We need a lot more happiness…

At a time like this, we sure need a lot more happiness and that may come about through little gestures that may mean a lot to those who are #stayingsafe #stayingwell #stayinghome.

When I bought the ikan terubok (toli shad)…

…from my favourite fish & seafood stall that day, I thought of my aunt, my mum’s cousin, in the kampung. This fish seems rather hard to come by these days and my mum, when she was still around, enjoyed it so much so I was thinking that my aunt would love it too.

That was why that day, I took one of those that I bought and panggang-ed (baked) it…

…with the intention of sending it over to her house for her to enjoy.

Unfortunately, it poured cats and dogs that morning right through till the afternoon and I did not fancy going out in the rain. That was why I abandoned the plan and we ate the fish ourselves. Well, last Friday, the weather was very good, bright and sunny, so I quickly took out one of the fish to defrost, rub salt and pepper on it, wrap it in aluminum foil lined with daun kunyit (turmeric leaves) and put it in my Tatung pot to bake.

It did not take very long – after around half an hour, the fragrance of the fish filled the whole house so I switched off the fire and left it in the pot for another fifteen minutes to continue cooking in the residual heat. My missus said that once we could smell it, it would be an indication that it was cooked already.

I called my aunt to make sure she was home and I drove over to pass the fish to her. Of course, she was delighted – the radiant smile on her face said it all…and no, she did not let me go home empty-handed.

It so happened that some people in the kampung managed to get hold of these kulat ta’un…

…and she managed to get her share. We call these mushrooms chicken mushroom (kaybak ko) in Hokkien because when we cook soup with them, it tastes just like chicken soup! They are more or less extinct now – the last time I saw some was way back in 2011 and I cooked the little that we got for my mum to enjoy and because there wasn’t a lot to go round, I did not get to eat it myself!

My aunt said that she got them two days ago and she cooked half already and she was busy the following day doing some spring cleaning in the house so she did not cook the rest. That was why she had a bit left and when I called and said I was coming over, she said, “This fella! Memang ada rezeki makan!” Well, didn’t I blog that day about how they called me Nyangoi because of my protruding chin and someone said that I would always be blessed with things to eat? Looks like there is some truth in that, don’t you think? LOL!!!

I took the mushrooms home happily and asked my missus to cook them, fried with egg…

It may be simple to cook, nothing to it at all but it…

…is so delicious.

This was probably the first time my girl got to eat these mushrooms and yes, she loved them! Here, we can get those farmed oyster mushrooms that are easily available at the market, the ones that they use to make those mushroom rolls at Payung…

…the favourite of many but these definitely have an edge over those, definitely nicer. Too bad they are so hard to come by.

Incidentally, that morning, I saw my neighbour’s wife in their garden so I took another one of the ikan terubok to give to her. She gave me an or chio/ikan bawal hitam (black pomfret) once and yes, she sure was delighted – she said that she had not seen it for a long time and yes, she loved eating that too. From the look of it, obviously, she was very pleased to be given the fish and she kept saying thank you as she took it into the house.

Personally, I do think that it does feel good to, once in a while, share the joy and spread the love. Like what I said at the beginning of this post, at a time like this, we sure need a lot of that!

Separated…

It was my sister-in-law’s birthday last Wednesday and in the past, without fail every year, her daughter, my niece, working in Singapore would fly home the weekend before to celebrate this special day with her parents and of course, we would always be invited. This was the last time when we managed to get together, in 2019.

Because of the pandemic, she did not come back last year and of course, she could not make it this year as well. People say the world is getting smaller – we can fly here and there anytime we want but in the face of the current situation, things have changed. There are so many restrictions, very expensive and very limited flights, if there are any at all so much so that families that are separated because of work or whatever commitments can no longer get together whenever they want to. That is so very sad.

Even without my niece around, we could not even go out for a special dinner on the day in question. Yes, we are in Phase 3 now and dining in is allowed but no, we are not taking any chances. With the Delta variant rampantly active and the increasing number of cases daily despite the number fully-vaccinated in the town and state, it is best to just #staysafe #staywell #stayhome.

