Who’s to blame…

The other morning, I noticed that we were running low on eggs in the house so after I had had my breakfast, I went out to one of the shops in the next lane, Jalan Ruby, to buy some…

Normally, I would only buy a tray but at a time like this, I would cart two trays home. We may have one or two in the morning, half-boiled/cooked or whichever way we choose, for breakfast and we also use it as an ingredient in our cooking like when frying vegetables like cangkok manis…

…or when we would like to have some stewed eggs…

…and on days when we do not have enough left for dinner, instead of cooking something else, an easy way out would be to fry an egg for each of us, sprinkle some soy sauce on it and that would go so well with rice.

In the meantime, while I was at the shops, I decided to buy something home for the ladies in the house for their breakfast so I went to this coffee shop and bought the Foochow fried noodles, the moon version…

…for my missus. My missus said there was too much for her so she left a little bit behind and of course, I took it upon myself to finish it off for her. Wow!!! I thought that was so very good…or was it because I had not had that for a while and I missed it so much?

I asked for the char pek koi (fried rice cakes) for my girl but they did not have any that morning so I settled for the fried kway teow…

…instead. Unfortunately. when she woke up, she said she did not have any appetite so she just ate a bit – I put away the rest in the fridge and heated it up the next morning for my own breakfast.

When I asked the guy how much the two would cost, I was somewhat stunned when he told me the total – RM9.50. In the past, those would come up to RM8.00 only, RM4.00 each. I asked him for the breakdown and he said the mee cost RM4.50 and the kway teow was RM5.00 and when I asked him why there was a difference, he said eggs were expensive.

I do not mind a hike in prices – that is only to be expected at a time like this, never mind if it is an increase of 50 sen or a ringgit but I would think that to blame it on eggs is kind of lame, really. I paid RM12.00 for a tray of 30, AA size – if there has been an increase, I sure did not notice. To the most, it has probably gone up by a ringgit or so and that would work out to 40 sen each only so jacking up the price by RM1.00 for a plate of fried kway teow would be pushing it a little bit too far.

And talking about hikes in prices, I went to the shop at the other end of the other block and I saw these dabai…

I drove past the kampung the other day and I saw heaps of these everywhere alongside all the durians, manggis (mangosteen) and so on. It sure looks like they are in season right now but it is only July! All throughout my younger years, the fruit season would be in the landas months around December, the rainy season when we often had floods everywhere.

These black olives did not use to cost so much but lately, the prices that they are asking for are absolutely outrageous. When they first came out a week or so ago, I saw photos on Facebook and I was shocked to see the price tags placed strategically by the side of the baskets – RM40.00 a kilo!!! No, thank you! I would rather not eat! With that kind of money, I can easily go and buy something else a whole lot nicer and enjoy myself to kingdom come!

Well, that morning, they were going for RM25.00 a kilo – the price had gone down, it seemed so I asked for half a kilo as my girl loves dabai so much!!! Yes. I was delighted, when we prepared them that day, that they were very very good, so so lemak, value for money. The worst thing is when you fork out so much only to find that they were not that great and in the end, you have no choice but to throw them all away.

I did share the photograph on Facebook and a friend in Kuching said that they were selling these at some place in the city for RM55.00 a kilo…and yes, I did see another photo taken in Kuching where they were selling them for RM40.00 a kilo…and another one the other day was going for RM35.00 a kilo. It’s a wonder that there ARE people willing to be fleeced like that!

No more no more…

Gosh!!! Time sure flies! Despite the fact that we are cooped up in the house all the time, the weeks seem to simply fly by and it’s Friday again, our no-meat day.

We sure enjoyed the ikan sultan that day. My missus cooked it wrapped in daun kunyit (turmeric leaves) with all the ingredients used in cooking otak-otak so on Friday last week, I asked my missus to cook it again, this time using the last two or chio/ikan bawal hitam (black pomfret)…

…that we had in the freezer. no more.

