Black, Squid Ink Pasta?

This article is not for the weak in heart..

Even while reading the menu, I had trouble making up my mind. How would it taste? 

First time I saw it, Bobby Flay cooked it on the Food Network Channel, and I thought, it reminds me of a Goth Halloween Theme Party Food and the seafood tomato sauce they put on it looks really gory! And I can't believe they actually used the squid ink and saute it with the pasta. I saw this black one before, but I thought that maybe they used some kind of special grain or colouring like green spinach past or something. I never thought that they 'coloured' it.

So I made up my mind and what the heck? I ordered it. Oh yeah, I went to The Garden Cafe in Alamanda. The Garden Cafe has many outlets all around the country, If you wish to try it.

So there it is, the Black Squid Ink Pasta. Yeah, they really extract the dark ink from the squid and mixed it in the pasta that has been saute with garlic and olive oil. They used just one squid for the ink. 

All of you out there must be wondering, 'really Fairus? You really gonna eat that?' Well, for those who knew me and how I am very curious about new food (the one that can be eaten), the answer is, 'YES!' And the pasta is coming at me like, NOW! There's no turning back. I am nervous of trying a pasta, that is black. Yikes!!

Bismillah.. And I took my fork wrapped the pasta around it, with a little bit of the sauce, and a bite went into my mouth. I am chewing, and tasting and enjoying and thinking, and it tasted GOOD! It actually really good. So I took another bite, closing my eyes, enjoying it! It didn't taste like a what I think a squid would taste. The combination of the sauce and garlic and seafood are heavenly! Maybe the Italian created this meal with a squid ink, just for the exotic looks and even the name. (I guess)

The sauce? Oh.. it has the typical delicious Italian sauce taste with scallops, shrimp and of course SQUIDS! And with all the herbs and spice and tangy and sweet and salty taste all combine together, it makes me wanna weep over a plate of spaghetti. Black spaghetti, that might make some people horrified just by listening to it's name.

Ooh, the ending? What do you think? Did I finished it? See it for yourself. I finished it! It tasted so good I feel like ordering another plate. Well, that's embarrassing..

Yeah, if only you can eat the shrimp tail, there might not be a thing left on the plate. 

So, Black Ink Squid Pasta. I dare any of you out there to try this in The Garden Cafe. 

Birthdays and Graduations : Celebrated at Laksa Shacks

It was a great day. Me and my 3 sisters (short of 1 sis) went to Seremban (the nearest city) to got bapak's GPS from the repair and service. It's just a reason really, besides the fact I am meeting Lina, and the meeting was cancelled because I left the thing that I was about to give her.

But that doesn't stop us from having so much fun altogether the 4 of us. It's Alang's @ Farhana's birthday and I took the opportunity to celebrate just us, sisters. It's not only her birthday, but to celebrate her graduation (from her Degree) and her success application for Master program, which will start in a few weeks. Not to forget my 2nd sister Angah @ Hajar who also just graduate from her KPLI programme and will start as a full time school counselor (school shrink) anytime in July or August.

We missed one of our sister Khalilah. The youngest of all of us. She is now in Tangkak, in her 2nd year matriculation. We called her Adik, suits her as the youngest.

There's a new Carrefour opened in Rahang, Seremban. Surprisingly it's a gigantic place. As it's recently opened, there are not many shops is open yet. But still, the remaining shop are enough with interesting selling items.

There is this one small restaurant we noticed which seems interesting. As our tummy are grumbling with hunger, our eyes are all onto this small restaurant or shop (I'm not sure how categorized it). It is call, Laksa Shack. Yes, we chose that instead of a lousy Kopitiam and another KFC which I cannot tolerate at all! 

The Laksa Shack 

simple minimalist menu

The smell of food can be noticed as soon as we enter  the shop. It's cozy with a few tables but it's a nice place and comfortable. 

So what is this place?

They have a list of famous Laksa That cost around RM10 to RM15. They have, Laksa Tom Yum, Laksa Sarawak, Laksa Kelantan, Laksa Kari Nyonya, Laksa Penang, Laksa Johor, and Laksa Lemak Singapore.

Besides all the food, they provide variety of choices from starters, light meal, sets for two and rice. The other food I can remember from the list is, Otak-otak, Roti Jala, beriyani and nasi ayam halia. 

