Entry @ 18.06.2026

The happiest moment for me today was meeting Student A at Sarawak Club. 

Today, us colleagues had lunch at Sarawak Club - to bid farewell to our Senior Assistant and also to celebrate our excellent STPM 2025 results. 

I picked up my friend at 11.00 am and we drove to the Club. I parked and we got out of the car and started to walk towards the building. Just then, a car turned into the parking lot, stopped and the window scrolled down. 'Teacher!" Student A shouted enthusiastically .... 

Heh ... it was coincidentally Student A. He quickly parked his car and came running towards us ... he was at the Club to exercise in the gym. And it was surely great to catch up with him again. As we reached the Club lobby, he was happy to see all the teachers there, and spent time chatting with us while we waited for the event to begin. 

Student A - I think his story was inspiring. He did not do so well in secondary school. He was a little inferior as he was physically smaller than the rest of his classmates. He lacked a little bit of confidence, and he needed a bit of help in the way he brought himself. But under our tutelage, his results improved by leaps and bounds, his confidence level climbed, he made lots of friends, but most importantly, he was still polite to every teacher. I knew in his heart, he was grateful to all the teachers who had given him a chance. We are all waiting for the good news of his acceptance into university. He promised he would inform us. Heh. 

Well, today's food at the Club did not seem to be to be that yum .... so I was a bit disappointed.

Dragon Boat 

I really enjoyed the seafood lineup, especially the jellyfish, baby octopus, and mussels. The jellyfish was perfectly seasoned, and while the baby octopus felt suspiciously like the frozen, ready-to-eat variety, it was still pretty tasty. As for the mussels, the light tomato-based sauce paired decently with the shellfish.

 Fish Maw Soup

Served piping hot, the soup offered a wonderfully savory flavor profile balanced by a sharp, tangy note of vinegar.

Steamed sea bass Teochew-style

Hmn ... this dish was not that different from what I usually have at home ... only that my Mom uses better and fresher fishes .... heh ... 

Lemon Chicken

My colleague requested this dish, but I think it was a mistake; the chicken was not well-marinated and not well-battered ... the sauce was also pretty miserable ... 

Homemade Beancurd

Luckily this dish was ok ... 

Vietnamese Prawns with deep-fried buns

Hmn ... I thought it tasted like prawn curry .... 

Kerabu Midin

Crunchy, with a balance of sweet and sour ... ok ... 

Yam Basket 

The yam was powdery soft but devoid of yam flavour - so it was still ok ... 

Fruit platter

Sweet, and pretty and served cold; I love these juicy fruits ... 

Other eats this week .... 

Nasi Goreng Sardin

This was my favourite this week!

I seldom go to the school canteen. But one morning, I was a bit peckish and visited the canteen to see what it was serving. I decided on the fried rice. As I was scooping the rice into the takeaway container, I saw dark chunks of meat in there. I thought it was chicken. But as I was paying for my food, the young canteen boy told me it was fried rice with sardines. 

I liked this fried rice a lot. It was cooked using the Smiling Fish Fried Sardines, so it was not fishy at all. The chunks of fish were chewy and tasty, the veges added a bit of crunch, and the rice itself was a bit spicy. It was pretty interesting! Only that it was a bit pricey, I thought. I was charged RM8.

Kolo mee, RM5.50

This was from Ban Seng Corner; it was alright I suppose ... 

Kolo mee, RM5

Very good kolo mee from Jit Yang cafe - good portion size, very springy noodles moistened with a mixture of fragrant oil, generous amount of garnishing, it is simply irresistable ... 

Thanks to my colleague S for this cookie ... he said he bought it from Mr DIY .... it tasted ok, reminded me of Franzzi ... 

Fried meehoon, RM7

This was from Ming Foong, Stall 30 at Kenyalang Wet Market Food Centre ... 

This tasted alright, but I thought it was expensive; not worth it at all 

Entry @ 11.07.2026

I'm in the midst of some exam work .... so it's been a bit busy. School has been chaotic as well as there was some transition of leadership going on at the moment ... 

The other day at a meeting, we were supposed to use the library as the venue. But because exam was given the priority, the school insisted using the library for an oral exam. So in the end, we were relegated to the cookery room. 

