Breakfast after our morning walk

Today is the start of MCO 3.0 (or more of 2.0 since we did not follow MCO 2.0 earlier this year) in most divisions of Sarawak. Not full lockdown unlike those in Peninsular, so MCO or not, it wasn't like what we experienced a year ago in MCO 1. 0.

Before this MCO, hubby and I tried to make it a routine to have our morning walk every day.  A 40-minutes walk at the grassy plot in our residence.  Our neighbours use this little road for their morning exercises and we are few of them. Not many go for morning walk other than an uncle and a middle aged lady teacher who we always bump into, so we really enjoy this quiet part of our neighbourhood.

Thank God that the weather has been rather cool in the mornings lately so we were able to enjoy our walk.  We usually started around 6.30am and finished around 7.10am. Some day we would walked to coffee shop to tapau breakfast but with the new 8am to 8pm operating hour rule, we did not do that anymore.

So, more cooking at home for breakfast.  Like one morning, I cooked Mee Maggi goreng curry flavour.  The kids liked the chicken flavour, so I made that for them. I heated up leftover curry chicken that I made the night before to go with my noodle.  Can compare with the Mee Maggi Goreng that served in Mamak shop or not??

Or if any leftover rice, fried rice is the best solution. I like adding bacon or luncheon meat to my fried rice but some day, Chinese sausage in fried rice is tasty as well. 

Hubby took over the kitchen one Sunday after our morning walk. He wanted to make omelette for breakfast, so I let him cooked for us.  Rare occasion to have him busy in the kitchen while I sit and wait for my food. Lol.

His mushrooms and tomatoes omelette, with pan fried bacon and some tomato cherries. Not my kind of breakfast as I prefer noodle or sandwich but I do not mind having omelette once in a while. 

Crackers, anyone?

One of my favourite cream crackers. When don't feel like having a heavy breakfast, some of these crackers with a tall mug of warm milo drink would be my comfort breakfast any day!

Recently a friend passed a pack of this Indonesian imported cheese cracker for us to try. Somehow I ended up liking it, the kids and hubby are not crazy about it.

Roma brand, this Malkist Keju Tabur (sprinkle cheese) was addictive. Comes in 10 individual packs with 3 cheese crackers in each pack, I like it. Can smell the fragrant of the cheese when I open up the pack, it is nice and great for a light snack. 

Easy to keep and bring around with the individual packs. My handbag used to have few snacks just in case but now the kids have grown up and we hardly go out together, I rarely buy snacks to stack up and put in my bag. Somehow, my kids have outgrown the habit of eating snacks in particular crackers. Lol. 

Thin

No dine-in prior to Hari Raya so some days, either hubby or I will wake up early and go buy breakfast from our favourite coffee shop.

It was a Sunday, I woke up earlier than hubby. He had a day fishing trip a day before, so I let him sleep late. Since it was around 630am, I decided to venture by myself to the coffee shop and bought breakfast.

Kolo mee for the kids while hubby and I had kolo kway teow. I like the thin kway teow that the stall operator used. Must eat it while it is warm otherwise it will stick together once cold. Hubby also followed me to take kolo kway teow since last month; he seemed to enjoy it.

Then a friend of my late father-in-law passed these spring rolls over in the afternoon. We had them for our afternoon tea break. Made by her daughter-in-law, this aunt passed us 2 packs of the Vietnamese-styled spring rolls (5 in a pack). They looked good, don't you think so?? Thank you so much, Aunt Amalin for the spring rolls. 

You could see the ingredients clearly through the thin skin. Filled up with lettuces, chicken shreds, prawns, carrots and vermicelli, the spring rolls were so good and tasty. Mostly went into my and hubby's tummies. I usually don't fancy such spring rolls because of the herbs especially basil that they add in the rolls but this one did not have basil leaves in it so I ate a lot! 

Dipped with the homemade chilli dipping and crushed peanuts, we enjoyed them very much. If we feel like eating them, we can order from this aunt in the future. RM10 per pack, I think it is reasonable considering the fresh ingredients and size.

