Big daddy…

Every week on  Friday, when my girl comes back to town, she and the mum would go out for some shopping therapy while I would go and have a nap, never mind even if it would be around 2-3.00 p.m. already. These days, the road from Sibu to Selangau and my girl’s school is one helluva horrendous mess and it is very taxing to twist and turn over all the detours, crawling in and out of the potholes. What used to be an over-one-hour journey would now take over two gruelling hours.

Well, the other day, they went to one of the malls in town and she came home with these…

…for our breakfast the next morning – we abstain from meat on Fridays, you see.

This is one of the pizza franchises in town, one being the celebrated one with outlets here, there and everywhere over the country and there is this Sarawak one too – if I am not wrong, other than their outlet here, they have a food truck as well and I think this one is originally from Singapore, affiliated to our Sarawak own fast-food franchise here.

She got herself the chicken pepperoni…

…and for me, she got the Big Daddy…

…which, according to the website, is topped with minced beef, turkey ham, Italian sausages, four cheese with a dash of BBQ sauce.

I heated it up in the oven the next morning…

…and gave it a try. I thought it was all right but except for the minced beef, I couldn’t say that I could detect the rest of the aforementioned toppings specifically or maybe it was just me!

I certainly wouldn’t say it swept me off my feet and if I am not mistaken, it did not come cheap, not at all. My girl could not remember how much she paid but as far as I know, they have a promotion right now whereby you pay only RM6.80 each if you buy three slices. That, of course, means that the slices she bought would cost more than RM6.80 since she only bought two…and you can call me ancient, archaic, old-school or whatever but personally, I am all for our own Sibu kompia, deep-fried or oven-toasted, and stuffed with either minced meat of stewed pork…and pay a whole lot less!

Save some…

The dabai…or dabey as we would call it in the family – maybe that’s Melanau and the former is in Malay, I wouldn’t know – is our local version of black olives, hence the name or kana (in Hokkien) or or ka lang (in Foochow)…

It is a seasonal fruit and in my growing up years, they would only appear at the end of the year. Times have changed and I wouldn’t know if it is due to the climatic changes we are experiencing in the world right now but it will appear a few times in a year, much to the delight of many who love the fruit.

The other day, I received an sms from a friend asking me whether he should cook the dabai first before preserving them by soaking in water with salt added. He probably had a lot of finish so he would like to save some to eat slowly. No, you do not have to cook it first, I told him – just soak in water, add salt and let it stand for a few days and it will turn reddish purple and can be put away in the fridge…to keep till like forever.

I would say it is an acquired taste – I, for one, am not a fan but my parents loved it so much. They would just take out one from the bottle and nibble…nibble…eaten with rice or porridge. I’m ok with it used to fry rice but I prefer using the fresh ones, skin removed so the fried rice would not be all black and unsightly but with the rich lemak taste of the fruit.

For the uninitiated, to cook the fresh ones, place them in water that is hot enough for you to put your fingers in…and wait. Add more hot water as and when needed, that is when the water has gone cold. If the water is too hot, it will cook much faster but it will be a little sour, not so nice. Do not, under any circumstances, go and boil them!

Long ago, they did not have dabai in Kuching and in the 70’s, I did bring some over and gave them to my college mate. When I asked her how she liked them she said she could not eat it as it was too hard. It turned out she did not know how to cook the fruit so she boiled it and the longer you boil, the harder it will become. These days, especially with the influx of people from Sibu to Kuching, they have dabai there too so I guess cooking the fruit is no longer a problem, unlike before.

The problem with this fruit is that you cannot keep it for too long – maybe that was why my friend wanted to preserve it. After a few days, they will start to wrinkle…

…and the skin somehow would seem thicker and harder and that would take away much of the enjoyment of the fruit. One way to prevent that…for a while…would be to wrap it in newspapers – for reasons unknown, it does seem to help a bit.

A couple of days ago, my sister dropped by our house and passed us a bag of the fruit, frozen! Yes, if you want to save some for later consumption like when the fruit is not in season…or you want to reserve for some relative or friend who would be coming back later in the year, you can just put the fruit in the freezer. When you want to eat it, you can just take it out and thaw it. Somehow or other, it will soften and will be ready to be eaten – no need to cook it like what one would do with the fresh fruit. I did tell my friend that and this certainly appealled to him a lot more than salting/preserving/fermenting. I guess this was what he did in the end.

