Work things out…

Well, that was exactly what I did. But one thing that I do know is that you learn something new every day…and that day, I wanted to try and make some “kuih bayi” or Indian bread. When I was younger, I had seen my mother making that and it looked something like shortcrust pastry, so I decided to give it a try. Well, it did NOT work out and I learnt that day that you do not get “kuih bayi” from shortcrust pastry. I did make a few pieces and they tasted quite nice and went well with the potato curry that I cooked that same day. However, it simply was not the same. In the end, I just kept the remaining dough in the fridge for future use.

It so happened that the other day, I bought this at a supermarket in town…

Normally, it would cost RM18.90…but since it would expire in December (which is roundabout now), they are selling it for RM9.95. Otherwise, you would never catch me buying something THIS expensive, over my dead body! I cut it into bits and fried with chopped Bombay onions and sliced mushrooms (which you can buy ready-sliced these days – Hosen brand! Gee! Are we getting lazier and lazier or what? LOL!!!) and added some thickened mushroom soup to it. Then I put the lot in a pie dish and sprinkled some chopped bits of cheddar cheese on top…

Having done that, I rolled out the leftover shortcrust pastry from that day for the pie cover…

I wanted to brush the top with some beaten egg…but just where did my missus put that darn brush? In the end, I just dabbed the egg onto the pastry using my finger! Tsk! Tsk! Having done that, I put it in the oven to bake…

There! My original ham & mushroom pie! It does look quite good, doesn’t it?

And it tasted pretty nice too… Yup! Yup! I know I did not have any pie base – for the simple reason that I did not have enough leftover dough for that. LOL!!!

Ah well! All in all, I sure am glad that things worked out pretty well in the end! Phew!!!

Last Christmas (2)…

Last Christmas, we just went to church…and in the evening, we went to this eat-all-you-can BBQ steamboat place and I remember they were playing “Last Christmas” all night long, no less than 10 different versions of it – the original Wham version, techno, hip-hop…and even Crazy Frog!!! It was so loud and the diners had to shout to be heard…so you can imagine how noisy it was and it was driving me up the wall! I swore I would never listen to that song ever again…

But unfortunately, I did not keep my promise – and lived to regret it. You see, the other day, I stumbled upon the cover of the aforementioned song by Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift? I can never understand why she’s been sweeping all the awards and nominations – even country! If there’s one thing that Taylor Swift isn’t, she isn’t COUNTRY! But she certainly seems very popular and I have seen some people posting her songs in their blogs – Love Story, for example…and You belong with me…which, I’m afraid, are not in any way, my cup of tea.

Anyway, to get back to what I was talking about – the song “Last Christmas”, I decided to give it a listen and IMHO, it sucks big time. The voice is so irritatingly shrieky and between the two, I would much sooner listen to Crazy Frog! Here, you can listen to it yourself…

I like the music in Coldplay’s version…

…but among the numerous covers, I love this one best – a live rendition of the song by Travis…

I particularly love that rock edge that they’ve given to the song, making it even nicer than the middle-of-the-road bubbly pop original by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. Well, as they say, “one man’s meat is another man’s poison,” so what do you all think? Are we in agreement on this matter…or are you among the many that go goo-goo gaga over…Taylor Swift?

Christmas shoes…

What is the meaning of Christmas? Is it a time to party all night long and drink yourself silly? The time for Christmas turkey, pudding and pies? The time to spend and shop till you drop?

When we were small, we would look forward anxiously to Christmas as my mum would buy us new clothes and new shoes…and we would receive lots from presents from our uncles and aunties…and we would visit one another and there would be cakes and biscuits and aerated (fizzy) drinks. In a way, the new stuff symbolises the new Hope for mankind, the presents – the gifts of the Magi (or the Three Wise men)…and the feasting and rejoicing is to commemorate that special day when Jesus Christ was born.

I happened to stumble upon this Christmas song on youtube. The following extract is taken from this website:

The song “The Christmas Shoes” is a touching song making us realize the true essence of Christianity. Christmas is a time not only for joy and celebrations, but also the time for sacrificing our needs to make others happy. The beautiful yet heart wrenching lyrics make us feel the pain and the anxiety of the young boy out to buy the last gift for his mother.

The Christmas Shoes is a universal story of the deeper meaning of destiny, of sharing humanity and carries an important message, that sometimes the smallest things in life can make all the difference so don’t wait for big, materialistic opportunities in life. Open your eyes and you will believe in miracles!

Personally, I think everyone should watch the video clip and listen to this beautiful Christmas song, but please do not blame me should it make you cry buckets…

I knew I’d caught a glimpse of heaven’s love
As he thanked me and ran out
I knew that God had sent that little boy
To remind me just what Christmas is all about.