We were not too fond of the bones in the ikan sultan so I thought we would enjoy this fish…

…a lot more without having to go through the hassle of having to pick out all the bones while eating.

The sauce was absolutely awesome – we enjoyed it so much and it went so well with rice but personally, as far as the fish went, despite the bones, I thought the ikan sultan was nicer, its sweetness and the texture. Unlike me, my girl prefers this fish though.

I picked a few of the ladies’ fingers from our backyard and I asked my missus to throw them in…

I thought she would slice them thinly like the ones in the Portuguese grilled fish and sotong that I had once at the food court in Mid Valley, KL…

…but she didn’t. Anyway, we did enjoy it nonetheless.

I had expected that to be our one-dish meal but she went and fried this brinjal and baby corn combo…

…as well.

Those were the last two fish we had in the freezer – we do not have anymore. I cannot remember when I bought them but it was quite sometime ago. I suppose I shall have to make my way back to my favourite fish & seafood stall round the corner today to stock up on some more. Otherwise, we would have to make do with those frozen fish fillet and fish nuggets – I think there are still two boxes of those in the freezer or be happy with the can of Marina canned sardines in the pantry.

The fish stall is located to the right of CCL FRESH MINI MARKET against the wall at that end of the block to the right of the Grand Wonderful Hotel (2.309601, 111.845163) along Jalan Pipit, off Jalan Dr Wong Soon Kai, if you go in via the entrance where San Len Tyres is located, just before the Petronas petrol station a short distance from Delta Mall.

For better or for worse…

I had to make my way to the town centre last Sunday as there were things that I needed to buy and I decided to go early as there would be fewer people around. Unfortunately, I did not look at the clock carefully and got there…

…at least half an hour too early and they were not open for the day yet. I decided to go over to the shops across the road in the block behind the petrol station to buy a few things that I could keep in the fridge/freezer to heat up for my breakfast in the morning.

I stopped by here to buy their char siew pao (RM2.20 each)…

…which are a little cheaper than the ones (RM2.50) at the dim sum place that I went to that day. Gosh!!! They were only RM1.50 each when they first started their business in 2017.

I like the skin of the ones here, soft and cushiony, a lot more than the mushy cotton-like skin of the dim sum ones and the ones that day were not all that great – they would need to improve on their making of the skin. The ladies in the house thought the filling was too sweet for their liking but I was fine with it. Actually, if you asked me, I would say that I liked the filling of that one more than this one…

To me, this one was kind of dry, not quite to my fancy. If I am not wrong, it was not like this before, much nicer.

Moving on from the char siew paos, I was quite sure that I bought their lor mai kai once before and I did not like it. However, a foodie friend bought one sometime ago and he shared the photograph on Facebook. I commented that I would go there and buy too but I never did…and that was before the pandemic started!!!

Well, finally, I managed to get hold of one (RM4.00)…

…RM1.00 cheaper than the one I bought at the dim sum place but that one was bigger.

Yes, there was a bit of meat plus shitake mushroom inside this one as well…

…but it was overcooked – the glutinous rice was way too soft and way too sticky and I did not quite fancy the taste either, all soy sauce and nothing much else. Despite the fact that it costs a ringgit more, personally I do feel that the other one is a much better buy.

While I was there, I also picked up a packet of these (RM2.00)…

…for my girl and yes, they were all right, probably the same as the ones I bought here before. I was told that there are two different people making these kuihs and leaving them for sale at this shop (and elsewhere) and looking at the rest of the stuff that morning, I was quite sure these were made by this girl who has been around since 2019 and is obviously doing very well.

I also stopped by the coffee shop next door to buy these changs (meat dumplings) with peanuts (RM4.00 each)…

My ex-student/lawyer friend, Louis, gave me one to try that day and I really enjoyed it. I gathered that these are Hakka changs and personally, I do feel that they are very nice and all things considered, I would much sooner buy these…

…instead of the aforementioned lor mai kai, both of them.