I added soy sauce and sugar to the ones my sister gave us…

…the way we would usually eat it and yes, it was very nice…

I did notice, however, that it must be eaten right away or the fruit will turn reddish purple where it is in contact with the skin and it would not taste so nice anymore, something like a toned-down version of the salted/fermented/preserved ones.

Doin’ fine…

Yes, my mint…

…is doing fine. I got some from a friend, my ex-students’ mum/mum-in-law and I planted it in a pot. It flourished so I transplanted some in other pots and the new plants are doing just as well too.

I guess I can use the leaves to make some mint sauce to go with lamb but we hardly ever cook the meat ourselves – we would just eat it outside. So all I can do would be to make mint tea and the other day, I made this very delightful and refreshing aloe vera drink…

…with lots of mint and pandan leaves added and yes, it turned out really well plus it has a whole lot of health benefits too!

I do have a problem with white spots appearing on some of the leaves though but I would just trim them and get rid of them – a lot more where they came from, the leaves. I also planted some…

…in my herbs circle…

…where I have my curry leaves, my dill, Thai basil, sawtooth coriander, wild onion, oregano, chilies, daun hempedu bumi and even daun sup (Chinese celery)…

They say that I must not plant this in the open – they will not thrive well in the sun but my herbs circle is not shaded and yet, it is doin’ fine there.

Of course, the ones I have in the shade – a whole lot in the trough that I used to plant the mother plant plus a pot where I have transplanted a bit…

…are growing like crazy. I bought the seedling (the mother plant) for only RM5.00, truly a worthwhile investment, and there has been no looking back since. For a very long time now, I no longer have to buy from the market anymore where you will get only a few sprigs for RM2.00 and because you do not use so much at one go, you end up throwing away the rest when they have withered even when kept in the fridge.

Unfortunately, I have not been so successful with tomatoes – I’ve bought the seedlings twice, RM5.00 each too but they just dried up and died. Never mind! Life goes on…and I’ll just go on doing what I do best.

In my blood…

When I was in primary school, I had three sisters in my class – Lay Hoon, Lay Yian and Lay Khim. I never did find out why they were in the same class since they were not all of the same age. Well, kids being kids, we used to tease the three of them by chanting their names…and ending with, “Lay eggs!!!” We were horrible, weren’t we? LOL!!!

I met two of them not too long ago when they were in town – they are not living here now and I asked them about someone in their bloodline – their younger brother who is younger than us, not our contemporary. A friend did tell me about some very nice Sibu kampua mee at a stall at the coffee shop to the left of the Sibu Fire Station but I never went to try – that place is always congested and parking can be such a pain. However, one day, while driving past, I caught a glimpse of the guy at that stall and it looked like him. I grabbed the chance to ask the sisters and yes, it was him but they told me he was no longer there and had moved here…

…in the lane between the blocks of shops (between Market Road & Channel Road near the Sibu Central Market) where two of the popular kompia shops are  located and I guess it was because of their blood ties that they went there every day while they were in town to enjoy what he dished out.

All this time, I had wanted to go and give it a try but I had not been in the vicinity for so long now. Yesterday morning, I decided I would go to the market to see if I could get hold of some nice seafood to stock up for Chinese New Year and as always, whenever I go to the market, I would go extra early, around 6.30 a.m. to avoid the crowd and also the heat…plus whatever fresh foods I would buy, I would be able to take home quickly and pack nicely in airtight containers to keep in the freezer to ensure that they will stay fresh.

Yes, he was open…

…and I ordered a plate of kampua mee and a bowl of piansip soup, small and got this in the end (RM3.00)…

I guess he just assumed I wanted painsip mee but with the piansip in soup instead of with the mee. That was why I got the kosong (without meat) and yes, it was very nice – not overcooked, over-soft, soggy and sticky.

But it was the piansip soup…

…that got my attention. It was so very nice with the traditional Foochow red wine (instead of vinegar like at some places) added – my missus would buy this home and generously add the wine and enjoy to her heart’s content. I would say that because of this, his turned out to be a cut above all the rest that I had had before.

I must say that I was glad to note that he was enjoying really brisk business. There were two other tables when I got there and I saw the people from the kompia shop next door coming over to order (if it had not been nice, I am sure they would just order from one of the other coffee shops in the vicinity) and some people buying to take home as well. By the time I was done, the shop was already full.

101 COFFEE SHOP (2.288055, 111.828416) is located in the lane off Jalan Lembangan that leads from Market Road to Channel Road and the Sibu Central Market, right next to the popular Seng Kee kompia shop in that same lane.

