Enjoy it while it lasts…

Yes, my girl has been busy in the kitchen cooking all kinds of dishes while the mum supervises what is going on, telling her the do’s and the don’ts and what not and yes, she does seem to be enjoying it all even though so far, they are all Asian dishes, not those western ones that she would usually cook before.

Her attempt at making apam balik…

…for tea one day did not turn out all that successful. She wanted to make those very thin and crispy ones but I think she added too much batter and they ended up like pancakes. Never mind, they were very nice so we ate it all up – nothing went to waste.

Her spare ribs with black beans…

– one of those items that you may find at a dim sum buffet, was a hit! I would say that it was nicer than any that I had had at a dim sum place anywhere.

This was the fried broccoli…

…ching chao (fried plain with garlic) that she cooked to go with the aforementioned meat dish. The mum went out around a week earlier to stock up on the vegetables in the house and it was already turning yellow at the top and that part had to be shaved and thrown away (like how cauliflower would turn black). They sure do not last very long, do they?

On another day, she cooked this nasi tomato (tomato rice)…

…and the ayam masak merah (red cooked chicken)…

…and both were top notch. The spices added to the rice made me think of nasi Arab but because of the lockdown/MCO, I don’t know when I will be able to go out to try the ones we have at a couple of places in town.

Now, this was the dish that stole the show…

– her sambal ikan bilis & kentang (dried anchovies and potatoes in sambal). Except for the ones in curry (and maybe in Chinese soup), I would usually associate potatoes with western cuisine but this was so very very nice. I sure wouldn’t mind more of it, that’s for sure.

My girl also said that there was an Indian uncle at the food stalls across the road from her teacher training institute in Sg Petani, Kedah who cooked very nice potatoes in sardines. Well, we have not started on our canned food yet – still saving them, just in case but when we do start on those, we may give it a try.

There are still 10 days to go till the 14th – hopefully, the lockdown will end then – which means that there is ample time for my girl to go on cooking and enjoy it while it lasts. Once school reopens, I am quite sure she will not have the time for it anymore.