SIN KIAW CAFE (2.291287, 111.826611) is located along Ramin Way, the first shop on your right as you turn in from Jalan Kampung Nyabor, behind the petrol station located at the bend and HONG KONG PUFF is right next door, to the left.

I have a go…

I had a pork burger…

…for breakfast that morning.

In my blogpost the other day, I mentioned that my girl asked the mum to buy her some pork patties and I thought they looked kinda small, good for making sliders if we had some mini dinner rolls so even though we had some burger buns in the house that day, I did not bother to use them as I had the impression that they would be too big.

Then, the other day, my brother-in-law dropped by my house and passed us this loaf of bread…

His missus made some jam using the roselle that she grows at home and she gave us two bottles of that and my brother-in-law went and bought us the bread to eat it with. That was so nice and considerate of him – he probably knows that we hardly ever go out. I don’t know if the one from here is any good or not but I loved the butter bread from this bakery near my house and I used to buy it quite often but now that I am on a low carbs diet, I have not bought any from there for quite a while.

Anyway, I thought I could take a slice and cut it into two and that would be the right size for a mini-sandwich using one of my girl’s pork patties. I did not do that in the end because when I opened the fridge, I saw that there was still one of those buns that my missus bought that day so I decided to just use it and finish it off once and for all.

I cut the bun into two and toasted it in the oven, outside and inside and I buttered both parts generously before adding a slice of smoked cheddar cheese and putting them back in the oven to melt the cheese a bit. In the meantime, I fried the pork patty and once it was done…

…I placed it on the cheese on the bottom half of the bun. Blame it on my insecurity but I just had to cut the patty up to make sure it was perfectly cooked inside. I must say that the bun was not too big nor was the patty too small after all, just right!

I placed two tomato slices…

…on the patty and I fried an egg…

…and that went on top.

I cut the burger into halves so as to show its cross-section…

…and yes, I must say that it looked really good. I sure wouldn’t mind a bit of lettuce though – for the colour, if not for anything else.

Yes, finally, I had a go at my girl’s pork patty, my own pork burger…and yes, I would say it was very nice but personally, I think I prefer bacon.

AROMA BAKERY (2.311151, 111.831515) is located after the Maju Tyre shop at No. 36 (G/F), Taman Damai on the right along Jalan Dewan Suarah and WeLove Bakery, Pedada outlet (2.311098, 111.846125) is located at the corner shoplot, 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).

Two in one…

I did blog about this before, briefly, but never mind – I don’t think I included all the juicy bits then! LOL!!!

Back to my weekend in London, England, 1994, on my first day there, Friday, I was in the vicinity of the Piccadilly Circus when I spotted a booking agent’s office among the shops close by. I approached the guy there quickly and asked for a ticket to Miss Saigon, the matinee the following day, Saturday. I was not all that keen on venturing out alone at night in a strange land. He said that would not be a problem at all and he collected £25 from me after which he told me that I would have to go back there the next day to collect it.

I went back the next day but he said that he could not get the ticket for the matinee, only for the show that night but he was willing to refund me the money. No, my mind was made up – Miss Saigon, I wanted to see so Miss Saigon I would get to see! I took the ticket from him and walked away.

Then, I turned and went back to the booking agent and asked him if there was any other show that I could watch since I had the afternoon free.

“What do you have on mind?” he asked.

“Phantom?” I replied and he burst out laughing, so amused by my response.

“Come back next year!” he said.

He told me he had a ticket for Grease at the Dominion Theatre, not far away from where we were. walking distance and the show was about to start. He would give it to me at face value, £28.50 and yes, I took the offer. The next minute, I was on my way to the theatre – the guy walked with me most of the way to make sure I would not get lost and would get there in time.

There I was, seated so near to the stage…

…when I started having second thoughts. What was I doing there? I had watched the movie so many times in the cinema and on video tape and I knew all the songs. The exchange rate was only RM3.50 to a £ at the time – still, that came up to RM99.75 for the ticket but as soon as the show started, whatever reservation I had disappeared into thin air.