You speak my language…

The other day, I went in search of the very nice Penang har mee (prawn noodles) – they closed down their stall at that former place a long time already but I heard that they had opened a stall in this block of shops. I went through all the coffee shops there but it was all in vain – the stall was nowhere to be found.

In the end, I decided to stop by here…

…for a bite to eat.

The Chinese New Year lanterns were up…

…and thankfully, they were playing those boisterous Chinese New Year songs at a bearable volume.

My friend, Annie, likes the food here – in fact, on one of her trips home from KL, she came here twice for dinner. She said that the Foochow fried mee that she had was very nice so I ordered that, the “moon” version, and sat down to wait.

The kopi-o-peng…

…did not look like it would be anything to shout about but it turned out really nice though I can’t say I was all that impressed by the price – it was more expensive than at a lot of places, at RM2.00 a glass.

In the meantime, while I was waiting for my noodles to be served, this couple…

…came and sat at the table next to mine.

No, I was not eavesdropping but they were talking loud enough and everyone around would be able to hear what was said, no problem at all. It sure took me by surprise when the Caucasian guy spoke in very good Malay and placed the orders – I do know for a fact that many of the young ones here these days are mono-lingual and can hardly carry on a decent conversation in Malay nor English despite having studied the languages in school for so many years.

I don’t think his friend was local, looking very pretty in her leopard prints and carrying a Louis Vuitton purse. She spoke English and her friend was explaining to her about roti canai and roti telur and all that. He even went to ask the coffee shop people to confirm that it would be all right and he went to the Malay coffee shop next door to order one roti canai for the lady to try.

He had a bowl of Sarawak laksa – I don’t know if the one here is any good but this much I would say, I did not detect the fragrance at all. It seemed that he was concerned about the size of the serving but he had to struggle a bit with his command of the Malay language. In the end, I think the lady in red taking their orders spoke to him in English – she was smiling from ear to ear, probably somewhat amused by it all. The lady had their fried kway teow and I would say that it looked very good – I may want to come back here again some day to try that.

When my noodles came, I was kind of disappointed as it was not the “moon” version that I wanted but the regular Foochow fried noodles, wet (with sauce/gravy)…

…but when i tried it, I was delighted to find that it was indeed very very nice. I would say that if anyone comes to Sibu and is looking for good authentic Foochow fried noodles to enjoy, they can come here for this one. I can’t say they were very generous with the ingredients though…

…and price-wise, it was a bit more expensive than most, RM4.50 a plate compared to the usual RM4.00 at most places around here.

For one thing, despite the higher-than-usual prices, this place sure has its following. There were quite a lot of people when I was there and as I was leaving, I saw some more stopping by.

ak kia kopitiam (2.305073, 111.850618) is located in the right hand corner of the block of shops on the other side of the Sibu Bus Terminal, Jalan Pahlawan, a short distance to the right from the Li Hua Hotel there.

Just a little bit better…

This…

…used to be my girl’s favourite – they did have quite a lot of stuff that she enjoyed but of course, she can’t go for those anymore as they are all not gluten free….and I do know for a fact that my friend, Peter, gets his bread for his café by special order according to his specifications from this bakery too.

They have opened an outlet in the area of shops near my house, back to back with this Sarawak’s own fast food franchise there, right across the lane from this newly-opened bakery. We did drop by a couple of times, though not all that frequently. My girl went once to buy my birthday cake from there, my favourite Japanese baked cheesecake…

Well, it so happened that I popped into the place sometime ago and saw some ang ku kueh and deep-fried Chinese yam cake and I bought a few to try. They turned out to be really very nice, nicer than the ones that I would always buy from here but since then, I did not see them there anymore until that morning when I was walking  past after doing some business at the bank round the corner.

I’ve stopped buying the or koi from that other place since they increased the price from RM1.00 to RM1.10 but it was not so much because of that. The last time I had theirs, they seemed a little bit more wobbly than usual probably because of the addition of more flour, less yam. The ones here (RM1.20 each)…

…did seem a lot nicer and I certainly would choose to buy these instead.

The ang ku kueh (RM1.20 each)…

…had a nicer texture, the skin, that is and I also thought the filling inside tasted a little bit better, just a bit. However, it looked smaller and it is more expensive by 20 sen. I am not so particular about the difference in price – if I am here, I will just buy the ones here and if I am there, I will grab the ones there.

