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!

MCO 4.0 - Day 24

 24 June 2021     Day 24 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        When I spotted some medium-sized prawns at the seafood shop yesterday, I immediately knew what to cook with them...something easy-peasy yet tasty, and very much enjoyed by hubby. It's from Marion's Kitchen, but to be precise, it's cooked by Mama Noi, her irrepressible mum. 

        I love to watch both Marion and Mama Noi in action; Mama Noi really makes me laugh. Before cooking tonight's dish, I re-watched the video of Mama Noi cooking it, and of course one video led to another, and more. There was one that I really burst out laughing, all stress momentarily dissipated.

        So what's tonight's dish? It's Mama Noi's Thai Sweet and Sour Prawns! And it was paired with Stir-fried Lady's Fingers with XO Sauce.

MCO 4.0 - Day 23

 23 June 2021     Day 23 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        Before my birthday vouchers expire, I had to use them. Moreover, there were items that my mum required. So we went shopping! To be precise, we popped into Eu Yan Sang, grabbed the needed items and utilised my birthday vouchers. When I was using my credit card for the purchase, it struck me that it has been ages since my credit card was used in a store. Simply put, apart from procuring food, groceries, meat and vegetables from the market, certain shops and eateries, I have not gone shopping in a store for a long time! Oh, I have been shopping...but it was all through the Internet, and payment was done through ShopeePay, e-wallet and online banking. I can foresee a day in the near future when even the plastic cards are of little use!

        Tonight's dinner was another simple and homey affair. It's also something I cook quite often for a weeknight. Sesame Oil Chicken with lots of ginger, crispy fried ginger and of course, sesame oil, is a comforting and easy-to-prepare dish. With the rumbling thunder and ominous sky, I thought to myself that this Sesame Oil Chicken would be just the perfect dish to complement a thunderstorm. However, the thunderstorm did not materialise, and the ferocious rumble gradually turned into a feeble mewl. Nevertheless, the Sesame Oil Chicken was still much-enjoyed.

Sesame Oil Chicken...nothing fancy and yet, so tasty.

French Beans Omelette

Lotus Root Pork Ribs Soup (forgot to add peanuts, but fortunately, hubby didn't complain)

MCO 4.0 - Day 22

 22 June 2021     Day 22 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        Oh my! I cannot stop raving about tonight's meat dish. To be fair, hubby enjoyed it too as he was jostling with me to slurp up the remaining juices. But I was the one who kept going into raptures over it. And the best part is it's another fuss-free dish that's perfect for an evening when you are already worn out.

        We find Marion's Honey Soy Garlic Marinade a tad too sweet for our liking so I've always needed to balance the flavours by making it slightly spicy. Today I marinated my chicken thighs with her Honey Soy Garlic Marinade, added finely chopped garlic and ginger, put in a dash of black pepper and a swirl of olive oil, sprinkled some potent chilli flakes made by a colleague's father...and poured in some lemon juice plus lemon zest. These were later baked for 40 minutes at 190 degrees Celsius. The last two ingredients, I believe, made all the difference! Those who know me well can testify that I have a weakness for sour food.

     Ooo..la..lla! May I present my Honey Soy Garlic Roast Chicken?

Honey Soy Garlic Roast Chicken

Steamed Brinjals with Fried Shallots

MCO 4.0 - Day 21

 21 June 2021     Day 21 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        Today, the Northern Hemisphere formally welcomes Summer with the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. London will be enjoying 16.5 hours of sunlight today, with sunrise at 4.43 a.m. and sunset at 9.21 p.m. And in North Cape, Norway, there will be 24 hours of daylight! This evokes memories of our June 2011 visit to North Cape, Norway, where we witnessed the spectacular Midnight Sun. We were there in early June, so it didn't coincide with the Summer Solstice. But we saw how bright it was throughout the night and day. Around midnight, the sun just dipped into the sea for a brief rest and promptly rose again. I could still remember going for an incredibly early morning stroll in the woods behind our hotel at 2 o'clock in the morning!

Cold and windy at the North Cape at around 11.00 p.m.!

Breathtaking Midnight Sun at the North Cape

        Our Summer Solstice dinner was not difficult to prepare, but required quite some time to be ready. The Pork Rib Stew with Chu How Sauce had to be braised for around an hour to produce the melt-in-the-mouth-fall-off-the-bone effect. Chu How sauce can be obtained ready-made in bottles, but I've always made my own concoction (2 parts of Hoisin sauce and 1 part of taucu plus some ginger powder). 