It sure was a fun show – everyone was clapping, cheering, singing and dancing away and of course, I happily joined in. This was the first musical I had watched in my entire life and it sure was an unforgettable experience! What I did not know then – I found out much later while browsing online – was that Debbie Gibson was playing the part of Sandy! Those of you who are familiar of the pop songs of the 80’s would probably know her big hit, Lost in your eyes.

It was dark already when I came out of the theatre – it was late autumn, coming to winter so it got dark very quickly. I had to rush back to Malaysia House (where we were staying) to bathe and change and head to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane for Miss Saigon…

…that same night.

As I was walking, a car pulled up by the side of the road right beside me. I saw a lady at the wheel and I thought it was one of those in our group. Probably she had been to see her relatives or friends residing in London and had borrowed a car and wanted to give me a lift. I approached the car, passenger side and the lady screened down the window. She was not very young, definitely no spring chicken, all dressed up in a fur coat.

“I need company!” she cooed, seductively.

“No, thank you!” I fumbled with my reply and quickly turned and went on my way as fast as I could. In my panic, I took the wrong turning at the junction ahead but luckily, I realised it soon enough so I went back the way I came and finally, got to Malaysia House, safe and sound. Phew!!!

In no time at all, I was on my way to the theatre and yes, I made it in ample time before the show started. There I was, perched high up in the gallery – we were given binoculars but I did not bother to use them and yes, I enjoyed it tremendously!

It was an epic drama…

…and I loved every minute of it right from the moment it started. I loved all the songs and luckily, I did not know them at the time so I was not singing my heart out – I would probably have done that if I had gone to see The Phantom. No, it wasn’t Lea Salonga anymore, playing the part of Kim but if I am not wrong, John Barrowman was Chris at the time. Anyway, I wouldn’t know him even if I knew it was him then. I only got to know him much later via Youtube.

When it came to the part when Kim had to say goodbye to her son, suddenly I missed my little girl back home in Sibu and the dam burst and I cried buckets!!! The young girl sitting beside me must be wondering why but at that parting scene where Kim shot herself and Chris came back into the house and they said their last goodbye, I saw the girl crying her eyeballs out! My friend in Auckland, New Zealand went to watch when the musical opened there and after she saw it, she grumbled that I did not tell her it was so so so sad. I guess she too cried her heart out! LOL!!!

It was already past 11 after the show ended and this “Cinderella” had to rush back to Malaysia House before they locked the door at midnight. Luckily, the couple behind me helped me and got me my ticket for the London Underground (I paid them, of course) – the machine rejected all the British currency I had with me! Yes, I made it just in time (many could not believe I had never been to London before seeing how I could get around without any problem whatsoever) and that was indeed a truly memorable day, one that I will never ever forget – TWO musicals in ONE day, believe it or not!

Incidentally, if anyone is interested in watching Miss Saigon, you can try these links in two parts, Part One and Part Two, on Youtube or you can try this link, for the better and clearer production than any you can find on Youtube, with Eva Noblezada as Kim and Rachelle Ann Go as Gigi in the 25th Anniversary Gala Performance at the Prince Edward Theatre, London. Do make sure you have a box of tissue paper beside you and don’t say I did not warn you!

The coast is clear…

Despite the pandemic and the extended lockdown and restrictions on all kinds of movements, I would say that we are getting on all right all these months with all the stuff that we have in the house.

Of course, there are a lot of things that for various reasons, we have not eaten for a long time. Maybe it is because we want to avoid any crowd or we just do not want to go out to eat or the place is closed or dining in is not allowed and I am not crazy about ordering and getting food delivered to the house. However, sometimes, we may see photos of those things and that may trigger a craving in us and make us wish we can go and feast on them.

