Unique Seafood and Mother's Day, Father's Day, Mother's Birthday & Father's Birthday!

9 Jun 12

For Mother's Day last month, we had our usual Family dinner at parent's house and I bought crepe cakes from Food Foundry. I bought the same cake from the same shop for the last Mother's Day celebration too. There was no fancy dinner at nice restaurant.

For this month June, there'll be Father's Day celebration. In addition, coincidentally, both of my parents will be celebrating their birthday on the same day. We have decided to celebrate all these celebrations in ONE and lavish dinner for both of our parents.

To be honest, it is not easy to organise family dinner during Mother's Day and Father's Day as we need to find dates that all of us can make it. Not forgetting my siblings will also be celebrating the same celebration with their in-laws. We do not fancy pack, busy and noisy restaurants with bad service and compromise on food quality and yet at much expensive costs.

We decided to celebrate Mother's Day, Father's Day, mother's birthday and father's birthday yesterday, a week ahead of Father's Day and also to accommodate my brother's family from Singapore to join us while it's school holiday.

For me, I always wanted to bring my parents to experience the sashimi and steamboat Australian lobster and California Geoduck at Unique Seafood. Both are pricey dishes and not something that we eat often.

A week earlier, I browsed thru Unique Seafood website and was surprise to see the contents of the website which are very user friendly and informative ie locations of restaurants, promotion, signature dishes, their menu, etc. The "Member's Corner" with interesting Member Plan attracted me to find out more.

For its Platinum Card Member Plan where for one-time RM1,500 membership charge, we will get RM2,000 worth of dining vouchers. That is like 25% discount! I knew the dinner for our family will not be cheap and I bought the above membership plan.

Table setting for 15 adults and teenagers

I made reservation at Unique Seafood a week ahead of our dinner. I requested for room with Karaoke as my parents, siblings and nieces like to sing. There's no additional charge for the room except for the service charge is at 10%, whereas if we sit at the restaurant hall, the service charge will be only 5%.

For the younger kids, they sat on another table. I ordered this Stir-fried Kailan in two varieties (RM23++).

Siong Tong La La (Kepah) at RM30/kg

Unique Seafood was packed with customers and we waited long for our food. According to the restaurant staff, some families celebrated Father's Day a week earlier. I was walking in and out of the room to follow up on the dishes for the kids. So much so that I only managed to take the above 2 food photos.

Five combination vegetables for the steamboat (RM50++)

Mother singing her favourite songs while waiting for food to be served

Sashimi and Steamboat Australia Lobster (2.5 kg at RM995++)

It was the first time for my family to have lobster in sashimi and steamboat style. The idea is to taste the freshness and original taste of Australia Lobster, without any other cooking style that added garlic, salt, pepper, etc to it.

Sashimi and Steamboat California Geoduck (RM1.6kg at RM316.80++)

It was nice to see how my family tried and reacted to the taste of California Geoduck for the first time. If they were to see the live geoduck in the water tank, I do not think they would eat it.

I like to eat this Geoduck with wasabi and I like the crunchiness texture of it.

Pan-fried Lamb Chop, Mongolian Style (11 slices at RM198++)

This Lamb Chop is very yummy. The meat was so tender and juicy and my family love this dish. Each piece of Lamb Chop cost RM18++. Unless we are having this as main course, I would recommend to inform the restaurant to cut each piece into 2 smaller pieces.

We brought Italian white wine to the restaurant and this white wine had been receiving very good feedback from our guests whom we had served this white wine.

 Cheers to the family, Cheers to the celebrations, Cheers to the good food, Cheers to the good singing, etc.

Sister and Sister in-law who have good voice

Kepah with Dried Shrimps and Curry Leaf (3kg at RM90++)

Steam Soon Hock (1.6kg at RM268.80++)

Thumb ups for this Soon Hock which was very well done, just the right texture, not over-cooked and we could taste the freshness and sweetness of the fish meat.

We always order this steam Soon Hock if we order fish at Unique Seafood.

Dad fell down early that day and he was in pain when he arrived at the restaurant. I told him not to think of the pain and try to enjoy himself.

I was so surprise to see him singing in the later part of the dinner. Guess he was feeling happy and couldn't resist the singing when he saw most of us singing that night.

Home made bean curd with mushroom (RM84++ at RM4++ each)

The restaurant used the earlier Australia Lobster head and claw to braise with Hong Kong Yee Mee and charge RM30++ for the cooking charge. My family love this dish too.

Brother who also have a beautiful voice. This must be from our parents.

Caramel cheese cake and Chocolate Fudge cake from Merienda de Eva (RM72 for both cakes thru Groupon promotion), for Daddy and Mummy.

