Down Under…

Sorry…this isn’t going to be a post about Oz, neither am I going there – not in the near future, at least. It’s just that Stella and her hubby and Lucas came over to Sibu from Melbourne for a few days and so, I asked them out to dinner. However, Stella said she would rather have a simple meal at home and sit around to chat…as long as there’s midin and cangkuk manis. In the end, I decided to cook a few dishes myself.

My in-laws’ durian tree is flowering again (Gone crazy, I think! Just flowered the other day – but everytime, no fruits!)…and they gave us some of the flowers, so I fried those with dried prawn (sambal udang kering)…

…and since Stella wanted midin, I fried that too – also with dried prawns – same recipe, different veg…

I could have fried it with ginger and Foochow red wine but I do not quite like it cooked that way…but for the midin, I added a bit of water, so it could be slightly different. For the cangkuk manis, I cooked freshwater prawns (udang galah) masak lemak (cooked with santan/coconut milk) and I added the cangkuk manis, as well as some sweet potatoes and bean curd sticks. I could have added baby corn, bits of cabbage and so on but I was too lazy to go out and buy…

For the meat dish, I just bought some ayam masak merah from my regular Bandong stall…

…and I also bought some Foochow fried noodles and some charsiew (from the stall in the coffee shop opposite Public Bank) to add to it (kay liao or added ingredient) and I managed to get a few of the typically Sibu Foochow-style sio bee from the stall at Rejang Park. Lucas loved the sio bee, and the durian flowers too! Hmmm…must be the Foochow plus Kpg Nangka blood in him!

So that was the simple dinner that we had. Personally, I thought it was just so-so, not very nice…maybe because I was tired from cooking the whole day, so my taste buds were somewhat adversely affected. Ah well, as they always say, it’s the thought that counts!

That’s the way it is…

When I was a kid, we only had cakes on special occasions such as Christmas or Chinese New Year, not even on our birthdays. How we would look longingly at those cylindrical ones wrapped around in red oily paper that were placed in saucers on the tables at the coffee shops! I am sure the kids today would not even cast a second glance at those, much less want to eat them.

Everytime the festive seasons were round the corner, I would be recruited to lend a helping hand in the kitchen. I had to use some kind of beater with a brass handle and a spring on one end to beat the eggs in a red flowery basin, followed by the butter and the sugar and lastly, the flour before putting the batter in the oven to bake for a plain butter cake.

Sometimes, my mother would add colouring and essences that came in little bottles with red metal caps, or grated coconut or Milo or Van Houten chocolate, chopped cherries and raisins. It would appear like there were different varieties but basically, they were all the same with some minimal, almost negligible differences and yet, how we yearned for the big day to come sooner so that we could feast on those, not only at our own house but at those of our relatives who would more or less, have the same cakes to offer.

The other day, I saw some cakes for sale at my regular stall at Bandong. There was the coconut cake that the lady described as “recipe lama” (old recipe) selling for RM5.00 but I did not buy that as I never like grated coconut in cakes or biscuits. Instead, I bought this kek masam manis (sweet and sour cake) also selling at RM5.00 a loaf…

…which had bits of san cha (preserved plum flakes) in it.  We had san cha when we were young – soft moist ones that were very red and would stain your tongue so bloody red after you had eaten some making you look like a vampire of sorts. The ones these days are dry and not so red and not so nice either. But somehow, I do not recall my mother ever using those in her cakes…

A few days later, I bought another one with chocolate rice at the same price…

Like the cakes during my younger days, they tasted the same – except for those littlle bits of additions that actually did not make much of a difference.

