All by ourselves…

It’s Chinese New Year’s Eve today – the Year of the Tiger, not that we are looking forward to it. We are keeping it low key and are celebrating it all by ourselves, just to keep the tradition and preserve our heritage more than anything else.

For one thing, I was quite pissed off by the authorities concerned in the state and the rules and regulations laid down as to how we should celebrate the festival – they will say one thing one day and something else the very next day. The people at national level sure made a mess that day with regard to the celebration of Thaipusam.

First, they said no lion dances would be allowed, plus all the restrictions for the reunion dinner and house visiting. Incidentally, they said open houses are not allowed but house visiting is permitted for family members only, the number depending on the size of the house, for just one day and then they changed it to two!. Pray, tell me, what is the difference between an open house and house visiting?

Eventually, they said lion dances are allowed, dunno if they said anything about dragon dances or not. You must put up the QR code at your door and people coming to your house must scan to check in…bla…bla…bla!!! Never mind! Say what you want, do what you want! We shall just do away with everything, no need for all that hassle, such a nuisance!!!

My missus did not make any cakes this year nor are we going to buy any since we are not having an open house plus I am on a low sugar diet. Having said that, this came as a surprise yesterday when my girl’s coursemate and friend dropped these kek lapis (layer cakes)…

…off at our gate for us for Chinese New Year. That was so sweet and thoughtful of him and his missus, the kind and generous gesture is certainly most appreciated indeed, thank you so so much! May God bless them and all their loved ones abundantly in the coming year.

Another surprise followed soon after when we received this kek lapis and a huge pack of muruku…

…from my cousin, AhLek and his wife, Saliah who would send us things without fail every year. I heard just the other day that the two of them are in KL right now with their daughter there so I assumed they would not be giving us anything this year. I guess they must have asked their son here in Sibu to buy and send to us, thank you so so so much to them and their loved ones too and may God bless them abundantly as well in the year ahead.

My missus did make these kuih dahlia or kuih semprit…

…though but they seem a shade darker this year compared to last year’s, probably because of the low GI brown sugar (we do not have regular sugar in the house anymore) that she used, and these Nestum cookies…

…that I do like a lot. Of course, I have to confine myself to just one or two pieces per day.

This is not fish skin…

– it is actually seaweed wrapped with popiah skin and deep fried. The ladies in the house love it so much – they gave a tub to my sister and she said that she finished it in one sitting, watching some drama on TV.

Every year, my missus would buy cashew nuts and toast them in the oven with butter added for extra fragrance. My brother-in-law likes them a lot so of course, she toasted some again this year…

..to give to him and also to enjoy ourselves.

In the meantime, I went to one of the neighbourhood shops in the next lane and picked up this pack of pistachios…

…or as they are called in Chinese, happy beans/nuts (开心豆/kāi xīn dòu). I do enjoy munching on those and this brand is pretty good, the same brand as the canned corned beef that I always buy – I would buy it every year but goodness gracious me! It is now RM50.00 a pack. *faints*

Of course I did buy myself some bak kua (barbecued meat slices) to enjoy. I bought the nice one from Kuching that day but after that, I went for the ones from Loong Kee which, needless to say, did not come cheap but never mind! After all, it’s just once a year.

In the meantime, my girl’s ex-colleague from her former school in the jungle gave her two packs of these mala-flavoured ones…

…thank you so much to her. They are probably locally-made and yes, I do think they are pretty good, slightly spicy and more inclined towards salty, not so sweet.

We still have a bottle of the nyonya acar (pickles) that my missus made…

…that day but we have finished off all the keropok (prawn/fish crackers) that I fried…

…so my missus went and bought two more packs and fried all of them and kept them in an airtight tin. So far, we’ve been very good – we have not touched them yet. I guess it will be gone soon enough, eventually.

No, I did not bother to do any spring cleaning nor did I hang up any lanterns nor take the trouble to decorate the house, no new clothes, no new bank notes, nothing! As you can see, it is going to be a very quiet Chinese New Year this year.

