Idlan making pizza

As part of the school holiday activities, Marche at their the Curve outlet held a pizza-making workshop. We enrolled Idlan in. The workshop started just after lunch, ran for a couple of hours. The kids were thought about hygiene to start with. Everything, from apron to the dough were provided. All we had to do was turn up.

First, the dough need flattening! I kept asking him to do it mamak style but he refused to get in touch with his roots!I think he needs a stoolThere were about 12 of them in the group and I think Idlan was among the youngest. Few of them I am sure were already in standard 4 at least. They started off with just the base, then adding it the tomato paste and toppings of cheese and pineapple. Since Idlan was too small, he had to go onto a platform in order to reach the trimmings and put them on his pizza. Idlan was grinning all the way. After the pizza was prepared, all of them went into the oven. It took about 20 minutes to cook and the young chef took the time to mingle, take pictures and drink some juice to cool themselves down! Even though it was not exactly Hell's Kitchen, it was still pretty hard work for them. Eating time came next. Unfortunately we did not get to keep the cute little aprons. In the meantime, Irfan was sulking as he also wanted to join in. Unfortunately he is still too small.

Now comes the hard partThe staffs there were really friendly and I can tell they were really prepared for the event. It was held at the front entrance of the restaurant, in the shades by the main walkway. The instructions given were very appropriate to the young boys and girls. They were showed how to carry out the instructions. After everything was done, the participants were given a certificate, plus the recipe for the pizza they have just made.

... and it's ready!Irfan reviewing his brother's bakingAfter everything is done, it was back to Kung Fu time!All in all, it was a very well run event. There are other workshops coming on, but I don't think Idlan is keen to bake muffins. The pizza-making workshop is held on Monday, Thursday and Friday afternoons during the school holidays. It cost RM20 to register. Just Google for Marche or click here or here to find out a bit more. It was great fun, I would recommend it to other parents for sure. The slideshow for the workshop can be seen here.

Evening stroll

Welcome to the evening stroll at The CurveI will be off from today. Will not be back to work for a week. Taking time off for the coming Raya and all. It was the school holidays. Right after work, we went out for dinner outside. Nothing fancy, steamboat at IKANO. Since we got there early, we went to browse at IKEA. Anita needed a new whiteboard to teach the boys maths and stuff. We couldn't believe that it was sold out! Yes, it's school holidays. But I don't think all parents are teaching their kids during the break ... Or at least I don't think.

Yes! I made Idlan carry some stuff in IKEA!

We quickly shuffled for steamboat right after that. Done with dinner, we just strolled along. There is an offer going on at England Optical upstairs. You can get more discount using UOB Card, so I started thinking ..... That Oakley looks nice. The glasses I'm wearing now is almost 10 years-old anyhow. Tried a few. Anita insisted that I get one. Yes it was an Oakley. It will be ready in the next couple of days. Just in time for our trip to Fraser's Hill. The only problem I think I will have with it will be the shape of the lens. It will be a curved one due to the frame and since I have astigmatism, I reckon that the glass will be thick at the edge. Hopefully it will still be OK!

The decor being set upNext, we brought the boys to the playground. They need to burn off some energy, plus leaving Anita to do some shopping of her own. The Xmas lights and trees are being installed at the Curve at the moment. I am sure by the time they are ready they will look nice. I can still remember the decor from a couple of years back. That was really stunning. They will have to do something special to beat that, and also the current one that is up at Pavilion. Before we leave, we also stopped by at Marche. During the school holidays, they have activities for kids. There is a pizza-making lesson 3 times a week and we signed Idlan up for this Thursday. I will write about it after Idlan is done with that. It cost RM20 for the lesson but they provide all the material and gears. That should be fun!

As for tomorrow, I have a lot of errands to do. Need to pay the bills. Maybe heading to Sungai Wang to browse as well.

Disclaimer - This blog was written while listening to Brett Dennen - cool stuff!

Night Out at The Curve

Idlan was not going to Music School tonight. Since the move to Wangsa Walk Mall, he has been miserable every time he attended the classes. The new venue was still being renovated even after a couple of months since the move. The new classroom was less than ideal. It was one of those rectangular rooms, but that was not the problem. It was that the class layout was a headache. The entrance and the front board occupied the wide end. Hence the class was wider than it was long from front to back. The keyboards were also arranged in rows that were too narrow for access. Compared to the previous room, this one was less than half the size with no windows. It was plainly dull. Idlan was complaining that he can't even hear the notes he was playing. I think it was a valid problem. Can't really blame him for complaining.

So he threw a tantrum for the last couple of classes, and refused to practice at home anymore. Solution; it looked like we either change the venue, as there were a few Yamaha Music Schools around, or ask for a one-on-one tuition until the situation improved. The shame was the new place was huge. The management for some reason gave priority for the showroom and office area rather than the actual lesson rooms. The rooms were right at the back and cramped. I guess I know where they make the bulk of their income comes from. Typical wasn't it?

Idlan actually liked his teacher, Ms Lily. I will have a word with her at some stage to see if she was keen to take Idlan back but in a different tuition arrangement or at another school.

I tried something new tonight, a savoury crepe, filled with salmon and mushroom plus the usual cheeze. Very niceSo we decided to do something else. We headed out to The Curve, since the boys fancied some Marche food. Unfortunately they were still fixing the pizza oven. The funny thing was the oven was never to be seen. I suspected they will not be doing pizza any longer. The boys absolutely loved the pizza here. They had some pancakes and roast chicken instead. We then took a walk around the Curve, which is always a happening spot on Friday evenings, especially with the eCurve right next door. The movie 2012 was out tonight and I can see crowd mingling for tickets at the cinema there. As for us, we took a stroll instead.

The crowd were just only building upPandemonium as the boys were let loose with the cars! Run!There were plenty of young families with prams and young children around at this hour. We went up to the children area. At the first floor, Idlan spotted an electric toycar kiosk, so he decided to try one. We were stuck there for half an hour with them trying the various cars. It turned out that they only charge around RM10 for half an hour which I thought was very reasonable. Idlan and Irfan picked a car each and off they went. A quick stop at McDonald's before we headed home for drinks and it was a fun evening all around. Irfan was due to start his reading class at Pingu the next morning, so he will need some rest.

And a stopover for cupcake of course!

While I enjoy my Oreo McFlurry.

Posted via email from Stamp up those photos!

Idlan enjoying the playground

I was on call yesterday and did not have the time to spend with the boys. In fact they were already fast asleep by the time I reach home and were out by the time they were up this morning. They were pestering Anita about where I was and made her promise to take them out after I get back from work. Worst still, they insisted on going out to Marche at The Curve.

We reached Marche just before 7 and I was starving by then. The boys obviously had their appetisers in the form of ice-cream with chocolate sprinkles, followed by 15 minutes of hyper-ness in the playground when they bulldoze through everything. This is the time when we took turn to order our food. By the time they mellowed down, it's feeding time for them. Unfortunately, the pizza owen was being renovated, so no pizza for the coming few weeks. They had to settle for some sausages an vegetables.

They then hit the playground again. I had to reach home early since I have some presentation to prepare for tomorrow and some corrections on a paper I need to go through. We finally reached home at around 9.30 and frankly I was really tired. I have just finished my slides and it is time to hit the sack. I need to go to HUKM tomorrow morning before whizzing back to UM by lunch for the CME.