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We were back to our morning walk early this month. So while we were at it, we would walked to our favourite coffee shop to buy breakfast.

The shop disallowed dine-in (when it was alright and permitted to do so) so we can only tapau its kolo mee and some fried fritters home. The snack stall as always serve nice fritters. My kids and I love its banana fritters while the man likes its spring onion fritters.

One morning, I spotted it had a new item on display. Few yellow buns which attracted me. When asked about it, it was mantou. Pumpkin mantou to be exact. So I bought 2 for RM3 to give it a try. 

Dense bun, tasted sweet. I like pumpkin so I did enjoyed this pumpkin mantou.

Couple weeks ago, one of hubby's fishing buddies gave us 2 fillets of threadfin (ngor hu in Hokkien) and a couple of Indian threadfin (ikan cermin) fishes that he caught. 

Look how big was this fish!! I need to cut it into half, so it able to go into my steamer. 

Usually I steamed it with lots of garlic, ginger, salted plum and sauces and seasoning. Tasted good and tasty, with the fish being fresh and sweet.

One day, I tried new sauce and used this bottled sauce that I bought quite sometime ago to go with one part of the fish.

Ended up with super tasty and flavourful steamed fish. The sauce was something similar to those used for grilled fish. Slightly garlicky, spicy and sourish. 

How do you like your steamed fish??

Wraps

It was a Saturday. Hubby asked me to accompany him to nearby supermarket to get some stuff. He had sudden craving for burrito so we need to get a pack of wrap and sauce for his lunch.

He found this paste, made in China. He mentioned that it was pretty well known in China. Beef flavoured black beans oil and chilli paste. Correct me if I am wrong in translating the name on the bottle. He used up almost half of the bottle, so that was the reason why the bottle wasn't full when I took photo of it.

For burrito wrap, he liked this Mission wraps onion & chives. I heat up few wraps on a pan, so they were slightly toasted.

As for the filling, I used pork mince since I had few packs. Basically I just mixed the mince with the paste, left for a while before heated my pan with some cooking oil and cooked it. 

I tasted a spoon of the mince. Slightly salty, peppery and spicy. I didn't added any seasoning at all. 

Our Saturday lunch. Wrap with fried egg, spring onion and minced meat. Simple and hassle-free.

Early

It was 13 August. Hubby took a day leave from work to settle some household stuff. And same time, got me a new handphone. Considered it as my birthday present, an early present.

Few days prior, I noticed my phone back part was swelling. Until I opened up the casing, I discovered the swollen battery. So, we decided to bring it to a phone shop, fix it or get a new phone. 

After much discussion with hubby, I got myself a new phone. Vivo V21e!!  Followed my hubby who is using Vivo V20 since last year. And we got the old phone fixed, change new battery for RM150. We will keep that as spare phone. 

While getting the guy to transfer some data, files, photos and audio over and fixing the old phone, hubby and I went to buy lunch. It was before 11am, so it was still early and was not packed with lunchgoers. 

We ended up at one of the Malay stalls, that selling keropok lekor and fast food. These were what we bought home from the stall. 

Rempeyek kacang

Keropok lekor (after hubby took most of them!), pulut panggang, curry puff

Hubby and I tapaued the fast food since the dishes looked good and to our likings. They even had century egg, which was unusual in Malay dishes, spicy chicken feet and fish umai. Self-service, we took our own dishes. 

Hubby's pack

Hubby took beef masak hitam, century egg, stir fried taugeh and umai, while I took curry lamb, fried fish and stir fried kangkong. RM24 for everything.

My pack

Yesterday was my birthday, And today is Jay' s 12th birthday. Big boy now, time to get him his new blue IC, upgrade from the pink MyKid. I had made appointment for him at UTC Sarawak on 15 September. Now JPN and most departments allowed pre-appointments, no walk-in. The only available slot I could find online is on 15 September. All dates are full till then. 

He brought me here

We had our breakfast and did our usual monthly grocery shopping on one Saturday morning. Not many people doing shopping when we did ours around 8am at Emart Batu Kawa. We went back, took our bath and rest for a while, catching on some live matches of Tokyo 2020 Olympic. 

By 12, hubby invited me to go out for lunch. He brought me to this coffee shop near his work place in Rock Road.  Cheerful cafe was the name. His current favourite lunch spot during the weekdays. 

The taukey, just like the name of the coffee shop, was cheerful and happy to see us. Or slightly surprised to see hubby came for lunch on a Saturday. 

