Chicken Pie @ Our Daily Bread

Next to Ming Xin Cafe is Our Daily Bread, a bakery and cafe serving freshly baked breads, cakes and pastries.

Tempted by the pies in a display case, I bought a chicken pie. There are many other flavours, among which are minced beef, fish and leek pies. Each pie measures 10 cm in diametre. The chicken pie was sprinkled with some sesame seeds to distinguish it from the other pies.

Chicken pie

Inside, the pie was filled with chicken, corn and carrot bits in a white sauce. It wasn't that creamy but it was moist. The pastry case was freshly baked and was slightly sweetened and it went quite well with the savoury filling. I would loved it if the filling was more compact, though.

Chicken pie filling

Most importantly, for me, this pie had a homemade feeling to it. It looked like one of those pies that Mom used to make ;).

Breakfast @ Ming Xin Cafe

Perched atop a little hill is Riam Commercial Centre, where Ming Xin Cafe occupy the corner shoplot. The place looked modern, spacious and clean. This cafe does not serve pork, and from hearsay, the food was pretty good.

This morning, S**** and I drove across town to breakfast there. We ordered a variety of dim sum dumplings, both steamed and fried.

Siew mai

Century Egg Dumpling

Tofu Skin Rolls

Another variety of tofu skin rolls
These had black fungus strips in it

I liked all the dumplings. They were compact, yet succulent, and filled with the goodness of minced chicken, prawns, and other ingredients. I liked that the dumplings had texture and bite.

We also ordered a plate of carrot cake. Unfortunately, we did not like it at all. We found it strange that deep-fried carrot cake was diced and then stir-fried with chilli, beansprouts, spring onions and eggs. I'm not sure if this is always the case here, though. Usually, vendors would use steamed carrot cake to make this dish.

Stir-fried carrot cake

We decided to try the chicken porridge with century egg. Disappointingly, there was only 2 thin triangular slices of century egg and salted egg. We liked the fresh julienned young ginger in the porridge, though.

Chicken porridge with century egg

Both S**** and I did not like the crispy stuff sprinkled generously atop the porridge. Next time, we had to remember to tell them not to garnish our porridge with those. There was so much of it that this dish had better be named chicken porridge with deep-fried popiah skin!

The lotus leaf parcel sat very well with me.

Lotus leaf parcels

Yum ...

The glutinous rice was steamed till soft, and flavoured with chicken and salted egg yolk among other things. Very tasty and yum. A must-try, indeed.

There were lots of other things on the menu which we did not try today. Must go back ;D.

Manicure & Pedicure

Well, 2 months ago, I was strolling at a shopping mall, and was coaxed by my friend to buy a manicure and pedicure voucher. Since then, however, I had been procrastinating, finding myself really lazy to visit the nail salon. The voucher will expire the end of this month, so I forced myself to get my nails done today, by hook or by crook.

There was only an attendant at the shop when I went at 3.00 p.m. this afternoon. She looked very young and she could very well be one of my students! I asked her how long it would take. Her reply was two hours. One hour for the toes and another for the fingers. It was mighty long to me, longer than I had expected it to be, in fact.

The attendant started scrubbing my feet and legs, all the way up to the knees. The she rubbed off the dead skin and callouses on the feet. After that, the feet was pat dry and cuticle lotion was applied. Next, she removed the cuticles before filing the nails. The cuticles were pushed back and then trimmed. This was followed by filing the nails to your desired shape. Cuticle oil was applied, and finally, base coat, nail colour and top coat were applied on the toenails. The same process applied to the fingernails, except that they were not scrubbed for dead skin.

There are many shades of nail colour to choose from. I prefer to go for the neutral tone. For my fingers, I chose OPI P02, a colour named Nomad's Dream from the OPI Painted Desert collection. It is a shimmery pink, coral, tan that is suitable for every day wear. I love how it changes colour, depending on where the light hits it. It is so pretty that I can't stop looking at my nails!


For my toenails, I chose OPI C82, a shade named Niagara Falls from the OPI Canadian Collection. It is a mauve, rose, mocha with a frost finish. Love it lots!!!


Well, this nail salon that I went to is called CherNails, located at Bintang Commercial Centre. There is a newly-opened outlet at Pelita Commercial Centre, somewhere near Shanghai Cafe. This nail boutique has been in operation for quite sometime, but it is my first visit there. Be assured that it won't be my last visit ;p!!

Getting Peanuts

I have suffered emotional angst for the past 2 days when my broadband network fluctuates faster than you need to blink your eyes!

First, it was like this .....

A few minutes later, like this ....


Then before you know it, like this ....

