Good-bye Penang #3 - Kittiness

26 May 2014

We're leaving Pulau Penang and lovely George Town, and moving on.  Our visa expires in early June, so we're heading off to see a few more spots in Malaysia before we fly north for the summer, like migrating tropical birds.

Besides, we haven't heard back from the TV people and we both agreed we can't just hang around on the off chance that we finally get a message to be extras for a day or two of filming.  We have better things to do.

So today we went to our couple of favourite spots in the neighbourhood, and said good-bye - it's always hard saying good-bye to friends we make during our travels, but, well, such is the life of the Rolling Luggager.

One of my stops today was at China House, our favourite place for a posh brekkie or, even better, a slice of cake.  They have a Happy Cat (what we call the Japanese cat who waves at people) at one entrance, as part of the 101 Lost Kittens Project to protect stray animals.

They have phenomenal cake.  Pictured here - Devil Cake, a dark chocolate cake with dark chocolate frosting, and they're about to cut a slice for Richard.  The other cake is for me, Be Mine - dark chocolate cake rolled vertically (think jellyroll on end) with cream cheese frosting and fresh raspberries, and a thin layer of yellow cake on the top and bottom to help stabilize the roll of cake.  Amazing cake!!!!  Almost as good as my personal fave, the Chocolate Tissimo - moist brownie-like chocolate cake with walnuts, covered in chocolate mousse and chocolate curls.  Though their version of a tiramisu is a close second, except today I discovered their Chocolate Tower.  Five or six layers of chocolate cake, layers sliced thin, with sort of an ombre effect of cream filling - top layer is coffee cream, next is light mocha, after that is darker mocha, then chocolate, then very dark chocolate - each layer of cream progressively darker and more chocolatey. O.M.G.!!!!  All draped in a very dark ganache-like frosting.  Yes, Seattle friends, we will try making this during one of my visits!!!!

Anyway, China House has some tables in the casual section, with paper on top of the black tablecloths.  And a cup of oil pastels on each table.  So of course I sit and draw every time we go there.  A dragon.  A sunset.  A beach scene.  Once I found out about the 101 Lost Kittens Project, of course I started drawing kittens.  Or cats.  Since I'm not saving things, I just take a photo of my drawings - so here you go, more cats.  A few Happy Cats, a Party Animal cat (reminiscent of our Cleo), and a dog and cat friendship a la Keith Haring.  Kittiness.  Cat silliness.

Our friends at the Kantan Kafé, home of our almost-daily bagels, have the silliest cat yet.  It's a toy they bought in Japan - looks like just a cute and cuddly orange kitty, right?  Turn it on and the kitty records what you say and then repeats it in a high squeaky vaguely lisping voice while bobbing its head up and down maniacally!  The thing is absolutely hilarious!  We go into hysterics every time we play with it, the little guy is so funny!  Of course, then he records our laughter and repeats that, making slightly crazed laughing noises, which send us into more laughter!  Then we'll give messages to each other through the kitty who garbles the message and makes it funnier, repeating the whole process.  Yes, he'll sing.  But if I sing soprano, his high-pitched repetition is enough to break glass!!!  We definitely need to find one of these, he's good for endless laughter!

About the Happy Cat earrings - I've been looking for a tiny Happy Cat to use as a pendant, I like the Happy Cat and thought it would be a cute and inexpensive souvenir from Asia.  Couldn't find one tiny enough, except a small bell at the Purrfect Café - and thank you but I don't need a bell around my neck.

Well, I finally found the earrings at Kek Lok Si, the big temple I visited last week.  Couldn't decide which colour scheme I liked, so I bought three pair.  Might wear them as earrings, but I think I like them better as a pendant, one at a time.  Which, of course, leaves a single unmatched kitty of each colour for, oh, maybe three of my nieces.

We leave tomorrow for Ipoh, a bit south.  Ipoh is a former British colonial outpost and the capital of the state of Perak, and also gateway to the Cameron Highlands, one of the few tropical highland regions in the world.  We'll spend several days there before heading south back to KL, and then, as I said, heading north for the summer.

So I'll post from Ipoh, and share whatever excitement is going on in our lives when we're there.