Today, we have a multitude of different kinds of cakes at the bakeries – and those to-die-for ones at places like Secret Recipe. I am sure these “old-school cakes” would not go down too well with young people anymore these days, I’m afraid. Time passes, things change and that’s just the way it is…

Bad Day…

What a day it was – last Friday! Farrah Fawcett, best known for her role as one of the Charlie’s Angels in the popular TV series in the early days of television in Sarawak/Malaysia, passed away of rectum cancer…

…and then there was the shocking news that Wacko Jacko Michael Jackson had died of cardiac arrest at the age of 50. I’ve never been a real fan of the King of Pop, as he is often called, but I do not mind some of his songs – solo or with his brothers. I think my favourite by him is this very poignant-sounding one: “She’s out of my life” and I feel having his song performed by the legendary Dame Shirley Bassey and the evergreen and ever-handsome Richard Clayderman would indeed a fitting tribute to the superstar…

I’m afraid the song actually starts much later in the video clip at 5:20 as Richard was playing one of his hits in the first part of it…and still, in my opinion, nobody does it better than Michael himself in his original rendition of the song. Even Gloria Gaynor (I’ve the cd where she does a cover of the song) and Josh Groban is outclassed…and that certainly says a lot about the immense talent of The Gloved One! One thing’s for sure – he may be gone but he will always be remembered, immortalised in his songs.

It was on that same day that I went out for lunch with my ex-student, Xavier, as he would be leaving for his further studies the following day. We went to the Ark but were greeted by some disappointing news the instant we sat down. We noticed that the western dishes on the menu had been cancelled and when we enquired about that, the waiter said that the old chef had left…and the new one just reported for duty two days before.

I ordered the mee siam and this was what I got…

@#$%&*!!! That was no mee siam, for heaven’s sake – just some miserable fried mihun. It tasted so ordinary and was extremely oily, especially towards the bottom. Why, even based on the presentation alone, that chef would have flunked miserably! I really wonder what his credentials are…

Xavier ordered the Korean beef rice and got the rice and this plate of kimchi and stuff…

I am never a fan of kimchi, so I did not bother to try…but Xavier said that it sucked. That plate of cucumber was quite all right but was too spicy hot. He also got this plate of beef…

I tried a slice and I think my simple homecooked fried beef with soy sauce, ginger and wine tastes a lot better.

I wonder where the previous chef has gone to… If this is what the new one has to offer, I don’t think I will ever go there again and take my word for it, everybody – all of you should stay away too!

You were there…

The other day, I dropped by Zewt’s blog and he had this post…and I thought, “Wow! The 500th post!” I am pretty sure that he started blogging a long time before I did, but when I checked my blog stats, I discovered that I was just a few posts away from my 500th post – this one!

So in conjunction with the occasion, I would like to share this song with all of you…

The lyrics go like this:
Time passes, the world changes
But I’m still the same ol’ kid
And your jokes still bring me laughter
As if you still were here
And it hurts when I smile
‘Cause my heart still remembers
When you were around

‘Cause you were there
When no one was
Just when I thought nobody cared
You showed me love
‘Cause you were my friend
You always told me
And I am still here
Because you were there

So precious, small treasures
A time when truth was innocent
True friendship was all we were after
A place where kids could still be kids
And it hurts but I’m glad
‘Cause at least I was blessed
To have you as my friend

You’re my best friend
There are no accidents
God has a plan for everyone
And he brought you in my life
To show me what a good friendship was

Thank you all for dropping by regularly (around a whooping 173,000 visits in total so far), for reading my posts for what they’re worth and for commenting time and time again (some 12,000 or so to date). I was there because you were there…and I’ll be here as long as you are here too. Cheers, everybody!

What I go to school for…

Most people would regard me as an old SHS student but actually, I was in St Mary’s Primary School along Race Course Road (now Jalan Awang Ramli Amit) from Primary 1 to Primary 6. It was a co-ed school about half a mile from my house, so I would cycle to school or walk (and sometimes hitch a ride on somebody’s beca or trishaw).

Then I went to Sacred Heart Secondary School, an all-boys school, at its former location along the notorious Mission Road in the town, 1 and 1/2 miles from my house, so going on foot was out of the question. Then it moved to where it stands presently along Oya Road, another 1 and 1/2 miles from the town. Roughly, that would mean that I had to cycle 3 miles to go to school, one way – 6 miles a day and if we had to go back in the afternoon for something, that would be doubled.

