An old friend…

It sure was a pleasant surprise when I received a message from my old friend, Dr. Ong from Tanjong Malim (originally from Taiping) in Perak. He told me that he would be flying in that day, the 1st of June, Hari Gawai here in Sarawak. The last time he was here was eight years ago in 2015 and prior to that visit, he was in Sibu in 2010 as well. Of course, we were delighted to see him again and we made arrangements to go out for dinner that very night itself.

He was staying at this hotel across the parking area from this restaurant. We had dinner there on New Year’s Day and we managed to get to eat their chequerboard duck, my girl’s favourite but they were out of fish, never mind what fish, that night, so we had to miss their fried filleted white pomfret (pek chio/ikan bawal putih) with its very nice sweet & sour sauce so I told my girl that we would have our dinner there if we could get a vacant parking space – Dr. Ong could just walk across from the hotel…and yes, we were lucky! We did manage to find a place to park the car!

There was one table left but it was booked for 7.00 p.m. – we were there before 6.00 p.m. and they said we could sit there and have our dinner before they came. We quickly grabbed it, of course, and YES, we had the fish…

…that we had been craving for, one of their signature dishes here and yes, it was as good as ever. Craving appeased, finally!

But, of course, we had Dr. Ong, back here from West Malaysia, and what I had in mind actually was to let him enjoy all the things unique only to Sarawak that he had not had all these years so we started off with their kampua mee…

…which was very good, perfectly done and the Sibu Foochow sio bee (siew mai)…

Those were great too but I felt they had shrunk from their original Foochow super size by at least, 25%. They did not look as big as before.

For our vegetable dishes, needless to say, our midin (wild jungle fern)…

…was a must. Dr. Ong said they have paku over at the other side but of course, we all know that midin is much nicer and wins hands down.

Another vegetable that is very common here is the cangkok manis…

They may have this over at the other side – usually, they get a bit in their pan mee or lei cha but most likely, it’s the miniature sayur manis (sweet vegetable), grown and exported from Sabah. I did not quite like how they did it here though – I felt it was a bit starchy like they had added cornflour or something. They do it a lot better elsewhere.

The ladies did not feel like having their tauhu tear (Foochow tofu soup with canned oysters) so we had their sea cucumber soup…

…instead. There were chunks of sea cucumber in it and it tasted really great – like sharks’ fins soup. The serving was huge so we had a few rounds each.

It certainly was a pleasant dinner – good food and good company (my girl enjoys Dr. Ong’s stories)…

…but before I could pick up the tab, Dr. Ong beat me to it and insisted that he paid for everything. If I am not mistaken, the total came up to around RM180.00 (inclusive of rice and a pot of Chinese tea) which came as no surprise as pek chio/bawal putih (white pomfret) costs a bomb and sea cucumber isn’t exactly cheap either.

Thank you, Dr. Ong for the dinner – it sure was good to see you again!

The NEW CAPITOL RESTAURANT 新首都酒家 (2.288619, 111.830057)…

…is located at No. 46, Lebuh Tanah Mas, off Jalan Kampung Nyabor, in the block of shops opposite the Sarawak House/King’s Trioplex/Premier Hotel at the very far end on the right.

For you…

We just celebrated my missus’ birthday not too long ago, a special treat from our girl so we were not planning on anything elaborate come Mother’s Day. However, she insisted on having a little something instead of just letting the day pass us by. Thus, in the end, we agreed to go for a simple lunch here, our favourite Indian/Indonesian restaurant in town. After all, the next day, Monday, was a working day and we would not want to go out the night before.

We did drop by the café the previous weekend because my girl felt like having some biryani rice but the Indian chef had gone back to India (to settle his working visa and what not) during the Hari Raya break and had not come back yet. In the end, we went some place else.

Well, after one week, he had not returned. The boss said he would be back next week. We did agree beforehand that if he had not come back, we would just order from the Indonesian menu. After all, they do have some very nice dishes there too, just that they have not changed since they started their business many many years ago and as a matter of fact, some have been removed.

