Back for you

After our first taste of stinky tofu in June, hubby can't wait to go back to taste it again. I never knew he loves this snack so much that he was craving for it for few days!

It was a Tuesday, Hari Raya Haji holiday. We left our house around 430pm, and the road that evening wasnt so jammed.  So it was a smooth drive to Yeyan Food Court in Simpang Tiga. Luckily no queue in front of the Stinky Tofu stall unlike on my first visit which took such a long time for my order to prepare.

This time, hubby did the ordering.  I wasn't keen to taste it again, so I left it for him to order.  We were the only customers that ordered the stinky tofu so it took 15 minutes to prepare and deep fry the tofu.  Rest assured, they made it fresh when customers ordered it, so we needed to be patient waiting for our dish.

Pinoy menu

Lechon baboy

While waiting, we ordered some pork dishes from Pinoy Lechon Baboy stall. In our previous visit, I bought its roasted pork belly and it was tasty, tender and nice, so this round, we also ordered that.  RM20 for the pork belly and a RM10 for pork adobo. The pork adobo was peppery and spicy and the meat was tender.  

Pork adobo

So, we had takeaway iced tea, Pinoy pork dishes and stinky tofu from Yeyan that  evening. We immediately took the stinky tofu in our car with the iced tea. This time, we had the Thai chilli stinky tofu (RM8) and tea-infused black stinky tofu (RM8).  

2 missing pieces as hubby ate them before I took photo of this

Tea- infused tasted nicer

However hubby commented the stinky tofu in our 1st visit was nicer as stinkier and tastier.  This round, he commented it wasn't pungent enough.  I agreed with him that the tofu wasn't as smell and stinky but I find it pleasant enough for my tastebuds.  It is an acquired taste and everyone's tolerance and preference for such fermented food is different.  

Anyone in Kuching that is interested or dare to try it out, you can pre-order first by calling this number to avoid long wait. 

Stackers

This is one of hubby's favourite pickles. He has been into pickles lately, from Chinese mustards to cucumber. There was even one time when he was all crazy about kim chi! And it took him so long to finish a container of kim chi that  our neighbour home-made and gave us last year. I ain't adventurous when it come to pickles as my tolerance for pickles is very low.  Lol. 

This Fehlbergs sandwich stackers was bought from Choice Daily few months ago, I can't remember the price. As you can see, that the glass bottle only left half as my 'oppa' has been eating it whenever I made sandwiches.

The sweet and tangy cucumber slices can goes with burgers and sandwiches. This was our breakfast during the Hari Raya Haji.  We were lazy to go out, and I woke up late as I had a good sleep after my 2nd dose of Sinovac the day before.

Hubby's toasted sandwich consisted of fried egg, luncheon meat, sandwich stackers, cheese and tomato sauce. Simple, right?

Of course, some day I will make double sandwich for him. Double beef patties with hashbrown, stackers, cheese and egg. And tomato sauce as he can never do without ketchup in his sandwiches!! 

 

Mum's way

Growing up, I love having my mum's salted chicken. It was flavourful, salty and went so well with white rice or even porridge. It has been ages since I had it, so one weekend, I decided to try cooking it at home. Following my mum's way of cooking salted chicken. 

This is a very simple Hakka salted chicken, as it only need very few ingredients.  Chicken, coarse salt, ginger and white pepper. And all you need is a wok and spatula.  

Ingredients:

2 chicken thinghs, cleaned

Coarse salt

Sea salt

Grated ginger, about 1 tsp

White pepper

Methods:

1. Rub sea salt, ginger and white pepper all over the thighs for an hour or so.

2. In a wok under low heat, add in the coarse salt once it is hot and fry the salt till it turns slightly brown. Place the chicken thighs on top of the salt.  Cover the chicken thighs with the coarse salt.

3. You can cover lid on the wok or leave it.  Turn the chicken twice along the cooking time. There will be some crackling sounds as the result of the salt drying up.

4. Cook for about 20 minutes or till chicken is cooked. Dish out the chicken from the salt. Discard the dirty coarse salt once it has cooled down.  Chop the chicken thighs into pieces once they have cool down. Serve warm.

Our simple Sunday dinner of Hakka salted chicken, braised pork trotter, and stir fried bok choy. Recipe of pork trotter which is also inspired by my mum, is here. Enjoy cooking and eating!

Meaty

There was one stall in this coffee shop that I had wanted to try for quite sometime but never get to till early this month. 

It was a Sunday and hubby, Jan and I went out leaving the boys at home. SOP was relaxed now with dine-in allowed and most businesses are open now. Jan wanted to get some parts for her RBT (reka bentuk & teknologi) subject project so we went to DIY. After that, we headed to this coffee shop to tapau before went home. 

Curry mixed rice. Looking at the menu, they also serve lo bak rice.  But I wanted to try its curry mixed rice, see if it was any good. 

The stall operator operated 3 stalls, namely economy rice, roasted meat and traditional curry rice. 

So, one Sunday morning, we dropped by the coffee shop, and bought takeaway for lunch. A very meaty lunch. 

Hubby had its lo bak rice while I stuck to my decision of tasting the curry mixed rice. RM7 each. 

