And Then It Was Dinner

I managed to reach the hospital just before prayers, saw my patients before going off again. By the time I finished the afternoon clinic, I was right tired.

As soon as I reached home, Irfan asked to go to The Curve. He wanted the pizza at Marche. Idlan seconded that. And I was pushed to a corner. Decision was made. And off we went to Damansara in the middle of the rain.

I want my pizza!That's a lot of potatoThe place was not as packed as it usually was. Parking was easy. As we were all tired and starving, we went straight to Marche. For some reason, I didn't feel in the mood for any meat. It was vege all the way for me. And some pasta.

So, what was after dinner. Maybe a quick walk around the mall to ease the food down ..... Good night!

Marche oh Marche

As I mentioned, it had been almost a year since we last been to Marche. We used to go there at least a couple of times a month, but we realised that since the pizza oven broke down, the food there had never been the same. Take my steak there yesterday for example, it used to be cooked to what I asked for. Yesterday, I asked for medium well. I got rare instead. I asked for it to be cooked further, and it became medium. I just gave up.

The pizza was another travesty. For some reason, they did not cook pizza with any tomato base, and they used thick crust. I understood if they wanted to go all Italian and baked them thin-crusted, but no.

But any how, the rosti was excellent, and so were the dessert. The salad was only so and so. Nothing special. For a Sunday afternoon, I thought they did not have enough staff. The table took ages to be cleared, and we had to ask for our plates to be taken away as we piled on more food. It used to be much better.

We crossed over to IKANO, and at the main foyer, Harvey Normal was doing sales for their beddings. The "Tempur" mattress were to die for … but going at RM25K, we would probably literally die as well. Damn expensive stuff, so much so that it came with a free bed …… But once you sat on one, you just did not want to get up. It was so soft and welcoming.

It was Octoberfest at Marche that dayIdlan doing his own order

We spent some time doing some shopping for household stuff. The boys got their toys, and that should keep them going for another couple of weeks. I noticed that the traffic heading into The Curve was heavy by the time we were about to leave. We decided against staying for dinner as Irfan some homework to finish.

Finally, An Outing

After commuting in and out of Subang for the last week sorting out my Mum and brother-in-law, I finally had a day of respite. After giving a lift to my brother when he got discharged this morning, I left for Mid Valley almost straight away for the KL Photography Festival. More about that later.

When I returned just after 2, I took Anita and the boys put to The Curve. We had a nice late lunch at Marche, Anita did some shopping, and the boys got their toys. We probably hang around a bit more and buy dinner on the way home - United playing Newcastle later tonight, so it would be Tandoori tonight.

I need to stop at the chemist to get some toiletries, before heading home. And the boys need haircuts ....

Gingerbread Man part II

Waiting for the bake.... continued from yesterday .....

While waiting for it to be baked - took about half an hour - the children were given crayons and papers to draw with. Anita and I went for more food. When the biscuit were ready, it was time for the icing. It started again with explanation from the teacher, what to do, how to apply the icing. But by the time the children got hold of the icing, all those lessons went out of the window. I didn’t remember any instructions about putting icing on faces or other part of the body.

Out of the ovenAnd the real art begunAfter the icing were done, it was time to pack up. All together, it took two hours from the beginning to the end. Therefore, long concentration span was essential. None of the children in the class threw a tantrum however as everybody had fun pretending the dough to be like plasticine. My boys certainly did. How did their baking tasted? A bit too cinnamony if you understood what I meant.

Irfan preferred white. Splat!Mum also joined inAll spentIrfan especially enjoyed his experience even though he was rather apprehensive in the beginning. They both looked cute in their aprons and hats - unfortunately they did not get to keep the apron. Come to think of it, such baking activity made for a great birthday party. As Irfan’s was due in six weeks, we might actually plan to have it here. Maybe with a bit of baking activities thrown in. So watch this space.

Gingerbread Man part I

The boys with the original gingerbread man .... Daddy!During the school holidays, Marche has always been good at organising fun cooking classes for young children. Last year, Idlan enjoyed his pizza-making outing. This year, we signed both Idlan and Irfan up for gingerbread man making class. The class was available through-out the whole weekdays, but since I was only free yesterday afternoon, we signed them up to do it then. And oh boy, they had great fun.

Getting psyched .... Irfan warning his palmsGetting into gearIrfan preferred the sailor's lookThere were about 30 children who participated - a full house. We arrived early to have lunch - ironically, the boys had pizza. After the crowd gathered, the class started with explanation from the resident chef - the teacher. He explained all the ingredients, how they were mixed and took through the dough preparation. It was basically butter, self-rising flour and wheat flour, plus eggs. But the thing that made it brown was not exactly ginger, it was cinnamon. There was so much flour that Idlan started sneezing. Luckily, it was not into the mixing bowl - it might have tasted better then. The ingredients were mixed and it was passed around for everyone to stir, including Irfan. And stir he did.

Listening to the teacherShall I just eat it whole?... and the pounding begins ...... tong tang tong tang!And a bit of elbow greaseOnce that was done, the students were separated into their own little stations and given some pre-prepared dough and some flour for them to start flattening and banging. After the dough was flat, out came the shapes. Most of them made stars, snowman, and of course the gingerbread man shape. Irfan managed to squeezed out 10 pieces of biscuits from his little dough. Once those were ready, they were put onto baking trays, and were taken off into the over.

More squeezingIt was finally taking shapeInto the oven they went ......Due to the exceedingly cute photos, I had to split the entry into two parts …… to be continued …..