The days seem to go by so quickly. This time last month, it was the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan and most of the shops and stalls were closed but of course, there were the bazaars in the late afternoon and after that came Hari Raya and many did not resume business till at least two weeks after the auspicious annual celebration like this one here and as soon as it opened, we went straight away for its Saturday-only nasi kerabu…
…that we truly enjoy a lot.
My missus bought a tub of tempoyak (fermented durian) from our regular Malay food stall at the Ramadhan bazaar at Bandong here for only RM5.00 and she used it to cook this meat dish…
It was so good and we went back there a few times wanting to buy some more but unfortunately, they did not make anymore.
My friend, Philip, is back in the US by now but he was home at the time and while he was here, he dropped by my house one day to pass me the pek ting eyok duck soup that his sister cooked. This so-called Eight Treasures herbal soup is very popular among the Foochows here and is available at the stalls/shops but only with chicken or pork leg. I do not mind those though I can’t say that I am very fond of it that way – for me, it has to be with duck which would bring the taste to a whole new level. Unfortunately, my missus does not eat duck so cooking our own at home is completely out of the question. I guess Philip knows that so that nice and thoughtful man went through all the trouble to pass me some to enjoy and I cooked some mee sua to go with it…
Ooooo…it was absolutely glorious! I have not had it (with duck) for so long and I truly enjoyed it so very much. Thank you so much, Philip.
And speaking of thank yous, I also must thank my friend, Alex, ex-tuition class student and ex-blogger, who went over in Melbourne, Australia and when he came back, he brought me these…
He’s such a nice chap, really – the previous time he went to Taiwan, he also brought back some stuff for me from there.
Another one that I must thank is my ex-student, Xavier, who was in Kuching and when he came back, he gave me this big loaf of butter cheese cake…
…from a bakery there. He always makes it a point to bring me back something from KL, Taiwan or the UK or wherever he goes. I loved the cake very much – it was very moist and had a very lovely buttery taste and fragrance, almost like those awesome butter cupcakes from Kapit except that their shapes were different and this one did look a bit nicer. Thanks so much, Xavier – it was so sweet of you truly.
For one thing, time does seem to go by a little bit faster when you’re caught up in a lot of things and that, I would say, was very true in my case so much so that I had had a lot of things to blog about and everything else had to take a back seat temporarily. I did blog about this new instant kampua on the market and since then, I had also tried their mee pok (flat noodles) version…
…and tossed with my missus’ own-made pounded chili, I thought it was really good.
There was also the usual cooking that I would do on some mornings for breakfast. As usual, whenever there was some leftover rice, then we would have some fried rice like this one here…
…with the very nice wine-infused lap cheong (Chinese sausage) from KL that Annie-Q gave me…or this one…
…with some leftover pork belly that I had in the fridge one morning…and on another morning, I tried cooking this garlic butter rice…
…to go with some leftover corned beef and potatoes from the previous night’s dinner and I actually liked it a lot!
Of course, when my girl was home for the one-week Raya break and also on weekends, we would spend some quality time together going out to eat or look around and shop for anything we might fancy and it was on one of those outings that I spotted this nice t-shirt…
…that I would have loved to buy but unfortunately, they did not have my size. Indeed, the days pass by so quickly and time is too short to spend moaning and groaning and complaining about anything and everything under the sun. In the words of William Shakespeare, “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
Personally, I do believe that life is for us to live the best we can, trusting in God that He will always protect and bless us in all that we do and let us pray always that…
…God will always grant us the serenity
to accept the things we cannot change,
courage to change the things we can
and wisdom to know the difference,
living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time,
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace,
taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as we would have it,
trusting that He will make all things right
if we surrender to His Will,
that we may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next.
Amen.
(Reinhold Niebuhr, adapted)
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
delicious variety of food pics here! hmmm, i guess if the nasi kerabu is only available on saturdays, there’d be a long queue every saturday … and i love the look of the fried rice too with all the ingredients. very tasty-looking 🙂
Yes, lots of people and if you go around noon, chances are it will be sold out already. Best to go a bit earlier…for brunch. Ya, that is why I don’t go for fried rice outside – I don’t think they come anywhere near but of course, with the miserable bits of ingredients in theirs, one can’t expect very much really. Half the time, it’s all just msg! 😦
Oh..I want the dark chocolate ! yes, live life with contentment and stay happy. And, continue with your food hunts but do watch your cholesterol.
Cholesterol? What’s that? Muahahahahaha!!!!!
Great dishes here, you are making me hungry. 🙂 I love Lindt chocolate!
Lots of chocolates where you are, that’s for sure.
Pek ting eyok with duck, very syiokkkkk!!!..my favourite. Like the varities of fried rice too. You are truly blessed with nice friends around you.
I truly truly am! No duck at the stalls…so dunno when I will get to eat that again. Really enjoyed it!
I have that exact same Lindt bar too! Haha! I ate it already though.
Too bad about the tempoyak situation, I’ve always wanted to eat your durian tempoyak dish.
That mee sua with duck leg looks really good too! I’m ready to eat! 😀
Yes, I enjoyed the duck mee sua, that’s for sure. No worries, mine is still in the fridge. Still enjoying the Twix – very nice. Love it!
So many great friends you have. And so many yummy goodies you received.
Live life to the fullest. Thank God for the blessing and wonderful things He does for us.
Yes, be grateful, appreciate whatever little blessing that comes your way and praise the Lord always. Indeed, He has blessed me with so many wonderful friends.
Yah, live is short, stop complaining and live on!! =]
Yes, sad that many do exactly just that…and live such miserable lives. You see lots of them on Facebook – nothing good. I would just unfriend them – this thing can be contagious. Spoils your mood.
I’m always fascinated at the wide range of foods that you can ferment. I recently purchased a digital copy and hard copy of Wild Fermentation. It’s over 500 pages, that will keep me occupied for a while.
My daughter loves garlic butter rice. About twenty minutes ago, I made her a simple vegetable fried rice dish. She really enjoyed that a lot.
I guess we have leftover rice all the time so I would fry for breakfast the next morning – such a waste to throw it all away. I know in the old days, people feed their pets and their poultry with it – we have neither. The thing is this is so very often and looks like everyone’s getting tired of it but no matter. I’m ok with it so I will eat most of it myself. Yes, in the old days, not many had refrigeration so they will salt, smoke or ferment so that the things would not go bad. Ya…I see in your blog – you’re into kimchi now.
wow, what a great day-by-day account of delicious food!! of course, “No, thank you” to the tempoyak, hahahaha!!!
Slurpsssss!!!! No durian smell, mostly the very nice fermented fragrance and taste. Ah well…same thing – I don’t like kim chi – that’s fermented too. To each his own.
I’ve never eaten tempoyak, does it have that durian smell? I heard tempoyak is made from dried durian flesh, something like that? Ooohh, your bowl of duck noodles looks like the ones we have here – Pun Chun “ngap tui mein”, the famous one in Bidor.. But I don’t really like “ngap tui mein” becoz the “yok choy” (herbs) smell is very strong, hehe..And as usual, your fried rice looks really good, the rice biji-biji, and looks like enuff “wok hei” (wok heat – direct translation).. You are really a good cook 🙂
Oh no!!!! It is made from fresh ripe durian…and for excellent tempoyak, one must use the best durian. Many people make for sale – using the cheap, not so nice durians…so of course, the tempoyak would be of low quality, not nice…and worse, often, sour even.
Dunno Cantonese so everything is Greek to me and I can’t say I am all that familiar with everything there – just like many of you are not all too familiar with what we have here. I would think I’m a little better though – I do know quite a lot.
Durian season. everywhere over here also have tempoyak to sell
Here also…but the colour already puts me off, sure sour one…and not cheap. All in small kaya cups – this one we bought RM5 for a big tub…and the best thing was it was so so very nice.
Ooo….I love chocolates that have a hint of sea salt! It is really good. And as usual your fried rice is very inspiring 🙂
I’d take note of it when we finally get to open it – don’t think I paid much attention the previous one somebody gave me.
Wow so many good stuffs from friends all over the place, you are so blessed! =) I love mee sua, however my hubby is not much of a fan, so i try to satisfy the craving at nearby foochow coffee shop only. Sibu is too far… sigh. 🙂 never has it with duck tho.
Ya…there are some good places for mee sua in Kuching – Mekong, opposite Heritage…or Sin Poh Poh, also around there.
ooo..Twix! That’s HB fav.
I love it too! Not too much caramel, not too much chocolate and with the biscuit inside, not too sweet. Very nice!
Everything u post today is so tempting…
That’s the whole idea. Nom…nom…nom!!! Muahahahaha!!!!!
I pray that Serenity Prayer every morning before I go to work…
That’s good, very meaningful prayer.
Very nice of your friends, Arthur… always sending you goodie foodies! I like your fried rice too.. especially with lots of ikan bilis and eggs.. (not shown here) 🙂
That’s my kampung-style fried rice. I do it that way very often and sometimes, I add thinly sliced long beans too. Very nice.
Yes, everybody’s so kind and thoughtful and very generous.
Nasi Kerabu looks good! But Pek ting eyok with duck looks a lot nicer!! Ok, i got the hint, next time when i am back, when my mum cook i remember to bring some for you. And i won’t get jealous of this post, because i am going to have my Pek ting eyok with duck very soon!! My mom coming!!
Can see the butter cheese cake very moist and i bet it is taste good too.
Oh? When is your mum going? Can tumpang send some things to you? Yes, the cakes’s very good…nasi kerabu…pek ting eyok mee sua…all good! Tomorrow’s post got things that are not good… 😦
Awesome people in your life through and through! And your fried rice looks absolutely glorious to me, that’s how I like it, lap cheong, egg and a bit of greens, awesome!
Yes, what is life without friends?
I know self praise is no praise but I would like to think my fried rice is better than any in town. Mostly msg…though there are some nice ones – cincaluk fried rice, salted fish fried rice, salmon fried rice at some classier cafes here but of course, they cost a bit more than the regulars.
I had tried the nasi kerabu once after reading your posts regarding the dish.(I was somehow delighted by the peculiar colour of the rice the first time I saw it through your blog)When it turned out,I was put off by the particular herbal taste(most probably from the the ulam and the curry gravy if I was not mistaken).But the meat is really nice,I must say.I too tried the mee jawa from sunny cafe which is just next to it.I like it very much!
The peculiar smell would be the ulam raja – the green leaves among all the raw vegetables. I don’t like the smell either but I do not mind eating it with everything else. However, I will not eat it as an ulam vegetable, that’s for sure. Yet to acquire the taste for it…but they say it has a lot of health benefits:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-medical-uses-of-ulam-raja.htm#didyouknowout
…but still, no, thank you. 😀 The curry gravy is actually the sambal kelapa (coconut gravy), no peculiar smell, very nice and the darker gravy is air budu (salted fish gravy), love that!. Yes, the mee jawa at Sunny is good…especially the special with the prawn fritters.
Jeez these looks absolutely delicious!
What piece of meat did you use in that mee sua thing? Looks luscious, juicy.. tender.
I’m making a simple dinner right now. Similar to that, only I replaced the noodles with cheap 2 minute ones and added some slices of steak in and perhaps with a poached egg to add even more protein.
Lovin’ your blog matey! Makes me so hungry. That’s a good thing. I like that.
Cheers,
Ken
That’s duck, Ken – simmered in the soup with all the traditional Chinese herbs till nice and tender. Very fragrant, absolutely yummy!
Simple? Hmmm…you can’t go wrong with those noodles if you have all the added ingredients – steak, egg. Yum! Yum! I always do that too when having instant noodles (usually for breakfast though) – throw in some extras and bring the taste to a whole new level. Can’t possibly be anything else but nice.
Thanks for your kind words. That’s a very sweet thing to say. Make sure you keep coming back for more torture, eh? LOL!!! 😀
Oh okay..thanks for the information.I do like elaborate food like this with different varieties of condiments to go with it.The main ingredient that put me off would be the ulam raja.If I’m not mistaken,some Dim Sum cuisines too have added the herb right?
Nope, those would be coriander leaves. They use a lot of it in Kuching. Don’t like the cockroach smell but I’ve acquired the taste for that – wouldn’t mind eating it when there’s any but I would not go out of my way to get hold of some to add to my cooking. Good for people with high blood pressure, they say.
Mee sua with duck soup looks so good! Time really flies. This time last year, I was a week away to giving birth to Ayden 😀
And I went out and bought him a toy…and it ended up with Ethan playing with it! How time flies!!!
sis and i just had this pek ting eyok mee sua yesterday at Chopstick.. i didn’t really like it but sis loves it so much she said she can have it everyday.. i prefer those chicken soup with foochow red wine.. kakaka..
i almost wanted to ask for the butter cheese cake recipe.. unfortunately, he got it from bakery 😦
Mita! From Kuching. I hear it was RM6.50 when it started…now over RM12.00. 😦 Still selling like hot cakes! Ya…if chicken, I would prefer the usual Foochow chicken soup with red wine…or with the fragrant roots. Pek ting eyok, I’d love it with duck.
What fabulous flavour combos!
Nice eh?