Finding Foods on Raining Day

Weather has been crazy lately. It rains for almost everyday though it is oh-so-sunny few hours ago. I am craving for kompia, the local ‘bread’, so the three of us (me, my boy and his friend) decide to head off to usual tea time place. Nearby the kopitiam is a small park for jogging and running, free and best cholesterol treatment ever.

But, it rains cats and dogs out of a sudden which almost brings down our plan. Ugh. Then we remember of a kompia stall at central market since they have indoor parking. Luckily it is opened. But the kompia isn’t as good as the usual tea time place at Rejang Park there. Less meat and less omphh effect.

I miss Medan’s snack and junk food! Sate padang, martabak coklat, ouh…. slurrpp..

Not So Delicious Pecel Lele

Good news: I found two of Indonesia dishes (pecel lele and ayam penyet) in one of the culinary spots in Sibu named Bandung. Even the name of the place already portrayed one of the city’s name in Indonesia.

You see, we usually eat Chinese foods at home and when we dine outside. They do have chili in the restaurant/cafe/food stall. But it is either sour one or big-red-chili-potong with soy sauce or Maggi chili sauce. Those can’t give about-the-same spicy feeling from what we have back in Indonesia. After a month, my tongue, taste bud, mouth, and mind already felt itchy and wanted to eat some spicy food. Think about the ‘fire’ in the mouth after eating pecel lele with belacan. Slurrpp!!

When others gathered in town square waiting for firecrackers and making new year resolution (like lose weight with safe diet pills) on New Year Eve, we went to Bandung out of boredom and saw this pecel lele stall. Whoa, so happy as if I saw water on a dessert. So, I ordered pecel lele. The presentation was not bad. Got banana, rice wrapped with banana leaf (or whatever leaf it is), etc.

But bad news: the rice was a plain white rice not coconut rice and was so sticky – cook it a little longer and it will become porridge. The sambal also didn’t have that spicy taste. The lele was so-so.

However, beggar can’t be chooser. I’ll go there again when I crave for hometown food. Or maybe, I should start cooking the real home-food (not just fried rice ). Not a bad idea.

Simple Breakfast on Lazy Day

Weather has been very weird lately. It can rain cats and dogs in the morning, then becomes so hot and sunny in afternoon or night time. The weird weather will not only make me easily falls sick but also make pimples growing on this face, and have to do home remedies for acne during weekend.

When it rains heavily in the morning, I will be very lazy to step out of the house for breakfast although we can drive the car to our usual breakfast place which is in walking distance only. It’s just something about rain and cold weather that brings up the lazy mode.

The easiest solution is to have a cup of hot Milo and breads with scramble eggs. Yummy! Then I’ll sit in front of the computer and eat while checking emails and plan out the working schedule for the rest of the day.

Five things on December

1. An impromptu road trip to Kuching
We went to Kuching by 6 hours bus on last week, from Wednesday night to Friday night. Not to have fun but to settle some tiny step of the marriage registration. We didn’t get the document that we needed though. We ended up having an unexpected city tour to kill our time and came across an interesting insurance billboard with tagline “I got mine here“.

The only thing that I like from Kuching is The Spring – the hottest mall in the city and probably the only mall in this state (read: Sarawak) which has the basic brands from KL in which Sibu (where my home is now) doesn’t have. You know: Padini concept store with Vincci blablabla, Body Glove, MPH bookstore, Manhattan Fish Market and all.

2. 50% settling down
We had our church wedding done last month, so we are married according to our religion and in God’s eyes. We had done the Chinese ceremony and held the wedding banquet, so we are married according to Chinese tradition and people’s eyes. We had a place that we can call as our home, we had purchased new working table and chairs, and we also had bought a new LCD and laptop for me. We are all ready to start our own family and own business.

But, we haven’t go through ROM (Registration Of Marriage), so we are not legally married according to law and in government’s eyes – let alone rushing in making a baby. The stress is worse than thinking about LDR. The good news is, we are walking on the right path and although it takes longer time, we are sure that we can get the certificate in time.

3. Three keyboards in a month time
We bought the first keyboard at PC Fair for RM25 only per set (keyboard and mouse) right after we bought the laptop and LCD. We used it for a week or so only and both set of keyboards went KABOOM as in the keyboard kept on disconnected – how to work like this? We assumed that the batch was faulty one hence they sold it at such a low price.

It has getting on my boy’s nerve since he had loads of work to settle that day, hence he threw it on the floor. Rest assure, he isn’t the type of man who will hit his loved one. I am safe for sure, but not with the computer stuffs.

