Berry Is Born

What a joyous day
to be celebrating the birth of BERRY!

May you grow up happy and healthy!

Love you lots!

Berry's toys ... pic courtesy of sil ....

From :

GuGu

 & Congratulations to the proud parents! 

Peanuts with Anchovies

My friend S**** recommended me these deep-fried peanuts with anchovies. Well, I trust S****. She loves her food. So when she says that something is good, it IS good. I bought a packet, and was immediately hooked.

The salty but crunchy anchovies, coupled with the deep-fried peanuts were very yum ... and they made  a greats snack for me in front of my computer. Do try it, if you ever find it. Last I saw, there were some at Boulevard Hypermarket ....

Tapioca Dessert

Second Uncle and Aunt went back to the village at Bau and brought back some tapioca. Great! How did they know that I was craving for some tapioca dessert?? Mom and I had actually been sourcing for some at the market for a few mornings already, but we had not come across any. So it was such a coincident that my Uncle and Aunt had brought back some for us ....

Tapioca

So, Dad cleaned the tapioca and cut them into large chunks ... and Mom had them steamed. Then in a separate pot, Mom brought thick santan or coconut milk to a boil with some sugar and a pinch of salt, and of course screwpine leaves.

The result .... yum ... sweet rich santan flavoured the fragrant tapioca chunks ...

I loved to eat them HOT. The tapioca was not very powdery, but I did not mind the chewy bits. The santan tasted really rich or lemak with the addition of sugar. I liked coating each piece of tapioca with lots and lots of santan before popping it into my mouth ... Yum ... it was really delightful to savour the flavours. A simple , but a delectable fare.

Luncheon Meat Sandwiches

When I was small, my Mom always makes for me luncheon meat and egg sandwiches. I loved them. Ma Ling was a popular brand in those days. They came in a round can. Mom always cut the luncheon meat into half-moon shapes and then pan-fried them. Then, she'd sandwich the the meat, egg omelette, cucumber and tomatoes in between 2 slices of bread. Sometimes, I'd have double decker sandwiches, when gluttony calls. ;p

However, there has been a lot of luncheon meat scare since that time. There were stories of luncheon meat being contaminated with insecticide and all that. There was no way of verifying whether all these were true. So, to take the easy way out, Mom eliminated luncheon meat from our diet. I had not eaten a luncheon meat sandwich for years!

Recently, I had a craving for my childhood sandwich. And so it spurred me to purchase a can of luncheon meat. While shopping around at the local supermarket, I decided to buy a can of Tulip  Pork luncheon meat, which was made in Denmark. Surely it was safer to consume than any Made-In-China brand of luncheon meat. I would assume that Europe has more stringent production and quality control. Well, hopefully.

Tulip, Made in Denmark

Anyway, I sliced the block of meat in medium thickness and yielded 9 slices. Next, I pan-fried them in a non-stick pan. I did coat the pan with just a teeny weeny bit of cooking oil but soon, oil began to ooze out of the sizzling slices of the meat. I liked them browned and slightly crisp at the edges.

Luncheon meat & egg omelette slices

So right after that, I served my luncheon meat, together with a slice of omelette, some crunchy cucumbers and sweet tangy tomatoes in between 2 slices of cheese bread ...

Yum .... it was time to savour my luncheon meat sandwich from those good old days when I was a child. All I needed now was a hot cup of coffee to go with my bread.

Feng Cui Bing 风脆饼

They are marketed as Matang Mooncake, but actually, they are made at Jalan Mendu, Kuching. These biscuits are made fresh daily and are very delicious.

The pastry is thin and flaky. The filling, on the other hand, is fragrant, soft and chewy, and not too sweet. My family members would even bring these biscuits for friends and family members overseas! Highly recommended if you like Feng Cui Bing like me!

Bakes @ Xiao Ba Wang

Dad went to place an order for steamed buns or baos at Xiao Ba Wang at Jalan Padungan the other day. And I tagged along. So while Dad was busy ordering, I browsed the covered trays on the shelves around the bakery and decided to buy myself ...

Pork Ham Bun, RM1.60

There were lots of these buns in the tray, compared to the other types of buns. So I assumed that this must have been popular among customers. Hence, I did not hesitate getting myself a piece. Well, it was essentially twin rolls of bread with a dollop mayonnaise atop each roll. Each roll has got a thin slice of ham coiled in it. Hmn ... Mom liked it, but I thought it was mere ordinary. 

Shao Bao, RM1.60
The pastry was crispy and rather flaky, and compactly filled with chewy bits of char siew. I liked it as the filling had texture and was tasty. My parents, however, preferred Chong Chon's. I thought it would not be fair to compare as the filling for the Chong Chon's pastries were entirely different. So, of course, if you are looking for char siew-filled shao bao, I would recommend these pastries from Xiao Ba Wang.

Shao Mai @ Sin Kwang Foochow Pau

I went to buy some Big Bao from Sin Kwang Foochow Pau at Padungan the other day, and saw that they had shao mai. Since I had not eaten their shao mai before, I decided to buy some to try.

The shao mai cost RM0.80 per piece. I thought it was expensive as it was quite small in size. I suppose it's true when they say that good things come in small packages ... hmn. 

Back at home, Mom was the first person to try the shao mai. She liked it immediately as it was firm to the bite. It was quite tasty, overall. Just that it was expensive. Nevertheless, I would not mind indulging myself once in a while.