The Chocolate Fudge cake was nice and moist with good chocolate taste but I was disappointed with the Caramel cheese cake which was a little blend with not much of cream cheese taste and the cake texture was a little wet.

Photo for the album

The Birthday Girl and Boy

So sweet!

Finally, my nieces started singing with Lady Gaga's song that got us rocking

Fruits on the house

Overall, it was a good dinner, albeit a little expensive (total bill came up to RM2,475). My family enjoyed the dinner which taste good and something special. I am glad that we had a room for our dinner with karaoke facility.

My family left the restaurant at 11.10pm while the rest of them staying back to continue singing.

Happy Valentine's Day!

14 Feb 12

Happy Valentine's Day!

I asked a few girls today. "What's your plan for tonight". They replied "Make love". I went "How boring!".

It's a working day for me and many others, except for those who took leave to celebrate the special day. Not for me and Hubby. After we got married, Valentine's Day is just another day for us, nothing special. So, I'm not expecting anything from him, probably not even Happy Valentine's wish. How sad?

Talked to Hubby in the afternoon, at about 3pm on family matter. Then, at 5pm, Hubby called and ask "What's our plan for tonight?" Nothing. All I want for Valentine's Day is Mee Rebus and Hubby went "Mee Rebus?". Then he said "Seow (Crazy)? Mee Rebus is only for lunch lar".

Then, Hubby called at about 6pm and said "Ok, we are going for mee rebus tonight. I'll take you to this surprise place". This is a good Valentine's gift for me. I like the idea that Hubby have a little space for me despite the busy schedule juggling the house construction, kids, etc.

The traffic back home from work was very heavy. It was raining in the evening. By the time I reached home, it was already 7.30pm and I could see the traffic at the opposite direction was extremely heavy too.

I didn't have my mee rebus as I couldn't eat beef gravy mee rebus, except for those sold by Chinese. But we did hold our hands and walked to stalls for our wantan noodle, claypot chicken rice and ikan bakar for dinner.

It is a simple and nice Valentine's Day for I love the idea that Hubby put a stop on other matters and pay attention on me.

Who said we need flowers and candle light dinner on Valentine's Day?

Tiramisu … just the way I like it!

1 August 2011

Jared will make his request to us now and then. This time round, he wanted to eat Tiramisu. It is like pregnant woman craving for food during pregnancy. This boy of mine will crave for food during his exam time. Must be the stress from exam preparation and revisions sessions with Hubby and I.

On last Tuesday, on the way home, I saw Cake Sense around TTDI neighbourhood. I stopped by and bought a few pieces of cake … Tiramisu for Jared, Chocolate cake for Jaden and orange yogurt cake for Hubby. I was planning to eat whichever cake that they couldn’t finish. Jared finished the entire Tiramisu cake and he didn’t offer me!

I decided to bake Tiramisu cake over the weekend so that we'll have more to share. I still have 3 packets of ladyfingers at home. I’ve baked tiramisu several times now but somehow, the texture was not the way I like it. The recipe that I used called for gelatin too, which I don’t quite like.

Hubby had printed this Tiramisu recipe from Allrecipes in Jun 2001, during our courtship time when Hubby was trying to impress me. Surprisingly, I still have copy of the recipe in my baking file. What I like about this recipe from Allrecipes are the egg yolks were cooked over double boiler and the recipe does not use gelatin.

I had been searching for glasses suitable for tiramisu, something that is not too big and not too small and also not too high that I can keep in my fridge. Finally, I chose the candle holders from Ikea, not to be used as candle holder but for my tiramisu.

Hubby and Jared didn’t like the cocoa powder dusting. I’ve dusted too much and too thick that they got chocked by the cocoa powder. Other than that, the taste was great and the texture was just right … just the way I like it! Hubby gave 9.5 points. He deducted 0.5 point for the cocoa powder dusting that was too thick.

Last week, Aunty YC bought this pizza book for me. Coincidentally, Hubby suggested to have pizza for lunch on Sunday. I made 2 big trays of Pizza (for my sister) and 2 medium trays of Pizza for my family.

The pizzas were great. After pizza for lunch, Hubby had Tiramisu and his favourite coffee for dessert. It is Italian day at home.

I brought 3 glasses of Tiramisu to office. My colleagues loved them. Fei Yin and Wendy asked for the recipe.

I would like to share the Tiramisu recipe here since it was just the way I like it. I can also refer to it now and then. I’ve made some changes to the recipe as the mascarpone cheese tub that I bought was only 250g and not 280g as originally asked for. I've also incorporated some changes by combining other Tiramisu recipe that I like.

