MCO 2.0 Day #4 & #5 : Brinjals Galore

Day #4 and #5 are Saturday and Sunday. I guess for most of you out there, your Saturdays and Sundays are not so fun anymore. No going lepak-lepak at the mall and no more going out to makan-makan with family and friends.

Day #4 (Saturday)

Nothing much happening. I went to work because I had a lot of jobs to complete. It is best to just go in and clear the whole lot and have a peaceful Monday. I hate stress, that is why I prefer to sacrifice my weekend.

Before I went to work, I had to feed my two kitty cats and clear their litter boxes. Ah Belle will wait right outside the front door. She is always hungry.

Ah Girl decided that it is nice to sit on a pile of old newspapers. So chill like that.

I prepped my lunch so that I don't have to go out to tapau. 

Not very exciting. Grilled chicken, blanched broccoli and French beans with eggs.

Day #5 (Sunday)

As usual, this is my grocery day. My partner and I made our way to the pork shop at Taman Megah. The shop was very peaceful. Only us and one or two other customers. 

In the past, during MCO 1.0, we had to queue to get in. I think people are not so kan cheong anymore about not getting their oink oink supply hah..hah...

Then we headed to Aeon 1 Utama. We were early and we parked at the main entrance (we were afraid that the basement entrance might be closed). 

Lots of parking space. 

We were not the only early birds. A queue had already formed when we got inside.

But it was not too bad. Not really that many people.

This is the Chinese New Year deco. Nothing extravagant.

People mostly flocked to the fresh produce area.

No so much the CNY goodies section. I think the sale of hampers is going to be really slow this year.

I looked longingly at the Oreos but I resisted the urge to buy a few packets. This is the thing that got me into trouble during MCO 1.0. Well, one of the things besides donuts and such. I put on 5kg due to all the munchies. No more!

Back home I processed the pork bones that we bought.

I blanched them before putting them into the slow cooker to make bone broth. It is worth the effort to blanch the bones first to get rid of all the gunk.

On day #3 (Friday) I ordered vegetables via GrabMart from the TTDI market. Among them were 3 brinjals/eggplants. I was inspired to buy brinjals because of the awesome Soy Glazed Eggplant that I ate on day #3. And also because I wanted to cook a sambal brinjal using Kris' method of roasting the brinjals.

I happened to have a tub of frozen spice paste in the freezer. So convenient. I used two brinjals to cook this, roasting the brinjals first in the oven, then sauteing the spice paste together with some dried prawns and then adding the roasted brinjals into the aromatic sambal.

It was so good! And then as if I had nothing better to so, I attempted a soy glazed brinjal.

This is my pathetic attempt. But tastewise it was not bad. The sauce is just soy sauce, mirin and grated ginger.

For all its worth, I decided to take a photo of it anyway. The brinjals were sliced, salted and then dabbed with kitchen towels to remove excess moisture. Then coated in potato starch and pan fried till browned and softened.

Then pour in the sauce and simmer until thick and sticky. Perhaps I should attempt this again by roasting the brinjals.

So that's my MCO 2.0 weekend. Then my auntie sent me this photo. Her neighbor brought her a plate of food. So nice.

Hope you had a nice weekend.