MCO - Day 5

22 March 2020     Day 5 of Movement Control Order        

        A new directive for this period of MCO dictates that, starting from today, only one person, which is the head of the family, is allowed to leave the house to get basic necessities or medication. It was quite a laugh to read many posts on Facebook about husbands' 101 questions on what exactly to buy after being sent out shopping.  As today's Sunday and hubby does not need to work, he had to see to the supermarket shopping (for dairy products, etc.). I had also instructed him to pick up a few other items. True enough, there were pictures and messages sent over WhatsApp to enquire if he was on the right track. 😅
        However, a shout out should be given to hubby dearest, who soldiered on well, especially when solo supermarket shopping is not his forte. He did not leave out a single item on the shopping list (except for bread, which was still not available), swept through the aisles fast and remembered to physically distance himself from other shoppers.
        And for the rest of the day, he was kept busy, preparing some paperwork for the current health crisis.
        For dinner, he was served :

Pongteh chicken

Stir-fried broccoli with prawns

        Pongteh chicken is a classic Nyonya dish that simply means chicken and potato stew. It actually is a non-spicy dish, but my mum has always thrown in a couple of dried chillies. As hubby enjoys spicy food, I cannot omit them either.

MCO - Day 4

21 March 2020     Day 4 of Movement Control Order

        Lazy Saturday. I was curled up with a book for the most part of the day, giving myself a good rest after decluttering and cleaning the house for the past few days.
        We had a hearty breakfast bought from our favourite hawker after I braved a 45-minute long queue for pork at the market. As we are usually not in the habit of having lunch on weekends, I did not prepare anything. But we suddenly felt peckish and hubby volunteered to make Bombay toast for us. 
        "Bombay toast? What's that?" I was eager to know.
        "Ah! You wait and see," he replied. He then went out to get bread from the local grocery shop but returned empty-handed. Bread at the local grocery shop as well as at the neighbourhood mamak shop had all been snapped up! As his wife had urged him not to venture far, he obediently came home minus the bread.
        So we rummaged through the larder to find something quick and easy to whip up. And we did! 

This was what Chef Derrick cooked for lunch.

     

Fried spinach ramen with tuna in chilli oil, accompanied by a fluffy omelette

           It turned out to be an egg affair day as the dinner menu that I had planned also featured eggs! No complaints from hubby, who is used to gobbling down 10 to 15 half-boiled eggs per day, in an attempt to build muscle.

Egg and minced meat patties

        

Otak-otak ordered from my dear friend

Hairy gourd soup with meat balls

        However, my desire in tasting hubby's Bombay toast has not been satisfied. He has promised to make them for me after we get our hands on some bread.

MCO - Day 3

20 March 2020     Day 3 of Movement Control Order

        Even before the MCO came into effect, Catholic churches had decided to suspend all Masses, bearing in mind the increase of COVID-19 cases. I experienced "attending" Mass via live streaming last Sunday. It felt odd not being able to celebrate Mass in church, especially during the holy season of Lent. But we will adapt and do what is necessary, in an effort to win this war.
        As today's Friday, I try to cling on to a tiny sacrifice for Lent, and that is to abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent. Unsuspecting hubby also had to practise this, as today's dinner was meatless. 😉
        On the table for dinner :

Naked Hakka tofu

Hakka tofu garnished with fried shallots

Naked siew pak choy

Siew pak choy dressed up with fried garlic

        I sometimes make Hakka tofu with a mixture of fish paste and marinated minced pork, but for today, I used solely fish paste. Hubby was so busy enjoying his dinner whilst updating me on the cases he treated for the day that he did not realise that it was a platter of Hakka tofu sans pork. 😆

MCO - Day 2

19 March 2020     Day 2 of Movement Control Order

        Today's Thursday, the day that hubby usually conducts his zumba class for his staff at the hospital. But that has been cancelled for this period of MCO. Hubby came home straight from work and proceeded to pump some iron with some dumbbells and press bench, which we had rushed out to buy on Tuesday. This MCO has also put our gym routine on hold, thus we had to set up our mini home gym.
        So while hubby huffed and puffed, this dutiful wifey cooked today's dinner.
        Ta-da! After sweating it out, hubby was rewarded with the following :

Pesto chicken

Steamed brinjals with lots of fried shallots

MCO - Day 1

18 March 2020     Day 1 of Movement Control Order

      In a bid to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, our Prime Minister announced the nationwide implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) from 18 to 31 March 2020. One of the implications of this MCO is no eating out, which means occasional cooks like yours truly have to summon up culinary strategies to whip up 14 dinners, preferably non-repetitive. I guess I'm luckier than many others, who have to rack their brains to think of 14 breakfasts, lunches and dinners, and possibly tea breaks. The reason for this is darling hubby is one of the many medical personnel who still have to stand on the front line and put themselves at risk of getting infected by the Coronavirus, while the rest of us stay safe at home.

        This period of MCO is indeed momentous and historic in the history of mankind. So my small gesture to remind myself of this period is to blog about the 14 dinners that I'm going to cook.

        Today's dinner consisted of fried nam yu pork belly and stir-fried French beans. The pork belly had actually been bought last Saturday, before we had any inkling of this restricted movement decree. It was the start of the one-week school break and I thought I would cook something that hubby loves very much. If I had attempted to get the pork belly from the wet market yesterday, I would have failed miserably as the queue was super long!

