Pinoy lunch

It has been more than 2 years since we had been to Pinoy ihaw-ihaw for Filipino cuisine.

So on hubby's birthday, we went there for lunch after the church service. Initially he wanted to go to Tracy's kitchen (the next row after Ambank in Padungan) for its Hakka braised duck (lo ark), but it wasn't open that Sunday. So we ended up in Pinoy since we were already in Padungan area.

There wasn't anyone there. We were the only table so basically we had the whole place to ourselves. Lol.

I had a glass of refreshing organic soya which I enjoyed as it was not too sweet.

We ordered 3 sets of this set lunch that consisted of roasted pork belly, a fried egg and garlic rice. It priced at either RM8 or RM9. I forgot the price already.

The thick pieces of pork belly were crispy and fatty with the fat layers but I were not crazy about it. Hubby liked it very much. As for the egg, it was disappointing as the yolk was over done. I prefer a runny egg but none of us had it that day.

Other than the set lunch, we also ordered 5 sticks of pork satay. RM3 per piece. I liked the satay more. Peppery and sweet chunks of pork.

Overall our lunch cost over RM60. 

The big man's favourite

Yesterday was my big man's birthday.  Happy 40th birthday, hubby!  Wishing you good health, wisdom, happiness and loves from me.

He does not like big celebration or hassle about his birthday, so like past years, I cooked him a simple homecooked meal consisting of his favourite dishes. So this year it would not be any exception.  A simple dinner for him last night.

His favourite vegetables, namely stir-fried midin and steamed lady fingers.  I added Hakka white rice wine to the midin for that extra flavor. For lady fingers, after steamed, I just toss some oiled garlic mince and oyster sauce on top.

I also had my "famous" deep-fried nam yue chicken wings which everyone loves so much. Fingers licking good to the bones!  Lol.

And this has got to be my man's all-time favourite soup.  Lotus root & peanuts pork rib soup.

I cook it almost every 2 weeks or at least once a week whenever we could find lotus roots in the market.  Some day I would just toss in peanuts and lotus roots with pork ribs into the slow cooker but other day, I would add more ingredients to give the soup tastier and more nourishing.

Ingredients:

400g mix of pork ribs and soft bones

300g lotus roots, sliced

4-6 pitted red dates

2 dried scallops

1 carrot, sliced

Handful of peanuts

Water

Salt to taste

Light soy sauce to taste

Parsley for garnishing

Methods:

1. To soften the peanuts, soak and rinse them few times before toss into a pot of water.

2. Cook in the slow cooker for about 2 hours before add in the other ingredients. Blanch the pork ribs and soft bones first before adding into the slow cooker.

3. Cook further for another 1 or 1.5 hours until the meats are cooked and peanuts are soft.  Season with salt and light soy sauce.

4. Serve warm with parsley as garnishing.

Where I want to escape

A place where I could go to and away from the buzzing of the city.

I want to feel the warmth of the sun, the gentle breeze with sand on my feet in a secluded spot of the beach.

After a nice walk in the beach, I would go for some fresh seafood like flower crabs.

But reality checks!! I am not staying near a beach. Just day-dreaming again! Thinking of a retirement plan with my man; going old with him in a retirement home in a beach! ^^

For now, I could just day-dreaming of going back to the beach again. Lol.

*photos taken in Sematan last month on a short drive there*

Breakfast with her

I brought my mum to Mega Inn coffee shop (King's Centre) for breakfast after our market shopping in Kenyalang last week.

It has been a while since I had breakfast with her over here.

I had a glass of warm soya milk for RM1.40. Liked that they used nice mug for my drink. 

My mum had her usual whenever we were here. She had her fishballs mihun (RM5.50). They made the fishballs themselves so the fishballs were good and fresh.

As for me, I went for this fried mihun with cangkuk manis from the fried stall. RM5.00 for this plate of goodness. Not too oily, the muhun was well seasoned with bits of dried prawns, eggs and cangkuk manis.

That was our breakfast. And I also bought a pack of nasi lemak (RM5) from the nasi lemak stall for my lunch.  It was quite a portion; I hardly could finish it.

His first concert

Like any kindergarden goers, they have to go through and experience the year end graduation concert.

Jamie is not schooling today as the kindergarden declared a day off since last Saturday was its graduation concert.

It was held in Islamic Information Centre (near Swimburne University).

Jamie and his class performed one Chinese song that evening. He has been practising for weeks and how proud we were, seeing him up the stage and sang and danced away with his classmates.

While watching all the children's performances and graduation in the auditorium, they made me proud and in awe. Everyone is special in their own way. And they do grow up so fast.

Weekend Menu #88: Kicap chicken

I learnt this recipe from The Malaysian Women's Weekly. The recipe was Black Soy Chicken (Ayam masak kicap).

I found the taste was good and in my 2nd attempt, I did make a slight adjustment to the recipe to suit my taste.

The original recipe called for sliced chicken breast but I have tried few times using chicken thighs. 

Ingredients:
400g sliced chicken breast
Black soy sauce
Salt
Sugar
Cooking oil
1 big onion sliced
3 minced garlic
Tomato sauce
Water
Parsley

Methods:

1. Marinate the chicken with 1 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tsp salt.

2. Heat up about 4 tbsp cooking oil in a wok. Toss in garlic and onion and saute till fragrant.

3. Add in the chicken and stir fry for 5 minutes.

4. Add in 2 tbsp tomato sauce, salt and sugar to taste. Add in about 50ml water and let it simmer.

5. Dish out and garnish with parsley.

A short stop

On my way to Jamie's kindergarden, there is this makeshift stall by the roadside (in front of Choice Marketplace, Batu Kawa). 

I have wanted to make a short stop to check out this Malay stall for quite sometime but some days the stall was packed with people stopping to buy breakfast and hardly any parking at this busy road. 

However one morning last week, there was not any customer and a Malay lady was mending the stall. Usually it was a man, I believe it is the lady's husband. So I made a quick stop with Jamie in the car. He would lock the front driver's door as I taught him to all the times. 

I bought a pack of nasi lemak wrapped in brown paper for RM2 and 3 pieces of curry puff for RM1.

So after dropped Jamie off in the kindergarden, I couldn't wait to head home and have my breakfast. It has been a while since I had nasi lemak so you could imagine how tempted I were. 

Ok, my wrapped nasi lemak was in huge portion. For RM2, I couldn't complain of its portion. The rice has a light "lemak" to it. Very fluffy. There was a quarter of hard-boiled egg, and 2 small salted fishes.

I enjoyed the nasi lemak. The sambal was just good. 

As for the curry puff, the crust was nice and crispy. The filling of potatoes was good too but I thought the puff was very small size. My eldest boy did not complained though. He seemed to enjoy the remaining 2 pieces.

After filling up my tummy with the nasi lemak and a curry puff, I sat by the window and drank my black tea in this mug. 

I like this mug from Kai Joo Cafe. I have few of them in the display cabinet. Seldom bought them out but that morning I felt like using it. 

One side of the mug shown the photo of the old central police station and another side is the logo of Kai Joo Cafe.

So that was my satisfying breakfast.