Eternally…

It was Boxing Day, the 26th of December…

…when I was invited to another wedding. Another ex-student of mine was tying the knot…

…with his bride to have and to hold eternally…

Don’t you think they made such a lovely couple – the radiant bride and the handsome groom?

There I was at the same table with a few of my ex-colleagues who were also invited that evening to the very grand wedding banquet. The food was good…

– in fact, I would say it was nicer than at the other two venues here and here that I went to not too long ago though I thought they could cut down on the monosodium glutamate in most of the dishes. I guess it was just me, now that I am cutting down on that in my own cooking at home – the rest did not seem to mind one bit.

Well, if anybody is interested, the wedding video is available here. You can click on the link and have a look.

Congratulations once again, Rufus and Jessica…

Wishing you all the best and may the good Lord shower His abundant blessings upon the two of you in the years ahead as man and wife. Cheers!

A holly jolly Christmas…

We tried the Christmas pudding with Irish Cream sauce on Christmas morning – the one that Andrew, my ex-student, brought back all the way from New Zealand to give to me…

It was very sweet, so sweet that I could not detect any taste in the pudding other than its overwhelming sweetness but nonetheless, it was very moist and soft…

We all had a bit of it and put the rest in the fridge. Later that afternoon, I took it out and it was cold and I tried. To my delight, it did not come across as being as sweet and I actually enjoyed it very much so I finished all of it.

My missus was busy all afternoon as she was getting her mum and family members over to our house for dinner and we had this roast chicken…

…that we had not too long ago and thought it was very nice so she made up her mind to get a big one and cook that for our Christmas dinner in place of turkey – she is not a fan of the meat so she would rather not have one.

Then, there was also this very nice lamb shank dish…

…that she cooked and I guess she was afraid that the sort-of-western cuisine would not go down well with everybody so she fried these freshwater prawns with garlic and sesame oil…

…the way she would usually cook them.

We also had salad…

…with the cherry tomatoes that grow “wild” in our garden. They would simply sprout out anytime anywhere they like and all we would have to do would be to just go out and help ourselves and pluck!

To go with all those, my missus also cooked some garlic butter rice…

…and for dessert, we had the brandy-infused fruit pudding…

…that I got from my maternal uncle’s wife in Kuching, a family recipe of my mum and aunts and I do recall how we would wait for Christmas and Chinese New Year every year as they would make this and we would be able to have a slice or two sometimes.  It was specially reserved for guests who cared to drop by, you see, and kids in those days were certainly not as fortunate as the ones today – as a matter of fact, I honestly do believe that they probably would not even give this a second glance. Tsk! Tsk! Everyone loved the pudding that I saw most fitting to serve in the very nice brand new Christmas plate that I received from my friend, Jimmy. for the festive season this year.

It certainly was a truly enjoyable dinner and gathering and thanks so much to Mary, my niece, currently based in Singapore and home on vacation, for the delightful presents…

Well, Christmas has come and gone and tomorrow, we will herald in a brand new year, 2014. Gee! How time does seem to fly!!!

We’ve got it all…

Growing up in this little town, we did not have much other than our kampua noodles and kompia…and maybe a little bit of this and that but food was not a major concern nor attraction here, the focus being on quantity rather than quality at the time. I would only get to enjoy stuff other than the usual when I hopped over to the other towns and cities but times have changed.

I would not have to go to Penang anymore for my favourite or chian (oyster omelette) as we now have that here…

…though it may not look exactly the same…

– more like a cross between the ones in the peninsula and what they have in Kuching but the taste is more like the former, not the latter and it was really very good! Yum! Yum!

I heard that it would be available here…

…and I had been wanting to give it a try but it was always sold out. The guy said that I would have to go early, preferably before 10 in the morning so Melissa and I went one morning not too long ago, bright and early and we managed to sample some – RM10.00 a plate and you can add RM2.00 for extra oysters.  She loved it a lot and so did I! Now that we have these right at our doorstep, literally speaking, we would not need to travel far to indulge in some of our very much-coveted delicacy.

