Almost there…

I went to get a haircut the other day. Lately, I do not go so regularly, having retired from government service…and I will usually let it grow until I cannot stand it anymore before I will go and get it trimmed. Besides, there isn’t much of it left…and considering how expensive one session of cut and wash is these days, I might as well wait till it is really long so as to get my money’s worth. LOL!!!

Well, my regular hair salon is located in the vicinity of the Sibu bus terminal and not too long ago, I saw a feature article in some Chinese newspaper on a place called “Mr Bean”…and since it was all Greek to me, I could only guess from the photographs that the man made his own noodles and the menu included pan mee…and something that looked like curry mee. I remember a place by that same name in the same area…but unfortunately, when I got there, I did not see anybody like that…nor any stall selling such stuff.

Venturing a few doors away, I stumbled upon this coffee shop…

…and a fat guy selling roast meats…

I noticed that he had other things in claypots – some curry and this – braised pork leg…

I couldn’t resist giving it a try…and for all that, I only had to dish out RM4.00, inclusive of the rice.  Cheap!

As for the taste, it was pretty good…almost like what I used to love but not quite up to the standard of what I had at that coffee shop in Kanowit in the late 70’s and early 80’s and besides, I think my missus does it better. The gravy was too diluted to my liking but on the whole, it was all right…

Santa Claus is coming to town…

You’d better watch out
You’d better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town…

Well, it certainly looked like it when Stella flew into Kuching from Melbourne in Australia with her bags and bags of goodies for everybody.

She gave me these Aussie beef sausages…

…which I have not cooked and tried yet. I wonder if I should keep them till mid-November when Melissa will be home for the holidays…or would she be so sick of sausages already after one year there?

Other than the sausages, Stella also gave me this – all wrapped up in Christmas paper. Is that supposed to be my Christmas present, I wonder?

Inside were a giant-size slab of chocolate and a whole lot of shortbread of various different brands – two original Scottish shortbread, Walkers no less…one Butterfingers, an Australian brand and one Coles, also Australian. I’ve tried the last one…and it was not bad though it lacked the extra strong butter fragrance usually dominant in the original Scottish brands. Ah well…beggars cannot be choosers, so thanks so much, Stella.

I wonder how she was able to bring so much stuff over and still had space for her branded outfits and accessories. Personally, I prefer to travel light…but I guess being younger, she should be able to cope with all the lugging and tugging.

But wait a minute, Stella! These definitely will not last till Christmas…so can I expect another present just in time for the occasion if we meet again this December in Penang? Muahahahaha!!!!

Cool cat…

Just when I was feeling sad and depressed by the thought that I did not have any mooncakes to eat on the actual Mooncake or Mid-Autumn Festival Day (the two I received from Annie sometime ago did not survive till the actual day), the doorbell rang and the courier service guy passed me this…

Lo and behold, this was inside the parcel…

Mooncakes! Baker’s Cottage no less…and two of my favourite – pure lotus paste with double yolks…

Hey! That’s my surname! The Chinese character meaning “yellow”!

And just look at how nice it was – just the way I like it!

And there were two of what they call – the pearl of prosperity…

The Chinese characters on it were not too familiar to me though but I certainly hope that after eating these, I will be blessed with a whole lot of prosperity in the coming year. LOL!!!

When I cut it, I could tell right away that it was pandan-flavoured…

…and gosh! It was so fragrant, so very out-of-this-world, so absolutely heavenly that at the very first bite, I changed my mind instantly as to which my favourite mooncake flavour would be! This is it! The one that I would be looking forward to this time next year…

And who was so very kind and so very generous as to go through all that trouble to send me the mooncakes? It was smallkuching, bless her and her cute son and handsome hubby (Click the link to her blog and browse to look for photos of her hubby and you will know right away why I think he is handsome! LOL!!!). Gosh! I certainly did not expect this as most of the time, everybody would be sending everybody something – postcards, key chains and what not…but this is expensive and I’m sure the delivery charges weren’t cheap either.

