Natural remedy for cold

It is that time of the year when we tend to fall sick easily. The humid and cold weathers are playing havoc on us. 

My children are not spared, they are also under the weather lately with flu and cold. I quickly made some home natural remedy for them to take.

I also place a bowl of water with a slice of lemon in the children's rooms as I read somewhere that it helps to ease the breathing and running nose. And it acts as good freshener too.

Some said placing sliced onion in bedroom works well but a big no for me. I do not think I could stand the scent of onion in my room! 

There is never a shortage of lemons in my fridge. I drink warm lemon juice that I boil sometimes in the morning.

Honey is great and natural sweetener. Raw honey is the best but not easy to find. I actually took few bottles of raw honey that my in-laws specifically brought for me from Kapit when I were pregnant.

Learn the benefits of lemon, ginger and honey from this site.

Very simple to prepare this natural remedy. Just 2 lemons, 1 piece of ginger (about size and length of your index and middle fingers) and honey.

Slice the lemons. Peel off the skin of ginger and slice it. I do not add so much ginger as it would be too ginger-y for my children and they may dislike it.

Add ginger and lemon into a glass jar.

I used Australian pure honey (half bottle of 250g) for my remedy. Slowly pour the honey into the jar. Close the lid and keep in the fridge. Over time, the mixture will turn into loose jelly. Keep it in fridge and use up to 3 months.

When want to drink it, just take 2 to 3 tablespoons and mix with warm water. Drink slowly while it is warm.

More than that

Other than Sarawak kolo mee or Sarawak laksa, we do have other nice and unique Kuching food that you must try when you come to Kuching. Some of the food that I love are these:

Tomato crispy noodle

Tomato kuaw tiaw

Kuah chap

Belacan sotong mi hun

Claypot rice

Crispy oysters pancake

 Not forgetting some souvenirs when you leave.

Sio pau

Sarawak spices such as black peppers

Rice crackers (bee pang)

Birds' nests

So, after reading this post and looking at all the pictures, do I entice anyone to fly over and have a foodie holiday in Kuching?? ^^

Never been here

But now I did!!! :)

Rumah Hijau Cafe, as it is vividly named, is located in Jalan Rubber. It is converted from a corner and intermediate terrace houses into a cafe few years ago.

Not difficult to spot this cafe as it does really stand out on this old busy street with its green coat. The whole row of houses is painted in green! Well, it used to be a very busy street when the Satok weekend market was there but since the market has been relocated to Kubah Ria, it is pretty smooth drive along this part of the city.

Cafe-Cafe & The Original Car Wash

Rumah Hijau Cafe which is opposite to this renowned cafe from Sibu (above), serves both Malaysian alike and Western cuisine. Heard so much review about its food so I have been wanting to come here earlier but only able to do so now. After all it is pretty far and out of the way as I do not come to this part of the city that often.

I were here on Sunday for brunch with my sis and children.  We did not go in to the other end which has nicer seating ambience as we were only aware of it after we finished our brunch.

It is famous for its ayam penyet so I could not resist but to order this Indonesian-originated fried chicken. I had its nasi lemak ayam penyet.

My nasi lemak ayam penyet with a glass of teh tarik

I like my plate (RM9.50) as they used the fragrant pandan rice as nasi lemak should be cooked in. The ayam penyet was tasty too. Cooked with herbs, the chicken thigh was tender and not too dry. Covered with crispy fried herbs on top, I cannot get enough of my chicken.

The sambal was an important part in ayam penyet dish. I like the sambal dipping here although it was slightly spicy for me. Maybe my throat was not well as I were still recovering from my cough. The sambal has the combination of spiciness and sourish taste in it.

My sis also agreed with me on the sambal. It was very nice. She finished up her sambal dipping in her nasi lemak ayam goreng (RM5.00).

The kids have roti telur each and it was not enough for them. I ordered another plate (RM2.20) for both Jan and Jay to share after both finished their own roti.

This is their operating hour if anyone interested to try this place. 8am to 4pm and 6pm to 11pm daily and off every Friday.

1st day to school and my fatty breakfast

Finally, the kids are off to beds. And I can have some quiet moment to compose this post. Have been left in my draft for many days now...Let me bring you back in time. On Monday morning.

As you are aware of, schools are officially starting next Monday. Foremost, I were feeling a bit melancholy as holiday is over and everything is back to "rushing mode".

It was actually back to old kindergarden for Jay on Monday. He was well behaved and did not cry. Probably he remembered his old kinddy so he was pretty comfortable and no stranger there. And I suddenly feel Jay has grown up and he is no longer a crying pot when ever he goes to school. Or probably it was the mummy who was more anxious than him on his 1st day. Lol.

I just guided him to his new class and after a chat with his class teacher and said goodbye to him, I left him there. No complain from him. Classes dismissed earlier at 1030am this week.

Look who was more excited to go to kindergarden? Next year is your turn, Jamie.

