Friday, May 01, 2009

Sigh

I have to say, the crummiest thing about being down with whatever throat/cough virus this is, is missing my favourite dessert, my reason for living, the essence by which the earth goes round... see koh teng.


You can choose your own ingredients, or take a bit of everything. Mine has a particular inclination for jelly-like substances. And a couple of fruits - lychee, longan, rambutan with pineapple, and sea coconut. You can try out the stuff I tend to leave out - including red beans (I don't care for how they tend to disintegrate and change the texture of the drink), white fungus, and a papaya-like looking thing called pek kuay. There's also cincau, or leong fun, or grass jelly. I've had this on an average of once a day for the past two weeks (basically ever since I found out I had a license to wallop the stuff, with my low glucose level), and I've cemented my obsession with the following:
  • See koh teng is mostly sold from a van, and for my favourite dealer, I know his entire schedule from memory - covering three locations, two daily shifts, one off day. Plus I know how well his two different afternoon shifts tend to go, which affects the closing time of his evening one.

  • I have memorized exactly where all his ingredients are placed, and in what order, so that when I drive and stop next to his van (where I can't see what he has in front of him) I can just roll down the window and say, "One big packet, without row three."

  • Without a second thought I'll go out in the rain to get my daily ration of see koh teng. Right now I also head to work early every Wednesday just to pick up my packet on the way.
In the meantime I've attacked this cough thing with just about as many ingredients: Cap Ibu dan Anak, a foul-tasting mint drink, Piraton, salt water, honey-lemon tea, Strepsils, cough syrup...

7 comments:

amelyn said...

One big packet without row 3 ...

Hehehe... that's funny.

Where are you working now and what do you do?? I've always known about the music side of things, but profesionally, what do you do??? :)

AF said...

Hmm, right now I do some freelancing and a bit of teaching. My freelancing is usually in tutoring and/or leading viola sections in orchestras, but occasionally I get the chance to do something special like give workshops, masterclasses or lecture-recitals. I suppose you could say it's an extension of education.

I'm hoping eventually to do more research and combine that with chamber music concert performances.

Unknown said...

mmm...

dessert's a bitch when we're sick

(ahhh... the 1st one after getting better... mmm...)

;)

AF said...

Stev...

What more, the pinnacle of desserts, the crown of ingestion, the yardstick by which all comparisons of beauty exist...

SEE KOH TENG

Sigh...

amelyn said...

You know what - I'm stating the obvious here, but I just realized you and I had the same initials... so when you responded as AF ... I was like, who, huh, what the?? :P

Shortie said...

LOL.LOL.LOL.

I miss the see koh th'ng too!!! without the pek kuay and red beans.. :D

AF said...

Amelyn, I'll make life easier by allowing anyone to address me not as AF, but as SKT!

(Exclamation mark mandatory. To emphasize the utter majesty of See Koh Teng!)