Of course we did not let the day go past unnoticed. I gave my sister-in-law an ang pao and my missus cooked het my brother-in-law’s favourite, chicken curry and my girl made some potato bread to go with it.

My brother-in-law went and ordered her a cake, our favourite from Marcus…

…no less with the coating of crushed peanut all along the side…

…the way his daughter loves it even though she is not home to enjoy that with the rest of us.

Of course it was perfectly done, that same high standard that Marcus’ cakes would always live up to over the years…and of course, I cannot over-indulge and give in to the temptation to feast on it like before now that I am on a low-carb low-sugar diet so I just had to limit myself to that one slice. How sad!

In the meantime, my sister-in-law also gave us this swiss roll…

My missus said something about her friend giving it to her or something like that. I went and googled and found out that this…

…is actually a home-based business. I browsed through their Facebook page and had a look at their menu. This…

…it seemed, was their black sesame (RM5.50). Just as with the aforementioned cake from Marcus, I had to restrict myself to just one slice only even though I found that it was not sweet at all. Yes, I would say that it was nice but I found the texture of the cake a bit too fine and dense. One consolation would be the fact that it is cheaper than the ones here that I like a lot.

You can order a special homemade MARCUS’ CAKE via telephone at 084-311333 and collect it on the day at the time agreed upon from his house at No. 6B. Lorong Delta 3, Delta Estate (2.305015, 111.826185) and HOPE GOURMET PASTRY HOUSE is located at No. 8B, Lorong Ulu Sg Merah 21 (Tel. No. 0199842289 / 0193963128).

Three at a time…

Now, doesn’t this…

…look absolutely gorgeous?

Well, if you remember, my missus baked the ikan sultan with the ingredients for otak-otak, wrapped in kunyit (turmeric) leaves and she also did the same with the or chio/ikan bawal hitam (black pomfret) and both tasted really great though I had a preference for the ikan sultan despite the bones while my girl liked the pomfret more…and yes, we all loved the prawns that she cooked using those same ingredients.

Thus inspired, she decided to venture into something else and she stumbled upon a chicken dish, cooked otak-otak-style using those same ingredients so she wanted to give that a try. She did not use chicken though – probably the idea of having to debone the slabs we have in the freezer did not seem so appealing so she used minced pork…

…instead.

We do not have any banana trees in my garden so for the wrapping, she used my turmeric (kunyit) leaves…

She could have used the oven but she chose to use the air fryer instead. My niece, the one working in Singapore, gave us a small one so my missus could only cook three at a time…

…but it was perfectly all right. After all, we’re #stayingsafe #stayingwell #stayinghome so we have all the time in the world and most importantly, they turned out really good – so so so nice!

This is a recipe to keep, that’s for sure!

Take your time…

The ladies’ fingers…

…are getting on pretty well, steadily bearing enough fruit for us to pluck and cook and enjoy time and time again.

It was the brinjal that I was worried about the other day as nothing seemed to come out of the plants even though they were growing very well. I sought the advice of my blogger-friend, Nancy and she said that it should be bearing fruit soon…

…since it had started flowering…

…and true enough, it obviously was taking its sweet time.

Since then, it has been flowering and bearing more fruits…

…but at this point in time, they are not big enough to be harvested just yet. We will have to be a bit more patient before we can get to do that. Actually, Nancy did say that it was good that our brinjal plants had started flowering and bearing fruits already even though they were still so small so I guess we should count our blessings.

Incidentally, I have heard people calling brinjals eggplants, something I had never heard before in my growing up years during the colonial days so I went and googled to find out. Well, this website says that they are one and the same thing and brinjal is a less common term heard in countries such as India, and eggplant is used in the US and is a more common term. No wonder! We were taught British English in school, not American.

Well, the tomatoes are flowering…

…so hopefully, they too can yield a harvest soon and in the meantime, the kangkong (water spinach/water morning glory)…

…is growing well but it does not look like quite a lot. Perhaps that will be enough for a plate only but never mind! Something is better than nothing.

