It actually started the night before when my friend/ex-classmate, Robert and his wife, Angela, drove all the way to my house to give me this…
– the nasi lemak sambal that the latter made. I was a little under the weather – down with flu and a terrible cough, probably from the gardening I was doing for a couple of hours one late afternoon – the heat and the exhaustion must have done me in. Otherwise, I would have loved to cook some nasi lemak of my own to go with it and since I was not feeling up to it, I just had that with rice, a bit at a time…or for ulam with cut cucumber, nice!
The very next day, I was at my parents’ house – it is our daily routine to go and visit them and spend some time there every morning – when I got a call from Robert telling me that they were having tom yam at Mary’s place and she was inviting me to join them for that. So there I went with my missus for our brunch that morning and we were served this very nice white tom yam fish soup…
I wonder what fish that was…
…but yes, it was nice and I so loved the slightly sour and very fragrant soup. It would have been perfect with bihun, I think. We were given a bowl of sliced cili padi to add ourselves should we like it extra hot and of course, my missus helped herself to a lot of that.
Mary also got Jos, her Thai chef, to fry this plate of kway teow…
…for us. I had this before when I dropped by here for lunch and yes, I thought it was nice but we were so full that day so I had to have it tapao-ed to take home.
When my Kuching cousins were in town, I had to go to the market early in the morning to collect the skin I had ordered for our popiah lunch and I saw two ikan buris at a stall and I quickly grabbed both. This river fish is not easy to come by these days. In the end, I decided to give them to my cousins to take home to Kuching – I don’t think they can get those there – so I had none left for myself.
Well, as they say, what goes around comes around…and my brother-in-law dropped by my house in the afternoon to give me FIVE of the fish! He said something about my sister-in-law buying them or somebody gave them to her. They were not as big but would be perfect for our kampung-style sayur rebus…
*Archive photo*
I cooked two the other day, pais-style (wrapped in banana leaf and grilled) but I did it my own way using kunyit (turmeric) leaves instead. The miserable ones I have in my garden are very small so I could only place one on top of the fish and one at the bottom after rubbing the fish with salt and placing some daun kesum and strips of ginger on top and wrapping it all up in aluminium foil….and then, I put them in the oven to bake…
They turned out really very nice – the fish was so fresh and sweet and was absolutely delicious and my girl loved it so much! Like ikan pansoh (ethnic fish cooked in bamboo), she said – that must be because of the daun kesum. Yum yummmm!!!!!
My brother-in-law also brought a few of these…
– the yellow version of the ang koo kueh with the skin made with pumpkin and hence, the colour. They have been buying these regularly from a stall at Rejang Park here (I hear they also have the red ones) and for once, I am so very happy that the skin is thin and not hard or rubbery and there is so much mung bean filling in it…
Now that we can get our own very nice ones here, there is no need to go over to Kuching for these anymore.
And if you think that was it for the day, no, there was more to come! That evening, the Youngs dropped by my house and Stephanie gave me more of my favourite – the marble cupcakes to enjoy…
…and also these old-school delight…
No, this was after my time – I am a lot older than that. Hehehehehe!!!!
They also gave me this cheese layer cake…
…that the mum made and boy, it was so very very nice – step aside, Lavender!
Thank you so much, everybody, for everything – it sure was such a good day indeed!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Tom yum. Now I know tom yum could be white soup; not just red. Maybe the chilli make the red colour??
Dont over exhaust yourself. Glad you are well now.
Yes, old already – must go slow, do a bit every day. After all, I have a lot of free time, just that, that day, the weather was nice – dark and gloomy and cool but no rain so I wanted to make the most of it. Some days are so hot and sunny even by late evening – I would not want to do any gardening then.
I had white tom yam here once – the guy said use lime or whatever for the sour taste:
https://suituapui.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/white/
I bet everyday is a good day for you particularly this day where so much goodies were received in one day. I like the marble cupcakes & koo kuih. Can see that the koo kuih skin is thin & filling is so much. Love them to bits.
Yes, the skin is just perfect, soft and chewy – some are hard and difficult to chew, the texture is all wrong. I sure would want to drop by one of these days to buy and blog about the place. Very very nice, can compare with the good ones in Kuching. No need to wait till I go over there to enjoy now.
