His kampua

Once in a while, my man would cook his own breakfast. Other than omelette, he can cook kampua well.

He likes this Sibu kampua very much so he would buy a pack to store when he sees it. Cannot buy too many as expiration date is short. 

So one weekend after our morning walk, he decided to cook himself a plate of kampua for breakfast. 

He took out pork shabu-shabu that he bought from Emart to go with his kampua. Followed the instruction accordingly, he boiled the noodle first. Then drain and toss in the seasoning and sauces. In another boiling water, cook the pork strips for few seconds then add onto the kampua. 

Garnished with fried shallots that I made the day before and some spring onion from my garden, his kampua was ready!! 

Another morning, he wanted kampua for breakfast (again), so he made his own. This round, he added some sweet soy sauce to his noodle. 

So do you like your kampua plain or black (with soy sauce) ? 

He made it looked easy

When my man worked himself in the kitchen, most of time, he will ended up with a surprise. Or rather, surprised me with his cooking skill.

It was a Sunday, before Gawai. He had a craving for steamed egg. So he took over the kitchen to cook his version of steamed silky egg. 

First attempt

Steamed silky egg custard with preserved radish (chai poh) topping. It was good, with the fried radish and garlic mixtures on top. You could have more than 2 bowls of rice with only this dish!!! 

The egg custard was done so well. It was silky and smooth. I wished I took photo to show how silky and smooth but it was too tasty, I forgot about the photo! The topping added the flavour to the custard. But your mouth will have that garlicky and radish aftertaste which I don't like much. 

He made again few days later. This round, I remember to take photo of the custard when dug in but it was firmer than his first attempt. I prefer the softer version but this one was nice as well. 

2nd attempt

Egg custard

Ingredients:

125g preserved radish (chai poh) 

3 - 4 garlic cloves, pounded

1 tbsp cooking oil

2 eggs

60ml water

Water for steaming

Methods:

1.  Add preserved radish in a mortar. Pound till mince (or you could use blender to blend well). Dish out and place in a bowl. Use the same mortar, pound the garlic cloves. Put in another bowl. 

2. In a pan, heat up about 1 tbsp cooking oil. Add preserved radish to it, saute under low heat. Continue stir till it brown (but not burnt), then add in the minced garlic. Mix well and cook till the mixture is brown. Turn off heat. 

3. Prepare the steamer. In a mixture bowl, crack in 2 medium sized eggs. Mix with water, stir well. Add a little bit of salt and pepper. Sieve the egg mixture in a steaming bowl. Steam under high heat for about 10 minutes or till the egg is cooked but not firm. 

4. Pour the preserved radish and garlic with a bit of the oil onto the egg. Serve immediately. 

Creamy or Crunchy

When it comes to bread spread, my vote goes to peanut butter!! I don't mind jam, kaya or butter once in a while, but my loyalty lies in peanut butter.

Do you like creamy or crunchy peanut butter?? In my family, my kids and I like the creamy type. The China-made Lady's Choice is our favourite choice.

I can go with toast or plain bread, spread good amount of peanut butter on one piece. 

The odd one is hubby, who prefers the crunchy type. He bought this JIF peanut butter from US, I don't remember the exact price but less than RM20. 

He liked the taste, and had peanut butter toast almost every night for supper!! Thick spread with lots of nuts on the toast!! 

Looking at green

As they said, looking at greenery is good for the eyes. So here are some photos I took on one of my morning walks last month.

An enclosed nursery

Dainty yellow flowers

In the wild

Hydrangea grown by a neighbour. This uncle has green fingers

Ruellia purple flower and other dainty flower plants grown by the same uncle

Uncle's flowers are growing so well

Succulents on the wall

Holiday cooking

What we ate during the 2 days Gawai holiday.

We stayed at home on the first day. Everyone woke up late, so I prepared a simple breakfast. 

Deep fried frozen burger patties and assembled own sandwich with some lettuce, fried egg, cheese and hash brown. I also deep fried some french fries to go with the sandwiches. 