I was not very active in the school. Being a boys’ school, the emphasis was on sports and games like rugby and hockey, and I was not into those things. Most of my friends then were from other schools, people who shared the same interests – radio-listening and requesting and going for parties and dances. I remember when I was in Form 2, I joined a singing competition in the school. I chose to sing the Rolling Stones’ “As tears go by”…but I was so nervous that I could not get a single note right and was unceremoniously booted out of the audition even before I finished the whole song! Poor me! My singing career ended before it even got off the ground! LOL!!! There was a Christmas concert and I was in the choir and also had a very small part in the play – “A Christmas Carol” and that was all.

The most memorable event was when a big group of us (led by Brother James, the rugby coach then) from the two Form 5 classes (yes, there were only two – one science and the other arts) went on a river cruise in a wooden motor launch to the Rejang Delta to trek to the Jerijeh Lighthouse (I never got there though! Stopped halfway! LOL!!!) – eating and sleeping and having a whole lot of fun on board.

Back in those days, only those in the science stream could stay in SHS for Form 6 while those in the arts stream had to go to Methodist Secondary School along Queensway (now Jalan Tun Abg Hj Openg) and I was in this block for two years – Lower 6 and Upper 6, on the upper floor…

I was more active here and took part in debates, had a bigger role in a play that we staged for the Sibu-level drama festival and there were lots of outings, parties and dances like those organised by the Sixth Form Society…and being a co-ed school, there were girls!

I remember Ming Choo and her friends in Form 4; their classroom was in the block directly opposite mine and we all sat at the windows, making signals at one another while the lessons were going on. Hehehehehe!!!! When I was in Lower 6, the girls next door (Upper 6) were very friendly and a whole lot of fun, so I was hanging out with them most of the time, much to the disgust of the boys in their class. I remember towards the end of the year when the Higher School Certificate (HSC) Examination was drawing near, the girls were somewhat emotional about parting ways and were singing this song…

We were having our lesson next door and were quite distracted, so our teacher, Mr Johnson, went over and told the girls, “Very sweet, girls! Very sweet indeed! But we would like to concentrate on our lesson next door.” We had teachers from overseas then – two Americans, Mr Johnson (if I’m not mistaken, he came from the states) and Mr Funk and an Australian, Mr Gregory who taught us Economics.

Ah well…those were the days!

Never be the same…

These days, it certainly seems like knowing how to boil water constitutes knowing how to cook. If you enter any supermarket or hypermart, you will see a mind-boggling array of all the different brands of instant noodles in all shapes and sizes with all the different varieties. But when it comes to mee goreng (fried noodles), my favourite would be Indomie…but it seems that these are no longer available. Today, in the shops, we have Ibumie’s Always…

It looks like Indomie, it tastes like Indomie…but it’s not Indomie! Presently, it’s on offer at RM3.80 for a pack of 5, so that would be over 70 sen each…and makes a pretty cheap breakfast, and you can add slices of meat like what I did the other day…

…or if you’re a light eater, that can be your lunch. It certainly is cheaper than going out to eat…but I guess it’s not the same, eh?

I was passing by Chopsticks, my daughter’s favourite chicken rice shop, and I saw that they had curry. It was what we would call “Chinese curry” – very diluted and nothing like the curry that anyone in my family would cook or what you can find at the nyonya, Malay or Indian eating outlets. But it reminded me of what I used to have at Ang Lee Restaurant along Carpenter Street in Kuching in the 70s. I would stop there during lunch hour whenever I could for their curry rice…and for old times’ sake, I decided to tapao (takeaway) a packet home…

They were quite generous with the yummy chicken rice…

…and I asked for one lor-nui (braised hard-boiled egg) and it seemed that they had put a bit of the gravy over the rice, and they also gave a lot of the chicken curry (gravy)…

It wasn’t too bad but at RM5.80 for all that, I thought it was a bit too pricey…though it definitely beats eating those curry stuff in the cans which are by no means, cheap these days…

…but it was not the same as what I had those long-gone days at Ang Lee. If my memory serves me right, they put the chopped pek-sak kay (white boiled chicken) and sliced char siew (barbecued pork) on the chicken rice and poured the curry gravy over all that.

