Tomatoes

These cute tomatoes were bought from the mini mart that I often patronise. Other than pork and chicken, they do sell fruits, vegetables and dried stuff. 

One of the suppliers sold these home-grown tomatoes to the mart. They were super sweet and juicy, so I decided to plant some tomatoes from the seeds.

I took 2 slices of the tomato and put in two small pots of mix soil. Every day, I diligently spray some water on them. Morning and evening. By 5th day, I noticed something sprouting from the soil in one of the pots.  

Day 5

Don't you feel excited and hopeful when you seeing the seedlings growing day by day??

Day 10

I started planting on 28 November last year. Then on Day 21, I could see new set of leaves. These are called True Leaves. The first 2 leaves that come out from the seedling are called Seed Leaves. 

Day 21

Only when the true leaves were getting bigger (Day 28), then I transported the young seedlings to bigger homes. Few individual pots for the seedlings. By then, I could water them more (using watering can) and feed fertiliser on them. And place them directly under the sunlight unlike the first 2 to 3 weeks of germination.

Day 28

Fast forward, on Day 40, few seedlings were growing well and sturdy. Hope that they will start to flower and bear fruits in  few weeks time.

Day 40

That's it for now on my tomato growing project. I will update when they are bigger, start flowering etc. Fingers cross!!

And since the Year of Tiger is just a couple of days away, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my Chinese bloggers and readers a "Happy, Prosperous and Wonderful Chinese New Year!!" Gong xi fa cai!!

Fresh

My man went for an overnight trip with his fishing buddies in Santubong on New Year.  No, they didn't go to the sea. Definitely not in such year end weather. They stayed on shore, just enjoying the waves and night sky in Santubong beach. 

The next day, they went to Buntal to buy some fresh seafood home. He spent between RM110 to RM130 for some fresh crabs, prawns and bamboo clams.

Flower crabs

We kept the flower crabs and prawns immediately in freezer.

Prawns

Mud crabs

We decided to cook the 2 mud crabs for dinner. Hubby helped with the cleaning, while I just did the cooking. Steamed the 2 crabs for about 15 minutes, no seasoning required.

Lucky hubby knew how to choose crabs. He chose 2 female crabs and look at the roes!! Sinfully tasty and sweet!! Could taste the salty sea some more!

I took out half of the bamboo clams too for dinner. I cooked it with some curry powder, and lemongrass.  My first time cooked crabs and bamboo clams, so I guess my dish was quite edible. Lol. 

Into the new year

No fancy meal for New Year celebration. Just stayed at home, cooked meals and relaxed with family. 

On the eve night, hubby bought home some chicken satay for supper. The kids stayed up till midnight, so they requested supper when the dad went out earlier.

RM0.80 each, hubby ordered 30 sticks of satay chicken. Initially we wanted its pork satay but they were all sold out!! So, chicken satay would do. The strong lemongrass and marinade were so tasty and flavourful. The kids preferred pork more but they did enjoyed the chicken satay. 

No, we didn't finished the whole 30 sticks. Left some for the next day. 

On New Year morning, hubby and I went here for breakfast. Initially we wanted to bring MIL to 3rd Mile Bazaar for wet market and breakfast but she didn't want to go so we ended up just stayed within MJC.

We had our usual breakfast of kolo mee and pork liver soup. After that, we went to nearby mini mart to get our vegetables and meat. 

Just when we reached home, a friend called and asked whether we were interested to buy duck bak kwa!!! Oh yes, duck. That was the first we ever heard and seen. 

RM55 per pack. Imported from Johor, arrived on the New Year eve. We bought a pack from her; will taste this dried meat delicacy during CNY.

Our New Year lunch was like this. Fried chicken wings, satay chicken, stir fried eggplants with minced meats and stir fried kangkong with pig's blood cubes.

In the afternoon, hubby, mil and I shared this mussels and scallop pillow dumpling that we bought from Grandma Bak Kut Teh. 

Big dumpling with a lot of fillings, so it called for sharing. Definitely 1 person cannot finish it all without feeling bloated. Lol.

I also made a bowl of rojak for everyone. We used the rojak paste and crushed nuts bought from Sri Aman. 

Dinner was more or less the same. Hubby went for his overnight fishing trip in Santubong around 4pm.  The kids and I spent the evening talking with mil before calling it a night at around 9pm. The next morning slightly after 6am, I sent my mil to my BIL's house, as they drove back to Kapit that same day.