For lunch, it was Chinese cuisine. A homey food that everyone loved. I made meat balls, ngoh hiang, luncheon meats, potatoes and onion, ginger chicken and cangkuk manis. I cooked a lot so we had the same dishes for dinner as well. 

The next day, hubby and I went for our morning walk and then we made luncheon meat sandwich at home. Both of us went for a quick grocery shopping at Choice Daily. Grabbed few stuff to cook our lunch. 

Hubby wanted healthier meal so we made salad and stir fried Aglio Olio angel's hair. 

Yes, again, I overcooked so we had the same food for dinner. No one complained though. Lol. 

Saved myself time cooking, I just heated up the food for dinner.  Holiday should be time for relaxation. So, I was very relaxed over those 2 days holiday although we cooped at home most of the time. 

Gifts

Last Saturday night, hubby went to meet up with few friends. He came home with gifts from his friends.

One friend gave us this fruit. They called it crystal fruit. I was not so sure what was it but it tasted sweet. First time tasted it. 

It tasted something in between longan and rambutan.  Bigger fruit with big black seed inside like longan but firmer texture like rambutan.  Pretty heaty as I needed to drink lot of fluid after tasted one. I am prone to sore throat so I am pretty sensitive when it comes to heaty food and fruits. 

Skin was hard, so one need to press hard to squeeze the fruit out. 

Another friend gave us his aunt's freshly made changs. One was Nyonya chang which was sweet and fragrant. Natural colouring from butterfly peas. I prefer this chang more than her Hakka chang. 

The Hakka chang was saltier and bigger. I think we have overdose of changs this year. Some we bought and some were gifts. Felt blessed to receive the homemade dumplings from friends. 

Thank you both for the yummy gifts. 

Chang and more

It is back to school today. More like back to endless homeschooling and homeworks! And since today is also Duan Wu Jie (Dumpling Festival or Dragon Boat Festival), it is practical to post some dumpling photos here. 

In my previous post, I bought 2 types of chang from Abundance Food Centre. Hakka and Nyonya changs. 

Hakka chang RM4

Groundnuts and yam are what make a Hakka chang distinctive! 

Smaller Nyonya chang, RM2.50

Meaty, more flacourful Nyonya chang

Last Friday, hubby's friend passed some homemade kee chang (alkaline dumplings) to us. Ages since I tasted one. Not my favourite though, but I enjoyed them with kaya. 

Do you like this yellowish kee chang? What you eat it with? 

The next day, hubby and I went to Grandma Handmade Noodle Bak Kut Teh in Rock Road, not for its bak kut teh but to buy its handmade changs. Few varieties of changs to choose from and hubby initially wanted to buy its mussel and scallop pillow dumplings but only the traditional salty pork was available. Other changs had been pre-booked. While we were there, we saw the taukeynio and staff busy making different type of changs.  The taukeynio is a friend of hubby's cousin so we knew her.  

 

Taken from its Facebook page

We bought 15 salty pork dumplings (aka Hokkien chang) at RM6 each from her. 

Hokkien chang is much darker in colour compared to others. 

We immediately sent some over to my dad at his shop. After that we went home to enjoy our Hokkien chang. So good with the fatty meat, salted egg yolk, mushroom and black eyed beans. 

Each changs have their own version and taste. For me, personally I like Hokkien chang more. 

What changs have you tasted this year?? Which one do you like best? 

Abundance

It has been almost a year since our last (and first visit) to this food court for the Bishopgate noodle.

It was a Saturday, I woke up late. Late here, means around 730am. So after both of us were ready, we drove all the way here to buy takeaway. 

It wasn't total lockdown here, just the first day of MCO in Sarawak. Streets still have cars but the traffic was smooth so we reached this Abundance Food Centre in a quick time. 

Luckily no queue in front of The Big Fat Aunty Noodle (renamed), so the young couple did my order quickly. 