Perhaps, in the midst of all the festivities, we too should stop and spend a bit of time to think about what Christmas is actually all about.

Coming back for more…

This is one of the regular places where I would stop by quite often for a bite. I had a post not too long ago about their Sarawak laksa special with three HUGE freshwater prawns. Yup! I’m talking about Thomson Corner, located opposite Sacred Heart School at Pusat Tanahwang here in Sibu.

Other than the laksa and the seafood kampua noodles, the nasi lemak is also very nice. This is their special…

What it lacks in appearance, it makes up in taste. Unlike in many of the stalls around, the rice is not hard…and is richly fragrant with the hint of santan (coconut milk) and pandan (screwpine leaves).

I also love the nasi ayam (chicken rice) Pattaya…

The chicken is tender and sweet…and definitely nicer than what is sold at “that old man’s place” and though the rice did not taste like chicken rice as we know it, I find it very tasty and enjoy it very much…

Among the drinks available there, I love the red bean shake…

Have you dropped by there yet? Go ahead…and give it a try!

Time to say goodbye…

I was invited to dinner the other night at Cafe Cafe here in Sibu…

It was a buffet dinner hosted by one of my students at the tuition centre who would be leaving soon for the UK…

There was a pretty wide selection of dishes…

…comprising a fusion of western and eastern. The place was somewhat dark and I felt kind of awkward taking photographs of the food using the flash, so I did not manage to snap all that was on the buffet spread.

Anyway, this was what I had for my first helping…

The food was very good and I particularly loved the mini pizzas. I think I had three of those. The masak hitam (beef) with the deep fried buns to go with it was very nice too…and so was the Nestum chicken…and the fish. The fried kway teow, of course, was a far cry from what I had had in Sungai Petani and Penang. Now, don’t ask me how many helpings I had altogether for I would just reply – Ask no questions, and I tell no lies! LOL!!!

This was the second time I’ve been to the place in its present venue. The first time I went this particular restaurant, it was for lunch and at the time, it was at the old place at Kpg Nyabor but I was put off by the fact that it was extremely noisy when the crowd came in during lunch hour. Actually, many have dined here since and they have posted on it in their blogs. You can google it up and read about it if you are interested.

Here is a photo of my student and some of his friends…

He’s the decent-looking one in the white striped shirt. Actually, I also had a photo taken with him but I look really HUGE beside him…so I have decided against including it in this post.

Well, thanks a lot for the invitation, Koh Peng, and here’s wishing you a pleasant flight to the UK and every success in your undertakings. Good luck and God bless!

Reflections…

Would you believe me if I say that the way we eat reflects who we are? It has been said that we are what we eat. Can it be true also that we are how we eat?

Lawyers, for instance, must be aggressive. They will have to attack the defendant and tear him apart, ripping him into pieces…so as to get into the bottom of things. Is it any surprise at all that this was the aftermath after a lawyer had been through with his grilled imported sardine? Hahahahahaha!!!

Teachers are different. They are prim and proper. They go through things slowly, systematically step by step…taking care that everything is neat and trim and they go through it all so very thoroughly to ensure that nothing is left out. This is what’s left of the grilled imported sardine after a teacher has finished with it…

And this is the work of another teacher. See! Don’t you notice the similarity? LOL!!!

Well, those of you who think you know me very well, can you guess which one my “masterpiece” is? 1…2…or 3? LOL!!!

Jokes aside, actually, I went back to Red Carrot for lunch with my daughter and my friend, Jimmy, from Bintulu who is also a teacher. I had been wanting to go back there since my last visit with my lawyer friend/ex-student, Louis J…as I tried a bit of his sardine and it was really very very nice. Jimmy would certainly vouch for me on that.

My daughter had their grilled lamb chop (RM12.50)…

She said that the lamb was nice but the veg on the side was a bit too salty and the so-called butter rice tasted something like chicken rice. I was particularly attracted by the glasses they use to serve the drinks. They certainly look like jam jars, don’t they?

So, if you have never been to Red Carrot, it’s about time you drop by. The grilled imported sardine is a must-have (at only RM8.90)…but if you are not a fish person, there are lots of other things that you may want to try. It’s on the 1st floor – above the Sugar Bun outlet at the Delta Commercial Centre here in Sibu.

See you there…

You are the only one…

There is a restaurant here that claims to be the only one in Malaysia that serves lokan…

I would not recommend it as we had a bad experience there recently when I went with my cousins, Diana from Miri and Eleanor from the UK. I had been there a few times before but that last visit would probably be the last one ever for me. It was featured on tv once though, on the Jalan Jalan Cari Makan show.

