sibu

Prosperous Mee Sua

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Okay, it’s listverse time! What do you need to do before Chinese New Year kicks down your door and sprays you in the face with FOX 5.3 million SHU OC pepper spray?

sibu haircut

Well, the obvious thing is to (as my grandma would put it) GET A FUCKING HAIRCUT. I’m totally down with that, I totally understand that an untamed mane is a liability when all and sunder gathers around during CNY eve a.k.a. The Reunion Dinner (TM).

I still haven’t figured out what to tell them when they bug me about not being hitched when I’m 30 but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. smirk

jeanie movie

Anyway, I’ve been hanging out with Jeanie the past couple of days and last night we ate this super sized portion of Prosperous Mee Sua (longevity noodles) for RM 18.50++.

It’s pretty good – there are lots of goods in the middle – squid, prawns, mushrooms etc etc but what makes this dish from Tanahmas special is the way it’s served. Mee sua in Sibu is usually soggy and drowned in chicken broth – this version is a crispy and soaked in gravy and it’s very tasty!

mee sua sibu

The portion is a bit too large though coz my stomach has shrunk during my hibernation (not eating for 24 hours) so it took us quite an effort to even make a dent in the dish.

I told Jeanie that according to custom, you’re not supposed to break the strands of mee sua lest the Powers That Be/God/Sol Invictus/(insert deity) frowns upon you and casually strikes off a few years from your lifespan in His righteous anger (at least according to my paternal grandma).

jeanie mee sua

I reckon we sacrificed 20 years (cumulative) of our lifespans coz we couldn’t finish the generous portion but still it was a good dish and I loved the goodies in the middle.

Chai bo

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sibu chai bo

My paternal grandma used to make chai bo when I was 13 or 14 and I loved eating that. My sister, naturally siding against me, claimed my maternal grandmother’s deep fried version is better. It’s hard to describe the taste of chai bo, just like it’s hard to describe the taste of century eggs.

chai bo

It’s sweet for one, but savory at the same time. Umami would be the closest thing to describing it. It’s an excellent appetizer! My grandma makes a mean dish of this and they knew I was coming over for dinner so the staples that I love were there – braised pork, chai bo, two century eggs.

I had two helpings of rice.

chai bo grandma

You just gotta love home cooked meals. You just gotta love family.

Sibu kampua mee and mixed soup

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sibu kampua mee

I’m a huge fan of kampua mee and we can’t exactly get the authentic ones in KL so I make it a point to eat this whenever I come back to Sibu. It’s actually just noodles tossed with lard and sprinkled with spring onions, shallots and fried onions but it tastes delicious!

sibu kampua mee with mixed soup

I like mine with soy sauce and chilli – you can also opt for an either or if you don’t want the plain noodles. The trick to good kampua mee is in the lard. A lot of places switched to vegetable oil instead. THAT IS NOT KAMPUA MEE! A proper bowl of kampua mee is made with lard.

sibu mixed soup

There are also endless customization options – you can have it in soup, with sliced char siew, with pien nuk (dumplings – kinda like wanton) or with a side order. My favorite used to be a side order of pork liver but today I went for the Full Monty (except for tofu coz I don’t like tofu!!!).

sibu mixed soup pork

It not only has pork liver, but intestines, meat and various innards from this non-halal animal.

My favorite place closed down but this one is pretty good too – the soup was peppery and yes, the kampua is made with lard. I make it a point to check. smirk

There is no spoon

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spoon

This is supposed to be a much longer post with a lot of photos and videos but after much thought I decided it was best to pull the reins until the reincarnation of The Other Blog Which Shall Not Be Named. 😉

Why would someone subject an innocent spoon to high temperatures on a stove?

Good times in Sibu during CNY.

Fat Mum

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fat mum

Fat Mum Coffee Shop is practically an institution in Sibu. It caters primarily to people from the clubbing scene wanting to get some grub in their stomach before they head home for the night. They close relatively early compared to the other establishments like the one below Today Hotel (5-6 am) but it’s a great place to eat what you would dub dai chow in KL in the wee hours of the night.

fat mum coffee shop

This place is strictly for those who observe the closing hours of nightspots. Fat Mum’s kitchen closes at 1:30 am while the others stay open till 5 am. I think their rationale is to attract the ethanol brothers instead of the chemical brothers – the latter being more apt to party late and be rowdy.

fat mum kitchen

It has a simple kitchen setup and while the food isn’t anything to write home about, it does the job. You head to Fat Mum coz you want to soak up the alcohol you’ve consumed with rice and dishes, not coz you’re up for some fine dining at 1 am in the morning.

fat mum owner

Meet the owner!

fat mum food

Fat Mum was still very packed at 2 am, perhaps they made an exception for CNY since I don’t remember them opening this late last time.

fat mum dinner

The best thing about Fat Mum is that like all other dai chow places, you can STILL drink while eating supper. It also features Sibu prices, dinner for four inclusive of beer is only RM 62. Heh!

Chinese New Year in Sibu

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chinese new year reunion dinner

Chinese New Year in Sibu is unfailingly celebrated by the liberal ignition of various combustible materials packaged in the form of firecrackers and fireworks. The Lunar New Year is literally heralded in with the people’s version of the 21 gun salute.

