MCO 4.0 - Day 45

 15 July 2021     Day 45 of Movement Control Order 4.0

13,215 new Covid-19 cases in Malaysia today

Dinner : Roasted Balinese Coconut Turmeric Lemongrass Chicken, Steamed Brinjals with Fried Shallots

MCO 4.0 - Day 44

 14 July 2021     Day 44 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        As the black font shows, Malaysia's Covid-19 cases have clinched another record. Unfortunately, this new record of 11,618 cases is nothing to brag about. On the contrary, it is extremely alarming, especially since the World Health Organisation has warned of impending "devastating outbreaks" caused by the Delta variant, which is sweeping across the globe at a "scorching pace".

        Black seemed to be the colour of the day. We had Black Pepper Pork Slices for dinner, complemented by the good old ABC Soup.

I had not planned to cook this dish when I went to the market last Saturday, so I didn't have the foresight to buy green capsicum to be cooked with these Black Pepper Pork Slices.

ABC Soup - easy to make, yet it's nutritious

Corn, taken out from the soup, for nibbling

MCO 4.0 - Day 43

 13 July 2021     Day 43 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        When hubby came home during lunch time, he happily informed me that his presentation went well and we would be celebrating with a Japanese dinner from Uncle Autumn later. However, taking one look at today's whopping high 11,079 new Covid-19 cases and the torrential rain that was lashing down in the evening, we changed our minds. 

        Fortunately, I had a portion of chicken that had been defrosted earlier. So I could jump into action and in my haste, I didn't don the plastic gloves. Hence, my hands, fingers and nails are now all brightly painted in yellow! Yes, I handled turmeric as I cooked Braised Turmeric Chicken for dinner and an easy-peasy Salted Vegetables Soup.

        As I cooked, I took a look at the evening sky. By then, it was only a drizzle, and everything looked so peaceful after the storm. And I wondered about the "storm" that our country is going through now. Our Director General of Health has acknowledged that Malaysia is now in "very critical condition". Will life ever be normal again?

MCO 4.0 - Day 42

 12 July 2021     Day 42 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        Despite living in football-crazy England for two years, I've never been big on the game. I do understand the game and have followed some of the matches; how could I not when I lived with a Manchester United enthusiast for a year? He tried to turn me into a fan too and used to sing "Glory glory Man United" to annoy me. And when I travelled to Liverpool to visit a friend, he shook his head in disgust and asked why I would want to visit "that horrible city". That's Alec, my host dad, who loved to bug me to agree that he's a "handsome English gentleman"!

With my English family...see that "handsome English gentleman"!

        I can feel his heartache, which I'm sure he's moaning over now, after England's heart-rending loss to Italy at yesterday's European Championship Finals. Winning 3-2 on penalties, Italy claimed the Euro 2020 crown at Wembley Stadium...England's home ground! Arghh!

        So tonight, Alec, I cooked an Italian dinner. No, I was not being disloyal to England. I remember your exceptionally delicious spaghetti bolognese and how you taught me to literally lick my plate clean! We used to drive Pat crazy with our barbaric acts. 10,673 km may separate us now but I share your heartbreak, Alec.

It was a fusion meal, to be exact : Meatballs Marinara Spaghettini with Sweet Corn Egg Drop Soup

Meatballs Marinara without too much herbs (just the way we like it)

Hubby enjoyed his Meatballs Marinara Spaghettini

        Oh, I dearly miss my host family in England, Alec, Pat and Grandma Ball! And Tynan the dog, who's returned to doggie heaven. When this Covid-19 pandemic ends, I would love to return to England and pay you a long overdue visit.

MCO 4.0 - Day 41

 11 July 2021     Day 41 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        Seeing his wifey quite tied up with lesson preparation yesterday, Derrick offered to take charge of the cooking today. The smart man dropped by at Ipoh Garden South after getting our brunch and packed home roast chicken and char siew so that he would only have to fry the asparagus later at night! 😆

        As he had bought half a roast chicken, it really was a huge portion for the two of us. So I told him the char siew can be kept for another meal, or perhaps for my brunch tomorrow. His Stir-fried Asparagus with Prawns was delicious, as usual.