Well, time passes and it will never be the same again…as everything must change…

It’s a sin…

It’s a sin to waste, or so they say. Well, this Foochow delicacy is made from soya beans and in the past, anybody who sold soya bean milk would be selling these…

They are called tee piang and as you can see, they add a lot of kuchai (chives) in these that I bought at 20 sen each from a small corner shop at Rejang Park, the other end of the block beside the cinema complex.

During my younger days, they were much bigger – maybe three times the present size…and at one time, there was a stall at the Tiong Hua Road junction at night, selling very nice ones that were stuffed with meat. These days, if you want those, you can get pretty nice ones at a coffee shop along Jalan Morshidi Sidek – the road leading directly to Wisma Sanyan. But some people prefer them without meat…

At one time, I used to make soya bean milk a lot and I would throw away the pulp. My aunt, since deceased, was horrified by the wastage when she saw that and asked for the pulp. She took it home and added chopped chilli and onion and pounded dried prawns, plus salt and msg according to taste and then she patted them into cakes and deep fried them. They were really delicious – something like vadai or kueh dhall…except that a different kind of beans had been used. I guess should anybody want to make them today, it would be nice to add some chopped curry leaves (which were not so much in use at the time) as well.

Moving on, I went to church on Sunday which happened to be Father’s Day and after the service, they were distributing these little gifts to all parents…

There was a prayer on the other side and I thought it would be nice to use paper that had been printed on one side to make such things to give away on special occasions like Teachers’ Day, for instance…

…with a touching and meaningful poem on the other side. Wouldn’t that be better than spending a fortune on those expensive flowers that would probably wither away after a day or two? Or those presents from the gift shops that more often than not, one does not know where to put and does not have the heart to throw them away?

You can save paper and thus, save the environment as well…and at the same time, save your money too. Waste not, want not…

Too young…

I guess most of you would be too young to know this, but the first singer from Sarawak to release a recording in English was Rose Iwanaga and her group called The Avengers, and their first hit from their first EP – an extended play record of four songs – was this cover of Nat King Cole’s “Too Young”….

Actually, if I remember correctly, she was not supposed to be the first. There was another Kuching singer named Janice Wee, but her father passed away when she was expected to go to Singapore to do the recording with The Avengers. So to fulfil their contract with the company, the band had roped in Rose as a substitute. As they say, the show must go on.

Eventually, Janice went to Singapore and recorded her own EP with the Singapore group, The Boys (of Naomi and the Boys), and the best known song from it, of course, would be this one entitled “That one boy”…

I met Rose and the Avengers when they came to Sibu to perform live at the Palace Theatre. In the band, there were two brothers – Peter and Jimmy Ho and a tall guy named James Ong and the non-Chinese drummer, Jalek Zula.

Rose’s father, a friendly man of Japanese descent, once worked at SESCO at the bill collection centre at the Electra House in Kuching. He came to Sibu with them, so I got to meet him and when I was in Kuching in the 70s, I used to stop by the office to say hello.

I only saw Rose again once many years after that first time at some St Joseph’s Cathedral parish dinner that was held at St Joseph’s Secondary School across the road. I hear she is still singing today with some band that performs mostly oldies…but I’ve yet to catch them in action.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I do not think there have been any English recording artistes since then, though we may have a number in Malay or Chinese or the local languages…until this girl who actually came from Miri but later moved to KL, and I gather that she is currently very popular in the US – Zee Avi. I like this one by her but it is not her single, “Bitter Heart” or one of her English recordings…

The name of the song is “Kantoi” and it is sung in a mixture of Malay and English, reminiscent of some of the songs by the legendary P. Ramlee. I find it lively and catchy and ideal for some sing-along sessions. Well, do give it a listen and let me know what you think…

Living in harmony…

When my daughter was still here last week, she wanted to have some ikan bakar (grilled fish). I remember there is a stall outside Fat Mom’s, along Lanang Road…but when we got there, we discovered that the stall was not open. So we went to Taman Harmoni instead…

This is the open air food court located around Jalan Awang Ramli Amit (formerly Race Course Road) and Archer Road, something like that Taman Muhibbah near my house in the Delta Comemrcial Estate, Jalan Pedada…but they only sell only halal food at this one.