        To make the dish, I sauteed garlic and ginger before adding the pork ribs. As I was making a fairly huge portion today, I wished I had a bigger French oven. Without that, I had to use my stainless steel wok. After the meat had browned, I poured in the Chu How sauce, a dash of oyster sauce and some sugar. I gave everything a good mix before adding water, turning down the fire and allowing the pork ribs to stew in the lovely juices. Fifteen minutes later, I added Shaoxing wine and the white ends of spring onions. After another fifteen minutes (half way through the braising), soaked and softened beancurd sheets joined the pork ribs. When the dish was almost done, I did some tasting, decided to add a little soya sauce, swirled in some sesame oil and turned off the fire. That's the Pork Rib Stew with Chu How sauce for dinner and the next two days' brunches.

Our Summer Solstice dinner : Pork Ribs with Chu How Sauce, Stir-fried Angled Luffa with Prawns

MCO 4.0 - Day 20

20 June 2021     Day 20 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        While I was at the market, working through my selection of vegetables for the week, hubby asked, "Shall I fry beehoon for you tonight?" Who, in the right mind, would say no to that? Not only is fried beehoon my favourite, it also means that I am freed from kitchen labour. In addition, hubby always makes extra portions so that's tomorrow's brunch headache solved.

        

Chef Derrick's Fried Beehoon

Happy Father's Day to all the awesome dads out there!

        

Happy Father's Day to the first hero in my life 💕

Happy Father's Day to our two Dads! 💖💝

MCO 4.0 - Day 19

 19 June 2021     Day 19 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        When tonight's meat dish was revealed to hubby upon removal of the food mesh, his comment was, "You surprised me again!" The surprise was not intentional, I'm afraid. Apparently, he was quite disappointed when he couldn't get siew bak (roast pork) to add on to this morning's brunch. So he was mighty pleased to see a porky spread for dinner. Hahahah...I suppose tonight's Nam Yue Pork Belly did bear some remote resemblance to siew bak.

Nam Yue Pork Belly and Marion's Tomato Egg Drop Soup for dinner

MCO 4.0 - Day 18

 18 June 2021     Day 18 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        Yayyy! Made it through the week and the weekend's here for us to slow down a little, as well as make preparations for the following week's lessons.

        Had it not been for this dark, dangerous period of Covid-19, we probably would have had a dinner outside tonight. But tonight, we enjoyed a simple dinner at home.

        Despite its simplicity, dinner was, as always, prepared with much love. And hubby was very appreciative of tonight's dinner. We do not need a lavish candlelight dinner to celebrate our love. All that you are is all that I'll ever need. - Ed Sheeran

BBQ Sauce Pork Chop

Stir-fried French Beans

MCO 4.0 - Day 17

 17 June 2021     Day 17 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        With the soothing pitter-patter of the rain outside, we enjoyed a simple cozy dinner. Thankfully, I had planned for a meal that didn't necessitate much labouring in the kitchen, for I was a little under the weather.

Dinner on a wet evening : ABC Soup, Steamed Cod and Fried Lor Bak

MCO 4.0 - Day 16

 16 June 2021     Day 16 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        With a less packed teaching schedule today, I was not weary. Things were even better today because hubby had a day off. He kept popping in with honey lemon juice to hydrate his wifey, and he also bought brunch for both of us, so I didn't have to spend time whipping up something to eat.

        After being cooped up in the house for several days now, I decided to venture out for some fresh air. As the sun was still beating down mercilessly at half past five in the evening, I decided to cook part of dinner first, leave it to stay warm in my French Oven, go for a brisk walk around our residential area with hubby after the sun had dipped a little, and then return to finish cooking. But when we got back from our walk, hubby volunteered to cook the rest of the dinner. 💖

Hubby's favourite Chicken Curry

Chef Derrick's Stir-fried Asparagus with Prawns in XO Sauce

MCO 4.0 - Day 15

 15 June 2021     Day 15 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        Truly knackered. For a split second, I even questioned myself, "Did I remember to take my medication today?" I am very sure I did, so that cannot be the reason for my extreme tiredness today. 