I tried their fried kway teow with clams too…

…and I thought it was nice – different from elsewhere and I was pretty sure they had salted fish in theirs.

Somebody told me that the kampua noodles were great too…

…nicer than my favourites, but I did not really like what I had that morning. To each his own, I guess…so I guess I’d just stick to my own, the ones I would enjoy a  lot more.

We did not use to have kueh chap in Sibu either. I remember one place that I used to frequent, though not that long ago actually, but they used kway teow instead so it was not exactly the same even though I liked it a lot and kept going back there for more. This guy’s kueh chap…

…was reputed to be among the best in town but he has relocated here from the coffee shop where I would go for those very nice po piah…

I heard that the one replacing him at the old place would be nicer so I went there to give it a try (RM5.50)…

…but at best, I would say that it was all right…

…and the same would go for the sambal that came with it…

Not too happy with what I had at this place, I went back to the aforementioned and had their special (RM7.00)…

…which did not look all that special and as far as the taste went, I thought it had a slight edge over the other one. The sambal…

…that came with it was very much nicer though but I do think the one I had here was the best. However, I have not dropped by for quite a while now so I am not too sure if it is still as good or if they are still selling it there or not.

When I went back for the kueh chap, Melissa had the Sarawak laksa from one of the stalls there…

…and she said it was all right, nicer than what we had here but we would not say it was the best in town. We did not use to have laksa before either when I was growing up but now they’re all over the place. Of course, whether it’s good or not, that is another story altogether – you just need to know where to go.

My missus had the sambal fried kway teow (RM4.00)…

…and it sure looked good with that extra sambal by the side. I wouldn’t mind having that the next time I drop by this shop.

Times certainly have changed…and I sure am glad that we can get some of the nice culinary delights from elsewhere right here in our little town and I can enjoy them anytime without having to leave home.

It rained all night…

…that night when my friend, Lim, and his family took us and our friend, Jimmy, from Kuching out for dinner…

…at this very beautiful place at the Permai Lake Garden in the outskirts of Sibu town but of course, that did not stop us from making our way there…

It has been around for sometime now…

…but I had not been there before so when they suggested the venue of their choice…

…I jumped at the chance right away. It probably would be better to go on a moonlit night though so one would be able to walk around to enjoy the night view and the cool fresh air there…

I loved the honey chicken with the generous sprinkling of sesame seeds…

…and the jelly fish was good too…

– not too sour like what I had had at some other places and none/not so much of those thin strips of ginger which I would promptly remove before eating as I do not fancy biting into them and eating them like that.

Melissa loved the lamb curry…

…which was not like curry as we would know it, more towards the Japanese kind of curry, but it was very nice and worth trying should one happen to drop by there for a meal.

The kids loved the fried stuff, of course – the calamari rings…

…and the tofu fish balls…

…and I would say that we all enjoyed those as well.

The salted fish brinjal served in a hot plate…

…was nice but it would be better had it had a stronger salted fish taste.

Everybody loved the midin (wild jungle fern)…

…and the spinach…

…both fried plain (chin-chow) with garlic. I particularly enjoyed the sweetness of the vegetable and the fern without that being drowned out by all the usual ingredients used.

That certainly was a scrumptious dinner treat, thank you so much to you, Lim, and your missus and family. What could be better than time spent in the company of good friends…

Just like old times…

When I was still working, I had official tasks to perform at the end of every year, right through Christmas and the New Year, so much so that these festive days would just pass unnoticed – there was hardly anytime for much else. But around this time, my friend, Jimmy, would come from Bintulu and Lim from Roban/Kuching for the same and they would stay at my house. We, Melissa especially, would enjoy the company and the fun that we would have together despite having to go through the chore – W-O-R-K – when everyone else was celebrating and having fun. Later, Lim’s missus joined the team and eventually, they moved to Sibu and they’re both working here now, blessed with three kids to date.

