California Pizza Kitchen, KLCC

Yyess, pasta - lovely pasta to get hungry with. This time, we headed to Suria KLCC for some photo shooting & shopping. I always love this tall, majestic building for some reason. I love watching the different kind of people from all walks of life just hanging out here. After a brisk walk at the park, we were thinking of what to eat... And so for lunch, we decided to choose California Pizza Kitchen - located on the 1st level of Suria.The restaurant has 3 sections - front where cute round tables with sofas are situated, the main dining with wooden tables and seats, and the outdoor balcony overlooking the water park of KLCC. I would love to seat outside , but probably not on a hot KL afternoon... Menu is pretty ok for me, from appetizers to salads, pizzas and pastas, soups and sandwiches, desserts and a whole lot of beverage for kids and adults. One of what I like, of its service, is that, if you have kids with you, the waiters bring you drawing papers and colourful crayons so kids don't get bored. A good one there. :-)
Looks good... I loved the very delicious Portobello Mushroom Ravioli I had. They look so flowery. And one bite in the Rosemary ravioli brings a burst of Portobello mushrooms, herbs and melting cheese... and it is simply delicious... This dish was served in a fresh Italian tomato sauce with garlic and Parmesan cream. Very rich in garlic. Very. Vampires would refrain from going anywhere near you. Period. The price? RM 28.90 and for an additional RM3.00 or so, you get additional sauteed mushrooms.
I wish I had more people dining with me - to order more food and take more food picture!! But maybe next time... I'm more of a "couple foodie" than a group of foodies... but I enjoy doing what I do even if it's small! :-) For my guy, it is usually fettuccine. Cos he likes kuey teow(flat rice noodles), and fettuccine is the Italian version of kuey teow. And he loves cream sauce. One Fettuccine with Garlic Cream sauce which look deliciously creamy...
This dish is available with prawns, or chicken and sauteed mushroom. We went for chicken. The creamy sauce is also very garlic-ky, and tastes nice with the rich parmesan in it. This babe was priced at RM24.90 and we also ordered to add in sauteed mushrooms.
By the time we almost finish our lunch, we were very full. I remember the last time we were here, we ordered the Baja Chicken Tortilla Spring Rolls. Delicioussss and very filling. We did not get to dessert... no way can we stuff ourselves any further, and food is never good to waste. Previously, I tried the Panna Cota and Tiramisu, which were both very lovely. Don't think they have the Panna Cota anymore...

Let's give it a 8/10.. Good food, nice place, they love kids, and staffs are good. :-)

California Pizza Kitchen
Lot 140, Level 1, Suria KLCC
50088 Kuala Lumpur

Kuih Kapit (Love Letters)

Isn't it pretty? Fine crispy love letters to melt your days... So crispy, once you crunch, you'll want more!

Kuih kapit, or love letters are traditional Chinese cookies served. The best ones are those really thin... and fine "letters" made in a special round mould, and folded like in the picture above.

I have never made these, I wish to try them one day :-) But receiving love letters from friends means so much! These are really special. I know for sure they very pretty, but quite expensive!

:: Here is a recipe, taken from Amy Beh from Kuali - The Star Online ::

Ingredients
125g rice flour
35g plain flour
155g granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups coconut milk (from 1 coconut)
2 eggs
2 egg yolks

Method
Sift rice and plain flour into a mixing bowl. Add in sugar and slowly add the coconut milk. Stir until smooth then add the eggs and egg yolks. Whisk until well blended. Strain the batter.

Lightly grease love letter moulds with a piece of muslin cloth dipped in oil. Heat mould over charcoal fire.

When heated, place the moulds open over a bowl of batter and pour a ladelful of batter onto the mould. Close the mould tightly and bake over charcoal fire for about half a minute on each side.

When golden in colour, remove and immediately fold into a quarter. Press lightly with a tin cover to level the surface.

Cool and store in an air-tight container or tin.

(You need love letter moulds to make this beautiful kuih that is served during chinese new year.)

