Batu Bungan Village & School

Our adventure began at 8.00 a.m. We were all told to assemble at the Park office foyer, where our guide, John, would meet us. The group headed to a jetty behind the park office and got into longboats.

The narrow boat wobbled as I clambered into it. Lol. I thought I was going to topple the boat over. I sure felt like a real klutz! But that aside, the ride on the boat was fun! I could feel the wind in my face as the boat sped along. Thrilling!

In the longboat ...

After about 5 minutes, we were dropped off at SK Batu Bungan, the only primary school in this area. We walked around on our own as the staff had left for the weekend. The students here are boarders, but they too have gone home.

SK Batu Bungan

Staffroom

A block of classrooms

As usual, I feel so very thankful that I am not posted to a rural school ;p. We teachers who teach in town should feel thankful for the extra facilities that we are able to enjoy such as air-condition in the staff rooms, white board in the classrooms, and computer labs. In the city, we boast of concrete school buildings. But here at Batu Bungan, the wooden floor creaks as you walk along the corridor.

After a brief tour of the school, we got into our longboat and rode upstream towards the Batu Bungan Village. This is a Penan resettlement area. The Penans were nomads but had settled down at this village. They used to live in a longhouse, but it was burnt down in December 2010. All that is left is the frame of the building, a grim reminder of this tragedy.

A fire razed this longhouse ...

The Penans now live in wooden houses.

These are homes to the Penan people at Batu Bungan

A peek into a house

A fishing net

Beautiful Penan children at the verandah of a house

There is a small market here, where handicrafts are sold to tourists.

There were rattan bags and mats and beaded ornaments,
all made by the locals here

Beautiful beaded souvenirs

Most of all, I was fascinated by this elderly lady who demonstrated her skills in playing a nose- flute. I must say that it was my first encounter with the nose-flute. This musical instrument is made of bamboo.

A nose-flute demonstration

My colleague, M*** remembered his own lost nose-flute which was passed down to him by his grandfather, and bought one from this elderly lady. It cost a mere RM10.00.

After Batu Bungan, it's off to the caves ...

Gunung Mulu National Park

People tell me that Mulu is destination not to be missed. Those who have been there, return to sing praises of its spectacular natural landscape, especially its world-famous caves. Hence, Mulu has been a place that I have always wanted to visit, and opportunity arises this weekend when a few of my colleagues and I flew ourselves there.

The flight took only 30 minutes from Miri, on an ATR-72. Before I had even had the chance to make myself comfortable, the little plane had landed. Lol.

Mulu Airport

A signboard facing the airport to inform of the notable places in Mulu

We then headed straight for the Gunung Mulu National Park, the starting point of our caving adventures.

The signage looks like that of Niah National Park

The Park is located by the Melinau River.

Some longboats at the Park Jetty @ Melinau River

There at the Gunung Mulu National Park, we accommodated ourselves for two nights. After registration and payment at the Park HQ, we were shown to our rooms.

Park Headquarters

My colleagues and I put up in a chalet. It had 2 air-conditioned bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms. Each bedroom has 4 beds. There's also spacious living and dining areas and a kitchen.

Chalet

We had all our meals at the park cafeteria, Cafe Mulu, which was adjacent to the Park HQ.

Cafe Mulu

Inside Cafe Mulu

All I can say is that I truly enjoyed my short stay at Mulu. Will tell about the caves soon, do drop by some time to read ;)

Shredded Vegetarian Lean Meat

Many domestic helpers are addressed as "Kakak", meaning "sister" in Malay. So is my friend, W**'s housekeeper, whom we fondly call Kakak.

Kakak is a good cook, and has cooked for us time and again. Today for dinner, Kakak made this vegetarian dish, which I found to be really yum.

Shredded Vegetarian Lean Meat
Don't be deceived by its look!!

The mock shredded meat was chewy, and totally infused with the taste of ginger and soy sauce. Really yum to eat with plain rice.