Not too long ago, I was browsing through my old blogposts and I stumbled upon this one with this photograph…

…with all those to-die-for roast meats hanging in the display cabinet at the stall. It looked so good and I could not resist sharing the link to the post on Facebook…and my friends started scolding and grumbling away as that made them all lao nua (salivate).

This stall is located at a coffee shop round the corner from my house, the brother of the guy whose immensely popular stall selling the same is located right across the road from the Public Bank, Tunku Osman branch and on days when we have nothing much to eat in the house, I would drive over and buy some of what they still have. I like going at around 3 in the afternoon as the coast is clear – all the other stalls would be closed and there would not be a single living soul around. Of course, on days when I am not lucky, they would not have much left or worse, they would be closed having sold out everything for the day.

Well, the other day, my blogger-friend published this post in her blog and that was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. So to appease the craving, that afternoon, I made my way to the stall and bought one chicken thigh (RM7.00)…

…and RM10 worth of roast duck, breast meat…

When it comes to duck, I do not like the drumstick as it tends to be a bit on the tough side.

That was quite enough for the three of us for one meal so I saved the char siew (RM10.00)…

…for another day.

I must say that I sure bought quite a lot that day, RM27.00 altogether…

I guess that would be enough for a while, no need for me to go over and buy some more again in the not-too-distant future…I think! LOL!!!

MEI LE CAFE (2.313147, 111.846968) is located along Jalan Gambir, a stone’s throw away from the Delta Mall, straight ahead from the first turning to your left as soon as you turn into that road from Jalan Pedada, now Jalan Datuk Wong Soon Kai.

At least…

We can enjoy very good dim sum at a restaurant here so everytime we felt like having that, we would head straight there. There was another one that used to be quite good but it seemed to lose its appeal slowly and eventually, called it a day. Of course, there are those stalls at the coffee shops but generally, I found them expensive and not really worth the calories. I liked the one here on the other side of town but I had not been to those parts of the woods for a long long time so I don’t know if they are still in business or not.

Well, lately, I’ve seen quite a number of blogger-friends sharing photographs of some of the dim sum delights that they tapao-ed home or some kind friends or neighbours bought for them or they managed to get them via home food delivery. We had not had dim sum for a long long time – the last time was in June, 2019, I think so of course, I started wishing that we could have some too.

I hear that the aforementioned restaurant is open and eager customers can go and buy and take home to enjoy – if I remember correctly, I think my sister did say that she went there at least once. However, it had appeared in the daily list of places visited by individuals tested positive for COVID-19 so somehow or other, I just do not feel like going there, never mind that theirs is the best in town.

There is this place…

…near my house that started quite recently at this chicken rice place, sometime this year, I think, before the lockdown but knowing what these coffee shop dim sum stalls are like, I never bothered to stop by and check it out.

It has survived all this while, all throughout the extended lockdown, and the other morning, my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to go over and have a look. They seemed to have a lot of choices…

…but they were mostly different variations of dumplings…

I know one place here where they have a lot but if you’ve tasted one, you’ve tasted them all – they all taste the same.

This one looked good…

…but no, I did not order those and I would not want to touch these, the favourite of many…

…with a 10-foot pole. LOL!!!

I placed my orders and they steamed them…

…before packing them for me to take home.

The crystal har kao (RM6.50 for a basket of 3)…

…looked very good, just that my missus felt that they could do a better job with the skin. I couldn’t agree more as it was way too khiew (chewy) to the extent that it became too rubbery and a chore to bite and chew.

Everyone liked the antique siew mai (RM5.50 for a basket of 4)…

…though – these were really good and they thought the lor mai kai (RM5.00)…

…was great too.

The ladies did not like the sweet char siew filling in the steamed pao (RM5.00 for a basket of 2)…

…but to me, it was very nice except that the skin could have been softer and more cushiony – it was a little on the hard/tough side. Personally, I feel we can find better (and cheaper) ones at another place here.

