Counting sushi

Spent the last Saturday of June in Star Mega Mall. My girl suggested having a sushi for dinner. After shopping, we went to Sushi King. Luckily it was early so few tables were vacant.

The kids were eager to grab their favourite sushi from the conveyor since they conveniently seated nearer to the conveyor. They love the fish roe sushi so we ate quite few plates of that.

Other than sushi, we ordered its soft-shell crab. Never missed ordering this when ever we are here. However this time, the crab was rather dry. I prefer it juicier.

We also ordered unagi set to share 

 as well as this yniku don (beef rice)

Not a great food experience there. Staff service was not good but to compensate that, the waiting time was bearable. We did not wait long for our order. A satisfying meal overall.

Another simple steamed custard

Another simple recipe from my kitchen. This is really easy and not time consuming. Tasty too.

I love steamed egg custards. I cook this dish a lot, usually once or twice a week. The kids enjoy it too. When I am running out of idea on what to cook, this is the dish!

Usually I will layer the mince on bottom of the dish then pour eggs over it. This time it is the other way. I topped the custard with some minced meat to add more flavour to the dish.

Slowly crack open 4 medium sized eggs into a bowl. Slowly beat as to avoid air into the egg; this create a lovely smooth custard. Add a cup of water and 1 tsp salt into the beaten egg and continue beating. Then sieve into a steaming dish. Steam under high heat for 15 minutes.

While the custard is cooking, chop 2 cloves of garlic, slice a thumb sized ginger and slice 4 mushrooms. Add 2 tbsp oil in a fry pan, add garlic, ginger and mushroom into it. Stir for few minutes and then add minced pork. Continue stirring to break the meat apart.

Cook till the mince is cooked. Add 4 tbsp oyster sauce, 1/2 tbsp sesame oil, 5 tbsp shao xing wine, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp sugar and dash of pepper. 

When custard is done, just add the mince topping on top and serve warm!

Egg-cellent custard to go with white rice!

P/S: Can add onion into the mince. If you like your topping to be more moist, just add all the sauces into the mince, mix and let it matinate for few minutes before cook as steps above. This topping is even great as mantao (white bun)'s filling!

Wish for a cooler weekend!

Weekend is here! So look forward to the weekend. 

Did not do much last weekend as hubby was still recovering from his rib pain and Jamie was down with fever and crankiness. We stayed at home on Sunday. Weather was crazy too, just made us lazy and hesitate to go anywhere.

I always love weekend. Why? Because no need to wake up early and rush for schools. No need to get myself burn under the sun waiting for my kids in afternoon. And everyone gets together and lazy on the couch waiting their favourite channels! Maybe this week we are going to shopping mall. We love hanging out in the mall because of the air-con. We did not go for 2 weekends now. And we can shop too. Yay!

Miscellaneous Picture # 22 : Red alert

I do not normally enjoy sour food but as a kid, tomato kuaw tiaw was always my favourite. Not too much of tomato sauce yet it gives a tingly tomato taste.

Tasted one the other day in Junction but unfortunately it was too sourish!! Too much of tomato sauces. 

And I were disappointed with this Mexican pancake. Too expensive to have a roti canai-like pancake with some veggie bites and cheese in it for a price of RM12! Btw, what is a Mexican pancake??

The famous international football tournament has been over 2 weeks now! I don't watch them live as the hours are way passed my bedtime, but I catch on the highlights and delayed matches. Which team are you cheering for?

On something natural, who doesn't admire the beauty of our national flower, hibiscus!! 

Weekend Menu #63 : Simple luncheon + Silkie soup recipe

A cooking weekend again! Just so lazy to go out to eat under the warm sun. Wanna peek at what we had? Ta-da!

Stir fried french beans with anchovies, ngoh hiang, black chicken soup and fried egg and luncheon meat

Simple right? With kids at home, I could only cook something simple and require less work. Made and freeze the ngoh hiang a day before. I always clean and store my veggies in container or cling wrap them to preserve freshness. Cook them when you want too.

As for the soup, I just throw the meat into slow cooker and let it slow cooked.