And so, I cornered Kakak and interviewed her about this unique dish that I had eaten for the very first time.

Frozen vegetarian lean meat can be purchased from the supermarkets. Kakak then thawed the mock meat and shredded them by hand. It was a tedious task, and Kakak said the shredding made her sleepy. Lol. I can only imagine the amount of time it took to shred the mock meat so finely.

When it was time to cook, Kakak first saute finely shredded ginger in heated oil. About half a bowl of ginger was sauted till fragrant, and then added with the mock meat. The mixture is stir-fried over low fire. Kakak did not specify how much time it took to cook, but she said "quite a long time". Lol. After stir-frying for for some time, Kakak would add the final ingredient, and that is the dark soy sauce. Mix well, and dish out.

Well, it sounded easy enough, and I am thinking of replicating Kakak's recipe. It'll be good to cook it for Grandma, especially on the days when she eats vegetarian. Lol. If I ever get a chance to cook this dish, I'll be sure to blog it. So stay tuned!

Homemade Lasagna

The gals made lasagna for the first time ever! The ingredients - garlic, onions, carrots, tomatoes - were chopped finely. The buttons mushrooms were sliced thinly. We used 2 small bottles of Prego Traditional Italian Sauce to flavour the meat sauce.


We used minced beef for our lasagna.

While the meat sauce was cooking, we made the white sauce. It consists of 2 Tbsp of butter, 2 Tbsp of flour, 2 cups of milk, and 125g of grated mozarella cheese. We followed the instructions at the back of the pasta box. Btw, we used the San Remo instant lasagna sheets.

When it's ready, we layered our casserole dish first with the meat sauce, then a layer of white sauce and topped it with an instant lasagna sheet. We were able to make 3 layers!

The casserole was placed in the oven and baked for 40 minutes.

And thus, the gals had lasagna for tea. Lol. We were rather happy with the result, given that it was the first time we have cooked this. The gals decided that they would try making it again in the near future!

Yet Another Pedicure

Public holiday means a day for pampering myself. Lol. Went for a pedicure, and this time, I chose OPI Bastille My Heart from the OPI de France collection. It's a rich, shimmery dark red colour that is chic and elegant. Lurve it, as the French say it. Lol.

Spicy Fried Beehoon

A friend's sister-in-law cooked a spicy fried beehoon for us, and we loved it. It was made known to us that the spice paste was her own concoction. So, since then, we pestered her for the recipe, and the other day she scrawled it on a piece of paper. Here it is.

The blended ingredients are supposed to be stirred over low fire for over an hour. Once ready, it can be bottled and refrigerated, to be used over a long period of time. When you feel like eating some bee hoon, just scoop up some spice and stir-fry the rice noodles with your favourite ingredients, like minced pork, cabbage, carrots, and eggs.

We actually liked the bee hoon because it is slightly tangy, due to the use of lemon grass in the spice paste.

Well, I have not tried to cook this bee hoon yet, but perhaps one of these days, I may just give it a go.

Dad's Rojak Kedondong

Mom cooks all the food at home, but Dad makes his specialty for relatives this Lunar New Year.

Well, Dad's specialty is Rojak Kedondong. It's relatively simple, compared to the complicated dishes that Mom cooks.

First, pluck the kedondong fruit from the tree and then wash. Peel the skin and grate the flesh into a bowl. Then spoon some rojak paste into the bowl and mix well. Optionally, sprinkle some chopped peanuts and serve immediately.

It's very appetising because the fruit itself, sour and crunchy, is complemented with the sweet and spicy rojak paste.

The relatives loved it as it was rather refreshing after a whole day of consuming rich cakes and cookies so common in every household.

Pig Stomach Pepper Soup

As far as my memory would allow me to remember, Mom never ever cooks pig stomach.

But this Lunar New Year, Mom decided to cook pic stomach in a white pepper soup.

