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.

Village II Today

Buoyed by the 5 nil win last night, I woke up this morning with a new kind of optimism. The optimism grew upon learning that ManCiteh did a ManCiteh by being heated at Villa. I promised the boys to take them out as I was on call yesterday. I later found out that the KLPAC was holding their annual open day. If I learned about it earlier, I could've plan the day a bit differently. Anyhow, took the boys out I did.

Destination today was Bangsar as I was planning to do some shopping for the new home office. Unfortunately Czip Lee was closed on Suday, so I ended up just mingling with the boys at their play gym. Oh God, it was a full day.

Tired after two hours at the play area We brought our maid along this time, do she was the one doing the running with the boys in the play area. Anita did some shopping while I just walk around Bangsar. The play gym was located at the top floor of Village II. It was called Kiz Sports and Gym. There was an option of dropping the children in and the parents can get on with their shopping. We used it before but as there many children there today, we had our maid, Isma along.

Bangsar Village was as usual kitted up for the Chinese New Year festivities. They were pretty low key this time around, maybe reflecting the current economy. After almost an hour and a half in the gym, the boys wanted lunch, which we had at Citrus. We have never been there before, and I will write up on it on a later entry.

KLGCC Party

Children were getting posh nowadays and yesterday, Idlan and us were invited to a birthday party at the famed KLGCC - Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club - yesterday. So, we went, despite me being on call - the iPhone ringer on extra loud volume of course. The theme was military outfit, and we completely missed that. Anita missed that bit on the birthday card.

The last time I went to the Club was some three years ago when the Medical Unit held their annual dinner there. In that time, the place appeared to have been renovated. The entrance was different, so were some of the facilities. The lobbies were certainly more relaxing compared to what I remembered. Shame that it would cost quarter of a million for membership!

As for the party, it was for a pair of siblings, one was Idlan’s classmate, while the sister was Irfan’s. Most of the children and parents were from Sri Utama, mostly well known to us. The party started at 3 pm, but as I was on call, and just in case I was called in, we decided to head there early. The party was held at one of the banquet halls, complete with bouncy castle, and other children tit-bits, such as games area, candy floss, but no clown. The main event was hitting the pinata and the cake.

Food there was excellent. I had a couple of helpings of the bread and butter pudding of course. The children were having a whale of a time, jumping around and playing games. Idlan especially was reluctant to go home when we had to leave. On the way back to the car, we passed by the driving range, and saw a couple of young kids hitting the golf balls with their instructor. It looked like the facility for golf here was top notch. My Dad-in-law has membership to a few other clubs, and was talking about Idlan having some lessons. Maybe we would do that if the boys were interested.

Thaipusam

Woke up this morning contemplating taking my camera out and drive the 4 km to Batu Caves. It was arguably one of those local festivities that was known worldwide. I have seen Discovery Channel documentary on the event from years past. Even the photograph of the day on BBC featured the celebration in Batu Caves.

Instead, I decided to stay home as I promised to take my in-laws out for lunch. My Mum wanted to have Yee Sang, a traditional Chinese sort-of-appetizer where the everyone toast a selection of nuts, ginger, salmon into a thick splash of sweet honey. We do it almost every year. I already had a Yee Sang on Thursday night at PJ Hilton after the MSH Council Meeting. So I was kind of slow for this one.

This year, we had it at Corus Hotel. It used to be called Ming Court, and since Anita was a child, she was fond of the place. There was also a Japanese eatery at the same hotel, but we prefer PJ Hilton for that. The Chinese dinner here was not bad, and today was no exception. Rather than taking the set meal, we decided just to order a few items as there only 4 of us, an the children.

Later in the afternoon, Anita wanted some retail therapy time, Abd we went to BB Plaza. I wanted to get some new DVDs, but apparently, the place was under surveillance. No pirate DVDs for the day I was afraid. Anita made up more than that from her shopping though. Getting in was murder and I had to park the car around Jalan Alor. The entrance to the BB Plaza car park was closed and getting around the place was almost impossible.

While Anita was shopping, I had a quick wander round to Low Yat. I wanted to check out the Nexus S. Unfortunately, only a single dealer ha it in stock and he offered it to me for RM2500. I thought it was a bit steep. I would give it a couple of weeks and see if the price would come down. I was hoping for something around RM1800. Impossible I guessed.

It was a nice relaxing day, but it will be back to the grind tomorrow. My partner, Bee will be off and I would be looking forward to the big Friday clinic. I also have a stem cell infusion due tomorrow morning as well as other planned tests for the patients. I will then be on call on Saturday. Looking forward to a busy weekend then ...... not!

Calendars

I wish that my Day Care clinic desk is bigger. Why? Because I got too much stuffs on it. All the blood forms, patient notes and other utensils. I'll probably buy another cabinet just for my research materials at the rate I was going.

As for this morning, I had another things to content with. Calendars. Ee were talking loads of them. It was January and of course, one of the ways the Pharmaceuticals wanted to entice us Doctors were to give freebies such ad calendars and diaries. I had 7 calendars on my desk today. I ended up giving away all of them since I prefer wall charts to on desk calendars. I keep a digital diaries however on my iPhone.

If I see another Pharma agent handing me a calendar, I'd probably do insane!