Dining With Jewelle

When I am in the mood for Chinese food, one of my favorite place is of course, Thiam Hock.

The food arrives fast and rarely disappoints, pretty wall decorations and the of course, this is still the only place I’ve ever been to that has a fish aquarium in their ladies.

So last weekend, when we were in Gadong - before the dangerously nearby salmon-related place is mentioned - I quickly asked for Thiam Hock. Besides it’s been a while since I last had their fish head curry and this is one dish that I can crave for once in a while.

However this time, there was a new addition to their appetizer. We’re not sure what these are and we didn’t try it either! Anything to do with raw green beans are not my kind of thing!

Did I ever say how surprised I was when I first came to Brunei and found that deer meat is not exotic and can be found in most Chinese restaurant? Unlike in Sabah then? I’m not sure about now - but back then, if you have a hankering for deer meat (which I do sometimes), you have to know the right places and one of them was the Gunung Emas stopover (halfway between Penampang and Tambunan) - which was also a spot for other exotic meat dishes, then.

Well, as for our Thiam Hock visit - it satisfied my curry craving for the time being.

In fact, make sure you check out their range of cheap hotels in Auckland or cheap hotels in New Zealand, if you’re planning to sightsee beyond Auckland, so you can have more cash to spend on souvenirs, great eateries and sporting activities that this country is famed for.

Last Saturday, hubby suggested that we eat out and I agreed on the condition that it’s not Japanese - before he or his number one supporter get any ideas - which I knew was on the tip of their tongue.

Since the last place I want to go is out of the list, I let him pick and he chose Buccaneer. Luckily I felt like having Western food and I was quite looking forward to having some hearty meaty dish.

When we arrived, the town was quiet and the restaurant only had one other table occupied. Since I can’t eat beef any longer and I don’t fancy seafood, it was either chicken or lamb.

So we decided to have roast chicken for myself and lamb shank for hubby. I ordered beef spaghetti for Eu but unfortunately it was quite spicy and so she ended up eating a lot of the lamb and enjoyed it immensely.

Too bad they didn’t have escargots at that time too.

Qi wasn’t keen on anything and most things prompted a “yucky” or “pu-yau” from this very picky eater.

As usual, it was a satisfactory dinner although someone who’s been having salads for dinner, complaint of mild indigestion after having too much meat!

I am usually the travel planner in my family and hubby always entrusted me with making the necessary holiday arrangements, from flight bookings to hotel room reservations to working out itineraries.

Since I enjoy doing research, this is something which I look forward to and sometimes all it takes was for him to say, “What about New Zealand?” and I’ll be in fullgear finding out about the flight fares, potential hotels, places of attractions and such.

And of course, once I have all these information, I get even more excited of going and can you blame me for being disappointed when I realized that he was simply making an offhand suggestion?

Or could it be that he changed his mind when he realized that such a trip will cost a lot of money?

Perhaps, I should just go to online travel sites like the Holiday Hypermarket and check their cheap package holidays. Who knows, paying one set price which included everything from flight, accommodations and meal and sometimes entertainment will seem more affordable for a budget-conscious holidaymaker like him?

In what is a family tradition introduced and passed down by my equally loyal father in law, hubby had trooped up to the palace to wish Raya greetings and respects to the royal family since he was two years old - something I have never thought of doing in Malaysia.

At least here in Brunei, I had the experience of going for my first (and only - so far) trip in 2004 when a couple of girlfriends came over from Sabah. It was quite an experience to see so many people of different skin colours, backgrounds and languages willingly queued for hours or jostled with each other for a less than 5 mins opportunity to shake hands and wish Raya greetings with the Royal Family.

And because of my dislike for crowded places, and what to me personally was an event that could be better organized, it never ceased to amaze me that everytime Raya comes, hubby and his friends will be busy making visiting plans - of course, being big eaters, the banquet is a big attraction and yesterday, he came home with a tales of lamb chops and rendang.

As for us at home, the one thing that we look forward to when he comes back is of course, this :

Goodie pack stuffed full of junk food

It’s it great that these days, if you fancy a last minute getaway to Australia and you have to fly commercial airlines, it’s as easy as checking out the Australia Last Minute site?

Their newly re-vamped site offers last minute accommodation and last minute flights for major airlines such as Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Jetstar and Virgin Blue.

In case you have never used their site before, the Australia Last Minute offers easily to navigate search engines to find cheap flights and last minute hotels with savings of up to 70%!

In fact, everyone should check out their exclusive “Shh…Up to 75% Off 4* & 5* Hotels Secret hotel deals.

The peanut soup is another favorite of Qi and me and I try to make this delicious and nutritious soup at least once a week.

The basic ingredients are of course, the peanut and some meat.

Then you can add variety and taste by including dates, dried scallop and carrots (which is the common addition for most of my soups because of the sweetness that carrots impart).

My mother in law usually cooks this soup with chicken feet but since I am not fond of chicken feet - despite my father’s long-held belief that it will make you travel - I usually cook my soup with either chicken thigh or pork ribs.

One tip that mother in law told me was that salt should not be added until the soup is nearly done. Otherwise the peanuts will never soften.

But I guess if you’re using a slow cooker, after 2 hours, anything is bound to be softer and like me, Qi loves to munch on the soft peanuts.

The Gianina

The Caterina

Jolene is on the second floor - see the pretty red lanterns outside their window?