Packs

On our last visit to Old Bank Cafe, we bought some packs of fried snacks from the Malay kuih stall.

Hubby bought RM7 pack of curry puff (RM1 for 3 pieces) to bring back to Sri Aman for his staff, as they commented it was nice when hubby bought for them last time.

I myself bought RM2 of curry puff and RM1 of potato popiah. The fillings for both have improved over the years, they were much tastier now. We don't mind buying them at all. 

I also bought a pack of nasi lemak for RM2from the same stall. I took it for lunch.

Hubby and I enjoyed its nasi lemak. They were generous with salted fishes, and the rice was quite "lemak" and fragrant. That day, I had 5 small sized salted fishes in my pack. 

I had my nasi lemak accompanied by curry chicken that I cooked that day.

Later

It was one of the weekdays when hubby was around. He woke up later than 7am, so I cooked breakfast for the kids before he asked me to join him for breakfast at Old Bank Cafe. 

Initially we wanted to eat the kolo mee from this kolo mee stall but it wasn't open. Maybe it was their off day. So we went for the handmade noodle instead.

Hubby took his plain handmade noodle while I requested for the red version.  We also took its comforting and tasty dumpling soup.

RM12 for our breakfast. There wasn't many people around as it was a working day and most of the customers have gone to work after having their breakfast there. 

Over the weekend

My man went for a fishing outing with his buddies over the weekend. From Sri Aman, he drove to Batang Ai on Friday afternoon. 

2 nights trip, so he only got back to Kuching on Sunday evening. Tomorrow, he will be driving back to Sri Aman for work.

He took few shots and sent via WhatsApp while he was there.  Remember during our dating time, we had been to Batang Ai and stayed in its resort. Totally no phone reception, so a very secluded place back then. Now, no much a problem with the phone coverage.

The resort is still around  and much the same although a bit run down. Hardly any visitors, according to hubby.

He did caught few freshwater fishes, but he also bought some. Mostly tilapia (wild tilapia RM10 per kilo, farm rear fishes were even cheaper!!) and this evening, I took out one and steamed it!! 

So fresh and tasty. Mostly went to my tummy!! Lol.

Whatever I have

It has been quite a while since I fried vermicelli at home. So this morning, I felt like having one so I got myself busy early in the morning to cook my breakfast. 

In this post, I did bought a can of Gulong's chicken mince with bean paste last month. I have not try it till today. Usually I like to fry my vermicelli with pork mince with bean paste.

When opened up, the minced chicken looked and tasted similar to the pork version actually.  So pretty good I have to say but not as strong flavour as pork.

The main ingredients for my breakfast. I prefer to use Hsinghua rice vermicelli but it was hard to find in Kuching. So I used whatever I could find.

For complete recipe, click  my post here but I have simplified it here.

Ingredients:

Half of rice vermicelli (fit for 3 pax)

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 shallot, sliced

1 can of Gulong's chicken mince with bean paste

Cooking oil

Hot water to soak vermicelli

1 fried egg, sliced

Chopped spring onion for garnishing

Methods:

1. Soak the rice vermicelli in a pot of hot water for about 7 minutes, then drain.

2. In a wok, heat up about 3 tbsp cooking oil under low heat.

3. Add in the garlic and shallots, saute till fragrant. 

4. Add in the chicken mince. Still on low heat, saute the ingredients. 

5. Toss in the vermicelli and turn up the heat. Mix all the ingredients well. No seasoning is needed.

6. Dish out and serve with egg slices and spring onion.

Cakes

This was what my man brought home 2 weeks ago from Sri Aman. Yummy surprise!

Not that there is any Mita bakery in Sri Aman, but these 2 famous and tasty butter cakes were bought from Kuching by a friend who visited him there.

2 loaves of delicious butter cake!! So generous of his friend, thank you so much!

Once unwrapped, we could smell the fragrant butter cake in the air. Oh wow!! I did miss a good old butter cake that instant!

We immediately cut and had few slices of the cake. Everyone got to enjoy some butter cake late in the afternoon.

Can you see how lovely, dense the cake is?? So buttery, fragrant, addictive and go well with a cup of tea. 

The list of Mita cake house outlets in Kuching. 

Ceylonese

It was not a big festival over here so no public holiday last Thursday. Kids still had their online lesson but a replacement off day was given the next day. So it was a long weekend for the kids (and mummy as well!).

Anyhow, I felt like having a little Indian feast since it was Deepavali. Actually more like a Ceylonese cuisine. Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon) cuisine actually is much influenced by India and Arab. So there is much similarity in term of food and culture in Sri Lanka.

