Dinner At Kok Thai Restaurant, Jalan Gopeng, Ipoh

It was another hot and humid day for us.

Sunrise at about 7:08am.

Setting out on our morning walk.

That morning, I had breakfast with 2 ex-colleagues/friends.

The rest of the day, I stayed home with the fan on full blast. I was in lazy mode and was glad that I need not have to cook dinner that evening because we had dinner with friends at Kok Thai restaurant. There were 8 of us and we had the following dishes for dinner.

Stir fried assorted vegetables with macadamia nuts and ginkgo nuts.

Braised pork tendon, shiitake mushrooms, tofu, etc. in claypot.

Pork belly slices in soy sauce.

Poached chicken, somewhat salty to be eaten wrapped with the lettuce leaves.

Lettuce leaves with blended ginger.

Sweet potato leaves in claypot.

Steamed tilapia with special spicy sour sauce.

The dinner came to RM243.40 (incl. 6% service tax) for 8 people.

It was a weekday so the place was not crowded.

Linking to Wordless Wednesday & My Corner of the World.

After this,

I heard what sounded like a vast crowd in heaven shouting,

"Praise the LORD!

Salvation and glory and power belong to our God.

(Revelation 19:1, New Living Translation-NLT)

Braised Pork Belly Slices & Steamed Okra

The weather forecast warns of thunderstorm usually in the afternoon. Most times, there will be thunderstorm but usually in the late afternoon or evening. Our mornings are usually sunny and warm.

One of the morning skys.

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Fruit of labour from my garden.

3 green brinjals (eggplants), 1 red okra (ladies finger) and 1 tomato.

No more worms in the tomatoes after wrapping them with recycle plastic bags.

This is the Grand Roma Round tomato.