There was no air-conditioner there in the cookery room, merely ceiling fans ... so I was glad I brought my own portable fan. This tiny fan was really useful. I turned it on for nearly 6 hours at #2 speed ... it whirred quietly and the battery did not heat up. I was pretty impressed! 

On Thursday, I headed back to school ... 

My friend made giant potstickers .... lol ...  she made me eat one on the spot but I did not feel like eating at all .... so I brought one piece home. She filled the pastry with chives, minced chicken and fish maw! Lol ... what a combination. It tasted nice. Just too huge and filled me up too much. Heh. 

Friday was my colleague's last day with us .... next week she begins as the principal of her new school. Heh. 

Fried Meehoon, RM5

We had breakfast at 一家园 at Nanas Road; this place has a stall selling stir-fried dishes ... I liked the noodles here, which had wok hei ... 

Some of our students had gone to camp  .... so we did not have any classes ... my colleague A ordered brownies; it was made my a student's mom ... 

Brownies, RM40

They were freshly-made, very yum but a bit sweet ....

Today, Mom and I went out a bit late. She wanted to eat Wang Zai's kolo mee today, so I brought her to the shop. As much as I also like Wang Zai's kolo mee, I decided to try the 板面 banmian from another stall today. 

Banmian, RM6.50

It tasted ok, surprisingly; the noodles were springy, and seasoning was quite fragrant; there were minced pork, mushrooms, cangkuk manis and anchovies; the soup was umami and served very hot. The chilli was nice also. Not bad  and I would not mind coming back here to eat this. 

Then I brought Mom to the pharmacy to buy some medicine. She has a bit of cough. Nearby was a supermarket, so we did some grocery shopping afterwards. I could not help but buy myself some pastries from the bakery next door. 

Aloha's chicken pie ... RM4.50

I think the pies are still yum ... heh ... eating in front of my Macbook before I start work .... 

After that it's time to go home, and I need to finish up my work. 

New Desserts Taste Test

Pandan Taro Layered Cake from Taka Patisserie ... 

What's nice about this cake is that it's not too sweet; both the pandan layer and the taro layer had a distinctive taste and did not overpower one another. It was also great that it had bite to it, for there were bits of diced taro in the top layer that burst with flavour when you chewed ... The taro was also of good quality since it was powdery and disintegrated in the mouth. Also, the flavours were old school - I think old timers would love this cake. 

The coconut jelly was also interesting .... the container was made of glass! No wonder it was so heavy! When I opened the lid, I was surprised because the coconut jelly was so jiggly! It had to be a very soft pudding! Or perhaps like very soft tofu curd. 

I scooped out some into my bowl and tasted it. Well, the bottom layer was a very nutty and fragrant black sesame paste .... it was ground to a sandy texture ... so there was bite to it as well. 

The top was layer was really soft ... it had a thick santan flavour that quickly disappeared, leaving a rich milky aftertaste in the mouth. The black sesame paste did complement the coconut flavour at the top. I thought it was interesting a dessert. Heh. It's good that it was not too sweet - the cake was sweeter. 

Maybe I'd go buy a tub of Nuto Nuto to compare. Soon. Read that it's a homegrown brand ...

Family Gathering 2026

My Youngest Aunt and family, who hail from Melbourne, came back to Kuching for a visit. Actually she comes back to Kuching quite frequently with her husband. Her children, however, had not come back since they were kids. 

This time, the entire family came back to Kuching .... my Youngest Aunt and her husband, their 2 sons and daughters-in-law and the grandchildren, For the daughters-in-law and the grandchildren, it was their first trip. The youngest baby boy was only 7 months old. Obviously, he was the centre of attention last night. He was a pleasant baby who did not cry at all, so I even got to carry him a lot. Heh. 

Youngest Aunt hosted the dinner for the entire extended family - a gathering of about 40 persons who could attend. There were bound to be those who could not attend because of various reasons - some had gone travelling, some were sick, some were working. The dinner was held at Li Garden Restaurant at Cityone Megamall ... and the food was surprisingly good! 

