Homemade Char Siew (BBQ Pork)

It has been raining almost every evening. Most of the mornings are gray.

Morning sky at 6:53am

Morning at 7:20am

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Home cooked dinner.

I was thinking of home made bbq pork (char siew). I defrosted and marinated the pork shoulder before I slow cooked it in a non stick pan. Can you see the thick slab of fat attached to the meat? I should have removed the layer of fat to make fried lard instead. I usually use pork belly to make bbq pork.

Home grown Brazilian spinach with dried shrimp and egg soup.

Simple yet satisfying dinner for 2.

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Some bird photos (not very clear) from my morning walk.

Looks like a pair of pigeon.

This looks like a kingfisher.

This one looks like a mourning dove.

Linking to Saturday's Critters.

You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.

You have taken away my clothes of mourning

and clothed me with joy,

that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.

O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever!

(Psalm 30:11-12, New Living Translation-NLT)

Brazilian Spinach In My Oat Porridge

I came to know about Brazilian Spinach through a friend when she gave me a handful of cuttings to grow. From the handful of cuttings, I had about 4 pots of Brazilian Spinach growing in my garden. One of its common name is Poor Man's Spinach.

It is a hardy, leafy, low growing vegetable that doesn't need much care.

From the 4 pots, I now have only 2 pots because I am the only one who like it.

If left to grow, tiny white flowers will appear.

It is easy to grow through stem cuttings.

The leaves are tender and nice to eat when they are tender.

So far, I have used the leaves to boil soup or blanched the leaves.

I have not tried to make salad with the leaves.

One morning, I added Brazilian leaves and dried cranberry to my oat porridge.

Hubby bought spicy fried noodle Mamak style.

Home made instant black coffee.

I was surprised to see an Ornamental Okra plant growing out of a flower pot which belong to the Gold Cup plant. It has even budded.

This is the pretty flower of the Ornamental Okra plant.

Home fried Beehoon Siam (my own version) with crispy fried lard.

~~~~~

That evening, we were blessed with a spectacular sunset.

Sunset at 7:34pm.

7:35pm

Can you see the bird on the roof?

It is waiting to return to its nest in my Bauhinia Kockiana plant.

7:36pm

7:37pm

On the reverse side, reflection of the sunset.

Reflection of sunset.

Reflection of sunset - 7:37pm.

Linking to Friday Bliss, Skywatch Friday & Garden Affair.

In the same way, we can see and

understand only a little about God now,

as if we were peering at his reflection in a poor mirror;

but someday we are going to see him in his completeness, face-to-face.

Now all that I know is hazy and blurred,

but then I will see everything clearly,

just as clearly as God sees into my heart right now.

(1 Corinthians 13:12, The Living Bible-TLB)

5 Treasures Rice Porridge & Steamed Pak Soh Koong Fish

There are a few routes that we can take for our morning walk. One is the route to the nearby Chinese School and another is to the nearby food court. And if we want to buy breakfast, we will use the route to the nearby shops.

At 7:38am, this place was unusually quiet because under the FMCO lockdown, eateries were only allowed to operate from 8am to 8pm for take away only.

Later, there was a change and eateries are now allowed to operate from  6am to 10pm for take away only.

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In this post, I will not share what we had for breakfast because there is nothing new. Instead, I will share what we had for 2 dinners.

Dinner #1 - Thursday evening.

I boiled 5 treasures rice porridge again. The room mate of our neighbour missed tasting the porridge I cooked earlier when she went back to her hometown to visit her parents. So, this time, I cooked porridge for 4 people.

Blanched home grown Brazilian spinach, drizzled with garlic oil, oyster and soy sauce.

Ingredients in the rice porridge (the 5 treasures): roast pork bones, minced pork, salted egg, century egg and char choy (pickled Sichuan vegetable).

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Dinner #2 - Friday evening.

Received a big Pak Soh Koong (White Whisker's Cat Fish) from our neighbour.

Steamed Pak Soh Koong (White Whisker's Cat Fish)

Ingredients used: lots of ginger strips, red and green bird's eye chilies, oyster and soy sauce and Chinese cooking wine.

Blanched baby "choy sum" and drizzled with garlic oil, oyster and soy sauce.

Delightful dinner for 2 people.

Multi layer petals yellow hibiscus from my garden.

A replica of an old fashioned well and washing area, and a bathroom/toilet. This was at Qing Xin Ling Leisure & Cultural Village in 2015.

Linking to Happy Tuesday, Image-in-ing & Tuesday's Treasures.

And we said, 'If they ever say this to us, or to our descendants,

we will answer: Look at the replica of the LORD'S altar,

which our ancestors built, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices,

but as a witness between us and you.'

(Joshua 22:28, New International Version-NIV)

Glutinous Rice Wine Chicken Soup, Brazilian Spinach & Fried Noodle

It was the 1st Sunday of May. It was a nice, lovely morning and it felt good to smell the crisp, fresh morning air as we walked.

Sunrise at 6:59am

Morning sky at 7:07am

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For dinner, I harvested a pot of home grown Brazilian Spinach.

Blanched Brazilian Spinach, plain without adding anything to it.

The garlic oil was all used up and I haven't made a new batch.

I used half a free range chicken to cook soup with 1 bottle of home made glutinous rice wine, wood fungus, red dates, goji berries, pounded old ginger and some sesame oil.

Just as I was packing some of the chicken soup for my neighbour, my neighbour called me on the hand phone to inform me that they have fried rice vermicelli for us. We ended up exchanging food with each other.

I didn't cook any rice or noodle for dinner but we were blessed by our neighbour with fried rice vermicelli.

My neighbour intended to have fried rice vermicelli for dinner but were blessed by our glutinous rice wine chicken soup. Thankful for good neighbours.

One law rules over all other laws.

This royal law is found in the Scriptures:

"Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself."

If you obey this law, you are doing right.

(James 2:8, Easy-To-Read Version-ERV)

Salted Egg Yolk Cookies, Boiled Chickpea & Lazy Dinner

Last week, I had a breakfast appointment with 2 friends. We haven't met up for months since the 2nd movement control order. Hubby and I woke up early and we had plenty of time for our morning walk and returning home to get ready before driving out to meet my friends.

Sunrise at 7:45am.

My friends and I went to a new eatery to try curry noodle. We were busy talking and I forgot to snap photos of our breakfast. The curry noodle was like any average curry noodle and nothing special about it. On the drive home, we stopped to buy some cookies.

A rotating machine for toasting peanuts for making the cookies.

This machine removes the skin from the toasted peanuts.

My friend and I stopped to buy meat floss salted egg yolk cookies. The picture on the box shows cookies without meat floss. I think it is RM3 per cookie but I am not very sure.

I also bought the above snacks from the same place.

Boiled chickpeas for lunch.

I soaked the chickpeas in the morning before I went out.

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I went into lazy mode.

I opened a can of mutton curry, blanched some home grown Brazilian spinach and cooked dried noodle for hubby. I cooked oat porridge for myself and ate most of the Brazilian spinach.

Sunset at 7:20pm

Evening sky (opposite the setting sun) at 7:20pm.

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A friend shared with me the following photos of her flowering snake plant.

Photos credited to Shirley T.

Snake plant aka mother-in-law tongue plant.

Snake plants rarely flower.

When it does, it is usually because the plants growing in a flower pot is root bound.

Linking to Friday Bliss, Skywatch Friday & Garden Affair.

Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him.

See that you go on growing in the Lord,

and become strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught.

Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all he has done.

(Colossians 2:7, The Living Bible-TLB)