Pasta Zanmai

We've been eating out at Japanese restaurants and Pasta Zanmai is one of our favs. Pasta Zanmai is located at 1 Utama, Old Wing and Mid Valley Megamall.

This was what we ordered for dinner at the 1U branch.

Ebi tempura 'temaki' but with a tortilla wrap instead of the usual seaweed. Dipping sauce : sesame. 

 Crabmeat & Avocado 'temaki' - again with tortilla wrap and sesame sauce. 

Miso Soup, Green Tea and Strawberry Milkshake for my boy who loves all things strawberry

Pasta in sesame sauce with crabmeat and avocado. Extremely delicious. I would recommend any pasta from the menu that has the sesame sauce.

Eel with garlic rice wrapped in egg ala pattaya style - also very delicious. Evan ate the eel and said it tastes like chicken fish! Marissa ate the egg cos Pasta Zanmai does not serve chawan mushi which is her favourite.

Green tea is on the expensive side RM3 each but it's free refills. order the iced green tea and you get a jugful of it. If you order the hot green tea, it comes in a teapot. The strawberry drink costs RM12 - again not cheap. However, the pasta and rice and miso soup came in a set for RM23 which was a decent price. Temakis cost RM5 each - pretty standard.

The Cooking House

This is The Cooking House - a cooking studio located in Desa Sri Hartamas. I went there recently to attend a complimentary cooking class from Panasonic. I bought an oven from Harvey Norman and got to know about this promotion which is still on-going.
There are a few classes to choose from and I decided upon 'All About Pies'. The cost of the class is actually RM120 per pax! Upon arrival, I registered myself by handing over the Panasonic Oven's warranty card and filling in my details.

Total 11 participants on that day. Chef Collin Edward Lim was on duty. We were divided into 4 groups. Each group had to tackle 1 recipe. 

My group's recipe was Seafood Pie. We had to prepare all the ingredients for our recipe and when we were ready to cook, everyone came to observe. Chef Collin gave pointers and answered questions.

The other recipes include : Shepherd's Pie, Mediterranean Vegetarian Pie and Chicken & Mushroom Pie.

My fellow group member cooking the creamy seafood filling for the pie.

Chef Collin demonstrated how to make the shortcrust pastry. He also showed us how to place the pastry in the pie cups. I really felt like  a frog under a coconut shell during the class but the majority of ladies there were also first-timers at a cooking class!

More pastry needed to cover the pie.

Chef Collin demonstrating how to seal the pie using a fork

Yummy seafood pie : filled with prawns, mushrooms and dory fish!

After baking in the oven!

Everyone had a break - drinking tea or coffee while waiting for the pies to bake. Indeed the pies were delicious! So happy with all the hard work! Chef Collin also gave lots of cooking tips to all of us there.  Very informative and hands-on class I must say. I would definitely go for another class next month and would recommend these classes to anyone who's interested.

In the mean time, I need to go buy a digital kitchen scale, a rolling pin and a kitchen brush and then, try out the recipes! Hopefully will be able to bake some pies for makan makan at the new condo!

 

And the Award goes to............

Best Improvement in 5 Aster class 2010!

We went to Evan's kindergarten on Saturday to meet up with his class teacher : Teacher Cindy and to collect his progress report and exam results. Teacher Cindy said he is much more focused now and is more disciplined, hence the award. Other awards given out to students on the Awards Day (on the 2nd last day of school) were Best Handwriting, Best Conduct, Best Helper and Student of the Year.

Academic results are OK - am surprised that he scored 98% for his Chinese language - with a careless mistake of counting the number of strokes in a Chinese character. His handwriting and coloring has improved a lot as well from C's last year to A recently. Am most certainly proud of his improvement!

The Last Day of School

The last day of school a.k.a. party day! The kids came dressed in their concert costumes. As with all parties, the children had a whole lot of food and snacks to eat! They also had Super Fun Time.

Photos above were taken by Buffafly cos I couldn't make it to the school. I am sure the school will take loads of photos too and include them in the DVD that I've ordered. The DVD contains pics of school life and the bienniel concert as well.

Kwik Cut

Larry was at Kwik Cut Ikano Power Center for his haircut and Marissa tagged along. While in the shop, I asked whether she would like a haircut  herself and she said OK. She had never had her hair cut in a shop before but she was so cool about it. She sat quietly and allowed the hairstylist to cut her hair! Much better than what mommy can do!

Riding in a Fire Truck

We were at 1 Utama to check out a dining table that we intend to buy. Marissa didn't want to sit in her stroller..... and we happened to pass by the Kiddie Rides on the ground floor. We asked her whether she wanted to ride in the fire truck and she said OK. This was her first time riding in one!

We walked around wheeling her for about 45 minutes and she happily 'drove' the fire truck. When we had to leave, she was quite reluctant to come out of the fire truck but I managed to persuade her to come out by showing her my new pair of Hello Kitty crocs. 

Rental for 1st three hours = RM3.00 only.

Register a Sole Proprietorship Business online

I've been meaning to register my online biz for quite some time already but have been procrastinating. Main reason is because I don't have time to go all the way to the Mall (opposite PWTC) where the SSM government office is and I still couldn't decide on the trade name. But recently I've figured out a name and I found out that I can register my sole proprietorship business online at www.ssm.com.my.

