350. Food Indulgence

Talking about Indulgence in my last post, do you indulge in strange food sometimes? Mak isah does.

Strange means none the other family members would eat the way I do ha ha...

Oats for example, only my son & hubby will eat but just with milk. While myself, I had to add something else in, like slices of bananas or raisins in it.

This is Oat with Anelene Milk plus raisins. I find it delicious for breakfast when I am lazy to cook anything on the fire.




And then...there were times when I do not feel like eating rice but Maggi Mi! These often happened in the evenings. Maybe it is because I cooked for everyone and sometimes I do not want to eat what I cooked. Hish, get what I mean? I don't think you do :p

Imagine Maggi Mi with cauliflower? Yes that's what I found in my fridge last night. In fact I would just 'tikam' any vegetable that I can find there.
But Maggi Mi with cauliflower is not bad, better if there was 'Sayur Sawi' or even cucumber. I can just sliced the cucumber small and thin like the way I sliced cucumbers for my 'Rojak' stall :)

This is Curry Maggi Mi, not so much soup, added with half a lime juice, some sliced 'cili padi' and a boiled egg not forgetting the cauliflower.

Nice! & I had a feast :p



And I love 'Kacang Merah' that I can buy for just a few Ringgit on the weighing scale... & make them into 'Bubur Kacang Merah'. This, definitely my children wouldn't eat. I eat this cooled, and cooked it only in a very little amount which sometimes only hubby will eat but usually I eat it alone!

Bubur Kacang Merah

Do you sometimes cook food that you alone eat or do you only cook food that everyone eats?

Cheerio.

349. Crane Indulgence

My 2 year+ old grandson Alif loves those industrial machinery for lifting that we called 'Cranes'.

Even when he is eating his favorite ice cream, he must have his old crane (some parts already broken) car beside him.

So, this afternoon, on our way back after sending Noormy to work, I stopped by at the side of the road to satisfy his indulgence over 'Cranes'.

Over his awes and yell of delights, Mak isah somehow took the time to take some of these pictures.

This is a new construction going on just after entering the road to our Taman T. I think they are building another road, one going in and one going out of our Taman T. in the hope to decrease traffic jam during peak hours. If this is true (that's what hubby said), this is one good news for us.

Alif wasn't interested in all that. He kept on asking me to drive further up so he could get a good view.

He wanted to watch the 'boom' (the steel arm of the crane that holds the load) part of the Crane and it's 'scoop' did it's work.

First....it went down to scoop the 'tanah' (soil)

Then...it slides it's scoop to catch the soil

Bring the soil proudly high up

Throws the soil onto the back of a waiting lorry

When enough weight was 'felt' by the lorry driver, he will horned and drives the lorry to the other end to 'empty' it.

When 'emptied' the lorry will be driven to the Crane again and the cycle continued.

Alif loves watching that. Mak isah followed suit.

Have you actually watched that? ha ha....

Cheerio.

348. Ta Kiong

'Ta Kiong' Supermarket opened at one of the latest Malls in Miri during the weekend, at 'Merdeka Mall', which is only 3Km from my house and half way to town.

Merdeka Mall



As always, when there is a new supermarket opening or a sale in one of the supermarkets, Mirians will come flocking to the place, including me ha ha...

But one thing about me, I can't join the rush in buying things, I prefer to go there and watch people, compare the prices or just take some pictures :p
I will buy when there aren't many people, when I need to or if there are things that I use, cheap.


This picture of a 'Hammer' greeted me at the entrance. This is the 'crazed' car at the moment, or is it?




The first that attracted me as soon as I entered this 'Ta Kiong' Supermarket was this shop full of chocolates! Aahh...if Alif could have seen all these chocolates. He loves chocolates but doesn't take sweets.



One of these days I will come back to scrutinize each of these enormous different spices



And buy these (which I cannot find in other supermarkets) wonderful all types of fresh vegetables packed from Cameron Highlands




and these watering red strawberries!




But not just yet, not while these paying counters are still full and having long queues like this!



I can wait :)


Cheerio.

347. Beehoon Kerang Kari

Have you tried cooking 'Beehoon Kerang Kari'?

This is a recipe one of my aunties taught me a few years back. A couple of days ago Zu mentioned that we had not cooked one for a long time. So I cooked, and it was a hit with the girls and hubby :)

My Beehoon Kerang Kari




Preparation was easy, the only thing was these tinned cockles were quite expensive. 1 small tin of Curry Cockles (Kerang Kari) cost me RM3.20, 3 tins would be RM9.60. Luckily, there were 2 packets of Beehoon, a couple of strings of long beans and Adabi Curry Powder available in the house. I need not buy them :)

Any type of tinned Kerang Kari



Prepare the Beehoon first, by boiling for 2 minutes in a pot of boiling water, then pour the beehoon onto a sieve with running tap water over it.

Off tap and put aside to drip dry.


Saute grounded -

1. 2 shallots, 3 garlics, 1/2 inch ginger, 1 lemon grass and 1/2 inch 'Lengkuas' (galangal)
2. 1/2 tablespoon belacan (shrimp paste)




3. Add in 5 tablespoons of Adabi Curry Powder (mixed and diluted with a cup of water)



4. Add another cup of water

5. When boiled, add in the 3 tins of Kerang Kari

6. Add 1 Litre of water or more depending on how much soup you want.

7. Let boil and add some long beans ( cut into 2 inches in length).

Cut Long Beans




8. Add salt and ajinomoto to taste.

To prepare a bowl of 'Beehoon Kerang Kari' scoop out some of the cooked beehoon, pour some of the prepared soup over it.

For more flavour, add a cut boiled egg and some hot 'Sambal Belacan' if you like.


Cheerio.

