Our Saturday

The weird shaped building

Is the above building familiar to you? Yes, it is the Bullring Shopping Centre. We went to Birmingham again. The last time we went there was with Atuk and Nanny by train. This time we went by car. We had to use a semi expected diverted route, that made the supposedly 20 minutes journey stretched to 40 minutes.

Although a little bit further, we had the pleasure to see new places including a huge Mosque. The diverted traffic was clearly signed so we didn't get lost and arrived at Bullring centre safely.

A mix of a contemporary architecture (aka the weird building)
and a historic building (aka the normal and boxy building)

What brought us to Birmingham again? It was Babah's sudden craving for Amai Udon that brought us here. Wagamama in Bullring shopping complex was our target. We planned to have our lunch at 3pm to avoid the congested restaurant during lunchtime. We were 'almost' right to leave it until later because around 1pm, we saw all the tables were full with customers plus a long queue still waiting to be seated.

We were not that hungry yet anyway. To kill the time, we entered some shops in Bullring centre and went to Sing Fat Chinese Supermarket which was 3 minutes walk from the centre. Our main intention was to find just a bottle of chilli oil, but we ended up buying £25 worth of 'goodies'.

At 3 o'clock, Sarah and Amar started to behave abnormally. And Wagamama was as abnormal to still having a long queue at that time. I suggested taking away a pack or two of Amai Udon. But Babah decided that we should just go home.

Mama Sarah's Tauhu Sumbat

The kids were acting strangely because it was their afternoon nap-time. They fell asleep almost immediately after we started our journey back home. When we reached home, Babah sadly and jokingly said many times, "Teringat I kat Wagamama's Amai Udon."

What was my reaction to his repeated teasings? Knowing him, remaining silence was the best reaction at the time. No, I was not giving him a cold shoulder or silent treatment but I thought none of my reply could bring a dish of Amai Udon appeared infront of him.

BUT, I could TRY to make tauhu sumbat. Oklah fine, I'm sure every Malaysian housewife can fix a perfect tauhu sumbat. But on Saturday was my very first time of making it. We bought the fresh bean curd from the Chinese Supermarket earlier. And with no specific reference, I followed my instinct and tossed the bean curds in hot oil and later stuffed them with bean sprouts, carrots, cucumber and spring onion. Accompanied by homemade chilli dipping and sprinkled with grind toasted peanuts.

Nasi Lemak, Sambal Sotong, 7 Ikan Bilis dan Timun

And as the main dish, I prepared Nasi Lemak. Nothing so significant about the dish but it is special to people like us who live far from our homeland. Apart from having to make it myself, both squids and ikan bilis (anchovies) are of luxury items here in the UK. They are expensive! But that is not the reason why I only allowed 7 ikan bilis in the above dish. They were just for presentation purposes!

Both Sarah and Amar enjoyed the coconut rice (with a tiny bit of sambal sotong) very much. As for Babah, I think he was impressed with the presentation of the dish and he didn't mention Amai Udon since then.