Free Wondacoffee

September 29 is declared as International Coffee Day! Good news to coffee lovers, now you can have a free Wondacoffee package delivery as well in celebrating this special day.

Wondacoffee together with MyTeksi is giving out 400 free sets daily, first-come-first-serve only. Applicable in Klang Valley, Penang, Johor Bahru and Kuching only. 

For more information, click Wondacoffee promotion and last day to redeem your coffee is this Friday (10am - 5pm). Good luck, guys! Pity I am not at any place nearby and I do not drink coffee. But who could resist freebies, right??

Stay healthy in the morning

Others have been ranting on overnight oats so I also "kiasu" and want to be healthy too. Have problem losing my "baby fat" on my abdomen so I have been cutting down on my food consumption. Of course that does not mean I skip my meals. I love food and 3 meals a day is a must. I just change my diet and cut down on the calories.

Breakfast is a must as it is the charger to jump start our day. So on weekday when I do not devour on those yummy but sinful breakfast, I resort to having oats at home. I call it breakfast muesli. Taste better than normal oats.

To make my muesli more interesting, I add this Bio-Lecithin to it. Lecithin is known for lower down the cholesterol and blood pressure as well as improving liver function.

Some days I will be more hard-working and add fruits to my muesli.

My favourite fruits to add to my muesli are pamelo and apple.

Added some soya milk for that protein and taste. Great to take.

 Want a spoon, anyone? ^^

Just open

A new kid on the block!

Le Cafe just opened for business last week and located on one of the new row of shoplots at Brooke Drive. Wonder why the French word "Le" in the name. I guess it is a fusion cafe, just like the others around the town. Maybe they try to give it a bit of "ummph" to the name but what is in a name? Most important is the food, right? Good food gives longer lasting impression.

So, we went to check it out the other day. I were not too optimistic going there but we should not judge anything till we try it.

It was a Saturday but the place was not packed with lunch patrons. It is new so maybe not many know it well.

Turned out they only has bak kut teh as main dish for the moment. Slowly they will add more dishes in the menu by next month and Western food in November.

Plate of stir fried bean sprouts

So left with no choice we had its bak kut teh soup and a plate of taugeh to share.

Soupy bak kut teh

The herbal soup was mild to my liking. I do not really fancy strong soup. 

My mug of warm barley

The place was rather rowdy as the time passed as more people came in. Too noisy to talk and enjoy my food. 

Hakka cooking + more toys

Hi guys! Promised you that I would share this deep fried nam yue pork belly when I cooked it. The recipe is in the link below.

I were back to my cooking in the kitchen and the very first dish I prepared once back to Sibu was this Hakka deep fried nam yue pork. Did not know it is a Hakka dish till recently as you can eventually order and eat it anywhere. 

Found a simple yet great recipe here and I have been dying to cook it. Finally I did!

I used pork belly as I loved the fatty part and nam yue tasted great with the fat! ^^

marinated pork belly

the end result - yummy deep fried pork belly

It is Sunday afternoon again. We spend our Sunday at home other than going out for breakfast this morning. The kids are not bored at home because they received new toys. Yes, more toys to be packed when we are moving back if by then the toys are still in one piece!

The kids' granduncle is back for a break and as usual, he bought toys for the kids. This time, is a 5-in-1 pool. And Jamie also got himself a feeding frogs set although the other siblings played more. I do not allow Jamie to play because of the small balls. He basically puts everything into his mouth at this curious & experimental stage!

The kids were super excited when saw the new toys on Friday night so both kids were so hardworking in finishing up their school works on Saturday morning. Never saw my Jay finished up his work in speedy time without much nagging in the past! *wink*

My kids! They are so lucky and they don't know it. And we as parents are even luckier as we don't need to spend much on buying them toys as mostly others buy for them. Lol! So I think I should stop complaining when someone buys toys for my kids.

Regular diners

This is where you can find cheaper Western dishes in Sibu town. Food is alright; don't expect much for quality and taste.

Anson, we have been here few times now and we did enjoyed some of its food in the menu. We come here at least once or twice a month, so I can say we are regulars here.

*picture taken from google*

However I were slightly annoyed by one of the old lady servers who would go around the tables and ask customers to buy her red wine. Probably she has a short memory problem as each time I come here, she will ask me whether I am interested to buy home-made red wine.

Okay, back to the food.

My kids voted for its breaded fish (RM7.20) that was served here. They really enjoyed the fish very much.

And last week for first time, I tried its mixed grill (RM14.90). A big portion for such price, don't you think so?

