O Cafe Organic Food Restaurant

As now everybody is emphasizing “Go Green”, “Recycle”, “Environmental Friendly”… I admit, I’m a real carnivore, but being one of the citizen on earth, I’m trying my very bery best to go meat-free during the day (but I think most of the time I fail , unless I’m eating alone).

Last weekend, Lingtze, the famous Kitty Bakes Penang Cakes’ owner, came to KL, and we were visiting our friends in Subang. She was saying she wanted to try the salted melaka gula ice-cream @ Empire Subang, so, we decided to go there for lunch too. Since our friend is recovering, so, we decided to find something which is real healthy, and this restaurant fits to our requirement!

I have a question, organic food restaurants do not serve meat? We were flipping the menu, everything look delicious and pretty, but find no meat. I’m not sure about the girls, but I’m clueless when I see no meat (no meat-free diet during weekend for me ). So, we seek help from the waiter, he talked so soft so, we took whatever he recommended.

Nice ambience, near the counter they sell organic plate and cutleries too, don’t ask me what is organic plate and cutleries, those are too “environmental friendly” to me.

3 dishes for sharing: mushroom spaghetti, fried mushroom salad, mushroom pizza… what?!! all mushroom?!!

Those dishes are nice, especially the pizza, but too much vege or perhaps mushrooms made me feel a little ermmmmmmmmm… like I never had eaten anything at all!!! lol But positive side is, I felt I'm healthier when I stepped out from the restaurant and can’t wait for my dessert @ Whisk!

p/s: The price of food is very reasonable, at first I thought organic food must be expensive, but in fact it is not!

Mom’s Scooter

My mom has a valid driving license, don’t ask me how she got it, Malaysia is always boleh! However, she is afraid to drive a car, she can only ride a scooter, don’t ask me why, logically, car is safer compare to a scooter or motorcycle, but apparently she think the other way around. (Although I’ve been driving for more than 10 years, she still doesn’t trust me driving her around too… )

My mom’s old (left) and new (right) scooters

Vehicle always need maintenance, these years, it was getting harder to find spare parts for her old scooter, the manufacturer had actually stopped producing spare part for this model for a long time, yet, my dad couldn’t find any replacement for her until he found this Mio 100, green scooter fully imported from Taiwan. (My mom is quite short, so, they can only ride a scooter)

This scooter has an build-in green system, and compare to other motorcycle, it’s a bit pricey, but when my mom first saw this, we knew she loves it (my mom usually quite thrifty), so, with no hesitation, my dad made the deposit and the motor shop sent her the car the next few days. My dad even bought her the same plate number for her scooter. (My dad bought me the plate number that I wanted too, but he paid more for this one).

Although now that she has a new scooter, we all wanted to keep the old one too… for me, it’s part of my childhood recollection… My dad bought the old scooter for my mom to bring me to kindergarten. I used to stand in front of her at the footboard until I grew tall enough to block her sight, then I was allowed to sit at the backseat. Everyday, she sent me to school, then to the day market, then picked me after school, day by day until we shifted house. My dad thought that it’s too far and too dangerous for her to send me, so, I have to take school bus after that. But if I need to go somewhere near, my mom will still send me using this scooter until I was too big size for the scooter to support both of our weigh. Since then it only serve as the vehicle which my mom take it to the day market nearby.

Although the scooter is small and not powerful, but it’s full of sweet memories and loves. I hope this scooter will give her a pleasant trip whenever she ride on it, she really deserve something better!

Las Carretas

I love food… everyone knows about it. That I was reading a newspaper and came across this:

World’s top 10 foods:

1. pasta
2. meat
3. rice
4. pizza
5. chicken
6. fish and seafood
7. vegetables
8. Chinese food
9. Italian food
10. Mexican food.

I’m so proud that Chinese food ranked no. 8 and basically I love all those listed food, maybe with a little bit adjustment in the ranking. But frankly speaking, Mexican food ranked no. 10 has a reason… the food is really lovely!

I was visiting a friend in Taipan, Subang after work, he recommended this restaurant – Las Carretas, for an early dinner. The restaurant is kind of down to earth from the appearance, however I feel it is kind of tropical inside. When we arrived, ground floor already more than half-filled with people happy hour-ing, so, we picked a table near the window on 1st floor. I love the interior and deco, especially at this hour when the sun was setting outside, warm and weak beam shinning through the blind, projecting interesting shadows on the wall.

The difference of an alcoholic and non-alcoholic

I’m the only one feeling hungry, so, we order few signature dishes for sharing. We ordered seafood nacho, black pepper spaghetti and the most representing – Taco (wheat Tortilla roll with fillings). That was my 1st time trying Taco, they served with hot plate chicken breast, cheese, salsa, sour cream, avocado, lettuce, tomato rice, of course Tortilla wraps too. Must try! I had my love at 1st bite!

My Taco, love the juicy chicken, love the sauce, love the texture and everything!

P/S: The restaurant has a few branches in KL/ Selangor, please visit their website for details. http://www.lascarretas.com/index.html

Tanzini

I can’t recall when was the last time I visited a fine dining restaurant… probably long ago when most of my friends were still single (I understand, once got married, everything need to re-prioritize).

I got to know Tanzini from a magazine and I would like to try it someday. Then, “once upon a time”, I wanted to buy my good friend a birthday lunch. At first she was saying she need to bring along her 3 months old baobei (precious), so, we need to go somewhere which is baby friendly. Then her mom offer her helping hands to take care of the baby, so we girls can have 4 hours to enjoy our get together, we should go Tanzini!

