Lunch @ The Sarawak Club

My colleague J invited me for lunch at the Hornbill Restaurant at The Sarawak Club. I went with her ... only to find that she had booked a table for twelve. My other colleagues were also there ..... and throughout lunch, I was glad to get to know them a little better. Back at work, I seldom interact with them, being occupied with lessons and planning for lessons mostly. So it was a great lunch, with good food and good company.

Sizzling Beef

The beef was really tender, and the marinade and sauces for the dish was awesome and balanced in flavours. Loved it.

Buttered Prawns

Lovely medium sized prawns .... crisp and succulent and beautifully coated with a buttery sauce; a signature dish here ... and very satisfyingly yum

 Beancurd with Minced Chicken

Again, a beautifully executed dish; the egg tofu was soft and creamy and melted in the mouth; I loved the bits of chopped preserved radish used to cook the mince sauce .... delicious. 

 Steamed Pomfret

The fish was large, and very sweet and fresh; a bit of pounded ginger to accompany it sufficed; only that the sauce tended to gel when the dish got cold ..... 

Beansprouts and Salted Fish

I liked the salty pieces of deep-fried fish that accompanied this vegetable

 Baby Romaine Stirfry

I loved this dish! The vegetables were not over-cooked and were crispy; but I loved the subtle flavour of fermented tofu used to flavour it, and I loved that it was fiery spicy. 

 Cuttle fish with Dried peppers

This was a very spicy dish as well .... but the cuttle fish piece were tender and crunchy. Loved it.

The service was a bit slow, even though there weren't many people eating .... but overall, I enjoyed the food here very much. Thanks to J for the treat. :)) 

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

That evening, D and I headed to where he dubbed "my favourite mall" a.k.a. The Spring. Our intention that evening was to visit the Honda road show .... where we spent some time viewing a few models of the cars on display. Sigh. Decisions, decisions. I felt that the cars were too expensive for my modest income, despite the rebates that I could get. It was tempting. I wanted. But I was reluctant to pay a huge sum each month for it. Sigh.

D's dinner

Ox Bone Soup, RM6.00

I had a sip of the broth .... and was glad that it was not too salty .... 

Perhaps because of that indecisiveness, I had a strong urge for a cuppa. Lol. It's either that or maybe cause I'd not have a single cup of coffee for the whole day. Now, I'm not addicted to coffee .... but I just felt like it at the time.

D often said people drank at "branded" cafes in order to be seen. Lol. He would rather not patronise and much preferred coffee at local kopitiams. But on this rare occasion, I was glad that he came with me without making a fuss. Lol.

Cafe & Vanilla Lattes 

I liked my cafe latte .... and D did not complain about his vanilla latte. It was nice to sit down and chit chat here ..... Buy. Not buy. Buy. Not buy. Buy. Not buy ...... sigh. Lol.

Blessed Goodies

People have been to KL over the past week .... and came back bearing me goodies ... Yay! 

D went to Genting Highlands and came back with ....

 dried strawberries

And my colleague J went for a seminar to KL and came back with .....

A yummy bar of chocolates .... 

I'm so blessed. :)) 

Agony

I went with my aunts to support my uncle, who's a committee member of the Kuching Teochew Association. Well, Fifth Aunt bought 2 tables for the 150th Anniversary Dinner Celebration, and got all of our relatives to go. My parents did not go because they had to attend a distant relative's wedding reception. I was tired after banding for most of the day, but since I had promised to go, I went anyway. The dinner was held Riverside Majestic.

Hmn .... I cannot really say that I connect to my Teochew roots .... because I hardly appreciated the Teochew Opera that was being performed on stage throughout the night. Not only me, however, even my Fifth Aunt found the constant clashing of the cymbals to be very annoying. Lol.

Well ... I'd say that it was an agony to be waiting the whole night .... actually .... waiting for it to end. It did not help that the service was quite poor, actually. I sat for at least 45 minutes without anyone serving me any drinks ....

I was looking at this for a long, long time while I wondered when dinner was going to commence ... 

And it finally did at 8.00 p.m. 

 The hot and cold dish combination 

My favourite item was the wakame ... 

