Autumn weekend

Ah pa commented today that it feels like we skipped autumn altogether and jumped straight into winter. The temperature has dropped the past week and we also had the category five cyclone that hit the Pilbara region and brought rainy weather to Perth.

I have to admit that I’m loving the cooler weather but not loving the kids starting to get sick again. This is what gets me down the most during the cold season, the family getting sick including myself. Luckily Saitaomei wasn’t too bad and apart from bad coughing at night, she was generally fine during the day.

I thought that I wouldn’t be having Teawoks so soon again, but Saitaoha really wanted to have kolo mee! R and I ordered a laksa to share and it was pretty good, so good that …

we made our own laksa the next day ! It’s been a while since I’ve cooked laksa for the family, I can never get it quite right and always need R to help me season towards the end. Maybe we’re all missing home ? But this made me feel nice and warm inside.

Bringing the kids to the playground and having a picnic on Saturday because the rain finally let up! We were supposed to go to the beach but the weather dashed all plans. Summer is over and we haven’t been to the beach oops.

Happy girls who need a haircut. Luckily their hairdresser aka papa gave them a trim the next day.

Saitaoha tells me that she wants to go to Disneyland. I’m definitely bringing the girls in a few years, Shanghai or America, hopefully in 2 years ? I want to make sure that we have ample time and can travel in comfort !

Watching Jinny’s kitchen inspired me to make sushi/kimbap for our Sunday night dinner. Kids were delighted since they love sushi, my Ah ma and I were happy too since we both love Japanese food.

It dawned on me that I’m glad that I find pleasure in cooking, because if I see something nice in a tv show most of the time I can try making it myself, and I can also satisfy most of my own food cravings. It also makes me feel happy when I’m able to cook for the family and can cook together with Ah ma!

One of my favourite things to do during the weekend is going over to my parent’s house by myself in the afternoon and pottering about their kitchen (indoor and outdoor) prepping and cooking dinner. After a while my parents who are usually resting will come out of their room and Ah ma will chat with me, sometimes cook her own dishes, if the kids are around, ah pa will be busy cutting fruit for them, or else he will head out to his beloved garden and start watering and tending to his plants.

Then dinner time will come around and we will all sit together at the dining table and have a nice home cooked meal. Simple pleasures that I never take for granted. This is my favourite kind of Sunday to end the week.

Mozzie attack

Last kueh chap of the year. Unless I make it myself in Perth? But let’s not kid myself, who has time to clean pig intestines nowadays? It amazes me that 5 years ago, we visited my sister in England and to satisfy her cravings, I cooked kueh chap, tomato kueh tiaw and baked siew pao. Who has time or energy to do that now? Some days when Saitaoha is acting up or sleeping particularly badly (last night was case in point) I just want to return the kids 😓.

Yeah durian for baby!

Actually baby gets none but she is getting to eat local bananas and papayas which she enjoys very much.

The kids are being eaten alive by the mozzies in Malaysia. They had a brief reprieve when we were in Singapore as our flat level was too high for mozzies. But since we’ve been back, the mozzies have come out in full force and it’s been a feeding frenzy. They only like young blood it seems, poor Tristan, Saitaoha and Saitaomei are covered with red, angry bites 😭.

We’ve been spraying mosquito repellent to no avail, those are some tough, pesky mozzies. And unlike the fat, slow ones in Perth, the mozzies here are quick and very good at hiding!

Ah pa tells me that he’s been waking up at night and shining a torchlight on Saitaomei and her surroundings to hunt for these monsters. ‘Boh kua tiok leh, ta pi yi ku si hor mang ka’ (couldn’t see them but she’s still getting bitten by mosquitos!) he laments. The thought of my ah pa getting up at night just to chase away mosquitoes from biting his precious grandchild is just 😭😭😭. Seriously my kids are so lucky to have the best grandfather ever.

The days slip away

Hmmm… I wonder whether it’s one of those days where everyone is eating yummy food and I get nothing again.

Eh not bad, I get a snack too 😀.

And my jeje is willing to play with me at last! It’s a good day 😃.

Mummy says my top front teeth are out, papa will be amazed at how much I’ve grown in these past few weeks.

Saitaoha enjoying her milo peng. She doesn’t eat much outside, preferring simple home cooked food.

More for the adults then! Kampua mee from Yi An kopitiam.

Sister and I shared a laksa which was pretty good.

Both kids napped at the same time so I rewarded myself with a siew pao and Sundrop lime juice. I used to love this lime juice as a kid and now I still like it as an adult.

Ah ma and ah pa went out and da-paoed the famous Old Rex prawn fritters and other yummy fried things for our afternoon tea. It was really good with their chilli sauce, I ate so much that I had to skip dinner.

