Lunch With My Blog Buddy

Last Monday, I asked Vince if he would like to join me for lunch at "Taiwan Mee". The city campus where I had been working was just one road away from the computer company where he had been doing his internship. But the restaurant we went was quite a long walking distance from our meeting point in front of the HSBC. As Vince was in a white shirt and I in black clothes, we were like a zebra crossing busy roads under the hot sun.

I forgot who had introduced this noodles restaurant to me. Vince also knew this place. The business there was always good, especially during the peak lunch hour. When we arrived, it was full. We had to wait at the corridor while watching bowls of noodles served to other tables.

After a short while, the customers of two tables left. So we chose the one near the counter to inhale minimal cooking smell from the stove. The lady boss who spoke Mandarin with a Taiwanese accent was the best advertisement for her Taiwanese noodles.

It was the third time I met Vince.

Last April, he had discovered my blog entry about food courts at Malim. Through his blog, I realized he was sharing a similar profile with me: We were born, grew up in Batu Pahat and now like Melaka where we have been staying for more than five years!

Since then, we became blog partners, linking each other's blog sites. After I learnt he was interested in participating in events, I invited him to Calvary Life Assembly (CLA) which was not far from his place. So, after one month of exchanging information, Vince was no longer virtual. Finally he appeared with his car at Ayer Keroh to follow me to the CLA premises. It was his first experience with a Sunday service at a church. I thought he might be intimidated by the cultural shock and my long hour of sharing at lunch and thus withdraw himself from my social network. On the opposite, he still visited my blog and dropped comments occasionally, though he did not speak much in person.

So now I had one more activity partner in Melaka. One of my activities was to have these mouth-watering pork rib noodles when I was in town. As part-time bloggers, we both took out our cameras to take pictures!

I used to roast pork ribs with oven when I was in France where pork was sold at all the supermarkets. In Melaka, I had not prepared this dish for years due to the inconvenience to get the meat. So, when I went to "Taiwan Mee" I liked to order the pork rib noodles rather than the beef soup noodles which were also very tasty. The pork ribs had been marinated with sauces. The sambal enhanced the flavour of the deep fried meat. We wished there were more pieces in our bowls...

I had a two-hour break between my morning and afternoon classes while Vince had about one hour's lunch break like most other working people who left the restaurant once they had finished eating.

So the blog-buddies-zebra crossed the busy roads again to go back to their respective working places.

Thanks for your company, Vince!