Maybank2U Pay

Maybank2U Pay is a newly launched payment facility specially designed for small or home businesses e.g. blogshops conducting online transactions. By using M2U Pay, sale transactions can be managed systematically and professionally. 

I was given this privilege to be in the pioneer group of blogshop owners to try out the Beta version of this new payment system. We were required to attend the workshop on setting up the payment icon on the sidebar of our blogshops and to test out the transactions. After the initial phase of beta testing, it was all systems go at the launch event of M2U Pay at Menara Maybank on April 16th. 

The Cherry on the Cake's booth at the M2U Pay Launch

As a seller, this new payment system helps me manage my online transactions as I get notified once a payment has been made into my account via M2U Pay. I can view the transaction history with its description when I log into M2U website. Plus it's very easy for my customers to bank in payment for me by just clicking on the M2U Pay icon in which the payment is automatically deposited into my account. 

I was invited to a flea market organized by Maybank on May 11th at The Piazza, e@The Curve, as part of the publicity drive for M2U Pay.

So, for blogshop owners, if you are keen to find out more about this payment system, kindly visit Maybank's website to read up and also to apply. 

*This is a sponsored post*

Dim Sum at Publika

New Shanghai Legend restaurant at Publika's Eat foodcourt serves Dim Sum! We kinda stumbled upon it while looking around for breakfast fare.

Customers can purchase cakes/buns/mooncakes from the counter.

Large and clean display area and steaming center

The interior is very tastefully decorated

We were the only ones in the restaurant at 10am in the morning on a Thursday!

Pan-fried radish cake RM8.80. Yummy! Tastes and smells delicious.

Giant BBQ chicken pau RM3.50. Also highly recommended.

Lotus rabbit bun RM3.50 - Marissa gladly ate this and almost finished it up by herself. 

Rice rolls with dried shrimps RM6.80. Not too bad. I enjoyed the dried shrimps more than the rolls. Would have preferred it to be Hong Kong style chee cheong fun though.

Glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaf RM6.80. Very good.

And we also ordered xiao mai RM8.80 and salad shrimp RM6.80. The salad shrimp was a huge one, cut into 2. Crunchy skin and succulent filling inside.

The chinese tea is super expensive! Didn't realised it until we got the bill RM18 for a pot of Imperial Pu-Er Tea. But then, it was really nice but RM18 is on the high side. Dim Sum is on par with Reunion of Bangsar Village. But the best Dim Sum place for us is still Oriental at Jaya 33 in terms of food and pricing.

Macarons by Crumbs

I first heard about macarons more than a year ago. At that time, I was a sceptic….. no way could macarons be more popular than cupcakes!  But looks like I’m proven wrong! Macarons are taking the world by storm – with so many cookbooks written on the subject and more and more cafes are offering these delectable bites.

Macarons are basically confectionery made using 3 main ingredients: almond powder, sugar and egg whites. Macarons are not to be confused with macaroons which are cookies made from coconut, sugar and egg whites. Macarons come in a variety of fillings/flavours ranging from sweet to savory.

I’m now officially hooked on macarons after tasting one of them – yup – I am a convert just after eating ONE Madagascar Vanilla Salted Caramel Macaron. It’s a mouthful to pronounce but the taste and flavour is truly unforgettable. For the uninitiated, Madagascar produces the world’s finest vanilla beans, I repeat, the world’s BEST vanilla beans! By the way, I got my hands (and teeth) on ‘em MVSC macs from Crumbs during the recent Little Red Market bazaar. Crumbs is managed by Aleena (a mom of 3!) who loves to bake. What was first a hobby is now a biz. Absolute coolness. 

There are a myriad of flavours to choose from e.g. Cempedak (bestseller), Milo and Hazelnut. We are not talking about cheap dime store macarons here but premium quality macarons made from the best ingredients available which is something I like as I am also very fussy about ingredients used for my cakes.

The macarons come in lovely packaging perfect for gift-giving. They are also ideal as wedding favors – packed in pairs – and in the wedding theme color! Not to mention, perfect for baby showers, full moon celebration, wedding anniversary, birthday party packs and the list goes on! Cookies, chocolates and cupcakes are so so yesterday.  By the way, macarons also look good on cakes or stacked up in a tower! It will certainly make a statement for any function.

 

Crumbs gift box. Photo with permission from Crumbs

If that’s not enough to tempt you, Crumbs has also come up with designer macarons – and the latest design is Hello Kitty! Kawaiiness to the max! All fully hand-piped without using molds or any added sugar embellishments (cos that will be make the macaron too sweet).

