Porridge for supper

It was one of the evenings when hubby whatsapp-ed me asking whether I wanted porridge for supper!  And without hesitation, I replied "Yes!"

Then an hour later, hubby sent me a photo through Whatsapp. Oh, he was at this well-known pork porridge in the Open Air Market!  My favourite pork porridge stall!



Muk Kee Pork Porridge in Open Air Market

Hubby chatted up with the proprietor as he was just getting ready his stuff for the evening. According to him, he may retired soon and passed down to his son.  The proprietor is the 3rd generation in the family to do this pork porridge business.  Wow!  It has been in the family for that long!

So, hubby came home with the warm porridge for supper.  How I missed it!! 

Pork porridge with special request of an egg

And when I poured my pack out into a bowl, it was almost full to the brim!

I love its hand-made minced pork balls.  Still as good as before but the porridge was slightly salty that evening.  So I would not need to add any pepper and light soy sauce to my porridge.  I enjoyed my porridge and cleaned up the whole bowl in no time.  *wink*

Mom in the centre

It was one of those hazy days last week and schools in Kuching were forced to close. However, on that particular day (it was a Tuesday), Jay's kindergarden operated as usual so after dropped him off, together with my 2 children, we went to this food court for breakfast.

The signboard right before Everrise

This food court is hidden in the sense it is in the centre of commercial shoplots. You could not see it from the main roads as it is not visible. You need to drive to the back of the shops, then you get to see it.  It used to be called Food Avenue before new owner took over and named it M.O.M. Food Court.

From 3rd Miles heading to 4 1/2 Miles, turn right before Everrise and go to the back of Ambank, this food court is on your right hand side. If from Penrissen down to 3rd Miles, then you turn to Lorong Datuk Tawi Sli 6 to go to the other side of the main road.

Street Market at the back of Everrise

M.O.M. is right opposite this Everrise Street Market. You could park your car in Everrise parking bay and walk over. 

I have never been to this food court although I knew its existence when it was called Food Avenue. My first impression was it was a big food court with roof serving you with local food and there is a giant tv screen screening sports matches. But it was not switched on that morning.

Not many stalls open in the day but then again, you would be spoiled with choices in the morning too.  I understand from its Facebook page, it opens for business as early as 5.30am now.

My much needed Teh C

I love how they serve your warm drink in those old rustic cup and saucer set like what you would find in those Chinese coffee shops in olden days. 

It brought back memories when my dad used to pour some warm Milo into the saucer to cool it down and I drank directly from the saucer! Among my children, my girl did it before. Her grandpa taught her how to drink from a saucer when brought her to a kopitiam back in Kapit when she was smaller. 

Ok ok. Let's get back to this food court instead of back in time. *wink wink*

Mani cai (cangkuk manis) bihun

I had this plate of fried mani cai bihun.  It was good. RM4.00 for this plate and I hardly could finish it.



2 slices of roti kahwin and a cup of Milo

My girl was enjoying her warm Milo with traditional roti kahwin.  Could you see the generous spread of butter and green kaya in between the slices of bread??



Sio Bee

As we sat right in front of the sio bee and kuih stall, I could not resist ordering few sio bee to try out. It said there that they serve original Kuching sio bee. RM4.60 for 4.  Very meaty; they tasted good with chilli dipping. Reminded me much of Sibu sio bee with those diced carrots on top. 

Of course, I could not finish them all.  Luckily I had my girl to help me out.  She finished up all her roti kahwin.....

And helping me with 1 sio bee.  Jamie took 1 while I ate the other 2 sio bee.

A delightful breakfast.  Maybe will come back again to try other stalls as there are so many stalls around. Since Jay's kindergarden is around that area, it is convenient to come here for breakfast.  More parking spaces early in the morning but after 9am, it would be hard to find one when most shops open then.

Opposite

Most of the weekend, we would go to this food court for breakfast. Over there, there used to have one roti canai stall operated by a mamak and business was quite good for him. His roti canai and Indian rojak were nice. Then he stopped operating there few months ago.

