Electricity Outages At Home

I was agonising over outages at my house over the weekend. How frustrating it was! 

On Saturday afternoon, the sky turned dark and it looked like it was finally going to rain. I was glad as it would definitely provide an immense relief to the hot weather, and also improve the air quality. 

I was at home at the time. I had turned on the living room lights, and was watching Youtube on my TV.

It started to rain at about 4pm, and soon, it intensified. Suddenly, the lights flickered. I stood up, looked outside and watched the heavy downpour in horror. The rain was near horizontal as the gusty wind lashed relentlessly. Moments later, the house went dark. 

I thought the circuit breaker was tripped. But it wasn't. I checked the electricity meter just outside my front door, and it was not lighted. So I looked around my neighbourhood. The house opposite had lights on .... So I got worried.

I immediately checked the Sarawak Energy app for outages. My area was not listed. So I made a call to its hotline. It was difficult speaking to the Interactive Voice Response. There was a bit of a lag was I had to wait for the computer to process what I said and give me back a response. It also got my address wrong. I was flustered. So I said I wanted to speak to an operator. True enough, I was immediately connected to a staff. It sure was much better to speak to a person instead of a computer! My report was submitted immediately. Because of the bad weather, all their technicians were deployed at the time, and the sraf assured me that they would get back to me within an hour. They kept their word, and  30 minutes later, I was contacted by a technical team.

By this time, the rain had stopped ... and some of my neighbours came outside of their houses. Only then did I find out that there were a few other houses that also blacked out. Just then, the technicians arrived, and I told them the problem. They said they would go check the transformer nearby .... 10 minutes later, the electricity came back on. Thank goodness! 

The heavy rain had caused a havoc in some parts of the city. When I checked Facebook later on, in fact, a lot of trees were uprooted, damaging electricity and telecommunications transmission lines, and also blocking traffic. Flash floods hit multiple areas, and cars were seen to be floating in water at the low-lying areas. Roofs flew off and firemen were seen to be clearing debri from residential areas. The Kuching Food Festival was in its penultimate night, and the rain had damaged some of the stalls. The Unesco Gastronomic Pavillion was completely destroyed. 

Then on Sunday morning, another power outage occurred at my house. And it looked suspiciously that only my house was affected. So again, I contacted Sarawak Energy. That morning, I had to wait longer for the the technicians to come since they had ongoing jobs to do first. I got really restless waiting. They only came about 2 hours later. After checking, the electricity was restored, but the technician advised me to change my circuit breaker since it was already worn. So I paid him to do it - RM250. It has been two days, and the power supply seemed to be stable now. 

Entry @ 15.08.2026

University admissions were released yesterday, and I checked whether my students got the offers they wanted : 

Student A - he did not get any offers, so sad. He could submit an appeal or enrol in Swinburne. I asked him the other day, and he said he would perhaps go to Swinburne if he did not get offered to Unimas. 

Student B - Multimedia Computing - Unimas 

Student C - International Economics - Unimas 

Student D - Economics Services - Unimas 

Student E - Business Management - Upsi 

Student F - Developmeng planning  and management - Unimas

Student G - Tesl - Upsi 

After going through the list, I think I am quite satisfied with the courses offered to them. I am certain their prospects for jobs would be quite good in the future. Unimas is also more affordable to local students, and of course, they can stay closer to their families.  I am particularly happy with those Upsi offers. Student G aimed for Tesl and I was glad she got it. I have no doubt that she would excel in the course. Student E is now in IPG Teknik in fact, pursuing a degree in Education. I asked him to seriously consider Upsi, but he shomehow preferred the IPG currently, since posting is guaranteed. However, IPG trains him for the primary school, while with Upsi, he can possibly teach in a secondary school. Sigh. Anyway, I need to respect his choice. 

***

The mayor walk, now in its 7th year. is an annual free community fun walk organised by our local city council to promote healthy living, family bonding and community unity. Anyone can register via the iPeople app and then collect free t-shirts a day or two prior to the event. It was only in 2025 that I participated, My colleague M told me about it and urged me to register. So my few other colleagues and I did. Once our details were keyed in the app, a barcode was generated and we would be able to collect our t-shirts. 