My choice was this Ceylonese Restaurant in Green Hill. I have never been to its current location since they moved. Their popular cheesy naan was the much talked naan in town!! Thanks to Food Panda, I did not need to go so far to get my food.

I ordered the normal cheese naan (RM14) instead of the double cheese naan (RM21). It was already good enough for me. I reheated the leftover the next day for breakfast. 

It was tasty and cheesy. And having it while it was warm and the cheese soften and melting, that was a different level of yumminess!!

Beside the naan, I also ordered its banana leaf chicken briyani (RM17). Well wrapped in banana leaf and secured by toothpick, this was what it looked like when I unwrapped the leaf.

Came together with some papadum and shorba (gravy), the chicken was tasty and moist. The was a cili padi in my rice (can you see the red chilli on the left in below photo?), the briyani rice was flavourful with sweetness and spiciness from the sambal.

A satisfying meal I have to admit. Once in a while, I don't mind having such meal. 

 

Shared by him

My man has been stationed in Sri Aman for more than a month now. On his 1 month anniversary there, he took some photos of the town.

These are some photos shared by my man while he went for his morning walk.  Understand that the town's name has been reverted back to the old name, Simanggang sometime this year. Either it is called Sri Aman or Simanggang now, it is a lovely, clean town, about 2 hours drive from Kuching.

Hope you guys enjoy his photos. Ta-da for now!

Bones

My man loves sup tulang (beef bones soup), so when he came home for the weekend last week, I cooked him a pot of this flavourful soup.

There was a pack of beef bones that I bought from Emart few weeks ago. I took it out and thaw to room temperature. Only then I noticed that it was 2 big bones!!! I couldn't chop them off so I just threw them into my slow cooker and cook with all the spices.

I used these ready packed spices for the sup tulang. Adabi and Bunga Raya brands; just toss everything into the slow cooker. Once water is boiling, add in the blanched bones, potato cubes, 1 sliced big onion and salt and pepper to taste. Half way in cooking, I also added a tablespoon of ghee. 

That was how my man liked his sup tulang. Sprinkled some chopped spring onion (preferably chopped parsley), and fried shallot on the soup, he enjoyed his comforting beef bones soup.

We're early

Maybe it is year end weather. Now the sun is out so early, by 620am, it is already super bright and sunny!!

It was kind of nice to drive out early in the morning. Less car, no stress on the road and feel good to enjoy the sun. It was the case last Sunday when I drove my car out with hubby for breakfast. 

Our destination was this coffee shop in Bormill. The last time we have been to Abundance Food Centre was many months ago for the Bishopsgate mixed pork noodle. Hubby and I dined in the coffee shop that time. Quite a crowd back then as it was a public holiday. And we were there around 8am which was considered peak hour for breakfast.

But last Sunday, we were early. Really early as we reached there slightly after 630am. And the stalls were just starting their business, heating their stoves and preparing the ingredients. Anyway, we were the 2nd customer in line as a lady was even earlier and waited for her order to be ready.

I went for Sarawak laksa as it has been a while since I tasted one. A friend recommended its laksa but he had the special one with big unpeeled prawns. 

For me, I went for the normal Sarawak laksa (RM7). The portion was good enough for me; not too much. And I like my prawns to be peeled, less work. Lol.

 

Taste-wise, it was alright. Not too strong in flavour but if you like mild flavour like I do in the morning, this is just nice. 

Hubby had the Bishopsgate mixed pork noodle set. It was satisfying, according to him. I guess he missed such comfort food while away in Sri Aman. 

We brought the above from the kuih stall. Taufu fa, ang ku Kueh and you tiaw for snacking. RM14.90 for all. As for kids' breakfast, we brought 1 set of the mixed pork noodle and 2 kolo mee. The soup were shared among them.

We left just after 7am and by then, more people was coming in for dine-in.

On the shelf

While we were at Choice Supermarket 2 weekends ago, we had a good browse at the non-halal section. They have quite a good selection there for canned pork and alcoholic drinks.

We were more interested in the pork produces. Meant to get some cans of our favourite luncheon meats there but we ended up with other stuff as well.

Porkies brand from Denmark, we still stay loyal to this luncheon meat. 

For China brand, we mostly bought Gulong stewed pork and minced pork but that day, we discovered its new product. Chicken mince with bean paste!! Have you try it yet?? We bought 1 that day, have yet to try it out.

We also noticed that this supermarket had this Singapore made luncheon hams from Kelly's. We grab some, of all varieties and hubby took few to Sri Aman. We only keep these 2 varieties in our pantry.

Last Saturday, I pan fried this Picante Pork luncheon ham for lunch. 

Lightly pan fried for about 2 minutes and serve!!