October 29, 2013

Royal Bintang Kid Zone

RM20 for non-hotel guests, Below 6 years only.
Roya Bintang, Kota Damansara.

It's next to the ice-skating rink, so it's very cold there. Please bring extra clothes for your kids if you intend to bring them there.
It's a very simple play area with a role play set up!









MIGF Menu - Minori Japanese Cuisine

25th October 2013, 7:30pm
It was not an intentionally planned meal, but it turned out wonderful for me and my mom, and Cs too.

The Malaysian International Gourmet Festival @ Minori, Royal Bintang

The Full Course Menu - RM 288 ++ per serving
My mom and I ordered a set to share.



The course started with UMESHU COCKTAIL, a very good quality umeshu with a tad of sweetness. Very Very Nice! NOT ENOUGH to drink!


2nd Dish was the Cold Chawanmushi with Abalones, Sea Urchin & Fresh Wasabi
This is definitely a very delicate Chawanmushi I ever tasted.
The smoothness of the egg pudding and the freshness of sea urchins were indeed impressive. Abalone Slices were chewy but breaking easily with a sweetness of its juice. Sea Urchins were never something that I would order, but this top quality seafood that Minori served that day had introduced me the exquisite taste of Sea Urchin; melt in the mouth with firm texture.


Appetizer : Tomato, Lotus slice & Sweet Bean in Yuzu Dressing.
Clean & Clear. Simple & Nice!


Sashimi Starter
Chutoro, Amberjack, Flat Fish, Salmon & Sweet Shrimp.
Don't ask me HOW GOOD they were because I am already salivating NOW!
So fresh, so sweet, dissolve gradually after a few chews. REALLY SUPERB!


Clear Soup with Mushroom, Grouper, Carrot,  Mitsuba Leaf, Raddish, Japanese Lime. This soup was quite normal, but Big C loved it so much that she finished the soup, and My Mom & I only got to taste a small spoon of it.  
Very refreshing Soup! Nice! Yum Yum!


Grilled Salmon, Grilled King Crab, Taro, Sweet Potato, Pumpkin, Capsicum, Mushrooms,Foiegras Ponzu, Gingko, Rice Corn.
Everything was delicious, especially the Foiegras, mm~~
Love the Japanese Taro too!!!!


Grilled Wagyu with Eggplants & Leek.
Do I need to tell you more???!!! Seriously, this portion is NOT ENOUGH for 2!
It was so juicy and not RAW at all. Love how the chef lightly marinated the beef   thus the wagyu remained its freshness and juice. No overpowering issues here.
Oh My God~~!!! Delish! So succulent & heavenly.


Yuzu Sorbet
Refreshing - Ready to proceed with the next course with a clean tongue :)


Fried Minced Shrimp with Lemon Udon Sauce.
Uncomplicated, fresh & aromatic.


Sushi Meal - Toro, Scallops, Ikura, Konbu Shoyu Gel & Spring Onion.
Wow!!!!! This dish is served cold, really cold.
But it was MARVELOUS! A good combination of all, the Konbu Shoyu Gel was not engrossing at first, but spoons after spoons with the great combination of the sushi, it was REALLY good! I am so hungry now! Geezzz..


Dessert : Melon Yogurt Jelly & Fruits : Grapes & Melons.
None of us got excited when the last course was served. Hahaha...
Not pretty & interesting enough for us to WOW. BUT!!!!!! Hold There.
The Yogurt Jelly was actually very special! Flavour was mild but just the right texture & taste to end the EXQUISITE MEAL of the night.

If you asked me if it worth RM288 ++! Oh! Yes! It's CHEAP!
Considering the ingredients used & freshness of the Wagyu and seafoods, you won't get it anywhere else at this price. 

Perhaps we were lucky that night, there were special guests and media reviews. So, I guess it would be the BEST of the BEST!!! Hahaha...Lucky!

October 28, 2013

Sweet Treats for MaMa

We had a Baby shower for Dan among our ARGS Gang at ACME Bar. Since the last visit here for coffee, we had a pretty good impression on its Pavlova! We have been talking about the Pavlova and can't wait to a taste of it again. 

The first Pavlova experience was superb. The meringue was not sweet, cream was at its good texture & sweetness, coupled with the sourish passionfruit sauce, it was FANTASTIC!