Well, coincidentally, it was the DongZhi or Winter Solstice Festival that day when Jimmy had to fly in for one of the meetings and I decided to ask them all over to my house not so much as to celebrate the festival but for a get-together just like old times…and for the dinner, I chose to have a jungle theme, all the traditional ethnic or kampung-style dishes that one would not be able to get anywhere in town.

I cooked some steamed tuak (traditional ethnic rice wine) chicken with a bit of cincaluk (fermented shrimps) added…

…and also some tempoyak prawns…

I was at one of the Rejang Park shops earlier that morning as Jimmy wanted to buy some groundnuts that people in Kuching seem to be crazy about. He bought a kilo on his previous trip but they never reached the person they were meant for, it seemed…and this time around, he bought two kilos. I got him to try the kuachee (pumpkin seeds) and he ended up buying a kilo of that as well – that’s another must-buy when Kuching folks come to town.

Anyway, when we were there, the guy at the shop asked me to buy their bamboo clams and I saw that they were BIG and they had been nicely cleaned. I had never cooked those before as cleaning them to get rid of the sand in them could be really tedious and troublesome but they looked good and were going for RM25.00 a box (one kilo) only so I decided I would give it a try…

I fried them with some curry powder, among all the other ingredients that I added, and they were a hit! Before the night was through, there was not a single one left.

I bought one ikan terubok masin (salted fish) at the market here sometime ago but I never got round to frying it so I decided to do just that for the dinner…

…and serve it as one of the dishes that night…

It sure was a good idea as the salted fish was certainly very well-received too and went well with all the other dishes we had…especially the dabai (wild black olive) fried rice that I cooked…

I thought it was not very nice as usually, I would only cook a bit for breakfast once in a while and I was not used to cooking such a large amount at one go but it was all right when eaten together with everything else.

I fried some bihun with those canned clams in soy sauce…

…with cangkuk manis added for the kids in case the dishes that I had lined up did not go down well with them but they liked most of what we had and they loved the bihun too!

Melissa made this buah emplam (local sour fruit from the mango family) sambal…

…which everyone loved a lot and I also had some cincaluk dip…

…in case anybody wanted it a little bit stronger and of course, there was that very nice fried tempoyak that the boss of Payung Cafe gave me…

My missus and Melissa also prepared this dish of Bintangor rojak…

…with the special sauce that my friend, King Hua, gave me recently…and since it was the DongZhi Festival, my missus and Melissa made these traditional glutinous rice balls…

…with sweet potato added, hence its colour, which made them easier too chew and swallow than the usual tangyuan balls. They went a step further and stuffed some of the balls with gula melaka (brown palm sugar) and the rest with some durian cream that my missus made. Everybody enjoyed them very much especially the kids and they even asked for seconds!

So there you have it – our simple dinner that night…

…with all the ethnic/kampung delights and of course, when you’re in the company of great friends, anything would taste nice, that’s for sure!

Those were such happy times and not so long ago
How I wondered where they’d gone
But they’re back again just like a long lost friend
All the ones I loved so well…
…it was yesterday once more!

Pumpkin pie…

Melissa made some pumpkin pies over a week ago…

…with mushroom and she also added some grated cheddar cheese and bits of roast chicken that we had left over from the previous night’s dinner.

She even made a special one for Uncle Jimmy…

…who was in town at the time – with that pig character from Angry Birds, whatever its name may be.

It was very nicely done – the pastry was more crumbly and a lot nicer than mine and the filling was really yummy!

Hmmm…she certainly is getting very good at cooking and baking, my little girl.

Later that day, we dropped by the Italian restaurant in town for hi-tea and we shared the Pizza La Pinano (RM28.00)…

That means that a quarter slice is only RM7.00, much bigger and a whole lot nicer and cheaper too than the quiche we had at that pie place in town and look at the filling…

– there was ham, chicken and a whole lot of goodies stuffed in it and it tasted absolutely great! It sure makes a whole lot of sense to come here for this anytime.