It was really easy - used Internet Explorer to register - no hiccups. I tried with Firefox previously but failed cos the forms couldn't open correctly.

First and foremost, I registered as a public service portal user at www.malaysia.gov.my which is the official portal of the Malaysian government. I selected 'individual' to proceed to the form. I created a user ID and password. An email was sent to me confirming the registration.

Once done, I visited www.ssm.com.my, clicked on the e-lodgement services button which showed all the various e-lodgement services provided by SSM (Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia). E-lodgement means submission and management of business and company forms via the internet to SSM. In order to utilize this service, I became a subscriber of this e-lodgement service which costs RM5 per annum. Clicked on the link to subscribe. Need to log in using my public service portal ID & password. Filled up the form and  clicked 'submit'. Then I was directed to the payment page. I paid using credit card which was very fast and easy.

The next step before registering a business is to conduct a name check to ensure that the name chosen is not in use. To do this, I used the e-lodgement services at the SSM website. I filled up a form with the selected name : 'Blessed Kids Resources' and soon after, I received an email that stated that the business name was available.

Proceeded to e-lodgement services again and this time, select registration of business. Again, logged in, and then filled up the form. On the second part of the form, there was a search and delete button. What I  did was: press  the 'search' button and then a separate window opened. I typed the nature of my business i.e.  books, toys and clothing. Keyed in each word individually and then a list of description showed up. Then, I just selected the ones that best describes the nature of my business. The selections were automatically included in the form. 

Upon submission of the form I paid RM60 using my credit card. This was because I used a trade name for my business. If using my own name in my business, the fee is RM30 p.a.

A confirmation email was sent to me together with the copy of the registration certificate once the registration was approved. So, if you want to register your business online, make sure you have thought of a name. Guidelines and info on how to register are all available at the SSM website.

TJC Concert & Graduation Ceremony

Evan performing his dance routine post-concert! He is wearing a Kadazan traditional costume minus the headband which fell off.

Anyway, I am proud that he danced so well - he remembered all the steps. His performance was the first on the agenda : Colours of Malaysia. It was a combined performance by 5 Aster & 5 Bluebell.

He was indeed very excited about the concert. He even reminded us that he will take a short nap before the concert starts in the evening. He also asked his father to comb his hair nicely after he put on his costume. Then he also reminded hubby to get going on time so that we all won't be late for the concert!

I must commend the efforts by the teachers. It was all very well-organized - lots of parents, grandparents, siblings and maids attended the concert. The costumes were all very colourful and well designed. Evan's costume costs RM60. He said he looked like a prince in his costume! 

The auditorium of DUMC i.e. the concert hall was very well equipped. It was indeed a grand event. I was surprised the kindergarten did not get the kids themselves to emcee - instead 2 young adults were the MCs for the event. However, three 6-year olds did go up on stage to give a welcome speech in three different languages.

I still remember that I was the MC during my kindergarten concert at the Convent. I was 6-years old then. I can vividly recall the costume I wore. It was a short coral red skirt with small flowery print and lace at the hem. I wore it over a white blouse. My mom also sewed me a matching headband. I performed a dance together with my classmates - we danced to the tune of 'Skip to my Lou'. I also gave a solo organ recital. A few of the Convent school's classrooms were readily converted into the concert hall by sliding open the partitions. Everything was so simple back then - I miss my good old schooling days! Oh.... and I never had a graduation ceremony from kindergarten. Hmm..... need to check with my mom.

Da Vinci Creative Kids Trial Art Class

Evan showing off his artwork done under guidance by the art teacher at Da Vinci Creative Kids, Ikano Power Center. We signed Evan up for a trial class : RM40 for a solid 2-hour lesson. He enjoyed the class very much! When we came to pick him up at 9:30pm, he was still so engrossed painting the picture! 

So starting next week, Evan will commence the Junior Da Vinci Creative Arts Programme designed for 5-11 year olds. RM150 per month or RM420 for 3-months.

Videos from the ASP Party

Read about the ASP Party in my previous post!

ASP Party

The After School Program (ASP) had its party cum mini concert today.

Lunch was provided for all parents. After filling our tummies with fried rice, fried meehoon, fried wantan, fruit salad, vege curry, cake & orange juice, we adjourned into the hall to enjoy the performances by the children. Evan was so happy to see us!

This was the first performance by the 5-year olds. An action song whereby the kids flipped the 'pancake'.

Evan also performed together with his peers under the guidance of Uncle Paul (the music teacher).

It was a simple percussion musical performance. Evan & Lydia seated side by side....

This one's a combined performance by the 5-year-olds and 6-year-olds. They danced and swayed to 2 Mandarin songs. There were other performances too by the 6-year-olds.

Evan brought back all his art and craft from the ASP. 

Basically, the classes taught are : Gardening, Domestic Science, Art/Craft, Chinese Language, Creative Arts, Music and Gym.

Evan certainly enjoyed his ASP classes (much more than the regular school).  Bad news is that next year, the fees are gonna increase..... *sigh*