Silkie, or commonly known as black chicken here is the star of the day! It is known for its nutrition value. Better than other coloured chicken. Black chicken has high dietary fiber and contains less fat, is usually cooked with Chinese herbs. It gives black chicken meat leaner in texture but basically taste the same like other chickens.

Everything is black or greyish colour, including the bones!!

I used the Chinese herbs in moderation for this tonic soup. The herbs gave the soup a fragrant and flavourish taste; great for body rejuvenation.

Codonopsis ginseng, Chinese yam,Wolfberries, Polygonatum, Angelica root, Dried dates and Dried Longan

Just blanch the chicken for few minutes then throw the chicken and herbs in boiling water in slow cooker, let it cook for 2 hours. Add salt and white pepper to taste. Turn off the heat and add 1 tbsp shao xing wine and stir before serve.

My tonic soup

Food mark and eat

Been to the Sibu Superbowl few months ago when hubby's company organised a staff bowling tournament.  Played 2 games of bowling and ended up with cramped hands. Lol!  That time, we did not go to the hawker stalls centre which is adjoining the bowling centre since we had food catering then.

Surprisingly, only 4 stalls operating there. A mini hawker centre, they should be called

However last Saturday after picked up my hubby from airport, we went there for dinner.     Heard from Suituapui that new operator took over and I must try out some of its stalls.  So before we went there, I have marked which stall and food that I must have in my mind! There is a book or page mark, so here, I called it food mark! Mark what you want to eat when you happen to be there! ^^

The centre is named as BBC Cafe and it even has a Facebook page. I am not so sure it was called BbcCafe then.

We tried the Malay food stall which is between the Western and Chinese stalls. My girl had its mee goreng (no spicy) for RM3.50. I liked it as not wet at all. My girl thought the same as she finished up most of her noodle. And the Malay couple was very friendly and spoke English with my girl, telling her it was not spicy at all.

And hubby also had its mee jawa (RM4.00). It was rather bland unfortunately, I did not feel it was a great dish that evening.

Who could resist a big glass of cold drink on a warm evening?? We could not get enough of this peach and longan drink!! Fit for 2 persons to consume! And I were not finished yet! This tall glass just cost RM6.00!! Surprise? Surprise? If in Kuching, this tall glass will definitely cost around RM10 or more. I know one fruit juice stall in Waterfront Kuching serves its tall glass of fruit juice at RM15!

This is truly a must-have when you are here! Lamb satay! RM10 for 6 sticks. I am a lamb lover and I gave this satay a thumb up! We could not get enough of this super tasty lamb satay that was tender and juicy. Ooh gosh! Love the fat on the lamb too! Because they used the fatty part, the satay was great. And it went well with the chili sauce!

I have to declare that this kuaw tiaw with cockle is the best that I have tasted in Sibu!! This dish was from the Western food stall. I remember a young man, who is a friend of STP that mend the stall. However I did not introduce myself that night as he just set up his stall when we were there. I had its regular plate for RM6; and what a big serving it came out! I do not think I could finish if I had order its special that come with fried chicken for RM9.90.

Look at the chuncky and fresh cockles

I love that they used the fresh cockles. Nice kuaw tiaw fried to "wok hei" with a bit of pepper to it! Yes! Will come back to try its other menu ie Western dishes. 

And guess what? We loved the lamb satay so much that hubby went there last night to take away its lamb satay. And this time, we also ordered its sotong satay. The sotong satay was nice with its extra hot chilli dipping. But I still like the one I ate in Pattaya which was juicier.  Hubby liked this sotong satay from BBC Cafe more.

Best satays found here!

Just nice

We quite like this place as the price was reasonable and food was alright. 

The kids have been nagging for fish and chips so we ordered this dish for them when we went there the other day.  We waited for about 20 minutes for this dish.  The fish was alright; the batter was crunchy and the flesh was soft. It came with coleslaw, where no one touch at all.  I personally prefered salad than coleslaw.     

I tried its kung po chicken cube rice.  They deep fried the chicken cubes first, then stir fry with the kung po ingredients. So when you bite the chicken, it was crispy.  Taste-wise, it was not so spicy. 

This omelette (fu ron dan) was great too. We enjoyed it. 