I happened to have an occasional holiday on the day the t-shirt could be collected. So I went to the city council early in the morning, only to find that there is a long queue ahead. I stood in the queue for at least 40 minutes - and I saw a lot of my friends in the queue too. Heh. On the day of the walk, I also participated, walking the short route that was designated. There were a lot of freebies given out too - like sandwiches, isotonic drinks, and also plastic hand fans. 

This year, I registered when I saw the banner being hung on the streets. I registered myself, my mom and my Second Aunt. Yesterday, the t-shirts could be collected. I went to the city council after work at about 1 pm, and was glad that the hall was quite empty. Collecting the t-shirt took a matter of minutes. 

This year's t-shirt 
The t-shirts were yellow for many years, and there was always the very unmistakable image of the mayor. Heh, I suppose there was a political reason to the colour; they wanted the community to look like they were aligned to government coalition. I suppose they were one of the sponsors. 

The event was scheduled on Sunday, 16 August but it is now postponed due to the haze. Though the aci index has dropped to 164, it is still unhealthy for outdoor activities. The public is supposed to keep the t-shirt safely while the event is being rescheduled. Mom was sure happy to get her free t-shirt. Heh. 

There was an exhibition at the City Council called 'Crafted Tables For Two' - where table settings of local ethnic tribes were displayed. The exhibition was in conjunction with Kuching's recognition as a Unesco Creative City of Gastronomy and World Crafts City. 

Other eats this week .... 

Laksa

On Thursday morning, we had laksa before work; that day's laksa was amazing! Whether a laksa was good or not depended heavily on the broth. Mui Chin's version was quite authentic - and today's broth was very well-flavoured so that it enhanced the vermicelli and all the other condiments superbly. 

I had been craving for Nasi Goreng Sardin. The other day, I had eaten it at my canteen and instantly liked it. They used the Smiling Fish Fried Sardines to flavour the fried rice, and I though I'd try to recreate the recipe. I searched online and settled on this recipe :  https://cookpad.com/my/recipes/24640853?ref=profile

And my fried rice turned out like this : 

                                              Fried Rice with Smiling Fish Fried Sardines 

I used a bowl of rice, a bowl of cabbage, half an onion, 2 green chilies, 1 egg, 1 shallot and a whole small can of sardines. Following the recipe, I had the sardines air-fried first ... and then flaked and stirred into the fried rice. The taste was pretty great ... 

I also had beef noodles at Yeow Kee ... 

Beef noodles, RM10

Today, I did not have to wait for a long time for the noodles .... I liked the seasoning they used, savourty and wit ha hint of sweetness; I also liked that they were generous with lots of meat and tendon. 

Entry @ 12.08.2026

On Monday morning .... 

L's homemade grass jelly ... tasted natural and so refreshing! The plant grew verdantly in her backyard and she often made grass jelly with it! Just boil in water, add a bit of sugar to sweeten and custard powder to thicken. Easy, she said.

Then came a bouquet for Dr. T .... this is a bouquet from her former students, some members from the class of 1998 ... these students are now 48 years old! These flowers arrived one day early since her retirement was on the next day, Tuesday .... 

In the afternoon, I went to buy a gift for Dr. T. I was thinking of getting her a gift for a long time, not really knowing what to buy for her. But suddenly on mid-Monday morning, I thought I'd buy her a crystal bracelet. So I headed to Silver Point - a notable crystal shop in Kuching. 

The staff was very helpful and friendly, and helped me to select the bracelet. They also helped re-adjust the size and re-thread the stones. When I got home however, I looked at the bracelet and thought the colour looked so dull. How come it had looked so colourful at the shop? Only then I realised that they had very powerful lights at the shop to highlight the color depth of the stones. I should have taken the photo of the bracelet in the shop before I left. Sigh. Anyway, I'm glad I bought Dr. T something .... 