On the whole, give and take a little, I would say that I was quite happy with what I bought – at least, they were reasonably good enough for me to appease my craving for dim sum. They did not come cheap though – I asked for two baskets of the har kao and two of the char siew pao, one each of the rest and the total came up to RM33.50. I probably would come back again but I certainly would be in no hurry to do that…and if I do, I definitely would bring along my own tiffin carrier or Tupperware containers. Really cannot tahan seeing all that rampant use of plastic! Tsk! Tsk!

CHOPSTICKS CHICKEN & RICE (2.312434, 111.845917) is located in the Delta Mall, Jalan Dr Wong Soon Kai (formerly Pedada) area of shops, facing the church along Lorong Taman Seduan 8, off Jalan Gambir.

Not going out…

It has been way over a week since we have gone into Phase 2 here in Sarawak. Unfortunately, we still see cases here, there and everywhere, a lot at some places, so of course, as far as I am concerned, nothing has changed – I am not going out unless absolutely necessary and even though they allow dining in at the eateries these days, don’t expect to see me sitting in a coffee shop, casting caution to the wind and eating away. I am quite happy to stay at home and enjoy my own-cooked breakfast in the early morning.

My girl asked the mum to buy her these made-in-Singapore purple wheat noodles…

…sometime ago and I did help myself to a packet, served with thinly sliced pan-grilled smoked duck breast plus an egg and tomatoes by the side. We prefer the chili and lime flavour but my missus said that it was out of stock and there was only this one, take it or leave it.

This is also made in Singapore, the Myojo mee pok dry and my girl still has a few packets in the house so on another morning, I took one…

..for my breakfast and had it with a few slices of scallop tofu and two poached eggs.

Of course I am well-stocked with our Sibu’s own Mee Daddy, chicken flavour…

I had it dry, served with deep fried sotong rings and one fried egg and I made sure that I had a bowl of its most delightful soup by the side.

It is pretty obvious that I do not need to go out at all as I have a whole lot of things to pick and choose to eat first thing in the morning. This was my Bovril spaghetti with corned beef and potatoes plus sliced tomato by the side…

I thought it was nice but I would very much prefer the texture of our own mee sua…

…or mee kua/mee pok…

…with Bovril to that of the Italian pasta…

…al dente.

There was some leftover rice that day so I cooked my kampung-style belacan and ikan bilis egg fried rice…

…something I had not had for a while and I even had a bacon & egg burger…

…once.

My missus made these sausage buns…

…one night so we could have them for breakfast. I had two and two half-boiled eggs but I wouldn’t say that they swept me off my feet. There was too little sausage, mostly bread and they were so overwhelmingly strong on the garlic, not in the recipe, she said and that was not entirely to my liking. I toasted them in the oven till nice and crusty and buttered them generously to eat – they were quite all right, after that.

So what am I going to eat today? That is the question I will ask myself every morning when I wake up and of course, I shall have to prepare and cook everything myself. However, all things considered, this is a very small price to pay to #staysafe and #staywell and as far as the enjoyment and satisfaction go, I can say that generally, these are as nice or perhaps, even nicer than anything I can get at a coffee shop outside.

Streets of London…

In my blogpost the other day on that time in 1994 when I went to Plymouth, England, I did mention that one weekend when we were there, we managed to make a short trip to London. I don’t know about the rest but I sure had a great time and did a whole lot of interesting things there – I’m sure if I were to talk about all of them, it would stretch over a number of posts. Therefore, so as not to bore everyone to death, I shall do it a little at a time, in small doses and if there is some show of interest, I shall blog about some other things that happened during my brief weekend there.

This was on the morning of our final day in London, Sunday. We had the whole morning to ourselves before we boarded the coach to make our way back to Plymouth and everyone in the group wanted to walk from Malaysia House (where we were staying) to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guards. I did not want to go as I was not really into things touristy and besides, it was already towards the end of November and the weather was getting cold so the guards would be dressed in their long and dull grey trench coats over their striking red uniforms so I did not think it would be a sight to behold.

