I Am Missing Her

I had my last bite of the yummy Siem Meehoon for breakfast last Friday and I will have to wait for another 2 months before I have the chance to taste it again.

Almost every morning, I will buy breakfast from a Thai lady at a stall in front of a cyber cafe at SS2. It is facing the morning market at Wai Sik Kai, and located at the same row as McDonald. Customers normally address the Thai lady as aunty.

There are nasi lemak, Thai fried rice, toasted bread, fried egg, drinks (Coffee, tea, yin yong, etc...), different variety of fried noodles which include Siem Meehoon, Mee, Kue Teow, 'Lou Shu Fen', glass noodle and sometimes a type of noodle which looks like Taiwanese noodle, and a special type of Thai otak-otak sold at the stall. Sometimes, there are some kuih too. The prices of the food are very reasonable. Due to limitted space, there are only a few tables available for customers to sit down and enjoy the food.

Out of all food, though I have not tried all, I enjoy the Siem Meehoon with the crunchy ikan bilis (bought from Thailand) and a special Thai sambal the most. I am a big fan of fried ikan bilis and her ikan bilis is the most delicious one that I've ever tasted. It's so thin (full fish body but you can't find the fish bone) and crunchy. The ikan bilis is mixed with kacang in a nescafe container. I don't fancy kacang that much, thus I will perseverely put in some effort to pick the ikan bilis out of the kacang mix. Yes, at this stall, customers can help themselves to pick their food and add the ikan bilis & sambal. Of course, being a sambal person, the Thai sambal is a must for me to spice up the Siem Meehoon. The sambal tastes so yummy and enticing that I just can't stop imagining its taste in my mind even before I cross the road to reach aunty's stall. haha... :D I like the Thai otak-otak too but the portion is a bit too big. Unlike the normal otak-otak in slim rectangular shape, aunty's otak-otak is made of tenggiri fish with cabbage as the base layer and is filled in a square mould made of banana leaf. You can taste the freshness and the elasticity of the tenggiri flesh when you bite on it. 1 piece of otak-otak is selling at RM2. For me who can't eat much in the morning, 1 piece can make me full for the whole morning.

Aunty is a very nice and friendly lady. From her physical appearance, I guess she is in her late 40s. Well, look can be very deceiving in age revelation nowdays, especially when women are concerned. :) She can speak a little Malay, a little English and a litlle Cantonese. Customers normally speak to her in English, and so do I. There is a middle age Chinese man helping aunty at the stall. Comparatively, he is not as friendly as aunty. It seems he is neither her husband nor brother. Anyway, I never bother to know what is their relationship as it's not none of my business. :) From a conversation with a customer, aunty said 'RM3.50' in Cantonese. I asked if she can understand/speak Cantonese. She replied in an adorable and loving manner, "Yes, Papa is Chinese.". So Cute!

Every morning, aunty will great every single of her customer good morning with a very pleasant smile. My engine is normally slow and needs longer time to warm up in the morning. Ya, don't talk to me the moment I just wake up, I won't have the mood to respond for this reason. Her warm greeting, pleasant smile and the yummy breakfast definitely serve as the best catalyst to wake me up and turn my engine turbo.

Recently, aunty has gone back to Thailand for 2 months. It's kinda hard for her customers to see her go because everybody loves aunty! Aunty has brought joy and happiness to people around. In this city where everyone is so busy minding their own business, where neighbours hardly know or greet each other, where most of the people are wearing a mask, how nice if there are more people like aunty around, to break the ice, and warm everyone's heart.

I think everyone misses aunty and I miss her too. If we use a flower to symbolize aunty, sunflower will be the best representation. When you see her, you'll see joy, hope and happiness.

Seems that I have to wait for 2 months before seeing her and enjoying her breakfast again. Guess what, I have asked aunty to buy some ikan bilis back from Thailand for me! Hehe... And I wanna try aunty's coffee when she's back.

Aunty, I miss you!