I also bought one pulut panggang (RM1.40) to try that was very much longer than the RM1.00 or RM1.10 ones at the Malay kueh stalls but though it was quite nice – it had that much coveted panggang-ed fragrance, it was not all that lemak, nowhere near those that we called Kate panggang which, unfortunately, aren’t that regularly nor easily available anymore these days.

I must say that I am delighted that there is another place here now that is near my house where I can buy some nice tea-time delights to enjoy.

WeCare Bakery, Pedada outlet (2.311098, 111.846125) is located at the corner shoplot where this coffee shop once was, back to back with the Sugar Bun outlet in that area to the left of Delta Mall, Jalan Pedada (now Jalan Dr Wong Soon Kai).

I can remember…

I can remember this place…

…as clear as day as I did drop by here a few times before and I do remember also that I liked the fried kway teow (flat rice noodles) from the chu char (cook & fry) place at the back.  I used to teach one class at a tuition centre in the vicinity and other than coming here to eat, I did tapao home a number of times – it seemed that it is open all day unlike many places that open till noon and they may or may not open again come evening time.

Well, it so happened that I was around that part of town the other morning so I decided to go and try their Foochow fried noodles, wet/with sauce or gravy (RM4.00)…

…instead of going for the kway teow, for a change.

It did not look that great initially. I thought it was rather dark, a lot darker than usual but when I had tossed the noodles with the sauce/gravy…

…it sure looked very good and it tasted great too…

…and what I liked was they were quite generous with the ingredients – there were quite a lot of meat (though that looked like chicken) and green vegetables unlike at a lot of places around here. I sure wouldn’t mind having that again if ever I happen to be around here.

The kopi-o-peng (iced coffee, black) that I had that morning was good too and it was only RM1.50 a glass, a lot cheaper than a lot of places around here…and yes, I did try the kampua mee stall here too before, long ago, but it looked like somebody else is running it now, a guy. There used to be a woman here…and that morning, I noticed that a lot of people were ordering from him.

I spotted an ex-student from an earlier former school where I taught here – she goes to the same church so I would get to see her quite often. She and her family members were having the kampua mee, red in colour probably due to the char siew sauce added. I asked her if it was any good and she said yes. “I am here almost every day,” she added. I sure would want to go back there and give it a try one of these days.

AH PING CAFE is located in the vicinity of the Dewan Suarah, Sibu right across the lane from AROMA BAKERY (2.311151, 111.831515) after the Maju Tyre shop at No. 36 (G/F), Taman Damai along Jalan Dewan Suarah.

Did it first…

Yesterday, the 13th of January, was my sister’s birthday but it was not convenient for us to celebrate it together on the actual day as being a Sunday, we would be sending my girl to her school in the jungle and dinner would be out for sure as she could not be here with us. That was why we agreed on doing it first and went for lunch on Saturday instead.

She suggested having it here and of course, it was perfectly all right with us as we’ve always enjoyed the food there. This time around, we decided to order some different dishes for a change but as it was for a birthday, there was no running away from their fried mee sua with the golden eggs…

…for longevity, posterity and prosperity!

No, we did not want the Thai-style mango chicken this time around nor their pandan chicken so we asked the boss what we could have instead. He suggested the poultry, boneless, fried with salted egg and insisted that it would be different from the salted egg spare ribs that we would always order. It turned out to be more or less the same…

…except that the meat was different but having said that, my girl commented that it was very much nicer than the pork done this way.

We had the Four Heavenly Kings…

…the four types of beans ching chao (fried plain) instead of the usual – with hay bee (dried prawns) as my sister is allergic to those crustaceans and my girl said she liked it done this way a lot more too.

There was one dish that we used to order quite a lot a long time ago but somehow or other, for some reason, we had not had it since time immemorial. This was their grilled lamb with lemon sauce…

…and yes, it was really good except that I thought the serving was kind of small. Probably that is because lamb does not come cheap here but anyhow, there was enough to go round. Of course, my girl had the lion’s share – she so loves lamb!

The total, inclusive of rice and drinks, came up to RM72.00 and the nice boss very kindly waived the RM2.00 and collected only RM70.00 for the delightful lunch. Thank you so very much to my sister for the treat and a very Happy Birthday once again – hope you had a great one yesterday and may the Good Lord bless you abundantly all the days in the year ahead. Cheers!!!

RUBY RESTAURANT  is located at No. 71, Jalan Kampung Nyabor right next to HOME COOK CORNER  (2.292756, 111.825335) with the AmBank Tunku Osman branch in the very next block.