Another guy in our group, Su, from Pahang did not want to go either so we went strolling along the streets of London together. I think it was somewhere along Regent or Oxford Street that we saw a caravan parked right in the middle of the road…

…and much to our delight, ooooopsss…I mean, surprise, a beautiful, curvaceous, sexy model dressed only in her lingerie emerged from it!

Some people were having a photoshoot that morning and the caravan was used by the model as her changing room. Very soon, a crowd gathered all around and I was rather amused to hear them trying to guess the colour of the lingerie the model would be wearing each time she came out of the caravan…

…and of course, there were people taking photographs of the model as well.

Those were the days before the smartphone so not that many people had a camera with them for them to do that. Luckily, Su and I had ours with us and of course, we happily clicked away…

As they say, if you can’t beat them, join them!

When the group came back from Buckingham Palace, we told them what we saw – the changing of the guards, a different kind of “guards”, not the ones at the palace that they saw and of course, when we had the film developed and the photographs printed, we could not wait to show them to the guys so they could see what they missed.

Now, anybody wants to hear about that evening when a lady dressed in a fur coat stopped her car by the side of the road while I was walking back to Malaysia House and tried to pick me up? LOL!!!

Burger…

My missus went out last Friday. She did not have to even though the last time she went out was two weeks ago as we still had a lot of stuff in the fridge and the freezer, the pantry and the cabinets and all over our spare room downstairs.

Well, she wanted to go out as we had gone into Phase 2 already, here in the state of Sarawak, and the hair salons would be open so she wanted to go and get her hair done, not that anybody would see or we had plans to go anywhere. LOL!!! But frankly, I do feel that we need to pamper ourselves a bit sometimes – that would do a whole lot of good for our sanity. Mine is an absolute mess, going north, south, east and west but no, I’m not bothered to do anything about it just yet.

Anyway, since she was out that day, she dropped by that supermarket in town that imports stuff from countries all over the world and yes, she came home with a whole lot of purchases including these imported from Australia beef patty, Wagyu no less…

…and another one, Angus (both a little over RM10.00 each) and of course, she had to buy some burger buns to eat those with.

The last time she went out, my girl asked her to buy these pork patties…

…four in a pack and she bought two. We did not have any bread or buns in the house so my girl just pan-grilled them and ate just like that with whatever else she had on the side. It would be nice if she had those mini dinner rolls plus all the other ingredients so she could make some nice sliders to enjoy. She still has a pack left, still in the freezer.

In the meantime, she already tried the Angus beef patty that the mum bought and she did cut a section of the burger for me to try. She did not have much else in the burger, other than the patty and a slice of cheese but I would say it was very nice. The patty was juicy and very delicious…unlike the double cheese burger that I had from the outlet of that franchise we have here to appease my craving at one time. That was sometime ago and perhaps, I caught them on a bad day but the patty was dry and hard – I never wanted to buy any from there since. Perhaps one of these days, I can stop by a bakery and buy some mini-buns for the pork patties.

Well, in case you’re wondering, no, I did not want to eat that Wagyu patty – I would want to leave that for my girl to enjoy but since we had a lot of burger buns in the house, I decided to make my own using whatever I could find…

I took one of the buns and toasted it lightly, inside and outside and buttered it generously and I pan-grilled some slices of the smoked back bacon that I had in the freezer to put in the burger, along with a slice of cheddar cheese, two slices of tomato, topped with one fried egg.

This was what the cross-section was like…

It sure looked great, don’t you think? Well, I must say that it tasted really good too but of course, I must not indulge in it too much – too many of those big buns would do a whole lot of damage to my low-carbs diet, I’m sure but I guess once in a long while should be fine.

TA KIONG EMPORIUM (2.2933,111.82713,783) is located at No. 42-46, Jalan Tuanku Osman and DELTA – THE MARKETPLACE (2.311968, 111.847043) is located in the basement of the Delta Mall, Taman Seduan 8, Jalan Dr Wong Soon Kai (formerly Jalan Pedada).