I guess everyone knows by now that I do not usually venture very far to shop for my food supplies and other daily needs as I can get most of what I want at the nearby shops and stalls in the next lane in my neighbourhood and my favourite fish & seafood stall is pretty close by as well.
Other than the convenience, these places are not so crowded unlike some of those popular malls and supermarkets around town. They may claim that all their employees are fully vaccinated and insist on ALL their customers being fully vaccinated too before they are allowed to enter but still, their names would appear so frequently in the daily list of places where there have been positive cases. That sure is kind of worrying! It is the same with the Sibu Central Market and at the time of writing, it is closed because there have been a lot of cases there, so I was told.
I do not usually go early in the morning as I’ve noticed a lot of shoppers doing their marketing for the day at that time, not only ladies but men too, some of whom have just finished their regular morning jog/walk obviously. I cannot understand why they have to do it every day – I would grab a whole lot each time I go out and dump everything in the house and my missus would do the same so we would not have to go out so often. My cousin in KK called me that day and I assured him that we would have no problem with food whatsoever as we have so much in store at home – like a kedai runcit (grocery store), he said. LOL!!!
I would stock up on things for breakfast too as we jolly well can’t be eating instant noodles all the time and I am cutting down on sweet cakes, biscuits, cookies and crackers. That is why I would buy bread and buns and mantao and steamed paos…
…all of which are easily available in the aforementioned shops and talking about the paos, they are RM2.20 each now, an increase of 20 sen since the pandemic broke out but they have insisted on each pao being wrapped in a plastic bag…
…so they would not be lying there, all exposed, waiting for somebody to buy and I do know of some people who have this horrible habit of poking everything or touching and taking something and then putting it back. I simply do not understand why they must do that – the vegetable seller (the old man in the afternoon) complained to me once about his bruised tomatoes, the result of people taking and pressing them one by one. Of course, nobody would want to buy them anymore!
Anyway, back to the paos, I would buy a few and keep in the fridge to steam and heat up for my breakfast when I get up in the morning. These days, I like to boil an egg and cut it into wedges and push them into the paos…
There are quite a lot of things I can buy at that same shop for breakfast or tea and other than that, I can also drop by the coffee shop to the left of the block of shops on the left and tapao something home like what I did the other morning. The chu-char stall is at the back so I can go and order through the back door. That way, I do not have to go through the whole coffee shop which means that I can avoid any physical/close contact with any fellow human beings who may be there at the time.
That day, I bought this char pek koi/fried rice cake (RM5.00)…
…for my girl. She does enjoy it and now that we do not go out to eat here, there and everywhere these days, she will not get to eat it unless I buy it home for her. Yes, she loved it but the serving was a bit too big for her to handle so she saved half of it…
…for her lunch that day.
I got the Foochow fried noodles, the moon version (RM4.50)…
…for the mum and yes, it was good too.
Of course, by the time I got home, it would have soaked up all the sauce/gravy…
…but it did not matter. Sometimes. these noodles taste even nicer when they have absorbed the sauce/gravy – it will make them tastier! Yes, like the daughter, she could not finish all of it too so she put aside the rest for her lunch.
No, I did not buy anything for myself. I usually wake up very early, around 3 or 4 something in the morning. I’ve noticed that some of you are up and about around that same time too, already active on Facebook and may, at times, leave a comment in my blog even. Of course I must have my breakfast so usually I will see what I can eat in the house and that morning, I tried this instant mi goreng and with the added egg and sausage, I was already too full for anything else.
Of course, there may be things that are not available at those aforementioned stalls and shops. For instance, cheddar cheese is easily available, block or slices and cream cheese too but if you are looking for parmesan and the rest, I’m afraid you will have to go elsewhere. I guess at a time like this, we will just have to learn to live without certain things and make do with what we can get while making safety our priority at all times – #staysafe #staywell.
SWEE HUNG (2.316161, 111.840441) is located along Jalan Ruby, in the block of shops on the right – next to The Bethel Hair Salon at the extreme end and on the other end, to the left is the Kim Won Chinese Medical Store and Mini-supermarket while AH KAU CAFE (2.316346, 111.839861) is located in the same block as Kim Tak Mini Supermarket, to the extreme left.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Yes, usually I am up at around 4 something everyday. Before the pandemic, by 5.15 am. I would be leaving home for my morning walk for 1/2 an hour near our neighbourhood park and followed by exercise which took another 1/2 an hour at the same place with my group of friends. Since I didn’t go out to the park these days (which some of my friends still do), it didn’t dampen my spirit to exercise. I do it at home as I have the music in my pendrive to follow. I guess that is the main reason why I am used to getting up so early everyday.