Dining in @ Fasta Pasta

Fasta Pasta. Hungry and just wanting to go some place near to his parent's place (after a 4-hour drive from Penangggg), we headed to The Curve. Thankfully parking was not bad on a Friday night!
I would never miss my chance at learning to take better foodtography, what more in KL. Plenty of food and choices makes me go crazy! But with just the short weekend, I opted for my favourite casual food.

I LOVE PASTA. Put aside my crazy tastebuds for Assam Laksa, Chicken Briyani and Tom Yum Soup, I LOVE PASTA. Perhaps I'm a bit of an Italian at heart. Ha ha ha!

The bread is served as a starter while we wait for our food to come. Soft bread served with butter. Just nice and perfect and I love this any time.I had the Maccheroni Pepino - a very delightful meal with chunks of chicken, generous mozzarella and chili in yummy tomato sauce. There is 2 serving size: Ozzie or Asian. I chose Asian as I wanted to have some soup too. I love this macaroni meal. It is simply wonderful anytime!
Unfortunately they did not have the Mushroom soup that I wanted. So the other choice (not too many choices of soup huh?) the Minestrone soup. This was a bit of a disappointment. The soup was not so rich in flavour and vegetables. I don't know where the chunks of veges and beans went to, but it was definitely not "big" as it's supposed to be. Minestrone? Hmm.
The man opposite me - my driver for the day cos I kept yawning all the way here, had the Spirali Calabrese. This dish looks so exciting it could turn heads instantly, "Look at me!!!" A pretty mild dish, it comes with colourful spiral pasta tossed in thick tomato sauce with lots of black olives, beef salami and mozzarella.

We did not really like the taste of it, though. It was not as flavourful as the Maccheroni Pepino. Because I loved my guy so much, and I knew he did not liked this, I told him, "you can have the macaroni, I'll have the spirals." Cos really, I didn't mind exchanging because I do not like to waste food. So we did finished the food afterall.
Come next was ... chocolate drinks for us! Now the drinks here are not bad at all, especially the Ice Chocolate with Ice Cream! Ooh yummy.... I love chocolate! The Vienna Chocolate kept me warm and comfy as I was feeling a bit cold. Fasta Pasta is located at the ground floor of Ikano Power Centre, Mutiara Damansara.
You can have events here as well, birthday parties and gatherings and it is best to make a reservation for the staff to prepare ahead of the functions.
Call 03-7727 5876 for reservations.
They are open daily, 10-10pm.

Pretty Fried Wantons

Wantons are very popular Chinese food - boiled or deep fried. I made these cute dumplings for soup, and with some left overs I decided to deep fry them to make some delicious crisp appetizers. Make these for your guests... they'd love these cute little crispy appetizers.. or snacks!

Fresh wanton skins can be found in many Asian markets and supermarkets, and those frozen ones are not bad too. There are 2 types - thin and thick skins which the thin are used for soups and the thick for frying. But it does not really matter, at least not to me. To add, there are 2 shapes of the skin sold - square and round. These make different styles of folding - money bag, boat, or just plain fold.
While most wantons are primarily made from minced pork, we can also use vege, beef, prawns and chicken. Be creative and you'll be amazed at how wonderful these taste!

:: Ingredients ::
1 cup Minced chicken
1/2 cup Minced prawn
1/2 Green onions, chopped
1 stalk fresh coriander, chopped
2-3 water chestnut, chopped
Salt & pepper to taste
1 teaspoon cornstarch
...
1 packet wanton skins

1. Combine the above in a small bowl and add some corn starch.
2. Place a teaspoonfuls of mix on a wonton skin and wrap it. Wet your fingers with some water and just lightly circle the skin before wrapping it to seal it. Then press it firmly to create a "bag" shape.
3. Repeat for remaining ingredients.
4. Heat up a deep pan with cooking oil. Fry these cute wontons until golden brown.
5. Place on some kitchen towel to drain the oil before serving.

Serve with chilli sauce (I recommend Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce) while still warm.

To see how to wrap wontons, see the short simple video, from Rasa Malaysia: