Rainy afternoon…

It rained really very heavily on Sunday afternoon. Luckily, my girl had taken the day off, Monday, for the Ching Ming Festival so we did not have to send her back to her school until the following day.

It is quite a hassle driving along those out-of-town roads in a heavy downpour. Visibility is poor and one would have to be careful going round those twists and turns on the slippery roads and then there will be those vehicles, not bothered to switch on the low lights so you would not be forewarned well ahead of time of them coming in the opposite direction…and they would not slow down, not at all, so you will get splashed all over by the rain water on the road as they zoom past. One would think that on such wet days, those people would be extra cautious and drive a little slower but unfortunately, it does not appear to be so, not at all. It’s sad how people do not value their lives and those of others and are so reckless and inconsiderate all the time.

It so happened that my girl’s coursemate in Wellington, New Zealand and Sg Petani, Kedah, now teaching in a school here in Sibu, sent word that he would be dropping by. He did not manage to drop by our house around Chinese New Year this year as he had gone off with his colleagues and friends to Sabah during the week-long holiday…and he gave us these packs of the celebrated Tenom coffee…

…that he brought back with him when he came back. I’ve tried both the “cafe latte” or 3-in-1 and the kopi-o…

…and yes, they’re very nice, kind of nutty in flavour. I must say that I enjoyed both.

He also gave us these…

…from Trengganu and my girl was delighted to see the pack of satar ikan, a traditional delicacy of the east coast state in the peninsula. She must have eaten that those years when she was there in the teacher-training institute in Sg Petani and she must have loved it a lot…and had been missing it all this while.

As for me, I had heard of it but I had never seen nor tasted it before so the very next morning, before we had to send my girl back to her school, I got up early to take it out of the freezer and defrost it…

…before I deep-fried it…

…till golden brown.

After I was through with all that was in the pack, I sat down to give it a try. It turned out to be some kind of fish paste or mashed fish wrapped in what appeared to me like popiah (spring roll) skin…

I loved the wonderful fragrance of the ingredients added, something along those same lines as the otak-otak at Payung here but I didn’t think there was any kunyit (turmeric) in it as it was not yellow in colour. I did google to look at the images of the real thing and yes, the original version is wrapped in some kind of triangular shapes in banana leaf. Hopefully, I will get the chance to go over someday and try that!

We sure enjoyed this frozen-for-sale version very much and my girl too, and of course, she reserved some to take back to her school so she could get to eat them there. She was also glad that she did not have to go back on Sunday and could get to meet her old friend to chat and catch up with old times.

Thank you so much, Bubu. It sure is so sweet and thoughtful of you to remember us everytime you have some nice things to share and indeed, it was good to see you again. Do drop by anytime, our door is always open and rest assured that you are always warmly welcome.