We had the grilled sambal sotong (cuttlefish) which was very very nice…

…and the ikan bakar…

We had the black pomfret (bawal hitam) and it would have tasted great, had the fish been fresh but unfortunately, I think it was one of those frozen ones that tasted bland and was somewhat disappointing. I was told that the very popular satay stall – formerly at the original Sibu Recreation Club in the town, moved here as well but I did not know the stall number, so I just ordered some at random…

They were not great either, and some of the sticks were a little bit too overdone. I would prefer the ones at the Malay stall at Taman Muhibbah near my house. Nobody wanted rice, so I ordered a plate of mee kahwin for us to share…

Normally, they would have mee/noodles, kway teow and mihun, all mixed together…but this one did not have the mihun. Fried with shrimps and sotong, all of us agreed that it was very nice and something worth having.

I don’t know how much all that was, as an ex-student happened to be having his dinner there too with his family and he took care of the bill. Responding to that, my daughter remarked, “Gee! It’s so nice to a teacher!” Ummm…I shall reserve my comment on that! LOL!!!

Don’t cry, daddy…

It’s Father’s Day today.

But somehow it does not seem to get as much attention as Mother’s Day. I was looking for a song for the occasion and found a few where the father had died including the very beautiful Luther Vandros’ “Dance with my father”. the Everly Brothers’ “Silver-haired daddy of mine” or even “Oh my papa” by Eddie Fisher…and in Paul Anka’s “Papa”, the mother had died.

There are others where the father is in conflict with his offspring, for example Cat Stevens’ “Father and son” of which Boyzone did a cover version and later Ronan Keating did a duet with the original singer, now named Yusuf Islam. Harry Chapin/Ugly Kid Joe’s “Cat’s in the cradle” is also along this same line, while there are songs for fathers in failed marriages like “Daddy, don’t you walk so fast” or Elvis Presley’s “Don’t cry, daddy” or Richard Harris’ “My boy”.

There is one song where the father’s an alcoholic – “Don’t sell daddy any more whisky” or some irresponsible bloke – “Papa was a rollin’ stone” and even for Christmas, they do not have very nice songs for daddies – “Please daddy, don’t get drunk this Christmas” and “Daddy, please be home for Christmas”, for instance.

Why is this so, we may ask? Is it because the traditional father had always been one who went out to work at dawn and returned home at dusk, the one who toiled to support the family, to put food on the table and earn money for everybody’s needs and wants? Is it because that in doing so, the traditional father had missed out on the bonding between parent and child? That consequently, the children ended being much closer to their mums?

And just when I was about to give up, I stumbled upon this very beautiful song by somebody called Teresa James that I thought would be ideal to share with everybody on this very special day…

Other than the song, there is also this video clip that some of you may have seen as I have posted it on Facebook sometime ago and I did provide the link in this earlier post, but I think this would be an appropriate occasion to share it with those of you who have yet to see it…

I love the closing line in the clip where the daughter said, “My father was a generous man beyond his means, but the greatest gift he ever gave me was the gift of love.” I showed my daughter this clip when she was home for the holidays and the expression on her face said it all – she was deeply touched emotionally and was holding back her tears.

My father may not express it in quite the same way, but the fact remains that deep in his heart, we are loved and that is indeed the greatest gift of all. No doubt this is nothing compared to all that he has done and is doing for us, all that he has given and still goes on giving us…but still I went out and bought him a cake for the occasion to wish him a Happy Father’s Day…

And if you’re a daddy, a Happy Father’s Day to you too…