It was her

Last Wednesday was my girl's 15th birthday. So the daddy asked her what she wanted to eat the night before and she replied 'dim sum'.

Well, since it was her birthday, the daddy happily obliged and suggested to go for dim sum brunch in Boulevard Restaurant. The last time we came here was early this year but that was 3 months ago. 

Luckily the place was not packed when we reached there around 1015am. We felt safe as the tables were very far apart and everyone practised SOP accordingly. Our order came out pretty fast too since only few tables were occupied.

We had its tasty and nice prawn chee cheong fun which we enjoyed in the past. They have pork flavour too but we prefer its prawn ccf. 

The lo mai kai was equally nice, so we had that too that morning. Sticky and flavourful glutinous rice with its nice sambal. 

Jay loves its char siew pau and he finished these 3 paus all by himself that day!! Plus a plate of plain noodle, he still had tummy space to gooble up the paus. 

Hubby and I took the spicy chicken feet ourselves. Extra spicy that day though but we liked it. 

Har kau was a must so we had a steamer of that. 

The birthday girl requested for the eggtart which she finished all by herself. 

Other dim sum that we liked were tje deep fried beancurd and and deep fried puff yam. 

On our table, we also had this pork porridge and 2 plates of plain noodle to share arpund. 

We also ordered its roasted pork belly for takeaway as extra dish for our dinner that day. 

We spent slightly more than an hour in the restaurant before we went home. A delightful brunch we had. 

Staying at home

The kids are back to staying at home since schools and educational institutions were requested to close for 2 weeks last month. Look like that thing is not turning better anytime soon, so they wouldn't be able to return to school next Tuesday (4 May). Some more Sarawak government has issued statement on Wednesday that all schools in Sarawak's red zones to remain close till 13 June. 

After many years, finally UPSR is abolished. No UPSR for Jay as well as Jan who is sitting for PT3, which is cancelled this year. Mixed reaction from parents, teachers and students alike. 

Online tuition is conducted at home for the boys since tuition either in centre or home is not allowed to be conducted for past 2 weeks.  So weekdays are busy days for everyone including me as I need to teach and guide the kids on their homeworks.

Most of the days I would cook at home or if time is not permitted, then I will order food delivery. 

Everyone are more relaxed on weekends where there are no schools and tuition. Other than hubby and I gone out for breakfast, we stay at home more. Weather is so warm lately and the Covid-19 cases keep going up and up. 

This was our homecooked lunch on the last Sunday of the month. 

I was clearing whatever leftover from CNY and I had this last pack of instant jellyfish that I got from my mum. So I made it that day so we could finished it up. 

We had handmade noodle for breakfast in  this coffee shop and after that we bought this roasted pork belly from one of the stalls there for RM10. 

Hubby wanted stir fried kangkung with pig's blood cubes, which I learnt to cook from my MIL last year. 

One of fishes from hubby's recent fishing trip. Snapper, which I steamed with some ginger, garlic, tomato, spring onion and sour plum. Very sweet and tasty. 

Which one do you like the most?? For me, I like fish. Prefer it than other meat but the hassle of cleaning is not my favourite part. Lol. Hubby knew that so he usually will request and pay people to clean for us on the boat before keep the fishes in ice box. He also learn to clean fishes so he will help me out in doing so. All I need to do was to pack and put in freezer once he was back from his trip. 

We like

We never get bored of having our breakfast at this coffee shop. We like the kolo mee and drinks that they serve especialky the tea. 

However since the kids gone back to school this month after a short break, hubby and I hardly have time to go there in the morning. I cooked breakfast for us before busy driving them off to school. 

We only get to enjoy the breakfast here on weekend.  For instance, last Sunday when hubby and I woke up late, we went there around 8am. Of course, more people and longer wait after 7am but we did not mind since we were not in any rush. 

Hubby had his set noodle with mixed soup. It has been a while he had that. Usually he would just have its kolo mee. 

Mild taste, not too strong. Hubby prefers stronger taste with wine but it wasn't in this soup but nevertheless he finished it up. 

I went for kolo mee hoon, which I usually have. 

We waited prerty long for the noodle so while waiting, we had some fried fritters.  I like the banana fritters. 

That day, I tried its new fritter. Yam and sweet potato fritter. RM1 each. Tasty, crispy but sinful. Lol. 

Their favourite - Spaghetti with smoked duck breast

I think most kids love spaghetti, one way or another. My kids enjoy my spaghetti whenever I cook for them. I make it at least once or twice a month. 

I got 2 packs of this smoked duck breast (RM17 each) from my sis not long ago. Her brother-in-law is selling it and she gave me 2 packs to try.

A product made in Perak. And what I do with it? I could make salad with it. Hubby would love it. But on one Monday when he went for his fishing trip, I use the smoked duck breast in my pasta! A spaghetti dinner for me and kids. 

 

Stir fried semolina spaghetti with duck breast. I have been buying this durum wheat semolina spaghetti from Thailand. It only takes 10 minutes to cook al dente.

After I  drained the water from my spaghetti, I would stir fry it for a while before serving. Meanwhile I heated up the defrosted duck breast in my electric oven for 10 minutes at 180C. Then I slightly pan-fried it before cut into slices.

