Monday, Monday...

Oh, hello all! It was a very mundane weekend...not that I'm complaining one bit! I loved it! Very relaxing...gave my back time to recover...spent time with the hubby and kiddos...just normal stuff.

Blaine went golfing on Saturday. He's been dying to go golfing since we got here and one of his co-workers invited him this weekend. He left about 6:45 a.m. on Saturday - and was heading back out to Port Klang to golf there - as the prices are much better. He did manage to get a few pictures on the golf course...I've got to say I love the carts at the place he played!!

The Course

The Cart

Blaine and his cart

Coe - Blaine's golf partner

Blaine described the golf carts as a cross between a Segway and a riding lawn mower! Hilarious!

So, while Blaine was golfing it was just me and the two little monkeys. I had to laugh because I told them I was going to go swim laps in the pool that morning and if they wanted to come, they were more than welcome. Well, they were both up and in swimsuits by 7:30 a.m. and they had my butt in the pool by 8 a.m. Caleb swam laps with me for a while. I got in a good solid 500 meters before I heard, "Mom, come on! Race me!" or "Mom! Time me!"  Who can resist that?? So it was lots of racing while doing various strokes - and almost getting beat by my older son several times. Luckily, I hung in there!

Then it was breakfast with the boys over at Publika. San Francisco Coffee serves pancakes - so the boys were all excited to head out to breakfast. Now, if you did not know, Grayson has developed quite the coffee habit. At 7 years old, I find him ordering cappuccinos and mochas...preferably whipped, but regular or iced is fine, too! This child is going to need to find employment to keep up with his coffee habit and the snacks that he wants to buy at the cantine when he is finished with his after school activities. I'm going to go broke!

Who wouldn't want to dine with these two?

Blaine was home from golf by noon - as he said the course played really quickly! Woot! Woot! That was a fabulous surprise. The rest of the day was spent at baseball and then at home as we made homemade pizza that night. (If you are ever looking for a great pizza dough recipe...You've got to try the "Basic Pizza Dough" recipe by Martha Stewart. Super easy to work with! Here's the link!)

Sunday morning was a bit slow to start with. There was a marathon in town on Sunday - so lots of road closures for the morning. Due to the heat and humidity, the marathoners started at 4:30 a.m. and I believe the half marathoners start at 6 a.m. Whoa! Talk about getting up and getting after it. But, I've been looking for some local running races - and they all start early due to the weather here. I don't mind early - but I don't think I've ever been to a race at 4:30 a.m. - let alone started a race at 4:30 a.m.! (Betsy - you can correct me if I'm wrong, but even at Timberman 70.3 we didn't get to the race site until about 4:45 a.m.!) 

Late in the morning we went to the batting cages and a took trip to the new Jaya Grocers. This is a new market and is located downtown at The Intermark. I'd been reading reviews about it all week and was curious to go check it out! There were lots of pictures posted online - and one picture showed Pillsbury Crescent Rolls and Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls. Now, my two munchkins love the Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls - and I have not seen any of the refrigerated Pillsbury stuff since we arrived - so I was really hoping to get my hands on some for them. But alas, they were all gone when we got there. I did get some crescent rolls...so I consider that a small victory. 

The afternoon brought on a "Sons of Anarchy" marathon for Blaine and me. I now have Blaine addicted to the show! Ah, so much better to have a partner in crime for all of my bad television watching.

Today has been more of my Monday norm. I headed back to Crossfit this morning - and rocked the workout! Felt good about it! Jump rope, kettlebell swings, and pullups were the WOD  and front squats were the strength. Then, I hit Fitness First for a cardio session. Yup, pulled a double today as I've got cooking class tomorrow and Wednesday this week and not sure what my workouts will look like! 

Okay...hope everyone has a fabulous week ahead of them.

Friday Was All About The Food...

It was another busy Friday - including a coffee date with Blaine, a class at B.I.G., an easy workout at Fitness First, dinner with the family and dessert back at B.I.G. See what I mean...all about the food.

Blaine had a meeting yesterday with all the McDonald's folks as they work on this chicken deal. I know there are a lot of players involved and while they didn't finalize anything yesterday, he felt it went pretty well. Lucky for me, when he has a meeting here in K.L. - he usually works from home in the morning. So we snuck over to Publika for coffee date.

Then, I was off to cooking class. This time it was entitled "Cooking with Beer." They had me at the title!

I'll admit that I like to drink beer more than cook with beer, but I did like the things we were cooking: Cheddar Beer Bread, Fish and Chips with Mushy Peas (Oh, so British!) and Stout Cupcakes.

