Most weekends in Penang the last several weeks have been spent with either me or Ken recovering from a bad cold that took us out each for 2 weeks (maybe it was covid?), or me glued to the couch trying to nap the fatigue away.
My first (zeroth?) Mother’s Day was a nice-paced weekend of exploring some new-to-us places. While Ken went on an early Saturday morning clockwise island ride, I slept in. After riding, Ken treated me to my first headspa appointment🥰, complete with before and after camera inspection of my scalp (started much less gross than I feared and ended a very healthy consistent color) and shoulder gua sha which gave me painless but scary looking bruising.
We had been meaning to get together with Ken’s cousin for what feels like months now, and finally made it happen. They asked me what I was craving for, and honestly, one thing I really miss is pizza! Punch Pizza specifically.
We chose Pizzahana in Georgetown, an Italian-Japanese fusion restaurant with Neapolitan-style pizza that the cousins also hadn’t been to before. Cheese is definitely a luxury food here, imported and expensive, as expected in Asia. Between the pasta, three pizzas, mushroom bisque, my western food itch was satiated but my Beli rating was a lowly 4.1, mostly because of the crazy star pizza.
Sunday morning came with a lovely surprise from New York, a flower delivery from Michelle! Makes me really oggle at the marvels of connectivity.
I had a breast assessment appointment at our confinement center in Georgetown (more about that in a later post…) so we ventured out for the day.
Din sum sounded pretty good after being prodded, so we checked out Four Hands, which ended up being a rather fancy dim sum place. When is the last time your steamed dumpling came with gold foil? 😵💫 Despite the unnecessary showiness, the food was great!
Four dishes, a pot of chrysanthemum tea and 65 ringgit ($16.50) later, we headed to a coffee shop, A Soar Coffee, to do some snail mail.
Coffee culture is strong in Penang, this place took it seriously. The walls are covered with different bags of beans they’ve brewed and lanyards from various brewing competitions that their staff have competed at. While I do like a nice espresso, I have been abstaining from coffee so it feels like a bit of a letdown to the barista for neither of us to order coffee!
Rounded out the weekend making granola for the first time, following the Serious Eats recipe. It’s kinda expensive here since it’s imported, and our Costco size bag of Nature’s Path that I brought in my suitcase in January is about to run out. Luckily oats are cheap! Had some in my yogurt this morning and I can confirm that the homemade granola hype is real. Would recommend.
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atsuko's day 
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