Making Pickled Sichuan Mustard Soup For Dinner

We woke up early but was a bit late starting on our morning walk. It is because when I started to do something, I tend to get carried away and lost track of the time.

Sunrise at 7:10am.

After morning walk, we had breakfast in Ipoh old town at Kedai Kopi Ah Chow.

Dry curry noodle for hubby @ RM6.50

Seafood noodle for me @ RM6.00

I actually ordered seaweed noodle but I think the person taking my order mistaken it for seafood noodle. I didn't complain, just ate the bowl of noodle.

Wild mushrooms growing on an empty land.

During the monsoon season, wild mushrooms can be seen sprouting here and there.

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Home cooked dinner.

This is a pickled Sichuan mustard stem. It is salted, dried and pickled with red chili paste. Before using, I washed off the chili paste, cut it into quarter inch thick slices and soak it in water to remove the salt. The longer it is soaked, the less salty the taste.

This soup tastes something like the salted vegetable (kiam chai/hum choy) soup.

Ingredients used: Pre-soaked pickled mustard slices, pork rib, tomatoes, carrot, some crushed white peppercorns and water. If necessary, add some salt to taste. We love this soup because it is an appetizing soup with a bit of sour and salty taste.

Sauteed malabar spinach with garlic and salt.

Dinner with steamed brown rice.

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I found the following black and white murals behind a row of shops when we were having dinner one evening in Menglembu.

This mural shows a typical local street lined with shops.

These white, black and grey cows were drawn on a grey wall and they were drawn in such a way to outline the shape of a cow. Can you see it? I only noticed it when I was writing this post.

Linking to Monday Mural.

O Lord, what is man that you even notice him?

Why bother at all with the human race?

(Psalm 144:3, The Living Bible-TLB)

Baked Chicken Wings, Corn Soup & Malabar Spinach

 This was one of the rainy days in the monsoon season.

Starting out on our morning walk at 7am.

7:05am

7:10am

7:15am

My breakfast at one of our regular coffee shop: croissant with butter+kaya and unsweetened black coffee. I was about to start eating the croissant when I suddenly remembered that I want to take a snapshot of my breakfast. Hubby ordered this usual: shredded chicken noodle (kai si hor fun).

Walking home after breakfast - 8:10am.

8:15am.

A friend coming to collect some pineapple baby plants from me.

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Home cooked dinner.

Baked chicken wings.

I cut each chicken wings into 3 parts. I kept the tips of the wings for boiling soup or for stew. I collect the drummets and mid-section and marinated them with salt, oyster sauce and sugar before roasting them in the oven.

Blanched malabar spinach which I bought from the roadside stall.

Delicious soup on a rainy evening.

Ingredients: 2 corn on cob, carrot, goji berries and pork ribs.

This was a no-rice dinner for hubby and I.

Linking to Wordless Wednesday & My Corner of the World.

We glide along the tides of time as swiftly as a racing river

and vanish as quickly as a dream.

We are like grass that is green in the morning but mowed down

and withered before the evening shadows fall.

(Psalm 90:5-6, The Living Bible-TLB)

Assorted Pastries, Hokkien Fried Fat Noodle & Steamed Pork Ribs

This is another day with gloomy sky. As long as it is drizzling, we can still go for our walk.

A glimpse of the sunrise at 7:30am.

On the way back, we made a detour to the nearby shops to buy the above items for breakfast.

Top row: 2 yam puffs and 1 curry puff, 3 items for RM5.

Bottow row: 2 siew pau and 1 egg tart, 3 items for RM5.

Fried flaky bbq pau and hum cheem peang.

The bbq pork filling of the fried flaky siew pau is nice but the skin is too thick.

Hubby bought this and he couldn't remember how much he paid for it.

For lunch, hubby went out to buy Hokkien fried fat noodle for us to share.

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Home cooked dinner.

Steamed pork ribs with preserved black beans.

Blanched home grown Malabar Spinach, drizzled with garlic oil, oyster and soy sauce.

Our neighbour bought for us stewed fish head. To heat up for dinner, I steamed it and added in the leftover roast pork I had in the fridge. This was more for me because hubby is not a fan of fish head.

I kept aside half of the steamed pork rib for next day.

I saw this unusual white butterfly fluttering on the tarmac road on our morning walk.

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The following photo and video credited to Aislynn.

This is a mango loving dog. My friend recently took in a stray dog and it surprised her to see this dog enjoying a ripe mango that had fallen from the tree in her garden.

My friend shared this short video of her adopted dog enjoying the mango.

Linking to Saturday's Critters.

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves.

Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you

as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father."

(Romans 8:15, New Living Translation-NLT)

Kitchen In Full Swing - Out Of Lazy Mode

This afternoon, we came to know that Ipoh is one of the towns that will be placed under stricter MCO i.e. Enhanced Movement Control Order. This is not surprising because the spike in Covid cases in Ipoh and surrounding areas is worrying and a cause for concern.

 Okay, back to today's post. This was 2nd day MCO 3.0. 

A simple breakfast: Black coffee and toast.

Coconut jam (kaya) for hubby and strawberry jam for me.

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Late morning, a package was delivered to us. We bought a sewing machine motor to be fitted to my old foot pedal sewing machine.

These days, the quality of the leather belts for the foot pedal machine is not as durable as before. So instead of changing leather belts, hubby suggested that we get a motor. The motor and petal are both black in colour.

After hubby has installed the motor, I did a trial run. It will take some time for me to get use to using the motor and also how much pressure to apply to the pedal.

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Lunch

Instead of going out to buy lunch, I cooked plain rice porridge.

Pickled vegetable and onion omelette.

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Dinner

I cooked black vinegar pork leg using 1 whole pork leg. Once cooked, I divided it into 4 portions and gave 1 portion to our neighbour.

Blanched home grown Malabar Spinach and sprinkled some sambal dried shrimps.

Thankful for a satisfying and delicious dinner.

One morning while walking home, we passed this mango tree laden with mangoes. This bunch of mangoes was just above my head. I love ripe mangoes. Some green mangoes can be very sour.

Can horses run on rocks? Can oxen plow the sea?

Stupid even to ask - but no more stupid than what you do

when you make a mockery of justice and corrupt

and sour all that should be good and right.

(Amos 6:12, The Living Bible-TLB)

Glutinous Rice Dumpling, Roast Pork & Blanched Malabar Spinach

I almost forgot the 2 glutinous rice dumplings that were in the fridge. So instead of steaming rice, I steamed the glutinous rice dumplings to go with the dishes for dinner.

Steamed glutinous rice dumplings in their wrapping.

Hubby came home from his meet-up with a friend gave hubby a packet of roast pork which I used to stir fry with onions, chilies, and sauces.

Blanched Malabar spinach, drizzled with garlic oil, oyster and soy sauce.

This was our home cooked dinner. Some may think it is weird to eat glutinous rice dumpling with these dishes but it is fine with us. We kept the leftover roast pork in the fridge.

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Pests found on the seed pods of my Water Jasmine plant.

I was watering my plants when I noticed these pests clinging on the seed pods.

I googled and found that these are common milkweed insects. So far, they haven't done any damage to my plants.

I sprayed water with my garden hose to get rid of them and until now, there is no sign of them on any of the plants.

So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives,

and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts,

for it has the power to save your souls.

(James 1:21, New Living Translation-NLT)