Ingredients:

Spaghetti, cook al dente for 10 minutes

5 garlic cloves, minced

Extra virgin olive oil

1 pack of smoked duck breast

4 chicken sausages, sliced thinly

1 Prego carbonara sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Methods:

1. Preheat oven at 180C before put in thawed smoked duck breast, cook for 10 minutes. 

2. Heat up a pan.  Add olive oil. Once heated, pan fried the duck meat for a minute on all sides. Set aside, let it cool before slice. 

3. Bring a pot of water to boil. Add a tsp salt before adding the spaghetti. Cook according to instruction. Drain. 

4. Heat up some olive oil in a pan or wok. Toss in garlic mince and saute till fragrant and brown. Add in sausages. Stir fried till cook for few minutes before adding in the spaghetti. Mix well. 

5. Add salt and pepper to taste. Combine well. Dish out. 

6. In a sauce pan, heat up the carbonara sauce. Add some water, salt and pepper. Once heated up, off the heat. 

7. Plate and serve your spaghetti and eat while it is warm!! 

Fast food

I rarely venture to the food court in the back part of the well-known Green road Sin Lian Shin kolo mee shop. A short walk on the small road of Sungai Maong Hilir (next to the row of shop where Sin Lian Shin is located), and further on, you would notice this Onn Food Corner.

It was the start of Ramadhan month. So Jan was dismissed from class early, ie 1120am. So on 1st day of fasting month, after parked my car somewhere near the school, I walked across to this food court to check what they had. 

It was early, slightly after 1030am so it was easy to cross the usually high traffic road. 

One thing special about this food court was not only it serves food but it has fresh vegetables for sale too. 

The vegetable stall was right in front so you could see some vegetables on sale before you notice few food stalls selling kolo mee, laksa and so on. The fast food stall was right next to the vegetable stall. 

It was very early, but most dishes were gone!! This fast food stall managed by few Hakka guys, as they mainly speak Hakka dialect with you. So being a Hakka myself, I felt pretty comfortable with them. If you looking for Hakka dishes, this stall is as authentic as you could find in Kuching. 

They mentioned that their customers bought packs for lunch early so they have yet to cook and replenish the dishes at that time. 

I noticed that they had kacangma and stir fried paku with lard in my first visit but none this round. Anyhow, since I was there, I decided to buy few dishes for lunch. 

Dishes could be packed from RM3 onwards. I packed these dishes and total was RM20. Fried fshes was RM2 each. 

And I also bought these 2 vegetables from the vegetable stall for RM6 before walked back to my car and waited for my girl to finish her class. 

Hope I have better luck next round, more dishes to choose from. 

Moved

Old Rex Cucur Udang Cafe has moved to new location on 1st April 2021. The new cafe was bigger and with addition of one economy rice stall. Other stalls remain the same. Their new location is not that far from their previous shop as shown below (taken from their FB page). 

Last Friday, together with my dad and sis, we dropped by the new cafe for the first time. 

It wasn't 11am yet so we were able to find a table for 3 of us. 

The laksa stall was managed by another guy. The previous stall operator, an old lady has passed away. Not sure if this current guy is related to the old lady or not. 

I had his Sarawak laksa(RM7) and I quite enjoyed it. Not bad taste and quite a lot as well. 

Dad and sis both had Mee Jawa (RM7).  Both loved it so much. They gave 4 big chunky chicken satay sticks to go with the Mee Jawa. 

Weather has been crazy lately so we had ngoh mee th'ng (ice shaved dessert). Not so sweet, so I liked it. 

For the kids, I meant to buy economy rice but the dishes did not fit the kids' taste so I ended up with kolo mee. They ran out of char siew that morning so they gave lots of minced chicken in the kolo mee (RM4 per pack). 

Nice to catch up and have lunch with my dad amd sis as we rarely meet up. Since Jan is back to school, I have more times to go over to the shop, which is few minutes walk after I park my car near the school. I have to arrive at least an hour early to find parking spot because not much places to park. So more walking over to dad's shop and hang out this year. 

Just me and him

I woke up before 6am on weekday to prepare breakfast and snack boxes for the kids.

I went out around 615am to send Jan to her school and usually reached home around 7am. There was some time before I send the boys to their school which starts at 730am. Hubby will wake up the boys around 630am and the boys will get ready and eat their breakfast while waiting for me to come back.

So since last week, I didn't have breakfast outside with my man. Prior to that, both of us always went out for hreakfast and tapau back for the kids. Just me and him, went out for breakfast. But no more since school started last week. It wasn't because not enough time, it was just we eat more at home since I cook breakfast.

However last Friday, my hubby was craving for roti canai so both of us went to Curry House for breakfast.

I had roti telur while my man had his roti telur bawang. I don't really like onion in roti canai. Don't ask me. I just don't like it. Lol.

While having his roti telur bawang, he suddenly called the waiter and ordered a plate of Mee Maggi goreng. He was also craving for noodle!!

So under his persuasion, I had to share the noodle with him. I was already quite full from my roti telur but somehow I managed to finish my share of the noodle. Plus a glass of warm honey lemon, I was very full.