Come clean…

They have it here once a week -every Friday, to be exact. Come lunchtime, you see all the pre-packed pre-ordered ones lined up on the counter waiting for collection and yes, you see a lot more people than usual, all there for the lei cha.

They started selling lei cha or thunder tea many years ago in 2017, at only RM6.00 a set (with free dessert). I thought that was too cheap especially when theirs is a classier cafe, not some coffee shop. I don’t know the going prices elsewhere but I did hear of some people selling theirs for over RM10.00 at one place here. My girl’s colleague in the jungle school, a Kuching born and bred girl whose mum used to cook her own, gave it a try and she gave it her double thumbs up.

Needless to say, the price has escalated over the years – it is RM8.00 a set now and I still think that is very cheap for this bowl of wholesome goodness…

…and the super bitter green soup…

According to Peter, the boss, there are 10 different kinds of herbs and leaves used in making the soup. That entails a lot of work as it involves a whole lot of cutting and chopping and blending of so much and yet, in the end, one does not get all that much soup from one’s hard labour.

I have never been a fan even though I did hear that it is very popular with customers lining up every week for it. However, that day, I decided that I would like to “come clean“, so to speak. I have been unwell for sometime now and I was thinking this might be a good way for me to detox a bit…and get rid of the toxins in my body. I was thinking that even if it does not work, it will not kill me.

I mixed everything in the bowl together…

…and poured in the green soup and ate. Yes, the soup was bitter all right but I could detect the fragrances and tastes of what went into the making, the mint, the oregano and so on. To me, it wasn’t anything to die for but it wasn’t too bad – everybody else there that day seemed to be enjoying it a lot!

I ordered this plate of fried ikan bilis (RM8.00 – I hear the new price is RM15.00 now)…

…and I particularly loved the red rice that they used…

In fact, I asked for more and they gave me an extra bowl on the house.

I just had a glass of iced green tea (RM5.00) but the ladies wanted something sweet to combat the lingering bitter taste in the mouth so my girl had their very nice coconut milk shake (RM12.00) while my missus had their cincao (grass jelly) ice cream (RM12.00)…

Peter knew that we abstain from eating meat on Fridays so he made this tuna and egg baguette sandwich…

…for us to share, on the house. Believe it or not, he made one for each table in the whole cafe, no charge and yes, it was very nice – we sure enjoyed it.

That certainly was a delightful lunch last Friday – if it helps, you can be sure that I shall be making my way back there for more week after week after week…

PAYUNG CAFÉ (2.284049, 111.833014) is located at No.20F, Lanang Road, Sibu, Malaysia, back to back with the multi-storey car park of the Kingwood Hotel which faces the majestic Rejang River.

He came home…

James was in one of the classes I was assigned to teach in 1992 when I was posted to the school where I taught till I retired in 2007. If I remember correctly, I taught him for two years, in Form 4 and Form 5.

I don’t remember seeing him again after that but we have kept in touch over the years on Facebook. He probably visited me at my house before during Chinese New Year – my students loved doing that, coming to my house by the droves, so many of them at one go that there wasn’t much room left to swing the cat.

That was why when he dropped by my house that day, I was taken by surprise! He said he could vaguely remember so he went round my housing area on his dad’s motorcycle to look for the needle in the haystack and by George! He did it! He found my house and stepped right in – I did not know who he was but when he took off his mask, I could recognise him right away. James, I exclaimed.

He is very much taller now, not as small-built as when he was in school, darker or very well-tanned but the familiar looks are still there. Now residing permanently in Perth, Australia with his family (two kids, a girl and a boy), he was home to see his parents and it certainly was so very nice and thoughtful of him to take sometime off to drop by to say hello.

James brought me these dark Australian chocolates…

I always thought that chocolates are taboo for somebody on a low or no sugar diet like me but when I went and googled, I found a whole lot of articles on this. One says, ” Many people think that if you have diabetes, you can’t have sweets or chocolate — but in reality, that’s a myth. You can still have these foods in small amounts, but they need to be part of a larger healthy lifestyle and diet. By choosing high-quality dark chocolate — 70 percent cocoa — you get a stronger chocolate taste, which can help you eat less.”

