My friends…

I dropped by Peter’s place the other day because I saw on Facebook that he had some cooked durian paste, his own version of the tempoyak but non-fermented…

…for sale at RM18.00 per plastic tub.

I’ve tried it before…

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…when he gave me a tub in 2015 and it was so very nice – that was why I quickly rushed there the very next morning to grab some for myself. We could just eat this with rice and nothing else and finish one tub in one sitting but of course, we went a bit slow with it and stretched it to two sittings, lunch and dinner.

When I got there, the whole place was buried with durians – it seemed that one of Peter’s staff went back to Kapit for the new year and she kept sending him a whole lot from somebody’s orchard. He had to pay for them, of course, and that guy was just too nice to say no, don’t send anymore. I wanted three tubs of the tempoyak but they gave me four, one extra on the house. Aren’t they such wonderful people, these guys at Payung?

Well, one thing’s for sure, they now have a whole lot of fresh durian cream for their durian ice cream…

*Archive photo*

…and I just could not resist ordering one myself that day to enjoy. For one thing, the cream at this point in time was really very fresh and was simply out of this world…and because they had it in abundance, I specially requested for extra durian cream and yes, Andy gave me a whole lot of it! The most embarrassing thing was I was so caught up with everything, all that chit chat and all, that not only did I forget to take a new snapshot of it, overflowing with the cream, but I also forgot to pay for it even! *Face palm*

Actually, I went back there that very afternoon as that morning, they gave me some of the dabai…

…they got from the same source and it was so very good, so very rich and creamy and the skin was very thin, the best I have had this season and I just had to go and buy more. I insisted on paying for it, of course – after all, they did not get it free but they only took RM15.00 from me for 1 kilo and Andy filled the bag with so much, easily 2 kilo, at least!

I noticed that they had started on their Chinese New Year decorations…

…but they were so caught up with this whole thing with the fruits…

…that they had to leave it unfinished for the time being…

I sure can’t wait to see when it is all done…

…and knowing Peter, I bet it will be really awesome.

In the meantime, another dear friend of mine, Mary, sent word asking me to drop by her place to collect this huge platter of steamed kampung chicken…

Oh dear!!! She gave me that before…

…and I do recall another time before that, the chicken with her very nice butter chicken rice) and frankly, I just don’t know how I can reciprocate in return for their kindness and generosity.

I truly am blessed to have such great friends, praise the Lord! May God bless them all this day and every day throughout the new year, 2018!

PAYUNG CAFÉ (2.284049, 111.833014) is located at No.20F, Lanang Road, Sibu, Malaysia, back to back with the multi-storey car park of the Kingwood Hotel which faces the majestic Rejang River while FLAVOURS THAI KITCHEN is located on the ground floor of the ORCHID HOTEL, along Brooke Drive at its junction with Jalan Tunku Osman. You can use its main entrance at the back of the hotel building (facing Brooke Drive) or go through the lobby past the reception desk if you are using its hotel entrance.