My daughter has always loved lokan a lot. When she was younger, I used to buy them at this place called Home Cook and it was quite cheap then – 50 sen each or something like that. Later, it became really bad…the taste, I mean – perhaps they changed the chef, so I stopped buying from there…and though the place is still in business, they do not make lokan anymore and I do not go there to eat either.

My missus can make very good lokan though…but it is quite labour intensive. You will have to clean the clams thoroughly to get rid of the sand and take out the flesh. The truth is you will need a whole lot of clams to get just a bit of the flesh. Then you mix it with minced meat and prawns or crab meat, onions and what not…and stuff the clam shells with that…

When that has been done, you will have to steam the stuffed clam shells…

When you want to eat the lokan, you will have to deep fry them and serve…

My sister-in-law can also make them. My daughter had a post on that in her old blog a long time ago when she dropped by the house and helped her make them.

Since it is a lot of trouble to make…and we are not going to that one restaurant in town that sells lokan, I guess we will not be having that very often…unfortunately.  SIGH!!!

Do what you do do well…

There is a world of difference between Sibu’s kampua noodles and Kuching’s kolo mee. I just cannot understand how people cannot tell the difference and even get the names confused.

Somebody was telling me that I can have very nice kolo mee at the e-Cafe here where I used to go for their one-time best Sarawak laksa in Sibu, so the other day, I decided to go and have a try. I ordered the kolo mee special…

It certainly looked good and if I were to give marks for presentation, I think I would just give it a 10 out of 10. However, as they say, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” The real acid test is in the taste.

Unfortunately, it failed miserably. The noodles, thought curly like kolo mee, was soft and soggy and the taste was a far cry from the real thing.

To give credit where it is due, I would say that it was nice and I would not mind having it again…but it definitely was NOT kolo mee. Somebody should tell them not to try and come out with these miserably pale imitations and just stick to what they do best.

As the song goes, do what you do do well…

Your song (2)…

I hate reality shows!!! Now, let me rephrase that. I love reality shows…a lot but I hate how things often turn out in the end. In the last two seasons of American Idol, I was really pissed off that David Archuleta and Adam Lambert did not win.

Well, I’ve been following this year’s X Factor on youtube…and I was tremendously impressed by this guy at the audition – Danyl Johnson…

Gosh! He was a natural – a really great singer and performer. That was obvious right from the start. That Joe Cocker’s “With a little help from my friend” is no piece of cake but he handled it so well – like mere child’s play.

Then it was downhill all the way until Week 8 when his stunning, simply awesome rendition of Elton John’s “Your song”…

…simply blew me away. This song holds a special meaning for me – it was the first song I sang at an English pub in Plymouth when I was there in 1994…and that started a series of “appearances” in the local karaoke scene that made me a whole lot of friends the 3 months that I was there.

Danyl did Michael Jackson’s “Man in the mirror” in Week 9…

…and his superb interpretation of The Gloved One’s song was indeed a fitting tribute to the late superstar and it left me quite…breathless.

Then the shocking revelation came! He was voted out of the competition! How could that be? The other three who will now proceed to the finals were at best note-perfect…but lacked Danyl’s life and soul in their songs. In other words, I thought they were pretty boring.

SIGH!!! It does not really matter now who wins as to me, he or she, in my eyes, would not be the best and would come nowhere near Danyl Johnson.

In pieces…

There are many Malay stalls all over town selling roti canai but not the others that one may find at Indian or mamak stalls/shops in West Malaysia. Recently, I happened to come across a stall at Bandong here in Sibu selling very nice murtabak with chicken meat filling – made by some guy from Penang, somewhere towards the Penang/Kedah border, he said.  Other than that, we probably would have to go to Balkis Restaurant located in the building beside the old Sibu mosque.

My daughter loves the thosai there…

…served with two kinds of dip – one is a sweet pickled chilli dip or some kind of chutney and the other is something made from yogurt…

Everytime she comes home, we would go there and she would eat to her heart’s content.

The other day, we also tried the chapatti…

…which actually was something that tasted like what my mum used to make – we called it kueh bayi (literal translation: a sikh/singh, taken loosely to mean “Indian”) and ate it with curry…

I guess those of you in the peninsula are very familiar with these but they are not commonly found here probably because of the very small Indian population in Sibu town. Personally, I prefer these to roti canai…but some may not take a liking to the fermented taste in the thosai.

Whatever it is, I, for one, would like to give everything a try and get to know our own local delights. What about you?