On Tuesday, Dr. T's big day. Surprise! My friend K gave me a scrunchie ... 

She made it herself using the scraps from our new staff batik .... she gave it to me because the scrunchie was too big for her and thought I could have use for it since my hair was rather thick! She had made a smaller one for herself and gifted me this big one. 

Dr T had not come to work yet, since the special retirement event for her would only begin after 10.30am ... so I went around taking photos of the various bouquets of flowers that came for her. 

This was from former colleagues from another school ... 

This was from former students 

This one was so cute! 

This was from our current batch of students, now in Semester 1. They bought veges and had them wrapped in a bouquet ... I'd say they are quite thoughtful! 

This bouquet of roses was from us teachers ... 

The special assembly took about an hour and a half. I liked her speech - simple but with messages for the school administration, for us colleagues and also for her students. A lot of former students also came back to say goodbye to her - I saw a few from the class of 2023, 2024, 2025 ... Student A had promised he would come and he did come, bearing her a gift which he quickly put inside her car ... heh ....

Despite her insistence not to accept gifts, she went home with her car full of presents for her big day. 

Retirement luncheon .... 

Normally, we had a small makan after retirement functions.

This round, we had rice with lemon chicken, mixed veges, stir-fried cangkuk manis, sweet and sour fish, okra with belacan,  tofu and egg soup, and a cup of milk tea. 

After everything was over, a few of us went back to our staffroom ... and we did a simple and unofficial post-mortem of the event. It was because we very quickly would have to organise another retirement! In a month's time! For Madam N! I did not see it but my colleagues said Madam N was overcome by emotions during Dr T's event and was seen to be crying. Well, Madam N is Dr. T's partner-in-crime, both teaching the same subject. Madam N has a different approach in teaching, but she is equally capable of producing many A's like Dr. T. After Madan N retires, we will be in deep trouble since there will be no one else teaching the subject. My school admin is really having a headache over this issue. Heh. 

Unlike Dr. T though, Madam N knew what she wanted on her retirement day - she had told her close friends about her plans, and we would co-operate to realise her plans. Halfway discussing, we were all distracted ..... 

We could see the Form Four block from our office, and we saw this very cute lion and had good laughs over it! Lol! We assumed that the kids were trying out their costume for next Saturday's fundraising event at our school. However, that evening, the school issued a notice to cancel the event because of the bad air quality we are experiencing currently. Our API Index hovered around 162 - 170 the whole day! 

Wednesday morning ... I checked the API the instant I got up. It stood at 170. I made sure I brought my face mask with me since the air stank. My colleagues brought fried rice! They had taken home the leftover sambal and the leftover rice from yesterday's luncheon, and cooked fried rice! There was so much rice left that they came with 3 containers full of fried rice this morning = enough to feed about 25 pax. Another colleague brought fish keropok to eat with the fried rice. 

As I am typing now, the API is 177 ... it is cloudy, hazy, hot and humid, and the air smelled really bad. I really hope the situation improves soon.  

A Gift of Egg Tarts

My colleague T would retire next week. 11 August 2026 (Tuesday) would be her last day and we would hold a special assembly to celebrate the occasion. T would be 58 years old on the next day, 12 August. We live nearby to each other. When I fell down in 2024, and could not drive to work, she was the one who picked me up in the morning and sent me home at the end of the day. I troubled her for a whole month until I recovered. After that, when we had to go for school events and functions, we would car pool. She would pick me up or I would pick her up and we would go together.

T is a devout Buddhist, and is very active in the Buddhist community - sometimes when there were events, she would share with me about it. She invited me to go for free vegetarian meals during the Wesak Day period, or contribute to recycling events occasionally, or to painting exhibitions. Sometimes, we would go for vegetarian lunches after school with the other colleagues. T is an avid painter, specialising in Chinese ink painting. She has had her paintings exhibited internationally and locally. The last one I went to was a few weeks ago at The Spring mall, where she exhibited 1 painting in conjunction with Gawai. Although highly knowledgeable in her field of study, and highly talented in drawing, T remained a simple, down-to-earth person. 

