Weekend Menu #91: Sichuan preserved mustard pork rib soup

We bought home few ceramic bowls from Daiso, Aeon Mall last month. RM5.90 each. We couldn't resist them.

The next day, I cooked this Sichuan preserved mustard (榨菜 literally means "pressed vegetable") with pork rib. My man requested for this soup so I bought 2 mustard stems from nearby market for RM2.20. I only used one of them for the soup. The other one will be used on another day for another recipe.

This is a very simple recipe. Main ingredients are the pork ribs and Sichuan preserved mustard. I used slow cooker so I wouldn't need to keep an eye on the fire. Let it cook in slow cooker at high heat for less than 3 hours and a comforting, spicy and salty soup is ready to be served in our new ceramic bowls on the dining table. Somehow the soup looked good and appetizing in the black bowl. Lol.

Ingredients:
Pork ribs
1 Sichuan preserved mustard
Half garlic cloves
Few slices of ginger
Pepper and salt to taste
Water for boiling
Spring onions, chopped

Methods:
1. Blanch the pork rib and rinse it.
2. In a slow cooker, cook the water and add in the garlic clove and ginger slices. When water is hot, add in the pork ribs and Sichuan mustard.
3. Let the soup cook for 2 hours till the pork is cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Garnish with spring onion when serve.

Miscellaneous Picture #80: what survive

What's in my garden lately?

Not much actually. Have not been tending to my garden lately because of warm weather and I am hardly at home as going over to my dad's shop in the morning. I usually do my gardening in the morning after sending off all the kids. My peaceful time in the garden by myself.

Anyhow, I am relieved to see some plants survive the rough weather. Some has died off. And frustrating is the weeds are growing well!

For now, I am not going to plant any new plants. No time for gardening.

First night

On their first night in Kuching, we brought our friends to Topspot food centre for an enticing seafood dinner.

Our favourite stall is this Ling Loong Seafood. We left the ordering to the men and since it was just around 530pm, the place wasn't so full yet.

The weather was just nice as the rain has stopped. We were able to enjoy the light breeze and good seafood without feeling hot and stuffy under the beautiful evening sky.

Our first dish to arrive on our table was the well-known Kuching o-chien (oyster pancake). Our KL friends were singing praises of this dish and enjoyed it very much.

We ordered 2 big lobsters and thankfully the lobsters were fresh and sweet. Loved the simple and tasty gravy that they cooked with it. Preserved the natural sweetness and freshness of the crustacean.

The steamed fish came next. Lovely too but I only took a spoonful as I was busy eating the crabs.

Their special butter salted egg yolk crabs. Our first time trying this way of cooking crabs. Surprisingly it was nice. Something different from the usual butter or salted egg crabs.

For vegetables, we had the stir fried cangkuk manis with eggs and stir fried pea shoots with garlic. Initially we wanted midin but the stall didn't have that vegetable so we decided on cangkuk manis instead. Our lady friend loved this vegetable so much that she finished up the vegetable herself and ordered again the next day.

We also had a plate of beancurds but I didn't take photo of that. Overall, it was a delightful dinner where our friends enjoyed and they commented on the price. Reasonable as compared to KL price, according to them. 

We ended the lovely evening with a drink and chat at one of the bistro in Kuching Waterfront. Overlooking the Sarawak river, where we could enjoy the nice river breeze, dusk and Malay kampung across the river. And we managed to catch a glimpse of the river cruise moving slowly along the river.

That was the end to a great day but more to come the next day.

We got company

1-month long school holiday has come to an end. Time really flies when we have a good and relaxing time.

We didn't go out much over the school holiday. No flying anywhere or go some place far. However we didn't want the kids to feel bored over the long holiday so we did planned some day outing over the weekends like this, Gawai visiting and Kampung visit.

And then, we had company at our humble home during the Hari Raya weekend. Hubby's male friend came over for a short 2 nights visit with his girlfriend.

They flew in from KL on the first day of Hari Raya. It was nice meeting and catching up with them again since our Phuket holiday 6 months ago.

Once they landed at the airport, we drove them to Pyramid Dream Food Court for Bishopgate mixed pork soup and vinegar noodle. They loved the sour vinegar taste in the noodle and singing praise of the clear mixed pork soup.

We left at 12 noon and started our journey to Borneo Highlands.  This was our 3rd time driving along Padawan road this month. First was on Gawai day and second  was a week later.

Our first stop was the good vibe waterfall. We didn't stay long or go into the water as rain started to drop.

We continued our drive to the highlands resort.