This is the view from my house:

Fireworks at midnight to usher in Chinese New Year 2010. I live in a fairly active neighbourhood so you can see the enthusiasm of the people resulting in a cloud of rolling smoke covering the area.

You’ll be hard pressed to see from the man made fog at this point but true to the spirit of my hometown, a police cruiser rolls down the street, giving various warnings to no effect. There’s just too many Chinese in Sibu and it’s been our tradition since time immemorial (oh well, since I was born at least) to let it rip during CNY.

With the police settled, feel free to entertain yourself with the sound of firecrackers and the lovely sight of fireworks from the balcony of my family home.

One last encore.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Gong Xi Fatt Chai and all that. w00t!

Sing k

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I’m not much of a karaoke singer but I love singing (though some would call what I do yowling). There are two classics which inevitably come up sometime during the night. This was from my trip back to Sibu. The song is a Hokkien number called Ai Pia Jia Eh Ya (Gotta do the blood, sweat, tears thing to succeed).

I can’t read or write Chinese so I always struggle (except at the chorus). The song goes:
Something something something
Blah blah blah
(chorus starts)
30% is decided by fate, the other 70% is up to you
You’ve got to fight your way to success

The other number that tends to be rendered is a song called “Friends”. This is usually belted out with much camaraderie and a lot of arms around each other’s shoulders. 😉

Diana and Keith’s wedding!

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diana ting wedding

The return of the prodigal son! I flew back to Sibu after nearly a year of being in KL for one sole reason – to attend the wedding of a good friend and ex-classmate I’ve known since high school. Diana is currently living in Australia and came back for the home leg of her wedding reception.

daphne doreen

I know her sisters Daphne and Doreen too – we’re all from the same high school. I haven’t seen them for ages and it was fun sitting on the same table together – kinda like old times back in 2005. Diana is the last of the sisters to get married. I’m her age and most of my friends are already hitched. Jesus, either I’m late or they’re early. Hmm…

diana ting family

Back to the wedding, let me produce a montage of images to best represent the night:

diana wedding montage

Congratulations to Diana and Keith!

diana keith

Hmm…does this mean I have to call you Mrs. Towsey now? 😉

Monkey Kampua

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monkey kampua

Kampua mee is to Sibu what char kueh tiaw is to Penang. There are a lot of good kampua places here but the best is arguably the one beside the fire station, dubbed Ang Kao kampua (Monkey kampua) after the owner’s nickname. I believe most of the locals here know about the income tax fiasco and the buzz that the owner drives two luxury cars, one of them a Mercedes, despite being a “humble kampua stall owner”.

monkey kampua business

Word on the street is, one day some people from the IRB came in and sat there posing as customers, with an increment clicker to count how many plates of kampua they serve on an average day, tallied against their reported income. The discrepancy was so colossal, no amount of hyperbole can sufficiently describe it, and thus the owner was slapped with a huge fine.

monkey kampua cook

I am not sure about the veracity of the story, but if it’s true, this has made the proprietors understandably wary about people with monitoring devices in general. I was asked if I was a reporter when I waltzed in and started taking photos of the place, and although they are friendly people, I had the distinct impression that they would not take it very well if I had stated that I represent the IRB. Heh!

monkey kampua original

However, the kampua is the best in town. This is the classic version of kampua mee – the flavor comes primarily from pork lard and shallots. It’s served with finely diced spring onions and char siew.

monkey kampua soup

Monkey Kampua also serves a mean dish of pork liver soup. It’s mixed with pork balls in this photo but kampua is versatile in the sense that you can order it with pien nuk (pork dumplings), in soup (ching tang mien) and with pork liver (tu kang in the local dialect).

monkey kampua soy

I like mine with soy sauce and chilli sauce. The accepted vernacular for this is kampua puak lak puak tau yu and should be preferably vocalized with an appropriate Foochow accent.

monkey kampua eddy

My only beef with this place is that they don’t serve beer. 😉

Last day at work

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brave new world

Today is my last day at work and I must say that I have mixed feelings about moving to KL. I am excited at the prospect of working at the new company but I will miss all my colleagues and the familiarity (comfort zone?) of working in this company for 11 months.

E, you have been a great mentor and I couldn’t have asked for more from a superior. Always willing to give more than receive, generous with advice from your experience and above all, going beyond the call of duty and being a friend to me instead of a boss. You have a great sense of humor and you accepted me despite all my piercings and tattoos and am able to look below the surface to see what I don’t even see myself – as a talented and gifted person. You have made me more confident about myself and my abilities and for that, I am forever indebted to you. I love you as a bro, heterosexually speaking, of course. You will be missed. Thanks for all the good memories.

J, thank you for your kind offer. It takes a great leader to be able to talk to his employees as a friend and to genuinely care. You will be in my thoughts always.

A, I was surprised that you are such a humble person despite your wealth of knowledge. Always unassuming and quick to smile, your imposing stature which made me think of you as unfriendly in the beginning has quickly changed to one of respect. I will miss your comments about politics and general life. I will miss the good conversation and your easy going nature.

J, thanks for being the first one to approach and befriend me. In spite of all that has happened, I still appreciate that you included me in your social circle when I just started work.

A, thank you for the ride home…and dreams come true. 😉

To my two teammates S and S, thanks for everything, we work as a team and nothing can break that. Esprit de corps!

…off to a brave new world!

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