Seng Guan Cafe : Sarawak Laksa

Today, my friend and I went back to Seng Guan Cafe to eat the tasty kolo mee in char siew sauce that we tried last week. Each of us ordered a bowl. Today's noodles, however, were slightly disappointing as they were a bit soggy, being blanched too long. So sad.

Then curious to try the Sarawak Laksa, we ordered a bowl to share.

The laksa was from the ban mian stall.

Well, the broth was quite thick and lemak. But, there was too little broth to go with the beehoon.

The laksa had the usual ingredients such as blanched bean sprouts, blanched prawns, and omelette strips. It also had sliced tofu pok, which is not an original Sarawak Laksa ingredient. Besides, steamed chicken strips were missing.


Well, the laksa is edible, but it was nothing great. I wouldn't order laksa the next time I go to Seng Guan Cafe.

Pasar Malam Goodies : Prawn Fritters & Putu Mayang

Today upon reaching the pasar malam, I was greeted by the sight of these colourful bougainvillea. I couldn't resist snapping a shot. But too bad, it was blurred.

Colourful bougainvillea

My friend discovered a stall selling deep-fried fritters. This lady sells cucur ikan bilis, pisang goreng, buah sukun goreng, deep-fried prawns on skewers, and deep-chicken parts ... like ... the bishops nose.

Her star item has to be the prawn fritters. It's flat and round, approximately 10cm in diameters. It's just basically spring onion in batter and deep-fried, and topped with a prawn in shell.


Despite the humble ingredients, this prawn fritter is fantastic. It's really tasty, crispy and chewy at the same time. The single piece of prawn is sweet.


3 pieces of prawn fritters sells for only RM1.00. This stall is at the far end of the pasar malam. The lady is a newcomer to the pasar malam, having set up her business less than 2 months ago.

Today, we also discovered putu mayang, an Indian dessert which looks like beehoon, but is in fact made from steamed rice flour.

I'd never seen putu mayang being sold here before, so I decided to give it a try. So I bought 3 pieces for RM1.00.

Putu mayang iwth sweetened grated coconut

I was disappointed with the putu mayang because the strands of flour were clumped together. I liked them in loose strands. I won't be going back to this stall for putu mayang in the future.

Well, these are our two new discoveries this week at our regular pasar malam.

Beach.Ball.Babes. 球爱大战

(Pic source : http://8.mediacorptv.sg/programmesdetail.aspx?iid=MDC080701-0000053&kw=DRAMA#top)

I'd just finished watching Beach.Ball.Babes. 球爱大战. Honestly speaking, the ending was not very memorable.

In fact the whole drama failed to capture my attention. The pace was slow, and I only got interested after Episode 14.

The full synopsis is here, so I don't need to elaborate.

None of the characters made an impression on me. This is the only show that I watched and could not remember the names of the characters. I was just glad that I finished the series, and it's time to move on. I haven't decided what to watch this weekend, but I'm saving The Ultimatum for the coming holidays.

Mundane

I have nothing interesting to blog about these 2 days.

Life has been mundane.
The students are sitting for their examinations.
I'm looking forward to go back to Kuching next Friday.
Where I can catch up with family and food.
I'm not watching any interesting dramas now too.
I'm in the middle of Beach.Ball.Babes.
Which I don't like.
I'm reading Hamlet.
Which is really intriguing.

Salam Berjerebu ... Good Hazy Morning

The haze was really bad this morning. For the first time since a week ago, my throat felt dry and uncomfortable. I should buy a mask, if only they are not sold out.

My students had their usual roll call at the courtyard this morning. All of us were exposed to the filthy air. We tried to get it over and done quickly. But it was still quite unbearable, to have stood there in the open air, for about 20 minutes.

Being August, it's Independence Month in the school, where we get students to sing patriotic songs and wave their Jalur Gemilang. This morning, while they were singing Tanggal 31 and waving their flags in the haze, I thought it was rather silly to proclaim one's undying commitment to the country in such hazardous environment.

The emcee should have greeted everyone with :

Good hazy morning I bid to one and all . . .

or

Selamat pagi. Salam perpaduan, salam Satu Malaysia dan salam berjerebu.

Some photographs that I took before 7.30 a.m. this morning.

We need an uber heavy rain to wash away all the dirty particles in the air. Plus, my sources said that water will be rationed starting today. How far is it true, I do not know. Yesterday's Borneo Post said that in Kuching :

Therefore, the people can expect low water pressure in the coming days as Kuching Water Board (KWB) tries to save water supply by 10 to 12 per cent, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan said yesterday.

