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Home-cooked Dinner with cauliflower, chicken & scallop stir-fry and chunks of spicy, boneless red snapper. The fish balls came from the bowl of soup mum bought in the morning during her trip to Chong Pang.

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For this homestyle Fried Bee Hoon (炒米粉) or rice vermicelli, mum prepped omelette, added the leftover boiled pork belly with scallops, tiger prawns and bean sprouts since only the two of us are eating.

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Me and mum took the bus to Northpoint City on a rainy Saturday afternoon for our usual weekends “date”. As Chinese New Year is just around the corner, everyone seems to be in a buying mood and the shopping mall is packed with customers. Thought of buying some sushi home but CROLO by Swee Heng had a better offer to entice me. The promotion said buy any two chilled items for just S$5. And I can choose from the assortment of sweet or savoury pastries.

Chilli Crab Stick Mayo Croissant (S$3) has a flaky and buttery pastry filled with savoury crab stick, creamy mayo, and a kick of chili for an explosion of flavour in every bite. While it isn’t bad tasting, the lack of real seafood did detract me from liking it. I think adding a few chunky prawn meats might just do the trick.

On the other hand, I absolutely love the Tiramisu Croissant (S$2.80). It’s perfect blend of espresso and mascarpone cheese combined with the buttery, flaky croissant takes your taste buds on a sensational journey. The crunchy and nutty walnuts add to the overall enjoyment.

Topmost image courtesy of CROLO.

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Tonight’s wholesome Dinner is cabbage stir-fry with canned abalones and fresh tiger prawns. Took half a steak of fried batang fish (Spanish mackerel) for myself. There is also boiled pork belly to go with the steamed purple and white rice.

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Sister’s friend went back to Malaysia and presented us with a box of Tambun Biscuits (淡汶饼) which are a miniaturised form of Tau Sar Piah (豆沙饼). Both famous Penang delicacies are made from wheat flour, sugar, green bean paste, fried onions, lard and salt. This box is made by Tean Ean Tau Sar Piah (田园淡汶饼). The sweet and salty biscuit was believed to be invented in Bukit Tambun, Penang. Its popularity as a delicacy has made this biscuit one of the must-buy souvenirs from Penang.

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Mum dished up this Spicy Green Beans with Tiger Prawns for our dinner. There is also a steak of Fried Batang Fish (Spanish Mackerel) of which I took half of it. That Roasted Pork is from the morning and mum refreshed it in hot oil to restore the crispiness. And as an Asian, rice is typically part of the meal.

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My younger brother bought these deep-fried fritters for us from Johor Bahru, Malaysia. On the left is the 3 in 1 Fritter with three different layers of yam (taro), nian gao (年糕) and sweet potato coated in airy and crispy batter. Right beside it, Green Bean Fritter is filled with sweetened mung beans. Above it is Durian Fritter but unfortunately, the outside shell is so thick and that interfere with the overall taste.

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Direct from Chong Pang, this pack of Economy Rice (菜饭) is filled with a scoop of jiggly steamed egg, curry chicken & potato and stewed preserved Chinese mustard with pork belly. The white rice is drizzled with some of the curry gravy. Mum also bought some Roasted Pork (烧肉) from Choo Chiang Roasted Meat Noodle House.

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Mum’s Teriyaki Chicken & Ebi Bento (S$5.50) comes with fried chicken cutlet with teriyaki sauce and two breaded prawns deep-fried till golden-brown and crispy. I went with Teriyaki Chicken & Takoyaki Bento (S$5) with the same fried chicken cutlet. For the three Takoyaki balls, you can choose between octopus or scallop though I doubt they are giving you the real scallop, hence I chose octopus.

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Min Chiang Kueh (面煎粿) or Apam Balik is a sweet dessert originating in Fujian, China. The origin of this dessert attributes its invention to Zuo Zongtang, a military leader of the late Qing dynasty. In 1855, the army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom invaded the Fujian region and General Zuo was appointed to lead an army to crush the rebels. To provide the soldiers with food without interfering the life of local people, General Zuo decided to switch from the flatbread which was eaten together with spring onion and chilli sauce, to a pancake that used locally sourced and mass-produced ground cane sugar and peanut as filling. Nowadays, you can find various fillings from peanut, sweet corn, red bean paste, sweetened desiccated coconut to dual fillings with cheese etc…

The original is made with a large round pan though you can now also find small pancake with filling sealed inside like the one below today. The advantage of the smaller pancake is that the sellers will have a few such pan and he/she can make them with many different fillings at the same time. On the other hand, a big pan means one filling at a time since there is only one pan in use. The pancake's batter is made from a mixture of flour, eggs, sugar, baking soda, coconut milk and water. The filling is added to one half of the pancake and folded hence the name Apam Balik (turnover pancake) or Martabak Manis, before cutting into several pieces to be sold.

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I enjoy having the dry style Pork & Shrimp Dumplings Noodles (水饺面) for breakfast/brunch, but Choo Chiang Roasted Meat Noodle House (珠江烧腊面家) had been cost cutting their dumplings by using lesser and lesser filling. Last time, the flappy excess of the wanton skin after sealing the filling in is only a little but now, they look like the long flowing fin of goldfishes. Texture wise, I now tasted more of the doughy skin than the crunchy prawn and pork.

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That leftover bunch of bananas (not shown) on the tabletop is getting mushier by the minute, sprouting brown/black spots with age. Rather than dumping them into the bin, sis made Banana Bread with them. Don’t ask me why it is called bread when it tasted just like cake, albeit a coarser cake. I know I told you that I don’t eat fresh banana but this bread I can accept. Love the crusty and caramelised edge on both sides of the loaf.

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Since we are going to NTUC supermarket, we stopped by 85 Redhill Teochew Fishball Noodles next to the escalators for our dinner. Let mum picked her own from the pictorial menu above the counter. She went for the S$5 bowl of Minced Meat Noodle (肉脞面) with thin yellow noodles or mee kia as it is known locally and no chilli (sauce).

I picked the Mushroom Soft Ribs Noodle (香菇软骨面) which is priced at S$6. Mine came with braised mushrooms and soft bone pork ribs. Mix up the springy egg noodles to coat it in the ketchup and chilli sauces. Some of the thicker soft bones are simply too hard to chew and swallow but otherwise the meat is tender enough to go with the tangy and lightly spicy noodles.

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Both me and sis had been telling mum not to cook too many dishes at night since it is just the three of us eating but she never listens. So for dinner, there are Spicy Tiger Prawns with caramelised onions, crispy Fried Chicken Mid-Wings and two large steaks of Pan-Fried Batang (Spanish Mackerel). If I am the one cooking, I did keep the fish for another day.

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There is always some leftover rice after dinner which mum kept in the fridge. She used this overnight rice with added eggs, char siu and the sweet red char siu gravy to come up with the reddish and savoury Char Siu Fried Rice (叉烧炒饭).

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Mum bought Roasted Duck (烧鸭) from Chong Pang during her morning outing to the market. She prepared this Spicy Tiger Prawns using our own blend of chilli and spices mix. For the vegetable, a Garlic Chives with Minced Pork stir-fry to give the daily plant fibres.