T holds a doctorate degree in her field of study. She was offered to become a lecturer at one time ... but after considering the salary and the logistics, she chose to remain a teacher. And she was certainly a dedicated teacher, producing many successful students. I know at least 3 other teachers who are her former students - CCV and NTC and PMM. T is indeed very experienced in her subject, having taught it for three decades - she is wahe trainer for the state, and often attended meetings at the national level. Indeed, she knows all the ways to help students to score. So every year, she contributes the most number of A's to the school for her subject. She can turn all potential students into an A-scorer. 

Last year, she taught my class of students, and Student A and Student B were obviously the weaker of the lot. To ensure that they could master the concepts well, T would go to class every morning at 6.30 am, just to teach these 2. Her efforts paid off when Student A got a B and Student B obtained an A-. When I met Student A recently, of course, he was thankful to have T as a teacher. He promised to come back to school on 11 August 2026 with a gift for his teacher. After all, T had always said that Student A was her "Little Sunshine". Heh. 

At my school, it was customary for us to collect RM50 per pax to buy a retirement gift for the retiring teacher. Teachers knew about this tradition, it was no secret. So, the committee would ask the retiring teacher what they wanted. Some wanted small gold jewellery as a momento, others preferred luggage bags or specialty sports equipment. Some just wanted the cash. Last year, A did not want any gifts but we collected the money anyway. A then used the money for catering .... we makan-ed on 2 occasions courtesy of the money A had given back to us.

It is the same for T. She had insisted that we did not collect the money for her since she had no material needs. We urged her to use the money for donations. She got rather upset, saying that she had the money to do donations and did not need to use our money for that purpose. After some deliberation, we collected the money anyway despite her protests. Of course we had our reasons too and after some discussion with her, she agreed to accept and then to donate the money back to us - a fund for us to use where necessary. 

Last Sunday, I received a text from her asking me about the egg tarts from Oriental Kopi. She said that she had only eaten the original version and not the seasonal varieties. She asked me which other flavours would taste good. Heh .... I did not know since I also went for the original egg tarts usually. The only one time I tried another variety was maybe a fortnight ago when Fourth Aunt wanted the Belgian chocolate ones. So I told her that the original one was good enough for me. 

Heh ... so I unabashedly guessed that she probably wanted to buy egg tarts for us at school. Only that I did not know when. Later on, my other colleague N did share that T had asked him to accompany her to collect the egg tarts on the coming Friday. Heh .... so that was another clue. 

Then on Tuesday whilst I was on duty in the afternoon for my club, I saw my students come carrying a whole bag of food containers. Why are you eating now? I asked my student D. He said the food was courtesy of T and that they had arrived late, so he did not have time to eat his share. I gave him the permission to finish eating the food first. How generous of my colleague T to treat her students before her retirement too! 

Vegetarian Manicai Beehoon 

On Thursday, my colleague R was talking about Oriental Kopi egg tarts. She had a craving, I suppose. Heh. We then talked about the food there. I asked whether she had tried the ayam gepuk, a new item in the meny. She said yes, but she did not quite like it. She preferred the mee kari. 

Moments later, we received our egg tarts from T. The students came distributing them on behalf of T. And we were all taken aback because each of us got 2 boxes! 2? Did T make a mistake? 2 seemed like a lot because in each box were 2 tarts.

Egg tarts from T

We called the students and quizzed them about the tarts. Why so many? Maybe teacher was so happy that she was retiring that she decided to buy a lot of tarts for all of you. Hmn ... not a very convicing answer from the students. 

My staffroom, of course, was delighted to receive the egg tarts ... 

I was just talking about it! R squealed at the coincidence.

Wah ... how much is one box ah? 

I paid RM10.80 for 2 pieces the other day. Don't for get the 6% tax. 

I'm reluctant to eat such expensive tarts. A wanted to keep her box of tarts for as long as possible.