Fried nam yu pork belly (some were used to be eaten with my noodles for  the next day's lunch)

Stir-fried French beans

Long but orderly queue for pork at the Canning Garden market

Horrendous queue just to go up the escalator at Tesco Ipoh Garden

Being Allured By Honshu - Day 8

Beautiful Shirakawa-go at every turn

        Wishing to make the most of our short stay in Shirakawa-go, we woke up early to capture some sunrise shots of the gassho-style houses. Unfortunately, it was raining so hopes of getting sunrise colours were dashed. Nevertheless, we braved the rain and ventured out.

Shirakawa-go on a misty morning

Breakfast at the hotel

        We later returned to our hotel for a sumptuous breakfast. As our bus was scheduled for 10.25 a.m., we were able to laze around in the room for a while before checking out and walking the very short distance (3-minute walk) to the bus terminal. Upon checking out, we were slapped with a ¥150 each for onsen tax, which I thought was rather unfair. It had not been clearly stated in the hotel conditions, and bearing in mind that all rooms did not have an ensuite, guests would be compelled to use the onsen.

Boarding the bus 

My most yummy prawn broth ramen

Derrick's pork bone broth ramen

This is the ramen gem that we stumbled upon

        We arrived at Kanazawa Station at 11.34 a.m. (15 minutes ahead of schedule) and we had about 2 hours to kill before catching our bullet train to Tokyo. Wandering around Kanazawa Station, we stumbled upon an excellent ramen restaurant, Raumen Samurai-no Samurai. My ramen in prawn broth was simply ooh-la-lla! Definitely the best ramen I've ever had. Derrick tasted my ramen soup and had to concede that it was tastier than his pork bone broth, which was also yummy. Our lunch came up to ¥1750 for both of us.
        At exactly 1.56 p.m., our Hokuriku Shinkansen Hakutaka No. 566 departed for Tokyo, travelling a distance of  450.5 km in 2 hours and 56 minutes. This was a tick off my bucket list as riding the shinkansen (bullet train) has always been on the list of things that I want to do after learning about it in my Geography lesson. It definitely was not a cheap ride as it costs about RM500 each, but it is worth the experience.

Leading the way to board the shinkansen

Our shinkansen pulls in

Lovey dove on the shinkansen

        After arriving at Tokyo Station, we made our way to the Chuo Line and stopped at the Ueno Station. Our sole purpose of doing this was to get to the Hard Rock Cafe shop to add to our collection of Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts. After that, we hopped back onto the train and headed for the Shinjuku Station.

Such a convenient Hard Rock Cafe shop!

        Emerging from the Shinjuku Station, we had our first glimpse of Tokyo from above ground. Tokyo is definitely warmer and bustling with people. The temperature was about 15 degrees Celsius but it felt like 23 degrees! We had to jostle our way for about 650 metres to get to Ibis Tokyo Shinjuku, where we were spending the night. 
        After dumping our bags and freshening up, we walked out in search of food. There were tons of choices available but we finally settled for a tiny shop located 2 floors below ground level. What an experience! It was our first time entering a doorway and then climbing 2 flights of narrow winding stairs DOWN to reach this tiny eatery. Japan is definitely full of new experiences for us to try. Derrick chose a rice bowl topped with ginger-fried pork (¥840 for a large bowl) while I ordered the katsudon (a deep fried pork cutlet rice bowl ¥630).

Let's venture down!

Tired face after all the travelling

Christmas festive air in Tokyo

        Before returning to our hotel, we located the Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal as on the next morning, we would be catching an early morning bus there to our next destination. But for now, it's Oyasumi nasai (Good night) after a long day of travelling.

Relishing Ramen in Ipoh

        Avidly reading some local food blogs and joining a Ipoh community group on Facebook keep me in the loop when new and tasty eateries sprout up. I was excited to know that a ramen establishment had opened in Ipoh's Old Town and had generated good reviews. And so, after our gym workout this evening, Derrick and I headed to Mad Ramen Bar for dinner.

Face of glee 

Situated at 3, Jalan Panglima (just opposite Plan B)

        The place was packed although it was still fairly early in the evening. The friendly staff ushered us to seats at the bar, and later offered us a table after it had been vacated. In addition to ramen, diners can choose to have donburi (ricebowls), yakitori (grilled skewered meat), desserts, non-alcoholic drinks, mocktails and cocktails. 

Observing the bartender as the samurai on the wall observe us

        I decided to try their Black Tonkotsu Ramen (RM19.80), which has really springy ramen in a flavourful black garlic and black sesame tonkotsu pork broth that had been simmered for over 8 hours. It is served with tender pork chasu, braised tamago, black fungus and spring onions. Biting into the braised tamago (egg) really brought back all the sweet memories of last year's Japan trip.

My Black Tonkotsu Ramen

        Derrick was in porky heaven with his Pork Rib Black Shoyu Ramen (RM21.80). He was given a glove to devour his pork rib with ease. In addition, we shared a plate of Chicken Teriyaki Bites (RM9.80), which was just as yummy.

Derrick's Pork Rib Black Shoyu Ramen

Chicken Teriyaki Bites

        Our ramen selections this evening were from the Tonkotsu spread, which originates from Fukuoka, Kyushu. I made a mental note to try one of the Hokkaido ramen offerings on our next visit, which I suspect would be in the near future, judging from the way Derrick was raving about the food long after dinner was over. I was told that the Hokkaido ramen broth is lighter but just as tasty.
        We resisted the urge to order the goma (black sesame) and matcha (green tea) ice cream as we had a tub of Haagen-Dazs Hojicha Latte ice cream awaiting us in our freezer. And I was thrilled to spot hojicha (roasted green tea) latte on the menu. That's for our next visit!