorm. I looked around for the lift. I asked a shop keeper from a window at the platform. She pointed me to one direction. Sure enough, there it was. I folded Black Beauty in front of the lift. By 11.45am, I was at the platform, waiting for my train.

The train came around 12pm. I had no problem pushing Black Beauty into the coach. I took a spot that has the wheelchair sticker on the wall. I decided to sit on Balck Beauty's rear rack. That saved me from having to make sure Black Beauty didn't fall on its side.

An hour and 15 minutes later, I reached Seremban Railway station. It was time for lunch. I scouted around for an eating place. I didn't feel like eating any fast food. Finally I settled for a restaurant that has been in Seremban for as long as I could remember - Restoran Negeri.

I ordered 'murtabak ayam' and my favourite isotonic drink - 100plus. The chef took about 30 minutes to prepare my order, but the wait was worth it. The 'murtabak' was as tasty as it was eons ago. There were enough chicken strips, egg, onions and spices in the 'murtabak'. It was not too spicy nor salty. Everything was perfectly balanced.

I took my own sweet time to enjoy every bite. My tranquility and serenity was interrupted by two older men when they took the empty seats at my table. I made haste and left for work. With that my first micro-adventure of the year came to an end.

Last and first micro-adventure for the year - Part 1

How could it be last but at the same time first micro adventure for the year? Well, it began on new year eve and ended on 1st January 2014.

I was suppose to finish work at 5pm, but I got off early and went cycling. By 5pm, Black Beauty was already packed and safely tucked in the bus' luggage compartment. None of the bus company's staff made any fuss about my 'luggage'. Nor did I have to pay any extra charges. Thank you Suasana Edaran!

The bus departed at 5.20pm. An hour later, I was unfolding Black Beauty at the sidewalk of the Klang River bridge. To the uninitiated, the murky water flowing next to Central Market is not a monsoon drain, IT IS A RIVER.

Except for two or three persons who gave me thumbs up, passers-by pretty much ignored me while I prepared Black Beauty for my ride.

Even with the roads closure, it took me less than 10 minutes to get to the Dataran Merdeka, the hot spot for the new year celebration. There were a lot of police presence as well as city hall personnel. They were bracing for the planned demonstration by whom I regard as party poopers.

I continued on to Quality Hotel City Centre at Jalan Raja Laut to meet the rest of my companions for the new year eve. The hotel staff just looked and smiled on as I folded and packed Black Beauty before brought it in. No one was bothered by it. My companions on the other hand were surprised as well as amazed that I brought along Black Beauty and cycled to meet them.

After dinner and relatively quiet new year celebration (compared to the concert and chaos at Dataran Merdeka), we retired to bed. Everyone had a long day. On top of that we all had an early start the following day.

(to be continued... )