Miscellaneous Sunday

It was a tiring but wonderful Sunday yesterday.  We spent most of the day in the church. We started off the day early as Jan and Jay were participating in the Sunday School's Day celebration. 

The best breakfast in the kids' minds!  McD's breakfast set.



Everyone had their share of breakfast before we drove ourselves to the church since we were late for the early morning briefing (I mean, the kids were late for the briefing).



Nevertheless, the mass went on well, with songs, praises and prayers.  Jan had her first share of singing in front of the audiences and oh boy.  We were proud of her.



The Sunday school children also have a group singing as well as a short drama and song.  Everyone was taking part in celebrating the Sunday School's Day.

We stayed for the 1st session of the mass which ended around 9.30am but Jan and Jay stayed back for the refreshment and continued with the 2nd session.

Hubby, Jamie and I went for our kolo mee in Huan Lok Café before we gone back to the church to pick the kids up after the 2nd session. 

After that, we went to Kubah Ria market to get some herbs.  And yes, our new babies.  Mint and Rosemary.

The old mints died off and this is my first rosemary, so fingers cross.  Hope they survive in my hands!! Lol.

The rest of the afternoon?? We rested, slept and watched tv.  We had our dinner at home earlier since the kids needed to rush for the night session of church mass.  By the time we were done, we reached home before 9pm and everyone were so tired from the day events to do anything other than sleep. zzzz

Bak kut teh

I did not cooked on one Sunday as I were busy with Jan's church rehearsal. She is participating in this Sunday's church singing so she was needed to attend rehearsal for the last 2 Sundays.

So on the 1st Sunday of the rehearsal, it ended around 6pm and by then we were famished. We went to Go Fun Kee for bak kut teh.

The place was busy but luckily we did not have to wait too long for our bak kut teh to come. Our order of soft bones, pork ribs, pork belly with beancurd.

A vegetable dish to balance our diet.

I could not help but order this cincau with milk for myself. Nice cool dessert. I needed this to cool myself down after consuming the bak kut teh!

And before we left, we applied and got ourselves Go Fun Kee top-up card. Basically we add money in the card and use it to pay for our future meals there. Maybe more benefit or usage as I believe they just implement this loyalty card programme.

What is in the soup?

This was the soup that I made for Chap Goh Mei dinner. Fish maw soup.

Fish maw soup

I added some meat balls, fish balls as well as other ingredients in the soup to make it more nutritious and tasty.

I never like the meat balls from supermarkets so I made my own. Just pork meat and prawns for the tasty meatballs.

Mince and prawns paste

The ratio of meat to fresh prawns is 2:1. If you like prawns for that texture in the meatballs like I do, you could add more.

Sprinkle some sea salt, and white pepper to the mince of pork and prawns, and leave in fridge to let it set. When ready to cook, just add 1 egg white to the mince and mix well. When soup is boiling, use a tea spoon and form a meatball and slowly add the meatballs to the soup one by one.

Ok, here is the recipe of my fish maws soup. Hope you like it.

Other ingredients

You could add whatever you want in your soup but mine consisted of these.

Ingredients:
2 napa cabbage leaves, cut into smaller stripes
3 garlic cloves
Few stripes of ginger
Half of red carrot, cut thinly
Some fish balls, cut into half
Some meat balls (refer to above for recipe)
Some chicken breast stripes
Fish maw, blanch to soften
3 dried scallops
Salt, pepper and light soy sauce for seasoning

Methods:
1. Blanch the breast meat in hot water for a minute or so.  Drain and set aside.
2. Fill in a pot with water, add in the chicken meat, garlic, ginger, carrots, dried scallop and some white stem of napa cabbages.
3. Bring to boil under high heat. Once boiled, lower heat to medium and boil for few minutes (say 10 minutes) before add in the fish balls, meat balls, fish maw and leafy part of napa cabbages. 
4. Bring to boil until napa is soft.  Add in the seasoning to taste.

My guacamole

Avocado is one of my favourite fruits.  I enjoy its rich, creamy taste and it has nearly 20 essential nutrients that are good for everyone.

I usually add my avocado into fruit salad or eat it with milk for breakfast.  Just recently I spotted some avocados in the neighbourhood mall and I could not resist to buy them as it wasn't that expensive.

This time, I use few of my bought avocados for a simple homemade guacamole.  My first time making guacamole.  I tasted guacamole once with tortilla in a restaurant.  Somehow I liked this avocado-based Mexican dip very much.  But I never make it, thought it was hard to make but recently I found out that it is very simple.

And I revised a simple guacamole and I think it is good and goes well with any chips.

