IKEA Chilli Crab and I'm not leaving ;)

Chilli crab buffet!

First, I love this crustaceans but we rarely eat out these days due to very hectic schedule and with two growing up kids? I rather tapau KFC and eat in front of the TV.

So, this is kinda impromptu action. It started like this..

We went to the IKEA on the weekend (before the buffet) because nai-nai promised to bring Zahra to the IKEA kids playground. So while waiting around, I saw this chilli crab banner and said

"Sayang!! We must go to this event!"

If you know me, I'm quite impulsive, compared to MrComot whom is well planned type. And since our schedule is very hectic, I didn't really mean it. I mean, I just say that I want to go..but I know we won't go haha. It just something that splurt out from my mouth (and my mind? LOL). Plus it was on weekdays. Totally a NO, right? rush back from work and not.

And until that day (Tuesday), around 4pm like that, MrComot whatsapp me if I want the crab thingy and I was like...what? It is totally unplanned ok. I mean, I already plan what to cook that night, and I didn't tell my MIL to pick up my kids. And it is weekdays!

But it's kinda exciting, so we made last minute arrangement for my MIL to pick up the kiddos, and MrComot will pick me up at home right after work. The thing is, he is in Cyberjaya that day, and the traffic was mean!.

The buffet  has 2 sessions, one at 6 and another at 8. Just around 7.00PM I noticed that you HAVE to buy a ticket before going in, and obviously I didn't buy any...so I called up IKEA and they said I still can buy it at the counter after the buffet has opened but no reservation, it has to be first come first serve.

I was thinking to go to IKEA first and buy the ticket, tapi malas la pulak nak drive 2 cars. So just gamble la to go there later.

We reached there around 845PM and thank God they still have slots for us.

What a luck!

Welcomed by this gigantic grab

The crowd wasn't crazy like normal days (where you have to queue and scout for tables). We still need to queue and wait for few minutes coz the staffs need to refill the crabs. It gone in jiffy the moment they put it in the tray! The carnivore in us haha. 

Three trays of crabs and replenish almost immediately, all the time

Swimming in chilli gravy

Dessert. Some pudding and pie. I didn't manage to taste any :(

The famous IKEA meatball

Mashed potato and gravy

Poached salmon with chives gravy, which I didn't get to eat at all due to time constraint. And full belly of course.

The main attractions is the chilli crab. But they also served their famous IKEA meatballs and poached salmon. The desserts were pudding and brownie which I didn't have any as we were busy savoring the crabs from beginning til end. Eating crab is really time consuming and 2 hours is not enough! In fact, we were among the last persons to exit the kitchen hehe..

MrComot digging in

This is fried mantou to be eaten with the crab gravy. The mantou sangat sedapppp!! It's crispy at the outside and so soft in the inside. It's kinda sweet actually, so I think they fried it with some sugar, hence the crispiness and thin glaze at the outside.

The aftermath. We had like 6 crabs each and totally worth the money.

And greedy human being greedy human whenever it comes to buffet, they took like everything and didn't finish them, like this table that I saw when we were walking out of the restaurant, still has a FULL plate of meatballs, which easily can feed a group of people :(

See the leftover in the middle? Such a waste :(

About the chilli crab, the gravy has good balance of spiciness, sweetness and sourness and very tasty. But the crab itself is kinda bland. They poached the crab separately and then pour the gravy on top of the crab. The crab is not sweet either, I think they are being frozen or being poached for too long.

Overall, it's worth your money since the extra food is quite good (plus salmon is not cheap ok). And they give back IKEA vouchers worth RM10 per card member. Not bad right? But if you are a crab lover, chilli crab is not IKEA's forte I'll say.

Last but not least, this dinner really come as a big surprise to me. Knowing my husband and his bz-ness, I really didn't expect it.

Come to think, must be because I was talking to him earlier, about why women leave (from marriage). Not that we were in argument at that time, but just so happen I stumble upon the article and intrigued about the finding, so I share it with him for fun-fact of the day session - random stuff we talk in the car.

So back to the article, says the marriage counselor, the women leave not because of the husband is bad or what, but they leave because he's not present. Being there doesn't mean you are there. So, pay attention to your wife ok? Hehe.


Edited: Gigih I cari the article to share because it's really interesting and I honestly think it's the truth.

"Women in my office tell me “Someone could come and sweep me off my feet, right out from under my husband.” Sometimes the realization scares them. Sometimes they cry."

It IS scary to me. Go read the full article here ;)

http://www.justiceschanfarber.com/marriage-why-women-leave-cheat/

❤ Earth Costume ❤

Ok, so do you still remember my last year project where I did some mascot costume for my kids' sports day? It involves few character and one of them is earth!

I've blogged about the previous one in this entry - Cloud Costume

So, earth costume is a bit constructional. I really have no idea what is the best way to make it. Initially I want to make it from a big balloon, blow it up, patch with paper maiche and the pop it. But then I couldn't find the right size of balloon. Then I plan to make the frame with wires from scratch and patch it with cardboard, but playing with wire is not my thing, so finally after some thought and scouting, I decided to use lantern as the frame. The downside of lantern is, it's kinda destructible due to soft wire..so I tried to preserve the frame structure as much as I can.

The largest paper lantern I manage to find, it's about 18" in diameter. 

I used PVA glue and tissue paper to cover up the lantern lines. Turn out it's not a good idea as the glue is very very very wet and won't dry at all. Thank God I just used a small patch then I decided to switch the technique.

Switched to spray adhesize (leftover from Cloud Costume) which is super cool as it lays and spread a very thin of glue and dries quickly.

Smoothen out layers of paper. I used couples of layers and don't worry if it's not perfect. Because that's how the earth rolls right, all the bumpy mountains and land. Imperfection is the real perfect ;)

I used this cloth tape to strengthen the core

Like so.

Then I roughly sketch the arm area for the hands to poke out and cut it using wire cutter.

Warning, you need a real wire cutter, like this.

Not some random cutter even though how strong it can be, it's not designed for wire. Like this pruning scissor as it only cuts twigs.

And it will damage the blade if I insist on cutting wire. Can you spot the blade? it has small serration :(

The base with arm holes. I also trimmed the bottom for some room for the leggys

Being dried properly before spraying it with some colors.

 I couldn't decide which blue I want to use, so I bought 2 shades of it

Both give nice hues but I preferred the right one as it's stronger.

Spraying under the strong sun. My only advice is to put old newspaper under the globe before you spray it. I forgot and it left a circle mark on my grass :D

My model of the day. She looks like a giant blue pumpkin right? The base is not sturdy enough and will bend in if you rest your hands on it. But oh well..

Add on some maps cut from felt. Home is where heart is.

Some other random maps, which is shapely right (kind of) but not geographically correct.

Sorry! It was really a last minute touch up and I couldn't bother to get it right, globally.

So this is how the costume look from the front. The sides bent a little bit as the wearer rest his hands on it.

It looks perfectly rounded when the hands are inside haha. Mind the blurry photo. This captured from far using my phone.

So that's it! What I like the most about this costume is I get to play with spray paint..and the challenge of getting the shape. I bet it's easier and sturdier with balloon and paper maiche.

And for the #imadeconstumewoohooo and @guessthecostumecontest, I put this picture and got this guesses:

• ball gown
• disney characters elsa and sofia
• doraemon
• humpty dumpty
• toucan

I wish it's a ball gown though! That will be very fun!