Oppa…

I saw on my dear friend. Mary‘s Facebook page that her daughter’s oppa (오빠) was in town and Chef Youngcheon Heo was taking orders for Chinese New Year. A true blue Korean? You can’t get any more authentic than that so of course, I placed an order immediately and I told Mary that she could just let me know when the time came and I would drive over to her house to collect myself, no problem at all.

It certainly caught me by surprise when she dropped by my place the other day and passed me EVERYTHING! She said they received too many orders for Chinese New Year so she was giving me mine way ahead of time.

There was this HUGE container of jokbal (족발), the Korean braised pork trotter…

…with all these dips…

…to go with it and yes, it tasted really good. The meat was so so tender and I must say that I was so very impressed by how he had cut the trotter into thin slices like that (the big bone was hidden underneath), making it so very convenient to just eat and enjoy, no need to wrestle with the bone and what not.

Having said that, I have to admit that it was these Mayak eggs or Mayak Gyeran (마약계란) / Korean soy marinated eggs…

…that stole the show. My cousin in Kuching commented on my photograph on Facebook, “Mayak means drug in Korean, mayak gyeran because it’s addictive. I love this dish, easy to make and yummy with hot rice.”

Well, I would say that the main attraction was the chef’s ability to cook these eggs perfectly with the yolk still moist and a little runny….

Oooo…I really loved that so much! Those were so good!

Of course, there was freshly-made kim chi…

…too. The ladies in the house loved it – they said it was so very nice.

I asked Mary how much I would have to pay her for everything but knowing how Mary was, is and always will be, she simply refused to accept any payment from me. *facepalm*

Thank you so so so much, Mary and thank you to your girl and her oppa too. A very Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai to all! God bless always, cheers!!!

A new venture…

In the HUGE gift pack with all the pre-marinated meat that I received that day were these bottles of sambal tumis…

I was kind of surprised when I saw the address…

– No. 11, Ground Floor, Lorong 2D2, Jalan Sungai Merah.

As far as I know, originally, Noodle House has always been at No. 2B, Ground Floor, Lorong Laichee 1…

…and then they branched out into Nica Gelateria…

…at the ground floor and later, the 1st floor as well of No. 14, Lot 4052, Block 3, Jalan Dr Wong Soon Kai (formerly Jalan Pedada) and more recently, Nica Plus…

…at No. 18 & 20, Ground Floor, Lorong Intan 6.

Perhaps this is their new venture so I went in search of the place via Google Maps but I only managed to find the location of the lane – the Google car did not drive into that lane. One of these days, I shall drive over there to have a look despite what they say about curiosity killing the cat. LOL!!!

I used to go for the nasi lemak…

…at the original Noodle House and somebody was telling me once that the nasi was not so lemak but it was very nice. I must say that I couldn’t agree more and because of that, I did have that a number of times myself. Maybe it was the sambal tumis by the side that did the trick but I never paid much attention to it – I just ate and enjoyed myself.

Well, the other day, I decided to open a bottle…

…and try. The bottle was well-sealed and vacuum-packed – I could tell by the sound of the suction being released when I twisted and removed the cap.

I certainly would give them a double thumbs-up for these…

…and unlike similar products that you can buy off the shelves at the supermarket, this will expire very soon, in April, 2022, not next year, because no preservatives were used in the making.

I toasted a slice of bread and cut it into quarters and I applied a bit of the sambal on each of them…

Yum yummmmm!!! It was so very nice and as stated on the label, it…

…was spicy but of course, that was perfectly all right for me – I like it hot! This would go so very well with rice…or nasi lemak, I’m sure!

I was not told where one would be able to buy a bottle nor how much each would cost but if anyone is interested, he or she can call that Whatsapp number on the label, +6016 794 5441 to find out.

The story so far…

I guess everyone remembers the most delightful surprise I had when I received all the frozen pre-marinated packs of meat that day and I was saying that we would not have to do any cooking for Chinese New Year and perhaps, for Chap Goh Meh even, anymore.

