Well, there’s no place like home, that goes without saying, and my girl, for one, is happy to be back now that the school holidays are here and she would not need to go back to her school in the jungle till next year.
I hear the Christmas decorations are up but I have not gone round much except to the mall near my house and there is this one solitary Christmas tree there…
…and these snowmen…
…for those keen on having their photographs taken. The economy is not in very good shape with all the rising prices of virtually everything and probably for that reason, the decorations are somewhat minimal. I hear these snowmen were from the year before last, recycled.
Other than the aforementioned, there were also these…
…and the gingerbread house…
Something is better than nothing, I guess – at times like this, it is good for us to try and be a bit prudent in our spending. After all, what is most important is the true meaning of Christmas, not the lavish spending and all that extravagant feasting and partying.
Well, our celebration is going to be very low key this year. Other than going to church, I do not foresee much cooking and celebrating now that we suspect my girl is gluten intolerant and would have to avoid wheat and so on…and who would have guessed there is wheat in soy sauce as well!!! This means that when we go out to eat, we would not be ordering any of those noodles and stuff made from wheat flour. Kway teow (flat rice noodles) and bihun (rice vermicelli) would be fine but not fried, as they always add soy sauce in the cooking.
That was why when we were out for brunch last Saturday morning, she opted for the Sarawak laksa…
…here, still our favourite in town. The current prices are the same as when we were here in April, RM5.50 for the small/regular but the consoling thing is that the serving is very big and small eaters may have a problem eating all of it.
The large (RM7.00)…
…is huge, so huge that even I had to struggle a bit to finish everything.
Of course, everytime I drop by here, I must have their ang tao peng, the red bean ice (RM3.50)…
They do it quite well, I feel, quite a lot of the beans underneath all that shaved ice, rich in santan (coconut milk) though I would not mind a bit more gula Melaka (palm sugar).
The following day, Sunday, after the morning church service, we went here for the tom yam bihun (RM6.00)…
that she also enjoys though she would prefer Sarawak laksa actually. The mum had the same but with hung ngang (the bigger version of the bihun) while I had the hung ngang too but with clear soup…
Looking back at my post way back in May, I am glad to note that the things here…
…are still priced the same despite the way things are going around here.
What about over where you are? Prices shooting up or are they pretty much the same as before?
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Here in the Klang Valley, shopping malls still go all out with their festive decor. Competition is stiff. Best decor will pull in the crowd so they always do their best.
…and spend a whole lot of money on it. Hopefully, it will translate into sales, not just window shoppers there with their kids to look and see only. Here, they do not go all out so they do not draw much attention though there may be people taking selfies & wefies. What will draw the crowd here would be special offers – just a week or so ago, there was a stampede at one supermarket here, buying toilet paper for RM8 something a pack of 10, I heard – normal price is RM12-13.00…or give a free gift even though it may be just a miserable mug – the queue will be several miles long!
The food looks good, and I love all the Christmas decorations. 🙂
Minimal. I guess that is enough, simple reminders of the joy and spirit of the season.
That Sarawak Laksa looks dreamy! I’d actually prefer malls to use recycled decorations. There seems to be an incredible amount of waste each year with the commercialisation of each festive period.
I think they engage advertising agencies that may recycle the decor in between towns. One year, it was in Kuching and the following year, it was here. Dunno if that is still going on or not, not good to shortchange people like that.
Yes, the Sarawak laksa here is very nice.
I wouldnt mind price hike but not food shrinking unnecessarily. Sigh. More or less the same over here. Nothing less than RM5 now. Kampua is RM3 and kolo mee is averagely priced at RM3.50.
Ang tau peng. I would like that. Long time didnt indulge in the sweet dessert.
Go Swee Kang, my favourite. What we have in Sibu does not even come close. Go to the Satok one, the Hj Taha one is not as nice.
I don’t mind getting a little less as long as the prices remain the same but not if they jack up the prices as well and blame it on the increasing prices of cooking oil and what not. Sugar going up 30% soon, I hear. Must bear in mind that these are hard times.
Think the little girl saw you taking picture, she’s looking at you, hehe…
Yes, I was taking the photograph of the snowmen when she just barged in to go behind one of them. She wanted her mum to take her photo and probably she was wondering why I was doing it too. 😀
Now almost everything starts with RM5 being the cheapest. Kolo mee, 3.50-4.00…& yet shrink in volume. Prices keep shooting up & it will never ever come down. Your laksa looks tempting. Haizzzz…..
I love the laksa here the most. Luckily, here, it is not too bad, not so obvious, all pretty much the same as before. Rumour has it that petrol will go up 20 sen a litre tonight, dunno how true. 😥
Economy in WA is not good now after the mining boom. I think prices have fallen a little, but my wife who does the shopping may say differently.
It seems things are not going too well in Singapore either but at least the currency is a lot stronger than our miserable ringgit right now, over SGD3 to MYR1.
Price is up. Regular mixed rice now up by around rm2 at my area
Now RM2 is a lot!!! Long ago, we could have rice with one meat and two veg for RM2 but that was so long ago.
I am sure Melissa is happy to be home. I wonder is gluten-free soya sauce available there? It’s known as Tamari. I’ve tried it, not as fragrant as regular soya sauce but quite alright.
Will go look for it, thanks. I know we do have Kikkoman but that is not gluten-free. Right now, I am using Knife fish sauce, nicer than the China Pearl River or whatever brand. No wheat in the ingredients. In fact, I always used fish sauce with my fried rice instead of the over-powering and very black soy sauce.
Lots of scrumptious food there. I’ll try a little of every thing.
A local pub had its Christmas decoration up in October. It wasn’t garish but it was done with good taste and confined to a solitary table.
Prices of goods such as olive oil, pulses and dried nuts have gone through the roof in London for the past year or so. I understand the olive oil harvest has been poor. Meat prices have gone up, too.
In Turkey where I lived, olive oil, fresh chestnuts and fresh walnuts are expansive. Yes, they grow them. Freshly, roasted chestnuts come at a price. The price of a local fruit (only a few people grow them) are worth it’s price in gold. Some varieties are tasty.
Olive oil is very expensive here, and so are all those nuts. They say olive oil must not be heated, not safe for cooking – only use to toss pasta or salad with it and eat. High time the prices come down – people are now turning to coconut oil.
Such cute and festive snowman decorations 😉 I totally forgot it’s the school holidays till the end of the year already. Remember how we used to look forward to December cos it’d be the longest break of them all! 😀
It still is a break for us to look forward to now that my girl is in the teaching profession.
I do agree that the portion seems to be larger in east malaysia
We are Foochows, big eaters. Hehehehehehe!!!
I am so tempted to make one of those red bean ice, its getting warm in here now
Yes, it’s summer, eh? Lovely, summer in NZ…not in Oz, those darn flies and the bush fires all over and the heatwave.