And so was this hot & sour soup.  

Hubby was not feeling well since in KL, so he had this minced pork porridge (RM5.50). He also ordered the 3 condinements for RM4.00.  Reminded me of Teochew porridge. The sweet minced pork meat was great to go with plain porridge!

Plus drink, we paid RM56.00 for our dinner.  Cheap and food is just nice. We wouldn't mind come back and try other dishes on the menu. I prefer its local food rather than the Western food.

The 2nd time

This was our 2nd time having breakfast in this Mitsu Shabu-Shabu. Not a good experience the previous time when we went with my mum and sis last August. Service was slow and bad and we waited for more than an hour for our food to come! Since then I avoided coming here as nothing really fancy me here. But we went to this place few weekend ago as hubby wanted to have some innards soup. 

We shared 3 bowls of kampua to go with the innards soup. 

The soup was quite nice with some red wine added to it. I just drank the soup; never like those pig's organs.

We also ordered some dim sum to go with breakfast. I personally did not like this Steamed meat dumpling (RM5.50) as the skin of the dumpling was thick.

I like its har kau (prawns) as the prawns were fresh and the dumpling skin was not too thick. Can you see the prawns in the translucent skins?

This yong tau hu was quite nice too. 

And we also like this tasty pork rib. 

A better experience this round. Maybe the boss was in, so the workers all very busy and hardworking. And food quality was better. Lol.

Where we live

I bought a house 7 years ago.  I always wanted a house of my own and having a space where I can be proud of.  Like every other new buyers, buying a house can be daunting. We wanted the best of the deal, and the prospect of getting first house is never easy.

But thanks to Calgary real estate, we can get the necessary information about the properties and save us all the hassle and times in choosing, evaluating and buying the right properties.  Some more, Calgary real estate agents are very professional and prompt in providing their services and assistance to buyers as well as sellers. 

We are planning to get another house, probably a town house or a condominium. Part of our investment and asset portfolio.  Everything is easy with Calgary real estate and I have no problem leaving my trust in their hands.

Notes of the week

Another week! And a long week too. A whirl of activities.

I am still grappling with fatigue after what had happened. Hubby was discharged from hospital on Monday afternoon. So that evening, I cooked some Foochow mee sua for hubby as "makan selamat". And of course, I get him to bathe using the big basin with few pamelo leaves. To get rid of the "bad luck".

Were very busy on Tuesday and Wednesday. Driving up and down around under the scorching sun. I were driving hubby around to do his police report, get new driving license, shop for new phone, broadband and wallet, and sort out his car insurance etc.

And the house is still in a mess. I haven't had the time to unpack our bags as well as the kids' sleepover bags, laundry is still not folded and put away and I haven't done my house chore.  You can imagine the mess, right? Some more, kids are schooling this week. The living room is full of stuff, either in boxes or bags; or laying on the floor. Sigh!!

It has been scorching hot this week in Sibu. Warm through out the day and it continued to evening. Hard not to stay indoor with air-condition system switched on. But time really flies fast without we realising that June is almost at its end.

And I noticed that some trees in Sibu are shedding leaves. I think soon it will be the flowers blooming season where beautiful pink and white Sakura-like flowers clouding the town of Sibu. And guess what?? It is going to be a year since we moved here!

Of course we missed Kuching once a while. And just last week, few of my friends posted the famous cotton tree in Padang Merdeka. It bears cotton on its tree. I didn't get the chance to see it last week while I were there as holiday was cut short. The last time I saw it bore the white fluffy cotton was when my girl was 1 year old plus. Love this tree when it bore cotton and wind blew the cotton around the green field, like snow falling on the grass.

Picture from a friend's fb page

Warm up the chill

I love the climate of Cameron Highlands. Not so cold yet not so warm. Just nice. Like you are in air-conditioned room and you do not sweat at all. But it did feel a bit chilling if it rained in the afternoon and wind blowing at you face!

We stayed in CH for 2 nights. And it rained in the afternoon. We had to wait for the rain to stop before venture by foot in the evening for food. On first night, we had Chinese food. The next night after the rain, we decided to have Malay food.

