Not too long ago, it was so difficult to get gluten-free stuff here in Sibu. We might stumble upon some but those would be few and far between and not all were necessarily nice but we were at their mercy, so to speak, take it or leave it! Most of the time, we were dependent on those given to us, family and friends from Kuching, KL or overseas.
My girl was so excited when she went to KL and there were so many there that she did not know what to pick and cart home so of course, she was so happy to see these…
– the same brand as the nice stuff she bought in KL at the supermarket in town that stocks up on all the imported stuff.
Yes, she bought two boxes of that as she missed eating pizza so much, never mind bread or thin crust – both are not gluten-free so now, she is going to use that to make her own to enjoy.
We did bring our own gluten-free pasta to the cafés and restaurants time and time again and asked them to use instead of the regular ones but except for here, all the rest would charge accordingly, the full price, never mind that we were not using their non-gluten-free pasta. However, we never had any gluten-free lasagna sheets and she sure missed eating that. Needless to say, she grabbed a box of these…
…the instant she caught sight of it on the shelf.
She did try making her own bread – most were disastrous while some were ok, quite nice but none was anything like bread as we know it. This time around, she bought a box of this…
…to try – hopefully, it will turn out o.k.
Her attempt at making corn bread came to naught so I bought her this box of crispy corn bread…
…once but she had yet to give it a try. Of course, there are those taco shells that we enjoyed very much and I did buy a box to keep in the house to enjoy anytime we feel like it.
We have had quite a variety of gluten-free biscuits and cookies – some good, some not so and the bottom line is they are not quite the same, the texture and everything probably because of the flour used. So far, the best would be this Australian one…
…which we thought was nicer than the regular ones, same brand.
Well, that day, my girl came home with these cookies…
…from that same supermarket but we have yet to try them. However, we’ve opened one of these two…
…, made in Australia, and much to our delight, we thought they were really very nice…
Personally, I do think these could give those celebrated Tim Tams a run for the money!
And talking about money, it goes without saying that these things do not come cheap at all but at least, we can get them here now, no need to fly to Kuching or KL and wherever…and anyway, my girl does not spend on anything at all the whole week while she is confined to her school in the jungle so she can well afford to pamper herself and spend on these when she comes home on the weekends, something good for the body and the soul, this shopping therapy, they call it.
TA KIONG EMPORIUM (2.2933,111.82713,783) is located at No. 42-46, Jalan Tuanku Osman and opens daily from 8.00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 