In the end, my girl and my sister (we invited her to join us – she’s my girl’s godmother) opted for the lamb masala biryani rice (RM27.00 each)…

The Indian chef taught his Indonesian counterpart how to cook some of the Indian dishes and we did try it once the last time he went home and yes, I would say that she could do a very good job indeed, just that she can’t manage to cook using their traditional tandoori oven so those dishes would not be available for the time being. This time around, both my girl and my sister agreed that what they had was very good too and gave their double thumbs up!

My missus stuck faithfully to her favourite from the Indonesian menu here, the ayam bakar berempah set with the urap (Indonesian kerabu, the blanched vegetables with spicy grated coconut), RM16.00…

…and the lovely grilled brinjal with peanut sauce.

I was tied between their kalio ayam or their ayam opor (RM16.00)…

…and in the end, I settled for the latter. After all, the kalio ayam…

…is some kind of Indonesian curry, though not the same as our Malaysian ones, and I felt I had had enough of those over the Hari Raya season and would like something a bit different for a change.

The ayam opor is also very nice, their version of what we call ayam korma here but richer and creamier and nicer, if you asked me, but personally, for no apparent reason, I prefer it when they served everything beside the rice by the side of the plate like this…

…instead of having it all in a bowl. Somehow, I found it more alluring that way.

So there you have it – our Mother’s Day celebration for the year. The overall total for the 4 of us came up to RM100.00, inclusive of drinks. I guess that’s generally what we would need to fork out these days when we choose to eat out.

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 is.

Prefer…

I did mention in my blog the other day that my girl did not order any mee sua (our Foochow traditional longevity noodles) that day for her mum’s birthday celebration dinner because she felt she had ordered too much and chose to leave it out. The latter said it was perfectly all right and added that she would cook some chicken in our Foochow traditional red wine and ginger soup and we could have it on the day itself.

However, when the day finally came, I had a change of heart. I know my girl is not exactly fond of mee sua the traditional way and prefers having it fried instead so off we went that afternoon for her favourite in town…

…at this restaurant that we used to frequent quite a lot, with the symbolic golden eggs by the side. I asked for three only as my girl is not into hardboiled eggs and usually, I would eat two, eating hers as well on her behalf.

We also asked for the Thai-style mango chicken…

…and it was very very good. The serving was huge but it did not matter one bit as we managed to lick the plate clean, the four of us (I did ask my sister to join us!).

This is another one of my girl’s favourite, their fried bread crumb-coated fish fillet served with mayonnaise…

…here so I ordered that as well. I don’t think they use any special expensive type of fish, just those cheap frozen fish fillet sold at the supermarkets everywhere but I particularly like how they do it. They would slice it so very thinly and deep fry each slice till very nice and crusty so the fish would not be soft/jelly-like and would not have an unpleasant smell.

The cangkok manis fried with egg…

…would have been a lot nicer if the vegetable had been a little bit younger. As it was, it was a tad hard.

For a change from the usual soups that we would usually have, I asked for the claypot tofu…

…and yes, it was very good! I loved particularly the slices of yam in it! We certainly would want to order this again should we happen to drop by anytime in the near future.

Servings were HUGE that day because I did not ask for smaller servings for 2 or 3 (for the 4 of us) like what I would usually do but it did not matter as we enjoyed everything so much! It certainly was a very delightful lunch…especially when we had not dropped by for quite sometime. Even the boss said that he just mentioned to the wife a couple of days ago that they had not seen me for a while.

Well, there was word going round that the quality of what they served had not been consistently good but what we had that day was undeniably good, no question about it. We were very early, 11.00 a.m. and the lunchtime crowd had not come in yet. Perhaps it is best to go when the place is not so crowded but their business does seem very good these days (it was fully booked that day!!!).

The total for the food came up to RM105.00 altogether for the 4 of us. That, of course, came as no surprise as our bills at such chu-char (cook &fry) places would turn out to be more or less that much in these days of rising prices. As far as I am concerned, as long as everything is good, value for money, it is perfectly all right with me.

