A new friend…

Out of the blue, somebody commented in my blog asking me where the nice places around the hotel where he would be staying were so he could go and eat. I responded promptly and with the link, I was able to get connected with him on Facebook and got myself added as his friend.

It turned out to be somebody residing in Singapore ever since he was 10 and he would be coming home for his aunt’s 90th birthday celebration at this restaurant here. We did chat quite a bit and he asked about the book on Sibu food…

*Friend’s photo on Facebook*

I don’t know if it is still available but I did have one left in the house and I said I would pass it to him when he got into town.

So when he got here, he sent me a message asking me to go and collect some stuff he had brought over for me at the hotel’s reception desk but he had gone out already to eat…eat..and eat…probably with his relatives here. That is all one does when in Sibu! Hehehehehe!!!!! I went to the hotel, left the book with the receptionist to pass to him and came home with a HUGE bag of goodies. Oh me oh my!!! That certainly was a good deal – all the things in exchange for that one book! LOL!!!

In the bag, there were these traditional Chinese steamed peach birthday buns…

I guess he must have brought those over for the aunt’s birthday and he decided to spare me a few for longevity and to share the joy of the very auspicious occasion

There was also this box of the nyonya mee siam ready-to-cook sauce…

…that I tried a long time ago and it was so so so good but I never bought it again as it was over RM10.00 a box then and it has been going up and up and up. I think it is around RM20.00 now.

Other than that, there were also these packs of pastes from that same company and a packet of bak kut teh spices…

Hmmm…it certainly looks like I would be doing a whole lot of cooking in the days ahead.

There were these instant noodles…

…as well and no prize for guessing which my girl happily took to enjoy at her school in the jungle. I’ve tried the prawn noodles…

…and surprisingly, it was really good! I did not really like their once-very-popular white curry and that was why I was not expecting too much from this one.

No, that’s not all! There were also these…

– they are some spreads for bread or biscuits. We do not have those here so old goondu me had never seen them before this, much less know what they are but one is most probably Ovaltine spread and I got this on the other one, an alternative to nut and chocolate spreads, from their website:
“Whether you opt to schmear it on bread, use it as a dip for pretzels, or dollop it on top of pancakes, it’s worth having around”
San Francisco Chronicle
…and if I am not wrong, the one on the extreme right was fried salmon skin or if it wasn’t salmon, it would be some kind of fish. Yes, it was very nice, like keropok…just nicer with the lovely taste of the fish…skin.

Well, if you’re thinking that would be all, you couldn’t be more wrong. He also gave me these changs…

I am not sure if they were the celebrated Katong ones but they were nyonya all right…

…and they were very nice…

…a whole lot nicer than the ones that I bought in Kuching.

Last but definitely not least, I got this…

Blimey!!! The original mooncake from Raffles Singapore, no less…

That must have cost a bomb…

…and I sure am glad that now, I can tell everybody that I’ve had the special privilege of getting to sample that…once, in my life.

It is indeed most appreciated, my new friend, but you shouldn’t have done that! Just a little something would be good enough, a little token. Too bad we did not get to meet, you with your aunt’s birthday and everything and me with my girl back for the weekend and sending her back to her school, Sunday but hopefully, someday, we will get the chance to do just that. Do keep in touch, all the best to you and your family and thank you so so so much for everything!