Quesadilla Explosion Salad

This was my lunch on Thursday.... Lovely! It's basically grilled chicken with cheese, corn relish, cilantro, tortillas strips and citrus-balsamic dressing. Served with cheese quesadillas. Oh, where? Chillis, KLCC.

Didn't finish the quesadillas though, coz I was heavily chomping on the Bottomless Tostadas Chips that we order on the side!!! Heaven, thanks H for the lunch!!! You Rock!!! Ha!ha!ha! Let's do lunch again when Z comes back to work next week!

Quick fix dinner.

A few days ago, when I came home from work and looked under the "tudung saji", I saw this spread...

Let's see, there's Sardine fried with chili (sardin masak chili lah tu), Cockels/sea snails gravy (Siput sedut masak lemak) leftover from the day before (still supper yumm though), Vegetables in coconut milk (Sayur Masak Lemak), Fried Cabbage, Carrots and Celery and Salted Fish, Cucumber with crushed anchovies and chillies (timun cicah sambal kering ikan bilis).   Pretty much simple dishes, a normal spread for dinner at my mother's. Simple as it may be, if you have 'em with white rice, one plate of rice will not be sufficient. Especially with the two killer dishes that are my favourite - the Sardines and the Siput Sedut! Sigh! In order to stick to my no rice diet I had to act fast and cook something else.

I remembered that I had this made during the weekend but never got around to preparing anything with it. It's red capsicums (red peppers) baked in the oven, and with the skin already peeled ready and waiting in the fridge. I know there's some button mushrooms in the fridge, so I thought I'd make some quick easy spaghetti. 

After boiling the spaghetti, I sauteed some white onions in Olive Oil, throw in the mushrooms, add some fresh cut chillies, the baked red peppers, pinch of salt and loads of coarsely grounded black peppers (my fav!), and finally mix together with the al-dante spaghetti... wa lah...

 Eti's Quick Fix Spaghetti Dinner!

My plate... of course eventually I had to add some sardines and I also had some siput sedut on the side... slurp! slurp! At least no wretched white rice was consumed that night! Phew! Close call! 

Yesterday was Zarif's 6th birthday!

Zarif turned 6 yesterday!!! Awww, he's a big boy now, next year he will be going to school. He is pretty excited about the fact that he will be "graduating" this year (at his kindy, that is).  No birthday party was planned, but he had a pretty busy day, yesterday starting with a huge breakfast and a surprise gift.

 

Zarif's favourite breakfast - scrambled eggs, sausages, baked beans & sauteed mushrooms. 

 Tadaaa!!!! What could this be??

  

Woooo!!!

  

Ben 10's alien shirt - for those without boys in the family, this particular one is called Heatblast.

 

  

After breakfast, it was a trip out to look for his much 

anticipated gift - his choice of Bionicle Lego.

 

  

While Zarif was searching at another aisle, Zaim was helping himself to his choice of toys!

  

Hey Zaim! Where do you think you are going with those??

In case you are wondering, we did manage to ask him to put it back at the shelf. Pheeww!!!

  

Much to Zarif's dismay, we couldn't find what he was looking for, so we went to get something to eat first.  We decided to try this Mexican Restaurant that we have never been to before, Carlos Mexican Canteena at Pavvy.  We had the Mexican Platter and the Nachos. Yummm!!!

  

 The Taco Chips with really good salsa.

  

The nachos were full of meat! Really good!

  

 Mexican Rice and some sauces to go with the tacos.

Somebody is enjoying his meal! 

 This huge platter consists of some enchiladas, tacos and loaded potatoes. Lovely!

Nayli enjoying her taco chips to the max. 

 

 Biting into his tacos.

 

 His chocolate smoothie, a special treat for the birthday boy.

  

Me and my 6 year old boy!

  

Just couldn't decide still, so we went to another shop to look for some more.We did get one finally, but I forgot to take a pic!

  

Later that evening after dinner, it was finally time to blow his 

6 candles and cut his Four-Arms Ben10 cake!

  

 Happy Birthday to you!!! Happy Birthday to you!!!!

  

Enjoying his cake, oh, and in the foreground is his Stronius - Bionicle birthday gift!

 

 Zarif was still playing with his gift right until bedtime, 

whilst Zaim gets the box only! :-)

Happy Birthday Zarif!!! May you grow to be strong, healthy and happy. 

And be a good boy too ok! We all love you!!!

Oh, by the way, by the time I am writing this, he has already managed to add another two more to his collection of Bionicles, thanks to his grandfather!!!

