Thien Huong Food (Fish flavour instant porridge & Chicken flavour instant porridge)

Anyone of you remember the MCO (Movement control order) that started in March 18 2020? Well, I still remembered it vividly, after some rumours that the prime minister would announce lock down, almost everyone in my office were talking about stocking up on food items, I even overheard my big boss talking about buying meat and fish (so not fit with his image!), initially I was not fazed by that because I planned to go back to hometown and there's two grocery stores behind my house and 3 small supermarket within the radius of 1km. However, people kept talking about this, and during that time, Philippines already started lock down and the images of empty shelves filled the FB walls. My brother was in Philippines that time and he showed us the photos of the long queue in supermarket, anyway, finally I caved in after friends posted the crowd in supermarket and right after work, I went to the nearest 99 Speedmart to buy some food items. Another reason was there were rumours (again) that we might have to work during MCO. 

To my horror, even the normally quiet 99 Speedmart was full with customers queueing up. Well, queue is normal, but normally people only have 1 or 2 items on their hands. During that time, even the trolleys were used up. Well, normally not many people use trolley when buying in Speedmart. It's more like a grab and go store. Seeing this, I also fell into the panic buying frenzy. My target was dry food items, like instant noodles, oats and biscuits. 

However, my normal staples of instant noodle brands were out of stock. How can Maggi Mee be out of stock! Horror! Well, not just Maggi, even the normal sized Mee Sedaap and Indomie was nowhere to be seen. Finally, I bought the Jumbo sized Mee Sedaap! Portion too big though. Well, I felt that it's not enough, so finally I bought the instant porridge that I wouldn't touch normally. I have seen it on the shelves in 99 Speedmart for a long time, however, I didn't even have slight interest on it previously. But the empty racks caused me to think otherwise, I bought 2. I mentally calculated that all the food that I bought would be enough for 2 weeks. 

Anyway, on the day before the MCO started, up until 4.30pm, there's no news whether we were allowed to continue operation or not. So, I decided to go back home, during that time, I didn't know that to cross state, had to go police station to get permit. Anyway, after work, I drove home, actually it's just a 70km distance. After I reached home, boss sent messages asking all of us to come to work on alternate days, me and my teammates discussed and I decided to work on the next week. But before I had the chance to back to work, government imposed more rules, and my company is not allowed to operate. After it was allowed to operate, to make sure there's a social distancing and crowd control, only skeletal crews were allowed. So, I work from home for couple of weeks. It was difficult, my job nature requires me to be in front of the machine 50 to 60% of the time, and actually I just started work for less than 2 months then. Sitting in front of the computer from 8am to 5pm was a struggle for me. But I managed to finish all the compulsory online training classes that I couldn't find time to do during the normal working days. And I now remember that I still have more trainings that I haven't do after I back to work!

Well the instant porridge that I bought was left in the rack for a long time until recently. I worked late and have no energy to cook anything. For me, anything that involves pot and heat is considered cooking. So, I turned my eyes to the instant porridge. 

Thien Huong Chicken flavour instant porridge

I ate the chicken flavour instant porridge first. The grain and the flavouring were packed into a small plastic bag. I felt that the porridge is made of oat, not really sure, but it doesn't taste like rice. In my mind, I thought that porridge is made of rice, now only I knew that it could be made of any grains. Anyway, I couldn't taste even a hint of chicken, the whole bowl only has the smell of pepper. 

the grain before add hot water

Below is the appearance of the instant porridge after adding hot water for 5 minutes. The portion is not big, suitable for supper though.

Another late night work, and I ate the fish flavour instant porridge.

Thien Huong Fish flavour instant porridge

Well, from my memory, it tasted like the chicken flavour instant porridge with a hit of fishy smell. Hahaha!

Appearances after add hot water for 5 minutes (Thien Huong fish flavour instant porridge)

Conclusion, instant noodle and instant porridge are a different breed. Or maybe it's from Vietnam and I am not used to the taste and texture. I think if I am gonna to buy instant porridge in the future, I would check reviews first. In the mean time, I would stick with instant noodles, instant bihun, instant mee sua, instant ramen, instant udon, etc. There are so many flavours out there, by the way, I had Mee Sedaap Korean spicy soup lately, and it's very good!

Empties August 2020

2020 is a very different year for me. Number one is I changed job after 11 years working in the same company, although I am still working in the same field. Number 2 is I moved from my parents' house because the new job is located at another state. A big changes for me.