The way that you do it…

First and foremost, I must thank my cousin in Brisbane, Australia for the beautiful calendar that she sent me…

It sure took a long time to get here but at least, I did receive it finally, safe and sound. Now I could take down the 2018 one, also from Australia, and hang this one up on the wall right in front of me above the PC monitor.

Moving on to my post proper, I had this (expensive) packet of made-in-Singapore noodles sitting around in the kitchen…

– my missus bought it and used the sachets of seasoning and what not inside to cook something.

I thought I could use it to try and cook Kuching kolo mee, the way that they do it there. No, it is not the same as our Sibu Foochow kampua mee and if you go and eat the noodles in Kuching, they will give you the pickled green chili to go with it. It so happened that I had pickled some from my garden using sushi vinegar and I thought I could use that.

Kuching kolo mee is thinner and curly – my friend told me that is because it is machine made. Handmade Sibu kampua mee is thicker and straight. The noodles I would use was nothing like either of them – I think it was the same as the Korean ones that I bought once. It did not matter how long I cooked it – it would not turn soft and soggy.

I fried some thin slices of shallot in a bit of oil and removed them before frying some garlic till golden brown – I am quite sure they have garlic in Kuching kolo mee, usually not found in Sibu kampua mee. I added a bit of light soy sauce, a pinch of msg and a bit of the vinegar from the pickled chili to the fragrant oil. Once cooked and drained till really, dry, I tossed the noodles thoroughly with the ingredients.

Kuching kolo mee is served with real char siew and a bit of minced meat and sometimes with a sprig of green vegetable, blanched. I had none of those so I had mine with a few slices of pan-grilled bacon, garnished with the aforementioned fried shallots and finely chopped spring onion from my garden…

I also boiled an egg…

…to go with it to make sure it was substantial enough to sustain me through till lunchtime.

So was it anything like the way that they do it? I could not say for sure but I did think it was really very very nice…

Somehow or other, the thought that it was something like aglio olio did cross my mind and I enjoyed it a lot. I sure wouldn’t mind cooking noodles this way again next time.

Call me names…

The Chinese have this thing about calling people names…or to put it more nicely, giving them nicknames or pet names. If you are fat, most likely you will be called Ah Pui or Ah Bui…

…and eventually, you will be known to everybody by that name, so much so that often, some may not even know your real name and they will affectionately, without any form of malice nor intent to hurt or insult, call you Ah Bui everytime they see you.

Well, this coffee shop has been around for a very long time but it does not seem to be as popular as another one round the corner or the one famous for its noodles with those giant udang galah (freshwater prawns). I had no intention of going to the latter (and I must say that it looked rather quiet that morning, unlike before) but when I got to the former (that has a name that sounded like a place of worship for one of those Christian denominations), it was so crowded and while I was standing there beside the stall, I was completely ignored. In the end, I just left and went to the coffee shop in the above photograph instead. It has been around for so long that I was quite sure that whatever they would have to offer would not be too bad at all.

I had the kopi-o-peng (iced black coffee)…

…and was stunned when I asked how much that was and was told by the lady waiting at the tables that it was only RM1.20!!! Probably she had made a mistake – maybe that was the price for the drink without ice but no, I just kept quiet. The last time I thought I was undercharged and I went back to ask, I was given  a good scolding in the presence of everybody at the coffee shop…and I swore there and then, never again!!!

I tried the kampua mee (RM2.80)…

…which I thought was good – it was not overcooked, soft and soggy like those at some places around here and though I would not say it was very strong on the coveted lard taste, the fragrance of the shallot oil sure made up for it and I liked the fact that they used stewed pork instead of the char-siew wannabe, the  boiled pork coloured red that they give you elsewhere.

The pian sip (RM2.80)…

…was good too.

I saw the people at the next table eating the Foochow fried noodles with the giant prawns so I asked the guy at the kampua mee stall to confirm that this  would be available here too and he said, yes…at prices ranging from RM30.00 to RM50.00 or more depending on the size of the prawns. Of course, I have no intention of coming back here or anywhere for that, no way. You can call me kiam siap kui or kiam chee sai (thrifty or stingy), Scrooge or whatever, but for RM50.00, I can easily go and buy a kilo of the prawns and eat myself to kingdom come.

AH BUI RESTAURANT 阿肥海鮮 (2.278869, 111.838902) is located along Jalan Aman, among the shops to the left of the Jalan Lanang/Jalan Aman roundabout.