A sampling of the beers we would use

Christine was once again our fearless leader. I will say I wasn't too worried about this class as I felt fairly comfortable with what we were cooking. We started with the Cheddar Beer Bread...which got some great additions to it - ham, red pepper, jalapenos, onions, and garlic! I did not cut into my loaf until this morning - when I grilled it with some butter - and it was fabulous!

The before and after

The Stout Cupcakes were next. A fairly easy dessert to make today. Christine did show us how to core out the cupcakes and we added in a Nutella and Courvoisier filling. The quote of the day came from Christine as she was making the filling: "I believe my people here are quite alcoholics." She was correct! In addition to the Guiness and the Courvoisier, the cupcakes were topped with a Bailey's frosting.

Sinful!

The fish and chips with mushy peas came next. Christine did the mushy peas for us as we were running short on time and we took charge of the fish. We used red snapper today - and I made mine closer to fish sticks to speed up the cooking time and maybe see if my kids would try them. (No luck on the kids trying!)

Mushy Peas

Our fish and the makings of homemade tartar sauce

We never got our chips done as the frying takes a bit long to get through. No big deal...we still had enough food for a small army!

The final meal

I quickly ran home and hopped in the car to head to Fitness First. I had time to bang out an hour on the elliptical before picking Caleb up at cross country practice. My back is much better - but I was not going to push it with a strenuous workout - just wanted to ease back into things.

After picking Caleb up we headed back over to Publika for a quick dinner at The Social. I had not eaten all day except for a few bites during cooking class, so I was glad for an early dinner. We also had a plan to hit up dessert at B.I.G. that night!

Dessert Storm with Mabel Cheah

B.I.G. has a pop-up dessert place in it right now called Dessert Storm. And, it is run by the fabulous pastry chef (and fellow Crossfitter) - Mabel Cheah. I met Mabel a few weeks back at Crossfit Vidatha and I've been meaning to get over to Dessert Storm to try her infamous KLonuts. (Think Cronuts - but in K.L.) You can read more about Mabel and her KLonuts here!

Mabel suprised us by sending over some wonderful peanut butter and chocolate creation. Wow! Rich and very decadent!

Simply delicious!

And then came the star attraction - KLonuts! Caleb had seen a picture of them on Facebook this week and was dying to try them! (Okay...twist your mommy's arm!) We ordered 3 of the peanut butter/caramel and one of the lemon meringue! 

A little bit about the KLonut

Peanut Butter Caramel KLonut

The Lemon Meringue KLonut

(Sorry for the half-eaten picture! The KLonuts come hot and they were hard to resist!)

We all LOVED the KLonuts!!! The kids are already asking when we can go back again! We will definitely have to hit Dessert Storm again (okay maybe a couple of times) before the little pop-up closes and something new comes to B.I.G.

Like I said...all about the food!

First World Problems Friday...

Yes, this week while sulking about my back (which is much better today), I also sulked about the things I miss from the States. Yes, they are so meaningless and trivial...I'm almost ashamed to write about them. But, how about this? I'll limit it to five...Please try to contain your laughter - because they are totally ridiculous. (Well, except for #2!)

1. Swedish Fish. Yes, I miss this candy. When I was doing serious triathlon and 1/2 marathon/marathon training, this was my fuel of choice. I never got sick of it. You can keep your Gu. You can keep your Shot Blocks...I loved me some Swedish Fish. I keep scouring the shelves hoping a package will magically appear, but so far - no luck!

2. Skim Milk. On a healthier note, I miss skim milk. Everything here has some percentage of fat in it - and to me it all tastes like cream! Yuck! I don't even want to eat a bowl of cereal because I don't have skim milk. Of course, this has helped cut down on my cookie consumption.

3. Clothes Bigger Than a U.S. Size Medium. My shopping habit is suffering immensely. Clothes here appear to be teeny tiny...even in athletic stores such as Nike or Adidas - I've only ever seen a size large. (And trust me, my boobs are not going to fit in a large!) I guess this just means when I get back to the States that I will have a huge, I mean ginormous, shopping spree!

4. Salad Bars. Yeah, this one is stupid. But, I will say I love a salad bar. I love being able to pick out the things I like on a salad and load up a plate. Blaine just keeps laughing at me because this week I said I was going to open up a Size XL Clothing Store which sold Switch Flops and had a salad bar. How random a combination is that?!?!

5. Light Beer. As long as the Tiger is cold, I can drink it. But, what I wouldn't do for a Bud Select 55 or a Michelob Ultra!! 

So there you have it...total first world problems. We're not starving, I'm fully clothed, we're not thirsty or really lacking for anything important...I just miss a few stupid things!

My Lower Back and Lunch...