Guacamole

Ingredients:

2 ripe avocados

1/2 small-sized onion, chopped

1/2 tomato , chopped

2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Methods:
1. To cut open the avocados, slit the knife vertically till you hit the seed. Twist the knife side to side and you could easily open up the fruit. Use the spoon to scoop the flesh.
2. In the bowl, mash the avocados with a fork.  I find it is easier to mash from the outer part of the fruit.
3. Add in the other ingredients to the avocados and mix well.
4. Wrap with plastic wrapper (make sure the wrapper touches the guacamole so it doesn't brown because of contact of air) and store in fridge before bring out to enjoy.

Pardon the tequila at the back.  Just a prop for my photo since tequila is a product of Mexico. *wink*

Enjoy the guacamole as it is or use as the dipping for chips.  Or even taste good in toasted bread too. Delicious and healthy snack!

Down the street

Last week, I went to Jalan Padungan with my mum for breakfast. It was one of the weekdays and slightly before 9am, so it was not so jammed and I were able to find a decent parking along the Jalan Padungan. 

My car was parked just in front of the famous long-queue Noodle Descendants shop. Oh no, my mum quickly told me not to go there as she has no patience waiting for their noodles.  So, we decided to walk a bit and venture along the street, scouting for food.

A short walk and we crossed the street to this coffee shop, another well-known old time coffee shop.  Min Hong Kee!  This quaint Chinese coffee shop is famous for its traditionally charcoal-cooked porridge and roasted meats!

Laksa stall

Initially both of us wanted the meat porridge for breakfast but alas!  They were out of porridge!  All sold out by 9am that morning!  Oh well, couldn't blame them as I believe they started their business early in the morning and out of porridge by then. So, we decided to have Sarawak laksa instead.

The laksa stall operator was very friendly.  Middle-aged Hakka man, talked to us in Hakka when he heard us were talking in Hakka dialect. He asked whether we wanted coriander for our laksa garnish.  Of course we wanted it!  Would not mind more!! But I guess not everyone enjoy this herb and may omit on top of the laksa.

Sarawak laksa

And here came our bowl of Sarawak laksa.  Normal bowl for RM5.00.  It was big portion for the normal size, so I wonder how big or more the size of special laksa for RM6.00?? Maybe more prawns in it.

Anyway, we both enjoyed the laksa that morning.  The broth was good and the portion was nice for us.  They were generous with the bean sprouts which I loved in my laksa. Overall, it was one of the best Sarawak laksa in town.

After we finished our breakfast, we decided to walk down the street since my 30 minutes parking coupon was not up yet. It was a rare occasion where I could enjoy a nice walk with my mum in Padungan.  So, we walked down the street to this place.

Another famous shop.  Sin Kwang Foochow Big Pau.  Who wouldn't know this shop and its renowned "tua"(big) pau???



Sin Kwang Foochow Big Pau

Heard the business is expanding to Penang last year.  Some may enjoy the meat paus but I am not one of them.  I prefer char siew pau than meat pau but that morning, mum and I wanted its sio bee instead.

Assortment of paus

RM1.00 each and I purchased 10 pieces of the sio bee (siew mai/meat dumpling). I should have gotten more, my Jay loves sio bee very much and he ate almost all of them for tea break!  Lol!  Next time, boy, I will buy more.

Sio bee

The sio bee was good.  I could detect the chestnuts and prawns in the meaty dumplings. Well seasoned, it tasted good without any dipping. I couldn't not get enough of them.



Next time, when I drop by Jalan Padungan and have a walk along the old street.

Maybe I could find more tasty old-time food and snack as well. Like Abee Traditional Buns shop but I did not checked out what they had that morning. Another time then.

Pamelo & Mandarin orange salad bowl

What to do with the leftover pamelos and Mandarin oranges from the Chinese New Year??  Simple.  Make salad out of them!  Very refreshing and full of vitamins and nutrients.

Pamelo or Chinese grapefruit is the largest of the citrus family.  Its sweet white or pinkish flesh goes so well with the acidity of Mandarin oranges. 

And introducing my current favourite salad dressing. Roasted sesame from Kewpie.  So convenient.  Just add to the fruit salad and dig in!

This Kewpie dressing has everything in it. The fragrant roasted sesame, vinegar, the sweetness and acidity. It is good. A pre-mix dressing for our conveniences. I did not add any salt, sauce, olive oil or vinegar to my salad.

Not much recipe here. Just peel both fruits and mix with the dressing, about 2 tbsp or more.  I added about 1 heap spoonful of crushed peanuts and handful of roasted almond nuts.  Voila!  My refreshing, nutty pamelo and mandarin orange salad bowl is done!





Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients:
1 pamelo
3 mandarin oranges
2 tbsp crushed peanuts
2 tbsp or more Kewpie dressing
Salted almonds
Salt (optional)

Methods:
1. Peel pamelo and oranges.
2. Place and mix the fruits in a salad bowl.
3. Toss the crushed peanuts.
4. Add in the dressing and salt to taste.
5. Garnish the top with salted almonds and serve.

A nice way to dispose your leftover pamelos and oranges after the CNY.  Great appetizer, healthier way to promote kids to eat more fruits too.

Check out my other mandarin orange salad recipe.

15th night

We ended the 2017 Chinese New Year celebration with a blast on Chap Goh Mei (literally means "15th night").

We did not stayed till midnight on the eve for the firecrackers as it rained and wet that night. So on the Chap Goh Mei (last night), hubby insisted on lighting up the firecrackers. The night weather was good and everyone in the neighbourhood in the mood and full of firecrackers, fireworks, noise and smoke alike, so we did joined in the fun.

 (Clockwise from top) 

Soy sauce pork trotter, fish maw soup, luncheon meat and stir-fried leeks with chicken and sea cucumber

My simple homecooked dinner before the kids rushed out to play some "pop pop" and fireworks.

What is Dora the explorer got to do with pop-pop??

Firecracker

Making some noise

Ok. That was the end of the celebration. Another busy, challenging year ahead. 

A beef place

We happened to be at this eatery on the Chinese New Year Eve as hubby needed to settle his car loan in a nearby bank. I believe this eatery has been in business for few years but it was our first time eating there that morning.

Nuromen Cafe, Jalan Chan Chin Ann

Nuromen Cafe was the name of this beef place. 

The cafe was clean and the set up was neat and simple. 

Somehow lantern associated with beef, isn't it? Lol. By the way, this cafe is a halal place and besides beef, they do serve chicken and seafood in their menu.

The price was reasonable and guess what? They use imported beef from Down Under. Don't play play!! Serious beef over here.

My drink and hubby's while waiting for our food.

Jay had their signature beef noodle which come in 2 seperate bowls. A bowl of plain noodle and another soup of sliced beef, tripes and beansprout. 

Beef Noodle RM6.50

The lovely soup

Hubby had this beef noodle special. The beef was good. It was chunky yet tender and basically melt in your mouth! Wow!

Beef Noodle Special RM9.50

Jan was not a big fan of beef so she had this bbq chicken noodle. The chicken was sweet with char siew sauce but she enjoyed it.

Bbq Chicken Noodle RM6.50

For yours truly, I ordered this pan-seared prawns noodle. The prawns were fresh but my noodle was slightly salty. Overall, it was good.

Pan-seared prawns noodle RM9.80

It was a delightful lunch, my personal opinion. The place was pretty packed while we were there. And when I used its washroom, I spotted this notice and couldn't helped taking a shot of it.

Operating hours are 8am to 2pm and 5.30pm to 10pm Wednesday to Monday. Location is in Jalan Chan Chin Ann. Same row with Pak Somet Kopitiam.

Yellow like cheese

It was one week before CNY when we dropped by and tried out this Cheese & Tea cafe for lunch. Never been here before so not so sure what to expect.

Upon entering, we were greeted by many jars of beautiful fighting fishes on left side of the wall. And as we walked a little further this water feature was there.

It wasn't packed when we were there but we chosen the seats at the end of the cafe. More privacy and since we have naughty kids with us. Lol.

The walls were decorated with these cute wall stickers.

The lighting wasn't that good; slightly dark to capture good shots. My photos ended up yellowish. As yellow like the cheese as in its name. Lol.

And as for the reason of its name, their main specialty is cheese! Anything in cheese! The waiter would ask if you want to add cheese to this and that, so you do have option of that.

Hubby wanted sweet corn soup that afternoon so he ordered a bowl of that. I do not mind sweet corn soup but not those crabstick. Taste-wise it was so-so.

I had a plate of butter fish rice which was rich in taste.

The big guy had its Pattaya fried rice. Appearance-wise, it was presentable but taste-wise, it wasn't that good. Rice too wet! Hardly an enjoyable dish.

I did not take shot of fish n chip as it was just breaded fish and fries. You wouldn't need to guess who was having that! * wink*

Next to come was this fried noodle with crispy sotong. The noodle was fine but the crispy sotong was rather bland. Tasteless and full of flour.

But I did enjoyed its cheezy boxing chicken. The chicken itself was juicy and tender. Spreaded cheese on top enhanced the flavour.

Overall, a nice cafe environment but more to do and improve on its food. Or maybe we should try its toast some day as I heard it was good.