Then we bought second keyboard at Delta Mall at RM25 each. On the second day, mine went crazy. The shift button didn’t want to work! KNS! I have to copy paste the symbol (@?” etc) from the internet cause I couldn’t type one. We purchased the third keyboard last night at Sanyan and requested the seller to try it. It works fine for now.

4. My first Tang Yuen festival with my new family
There was no colorful tang-yuen (made from glutinous rice flour) in soup but one color tang-yuen with peanuts, somewhat like mochi. Here also has tradition of having family dinner with loads of foods.

5. Two new ‘family member’ in the house
His sister brought home 2 new puppies, Lucky the male and Mimi the female. That means now there is 8 dogs and 3 puppies. Whew.. I have no idea how I (who don’t like cats, dogs, and whatever pets) can live in this home. But amazingly I can adapt with them. Mum, no worry, I don’t get so close with these dogs.

The 2 new puppies and Happy who has slowly recovered from the hot-water-incident.

KL Trip – part 4 (Melaka Chicken Rice Ball)

Every place has its own delicacies and so does Melaka, with the chicken rice ball, cendol, satay celup, popiah, and other Nyonya foods. I think travel agents should include some culinary tour into their travel deals for destination like Melaka.

But, I don’t have interest in trying those delicacies, except the Hainanese chicken rice ball from Chung Wah kopitiam. I wanted to try it so badly. But, when I went there with boyfriend on last April, the stall (both Hoe Kee and Chung Wah) was already closed. Left the infamous Famosa Chicken Rice Ball. *disappointed*

So on last June, we decided to go down Melaka earlier abit so we can have lunch at Chung Wah kopitiam. After exploring Melaka zoo for more than 1 hour, we headed down to Melaka town.

It was almost 3pm when we arrived and immediately located the Chung Wah kopitiam at the corner of Jonker Walk (Jonker street), opposite OCBC bank.

Chung Wah is well known for the chicken rice ball and the crowd (long queue). Luckily we arrived after lunch hour. It was full house, but there was less people coming in already. And they closed before 5pm.

One person = one plate = 5 pieces of rice ball. I managed to finish all. Yay to me!

Boyfriend and my brother still felt hungry so we ordered another 10 rice ball for both.

The hainanese chicken wasn’t cooked 100% but 90%, or so I heard. It is yummylicious, but not something oh-so-wowing though.

Here’s the man behind the yummilicious and famous chicken rice ball.

One more thing that hasn’t fulfilled yet is to visit the Baba Nyonya museum. Mum has been wanting to pay a visit ever since she watched the Singapore-Malaysia drama called The Little Nyonya. -__-” We did go there on last June, but the museum was closed already – it was almost 5pm.

Never mind, there will be next time.

Girls’ Night Out at Gelato Bar

Had dinner together with the girls last night at Gelato Bar. Since I had a bad experience with the spaghetti & pasta, plain Bolognaise and awful creamy mushroom, I went for the chicken steak with mushroom sauce and French Fries. Quite oily, might need lipo6 black to burn the fat around my tummy now, else cannot wear beach wear for the upcoming island trip.

It tasted not bad, but the food turn cold so fast although I just left it there for 10 minutes, thanks to the super Air-con. I couldn’t finish the French Fries, cause of the large portion (for me) which was like.. the L package in McDonald’s. Heh, normally boyfriend will be the one to help me finishes the French Fries (M).

I didn’t only waste the French Fries but also the carrots, corns, and two pieces vege. Tell me how to eat the corn with knife and fork? Besides, the corn doesn’t match with the steak. Put broccoli instead la.

No, I’m not that short but I bend down, that’s why

The best thing of the night was the huge mirror next to us. Made us alot easier in taking group pictures without the need to ask for the waiter’s help only to get a blurry picture at the end of the day, cause either the waiter has no skill in taking picture without using flash or he is too nervous facing pretty women hence the hand is shaky. *cough cough*

Oh I almost forget, one more best thing.. there is 20% discount for UOB credit card’s user.

Alternative way to enjoy instant noodle

I was hungry but it was oh so hot outside that I refuse to go out and buy food. I wanted to cook something easy like fried rice but I hate the idea of cooking rice for one person only. Instant noodle with soup seems to be the only solution but I am sick of it already.

And then this pops up on my mind, why didn’t I think of combining the idea of fried rice and instant noodle? After all, a fried rice paste will most probably suitable for noodle too? *Quickly opened the fridge and look for the sausage, fillet fish, bean french, egg and a pack of black pepper fried rice paste from Maggi along with onion* Phew, luckily I have enough surplus of foods and ingredients.

It’s yummy and much better than the Maggi goreng from Mamak stall. Oh well, whatever I cook is delicious for me. Thanks G I didn’t create any kitchen disaster for the past 1 month here.