Family Dinner

As usual, when it came to birthday dinner, I would have to split my outings into 2. Sharing my birthday with my father-in-law meant that one of the celebration had to be a joint one. This time around, we had some Japanese food at a hotel. And Idlan certainly ate a lot more than we expected.

The last time I had a meal at Komura restaurant at Corus Hotel must have been more than 15 years ago. Their specialty was teppanyaki but that was not my favourite Japanese cooking. We ordered some bento from the menu instead and yes, though some of the items looked expensive, some of the selections were reasonable and the sashimi were certainly fresh.

Getting there was a pain though ...The only drawback was for a table of 6, we did not have a choice but to use one of the traditional Japanese tables where you sit on the floor with the table forming an island. It was tricky for my father-in-law to manoeuvre in and out.

But the food was fine and Idlan was telling his grandfather the tales of his trip to Bintan. He just couldn't stop talking. Maybe I would try the bento selection the next time I come here ...

KL in Mono

Capturing photos in monochrome allowed one to concentrate on the contrast of the captures, leaving away the worry of colour balance and distraction. Some may say that it was an easy way out. It was if you got an eye for the shots. I have used many mono conversion applications in the past - with Silver Efex Pro from Nik springing to mind.

In the era of smartphones, the Leica-tuned P10 was a winner. I had been using the mono effect almost consistently - since the phone had a separate 20 MP mono sensor built in. The results, with some minimum tweaking had always brought a smile to my face.

Last month, I decided to go around time only carrying the phone. I was snapping away and just using apps on the phone to edit after. I would then upload straight only my flickr feed. It was a revelation. That inspired me to open a new instagram account ....

The Preparations

When Anita got her mind set for something, she would obsessively pursue it. And the family open house the other was no exception. She was planning it for some time and got all the logistics organised well ahead.

For her part, she cooked her famous soto. She ordered a few items from her Instagram contacts as well as getting one of her friends to bake the cake for us.

Her Mum helped with the decorating and she got one of our maid's friend to stay over as well.

Certainly all her effort came into fruition as things started to fall into place. Luckily since our apartment was recently renovated and one of the leaked bathroom had been fixed. A few days before, she went to Sungai Buloh with her friend to get some fresh flower pots for the balcony. Therefore decorations was rather straight-forward.

Open Apartment

Last Sunday, the day before my and my father-in-law's birthday, we hosted an open house at our apartment - hence the dubbed open apartment - inviting mainly Anita's cousins and my father-in-law's siblings. The turn out was better than expected. Mixed with that, we also had an impromptu cake-cutting and all the usual birthday stuff.

It was just beginningMy parents-in-lawOne of Anita's auntIt was an excellent day all around and some of our friends stayed until the evening. Food was curtesy of Anita's excellent soto as well as a few orders of biryani and "laksa Johor". Everyone was entertained, even our new driver - who was a pastry chef - chipped in with some desserts for good measures.

Most of our cousins only visited us for the first time, and many had not been here since the renovations last Christmas.

The four of us ....A close-upEven the baby was behaving ...Good time all around ...Everybody had a good time and Anita was the most pleased. She put plenty of effort for the afternoon, and her mother actually spent the evening with us. We also got the help from a friend of our maid as there were plenty to do during the event. But everything went well.

Idlan and Irfan though only made sporadic appearance, although one of their cousin joined them in Irfan's room playing with the PS4. That left us adults to chill out while enjoying the food. The main problem our visitors had was the security and parking arrangements. To make things easier, we stationed our driver at the visitor's car park to fetch them through the main lifts rather than them having to go through the visitor's route and the main entrances.

Peace!The day's entertainment ...Group photos with friends ...We were stuffed by the late afternoon, and the party was only halfway then. My father-in-law did not stay until late as he was getting tired from all that. He did however gave a speech after cutting the cake. Off came the story when I called Anita's home when we were both still in college. Hilarity ensued! But great day all around ...

Idlan was Back

5 days and 4 nights was certainly a long time to endure. That’s how long Idlan was away and Anita was taking it hard. Of course she was glad to have him back. Idlan was away with his school mates at the island of Bintan during the time, having a great time ....

His journey home started at 6 this morning with a quick breakfast before boarding a ferry into Singapore. Then came the coach ride up to KL. They were a couple of hours behind schedule but the school was great at updating us with the timing. We learned that they were going to be late the moment they entered Johor through text messages.

We had also been learning about his activities through the school twitter feed.

What was he up to? He had been buzzing since he arrived - after which we brought him straight to dinner. He tried all sorts. He started off with canoeing, building rafts, jumping off boats, doing the flying fox, climbing coconut trees and bungee jumping. Then came the trek up the hills before more water activities. There were also come community work where they build a water filtration system for the local village. Then came the cooking - disappointingly Idlan made pizza.

Mummy is happy now ...Being able to speak Malay helped as Idlan became the interpreter when they were doing the filtration system. He also said that the food was better than expected. They stayed in a dorm with around 20 in a unit, spending the time with his friends. He enjoyed the sunset and the great weather at the island - so much so that he is now tanned. The final evening was spent around a campfire having some marshmallows.

We were glad that we allowed him to go although at the beginning we were rather apprehensive. He was definitely having a whale of a time. Now, he was off for a couple of months of summer holidays. We have yet to plan what to do next, but first he could do with a nice long shower ....