Economy Western Food

Well, we were at Jing Wood again. Goodness! Business was really, really good. All the tables were occupied, and mind you, the tables lined the corridor till an open space at the end of the row of shoplots. And, tables of people were all eating the Western food. My friend went to ask the vendor himself what he would recommend, and he said that we should have the mixed grill or the lamb chop.

And so mixed grill it was ...

Mixed grill at only RM15.00

There was chicken, lamb, pork, an egg, and a sausage served with crinkle cut fries and salad. A sauce was poured over the meats. 

Another shot

The meats were tender, the chicken and the lamb was yum. The pork was rather dry even when eaten with sauce. How long did we wait for our food? Hmn ... I'd say about 25 minutes, due to the large number of diners there.

French Toasts

I have been in a pretty foul mood, and I do see that it is going to last for a long, long while. So angst made me go make myself some French Toasts ...

French Toasts

Actually, it was my first time making, but this was something which required no skill nor recipe. I broke a large egg, added in a bit of milk and beat the mixture till fluffy. Then I cut the bread into triangles and soaked them in the egg and milk mixture. Then I heated the pan and added a bit of butter in there and pan-fried them till browned. Finally, I drizzled some condensed milk on them.  

Taste wise, not bad. I'd add a pinch of salt next time, though. And I'd pressed my bread more next time to result in thinner and crispier toasts. And the toasts were ultra filling. I'd only eaten 2 pieces before I felt bloated! Maybe it was due to my misery .... perhaps I'd wallop everything if I were in a good mood. ;p

Nasi Lalapan

It's been a while since I'd eaten here at Muara Restaurant. They've opened up a few shops now, but we went back to the original shop at the Waterfront area.

 Nasi Lalapan Ayam ...

The ingredients were still the same, but the size of the chicken had shrunk considerably. It was still as crispy and tasty, though. I'd help myself to another chicken thigh if I could! The sambal was the most important ingredient, and  thought it got somewhat diluted. Nevertheless, it was still as spicy and that was what I liked. The spicier the better!

Nasi Lalapan Ikan Tenggiri 

Well, since I'd not have lalapan for a while, I quite enjoyed the meal! 

Making My Own

My colleague went to Sibu for a briefing, and what better to buy from Sibu than kompia? Please buy some, I requested him and he very graciously obliged. Thanks a lot!

So what I like to do is to stuff my kompia with minced pork. It's rather easy and I can make my own filling. 

 Minced pork filling

It's pretty easy to cook. Just saute shallots in hot oil, add some five-spice powder, sugar, soy sauce and finally the mince and stir-fry till cooked.

Then slit open the kompia, and spoon the meat filling between the bread, place it in the toaster till the bread turns warm and crispy. Then, make yourself a cup of hot coffee and start eating! Well, I must say that my filling tasted pretty great today! 

Hmn ... wondering who's going to Sibu next? Can anyone help me buy fresh kompia? ;p

Angel vs Devil

Well, I was accompanying my friend to purchase a pair of spectacles, and while waiting for her to select a new pair, I browsed in the glass shelves, and was compelled to try on a pair myself. It was of a plastic frame and was black in colour. Somehow it fitted me, but I was not really keen on the price. So I hesitated for a long time. The sales assistant was quite accommodating and I quite enjoyed interacting with her ... till this young lady optician came along and showed me THAT attitude ... To cut the long story short, she was being PLAIN RUDE.

It was a late night dinner for us at Sushi King after that. We had a salmon sashimi, a salmon temaki, a mixed bento and a chawanmushi. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to snap photographs of the sashimi and the temaki ... lols ... perhaps I was too hungry or too distracted. 

The mixed bento, RM15.90

Chawanmushi, RM4.00

There was a bit of change in the menu ... my favourite grilled salmon belly was not in there anymore .. too bad.

Armed with our docket, we went ahead to pay our bill which amounted to RM42.80. I produced my Sushi King Privilege Card but was told that it had expired. No 10% discount. Wait, there was another way to for that waiver. I produced my HSBC credit card. Still, no 10% discount as we had to spend a minimum of RM60.00. Hmn .... had I known, I would have eaten a few more platters, I joked with the cashier. 

Anyway, as I handed him a RM50.00 note, this really nice cashier took the liberty to give us that 10% discount. Shhhhhh, he brought his finger to his lips. My friend and I were surprised by his kind gesture. It really touched my heart. After that harrowing experience at the optical shop, it was indeed a blessing to meet an angel at Sushi King! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! 

Ants Climbing Up A Tree

This is apparently a very popular Szechuan dish but I'd never eaten it before. In fact, I'd never heard of it before.

