Houses And The Beach

Normally, we would head to the mall after lunch ... but that day, we went to the airport so that AT could handle some ticketing matters ...

After that, we went around construction sites, viewing houses in its semi-constructed state. There were sure lots around the vicinity  .... near the airport and at Taman Tunku. Of course, when we have already reached as far as Taman Tunku, the obligatory pit stop was 86 Cold Drinks where we indulged in ice-cream!

Homemade ice-cream, RM3.00

The ice-cream never disappointed me. It was creamy and not too sweet, and a very delectable treat on a hot, hot afternoon. The price was now RM3.00, a RM0.50 increase from before. 

Viewing the houses took us through the afternoon .... seriously, AT was going to make an engineer out of me!

Later on, we stopped by Beach Republic. Lots of people there on a Sunday evening .... the kids swimming, the adults sitting and drinking and eating, strolling about the club and the beach ...

We were more interested in the beach ....

The beach ..... 

The sun was still rather harsh, so we waited a while, enjoying the soothing sea breeze while we chatted. Before long, we could take a walk down the soft, warm sand ..... 

Beautiful ....

A small boat came ashore at the time .... and it bore teeny prawns of bubuk as the locals call it ... These creatures were in season now. The fisherman sold his catch at a tiny stall by the roadside .... 

Coming ashore .... 

Magnificent hues as the sun touched the waters ..... 

We left after that, seeking for dinner to sate our grumbling stomachs .... 

Swimming Roasted Pork

Well .... the image of roasted pork swam in my mind for most part of the morning ... and thus, right after work, I drove to QQ to buy a strip. Cost me RM13.00.

Roasted pork

This was a portion of it .... 

The meat was lean, the skin very crisp but a tad salty .... not exactly the most yummy roast pork in town, but it was alright I suppose.

My elaborate porridge meal .... 

Dinner was so filling ... and so satisfying. :))

Craving Those Fishies

My friend D sent me an image of his supper ... porridge with salted black bean fish. There it started, a craving for those little fishes in black!

For dinner tonight, I had exactly that ....  plus a whole lot of other stuff as well, like stir-fried mixed vegetables, ham and egg omelette, and canned braised peanuts.

I love those little dishes with porridge .... 

And there my craving was satisfied.

Lutong Cafe Dinner

We seldom drove that far from town to Lutong .... but that night, we did somehow, and decided to have dinner at Lutong Cafe.

Venison stirfry

Bittergourd with 3 eggs 

Steamed red snapper

Though the food was not bad, AT did not like the rice which he felt was too soggy .... anyway .... I dun think we would be coming this far in a long, long while ....

An Evening By The Sea

Past Kelab Golf Miri is a reclaimed stretch of land. There was a barrier there to prevent people from trespassing, I assume. But then, lots of cars made their way along the trail, depositing its owners and passengers along the area. What were they doing? Fishing, of course!

Some, the ladies and children, we seen to be sitting on mats on the ground, having their little picnic as the scorching sun descends on the horizon.

Well, I'd been here before, but not for a long time already! As I got down of the car, I could feel the cool wind brushing against my face and blowing my hair all over the place.

It was really a windy evening. 

The silhoutte of a tree, its branches swaying in the wind, against a golden hue of the setting sun ... 

The trail to the edge of water was rocky, and I made my way really carefully but clumsily .....and sat on the rocks as I feasted on the splendour of nature in the evening sunlight ....

It was so relaxing to be just sitting there and daydream away ..............

Soupy Beef Noodles

We were at Nancy's that morning ....

The irresistable and addictive chilli dip ...

AT loved the chilli lots as it was very satisfying - spicy and tangy, and with a zesty flavour from lime peel

What's great here was that diners could help themselves to as much chilli as they wanted. AT had many saucers.

Normally I would have my noodles tossed and served separately with a bowl of beef broth ... but that day I had the noodles and soup together ... hmn .... not what I preferred actually, but it was how AT normally had his noodles ....

No doubt the noodles were yum ... and the beef broth was always as hearty and good but ... 

Soupy beef noodles

Hmn .... I still thought that the noodles were yummier when tossed rather than put in the soup itself .... no more next time for me. :P

Loving Chick Peas

I love chickpeas and I found a place to buy them ready-cooked. It's at this little kuih stall opposite SK Pujut Corner.