With Marissa’s 4^th birthday coming up next month, I’ve decided to order Hello Kitty macaron pops from Crumbs to be given out to the little ballerinas at the ballet school. Probably I will bake a small cake as well.  

Hello Kitty and My Melody designer macarons – the first of its kind fully hand-piped with macaron batter. Photo with permission from Crumbs.

It’s official – I’m MAD about MACARONS! I can’t wait to see what other new designs and flavours that will be coming out soon! For enquiries, drop Aleena an email [crumbs.my@gmail.com] and LIKE their FB page! All orders are freshly baked in Aleena's home kitchen in PJ.

*update* 13 June 2012 : I'm now part of CRUMBS! I've joined forces with Aleena and now Crumbs is open for cake and cupcake orders too! 

Kids E World

The kids had a blast at the newly opened Kids E World, The Gardens Mall, Mid Valley. We bought 5 weekday passes for RM100. Can be shared between siblings or friends. Validity period is for 3 months. Socks need to be worn - even by adults who are accompanying the children.

What we like :

1) Very spacious

2) Clean toilets

3) Large play area for the very young i.e. babies & toddlers

4) Free Wi-Fi (starting next month)

5) Cafeteria

Overall - the set-up for the older kids play area is pretty much the same as Critterland except that Kids E World is smaller. If comparing the slides, Kids E World's one is better! 

Kids E World will be offering various classes e.g. music, dance and art -all starting in September. Of course, children's party packages are available. Plus there's also a KEW Club membership program. Just visit their website for more details!

Modesto's

We found ourselves at Modesto's (The Curve) on a Thursday evening. The restaurant is tucked away in a corner just beside Big Apple Donuts. We chanced upon it when we needed to bring Marissa to poo-poo.

Ordered their signature crispy shredded duck served with steamed popiah skin, sauces, cucumber and spring onions. RM25 for a complete set. Extra popiah skins available at RM6.

The duck was very very well done! Marissa enjoyed munching on it too cos she loves all things crunchy.

We ordered a kid's meal for Evan: Pizza Tonne Fungi which is essentially thin crust pizza bread topped with tuna and mushrooms in a tomato-based sauce. Also very well done - yummy! He managed to eat 70% of the pizza. The rest went into Mommy and Daddy's tummy. The pizza comes with a soft drink and costs RM10 nett.

Highly recommended for their signature dish & kids' meals! 

Ben's General Food Store

On Marissa's actual birthday - 16th June, we went to Ben's General Food Store (Bangsar Village I) for dinner. We were thinking of Sakae Sushi but decided to try out this new place when we saw the menu - pizza is their specialty.

Ordered a Caesar's Pizza and a Fish Pie & Salad Set, plus a honey lemon tea.

The birthday gal chose her own dress from her wardrobe and to my surprise requested a rose hairband to complement her outfit. Marissa is a girly girl indeed -  with her favourite color - PINK and loving princessy stuff.

The interior of the restaurant is very cozy and has a vintage retro feel to it. Even the songs played were oldies. The furniture and cutlery all were vintage looking.

Feeding herself with mashed potatoes. She's usually very good at self-feeding at restaurants and has been known to wallop entire bowls of miso soup and chawan mushi. At home, I still have to feed her porridge and oats.

As for the food, the pizzas taste great - the crust is thin and crunchy. They also have a wide variety of salads which all look tantalising. A good range of desserts are also available. As for the fish pie, it was also very delicious - shrimp, mussels and cod baked in a creamy sauce and topped with mashed potatoes - ultimate comfort food!

Beside the restaurant, Ben's General Food Store also operates a retail store selling dry food stuff.

One for the album!

The New & Improved Kleenex!

Today I am gonna be blogging about that one thing that most people can't live without - Kleenex. Yes you read it right - Kleenex - a genericized trademark synonymous with facial tissue.

My family and I use lots of Kleenexes. We buy it by the truckloads during J-card Day - hey, good stuff ain't cheap, you know. I have no qualms spending a bit more on quality. To my delight, the Kleenex company has recently unveiled its new and improved facial and bath tissue. Yes - bath tissue  too! Not for use while bathing (but I suppose you can when you run out of fresh clean towels!) but those rolls of tissue for use in the bathroom, commonly used to wipe you-know-where. It looks like this:

For the uninitiated, the new and improved Kleenex tissues are made from top quality 100% pure virgin fiber using an innovative new technology. This translates into extra softness and superior strength. For those with sensitive skin, fret not, Kleenex's tissues are hypoallergenic! As for looks, Kleenex scores brownie points with their vintage and rose inspired packaging. Indeed, super value for  facial and bath tissues with 101 uses!