Sometime last week, while browsing on Instagram, I came across it. It caught my attention because of the name. Then, I started to search for information and found that it is cooked using very minimal ingredients - spicy fermented bean paste, sesame oil, cooking wine, soy sauce, sugar, and minced pork. Different cooks have different recipes for it, but the basic ingredients are essentially the same.

It sounded pretty easy and I had all the ingredients at hand, and so I decided to give it a try.

Ants Climbing Up A Tree 

Hmn ... I suppose you can't really see the minced pork. Perhaps I did not put in enough. 

I heated some oil and added some minced garlic and spring onions, followed by gojuchang. Then I added minced pork and water. In went a dash of soy sauce, shaoxing wine and sugar, and let the meat sauce simmer a while. On a spur, I decided to add in some malt vinegar. I wanted SOUR. It was only after that which I I dumped in the cellophane noodles and stirred till they cooked. 

Well, I found the whole dish to be rather oily. Must cut down the amount of oil next time! I liked the combination of flavours though - spicy, salty and sour. ;p I suppose what I'd cooked today would not be anything close to the authentic dish which, by the look of its ingredients, isn't sour at all. 

But anyway, I did enjoy the noodles for they definitely satisfied my craving for something sour. I'd definitely cook this dish again! 

Lamb Chop

The other night, I had lamb chop at Leo's at Yong Le Cafe ...

Lamb Chop, RM13.00

Hmn ... the meat was tender enough. My friend found the gravy too salty, but I thought it tasted alright. In fact, I mopped up all the sauce with the meat. The baked beans were standard, but the coleslaw tasted raw. The fries were quite crispy and was quite pleasant to eat. I suppose the meal did satisfy my meat fix for the week. 

Well, my favourite fried noodles Uncle isn't selling at Yong Le anymore. In his place is Ah Nga, famous for his fried kueh tiaw and fried rice vermicelli. Here's the link. My friend ordered a Cantonese Fried Kueh Tiaw, but at that time, it was cooked by Ah Nga's son-in-law. My friend did not comment, so I was not sure whether the noodles was up to the mark. I guess I would have to try his noodles another time. 

Cool As Cucumber

I picked up two nice-looking cucumbers from the lot. They were dark green, fresh-looking, straight and slim. I handed them over to the vendor lady. As I watched her, she picked up 2 other pieces of cucumbers from the same lot. She went over to the scale. There was a big blue plastic bag atop the scale and in there were MORE cucumbers. She placed the cucumbers which I picked into the bag and took them off the scale.

Hey. Those were the cucumbers which I had picked! Why did she put them into that big bag?

Then, she proceeded to weigh those 2 pieces which she had taken earlier. They were not as nice as the ones that I had picked - slightly lighter in colour, a bit bent and bigger too.

"I want those two just now," I spoke to her in Malay. I was not sure if she was Chinese.

"Those are not yours," she replied in Mandarin. "Those are other people's," she explained.

Duh. What sort of logic is that? If those were not available for sale, why were they on display on the table in the first place? And she had taken the other 2 cucumbers from the same lot - the ones she wanted ME to buy.

Though she'd weighed the cucumbers, I refused to buy. I told her I did not want them anymore and walked off.

I was pissed. But what the heck, there were so many other vendors selling cucumbers in the market. Why should I settle for less?

All for a bowl of clear cucumber soup
Slivers of cucumber, meat balls, egg, and Mom's homemade prawn balls. Yum .... and easy to cook.

At A Loss

Insecurity

Isn't 

A

Good

Feeling

At

All.

Chicken Crimpy

I love Shapes range of biscuits from Arnott's Australia. There are just so many different flavours, but my current favourite is Chicken Crimpy.

It's a thin, crispy and crunchy biscuit in a chicken flavour. I like its savoury taste, though it may be a bit salty for some people. For me, Chicken Crimpy makes a great snack anytime!

Stuffed Vegetables & Tofu

Every weekend when I visit the Krokop Lorong 10 Wet Market, I look forward to buy some freshly-made stuffed vegetables and tofu.

There is this lady who stuffs brinjals, okra, chillies, bitter gourd rings and 2 types of tofu with fish paste. She has about a tray of each of the six items, and they sell like hot cakes. So, if you go late, she will have finished all her wares. Sometimes, she doesn't sell. So ... whenever I see her, I would patronise her.

I bought 5 out of her six items, RM0.70 per piece

Hmn. I normally like to buy a piece of each. They are great with instant noodles, or to be cooked in a clear soup with vermicelli. Otherwise, I'd just concoct a sauce to braise the items in and serve with rice.