So, because of such recommendation, everyone hold a great expectation on the Pavlova at ACME bar. We ordered two to share among us. Unfortunately, it didn't glory the way it happened on our last visit. Elayne actually complained   she tasted the rotten eggs liked on the meringue, overall, it disappointed everyone. :( 

Luckily, we had the sizzling brownie to balance the disappointment. The bubbling chocolate sauce in sizzling hot plate was intriguing that everyone had nearly forgave the bad of the Pavlova! Hahaha...  



YUMMY!!!!!


I cannot denounce it as LOUSY, the fact is I really tasted the Best Pavlova here at my FIRST VISIT which was only two weeks ago. Perhaps, the day was just not a PAVLOVA day. YES, highly recommend to try again!!! 
Yes. I would order again for my next visit. 


Woo!~~~ Affagato! I have not tried Affagato before but I heard of it and saw people ordering it. Didn't think it's any special, I would rather order a hot cup of Latte to get the wholesome of COFFEE. 
I must admit that I WAS TOTALLY WRONG of being skeptical until I had my very first Affogato at Artisan Cafe. WOOHOO~~~~ it was such a heavenly cup of coffee!!!! Love it!!!!!!! 

Oh No~~~ MaMa is developing Sweet Tooth!!!!!!!! Bad!

A night out for a Coffee & Dessert Treat

Probably we had stayed home for the whole day and didn't do much for a peaceful sunday. Grandma, MaMa, Ah Yi & 2Cs decided to step out of the house and go for a cup of Latte & some Desserts!

Our first choice was ACME Bar cause I thought the coffee is quite good, unfortunately the COFFEE Machine was out of order. So, we headed straight to Publika Namoo Korean Dessert Cafe.



MaMa had Korean Classic Coffee (similar to Latte but stronger), Cs had Babycino (Similar to Hot Chocolate, A Slice of Red Velvet & A Slice of Sweet Potato Cake to share among us. Ah Yi had a pot of Tea & Grandma had Americano. The girls love the Babycino, it's so chocolaty! It's basically chocolate sauce texture-like under the foam. It's a small little cuppy, so it's still alright.

The cakes were both NOT sweet which is a good thing for us. Red Velvet topped with the Strawberry sauce makes it a little sweeter, hmmm, not the best Red Velvet I have tasted. The sweet potato cake is simply really Sweet potato mash, hmm..., it's their chef's recommended dish but it's not our kind of cake too. Hahaha...would i recommend there for dessert? Not really. 
But, we are interested to make a trip there again for their dinner. The menu looks quite attractive. :)



Look what we found at Ben's! 


These photo were taken in the morning at the Dim Sum Place.

End of War to Macaroons



There is no winner in this war. I did not master the skill of macarooning, neither did I achieve what I was fighting for! But I used up all my ingredients!
Call it a "win" in terms of texture & taste, crispy on the shell, chewy & sweet!
Well, they are colorful and they are just who they are - Macaroons. 
Hahahaha....Never Mind!

October 25, 2013

The War of Macaroons

I have yet to conquer Macaroons but I am gonna give a rundown of what happened to MaMa this whole week and how this Macaroon War started since Last Saturday! Honestly, I am already at the verge of retreating, see how!

My mom's maid was clearing the expiry stuffs in the kitchen last Saturday. Yes, my mom and I have this bad habit of buying stuffs and forget about them, our POWER is up to an extent that when maid asked us, 

"Madam, do you still want this? It's already expired." and our response can be "Not Mine! You ask..so and so...". 

Funny enough, none of us SOMETIMES or MOST OF THE TIMES refuse to claim our PURCHASES like flour, teabags, cane sugar, raisin, almonds, cornflakes etc etc etc... I am admitting here that this is a very bad habit, and I have determined to turn it around. BABIES, LEARN the GOOD and discard the BAD! So, I saw packets of ALMOND MEAL & ICING SUGAR, and a beautiful Silicone Mat which I have bought EARLY of the year with the intention to make macaroons for CNY. Obviously, it didn't happen! These ingredients will be due end of the year, and so in order to fully UTILIZE my purchases and show a good example to my girls, I have decided to start the Macaroons Extravaganza! 