MCO 4.0 - Day 40

 10 July 2021     Day 40 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        Another black font post. Another record high of 9353 new Covid-19 cases today. And more worrying is Perak now has the 2nd highest infectivity rate in the country (1.17), after Putrajaya's 1.19! 

        There was a downpour in the evening, which would have been really enjoyable weather for doing yoga or exercising on the cross trainer. Unfortunately, I was too bogged down by lesson preparation, followed by cooking, so I had to forego exercising.

        It did cross my mind not to cook but to order dinner from somewhere. But I'm glad I didn't do that in the end, as a homecooked dinner is always enjoyed by hubby. We had Braised Pork Belly in Soya Sauce (or what hubby calls Tau Yew Bak) and Stir-fried Leek with Prawns.

MCO 4.0 - Day 39

 9 July 2021     Day 39 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        Alarming. Bleak. Crestfallen. Distressing. Enraged. Foreboding. Grim. Hopeless. Infuriated. Jittery. Kicked in the gut. Lethargic. Miserable. Numbed. Ominous. Perturbed. Quite at wit's end. Resigned. Shook up. Threatened. Unnerved. Vexed. Wretched. Xtremely low-spirited. Yearning for freedom. Zonked.

        Seeing escalating Covid-19 figures despite the frontliners' unyielding sacrifices and our own conscious efforts to toe the line really makes me think there is no light at the end of the tunnel. All those feelings above do describe how I feel. At times, it's terrifying. At other times, I feel too tired to worry. Sometimes it angers me to see the struggle for power at times like these. And there are occasions when I just shut off any news on politics.

        Today's record high figure of new 9180 Covid-19 cases is indeed disheartening. How much longer can we hold on to the thread?

        Despite today being a Friday, which means the weekend's here to take a breather, I did not have a song in my heart as I cooked. Fortunately, it was an easy-peasy meal to cook and turned out to be tasty. I often cook this for my brunch on weekdays while working from home as it's super quick to whip up. When I shared the picture of my brunch with hubby last week, he asked me to cook it for him. And so we had it for dinner today.

Minced Pork and Shredded Mushrooms La Mian with Fishballs Soup

Hubby's huge portion

MCO 4.0 - Day 38

 8 July 2021        Day 38 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        This was almost another black font post. Malaysia's Covid-19 figures skyrocketed to 8,868 cases today, making it the 2nd highest in the country's history, just 152 cases less than 29 May's 9020 cases. And today we had 135 fatalities, the highest single day death toll ever! 

        Amidst the gloom, we managed to enjoy a rather tasty dinner. Of course when one of Marion Grasby's recipes is put to use, the dish is a sure winner! Her Thai Three-flavoured Fish (I used trout today) tantalises the tastebuds with the three flavours : sweet, sour and spicy. After the trout pieces were lightly coated with flour and fried, it was time to make the alluring sauce. Garlic and red chillies that had earlier been pounded in the mortar were fried, tamarind juice was added, brown sugar was generously scooped in and some fish sauce was swirled in. When the sauce had thickened considerably, the trout pieces were returned to the wok and given a good toss so that the sauce would cling lovingly to the fish. Finally, some spring onion were sprinkled onto the dish.

Thai Three-flavoured Trout

Delightful Prawn Wantons

Lotus Root, Pork Ribs and Peanuts Soup

MCO 4.0 - Day 37

 7 July 2021     Day 37 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        A weeknight dinner, regardless of whether you are working from home or otherwise, should be fuss-free and super quick to whip up. Tonight's dinner, which required less than 50 minutes to cook (from preparation to serving), was a typical weeknight dinner.

Stir-fried Roast Pork ( 爆烧肉 )

Stir-fried Nai Pak with beaten egg and lots of ginger strips 

        At the end of the meal, I asked hubby, "Did you enjoy that?"

        And his answer : "Mmm...yes, very much. Simple. Nice."