No wonder James keep stressing on the darkness of the chocolates he brought for me. One is 69% and another, 83% – those should be fine for me then. The ladies can help themselves to the one with only 55%. Anyway, I shouldn’t be eating a lot at a time, maybe just a piece each time or to the most, two.

In the meantime, the ladies have started on the Arnotts’ mint slice…

They love it so much! They said that some people gave some to us before, more than once or twice, and they really enjoy eating it. I didn’t know that as I hardly ever touch the chocolates and all the sweet stuff that I received from family and friends from all over the world – the ladies would feast on them, no worries.

Aha!!! Vegemite!!! I enjoy Vegemite now. My first encounter was when I bought a bottle from Ta Kiong (I think it was the Sanitarium brand or something) and no, I did not manage to acquire the taste for it. It was only when I went to Wellington, New Zealand in 2012 when they gave us that (Kraft brand) for our crackers and toast for breakfast at the apartment where we stayed that it finally grew on me and I loved it so much in the end!

Seeing how I enjoyed it, my dear friend, Shereen, went and got me a bottle…

…to bring home to Sibu and enjoy. Now, thanks to James, I can get to indulge a bit in that celebrated pride and joy of the Land Down Under once again!

Yes, nuts have a lot of health benefits but except for salted peanuts, they are not that easily available here…or some, like pistachios, cost a bomb! Well, James gave me these two huge packs of almond and cashews…

…to enjoy and also this box of rolled oats…

Gee! He obviously follows my blog so he knows EXACTLY what to get for me, so good of him, that boy!

James’ father, Robin, was my colleague in the school for many, many years till he retired (first, he’s older), such a very nice man and a very good teacher. I did hear that he was not doing too well but I did not know the details – it seemed he was knocked down by a motorcycle while on the road and has not been physically and mentally well since. That is so very sad and here I am complaining and complaining that I have not been well lately inside of counting my blessings each passing day.

Yes, I do feel so blessed when my ex-students found it in their hearts the sincerity to creep out of the woodworks to come and visit this old teacher of theirs – I know I tried my best for them over the years whether they realise it or not. Thank you so much, James and thanks for everything you went through all that trouble to get and bring over for me. May God bless you and your family abundantly in the days ahead, your parents and all loved ones too. Take care, cheers!!!

Addictive…

I suppose you remember the lee kiam (preserved fruits) that I got from my cousin, Pauline, from Bintulu that day? She was telling me that those would go so well with cherry tomatoes….

…so very addictive and she would finish it all in one sitting.

She did not say how much there was but she did send me a photograph of her serving suggestion – one whole bowl of cherry tomatoes with a slit cut in each of them and slices of the lee kiam placed in between…

She said I could sprinkle a bit of olive oil but no, I did not bother.

I gave it a try and boy! It was so very good, like a match made in heaven and no, it would be quite impossible to stop at one or two. I would keep going till I had finished all the cherry tomatoes…

…harvested each day.

In the past, only the ladies in the house would eat them raw, one or two a day so we always had a basketful on the kitchen table. Of course, you would not see that anymore nowadays. These cherry tomatoes are our own homegrown, no pesticides, no chemical fertilisers, 100% organic so they are absolutely healthy for consumption…even in large quantities.

Of course, I had to go a bit slow on the lee kiam as it is sweet so I would only stuff a little bit in each cherry tomato. I also tried eating this using the wet lee kiam that my friend, Catherine bought for me and yes, it was also very good – maybe even better but the same rule applies – a little bit a day is o.k…Iguess.

Ain’t so bad…

In my childhood days, I dreaded falling sick as that would mean going to the doctor. That was why I would just go to school and not let anybody know until I was on the verge of collapsing.

My dad would take me to see our family doctor, Doctor Yong (Soon Kai’s wife) whose clinic was a few doors away from his shop along Old Street (now Jalan Chew Geok Lin) and an injection would be mandatory. According to my father, any doctor who did not give an injection would not be a good doctor and we would never go to see him or her again.

Of course, my Oscar Award winning performance would follow right away whereby I would cry non-stop till my dad said he would take me to Bee Guan to let me choose a comic book. The crying stopped instantly…and we were on our way!!! LOL!!! Those days, a DC comic (Superman and the rest) was 50 sen each and the thicker Classics Illustrated was 70 sen. There were smaller ones like those Schoolgirls series or the cowboy ones that were 30 sen each only.