RUBY RESTAURANT…  

…is located at No. 71, Jalan Kampung Nyabor right next to HOME COOK CORNER  (2.292756, 111.825335) with the AmBank Tunku Osman branch in the very next block.

A few days ago…

We celebrated my missus’ 67th birthday on Wednesday…

…in advance because my girl is having her commitments in the church at the Saturday sunset service this evening and the restaurant was fully booked yesterday and the day before.

My girl went and bought this cake…

…from the bakery near my house, their Chocolate Indulgence – her favourite from that cake franchise in the country but I would not touch that one with a 10-foot pole as theirs is extremely sweet. This one was fine, like it was almost sugar free, not sweet at all…and they used dark chocolate.

She decided to skip the longevity noodles (mee sua) with the golden eggs as she ended up ordering too many dishes for the six of us (including my brother-in-law, his wife and also my sister). The mum said that she would cook our own and eat that at home on the actual day, today.

We had the Thai-style chicken…

…that we had the first few times we started coming here for dinner and liked a lot and another favourite of ours here, their steamed cod fish…

An ex-student of mine had dinner with his family here sometime ago and I saw that he had the Crispy Pata aka the Philippine pork leg…

…and he said that everything they had was very nice.

That was why I asked my girl to order that so we could give it a try. I wouldn’t say that it swept me off my feet – in fact, I wouldn’t mind it being a little bit more salty and crispy. I must say that I did enjoy the skin, the fat and the tendons a lot though, all that collagen! I guess the next time, we would just stick to those very nice sticky pork ribs that we had everytime we came here…

*Photo from the restaurant’s Facebook page*

…the one with the pickled jelly fish by the side. That one would win hands down!

I tried ordering their creamy butter prawns many times but every time, they would get it wrong. My girl tried asking for it and thankfully, this time around, they got it right…

I did not eat any, of course, just a bit of the gravy because of my current skin affliction and yes, it was very very nice. Everyone was singing praises of how fresh and succulent the prawns were so I guess they all loved it a lot.

There were bits of crab meat in the fish lips soup…

…but I just “looked the other way“. Thankfully, I did not end up scratching all night long! I asked my girl to order that because she loves sharks’ fins soup – same recipe, just one different ingredient, but we are not eating that anymore these days – save the sharks!

The Four Heavenly Kings, ching chao (fried plain)…

…would have been very nice if the ladies fingers had been a little younger. They were a bit too old, a tad hard and not all that palatable.

For our dessert, we had this very nice freshly-made deep fried Chinese pancake…

…straight from the pan and yes, I liked how it was kurang gula (less sugar) too.

It certainly was a delightful birthday celebration, albeit a simple one among the few of us in the immediate family and I must say I was surprised that the bill came up to only RM325.00 for the food despite the presence of the prawns, the fish lips soup, the cod and the Philippine pork leg. I was expecting something in the region of RM500.00, at least! My girl insisted on picking up the tab so thank you, love, for the scrumptious treat – that sure was so very sweet of you!

The GRAND WONDERFUL RESTAURANT is right beside the GRAND WONDERFUL FOOD COURT (2.309601, 111.845163)…

…to the left, in that same building where the GRAND WONDERFUL HOTEL is located, along Jalan Pipit, off Jalan Dr Wong Soon Kai, on your right. You can also go in via Jalan Pipit from Jalan Pahlawan – go straight ahead till you get to it on your left.

For now…

I guess that’s it for now till around this time next year. I did not go to visit my relatives and friends during Hari Raya this time around owing to my ill health and my skin affliction – I bet the sight of my ugly sores all over my arms and legs would ruin their appetite for all the nice stuff that they had prepared for the auspicious occasion and I didn’t think I’d be the best of company that people would love to have around.