 

Very nice ambience even it’s lunch time, I can imagine it will be even more romantic at night

Complimentary bread with 3 different sauces (olive+vinegar, tomato paste, dried chilli paste), refillable

Starter – ham wrapped asparagus, smoked salmon and cheese

Grilled baby chicken pasta & big prawn spaghetti with clams  

Orange crème brûlée with biscotti, Tiramisu on ice

Balcony area

Although we spent about RM100 per person, quality of service and food already worth the bill, not to mention great get together time with good friend is priceless! Will definitely visit this place again with friend at night.

Business Hour:

Monday to Saturday
Lunch
11.30am - 2.30pm
Dinner
6.30pm - 10.30pm
Closed on Sunday

Contacts:

Level 28, GTower
Jalan Tun Razak
50400 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
03 2168 1899

Another Version of Lemon Peach Mousse Cake

Lemon Peach Mousse Cake was my 1st attempt in baking a mousse cake with frosting. Refer the following site for recipe: http://unprofessionalphotography.blogspot.com/2011/03/lemon-peach-mousse-cake_29.html

I was so happy that even that’s my 1st attempt, the cake turn out nice and tasty, so, my friend was asking me to bake one for her parents’ birthday… and she is willing to pay for the cake.

My 1st success might be merely due to luck, so, I was making another by using mango.

The outcome was very successful, just that I took a long time in frosting and the whipped topping cream has melted a little. Aha… this is a very good excuse for me to buy a turning frosting table!

Then, I was thinking, the cake must be more presentable, I must do something to compensate my ugly frosting… so, while I was browsing the net for some ideas… tada… this is what I found.

I’m going to copy this design…

See? the outcome was still very rough…

So, as a conclusion, I’m not a creative and artistic person… but I’m happy enough to see everything in place.

I asked the buyer for feedbacks, but unfortunately she didn’t say much… so, I’m a bit stepped back now, I’m still wondering did her guests and most importantly, her parents like the cake?

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Out of the topic a little bit: I was baking scone on the same day… but I failed, failed badly… the scone was so hard, as hard as rock…

Ingredients and the making of scone are comparable easier, I thought, but it need a very good kneading skill which I have yet to discover. Must try making it again in near future.

Hello Stranger

封闭很久的泪腺竟然败在一部外语片（在追字幕的同时被剧情感动不容易）。若非朋友或影评热烈推荐，我很少看外语片，更别说是泰语的，只因本地上映的泰语片大多数不是惊悚片就是暴力武打片。会选看 Hello Stranger 是因为影评的介绍，加上它自21.04上映至今已有大概一个月都还没下画，一定有它的魅力所在。

故事非常简单，几乎99%的戏份都在韩国拍摄。如果是韩剧迷的话更会对片中的场景感到非常地亲切。两位主人翁巧合地在异地相识，他们的共同点除了拥有相同的国籍，还有他们都怀着受伤的心来到这个陌生的国家。他们彼此约定，除了彼此真实的姓名，他们必须要对对方坦诚。而且在陌生的国度，没有人认识他们更没有人懂得他们的语言，他们可以尽情地放纵自己，同时也被对方的真实相互吸引。

故事如何发展你大概也可以想象或有缘的话，我极力推荐你观看这部难能单纯又不失深度（我认为两位演员的演技有深度）的片子。

p/s: 我想应该是电影的某段情节勾起我对某人的思念，所以泪腺才会被“打通”。现在心里的疑问是，你也像我那样想我吗？

A Mother’s Day Dinner & A “Tattoo”

Since last cooking experience, I strongly believe I need more practice in the kitchen. Besides the lunch treat to my parents, I have decided to cook for them dinner on mother’s day. Flipped through recipe, these were what I chose:

Ponfret Fish Soup with Yam

1. Slice pomfret fish, 2. cook the soup base using fish bone and anchovy, 3. fry yam and last but not least 4. put yam, fish fillet and adequate seasoning in soup to cook. 

Stewed Pork with Onion

1. Marinate pork (whole piece) with sesame oil, pepper and soy sauce for 30 minutes, 2. Fry pork until golden brown, dished up 3. leave a tbsp of oil in wok and fried diced onion until fragrant (10 pieces of small onion and 1 big onion), add 1 tbsp of oyster sauce, 3 tbsp of soy sauce and 1 tbsp of rock sugar, dished up, 4. add pork with sauce and steamed for another 1 hour, 5. cut pork into smaller pieces and boiled sauce until thickened. Finally, pour the sauce over pork slices and served!

Butter Prawn

1. Mix corn flour with water, 2. add in prawn and spoon the mixture to fry, dished up, 3. heat up butter, fry curry leaves and chilli padi until frangrant, 4. add evaporated milk and seasoning, cook until thickened, and finally 5. add in fried prawn dough and mixed well.

Comments from happy parents: Stewed pork with onion tasted good (actually I think the dish turned out better than I expected), the soup was nice too, but butter prawn has failed, the flour was too thick and not crispy at all.

Actually I should skip the flour, just cook the sauce with prawn will be good enough. As usually, many mistakes were made in the kitchen, most silly is, I used bare fingers to clean and remove seed from chilli padi, ended up my 10 fingers were “burning” internally the whole night. Then the clumsy me burnt my arm too when I was trying to clean the hot wok, rewarded myself a “tattoo” for my hard work , hope it won’t leave a scar later on.