We thought he stopped doing food all together but to our surprise, we saw him at this food court which is directly opposite to the first food court. So, he basically moved from one food court to another food court opposite it. Rental must be cheaper and crowd is better, I believe. And one thing, I prefer the latter food court as it is cleaner and well maintained.

So, one Sunday we were there and I could not resist ordering one roti tisu from the roti canai stall. RM3.00 for this cone canai. Super crispy and sweet. Of course, the kids enjoyed munching on it.

And no, I did not only have roti tisu for breakfast. I had this meatballs and stuffed toufu soup from the Batu Kawa meat balls stall. 

I like the taste of the soup. They have that preserved vegetable (dong chai) flavour in the soup as well. Would you believe me if I tell you I finished all the stuff in this bowl of clear soup??

The serenity in reservoir

Few Sunday ago, we went to Reservoir Park for a stroll to kill times before attending a Sunday service.

The kids were super excited to go for a walk regardless of how the weather was like. The haze started to come back that day but that did not dampen their mood.

We parked at the designated parking space next to the Red Crescent building and walked to the park which is a stone throw away from the building.

To me, it is a blessing to have such a serene park in the city and furthermore, it is well maintained and preserved. I used to go here for an evening jog but that was ages ago. I could see that there is some improvements to the park.

Reservoir Park was a popular spot for wedding shots back in 70s and 80s. I remembered seeing my parents' wedding shot taken on the red bridge here!

Can you spot the red bridge above??

Beautiful stone boat

Some addition to the park are these carved rocks.

Misai kucing growing beautifully

Another stone boat

Fierce-looking face

Many old trees in this park and they created a serene and shady environment.

Another wonderful addition is this children playland.

Okay, maybe we will come back in a more proper attire and better weather for a family jog. Then the kids get to explore the whole park.

Weekend Menu #72: Potato bites

I had few unused Australian potatoes that I did not used for my potluck dinner few weeks ago. Before they turned bad, I decided to bake them for my tea time one day.

Found this super delicious and cheesy-looking baked potato bites and thought I gave this simple recipe a try! And outcome? Delicious and cheesy bite.

Made 5-6 bites

Ingredients:
3 medium-sized Australia potatoes, grated
Half cup grated Mozzarella cheese
1 egg
1/4 onion, sliced/minced
Salt and pepper, to taste
Butter for greasing

Methods:
1. Mix grated potatoes, cheese, egg, salt and pepper well in a bowl.
2. In greased muffin tray, spoon the mixture to half full on each tray.
3. In pre-heated oven, bake for 15 to 20 minutes till well done.
4. Let it cool before take them out and serve with your favourite sauce, such as tomato sauce.

Caught him in time

I have meant to try a stall from this coffee shop many times but they only open in the evening and when the time I were not cooking, I did not think about it or simply hard to find a parking here.

It just happened early this month when hubby was having a wedding dinner reception one evening and I did not cooked. So by hook or by crook, I must try out that stall that some people have been praising highly about.

My lucky star was with me as I managed to find one parking regardless of the weekly market on-going behind this row of shop.

If you are wondering what was the big deal about, it was this stall. Penang Fried!! They said it is one of the best in Kuching. 

The stall was located inside the coffee shop so I need to walk along the walkway. The friendly guy was happy to greet me even before I spotted his stall.

So I ordered his Penang fried kuaw tiaw with prawns; not too spicy as I did not know how spicy was his chilli paste. After got my order, he went further in the walkway, prepared his ingredients and fried away.

And as I paid RM5.50 for my fried kuaw tiaw, he told me he has bubur cha cha but I did not feel like having any that evening. Then he told me he would stop operating in the coffee shop in the next 2 days as the coffee shop is closing down. He has not find a new stall for rent yet so requested me to jot down my contact so he could contact when he got new stall.

So I jotted my contact and wish the guy all the best. And I could not wait to taste my kuaw tiaw!!

It was wrapped in those brown wrapper and it was still warm when I opened it up!! 

