The bridge and beyond

The longest bridge in Sarawak (and 3rd longest in Malaysia) is the Batang Sadong bridge that opened for travellers since October 2016.

I see the bridge!

Last Saturday, we went for a short road trip to the bridge, and covering few villages and small towns beyond it. It wasn't a fabulous day for a road adventure but the green countryside view was worth the drive.

About 2 hours drive to the bridge from Kuching as heavy downpour on us along the way. Beforehand, we had to take a ferry in Kampong Bandong, so that already cost us  some time waiting in line for the ferry across the river.

We passed by so many greens, canals, barrages, farms, banana trees, coconut trees and oil palm trees. I love countryside, the air is fresh and even better, after the rain.

Banana trees on both sides 

Paddy field

One of the few big barrages

Asajaya Canal 2

Down the bridge on way back to Kuching

Over Batang Sadong

Infested with crocs??

We passed by Samarahan to Sadong Jaya, then Asajaya and over the new bridge to Sebangan. After that, we made a stop in Simunjan for a toilet break and lunch before heading home. We did not use the ferry service but took the other road to Semarahan and headed home from there. Overall a 5 hours outing.

Asajaya

Simunjan town

Most Simunjan shops have addresses below their trading names

One of the old blocks

Lunch over here

Late lunch

Kolo mee

Economy rice

The only outing that we managed to do over the school holiday.  At least we brought the kids out discovering new places in Sarawak.

The best

One morning after I picked Jay up from his tuition class, we wanted to go to "Yes" Cafe for early lunch before heading home. But it turned out that the shop was closed. Closed on a Tuesday.

Since we were there and I were too lazy to drive to other place, we went to another food court, a stone throw away from Yes Cafe. The Best Corner.

The Best Corner

We had a walk one round to check on the stalls that opened and finally my boy settled for his usual dish, kolok mee.

As for me, I ordered from the fried food stall. Something that I have not eaten for quite sometime.

Cantonese fried kway teow

Cantonese fried kway teow! So generous with egg gravy. So much greens and reasonable ingredients for RM6.

I enjoyed it very much. I think this was the best I have ever tasted so far. The kway teow was full of "wok hei" and I loved the fragrant egg gravy.

It was so comforting to have it. Something I seldom eat and it feels so good to enjoy it once in a while.

I enjoyed my Cantonese kway Teow with a glass of soya bean. My boy had iced Milo and oh boy! A big glass of iced Milo was so expensive. My kids mostly drink Milo at home and yet, they would still want to order iced Milo when we dine outside.

Jude chicken rice stall

We were seated just in front of this Jude chicken rice stall. Yes, the same Jude chicken rice that operate in Open Air Market since 1993. I think the son operating this stall as I saw a young man mending the stall.

I bought a pack of fried chicken rice (RM6) for Jan. Looked good to me. No complaint from my girl so I guess it was good.

Miscellaneous Picture # 77: food craving and numbers

Had Roti Tisu not so long ago with my Jay in Curry House. My sudden craving for this crispy, thin flatbread.

Pizza lunch for the kids- they simply love no-rice meals. Pizza. Kids can't resist it.

I am more of a rice person. Rice with curry chicken and salted mustard were the best meal for me.

Spent some times teaching my Jay multiplication table over the holiday.

How to teach kids division?? My boy has problem understanding the logic of division but not much problem with multiplication. Took me some time to make him understand. I guess practice makes perfect. 

About them

I have not been posting much about my children's update for quite sometime. 

Life with the three is never short of excitement, joy, headaches and pains but at the same time, it is a journey of discovery and bittersweet for me. Every day is a new chapter for me and them.

The eldest has been busy with schools. UPSR is 6 months away. But her 12th birthday is next month. Asked her if she would like a birthday party, she said no. She is not into those big parties or don't want so much trouble for her special day. So maybe a little celebration at home or her favourite meal for her special day.

She loves music and still an avid reader. She likes to stay most of her time in her room, her private place where she is very protective of. I respect her privacy but sometime I do miss chatting to her. Her brothers aren't allowed into her room unless she invites them to.

The second child is a headache as he is getting rebellious at his age (8+). Smart but lazy, he has trouble in school. Average learner. So I spend more time with him, understand him and learn together with him.

However he loves to keep stuff. A young collector, I called him. He is learning to keep his room and stuff clean and tidy. Better in keeping his room cleaner compared to his sister. ;)

The youngest has finally adjust to his full day in kindergarten. No more wailing and excuses whenever I drop him off at the kindergarten compound. He enjoys his time with his friends. Academic-wise, he is learning but need a bit of pushing.

He can write his English name now. Also able to write few Chinese, English and BM words. He still enjoys doodling on papers. I let him doodle, write and draw as it is a way to express himself and encourage him to learn. More talkative and some day I couldn't get him to stop talking for a second!

Life as kid is no longer that fun as 5 years old needs to learn spelling. Not fond of it as I think kids as young as he is, should be enjoying their childhood and learn in a fun way. Education indeed not the same nowadays, unlike my time.

Ok, that's from me for now.

Number 6

It was a Sunday, I was lazy to cook dinner so my man had to think of a place for dinner that evening.

After many rounds of driving in the old part of the city, we drove to Jalan Song to scout for food. Jalan Song is famous for many food courts and eateries so one wouldn't go hungry there. So many places that you wouldn't know where and what to eat. There is a Vietnamese now, Western outlets, bars and bistros.

We finally ended up in Number 6 Kopitiam for our dinner. It has been ages since we went there for its claypot dishes. Used to patronize this place when we stayed nearby.

Hubby ordered five dishes from the claypot stall. And in few minutes time, we had our first claypot dish on the table.