        If we were not under strict lockdown, I would have suggested to either eat out or pack dinner home from somewhere. Prudence got the better of me so I just took a peek into the freezer, and boy, was I elated to see a tub of braised pork belly with yam and another portion of otak-otak! Hubby had earlier bought these from Ah Khay, the vegetable seller. That's the major portion of tonight's dinner settled. I pulled out a Freezermate of pork ribs, threw them into the pot together with some mushroom beans, and there's a pot of soup as well! Phew!

MCO 4.0 - Day 14

 14 June 2021     Day 14 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        It's back to the virtual classroom and it was a hectic day of lessons. I'm glad to be able to "see" my students again, although I couldn't literally see them as they would give 101 excuses not to turn the camera on. 

        After the school day was over, the teacher's job doesn't end with the ringing of the imaginary school bell. It was time to grab a quick lunch, followed by sending in online reports and the rest of the afternoon and evening were spent grading students' work online. That, was no easy feat. It's extremely time-consuming! And worse, I can already feel my eyesight is deteriorating with the amount of screen time incurred.  

        I could only manage an easy weeknight dinner : French Oven Chicken Rice, paired with Steamed Brinjals.

        Hubby caught me by surprise this morning when he remembered that it's the Dragonboat Festival today, and he added, "Let's eat glutinous dumplings." He has never been a fan of anything that's glutinous so I didn't bother to make or buy the dumplings for today. Oh, well, tonight's French Oven Chicken Rice does have a remote resemblance to Bak Chang! 😅

MCO 4.0 - Day 13

 13 June 2021     Day 13 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        Whilst looking for some inspiration on new recipes the other day, I stumbled upon Peng's Kitchen. She has shared many excellent recipes and one of them, Lemony Fish Pie, caught my eye. I made some adaptations to it (used fresh rosemary instead of dill, used grouper fillet, prawns and clam instead of grouper, salmon and mussels, added sliced brown mushrooms and a sprinkling of green peas)...and voila! We had Lemony Seafood Pie for dinner, together with Mushroom Soup. Peng's trick of stirring in lemon juice and zest really took the dish up a notch. It made the other flavours more pronounced, and gave a tart, fresh taste to the seafood pie. Delicieuse!

Ultimate comfort food : Lemony Seafood Pie with Mushroom Soup

Golden yellow mashed potato topping hides but hints at the flavourful seafood mingling in its velvety white sauce.

King Neptune's feast

MCO 4.0 - Day 12

12 June 2021     Day 12 of Movement Control Order 4.0

           Still in the mood for some washoku (Japanese cuisine), I made Garlic Fried Rice, with some Ebi Tatsuta-age (Japanese crispy fried shrimp) and paired it with Teriyaki Salmon. Instead of miso soup, I made a simple Sweet Corn Egg Drop Soup. I've never stocked miso in my kitchen and will not start now, especially when I have to stay away from anything that's made from soybeans. Neither do I have Japanese short grain rice at home so I cheated with my basmathi long grain rice. The Ebi Tatsuta-age, which had been marinated with grated ginger, salt, pepper and mirin, ended up slightly burnt. But there were no complaints from hubby. He enjoyed everything...the fish, prawns, fried rice and soup.

Home-cooked washoku

Slightly burnt Ebi Tatsuta-age on cheat's version of Garlic Fried Rice

Grilled Salmon with Teriyaki Sauce

Sweet Corn Egg Drop Soup

MCO 4.0 - Day 11

 11 June 2021     Day 11 of Movement Control Order 4.0

        Irene's kitchen was closed today. Paid a visit to Uncle Autumn (my nickname for the friendly boss of Akamomiji) and packed a Japanese dinner home for an intimate celebration. Akamomiji, which serves tasty unpretentious Japanese fare at really reasonable prices, is our go-to place whenever we want to be reminded of our 2018 Honshu trip. Uncle Autumn himself had worked in Osaka and Tokyo for over a decade before returning to Ipoh to start his own business. He named his restaurant after his favourite season, autumn.

Japanese dinner at home

Kaki Fried (Fried Oysters) RM26.80

Avocado Salmon Crunchy Maki RM24.80

Unagi Mentai Maki RM15.80

Saba Tare RM15.80

Shishamo RM10.80

     And for dessert, we shared a slice of my favourite Tiramisu and a slice of Biscoff Cake from Little Allegra. Mmmm...indulgence indeed!

The most heavenly tiramisu, imho.

To be honest, this was my first time tasting the much talked-about Biscoff (Biscuit + Coffee)...and it had to be in the form of the cake 😉