Vermicelli in a clear soup, with minced pork balls, green vegetables, and of course, the stuffed vegetables and tofu.

Besides those stuffed items, the lady vendor also sells fish cakes and fish balls. I'd never bought them to try yet, but perhaps I would one day.

Breakfast @ Tong Fung Cafe

This cafe is located at Jalan Bendahara, at the Miri Waterfront area. My colleagues tell me that I have to eat the lui cha and the pork offal soup. Well, this morning I decided to try the kolo mee and the offal soup ..

Kolo Mee

Hmn ... the noodles were very Q and was somewhat hard when the noodles got cold. The minced pork was tasty and I liked that it had the REAL charsiu instead of some brownish braised pork slices that MOST kolo mee vendors in Miri use. However, the noodles lacked the fragrance and the oomph. I ate only a little bit and gave up.

Pig Offal Soup

I liked the soup, though.It had ginger slices, green vegetables, and offal and also a few slices of blanched spongy skin. Don't ask me which parts of the pig ... hmn ... I could only identify the liver and intestine. The rest of them I was really not familiar with. ;p The soup really warmed my tummy. Nice.

The uncle who served us was quite friendly and accommodating ... I asked for pickled chillies. No more, he said. But went back to scoop the last bits from the jar for me. When we wanted to pay for our food, he kept saying that it was no hurry. ;)

Anyway, I must come back for the lui cha. There's also dim sum sold here. So I'd like to try that as well. Can't wait. 

Am Not An Angry Bird

Hmn. The canteen lady thought that I was angry with her as I'd not eaten there for more than a month. Lols. It was not so. It was just that I had resorted to simple lunches in a bid to control my eating habits. Sometimes, I'd bring my own lunch boxes ... and well ... I love to take photographs of my lunch boxes ...

shao mai & banana

eggs, sausages, cucumbers, tomatoes & charcoal bread

Stir-fried vermicelli

Dinner @ Kuan Heng Cafe

I had eaten here a few times, but I never bothered to check out the name of the shop. So tonight, I did and finally found out that it is called Kuan Heng Cafe. It is a corner shop situated at Jalan Permaisuri. People come here for fishball noodles in the morning. But at night, patrons can order rice and dishes.

So, that night, the girls decided to have rice with ...

Stir-fried bitter gourd with salted black beans and pork ribs

Well, I think the ribs were braised before hand together with the salted black beans and then only stir-fried with the vegetables. Cause the ribs were really tender and tasty. I quite enjoyed the crunchy bitter gourd which was not overcooked. 

Brinjal with minced pork and salted fish

This was a tasty dish too, not too salty. The brinjal slices were soft and yet not disintegrated. It was served in a claypot over a small flame.

Plum sauce pork ribs

Actually, I enjoyed the sweet and sour sauce that coated the ribs. Yumm ... except that the pork ribs was really tough ... I think it would be great to have pork chop with the sauce ...

Seaweed soup

The soup was clear and rather refreshing. I had in there some minced pork and egg.

The meal cost us RM50.00 including drinks. Good food at reasonable prices. A great place to eat. 

Cabbage Soup

Hmn. I was a bit under the weather these few days. Somehow, my health had not been that good this year. It was only 2 months ago that I went to the doc's for medication, and now it seemed to be recurring. That is not great at all.

So, when I get sick, I like to have something hot and soupy like a bowl of old school cabbage soup.

Dinner ...

So it's pretty easy to prepare, my type of cooking which required no attention. Just dump cleaned chicken into a pot together with some wolfberries. Sometimes, I'd add a few pieces of dried scallop for extra flavour. Then, I'd let it boil and boil away I like to skim off the fat from the soup before throwing in the cabbage. Then boil again for a while, season and serve it hot.  

I'm Lovin' It : GCB

I'd always wanted to try the Grilled Chicken Burger at McDonald's or better known as the  GCB. It is only available for a limited time in Malaysia. It is described in the adverts as groovy, gorgeous, glorious. Hence, I was really curious about how great this burger would be.

After work, I headed over to McDonald's and ordered myself GCB medium meal ....

 The box 

 See the grilled chicken thigh meat snuggling together with the lettuce in a sesame bun

Taking a peek inside ....

Well ... I thoroughly enjoyed the grilled chicken thigh meat a lot as it was tender and succulent and nicely flavoured. There was a considerable layer of crunchy iceberg lettuce in there, which I appreciated a lot. The bun was fresh and soft. What I did not like so much was the "smoky char-grilled sauce", which I found to be more of a pepper sauce. The taste of black pepper came on very strongly for me. I felt that it was a pity that the sauce overpowered the taste of the grilled chicken meat. And so, this would be a no-no for people who do not like pepper.