First was this tasty and comforting fish maw soup. Never go wrong ordering this with the kids around. They attacked the fish maw and meatballs in no time.

Second was this super appetizing salted fish pork belly. So good to go with white rice.

Next was the dish that both hubby and I loved. Curry lamb. However it wasn't the same as we remembered it to be. Used to be very spicy and full with flavour. Now they changed the recipe slightly, not like normal curry lamb. They added lemongrass to it, but it was nice. Something like Thai curry but it was not bad.

I ordered this stuffed bitter gourd soup to cool down all those 'heat'. I love bitter gourd soup.

Last was this creamy lamb stew.  Tasted the same as before. Something like a lamb korma.

Five of us couldn't finish all the dishes. We packed home bitter gourd soup and lamb stew for the following day.

Total cost of our claypot dinner was RM48 plus 4 plates of white rice.

2 steamed recipes

For my own record, I have these two steamed recipes penned here. 

I prepared and cooked them for my Chap Goh Mei dinner, namely steamed yellow chicken and steamed silver pomfrets.

I love steamed dishes nowadays. Maybe more effort needed to prepare and marinate them prior to cooking but they are healthier and less oily.

Hope you would try and enjoy them.

Steamed yellow chicken

I was given half of a while yellow chicken by a neighbour a week before CNY. She had her relative brought in from Sibu.

I didn't use the whole portion as we wouldn't be able to finish it. So I chopped into half. Now I had half of half (quarter). I need to steam the chicken longer as yellow chicken has tougher meat.

Ingredients:
1/4 of one yellow chicken, marinated with 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp shao Xing wine and 1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 thumb-sized ginger, sliced
1 tbsp. green onion, white part only, chopped

Dipping sauce:
1 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tbsp. light soy sauce
4 tbsp. water
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp. chopped green onion
1 tbsp. sesame oil


Method:
1. Lay ginger and green onion over the chicken with marinade and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Place the chicken in the steamer, steam at high heat for 20 to 30 minutes.
3. Chop chicken into biteable size.
4. For dipping sauce ;In a sauce pan, heat up 1 tbsp. sesame oil and stir in garlic and green onion until aromatic. Add in oyster sauce, light soy sauce and water.  Mix well and bring to boil.


Steamed silver pomfrets

I bought 2 silver pomfrets for RM10 on a day before Chap Goh Mei.

Ingredients:
2 silver pomfrets (about 300g), cleaned, pat dry and rub some salt and pepper all over the fishes
Salted mustards, soak and rinse to get rid of some saltiness
Some gingers, sliced
Some garlic cloves, chopped
1 stalk of green onions, chopped
1 tbsp. sesame oil
1 tbsp. shao xing wine
1 tsp light soy sauce

Methods:
1. In a pan, add in some cooking oil. Once heated up, add in the ginger slice and fry till fragrant.
2. Prepare the fishes in the steamer. Add in the fried ginger onto the fishes. Add in all the other ingredients (except green onion) as well.
3. Steam the fishes at high heat for over 15 minutes or till the fishes are cooked. Garnish with green onions on top.

Black

It was a very gloomy and wet Saturday last week. If there was a choice, we wouldn't be going out in such weather but it was not to be. Hubby has a flight to take to Pontisnak that morning so I had to send him off to the airport.

The rain was so heavy that the traffic was slow and heavy, and visibility was not so good. Thankfully it stopped after an hour of crazy rain.

On our way to the airport, we dropped by Shunfood Cafe (next to Lao Zhi Hao bak kut teh) in New Roxy Hotel.

Initially we thought we could avoid been getting overly wet by using the back door but they closed the roller shutter. So we had to use the front entrance. As you could see from the above  photo, the roller shutter was down. My boy always so happy to have his photo taken. His current favourite drink is iced Milo.

We ordered mee sapi with beef soup from the stall directly in front of Shunfood Cafe. Special set of RM10 inclusive of noodle. 2 sets, one for me to share with Jamie while another set for my man. My 2 older kids had replacement class in school that Saturday.

I seldom eat mee sapi as I am not a big lover of beef. And not to mention, the internal organs. So I passed most of the organs to hubby while I took the meat and bean sprouts.

Tastewise, the black soup was nice and not overwhelming to my standard. The noodle was good. Neither mushy nor tough. I actually enjoy the noodle and soup. So comforting to have it on a cold and wet morning.

He bought

CNY may be over but my children never go hungry at home. We always have snacks like cookies, crackers and bread in case anyone needs a bite.

Last week my man bought 2 shopping bags full of cookies when he went on a field trip. 

Bet my children are happy digging into those cookies. Luckily all expiring next year so we have times to finish them otherwise I may be tempted to give some away.

Peel or no peel?

I love Chinese steamed buns, especially char siew bun and meat bun with egg in the filling. But buns no longer that cheap nowadays. It could cost over RM2 or even higher.

Recently I tasted vegetable bun at my dad's shop where he bought from the market on the way to work. I never tasted a vegetable bun before till that morning. Surprisingly it reminded me of "chai kueh" with the fillings of beancurds, carrots and chestnuts. 

I usually peel the outer skin of the bun before I eat it. I know some do that but some don't. So, do you peel or don't peel the skin of the steamed buns before you eat them??

Miscellaneous Picture # 76: skywatch

As March creeping in, I feel like everything passed very fast in front of me. Day after day, night after night.

The sun comes out early and it does feel good to start a day earlier.

Sunrise might be pretty but sunset is equally mesmerising too.

And to catch the big, bright and white moon in the clear sky is a joy. My kids always excited to see the round moon and they make it a game to see who spot the moon more!

As the night fall, the beautiful moon can be easily sighted.