From the sea

My man had his monthly fishing trip, since March. He goes for 3 days 2 nights trip, so he gets full load on every trip. 

On his latest fishing trip, hubby sold quite a lot of fishes he caught so this was whatever left  in the ice box when he came home on Sunday (coincided with Mother's Day) .

A couple of mackerels, grouper, snapper and few sea fishes I was unable to recognise. 

Cutting a mackerel

My own fishmonger who learnt how to clean and cut the fishes from friends while on the sea. He was quite an expert right now. He would cleaned and divided the fishes in bags for storing when reached home. 

A chunk of frozen mackerel

We did not wasted the fish heads especially mackerels. I cooked assam curry fish heads with them. 

A grouper for an aunt, weighing around 3.5kg. The aunt commented that she got to eat the fish for one whole week since only her and her hubby at home!! 

My sis' father-in-law loves red snapper and requested to buy from my hubby if he catches any. Of course, we didn't collect money from him. This 3kg snapper, a gift to him. 

The next day, a neighbour passed these shellfish over while I wasn't at home. I drove Jan to her school to collect her exercise book while the boys stayed at home. The neighbour who happened to be a mum of Jay's classmate, gave me some big prawns and squids!!! Oh my, so kind of her! I often passed fishes to her as we could not finished them  in the past, so that day she gave me the shellfish in return.

I took some of the frozen prawns to cook that evening. Steamed prawns are my favourite but as long as the prawns are fresh and sweet, any cooking methods are fine with me. How about you??

Oishii, mum!

 It was Mother's Day 2021.

Everyone woke up around 730am. I cooked instant noodles for kids and myself in the morning. Hubby came back after 9am with his fishes. After took care of the fishes and his stuff and he took his shower, we went to an aunt's house and then my parents' house to passthem fishes. A blouse for my mum that I bought online few weeks ago. 

We spent slightly over an hour there before we said goodbye to them. Jan had an online piano class that Sunday afternoon so we needed to reach home by 1pm. It was the Sunday before Hari Raya so it was rather jam in Batu Kawa but luckily, we were just in time for her online class.

While on the road, my man ordered our lunch. Since it was Mother's Day, we had a nice lunch treat from him. Japanese cuisine. Yes, it has been a while since we had a nice and decent Japanese meal.

Oishi Japanese restaurant in Rock Road was our option. We had never been to the outlet before so it was our first order from Oishi. The food delivered by Grab, came in trays and containers in less than 30 minutes later. Let's have a look at what we had. 

A California set, consisted of some of our favourite sushi. The wasabi was good, I liked it. 

Hubby ordered this Salmon bento for me, which I enjoyed very much. 

Jan had the chicken teriyaki bento. She rarely take chicken when we goes for Japanese so it was her first time ordered a chicken bento. Usually she goes for unagi don. 

As for the boys, hubby ordered ramen.  One was chicken teriyaki ramen while another was yakiniku ramen (beef). 

I took photo of both ramen before pour in the broth. 

Total cost was RM118.60. Was everyone happy with the lunch? Yes, I quite enjoyed my bento and sushi. And the kids when asked how was it, they simply replied with a thumb up. I guess it was delicious (oishii!). 

Thanks hubby for the nice Mother's day lunch. ❤️

Bento without rice

Kids and I had delivered dishes from our local food franchise, SCR last month. On our latest order this month, we had these 2 bento without rice sets from this eatery.

Jamie went for his eczema follow up in BK Klinik Kesihatan that afternoon so by the time we were done and we took our shower and change, I was rather tired and lazy to cook dinner. So food delivery was the other option and the kids were rather happy to have take-out food than my home-cooked meals!! Lol. 

Worry that due to Ramadhan month and long wait, I ordered the bento before 5pm. I simply cooked white rice at home while waiting for FoodPanda guy to deliver our food. 

Less than 30 minutes, our food arrived in these 2 plastic bento trays. RM12 each, we had stir vegetable with oyster sauce+roasted chicken+chicken meat roll in one bento and oyster sauce beancurd+omelette+chicken meat roll in another bento. The kids enjoyed its meat roll  in previous order, so this round I ordered it in both sets. 

