Tuesday, September 27, 2011

My home :)

Ever since I moved to Penang in 2006, I only went home during CNY. The last time I went home was in 2009 CNY, and after that I never go home ever since I'm pregnant with Eunice, until recently. My brother got married in Aug and of course I have to go home. :)... and we took Eunice for her first flight at her 18th month.




There are some special things in my home. :)... Besides my family, the home cooked food, the famous Sarawak kampua mee and their laksa, there are some other special things in my home that I cannot find else where.




My dad plants vegetables. And no, he doesn't do that for a living. He worked in a bank before he retires, and now he's helping a relative doing some office work. My grandfather was a farmer. Hence that's where my dad and two of my aunties got the skill from. He uses natural fertilizer (he used to ask my brothers to pee in the potty :P) and no pestiside for his vegetables. The reason he does that is very straight forward - to save money. Now that I'm paying to do the marketing every weekend, I do know that it doesn't only save money, but it also saves the time spent to go and buy in the market - not forgetting that you can always get the freshest vegetable just at your home. :)







That's me in my dad's straw hat cutting some vege for Eunice's porridge




My dad's little farm

Kangkung, spring onions, and some other vege that I don't know what their names are :P

Close shot of some new baby vegetables




We even have dragon fruit trees in my house! :D... And it's the one with the red flesh. During our home trip there weren't any fruit but when my mum visited me few times in Penang, she used to bring some over for me and wow, they are sooooooo sweet! In Penang, sometimes I pay nearly RM3.50 for 1 red flesh dragon fruit, no guarantee that it's sweet. :). And we also have papaya trees. We had papaya trees since I was young. My dad always says papaya are the cheapest fruits to feed a family of 6! :)




The dragon fruit trees


Papaya trees



When we had our wedding in Miri, EG was having some kind of "cultural shock" to see how we, foochow (or hock chew), celebrate a festive day.




First, we won't run away from our famous Sarawak mee suah. This mee suah is different from those that we buy in the market from Peninsula. EG said it's nice and he has never tasted them elsewhere. It's salty, and very thin and soft. I recently got some mee suah from Setiawan from a friend. I'll see if it's the same as ours in Sarawak.


The mee sua



I told EG, I had eggs for breakfast since I'm primary 1 to form 5, almost everyday, except weekends. We'll either have hard boiled eggs, soft boiled eggs, or fried eggs with baked beans. Funny thing is, we never complaint. Maybe because all of us love eggs. And probably that explains why all of us get good results in our exams - eggs are full of natural DHA mar... :P. Anyway, hard boiled eggs are also another must have to eat together with mee sua during a celebration in my hometown.

Hard boiled eggs




Tang Yuen, made of glutinous rice flour, will also be served - but this one is mainly during wedding. I remember my aunty made me and EG to feed each other the tang yuen to signify that we'll be in love forever. :). One thing special for this is that in Miri, or at least in my home, we only have the dry ones - which is coated with crushed peanuts or beans. This round, my auntie made it with pumpkin to add more flavor to it. Actually, I only eaten tang yuen in syrup when my best friend brought some for me during uni time. :P





The yummy tang yuen




The Foo chow red wine chicken soup is definitely a no miss when we go back to Miri. We'll eat this with mee sua together. We'll be served this the day we reach home, and the day we leave home before going to airport. We'll also eat this during birthday, baby fullmoon, or any celebration. It has been the tradition all the while since I was young. This is a very simple dish cooked with chicken, ginger mushroom, and the Foo Chow home made red wine, but for me, I taste really good. I tried to cook it here using the same recipe but it doesn't turn out as nice as my mum's. I checked it through this round and finally concluded that it's the type of chicken that we use. I have to find the special chicken "species" in a bigger market. :)





The boiling chicken soup




And this, is how the mee sua be served to all the guests. A piece of meat with a mushroom, and mee sua. :)



The famous Foo Chow Mee Sua



Sometimes I feel sad that I can't speak Foo Chow anymore since I have not been speaking it after I left home. Even at home, I was speaking the very basic ones with my grandma before she passed away. So, I don't think Eunice will ever learn Foo Chow. But I do hope that I'll continue to let her eat all these traditional Foo Chow food since she's half a Foo Chow now. And I hope she'll appreciate the culture like how I do. :)

9 comments:

Daniel Yap said...

Thank you for sharing more about Foo Chow food. I tried hunting for Foo Chow food in Penang, but can't find one.

By the way, nice photos...looks very professionally taken.

pENguiN~ said...

Oh din know still got ppl read my blog... wahahahhaa! was just simply typing on a boring night. :)

Next time when I cook the mee sua, I call you guys over. :).. and thanks for the compliments on the photo - thanks to your poison lense - which reminds me that we need to return it to you!

Joy said...

I'm a Hainanese and am quite proud that I could still speak the dialect fluently. However, I could never master the famous Hainanese Chicken Rice dish. :P

pENguiN~ said...

:D... joy, but I'm sure you can cook it, just need some time to master it :)

Marx said...

I would like to tell you that you have given me much knowledge about it. Thanks for everything. Keep Blogging!

- Marx of web design

Celeste said...

hie penguin~ thanks for sharing the mee suah recipe.. I was just wondering if you can give me the address on where to buy the mee suah? I will be on the hunt for famous uncook sarawak mee suah soon.. any recommendations? many thanks XD

pENguiN~ said...

Hi Celeste, I normally got the mee sua from my mum when she comes visit me from Sarawak. But I think should should be able to get it from Setiawan also. Happy Hunting.

Celeste said...

hmm any shop name or number?

pENguiN~ said...

Erm u mean in Sarawak? I'm not sure coz my mum buys it from her old friend's shop most of the time. I think as long as u ask for foo chow mee sua then it won't be wrong.