However, that is not meant to be as my missus insists on cooking her own specialties for these special occasions. Following this turn of events, therefore, I suggested opening the packs to enjoy in the days leading up to the festival. This way, she would not have to cook every day in the meantime, the fattening before the slaughter or so to speak. LOL!!!

We started off with the chicken wings (RM12.00 for a pack of 3)…

Because they were somewhat small and there were only 3 in a pack, my missus opened all 4 in the set, both the honey and the teriyaki. That was quite a lot, enough for both our lunch and dinner that day with a few left over for the next day.

Yes, they…

…were very nice. My girl said that they tasted like her mum’s own oven-baked/grilled chicken wings but because she did not serve them separately and she could not remember which was which, we could not tell the difference between one and the other.

Anyway, to give credit where credit is due, my girl likes those wings more than the ayam madu that we get from the Malay shops and stalls but the honey chicken wings here take the cake.

The next one that my missus opened was the kung pao chicken (RM26.00)…

…which we really liked a lot. I could taste all the flavours from the ingredients that went into the cooking. However, it was very sweet and because I am on a low-sugar diet, I had to refrain from indulging in the dish and had to restrict myself to just a few pieces of the meat at a time. Because of this, there was enough to last a few days.

My missus liked the curry chicken (RM29.00)…

…that was obviously cooked from scratch. I thought it was all right but I prefer our own even though we always resort to the use of that A1 Mountain Globe instant paste.

The rosemary & garlic lamb (RM18.40 per pack)…

…came with a sachet of their black pepper sauce and yes, it was very good. There wasn’t that much of it, just a slab in one pack and two in the other and my girl enjoyed it so much that we finished it all in one sitting.

Everybody loved their beef rendang (RM33.00)…

We all thought it was very much nicer than their curry chicken but if there is just ONE that you would like to buy, it has got to be their kambing perap istimewa (special marinated lamb), RM18.40 a pack…

This was absolutely awesome! Whatever they used to marinate the meat sure went down well – it was bursting with flavours, no lamb smell (for those who would not eat lamb because of this, my missus included…and she loved it), so very delicious!

I was thinking that if ever I were to host a western dinner, I would just go and buy this, a pack per serving for each person and I can have a bit of coleslaw and french fries or mashed potatoes by the side, plus some cherry tomatoes and lettuce for a bit of colour. That certainly would save a lot of trouble compared to having to cook everything from scratch and most importantly, it tasted great!

There is just one pack left now and we’re saving that for Chinese New Year – their daging masak hitam (black-cooked beef)! I do not need to try it first because I have had that a number of times in their kampua mee-daging masak hitam combo…

…and yes, it was so very nice.

Thank you so much once again, all of you at Nica Plus, Nica Gelateria & Noodle House, a very Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai!

NICA+ or NICA PLUS (2.296883,111.825859) as it is called, is located at No, 18 & 20 Lorong Intan 6, on the ground floor of the block of shops to the right of the Old Sing Kwong Supermarket (Kin Orient Plaza) along Jalan Tun Abang Hj Openg, directly below the Kimchee Korean Bar.BQ restaurant on the first floor. For orders and inquiries, please WhatsApp Nica Plus https://wa.me/60167945449.

There’s more to me than what you can see…

This…

…is quite near my house and it is where I take my car for a car wash when there is a need for that. These days, we have been getting quite a lot of rain, on and off, on and off day in and day out so I would drop by quite often but not as frequently as when I used to go to and fro along the horrible Pain-Borneo Highway, sending my girl to her school in the jungle and going all the way there to bring her home on weekends.

Quite recently, I noticed that they have gone into vegetable farming, growing this curly lettuce – if I am not wrong, it is called salad patta or the lollo bionda, more popularly known as the green coral…

…all over but hydroponically and lately, it appears to me that they are slowly increasing the output and have set up a lot more of those platforms and pipes…

…to plant the vegetable.

You may have noticed in the first photograph above that they have even set them up all along the fence. I guess that is one advantage of this way of planting vegetables – you do not need that much space and you do not need any soil which means that you do not need a spacious landed property to go into this – you can do it outside on your balcony of your condominium even.