Wowwwww!!!! So good! I’m so lazy, never exercise. The only exercise I used to do was working in my garden, as soon as it got bright till around 10, too hot already by then. These days, getting lazy. My neighbours across the road would exercise every morning, husband and wife but not together though. Lately I don’t see the wife doing it anymore, dunno why.
I love eggs on baos as well but the salted duck eggs, the are such a nice constrast with the sweet flavour of the bun
We do not have salted eggs in steamed paos here, just in bak chang (those leaf-wrapped meat dumplings) and mooncakes. There is that creamy salted egg yolk filling in “lao sar pao” though, oozes out like volcanic lava.
I love eggs in my baos too. Now make me craving for one. There is one old uncle selling char siew baos with egg in it, nearby but only open in afternoon till finish. Only RM1.90. Been a while since go buy it. Weather been crazy hot lately, lazy to go and buy.
https://kuchingnite.blogspot.com/2021/08/soft-and-round.html?m=1
Yes, I’ve seen your paos, so generous with the egg, look so good!!! WHAT? RM1.90 only??? SO so so cheap!!! I sure would want to buy often!
RM2.20 for a bao is still consider cheap. I am thankful that we can easily buy whatever we need in our area without having to venture further away. I will only go to the supermarket only in a while to get whatever I couldn’t get in the nearby shops. Like you said, I am getting used to do without many things in my cooking, just make do with whatever is available in the house. The Foochow fried noodle looks good. We used to start our morning walk at about 6am but because of the restriction, we now start 6:45 – 7am.
I don’t think there is any time restriction here because we are now in Phase 3 though I really wonder how or why as the numbers are still so high EVERY DAY even for our town, Sibu. Sarawak is top in the whole nation for so many days now, more and more every day – even Selangor is in 2nd place already and the numbers are decreasing.
Just cannot understand what those people are doing – we just have to take care of ourselves #staysafe #staywell #stayhome. Double masks and face shield and observe physical distancing, avoid crowded places…and no dining in!!!
Oh that fried rice cake is new to me again! Don’t think we have such thing in Johore?!
We’ve got fish cake, but we don’t fry fish cake like this thou.
Wrapping baos in plastic is not very ideal since warm air trapped inside the bag can make the skin gone soggy
and stuck together. Paper bag is better, then the baos can “breathe”.
>Dunno about the rice, maybe my missus overcooked it a bit?
Yes, that’s possible. Or maybe she over soaked the rice.
Or maybe the rice she obtained did not contain all 100% glutinous rice.
Which is my main concern, since glutinous rice is more expensive than regular white rice.
There are bad people who blend white rice into glutinous rice to make a profit.
We just have to be careful, and watch out for each other.
Yes, not very common that fried rice cake. Dunno if it is Foochow or what. My girl loves it.
Yes, they will have to wait till the pao has cooled before putting in the plastic bags. Otherwise, there will be condensation inside and the pao skin will turn soggy. So far, they are all o.k. I guess they are taking care to make sure they do not pack in the plastic bags when they are still hot. Personally, I prefer paper bags – more environment friendly.
And yes, I did hear about people doing that – mixing glutinous rice with regular rice and selling that. I did see my friend’s parents once sitting at the kitchen table, separating the grains of rice. I did not know what they were doing so I asked my friend why his parents were counting the grains of rice. So hilarious!!!
Yeah it is best to avoid more contact right? So buy once will do when you buy like opening a grocery shop like you have said.
Yes, best to avoid contact. Go out and buy to stock up when you do not have a choice – things running out…and make do with a lot of things, if you can. We cannot have the luxury of having everything we want at our fingertips anymore. This Delta variant seems super infectious, #staysafe #staywell.
I’m also not fond of crowds and try to avoid them when I can (even before the pandemic).
I guess that goes across the board, not that I’ve grown paranoid or something like that. Pays to #staysafe #staywell