Miscellaneous Picture #68: Raya food note

Our Hari Raya house visiting started on 2nd day.

Only visited one house in Semariang. As usual, they serve their special Sarawak laksa to go with other delicious dishes.

I think my allergy got worse because I took the prawns. Doctor advised no seafood for a week after I went back to the clinic on Tuesday night for an injection.

More visiting and feasting on 3rd day. 3 houses we visited and by then, everyone was tired.

Feasting on cakes

Ketupat and satay

More cakes 

And munching on snacks

What we did

This was what we did on first day of Hari Raya. No, no house visiting because the invitation was for 2nd and 3rd day. 

So after church, we went for a movie in The Spring Mall. Between Transformers and Minions, the Minions won so we watched Despicable Me 3 that afternoon.

At least the kids enjoyed the humour.

After that we went to the Food Bazaar for an early dinner.  We seated right in front of the Indonesian food stall and I decided to try it out as I did not have the chance in the past.

I were undecided on whether to have the Ayam Bakar Kecap or Ayam Bakar Gamalama but in the end, I went for the former dish.

Initially I planned to go to the Laksa stall for the Nasi Lemak...

 ...with curry chicken.

But I spotted the Indonesian stall so I went for something different. I were sure I would have few rounds of curry chicken during the Hari Raya visiting. *wink*

And as we were about to make our leave, we happened to pass by the gelato stall (on the same floor), so hubby treated us to yummy and low fat gelato. 

RM6 for this cup of gelato. Got to eat it slowly. Lol. I shared this horlick gelato with Jamie while the other 2 kids had chocolate and vanilla flavour respectively.  I personally like the vanilla gelato.

The rest of the evening? Rest. I rested my tired legs and also hoping for my allergy to go away. Yup, developed a serious skin allergy few days ago and only went to see doctor the day before Hari Raya. Doctor gave me this prescription as well as aquous cream and soothing cream. Sigh!

Can you see the rashes on my leg?? Started from my feet and then spread to leg, butts and arms. Don't know what the cause but probably my skin is getting drier and more sensitive than ever before. So, got to take care of my skin well.

As good as I heard

Hubby worked in Miri for about 4 months after Sibu and when he stayed there, he loved to go to this restaurant in Miri Waterfront. Restaurant Muara. An Indonesian cuisine of lalapan and other specialty.

Last year, it opened its first outlet in Kuching in Icom Square, Pending. I have not been to Icom Square but many food courts, restaurants and cafes are mushrooming there.

And on one fine Sunday, I were craving for ayam penyet and hubby brought me and kids here.

Restaurant Muara, opposite Warung Nusantara.  No need for hubby to bring me to Miri for a taste of lalapan as he has been telling me how good was the lalapan and wanted to bring me there one day. Now they have an outlet right here.

The 4 outlets as shown in the menu. 3 of them are in Miri.

So many lalapan to choose from. Chicken, fish, squid but we decided on chicken to go with our rice.

It was too hot to sit outside so we had a table in the air-con place. Nicely set up and clean place. 

Soon our dishes came. My ayam penyet with a plate of white rice. Big slices of cucumbers, blanched long beans and cabbage to go with the spicy sambal. 

Ayam penyet

Trust me, when I said the sambal was spicy, it was spicy. Really hit the tastebud!!

Ayam penyet

As for lalapan (which means "vegetables as side dish"), the platter was almost similar to ayam penyet except they serve cincaluk instead of sambal.

Lalapan ayam

They also give a piece of deep-fried tempe and beancurd. Before you eat, you squeeze in the lime juice onto the cincaluk. Now I know why my hubby loves the lalapan so much. The dipping, really bring out the flavour.

Lalapan

The ayam penyet was as good as I heard from hubby. I personally loved the juicy deep-fried chicken. Crispy skin, meat was succulent. Got to eat together with the sambal and other vegetables. And I have to mention again, sambal was spicy till I had to take 2 glasses of drink! Lol.

Total of RM57.10 for 2 ayam penyet and 2 lalapan ayam plus drinks. I would not mind to come back for its lalapan keli (catfish) and other lalapan.

Hari Raya is this weekend, so wishing all Muslim friends and readers, Selamat Hari Raya and happy holidays!!

Before it ends

It was one of the weekdays where the weather was just nice.  Not too warm as it rained in the afternoon.  Came to 4pm and the rain had stopped, so I decided to get something from Emart Hypermarket.

After a quick grocery shopping, I noticed that the Ramadhan bazaar was on-going.  Since I did not cooked dinner that day, we went to check out the bazaar and buy our dinner.

The bazaar was not as big as the previous years. Still, I think you could get what you want there.  Previously I used to come with a friend but not this year.  Actually never thought of dropping by but since I were in the premises that evening, I guess I better checked it out before it ends this week.

Kueh

Colourful drinks on a nicely decorated table

Our dinner that evening. 

Weekend Menu # 86 : Salted mustard with pork belly

This is a very simple yet appetizing dish that is full of flavour from the salted mustard. My hubby's favourite dish of all time. He could have 2 bowls of rice to go with this dish only.

And Father's Day was yesterday, we did not do much celebration as hubby had function on both Saturday and Sunday.  So I had this homecooked meal for him and this dish was one of the menu.