I saw them hanging these pieces of fly paper…

…that is coated with a sweetly fragrant, but extremely sticky and sometimes poisonous substance that traps flies and other flying insects when they land upon it. This is considered a pest control device and this way, they do not have to resort to those poisonous pesticides.

The ones that they fold into paper windmills…

…are actually quite pleasant to look at.

They harvest the vegetables quite regularly and pack them in plastic containers. I’ve seen people dropping by to buy, a lot at one time but I have not bought any myself. I did ask one of the boys there and he told me that they are selling them at RM9.00 a container. I think I used to buy at the supermarket round the corner from my house for RM10.00 each so it isn’t very much cheaper but at least, the ones here are definitely a lot fresher.

WONG CAR CARE & SERVICES CENTRE (2.307081, 111.844783) is located at No. 8B, Lorong Pipit 4 – you turn left as soon as you turn into the lane where Starbucks Sibu is located and go straight ahead – it is at the corner at the end of that stretch of road or you can turn into that lane from Jalan Pahlawan and go straight ahead to the aforementioned corner.

Not again…

I saw a lot of friends sharing photographs of what they had at this new place in town so of course, I wanted to go and check it out even though I did see in the menu that the big head prawn noodles did not come cheap…

…because we had not had this fish noodles with the creamy soup…

…for a long, long time (we had a good one here once but not anymore). My girl enjoys it a lot and I wanted to take her there last Sunday morning to give theirs a try.

So there we were, the four of us…

*I guess they mean live, not life*

– I asked my sister to join us – so very early last Sunday morning at just past 8.00 a.m. They open at that time every day, I hear.

I would say it was a very nice place, not much decor to get excited about but it was comfortable enough and air-conditioned. Gosh!!! It’s the early bird that catches the worm, they say but no, we were not the earliest. The place was almost full when we arrived and thankfully, there was a table available. Many who came a bit later, had to go some place else, disappointed. They did not know how lucky they were!!!

I liked this little duckie…

…that they had on every table. Too bad it wasn’t a fish nor a prawn. LOL!!!

The boss served this slice of papaya…

…to every table on the house. I think he said something about the fruit coming from his own house/compound.

After sometime, two bowls of the fish noodles(RM18.90)…

…came.

My sister and my girl had that with bihun…

– the latter thought it was good and was pleased with her order. My sister did not quite fancy the fish – I think it was ang chor (red snapper) – she prefers the tapah that they have in their fish noodles here but they do not do it in this creamy soup style there.

My missus ordered their prawn noodles (soup) and this (RM18.90)…

…came. I had a feeling that they had made a mistake as there was a big head prawn in it, even though there was one only, not three or more like what we can see in the menu above. In my honest opinion, seeing how ONE prawn can cost up to around RM10.00 each (see details below), I would consider RM18.90 quite a reasonable price for this bowl of prawn noodles.

Unfortunately, my order never appeared and I just sat there and waited and waited and waited. Oh dear!!! Deja vu, history repeating itself…like how I had to wait for the beef noodles the day before.

After more than an hour, it FINALLY came (RM35.90)…

…with ONE not very big prawn, a lot smaller than the giant ones I bought from the Dewan Suarah (Civic Centre) wet market…

…earlier that morning. At RM75 a kilo, I bought RM166.00 worth of those lovely crustaceans, 17 of them altogether and that works out to less than RM10.00 each. It sure looked like I had been shortchanged, seeing so very clearly that there were at least THREE of them in that photo of it in their menu. Just ONE not really big one for that kind of money is really pushing it a bit too far!

My girl insisted on picking up the tab – including the cup of kopi-o, hot that my missus had (RM3.90!!!), the rest of us did not want anything to drink, the total came up to RM96.50.

Yes, I would say that what they dished out tasted quite good, that much credit I would give to them but they would need to cut down on the msg by at least half and at those prices and that very very long wait, no price for guessing whether or not I will be back there ever again.

