Friday 22 August 2008

Abu, Noodles and Permatang Pauh

cetak08 186

The above caption is of KTN and Chung but affectionately called Abu by his friends in their Kelantan days. If you were to glance over to the sidebar there is an image of a print that Abu made at USM when he attended a printmaking seminar and workshop.

It was nice meeting up after so long but then again the meeting deserved a post of its own which KTN said that he would do in due time.

Do you know the only home-cooked food that KTN offered Abu during his stay here in Penang was his wife's special, he would like to call it such, gravied noodles with plenty of beef, prawns, potatoes, taukua and eggs.

Not much of a host that KTN fellow don't you think so? Well anyway, Abu is now back in Johor promising to be back in a year or two and may make Penang his next home, hopefully.

Anyway talking about noodles, just across the bridge in a place called Permatang Pauh where it was reported to be some kind of a war zone, friends have been calling me up to say that there is a new mobile noodle store serving an all new interesting noodle recipe.

KTN was salivating already when he heard about this new mobile stall because noodles is one of his favourite food. Back home it has always been either Hailam noodles, mamak noodles or his wife's special gravied noodles.

KTN headed across the bridge to catch this much hyped upon noodle stall, imagining a hot steamy plate of noodles full with dried sotong, chunks of beef, thumb-sized prawns and maybe pieces of chicken meat that would cover the whole plate.

Wait a minute, its a mobile stall so where is he going to find the stall? Being very familiar with Permatang Pauh, a constituency in which he was once a voter, KTN dialled a few numbers and was told that the stall would be operating in front of the UMNO building in Kubang Semang.

The suspense was killing him. He even told his wife that if the noodle was good enough, he would not be having any of her noodles anymore, at least until he gets fed-up of it, to which she gives a look that implied that he would be dissapointed because no one makes better noodles than her gravied noodles.

There was already a crowd of rowdy Mat Rempits at the stall. KTN is one guy who despises Mat Rempits, calling them the scums of society, but the lure of a new noodle recipe made him set aside his hatred for these hellish characters.

Now this KTN fellow is not one to dive into any food straightaway without first giving it a look over. It has to be well presented, has the right aroma and colour and most importantly has that x-factor which makes him fall in love with it at first sight.

This stall, crowded by the rowdies and the curious, just doesn't give a good first impression. It looked dirty, smells awful and is just totally repugnant.

He had a look at the sign of the stall, looked at the stall again and walked to his car to his waiting wife. He started the car and drove off. His wife knew that, KTN was disappointed. "Where to" she asked. "Cherok Tokun" he answered, rather dissapointed. "The crap-gravy noodle at the junction"? He just nodded his head.

They headed to Cherok Tokun and ate the famous crap-gravy noodles at the junction opposite the mosque and went home. "Why didn't you buy any noodles at Kubang Semang?" His wife asked. "One look at the seller, I lost my appetite. He is dirty, smelly and do you know what he called his stall?". She kept quite but knew he would tell her anyway. " SODO MEE" 

16 comments:

Ydiana said...

Cikgu

While I had a good laugh, are you serious about the name of the mee? I don't know whether to believe or not, coming from you...hahaha!

Bet now you appreciate your wife's gravy noodle even more from now onwards. :)

Unknown said...

No there is no such mee in Permatang Pauh. Its a reference to BN's using Epol to campaign which is akin to him opening a mobile gerai.

I do appreciate my wife's mee very much but I don't take it with kuah, I like it wet but not flooded but others prefer it with plenty of kuah.

wun said...

So it's SODOM MEE? Or SODO MEE? Because the former would definitely be Saiful's specialty craving...

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

hehehehe...glad i'm not a fan of noodles. eh cikgu, is this a true story or what? because nowadays everything is made political by the ameno pirates. so i wasnt sure to laugh it out or not.

*whats taukua?

aN_archi said...

Ajit, you spared nothing to make my stay comfortable. I was treated to the best makan places that only a local would know and I was chaffeoured to and from the workshop. Man, even when your BP reading is high you tolerated my chatter. The missus's mee is proof that your late mother's delicious cooking from Kelantan days has passed on from one generation to another. To you and family, muchas gracias from the bottom of my heart.

Hi&Lo said...

Sir,

Terrific opener. Almost fooled by you until you gave away in your reply to ydiana.

I love Penang Mee Rebus. You damned lucky to have a talented better half.

Anonymous said...

Salam Che gu,

Apa khabar? Aisehman! going back
to kl next week, got a wedding
in seberang prai 31st, kena cari
mee kuah lah. Nak pergi Line clear(for nasi kandar) heard so much of it, tak pernah pi. Kat sini ada Indo mee aje.

Inderjeet Kaur

Anonymous said...

Cikgu,
Mee kuah sotong di Esplanade ada lagi ka?

Anonymous said...

Apa pandangan Cikgu ttg turun minyak ni, naik mendadak, turun merangkak. Saya rasa Pak Lah menurunkan harga minyak ni sebenarnya umpan pilihanraya Pmtg Pauh, turun macam tak mau turun saja. Harga minyak dunia dah turun 6 peringkat, Singapura dah turun 6 kali, tapi Pak Lah baru turun 15sen. Macam mana barangan lain? Roti canai, tepung, minyak masak bila nak turun? Sejak Shahril jadi Menteri KPDNHEP, ekonomi bertambah parah, rakyat semakin beruban, semacam uban di rambut Shahril.

Anonymous said...

...dont care what mee vely good in Permatang Pauh but "evely one says An Hwa will win.." butoikah cikgu?

Anonymous said...

Good one, cikgu. :-)

monsterball said...

I heard Najin like mongomee.....and no one believe him..so he swear by the Koran to shut jealous mouths.
His ex drive of 5 years.. now swear Najib loves hindhumee mixed with bomoh balachan.
I guess Najib will go and swear again..this is not true...as he love his mongomee so much....he will do anything.. .to protect his love.. this delicious..mongomee.

cakapaje said...

Salam Cikgu,

Like just I story one lah...they now scrapped the sodo mee recipe and tried to make explo mee at the bilik gerakan puteri you know. Whoever saw that bag, sure must naik pangkat after this.

Anonymous said...

Dollah: Najib, you are out! Yes, out.
Najib: What? Out what?
Dollah: No succession in 2010.
Najib: Mr PM, why? What happened?
Dollah: When I came back today, I found Jeanne reading Malaysia-Today.
Najib: So? What has that got to do with our deal?
Dollah: Go and read first. Your wife was cursing Jeanne using Hindu Bomohs. So Jeanne is angry.
Najib....

I hope you will write a nice one uncle. Anyway, Abang, are you a PP voter or where? Thanks.

Anonymous said...

He looks familiar to me;Is that guy Chung Ah Kow? from Rimba Terjun?Let me have his phone no if he's the guy!

monsterball said...

Just to let you know..I am staying at Summit Hotel.

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