Thank you so much, smallkucing; I owe you one. Must get down to sending you something soonest. I certainly hope everybody had a wonderfully Happy Mooncake/Mid-Autumn Festival too! Mine most definitely was!

Wake me up before you go-go…

Well, some of you may heave a huge sigh of relief but it certainly looks like this is going to be the last post on my recent trip to Kuching. LOL!!!

When I was there, I stayed at the 360 Hotel that I had blogged about before in this post. For RM135 nett a night (government rate/RM155, corporate rate), I got this room…

…with a double  bed and a single one…

…and though it was smaller than the one I had previously, that one only had twin single beds. Never mind! As long as it is nice and comfortable…and cheap – that would be the most important.

The going-rates at the other hotels would be around the same in the smaller ones with not very nice rooms…and between over RM200 to RM300 in the classier ones…and I hear that it excludes breakfast. In this one, complimentary breakfast for two is served from 6.30 a.m. till 10.00 a.m. (catered by Little Lebanon in Kuching) but do not expect too much, considering the amount that you’re paying for the room.

There are, however, quite a lot of selections for you to choose. You may get the typical Malaysian breakfast, the nasi lemak…

…or fried kway teow (flat rice noodles) perhaps…

…or their chicken porridge…

Actually, I thought the porridge was pretty good but I could not have that every day as I wanted to sample the other things they had in the three mornings that we were there such as the fried rice or the fried mihun (rice vermicilli)…

…and there is a section where they have chicken cocktails, potato wedges, baked beans and the like and another section with the bread, sandwiches and muffins/cakes. There are half-boiled and hard boiled eggs available every morning or you can order it done in any way we want – bull’s eye/sunny side up or omelette…and there is somebody to do that for you in the kitchenette by the side. There is also a section where one may have a choice of cereals…but I’m not into those stuff, and lastly, a section of freshly-cut fruits.

All things considered, I really like that place and I would not mind staying there again, should I happen to go to Kuching anytime in the near future.

Thicker than water…

My missus and I went to Kuching on Thursday, 16th September…but the actual day for the wedding was two days later, Saturday the 18th. However, there was a pot-luck get-together for members of the family on Friday night, 17th – the night before the wedding and all those who were around already by then were invited to the reunion.

Well, we had our own reunion of sorts that very morning ourselves – a prequel to the real event when around 10 or so of us gathered at this place…

…for brunch. It seems that there is a stall there that is popular for all the Foochow favourites. Imagine me going all the way to Kuching to eat those stuff that we can find in abundance in Sibu…but with all that Foochow blood coursing through everybody’s veins, I guess everyone was in favour of having those…especially the ones from other places where it would not be possible to have the same or at least, not what is decently good enough for the likes of us.

I had the Foochow fried noodles (wet/with gravy)…

…and it was really good – just as good as at any nice place that I can find in Sibu or perhaps, even better. I think that costs RM4.00 or to the most, RM4.50…but considering the amount and all those ingredients, I definitely would consider it a steal – compared to the RM2.80/RM3.00 ones in Sibu…with the few miserable tiny bits of meat and chai hua (green leafy veg).

Somebody also ordered the soup variety…

…for which they usually fry the noodles first before adding the soup and cooking it altogether, hence the name zhar-chu mee (fried soup noodles). I did not try it but they said it was good.

I did sample the kampua noodles though…

…but despite the fact that it looked pretty good, I think if you want better kampua, you will have to go to Sibu – and even in Sibu, not all are nice. One would need to know where the better stalls are.

I did not try the dianpianngu either…

…as I’m not a fan of the stuff and neither am I crazy over zhao cai hung ngang (big mihun or rice noodles in preserved vegetable soup)…

…so I did not taste it as well. My missus did and she said that the latter was pretty good (sour enough) but not the dianpianngu, compared to the original one that we have in Sibu.

I had a bit of the Foochow mee sua (thread/string longevity noodles) in chicken soup cooked with ginger and traditional red wine…

…and I would not hesitate to give this my two thumbs up! I missed the usual hard-boiled egg that would come with the mee sua though; I think whoever ordered it chose not to have it as some of them are quite health-conscious…unlike me! LOL!!! This cost RM5.00 a bowl, so it is slightly more expensive than Sibu where we can usually get that for RM4.00-4.50.