FISH PAPPA is a few doors away to the right of HIDEOUT (2.301547, 111.843569) at Lorong 4, off Jalan Dr Wong Soon Kai (formerly Jalan Pedada) in the block of shops back to back with Kim Hock Premier Food Court.

Waiting so long…

I saw a lot of people talking about it…

…praising it to the skies, even when they were at their former location but I was not all that keen at all as it is the Taiwanese version and I am not really into that.

Eventually, curiosity got the better of me so I went in search of it, only to find out that it was not in that particular shop that everybody was telling everybody (Honestly, why can’t they get their details correct?) and I ended up in the wrong shop! Tsk! Tsk!

It is at their own shop right next door…

…and it was closed that day, a Thursday – the nice lady told me that they do not open on Mondays and Thursdays, two off days in a week!

We went two Sundays ago around 11 something and the customers were spilling onto the road so we went some place else and had a delightful lunch there.

I was out and about last Saturday morning and I decided to give it another try. Yes, it was very crowded but I was in luck. There was a table outside with only ONE chair – the other customers had taken all the rest so nobody wanted to sit there, I suppose. It was just right for me as I was alone and I wasted no time in grabbing it.

I filled in the form…

…provided at the table and waved frantically to get the attention of the people in the shop but to no avail. In the end, left with no choice, I marched right up to the kitchen and handed it to a lady there. “Yao tern wor!” she said (translation: have to wait).

I went back to my table and sat there and waited. I saw this…

…in a corner and I noticed some customers going over there to refill their pots of tea and I thought they were providing free Chinese tea. DREAM ON!!! Everyone is supposed to go and get their own chopsticks and spoons and stick them into the pink cups and fill them with hot boiling water from the electric boiler/dispenser to sterilise them. I have no idea what those bowls are for – maybe there are people who would like to share their orders so they can use those. Gee!!! At those prices they are charging, we still have to DIY, self-service?

I went over to get mine and went back to my table quickly. There I sat, waiting and waiting and in the meantime, I saw many people coming and seeing there there were no tables available, all of them left. It sure did not help one bit that the orders were so slow in coming out so most of the customers were just sitting there waiting, looking quite bored…JUST LIKE ME.

Finally, at long last, my order…

…arrived! I can’t say I was impressed by how it looked but when I tasted the broth/soup, it was like WOWWWWWW!!! So very thick, so very rich, so very nice!!! It was slightly spicy though – they say that is the Taiwanese style. I can’t say I was fond of it like that but it was all right.

I don’t know if they made their own noodles but they…

…sure looked different from our regular “yellow noodles” or whatever noodles that we have here.

The beef was so fall-off-the-bone tender that it fell apart…

…when I tried to pick it up with my chopsticks.

They were very generous with the meat and also the tripe and the tendons and there was a bit of salted vegetables…

…too to help enhance the taste a bit.

I asked for the chili dip and the Indon or Dayak helper brought me their special own-made one…

…in a soy-sauce dispenser bottle. She went over to the aforementioned self-service corner and rummaged through all the plastic containers there and managed to find one melamine mini-saucer and she gave me that for me to use. The chili dip was so very nice, not spicy, a little bit sour and so tasty that it made everything in the bowl taste a whole lot nicer.

Yes, I would agree with everybody that it was indeed very nice but at RM26.00 a bowl, I can’t say that I did not feel the pinch. There were 5 people at the table next to mine and they all had a bowl each. I saw one of the guys handing over three RM50.00 notes to the helper, RM150.00 for beef noodles, nothing more, nothing less. Our scrumptious lunch here with all those awesome dishes was only RM113.50 and I only had to fork out R66.00 here with some left over to take home even and only RM70.00 here.

As a matter of fact, I do think the Taiwanese beef noodles here (and at a number of places around town) ain’t too shabby either and at only RM8.50 (before, dunno now) a bowl, for my one bowl here, I can have THREE bowls there and still have change…plus the place is a lot more comfortable, air-conditioned and not so crowded and the service is better, no such thing as self-service there, and I would not have to wait like…FOREVER!