Hey, It was never my intention to war my macaroons, matter of fact, I wanted to bake them and appreciate them! That's why I specially prepared a homemade Lemon Curb as their Fillinggggsssss. See, such great treatment! Unfortunately, they failed me. Or the other way around? I failed them! Not just once, 4th failed attempts for the whole long week. Look here (http://chrisyeediary.blogspot.com/2012/07/dessert-class-ecole-de-pastisserie.html), I made all of these in 3 hours in a workshop! I made them all by myself with chef's instruction. But, it was a success!!! So, I didn't expect to fail and go into a war! 

It was all the same recipe that I am using for the whole week. I suspect my over beating of egg whites, or could be the oven's temperature faulty or over mixing the batter????



Let me introduce my BEAUTIFUL silicon mat that cost me around RM50! The best part is it doesn't fit my oven tray, it's way bigger than my oven tray! Well, that's it! It's a WRONG & CARELESS purchase! This photo shown my second attempts, and you must be wondering how bad did the first one go? well, I couldn't even pipe them, and now you can imagine why I didn't even have the mood to SNAP SNAP SNAP! What's the point? I was quite happy after piping these as shown, just too much coloring. However, ALL of them CRACKED badly and I couldn't even lift them off the silicon mat. :( They all went into the bin, TRASH BIN! I refused give up, and I went to buy another packet of almond meal. This shouldn't be happening!!!!! It's just 4 simple ingredients to make macaroons!?? 



This photo shown the special guest for my macaroons - Lemon Curd! 
Yummy Yummy Yummy! Love it. I would reduce the sugar amount if I am going to make it again. Recipe is here with a good video demonstration.


3rd attempt! Consistency is looking good! Shinny and smooth! 
I was so looking forwards to the end product. 



After resting of 40mins, and baking in the oven for 15min at 140 deg C,
Most of them cracked and they didn't grow feet, the cookies' bottom suppose to have a ruffle that rise during the baking process. Some of the cookies are hollow and some with chewy texture. I have to adjust the temperature for sure, the inside is not entirely cooked but the shell is already cracking. 



But my girls are still very happy to bring them to school. 



This is the 4th attempt! Everything was in accordance, the PEAK of the eggwhite, the mixing, the consistency of the batter, all seems ALRIGHT to me! 
Resting was 40mins and I made sure they were not tacky before I sent them for baking. Temperature adjusted to 120 deg C - 130 Deg C. For the first 5 mins, I was thrilled to witness the rise of the cookies with feet! But then, it collapsed after 5 mins, and remain feetless as the picture shown after baking.


It may seem EASY but it is truly not EASY at all. To master the technique is much harder than I thought and because it has a special distinct identified SHAPE and IMPRESSION to the public, it makes it harder to achieve. But the taste, I guess the cookies taste is acceptable since the texture achieve the crunchiness at the shell and chewiness inside, as described by the experts. 

I have no idea why am I going on with the endless war, first, I don't like them at all. I hardly buy them because the sweetness is not to my liking. I was occasionally attracted by the beautiful colours but never the taste nor the texture. Obviously, I don't encourage my girls to savour on these sweet stuffs, but it's ok to have them once in a blue moon, like I always mentioned. So, the battle persists for the intention of SUCCESS AND GLORY (Glory?! Gila Betul!), which i have yet to conquer! 

*sigh* I have been tasting these cookies a lot in order to get the feel of the texture and taste!!!!!!!! I have gained WEIGHT because of you! By looking at this, I am the bigger loser at the end of the war! Hahahaha....Silly MaMa.

October 22, 2013

Just to make sure

Most of the times, Cs will see me prepare their Snack Box every morning as they want to make sure I will have something they like in the box. This morning, Cs were both busy arguing with KaKak on what shoes to wear to school while MaMa was in the kitchen. I didn't make any special Bento :P, it was just those Gardenia Strawberry Cream Bun packed in a pretty Hello Kitty Box. That's it! 

After we've sent JieJie to school, Little C suddenly unzipped her bag, and rummaged in her bag, she then asked, " MaMa, did you bring anything for me to eat in school?" and this simple query took me by surprise as I didn't expect her to remember IT.

Little C has her reason TO MAKE SURE "ONCE UPON OF TIME" will not happen again. Poor baby, she must be rather unhappy in the last incident due to my bad. She must had felt lonely and embarrassed being left alone without food while all her friends happily enjoyed munching away. 


October 20, 2013

Cs' Sunday Activities

Time flies in the speed of light? or faster? Tomorrow is Monday again, Back to School for Cs, and Back to Work for Me!