Anyone allergic to eggs? N asked. You can donate your tarts here if you are allergic. 

Mmm, so yummy. D exclaimed as she savoured her tart. 

Eh, why so many pieces? A said again. Come, let's eat them quickly so that when T realises that she has given us the wrong number of tarts, we can tell her that we have finished eating them and cannot return them to her. Lol!!! 

Is P here? If he has gone home, let's divide up his egg tarts. 

Somebody call or text J so that she comes to get her egg tarts. Or else, let's just divide them among ourselves. 

Lol. My colleagues and their creativity! Suddenly, there were a lot of people who were compelled to become egg tart thieves. There was indeed a lot of laughter over those delectable tarts! 

And so I thanked my friend T when I saw her before I went home. Why so many? 1 box would be sufficient, I said. Then she told me that she had a difficult time purchasing those tarts. She called the outlet but could not strike a deal with them over the phone. So she had no choice but to personally visit the outlet at Vivacity Megamall to discuss the purchase with the manager on duty. 

She had actually wanted to give each person 3 pieces instead of 2. She requested for 3 tarts to be packed in 1 box. But the manager insisted that they HAD TO pack 2 pieces in 1 box. Each box would be charged RM0.50. They did not even have plastic bags to pack the boxes in, so T had to purchase her own. She was upset that they were so rigid in the way they did their sales.  

I was aghast that she had to spend so much just on packaging! But luckily, she said that the manager decided to waive the charges since T purchased a huge number of tarts. 

Who sent the tarts? I asked.

Since they did not have free delivery, T paid for one of their workers to deliver the tarts to school. However, the tarts were freshly made, she said. They only started making at 8.30 am and when it was delivered at 11.30 am, the tarts were still warm. 

I told her that my entire staffroom was overjoyed to receive her thoughtful gift and shared with her some antics of my colleagues so that she knew that her tarts were appreciated. 

On Friday after school, a few of us brought T for lunch at Cafe Cafe. 

Iced Lemon Tea

Garden Salad

Thai style Pineapple fried rice, RM17.90

Fettucine Alfredo with Grilled Norwegian Salmon, RM26.90

Chao Chai Big Beehoon Soup with Prawns, RM27.90

The 5 of us ladies shared the food over school gossip. It was good fun. Of the 3 mains, I think my favourite would be the pasta ... the cream was rich and garlicky and paired well with the grilled salmon. I'd love to eat this again. I did not quite like the fried rice, I thought the meat floss was a bit too sweet. The chao chai big beehoon was alright, a tad sour and no wine, since this is a Halal eatery. I like relaxing vibe here too. It's cool and a comfortable place to sit for a lengthier time to chit chat. 

A few more days, and T would retire from service. I will definitely miss having her as a colleague because she is so level-headed and reliable and responsbile. But I will revel in the fact that she has more time for herself to keep herself active with painting and travelling and also with all her charitable work. I wish her all the best in her undertakings. Since she lives in the neighbourhood, I have no doubt that I will see her around from time to time. 

Happy retirement Dr. T! 

Entry @ 08.08.2026

02.08.2026

Mom and I went to Lokka House for breakfast on Sunday ... I thought I was early but the cafe was already filled with the early Sunday crowd, with groups of people waiting at the reception area. I obtained my number and waited, but luckily, a table quickly became vacant. I waited for 7 minutes. Heh. 

At the table, I self-ordered the food, which took only a short while to be served. 

Signature pork noodles

The soup that came with the noodles as a set, RM13.90

Zaocai Beehoon, RM14.90

Peanut toast, RM3.80

Signature coffee, RM2.80

The prices here are reasonable, so that explains why it was popular with the locals. As for the food, I would say that they did not really suit our palate. Mom found the kueh tiaw too "sweet" and the soup too "confusing" in its taste. Zaocai beehoon was not that tasty also. The ingredients were generous in amount with lots of minced pork balls and thin pork slices - just that I thought the meat tasted a bit funky. Heh. The buns were nicely toasted, the peanut butter was creamy ... but also a bit sweet. I liked the coffee though. For this meal, I paid RM35.40. The ambience was nice here ... just that we did not quite enjoy the food here. That's why this is only my second visit here. 