Sunday breakfast with Pat.

My special "me time" is really just a two-hour facial in Bangsar area basically. Ever since Pat moved to Bangsar a few years back, this two-hour escape has been slightly extended. This is because I would normally meet up with her either before or after to catch up. Since I am not much of a "chatting on the phone kinda person" (Pat can attest to this), these regular breakfast or lunch dates is really the best or rather only time for us to catch up. Last Sunday was breakfast at d'lish. Heaven!!!

Pat with her Big Breakkie.

My lovely waffles.

The two of us. Notice the brown bag? I got surprise gifts too! Love em'.

Thanks so much woman!

All wiped out! Ha!ha! She ended up finishing mine while I watched! Yeah sure! While I whacked hers, obviously!!! Lovely Jubileee, Pat will let you know when my next appointment is ok, how about introducing me to La Bodega? Haven't tried their breakfast yet. You said it's not bad right? Hmm, cannot wait.

Where do you think you'd end up for lunch when...

- you think you are dressed too well for the foodcourt's stink to get on your clothes.
- you are too lazy to go far from the office building.
- you don't have a car or colleagues with cars or colleagues with cars and want to drive out.
- you have a pregnant woman in your lunch groupie.
- you think you can spend like a mak datin /tai tai
- you are short of cash but someone volunteers to swipe their plastic money first
- your office building is adjacent to a Hotel with a reputable Chinese Restaurant that serves good Dim Sum for lunch

Well, I ended up exactly at THAT restaurant!!! and on top of that, I was in dire need of a soupy dish cause I had this really bad sore throat, so one of the best remedy when I have one is a hot soupy dish like a Kuey Teow Soup. Ignoring the fact that I would be able to get a reasonably priced yet tasty Kuey Teow Soup even MSG free at the foodcourt, I opted to agree to a Dim Sum Lunch suggestion with the intention of ordering additional dish for myself, oblivious of the price factor. Kuay Teow Soup it is then for me, specially ordered for 1 person, not even listed in the menu, hence no clue of the price at time of order and eating.

This is what they brought me, cannot even see the Kuay Teow! Look at the amount of seafood and veges they threw in, the scallops and mushrooms, and abalone I think, to justify charging me as much as they did!

I couldn't say no to the Dim Sum though.

Yam Ball, raddish cake and scallop filled chee cheong fun... divine. 

When the bill arrived, GULP!!! Who's idea was it in the first place???

Masakan Negeri Sembilan.

... as if I don't get enough of 'em at home at my mom's. There would always be at the very least, 1 masak lemak dish served for dinner almost daily at my mother's. Just because I get them all the time at home, that doesn't mean I won't eat them outside at restaurants/stalls when it is "Nasi Campur" time. Lunch time today, we had Negeri Sembilan dish at this Restoran Rose 911 in Kampung Pandan.

Plenty of choices, not limited to Masak Lomak Cili Api (M.L.C.A from here onwards).

Menu and Price Listing, not that anybody refers to it I don't think.

What we had - Siput Sedut (M.L.C.A), Daging Salai (M.L.C.A) {- this dish apparently is really a Negeri thing, I didn't know, until Mdm L told us that she has never seen nor tried this dish ever before as she is from Perlis! OMG!!!} , Sambal Udang, Kacang Panjang Goreng, Tempe and Telur Masin though I myself didn't touch the salted egg, because I am not so into it.

On my plate - yes I had the prawns even though they were rather small and the degree of freshness were unknown! So far so good, no allergy reaction as I am updating now.

Finished off everything as usual - except for the Siput Sedut shells obviously ha!ha! Oh by the way, Mdm L also did not touch the Siput Sedut because she couldn't eat them, not doesn't eat them, just couldn't eat them, not able to "sedut" the thingy out. Pity!!! Ha!ha!ha!

Note to self: must teach kids to eat and try everything under the sun, siput sedut and daging salai included!

Not our usual Saturday.

Last Saturday, we woke up to a wet wet day. Nobody was in the mood to go swimming that day. Even though by 8 ish, the rain already stopped, though the sky was still overcast, and it's pretty wet and gloomy outside. Those pre-Zaim days, we would have probably gone back to bed for a good 2-3 hours more, but with the little munchkin up and about at around 6:30a.m that is out of the question. Soon after he was awake, he needed to be bathed - an immediately if you know what I mean. There were a few things on my to do list that morning.

