Quick Day Trip

A long day it was with a return trip to Penang. Although the traffic was light, weather was not great. It was gloomy on the way up and it poured all the way on the drive home. Treacherous driving conditions meant I had to take extra time to get home, and I finally got back to Gombak just after 11.

Since I was watching the football match until 3 in the morning, I decided to delay my start. I only left KL around 8.30, and after a couple of toilet stops, I arrived in Sungai Petani just after 1. In time for a nice lunch at my aunts. Next on the agenda, the engagement.

The reason I drove up was to attend one of my cousin, Atiqah's engagement. It was meant to start at 3, but for some reason, the fiancé side arrive an hour and a half early. They cracked on with the event and when I reached the venue, all was done. Sigh! The fiancé were from KL, and as they plan to drive home the same day, they wanted to crack on early.

The engagement went fine otherwise with my Uncle acting as the spokeperson for the family. The wedding was scheduled around July, just before Ramadhan. My cousin just finished her studies and was currently looking for work. Typical of Penang engagement was the 'sugar feeding' ceremony, where the fiancée was fed sugar using a spoon by the female member of the fiancé's family. Anita had the ceremony done to her as well when we got engaged.

Take out timeSome kangkongand sotongAfter some tea, we headed across the pond to Penang Island to visit my grandmother. Since it may tire her to bring her across to Seberang for the engagement, we went across to meet her. She put on weight since we last saw her, which was a good thing. After about half an hour there, we left for Padang Kota to bring home to KL some laksa. The journey home was pretty smooth although it rained most of the ways. we made a stop in Tapah for dinner and prayers, and finally reaching KL after 11.

Late night

My commitment to watch the United game took me to this entry. After taking an early nap at around 9pm, I woke up just after 1 to catch the game. Anita was up as well. Feeling peckish, I downed some pot noodles before settling into the game. United played Southampton then. United played badly and nearly paid the price. Luckily the second half substitution delivered the goods.

We were well beaten in the first half and Southampton deservedly taken the lead a minute before halftime. The second half early assault did not really materrialise until Giggsy and Nani entered the frame. United came up trumps with a two-one win, and I was about to go to bed content. Will have an early morning tomorrow. Will be driving Mum and Dad for a day trip to Penang to attend a cousin’s engagement. Luckily it would not be on the island, because traffic will be murder. Anticipating a lot of traffic … and speed traps!

Morning in Damansara

I had some personal matter to sort out today. This involved heading to the Passport Division of the Immigrations Department at Pusat Bandar Damansara. Being the early bird, I was amongst the first one to arrive with my number being 6001.

What I wanted to say was, the service was very good. There was this particular Chinese lady who was quite senior judging from the bars on her uniform collar, who was so nice and courteous. Unfortunately, I did not catch her name. She directed and assisted everybody, especially those with kids and the elderly. I was served very promptly and was kept informed every step of the way without the need to ask.

It certainly helped by the fact that the place was rather empty that morning - perhaps the crowd will build up a bit later. I was also dressed in batik - it was Thursday after all. They recognized straight away that I was a Government Servant which certainly helped! No, I did not wear a gold-plated name tag like some do! The service was good enough as it was.

I got the heads up about getting the all the formal business if it involved the government on Thursday from one of my patient. There was a catch though, you will need to wear batik, and better still to have some sort of badge to indicate that you were a Government Servant. Maybe this only applies to men however, but so far it had worked a charm! Everybody was extra nice especially if you did business in Putrajaya. It even worked with the police! Lesson to be learned here.

No free lunch

Little did I realise the impact of the economy crisis to the usual running of my Department. The Medical profession has always in one way or the other share a connection with the Pharmaceutical companies. In a certain way, they can be a player in Continuing Medical Education (CME) program amongst the Medical fraternity. Without their endowment, many of the Medical conference would cease to exist. Honestly speaking, they are essential to Medicine.

They take the gamble in Medical research. Even though the rake billions when the drug they develop became a hit, they also foot up the bull if they tank. It can be a huge gamble. The Medical profession can't afford that. They also invest a lot money in the clinical testing of the drugs, making sure that the theoretical therapeutic properties of the drug translate into day to day use. There was no point having a drug that work on paper but kill us the moment we swallow them.

I observed that since the turn of the year, the sponsorships from the Pharmaceuticals was slowly drying out. Yes, I got my usual share of diaries and wall calendars for the year, but the feeling was palpable. Take today for example, out Department CME went by without the presence if the Pharmaceuticals. That translated to no free lunch. It was not that I was desperate for them - the lunch was becoming generic lately anyhow - but it was nice to have lunch on the go while listening to some talks and presentation. As it turned out, we had to delay the session so that the MOs were able to catch some bite.

The Economy crisis has hit the Department. Upon looking at the bookings for CME sponsorship, we were usually booked up many months in advance. It turned out that there were bow few empty slots .......

Citrus, Bangsar Village

During a recent outing to Bangsar Village, we stumbled upon a relatively new food outlet at Village II. It was called simply Citrus, located on the second floor, next to the Apple retail agent, Smack - how appropriate - and right opposite Borders bookstore.

As during the outing, Isma, our maid came along, and the boys just spent nearly a couple of hours at a play gym, we decided have something light, with an Asian option. Citrus provided that.

My chicken lasagna with rocketCreme brule

The restaurant was pretty simple, with only around 10 tables inside, and half a dozen more along the mall walkway. We had a seat in the inside of the restaurant, with sofa for the children. The menu was diverse. There was a separate breakfast menu, catering for both Asian and Western options. They serve nasi goreng, pasta, pizza, lamb chops etc for lunch. I had chicken lasagna with rocket salad, while Anita had soto ayam. We ordered nasi goring for the maid. Idlan had pizza and Irfan had macaroni. So, there were items for everyone, which was very handy indeed when you bring a troop out like we did. I also had creme brule for dessert.

The setting were children-friendly, although the restaurant did not provide a washroom - a very clean public toilet was just a few steps away. He service was prompt, and they understood us when we asked them to serve the children first. as for the food, it was pretty OK. As the menu was so varied, it was very difficult to ascertain what were their strength and weaknesses. To conclude, I did not think that Asian dishes were their strong point, as Anita's soto was pretty plain - she needed three helpings of the salt shaker to put some taste. The pizza, lasagna and macaroni were nice however. Maybe Italian were their stronger items. The creme brule was nice however.

When I checked in into FourSquare, I was left a tip that I should order the red velvet cake. Unfortunately, they ran out of it that day. I would try that one day.

Will I return? I don't really mind actually, although I would probably go for snacks there rather than a heavy meal. In terms of price, I thought it was slightly cheaper than the usual outlet we frequented at Village II such as delicious, or even Smokehouse next door to the mall. Given a choice - meaning if we did not have the entourage with us, I would probably have gone for La Bodega instead.