07.08.2026

This evening, we were all shocked that our colleague, Madam I, had passed away. She got sick after Gawai - that was 2 months ago. However, we did not know what was she sick of. At first, someone said it was Parkinson's. Then, I overheard someone saying that there was a growth somewhere in her body. Just less than 3 weeks ago, a colleague, J went to visit her at her house. J had told us that Madam I was so happy to see her, and that she was still undergoing diagnosis. 

At school, because of her long absence, the school management had asked some of us to take over her classes. Because we were under separate administration, it was a bit of a trouble for us to teach her classes. In the end, to accommodate everyone, I made some arrangements for some of my classes to be combined. By doing so, I freed up 2 of my colleague's timetables and they proceeded to take over Madam I's classes. That was just about 2 weeks ago, and at that time, we hoped and prayed that Madam I would be ok soon so that we could return her classes to her when she came back. 

Needless to say. we were all stunned to learn that she would no longer be coming back to work. I did not know Madam I very well. Madam I was teaching a different level from me and we were never in the same committee. On top of that, I was never part of the canteen gang. Those who frequented the canteen always said that Madam I loved to tell stories and dispense advice. She was quick to speak her mind too. Some of my colleague's children were in her classes, and she did not hesitate to raise her voice at their mothers for their children's misbehaviour. Heh ... my colleagues came back feeling guilty, looking sheepish, and amused at the same time, telling us that that Madam I scolded them. They then avoided going to the canteen for a few days in case Madam I's anger had not dissipated. Lol. 

Despite not knowing her very well, every time I saw Madam I at the corridors, she would say hello. At my workplace, not everyone bothered to do so. Some look through you, some look at everything and everyone else but you, some walked the other way when they saw you coming. Strange people, I would say. 

Well, Madam I was 59 years old, and I knew that she had so looked forward to retiring at the end of this year in December. It's just so sad that she could not wait till then. Death indeed waits for no one. 

Rest in eternal peace, Madam I.

08.08.2026

I slept in this morning. We had breakfast at home this morning because we just had too many things in the fridge that we needed to clear up. I ate an egg tart gifted by my colleague T. I ate the last slice of musang king cheese naan because Mom did not want to eat it for some reason. 

Then I brought Mom to Petanak Market. She wanted to buy a pineapple and some tomatoes for her pizza topping. She purposely avoided going to Kenyalang Market this morning. DAP had given out RM30 cash coupons for members of the public to exchange for food and fresh produce at the Kenyalang Market this morning ... and since it was reported in the media that the cash coupons were fully redeemed, we assumed that the Kenyalang Market would be packed with people this morning. 

Petanak Market seemed quiet but Mom managed to get what she wanted. After that we went to Padungan to take away kueh chap. Mom said to buy from Sin Poh Poh. But I drove past Seng Yuen which was a few shops before Sin Poh POh and saw that the kueh chap stall was open. I preferred Ah Lek's kueh chap. He had not been selling for some time since the shop was undergoing some sort of a renovation. I was glad that he was back. 

I parked my car and went with my tiffin to takeaway a special order, RM13. Mom and I shared it for lunch. 

Kueh chap

The portion was huge, and could be shared between the two of us. Ah Lek included lots of offal and tofu in the kueh chap. The broth also had depth and did not smell or taste funky. 

Mom spent the afternoon baking her pizza while I tended to the backyard. Before Dad passed away in 2024, I had never stepped foot into the backyard. Now that Dad was gone, someone had to tend to the grass. Bro bought a lawn mower and considered that his contribution. So I had no choice. I had chopped off some plants, and removed many pots, so it was now easier to mow. 

After some time mowing, I found that I preferred to weed the grass .... so I used a weeder and pulled out the grass manually, At first I hated doing it ... but now I found it therapeutic. I sat there on a stool, thinking about things while my hands worked to pull out the grass ..... 

