No people, you DID NOT read this wrong. This is one of the things that cannot be joked, especially when it comes to kampua mee – the epitome that defines a Sibu-an. Haha.. I couldn’t believe my eyes too when I first laid my eyes on that cold packaging in the Friendship Store which was run by this particular friendly Bintangor uncle.

From the same kampung, no wonder I would see him as a very friendly person. Cos no matter what and where you are, once you realize that there is this someone who shares the same background with you, you intend to build upon that solidarity. Ho-chiew lang… very typical one la (not that I am a Foochow, but growing up in a very Foochow-ish town, it’s sort of ran in the upbringing).. right or not?

Okay, let’s come back to the kampua mee story and how it got to be in Fredericton.

First of all, it is not called kampua mee. Here, you’ll find a lot of things that has Canadian-ized terms for some local stuffs. For instance, we call sien chai that refers to the salty preserved thing back home that mummy and daddy used to cook it to make us some delicious soup. Here, they call it preserved mustard. What else hor… aiyah, I don’t care. Let’s revert back to the kampua mee story.

For as long I have been here, I have not seen this kampua mee being sold – until just last week. My prowling eyeballs saw this, squinted on to see the details before I finally mustered some courage to open up the refrigerator door and wala~! So happy when I got that packet of mee… and they call it wan ton mee. NOT kampua mee. (Boo..! I know, right?) Seriously, for a moment I felt sorry for the mee to be named in such a way that it sort of lost the glory of kampua mee. Anyways, I got some of it… (so happy inside).

And because I can prepare really deliciously crave-able qing-tong (muahahahha… so proud of myself!), then the kung-fu to puak the kampua mee is no big deal for someone who is already salivating inside the brain for wanting to eat kampua mee so badly… hehehe.

Still got another packet of mee in the fridge.. hehehe. Wait till I boil some qing-tong, get some fresh sprigs of green onion and have it chopped into flavourful scallions…. still got the deep fried mee-chang.

LONG LIVE KAMPUA MEE!!!!!!!!