AAARRRGGGHHH! My stupid back is out again. Those damn L4 and L5 discs are giving me major trouble. I was at Crossfit yesterday doing my workout when all of sudden - Boom! That stupid feeling of pain! Now, I'd like to say it occurred when I was doing an extremely heavy deadlift or perhaps during a record setting clean, but no...just came when I was finishing a toes to bar. (Seriously, it could happen if I bent down to pick up a feather...as my physical therapist told me. It doesn't matter!) So I finished the workout (which I shouldn't have, but there was only like 3 minutes left and I knew I could get through it - and it's hard for me to quit anything!) and then made my way back home. I didn't think it was too bad until last evening...and then I could barely walk. Needless to say, I've got the muscle relaxants going and lots of NSAIDs. I believe I will be spending most of the day in bed or on the couch in hopes that I can nip this in the bud before I need to go beg some Malaysian doctor for prednisone. (Trying to avoid the local doctor thing at all costs!)

Thankfully, I did make it to lunch yesterday with Sandra, Susan, Trang and Shannon. Yay for lunch! We met at PickNik over in Publika.

The chef (Nik) at PickNik is kind of a celebrity around here as he was a participant on MasterChef Malaysia - so the foodie in me was curious to try out his place and glad that Sandra threw out the invitation.

Open kitchen - That's Nik (bentover) doing some cooking

Partial view of kitchen and dining area

The kitchen at Picknik is open for all to see...you can even sit at the counter and watch all the action. (I appreciate a chef that isn't afraid to show off his kitchen - especially from a cleanliness standpoint.)

The menu has a wide variety of offerings - including a kids menu. (YAY!!!) I was not super hungry so I opted for the soup and salad. I had done my research and found out that PickNik is known for its stracciatella (think Italian egg drop soup.) It was yummy...very light and well seasoned. My lovely dining companions today had lamb, pasta olio with prawns, a salad, and the prix fixe lunch special which was local fried rice.

Our dishes...somehow I did not grab a pic of Shannon's salad!

Now, of course we saved room for a little dessert today. Trang and Sandra tried the pavlova and I could not resist the salted caramel brownie. After everyone tried both desserts, we decided that the brownie was the better of the two and a must have when we return.

Yumminess on a plate!

I really enjoyed the place. Love that when we left, Nik's dad spoke to us (my understanding is that he is also a pretty well-known chef) to make sure that we enjoyed our meal...as did Nik as we passed the kitchen area. It's the little touches like that that make me want to go back to a restaurant. So...I'll be sure to return with Blaine and my kiddos in the near future! 

Family Photos...

Yesterday Blaine brought me presents - items that came in the Cargill mail pouch! New Cooking Light and Food and Wine magazines (which I will read meticulously over the next few days - perhaps with a glass of moscato in hand), a Verizon phone bill (yeah...not really a present, but it was in the pouch) and a USB drive full of pictures of my family - the very best of the gifts.

At the end of July we took a vacation with my parents, my brothers, my sister-in-law and my niece. It was the last family hurrah before we headed off to Malaysia. During that vacation, my mom had arranged for a photo shoot since all of us were together. At the time, I was not thrilled at the prospect of pics...I like to take pics, not be in them. But, to appease my mom, we all got together for a few photos. Unfortunately, my dad missed the session - as he had to attend a funeral. (I wish he had been in them...we may need to do some creative Photoshopping!) So today, I just thought I'd share a few of those pics...of my family that I miss.

Okay...that was more than a few...sorry about that! Thanks for indulging me some pics of my family! These will get me through the next several months until we return to the States to give them big hugs in person!

Marini's and More...

Ah, Monday...there are days when I dread Monday and days when I just love it! Today is a Monday I love! I had a great weekend and I'm looking forward to what the week has to offer. It's not quite as busy as last week, but I've got a few fun things planned.

But, let's recap the weekend. It was good - chocked full of sports for the kids. We started with soccer on Saturday morning. Now, I'm still not quite convinced that my kids have the aggressive nature needed for soccer. Don't get me wrong - they like to get in there and kick the ball and score a goal or make a good defensive play, but they're not into heavy contact and I still think Grayson is more interested in the Gatorade and donuts post-practice.

Ready to rock!

Doing their thing!

Saturday afternoon brought more sports...baseball this time. We'll be heading to Singapore in November (Thanksgiving) for a tournament. Right now, it looks like we'll be flying out Wednesday evening as the 12U tournament starts on Thursday due to the large number of teams entered. We're not sure how much playing time Caleb will be getting as it is a 12U tournament (and he's playing up), but we're hoping he'll get a few innings in. He looked really good at practice this weekend (And, yes, I'm his mom and I'm biased, but his coaches told us the same thing. We can thank the Trojans for some good ball playing last season and the additional weight he's gained as he's just getting the bat around quicker and his throwing is getting stronger.) Grayson, while not as driven when it comes to baseball, is doing great. I forget that he's 7 sometimes when I watch him at practice and his attention span seems to be that of a gnat, but, then I remind myself..."Seven, he's seven. That's what all 7 year olds are like."