Ingredients:

500g pork belly, blanched and cut into 2cm size
250g salted mustard, rinse and cut into smaller size
3 shallots, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 inch ginger, sliced
2 cups water
11/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Cooking oil
Spring onion for garnish

Methods:
1. Drain mustard with kitchen towel. Heat up a pan and dry fry the mustard till dry and wilted. Set aside.
2. Heat up cooking oil in a wok and saute shallots, garlic and ginger till fragrant.
3. Add pork belly and stir for about 3 minutes.
4. Add in water and bring to boil. Add in mustard, sugar and salt.
5. Cook for about 10 minutes or till pork bellt has soften. Dish out and garnish with spring onion.

Breakfast and Line

It was that time of the week to find my mum for breakfast.

Our breakfast venue was this Siang Siang Corner, Tabuan Jaya. I saw a Malay fried stall next to the Muslim fast food. Immediately I knew what I wanted to eat. Malay fried mee hoon.

I had the normal plate of fried mee hoon for RM4. Love the taste and the "wok hei".

By the way, my internet line has not been so good lately. On and off, connect and disconnect since last week. And not to mention the Maxis line. Makes me going crazy now. Kind of frustrating.

Couldn't wait

It was a Sunday night and hubby told me not to cook dinner. So we waited for him to finish his swim before he changed and showered. Then together we went to this Bak Kut Teh place.

It was around 630pm and the place was not so packed. We found a nice seating and quickly ordered our food since we knew what we want and everyone was hungry. As you can see, my Jamie couldn't wait for the bak kut teh to come as he helped himself to the yue tiaw.

First to arrive on the table for this platter of century eggs. I hardly touch it. Not a fan of this. 

Some time later our piping hot bak kut teh came. We had the spare ribs and pork belly to go with the beancurd skin, mushroom and green vegetable.  Everyone couldn't wait to dig in, enjoying with warm white rice.

We also had this red glutinous rice wine chicken (ang chow chicken) which is our favourite here. Love that they use kampung chicken for this dish. The flavour, really absorbed into the meat.

Hubby had this huge glass of cucumber juice. I love it. Refreshing and cooling. Nice to quench the thirst after the warm bak kut teh.

For me, I went for this cincau soya milk. Nice to take as well.

13 years

Thirteen years ago, I made an important decision that changed my life. A vow of eternity with the man I love. That was in 2004.

A year later, I woke up early in my bedroom, listening to the night sound. Actually I did not even slept well the night before.  Maybe because I felt giddy. All the excitement, the rush got into me. 
 

I got up from my bed, went down to the kitchen to help my mum. It was before 5pm as my hair stylist cum makeup artist was to come around 5.30am.  I went to hug my mum and said  "I am getting married today".  Officially, with relatives, families and friends as witness and shared the  bliss with us. Well, secretly I knew my parents shed a tear or two.  Tears of joy, definitely.

The wedding day was a joyful whirlwind.  It was a blissfully beautiful day. I did not even remember how I survived that day but I did.  The morning event from my house to hubby's house, the kowtow and tea ceremony, and we hardly have time to rest our bodies, and then it was on and on till the wedding reception in the hotel.
 

And today, 13 years on, I woke up in our little home, a place we happily called our home. Blessed with 3 wonderful children, I could not ask for more.  So much has happened in the last 13 years and yet, they also gone like a blink of an eye.  But one thing for sure. Our love stays strong. We have (and still have) so much to learn as husband and wife, and I am thankful we have God the solid rock upon which we stand. Here's to many decades more in sweet covenant, my love. I love you so!!!

Go away allergies

I mentioned before that as a baby, Jamie has  a very dry skin. He would scratch and most of the time, scratch till he bleed and leaving wounds on his legs, arms and hands.

I tried many products. They helped but did not solve or cure the problem. The problem comes and goes, on and off. He developed eczema as a baby but as he is growing up, it is more of a case of sensitive skin and allergies.

Consulted a GP recently when his allergies came back. Scratching here and there. Looking at him, my heart also break. Some nights he would wake up few times because of itchiness and do not get good sleep.

Doctor confirmed he has allergy but we would need to do a blood test to know the real cause of allergy.  I tried to steer away from egg and any allergy-induced food but unless we know what is the real cause, we wouldn't know.

This cream is for him to use as bath and also mosturiser.

For the affected area (the wound), I would apply this steriod cream.

How I wish his allergies would go away. Wish he is a healthy boy, with no problem. Wish he is like his older siblings with no skin problems. Alas, I could only wish and pray he would just get well as he is growing up.

Miscellaneous Picture #67: Well-spent

It was a long weekend over here with Gawai fell on 1st and 2nd June and stretched to Saturday and Sunday. We did had a relaxing and well-spent weekend. And I hope you did too.

House visiting and hot spring on 1st day of Gawai.

A few hours shopping in Plaza Merdeka on 2nd day of Gawai, to cool ourselves from the warm weather.

Before that, we went for a windy and cooling morning walk in the neighbourhood.

And a nice brunch in Kheng Lee Cafe, few shops away from this corner cafe in Carpenter Street.

Hubby was craving for braised meats rice so I heard this place serves nice lo bak rice. I went for my mixed curry rice. Oooo. So satisfying. RM5.50 for this plate of goodness.

Hubby's plate of braised meat rice.

And we finally did the kids' passports in UTC on 3rd day (Saturday)! Now they can fly oversea!

We did not wait for it to be done although just an hour wait as we had to rush to other place.

We collected the passports the next day after church. And they had few Ramadhan stalls all around the UTC so we bought some food home for lunch.