Ingredients:

• 6 egg yolks

• 225 g white sugar

• 250 g mascarpone cheese (RM18.50)

• 400 ml heavy whipping cream
   (RM15.00 for Anchor 1 litre pack)

• 1 tbsp Kahlua

• 2 packets of ladyfingers / sponge fingers
   (RM8.80 for a pack of 4 rows)

Coffee flavored liqueur:

• 2 tbsps instant coffee powder

• 4 tbsps caster sugar

• 90 ml hot water

• 90 ml Kahlua

 • Cocoa powder for dusting

Directions:

1. Combine egg yolks and sugar in the top of a double boiler, over boiling water. Reduce heat to low, and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
2. Remove from heat and whip yolks until thick and lemon colored.
3. Add mascarpone to whipped yolks. Beat until combined.
4. In a separate bowl, whip cream to stiff peaks.
5. Gently fold into yolk mixture.
6. Add in Kahlua and set aside.
7. Split the lady fingers in half, soak in coffee flavored liqueur and line the bottom and sides of a large glass bowl. In my case, I used small glasses for individual serving.
8. Spoon cream filling over the lady fingers.
9. Repeat ladyfingers and filling layers.
10. Refrigerate several hours until set or overnight.
11. Dust with cocoa powder before serving. 

The above recipe can yield 20 glasses (Ikea candle holder) of Tiramisu.

Hubby and Jaden on skyppe with his sister who is in US while I was busy admiring my creation.

Red Velvet Cheesecake for Sister's Birthday

15 Jul 11

I've been baking for a while now. I think my cakes are fairly nice to eat but I do not think that they are pretty. They are not pretty enough as celebration cake, maybe for tea time. I do not like to mess around too much with cakes as I like them fresh and clean, as hygienic as possible.

One of my famous cake is Red Velvet Cheesecake. I've baked it several times now. Recently, I realised I've not baked this cake for my family. Oh no, my family has not tasted this famous cake of mine!

My youngest sister's birthday is in mid Jul 11 and as her birthday this year was on Friday, I planned to bake this cake for her birthday and we could celebrate her birthday after our family dinner at parents house. Which means, I needed to bake the cheesecake on Thursday which is a working day.

I baked the cake after dinner. Red Velvet is a tedious cake to make. Making one Red Velvet can make 4 butter cakes. First, I had to bake the sponge, then the whipping cream, then the cream cheese and lastly, assembling the cake. I finished making the cake at almost midnight. 

Kids putting up candles for sister ... so many of them.

 Sister and her family. Nice photo, taken from not so nice camera phone.

Glad to see Sister so happy in this photo. She commented this is the first time that she did not have to make cake for our family celebration.

My family liked the Red Velvet cheesecake. Hubby told them the story of how I sold my very first Red Velvet cheesecake.

Happy Mother's Day

6 May 2011 

It was our usual Friday family dinner at parents house, with parents and siblings family.



On the way home from work, I decided to buy crepes cake from Food Fondry. As I did not pre-order the cake, they did not have any whole cake. I decided to mix and match the crepes cake with vanilla, strawberry and chocolate flavour.

Each slice cost RM9 and the above 12 slices cost RM108.

My sister's birthday is on Saturday and Mother's Day is on Sunday. We have postponed our Mother's Day celebration to the following week as most of the kids are having school exam now. We also do no like the crowd at restaurants.

Photo with mother, sisters, niece and nephews. Everyone looked so happy in this photo.

My youngest sister reminded her 4 years old boy not to blow the candles as it's not his birthday.

After singing the birthday song, it was so funny that I blew the candles instead! I don't know why I did it, probably I was too excited that I wanted to share the crepes cake with my family. The photo above was taken right after the incident, with my sister pointing at me. How embarrasing!

My sister's son then asked my sister why I blew the candles when it was not my birthday.Smart boy.

Sharing the crepes cake. I cut each slice of cakes into two so that everyone get to try the different flavour of crepes cake. The crepes cake was good and most of them prefer the original vanilla flavour.

I bought this Crabtree & Evelyn's Lavender Hatbox gift set for mom.

 Mom has never enjoyed or pampered herself with this kind of nice shower gel or lotion.

When we got home from parents' house, Jaden gave me this Mother's Day card, made by him with the help of his Krista teacher.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in the world. May everyday is a Mother's Day.

Goodbye 2010

31 Dec 2010

How time flies. It's the last day of year 2010. It has been a mix of ups and downs, especially today.

Today is the last working day for my capable finance manager. She has been a good assistant to me at work and a truly good friend and companion too. She transformed my thoughts and ideas into powerful powerpoints and reports. We had lunch together, went for yoga classes together, we exchanged DVDs and cakes that we baked, etc. I particularly miss our cha cha dance session in Hua Hin and shopping spree in Bangkok.