In our household Kleenex is often used to Kleen up stuff.

It's an absolute must to facilitate the expulsion of nasal mucus. How convenient. Blow out the gunk and junk it. With Kleenex's new softer 2-ply or 3-ply tissue,  you won't get chapped skin from repeated wiping. As for the kids, if they are not wiping their nasal mucus with their shirts *smacks forehead* then it's Kleenex to the rescue. Besides nasal discharge, Kleenex comes in handy when dealing with tears, sweat, urine, blood and other bodily discharge. Really. No sweat. Just pull out 1 piece, wipe and throw. The best part is, Kleenex is so soft and comfy and doesn't crumble in your hands.

Then there's the all too familiar scenario of spilt milk, spilt water,  split whatever on the floor, chair, etc. Thanks to Kleenex, I can Kleen it up real fast on the spot.

Kleenex is also used for wiping away icing on my face/hair whenever I get a bit too adventurous while decorating a cake..... wiping the earpick clean while digging my kids' ears......  making a carnation during art & craft time........ etc. 

I can go on and on about the various uses of Kleenex and its new improved superior features and function but to experience it, you've got to try it out for yourself. So, do yourself a favor, remember to include Kleenex in your shopping list. They have a whole range of facial and bath tissues that you will be spoil for choice! Pocket tissues are also available so that you can enjoy the goodness of Kleenex wherever you go!

Many thanks to Kleenex for the Comfort Kit that I received for this review!

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

We passed by this restaurant quite a number of times at the Curve but never tried it. One day, we decided to go in and see what they have to offer. The place is very cosy and well decorated. Staff are attentive and there's a kids' menu (printed on an activity sheet) to keep the kids occupied while waiting for their food. There are TV screen around showing the movie Forrest Gump.

Ordered a blueberry smoothie from the kids' menu. It's absolutely delicious! Evan's favourite.

Oh we also had a glass of Sky Juice (Marissa's favourite)  - Evan likes to bite or chew on the ice. When a table is occupied, the sign will change from Stop Forrest Stop to Run Forrest Run. There's a huge bucket behind the sign containing towel rolls for messy eaters, cutlery and extra plates. The ping pong bat on the table is actually the alcoholic drinks menu.

Caesar's Salad : very well done. Croutons were huge and crunchy.

Kid's meal : Fried Shrimps & Fries with tartar sauce served in 'newspapers' and a fishing boat. Two thumbs up for this. 

 

The set menu also comes with a slice of orange and blue jelly in  a cup.

As they are famous for their shrimp, we ordered this linguine with shrimp.  Can't remember the long name but somehow it's very lemony (read sourish). The garlic bread slice that came along with it was very good.

Anyway, the portions are huge and total bill came up to about RM70. Recommended? YES!

Grand Palace

This very opulent Chinese restaurant is located on the 6th floor of Pavilion KL. We were there recently during the Labour Day holiday weekend to collect our repaired wall clock from Molecule. Decided to try out this restaurant which offers dim sum...... yummy! Hubby and I both love eating dim sum lots!

We ordered Pu Er tea and a few dim sum from their menu by using a pencil. The menu is written in both English and Chinese characters. Unfortunately no photos! Just a piece of printed paper with text and columns. Not good...... had to clarify our order with the waitress. Anyway, we ordered the first item on the menu which is the prawn dumplings : 4 in a basket. I've photographed mine above. Prawns are big but not big on flavour. Rather bland tasting. 

Evan's favourite is the Char Siew Pau. The ones served by Grand Palace was OK only..... nothing to shout about. The Hong Kong Style Chee Cheong Fun with Prawns were also very bland. Even their serving style is very plain. Should at least add some green to the dish e.g. a steam vege.

This dish : fried eggplant with chicken floss was not on the dim sum menu. It was actually on the appetizer menu but we decided to try it out. Good decision cos it tasted very good - ultra juicy eggplants and sweet chicken floss. Evan also enjoyed this very much. Marissa? She slept as soon as hubby sat down with her in the restaurant. 

Hubby loves Loh Mai Kai so we ordered one. The glutinous rice was rather soggy and the chicken meat inside was bland. No flavour. Hubby didn't like this dish one bit.

Pan-fried carrot cake - again BLAND (used that word so many times in this post!). Total bill came close to RM60. We definitely will not be going back there again. Nothing beats Oriental's Dim Sum (at Jaya 33) and Reunion's (Bangsar Village II).