Cs and I spent our Sunday at home and a Ballet Lesson at 3pm. 

My Sunday started with a lovely greeting in the morning from my darlings Cs. While three of us were still lazing on bed at 9am, Big C turned to me and greeted me Good Morning with a GREAT BIG SMILE, squinting eyes. Little C heard JieJie's greeting, and quickly sprinted up from her sleep, looked around in search of MaMa and JieJie. Hahaha, we were actually still on bed and her vision gazed directly out of the door and not on bed. Silly girls! Little C cried for JieJie (*yeah, not for MaMa*) 

"Where is JieJie?" Big C cried to herself. 

JieJie and MaMa moved ourself to give Little C a GREAT BIG HUG from behind. Hahaha....

"Good Morning, Baby." MaMa said to Little C

"Good Morning, Baby." Big C repeated after MaMa

The girls went straight down for the morning milk while MaMa went to get freshened up.

We started with a painting which I had promised them two weeks ago. Finally, we get to do it today. Well Done, girls.


Painting done by my Cs.
Of course, I did the touching in order to pass my eyes.
Big C did all parts, MaMa touched up the bottom part with little flowers and darker greens. MaMa also helped to touched up on the eye of the Toucan.
Compared to the previous paintings, she has improved a little, she did not rush through the painting, and she took her time to fill up the space slowly.
As for Little C, she's still young for painting. Hahaha.... 
She managed to complete the painting anyhow. 
I never excel in my ART, so my touchup SKILL is limited to just THIS!
Lol, please pardon me.

We had our special request - Fried Mee Hoon with Tau Keh - as lunch. This is a special request from Big C, and Grandma made us a simply and yummy lunch. Fried Mee Hoon and Red Bean Soup for our lunch. Light, Simply and homely.

After lunch, I helped out Cs' with their Eyelevel homeworks. Finally, my girls know what homework is. Eyelevel will give each of them 2 workbooks to complete as their homework before their next lesson commence. So, I have to guide them through, otherwise teacher will see scribbles and dirty messy workbooks at the end of the day. Hahaha...

Cs refused to have nap, but anyhow it was too late for nap by then. Cs have Ballet Lesson at 3pm and we have to leave home by 2:30pm.

We arrived home by 4pm after Cs' Ballet Lesson. Cs went straight to have a bath, and they played on their own while MaMa went to take a short nap.

Then, we had a beautiful dinner prepared by Grandma again. We had Fish Head Soup, Stir-fried chives, carrots with prawn, sweet tomato prawns, fried salmon fillet, every dish guaranteed a mouth-watering sensation!!! 

Cs and MaMa had a around of puzzle right after dinner as requested by Cs in the afternoon. Babies, Mama is so proud of you girls. Big C managed the 150pcs of Aerial puzzle on her own in about 1 hour. Little C did not finish all THREE of them, she managed the 24pcs on her own, the 48pcs with MaMa's help, and she only found less than 10pcs while the rest was done by MaMa. Little C was about the dozed off right after the 48pcs, maybe she skipped her nap. 







Yeah, Cs' reward is SAKURA GREENTEA KITKAT!!!!

Big C says....

"MaMa, JieJie cry for MaMa just now." Little C made little report to MaMa.

"Oh dear, JieJie, why are you always crying for MaMa?" MaMa asked, sulking at my darling Big C

"MaMa, I cry for MaMa because I love MaMa very much!" Big C retorted, with the eyes gazing straight to mine. 

Awwww........ what a heart-melting moment..... ahhhh....... 


October 19, 2013

New Beggar's Delicious Restaurant

The TMP Makan-Makan group is back in action. It's been a while since the last eat-out together without our BOSS. hahaha... BOSS = ALCOHOL, so, while he's overseas, we planned out a eating trip @ Ijok. It's actually 45 minutes away from our office, so it's so too far away! 

My very first visit to IJOK.


Don't expect Air-conditioned eating environment but the fans are suffice to cool the place since they are located in the WOOLOO (secluded) palm plantation area. With the rapid development EVERYWHERE, this place is not so WOOLOO afterall, but you will still get to see Palm Trees and Muddy Trails.


The Makan-Makan group with a special little guest! Aiyoh..Forgot to ask his name, the little boy's my colleague's son.  


You will get Home Grown JACKFRUITS and HONEY.
So fresh & so HOMEMADE!