Afternoon shopping with the sister was fun, the kids had a short playground session but Saitaoha was so naughty and pushed a little boy away from the playhouse. I made her say sorry but poor little boy was crying. She wasn’t allowed to continue to play after that 😡.

These two squabble like mad but had fun giving us a dance performance tonight. Saitaoha copying everything her koko was doing like a parrot.

They have a fan! Hahahaha.

Last day in Singapore

The baby’s face says it all, meh…it’s our last day in Singapore.

The day started out great with this yummy pack of economy beehoon that ah ms and Tspellstrouble bought for my breakfast. They had to trek to the newly renovated Lorong 1 market for our breakfast and have been buying us breakfasts for the past few mornings, 辛苦了！

LG is blurry, Tristan’s eyes are close but never mind, Saitaoha looks cute #shamelessmummy.

Saitaoha is LG’s little shadow, it’s amusing to watch her adulation, I hope she doesn’t mind too much that LG won’t be joining us for the last leg of the trip.

Ah ma looked after Saitaomei (apparently she yelled her lungs out for an hour after we left 😓) at home so I had the luxury of handling only one kid whilst shopping with my sisters. I decided to do without the stroller and Tula-ed Saitaoha instead, good idea because she was thrilled to be carried for a change and even slept in the Tula throughout lunch.

Lunch at Tampopo of meitaiko tonkatsu set was pretty good, my sister and I shared this so the portion was just right. I enjoyed lunch a lot, probably because my kid was sleeping haha.

More playground time in the afternoon. My sister took this photo saying ‘look how small and cute she is, such a munchkin!’ In my eyes, my child has grown so much, but to my sister whose daughter is 6, she’s so little. I must keep reminding myself she’s only two.

Saitaoha wasn’t quite sure how to pose like jeje, always trying to keep up with her older cousins.

Ooh what is this yummy looking snack?

Babies cannot eat meh?

Can I try just a little bit pretty please?

Maybe they won’t notice if I slowly inch my mouth towards the snack.

Getting closer… getting closer…

Lor mee for dinner, I ate mine too late and the noodles were all soggy and all the crispy bits no longer crispy. But I still liked it leh, so much better fresh at the stall I reckon.

We’ve been eyeing this honey cheese cake thing from Breadtalk for days and finally succumbed tonight. It was ok only.

I will miss Singapore and spending time with my family here. I loved our late night TP central shopping jaunts, enjoying Singapore food with my family, our playground sessions and watching the kids play together. I laugh most freely and happily with my family, so I’m grateful to have this gem of a break to tuck into my memory box. Thank you again Singapore for the memories.

Majulah Singapura – my tamchiak family

Yeesh! I am very happy to be in Singapore!

The kids always grow faster during holidays but these girls are jumping leaps and bounds.

Hello Singapore kopi. I have missed you. The weather has been remarkably kind to us the past couple of days, please stay that way.

Fishball noodles from Block 75 were so good as usual. That chilli sauce and boing boing fishballs are so yummy lah.

Nana green tea at Suntec for lunch. It’s been fun having a mini holiday with my ah ma, sisters and kids. There are stressful moments (always to do with kids) but I think we are enjoying our time together.

The best part about being with my ah ma and sisters, we can all be tamchiak together, as evident by our dinner tonight. I love our foodie adventures, there’s no one I enjoy feasting with more than my mum and sisters. The men in the family think we are a bit crazy but are nice enough to indulge us. I love love being a foodie with my foodie family. We have so much fun discussing and shopping for food.

Ah ma and Saitaoha, my little girl is not so little anymore 😭.

Last day of holiday

Last day in Singapore, also known as the day you try to stuff as much food as possible into your protesting stomach. We are tamchiak like that. Before we went to bed, ah Ma Whatsapped me from her room (does everyone do that because we do that a lot!) listing all the food items we had to finish off, it went something like sio bee, Lao Ban tau hway, Tai Cheong egg tarts, cheng teng, nashi pears …. 😱😱😱 Despite this list, I am still regretting not having another bowl of lor mee, maybe it’s best to stop while I have such fond memories of that first bowl.

The day started well with a mug of Toastbox kopi, for some reason I keep thinking that their kopis are very popular with Singaporeans and I should try? Anyway, it was very nice but I’m not sure that it was nicer than the ones I’ve had at kopitiams? I will miss kopis so much!

Ah Ma had nasi Padang which was very good. She let me have a few bites and everything I tasted was very tasty, she was quite pleased.

We also ordered chai tow kueh to share, I didn’t eat much of this but I remember it was good the last time I had it.

Or luak/ oyster omelette was piping hot and yummy, the oysters were fat and juicy, egg crispy, so good. I have to confess these were just shared dishes, my main was chicken rice and ah pa had curry laksa 😓.

Ah Ma asked me to take a photo of this attap chee from our ais kachang for my sis. She loves attap chee.