What can you eat here? They have noodle stall, economy rice stall and fried section at the back. Hubby opted for economy rice. 

His dishes option on that afternoon, consisted of 3 meats 1 vegetable. Curry chicken in a separate bowl. I tasted the food, it was tasty. Hubby said, the cook used to worked in a well known hotel in China for many years before came back to operate at this shop. 

As for me, hubby wanted me to try his tomato kway teow. He tasted it before, and commented it was good and flavourful. So I ordered that for my lunch. 

And the verdict? It was really good!! I enjoyed it very much. Tangy with the tomato gravy, kway teow was fried well, and pretty generous with the ingredients and gravy. 

Plus 3 drinks and 3 tapaus of 2 meats 1 veggie for the kids, our lunch cost RM42.30. The taukey was nice enough to give us the discount of 30 cents. 

Flip pan way

Since I bought my first flip pan, I have been experimenting and using it to cook my dishes especially meats. I love to use it as it was easy to use and less oil and grease. The meats also turn out tasty, moist and tender.

Not long ago, I used the flip pan to cook my chicken thighs. I have been making this Nam Yue (fermented red beancurds) chicken thighs quite frequent lately as everyone seemed to enjoy them. I tried roasting method but I found it time consuming to wait for the chicken to cook in the oven. So, I switched to the flip pan way to cook this nam yue chicken thighs. They turned out great, flavourful and moist.

I post my recipe over here, so if you would like to try it, you are most welcome. Hope you love it. 

Ingredients:

2 chicken thighs 

2 nam yue

1 tbsp nam yue sauce 

1 tbsp Shao xing wine 

1 tbsp light soy sauce 

Dash of pepper 

1 tsp grated ginger 

1 tsp grated garlic 

Methods: 

1. Mix all ingredients well, rub all over the chicken thighs. Cover and marinate for few hours, or overnight.

2. Heat up the flip pan. Lower the heat, add in some cooking oil, about 2 tbsp.

3. Add in the chicken thighs, skin side down. Close the flip pan, let it cook for 15 minutes under low heat. Flip to other side, cook for another 15 minutes.

4. Off the heat, chop the chicken into biteable sizes.

In the bag

The last Friday of July. Hubby came home late as he had auditors in the office, busy with them. And then he went to meet up with a colleague from Sri Aman. She bought over some durian and dabai (wild olive). 

Oh my! The durians from Sri Anan sure were good.  Small size, the flesh was yellowish and sweet. 

Hubby immediately cut open one that evening. Initially I did not want it as I don't fancy it because of heatiness. But then I obliged and took 2 seeds. After that, we drank some water from the durian husk. They said it neautralise the heatiness, so we followed this myth. Yet, I poured myself a glass of lukewarm salted water after that. Lol. 

Not only that she gave us a bag of durians, she also passed a container of ready-to-eat wild olive. Not the usual glossy black skin, but purplish, lighter colour. 

When hubby brought home this big paper bag, I thought we were going to enjoy something yummy for supper. Alas, just to keep the dabai, 2 muffins and a drink which he already finished off. 

One chocolate muffin, which Jay took after ate the durian, while this butter chocolate chip muffin was kept for my tea break the day. 

Heated it up for few minutes and it was so soft and warm. Too sweet though but I managed to finish it up. 

Did we keep all the durians? No, passed some to my parents. Cannot finish all by ourselves. That night after I took it, my body immediately reacted. Dry cough, dry throat. That is why I don't fancy or eat it much nowadays. 

Soft and round

There was an old man selling steamed baos and sio bee (siu mai) in front of the H&L supermarket in MJC. I bought a couple of times from this uncle whenever I went to the supermarket. Not so during this pandemic for almost a year. 

It happened few weeks ago, I dropped by the supermarket to get some vegetables and pay my electricity bill. The baos stall was opened so I decided to buy some char siew baos and sio bee home. Only RM1.90 each for bao and RM0.90 for sio bee. 

The char siew bao, soft and round with a red dot on top. 

Only RM1.90, and it has egg in it. I like char siew bao with egg. Although only a quarter of a hard-boiled egg, the bao was nice and soft. 

I bought 10 that day, so I keep half in a container in my freezer. Can heat up when feel like eating it.  

Jamie, who was craving for Kuching sio bee, so I bought 5 sio bee for his tea break. 

Then, few days later I came back, to buy bak bao (meat bun) as my man nagged me to buy for him. Lol. So, I went over and bought 4 bak bao to satisfy his craving. 

