taupow lifestyle

one of the things about working the hours i work is needing to plan. i have staff who i need to plan careers with, i have capital expenditures which need to be considered and budgeted. i have annual international child movements that requires more planning than almost any professional task of the entire year. but the most frequent planning exercise i need to conduct is driving back to expat land, feeding myself, and remaining available for long distance conference calls at very odd hours.

i remember a time when work would slow down as the sun slipped below the horizon. this was not always the norm; driving home during a blizzard on a conference-call, hands clenching the wheel in an effort to calm the fear of passing large trucks without a stable grip of wheels to road, was known to have happened in the past. but most nights i would stop in the grocery store to get the final dinner ingredients, and would come into a noisy kitchen just as dinner prep moved to construction mode.

food used to be something built, planned a week ahead or thrown together based on what was available, dinner was an event of coordinating multiple schedules, tastes and moods. the process would start for me with a conversation on the ride home. it started with a question, "what do you want for dinner?" the riddle was that the question was not what it seemed on face value, it was not what i wanted that was in question, but if i would accept what had been decided upon. this was my first zen lesson, one that i failed miserably.

living alone has made this process much less complex. i now have factors what need to be weighed, it is now all about what i want for dinner. i can make the choice, just from a shortened list of possible selections. gone are the tacos, quesidillas, crepes, stews, steaks, pancakes and waffles of the past. the years of declaring easy nights as yoyo (you're on your own) have faded away; the term has taken a whole new meaning.

the peace of not having to choose is gone, and the choices are far fewer than in the past. cooking for one, with a crazy work schedule, barely functional kitchen and aversion to parking underground and taking an elevator to a supermarket takes it toll. i have realized that in the past few years i have changed my definition of buying groceries. i am living a taupow lifestyle.

the key to taupow living is to know your local restaurants well, make friends and purchase in bulk when you go. mom always said that food was better the second day. that might have been a way to convince her children that old food was better than new, but somehow i still believe her. flavors do seem to melt together over time. this might be why i have the love of leftovers; which is such a negative term, mom always said, "saving the best for last".

i was talking about this with a friend and she said, "i like to eat taupow, so i can just eat out of the containers". i broke into a big smile, that's it exactly. the KL lifestyle totally works for the expat living alone. you move in with clothes and little else. you find a menu you like and you start eating there, over time you steal 5 or so spoons and you start bringing containers home to eat directly out of them. no need to wash a plate; much less pots and pans. you can watch a "local copy" dvd and relax, rather than standing at the sink and busting suds. even your once a week maid likes it, she only needs to wash 5 spoons and water glass.

[malaysians if they use a utensil will use a spoon, knives and forks are for rich people, all you need in life is a soup spoon. many just use their hands, which explains the sinks in the middle of restaurants, but that's a different blog]

i am now in planning mode for the kids to arrive for the summer (people in KL have no idea what summer means, the weather is always summer here, and the kids are not out of school in july and august). that has me wondering if i need to change this behavior. i downshift much of my lifestyle when they are here. but i can sense that almost it's time for the negotiations to begin again. i am no longer going to be on my own, i have three personalities and tastes to accomadate.

thank god we have hawker stands. its like take out without needing to go home. it is perfect for yoyo every night. everyone gets to eat what they want, with 20 micro kitchens cooking everyone can happy.

KL has issues, two are mall based grocery stores and a lack of cooking stores, but it has just meant a change. learning to take away the best of what you can, and relaxing at home are good things. they are things the taupow living have given me. lets hope the kids still agree.