In the meantime, back in the house, my mum would be preparing the standard meal for anyone who was sick. There would be plain porridge and to go with it, we usually had Bovril.

We had run out of that in the house that day so I went out to the shops to buy a new bottle. I was shocked to discover that the current stock being sold here were all MADE IN CHINA! I didn’t know whether it would taste the same or whether it would be as bad as Baoril, the Chinese imitation, which was horrible, to say the least! In the end, I bought a bottle of Marmite…

…instead. Thankfully, it was still made in the UK…

…but no, it was by no means cheap – RM34.80 a bottle, don’t play play! I don’t mind Marmite – in fact, I liked it more than Bovril so it did not matter to us which one we had in the house. When I got married, my missus would not touch Marmite, not at all, so for a while, I was buying two bottles, one of each and eventually, when they became too expensive, I stopped buying Marmite together.

We would just add a bit…

…to the porridge, just a bit, around a teaspoon will do as it would be very salty. Usually with Bovril, we would be more generous with it.

My mum would, without fail, fry one or chio (black pomfret/ikan bawal putih)…

…and she would shred the meat and sprinkle all over the porridge…

…and mix everything well.

There would also be some salted eggs…

…but no, during our growing up years, my dad was the only one in the house who would eat those 皮蛋 (pídàn) or century old eggs…

Nobody else would touch those with a 10-foot pole way back then but these days, we have acquired the taste and we actually like them a lot!

Actually, when one is not feeling too well, he or she would not feel like eating so my mum would fry a slice of this long kiam hu (salted fish, the “long” variety)…

…to whet up one’s appetite. My missus did not have that the other day so she made this pickled salted fish…

…which was nice but no, it was simply not the same.

Come to think of it, it ain’t so bad really when one falls sick and gets to eat all these nice things throughout the day.

Far apart…

I received a call from a NO NAME number the other day. Normally, I would just reject such calls but somehow, that day, my instincts told me to answer it. It turned out to be somebody from a courier service agency who wanted to confirm that I was home as he would be delivering something to me.

I waited and I waited…for about an hour till my patience was running out so I called the number in my call log. The guy answered. He said he was at the traffic lights, very near my house already and he would be there soon. True enough, he showed up soon after that to pass me this box…

I had no idea who had sent it – nobody had said anything about sending me something and when I opened the box, I saw the note…

It was from my very dear friend, Mandy, in KL.

She probably had been busy with her work and everything else and had not been following my blog nor was she active on Facebook these days. She did send me something in March last year but I wasn’t expecting anything from her this time around.

It so happened that she saw one of the photos that I shared recently – I think it was the one at my cousin’s anniversary dinner and she was shocked!!! She was wondering if I was all right as I had lost so much weight. Yes, I am so very thin now – half of what I was before but thankfully, I am feeling a lot better and eating very much more than say, a few months ago…and of course, I told her that and reassured her that I was fine, not about to go just yet!

I like what was on the other side of the note…

“Far apart but near at heart…here’s a box of love for you” That’s Mandy for you – always so concerned, so thoughtful, so full of love for others. Obviously she could not wait to send something that may help in some small way the instant she heard that I had not been well.

Inside the box were these packs of herbs…

I do enjoy steamed chicken with these added, four of them altogether plus a cute free gift…

They are supposed to help recuperate, revitalize and reinvigorate and it is believed that cordyceps are good for anyone with kidney problems.

Thank you so so much, Mandy! I cannot remember when the last time we met was – perhaps it was on one of your working trips here when you showed up at the house when my father passed away…or was it my mother? You no longer travel, it seems but hopefully, you will take sometime off to come over here for a few days to relax – just let me know you are coming and I will make all the necessary arrangements on this side! The first time you came was over 10 years ago, just imagine that! It would be great if we could meet again…one of these days. Take care there, love and God bless always!

Get it for free…

My doctor told me that I would need to increase my intake of protein but at the same time, I would have to avoid meat – red meat, in particular, dairy products, egg yolks etc…etc…etc… That obviously does not leave very much so I started taking chicken essence…

…seeing that it is a good source of protein…

I did tell my doctor once on one of my routine visits and he had no objection whatsoever. As a matter of fact, he did tell me to carry on so obviously it would be good for me.