Beancurd Soup with Crabmeat

Not particularly nice, but it did warm my tummy sufficiently 

 Ayam Masak Merah

To me, this course was weird to be amongst the selection of Chinese-style dishes .... The sauce tasted a bit sweet and reeked of spices .... a bit to strong in flavour for me, and did not quite complement the other dishes .... 

Pan-fried Prawns

Probably my favourite dish of the night .... aromatically flavoured with chopped garlic, chillies and cilantro

I went home after that ..... the dinner was draggy and long-winded, and not very Teochew in fact. So that's just really too bad. Nonetheless, I was glad to have supported my uncle at this very huge event :))

Week Nights

D and I have been going out a lot after work; well, actually, I tagged along voluntarily while he ran errands. Lol. First up ..... dinner ....

 Kolo Mee @ Yong Kwang, Kenyalang Park

This noodles has a distinctive flavour, But that evening, the char siew was already stale .... D left them uneaten. Eew. How could they serve stale meat? 

After the meal, D decided on a whim to buy a new cover for his new phone. Hence we went to Cityone Mega Mall where he managed to buy one. He was as happy as a boy with his new toy. Lols. 

On Wednesday, he decided to change service provider .... so after work we went to The Spring, where there was Blue Cube. The procedure took but a short while ...

I never liked the drinks at Food Bazaar, so I bought Chatime for us .... 

 Chatime Cocoa Latte and Pearl Milk Tea

While D ate the Dry Ban Mian, I enjoyed my drink. 

Then on Friday, we had to go back to Blue Cube because the data plan did not work ..... 

Dry Beef Noodles for D ... 

Oh ..... and H & M is opened. Yayy! D and I did go and have a look ..... but we both did not buy anything. Next time. :P

Back To Bake & Brew

I brought Bro, Sil and Berry to Bake & Brew at Jalan Mendu. I had an iced latte .... and we shared the strawberry cheesecake and an apple walnut cake.

Iced latte, strawberry cheescake & walnut apple cake

The drink was alright, but I did not like the strawberry cheesecake. Bro thought the walnut apple cake was too dry. 

D and I went back the other night .... and the cafe was devoid of any customers at all ... but anyway, we had .... 

 A slice of hazelnut blondie with chocolate ice-cream, and also a pot of chamomile tea. 

The cake was served warm, after being heated up in the microwave. Probably that's why it was dry ... The hazelnut blondie was sweet, chocolate-y and had whole hazelnuts in there; I quite like the texture, but yes, it was rather dry.

Anyway,  I quite like this place to chill ... :))

Nasi Lemak Set Meal @ Old Town White Coffee

October has not been too kind to me. First, I got into an automobile accident. To be precise, someone drove too fast and knocked into my vehicle. As a result, I am without a car now. It is sure very inconvenient. I am so immobile, and I can hardly move around at my will.

In October also, I suffered from otitis media, where my middle ear was inflammed. I could not hear nor speak properly for a week. It was sure frustrating! After a course of antibiotics, I am slowly but surely recovering.

Come November, I am determined to put everything behind me and move on.

Today, after church service, D and I went to Hills Shopping Centre .... hmn .... I'd not been there since I came back to Kuching, and I was quite surprise to see many shoppers there. Well, LSC or Lea Sports Centre was having a massive sale ... and there were lots of people browsing and buying clothes, shoes, and accessories. I browsed at Mango - the only outlet in Kuching since the one at The Spring closed down sometime ago. I did try on a few items but did not buy anything.

For lunch, we decided to eat at Old Town White Coffee .... also the only one in Kuching city since they closed shop at The Spring. We sat outside facing the road .... and I did like the relaxing ambience there. It was also rather quiet so D and I could talk.

D and I both opted for the nasi lemak set meal .... at RM13.90 per set. Each set came with a drink.

 White coffee for me, and iced lemon tea for D

 This outlet here made decent white coffee .... I liked that it was hot and thick. :)

Nasi lemak 

The nasi lemak was decent as well, I liked the sambal and all the other condiments; only that the chicken was a bit too hard and dry. 

For our meal, we paid RM30.60, inclusive of tax. Pricey, isn't it? Well, once in a while.