The mickey mouse in the old-school delight is so cute…
I guess that attracts the kiddies. You like? 😀
Hope you’re 100 percent recovered now …. But hey, you shouldn’t be eating sambal and cili padi if you’re not feeling well, right?!? 😉
Still coughing a bit but much better now, thanks. The strong taste of the sambal and the hot and spicy chili sure help enhance the taste of everything – otherwise, all would be somewhat bland, no taste, not nice. 😉
oooo kampung style fish + sayur rebus! i wonder how that would taste like but sounds authentic! it looks like either patin or baong, what fish is it? Hehehe the ice cream susu. OOo lama tidak makan itu. Now harga pun sudah naik lah. Last time Rm0.10 only, now macam RM1.00 satu
Ikan buris, we call it but no, it is not like patin though it may look quite similar – tastewise, I think it is closer to baong, probably all from the same family. Very lemak, very very nice.
Dunno how much the ice cream susu is each, I got ’em free. Hehehehehe!!!!
Mickey Mouse made me smile. 🙂
Cute, eh? 😀
OMg…the angkoo is stuffed with abundance of paste and the skin is so thin. Love that!
Yes, very very good. I just found out – they are only RM1.00 each…so cheap for so much satisfaction! I sure would want to go and buy more!
Arrr so many delicious food that made my tummy rumbling. hehe. The sambal was so red. Must be extra hot!
Not really. These days, the chilies are so big, so red…not hot! Have to add a bit of cili padi for that much needed kick.
That Mickey Mouse thing, is it a drink? Never seen those before. I have turmeric leaves in my garden, maybe I can try cooking fish the way you did. And wow, that angku kueh is very loaded 😀
Yes, packed with the filling and the skin is so nice and thin, absolutely perfect. Hmmm…the Mickey Mouse thing, probably after your time…like me, so old – we did not have that in my childhood days. Hehehehehehe!!!!
This is what I call Endless Love Food! hahahaha.. All keep coming continuously for you! Eyeing the yellow kueh.. thin skin and heavily filled mung beans… sedap sekali!
Only RM1.00 each, come on over…how many you want? 😉
they do say that spicy food cures all ailments, especially the common flu. take more! the spicier the better 🙂
Not sure about the curing part but it sure helps enhance the taste, improves one’s appetite. Probably one would feel better after eating – I do!
White tomyam looks interesting to me! And the last one, cheese layer cake!! That’s too much!! :p
I would love to try that 😉
Grab the one at Lavender if you drop by KL – theirs is good but anything Lavender’s may cost quite a bit.
They all look so gooooood. I am drooling over it.
Kuching has changed so much. I never been to Sibu. I am missing out on the food. Lots to catch up. I closed the door on things but it’s time to visit Malaysia again.
So where are you right now? Migrated abroad. In the UK? Like my friend in Perth, originally from Singapore, said, everywhere it’s the same, you learn to live with the good and the bad, make the most of everything. Life is what you make it.
Yes, Kuching food is awesome and Sibu has its wonders too – my friends and relatives learn to cook their own, make do with what they have there and yes, they do come back regularly for all that they miss so much.
I have lived in London for a very long time. In the last couple of years, I have lived in different countries. I have just completed my contract in Turkey and are waiting for my documents from China.
Life is what you make out it! So true. Living the expat life is not easy. In my Turkish posting, there were only three foreigners including my colleagues living in the centre. It was too much living in each other’s pockets😔.
From time to time, I cooked the food I craved for. A busy work schedule and the lovely distractions of London had kept me occupied.
These are the foods I missed from Kuching; the quality shrimp paste, barley and rice from the Ibans (sold in Chinese grocery store), moon cakes, cuttle fish with kangkong.
I miss out so much on the food. I don’t even know where to start.
I’ve a cousin in London, married to a Brit. She comes home every year to spend Chinese New Year with her mum in Miri and she will make it a point to drop by Sibu for the authentic Foochow delights that she loves and misses so much. I guess the rest of the year, she enjoys all the nice food over there – can get anything and everything there, just that one would have to pay for it, not cheap…and she comes back for these annual treats once a year. Best of both worlds! There’s very nice Malay(sian) food at the basement, Malaysia House London – I think it is open to Malaysians only. I guess you do qualify?
Thanks for visiting my blog and commenting. Do keep dropping by, at least you may get some glimpses of home even though unfortunately, you can’t get to taste it. Take care there, cheers!!!