I was browsing through the internet when I came across an article on cordyceps and kidney function. This paragraph says it all:
Cordyceps has a long history of use for the treatment of chronic kidney diseases and we’re starting to see more and more research backing this up and giving us a better understanding of why cordyceps is so beneficial when it comes to protecting and healing the kidneys. 

I was impressed by this in the article too:
Cordyceps is valued as a tonic herb in TCM and is used to treat a wide range of disorders including respiratory, kidney, liver and cardiovascular diseases, low libido and impotence and to support stamina and energy levels.  

People outside China were first attracted to cordyceps after multiple Chinese runners shattered track and field records at the Chinese national games in Beijing and their coach attributed their success to a diet containing cordyceps.

After I read all that, I switched to the one with cordyceps…

…right away whenever I buy chicken essence but of course, this range is more expensive.

I bought a number of boxes for around RM78.00 at the Chinese medical store and also the mini-supermarket in the next lane from my house until I saw them selling it at RM74.00 a box at my regular pharmacy. Of course, I started buying from there after that.

Just the other day, however, my girl was going to the mall near my house and I needed to stock up on my supply so I told her to get me two boxes from there. She got them from the supermarket at the basement/lower ground floor and came home with her purchases and this…

– one per box, so two altogether.

She was mighty pleased with the free gift they were giving away with every box of chicken essence with cordyceps, this very beautiful chawanmushi bowl…

…with a cover…

…at RM74.80 a box, just 80 sen more. I don’t know how long this promotion is going to last – I sure wouldn’t mind getting a few more, 4 perhaps…to make a set of 6.

DELTA – THE MARKETPLACE (2.311968, 111.847043) is located in the basement (lower ground floor) of the Delta Mall…

…Taman Seduan 8, Jalan Dr Wong Soon Kai (formerly Jalan Pedada).

Relax…

We see a lot of reports in the newspapers about the mental health of government employees such as doctors and teachers and we see suicide cases on the rise each passing day. The authorities may express some concern but it sure does not look like they are doing very much about it.

My girl does seem to have a lot of work to do each waking minute when she is at home. I also had a lot to do too when I was a teacher, perhaps even more but I took it all in strides. Yes, there were times when I was stressed too but most of the time, I was all right. Well, as they say, no two persons are the same so different people will address their problems differently.

One thing that I always tell my girl is to reward herself…and not to wait for other people to do it. She may have to wait forever! Many a time, we see others getting those awards when they hardly do anything, other than apple polishing perhaps, while the rest of us who worked our fingers to the bone were left “putih mata“/empty-handed.

She can go out to do a bit of shopping, buy things that she likes to reward herself, go some place nice for a meal and be pampered by the excellent service while enjoying her comfort food, things that she enjoys eating or if she can find some time, go off somewhere on a holiday.

Last weekend, for instance, she had to go back to school the whole morning on Saturday and only got home way past noon. After a nap to rest a bit, we went to our usual sunset service in church. The next morning, she was up and about very very early to do her school work for the week ahead and that kept her busy till around 5.00 p.m. in the evening before she managed to finish everything that she had to do.

I did not want to suggest going out for lunch when she was still in the thick of things but now that she had finished, I asked her if she would like to go out for dinner and relax a bit. Of course, she jumped at the idea immediately and said without any hesitation whatsoever that she would like to go for her comfort food – biryani rice…

That was how we ended up at our favourite Indian/Indonesian restaurant in town and this time around, she chose the mutton masala…

…biryani (RM25.00)…

…and she also asked for their aloo gobi masala (RM13.00)…

…with potatoes and cauliflower, one of the vegetable dishes available here, suitable for vegetarians.

That sure was quite a lot for her to handle but she managed to finish most of it. I’ve always told her to take control of her life and never let anyone dictate how much she should eat so if she cannot finish something, she should just leave what is left behind and not force herself to finish everything, something that many Asian parents, those old-fashioned traditional ones, would find most distressing!

I had the tandoori chicken (RM16.00)…

…and as always, it was moist, juicy, tender and succulent…

…having been cooked on the spot and served straight out of the traditional tandoori unlike some elsewhere that may turn out hard and dry, having been left to stand by the side of the oven for too long before somebody orders it and it is served.

