Throw Outs

Feeling bored at home. The kids are starting their months long school holiday and the thought of them lurking around the house made me feel slight uneasy. You know, kids being kids, they never bother to stack up things properly; never attempt to return things they took, back to their original position, etc. I can foresee my place will turn into a dump site, say within a week? So, I decided to carry out some 'clearing out' before things get worst.

No matter how much I throw away, sell, or spruce up, I am still feeling the need to do more. I have a gigantic pile of old framed pictures that I need to clean out this week and donate, or sell, or even just toss. Then I need to MAYBE tear down a piece of furniture in our living room and throw it out.

Oh and there’s still MORE clothing that I need to go through and get rid of. Urgh!

Eating Pasta With Chopsticks

While sorting out my memory card and at the same time doing some backing up of data, I spotted some pics taken in Pasta Zanmai restaurant. Don't seem to remember 'journaling' about this restaurant. It was ages ago, three/four months? Yeap, sometime in August.

Pasta Zanmai is the latest venture of the Super Dining group of eateries which include Sushi Zanmai, Rakuzen, Zen, Kura group of restaurants. There are now a number of branches scattered in various shopping malls. We went to the one at 1 Utama. It is situated on the ground floor of Promenade, right opposite Sun Moulin Bakery and next to Carl's Jr. It can be hard to spot as it is hidden behind the Japanese grocery shop, Shojikiya. The place is quite small with semi-circular booths in the middle.

Acknowledged as a fusion of Japanese and Italian cuisine, I was skeptical initially as I thought it was a funny and weird mingle. Upon entering and scrutinizing the menu, we were spoilt with choices of different varieties of pastas, rice and other Japanese dishes. It offers a more fashionable fare, creating Japanese pasta dishes cooked with Japanese ingredients such as seaweed, miso and sesame are liberally used here. The outcome? Well, let's just say the combination is interesting; the palate requires no time in getting used to.

The interior is appealing as it is decorated creatively with huge lamp-like structures.

The open kitchen is at the back, allowing you to observe the chef preparing your pasta.

The colourful yet informative menu.

My son was somehow attracted to this slab of meat as opposed to all those mouthwatering pasta dishes.

The dessert menu is so enticing!

The iced green tea filled in a bamboo shaped glass.

After so long, I can't recall what this is called? Something mushroom, enoki in cream sauce ...

Tempura prawns in goma. Very nice stuff, definitely the best pasta dish of the day.

Sirloin steak, sexily glazed.

Ordinarily, Italian style pasta have three bases, more or less: tomato-based (bolognaise), cream-based (alfredo) and oil-based (Olio). At Pasta Zanmai, there are currently seven bases, and growing. Apart from the three mentioned above, there are the traditional Japanese style, called wafu; sesame sauce made from grinding sesame seeds into a paste; soup-based and meat sauce.

The goma (sesame sauce) versions are very popular. The nutty texture adds a dollop of luxury to any dish and also uplifts appetite. That’s why it's their signature dish.

We Asians, tend to regard pasta as an unbearably heavy meal. But this new pasta trend from Japan is breaking that prejudice. And once you eat at Pasta Zanmai, your perception of pasta will never be the same again.

Interestingly, at Pasta Zanmai, you eat the pasta with chopsticks instead of a fork and spoon, adding to that Japanese experience.

Overall, we enjoyed ourselves a lot. I would definitely return to try the other pasta dishes. Umm, and the desserts coz this time we didn't save our stomach for the dessert, pity!

Piece of Art?

Can you figure out what these are? They are merely some Italian meringue buttercream and handmade fondant covered cupcakes in white and different shades of blue. You got to view it from a distance to admire the full image.

There you go, it is indeed a cupcake mosaic featuring an image of the new president, Barack Obama.

A New York cake designer, Zilly Rosen created this food artwork of Obama by utilizing 1,240 cupcakes. In this project, the cupcakes function like pixels in a computer image.

Some seems to think it is awesome.

But for me, it is so darn unappertizing. Please people, I just do not wish to see politics in my food!!!

Coloured???

Something that I would like to share:

This poem was nominated by UN as the best poem of 2006, written by an African Kid.







When I born, I black
When I grow up, I black
When I go in Sun, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I black
And when I die, I still black




And you white fellow
When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you white
When you go in sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you gray




And you calling me colored?



****************

Now that America has shown they can elect a black President and majority of them have put their racist tendencies behind them, it is time to repudiate all those that would continually play the race card. And, you know who you are.