They start their business very early at 5.30 a.m., and by 6.00 a.m., there was already a crowd. I picked these chickpeas there, selling for RM1.00 per pack.

Chickpeas 

They made a healthy, protein-packed snack! Love them lots!

Reluctant

Though he was here almost every morning, AT was reluctant to eat at New Kuan Heng in the evening cause he did not want to wait a long time for the food to be dished out.

But since we did not know where to have dinner, we headed there that evening. We waited for about 40 minutes ....

Sea cucumber and mixed vegetables in claypot

Stir-fried mustard greens 

Bittergourd with salted black bean pork ribs

I like all the food here!

Irresistable

AT's favourite chicken rice shop was Country Chicken Rice. Very cheap. He would invariably be there daily for lunch. It was automatic, he said. He just had to go there.

So that afternoon, we headed there for lunch .... his nth time for the week. Normally, he would not even have to place his order, for the workers all knew what he wanted to eat! But today since I tagged along, he had to go and change the order a bit for my sake ....

The rice

The rice was soft but not soggy. In fact, it was loose and fluffy and lightly flavoured. 

Steamed chicken

I loved the smoothness of the chicken, and the fragrant sesame and soy sauce that coated it .... 

Roasted chicken breast 

Roasted chicken drumstick ... 

The roasted chicken was also yum, with crispy skin and all 

I loved the hot soup served with the rice ... especially when it was herbal chicken soup. The faint herbal taste of the soup was heavenly.

Szechuan Flavoured Shao Mai

It was near noon, and we had not even eaten anything! Our stomachs were growling and the kuehs they had given out did not suffice ...

So the three of us headed nearby to Ming Xin's at Hilltop Garden, where I ordered ...

Szechuan-flavoured Shao Mai, RM4.00

What I liked about this Shao Mai was the distinctive taste of pickled Szechuan cabbage, which complemented and did not overwhelm. The three of us agreed that it was good. 

We each ordered a noodle dish ... and I had Cantonese-style fried kueh tiaw .... 

Flat rice noodles flooded with an egg gravy

The noodles were merely so-so, not really that great. As usual, I left more than half of the portion uneaten ...

We had waited quite long for our food somehow .... but it was great to spend that waiting time catching up. We hardly had time for that at work.

Black & White

This was my handiwork ...

Stir-fried Beehoon

A different angle

I had stir-fried the rice vermicelli noodles with beansprouts, carrots and spring onions, eggs and minced pork. To make it dark, I added dark soy sauce.

And I was so happy with the result that I repeated the next day ....

Stir-fried Beehoon again ...

Only this time I substituted beansprouts with cabbage. Instead of dark soy sauce, I added light soy sauce. 

A closer look

Both tasted somewhat different, but both were really delicious. Don't you just salivate looking at the pics?

Dinner @ Ah Tao Bakuteh Jalan Bulan Sabit

AT and I were looking for a place nearby to have dinner .... and finally ended up at Ah Tao's along Jalan Bulan Sabit Merah.

This bakuteh joint was just opposite the Columbia Asia hospital, and in the evening commenced operations at 5.30 p.m.

We had a portion of bakuteh with garlic rice ....

A claypot bakuteh for 2 persons

Well, the broth tasted reasonably alright, and I would have preferred if it had a stronger herbal flavour. We ordered 3 vegetables with our meal .... 

Plain Stir-fried Kangkong

Stir-fried Okra with chopped dried prawns

Stir-fried bittergourd with egg

All the vegetables were nice, not overdone. AT did not like the bittergourd as the egg was a bit too raw for him. But I loved it and polished off almost the whole dish ....

I quite liked the clean and bright environment here ... and of course, the shop was rather spacious ... quite a comfy place to enjoy dinner.

Reciprocating

Of course I had to reciprocate, and so I bought for them kolo mee ....

Kolo mee , RM3.00

I thought it looked pretty good!

The kiddies were having a camp, and I thought I'd buy for them breakfast. They had specifically asked for me to buy from 2020 Cafe, and I did.