It was a back breaking day because Saitaoha was at her needy best (more on that later) and I ended up baby wearing her instead of the baby! My poor parents had to take turns carrying Saitaomei, I tell you, Salonpas is a must in our household. We stopped for a rest at Taka where we finally bought Tai Cheong eggtarts coz no queue. Ah Ma was like ‘aiyoh I only bought 2 eggtarts, why they package until so nice?’

Eggtarts were nice, I don’t know that they were wow though, maybe I’m used to the puff pastry egg tarts in Perth? But they were still good eggtarts.

It started pouring again late afternoon. Saitaoha fell asleep at 3pm because she was so tired after our day out. Poor kid has been walking so much (she hates being carried and doesn’t like strollers so we didn’t bring one) she has a blister on her foot. Ah Ma and I were resigned that late nap = late bedtime ‘we die loh’ she exclaimed dejectedly 😅. Anyway we still took advantage of her nap to sneak out for last minute shopping. That’s when Ah Ma and I shared a Yole, not as good as Ilao Ilao!

On our way back home, Ah Ma stopped and said ‘oh oh, what’s that ?!’ She pointed at Saitaomei’s head.

She thought it was bird crap and burst into laughter when I told her sheepishly that it was the chocolate sauce from our Yole. ‘That’s what happens when your mother is a tamchiak gui‘ she laughed. I told her that earlier in the day ah pa also noticed a grain of chicken rice on Saitaomei’s head 😓, she almost collapsed in laughter in the lift. Took out my mobile with her shaking with laughter hands and snapped this photo saying ‘quick must take photo to show your sisters’. It’s so nice to be the joke of the family 😏.

We were planning to go to our usual zhi char for Chap Goh Meh but the heavy downpour cancelled all plans for a feast. To be honest, we were so stuffed anyway. Ended up taking away some food which we had very late.

Looks messy but I had yong tao fu. I only had it around 9pm so it tasted very nice haha.

Saitaoha has been driving me mad! Her neediness and whining had reached new heights since we’ve arrived in Singapore. During the start of the holiday, I thought she was just delighted that I was going to be around 24/7 and that the novelty would soon wear off. But it’s grown worse! She refuses to let anyone else carry her or hold her hand except me, she cries if I leave the room, she insists that she wants milk if she sees me feeding Saitaomei, she cries when I am carrying Saitaomei and wants to be carried at the same time. It’s driving me mad and I keep getting so impatient with her. SIGH, I don’t know what to do. Part of me thinks I need to discipline her, another part of me is fed up with myself for telling her off. Lately she’s learned words like ‘wait’ ‘stop’ ‘sorry’, it makes me feel sad because I know she’s picked it up from me 😢.

I didn’t realise we could see the TP central shopping street lights from our window, so pretty! I love the night views of Singapore from our windows. Good bye Singapore, I will miss you, thank you for another gorgeous holiday💕.

Aiyoh

I don’t know whether I should stop blogging on Dayre! At first I thought I would continue till the last day of 28 Feb but now they’ve extended the closure date for a few weeks?

I should really just bite the bullet and stop. Or else my sister will be like ‘eh we still have to save for you ok!!’

It’s our last few days in Kuching, sigh I’m going to miss home so much.

The glorious food, gosh I will miss this bak kut teh.

Their pork leg rice is so good too.

We had a good chat with the stall owners today, it’s surreal to think we’ve known them for at least 20 -30 years?? Gosh time really flies. My babies, please don’t grow up too quick. Saitaoha is already growing way too quick for me, I miss her baby days.

This kid ah, is really enjoying a holiday a bit too much. Diet totally gone out the window. She’s most comfortable when we’re back home eating home cooked food though. But glutton mummy has to indulge so err baby has to come along for the ride. Never mind, detox when we go back ok?

We finally had good news today, the five minutes phonecall in the car was nerve wrecking. I was crossing my fingers and pretending to be all cool and calm while ah Ma went ‘ya? Ya??’ on the phone. But it’s all good so hooray!

This feels like a year where we have to jump through a few hoops and obstacles to get where we want to be. I guess it’s not that bad because although it’s a longer route, we always get to our destination in the end.

Bak kut teh

Today we had bak kut teh for brunch, it was my most satisfying Kuching meal to date. This bak kut teh stall is special to our family because we’ve been eating their bkt since we were kids. It was our Sunday brunch go to place, sometimes we ate there so often I was even sick of it. But now it is our must go place whenever we return. Over the years they have shifted locations and at one point the uncle even retired. So glad that he got bored and 出山 again.

The couple that run the stall know us so well and have seen us grow up. I wonder how they feel now that they see us with our kids in tow.

We usually order two pots, one with lean meat for my ah pa, one ‘Cham Cham’ with mixed porky bits for us to share. It’s really delicious and comforting stuff.

