Claypots

It was last Sunday. Hubby, MIL and I went out around 3pm for some errands and then we drove to Jalan Song for early dinner. Actually meant to buy some stinky tofu in Simpang Tiga but the shop wasn't opened then. So we drove to Jalan Song for claypots dinner instead since we were rather hungry by then (around 430pm).

It has been a long time since we came to Number 6 Kopitiam for dinner. Used to do that quite frequent when we stayed nearer.

Hubby and MIL did the ordering and the first claypot to come was this braised pork. Tasted alright, tender meat. But I came for the lamb.

The lamb stew, hubby's favourite. Still tasted good. I prefer the lamb curry more. 

We had 4 claypots in total included the fish maw and meatballs soup. All so good to consume on a cold evening. After taking them, we were sweaty!! Lol.

Our dinner cost RM53, exclusive of drink. 
 

Car ride

Hubby, MIL, Jay and I went for a car ride on the 13th day of CNY. A Sunday.

We woke up early, so we went for breakfast in our favourite coffee shop, Y. Y. Cafe. Around 930am, the four of us left for Matang. Jan and Jamie stayed at home, while we went to check out on a property in Matang. Then we continued our car ride to Telaga Air. 

It was a nice morning for a countryside car ride so we took it light and easy. 

Like in the past, we had our lunch in D'White Station. Order of a set of the spicy seafood since only 4 of us. 

We also have a plate of midin but to our disappointment, it was not good. Tough, really not edible. 

Total bill was RM52 plus drinks for our lunch. Now the younger generation took over the business, sadly it wasn't as good as before. 

After lunch, we made a round around the small town. Wanted to buy some crabs at the market but unfortunately no more. So we headed back to Kuching. 

However we did not leave Telaga Air empty-handed at all. We made a stop at this Lemang House on our way back to buy some Lemang. Besides Lemang, they also sell rendang beef, rendang chicken and satay. 

RM10 lemang

They have different pricing for different length of Lemang, we opted for the shorter length. 

RM5 for this tube of peanut gravy

We also bought 1 tube of peanut gravy to go with lemang.

RM1.20 per stick for chicken, RM1.50 per stick for beef

Then at the side of the shop, they were grilling the satay. Option of chicken, beef and lamb but only chicken and beef satay were available at that time. So, we bought 10 sticks each for chicken and beef satay. And they gave us 2 small packs of peanut gravy!!! Btw, the peanut gravy was nice, we kept the tube in the fridge and finished off the 2 small packs.

Lemang was soft and fragrant. Option of pandan and original flavour, we bought the original flavour. It was very nice. Satay was nice and we'll marinated too. 

So we were happy with our purchase in Lemang House. It was just opposite to the place where we bought the coconut milkshake on our last visit.

From Telaga Air, we went home to our area. Made a stop at the bakery shop to get some snacks and bread for kids, and then to optometry shop to pick up my MIL and Jay's new glasses. 

We reached home slightly after 12 noon. It was been a nice morning car ride. Jan and Jamie were having their lunch (which I ordered from Food panda while on the road) when we got home. 

On the 7th

On 7th day of CNY, the boys went back to school. The girl was on rotation and she happened to stay at home and have online classes that week.

So, after dropped the boys at school, I steamed this 5 five blessing siu Mai for me, hubby, Jan and MIL. 

5 flavours such as pork, seafood, sotong, and salted egg. I not sure what was the last flavour, but they equally nice.

Then around 9am, we went to Big Mouth Food Centre to meet up with my KL sis and her hubby. They actually visited us on the 3rd day of CNY, spent quite a long time at our house. A brunch meet up in Big Mouth Food Court on the 7th day before they left for KL the next night. 

The 7th day of CNY (Chinese called it 人日), we were supposed to take the lui cha as a tradition but the Hakka lui cha stall wasn't opened!! Many people came for the lui cha, it was actually quite well known in Kuching.  But it wasn't opened and many customers left afterward. 

Anyhow, we ended with other available stalls since we were there. I went for the glass noodle soup from a stall at the back of the shop.

RM7 for my glass noodle soup. Pretty good to take. Something light, not so heavy for brunch.

And thanks sis and BIL for the chicken essence gift hamper.  Hope to meet you guys soon!!! Take care.

Hangout

A night out on 2nd night of CNY. Hubby took me out for a drink and gathering with his friends. I knew most of them and one is even my cousin. Somehow, few fishing trips put my cousin and hubby together and now they are buddies!

Sodu was our hangout place. A friend opened this bistro so we spent quite a lot time there. T has been a long time I had a good drink and went home the next day!! Lol. 

1 glass of beer and a tall glass of cocktail for me, and I was amazed I wasn't that drunk!! Lol. Alright, enough of my drinking episode. CNY has been relaxing this year. We didn't do much visiting. First day to my parents' house, then a friend's house in the evening, who served us abalone mee suah. 

On 2nd day, we visited 2 houses, both are hubby's relatives.  That was all the visiting we could have. 

Not much cooking at home especially breakfast. Now no worry of getting hungry and no eateries are opened during festive season. 

This Foochow stall opened on 3rd day of CNY. Both hubby and I enjoyed its Foochow fried noodle. So so good and delicious.

On another day, we went back to the same stall but I had the fried mee hoon with a fried egg on top!! Jan also liked its fried mee hoon.

When our other favourite coffee shop opened on the 5th, hubby and I walked all the way there. We didn't go for our morning walk much before CNY. Hope to get back to our walking routine soon.  

Kolo mee for us and takeaway for the kids and mil. 

Never missed it

Today is Chap Goh Mei, so wishing everyone "Happy Chap Goh Mei"!!