Incidentally, I did not bring along my camera that afternoon so if you’re thinking that the photos look kind of different from the usual, they were taken by my friend, Jimmy, using his smartphone.

Melissa wanted the calamari fritti with arriabatta sauce (RM10.00)…

…so I ordered that and the serving was big enough for the four of us to share.

Actually, we wanted to go for the desserts and we had their tiramisu (RM10.00)…

…which did not really tinkle my fancy. I would much sooner go for those yummy cakes that Jimmy bakes…but the panna cotta (RM8.00) was a different story altogether. It was sooooo so so good that it simply took our breath away…

– so much nicer than the disappointing one I had here when it first opened its doors and worlds better than the disastrous one I had in Kuching, the one that was served still quite frozen and really not worth ordering at all! Now I just can’t wait for the chance to go back there again to have another go at that. Yum! Yum! Yum!

Jimmy left town that evening but he was back again a few days before Christmas and left on the eve…so you can expect to see and read more of what we had been eating while he was around here. You’ll stick around, won’t ya?

Reason for the season…

The shepherds are led by a star in the sky
On the outskirts of town, a new baby cries
No room at the inn, no crib to be found
Oh…but look at him now

He is the reason for the season
He is the light that shines on our lives
The baby Jesus born in God’s grace
So we all might rejoice on this day
He is the reason for the season

It is a time for presents…

*From my ex-student, Andrew 1*

*From my ex-student, Andrew 2*

…and toys, tales of Saint Nick
Tidings of joy…

*From Quay Po and [SK]*

*From Elin*

*From my cousin, Georgie, in KK*

As we celebrate the miracle birth
Oh right here on this earth

He’s the reason for the giving…

*From smallkucing & family*

The joy that’s never ending…

*From Annie-Q*

*From Angeline*

*From Jimmy 1*

That comes on Christmas morning in the eyes of a child
It’s what it means to me and you
That’s the true meaning of this time…

*From Jimmy 2*

…of this time

A Blessed and Holy Christmas to one and all, thank you for all the festive greetings & good wishes, the cards and the presents, love, peace and joy be upon us all on this day and throughout the coming year!

Tomorrow…

It’s Christmas Eve today…so tomorrow, it will be Christmas Day.

The decorations have been up since last month…

…and Christmas carols and songs fill the air in every shop and mall in town (though some have seen it fit to play those Chinese New Year songs instead).

So it was at my favourite cafe in town…

…all geared up for the festive season…

…when we went there for dinner last week with my friend, Jimmy…

…who was in town at the time.

We had most of the favourites that we ordered when we were last there with Melissa’s friend but this time around, instead of the papaya salad, we opted for the Payung rojak…

…which I would prefer, given a choice between the two. Hmmm…they added buah kedondong (umbra) leaves to it and we all loved that – the leaves were very nice and fragrant.

We also had the chicken masala…

…that we did not have on our previous visit and like most of everything else that they serve there, it was very nice too.

We also had their tempuyak (fermented durian), fried with ikan bilis (dried anchovies), chili and whatever else…

…and it was simply out of this world. My missus remarked that she could just eat that alone with rice, nothing else…and would end up having seconds. What a pleasant surprise it was when the boss came and gave me a tub of that so-very-yummy stuff to take home! Thank you so much, Peter – that’s so very nice of you!

For dessert, I ordered their banana cake and ice cream…

…as I wanted the cake expert to give it a try and give his critical appreciation of the much-loved delight. I did not take a photo of what we had as it was served while I was all over the place chatting with the people around and by the time I got back to the table, they were already halfway through. So what did the critic think about it? Well, he said it was not exactly a cake in the true sense of the word especially with its unique texture and the very nice chunks of fresh bananas in it – he felt it was more like a cross between a cake and a Malay kuih (cake) but he felt it was really good and he liked it a lot.

After dinner, we went to the town square where they had all the lovely Christmas trees…

…the festive decorations and the twinkling colourful lights…

…to spread the joy of the auspicious season to all and sundry…

…that thronged the place by the droves – people from all walks of life, all races and religions to bask in the spirit of the festive season.