That was how we spent our New Year!!

She likes

It was a Thursday, MIL was still around that time. She likes to eat bak chang, so I brought her to this Grandma Bak Kut Teh shop in Rock Road for Teochew chang. Correction to my old post, that I mentioned it was Hokkien Chang but upon inquiry, they are selling Teochew chang. 

We tasted the salty pork dumplings before so I recommended that to my MIL. We bought 3 salty pork dumplings and 1 mussels and scallops pillow dumpling for RM30.

No, we didn't took them immediately that day. We kept them in fridge and I reheat them the next day, the New Year eve. 

Salted pork dumpling

Hubby came back that evening and he brought some packs of these delicious rojak and sotong kangkong from Sri Aman. RM10 for the sotong kangkong while RM8 for the rojak. Sorry for the messy presentation. Didn't planned to take photo but after tasting them, I decided to snap a shot of them.  Because they were really so good especially the rojak paste. No wonder hubby's friends requested him to buy back whenever he drove back from Sri Aman!!

That evening, hubby bought 3 packs of each. We took 1 pack each and that was our dinner. My and MIL's dinner. My MIL has allergy towards seafood but she didn't care much. She really liked and enjoyed both as mostly went to her tummy. Lol. Luckily she did not have any allergy reaction after eating.

The other 4 packs, all to hubby's friends who patiently waited for him to send over to their meeting place. Lol.

As good as before

I think I have been overeating especially during the year end season. Oh my, but how not to when I had the chance to go out and the food tasted so delicious?? Lol.

It was the Monday after Christmas. A sisters get together cum brunch for my MIL and her eldest and youngest sisters. We chose Rock City Cafe in Rock Road for brunch as nearer to the youngest sister's house.

After we picked up the eldest sister from her house, 4 of us headed to the coffee shop. We ordered our brunch while waiting for the other sister and her hubby to arrive. I went for chicken mee suah soup. 

Yummy and comforting dish. I used to order this dish whenever I was here in the past but I could not remember the last time I had this. I just love drinking the red wine soup.

After spending more than an hour there, we bid goodbye to the youngest sister and hubby and made our move to the city centre.

Hubby and MIL went to the bank while I accompanied the eldest sister to a local supermarket in Padungan. After we were done with our stuff, it was slightly past 12 noon. 

Since we weren't that far from the famous Chai Sung Soon coffeeshop, we made a stop for lunch. 

Yes, the delicious pork leg rice still tasted the same and as good as before. The nostalgia taste I remember when I ate there as kid.  Business was still good as ever and hard to find vacant table that day. Probably it was lunch time, and some were on year end leave, so Padungan was pretty packed with cars and people. There was even a sign placed in the coffee shop wrote "once finish eating, please leave fast" ! We agreed with it. We didn't lingered long for our lunch.

RM27 for this platter plus 2 rice, so total RM54 for 4 of us. We seated on 2 tables since only 2 persons allowed per table. MIL and aunt seated across from us. Both sure had a good time talking and reminiscing over the lunch.

 

We got these

On Christmas Day, we went to my parents' house. Coincidentally my sis was there too. Not that we planned to meet up there. 

While we were there, my sis passed me a pack of this Sibu-made mochi. Her BIL bought these when he was travelling, so my sis passed a pack for me to try.

Green tea or black sesame lotus filling and I chose the latter one. Heard that this Big Thumb mochi is pretty well known in Sibu. Is it, STP??

We also got these Perak-made smoked duck breasts from her. We tasted it for the first time last year, and they were flavourful.

Thank you sis for the goodies. We like them!!

And on the same day, my MIL arrived in Kuching. She stayed with us, so we went to pick her up at my BIL's house. She brought over some siu mai for us. Jakar products and apparently besides its well known pork siu mai, they also sell other varieties.

From right corner, seafood siu mai, pork siu mai (plain without carrot topping) and sotong siu mai.  That was a lot, as 2 packs each. Can heat and enjoy during CNY. Thanks mum for bringing us these siu Mai all the way from Jakar!

And this was what we bought last month from this food centre. Jakar five blessings. Hope it brings blessing when we eat them. Lol.

On the eve

Back to Christmas Eve. Hubby and I had a busy morning as we went out for errands for few hours. 

