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.

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.