And I liked it!! Not too spicy as I requested mildly spicy. Quite a portion for me as I could not finished it all up. However, what I enjoyed the most was he added those tasty pork lards!! 

Some of the lards that I found!! Ooohhh! Delicious!

Glad I got the chance to try it out before the guy moved away. Caught him just in time!!

P.s. As-to-date, he has moved to another location which is not too far away. Will give him a visit some day when I think of Penang fried noodle.

Fried pork lard sambal

Those who love this sinful, unhealthy yet delicious fried pork lard sambal, please raise your hand!!!

Better known as chu yau char, it is darn good by itself but it goes really well with fried noodles, and stir fried with vegetables. It is great with white porridge too!

Mostly would add belacan into this crispy pork fat, but I prefer to omit it.

To prepare the sambal, all you need is some dried prawns(hay bee), pork fats, chopped garlic and sliced chilli (de-seeded).

Mince and mix everything together. Then in a heated pan (without oil), slowly fry the pork lard sambal under low heat. Add salt to taste. Fry till the pork lard turned golden brown and crispy. You could add a bit of lime juice to the sambal for that extra acidic taste!

I keep some in an air-tight container and keep in fridge to be used at any time.

Piece of cake

It couldn't be any easier than this! Who could resist a fragrant slice of butter cake with a lightly infused lemon scent to it?? I know my hubby couldn't! 

My hubby is one man who loves his butter cakes so much that he could finish up a whole block of butter cake bought from a bakery by himself in a night! Enjoying the cake with his tea over his favourite show.

So, one day I were giving him a pleasant surprise. My own made lemon butter cake. 

I adapted the recipe from here but somehow I burnt my cake bottom. So I got to scrap the burnt bottom. Next round I would reduce the time to half and see how it goes.

Ingredients:

250g salted butter, melted

4 medium eggs

150g castor sugar

200g self-raising flour, sifted

60ml fresh milk

1tsp vanilla essence

1 tbsp. lemon juice

 Rind of lemon

Pinch of salt

Methods:

1. Cream the butter and castor sugar by hand whisk till pale and creamy.

2. In a bowl, add flour and salt together. In another bowl, mix milk with lemon juice and set aside.

3. Add one egg at a time together with vanilla essence into the butter and sugar mixture.  Beat till combined before adding in in lemon rind and mix well.

4. Using a spatula, fold in the sifted flour in 3 batches alternatively with milk mixture. Mix till well combined.

5. In a greased flip pan, scrap the mixture slowly. 

6. Bake on low heat for 12 minutes.  Slowly shift the pan towards right side so that the left side of the pan is on heat, bake for 6 minutes. (I burnt the bottom, so next time I will reduce the duration)

7. Next shift the pan to the left side so that the right side of the pan is on heat, bake for another 6 minutes.

8. Then flip the pan over and bake for another 6 minutes (3 minutes on left, 3 minutes on right) to have a nice brown top!

9. Let it cool down before cutting.

I were happy with the brown top of my cake!!!  Just when I cut through that I noticed the burnt bottom part!  But the cake was good!  Have the milk fresh lemon zest and the cake was soft and not dry at all!!  Overall, it was a good attempt, minus the burnt part!!

I have tried baked muffins using the oven and then steamed Milo muffins and now this. A cake baked in flip pan. I have to say that I'm proud with my little baking accomplishment so far. *wink wink*

The weekend

How was your weekend??

Nothing exciting but here is the summary of what we did over the weekend.

Saturday

The delicious breakfast consists of roti canai and kolo mee

Girl had her weekly swimming class

Drove around the old part of the city and we came across the Indian Street, which flooring and roof are still under constructions

Passed by this cool shop with nice cats murals (next to St Mary Primary School)

Sunday

A stroll in Reservoir Park before church service

Kids had a bubble-blowing fun at home

Admiring my girl's progress in her art tuition

Trying out his painting skill on iPad

Banana fritters for the snacking tummies

And the weekend continues till today as schools in certain states and areas (including Kuching) are closed due to haze.