It has lamb, beef, chicken and chicken sausage in a plate! Thought they served in pepper or brown sauce but turned out it was mixed herb sauce. Tasted like McCommick's mixed herbs that I used for my lamb stew! 

They were pretty generous with fries so at first I thought I wouldn't be able to finish all. However I proved myself wrong but thanks to my girl for helping to finish half of the fries.

When would we be coming here again? Soon I guess. 

Sweet & Spicy Delight

Got two packs of this Singapore's acclaimed chilli crab sauce from my Singaporean cousin when we met early this month in Kuching. Thank you so much, cousin for this yummy sauce and clothings for kids that you specially brought over.

Easy-to-cook sauce

When I read the recipe from Luxury Haven last month, I immediately whatapps my cousin to get me the sauce to try. I knew this place in Sibu serves this sauce with fried mantau as they proudly stated in their menu that they are the very 1st cafe over here to incorporate a menu of such. 

I have not try their mantou with this chilli crab dipping but I think they are nothing different from what we have in Kuching. I tasted this fried mantou with chilli crab dipping before in Kuching. If not mistaken, it was in Rock Road Seafood Restaurant. I just remember it tasted good.

So, I came up with my own mantou with seafood in chilli crab sauce. I followed recipe from Luxury Haven on how to cook the seafood delight but I only used mussels and prawns.

My seafood delight

And from a stall where I bought my fresh big prawns the other day, I was not only greeted by the friendly lady mending the stall but another regular visitor, according to the lady. 

This tiny fella always flies around the fishes and resting on them.  Okay, I got my prawns but no fishes that day.  

So, I served this dish last night. Great to go with rice or fried mantou. My fried mantau finished faster than the seafood as everyone kept dipping them with the sauce. I myself hardly ate rice last night!

The sauce was good and spicy (I did not used the Extra Hot Chilli Mix as I felt it was spicy enough).

I still have a pack left in Kuching. Maybe I will add more seafood and get my parents to try one of these days.

As for the fried mantou, just thaw and steam for 10 minutes or according to the package instruction. Let them cool down to ensure outer skins are dry before deep frying. In a deep wok or pan, heat enough oil for deep frying. Once hot, add the mantou one by one but do not overcrowd the wok or pan. Maintain the temperature of the oil to ensure crispy outside and minimal oil absorption. Dish out once golden.

Crispy outside but soft and fluffy mantou inside!

Skin story

While Jamie is recovering from his eyelid bump, I myself have skin problem to tackle to.

A very irritating situation to be in. Not so sure what was the source but maybe I ate something that trigger the irritation. 

I had those small rashes all over my body especially thighs, and arms. Itchy and dry. Luckily the cream my sil gave me able to stop the itchiness as well as the rashes. It persisted for almost a week before they were fully gone.

The last time I had such ugly sight of red rashes and bumps was during my confinement last year. That time I suspected that the culprit was alcohol. My alcohol tolerance was not high after all! This time maybe it was the red mee sua that I had but I were not so sure.

Scary looking, I know

Then at the same time, I scalded my own hand. Oh well, blame on my sleeping head. Scalded while preparing milk for my boy. Immediately I put toothpaste (people said it worked) and then aloe vera gel. But by night time, a big scary-looking blister appeared. I hate that fluid-filled blister! Had it punctuated on 2nd night as hate the sight of the blister.

Blister on my red skin

During the time of need, I have this aloe vera gel to relieve the itchiness and pain. 

I use this gel for everything from mosquito bite to ulcer! ^^

So, you see I had a double skin problems (or accident) last week.  Currently I am getting better. Rashes subdue and getting less itchy while the discoloured skin on my hand is healing but am not sure I would have my diaphanous skin back. Lol!

A taste of home

When my blogger friend Suituapui posted a bowl of tasty-looking kolo mee last week, I did not hesitate to give it a try and see whether it tasted like what we have in Kuching. Of course when you think of Kuching, one of the famous specialty is kolo mee.

So after obtained the direction, together with my 2 kolo mee enthusiasts (my 2 kids), we tried out the kolo mee last Saturday.

Thank God we found a parking right next to Poppies outlet so we just need a short distance to cross the road to the kolo mee shop.

And guess what? When we were out from the car, we saw few people jumping off from the Wisma Sanyan, the tallest building in Sarawak! Wow! They were having a base jumping and I think the event is still ongoing till this weekend if I am not mistaken.

Of course my 2 kids were excited seeing the parachutes coming down from the building. By the time we finished our breakfast and drove to Wisma Sanyan, there were no more jumping to be seen.

Okay, this is the shop that sells kolo mee as well as kampua. This shop must be in existence for so many years.