The minute I walked into the private function room, I saw my cousin S. She had just bought a tub of dessert. It was the coconut jelly from Coco by 16th. Lol, I did not know such shop existed actually. When she mentioned coconut jelly, I immediately thought of Nuto Nuto. S said this was a similar type of dessert. Apparently, Nuto Nuto was the original brand for this type of coconut jelly. And Coco by 16th was an alternative. Whatever it was, I had not tried it before. I mean I frequent The Spring quite often and pass by the Nuto Nuto kiosk all the time and yet I have not had the urge to try it at all. Heh. 

And so I thought of buying a tub for myself. I made S bring me to Coco by 16th, since I had no idea where it was. The 2 young girls who worked there did not really know how to promote their product .... they merely kept mum while I decided which flavour to buy. It was pretty awkward since they were both just looking at me while I read the menu they scribbled on the glass showcase ... it was pretty hard to read actually! Well, there was oat, matcha, mango, coffee among others. I actually wanted the classic ... but it was sold out. So in the end, I bought a tub of black sesame coconut jelly, RM15.90. 

The packaging was cool though - they put tub in an insulated bag and dropped 2 little ice packs into the bag. So when I got home after the dinner 2 hours later, my dessert was still cold. 

Anyway, back to the family dinner, everyone was pretty much on time .... and food was served once everyone arrived. I had not eaten at Li Garden for a long time ... and the taste of the food, portion size and presentation were all good. We were not sure it was because of 'connections' or whether it was because the restaurant had gotten better ... heh ... 

Hot and cold platter

I liked the seasoning they used for the boxing chicken, the coating was also still crispy; the jelly fish was also crisp and well-flavoured.

Peking Duck 

The pastry was still warm, and the duck skin was crisp; we all wished there was a bit of meat to go with the pastry, trough

Sharks' Fin Soup

It was a big bowl, served piping hot and tasted good; But the oomph was from the a dash of XO I added to my bowl. It immediately transported me back to my childhood ... that was how sharks' fin soup tasted like in the past. I had forgotten, in fact, that we normally added brandy to our Sharks' Fin Soup to enhance its flavour. For so long, no one actually brought brandy to dinners anymore. Tonight's XO was courtesy of my Fifth Aunt. She also brought a bottle of whisky. I did not drink it since I was driving ... I only drank the cold beer. 

Steamed garoupa

The fish was of medium size, but it was very fresh and sweet 

Trotters with steamed buns 

The trotters were well-flavoured, cooked to perfection - the skin intact and very bouncy, the meat inside was tender ... most importantly, it did not have the gamey odour.

This dish was very light, the scallops succulent 

The prawns were cooked in 2 ways ...

I ate one prawn in the black sauce - it tasted like the boxing chicken sauce which was sweet and vinegary, but very salty; on the other side was prawns coated in lemon mayo ... I ate one as well, it was also salty but at least the rich flavour of the egg mayo and tangy lemon also came through

This was the deboned duck meat ... we ate the skin with pastry and now the duck meat was cut and stir-fried; I did not try it at all since I was so full; there was also the duck frame in which the staff packed for us to bring home. 4 tables meant there were 4 duck frames awaiting for any takers. 

Fruit platter

I only ate the wax apple ... i think they soaked in sugared water since it was sweet ... 

Yam Dessert 

I ate one spoonful of the yam dessert and I knew it was mashed by hand; it still retained distinct bits of yam that provided a pleasant bite; this dessert had a tinge of lard flavour - not overpowering at all, and was balanced with a bit of sweetness; I liked it. My late dad would love this too. 

The serving size was huge and we could not finish the dishes .... there were so much leftovers from every table... the children did not eat much, us adults also gave in after 6 dishes .... in the end we took away most of the meat dishes - the trotters, the prawns, the duck, and even the yam dessert. I wanted the trotters and the yam, so I took those home with me. Mom wanted a duck frame for cooking soup, so she took that. Second Aunt took back the duck meat and a duck frame as well. My cousin S only wanted the prawns. Heh ... different people liked different items. 

Anyway. events like this do not occur very often in my family. Even on Chinese New Year, we do not visit each other. So it was indeed good to see and catch up with everyone again after a long tine.  