As a result, nothing gets done, and I'm left with only frustrations, and of course expelling a mouthful of profanitites against the service provider.

C'mon, larrr!!! I'm paying RM68.00 a month, and why do I get a peanut of a service? Btw, it took me about an hour to upload the 3 little images this morning. It's just plain horrendous!

Cup Noodle Tower

As I mentioned before, my students love to have instant cup noodles for lunch. So we decided to collect the cups and build a tower out of it. Interesting, eh?

The tower after 2 weeks

Easy Tomato Soup

I haven't had anything home-cooked nor healthy for a long time. So for lunch yesterday, I decided to cook soup to warm my tummy up. I went to the shop behind my house for some minced pork and fresh tomatoes for my quick and easy tomato soup.

For a bowl of soup, I used 2 large tomatoes. I washed and cut the tomatoes into chunks. Next, I seasoned the mince with sesame oil, fish sauce, pepper and mixed it well. Then I chopped some anchovies and added them into my seasoned minced. The mixture is shaped into little round meatballs.

Once the ingredients were ready, I waited for a cup of water to boil in my AMC baby pot. Then I added the tomatoes and the minced meat. It only took about 3 minutes for the soup to boil. I let it simmer for 10 minutes. Then I turned off the heat and let the soup stand.

In my baby pot

When I was ready to have lunch, all I did was to reheat the soup, add some salt and pepper for seasoning, and then crack in an egg.

Easy Tomato Soup

The pork and the anchovies gave the soup an umami taste, and the tomatoes made it a little tangy. Most importantly, the rather healthy as it is low in fat, carb-free, and msg-free. Do try it at home ;).

We Love Tag

I visited my friend J***** yesterday. She showed me her newly-bought Tag Heuer Aquaracer. Like mine, hers had the mother of pearl dial. But of course unlike mind, hers was studded with diamonds. ;))

Our Tags
Models WAF1414.BA & WAF141G.BA

It was a birthday gift from her husband. After discount, the watch cost nearly RM7,000, which was more than half of what I got mine for!!

Welcome to the club, J*****! Glad to have a friend who loves Tag watches as much as I am crazy about them. ;))

My Responses To Tortured Teachers

Tortured teachers

2010/05/16

By Anis Ibrahim
anisibrahim@nst.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: Complaints by teachers that they are bogged down with work that is unrelated to teaching are “justified”.

I agree to be bogged down by work unrelated to teaching.


A committee set up by the Education Ministry in March to look into teachers’ extra duties has concluded that teachers have too many administrative duties, affecting their teaching and their students’ learning.

A copy of the panel’s report, made available to the New Sunday Times, revealed that a school can have as many as 40 committees, including school administration, security, cleanliness, student affairs and student well-being.

A source said on average, teachers belonged to 25 committees, thus depriving them of time from teaching.

Yes, a lot of my time is devoted to the administrative matters in school. I spend every Friday attending the school management meeting where important matters of school administration are discussed.

Being in 25 committees is not an exaggeration. For every activity in school, teachers are organised into committees. Let's just talk about last week. My school was nominated for Sekolah Lestari, and a committee was drawn up to prepare for this. On Saturday's gotong-royong perdana, again, the teachers were put in various committees.

This week, I have to run an orientation programme for the new intake of Lower 6 students. And at the same time, I'd been roped into the school level teachers' day celebration committee. Therefore, if teachers are involved in an average of 2 committees a week for 42 weeks in the academic calendar, they'd be in 84 committees a year!!

In my position, I only have to teach 8 periods, but I am teaching 16 and be expected to perform all administrative duties as stipulated by the scope of my job.


“Imagine the pressure they are under.The panel also found that students are often required to sit up to 20 school-based tests in a year, over and above public examinations.

“These tests put more pressure on teachers, who have to prepare and mark the questions.”

My school has 4 major assessments a year. These are the mid and end of the semester examinations every semester. However, there are indeed many school-based assessments for every subject. Oral assessments for the languages, PEKA for science, and kerja kursus for subjects like Geography, History, Moral studies, among some.

For the upper forms where lots of essays are written for every subject, marking is a burden. I have trouble coping with marking my students' essays. Hence, I am seen to be marking all the time - during roll call, at assemblies, at meetings, in the canteen, and so on.


These problems are made worse because of the courses teachers attend throughout the year.

“Some of the courses are unnecessary,” the source added. This situation results in a high rate of teacher “absentees”. Pursuant to the report, Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasssin, in his Teachers Day speech at the national-level celebration in Kuantan today, will unveil steps to reduce administrative
and non-teaching duties to allow teachers to concentrate on teaching.