The most obvious differences is no more prepared breakfast and dinner. Have to settle myself. In order to sleep enough and avoid waking up earlier, I actually trimmed down a lot on my skin care time. Previously, if good mood, I would apply toner, moisturizer, day cream and sun block, layer by layer, slowly because I knew that breakfast is prepared and what I needed to do was eat it. Nowadays, just toner and moisturizer and I am good to go. For night time skin care, normally also toner and moisturizer, if not so sleepy, will add night cream. I salute all those busy people that still manage to take good care of their skin, suddenly I remembered an old roommate that would wake up early to put on makeup if she slept too late the night before, I am totally opposite, I would never wake up early and would stay on the bed until the last minute. Hahaha!

Anyway, the photo above was taken on early August, I only finished few items only. Simplify the routine due to laziness also helps to save money. Planning to pay more home loan to help lessen the interest, my heart hurts when I see the interest rate.

Two body lotion finished. The already repurchased body lotion is the Nivea body lotion, I tried the "Rose & Argan Oil" of the Oil in lotion series, it is more good smelling than the blue bottle Nivea body lotion. Effectiveness wise, I think is the same. The second one is Asianic Rice Milk Hand & Body Lotion, well, I think it is too smelly because I don't really like the scent. It is too big to be used as hand cream as well (I normally keep one in office), I don't feel comfortable bringing a huge tube of non essential personal item to office. So, I actually took forever to finish this, actually it expired on early 2020.

For the toner, I think I will not repurchase the Chriszen Aloe & Rice Milk Facial Toner. It is far more viscous than I thought and it has a weird smell (For me la), actually I haven't finish it yet, but going to finish it soon. So, added this to the list. For the Simple Soothing Facial Toner (100% Alcohol Free), I think it's not bad. But how not bad don't know how to explain. It is quite affordable too, I think less than RM20 per bottle.

Next, Cosmoderm Vitamin E Cream 1000 I.U., I think it's my second tube. I normally use it on my neck area or as hand cream. It's quite oily in my opinion. The Naruko Rose & Aqua-in Super Hydrating moisturizer is a repurchase, my trusted moisturizer. Already finished bottles of this. Finally, the Mamonde Calming Hydro Sleeping Mask, well, it's just ok, I think it is too light and not moisturizing enough, using this didn't have any effect on my face. Maybe there are effects, but it is minuscule to be taken account. So, I think it is overly expensive for a mask like this. Not going to repurchase, I used it to finish it only!

Now I am waiting for big discount from Watsons to buy the next bottle of Naruko Moisturizer before I finished up another bottle. Hahaha. The end.

How to microwave frozen Bak Zhang (粽子)

I wrote this to share how to microwave frozen bak zhang because the first time I did this, the bak zhang became so "crispy" outside and so "hard" inside, totally unpalatable.

Earlier of this year, I changed job and moved to another state. No more home cooked dinner and breakfast for me on working days. For the dumpling festival / dragon boat festival (端午节) , my mom made some bak zhang and gave me a few of it so that if I didn't manage to get dinner (due to MCO, many restaurants closed earlier), I could at least eat the bak zhang, instead of the usual instant noodle.

Anyway, one day I worked late and it's almost 10pm, so I decided not to try my luck on going to the restaurant directly and getting turned down by them. I decided to microwave the bak zhang. Initially, I set timer to 3 minutes, however, after that, I poked the bak zhang and felt that it's still kind of hard. So I add another 3 minutes, still hard. Finally, I added another 2 minutes, silly me, after I peeled off the bamboo leaf, I could see that the surface of the bak zhang became so dry. I tried to eat it, but after eating the outermost thin layer which was crispy, the others was so hard, even my good teeth didn't manage to chew a chunk of it. Finally, I had Maggi mee as my dinner that night.

I shared my failure story with my family members, and my brother suggested that I put a glass of water when I microwave the bak zhang. Well, at home, mom would normally steam it, maybe it's the vapour that keep the bak zhang soft. So, my second attempt, a glass of water plus a frozen bak zhang inside the moicrowave oven. Initially, I still set 3 minutes, but when I touched the bak zhang after 3 minutes, I felt it's not hot enough, so I added another 2 minutes (not dare to put longer), when I touched it, it's warm and when I poked it with fork, it's not hard.

Luckily, this second attempt works. I was so happy when I peeled off the bamboo leaf and saw the normal bak zhang. The taste and texture was normal too, I think due to the presence of moisture, it hydrated the bak zhang and I got to have bak zhang as dinner.

Enjoy the bak zhang everyone!