Well, it's over. Let us hope for American's sake that CHANGE just does not mean the election of a black President and that from Obama's perspective it means much more. However, one thing is for certain that it will not be smooth sailing.

Despite the headline reads "Obama cruised to victory", it hasn't been easy for him. And now that he's in, it won't be easy at all. Obama is inheriting the worst economy America has had in decades. And there are plenty of people just waiting to blame everything on him. I hope he will come through the next four years well.

I was watching the live coverage from CNN. The more I watch, the more I wish there was this sort of democratic participation in Malaysia (and, dare I hope?). In Bolehland, the only time we gather in large numbers for political reasons is to protest (for more democracy). We never gather to celebrate politically. We are never excited about elections. And why should we be? ... ... ... ahem.

Japanese Homeware Giant Lands in PJ

Hooray! Great news for fans of Japanese livingware who live in West Malaysia: Daiso, the 100 yen store chain, is opening a branch in - The Curve (on Level 2, next to Nichii) pretty soon. This will be their second outlet in Malaysia, after their successful first opening in KK.

Daiso, originated from Japan, is a unique combination of dollar and convenient store, carrying over 100,000 types of high-quality stylish household and lifestyle products at unbeatable prices. There are three Daiso stores in Singapore, where everything is going for $2. In Bangkok, Daiso stores are ubiquitous, popping up on corners and in malls, and even within department stores, where everything sells at 60Baht.

Now in Malaysia, all goods are going at a uniform price of RM5, hence the tagline 'Always RM5".

Before I heard this piece of news, I was planning to pop into Daiso during my upcoming Bangkok trip, to 'sapu' some cutie pastry cutters, silicon moulds, food picks etc. Now that with the opening of Daiso in PJ, I won't mind waiting a little longer, since the price, when converted, will be cheaper in Malaysia as opposed to 60Baht.

I'm so excited, can't wait!

Lou Por Paeng - Wife's Biscuit

My dearie neighbour came back from Taiwan and brought back some local delicacies. Besides the famous mini pineapple shortcakes, there was also this :

Lou Gung Paeng - Husband's Biscuit

Frankly, it tasted a bit weird. I don't know how to describe, but just not to my liking. Perhaps it was the seaweed that they added in.

My favourite chinese pastry is no doubt the Lou Por Paeng - Wife's Biscuit.

There are a few legends relating to wife's biscuit.

One of them being: A needy couple used candied winter melon to make some round shaped pastry and peddled these on the street. It was such a hit that the husband decided to name this pastry wife's biscuit as a gratitude to his wife.

Yummy candied winter melon

The other being: A Teochew pastry chef brought some candied winter melon pastry baked by his wife to his colleagues in a restaurant in Canton. The chefs thought that the pastry tasted awesome and decided to tweak the pastry and sell them in the restaurant. As the pastry was first baked by the Teochew chef's wife, they decided to name it 'Wife Biscuit'. (Credit - Wikipedia.org)

But, I always relate wife's biscuit to the Hong Kong drama series, Square Pegs 戇夫成龍. The utterly touching love story. Remember the famous main character - stupid and good nature Ah Wong 丁常旺, played by Roger Kwok? The length that he is willing to go to earn his wife's (Ling Choi Fung 凌彩鳳, played by Jessica Hsuan) approval and affection is heartrending, especially the part where he painstakingly dried up the candied winter melon and baked the special pastry where he later named it Lou Por Paeng.

Beauty exists in simplicity is what this series is trying to say. Judging by the awesome lou por paeng, I totally agree.

Anyway, this is a popular snack in Hong Kong. The most famous one is probably from an old confectionary shop in Yuen Long. Years back whenever we visit Hong Kong, we used to make special trips to Yuen Long just to buy them. Tasted awesome when just out of the oven. The pastry is very flaky and fragile.

Craving for lou por paeng? No need to fly to Hong Kong these days. Just pop into the confectionary shop, Sin Eng Heong in Ipoh. Their lou poh paeng can certainly compete with those in Yuen Long.

Their other pastries are equally alluring, in particular the kaya puff, flaky, crispy, fragrant and egglicious kaya filled.

On weekends and public holidays, the acclaimed pastries may run out fast, it is advisable to order in advance, to avoid leaving empty-handed and sour-faced. Aiyah, I have misplaced their number and address. Well, the shop is on the street next to Lou Wong Bean Sprout Chicken.

Let me end this post with Ah Wong's famous line, "I'm happy as long as the one I love is happy."