Recently, she started baking and cooking. It seems to be the trend for working with our company ... somehow, staff will start cooking or baking no matter how little we cook or bake. For her farewell, I got her cooking utensils presented in a lovely pink polka dot with ribbon box. I bought 2 pizza trays, pizza cutter, pastry roller, whisker, meat temperature, potato masher and a spring form pan. Hope she will think of me whenever she bakes or cooks. As much as I would like her to stay on with our company, I am happy for her next endeavour.

Fei Yin made me a photobook which was very nicely done with attention to details. I'm missing her already.

Although today is a sudden declaration of public holiday, it's not a rest day for finance personnel who have to close company's year end books. I decided to buy cakes for office staff. It's new year eve and they have to work to meet dateline. Fei Yin and I went down to Coffeebean and bought 12 slices of varieties of cakes and a Latte for my boss, which made him a happy man as he does not like sweet things and he loves coffee.

Looking back to 2010, I've been promoted to Finance Director, a milestone achievement for me in my career. I'm taking my career one step at a time. To me, being a wife and a mother does not mean we can't have our career. It's not easy but it's not impossible, especially if you have a supportive spouse. I'm glad my Hubby understands what corporate life is all about and he is happy if I am happy at work.

In Jun 2010, Hubby and I had our first holiday trip without our kids to Macau, in conjunction with our 8 years wedding anniversary. It was hard for me to leave our kids behind while we had good times. I am happy to have an understanding mother in-law who offered to take care of our kids while we were away. She encouraged us to have time off from kids once in a while to rejuvenate our marriage and love. It was nice that Hubby could pay 100% attention on me and held my hands when we walked.

In 2010 also, our house construction kicked off, after more than a year of planning and designing the house plan, meetings, obtain approval, tender, etc. Luckily, Hubby is handling this project.

In 2010, there were unpleasant happenings too. 2 of my close friends and relative were diagnosed with cancers. There were also a few marriage complication among family and friends. These reminded me to take care of our health and pay attention to our spouse. Somehow, we always neglect our spouse once we have our kids. These also made me realise how important family and friends are to me. They are part of my life.

Today, my boss told me that 2011 will not be a good year for me ... after I bought him a cup of Latte. There will be significant outflow of cash. I hope this relates to our house construction and not any other cash outflow. I also pray that our house construction will progress smoothly without major obstacles. This is Hubby's dream and I'll be happy to see his dream comes true in 2011.

My new year resolution is very simple. I want to spend quality time with my family ... my kids, my Hubby, my parents, my siblings, my friends and family members. They need me and I need them too. I should not take them for granted. They need my attention and care. After all, why do we work so hard? To provide a better and quality living to them, isn't it?

During work day, I spend a significant of my time at work. I am someone who needs "me time" every night before call it a day. I will browse through my emails, Facebook, reading blogs, etc. I also bake quite a bit. Baking is a good stress reliever and I am happy to see my family and friends enjoying my cake. I know I need to hit on to the gym more often to lose my weight and attend more yoga classes which is good for my health. I also like scrapbooking and update my blog. I am not a superwoman and everyone only has 24 hours in a day. With all these activities and hobbies, I've seen myself starting on a project and stopped half way and not getting them done. There were 2 mini album workshops that I've attended and the mini albums were still half done.

I need to live a balance life. An extreme of anything is not good. I need to stay focus too. Else, I will end up nowhere and never do well in anything that I do. It will always be an average results.

I need to pay more attention on my family lifestyle. Live as stress free as possible as stress is bad for health. The one most simple way to achieve this is not to wait for things to be done on last minute. Get things done a head of schedule.

Yes, today my best friend Christina asked me if my Hubby and I are interested to join them for eating, massage and shopping trip to Bangkok in mid 2011. Kids are not allowed and the trip has been booked. Hooray!

Auntie YC invited us to her house for new year eve's dinner. She roasted a chicken, the Jamie Oliver's way.

While Hubby and kids were swimming in the pool, I roasted another chicken, my very first roast chicken. I followed the recipe that I learned from Paul of Food Studio ... rub chicken with salt, pepper, paprika and mustard.

Hubby preferred the chicken roasted by Auntie YC, as a comparison, not that my chicken tasted bad but I've put too much salt that the chicken was salty. Jared ate a lot for dinner and he's weighing 20kg today, whereas, Jaden's weight is 15.2 kg.

Roasted potatoes, carrots, garlic, etc prepared by Auntie YC.
Onion cooked with butter, sugar and red wine. Goes very well with my roasted chicken.

We watched movie and TV at Auntie YC's house in Mt Kiara, while waiting for fireworks to countdown to new year 2011.

View from Auntie YC's balcony.

My simple new year wish ... good health, success and happiness.

By the way, Jaden said "Don't get angry. Be Happy!"