My sister did give us some of the Malay culinary delights that she got from a good friend, the beef rendang…

…and the chicken korma…

…which was in a darker shade than what we would see usually and the daging masak hitam…

We sure enjoyed them all with the ketupat lemak or ketupat pulut that she also got from the aforementioned friend…

I went out looking for it a few days before Hari Raya but to no avail.  Somebody told me that the ones somewhere around the Simpang Tiga roundabout, sold one or two days before Hari Raya every year, were to him, the best around here. That was why over the next few days, I went driving past, going round the roundabout to try and locate the stall.

That was during the pre-COVID days, so very long ago so I am not even sure if she is still around or not and anyway, when I did manage to grab hold of a few that year, they were somewhat over-cooked and a bit disappointing. I guess that is always the problem when you want to cook something in bulk, a whole lot at one go.

Well, we had had our fair share of all our favourite Malay culinary delights throughout the month of Ramadan…

…so come Hari Raya proper, after this round, I was feeling that I had had enough of these things and was craving for some porridge and a couple of simple dishes to go with it instead. This usually happens around Chinese New Year but that would be during those few days only – Ramadan lasted one whole month!

I fried this omelette with a sprinkling of chopped spring onions from our garden…

…and I opened a can of baked beans…

…to go with my porridge, with Bovril added, of course…

Yes, I sure enjoyed that!

Well, the weekend’s here! School will reopen on Tuesday as Monday, May the 1st is a public holiday – Labour Day and Thursday, the 4th of May is Wesak Day. I guess my girl will have to go back to the grind for a few weeks before the Gawai Dayak and the mid-year holidays come around. Gee! Life sure is good, isn’t it!

Younger generation…

My foster-auntie, my late dad’s foster-sister, invited us to her eldest grandson’s wedding banquet last Friday night.

We’re no spring chicken, anymore and these days, if there is a wedding in the family, it will not be somebody from my generation or the one before but one from a younger generation, a nephew or a niece, perhaps.

Well, I could not make it that night, of course, owing to my ill health so my daughter went with my sister instead and yes, she had a jolly good time with her paternal grand-aunt, uncles and aunties at her same table. She said that one of them jokingly said that the groom, an Australian Curtin University (Miri campus) alumni currently working in the UK, resembled Jho Low…

…of 1MDB! LOL!!!

My girl took snapshots of the food so I am able to share them here with everybody, all that was served that night.

The dinner started off with this very impressive more-than-Four Seasons…

I always enjoyed this dish and I never knew where to stop, so much so that by the end of it all, I was already too full and could hardly eat much of the remaining dishes in the banquet.

Oopppssss!!! Despite all that has been said and done, this…

…is STILL a common feature at Chinese banquets here for its snob appeal, never mind that the offensive stuff is so small, smaller than what I can dig out of my nose. Worse, word has it that there are imitations but they charge you the same price as the real thing! I would much sooner opt for the popular alternative these days – black chicken soup with scallops and abalone with shitake mushroom, so very sweet and so very nice. Incidentally, word has it that this was fish lips soup that they had that night, no cause for alarm.

I bet my girl was a bit disappointed as we always hope for the duck stuffed with lor mai kai-like glutinous rice stuffing everytime we attend a banquet at this hotel. That is so very nice but that night, they had roast duck instead…

Ah well, I guess my girl enjoyed it too – just like the dad, she enjoys duck even though the mum would not touch it with a 10-foot pole.

This thick slab of cod…

…must have cost a bomb. Just a thin slice, frozen, would come up to almost RM100.00 at the supermarket, uncooked! It is one of my girl’s favourite fish so I am pretty sure she had had her fair share of it that night.

Nobody knew what that was in the middle…

…probably some seafood or mushroom kind of thing but they said it was very nice and they liked it.

These two-in-one must be pork, done in two different ways…

…and the desserts were served after that.

Oh? They did not have prawns that night. Usually, the crustaceans come second last, before the dessert, in a Chinese banquet here – butter prawns or kiam sor hay (salty crispy prawns). I would not be able to eat that if they had those and I was there owing to my current skin affliction.