Bak bao with a swirl top, unlike the smooth outside and a dot on top for char siew bao. Taste-wise, it was alright and quite a filling. But I still prefer the one that my friend bought from 3rd Mile wet market that has egg in it! 

This uncle opens daily from 12 noon onwards. 

Old time

The last time we dropped by Huan Lok Cafe was more than a year ago when MCO1.0 was lifted. We only bought takeaway that time as no done-in was allowed back then. 

More than a year later, end of last month, hubby and I came for its tasty, old school kolo mee. It was a smooth Sunday drive to the city centre. Not 8am yet, so the road was not jammed at all. Not many cars, as expected during this pandemic and we managed to find parking in front of the coffee shop. Not packed with morning goers and we found ourselves a table. 

Soon our noodle was served! Used to enjoy it when I used to work next door. Many good memories working there and one of them was good friendship with the coffee shop guys. The Hainanese family that serving authentic kolo mee and Hainanese chicken rice. 

The kolo mee still smell and taste as good as the old time. 

Along with our kolo mee, we also had its dumpling soup. Super comforting soup with tasty meat dumplings wrapped in silky smooth, thin wrappers. 

You know how much we loved the kolo mee here as empty bowls as proof!! Lol. 

Before we went home, we ordered 3 packs of kolo mee for the kids' breakfast and some chicken rice for lunch. Yes, our Sunday breakfast and lunch were settled in this coffee shop. Hope to come here soon, maybe with kids next round. They do miss and enjoy their noodle very much. But wonder when we can enjoy a dine-out with ease and worry-free? Sigh. 

Vegetable and ribs

A friend was making and selling these Hakka vegetable buns (chai bao), so we ordered and collected them on a Sunday. RM20 for 10 buns and we gave 1 pack to my dad who loves his Hakka chai bao. We took the other pack of 10 home to enjoy with our dinner.

Pretty hard to find good Hakka chai bun in Kuching, but one could easily get nice chai kueh. Almost similar ingredients to its cousin chai kueh, this friend's chai bao was nice. Peppery with crunchy jijima, ear wood, long beans, carrot and beancurd; the bun was very tender. Not too big neither too small; just nice to enjoy when you do not feel like having any meat meal.

Hubby took 2 of these buns with dishes that I cooked that evening.  No rice for him. The star of the dinner was my sweet & sticky ribs! 

The recipe was inspired by this blog. Easy to make recipe, which suited me well.

Sweet & Sticky Ribs

Ingredients:

Ribs, cleaned and pat dry with kitchen paper towel

2 tbsp cooking  oil

4 slices ginger

1 tbsp Shao xing wine

2 tbsp Light soy sauce

3 Chinese black vinegar

4 tbsp sugar

5 tbsp water

Methods:

1. Pre-heat a wok till smoke lightly  Add in cooking oil, and then ginger over medium heat. Fry for about a minute. Add in ribs, turn up the heat brown the rib on both sides.

2. Turn down the heat, add in shao xing wine, light soy sauce, black vinegar, sugar and water, and mix all well.  Turn up the heat  to bring to boil.

3. Once boiling, cover the wok and reduce the heat too low.  Simmer for about 25 minutes.  Make sure the liquid is not drying out. If so, add little water.

4. Once  in a while, stir and mix the ribs well with the sauce. Serve  immediately.

Phase 2's dine-in

Our very first dine-in during Phase 2 was end of last month. Of course, we went for an early breakfast around 645am so it wasn't packed.

Hubby was craving for handmade noodle and he commented that it was best eaten on the spot while it was warm. So, we had our dine-in after many weeks of takeaway. I ordered one bowl of handmade noodle for him, one kolo kway teow for myself and a bowl of dumplings (wantan) to share between us.

Similar to Hakka kolo noodle, it has generous amount of minced pork on top of the kway teow. The dumpling soup was nice.  First time we tried its soup and it was a great choice to take on a cold morning. 

Can you see the way they wrapped the dumpling? A ring shaped, something like what they called a Chinese gold method.  The dumplings were fresh, meaty and tasty.

While we were there, the Malay kueh stall just opened up. In the past, they operated after 730am but surprisingly they were early that morning.  So we bought some curry puff from them which the kids enjoyed in the past.

After finished up our breakfast and bought curry puff, we did not waste any time to leave. We also went to the nearby pork shop to get some pork and vegetable supplies before headed home. Hubby had to go to work so we did not waste much time hanging out outside. Just did our thing and went home!