I write about Kasa Rosa on an annual basis…I say it’s my favourite restaurant but in reality I don’t actually go there very often at all. It’s because it’s not open on Sundays, and it’s usually on Sundays that we go in search of lunch. Shame really. Not to mention that I kinda fell out with them after they stopped making the world’s best tiramisu…preferring to stick to their horrible chocolate fudge cake instead. eew. Tastes like they bought the choc fudge cake from the supermarket or something. And oh, when I went on my birthday last year and ordered scallops, that was all I got….five scallops on a huge plate, and two silvers of grilled pepper. For £15.95, that was extremely poor – at least give me abit of a side dish, damnit! Even some side salad or chips won’t go amiss…but just five scallops on top of two silvers of grilled pepper…thats just plain blah.

Anyway, on bacon’s birthday we eventually made it there for lunch. I’ve noticed that they’ve revamped their menu online, and was intruiged to find that they have started offering lunchtime deals. Seeing that their pizzas & pastas are between £6.50 – £9.50, their lunchtime deal of £5.90 for any pizzas or pastas with 1/2 pint of beer is an absolute bargin. I love it when restaurants do lunch deals – there are not many people here who eats out for lunch anyway, and the chefs had to be there to prepare for dinner.

I had my regular Pasta Tarantino. Hmm. When I said regular, I mean that’s what I usually have, but it definately did not taste the same. Gone was the light, wine infused tomato concasse flavoured with fresh basil. It was replaced by a heavier tomato pasty like sauce, with only a very slight hint of wine. The spaghetti had also been replaced by linguine, I must say I don’t think that works very well. However, instead of pre-cooked mini shirmps, this pasta dish now contains humungous bits of seafood.

Just look at the prawn. Definately a step up from the former pathetic looking pre-cooked shrimps. Not too sure about the sauce – both version are nice, but the lighter wine-infused sauce of its earlier days was just too special to pass up. Now it just tastes like a good pasta dish, not special like it used to be. Also, there seems to be a tad more chillies than what I remembered – and that’s a good thing. Gives it the fiery kick and brings out the flavours better methinks.

Bacon went for the Pizza “Augustea” . This comprised of tomatatoes, mozzarella and Gorgonzola cheese, oven baked and garnished with Serrano ham and rocket lettuce. We’ve only ever tried their Pepperoni pizza, which is ghastly – overly salty and oily. This pizza was a very refreshing change – light in flavours and yummy in taste. The crisp base contrasts nicely with the fresh leaves and melted cheese…rounded off by the super thin slices of serrano ham.

At £5.95 per person, this meal even came with freshly baked bread and a 1/2 pint of beer. How fab is that? The only problem is that this had put me off from patronising them at night, where pastas go for £9 instead of £5.95 plus drink!

Kasa Rosa
2 Queens Place
Morley, Leeds
LS27 8HG

Need directions? It is opposite from the Bargin Mart in Morley, hidden behind some bushes.

I am seriously turning into an old-school housewife!

Meet my ‘BROTHER’. Judging from the avocado green body, I am guessing that the machine is older than me….the ‘in’ color during the 70′s flower-power age. Not too sure when did the previous owner bought it. There is no receipt, model number nor instructions. Beggars can’t be choosers. The best part about this machine is that it’s FREE. Yes FREE! Ain’t life great. The only thing I had to promise is to actually use it. Someone literally passed away and left me a sewing machine.

You know…it’s only today that I realised that all the sewing machines that I’ve ever seen were proper antiques. I was impressed with my mil’s machine, which was already 30 years old! The one we have at home belonged to bacon’s grandma and had a receipt dating to the 1930′s. The one my mom had was even older as it only had a handle to turn the wheel and not the foot stepper – and that belonged to my grandma. And now I have this green machine, which comparatively, is top-of-the-range. Bloody heavy as well, its about 20kg!

The dials. Top is basically adjusting the stitch length, middle is to adjust the location of the needle, and the bottom is to adjust the length of the zigzag stitch. Don’t know what it is..I’m sure there’s a more complicated name for it as well!