That was indeed a delightful brunch and everyone was full of praises for the Foochow fare – now available at this place in Kuching.

That night, a whole lot of us showed up at the gathering and needless to say, there were lots of good food…and booze. The lights were somewhat too dim to allow any nice photographs to be taken unless I used the flash…which I did, and I only managed to take a photo of these sambal udang galah (freshwater prawns) that an auntie of mine brought all the way from Sibu…

I don’t like the colour when using flash and did not use it for the other dishes. Thus, they did not turn out very nice, so I have decided not to include them in this post.

Well, this is one thing good about having a wedding in the family – it provides an opportunity for members of the family to come together and meet one another – especially those who have relocated themselves to other parts of the globe and are living far away…and also for the younger ones to get to know who’s who…especially those whom they have never seen or heard of before in their lives. Imagine them passing by one another in the street and they do not even know they’re blood relations…and hasn’t it been said that blood is thicker than water? Sad, isn’t it?

Sweet dreams (are made of these)…

When my missus and I were in Kuching, my cousin, Sophia, took us to this shop that was opened recently by a blogger, one half of a husband and wife blogging team…

It is located at a new complex, Tabuan Plaza – a small but pleasant and comfortable place…

We had a heavy brunch, so we steered clear of the alluring temptations like this one…

…or this one…

I had the apple crumble with ice cream…

…and we also shared the carrot cake…

…both of which were very nice. In fact, the previous afternoon, we had tea at Gerrie‘s house. Her daughter’s Tracy’s birthday coincided with her brother’s wedding on Saturday – 18th September, so she just had a little gathering for Tracy at her house a couple of days earlier and she got a birthday cake for her from that same place – Nee’s…

I can’t remember exactly what cake that was but it was pretty good.

We also had the really very nice hay p’ia (prawn fritters) and stuff from Peterson, near the Satok Market…

…and some equally yummy chai koi (Chinese/nyonya vegetable cake)…

…and very lemak (rich with santan/coconut milk) kuih bingka…

…and so on. I did not take the photos of everything as the light was yellowish and not quite bright enough to do the food justice.

Anybody having a craving for cakes now? Hehehehehe!!!

Bombay dreams…

On our first night in Kuching, we went to this Indian restaurant…

…located among the shops along Nanas Road. Actually, we had just gone for high-tea – it was Gerrie‘s daughter, Tracy’s birthday…but another cousin of mine, Sophia, insisted that we stopped by this place to have a light dinner.

I certainly liked what I saw on the menu…

…as I don’t like those places where they cook a whole lot for lunch and by dinner time, we will have to help ourselves to the not-so-fresh, and sometimes cold even, leftovers.

We had the naan bread with the very nice mushroom masala…

…and the tandori chicken…

…which was really well done. The chicken meat itself was nice and sweet. so flavourful and firm – not squishy or so soft like tofu…or bland/tasteless like the tandori chicken that I had had at some places.

The pilau rice was also great…and like the naan bread, it went well with the mushroom masala.

All in all, it certainly was a delightful dinner and that is one place that I would not mind going to again, should the opportunity arise. I hear the butter chicken is great too… Yum! Yum!

Thanks, Sophia…and thank you so much also going through all that trouble to drive us here, there and everywhere those few days when my missus and I were in Kuching.

Across the sea…

While all the festivities and celebrations were going on in Kuching on Saturday – 18th September, 2010, something similar was happening simultaneously across the South China Sea in Perth, Australia. My favourite and very handsome nephew, Quentin, was tying the knot with his gorgeous bride at a wedding ceremony in a beautiful and very romantic garden setting on that very same day…

If I’m not mistaken, the bride originally hails from KL…

There was, of course, the wedding reception and the toast…

…and the couple’s first dance as man and wife…

Like I had said in a previous post, it must have been a very auspicious date that day with a whole lot of people getting married. If it had been on a different date and at a time when I could get away from my filial duties and other commitments, I would have loved to fly over for the occasion…and I would stay for at least one or two weeks to tour the place as I have never been to Perth.