Blessed with absolutely perfect weather that night, we also grabbed the opportunity to check out the street food fair right across the road…

…where they were selling all kinds of tantalising  delights…

…but we were simply too full from our scrumptious dinner to have a bite of anything so after walking around, mingling with the happy crowd and basking in the festive cheer, we called it a day and headed on home.

Back in town…

My friend, Jimmy, was back in town…

…on another working trip, coming in on the early morning flight arriving before 7. He enjoyed the dim sum at this place on his previous trip so we headed there for another round of what they had.

Unfortunately, we were a little bit too early so most of the things were not out yet so we decided to go for another round of these…

…that we quite liked the first time around.

These mushroom balls were pretty good too…

…while these are actually some kind of lor bak or what we call ngor hiang here…

…but they had one whole salted egg yolk in the middle…

I did not think these…

…were anything special as they came across to me as simply some fried fish balls with mayonnaise and a bit of seaweed and meat floss on top and these fried dumplings had fish paste instead instead of the minced meat filling that one would usually find elsewhere…

I think I enjoyed what we had the first time around more and to me, when anything had meat filling, it would be more or less the same as something with the same…and likewise, with the fish stuff that they had.

These steamed pork ribs were great though…

…much nicer than any that I had had elsewhere.

But whatever they had, even though they might be somewhat similar, everything tasted great with the two types of sambal…

– one with finely pounded udang kering (dried prawns) and the other with dried bubuk (tiny shrimps), both of which were absolutely awesome and the best part was they had those ready in bottles at every table and one would be able to help oneself to whatever amount one would want. All in all, it was a nice, though extremely heavy, breakfast and after all that, we just had to skip lunch that day as we just could not possibly take in anything anymore.

And just look at what my good friend brought for me – these delightful almond pretzels…

…and my favourite meat pastries and curry puffs from Chong Chon at Kai Joo Lane in Kuching…

I have loved the meat pastry or sio pao from so long ago, ever since I was staying in Kuching in the mid-70’s and this shop is still going strong.  As a matter of fact, if you do not order before hand, chances are you will not be able to get hold of any and will have to leave disappointed. After all these years, the short crust pastry still has that rich buttery fragrance and is as flaky as before and even though the filling still tastes the same…

– just as good, it no longer has those visible bits of red-coloured char siew (barbecued meat) that it it used to have way back then.

The curry puffs are great too…

…but I can distinctly feel the difference – it was nicer before but still it is way better (and cheaper) than what I had here.

Thank you, Jimmy. All those would certainly satisfy my craving so I guess I would not be yearning for them…at least for a while. Hehehehehe!!!!

Doin’ it my way…

We had some beef in the freezer – I think Melissa and her colleagues had some barbecue party at her school and there was some leftover meat so they just divided what they had and Melissa took her share home. Her mum used a bit to fry some bitter gourd but it was so very tough that everyone had a hard time trying to eat it. In the end, I decided to take what was left of it to make some beef meat balls.

It was quite simple to do that actually – I just cut up the meat into tiny bits and chopped it up to mince it and then I added one Bombay onion finely-chopped and some crackers, pounded. Lastly, I added some pepper, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce and an egg and mixed everything together and once it had attained the desired consistency, I rolled the mixture into nice, round balls…

Next, I heated some oil in a frying pan and dropped in the balls…

…rolling them over once they had turned brown on one side.

Once they were done, I took them out of the pan and let them stand on some kitchen towel to drain away the excess oil…

Melissa prepared the IKEA meatball sauce…

…and some salsa…

…while I made some mashed potatoes with cheese added…

…and I put that in the oven to bake for a bit.

All those put together made a very nice meal…

…for our simple dinner that night and I would say that we did enjoy that very much.

P.S.:
Happy Dongzhi or Winter Solstice Festival (冬至) to all celebrating. What’s for dinner tonight?