Hubby's beef cheese and hash brown burger

No dine-out for breakfast that day. I made burgers for breakfast.  Then I cleaned my garden a bit. Felt good to work out in the garden. After took my bath, hubby and I went out around 9am.

First stop was the bank. After that we made a stop in Aeon Mall. We did a last minute Christmas Eve shopping. Bought presents for the kids, some bedsheet sets (since on offer) and pre-packed food.

Christmas Eve Selfie 😁

By then, it was almost 1130am, and we were hungry so we made a stop at this coffee shop. The only available stalls that operate were Malay fried noodle stall and laksa stall. Both of us went for the Malay fried noodle for lunch.

RM7 per plate

The fried noodle was nice and tasty but spicy. Really warmed up our tummy when consumed it. Lol. I love the way my fried egg like. Yolk was still runny and soft. 

Lovely soup

After lunch, we hopped over to a friend's house to collect her own rear free-range chickens. RM26 per kg, we bought 2. After that, we drove home, and the kids were preparing their own lunch by then. Cooked themselves noodle, while enjoyed it with sushi that we bought from Aeon Mall. 

Hubby and I were knocked out, too tired from going here and there. We took our afternoon nap for over an hour that day. My mum-in-law came and stayed with us the next day (Christmas Day), so we arranged her room after we woke up. 

In the evening, we had Western dinner. It has been a while since we had such, rice-less dinner. The roasted chicken was bought from Aeon Mall, so not much to prepare from my side.

Roasted chicken, jumbo chicken sausages and jumbo cheesy sausages, mashed potatoes and green and egg salad.

The kids had sleepover in the eldest's room, not sure what time they slept that night. I read some ebook while hubby had few drinks outside with friends. Occasionally, we would hear some fireworks at night.

That was how we spent our Christmas Eve. 

Voting day

I still have a list of backlogged posts, so do bear with me. So, back to state election day on 18 December. Did you exercise your voting rights??

Good weather in Kuching that morning.  Not too warm, rather cloudy but a heavy downpour later in the afternoon.

Hubby and I went out around 630am. We had our breakfast in the well known coffee shop in 3rd Mile, Golden Arch Cafe. We seated in front of the shop since we were early and the place was not crowded.

Of course, one must have its Sarawak laksa when you come here. Normal bowl of Sarawak laksa for RM6. 

We finished our breakfast in a quick time. Tapaued noodle for the kids at home. They tasted the kolo mee before in the past.

Kolo mee for them and hubby bought this mixed pork soup and noodle set for himself. Yes, 1 bowl of laksa may not last long for him. 

What did you have on the voting day??? Mind to share?

3rd Mile

It was a nice, cloudy Friday morning. The week before Christmas.

Hubby and I went to wet market, something we haven't done for quite sometime since the MCO. In the past we used to go to Sungai Maong wet market to buy our stuff. Then due to MCO, we stopped and bought from nearby mini mart or hypermarket, which ever convenient.

That particular Friday, hubby suggested to visit 3rd Mile wet market. I have never been there in the morning for the wet market but did went there a couple of times at night to the hawker centre above it.

We bought some chicken, fishes, vegetables and fruits. And also tang yuan dough as Winter solstice was the following week. 

RM5 tang yuan dough

After done with our shopping, we walked over to this 3M kopitiam, 3rd Mile Bazaar for breakfast. We parked our car there, so it was convenient to go to the market, then came back, put our stuff in the car and have breakfast there. Pretty warm morning then as sun came out. You could see most vacant tables were under the warm sun ray.

But we didn't mind sitting without much shade, as morning sun was meant to be good for us. The coffee shop used to be called Yeong Joo as you could see the old sign was still hung in front of the shop but new bigger signboard on 1st floor was visible from the road. Whatever it is called right now, the stalls are more or less the same.

Both hubby and I had Pin Xiang kueh chap. RM7 per bowl, small portion.  Very nice, tasty kueh chap. Not overpowering herbal broth, which I enjoyed. 

We tapaued kolo mee (RM3.50) for the kids. Old school style of Kuching kolo mee.

A fruitful morning, I say. Counted our lucky star as we were able to find decent parking space in the ever busy 3rd Mile bazaar, walked to the wet market and had breakfast in one of the old coffee shops in that area. The feeling of walking around the wet market, kind of missing the buzz and noise after being absent from it for so long. Lol.