If I could have my GCB custom-made ... hmn .... I'd want 2 chicken thigh slices with lettuce and just good old plain mayo ... one of these days I'm going to try ordering it to see if they would accommodate me ... ;p

Claypot Rice

They sell about 500 - 600 pots on a good night, I was told. That's an astounding number, if you ask me. There are 2 varieties - chicken claypot rice or pork claypot rice. Each cost RM6.00.

I placed an order and did not have to wait for too long. The rice has been pre-cooked in the pot, and all it took was just to add the ingredients on top. 

 Pork Claypot Rice

Another shot

Garnishing the rice were pork cubes, slices of chinese sausage, bits of salted fish, spring onions and deep-fried shallots. Stir well to coat the rice with the sauces and then dig in. Be careful though, as the rice was really hot. I liked the taste of the sauces which had a nicely balanced flavour. The pork cubes and the sausages were tender, and I liked that I could taste the salted fish. Not bad a meal, overall. To try, head to Jing Wood Cafe at Pelita Commercial Centre.

Mutton Briyani

Banana Leaf Restaurant & Cafe had its management changed. That was what I was told. Since then, I'd not visited the restaurant, so I thought I would give it a try.

I wanted to have a briyani set meal, but was persuaded to try the mutton briyani.

Mutton Briyani

Well, I thought at first that the mutton was cooked together with the rice, but was disappointed that it was not. It was just the normal briyani sandwiched with mutton chunks, and served with pickles and a papadum on the side. Hmn .... taste wise however, I did like all the items, from the rice to the mutton to the pickles and the papadum. Still, I'd go for my set meal next time cause I'd like to have the other vegetables as well, such as the bitter gourd chips and all. ;))

Dinner @ Nine 2 Five

2020. 88. 3:15. 925. Nope, I'm not giving you a set of winning numbers for this week's draw. Let's just say that I'm rather amused how eateries or cafes in Miri is named. Say 2020, and the whole of Miri knows which coffee shop is referred to. Lols.

Last night, my friends and I headed for dinner to 925. Nine 2 Five, more precisely. Lols. It is also located at Pelita Commercial Centre. Now, let's see ... we knew what we wanted to have without looking at the menu. Our usual. Lols, not very adventurous, right?

Sea cucumber soup

I liked it hot and with lots of vinegar. The consistency was good, and I liked the generous amount of ingredients in there, like sliced shiitake mushrooms and finely shredded carrots. As for the sea cucumber, hmn ... I did not remember coming across any ...  

 Bitter gourd and egg omelette

Very salty omelette today for some reason ... 

Honey chicken

Well ... the chicken was nicely deep-fried. I liked it. However, I found the sauce a bit too sweet.  

 Braised Pearl Tofu With Seafood

Probably the only dish which I enjoyed. It was pleasant to the eyes. The combination of seafood, mushrooms and vegetables on top of a large chunk of deep-fried tofu was just lovely. The gravy was not too salty, and gave the ingredients a slippery texture. Yummy. I liked!

The bill came to RM54.00 for the 3 of us, inclusive of drinks. Quite reasonable, no? Business was pretty good here, even on a week night. But the good thing was, the waiting time was not that long.

Hormel Spam

Hormel has fed billions of people with Spam. That's according to the official website. It's so versatile, as it can be eaten in so many ways. I saw a recipe which I was quite interested in the other day - that of spam croquette. It looked pretty easy, like something I could handle. So wait till I try that out ...

But well, I had never bought Hormel Spam before. I guess I did not have the urge. Till now, of course. And so, I bought my first can the other day. I got a mini can, that's the 7 ounce can.

 Hormel Spam

It cost me RM6.99. I opened the can, and found that it has a lighter pink hue compared to Tulip's. It's a prettier colour. Texture wise, the meat was firmer. I could slice it quite thinly, even with my not-so-sharp knife. It yielded 7 pieces. That made it RM1.00 per slice. ;p

Nice dusky pink colour, eh?

Then, I had them pan-fried till browned and served it my favourite way - in a sandwich together with egg omelette, cucumbers and onions.

Pan-fried ... a bit burnt on the corners ;p

Stacking'em up ....

My childhood sandwich 

Well, I liked the taste and texture more than I did Tulip's. Tulip luncheon meat did not have as much bite, and I would prefer it to be a wee more salty.  However, I did find Hormel Spam overly salty. I think I'd not be able to serve it in instant noodles, the way Hong Kong tea houses do, lest I suffer from sodium overload! Perhaps next time I'd buy the "Less Sodium" variety - if I ever come across a can, that is. I'd be on a look out the visit to the supermarket!

