Saturday Meme- 5 Favourite Foods

It has been a very busy and hectic few weeks (Perhaps month, or even months ahead) for me as work hasn’t shown signs of slowing down, even after coming back from Labuan, that I missed last week’s Sunday Tip (I wanted to post one on later on the day but ended up needing to work too, such is the industry I’m in!), but I promise that I will try my best to not make that happen again! Apologies and please do bear with my sporadic posts, though I will still endeavour to get some posts written and posted :)

Sukie of A Little Bit Of Everything and I did initially have something else planned for this week’s Saturday Meme, but due to some unforeseen circumstances, it will have to wait (Or in worst case scenario it will be scrapped), but it will be something different, that we can promise (Unless of course it’s scrapped)! So instead for this week, in keeping with our self-proclaimed #VainGlutton tag, Sukie and I have decided to still do something a little different, to divert a little from beauty-related things and show you our 5 Favourite Foods! :D

1. Fourway crab crackers

Oh these are the bomb! They are ONLY available in East Malaysia (As they are made there, according to the back), this is confirmed, unless you have seen them somewhere in West Malaysia in which case please feel free to correct me. The exclusivity adds to the delicious unique-ness of this snack, and now my family and/or I tend to always lug some back from Labuan, after which it will be gone pretty quickly. I don’t usually take snacks like these, as too much can make me feel ill, and I don’t really like the taste of most snacks available in the market (Save some crisps), but I could devour an entire large pack (Pictured is a small pack) of this in one sitting and not feel ill at all and I love how it tastes! I really can’t describe how it really looks/feels/tastes (Savoury is the best word I could find to describe it’s taste at least) but I can only say that it’s simply awesome! :P

2. Pasta

Image nicked from here.

Lasagna, linguine, fettucine, penne, bolognese, arabbiata, puttanesca, marinara- it all doesn’t matter but I really like them all, and would order pasta most of the time if they are available :P My favourite pasta jaunt is Little Italy in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (Gosh I seem to be advertising East Malaysia so far am I not? Not my intention though, sorry), a small, lovely place owned and managed by real Italians and serves the best Italian fare ever, that all the other Italian restaurants I’ve been to in West Malaysia so far can’t exactly match up (Recommendations/Suggestions welcome). I have extremely fond memories of their marinara pasta and their lemonade, and their zuppa di mare (Seafood soup) and I look forward to be able to make my next trip there as it’s been a long while and I miss it a lot!

3. Unagi don

It’s no secret that I love my Japanese food. There were absolutely no Japanese restaurants in Labuan (There still isn’t) where I grew up so it’s considered somewhat of a luxury to be able to have Japanese food when we come back to Kuala Lumpur– it started with Sushi King and then just grew and is of course still growing now that we’ve partially moved back here :P Over the years (Since I was little) I have slowly acquired a taste for unagi (Freshwater eel, usually grilled), I don’t remember how it started but it did and I’m glad I did because I love unagi don (Usually grilled freshwater eel with rice)! It is usually the main dish that I would order when dining out at a Japanese restaurant, even until now, unless there are something else that catches my fancy or are nicer (Or if their unagi is known to be not so fresh).

The unagi don pictured is from the Wasabi Bistro at Mandarin Oriental Hotel Kuala Lumpur.

4. Deep fried calamari/squid

Image nicked from here.

This is a childhood favourite, so a bit of nostalgia there I guess. It’s tied with fried lala clams (In any style) as my childhood favourite but deep fried calamari/squid wins because it’s something I could have even in East Malaysia, as lala clams in East Malaysia are either non-existent (Especially in Labuan) or a different version/species (There I go again, sorry). As a snack or with rice, with plum sauce or mayonnaise, with some curry powder in the batter or with chilli and pepper, it is still great and will remain one of my favourite foods ever :)

5. Bak chang/Zong

Image nicked from here.

My family and I call them zong but most people I know call it bak chang or chang… so yeah. Basically, steamed or boiled glutinous rice dumplings wrapped with bamboo or reed leaves with fillings inside (Some can be “empty” though, with no filling whatsoever, and some have fillings like red bean paste)- my favourite ones are the savoury ones, and they usually have salted egg yolk, pork, chestnuts, shiitake mushrooms and some variations have peanuts, chestnuts and Chinese sausages, it depends. They are usually made and/or eaten during the Dumpling Festival (Also sometimes known as the Dragon Boat Festival), which was a real treat to me growing up, but now there’s the luxury of being able to have them all-year round! Though I try to stick to tradition and have one on the day itself :) I absolutely love zong but I can’t have too much due to digestive system problems :(

Gosh writing up this post made me salivate so much and brings back some fond memories :P Care to share some of your favourite foods? Let Sukie and/or me know in the comments or give us a link to your blog post if you’ve participated in the Saturday Meme :D And while you’re there, do check out Sukie‘s 5 Favourite Foods as well! ;)