Help yourself…

When my ex-student and his Singaporean wife were at my house that day, they were very impressed and sang praises of the pineapple nuggets that I bought from here…

They seemed to know quite a bit about pineapple tarts and the rest – in fact, they have tried these…

…from Kuching before even.

These pineapple delights are a must for Chinese New Year because pineapple is “ong lai” in Hokkien and “ong” can be either king or good luck while “lai” means to come so it is believed that having these in the house will bring good luck.

I cannot remember when I started buying these pineapple nuggets…

…from the aforementioned bakery but yes, I was still teaching at the time so it would be before 2007 and I have been doing so every year without fail. I think I did not manage last year as they were all sold out so this year, I went early and was in luck! My brother-in-law went a few days later and went home disappointed.

This year, they also came out with this variety…

…that had cheese added. My guests from Singapore said that the original would win hands down and I must say that I absolutely agree. The taste and fragrance of the cheese in the pastry was somewhat overpowering and it drowned out the much coveted taste of the pineapple jam in the filling.

As a matter of fact, I bought two jars/bottles of each of the two but when my nephew, home from Shanghai, China, invited us out for dinner, I had nothing in the house to give so I just grabbed these to give to him, one of each. Otherwise, I could have given them to these connoisseurs of pineapple tarts from Singapore. Sorry, better luck next time! LOL!!!

I did try the pineapple tarts, rolls and nuggets from some other bakeries but they all paled in comparison. These…

…from Louis Bakery in the next lane from my house came in a close second. They made all three there and I got all of them in this very nice gift pack that my friend/ex-student, Alex, gave me…

…that day.

And talking about these festive cookies and stuff, I feel that the homemade ones were better because of the reduced amount of sugar added. For instance, if I am not wrong, my sister gave us the ones from this girl…

…who runs her own home-based business.

I loved her Nestum…

…a lot more than her oats…

…because of the coarser cereal used.

Other than these cereals, the use of nuts and seeds and whatever seemed to be catching on these days, for instance, in those Florentine biscuits…

This was the third one that we got to enjoy and they were pretty good as well. My missus bought them from this bakery…

…on the other side of town and she had nuts in these cookies…

…that she made herself as well.

Good grief! Gone are the days when cookies looked so elegant, so dainty and pretty – these were more like the ones I saw people abroad making using what they called “the spoon method”. Never mind the appearance, a cousin of mine who made hers using this method, told me. What is more important is the taste.

My missus also made these cheese biscuits…

…with chocolate rice added. With the extra cheese in them plus the Golden Churn butter used, they were very nice indeed. Unlike in previous years, she only made two types this time around. Instead, she just went and bought a whole lot from the aforementioned bakery.

The kuih momo…

…were all right, nothing like when they first came into the scene. Those used to be so nice with the fragrance of the ghee used in the making, something we simply can’t detect at all anymore these days. It may be because of the ghee – those available at the shops and supermarkets these days aren’t nice at all. That is why I do not bother to buy and use when I cook my yellow rice (nasi kuning/nasi minyak/ghee).

Incidentally, these were called kuih makmur when they first appeared on the scene. How on earth did it get lost in translation and become kuih momo? Our midin (wild jungle fern) is often called “million” in the menus in Chinese restaurants and the other day, I saw one that has it in the list as “merlin“. Good grief!!!

Anyway, back to the cookies, my girl loved these butter scotch ones…

At one time, the butter scotch bread from Gardenia was the craze among the people here – so good you can eat it on its own! She also loved these cheese sticks…

…and yes, I must say that I wholeheartedly agree. They were really crusty and would snap when one bit into it, plus who can resist the delightful fragrance and taste of cheese?

I used to love those peanut cookies a lot, the ones at another bakery in town but I did not bother to drop by and check it out this year. My missus got these…

…but I was not impressed. They did not have much of that peanut taste and fragrance that I loved so much.

One thing we had not bought for a very long time would be this red, sweet, spicy and super-smelly sotong (cuttlefish)…

My missus bought some that day but I did not notice it until the son of some guests of mine opened the bottle/jar to eat. Goodness gracious me! The stench filled the whole living room! The instant they left, I simply had to go and help myself to it and it sure took a lot of effort to stop!

These…

…were nice too but not as nice as those really smelly ones. Both were RM26.90 for 200 gm, RM134.50 a kilo. *faints* In my childhood days, I used to buy from my school canteen, 5 sen a palm-sized piece of rolled sotong/cuttle fish, red or plain (orange) with a generous sprinkling of fine sugar. Those were the days!

It’s Day 6 into the Chinese Lunar New Year today. I don’t suppose there will be people dropping by but of course, if there is anybody thus inclined, you are most welcome! Come! Come! Come and help yourself!