My missus had their mee nyemek goreng (RM16.00)…

…from their Indonesian menu which was pretty good and they were very generous with the seafood ingredients, all the prawns, sotong, fish cake and so on…but personally, my favourite fried noodles in town would be this old lady’s mee goreng here.

Having had our fill, we left for home happily. I could tell from the tone of her voice that my girl was a lot more relaxed by then and a whole lot happier than earlier on when we were leaving the house. I told her we can do this anytime she feels like it – just say the word and we wil be on our way.

THE CAFE IND (2.290813, 111.829294)…

…is located along Laichee Lane, right behind one block of shops facing the main road (Jalan Kampung Nyabor) where the Bank Simpanan Nasional, Sibu branch (2.290561, 111.829071), is located

We’re so good together…

I used to enjoy eating Quaker oats, boiled till nice and mushy and sweetened with condensed milk. Eventually, they came out with the instant version where we just need to add hot water, no need for any boiling for a prolonged period of time.

I don’t know when or why I stopped eating it but I always enjoyed those rich and creamy oats cookies/biscuits from Jacobs and anyway, it is not easy to get hold of condensed milk here these days – what they are selling everywhere are sweetened creamers made from palm oil, not cow’s milk.

It so happened that I read somewhere that if I take three tablespoons of oats every day for a month, it will help lower my cholesterol. Remembering how I used to enjoy eating that, I made my way to one of the neighbourhood shops to buy a pack. Yes, they have Quaker but the instant ones and I think I saw somewhere that those aren’t as great.

In the end, I settled for a pack of these organic rolled oats…

…which I have to boil for quite sometime before they become mushy and soggy enough to be eaten.

Of course, I cannot add any condensed milk as I am supposed to stay away from dairy products as well. Needless to say, they are not very palatable, bland and quite a chore to eat and at times, I added a little bit of honey or our low GI gula apong (nipah sugar) but even so, after a while, I, more or less, gave up.

I told my sister about it and she went and ordered this huge pack of dried cranberries…

…for me. It’s from the same people who came out with these sambals that my dear friend, Mandy, sent me sometime ago. I am not supposed to eat those because like raisins, they are soaked in sugar syrup before drying so the sugar content is very high – I can’t eat raisins either!

However, my sister said that cranberries are good for the kidneys so I can mix a bit with my oats for the sweetness and also the delightful taste of the cranberries would make it a lot easier for me to eat the oats.

I tried cooking just a bit with the three tablespoons of oats…

…in low fat milk (it is all right for me to drink that)…

…till it is mushy and soggy…

…and it turned out to be rather nice – I love the taste of the cranberries and there is a hint of sweetness in the oats that makes it a lot easier to eat.

My sister said that I can eat it on alternate days, no need to eat it every day if I am worried about the sugar and incidentally, perhaps I can buy a can of sweetened creamer to add to the oats sometimes – after all, it is not a dairy product so except for the sweetness, it should be fine for me…once in a while. What do you all think?

Not for me…

I’ve been going online to check out the things I should eat and those that I should not and I thought I read somewhere that sweet potatoes are good for me. That was why when I was at the neighbourhood fruit and sundry shop in the next lane, I asked for some of the tuber to take home and cook…

…to eat.

I loved the ones from the Philippines – they were very sweet and were popular here at one time but I do not get to see them anymore nowadays. We have the Japanese purple ones but I am not a fan of those – I’d much sooner stick to our cheaper and nicer orange ones.

That day, the boss told me to take these…

The first thing that crossed my mind was how they looked so pale. I had never seen any like those before but I just went ahead and bought a few to try.

I took two to steam and I was surprised to find that they were yellow inside. They were extra mushy and sticky, not too sweet and were very nice. My girl said that they did get to eat yellow sweet potatoes when they went over to Korea but this was the first time for me and yes, I liked it!

The next day, I took the rest, peeled them and cut them into chunks…

…to cook some Chinese sweet potato dessert/soup. Gosh!!! It was as hard as a rock, so difficult to cut but after much struggle, I did manage in the end.

I boiled them in water with a lot of pandan (screwpine) leaves added for the fragrance and I added a bit of aloe vera jelly as well.