What courses? I have not attended any courses this year. However, in school, we do organise ouf own CPD talks and workshops. all of which are held after school.


Among the measures are increasing the number of clerical staff in schools to take over teachers’ administrative tasks. There will also be guidelines on what constitutes a teacher’s job, and what should be done by clerks.

Actually, I look at the clerks differently now, and I do respect them a lot. There's so many clerical procedures that they need to be familiar with. Some of which are so petty to us teachers, yet, it is a part of the procedure to follow. For instance, I asked for receipt books one day. And before giving the to me, the clerk proceeded to record the serial numbers in various inventory booklets. I wondered at the time, if I were a clerk, would I remember the details of how things work?

Furthermore, with the recent budget cuts, I really salute my clerk as she struggles to pay for all the school expenditure!! She told me last week that the allocation for utilities is almost used up. And she worried about how we were going to pay for electricity and water once the money is gone!

More clerks in school? Well, besides those attending to the clerical work in school, I think there needs to be personnel of every kind - like the school doctor, school police, school barber, librarian, IT technician, specialised sports teachers or trainers, CCA teachers, music and drama directors, art directors, to be exact. Teachers are expected to be jack of all trades when they are neither good nor knowledgeable in some fields. Why not train some people in those other fields so that they can teach students right? Let teachers just focus on teaching in the classroom.

If teachers are expected to be all those that they are not, then the Teachers' Training College should equip them for it. Much of teachers' training focus on the academic matter and pedagogy. How about those other areas that are not covered?


Muhyiddin will also direct schools to reduce the number of committees and school-based tests. The source said: “Teachers will also be required to attend fewer courses. The courses will be standardised at the ministry level to ensure there are no overlaps with those organised at state and district levels.”

There are already very few courses these days, compared to previously.


Muhyiddin, who is also deputy prime minister, will also announce the Education Ministry’s “New Deals” scheme.

Under the scheme, the ministry will give monetary rewards to principals,
headmasters and teachers who push their schools to excel.

New Deal = monetary rewards to principals = principals push teachers to work in all aspects = teaching and marking and setting examination papers and more marking and documentation and paper work and co-curricular activities = STRESS STRESS STRESS and MORE STRESS


In March, Muhyiddin announced that a committee had been set up to look into complaints that teachers were being burdened with work related to teaching.
The decision to set up the committee was made after he chaired a meeting with the National Union of the Teaching Profession in Parliament House earlier that month.

Ok. Please don't just look into the complaints. Do something about it!!


The panel, headed by Education director-general Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom, includes representatives from the union. The union had complained that teachers were facing additional workload where co-curriculum, classes, examinations, student affairs and administration were concerned, jeopardising teaching and learning.

The committee was asked to come up with a report within two months on ways to reduce teachers’ work burden. Alimuddin had said recently that the committee visited many schools to get feedback from teachers.

No one visited us here. Neither do I expect any drastic changes in two months. But at the end of the day, the people who have a say in their offices far away in Putrajaya should not compromise the teaching and learning of students in whatever decision that is made.

Happy Teacher's Day

I woke up this morning at the break of dawn, disorientated, wondering if it was already Monday. Upon realising that it was Sunday, I snuggled contentedly into my blanket and went back to sleep.

I suppose not many people realise that today is teacher's day. Can't blame them. There's hardly any mention of this day in the media at all. It's no wonder that teachers feel unappreciated.

In conjunction with Teacher's Day, the school received a circular from the Ministry to organise a Gotong-Royong Perdana. Because of many complaints, this event became "voluntary". We had ours anyway, yesterday. Some of my colleagues scrubbed the tiles in the courtyard, others repaired canteen tables and benches, some re-potted the plants in the greenhouse, while I removed in little weeds in the flower beds flanking the courtyard.

Actually, if you ask me, the best way to celebrate teacher's day is to have a day of holiday. In Singapore, Teacher's Day is celebrated on 1 September, and it is an official school holiday. I'm sure all of my colleagues would welcome a day's rest away from the school, the students and the burdensome workload.

"Why is 16 May teachers' day inMalaysia?" R*** asked me over dinner the other day. Both of us pondered over it, and well, were left baffled. Lolx. As I did a little bit of research, I was enlightened to the fact that May was the month when recommendations in the Razak Report, the basis of educational reform in Malaysia, were received.

Anyway, I wish all of my colleagues in the teaching industry, a very blessed Teacher's Day!

Easy Mash

S**** made some mashed potatoes for dinner tonight. After the spuds are washed and boiled, the skin was peeled. They are mashed using a fork. S**** added salt, a stick of butter, and a can of cream into the mash.

Next, she chopped up strips of bacon and pan-fried them till crisp. The bacon bits are then added into the mash, and mixed well.

