I am soooo ANGRY!!!

I know you're gonna think this is an absurd excuse for such anger. But still!!!

Yesterday I wanted to cook my campak2 chicken and mushroom soup pasta (apparently it's called Alfredo sauce) for my first day of puasa enam (I know, I'm so late). But obviously, there were no ingredients for it at home, apart from garlic, milk and potatoes, so I had to go grocery shopping. Mum came home quite late so I only had the time to go to one shop for my needs and I chose Sabasun (easier parking, closer to home). There weren't even that many things that I needed: some form of pasta, chicken, a can of mushroom soup, a carrot, button mushrooms, cream and mozzarella. And all I could get from Sabasun were the first four things on the list. Itupun they only had chifferi rigati (which is basically macaroni) and penne. Mushroom-wise, they only had oyster mushrooms and dried shiitake. The only cheese they had was Chesdale brand cheddar slices, the kind you put in sandwiches. I get that they want to boycott American products (because of their support towards Israel), but mozzarella is Italian!!! Well, if they don't have cheese, they don't have cream either, obviously. I was quite upset because the owner is a California graduate, so I expected better!
[Side note: Mum thinks they stopped selling mozzarella etc because tak laku.]

So I ended up making beefball soup for iftar.

But my quest did not end there. Today, I went out again, in search of button mushrooms, cream and mozzarella, and this time to Mydin and Giant. Mydin's stuff are usually cheaper than Giant (Philly cream cheese is RM1 less in Mydin), so I went there first. Still no button mushrooms!!! But at least, ada mozzarella and cream... tapi mahalnya! Mozzarella costs RM14+ for a 250 gm bar (obviously the grated ones cost more) and I needed to use half, and heavy cream costed RM10 for a tiny box (less than 200ml perhaps?) and I needed the whole box. I lingered there for at least five minutes to decide how to work around the circumstances (while also taking peeks at parmesan, edam and blue cheese, only to frown bitterly at the price). I almost opted for cheddar instead, but I compromised, and decided not to buy the cream and substitute it with loads of milk (so I bought another pint because I'm sure my brother wouldn't appreciate me using up all his milk).

Then I went to Giant, with definite hopes that they would have button mushrooms - it's Giant after all! Again, utter disappointment. I asked one of the staff if they had button mushrooms, going to great lengths to explain what it was and what it looked like. She just said "tak tau la, kak" without getting up from her chair. Bukannya nak tolong cari/cek! Something like this would never happen in Asda! Lepas tu, dia sambung main phone dia. So I went round the whole vegies and fruit section for the third time, and still no luck. I ended up getting 2 bananas instead (I wanna make marble chocolate banana cake tomorrow), and when I went up to the weighing counter (the unhelpful girl mentioned previously was there), I didn't even say thank you to her for weighing my bananas (I always say thank you kat jurutimbang and cashier kedai). That's how upset I was at her (I was already emotional for not finding the mushrooms at the third place I went to, she should have at least made a little effort!).

While I was there, I checked the prices for mozzarella, cream etc as well. The same brand of Mozzarella was 60 sen more expensive than Mydin, but what shocked me the most was the price of mascarpone cheese. First of all, they sold it in packs of 1 kg - who needs 1 kg of mascarpone? You only need half of that to make a reasonable size tiramisu (enough for entertaining guests). And I'm sure someone who actually needs that amount (tiramisu business maybe?) would have their own supplier and would not be buying it for RM32.49 from Giant! And to think my mum says I should learn how to make puff pastry and croissants - tobat bankrup aku!

I bought shiitake mushrooms eventually from Giant, but I knew it wouldn't taste the same. So I don't know how I came up with this idea that Astaka (the Chinese community in Terengganu usually shops there) might have it. So I went all the way to Astaka, parked and put 20 sen in the metre and went in. Only to come out 5 minutes later with nothing.

Kenapa saya marah sangat takde kedai jual button mushrooms? Because I know people use it. For sure, sapa2 yang nak buat pizza or spaghetti or many other Italian/Western dishes must need button mushrooms, no? And this is proven by the fact that you can get canned button mushrooms by so many different brands in every grocery store in Terengganu. Yang saya sangat geramnya is that you can get condoms (I thought this coz they had a variety of condoms kat kaunter bayaran Giant) in so many different types all over Terengganu (all 7-Elevens, Mydin, Giant, Watson's, Guardian and all other pharmacies). I mean, who uses them anyway??? Budak2 tak bermoral tak guna, coz otherwise Terengganu wouldn't have the highest rate of teenage childbirth in Malaysia; and orang2 yang dah kawen pulak, it would be most peculiar to use them. And to think that no one has the decency to sell fresh button mushrooms anywhere in Kuala Terengganu! I feel this is a rational enough reason to make me wanna live and work in KL instead!

I don't know how to express how agonising it is to make your signature dish without the right ingredients. Everyone said it tasted ok (and everyone had seconds), but I just loathed the taste of shiitake (it tastes just like it sounds, shitty) in an Italian-themed dish. I kinda wish I just bought the canned mushrooms (mum used to use them when she made pizzas).

I was so angry today that I didn't even stop by at Each-A-Cup (in Mydin) to buy my favourite hazelnut coffee with pearls or even at Killiney (depan Astaka) for my favourite fries and cole slaw. Grrr!!!