The first plate of dessert looked quite miserable…

…with just one piece of whatever that was on the left. Surely they did not expect everyone to cut and share that tiny bit among themselves?

Last but not least, they had the traditional old school iced peach and longan…

…that we used to wait longingly for whenever we had the chance to attend any Chinese banquet in our younger days.

Thank you so much to my foster-auntie for the invitation and congratulations to the newly-weds. May God bless you two with abundant happiness in the days ahead, cheers!

Round two…

No, I did not go to any of the Ramadan bazaars all over town but neither did the ladies…after the first time. One reason for that, of course, was the fact that the weather had not been very kind. Yes, it would be scorching hot on most days, typical of the Muslim fasting month every year but on other days, we would get heavy downpours and on one of those days, even a freak storm that caused a lot of destruction.

At the time of writing, Hari Raya Aidilfitri is still two weeks away but word has it that they will close shop around this weekend to make all the preparations, do all their own cooking and baking for the grand festival towards the end of the month. I guess there is probably just enough time for one last round, that’s all.

Well, the other day, I noticed that we did not have much of anything for dinner in the house so I suggested to my girl that perhaps it would be a good time to hit the streets and go to the Ramadan Bazaars again and yes, she was very keen on the idea…and off she went with her mum.

Obviously, they were not very adventurous because they went back to the same ol’ one they went to previously at Kampung Bandong but I can understand why they did that. Over the years, what they sold here had been a cut above those at the other bazaars in town so one simply couldn’t go wrong in choosing to come here – no need to try one’s luck elsewhere only to be disappointed in the end.

My girl was somewhat disappointed with the nasi tomato she bought the last time and this time around, she gave the nasi biryani a try. There was a stall manned by a couple who did not pre-pack everything like what the rest would do all the time. They would only pack everything one by one when you ordered…

…and they sure were very generous with everything.

My girl never liked the nasi biryani at the Malay shops and stalls – she said they all tasted the same, like their yellow rice – the nasi kuning or the nasi minyak or the nasi kunyit and what have you. A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet!

She loved this one…

…though, RM13.00 with the very nice fall-off-the-bone tender lamb curry…

She said chicken was RM8.00 and they had beef as well.

At most other places, they will give you the rice and the meat curry, some acar timun (cucumber pickle) and perhaps, a piece of papadum. Here, my girl got a very generous helping of the acar timun…

…and also this delightful vegetable dhal curry…

Initially, I felt the price was a bit steep even though we do know jolly well that lamb is expensive but they were so generous with everything and it was so very very nice. My girl sure enjoyed it to the max – hopefully, she would be able to go again one more time for another round of this. Otherwise, she would have to wait till next year!

I said I did not want anything as I was still on my soft diet of plain porridge but my missus bought me this chicken liver…

…which was a little spicy but it was so very nice that I could not resist eating a whole lot of it with my porridge even though the two were not all that compatible.

She went to our regular nasi campur stall at Bandong and got herself these prawns…

…and also these young oil palm shoots, masak lemak (with santan/coconut milk)…

…and both were exceptionally good.

As far as this stall is concerned, it isn’t much of a problem as it opens regularly throughout the year (except Sundays…and maybe Saturdays, as well) but in previous years, they took the whole month off after Ramadan and Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

We certainly were happy with our purchases this second round – hopefully, we can hop over one of these days for one last time before this month of fasting and feasting draws to a close.

Easter…

After the season of Lent, the joyous Blessed Easter Sunday came but this year, there wasn’t much of a celebration as I was somewhat ill-disposed.

We could not get hold of any hot cross buns, traditionally eaten at this time of the year – not something that we can just go and buy here but they did give out some Easter eggs to the congregation after the service at church. My missus and my girl went and they did bring one home for me.

My sister managed to get a friend to make these lovely scones…

…and she got some for us as well. There were the plain butter scones, the raisin and the ones with cranberries and the lady did give some cinnamon butter to go with the former.

