In boxes…

I have this feeling that things taste better in the lovely cool climate in temperate countries overseas like how we seem to have a better appetite and tend to eat more on cold rainy days. I cooked a lot of delicious dishes for my Malaysian counterparts and the British locals when I was in Plymouth in the UK in 1994 and many even wanted the recipes but when I came home and cooked the exact same dishes, they did not seem to excite anyone of us at home at all.

One thing that I enjoyed a lot when I was there were those cans of soups, Campbell’s, no less, mushroom especially, not so much the cream of chicken. They were such a comfort on cold wintery nights, so delightful with slices of French baquette.

However, when I came home, I did not really enjoy them so I stopped buying. Over there, I would buy the big tins to cook and finish it all in one sitting – here, we have the small tins and I could not even manage those.  These days, we even have the instant ones in boxes…

…just add hot water…

…and stir well to dissolve and you’re done.

My girl is not a fan of those in cans – she says they have that canned taste but she enjoys their minestrone and those with chunks of real beef and carrot and potatoes. As for me, I would not touch those with a 10-foot pole! She likes these in boxes though – they certainly were very convenient those days when she was in that desolate school in the jungle and when the pandemic broke out and a lockdown was declared around March last year, the mum went and bought a whole lot of these to keep…just in case.

Yes, she did finish off some but there were still a few left. I went and checked the other day and found that the dates of expiry would not be till June. There are three pouches in each box and there was only one left…

…in the box of pumpkin soup.

I decided to have a go so I diluted it in hot water…

…and sat down to try.

Gosh!!! I thought that did not taste nice, nothing like the pumpkin soup my missus cooks…

Yes! She does cook these rich and creamy soups regularly. Sometimes, she will cook mushroom, broccoli, celery – all nice and talking about mushroom, the one at Payung here…

…cooked from scratch, not out of a can or a box, is our favourite. Well, I guess it is very obvious that I shall not be touching the rest of the soups and if my girl cannot manage to finish them off by their expiry dates, we shall just have to throw them away.

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.