Kuching Food Festival 2026

The Kuching Food Festival is an annual event, and every year, the organisers claim that it is “bigger and better”. I do not attend every year, so I cannot say whether that claim is true. It is the massive crowd and the parking situation that deter me. Futhermore, the food prices are ridiculous. And yet, the queue to buy food is long. Hence, some years, I do not go. 

Since Fourth Aunt expressed her interest to go this year, I decided to bring her. "We have to go early," she said, "3 pm". Huh? If everyone went at 3 pm, then wouldn't it just be as crowded? Anyway, Fourth Aunt told me to consider it and to let her know when to pick her up, 

I dabbled with Chatgpt and came up with this poster .... heh .... Fourth Aunt was amused. Not only that, she was super excited. She watched some reels of Facebook and knew exactly what she wanted to eat. Hence, our food adventure was practically already planned before we stepped food at the venue. 

We reached the festival grounds a little after 3 pm. Parking was abundant, so I took my time to select a spot where I would not be blocked by double-parking cars. Indeed we were so early that the side gates were not opened yet. Lol .... so we looked around the garden a bit .... 

And finally decided to walk to the main entrance. Only a handful of stalls were already selling. The majority were still closed and prepping their food. The first stall that we visited was the traditional food stall manned by the local Chinese clan associations. Each clan associations took turns running a dedicated traditional culinary stall for a 3-night rotation to showcase their unique heritage street food and signature delicacies. And we had purposely timed our visit to coincide with the Teochew Association's rotation. It was their second-night selling traditional Teochew delicacies. 

When we reached there however, there were only meat rolls and meat dumplings (Bakchang 肉粽) for sale. According to the crew, the kuihs were late! Heh ... so that evening, we returned to this stall a few times to check whether the kuihs had arrived. 

·

Meat Rolls or Ngohiang 五香, RM8 each

I bought 1 meat roll and 3 meat dumplings to take home. The meat roll, I ate for dinner one night and found it to be quite nice - firm and bouncy and well-seasoned. I ate 1 dumpling for breakfast another day, and thought it was delicious! The glutinous rice inside was not mushy and the filling was very fragrant. I was glad I bought them! They were not cheap at RM10 each so luckily they were yummy. 

We walked about ... and then Fourth Aunt bought .... 

Potstickers and a fritter 

This was a lesser-known stall I suppose .... not sure of the name ... but I ate 2 potstickers and thought they were quite yum .... 

The next item we bought was the Musang King Cheese Naan.

Musang King Cheese Naan, RM45

This item was the talk of the town this year. It was sold by Ceylonese Restaurant, a popular eatery in town. The naan was made on the spot and usually there was a long queue to buy. But since we were early, the queue was not there ... so we quickly took the opportunity to buy .... 

We quickly found a spot to sit down to savour our naan. The cheese had to be hot so it could be pulled as we ate. Heh. I bought a local brew and sat down to eat. After tasting the naan, I found it to be very yum. The musang king spread was generous and complemented the salty cheese. Usually, I did not like the rubbery cheese used in the naan ... but I found it acceptable in this version with durian. I was glad we bought the naan to try. 

1602 Pale Ale

This is the locally brewed craft beer, a proudly-Sarawakian brand; I love their beers. Today I went for Pale Ale, which was really refreshing. Not cheap at RM15 per glass. 

We headed back to the Teochew stall. There was a crowd there already and Fourth Aunt managed to grab a packet of peach kuih, mugwort kuih, and sesame ball kuih. The peach kuih was savoury but the mugwort and sesame ball had yam fillings inside. We bought these to take away.

There is a traditional Teochew kuih called 'Wife's Shoes'  or 'Bride's Shoes' 新婦鞋 which Fourth Aunt targeted. But when we got there, it was already sold out. It was basically a bao shaped using the peach kuih mould, and filled with yam paste. The kuih vendors in town do not usually make or sell this kuih. I only know it because my mum sometimes made it in the past when she was younger. I remember asking my mom why was it called 'Wife's Slippers' and she told me it was shaped liked one. Hmn .... 