We ordered our choices of food and drinks and wait. and of course photo session while waiting.

 my 2nd baby sister, Angah@ Siti Hajar

Alang @ Farhana, 3rd sister

Acik @ Husna, the 4th 

my personal favourite 

say, 'aaaah...' 

peace,  no war!

The food arrives, and we start to dig in. Alang  and her Tom Yum Laksa, Angah and her Nasi Kuning, Acik and her Nyonya Laksa, and me with my Laksa Lemak Singapore.  I just found out there are many type of Laksa. I only knew a few type of it. The laksa, has a different gravy (of course), even the noodles are different for each type of Laksa. 

angah had Nasi Kuning 

Laksa kari Nyonya 

Laksa Lemak singapore

Otak-otak

Bandung Cincau

We even ordered a yummy cold Bandung Cincau. It was delicious! Not to forget the well-missed Otak-otak.

We end the meal and went to the next place to get the cake. It's Secret Recipe! How I missed it, so much! As there are no Carrot Sliced, I got a White Chocolate Macadamia, which tasted good, too!

As if it's not enough, we then celebrate again with our parents and The Cake at home!

*To my sisters, I am so proud of you guys! No matter what people said about us being all girls, we did it! And we proved to them, having all girls is not as bad as they thought it would be, it even better!

mi hermanas

Cold Cendol on Rainy Day

This is kind of pending entry that supposed goes on air like 4 days ago? Huh! Curse the technician that didn't come on time to fix it. But who cares!? I'm writing it anyway.. *rolling eyes*

It was cold and and cloudy. We just arrived from the airport that morning, and the kids slept through the afternoon. That's good... actually. My mom arrived from college at exactly 5.10pm (10 minutes after office hour ends, and that's kind of early than her usual timing). 'Okay, dah siap ke?' she asked. We smiled and my kids raced to the car.

 Falisha and my sis Siti Farhana @ Mak Lang

It's the usual kedai cendol not as good as Leman Dawi's Cendol in Seremban or Cendol Mamak back in Banting, our kampung. But the good ol' homemade cendol and the signature of the simple shop. And maybe a good place to lepak-lepak and have a good time.

Tini the 'Cetung'

There's a few type of cendol available. Cendol with pulut (glutinous rice), corn, red bean or everything in together. They have ABC (air batu campur) too! 

My yummy cendol!

Ibu's ABC

Oooo...! I can't make up my mind! Everything sound so yummy! But I settled with the red bean cendol. Tini with the corn and my mom settled with ABC. We exchanged flavors and it was the sweetest moment that I could never imagine before. Everybody is happy. 

*sigh*

I waited exactly one year to be here. To be a part of this moment. How happy I was at that time. And suddenly the chilling wind was accompanied by a raindrops, that transformed into a crash of heavy rain. Another thing that I missed so much! Rain!!! Rain!! I won't sing rain, rain go away at this moment. even my kids are enjoying the rain. And Tini asked if she could go and play in the rain. I smiled and said no to her, explaining it's bad for her to play in the rain and she said, 'okay.'

Falisha also enjoys the cendol

It started to rain

The rain ends our day at the kedai cendol. It was a great day. Simple, but a great day to start the next days for the whole 2 months I'm staying.

Kopiah Atok on her head.

Grilling It at Stonegrill

Have you ever been through a situation when you're ordering a steak, you didn't get the right, desired taste of your steak? When you asked for medium rare, but it's not according to your 'medium rare'? Yes, I've been through that, alright! And suddenly, you wished that you can cook you're own steak without the hassle of preparing everything. Just cook and eat!

In Stonegrill, yes! You can cook it yourself! Last night Mr.Fadzil took me to the STONEGRILL in Sheikh Zayed Road. Located exactly at the Gold and Diamond Park, the same row where you can see all the car showroom, you can park easily just behind the building at the designated area. It's my first time there, and second time for him. He likes it so much he intended to come again.

 located exactly at the Gold and Diamond Park

what you see once you entered

 I like this look and feeling

It's a cozy restaurant with a classic and dimmed lighted. With framed pictures of all Hollywood actors hanged around the wall, I felt like I am at a local restaurant somewhere in Montana. Before that Mr.Fadzil been talking about that restaurant like everyday since his friend took him there. He told me that he never noticed that restaurant before, eventhough we've passed by that restaurant everytime we're on Sheikh Zayed Road. I said, "I've noticed it, dear." he smiled. But I never really knew what's really happening in there.