Mashed potatoes

I love the savoury bits of bacon

Well, the result was satisfyingly yummy - the mashed potato was creamy and buttery, complemented by the crispy and salty pieces of chopped bacon. It was real quick and easy to make too!

A Light Dinner

I wanted to eat something light for dinner. So, S**** and I went back to X Cuisine to have fish slice porridge. As I mentioned before, S**** loved the porridge. Last time, I had a spoonful of hers. So this time, I wanted a bowl to myself. ;p

Fish slice porridge

Well, tonight, the fish slice porridge (RM4.90) did not seem as tasty as it was last week. Both of us found it too bland, and had to ask for light soy sauce. I loved the thick fish slices in the porridge, which were fresh and sweet. Unfortunately, there were only 4 slices of fish at most. I could not have enough of the fish!! What I disliked about was the deep-fried shallots were a nuisance. They were those that were commercially fried, and were hard as stone. I must remember tell them I did not want those shallots in my food.

Century egg

We ordered a plate of century egg (RM1.90) to eat with our porridge. It had but six slices. We asked for extra pickled ginger, and the waitress kindly obliged.

S**** wanted to try the salad prawns (RM8.50). The deep-fried prawns were succulent and coated generously with thick flavoured mayo, then sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds. It was not bad, actually.

Deep-fried salad prawns

Well, it seems that I've been going to this little eatery every weekend. Lolx. It's just that there's a lot of items to try!! ;))

Bulatan Car Wash & Canteen

At the huge Taman Bulatan roundabout is a car wash and canteen which has been in operation for at least 2 months now.

The car wash business was really thriving. One Sunday morning, I drove there to have my car washed, but was told that the waiting time was at least an hour.

Today, S**** and I made our way there, and fortunately our car was attended to immediately. It took about 40 minutes to wash our car, inside and out. We were charged RM12.00 for the Kancil.

While waiting, we sat at the canteen to have our breakfast. Both of us had dry-tossed mee pok 面薄. The bowl of noodles came with sliced blanched sliced pork, 2 pieces of wantons, sliced kidney, liver, and chye sim. Hmn. I surely did not expect offal in my noodles, for kidney was something I did not eat.

Nevertheless, they were quite generous with the ingredients. My only complain was that the noodles were too greasy. The noodles were really glimmering with use of too much lard. It's really too bad, because the noodles were actually quite tasty. All they needed to do was to cut down on the use of oil.

Dry-tossed mee pok

The canteen could improve on their drinks though, especially the coffee. S**** and I both thought the coffee was too diluted and too sweet. I did not even bother to finish my cup.

Well, not a bad experience, especially if you need want to chow while waiting for your car to get washed.

Unexpectedly Unhappy

She took my hand and said,
"I'm not happy . . . "
She said it
over and over
Her little mouth in a sulk
And tears in her eyes
I sat her down and comforted her
My poor dear

I expected to be happy
Yet unexpectedly I become unhappy
I had so anticipated
Yet now
I dread it
I wish it is not there
Can I bypass it?
I stare morosely at nothingness
And clutching my heart in my hands
Squeezing it tight
So it doesn't ache so bad
I'm so angry
With my own vulnerability
Be strong
Life does not wait for you
To mend your broken feelings
To ease the sore and the pain
Whether you want it or not
Decisions are made
And the saddest thing is
They are not up to you

My poor dear
I sat beside her
And held her hand tight
As sobs racked her trembling little body
Be strong
My dear girl

Cup Noodle, Anyone?

Wednesday is Gerko day, where students attend co-curricular activities in the afternoon. After a long morning in the classroom, they break for lunch at approximately 1.30 p.m.

I'm on duty this week. So it is customary for me to make my rounds during break times. And while keeping an eye on the students on Wednesday's lunch break, I also observed that so many students were eating instant cup noodles. They could buy the cup noodles from the school co-operative. Yesterday alone, the co-operative sold at least 4 boxes of cup noodles, each box containing 24 pieces!! Today, after recess, I counted 30 cups, stacked neatly at the sink. Yes, we started to collect the cups today for a recycling project.

It piqued my curiosity. I wondered if the noodles were yum? I mean, they had to be good since so many of the kids preferred them over cooked food prepared by the canteen.

And so after work, I decided to buy myself a cup. At the supermarket near my residence, this particular brand cup of noodles, Mamee Sllrrrp! cost RM1.50. I chose the Flamin' Curry flavour, a favourite amongst the students.

Colourful packaging

Just as instucted on the lid, I tore open the sachet of flavouring and poured it over the noodles. Next, I added I boiling hot water to the noodles till the marked position in the cup. Wait 3 minutes, and the noodles are ready to be consumed.