Well, nevertheless, I did store a bit of water in the house, just in case.

I'm Drowned In Watching Dramas

I enjoyed watching Crime Busters x 2 叮当神探 . I liked Dawn Yeoh and Tay Ping Hui in the drama. Xia Jingyi and Lu Daxiong were obviously both attracted to each other in a very endearing way. They were a cute and funny couple. I liked Tay Ping Hui's comic expressions. Hilarious, indeed.

(Pic Source : http://8.mediacorptv.sg)

After Crime Busters x 2, I'd watch The Dream Catchers 未来不是梦. Dream Catchers was also quite entertaining. I really liked Elvin Ng's character in this drama. I think Sato is every girl's dream guy. He's just so sweet. I especially loved the ending, when Sato was seated in the plane, waiting for Jiaqi to join him. He fully expected to return to Japan alone. What joy he experienced when Jiaqi chose to go back to Japan together with him.

I also liked Dawn Yeoh and Nat Ho in The Dream Catchers. They were cute together.

(Pic source : http://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Peak)

Last weekend, I watched The Peak 最高点. I'd been wanting to watch it because I liked both Qi Yuwu and Dawn Yeoh. Plus, Elvin Ng was also in it. I thought it'd be great to watch them together in a drama.

However, in The Peak, I found Dawn Yeoh's character, Chai Zhenya, pretty annoying. At first, I really liked her. But as the show progresses, I found her to be more and more tiring to watch. She's supposed to be fiesty and vivacious. But I found her loud, and childish, and nosey, and totally unprofessional.

How can she meddle into the personal affairs of her superior? How can she scream and shout at her boss like a spoilt brat who wouldn't take no for an answer? Come to think of it, she screams her head off at everybody! And her voice was so sharp that it stung my ears for most part of the show.

No doubt she started to develop feelings for her boss, Fang Hong'an. It was purely one-sided. I think it's more of a BIG infatuation, rather than true love. I think she was just in love with the idea that he was so faithful to love.

Moreover, Zhenya always jumped to conclusions and falsely accused people. If I were Hong'an, I'd slap her in the face. Would I let a junior staff accuse me of being a coward? Nah, Zhenya was so full of herself that she needed to be shaken up like milkshake!

Qi Yuwu, in contrast, was great for the most part of the show. He was charming and incorrigible. With Zhenya, however, Chen Tianjun experienced the pain of unrequited love. He really got a taste of his own medicine. I really liked his character. But he was not so nice to watch after Xiaoyang's accident. He was ridden with guilt and appeared glum throughout.

Jeanette Aw's Zhong Xiaoyang did not have much chemistry with Chen Tianjun in this drama. That's why at the end of the drama, when he told her that he loved her and wanted to marry her, it was unconvincing. I thought Tianjun and Zhenyu had more chemistry together. They would have made a cutesy couple.

Elvin Ng's Cai Zhihang was a sweet as ever!! If I were Xiaoyang, I'd choose Zhihang over Tianjun in a jiffy.

Saturday Night Dinner : Salted Vege & Salted Fish

Preserved food is is not very healthy, and should not be eaten often and at large amounts.

I don't know what came over us yesterday evening that compelled my friend and I to cook both salted vegetables and salted fish for dinner.

First we chopped up the salted vegetables.

Chopped salted mustard

Then we got ready the minced pork. We stir-fried the minced pork with the salted vegetables.

Sour and appetising stir-fried salted vegetables with minced pork

Another portion of the pork was seasoned with some sesame oil, pepper, and an egg.

Seasoning the minced pork

Setting that aside, we washed and cut the salted fish into small pieces.

A chunk of salted fish

We poured the seasoned minced pork mixture into a tray, and arranged salted fish slices on top. To remove the overpowering smell of the salted fish, we sprinkled some ginger on top.

Ready to be steamed

The dish was steamed for 10 minutes.

The salted fish really gives this dish an oooommmmppphhhhh

Okie. To appease our guilt of consuming high amounts of salt, we decided to cook a vegetable soup. We'd bought cangkuk manis from the market yesterday morning.

Uber fresh cangkuk manis

We wanted to cook our vegetable soup with prawns.

Uber large fresh prawns

We wanted our soup bland.

Cangkuk manis soup

Because of the salted food, we'd consumed a lot of rice than we should!! It's a simple and quick meal that we whipped up in a jiffy on a Saturday evening. Fun and yumm!