It definitely is a lot easier to just go and buy these vegetables and they’re inexpensive but planting our own helps keep us active and occupied during these #staysafe #staywell #stayhome times plus our own-grown vegetables are pesticide-free and we do not use any chemical fertilisers, definitely a lot safer and healthier.

Tell it as it is…

The sister-in-law and his brother used to have their fried kway teow stall here but they have since moved here. In the meantime, this guy had his at a coffee shop in the town centre but I heard that owing to some issues regarding the rent, after seven years there, he has moved here…

I was out and about early that morning and I had to head into the town centre for something and I was driving past the area on my way home. I heard from my sister that she had had his fried kway teow and he had cockles (kerang)…

…in the dish so I decided to stop by and tapao home to try.

I got really put off at a lot of places here where they declared in no uncertain terms that they had cockles in their kway teow but when I ordered, they told me that they did not have any that day. Liar, liar, pants in fire!!! I am sure they never had any and had no intention whatsoever of having any at all. Just a sales gimmick to pull wool over the customers’ eyes! Somebody should sue these people for false advertising!!! Tsk! Tsk!

I ordered one dish of fried kway teow with cockles (RM6.00) and sambal (an additional RM1.00) for my missus, hoping that it would be spicy as I felt she would like that. As the guy was frying it…

…I caught the whiff of the fragrance of the sambal and boy, it sure was good. The thought that I should have ordered the same for all of us did creep through my mind at that point in time.

I asked for another two packets, kway teow with cockles (RM6.00) and prawns (an additional RM1.00 as well) and as soon as they were done, I headed straight home so the ladies could enjoy what I had bought for them for breakfast.

I must say that the fragrance that filled the car all the way back was simply awesome but somehow or other, it…

…did not sweep me off my feet, not even the one with the sambal. It sure tasted great with my missus’ own blended chili sauce/dip but on its own, I can think of a number of places around town where the fried kway teow is very much nicer.

23 FOOD COURT (2.297349, 111.824644) is located at No. 13/15, Lorong Tun Abg Hj Openg 1, among the shops opposite Kin Orient Plaza (where the “old’ Sing Kwong Supermarket is) in the vicinity of Gabriel’s Recipe and TowerMas Hotel.

The only thing I can do…

During my growing up years, the elders in the family and the kampung (village) gave me the nickname, “Nyangoi” in Melanau because of my protruding chin and because of the resemblance, or so they said, I was also called Bob Hope and later on, Jay Leno too.

On the other hand, there were some Chinese older folks who told me that it was very good – they claimed that I would always have things to eat, never lacking when it came to food. Well, looking at how family and friends are always giving me all kinds of things to eat, it sure looks like there is some truth in what they said, don’t you think?

Just the other day, I felt like having some steamed paos so I went to our neighbourhood shop in the next lane to buy some of their homemade ones. Unfortunately, even though it was very early, around 7 something, the meat ones were all sold out, leaving behind those with coconut, peanut and red bean paste, none of which tickled my fancy.

I went home empty-handed, resigned to my fate that I would not be having any steamed pao to enjoy when my sister dropped by my house and lo and behold! You’ll never guess what she brought for me – steamed paos!!! She loves the ones from here and it so happened that she was there that morning and she bought a few to enjoy. It sure was nice of her to think of me too. Gee!!! Isn’t it true what they said – that with the structure of my chin like this, I shall always have things to eat? LOL!!!

For one thing, when it comes to steamed meat paos here in Sibu, they give you just a teeny-weeny bit of egg only, one eighth…or they do not give you any at all. I simply cannot understand why as one egg costs around 40 sen and a quarter would be 10 sen only. Surely they can afford to add that little bit especially when they keep jacking up the prices like nobody’s business.

Well, left without any choice, the only thing I can do would be to boil my own and place it inside the pao and that was what I did that morning…

I cut the paos into halves and I boiled an egg and cut it into quarters…

After that, I took one of the wedges and push it inside the pao…

…and did the same with the remaining two before putting them all into the steamer to steam till they were piping hot.