There are two types of food here, ala-carte or stone-grilled. Which means, you get to cook you're own steak. Or if you rather get a ready cooked steak you can just go for the ala-carte. What's the point of coming here if I'm having the readu steak? So, as a 'lamb fans', I ordered a set of 200gm lamb chop. With mashed potato and mint sauce.

 what we had while waiting the 'batu panas' to come.

our bip or apron (sort of)

While waiting for the our 'batu' to come, they prepare a large bip for each of us. Frankly I am excited to experience the cooking that have made Mr.Fadzil talking about it for weeks!

demonstration by the waitress

my turn!

After 15 minutes, here they come! A piping hot stonegrill on a long oval plate. With all the sides and sauce ready. The waitress quickly demonstrate the cooking method, and how we can decide how we'd like it. Well, this is gonna be fun!

 almost done!

my medium rare is ready!

There we go, the cooking-on-the-table session. The 'zing' sound really makes my tummy grumble. But the 'cons' is, you will have all the fat 'splattered' all over the table. Tini has been complaining about the fat 'terpercik' on her hand and said that she smelled like a lamb now. Hahahaha...! Next time you have to sit a bit further from me, okay!? :)

 tini had 'finger fish and fries'

how the grill stone look like. I was told by Mr.Fadzil,

it's granite.

The smiling Mr.Fadzil, asked me, "Best tak?" "Eh, of course! It's fun!" We had a great time grilling the steak to our perfection and eat it straight away! 

sigh

mint sauce, perfect match for the lamb chops!

It's really and unforgettable experience. I enjoyed it, my tummy full! (luckily I came with a hungry tummy) I loved the juicy taste of hot lamb chop I grilled myself. Not everybody knew this, but when you eat lamb chops, the perfect match is the mint sauce. It helps you savor the juicy lamb taste and at the same time it helps reduce the smell. 

the face of 'perut kenyang'!

 wall full of framed pictures of Hollywood stars

my empty plate (tinggal tulang je)

Awwhhh... when you're full. Of course you're happy! 

If you feel like experiencing it, why don't you go to STONEGRILL I promise you it taste better than any steakhouse here in Dubai, plus you get to grill it yourself!

Falling in Love with Magnolia

I am a fast walker if you must know. That is the reason why Mr. Fadzil always get left behind. He kept complaining every time. That's what happened when I was heading to Bloomingsdale. I don't know whether you guys are aware or not. What's in there? This is where I 'fall in love' all over again..

As Sheikh Mohammed was moved by Carrie Bradshaw, he wants a RED VELVET cupcake too! As the results, today, New York's most beloved MAGNOLIA BAKERYBloomingsdale, Dubai Mall, was officially opened in February 2010. Located in it is consider a really big step for them as the three and only branches they have (present) is in Manhattan. 

It's just a small shop inside Bloomingsdale BUT, with variety of choices, such as home-baked treats as buttercream-topped cupcakes, old-fashioned banana pudding, and its southern-inspired “hummingbird cake”. I'm willing to walk just across the mall to get 4 cupcakes. After tasting it, I decided, I loved the 'Vanilla cupcake with Cheese Cream Toppings'. And another one, the 'Red Devil' cupcake. It tasted so heavenly, yummy!

If you want to find this store, you have to follow the directions to Bloomingdales and 'On The Top of The Burj' which are on the ground floor same floor as the Musical Fountain, but inside. You will see The Magnolia Bakery exactly at the entrance of Bloomingsdale. The first thing you see is the counter, simply decorated with soft colour and of course stacks of cupcakes and puddings in the glass window display.

at the counter

 tempting, yummy cupcakes

minis!!

'the fans' are waiting...

'yeah, make it four. this and that and those..'

'we got our cupcakes, let's go!'

devishly yummy, Red Devil Cupcake!

Vanilla cupcake with cream cheese and lemon toppings!

So, for all cupcakes fan out there! If you're feeling like a cup cupcakes, why don't you head down to Magnolia Bakery in Dubai Mall and indulge yourself with a heavenly tasty cupcakes that guarantee to have your eyes closed when you put it in your mouth. It's where I fall in love, again..