When I picked this up from the mil’s place, she proceeded to give me a quick lesson on sewing straight lines and the importance in pinning cloth together before sewing ect..So yeah, she had me sewing straight lines for an hour. I’m not very good at straight lines..heh. My eyes glazed over when she was telling me about this stitch and that stitch… and then told me go home and continue practising my straight lines…and she’ll teach me how to sew a zip when I get better. However, she did say that I am much better than her during her first go at a sewing machine. Kembang

However, sewing boxes or straight lines are so unsatisfying. I want to produce something, not go in one line and waste fabric. So when I came home, I proceeded to make this from scratch:

Two hours later. A light lime green floral makeup purse. OMG…I am sorry, but for someone who had never used a sewing machine before (my mom did my sewing class assignment at school), I am so talented.

Yes, zips and all! I’m going to give this to the mil..hehe…

Things actually FIT in it!!

Shit. Honestly..SHIT. I can bloody sew. The only thing I could do before this was mend buttons. And even then..it usually looks like someone stuck a whole bunch of thread to the buttons to keep it in place. This excercise has definately made me appreciate the intricacies of how a piece of garment is made..and let me tell you, even with only making this small purse…it’s bloody hard work!

Now, next steps…a matching bag. Stay tuned.

…is now blooming in my garden!

After a slight scare of not having any blossoms at all last year on the cherry tree (although, we DID only plant it last year), this year it seems to be doing much better. Slightly dissapointed that it turned out to be white blooms instead of the bright pink ones that I have been seeing on other cherry trees, but hopefully the cherries will be sweet and ripe in July!

Somehow I think cherry blossoms here are slightly later than Japan’s sakura season – or is that plum blossoms??

Rice, as we all know, is an Asian thing. Rice noodle, rice flour, fried rice, rice porridge, glutunious rice…the list goes on. The one thing that I could never get used to is sweeten rice – and in Malaysia this comes in the guise of pulut hitam.

Rice pudding is a traditional dessert here in the UK, something that I had always sworn off. Hey, I rather go for a trifle anytime if you ask me. Strangely enough, it can also be eaten warm or cold. Bacon made this once, and it consists of milk,rice, milk,cream and flavourings like vanilla pods or cinnamon. I think the one bacon made had vanilla essence (eh, we were poor then ok – I rather stick with vanilla pods any time). We had it hot, and it was like a strange sweeten rice porridge…bizzare.

I’ve never had it ever since, and it must be 2.5 years since bacon made it. Bacon still has it occasionally, as it is sold in the yoghurt shelves here…he eats it for breakfast instead of yoghurt. I was starving today as I was walking into the train station, where this woman was handing out rice pudding samples. Yes, one of the great things of working in town is getting free samples handed out to you all the time…I love it!

Yes they come prettily packaged as well. In case you’re wondering wtf is rhubarb, it looks like a red-stalked celery. Sour tasting, I never understand the English craze for rhubarb. Saying that, I have planted one in my garden so we shall see when it grows. Anyway, it is usually so sour, it is only made into a jam like consistency with tons and tons of sugar.

Decided to give rice pudding another try, seeing that I left my banana at home and was really starving. Strangely enough, I enjoyed this creamy confection. Tasting something between ice cream and nasi lemak (its the cream in it I swear!), the glob of rhubarb jam that comes with it made a whole lot of difference. Bacon has his with custard on top as well, but that’s really way too creamy. Dangerous food for breakfast as it is full of cream and carbs (200 calories per pot) but it did keep me full until noon.

Will definately go for it again – yum.

Continuation from the post below – Sufiah had just sold her story to the newspaper that broke her ‘dirty little secret’.With NSFW videos and pictures.

I wonder what will the Boleh Government make of all this. After their grandoise plans of speaking to her mother and saving her soul, she basically just came out saying that prostitution had given her good sex.

This is just one of the few examples of what kiasu parents can turn their child into. I was never pushed that far, due to it being an accepted fact that I was not going to go very far anyway – until I startled eveyone by excelling in college .Of course, it was only the Malaysian kiasu education system that failed me, I did not fail me. People take the piss out of the American education system, but it taught me more in the 4 years what the Malaysian education system could not even achieve 1% of in the 5 years before.

Not everyone are born to be doctors,and parents need to accept that instead of pushing their children way above their limits. Children should be allowed to experience a real childhood of playing and learning and getting to know the world, not forced to stare at times tables all day long. I know parents world over would mumble its for the child’s own good, but I really do wonder if it was more for the parents to have bragging rights, another tumpang glamer incident to live their live through their child.

I vow not to push my child to that sort of limits