Yes!!! That certainly did the trick! I must say that with the extra egg…

…I enjoyed the pao a whole lot more that morning. I guess I shall have to do this myself everytime I buy steamed meat paos to eat and enjoy.

Huong Hiong Confectionary 芳香（詩巫）餅家 is located off Jalan Bengkel, beside Victoria Inn on one side and the circular building (the SEDC Medan Niaga Tanahmas) that houses all the Malay stalls on the other, to the right of the New Capital Restaurant.

Can we…

My girl enjoyed the som tam (Thai papaya salad) so much that day that she promptly asked the mum if we could have some yum woon sen or seafood glass noodles salad…

…on our no-meat Friday the following week (last week).

We did not have any problem with the prawns – I just bought a kilo of those huge ones from my favourite fish and seafood stall and it so happened that my missus also bought a pack of frozen prawns, even bigger, heads removed, peeled and deveined from that neighbourhood shop in the next lane…

The boy said that they were fresh, sea prawns from Sabah, not farmed ones and convinced my missus to buy. At RM45.00 a pack with 28 prawns inside, it worked out to around RM1.60 each, more or less what I would pay for those that I had bought before from the stall. My only worry was that the prawns might be like the ones she bought before – the texture was like rubber, not anything like the texture of prawns at all and they were so bland, completely tasteless.

I managed to get hold of some sotong (squid)…

…a few days earlier from the aforementioned stall and yes, we did have a problem once when my missus bought home some frozen ones – they were so horrible that we had no choice but to throw the whole lot away.

I bought a whole lot of tang hoon (glass noodles) sometime ago and never got down to cooking them so all we had to do was to soak some…

…in hot boiling water to soften for the salad.

My missus got all the other ingredients…

…ready, a little bit of this…

…and a little bit of that…

…including a handful of udang kering/hay bee (dried prawns)…

…soaked in hot water to soften and subsequently, pounded.

For the dressing, she had this combination of fish sauce and lime juice plus gula Melaka (palm sugar)…

…and all she had to do was to toss everything together and the dish…

…was done.

Yes, it was so very nice and we sure enjoyed it to the max but looking at the amount of work it entailed, even though there wasn’t any real cooking involved, we probably would not be having this all that often. I think it would be best to save it for some special festival or an occasion to celebrate perhaps. Incidentally, the prawns were great, very succulent and sweet – I certainly would want to go back to the shop to stock up on some more.

Stuck together…

Sometime ago, somebody was complaining about buying noodles home or getting them delivered to the house. I do not remember whether he or she was talking about Sibu kampua or Kuching kolo or whatever mee but it is true that when you buy and take them home nicely wrapped in plastic bags like this…

…the strands of the noodles will all get stuck together and stay in that shape when you take them out especially when you buy them in the morning from here to take some place else, like to KL, for instance, to appease somebody’s craving there and he or she will only get to eat it come evening time and they will take it out and eat it while in a clump like eating a bun.

Well, I found out by accident that there is a solution to this problem. Before taking out the noodles, press them from the outside to loosen those strands and get them to come apart…

It was quite easy for me to do that as I went home straight away after buying them at the shop so they were not so “stuck” yet but had it been much later, it probably would have taken me longer to do that.

Once I was through, I emptied the noodles onto a plate and arranged the slices of meat on top and served them with a sprinkling of chopped spring onions from my garden…

There you are! Don’t you think that looks exactly like how you would get it at the shops? It certainly comes across a whole lot nicer and more appetising than what I see some bloggers eating when they buy noodles home or get them delivered to the house.

Up up and away…

I was out and about very early that morning. Usually, I would take the car out for a spin around the neighbourhood to recharge the battery but I would venture out later in the morning or mid afternoon.

I was somewhat surprised when I drove past this very popular coffee shop and saw that the customers around there at the time were rather few and far between. In the past, it was always so crowded at any time of day and it was quite difficult to get a seat and if you want to tapao (takeaway), you probably would have to wait a mighty long time. I decided to buy something home for the ladies for breakfast so I parked my car right beside the kampua mee stall and went and placed my order.