Entry @ 06.07.2026

So my colleague was going to transfer soon. And we collected some money to buy her a pendant. SH - who is in charge of buying the gift, and N went ahead to Habib Jewels at The Spring to select the pendant to buy. After that, another colleague - T and I went over to have a look as well .... after everyone pretty much agreed with the selection, we bought the item. At about 2.40g, the pendant cost RM1560. 

Then we headed to the Longhouse at the South Court where Sarawak Fine Arts Society was holding an exhibition. Coincidentally, T had a painting there on exhibit ... so we went there to have a look, and to take some photos with her and the painting as well. Heh. 

I thought the painting was so well-done! What a gifted person T was! 

T decided not to join us for lunch. So the three of us headed upstairs to Tas-Tin since we wanted to eat the tapioca leaf fried rice. 

Tapioca Leaf Fried Rice with angled beans and chicken chop, RM12.50

Heh ... the other view of my plate ... photo courtesy of my friend SH

I found the fried rice to be very tasty ... the flavour of the tapioca leaves and some herbs like tepus (I think!) and ginger flower was infused in the rice! Very yummy indeed. The chicken chop and the vege was also yummy. We chatted and caught up with each other. N shared her stories from Tibet. So interesting! If I needn't work, I'd have gone with her already! 

Later, we headed to Ta Kiong .... SH found this on sale ... heh ... we both bought one each. 

RM13.99 only! I bought cause of the free gift undoubtedly ... heh .... 

Inside the box ... lol .... what a cute mini fan ... it works find and is now being charged .... 

I also bought Pandan Taro Layer Cake from Taka Patisserie .... Fourth Aunt said this was her favourite cake and it was difficult to buy. It's true, because we had tried to buy one day when we were both there but the cake was sold out. Another time, I went solely to buy this cake, but there was no stock. 

Since there were 2 boxes left today when I was there, I went ahead and bought 1 box. Also SH had a privilege card, and I enjoyed a 20% discount. So instead of RM15.90, I only paid RM12.70. Happy. 

The cake is chilling in my fridge now, waiting for me to do my test taste. Heh. 

Well, now I'm resting a bit ... tonight we have a family gathering - courtesy of my Youngest Aunt from my mom's side of the family. 

Entry 05.07.2026

I was shopping for a set of bedsheet at Farley on my own. My bedsheet often tore - at the very same spot near my feet! I must have thrown away at least 3 pieces before this. It seemed that I threw away one piece every year because of the tear. 

So whilst I was paying for my bedsheet, my Fourth Aunt called me. She asked me to accompany her to buy a new fridge. Her old one, which she had used for 27 years finally gave in, so she was looking for a replacement. 

She had gone to look at the refrigerators at one electrical shop near her house, and was eyeing on a Panasonic model. But she wanted to check other models out at other shops around town. So I did just that. I brought her to one shop which I frequented. We looked at a few other models of other brands. After that, we then went to a second outlet in town. And then a third, our last stop. This third shop was the authorised seller for Panasonic products. 

Aunt zeroed in on the model she wanted, and after bargaining for the price she wanted, she decided to buy it. Heh. I did not expect her to do so since she was the fussy type. Heh. RM3500, with 2 years of warranty and a free gift. Lol. The first shop offered her RM3500, 1 year of warranty and a free gift.  So I guessed it was a better bargain at the last shop. She would pay cash when the fridge delivered.   

Then we went to Stone Ice at Wisma Saberkas to have a bite ... 

ABC, RM7.50

I ordered mine with milk without additional sugar ... I did not think the ABC was that nice; Fourth Aunt had santan added to her ABC, and she had to top up RM1.00 for it ... 

Belacan beehoon, RM12

The taste was good, only the portion was so little; so this serving of noodles was overpriced! 

Fruits rojak, RM13.70

We selected the fruits we wanted and they would be weighed; a 100g cost RM4.90; We selected cuttlefish, guava, pineapple, jambu, tofu, and half a green apple; now this rojak was very yum. The sauce was delicious and coated the fruits generously. Even the peanuts were very fragrant.