So will I come back again for the Taiwanese beef noodles here some day? Will I be willing to fork out that amount of money for A bowl of noodles? Will I be willing to sit there and wait for what felt like a million years for it to be served? I guess everyone can jolly well guess the answers to those questions by now.

LEOI NOODLES HOUSE is located to the left of COFFEE & TEA (2.325932, 111.841566) at the junction of Jalan Teng Chin Hua and Jalan Ulu Sg Merah in the blocks of shops to the right of the traffic lights junction turning left into Lorong Sg Merah 2. if you are coming from town. On the other hand, if you are heading towards town, the blocks of shops are after St Teresa’s Catholic Church and the SIB Church on that same side of the road.

Not much to look at…

I spotted these packets of instant noodles…

…in the house so I asked my missus what those were and why, despite the brand being pretty well-known, they looked so plain and unappealing.

She said that they came in one big jumbo pack – I have no idea what that looked like as she had thrown away the wrapper. I guess this was their way to cut cost as they would be able to save a bit on the printing.

I took one to cook and try and this…

…was what I came out with.

I did mention in an earlier blogpost that this is a Korean brand…

…but looking at the rampant use of a foreign language that is Greek to me, one can jolly well guess that this is made in Vietnam and thankfully, there are a few words in English…

…for the likes of people like me.

Inside, other than the noodles, there are two sachets…

– one with the seasoning and the other with the dehydrated vegetables.

I boiled some prawns and used the stock to cook the noodles, subsequently emptying the contents of the sachets into the soup.

Once done, I poured it all into a bowl…

…and garnished it with the aforementioned prawns by the side along with slices of a tomato from our garden, one half-boiled/cooked egg and I sprinkled some chopped spring onion (also from our garden) all over it and served it with a sprig of daun sup (Chinese celery and that came from our garden too), stuck in it.

Yes, it was very nice. There was a hint of spiciness in the soup, noticeable but no, I would not say it was up to our level of tolerance. I would say that I enjoyed it…

…but in comparison, I prefer the clam one that I tried once, the chow chor one with the so-called “smell of the sea” but if this one is very much cheaper, then I would just settle for it instead. At the end of the day, it is what it is – instant noodles!

A cut above…

This bakery in the next lane/road from my house makes the most awesome croissants, a cut above all the rest in town, second to none. I did blog about them here and also here.

Yes, I’ve been dropping by to buy all this while but not for myself. My girl loves eating those croissants so much so I would get some for her once in a while for her to enjoy. Incidentally, one afternoon not too long ago, I dropped in to see if there was anything of interest. Much to my surprise, there were two plain/regular croissants in the glass display cabinet. Of course, I had to buy those for my girl and needless to say, she enjoyed them so much.

The girl at the shop told me that if I wanted more, I could just wait for a while. Their second batch for the day would be coming out soon, piping hot from the oven. That was around 4 something in the afternoon. In the past, the croissants would be ready at around noon, just once in a day and if you did not make a reservation, you might be in for a disappointment – there might not be any left for you to buy.

Probably they have decided to bake two batches in a day, the first batch at around noon for people going home for lunch to stop by and collect and the second around 4 something, for those coming by after office hours. Good marketing strategy, don’t you think?

It so happened that I was passing by that day and I saw a crowd in the bakery, probably those who had booked the croissants beforehand and were waiting for them to be ready. I went to another shop in that same block to grab a few things and by the time I was done, I saw that the crowd had dispersed so I went in to try my luck.

Yes, there were a few flavours available, one each and I did manage to grab hold of two of their regular ones and this one…

…with all the almond flakes.

Unfortunately, school has reopened and my girl will just eat two eggs in the morning and will not eat anything else the whole day till she comes home for lunch at 1 something in the afternoon. I would have died of starvation if I were to do that. LOL!!!

In the end, I put the two regular ones in the fridge in the hope that she would get to eat them over the weekend perhaps and I took the almond one to make this…

…for myself to enjoy.