It was not packed to our surprise as it was almost 9am when we were there. So our noodles came in speedy time and my 2 kids devoured their noodles in no time! 

Appearance-wise it reminded me of the red kolo mee in Kuching open air market. The kolo mee stall that is opposite to the famous open air market sio bee and soya milk stall. They are famous for that sweet char siew taste and colour. Taste-wise it did tasted a bit like the open air except this Kiaw Hin's noodle has more vinegar taste to it. 

And to my surprise, they added sliced chilli to the noodle. No wonder for the vinegar taste as the sliced chilli was dipped in vinegar. In Kuching, kolo mee always come with a seperate sliced chilli in vinegar dipping or light soy sauce dipping. But not tossing the vinegar-dipped chillies into the noodles.

We also ordered this pork liver soup and when I saw that they also had laksa, I also ordered a bowl to try.

The laksa was good and can compete with some of the good laksa in Sibu. Tasted similar to what we have in Kuching. Very generous with shredded omelette but I only got 2 small prawns in my bowl. 

To me, the kolo mee in Kiaw Hin also tasted better than any other places in Sibu that I have a chance to try. But of course cannot beat some of the great kolo mee shops in Kuching but if you ask me, Kiaw Hin reminded me of home while I am far away from home now. *wink*

Across the road

Other than all the fun they had during holidays, they did not neglected their school works. My girl for instance still needs to submit her weekly book reading report. So I brought her to library to borrow few books for her BM reading.

The library was packed with children, as expected it was school holiday. My girl did her report while me and the boy browse around.

After did some writing and borrowed 3 books, we went to a coffee shop that was just across the road. I preferred to park next to the library and cross the road to the other side as not easy to find parking at that side.

Never been here before so it was our first time here for lunch.  Thought it is a halal shop but apparently it is not.

Oops! I did it again! I never could resist rice for lunch! *wink*

Saw this dish in the menu so I ordered this braised vinegar pork trotter to try. Not bad considering this dish is not so common in the menu. Like the vinegar taste, it was just alright with a bit of sweetness.

Look how black the trotter was that I gave up shooting it after a couple attempt!

My girl had its American breakfast which looked decent enough.

The boy on other hand also not interested in the rice dish so he had this simple egg and ham sandwiches.

It was very warm day so I had its cold bean mung soup

My favourite dessert

 While the kids each experiment with iced milo and milo dinasour drink!

2 different milo chocolate drinks

Overall our lunch bill came up to RM28.20! So, okay or not?

Miscellaneous Picture #26: what they got for holiday

That were what they got during the school holiday!! Fun, toys and new things. Fortunately some of them were gifts and we did not spend much on these stuff.

Played dress up with Hello Kitty jewellery set, gift from my sil

Angry Birds watches from my sil

A new alarm clock for my girl from me

These numbers can transformed into robots! Two sets of these bought by the grandma

Bubble-making machine from their doting granduncle!

Colourful markers also from the granduncle

Jamie also has a new learning toy from daddy but he fell out of love after few minutes. No wonder the box said it is for age of 3 years old and above. *wink*

Now a question for you. Which one do you think that give me the most headache? *wink* Am I glad that school holiday was over!

A place to be

Hubby brought us to this Uncle Dom in Lorong Chew Siik Hiong last Sunday for dinner after our walk in the park. My first time here and I like the look of the establishment. Lovely and comfortable dining place with free wifi. And the lady owner was friendly too, spoke and explained to us in English.

Just as we reached there, the rain started to pour. So we stayed pretty long there while waiting for rain to subside.

The place where I would want to be again....for dinner!

Nice corner with big wall poster depicted the old shophouses during those day. Did you spot Uncle Dom in the poster?

That night's special drink was starfruit with apple so I gave it a try.  Sour+bitter and I thought it was refreshing and great after a heavy and oily meal.

For our starter, we had the Taiwanese sausage platter (RM7.20)

  and my boy shared this nasi lemak with beef rendang with my bil. RM9.30 for this plate.

I had its fried mee hoon with mani chai. I liked it and it went well with sliced chilli and soy sauce dipping. I must be starving as I devoured it quietly and in few minutes time!

Not so great for hubby's steak in black pepper sauce as he complained the steak was not well seasoned or probably just came out from the freezer. 

No complaint from my girl on her fish and chip as she finished up the fish. But she still prefer another fish and chip from another place.

Thought we gave this Hakka deep fried flower pork a try. RM9.90 for this nam yue dish and the spicy dipping was good too. Coincidently I have marinated some pork belly slices at home for a Hakka Nam Yue recipe. Maybe I will share the recipe in another post.

Total bill came out slightly less than RM100.