Butter Cookies

My little niece loved these butter cookies. Such a tiny little creature could devour 4 pieces at one go. Then she'd tell aunt that the cookies were yum ... lols .... so adorable.

Last week, when I was grocery shopping, I saw that the Coppenrath range of cookies were on sale. At RM2.99 a pack, I thought it was really a steal. Of course, with the expiry date nearing, the supermarket had to get rid of the stock at bargain prices.

The cookies were buttery, and had this melt-in-the-mouth quality. I loved them too. The regular version, which came in a red packaging, was very sweet, though. The diet variety was in a white packaging, and the cookies were less sweet but still as yummy.

The following week, when I went back to the supermarket, they cookies were selling for only RM1.99. Goodness! That was even cheaper than locally made ones. So why not buy some, even though the expiry date was near?

Roasted Chicken

Just call me a carnivore. I need my share of meat from time to time. The thing is, I hate to cook chicken. Well, because I hate to clean chicken. It is a messy task that I will just rather avoid. Hence, I resorted to buying cooked chicken.

I went to QQ at Pelita Commercial Centre and bought myself half a roasted chicken. It cost RM14.00 for half a bird. Freshly roasted, the chicken was tasty. It was not too oily, the meat was firm yet tender. The young boy at the counter offered to chop up my chicken, but I requested him to cut it into 2 large pieces. Hmn ... somehow that day, I felt like gnawing the meat off the bones ... lols ... sounds barbaric to you, doesn't it?

Anyway, I would only eat the bottom half of the chicken which comprised of the drumstick and the thigh meat.

The meat was rather juicy and tasty, but after that, I had to drink lots of water to quench my thirst ... perhaps it was too salty (but yummy!) and laden with lots of you-know-what ...

I quite dislike the chicken breast meat, and so I tore the meat up into small pieces and kept them aside to make my favourite chicken sandwich filling. It is pretty easy ... just mix salt, pepper and a liberal amount of mayonnaise with the torn chicken meat. Then spoon the chicken atop the bread and thinly sliced cucumbers, cover with another slice of bread and dig in! Best served with a cup of hot coffee!

Chicken sandwich

Well, I thought it would be a chore to finish half a bird of chicken .... but well it was not at all. So the next time the call for meat comes ... I know where to go and what to do.

Snacks @ Servay Hypermarket

I was a bit peeved today as I had gone to Servay Hypermarket to buy fruits. And guess that? The weighing machine stalled, and NO ONE could purchase anything which needed to be weighed. How inefficient. Wasn't there a spare?

I asked the staff whether I could weigh my apples at the poultry section, and they said no. I could not fathom why. Why not? Was it policy? Didn't it require just for the staff to punch a few numbers into the machine and the bar code will be printed? Urgh! I was not the only one who was annoyed. Everyone else was too.

So in the end, I purchased some snacks at the hot food counter near the cash registers. I bought ...

Actually, I had always liked the deep-fried fishballs. Today I decided to try the tempura chicken as well and I did like them, especially when eaten with chilli sauce. Hmn, each skewer cost me RM1.50, and the best thing was that I did not have to deep-fry them myself.

However, these snacks weren't very healthy, and should not be consumed too often and in large quantities.

Back For More

My colleague must have been real bored ... and so we headed to Smoke House for more pork! Yum ...

Pork Burger

We did not drink so much this time around, but I thought the meat was much tastier compared to previously. The burger too tasted really great as it was made to order. The pork patty was soft and subtlely spiced, and coated with a yummy barbecue sauce. The smoky flavour from the grill was also there ... yum ...

There were also ribs and spaghetti marinara, but I only found out about them much later ... so I did not get to try them. Next time,, maybe.

Ritz Toasted Chips

My colleague bought it from Brunei when he went there during the recent holidays, and gave me a packet. How sweet of him.

"Biscuit that tastes like potato chips," he said. But certainly healthier, I would assume as it the chips are toasted and not fried.  They are made with 40% less fat than potato chips, and also packed with  ALA Omega 3-fatty acids.

Apparently, there are many flavours, and the packet which my friend gave me was the Dairyland Cheddar Toasted Chips

Back at home, I ripped open the biscuits ....

Fresh, crispy and crunchy, the biscuits were thin and tasted slightly sweet. Each biscuit is coated with orange-coloured cheddar powder which gave the biscuit some saltiness. They were not too salty though.

I'd not say that I was crazy about these biscuit chips. I'd not be eager to buy them, I suppose. But anyway, they became my tv snack for many nights .....