Blanched Pig Stomach Slices

The soup was of course rich and peppery, giving warmth all over. And at first, I was hesitant about eating the stomach slices. I looked at it apprehensively, not really sure if I would like it. I expected it to be chewy and rubbery, but indeed I was so very wrong! But the offal slices were really very tender and deliciously flavoured with white pepper. I liked the offal slices dunked generously in a garlic, ginger, chilli and vinegar dip.

Lol, after this, I may just request Mom to cook me Pig Stomach Pepper Soup every time I go home.

Celery & Tuna Salad

Aunt made this salad, which I found to be really yum.

It's just celery, mixed with tuna and mayo, and sprinkled with raisins. I had many helpings. Lol.

p/s : Photos courtesy of my cousin, AK.

Special Agar

I eat this every Lunar New Year at Uncle's.

I love it because it's bouncy and springy, really nice to chew. It's rather sweet, but it's fine if you eat it in moderation.

But most of all, I'm fascinated by the fact that it looks like a net! I can't for the life of me figure out how it's made. I do know however it's made by an elderly lady, her specialty.

I do look forward to eating it every year, though. Lol.

Photographs courtesy of my cousin, AK. ;p

Pickled Stuffed Chillis

I hadn't seen this for a long time!

Well, I remember eating them during Lunar New Year when I was very young. Well, these are pickled stuffed chillis which were soaked in spiced vinegar. Green chillies are often used, and the stuffing consists of shredded unriped papaya. The chilli is crunchy, really spicy and it set my tongue on fire. I loved it nonetheless, as it is spicy, sweet, sour and really very appetising.

Prawn Crackers a.k.a. Keropok

One popular Chinese New Year snack is the keropok. Keropok is a sort of cracker, made of seafood - usually fish or prawns. Popular brands of keropok among Kuching folks are Choo Nam Kee, and Boon Ting.

Some people resort to making their own keropok. Mom is one of them. She said she learned it from my late paternal Grandfather, who in turn was taught by some other people. It is an arduous process that involves a lot of kneading.

Mom prefers to use minced prawn in her keropok instead of fish. She said prawn keropok is tastier. She also likes to make them small, so that when deep-fried, they would expand to bite-size pieces.

The cucumber acar or spicy pickled cucumber complements the keropok wonderfully.

Specialty Meats

At a relative's house today, we were served their household specialty, that is meat rolls and smoked meats.

Meat Rolls

The meat rolls are compact and dry, and yet they are not hard or tough. It takes a lot of skills and experience to make meat rolls such as these.

Smoked meats is not commonly found, and it could tempt the most health conscious eaters to try at least a morsel or two. Lol.

Well, it's been quite a while since we ate the meat rolls and smoked meats prepared by this Auntie. When she used to stay at the old house, she made them every Lunar New Year so that when we visited, we would be ensured that we were served some.

Smoked Pork Belly

Indeed, we would lavish her with praises after after relishing the meats with gusto!

Since her move to her new house, she had stopped smoking meats until 2 years ago when she renovated her kitchen and got a special stove made for her to smoke meats.

Pickles

This year, she served the meats with some pickles on the side.

Well, it was a surprise for us, but indeed, we enjoyed ourselves lots, savouring flavours from the past while catching up with the present.

Mom's Traditional Bakes

It is customary for guests to be served tidbits at Lunar New Year open houses. Biscuits or cookies feature prominently in each household, alongside other confectionery such as sweets, chocolates, and even preserved fruits.

Mom bakes our Lunar New Year cookies every year. She would start her baking sprees at least a month before to churn out different types of cookies for our household use. In fact, Mom makes enough every year to give away to relatives and friends.

Mom's specialties are her pineapple tarts and her kuih bangkit.

Pineapple tarts

Mom makes the pineapple jam by herself. Fresh pineapples are skinned, cored, cubed, blended and then cooked. Sugar is also added, though Mom's pineapple jam is usually slightly tangy. The pineapple tart pastry is simply a short crust pastry dough which is rolled out and then cut with a mould. Pineapple jam would then be spooned into the centre of the pastry dough, and decorated with diamond-shaped pastry dough on top. Making those tarts is a tedious process, in my opinion.