We also always order a serving or pork leg rice, my sister especially loves their intestines, always disappointed (like today) when they don’t prepare 大肠.

Hehe Saitaoha loved the bak kut teh too! I wonder whether this stall will still remain open and the kids will eat this growing up. Hopefully uncle won’t retire for years to come.

The Kuching food post

I seriously wonder whether there is anywhere else in the world besides Malaysia that you can find the dish below, ju hu eng chye meaning cuttlefish and kangkong (water convolvulus).
ju hu eng chye can be loosely described as a salad of some sort, with a pungent shrimp paste dressing though, it’s not exactly vegetarian.

Western style (and yet so not Western) mixed grill dish from your local steakhouse stall in Petanak market.This is what you call a bit of everything.

You know I’m back in Perth when I start posting a myriad of Kuching food pictures. Sigh, it’s back to harsh work reality tomorrow but I’m indulging in one day of post holiday blues. In fact, I had indo mee and a kopi (instant Old Town pack sigh) for lunch to console myself and feel a little closer to home.

My childhood Moonlight pandan icecream stall has closed in Kenyalang *sob* so had to make do with second best Sunny Hill pandan icecream which Darren’s friend kindly bought for us. I had a couple of scoops of this and it was sooo good. I would buy an icecream maker just to make pandan icecream if I could recreate the same texture and flavour.

Even though I didn’t post up pictures of durians, it was durian season in Kuching and we pretty much had durian every day! We also had the local mangosteen, which is very sweet and picturesque with its purple hue and white flesh.

Funnily enough, I remember always having to draw pictures of mangosteens for art class or tuition at school, but I hardly ever ate any mangosteens back then.

A new discovery of good bbq meats and noodles, well not actually new because my parents told me they’ve been going to this kopitiam for ages, but new for me.

I’ve never been much of a roast meat fan, but man, we really need good char siew like this in Perth. It was the perfect combination of crunchy charred bits, sweet charsiew sweetness and tender meat.

No more Yi Ann kampua mee this year, instead I had the kampua at Sin Popo (another popular local kopitiam) which has its own fans. I think I might like it better than the one at Yi Ann.

Another foochow hawker fare, this is a dryer version of ‘char ju mein’ which was noodles stir fried in fragrant foochow ‘red wine’ (ang chiew) and red wine residue. Speaking of red wine, we managed to bring back a bottle of ang chiew to Perth so I will be making red wine chicken soup in 2015. If I have time, I may attempt to make my own red wine again this year.

This is a typical home cooked meal at R’s house. My father-in-law is a great cook and whips up these banquet meals in no time. I think R put on 6 kgs in two weeks!

Speaking of home cooked meals,the ribs that Darren made turned out fork tender. We were probably a bit too heavy with the salt but the spice rub was very tasty, must attempt this at home.

He’s not going to be happy I posted this (but luckily I don’t think he reads my blog) but this was the day Darren was discharged and returned home, woo hoo. I don’t know why I refer to him as the kid or that boy sometimes seeing he’s a grown man in his *gasp* late twenties, but I guess he will always be my little brother in my eyes. I will miss hanging out with him and wish desperately that we were all together in Perth. Maybe some day.

Another local fruit the mighty star fruit which is not only pretty to look at but very refreshing. It’s a pity I didn’t get to eat jambu (bell shaped local fruit) this time.

Ok that ends my Kuching food post for the year, hopefully I’ll get to visit before the year ends and will be posting more pics of Kuching food soon. Meanwhile it’s back to the start of the working year for me, so hopefully I’ll successfully switch off my post holiday blues tomorrow. Wish me luck!

 

Kuching daze

We’re back in Kuching! Now going on Day 5 but it feels like it’s gone by in a blur because of R’s sister’s wedding. Already I feel sad that we’re going back soon 😦

Darren roti canai love

Spending the last few days with my brother. Here he is digging into his favourite roti canai. He ordered a roti bawang and a roti kaya, both very good!

roti pisang

I had roti pisang (banana) for the first time. It was a bit odd at first eating it with curry, sweet and savoury but very yummy.

puffs

My favourite ‘sa yong’ puffs sprinkled with sugar for dessert. So good. This will probably be the last sa yong that I eat for a while (so I had three!), *sob* no more sa yong until my next return to Kuching.

teh tarik

Teh tarik which we had with the roti canai. Not too sweet and very fragrant.

stutong market

I love exploring the wet markets in Kuching. This is stutong market which had lots of great food stalls.

banana galore

Why are the bananas in Malaysia so much better? Makes for much better banana fritters/goreng pisang too!

kueh chap

Kueh chap from Stutong market. This was my mother’s lunch which she said was pretty good.

kolo mee

My first kolo mee in Kuching! Also from Stutong market, it was very good.

Ok that’s all for now, Happy New Year in advance!