November 2nd that day was All Soul’s Day and I left the house at dawn to go for the early morning service in church to pray for the repose of the souls of our dearly beloved.
I was on my way back to the house at around 7.45, before 8.00 a.m. and I was feeling hungry as I did not have anything for breakfast earlier. That was why I decided to stop at the fruits and vegetables sundry shop along the way in the next lane from my house to see what they had.
I saw two packs of mantao (steamed plain buns) and I grabbed both of them right away. No price for guessing what I would be having for breakfast and tea over the next few days. Yes, I did ask them for the price this time around – they are RM2.80 for a pack of 6, over 40 sen per mantao.
I spotted a packet of kampua mee (kosong/no meat)…
…selling for RM1.50 each. They used to sell those at 50 sen each at school canteens and yes, they were very popular among the students. They would just push the noodles out through the open end of the plastic bag and eat it like a bun or a cake.
Of course, they did not have all those fried shallots and definitely not at the prices they are selling them these days. The people making this for sale were very generous and yes, they fried their own. I would not have liked it one bit if they had used the factory-made ones sold in plastic packs at the supermarkets – some may have an offensive smell even!!!
I was glad when I took the noodles out and I found that the stands were not stuck together in a clump…
I was able to loosen them easily and yes, I thought it was all right which is more than what I would say about some of those at the coffee shops and kampua mee stalls all over town. I wonder how much they are selling their kosong now – I think it used to be RM2.00 a plate but now that the price of kampua mee has been going up and up and up, I bet they are charging a lot more for that even though no pork is involved, just a bit of lard perhaps.
While I was at the shop, I also saw some dabai (black olives)…
…from Durin. Actually, they have been around for a very long time now but much as I do enjoy them, the good ones, a lot, I did not bother to go and buy. They were selling them at such ridiculously high prices, RM50.00 a kilo or more, mind you!
When they were only RM20 a kilo, I was already grumbling. I saw this newspaper report where the YB (the honourable) was praising the ones that are in season now in Kapit, going for RM80.00 a kilo! At that price, he can go ahead and buy and eat all of them himself till kingdom come – at the salaries/allowances these politicians are getting, they sure can afford it, NOT ME!!! Tsk! Tsk!
These weren’t too bad, not THAT expensive so I asked for half a kilo and took it home. I cooked a few right away and was delighted that they turned soft pretty fast. Some not-so-good ones would take forever and yet, there would be some as hard as rocks! I tossed them with soy sauce and a bit of brown sugar…
…and sat down to enjoy them.
These were not very big (but bigger than the dabai seluang), the flesh was not as thick as I would have liked it to be…
…but it was very yellow and very lemak (rich). In short, I would say they were really VERY good – no regrets buying them at all…and I sure would want to buy some more should I see them again the next time I stop by the shop.
SWEE HUNG (2.316161, 111.840441)…
…is located along Jalan Ruby, in the block of shops on the right – next to a hair salon at the extreme end…and on the other end, to the left is the Kim Won Chinese Medical Store and Mini-supermarket.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 