Sweet cut

It was a warm Saturday when we went for our monthly grocery shopping. We were worried about the crowds who would be preparing for the Ramadhan and Gawai festival, so we were there around 10am to avoid them. 

I had list of grocery so we followed accordingly and hurried with our shopping.

As we were queuing up, I spotted the ice-cream freezer and to my surprise, it was filled up with many flavours of ais potong. Locally made in Kuching, it has many flavours to choose from; individual stick or in a pack of 5. I chose this yam flavour (RM14+ for 5). Forgot the exact price but it is slightly over RM14.

Of course I got to give this ais potong a taste once I were home. And it was nice, not too sweet. I could taste the mildly flavoured yam.

Now I am tempted to try other flavours. Lol.

Here wishing all my Dayak bloggers and readers, Selamat Hari Gawai! Gayu Guru Gerai Nyaman.

Weekend out & eat

Second Weekend Out @ Papillon was held on 20th and 21st May and this time, we had chance to drop by and checked it out.

They had food trucks to serve you other than some sale booths. Weather was very warm that Sunday when we were there. 

Most booths selling clothing but this booth had cute and delectable cakes. 

Not a very big event, so it wouldn't take long for us to browse around. 

It was too warm to play the board games otherwise my kids would have jumped out and played them.

Giant airplane board

Giant snake & ladder

We bought some light snacks from one of the food trucks, Food Chow.  No, we did not eat there. Brought home to enjoy at the comfort of our home, which was few minutes away. 

Cheesy fries with salted egg mustard (RM6)

Beef burger (RM10)

Pulled beef kompia (RM9)

Miscellaneous Picture #66:Friday Clutters

It is Friday again! And what so special is that the 2  weeks of long school holiday has begun.

So no one is going to sleep early tonight, I bet. The youngest is now by my side on the bed while I am typing this post on my laptop. Look at him. Isn't him cute?? ^^

Jamie is in jovial mood

The kids were doing fine in their mid-term exam except BM and Chinese. Need to improve on these subjects especially Jay.  Glad that it was over and done with!

Last Saturday, I went to meet up with Jamie's teacher on his progress in kindergarden. They did assessment tests on him, and as I expected, he did not flair well. But I can't expect much from Jamie, since it is his first year in kindergarden. English and General is 57% while Chinese is 80+. He needs to improve on writing and words recognition. Teachers commented he was quiet in the class and did not talk or respond much to teachers. But he is otherwise at home. So how?

Guess what Jamie drew here

This morning, I did a bit of spring cleaning around the house. It has been a while since I did a major one. The last one was before CNY. So, clearing this, cleaning that and throwing that. Found this and that. Amazing how much things I forgot and remember along the way. Lol.

My love for Heinz 

Forget when this Chinese tea pot was bought

Current read

Found this book in my bookshelf. I read the first 2 chapters few months ago and forget about it. So I am going to get back to my reading mode now.

No special plan for the school holiday. Going to hang out with my kids at home most of the time. Maybe a house visit during Gawai festival.

Have a wonderful weekend and school holidays!!

Every day

Every day I would prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner. Most of the days I will scratch my head thinking what to buy and cook. It is headache, knowing each one has their own preferences and tastes.

Some day when I am running out of ideas, I will go out and buy lunches and dinners. I have few preferred places to go to in MJC. The fast food, Chinese economy rice, chicken rice and Western. Got to make the meals interesting before my kids complain of boredom and repetition. Lol.

I spotted this new chicken rice shop few weeks ago. The shop is located at the next row of shops to Pizza Hut in MJC. I noticed the place was packed one afternoon so I reminded myself to try it one day.

Tian Tian Chicken Rice. Just next to Easymart. Tian Tian. Means "every day" in Chinese. Nay! As much as I love a good chicken rice, not an every day food for me. 

Last Saturday morning I went there with my 3 musketeers for lunch.

The place was clean and to my surprise, it was a pork-free eatery. And they do have an extensive menu; from steamed chicken, black pepper to curry chicken rice.  I thought they only serve steamed and roasted chicken but I were wrong.

Besides that they have few vegetables and lamb dishes to choose from too. Maybe  I will bring my hubby to try the claypot lamb one of these days.

They place their condiments on the table with their cutleries .

My girl had its butter chicken rice (RM6.50). She enjoyed it because of the crispy and buttery skin. I found the skin slightly tough for me.

Quite a portion of chicken on the plate. The chicken rice was mildly fragrant and soft, which I liked.

Ta-da. My nasi kari banjir (RM6.00).

They used the chicken rice instead of white rice. And all roasted chicken rice among the curry gravy.  They also gave me liver (which I did not touch), potato and fu chuk (which I find it was not soft enough).

I didn't really enjoyed this all-chicken curry rice. To me, nasi kari banjir is overloaded with goodness from steamed chicken, char siew, roasted pork, fried egg and long beans. Like what I had from this food court.

Jay wasn't hungry so I tapau him a roasted chicken rice for his lunch later. RM5.50 for  this normal chicken rice.

That is it. Our chicken rice lunch last Saturday.

Eating out day

I love Sunday. Because Sunday is eating out day. Family day, we mostly stay outdoor on Sunday. Mother's Day like any other Sunday, we went out for breakfast and lunch. 

So for breakfast, we went to Choo Choo Cafe.

Hubby went for the lui cha (RM5) as he wanted something healthy that morning.