First stop was to stop by our house, to pick-up this and that, the kids on the other hand had other plans. When they saw the toys that they have left behind, the realised that they do miss some of them after all. They picked up whatever that they could manage. It was Zaim's first time seeing all the stuff, he was still too small before to understand anything. He was amused at everything that he saw, including Nayli's Dora's Cottage. They managed to play a little bit, before they were rushed them out of the house to attend to the 2nd item on my list.

At 17 months, they are still not gender sensitive to toys.

Hey, Dora!!

Let's arrange this way over there!

2nd stop - grocery shopping, we were out of milk amongst other things.

Taking pictures in a hypermarket, only me!!!

Took Jack a while to get used to his happy snappy wife. For better or worse... :-)

By the time, we got everything on the list it was already lunch time. So, we had to grab something quick and fast and good (as in yummy, not super healthy obviously).

Yumm!

Zaim loves eating by himself.

Happy as a hippo!!

Mmmmmm!

The food doesn't only go into his mouth unfortunately. After lunch we went home and unpacked the groceries, perform the Zohor prayers then we were off again to the barber (for Zarif and Papa) and to the hairdresser for the rest.

After much contemplation on my part, I decided it's time to chop off Nayli's lovely long locks, that I never have ample time to braid and style every morning for school. Somehow, this time, when I suggested she is ok about it immediately. I guess she is ready for something different plus she said she has seen a couple of the older girls in school wearing shorter hair styles. Perhaps its "in" now, in schools.

One loooonnng last look.

Another one.

Are you sure girl?

Someone really doesn't care that her sister is about to make and earth shattering decision over here because he spotted a cat outside the shop. Cattttt!!!! Here kitty kitty kitty!!!!

The moment of truth. Once you are on the chair, wrapped like this, that's it.

There's no turning back.

Aaaarrrghhhh! It's gone!

There's no turning back now! Like it or not.

Last few strands of her long locks :-(

Ta daaaa the new Nayli.

Ooops, look who's turn it is now! Zaim needed a bit of trimming here and there cause I made a bit of a mess 2 weeks back. It was really bad actually, so we needed a little repair. Zaim was surprisingly quiet and ok. Looks like it'll be easy from now on. We would just head to the hairdresser the next time Zaim needs a haircut.

Sleepy maybe?

Totally behaved himself throughout.

He did get a little bit distracted by the sound of the hair dryer on another customer. After the hair cut, sorry no picture of the big boys, (cause obviously Jack will not take pictures at the barbers!!! ) it was already time for Zaims' meal. I made a quick spinach soup for him to be eaten with rice. Then it was bath time for everyone and we need to get ready to go out for dinner, ehem! My belated birthday dinner at The Apartment, KLCC.

This is our first time here actually. We have never even been to the one at The Curve. So, it really was quite a gamble in terms of food quality and service, though the menu looks quite enticing online. You would get the very same looking menu once there, whilst the children had their very own, as the one shown below, taken by the kids. Even thought they had about 5 main meal choices for the children, 2 was not available that night. The kids settled for the sausages and mini burger.

While waiting for our orders, we were served with this lovely warm foccacia, with what I believe is Pesto Sauce, yummy! We loved it, even the kids.

Zarif and me, while waiting for our food to arrive.

Zaim eating the foccacia.

Zarif's Mini Burger, not so mini after all.

Nayli's sausages.

Our Appetiser 1 - Clam & Mussels cooked in the apartment style sauce.

Our Appetiser 2 - Portobello Mushrooms - not cheap but not dissapointing.

{Sorry about the picture quality though.}

We didn't offer him the sausages thought that it would be too hard for him to chew. However, ever so swiftly, Zaim managed to grab one from Nayli's plate and happily chomped away.

Zarif is always glad that he is not served rice for his meals.

Papa's Girl.

My order - Cod fish with Aoli. I liked it.

It would have gone down even faster had I not had those appetisers.

The Lamb Rack for Jack.

Closer look at the lamb.

Free desserts for the kids.

There was a lovely sitting area just a foot away from our table.

So the kids happily played there while we finished our meal.

Enjoying ice-cream. Zaim is glad to have ice-creams coming from both sides.

Oh, one thing I have to mention. When the kids were playing at another sitting area a bit further away from us, I noticed that the guy behind the drinks bar cutting some apples and took it on a plate somewhere. We were surprised to find out later, they were meant for my kids! Isn't that nice? Good food, nice ambience, family friendly, good service, friendly staff & not packed on Saturday nights. I'm coming back to this place.