Unlike our first visit to the resort few years back, we wouldn't be able to drive freely around. Now they have assigned drivers to bring and guide you around. There is a fee charge for that on top of the entrance fee. Fortunately we bumped into a friend who is currently doing a construction work there and he was so kind to bring us around the resort.

Our first stop was the Kalimantan view point.

The white marking of the border between Sarawak and West Kalimantan. No reception there but handphones could detect our neighbouring country's Telco and roaming.

This was the only place where you wouldn't need a passport to cross the border! One second I was in Malaysia and next second I was on Indonesia soil!

Stepping stone between two countries!

The view on Borneo Highlands was as spectacular as before especially after the rain.

After thanking our dear friend for the tour, we departed back to Kuching centre where we brought our friends to visit the prominent cat statues.

The white cat in Padungan and the cat family in golden triangle.

After that, we went for an early dinner since everyone was famished by then. It was around 5.30pm when we reached our dinner venue. More to come in my next post.

Dining in the container

On our wedding anniversary, we had a celebration dinner in The Container Cafe. Located at Jln Simpang Tiga (not far from The Spring mall), this was our first visit to The Container.

Picture credit from here

It is the first and only container cafe (up to date) in Kuching and has been in business for more than a year.

It was a nice, cooling evening when we were there as the rain had stopped. We opted to be seated outside on the upper verandah.

Our verandah was facing the car park rather than the main road; away from the noisy traffic. I liked the quiet and breezy ambience at the veranda.

Love the bar and alcoholic beverage collection of this fusion cafe.

Our evening started off with the grilled lamb chop (RM28.80). We requested for medium rare and it was perfectly prepared. The portion was just nice and we enjoyed the lamb chop with the black pepper sauce.

Fish & Chips (RM23.80) was nice too. They deep fried the battered dory which was fine for us.

Next was their signature salted kampung chicken (RM23.80), half portion.

It wrapped in baking sheet and I was given a disposable glove to deal with it. The salted chicken with oriental herbs was delicious; something we rarely eat.

Last to arrive on our table was the crispy seafood carbonara (RM36.80). Something different from the classic carbonara in the sense that they used the local noodle here. A fusion of crispy deep-fried noodle topped with cream sauce and Parmesan. It was alright but we still prefer spaghetti or linguine in our carbonara.

Overall it was a lovely and delightful first dining experience in The Container Cafe.  Hope to come here to try its other Western specialty.

And a toast to our 14th anniversary.

Used to be

I went to Thompson Corner, Jalan Nanas for breakfast with my dad one morning.

It was a cold morning; hardly can felt any warm from the sun. So that morning, both of us wanted something warm for our tummies.

Dad went for the Claypot noodle. I used to love the claypot noodle here but each time, I would ended up burning my palate. Lol.

That morning, although it used to be my favourite dish, I didn't ordered that. I went for Foochow mee suah.

Love the mee suah as the soup was sourish from the wine. I did enjoyed my breakfast that morning with my dad.

And I bought home some yue tiaw for snack. The yue tiaw still taste the same.

Good enough

We went to 38 food street for brunch on a Wednesday. Just me and my 2 older kids. 

Before that, Jan and I were at my parent's house helping my mum with my young niece. My bro's wife gave birth to their 2nd daughter that morning. So, I were there for a while helping her with my niece and packed and brought food to the hospital.

After dropped the food and had a peep at my new niece, Jan and I went to pick Jay from his tuition. 

We dropped by the food court for brunch as Jay was hungry. It was around 1030am and the place was packed. As usual, Jay went for kolo mee while Jan and I had chicken rice from Authentic Chicken Rice stall.

My girl had roasted chicken rice.

Roasted chicken rice (RM5.80)

Where as I went for its steamed chicken.

Steamed chicken rice (RM5.80)

We also shared a small plate of stir-fried bean sprouts.

Bean sprout (RM4.00)

It has been a while since we had Authentic chicken rice.  The rice and chicken were good enough for our tastebuds but I loved the chilli dipping.

In the afternoon, I had one of these bak chang for tea break. My sil's mum made them and gave some to my parents.

I don't really celebrate the Dragon boat festival. I don't specifically hunt for bak chang during such time of the year, so I don't mind if I don't have them either. Knowing me, my mum gave me these 2 bak chang. But I liked these Hakka chang that mum gave me. Full of meats, ground nuts and taro; taste was just nice. Not overly salty and sweet. I steamed them for a while and they were good enough to go with a cup of tea. ^^

Hakka dumpling

Today is the celebration of Dragon Boat Festival so wishing everyone a Happy Duan Wu Jie!

Thanks to hubby's colleague for these bak chang that we are able to enjoy today.