Let's get to the FOOD section.
We have ordered 1 10-course meal, and we have expected 11-12 pax per table. In the end, 9 pax in a table, and we had two tables for 18 + 1. 
The 10-course meal cost RM438 per set. I don't think you will ever get this price in town for such a serving!!!! Let's go!

Weird enough, BA BO FAN 八宝饭, is usually served right at the end of the course, before the dessert. BUT, this is our first course. 
It's DELICIOUS!!! The generous amount of salted egg yolks are found in EVERY scope of rice. Rating : YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY!! Beware of the FATTY PORK though, you might just swallow one without noticing it because it's darn good.


The second dish served is the restaurant's famous Begger's Chicken, 叫化鸡,in strong herbal juice. This dish will not disappoint anyone, thumbs up from ALL of us! Well, if you want me to compare with Overseas Restaurant in town? They are both as good, just that this one is with strong herbal chicken juice, which is supposed to be very nutritious, 很滋补, according to the chinese tradition. 

Begger's Duck? Ba Bo Duck, 八宝鸭,I am sure they have marinated the duck with many herbs too but the gravy is slightly thicker than the chicken's and it has a stronger dark soy sauce taste. The texture of the duck is just tender and juicy but I personally don't fancy this dish. Well? Rating is Good. Some actually said not so good and some said very good. For me, so so, deserved a GOOD.

Coming up is the Pig Trotter, 八宝猪手,which had actually not well accepted by many. The cubes are YAM cube, they were all very well cooked and these yams gave a powdery texture which I most fond of. As for the trotter, come on, all the way here, must have a GO for a taste! So, I was the first who dug in and sliced myself some meats, skins and fats. The texture of the fats are not as gross as you imagined, in fact, they are quite delicately cooked and the fats are morely dissolved,leaving a very thin layer fat attaching to the skin. The skin is still chewy, they are not soggy and slimy as it seemed. In fact, I would say this is a very well delicacy if you can overpower your conceptual of a normal fattening, greasy and unhealthy trotter. This is a fine dish I personally think, but a small serve is suffice to keep a good impression, more than that might ruin it.
Rating is FINE! Go for it. Just for the sake of trying!


Needless to elaborate, Stir-Fried Vegetable with anchovies, 抄时菜。
Let's just get to the rating - NORMAL. 

Steam Grouper with Vinaigrette Onions, Parsleys & Chives, 蒸鱼.
They didn't specify the dish name in the menu, it just mentioned steamed fish, probably the fish will depends on the day's availability. However, the fish is FRESH, the vinaigrette Onions & Parsley were appetizing. Something different. 
It tasted like a Thai Steam Fish BUT not exactly because the sour taste only occured when you eat it with the Onions otherwise it's just like ordinary Steam Fish. Rating - FRESH!

Yes, It's not the end yet!
Coming next is the prawns, 抄明虾。These prawns were undoubtedly fresh! Their flesh were juicy. Unfortunately, personally, I don't like the heavy thick sauce. A little sweet, a little spicy, a little salty. Don't ask me what style? Again, it didn't specify in the Menu, it just mentioned there PRAWNS. Rating is FRESH.

Pig Stomach Pepper Soup, 五宝汤。
It tasted like the Pepper Soup with Pig's Stomach (*Yummy, so chewy and no yucky smell*), black fungus, chinese mushroom, and abalone mushrooms and I think I see gingko in there too. The soup was not too spicy, the pepper was just enough to provide the warm and the chewiness of the Pig's Stomach are making the soup a lip-smacking one! Rating : Slurp!

The last in line (before the fruit) was the Crab stir-fried in curry leave, 抄螃蟹。
When it comes down to SEAFOOD, everything has to do with the freshness. Without its freshness as its primary concern, then it's pointless to serve. Again, these crab had proven their freshness with the clean & firm flesh texture. The cooking style is OK, nothing to shout about, I would prefer fatty crab's sweet spicy gravy rather than stir-fried in curry leave. Rating is FRESH. 

The last of the 10-course was a JACKFRUIT platter. Hahaha...which we had bought before the course started. The owner should have stopped us!!!!!
Obviously, we didn't CLEAN all dishes, but my table managed our best while the other SMALL-EATERS' table had many of the dishes DABAO 打包,takeaway! :P

What's our next Makan-Makan Destination?