Tasty looking, right?? We did enjoyed the dishes, except the beancurd. The floss on top tasted weird, not to our liking. We finished everything except the beancurd. 

Delivered over

It was last week. A busy Wednesday where I did not have much time to cook. So I ordered online and had our lunch delivered over.

There was this Malay eatery that I had never tried although it was not that far from my house. Firna Cafe in MJC. It was next to this well known Choo Choo Cafe.

So, I ordered the following dishes for me and kids last week. What made me ordered from this eatery was because I saw that they served nasi kerabu! Yes, one of my favourite. 

And it only RM10.30 plus a syrup drink. I thought it was not expensive and the syrup drink was not too sweet, which I liked but I didn't finished it. 

The blue rice was pretty blue and artificial but again, I would not know much. Overall it was alright and edible especially the fried chicken. Not tough at all, which I enjoyed. 

Jan wanted the fried rice with fried chicken (RM6.50). Spicy for her tastebud but big portion as she was having hard time finishing it! 

As for Jamie, I put in special instruction not to add egg in his fried rice so he was able to enjoy it at ease. 

For my noodle loving Jay, I ordered its fried kway teow (RM4.60). He finished it so I guess he has no comment on his noodle.

Each dish came with soup. 

Something different from our usual chicken rice delivery. The kids seemed not mind although they did mentioned that the food was slightly spicy. If I order again, I must put in special request for milder spiciness for them. 

Arab rice

On the first Sunday of the month, hubby and I went to The Spring mall to buy some personal stuff.

Hari Raya decoration on the concourse with the theme of batik imprint.  Unique idea to cover the vehicles with fabrics to create that batik images. 

This giant batik jungle was nice too but I felt it did not have that Raya vibes. 

After spent some time shopping in Parkson, we went to The Food Bazaar for an early lunch. 

The food court was rather empty and quiet. It used to enjoy brisk business but maybe because of Ramadhan, not many customers around during the weekends. Of course hubby and I would not mind as Covid-19 cases are still around.

Hubby wanted to eat the Nasi Arab from this stall. We had it during our last visit last December and enjoyed it very much. 

So, I also followed him, decided to try this chicken akbari with Arab rice (RM13.80).

A chicken thigh in a nice sweet and mild spicy and served with shredded cabbage and chickpeas, this Arab rice was delicious and filling. 

Hubby had his cheat meal as he indulged in this Special Nasi Arab remix set (RM18). Mixture of yellow rice and Arabic rice with lots of chickpeas, braised beef and lambs plus shredded cabbage. Definitely a very heavy and sinful lunch but he loved it. 

We drowned our food with refreshing coconut juice (RM5.30). Both of us were very full from having the rice and juice! 

Wishing my Malay bloggers and friends "Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri". Have a safe, wonderful holiday. 

Frozen

There was this corner shop that we had never stepped foot into till last month. Somehow hubby found out this place from a source thay it sells kampung chicken.  Those healthier free-range chicken which is nice to cook in soup.

Ming Soon Mini Market was the name of this shop. If not for the photos on this vending machine in front of the shop, we would not know that it also sells other frozen food. 

On our first visit, we bought a frozen free-range chicken and pack of pork ngoh hiang. The chicken was around RM29 while the very nice ngoh hiang (3 big rolls) was RM33!! Yes, pricey but it was good. 

I thawed the rolls and deep fried them that very day. No wonder the shopkeeper said it was very nice. Indeed it was nice but we would not be buying it again. Very expensive, we thought. 

On our second visit to this shop, we bought one frozen black chicken for RM25.70 and 3 lo mai kai (RM3.50 each). 

I chopped and divided the black chicken into 2 parts. I cook one part with red dates and ginger in slow cooker. 

The boys like lo mai kai, just like the dad. Hubby requested to steam 2 of them to try after we got home. 

The lo mai kai after digging in it. Not much meat though but the rice was tasty.