There were other items such as sotong kangkung, sotong paku, and laksa, which we did not order. This place was pricey ... cause we paid RM41.70 for our meal.

Stone Ice

Hmn ... business was very good here .... I suppose I would come back for the rojak again since it was yummy. ;) 

Entry @ 03.07.2027

DN - Teacher, is it plant people?

Me - What do you mean? 

DN - How to say 植物人?

Me - Oh you mean someone who is in vegetative state?

Lol. 植物 /zhiwu/ in Chinese is indeed ‘plant’.

EW - Teacher, how to say go out from hospital?

Me - Discharged 

EW kept quiet for a while.

EW - Then go in the hospital is ‘Charged’?

Lol. EW is so smart.

These kids made me laugh so hard. Today I had chosen a question on 'health' and they were asked to expressed some ideas related to the topic. I knew they had problems in expressing themselves properly. So I encouraged them to ask me questions when they were stuck. Lol. I'm glad they did ask me questions. It meant that they were engaged in the task. I was so happy to see them all trying their best to complete their work. Later on when I got them to speak, they could actually do it. So glad! 

One of them is going away to Unimas to do her foundation. So I am now left with 11 students. Today was her last day and we took some commemorative photos. She even made it a point to thank me before she left ... even though I was only teaching her for 3 weeks. Lol. Best of luck to her! 

***

Other than that, earlier in the week I felt totally drained since there was no one to actually step up and help. 

You see, there was a new online platform for student exams registration. This new platform had a lot of problems. I completed registering my kids on the platform and generated the index number. After I got them to check their details, I started paying the exam fees. It was RM150 per candidate. I managed to pay over 3 days for 33 students. On the fourth day when I wanted to pay for the 34th student onwards, there was an error. 

There was no help  link on the online platform. So I telegrammed my problem to an officer from the exams council. He did not respond. When he did not respond, I emailed the exams council. No response also. Irritated, I sent another email to another officer from the exams council. Again no response. I asked for help in the official Telegram group. No one bothered to respond. I also asked the officer-in-charege from the local Education Department. She tagged me but not did not respond. Urgh! 

Finally the next day, when I checked the online platform, I managed to get the payment through. So I quickly settled the payments for all the students and downloaded all the receipts. 

I was annoyed because no one bothered to tell me to wait since the system was undergoing maintenance. Urgh! 

***

I kept experiencing problems with my Internet. The problem started on 25.05.2026 when I had the first disconnection while watching drama on my TV. Ever since then, I kept getting disconnections - sometimes bad, sometimes not so bad. Every time, I made complaints to TM. Someone was supposed to come to check on 26.05.2026, but he did not bother to come. All he did was tell me that it was a common problem since TM was doing some upgrades. He said he would feedback me after getting information from KL, he said. Ok, so I believed him. Only that he never called me back. 

On 12.06.2026, I experienced one of the worser disconnections. So I took the liberty to call this particular  contractor and he said he would help me report the problem. But the problem persisted. Last Wednesday, 01.07.2026, the disconnections got so frequent. At one point, I could not even connect. So I called the hotline and happened to speak to a very pleasant operator. He checked and said I was disconnected for 37 times at that point, and he would help me reset the line so that I could connect again. Then he helped me arrange for another set of crew to come over to my house to check the problem.

So yesterday, 02.07.2026, 2 men came in the afternoon. They were both very helpful and polite. They suspected that my router was faulty, and did some checks. After I gave the okay, they changed my router. Now my Internet is okay again and I am so pleased. 

***

This week's highlight ... 

Delicious homegrown nangka 

From my colleague SH's backyard ... very fresh, crisp and sweet ... I love them so much 

Laksa from my favourite coffee shop, Mui Chin

Today's broth was yums ... 

Wife biscuit from Blueberry Cake House in Bau

My colleague CP was there in Bau for 4 days invigilating exams, and she bought for us these famous pastry from Bau ... the skin was thin, buttery and flaky, the filling chewy and not too sweet

A pretty charm all the way from Tibet 

Courtesy of my friend N who just came back from her trip 

Well, it's July already! How fast time flies, and looking forward to some rest over the weekend.