The groom’s sweet and pretty sister, Yvonne, will have her turn in April next year in Penang…

…but before that another niece of mine, Alicia, will be walking down the aisle too, come December, also in Penang…

Guess I’d better get down to booking my air tickets soonest…and in the meantime, heartiest congratulations once again, Quen…and WeeLeng, from me, Aunty Lucy and Melissa and all of us here. May the two of you be abundantly blessed with everlasting bliss in your life together.

Footnote:
Photos used with Yvonne‘s kind permission and my sincere thanks.

From this moment on (3)…

I mentioned in an earlier post that after the wedding service in the cathedral, we proceeded to the groom’s brand-new house for the tea ceremony…

I did not take many photos as I was tired and hot and hungry – I think it was already past 1.00 p.m. by then.

Anyway, when the newly-weds arrived, they proceeded to the bridal chamber…with their entourage bearing a whole lot of things. Their grand entrance was preceded by this pair of golden chickens – a cockerel and a hen…

*Gundot’s photo from her Facebook album

…followed by a basin full of things like toothpaste and I don’t know what else, but I know for sure that there was also an elaborately-decorated chamber pot. If I’m not wrong, the bride’s family is non-Christian and they would like to see a whole lot of traditions and customs being carried out.

There was this feeding of one another with tangyuan (glutinous rice balls) in sweet syrup…

*Jeremy‘s photo from his Facebook album

…which I suppose signifies that their married life together would be a sweet one.

Usually, Foochows will just bow three times to pay respect to those married next-of-kin that are older than them…but I guess these days, there is some kind of fusion of the traditional customs between the various Chinese dialects, so there was the tea ceremony instead. Then, there was also the part where the children would serve tea to the newly-weds and they would be given an ang pao (red packets containing money) by the couple…

*Gundot’s photo from her Facebook album

I wanted to do it on behalf of my daughter who could not be present as she is presently overseas…but I was shooed out of the way. LOL!!!

A buffet lunch was provided and I was relieved when they announced that we would eat before the tea ceremony. There was a very nice spread of food from the Rock Road Restaurant…

…including this very nice roast duck with mantao (steamed buns)…

…and the fish with Thai-sauce was great too…

…and they also had some cut fruits and ordered some cupcakes, fruit tarts and chicken pies from a bakery for dessert…

Soon it was all done…and everyone headed back home or to their hotels to rest and prepare for the grand wedding banquet that very evening.

From this moment on (2)…

The wedding banquet was held at the Kuching Hilton ballroom, no less…

…and as you can see, it was indeed a really posh and grand affair…

Even the table setting was impressive…

…and this was the wedding cake…

I did not take the photos of the newly-weds cutting the cake but I managed to snap one of the couple pouring the bubbly champagne…

…and one of the two with their parents proposing a toast to all the very distinguished guests – family, friends, and colleagues alike…

I was pretty impressed by the food as usually, when you hold functions at high-class hotels, you end up paying for the ambience and everything else and what they serve may be somewhat disappointing. The dinner that night was great, starting off with the Four Seasons…

…which was nice and I liked the fish too…

…and the prawns were good as well.

The Szechuan Duck came last, just before the dessert, but I did not take any photographs of the other dishes as the lights were somewhat dim and it was near impossible to take nice pics without using the flash – which I do not like as the colours would turn out rather unnatural. The duck was really very nice though; actually, I was already so full by then but I loved it so much that I just had to have a second helping…and a third…and a fourth…and a fifth… LOL!!!

There was a jazz band in attendance to entertain everyone with music and songs but by special request, Kpg Nangka Boy had to sing a song for his bride and guess what song he chose! Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight” which he said was the only one he knew in the band’s repertoire…and he got his two bestmen – TheOtherCousin and Jeremy to be his back-up singers…

Now, don’t they resemble the 3 Tenors? LOL!!!

By the end of the dinner, everyone was in a “jovial mood” and the party went on and on…all night long. It certainly was a great start to a lifetime of happiness for the lovely couple…