I boiled an egg and mashed it together with a knob of butter and two slices of Cheddar cheese, cut into tiny bits…

…and then I threw in all the almond flakes…

…that had fallen off the croissant. Waste not, want not.

I cut a slit in the middle of the croissant, lengthwise and stuffed it with the egg filling…

…after which, I put it in the oven to toast for a while.

When I saw that the cheese had melted…

…I took it out and sat down to enjoy the fruit of my labour, served with a few slices of the very nice tomato from our garden. We did not have any lettuce in the house, otherwise the touch of green would certainly make the presentation a bit nicer.

Yes, it was very nice and I sure enjoyed it to the max. You can see how perfectly done it was – the beautiful flaky layers…

…of the croissant plus its holey airy texture and the buttery fragrance!

Many so-called “croissants” at some of the bakeries in town are just regular bread, rolled up to look like croissants while a sprinkling do come out with some decent ones but sadly, they still need to try a little bit harder to come up to this standard. For one thing, I found that those are cheaper but if you want the best, you will just have to pay for it.

LOUIS BAKERY LW.Pattisserie (2.316411, 111.839847) is located at No. 20, Jalan Ruby in the same block of shops as Kim Tak Co., right next to Ah Kau Cafe at the end of the block to the left.

While we can…

I was in the vicinity of the Dewan Suarah (Civic Centre) here that day to check out the yew char koi stall there. I never liked going to that area because it was and still is always crowded in the morning with people going there to do their marketing and shopping and to have their breakfast and at the height of the pandemic, I avoided it like a plague!

Now that the situation seemed a whole lot better, that morning, I decided to walk around to see if there was anything I would want to buy. That was how we ended up having a feast of crabs…

…for our dinner that evening.

We just had crabs that day on my sister’s birthday after such a long time since the previous time we had it on my girl’s birthday in 2020 but that morning, I spotted a basket full of those lovely crustaceans at one of the shops there selling for RM65.00 a kilo.

I asked the guy for three of the biggest ones – it was a little bit more actually but he rounded it up to RM96.00 and I quickly took them home for my missus to prepare and cook…

I asked my sister to join us that evening but she had something on with her friends. In the end, we had all of it…

…ourselves and of course, we enjoyed it to the max.

What we had on those two aforementioned occasions were both way over RM100.00 so this was very much cheaper and there was a whole lot more too.

While I was there, I also saw some fairly large sotong (squid) going for RM35.00 a kilo. They were bigger than the medium-sized ones that I usually buy from my favourite fish & seafood stall in my neighbourhood (RM30.00 a kilo) but the other day, the ones there were way too small so I did not want to buy those. I took all that they had and paid RM60.00 for them – I suppose there were less than 2 kilos altogether. My missus spent most of the morning cleaning and scouring them before putting them away in the freezer, ready for Chinese New Year. For some reason, my girl loves these sotong a lot more than prawns.

I was delighted to see that they had midin (wild jungle fern)…

…too, selling at RM13.00 a kilo. They do not seem to have this at our neighbourhood shops anymore. It has been so very long since the last time they had crabs for sale there as well, not since July 2020! Of course, I asked for half a kilo of the midin and took it home.

My girl helped the mum to pluck only the nice and tender top part of each fern and the latter cooked it with sambal hay bee (udang kering/dried prawns) and belacan (dried prawn paste) to go with the crabs…

…for our dinner that evening.

I paid RM7.00 for the midin – it was a bit more than half a kilo but still, it was so very cheap. There was a lot of it, more than double of what we got for our RM10.00 a plate of the ferns here (or at any other place for that matter) that day.

Yes, there were still a lot of people that morning but at least, everyone had their masks on even though they did not seem too worried about keeping their distance but with the situation seemingly very much under control at this point in time, I sure would not mind going to this part of the woods again and again to see what other goodies I may stumble upon there…while I can.

e-Like Mart (2.310257, 111.831069)…

…is located at No. 6, Taman Damai, Jalan Tun Abg Hj Openg at the far end of the block of shops facing the back of the Civic Centre wet market.