After dropped Jay, the 4 of us went to city centre for breakfast. Hock Hai coffee shop in Jln Padungan. Who does not know the famous Hock Hai big paus?!

No, I am not fond of their big pau (bun). I went for its small char siew pau (RM1.60) which was good.

I prefer the char siew pau than those pork meat in the big pau any time.

My small pau

Small pau (RM1.60), big pau (RM3.20) and har kau (blue plate)

And of course I were all out for sio bee. Love their sio bee so much. I finished up these 4 sio bee (RM3.60) all by myself.

Did not feel like having kolo mee that day so I ordered a kiaw soup for myself. RM3.00 of this yummy meat dumpling soup. I were carnivore once in blue moon and had all meat breakfast! ^^ 

I know, got to watch my diet and waistline. Later hard to find new clothes for CNY. Lol.

Hung's delicacies

Their delicacies? Chicken rice!

In the old days, this Hainanese chicken rice operator operated in the wet market of the Main Bazaar at night. Who could think that in a stinky and wet market, you could find people queuing up for a plate of tasty chicken rice at night sometimes in a wee hour.

After the children took over, they went to open up a shop behind Hock Lee Centre. The coffee shop is named Fang Yuen. The business was so good over there. Other than tasty steamed chicken, they are known for its BBQ char siew. I seldom go there nowadays. Kind of missed its chunky, succulent char siew though.

However after many years, one of the siblings opened up another branch, called Hung's Delicacies (opposite Kim Yu Li coffee shop which is the other end of 3rd Miles wet market). I wonder who are this Fang and Hung? Maybe the children' names.

We go there pretty frequent as nearer to our place. However parking can be a hassle here so usually we would park further away and walk over or just take-away and eat at home.

We were there last Sunday for lunch. Luckily we were slightly earlier because few minutes later the place was full house!!

Here came our chicken rice. Over here, they do not serve char siew so I could not crave for it when I am here.

I love the fragrant rice which is soft and tasty. The meat was nice but most important is the chilli dipping. Hubby and I love their chillies so much.

Every table, they put their chilli sauce, belacan dipping and sweet soy sauce so customers can just take as many as they want. There was once when we overheard from the staff that someone stole their chilli sauce container! Gosh! Imagine what petty thief would steal nowadays??

The chicken rice come with chicken feet soup as well as curry gravy. I do not really bother about both as the rice was nice by itself and all I need is the chilli sauce.

We enjoy the chicken rice here. Most of the times we order extra plate of rice so hubby and I could share it. It is that tasty, according to us. ^^

Facing the sea

We were relieved that it did not rained in Muara Tebas when we were there last Friday. The weather was cool and breezy there as it is next to the sea. As for Kuching, it was all about rain and nothing but wet!

It took us about an hour to reach our destination. My mum followed us along. After we parked our car and paid RM2 for the parking space, our first stop was this restaurant. 

Picture source here

Long long time did not eat here. Actually it has been ages since I stepped into Muara Tebas, a small fishing village.

We were actually standing above the water!!

Life is simple here. Mostly Malay residents while a small minority of Chinese doing businesses in the village. There are few Chinese restaurants there (if not mistaken, it is 3 of them) and they served halal food. You can get the freshest seafood as boats directly transporting their catches to the restaurants.

Coconut throwing

And not forget fresh coconuts too! We saw these 2 men transporting the coconuts (more than 100!) from their boat up to the restaurant. One tossed from boat and one caught on the top! Talking about co-ordination! They must have done it thousand times to be so accurate. The one on the restaurant floor just used one hand to catch the coconut!!

Small boats

To the jetty

As we settled ourselves and ordered our food, we had a look around the restaurant, which made mostly from wood and standing protruding to the sea. Nice sea breeze greeted us so it was not very warm at all that afternoon.

Without further ado, let dig into our dishes! ^^

Stir fried bittergourd with eggs

Steamed fresh scallops

Jelly fish with lots of peanuts and chillies and topped with sesame seeds

Steamed prawns

Stir fried sea snails with leeks, dried chillies and onions

How the snail looked like. Wonder how the shell look like??

I did not take the photo of one dish, which is fu rong egg. Total bill came up to RM171, inclusive of drinks.

After we filled up our tummies, we went to visit the famous landmark of Muara Tebas. The Ching San Yen temple on top of the hill overlooking the beautiful sea.

I know, for a small village with mostly Malay settlement, this temple is like a pride for the villagers. People mostly come to Muara Tebas either for the seafood or to visit this beautiful temple and enjoy the view on top of the hill.

View from the ground

This over 200-years old temple was magnificent with many renovation done around and inside the temple over the years. It was a tall walk up to the temple but luckily the weather was not so warm and everyone enjoyed climbing up those staircases.

The temple on top of the hill

While mum was paying her respect inside, I took opportunity to take some snaps of the views.

View from the top of the hill

Another view from the top

The history of the temple