I did mention in my previous post that my niece, the one working in Singapore, was home for the Easter weekend and she brought these home…

…for her cousin, my girl. She’s really such a sweet girl, that niece of mine, all heart!

As I said earlier, we did not go out to celebrate but after the morning service on Easter Sunday morning, the two ladies went for brunch and they had the prawn and pork dumplings…

…at this very popular food centre in town where this dumpling stall in particular is drawing customers in huge numbers…every day! Yes, they loved it so much and came home praising it to the skies.

They bought me some to try but even though it was still mid-morning, those people were running out of dumplings already and they only managed to get me the pork ones…

Yes, it was very nice. The meat filling tasted like those dim sum sio bee, the texture and the taste and the soup was very thick and very rich…

…unlike our watered down ones in our bowl of pian sip soup.

Thankfully, the price did not exceed my self-imposed limit of RM10.00 but still, at over RM8.00 for what I had and over RM9.00 for the one with prawns that the ladies had, you sure would not catch me running back there for more all that soon. Don’t get me wrong though – we certainly would go back there for more or to try whatever else they have to offer at their stall despite the prices and the crowd.

In the meantime, on one of those days, my girl insisted on going over to this coffee shop for her favourite pain sip (meat dumplings) in town, tossed in dark soy sauce…

Yes, this is the place that I have been grumbling about – where the kampua mee is RM5.00 a plate…

…and they do not even bother to put in a bit of effort to present it nicely and serve it in a clean plate.

Haters will hate and many will tell you that the noodles here are not as nice as before. We go back a very long way…to 2008 or earlier and yes, I do feel it was much nicer then but it is still not too bad right now – compared to many of the rest in town. Some will insist that they give you a bigger serving but it is quite obvious in the above photograph that it isn’t really so.

There are those who insist that the pian sip (dumplings) are bigger, how they use their special own-made skin that is bigger and how they would add more meat. I have not seen that with my own eyes but yes, I would say that I like their pian sip soup…

…very much and would go back for theirs time and time again despite the jacked-up prices!

JOY FOOD COURT is located at No. 52, Lorong Lau King Howe 1, right next door to Lim Teh and SOON HOCK CAFE & RESTAURANT (2.312181, 111.845824) is located among the Delta Mall/Jalan Pedada area of shops, facing the Methodist church along Lorong Taman Seduan 8, off Jalan Gambir.

A little early…

My niece, the one working in Singapore, came home for the Easter weekend and she wanted to invite us out to dinner to celebrate her father’s birthday…

…at the end of this month. Yes, it is a little early but she can’t make it home again at the time so she wanted to have it way in advance.

As everyone knows by now, I have been somewhat ill-disposed lately so I told them to go ahead and have a good time – I would just stay home by myself and sit this one out. No, the sweet girl would have nothing on the sort and insisted on going to tapao some nice dishes from here and bring to my house so we can all enjoy the celebration together.

Other than the cake from Marcus, my sister-in-law cooked this gorgeous chicken soup with the symbolic “golden eggs”, shitake mushroom, scallops and abalone, New Moon Brand, no less…

I simply couldn’t resist a second helping! There wasn’t any longevity noodles (mee sua) though – if she had told us early, we could have prepared that, lots in the house.

This pork belly dish…

…was very nice, served with these steamed buns (mantao)…

…but I think the braised pork belly that we had for our Chap Goh Meh dinner would win hands down.

Their variation of the pek chang kay (poached/steamed chicken), the spring onion chicken…

…was very good but I prefer it plain, unadulterated.

The sweet and sour fish fillet…

…would have been very nice if eaten there, piping hot from the wok. Unfortunately, it was already cold and the crusty batter coating had gone all soft and soggy. I shall have to order that to give it another chance the next time we go and dine at that restaurant.

We had this own-made tofu…

…before, one of their signature dishes and yes, it was just as nice this time around.