Practice at MKIS

Sunday had Caleb off to an ice skating birthday party...first time on skates. He had a BLAST! (So much that he thinks he wants a skating party for his birthday...I'm still trying to convince him otherwise.) And, for Grayson, that meant bowling to entertain him while big brother was at the party.

Skating...not exactly ready for the NHL, but he had fun!

My little bowler...who beat his dad by 1 pin!!!

Okay...so there's the recap on the kids. Now, let's talk about date night! Woot! Woot! So excited to leave my kids Saturday night and head out for dinner without them...it wouldn't have mattered if we were heading to Subway. (Okay...it may have mattered a little!) But, we were not heading to Subway...we were heading downtown to Marini's on 57.

Marini's is know for it's view of downtown, so I was sure to make our reservations towards sunset. We got there about 45 minutes before our reservation and headed for the bar.

Views from the bar

Enjoying the bar

Blaine and I ordered an Italiano to start with...BLECH!!! So bitter...could not drink it. (And you know it must be bad because I like my bubbles/champagne/prosecco/cava.) So, after that we just ordered a bottle of champagne and a couple of shots of Chambord to enjoy with it. Just nice to chat about the week and enjoy the view. The nice thing was that we never felt rushed. Even when it was time for our reservation in the dining room, they told us to sit and enjoy the bar a bit longer if we wanted to - which we did.

About 7:20 we went into the dining room. I'll fess up that I had checked out the menu beforehand and knew exactly what I wanted...it was just too funny that Blaine wanted the exact same thing. El was our waiter this evening and said (with a laugh) that we were "quite boring" since we ordered the same soup and entree, but we told him we were expecting it to be the very best. Then, El continued to pick on Blaine and his name. For some reason, he found Blaine Blackburn to be rather amusing - he said it should be the name of a cocktail. 

An amuse-bouche was brought out first...which was waldorf salad on a crostini. It was good...a little heavily dressed, but tasty. Fresh bread with olive oil and vinegar was brought around - along with some crispy flatbread, also.

We both ordered French onion soup. I loved the soup...the onions were much sweeter than what I'm used to in the States...which was pleasant. Now, I love cheese and would have appreciated a bit more, but the soup was light due to the small amount of cheese and lack of bread...and very enjoyable.

For entrees, we both ordered the filet...boring, I know. But, it was being served with bone marrow, which I have never had and was curious to try. And damn, it was delicious! I will say that my steak was cooked to a perfect rare - which is how I ordered it. And, while it was small...it was more than sufficient.

Next, we were surprised with a bit of whimsy...which you really didn't expect at this restaurant. A plate of fresh spun cotton candy was brought to the table. Super sweet, but who can resist a little piece of childhood! (And they brought you wet naps to clean your hands when you were finished.)

And then there was dessert. We ordered this chocolate bon bon which was amazing on presentation and flavor. It was a large sphere filled with a hazelnut mousse surrounded by fresh berries, chocolate bits, a homemade marshmallow and a chocolate lollipop. When it is brought to the table your waiter then pours hot chocolate sauce on the sphere, melting the chocolate and exposing the hazelenut filling. Fabulous!

Before and after

We also ordered a small cheese tray - as we both love cheese and couldn't resist. Three very different cheeses, served with a reduced balsamic vinegar and marmalade and grilled brioche. I would've like one of the cheeses to be a little stronger in flavor or perhaps a goat's milk cheese, but it was tasty nonetheless.

Finally, I thought our waiter was coming over to offer us tea, but instead he opens a box full of gourmet chocolates. Yummy! We each chose two and decided that we would need to be rolled to the elevator in order to get home to our children.

Blaine and I have had the pleasure of dining in some great restaurants in L.A. and San Francisco (we're foodie geeks - always seeking out great chefs as we travel) and we really enjoyed our night here. It was pricey...no doubt about it...and not something we'll do all the time, but the view, the food and the company made for a fabulous evening.

Oh...and local friends...I see that KL is launching it's very first restaurant week starting October 4th. We're not as versed on the great local restaurants we should try, but if anyone wants to check the list and make some recommendations to us or set up a lunch date - please let me know: Restaurant Week KL

They are taking reservations now until September 29th. You can click on each restaurant and see what they are offering for a prix fixe menu that week - for either lunch or dinner. We had the pleasure of attending restaurant week in L.A. a few years back and it was fabulous!!!