MCO 4.0 - Day 36

 6 July 2021     Day 36 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        Every evening, when I prepare dinner in the wet kitchen, I would hear my neighbour and her daughter having conversations with their pet rabbits. If it had not been for this Maintain-Your-Distance period of social distancing, I would have popped over to meet the bunnies.

        But the humans and rabbits tete-a-tetes either tickle me or put some spark into the mundane food preparation. I was smiling away today as I sliced the angled luffa when I heard Mrs. Lee reprimanding one rabbit, "See? I told you not to hop too high. Now you've hurt your floppy ear."

        It's small things like these that I look forward to. Another thing that I've grown to enjoy during this lockdown is to have a more leisurely breakfast at home. Sometimes it's just a cup of coffee with a pau, but I would have it in front of my Smart TV, which would be playing morning jazz music from YouTube.

        I didn't have to linger on in the wet kitchen for long today so I missed some of the humans-rabbits interaction. The Stir-fried Angled Luffa with Prawns was a breeze to cook. And the other dish was merely popped into the oven, which did the labouring for me. How easy that was! And what an aromatic smell my Honey Soy Garlic Roast Chicken emitted!

        Hmm...I know bunnies are vegetarians (strict herbivores), but I wonder if they salivated over the smell?

MCO 4.0 - Day 35

 5 July 2021     Day 35 of Movement Control Order 4.0

     As I had a number of errands to run in the afternoon after my virtual lessons, I decided to give myself a break by packing dinner home. Upon a friend's recommendation, I headed to Canning Garden Bak Kut Teh for a soup portion as well as a dried portion, plus a set of cruellers. All in, it came to RM29. 

     I asked hubby if he would like a plate of vegetables to go with it or some steamed ikan parang fishballs. He chose the latter, which made the job even easier for me. 😆

Our first time trying this Dry Bak Kut Teh, packed with the flavours of dried shrimps, dried cuttlefish and dried chillies.

Although this was meant to be a portion for 1, the Bak Kut Teh soup was a huge portion. Some will be used for my brunch tomorrow.

Crunchy cruellers for dipping into the soup

Simple Steamed Fishballs

MCO 4.0 - Day 34

 4 July 2021     Day 34 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        Just when Perak is slated to move into Phase 2 tomorrow, there has been an increase in Covid-19 cases in Perak today! Keeping fingers crossed!

        Hubby requested for his favourite Tofu Prawn Soup, which I had not cooked for ages since I can no longer take tofu. Taking pity on the poor man, I nodded my head when he picked up the slab of tofu at Ah Khay's stall this morning. I later explained to him that since I can't share the soup with him, I'll use half of the tofu to make the soup and the other half would be used for another dish, solely for him too. As I would then have to cook something separately for myself, he quickly suggested buying Char Siew for me so that I'd have one less dish to cook.

        So for tonight's dinner, we had Char Siew from Restoran 1212, Tofu Prawn Soup, Mapo Tofu and French Beans Omelette.

MCO 4.0 - Day 33

 3 July 2021     Day 33 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        While Selangor falls under a 2-week Enhanced Movement Control Order starting from today, Perakians were shown a glimmer of hope. From 5 July, together with Perlis, Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu, we will move on to Phase 2 of the National Recovery Plan, which sees the opening of more economic sectors. However, dine-ins for two per table will still not be allowed.

        Whilst rain was pelting down in the evening, we had a Zumba session at home, followed by tandem cooking again. Chef Derrick deftly cooked his Sambal Asparagus and Prawns, I was in charge of the proteins.

Sambal Asparagus with Prawns, Fried Eggs and Pongteh Chicken for dinner on a cool evening

MCO 4.0 - Day 32

 2 July 2021     Day 32 of Movement Control Order 4.0

     Besides Marion's Kitchen, I am regularly checking out Spice N' Pans as I love Roland Lim's recipes. They are super easy to follow and his dishes are "so flavourful" (that's Roland's signature line, but it really rings true). 