Kuih Bangkit

Kuih Bangkit is a cookie that exudes warmth as it melts in your mouth. The warmth comes from the roasted tapioca flour, which is the key ingredient. Typically, Mom "roasts" the flour by stirring it in a wok over a low fire. Other ingredients for this cookie are sugar, eggs and coconut milk which is concocted into a thick paste. The paste is then mixed with the flour, kneaded, and cut with a mould and then baked.

When I was younger, Mom used to take orders for her pineapple tarts and Kuih Bangkit. Hence, I remember the long hours I spent in the kitchen helping her to complete the orders. My tasks were to spoon pineapple jam into the tarts, and then dad usually decorated the tarts. For Kuih Bangkit, I was always tasked to cut the biscuits with the plastic moulds. By the end of every baking session, my right palm was always sore! Then, I would also have to pack the cookies into containers. In those days, there were no disposable plastic containers, so we stored the cookies in aluminium Milo cans or the likes of it.

Now, Mom does not sell her cookies anymore, and I too, have not helped her since. But those those times when Mom and I laboured in the kitchen to bake cookies would be forever ingrained in my memory.

Happy Lunar New Year 2011

Love the origami golden rabbit handmade by
Aunt I****

Feeling contented

As I usher in the Lunar New Year of the Rabbit
In the comfort of my home
Enveloped by the
Love of my family.

Wishing everyone a Happy Lunar New Year 2011.
May the year bring much joy and love
to one and all.

Reunion Dinner 2011

I was pretty excited about this year's reunion dinner simply because we would be eating at home! That is something we have not done for a long time. Indeed for the past many years, the whole family would flock to a restaurant to eat forgettable dishes at exorbitant prices. Every year, we went home dissatisfied.

This year, however, due to Grandma's limited mobility, the family decided to eat at home. Everyone contributed a dish, and the tables were filled up in no time.

There were ...

A cold dish which consisted of salad prawns, smoked duck, drunken chicken, ham, bean curd, fruit salad, and a hot and spicy jelly fish. I liked the sweet, sour, tangy and crunchy jelly fish, and also the drunken chicken. The steamed fresh chicken flavoured in hua tiao wine was sweet, tender, juicy.

Roasted duck

Roasted chicken

Home-made Five-spice pork belly

Meat rolls
I don't usually like meat rolls. But this year, Mom's meat rolls are worth a mention.
The meat rolls are firm and bouncy. The minced meat and seafood did not overpower, and was nicely balanced in flavour.

Kacangma
Aunt used glutinous rice wine to cook the chicken with, and as a result the herbal broth was really sweet. Just the way I like it.

Beef rendang

Steamed White Pomfret

Mashed potatoes

Sea cucumber and Leek Stir-fry
I loved the assortment of textures and flavours in this dish that Mom cooked. The sea cucumbers and cuttlefish were really bouncy, the leek was chewy and the shiitake mushrooms was thick and had sponged up the flavours of the rich oyster sauce and hua tiao wine.

Stuffed Bittergourd Rings
Uncle stuffed the bittergourd with meat and fish. This taste was light and refreshing.

Crab Meat Lettuce Wrap
Aunt stir-fried shredded black fungus and carrots with crab meat and served on individual leaves of lettuce. Yum. I liked.

For dessert, we had agar-agar.

There were also 2 types of soup, which unfortunately, I forgot to take photographs of. Lol. First Aunt cooked Bak Kut Teh, and Mom made the traditional fish maw soup which is a must-have at home.

People say that it's not what or where you eat, but whom you eat with that matters. Well, I fully agree, except that if you eat what you like with in the presence of your loved ones, then it's all the better. I look forward to many more reunion dinners at home with the family. ;)