Wife's Shoes 新婦鞋 (photo from Kuching Teowchew Association on FB)

In Teowchew, we call it Simbu Oi

Fourth Aunt also aimed for the 无米糕, made popular by the film Dear You, but the kuih was not there yet! It was late! 

Our hands were full and Fourth Aunt suggested that we dumped our purchases in the car first. So we did that. Coming back from the car .... I bought Pepsi. The Kuching Festival Limited Edition can of pepsi only sold for RM1 on Mondays, from 5 - 6 pm! 

I was glad that the Stinky Tofu stall was already operating because it was on my must-eat list! 

Stinky Tofu, RM20

It was very pricey, but since I craved for stinky tofu, I bought it. Seriously, it smelled stinky but did not taste stinky when eaten hot. The pickled cabbage that came with it was very sour. I ate a few tofu and Fourth Aunt ate only 2 pieces, saying that she did not like it. I took the rest home in a container I had brought along. I think I prefer the black Changsha stinky tofu, which had tastier condiments and hence was more satisfying .... 

Crispy Duck Rolls, RM24

Seriously expensive, but tasted alright. 

Xinjiang lamb skewer, RM15

We both liked the cumin seasoning; the meat was tender, but we disliked the fat they used in some of the chunks ... 

Yup, we went back to the Teochew Association stall, where we ordered Oyster omelette or Orh Luak 蚝烙... 

We had to wait a while since there were many orders. In front of the Teochew Association stall were 3 tables and they dressed them with red tablecloth. The banquet chairs were also dressed. I supposed the tables were for the clan leaders or clan committees or VIPS or other dignitaries ... but I sat there to take a breather and no one asked me to vacate my seating .... heh ... 

Oyster omelette, RM15

Hmn ... Where was the scallion? The taste was ok, the oyster was fresh and the pastry was soft and chewy .... 

After we ate the oyster omelette, we went indoors where there were booths set up to sell snacks and confectionery and electronic items and other household goods. Fourth Aunt loved sampling so she enjoyed herself going from booth to booth, trying out the biscuits, peanut butter, avocado milk, nachos and so on .... heh. 

By the time we came out from indoors, it started to drizzle. I walked past a stall selling a giant bao and bought it, RM7.50. I have yet to eat it to this day. It is still in my fridge. 

And then I walked past this ice-cream stall named Kori-kori, selling NZ-style fruit ice-cream. Hmn ... NZ was my thing ... I had a fondness for NZ having stayed there for 2 years. So I decided to try the passion fruit soft serve .... 

Yummy ice-cream, RM14

I enjoyed it a lot; milky, creamy and not sweet at all, made with real passion fruit pulp; both Fouth Aunt and I enjoyed this. It was probably the best thing I ate all night. 

And we walked past this roasted pig .... and Fourth Aunt bought a minimum of 200g, RM30. 

So little, she exclaimed. The meat was juicy and tasty ... only expensive. Heh. 

Finally, it was starting to pour. We pulled out our umbrellas and made our way to the car. 

Back home, Fourth Aunt did her maths and she had spent RM198. Heh. That prompted me to do my calculation as well :

Beer - RM15

Pepsi - 3 cans - RM3

Stinky tofu - RM20

Xinjiang lamb skewer - RM15

BakChang - RM30

NgoHiang - RM8

Ice cream - RM14

Giant bao - RM7.50

I spent RM112.50. Together Fourth Aunt and I had spent RM310.50 at the Kuching Food Festival. Mom thought we were both crazy. Heh. Overall, I loved the vibe - I think generally, festival-goers were a happy lot! The food was generally yummy, just that there were really expensive. Of all the things I bought, Fourth Aunt commented that the beer and the stinky tofu were not worth my money. I would agree with her, no doubt. But hey, what is the price of happiness? Hmn ....