They came…

I think I did mention here and there that I was expecting some folks to come by this way on a visit and yes, they came that day – three cousins (children of my late uncle, my mum’s older brother), one from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah and two from Kuching. One of the latter two brought her husband along and her two children, both residing in Perth, Australia now and one of them brought her two children – I was at her wedding some years ago in Penang. Three generations altogether!

I met them upon arrival and they passed to me a whole lot of stuff…

…that they brought all the way. You can see the two bottles of tuak from my uncle and his family in Kuching – his wife, my auntie, makes the best tuak, the ethnic Dayak traditional rice wine. We ran out of ours – no more in the house so I asked the daughter, my cousin, if she could send me one…and they gave me two! Now my missus can cook her kacang ma chicken – it is also very nice with tuak instead of the pek chiew thow (Chinese rice wine) and I can cook my steamed cincaluk tuak chicken as well.

One of the cousins who came gave me her own homemade tempoyak (fermented durian)…

I’ve also run out of that sometime ago. It sure looks like I can also cook some of those delightful dishes that I enjoy so much again now.

The group stopped at Sg. Tenggang along the way and bought me this braised duck kolo mee…

…that I loved so much! They gave me two packets so I ate one the instant I got home for my very late lunch and the other one for my dinner that night!

They also stopped at Jakar for the celebrated prawn noodles and one of them bought me these…

We can get the Jakar sio bee (meat dumplings) all over Sibu but the packaging is different. My cousin said this one is the real thing, much nicer. I’ve yet to try it though so I don’t really know still at this point in time.

These…

…came from Australia – I think they were from my niece and if I am not wrong, these…

…came from the mum. When there are so many people telling you so many things at one go, I guess it is inevitable that some may bounce off your head like rubber balls. LOL!!!

There is no mistaking, however, as to who this panettone…

…came from. This cousin of mine in Kuching (yes, another one) used to be very much into making sourdough bread before. Yes, she still makes those and other types of bread and yes, she now makes these panettones a lot too, especially for Christmas. From the look of things, they are in very high demand!

And this lovely Christmas card…

…came via poslaju from my cousin in KL. She never fails to send me one every year.

In the meantime, my sister took my girl and the mum to a Christmas gathering that her church prayer group was holding and some old friends of mine were hoping I would be there as well. Unfortunately, I was not feeling up to it that night and decided to sit it out. The wife cooks the best beef stew I’ve ever had, something like the one here and so much better than this one here that my girl said was so very Chinese. A long time ago, she used to cook it if there was any fund-raising food sale at the church and I would buy a whole lot of coupons just to buy and keep and eat slowly.

Well, they remembered it too and insisted that my girl took a bit…

…home for me to enjoy, thank you so much, Annie & Lawrence. That was so kind and thoughtful of the two of you!

And talking about beef stews, my cousin, the one from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah went to get the celebrated asam pedas oxtail at a leading hotel there. My blogger-friend, Monica, went to try it once when she was there and in her own words, “Sour and saucy with a mild warmth from the chili, it’s so luscious and addictive that we can’t resist picking it up and sucking the bones.”

Unfortunately, it was not available so he went to get it from somebody who is believed to be the one behind it all at the start but he has ventured out on his own, no longer with the hotel. He did send me the one from the hotel once and it was so so so good – let us see if this one is just as good or not. That would be one of those newspaper-wrapped packages in the first photograph. I certainly will blog about it when I have opened it, heated it up to eat and enjoy. You’ll stick around for that, won’t you?

To end this post of mine, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to everybody for everything! You’ve all made me so very happy! Life is so good!