I tasted the lui cha and soup. It was quite good. Being a Hakka, I am accustomed to the bitterness of the soup. I were surprised that they added crispy fried anchovies in it. Usually we don't do that but I don't mind it at all. I actually added salted fishes to my lui cha when my mum cooked it. It gave that crunch, texture, saltiness to the whole dish, and balanced up the bitterness of the soup. 

The kids had the kolo mee. My girl asked for the seafood version so she got prawn and fish fingers besides the sliced porks. When it comes to kolo mee, I usually order the straight noodle more than the "q q" (curly) noodle. 

As for me, I went for the laksa. It has been a while since I had laksa. My first laksa after recovered from my long sickness.

Taste-wise, it was "lemak" to me. Not really my preferred Sarawak laksa but when I were craving for it, I just had to settle for it that day.

After our breakfast, we went for our church service. It was Mother's Day, so everyone including the kids got a paper flower pinned to our blouse/top.

Thereafter, I felt hungry. Must be my laksa had digested (and fast!), so hubby treated me to bak kut teh. He recommended this bak kut teh place in Jalan Song as its herbal soup was not overwhelmingly strong. He knows I prefer milder bak kut teh soup.

The Lao Zhi Hau bak kut teh shop was behind The Godfather (Western cuisine). The backlane of OneJaya mall.

Hubby did the ordering and soon enough, our bak kut teh came. Many patrons but our food was served timely. 

Did I love it?? Yes. I enjoyed the spare ribs and soup. And I sweated a lot after that! Phew! Hot, hot and hot even though it was cooling and gloomy outside.

After our lunch, we went to collect homemade cheesy potato balls from my bil since we were somewhere in the vicinity. He is currently into this home-based business. I ordered 100 balls (frozen) and once we were home, we couldn't wait to taste it.

If you are wondering why so many balls, I standby for the Teacher's Day celebration. I thought cheesy potato balls sound like a great and tasty snack to bring to school.

So that afternoon, I deep-fried few balls to satisfy our tastebud. Must eat them while they are warm. Soft inside, crispy outside. Tasted good by itself but even nicer when I sprinkle some icing sugar on the balls.

I  ate few balls; I am potato and cheese lover. Irresistible.

Gosh! I ate too much that Sunday. Spicy laksa, aromatic bak kut teh soup and warm, tempting cheesy potato balls.   And my waist line has been going horizontal too.

Missing onions and what's in the pot

After our delicious lunch in Bako, we then drove to 4 1/2 Miles for a visit to one of the nurseries there.

We bought new potted plants, fertilizers and soils that morning.

So once we were at home, hubby and I started with the gardening while 2 older kids went up to their rooms to study for their exams. Jamie entertained himself around the house while hubby and I sweat in the garden.

Then hubby told me to take some onions (shallots) from the kitchen as he wanted to grow spring onions. So I placed a plastic of onions on the car porch chair and did not bother with it till the time to place it in the soil. 

And oh oh! Where were the onions?? After searching high and low, finally I decided to call Jamie to come down. Why? Only him was around and if he had anything to do with the mssing onions, he would know.

So I asked him on the onions and the plastic. At first he nodded but then he denied it. But after a short interrogation, suddenly he made a big round around the living room and directed us to the fridge. He immediately opened the freezer and then the lowest compartment. He pointed to the compartment and ran to the staircase. 

Guess what?? The plastic of the onions was indeed in the compartment in the freezer! Hubby and I looked at each other and burst into laughters. While the little one was looking at us from the staircase, I said "thank you" to him and he replied me "You're welcome, mummy". He ran upstair to play.

We couldn't blame him. He tried to be helpful, in our mind, keeping the onions for us.  Just surprised that he kept them in the freezer, of all places. Lol.

So, we have solved the case of missing onions and continued with our garden.

One of the plants we bought from the nursery. I find leafy plants easier to plant and take care of than those with flowers.

This plant (below) was given by Small Kucing's mama; has been growing well but slowly. 

Another one from mamarazzi. Forgot what is this. Lol. Hmm. Wonder should I repot to bigger pot?

2 new pots of plants from the nursery.

And this pretty red-and-green leafy plant is chosen by Jamie. He insisted on buying one plant. Lol.

By the river

Bako village

On Wesak Day, we took a little drive to Bako for lunch. We went to this wooden restaurant by the river bank as we loved what we had the previous time we were there.

Bako Seafood Restaurant

Bako Seafood Restaurant, a well-known halal Chinese restaurant in this small village.

Bako Seafood Restaurant overlooking the fishing village across the river. It rained that early morning so the air was cooling and breezy when we arrived slightly before 10am.

The river was busy with activities. Small boats, tourist boats and other alike.

After a short view of the river bank, we went into Bako Seafood Restaurant and took a table. Some tables were reserved but there were some vacant one too.

After placed our order, I took few shots of the interior.

Most parts are on wooden floor but they have extended the kitchen area.

I had coconut juice to quench my thirst.

Soon, our food arrived. First dish was their famous deep-fried oyster balls. We loved it!!

The fresh oyster inside the thin crispy coating and it was great with their sweet and spicy dipping sauce.

Next was our belacan kangkung. So so appetizing and flavourful.

Another signature dish was this deep-fried taufu. Couldn't get enough of it.

We ordered this white pomfret with its special sweet sauce. Very nice.

Lastly was this fresh steamed prawns with garlic and Chinese wine.

It was a delightful lunch. We could even felt the breeze in the restaurant, and looking at the boats passing by every now and then from our table. So relaxing.

By the time we finished, it was just 11am. Yes, we did had a very early lunch that day. Something that we do sometimes over the weekend or holiday. Skip breakfast and do 2 heavy meals.