Aloe vera can benefit the kidney in many ways such as protecting it from tissue damage caused by free radicals due to its antioxidant property. It prevents kidney stone formation and reduces the content of harmful substances in the serum such as urea and creatinine. It also has an antimicrobial property which aids in combating renal infections.

To sweeten the soup, I used a bit of gula Melaka (palm sugar). According to this website, “palm sugar is known to have a lower glycemic index (GI) of 35, just over a third of the glycemic index of cane sugar (93)” but “there is no refined natural gula melaka available. If possible, avoid sugar. If not, use natural palm sugar in moderation.” The old folks will usually use rock sugar but I was not using that and anyway, there was none in the house.

Another thing that people like to add is a chunk of ginger. The Chinese believe that sweet potatoes are “cold” so to counter-balance that they would add ginger. I did not do that, of course, as I am not into the taste.

Once the sweet potatoes were cooked, I scooped out a bowl…

…and served.

Yes, it was very nice but I went and googled only to find that I should not be eating things high in potassium like bananas and sweet potatoes as well.

This website says that as sweet potatoes contain high levels of both potassium and phosphorus, avoid eating them BUT sweet potatoes are very nutritious, so don’t remove them from your diet unless your doctor tells you to. The potassium they contain may help lower your blood pressure, and the phosphorus helps your body store energy and repair damaged tissues. Even people with kidney problems need these nutrients, but simply need to limit their consumption to what is necessary for good health.

Oh dear!!! I was thinking of going back to the shop to buy some more but having read that, I changed my mind right away, thank you very much!

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

Slipped my mind…

The other day, when I bought the very awesome ikan terubok (toli shad) that we enjoyed so much, I also bought some bak chik…

…for only RM10.00 a kilo. That’s very affordable and for that kind of money, we could get no less than 20 of the fish, at least – so many of them for our two meals that day.

The nice boys, Madam Lau’s helpers also threw in two ikan kembong for only RM1.00 each. We also deep-fried those…

…to eat and yes, they were good too.

While I was there that morning, I bought one more fish from the boys – they told me it was an ikan senangin. The Malay name sounded familiar but I could not, for the dear life of me, remember what fish that was. It had completely slipped my mind!!!

It turned out to be the threadfin or what we call ngor hu in Hokkien except that usually, it would be very big and I would buy it in thick slabs…

…not whole. This one that the boys were trying to sell to me was very small, around the size of my forearm, for only RM20.00. In the end, I took it and the boys cleaned it for me and cut it into slices, ready for frying.

My missus took two slices that day and steamed them and yes, they were very nice. I did not take any snapshots of those but the next day, she steamed the leftover pieces for lunch…

Don’t you think that looks gorgeous?

For our dinner in the evening that previous day, she fried four slices…

…instead of steaming them…

– I guess she knows that our girl would prefer that instead of having them steamed.

Personally, I felt they were very good either way, steamed or fried and with the price of cooking oil shooting up like nobody’s business, when the fish is suitable for steaming, I think we should just steam it, no need to be too fussy about it, plus that is supposed to be healthier, right?

It was not as good as the ikan lajong…

…that we had that day but it came pretty close! I certainly would buy it again if I happen to see it whole at the stall and yes, I would ask the boy to do a butterfly cut…

…for me to conveniently take it home and steam.

I did mention in an earlier post that I am now on a no red meat diet, no dairy products and no egg yolk but I have to take a lot of protein. That, of course, means that I shall be buying and eating a lot of fish.

I went back to the stall the other morning and bought another kilo of the bak chik (RM10.00) and 2.6 kilos of the kilat or small white pomfret/pek chio/ikan bawal putih…

These are the big ones and no, they do not come cheap, RM35.00 a kilo so I had to pay over RM90.00 because I bought quite a lot that day.

Usually, they are very small so if we limit ourselves to three per meal, six per day, there should be enough for us for two to three days and usually, we would have them fried…

…but for the same aforementioned reason, I think we shall have them steamed instead this time around.

The fish & seafood stall…

…is located to the right of CCL FRESH MINI MARKET against the wall at that end of the block to the right of the Grand Wonderful Hotel (2.309601, 111.845163) along Jalan Pipit, off Jalan Dr Wong Soon Kai.