We also ordered this Foochow fried noodles, wet (with sauce/gravy)…

…for our Chap Goh Meh dinner that day and we did say it was good, just that it wasn’t quite like the real thing. I guess if you are looking for something authentic, something like what we grew up eating over the years, it would be best to try elsewhere.

On the other hand, the fried noodles, dry…

…was very good and I particularly enjoyed their fried kway teow…

…much nicer than many in town, including my brother-in-law’s favourite here.

A point of interest to note, if you drop by this Chinese restaurant, which is not some crowded and noisy coffee shop or food court and order a plate of their noodles or kway teow for breakfast or brunch, they do serve single servings at RM6.00 a plate – the same or perhaps even cheaper than the rest elsewhere. I sure wouldn’t mind dropping by sometimes for the kway teow again.

My niece also ordered this plate of bitter gourd fried with egg…

…and with so many dishes, that would be more than enough to go round but no, she got so carried away that she did not know where to stop. LOL!!!

My brother-in-law went to this restaurant and bought their Sibu Foochow sio bee…

…and they turned out to be VERY nice! When my cousin was home from Brisbane that day, we went there for lunch but we did not order those. Somebody said it was a blessing in disguise as with the change in management and ownership, new people at the helm, their sio bee was horrible, no longer like what they used to be. Well, I would say that was absolutely untrue!!! I enjoyed it so much but my brother-in-law did say he bought freshly-made ones, not something from their stock of the frozen sio bee that they usually make for sale.

We heated up the packet of the yogurt lamb curry…

…that I got for Chinese New Year and my missus made some more som tam…

…for everyone to enjoy. I did not touch either of them as there were simply too many choices that I was at a loss where to start or end!

My niece also headed to the Ramadan stalls, the main ones in the town centre and bought this ayam panggang (BBQ chicken), half a bird at only RM10.00…

…and a few sticks of satay…

They were all right, just that I know of a few places that have an edge over these that she bought.

They were grumbling that the sotong bakar (grilled squids)…

…were so very small but they did seem to enjoy it a lot. I did not touch it, of course, in view of my current skin affliction. I did not touch the nasi kerabu…

…either as I am not sure what they have in the sambals and last but not least, there was this platter with an assortment of keropok lekor, cucur pisang and so on…

…that I did not touch either as I was already bursting at the seams.

As always, we had a wonderful time, enjoying all the food and catching up with one another’s lives. I always enjoy these family gatherings which serve to strengthen our family ties and bring us all closer to one another.

JING DU RESTAURANT (2.293190, 111.835860)… 

…is located on the ground floor at No. 17, Lot3545, Lorong Chew Siik Hiong 1A.

Holy day…

Friday last week was a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics, a day of fasting and abstinence.

However, the practice of fasting among Catholics is not exactly the same as among the Muslims. We are allowed a light meal in the morning for breakfast and one in the evening for dinner, but both together should not be as much as a heavy meal on normal days, be it lunch or dinner.

Normally, in the past, I would just fast the whole day and have a reasonably filling meal for dinner, that was all but I do not follow it so strictly these days as those over the age of 60 are exempted from fasting plus I am not really fit these days for it.

Abstinence (from meat) is mandatory though, never mind how old you are. That is why on such days, I would opt for plain porridge and in my case, since I still have Marmite in the house, I would have the two together…

This time around, I asked my missus to fry me a plain omelette…

…and open a can of baked beans…

…to go with the porridge, nothing fancy, something very plain but decent enough to tide me through the day, a bit for brunch and a bit for dinner.

This…

…was also last week but on another day. My missus had boiled a packet of tang hoon (glass noodles) to go with her fish ball soup but somehow or other, nobody was keen on having it like that.

In the end, she decided to fry it with sliced lap cheang (Chinese sausage), egg, taugeh (bean sprouts) and she threw in some left over lor bak (braised pork) slices and the sauce. Yes, it was very very nice…

…bursting with flavours and we enjoyed it a lot. Needless to say, it was all gone in no time at all but personally, I would prefer it a bit plain or simpler. Anyway as they say, waste not, want not!