: : Becca’s Birthday Party : :

Wena : Dad and I are going out for awhile. He has to feed me lunch.

Garnet : Aiya! No need lah! We have so much food today as it’s Becca’s 12th Birthday Party. Come come! I have a lot of fried rice.

Wena : Errr… wouldn’t they get angry seeing me eat their party food? (The party was to start at 3 p.m.).

Garnet : No lah! There’s so much food that we cannot finish it even during the party!

So, I had a plate of fried rice. Garnet is a wonderful cook and would always have something to eat or offer.

As there was a huge pot of spaghetti sauce available, I poured that over the fried rice. Hmmm…. tasty, very tasty.

I ate discreetly in the kitchen as there were a group of 4 girls (including the birthday girl) in the dining room. Didn’t want them to glare at me TOO MUCH. After that,

Dropped Sina’ and Dad at the airport

Rushed to buy Becca a birthday present

Go home and change into something more comfortable than a hot silk skirt

Change cars to my Uncle’s Toyota Corolla Altis and fill up with petrol

Rush back for the party

When I got back, Ubong had these little finger food ready. Delicious! The sausage went well with pineapple, cheese and cherries although the green ones tasted too much like children medicine.

Delicious chicken wings from the oven. Less oily but just as tasty as the fried or BBQ ones. Also, no BBQ pit to be cleaned afterwards.

Also some chicken nuggets from Ayamas. The nuggets were deep fried in oil.

Definitely ate too much. Hmm… but so did everyone else!

Happy Birthday Becca!

: : Pictures : :

A World Press Photo contest for 2003 had 63,000 submissions from 4,176 press photographers around the world whereby 81% of the photographs were taken using digital cameras.

And yet, Businessweek still had to take and edit a picture from Roy Lim’s blog without notifying him. The picture is still online at the Businessweek.com. Just wait for the pictures to change.

One would imagine that Businessweek would have more than sufficient funds to get photos legally rather than taking it from other sites.

Makes me wonder what will happen to Mum-mum’s pictures.

: : Peter’s Special : :

Sina’ : I feel like eating terubok.

So, off we went to look for it. It was me, Dad, Sina’ (my stepmum) and Auntie Caleena. Thinking of where we could find ikan terubok. Not easy, believe me, as not that many people would eat the fish. Seriously thinking of going to eat at The Venue but decided against it as it might take too long for the food to come out. So, it was off to Peter’s Special instead : an open-air Chinese restaurant that serves seafood.

Sina’ : Hmm… pretty empty today at Peter’s Special.

Dad : Ya, hor!

Wena : Wonder why?

Sina’ : Last time, it was always full of people that had to book table.

Auntie Caleena : Ya kah?

Wena : Yep, especially after 7.30 p.m. That’s why need to book a table. Dunno why it’s empty lah. Never this empty before.

Believe me, the tables used to be packed with diners as well as the aircon room on the 1st floor. Suddenly, only 2-3 tables were filled up and it was pretty quiet. I’m surprised. They served really good food and the price wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any terubok available so we settled for something else.

As an appetizer, we had some boiled peanuts. Yep, boiled. It came out pretty soft which was quite nice and a change from the usual fried peanuts.

One of Dad’s favourite dishes, I think. We usually order this to eat. Very fresh and crunchy and surprisingly, slightly sweetish.

Sina’ : Wah! This is so nice.

And it definitely was. Soft shell crab, which probably was the most expensive dish on the menu.

Soft tauhu with bits and pieces of vegetables inside it. Very tasty but kind of soft for me. They mashed the tauhu together to give it a rough appearance on the inside but it wasn’t bad.

As they did not have terubok, we settled for garupa @ ngo hu. Very tender and delicious but not as soft as pomfret @ pek chio. We still finished the whole dish though except for the bones.

That’s it for the dinner meal we had. Food alone was RM81.90. Not too bad but definitely more expensive than Top Spot.

Cheerio then!

: : Open Air Market : :

Dad : I feel like eating beef noodles tonight.