During my more recent visits, either the boss or the Indonesian helpers would be doing the cooking – very rarely would I see the lady boss taking over the helm. That morning, however, there was a young girl doing it and from what I observed and heard, she was the daughter of the boss and his wife. Oh me oh my!!! How time flies! All these years, I never saw any children around the stall and suddenly, there was one, so big already!

She took the kampua noodles…

…and threw them into the cauldron…

…with the hot boiling water.

Then she put all the ingredients in a big stainless steel bowl/basin…

– the shallot oil (lard) and the light or dark soy sauce and a sprinkling of fried shallots and chopped spring onions plus of course, the msg. They do that at most places here, toss the noodles separately before pouring them into a clean plate to serve. At places where they do not do that, you may be served something that looks quite a mess, not a pleasant sight at all.

Once the noodles were cooked, she tossed them well with the ingredients…

…and poured them into the plastic bags…

The Indonesian helper added the slices of meat, tapao-ed (wrapped) everything before collecting the money and handing them over to be taken away.

My girl loves pian sip (meat dumplings) so I also ordered those…

…for her and after cooking them in a separate cauldron, they were packed as well for me to take home…

Things used to be more expensive here than most, RM3.20 while elsewhere, they were selling for RM3.00 or even less, depending on where you go. That was why I paid the Indonesian helper RM10.00 expecting to be given the change but when she did not do that, I asked her and she told me that I would have to pay her another 50 sen. The lady boss came over and told me that the prices had increased to RM3.50 now. Oh dear!!! I can’t say I was surprised though because that is what I have seen all round lately, the prices of virtually everything going up, up and away!!!

Thankfully, the ladies enjoyed what I bought for them. My missus said that both the kampua mee and the pian sip were great and she really enjoyed them especially when she had not had any for a long long time. When I told her about the increase in price, she said that she was not surprised either as there seemed to be a lot more meat…

…unlike before and they were a bit more generous with the noodles than elsewhere.

As far as I am concerned, as long as what they dish out is very nice, value for money, a little increase in price at a time like this is only to be expected. I did not bring along my tiffin carrier – it is in the boot of my Ol’ Faithful (the Wira) and I was not using it that morning. That was why I rushed home right away to take everything out of the plastic bags – I did not feel that comfortable, all that hot stuff wrapped in plastic. Maybe I should get another tiffin carrier, one in the boot of each car.

SOON HOCK CAFE & RESTAURANT (2.312181, 111.845824) is located among the Delta Mall/Jalan Pedada area of shops, facing the Methodist church along Lorong Taman Seduan 8, off Jalan Gambir

Lady’s choice…

There was a discussion not too long ago in Rose’s blog about the peanut butter one would prefer, the brand and whether one would like it creamy or crunchy and it sure took me by surprise to read that the one from Lady’s Choice…

…is made in China…

All this time, I thought it was made in Malaysia and since it was the favourite of many who participated in the discussion, I made up my mind to buy a jar to try.

I don’t remember which Malaysian brand I bought once and it was not to my liking so I never bought any local-made peanut butter again. I was somewhat surprised that day when I saw so many new brands of peanut butter, probably Malaysian, at the shop that I had never heard of nor seen before. Well, my mind was made up – I wanted Lady’s Choice and Lady’s Choice it had to be. As far as this brand was concerned, we only bought the mayonnaise, nothing else.

When I opened the jar…

…I was a bit disappointed to see the “bubbles” when it should have been smooth. Probably there is a need for better quality control…or what I got was the odd one out.

I had some chia seed bread so I toasted a slice on a non-stick pan and generously applied a layer of butter…

…before adding the peanut butter…

…on top of that. I have always liked my peanut butter creamy, not crunchy and no, I am not into those with streaks of jam, thank you very much.

Yes, I thought it was nice and at RM15.80 a jar, it does seem to be a little cheaper than the other brands that I’ve bought before. I guess I shall stick to this one from now on.