     Tonight's Golden Fragrant Chicken or Kam Heong Chicken was incredibly delicious. Following Roland's advice, I marinated my diced chicken with oyster sauce, soya sauce, sugar, curry powder, cornflour and a beaten egg. The chicken was later fried till golden brown and set aside. To prepare the sauce, aromatics like dried shrimps, garlic, shallots, lemongrass, curry leaves and dried chillies were fried. The water that was earlier used to soak the dried shrimps was then poured in, before adding oyster sauce and sugar. After the sauce had reduced a little, the chicken pieces were returned to the wok and given a good toss so that all the chicken were coated with the fragrant sauce. There you have it : Golden Fragrant Chicken!

Golden Fragrant Chicken (recipe from Spice N' Pans)

Stir-fried Lady's Fingers

     When hubby emerged from his shower, his first comment was, "Wah! Something smells good!" He enjoyed the dish very much too and finished every teeny weeny bit of morsel on the plate (I'd earlier fished out all the dried chillies). 

MCO 4.0 - Day 31

 1 July 2021     Day 31 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        After a fairly packed teaching schedule and a staff meeting in the afternoon, followed by some work preparation, I was, honestly, too knackered to cook. I sent a message to hubby, telling him that I would go out later to pack something home for dinner. The sweet man said he would go directly from work to get our dinner.

        He initially thought of going to Uncle Autumn for Japanese food. Then he remembered that he had a Shopee voucher to utilise. So we ended up with Domino's Pizza...yum! The last time we had pizza was in New Zealand, way back in December 2019!

Hubby ordered this 12" Prawn Sensation Pizza with additional toppings of shredded chicken, ground beef, beef sausage and ikan bilis

Feast for two (and more)

MCO 4.0 - Day 30

 30 June 2021     Day 30 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        I was having a lesson on hip hop and other music genres with my Form 4 class this morning. I decided to surprise them by playing a snatch of a hip hop song, careful to choose one without all the foul language. One girl's reaction was "What's that awful music?", to which several boys responded, "Hey! That was nice!" I cheekily asked if I should play another hip hop song and the girl was quick to answer, "Please don't! I'm so traumatised by it!"

        Later, I played a bit of Chopin's Nocturne op. 9 No. 2. The "traumatised" girl liked it, said it was soothing. But a boy gave it the thumbs down. It all goes to show how one man's meat is another man's poison.

        But the best comment I got out of this episode was from another boy, "Teacher, when you played the music, my dog cocked her head." After the lesson, I sent a private message to this boy asking him to apologise to his dog on my behalf for disturbing her. His answer : "Nah, she enjoyed it very much, teacher." 😍

        Knowing I made a dog's day brought a warm fuzzy feeling to me and my good mood lasted throughout the day. I couldn't wait for hubby to come home to share this story with him.

        In a buoyant mood, I cooked dinner. Tonight's fare consisted of Meatballs in BBQ Sauce and Steamed Brinjals with Fried Shallots. 

MCO 4.0 - Day 29

 29 June 2021     Day 29 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        One of the things that I sorely missed during MCO 1.0 was the use of my Noxxa breadmaker cum oven. It had decided to go on strike and as all non-essential economic sectors were closed, I was unable to send it for repair. There were well-meaning suggestions to just get myself a new one, but I was loath to do that as I really love my trusty appliance and I was hoping that some tinkering or changing of spare parts would do the trick. Fortunately, my faith in it was not misplaced. It's now serving me well again.

        Even prior to this Covid-19 era, Ms Noxxa had always been glad to welcome Count and Countess Chicken Thighs, after their McCormick Steak Spice rub. This evening, the friends met up again. Resplendent after luxuriating in their marinade, Count and Countess Chicken Thighs had a 40-minute 200 degrees Celsius sauna session with Ms Noxxa. After that, they emerged aromatic and crispy.