346. Taugeh & Tauhu

Do you like Taugeh (bean sprouts)?

It's cheap and easy to prepare. Plus it's healthy to eat lots of it!

Unfortunately, not many like it, including my 3rd daughter Aya. Fortunately for me, since she just cannot survive eating rice without vegetable, she will eat it, with lots of grumpiness which I pretend not to hear.

Remember my last post on 'Kari Ikan Terusan'? My vegetable dish was 'Taugeh' & 'Tauhu'.

I cooked 'Taugeh' without adding anchovies at all. I always prefer it without.


My Taugeh



To cook, just saute 1 sliced medium sized shallot, 1 garlic and 1 red chilli.

Add the washed 'taugeh' and stir quickly.

Add salt and ajinomoto to taste. That's it!


Now, each time hubby bought 'Taugeh' to bring home, he will surely would buy 1 piece of the soft 'Tauhu Cake'. You know there are 2 types right? The other type is much harder :)

Anyway, what I wanted to bring up here was, I don't cook the 'Tauhu Cake' together with the 'Taugeh'. I sliced them into small pieces and deep fry them. And I can have 2 vegetable dishes instead of one!

Do you do that? :) I mean fry them.


Sliced soft Tauhu Cake




Yes, deep fried !



When a bit cooled, try sprinkle some salt and ajinomoto over the fried tauhu cake.

You can eat them with rice or on it's own just like you eat your French Fries!


Cheerio.

345. Kari Ikan Terusan

My son in law sent us a large 'Ikan Terusan' which he caught offshore at the rig. This fish is fleshy and has large scales. What I don't really like about this fish is it's flesh is quite hard when cooked. I'd still prefer he'd sent us large 'Ikan Tenggiri' like he used to, he he...

Have you ever eaten this fish? If you have, how do you find it?

So the main menu for today was 'Kari Ikan Terusan'.

My Kari Ikan Terusan



I only need 2 pieces of this cut Ikan Terusan.



Hubby had helped cut them up into pieces like these when it came the other day so I've washed them and stored them in few plastic bags in the freezer. Each time I want to cook it the next morning, I just take one plastic bag out to defrost the night before. Easy :)


I still had to cut up the 2 pieces into smaller pieces myself, washed and drip dry them in a sieve.


I know there are many ways people cook 'curry'. Myself, I used to saute grounded shallots, garlic and ginger before adding in curry powder but nowadays with so many instant curry paste sold in packets I've changed to a more 'simple lazy way' of cooking curry :p

It tastes as good!

I used -

1. 1/2 packet of this 'A1 Perencah Kari Ayam Segera' paste. (It's all right, trust me, I use this instead of 'A1 Perencah Kari Ikan Segera' because 'Ayam' taste nicer than 'Ikan' even though I am cooking ikan).

2. 5 tablespoons of 'Kari Daging Adabi' powder. (Again, I don't use 'Kari Ikan Adabi' powder).

3. Add a cup of water to the bowl of 'Kari Daging Adabi powder. Stir well.



4. In a pot, heat up 5 tablespoons of cooking oil.

5. When hot, add in the 2 'curries'. Stir well on moderate fire for 2 to 3 minutes.

6. Add a cup of water.

7. Add in 1 packet (mix to dilute with 1 cup of water) Cocolin Coconut Powder.

8. Let boil under moderate fire for 2 to 3 minutes.

9. Add the cut fish.

10. When cooked, add in some cut long beans (optional).

11. Add in some water (not too much but enough to cover the fish or to make your soup).

12. When boiled, add salt and ajinomoto to taste.


Tips :
1. With this A1 curry paste, there is no need to saute shallots, garlic and ginger before adding the curry.
2. The paste is 'cukup masam' so there is no need to add tamarind paste or 'Asam gelugor'.

Eat with hot rice, a vegetable dish and something salty or with fried salted fish? :)




Cheerio.

344. Going to Lutong

I said to hubby the other night,' Let's breakfast at Pakcik Wan Cafe tomorrow morning.'
He wasn't going outstation and would be going in late for work.
As usual, the 3 girls with Alif would want to tag along too. Alif's father is offshore at work at the rig so that's minus one and my son Farouk is at work so that's minus two he he....

I think I mentioned in my previous post that Pakcik Wan Cafe is in Lutong. Now Lutong is
a small suburban town where Shell built Malaysia's first oil refinery. A quaint quiet little town.
Lutong's economy is generated mainly from staff of the oil and gas companies located nearby.

And like Mak isah had mentioned in 'About Me', Mak isah have had the privilege of working in one of these companies for 22 years. Since Lutong town is 7KM from Miri and Mak isah's home is 6KM from Miri so Mak isah have to drive to work 13KM to and back the same way - a total of 26KM each day :)

But not anymore.. and I rarely come to Lutong except to have breakfast like this morning.

We went this morning around 830am. I took some pictures inside a moving car :)

This was near a roundabout, already passing Miri area and going on the 'Pujut Road' towards Lutong. It rained last night so the road was quite wet.



There are 2 main roads, my side going to Lutong from Miri and the road on the other side from Lutong to Miri.


We passed 2 more roundabouts







Nearing Lutong area



Finally...breakfast!

Mee Kolok Perut Sapi



Kueyteow Perut Sapi



Mee Kolok Special


Few views of Lutong town - the bazaar area

I can see there weren't much changes, the same old shops selling the same things.













Lutong Market



Near it, a children playground. It is too near the roadside and have no fence.



PakcikWan Cafe is at the new shoplots. What I can see is a number of good eating places like this has sprung up here in Lutong.



I think Miri people memang kuat makan!

And Mak isah had a nice heavy (too heavy) breakfast with family today :)

Cheerio.