Every Saturday morning for the last 12 years, I have my breakfast at a noodle stall in Ang Mo Kio. My order is "Kway teow dry with extra vinegar" :) Yum yum. Each Friday evening, I drift off to dreamland in anticipation of the delicious kway teow dry breakfast. Yum yum....again.
The lady who runs the stall is about sixty years old (I think) and she retires this week to look after her grandchild. I am happy that she has prioritised her life to do the thing that brings her fulfilment. I am sure it was not an easy choice for her (she has quite a big following at her stall).
This has created a mini crisis of sorts for me. I really do not know what I will replace my kway teow dry breakfast. You see, I only eat at her stall and while there are other food stalls at the food centre, I know it will not fill the void.
I am reminded of another mini crisis when my hairdresser gave up her shop because of escalating rental. Although she is operating her business from another location, it is too far away for me to make the trip. She was more than a hairdresser. She was part of the gel (pun intended :P) in the community. While she cut my hair, she also updated me of the latest happenings in the neighbourhood. Once, she even told me about my brother's shopping habits ! Yes, she was that connected.
After agonising for about a month, my hair was badly in need of a trim. Reality eventually set in and one day, when I looked at my hair in the mirror, I realised that there really wasn't that much left and it was not like I would style my hair differently each time I had a haircut. I decided to try out one of those $10 haircuts. The ones where you stick $10 into a vending machine and it would dispense a card. You then took your seat with your queue number printed on the chair! The equipment (scissors) is kept in a sterilising unit, much like a dentist. The haircut was quick (10 minutes) and they used a vacuum to suck up the bits of hair on your head, around your ears. Oh, they even offer to give you the comb they used to cut your hair. It is a far cry from the barber shop of old where half the floor is covered with hair - black hair, brown hair, white hair, grey hair, straight hair curly hair. To add to the ambience, there was a whiff of rose hair oil in the air. The $10 haircut is best described as sterile and there is hardly any talking. It is coldly efficient but gets the job done.
Back to the noodle stall, I now have to push the envelop and venture out of my comfort zone to find a replacement for the kway teow dry. Will I find it? Will I enjoy it? Will I accept a replacement? Stay tuned for the next episode of "Life is not a bowl of kway teow dry with extra vinegar" :P
Have you encountered a simialr situation where something seemingly mundane throws you off keel?
2 comments:
Yah... I can empathise. The entire coffee shop I grew up with had to make way for "progress" recently. Nothing to do with any motivation for fulfillment. Like your vinegared kway teow stall Aunty. Just had to make way for "progress". Read more retail and condo development.
All the stalls there had a following. People from all over Singapore came to eat to the coffee shop. The stalls are now scattered all over. Thankfully two of the stalls have made their way to places near enough to us. But losing the entire coffee shop gave us a sinking feeling. Still feeling a bit sunk still.
The other thing for me is whenever I find a product suitable for my super sensitive and allergic skin, the manufacturers decide to "improve" the product and invariably add stuff that I'm allergic to. Or they just totally discontinue the product. :x This causes a mad scramble on my part to look for a replacement product that won't make me look like someone socked me in the eye, or have lips swelling to the proportions of a Zulu princess...:p you get my drift. And when I do find it, it gets discontinued or "improved". It's a vicious cycle. And yes it always leaves me breathless... But nothing figurative about that. I truly get "chuan" from desperation. :P
So yes I commiserate with you totally! But will stop here so I don't speak more than I listen. :P Speak away! I'm listening. :P
Methinks the "Fat Lady has sung"? Did the curtain fall for the last time, on your Kway teow-with-extra-vinegar Aunty, today? :( Sorry...I understand the loss.
Hope you managed to savour the last slivers of the kway teow and the taste lingers with you.
Meanwhile, will stay tuned for the next episode of "Life is not a bowl of kway teow dry with extra vinegar". :) And since it's not, perhaps you should not look for a replacement. :p For us creatures of habit, nothing will ever compare well. So go ahead and push the envelope. Happy foodie adventure!
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