So, off we went. Dad was in town to visit his mother who was admitted into the hospital two weeks ago. When I pop by her house to pick him up for dinner, she was sleeping after having eaten her dinner. Not feeling too good. She’s already 96 years old. Hope she gets better. Problem is that she doesn’t eat much except for a few tablespoon of food.

Anyway, back to the conversation with Dad.

Wena : Ok. Where do you want to go and eat?

Dad : Hmm… it’s either open-air market or Pisang Road West.

Wena : Open-air market sounds good. Haven’t been there in a long while and never ate a meal there. Only had the snacks and ice-kacang @ iced drinks. Also, shouldn’t be too crowded around now.

Dad : Ok. We go there then. Eat at Ah Mui’s.

Dad : Wonder if Ah Mui’s is still open.

Wena : Is it this one?

Dad : Yeah. (Turns to hawker) Two beef soup and dry noodles.

Hawker : Ok! Sit there!

We also ordered our ice-kacang @ iced drinks from this stall. The signboard is one of the old old signs from yesteryears where they used to do it by hand. Still surviving. Colours are a bit faded but still very quaint and downright cute.

Our beef noodles. Also known as mee sapi in Malay. Note that this shop is non-halal. The stall has been in Kuching since my Dad was a wee toddler back in the 50s. It used to be in a little wooden hut before the marketplace was built. Once the marketplace had been set up, they moved there. The stall was started by the father of the current owner. If you notice the Ah Mui picture at the top, the white haired-man is the son who now runs the shop.

How did the noodles taste? Very good but I can taste quite a fair bit of MSG inside it as well. Luckily, they didn’t give us a big portion of noodles else both Dad and I would have had trouble trying to finish it.

Dad : Hmm… how about some sieo bee?

Wena : Oh ok.

Sieo bee is the local version of siew mai @ shrimp dumplings but they use pork meat instead of shrimp @ prawn. Also, a lot of cornflour is used to make it firm and sweet at the same time. Of course, some sugar was also added into it. If one likes the delicate flavour of siew mai, sieo bee will taste very different because of the cornflour inside it. Me, I don’t quite like it as much as I do siew mai. But, once in awhile, it’s okay.

Dad : See that tower base there? Used to be the fire tower. In fact, this whole market area used to be the location of the old fire brigade.

Wena : Wah! Really?

Dad : Yes, before they moved. I used to think that that tower was a watch tower but it was too far away from the river.

Wena : Yeah! That thought also crossed my mind.

Dad : Later on, I found out it was a Fire Tower where the firemen used to dry the canvas hoses! Haha! Probably used it for training as well.

Picture didn’t come out too well because I didn’t have a tripod with me and the tower only showed up when the night mode was turned on. Oh well. Next time lah! Need to get a tripod.

Kuching is a city rich with history and I’ve only heard part of it so far. Perhaps another blogging project in the future. The far future, that is. Must note it all down before it’s too late. There are a lot of old timers around who are willing to talk about bygone days and how life used to be. And don’t be surprised if you see old folks dress in the casual and laidback Asian manner speaking the Queen’s English. Heck, they speak better than I do.

Anyway, have to wait up early tomorrow to have a quick breakfast with Dad before going off to work. Going to have it at Crowne Plaza to boot! Woo hoo!

: : I’m Blue in Traffic Jams : :

Never miss an opportunity. Took this shot in the morning when going to work. Massive traffic jam.

The shot was taken through my car tint. The tint was put on the top of the windscreen to get rid of the sun’s glare while driving. It definitely helped with this shot.

Okay, it’s not a food pic.

: : New Restaurant in Kuching ~ Addendum : :

Hot & Spicy Prawn : RM5 per piece but using freshwater prawn that is HUGE

Dumpling @ Kiaw : 10 pieces for RM3

Fried Lamb with Onion and spices : RM8 for 3 people

Price range same as JoJo Cafe.

So far, Jackson, Christina and Joyce have confirmed.