Not too long ago, I shared with everybody the story behind my nickname among the Melanau folks in the kampung (village) and how an old colleague of mine told me that it was the belief of the older Chinese folks that anyone with a protruding chin/jaw like mine (and Bob Hope, Jay Leno and all the rest) would never be short of things to eat. Well, it most certainly seems to be true!!!
The other day, I dropped by the neighbourhood bakery in the next lane from my house because I wanted to buy some croissants for my girl – she enjoys eating those and it has been a long time since we had any, not since those cheaper factory-made ones from West Malaysia in January. I did not get my hopes up too high that day because it was already almost 4.00 p.m. As a matter of fact, I was thinking it might not even be open but it was!
I went in and I saw three of the plain ones left, their butter croissant, they call it and two of their dunno-what versions. Of course, I did not want the latter and bought all their plain ones. In the past, one would have to make a booking and collect around noon if one was hoping to get hold of any. That day, the nice and friendly girl told me that their second batch for the day would be ready soon if I would wait a little longer. I guess the first batch would be convenient for customers to stop by and collect on their way home for lunch and this second batch is targetted at people going home after work at around 4 or 5. They sure are smart, these people!
The plain ones are RM4.50 each now, RM4.00 in my earlier blogpost on the place, but it’s all right – as long as they are still as good, value for money and my girl enjoys eating them. It was past our teatime already when I got back so we saved them for breakfast the next day. My girl ate one with scrambled egg and the mum had the other. She was reserving the third one for me but I told her I did not want it so we saved it in the fridge for her to eat the next morning – she toasted it in the oven and had it with the beef patty and some cheese and yes, she said it was good.
Personally, I am not really into croissants, will buy and eat sometimes but no, you will not catch me craving for them…and that day, when I was telling my girl to finish off all that I had bought, I was thinking that I would enjoy those lovely scones she and her mum made recently and would very much prefer those instead. Of course I did not say it out loud as I did not want to trouble them – I wouldn’t mind going out to buy but the thing is we can’t get any nice ones here.
As the title of that old classic goes, all I have to do is dream…and the very next day, in the afternoon, my phone rang. Surprise! Surprise! It was my long-time blogger friend, Yan, now working and residing in Kuching. Obviously, she was stuck there all this time because of the pandemic and I guess now that people are allowed to travel inter-district, she has grabbed the opportunity to come home for a while.
She had just touched down in Sibu and reached home and without wasting any time, she headed to my house to pass me these beautiful scones that she made herself…
See! Dreams do come true, don’t they? And look!!! Don’t you think they’re absolutely gorgeous?
I did not sit down to enjoy them right away though – I saved them for breakfast the next morning with butter and roselle jam and yes, they were so so good!
Now, if you’re wondering why I did not feast on them right away, it was because my friend, Yan, also gave me these awesome banh mi…
…that she made using her own home-made char siew (barbecued pork)…
…that was so good it would put all the miserable ones we have here to shame.
I saw so many people praising the banh mi they had to the skies so I really had my hopes up high and was dying to try it myself. Well, I did get the opportunity at some Vietnamese restaurants here and here but no, they did not sweep me off my feet. What I had on both occasions did not change my opinion of the French colonial-influenced Vietnamese delight – at the end of the day, it is what it is, a sandwich.
These…
…however, were absolutely out of this world. I guess the char siew was the main draw – the star of the show and together with everything else that went into the mini-baguette/French loaf, it turned out to be a real winner. If there were people selling something like this in town, you can bet your bottom dollar that I would be the first in line to go and buy!
Thank you so so much, Yan, for thinking of me and for taking the trouble to drive over to my house to give me these scones and banh mi to enjoy. I most certainly did!!! Take care, God bless always, #staysafe #staywell Cheers!!!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
So nice to catch up with friends these days. The last couple of years have been TOUGH.
You can say that again! I went to the car workshop the other day for regular servicing and the guy said he was so very happy to see me. I asked him why and he said at a time like this, if one sees somebody he has not seen for a long time, there is every reason to be happy as it means that the friend is fine and doing all right. Makes sense.
You are been pampered again, Arthur. Those scones and banh mi sure looks good and tempting. The char siew makes me want to sink my teeth into it. Like people say, dreams do come true and miracles do happen.
Indeed. Think positive, stay positive, things can only get better.
I am truly blessed with such good friends who will readily share all the nice things with me and will even go through the trouble of sending them over to my house. So good and so very thankful.
Your dream did come true. Beautiful scones and banh mi from your friend. Delicious looking char siew. I do enjoy having some croissants once in a while.
Yes, I don’t mind having those croissants once on a while but not something I would be craving for. Not cheap though, the good ones at the bakeries here. These made-in-Malaysia Australian ones are cheap but I do not frequent that supermarket anymore, always a lot of people, congested…and often on the list of places with positive cases.
I love cream tea.
But you can’t get proper clotted cream in Malaysia.
So they simply offer you whipped cream, it’s very awful on scones.
I just use butter. Never had this outside so I dunno what they serve these with. I did see a bottle of clotted cream being sold at that supermarket that imports anything and everything here…but of course, I did not buy to try then, I did not have any scones at the time. That was the first and the last I saw of it!
Those scones are absolutely gorgeous. Making my mouth water.
They were really good, and the banh mi too. So blessed to have such good and generous friends.