As soon as one of the kiddies saw me, she ran towards me to greet me .... Lol, she had to be starving. The noodles were then distributed among themselves ... Seeing them enjoying the noodles for breakfast made me feel good. :)

Stir-fried Kueh Tiaw

The other day, I had this kueh tiaw, bought from the Open Air market, not sure which stall, but it opened really early in the morning.

Stir-fried Kueh Tiaw

I loved the aromatic flavour of the wok-breath and the egg, of course ... and the textures from the crunchy green vegetables and beansprouts. 

Well, I had actually gotten the kueh tiaw from a kiddie. It was given to me, as soon as I came to school ...

 Old school wrapping, I like :))

 Uncovering the first layer of wrapping .... 

 I loved to see the bits of egg in there ....  and moist-looking too. I promised of a good meal ... 

Thanks a lot! My kiddies have yet again, made me feel loved and appreciated. 

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day began as a religious feast day, commemorating the death of Ireland's patron saint, St. Patrick.  It is celebrated on 17th March annually, a public holiday in Ireland. Over time, however, the St. Patrick's Day celebration has evolved, and today, it is an international festival, paying homage to the Irish culture and heritage.

The colour green is normally associated with St. Patrick's Day, probably due to its association with the shamrock plant. St. Patrick purportedly used the shamrock as a metaphor of the Holy Trinity, and thus has since then become a symbol for Ireland, and an emblem for the occasion.

There was a party in town on Saturday night, in conjunction with St. Patrick's Day. Of course, we had not intended to attend ... but seeing that there was a live band performance, we decided to drop by.

As we reached Ming Cafe, we noted a sizeable crowd of revelers, twirling to the rhythmic boom of the music, drinking, chatting and laughing ... real merry it was! I was really taken in by the oversized leprechaun hats that some people wore! I wanted one too!

Our eyes scanned for a vacant table ... it was rather difficult to secure in, but in the end we did get one inside the cafe. And what is more apt to drink for this occasion than an Irish stout?

Cheers! 

 The live band on the stage ...

Things got fun when the vocalist performed on the table top .... 

I quite enjoyed the selection of songs by the band, and of course, soaking in the atmosphere as I relaxed and nursed my drink .......

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Feeling Loved

The other day I was feeling pretty unwell. My throat was sore and my whole body flushed with slight fever .... and my kiddies noticed. The next day, very early in the morning, I was presented with ....

 A flask filled with soothing freshly-made lime juice, and home-grown lemons .... 

Then later on, they gifted me with this pack of toasted ham and egg sandwich which they had purchased somewhere ... 

 Toast with ham and egg ... 

And at lunch, too, I was presented a pack of rice. 

Lunch 

And I was of course, very touched, by the warm thoughts of these kiddies. Thanks a lot. These are a little things that have kept me going as an educator.

Dinner @ Meng Chai Yet Again

My cousin J came to Miri, for a business trip, even though she'd swore the last trip that she did not ever want to come back here. Lol.

"I want to eat fish maw," she said to me over the phone. "Let's order a few other dishes as well ...," she added.

Well, lol. She was thinking of fish maw and other goodies, even before she got here! So of course, we ordered the steamed fish fillet with fish maw ...

Here it is ...... again, it did not disappoint. The fresh ingredients, coupled with the umami gravy, delivered a wonderful flavour indeed. 

We ordered clams .... J wanted it in soup, so she was kind of disappointed to see it steamed. Compared to the fish maw dish, the steamed clams were flavoured with a heavier dash of wine. Too strong for J, but I liked it. 

Steamed clams

Most people would grill the squid rings with sambal ... but we wanted ours deep-fried. 

Deep-fried squid or calamari rings

The calamari was coated with crispy batter, and then deep-fried. It was quite yum. I loved the chewy texture of the squids. 

But our favourite of the night was .... 

Grilled sardine

We loved the sweetness of the firm flesh, and when eaten with the mandatory sambal and lime dip, aaarrrhhh .... I could just sigh as I savoured the textures and flavours.

Sambal, with a squeeze of lime

For the vegetable dish, we opted for stir-fried cangkuk manis with egg. 

Stir-fried cangkuk manis with egg ... 

The version here was good ... moist, and redolent with the taste of egg. 

For J, being away from home, her only consolation was to comfort herself with good food. I'm glad she enjoyed the meal. Thanks to her for the treat!