Since the tomatoes ripen one or two at a time, I eat them raw, fresh from the garden.

~~~~~

Home cooked dinner for 2.

Initially, I wanted to make deep fried pork belly slices with the above braised pork belly. I changed my mind after frying a few pieces in the oil. The oil was splattering all over that I have to cover the pan. In the end, I steamed the pork belly slices and served with garlic crisp.

I used Thai sweet chili sauce as dipping sauce for the steamed pork belly. For the green, I steamed long green okra (ladies fingers) from my garden and topped with garlic oil and crunchy chili oil.

Home grown tomato to be eaten raw.

Love the fresh juicy and succulent thick flesh of the tomato.

And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts,

living within you as you trust in him.

May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love;

and may you be able to feel and understand,

as all God's children should, how long, how wide, how deep,

and how high his love really is;

and to experience this love for yourselves,

though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or

fully know or understand it.

And so at last you will be filled up with God himself.

(Ephesians 2:17-19, The Living Bible-TLB)

Pork Belly Slices With Glutinous Rice Wine Reside

We have been having heavy downpour for the past few nights and the air is nice and cool the next morning for morning walk.

6:50am

That is hubby with a little backpack on his back. Inside is a foldable umbrella just in case it rains and also convenient to carry if we choose to something along the way.

Some makeshift stalls selling vegetables and meat open very early in the morning.

Sunrise at 7:40am

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Homecooked dinner for Friday evening.

Pork belly slices + cloud ear fungus + lily buds (golden needles) cooked with the residue from the glutinous rice wine which I harvested the previous day. I kept back 1 portion for the next day's dinner.

I bought 2 broccoli for RM8 from a roadside stall. I used one to blanch and drizzled with garlic oil and oyster and soy sauce. Will do the same with the other broccoli for next day's dinner.

This was a very tasty and comforting dinner on a rainy day.

Purple bougainvillea in front of a grocery shop.

A friend shared this photo of the lizard taken in Kiara Park.

Photo credited to AshleyJ/Nyappy.

Linking to Saturday's Critters & Garden Affair.

Only the person involved can know his own bitterness or joy

- no one else can really share it.

(Proverbs 14:10, The Living Bible-TLB)

Dinner At Restoran Loh Kim Wah, Falim, Ipoh

Last month, we came to know about the promotion by Restoran Loh Kim Wah in Falim. Selected dishes listed on the menu are priced at RM6.80 and RM8.80. Since the promotion is still on, we decided to have dinner there last Friday. We ordered the following dishes for 4 people.

Tofu dish

Pork belly slices cooked with salted vegetable.

Aubergine or eggplant cooked with minced pork.

Steamed chicken with cloud ear fungus and gojiberries.

Silky soft soya bean curd or tofu fah dessert on the house.

Total cost of dinner = RM41.55 (incl. rice, water & 6% tax).

Restoran Loh Kim Wah,

Jalan Mas 2, Taman Mas, Falim, Ipoh.

I found this tiny insect on the wall outside my house.

I do not know this insect, have not seen it before.

Golden frogs.

Linking to Saturday's Critters.

I would have you learn this great fact:

that a life of doing right is the wisest life there is.

If you live that kind of life, you'll not limp or stumble as you run.

Carry out my instructions; don't forget them,

for they will lead you to real living.

(Proverbs 4:11-13, The Living Bible-TLB)

Home Cooked Dishes For Rainy Evenings

The rainy season is here and I am spending less time in the garden. I only water the few plants that are under the shade that do not get the rain. I have just finished weeding the garden and with the rain, very soon the weeds will grow back again.

Here are some simple and easy dishes that I have cooked whenever I am in the mood for cooking. I emjoy cooking when the weather is cool. For each dinner, I cooked 2 dishes which are more than enough for 2 people.

1st Dinner

1st dish - Salted Egg Tofu With Dried Prawns

Ingredients: White tofu from the market. I had salted egg and dried prawns in my fridge. I pluck 2 sprigs of curry leaves and bird's eye chilies from my garden.

2nd dish - White Bitter Gourds With Dried Prawns

Ingredients: White bitter gourds, spring onions and chilies from my garden, dried shrimp and preserved fermented beans from my fridge.

2nd Dinner

1st dish - Savoury Pork Belly with Ginger Slices

Ingredients: Pork belly, ginger from my garden, dried chilies from my fridge, preserved fermented beans, some sauces.

2nd dish - Blanched Bean Sprouts

Ingredients: Bean sprouts from the market, garlic, oil, oyster sauce and soya sauce.

Give God the glory he deserves!

Bring your offering and come to worship him.

(Psalm 96:8, The Living Bible-TLB)

Stewed Pork Belly & Steamed Eggplant For Dinner

There was a piece of pork belly left in the freezer. I have been using pork belly to make roast pork and for this piece, I felt like trying a new recipe. I defrosted it, cut it into small bite pieces. I marinated the pork belly pieces with Chinese cooking wine. 5 spices powder and thin soy sauce and kept in the fridge for a few hours.

With a non stick saucepan, I fried chopped garlic, sliced shallots and ginger and 2 pieces of star anise with a little sesame oil until fragrant. I then add the pork belly pieces and stir over low fire till the pork changed colour. Next I add water and some rock sugar. When the water boiled, I put the fire to low and stew the pork until it is soft and the water is reduced.

I searched the fridge and found these 2 white eggplant harvested from my garden. I washed it clean and steamed them in the same steamer for steaming the rice.

I used a metal spoon to scrape out the eggplant flesh from the skin.

Some fried garlic & shallot and the oil was placed on top the eggplant.

Next I sprinkled some light soy sauce over it.

A small portion of Ponni herbal rice shared by 2 people.

We finished the eggplant but half of the stewed pork belly was kept for the next day.

That morning we witnessed this sunrise over the recreational park.

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The following photos are for joining Saturday's Critters.

Thanks to a wonderful friend who contributed these photos for this post.

Photo #1

She saw this fat green caterpillar balding her plant and picked it off her plant.

Photo #2

So round and fat!

Photo #3

At look at the green "alien" eyes!

Photo #4

She transferred the caterpillar to a bushy plant outside her house.

Photo #5

My friend also sent me this pretty white moth picture.

Photo #6

It spread out both its wings to show off its beauty.

Linking to Saturday's Critters.

How precious is your constant love, O God!

All humanity takes refuge in the shadow of your wings.

(Psalm 36:7, The Living Bible-TLB)

A Dinner And A Visit To A Gold Fish Farm, Lawan Kuda.

It all started with a conversation when our friends mentioned that they have not tried the food in Lawan Kuda. Since both of us were not cooking dinner that evening, we decided on the spot to introduce our friends to the food in Lawan Kuda. It was raining very heavily but the rain didn't stop us. It was a Friday evening and we were also caught in the traffic jam in Simpang Pulai.

By the time we reached Restoran J.J. Fatt, Jalan Besar, Lawan Kuda Baru, Gopeng, it was still drizzling and there was only one table occupied and the customers were already enjoying their dinner. But once the drizzling stopped, more customers started to fill up the tables. We order their signature dish - Snakehead fish to be cooked into 2 dishes. Within a short time, our dinner was ready to be served.

Fish meat slices with dried chilies, ginger slices, onions and spring onions.

(kung po san yu peen)

The remaining bony parts of fish used for cooking Drunken Herbal Fish Soup (with wine).

Savoury Pork Belly with salted fish, ginger slices, etc. in clay pot. 

Wild Fiddlehead fern stir fried with spicy prawn paste. (Sambal paku choy). This dinner for 4 people cost MYR 87.45 (incl. rice, drinks & 6% GST). Our friends enjoyed the dinner very much and they have decided to return with their family members.

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Two days later on Sunday, our friends called up to invite us to join them for dinner at Lawan Kuda. Together with their family and another couple, we went in 2 cars. We started early because our friends wanted to visit their relation and his fish farm before dinner.

It was a surprised visit. Good thing my friend's brother-in-law was there at the fish farm!

Our arrival was greeted by barking dogs that rushed out when our cars passed through the gate.

  Once we were greeted by the owner, the barking stopped and the dogs went about their own business.

This place is surrounded by limestone hills.

Shallow concrete ponds for breeding and rearing various variety of Gold Fishes.

We have been here before many, many years ago. Then, we were rearing Gold Fishes in our big clay pot with a mini waterfall and we got our supply of Gold Fishes from here.

Now, we no longer keep Gold Fishes and the big clay pot has been turned into my flower pot!

 We couldn't take good pictures of the fishes because of the evening sunlight reflected on the water.

 They were very busy and in the midst of cleaning up the many fish ponds.

 I like Gold Fishes but they are not easy to take care.

 There are many varieties of Gold Fish.

 My friends left with big plastic bags of Gold Fishes.

 I only managed to snap photos of 2 guard dogs. This one was more relaxed, on a resting chair keeping its eyes on our every movement.

 And the 2nd one was on its throne also keeping watchful eyes on us.

An abandoned old motorbike.

To keep the pesky mosquitoes away, I walked around looking for interesting things to take snapshots. I found some pretty wild flowers growing by the narrow roadside and forgot about the mosquitoes.

Wild Mimosa Creepers with thorns. They are also called Sensitive Plants because the leaves will fold up when touched.

 I also found a Red Dragonfly and took a snapshot before it flew away.

 Then it was time to say goodbye and we were all looking forward to a wonderful dinner at the same restaurant again.

 Linking to Saturday's Critters.

For this world is not our home;

we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven.

(Hebrews 13:14, The Living Bible-TLB)