Oven-baked Crispy Chicken Drumsticks (recipe from Elinluv's Tidbits Corner)

Radish Chicken Soup

       

MCO 4.0 - Day 28

 28 June 2021     Day 28 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        Marion calls this dish "a holiday on a plate" as it always reminds her of beach holidays, sand in her feet, a Pina Colada in her hand and a big giant Pineapple Fried Rice. She served hers in a lovely pineapple bowl but I was too lazy to buy a whole pineapple and go through the rigmarole of digging out the flesh. Still, it was tasty, and hubby proclaimed so, upon putting the first scoop into his mouth.

A taste of Thailand

Pineapple Fried Rice for two

        Now perhaps tonight I'll dream of being caressed by the gentle sea breeze as I watch the golden sunset from a shaded spot on the soft, warm sand, with an iced cold Pina Colada in my hand.

MCO 4.0 - Day 27

 27 June 2021     Day 27 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        Apparently, the current lockdown is not even to be called as MCO. The correct name to use is Phase 1 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP). Pening betul! For the purpose of my own blog as a documentation of this unprecedented cordon sanitaire of modern times, I persist in referring to it as MCO 4.0.

        As travels are still light years away, in the cocoon of our house, this evening we pretended to be in Malacca for some Nyonya food. We had Grouper Fillets in Nyonya Sauce. The Nyonya sauce came in a bottle (Gimson's the brand) but I adjusted the taste by adding bunga kantan, mint leaves and potent chilli flakes.

Grouper Fillets In Nyonya Sauce

Stir-fried Hong Kong Nai Pak with Ginger Strips and Eggy Gravy

        Another simple dinner, it was, but hubby was pleased with it. He should be! The original plan was for him to cook dinner today while I see to the ironing. However, he was keen to go for an evening walk after pumping some iron in the house. So I decided to take charge of the cooking and leave the wrinkled clothes for attention on another day. To be fair, hubby did help a little in the kitchen upon returning from his walk.

MCO 4.0 - Day 26

26 June 2021     Day 26 of Movement Control Order 4.0

     

   It was unplanned but we ended up having a mushroom extravaganza. One dish was Steamed Stuffed Shiitake Mushrooms with Scallops Sauce and the other dish was Stir-fried French Beans with Fresh Brown Mushrooms.

      I rarely use dried scallops in my cooking as I had learnt from the early days of our marriage that hubby's not partial to it. So I use it sparingly. But today he surprised me as he seemed to love the sweet scallops sauce. And as he was doing the washing up, he commented, "That was fine dining. The dried scallops cost RM20 for 100g." Hahahah...I can see that Shopee is a handy teacher!

      After tonight's dinner, we had dessert of Mung Bean Soup, lovingly boiled by Clare and thoughtfully delivered by her husband, Lee. Such sweet friends I have!

MCO 4.0 - Day 25

 25 June 2021     Day 23 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        One of the joys of shopping excursions to Kuala Lumpur and Penang is being able to try different eateries. But one obligatory meal would be at Din Tai Fung, a highly-popular Taiwanese restaurant that has branches all over the world. Never wavering, hubby and I would order their pork xiao long bao and their pork chop la mian soup. 

        Dearly missing Din Tai Fung and knowing that we will not be travelling to KL, Penang or anywhere else in the near future, I took up the gauntlet and brought a piece of Din Tai Fung to Ipoh. I replicated their pork chop la mian soup this evening, much to hubby's delight.

My copycat version of Din Tai Fung's Pork Chop La Mian Soup

        After being rendered some karate chops with the back of a cleaver to tenderise them, the pork loin chops were marinated for about 3 hours with sea salt, sugar, black pepper, five spice powder, ginger powder, soya sauce, Shaoxing wine, cornflour and baking soda. Just before frying them, I also lightly coated them with more cornflour.

        As for the soup, I made a pork bone broth with the pork bones and some aromatics. The latter included smashed garlic, ginger slices, white ends of spring onion and carrot.

My lil sweetheart working hard

A peek at the magic boiling away

Poised for plating

Flavourful pork chop on their beds of la mian

        This evening's Pork Chop La Mian Soup was exquisite, a perfect end to the work week, and gave me the fleeting illusion that I was on a weekend shopping trip in KL. Hmmm... Now should I next try to copy their xiao long bao? That's a tall order!