We went to the Malay food stall which is next to the taxi station. Hubby came here before, more than 15 years ago and he remembered its sup tulang. He said one of the stalls served yummy sup tulang so he wanted to taste it again. But Cameron changed a lot since then. The stalls also not the same anymore.

We ended up with this stall. The name sounds very homey right??

We ordered its set dinner for two at the price of RM18. It consists of daging masak merah...

Not really my favourite. I prefer ayam masak merah.

Tomyam soup which was very good although it was not a seafood tomyam

Telur dadar that although looked simple but it tasted good. We ordered another omelette! Or maybe we were hungry and cold??

And Kailan with salted fish

We ordered a bowl of sup tulang (RM7) to try. Not a disappointment. More sourish as they added tomatoes in the sup. I still prefered the Sarawak sup tulang. More peppery.

That concluded our CH fete and school holiday travelogue. Hope you guys enjoy it. ;)

Dinner in Kababish

We had Indian dinner in Kababish cafe, StarPoints Hotel on the last night in KL. This Masjid India is not known for food at night so we do not have much choices there. We did not went out as the kids were exhausted after Sunway Lagoon trip and it rained that night.

So we ended up here, having Indian cuisine. We ordered a plate of Yong Chow fried rice for the kids to share. They finished up the whole plate. Must be very hungry as that time it was way past 8pm.

RM15 plate of fried rice

Hubby was regretting in ordered this Mee Jawa as it was too spicy for his tastebuds. Indeed, it was spicy as I tasted its gravy and prawns. I finished up all the 4 big prawns for him. Hubby thought it was a sweeter version of Sarawak Mee Jawa but alas! No! I forgot how many glasses of cold water he drank that night.

Spicy Mee Jawa (RM10)

Now came the Indian dish. HANDI MUTTON. Tasted like curry mutton but a twist of tomatoes and some spices in it. Spicy but great to go with white rice. all chuncky but tender meat so easy to dig in.

Handi Mutton for RM25

Next was the oxtail soup. Great to take on cold night. I like the peppery and spiced taste but the Ox's tail was a bit hard. 

Yummy soup

RM12 of ox's tail soup

Stop at the Junction

One of the floral baskets from well-wisher to hubby. Flowers from Cameron Highlands? ^^

Hubby is discharging this afternoon. Spent 5 nights in hospital and paid around RM1400 for everything. Radiology already cost over RM900 there! Can't wait to go home.

How we spent our Father's Day? In hospital ward of course. He ate roasted meat rice with iced Cola for lunch, courtesy of my SIL and for dinner, he had white porridge and condinement from the hospital. Will treat him to a dinner when he is fully recovered. The kids wished him "Happy Father's Day" and visited him in hospital.

Alright, back to a food post. Long time did not have food pictures and post. So here it goes. A back-dated post.

On the evening before we went to KL, we stopped by this cafe for a fusion dinner. Have planned to try this place out couple of times but we never make it till then. So when we were at the nearby bakery to buy some pastries, we finally made a stop here!

Checked its FB page for menu but instead all I saw was vacancies advertisements and comments in Chinese. Not many photos of food at all.

But not to be demotivated by it, we decided to go and give this place a try. We had a good time there I have to say. Nothing to shout about, just another fusion cafe and food and ambience are acceptable. Prices are also cheap.

 The seating area is fairly lighted which make phototaking easier. And while waiting for our food, my kids were busy counting the stuff on this green poster.

 My kids shared this egg omelette fried rice. I asked them not to put the chili sauce on top of the omelette, as shown in their menu. Rather plain the fried rice but I do not mind as the kids ate it. Less MSG is better.

Fried rice with small bits of beef and corn kernels.

I had its cheese chicken chop (RM15) that comes with french fries and french beans. The chicken chop was topped with cheddar cheese. You know me, as long as it has cheese, I will try it out. This dish did not failed me as the chicken chop was tender.

Do you want a bite?

We also had this honey black pepper pork tenderloin which was nice. At first it was sweet with honey glaze but as you ate and dug into the sauce, you can taste the black pepper more. Overall, it was nice and I like it. Just RM7.90 per plate with white rice.

Tender sweet and slightly peppery pork tenderloin