Back to the 1st day of the Year of Tiger, my mil and I woke up around 6am to cook chicken soup. We were having chicken mee suah for breakfast. A tradition in the family especially the Foochow to have a bowl of mee suah on 1st day of Chinese New Year. Since I married to my hubby, we have never missed it as either I cooked at home or we went to my in-law's house for it in the morning. 

After a breakfast of mee suah, we went to my parents' house and spent few hours and had lunch there. Then we went home to take an afternoon rest. My mil stayed at home as she didn't want to go out visiting and an aunt and family came to our house.

Hubby and I went to a friend's house which was a minute away in the evening. We had mee suah at his house. A scrumptious mee suah as we had abalone and maw with it!!

 

Mee suah represents longevity and good health, so I hope everyone stays healthy, safe and have an abundance of happiness and peace this year!!

Penang

We went for a breakfast cum meet up with an uncle (old friend of my in-law) at this food court in MJC. The Saturday before CNY. 

We ordered our breakfast from the Penang Pork Noodle stall.  This noodle set plus the pork soup. The kway teow was firm and tasty (with MSG!!) and the soup was nice and comforting to take. RM6.50 per set. 

We spent more than an hour talking with uncle. Many stories shared between him and my mil. A friendly uncle that never bored us with his humor and stories. 

Got a taste of it

Remember when I told you that hubby and I went all the way to Padungan for a supper in the rain last year??

Yes, we went back to the coffee shop just few nights before Chinese New Year. Together with my mil who arrived the day earlier, we had a late supper around 10pm that evening. We found a table in the shop, so we decided to have our supper instead of takeaway.

Finally!! I got to taste the char kueh (fried radish cake), which I wanted to try in my previous visit. It was so good!!!

RM6 for this plate of well fried char kueh plus prawns. No wonder hubby was singing praise of it in the past. It was really that nice and tasty.  The three of us shared the char kueh and I also had a bowl of Sarawak laksa. Hubby and mil shared a bowl of kolo mee.

If course, after this heavy supper that I had, it took a while to digest and did have a late night that night. But it was the start of the Chinese New Year holiday, so I didn't mind the late night. 

He did it

I mentioned in this post that my man bought some crabs on New Year day. Mud crabs and flower crabs.

We immediately cooked the mud crabs on that day. Just steamed them, they were super tasty!!

Then, middle of last month, we took out the flower crabs about 1kg from freezer and cooked it sweet & spicy. I wasn't particular fond of flower crabs in the past in the sense they were smaller, no meat at all. But these bought by hubby were nice. Fresh and meaty; shells were softer, easier to dig out the flesh.

My man did most of the cleaning and cooking. He had the whole kitchen for himself in making this dish. Ah, I felt blessed to have someone cook for me!! Lol.

Not a tedious recipe and the dish turned out great, tasty, and appetizing. Sweet and spicy egg gravy all over the flower crabs. And the flower crabs were meaty so they were good!! 

Sweet & Spicy flower crabs

Ingredients:

5 flower crabs, about 1 kg, cleaned and cut into half, lightly pound on the claws to break them

6 tbsp chilli sauce (or more, based on your preference)

3 tbsp tomato sauce 

Few ginger sliced 

Few garlic cloves, minced 

1 big onion, sliced

2 eggs, beaten 

1 tbsp sugar

Salt and pepper to taste 

Water 

Cornflour mixed with water

Methods:

1. In a wok, heat up few tbsp of cooking oil. Once heated, add in the garlic, onion and ginger. Saute till fragrant.

2. Add in the crabs. Saute till crabs are cooked and turn colour. 

3. Add a bit of water, then sugar, tomato sauce, chilli sauce. 

4. Lastly add in the beaten egg and cornflour mixture. Mix all well and cook till the sauce has thicken and reduced. Season with salt and white pepper. Serve immediately.

A family affair

Decoration in Vivacity mall

When I thought I would not be sweating in the kitchen for the reunion dinner on Monday, I was wrong. 

When hubby discussed with me on the dinner menu middle of last month, I had to stand by to receive one of the biggest challenge in my cooking life! 

8 course Chinese menu, I was to cook them but luckily I didn't have to. Because we were blessed with buying and receiving few dishes than to cook the whole course. And my mil was around to help me in the kitchen, so preparing the reunion dinner was not much of a hassle and it became a simple family affair for us on Chinese New Year eve. 

#1 Mouth watering chicken (KOU SHUI JI, 口水鸡)

Initially we were supposed to prepare this chicken but we received 2 roasted chickens from a friend few days before the eve. So we ended up with 1 of the roasted chickens on our reunion dinner table.

#2 Steamed white pomfret

We collected 3 big white pomfrets, one Rompine pineapple and a box of oranges from a friend that morning. We cooked one of the fishes.

#3 Abalone, mushrooms, carrots and broccoli stir fried

My mil helped to cook this dish.

#4 Braised pork trotter

I cooked this dish few days earlier. 

#5 Taro pork belly (Dong Po Rou) 

This pre-packed meat was bought from emart hypermarket. It was rather good. Hubby enjoyed it, so we may buy it again.  RM25 per pack. 

I just thawed and steamed it in the rice cooker, then cut into slices. 

#6 Deep fried spring rolls (ngoh hiang)

Lovely ngoh hiang from Jakar. I took out 2 and deep fried them. 

#7 Stir fried winged beans with garlic

#8 Chinese jiaozi (dumplings)

#9 Pongteh (chicken and pork)

This Nyonya dish was made by hubby's aunt who joined us for reunion dinner. She mixed chicken and pork with potatoes for her pongteh. 

Thanks, aunt for joining us, we were happy to have you on Chinese New Year eve. 

Happy Chinese New Year!!! May we all be blessed with prosperity, good health, peace and happiness throughout the year.