We had 3 sets of the mixed pork soup plus plain noodle.  We did not touch the cili padi in the light soy sauce dipping as the sauce was slightly hot from the chillies. 

Mild taste soup, must take it promptly to enjoy the warm soup. 

We also order 3 extra plain noodles, so total was RM36 for our order. 

While I was waiting for the noodle at the shop, I bought some bak chang from the kuih stall. I did mentiined in my previoys post that this food court was opened by an ex-colleague of hubby. The drink and kuih stalls also managed by her. 

It so happened I bumped into her that morning and she told me the Nyonya chang was made by another ex-colleague, which we bought and tasted before. So, of course I must buy some back. 

The price for Nyonya chang was still RM2.50 (left). The kuih stall also sell Hakka peanut chang (RM4), so being a Hakka myself, I like that too. I also bought few to try. 3 Hakka chang (right) and 3 slightly smaller Nyonya chang to commemorate Dumpling Festival which falls on 14 June this year. 

Want to know how Nyonya and Hakka chang look like, check out from my old post.

Cup noodles craze

My family especially the boys have a craze for cup noodles lately. It all started with Jamie, who was craving for China-made noodle cup a couple of months ago. He remembered that he tasted a nice noodle cup during our holiday, so he has been nagging to buy it. 

Since then, hubby has bought some but different brands and flavours home. Mostly beef broth flavour from China. Most cost more than RM10. Cup noodle isn't cheap due to the packaging and cost even more for imported noodle. 

I personally preferred the Indonesian Myojo chicken abalone flavour. Noodle was more springgy and thinner than those from China. China noodle looked like mee pok, but their texture was nice as well.

China's Master Kang Noodle Cup, golden beef stock. Spicy and sourish. 

Convenient when the children are hungry, they can make themselves

On our last visit to Emart, we saw this mee cup. Mie Sedaap Cup?! Our favourite instant mee goreng at home was Mi Sedaap, without the 'e', after Mi. Same brand?? Packaging was similar though. Anyway, I bought 1 cup home. 

Jan took the Mie Sedaap one morning. After read the instruction, she did her own noodle. 

Added the mixed vegetable with warm water into the cup. Waited for 4 minutes, then drain the noodle, and add the remaining seasoning and garnish to the noodle. 

Ta-da!! Her breakfast was done! Tasted better than the normal instant Mi Sedaap, I have to admit. 

As at this moment, we still have few cups in the pantry. Somehow the craze for them has died off. Lol. We will try to clear them up soon as their expiry dates are mostly in last quarter of the year. 

Tapau mode

No dine-in since last month, so we have to resort to tapau our food to support our favourite coffee shop. Luckily over here, the ministry allowed business to open from 6am to 8pm, so no problem for those going to market, and tapau breakfast and so forth. 

We also resumed our morning walk since jogging, light exercises are allowed around the neighbourhood. So, one morning last week, after a brief exercise, we walked to the coffee shop. We reached there around 640am. Few people in front of the queue, everyone followed SOP and patiently waited for their breakfast to be ready. And we thought we were early as it was only 6.40am and the coffee shop usually opened after 6am, but someone beat us to it!  Lol!

While waiting for our noodles, I ordered RM2 each of these fritters. It has been a while since I drink teh c, so I tapaued a cup of warm teh c for RM2.40. I forgot to ask for lesser sugar, so my teh c was slightly sweet but at least my craving was satisfied. 

I did not take kolo mee that morning but instead had fried mee hoon (RM5). Jan also requested for fried mee hoon, I guess she was bored with eating kolo mee. 

Hubby took a like in kolo kway teow lately, so I ordered kolo kway teow for him. 

The boys had their usual, kolo mee. RM3.50 each but the kolo noodle costs RM4 from 1 June 2021 onwards. Price-wise, it was at par with other kolo mee shops now. Hardly able to find RM3.50, or RM3 or even lesser than RM3 kolo mee nowadays.