I did not pour all curry gravy onto my rice as I shared it with my man. I much prefer fried egg instead of the stewed egg as traditional curry mixed rice (in my mind) supposed to have that. Anyway, this curry mixed rice was alright. The rice was soft and fluffy, meat was nice but char siew and braised pork were rather tough. 

Roasted chicken rice (RM6) for the kids. Their lunch was nicer with fragrant oil rice and tasty roasted chicken. 

What's there?

 It was the 1st Saturday of the month.

It was our monthly grocery shopping so hubby and I went to our usual place, Emart Hypermarket to do our shopping. As it was almost 830am, the place was rather crowded but still not too packed. We did not waste time, just did our shopping as quick as we could. We finished around 10am, and we thought of settling our lunch there.

There was a new Malay eatery that we had never patronised before, so we decided to see what's there on the menu. Malihah Chicken, a stone throw away from KFC. Clean and well managed outlet, the food was reasonably priced too.  Self-service and only cater for takeaway. 

We bought 3 packs of nasi lemak (RM3 each), 2 chicken burgers (RM2 each, with choice of beef and chicken), and 5 chicken wings (RM2 each).

Jan and Jay took the burgers, and they commented the burgers were spicy. 

Hubby took 2 packs of nasi lemak, I had one pack with a piece of chicken wing and I was full. Jamie ate his McD's porridge  for lunch that we bought in the morning.

For snack, we had this rainbow mix that we bought in Emart.  RM14.90 for this snack. I liked them as it was not roasted. 

Mix of nuts and raisins, where everyone could pick and enjoy. I like  the walnuts, raisin and pumpkin seeds the most.

When they open

When most businesses are allowed to open under current Phase 2 of National Recovery Plan last week, the first thing that came to our mind was to visit some of the shops.

No, not dine-in for us although it has been allowed last Friday in Sarawak. There was mixed reaction from us when it comes to dine-in as cases are still not going down drasticly. For time being, we prefer takeaway and food delivery than dine-in in eateries. 

One of the shops that we wanted to visit was hair salon. The boys (including the daddy) were in need of a good hair cut. It has been almost 2 months since their last cut so we had an overdue visit to our hair dresser last Saturday morning.

Another shop was electrical shop. My current fridge (10 years old) has some problem since April and we were not able to go to electrical shop as it was non-essential business that wasn't allowed to open till now.

Even after repair and services in March, the fridge wasn't working so well sometime. One day, it was very cold, ice was frozen but other day, the ice would melt. Since I have a deep freezer, I keep all my frozen stuff in there. So after much talk with hubby, we decided to get a new fridge this week.

New black steel fridge next to our old one

How about you? What was the first place you went to when we entered the new phase? 

A vintage shop's front display

Cucuk 💉

My first Covid-19 vaccination was on 28 June. Hubby got his first dose of Sinovac one week earlier at his panel clinic. We were familiar with the doctor so the doctor helped to arrange for mine as well.

Monday came and the clinic called me to ask whether I could make it for 2pm appointment. That VERY same day. Of course I was alright with it since I was free. So my first dose of Sinovac vaccine was administered that afternoon. 

The doctor noticed that I had mild skin allergy before gave me my dose so she advised that I took the allergy medication right after the jab. So once I was out from the doctor room, a nurse passed me a tablet with a cup of water. 

During the 15 minutes observation, I felt thirsty and my left arm was slightly sore. My left arm was sore and I felt lethargic for 2 to 3 days. Super thirsty, throat was dry and I kept on drinking a lot of water for couple of days. Other than that side effects, I was alright and continue with my daily chores. 

That night after the jab, I started to feel sleepy and tired, so I went to bed before 9pm. Yes, you read it correctly. I went to bed before everyone else! And I slept till the next morning and up around 7am. Oh my. Just in time to cook a quick breakfast before getting ready for the boy's online class. 

Three weeks later, yesterday afternoon I completed my 2nd dose of vaccine. 15 minutes observation period and at the same time, the nurse helped to activate the MySejahtera app and in few steps later, my digital certificate was displayed on my phone.

RM3 each, brought from a nearby fruits shop

I was much prepared this round. Bought 2 coconuts in the morning, and cut and drank the juice after I got back from my jab. Coconut juice can help in relieving fever and heatiness, some said. Maybe it did helped me, as I was doing alright yesterday.  No fever or tired. The only side effects I had were dry throat and sore arm (and I still have a mild sore arm when I woke up this morning).  

Stronger 2nd vaccine, so expect stronger side effect (if any), and my doctor advised to drink more fluid. Some people has not side effect at all. Like my man. He utterly didn't feel anything. For me, it was bearable side effect, nothing so serious.

And did anyone try the after-vaccine electromagnetic effect? I did!! Amazingly, it worked on both arms. Magneto's power! 

On good note, I feel great to be in the same book with many Malaysians and others around the world in getting a full vaccination and continue our fight against the pandemic. 

Now my priority is my children. I have registered Jan for her vaccination last month, while waiting for Jay to turn 12 next month to be able to register him. Hope the vaccine will soon be available to younger children so I could get Jamie to do as well. Fingers cross!