Tear open the lid to find a packet of flavouring & a fork ...

Well, the noodles were better than I expected them to be. They were springy, and did not have that flour-y taste that some instant noodles have. The soup base was tasty, the curry flavour sort of grew on me after a while. It was not too salty nor too spicy.

Ready to eat ...

Before I knew it, I'd finished my cup of noodles. Initially, I had not really meant to eat it, what more to say to finish it. Lolx. No wonder my students did not mind having instant noodles for recess and lunch!

A few weeks back, I read that instant noodles was becoming "Earth Food", meaning it's becoming a staple, a part of people's daily diet in all corners of the world. Well, I can certainly testify to the fact that it's part of my students' daily diet at school!

Fried Rice

I do not cook regularly. Hence, when I wanted to fry some leftover rice today, I had to search all over the kitchen for ingredients. ;p

First up, I sliced up an onion thinly. Then I raided the fridge for an egg and some sausages. Some lettuce were found in there too! And that I washed, dried and cut thinly. After that I opened my larder and discovered a can of spiced pork cubes. Yay!

I slit and pan-fried the sausages. Then in the same wok, I sauteed the onions, before adding the egg, rice, pork cubes, and finally the lettuce. Seasoning was just some fish sauce and pepper.

Wholesome!!!

Well, I don't cook very well, but I can assure you that my fried rice is quite yum!

Vitasoy Soya Bean Drink

Vitasoy is a product of Hong Kong. I first tried this drink in Hong Kong, where it is widely sold. Vitasoy soya bean milk comes in many flavours too. There's malted, strawberry, chocolate, mocha, Jasmine, and Hokkaido melon flavours.

Amongst those that I've tried, I liked the malted soya bean milk the best! I sneaked a packet into my bag to bring back, but it was confiscated by the meanie customs officer at Macau Airport. Well, just my own carelessness as I totally forgot that passengers were not allowed to bring liquid on board on international flights.

Anyway, I was at GK Supermarket the other day, and was ecstatic to find Vitasoy on sale there. Yippee! I bought 1L pack of the plain soya bean milk for RM4.70.

Vitasoy ... Yay ..

This brand of soya bean drink is not too sweet and the soy flavour is quite mild. It's a great thirst quencher when served cold. However, I still prefer the malted variety for richer taste.

Back to X Cuisine

Happy Labour Day. Me kinda fell sad that Labour Day should be on Saturday. And why is there no holiday on Monday in lieu? ;(

Anyway, this morning, S**** and I headed back to X Cuisine for brunch. Two days earlier, S**** had the fish slice porridge and she loved it so much that we had to go back there today. ;p

Bowl of Porridge

Thick fish slice

I had a taste of the porridge and understood why S*** raved about it all the time. The porridge itself was flavoured and was super tasty, while the fish slice was fresh and sweet. The next time I'm here, I'm bound to order porridge for sure! Fish slice porridge was RM4.00 a bowl.

Last time, I see a lot of people eating the stone bowl rice. So I had to try it today to put my mind and my curiosity and my taste buds at ease ;p. I could not decide which to order as you could have your rice in many types of sauces - teriyaki, egg, tomato, and white sauce. You could choose the type of meat you want too, be it chicken, pork, beef or seafood.

After pondering for a looong time, I decided to stick to the conventional, and ordered the Teriyaki chicken stone bowl.

Chicken TeriyakiHot Stone Bowl

Scoop the rice out from the bowl ...

Well, it was a huge bowl, enough to share between 2 or 3 persons. Ingredients used include shredded onions shredded bell pepper, shredded nori, thin slices of crispy fried chicken, and of course, an egg fried sunny side up. Unfortunately, I did not really like the rice and its flavourings, which I found to be a tad too sweet. My stone bowl rice was RM9.50. Prices, depending on the meats and sauces, start from RM8.00.

S**** and I decided to order the Deep-fried dumplings. There were 6 pieces per serving, served with a flavoured mayonnaise. The filling comprises well-seasoned minced pork and finely shredded black fungus, amongst which I could identify. I quite liked the dumplings. These were RM5.90 per serving.

Deep-fried Dumplings

Another item S**** raved about was the chicken wings in shrimp paste. She said it was like a combination of chicken and keropok (shrimp crackers). Lolx. Anyway, the crust which coated the chicken wings was crispy and had the distinct flavour of shrimps. I liked it, but definitely was not crazy about it. The chicken wings were RM2.40 per piece.

Chicken wings in shrimp paste

Well, here ends today's culinary adventure in a sleepy little town called Miri. ;)