A nice lunch at the Smokehouse, Telawi, Bangsar

Irfan is starting off his new series of classes at Pingu's English. There are 3 levels of classes, and each modules are divided into units, the first level being 8 units if I am not mistaken, taken over a period of about 6 months, depending on the number of hours spent. He finished his level 1 classes last month, and at the end we were not sure whether we should enroll him for level 2 or not. He is due to start at Sri Utama next January to join Idlan. As he really liked his teacher - Teacher Kumari - we decided to start him on a weekly program, basically just some reading lessons. The first class was today, every Saturday at noon.

The decors are up at Bangsar Village

While waiting for his class to finish, Anita planned to use the time to shop for groceries and others at the nearby Bangsar Village. For today, my in-laws decided to tag along. We got there in plenty of time. After sending Irfan off, we headed straight for groceries. The Xmas decor is just being readied. After all it is some 6 weeks away. There was a huge Xmas tree in the middle of the main lobby. After mingling around for a bit, the in-laws wanted to look for a spot for lunch. We went for the Smokehouse, next to Madam Kwan opposite the Bangsar Village II.

We have been eyeing the place for some time but never had the opportunity to try it. Today was the day. When we entered, we were presented with the menu and made our selection while seated in the cosy ground floor area, themed alike an authentic English living room. A fireplace would not appear out of place here, nice with plush sofa and magazines. After we made our orders we were ushered upstairs to take our seats. We were quite welcomed to have some drinks downstairs prior if we want since the chef will need some time to prepare the meals, but since Idlan was already restless by then, we went straight up.

All the meals here we prepared on site in the kitchen. There were no such thing as microwaved frozen food here. Everything from the salad to the whipped potatoes and chips were freshly prepared. There were 2 kinds of meal, prepared from a menu devised by two chefs. One is purely English, pudding, roast and the lot. The other is Thai. They were both delectable.

My delectable chicken pie

Anita had some fried mee hoon and tom yam soup. They were both very good. Idlan had some fried chicken cobs, plus chips with mushroom sauce. Very nice! Mum-in-law had roast chicken while my dad-in-law and me had chicken pie ..... Gorgeous! Everything was freshly prepared as I mentioned. The staffs were very friendly. However, since there were plenty of competitions for food in the area, there were hardly any customers at the time we dined. What do you expect when Madam Kwan is right next door. We were too full by the end when the asked if we wanted deserts.

Night Out at The Curve

Idlan was not going to Music School tonight. Since the move to Wangsa Walk Mall, he has been miserable every time he attended the classes. The new venue was still being renovated even after a couple of months since the move. The new classroom was less than ideal. It was one of those rectangular rooms, but that was not the problem. It was that the class layout was a headache. The entrance and the front board occupied the wide end. Hence the class was wider than it was long from front to back. The keyboards were also arranged in rows that were too narrow for access. Compared to the previous room, this one was less than half the size with no windows. It was plainly dull. Idlan was complaining that he can't even hear the notes he was playing. I think it was a valid problem. Can't really blame him for complaining.

So he threw a tantrum for the last couple of classes, and refused to practice at home anymore. Solution; it looked like we either change the venue, as there were a few Yamaha Music Schools around, or ask for a one-on-one tuition until the situation improved. The shame was the new place was huge. The management for some reason gave priority for the showroom and office area rather than the actual lesson rooms. The rooms were right at the back and cramped. I guess I know where they make the bulk of their income comes from. Typical wasn't it?

Idlan actually liked his teacher, Ms Lily. I will have a word with her at some stage to see if she was keen to take Idlan back but in a different tuition arrangement or at another school.

I tried something new tonight, a savoury crepe, filled with salmon and mushroom plus the usual cheeze. Very niceSo we decided to do something else. We headed out to The Curve, since the boys fancied some Marche food. Unfortunately they were still fixing the pizza oven. The funny thing was the oven was never to be seen. I suspected they will not be doing pizza any longer. The boys absolutely loved the pizza here. They had some pancakes and roast chicken instead. We then took a walk around the Curve, which is always a happening spot on Friday evenings, especially with the eCurve right next door. The movie 2012 was out tonight and I can see crowd mingling for tickets at the cinema there. As for us, we took a stroll instead.

The crowd were just only building upPandemonium as the boys were let loose with the cars! Run!There were plenty of young families with prams and young children around at this hour. We went up to the children area. At the first floor, Idlan spotted an electric toycar kiosk, so he decided to try one. We were stuck there for half an hour with them trying the various cars. It turned out that they only charge around RM10 for half an hour which I thought was very reasonable. Idlan and Irfan picked a car each and off they went. A quick stop at McDonald's before we headed home for drinks and it was a fun evening all around. Irfan was due to start his reading class at Pingu the next morning, so he will need some rest.

More constructions for the weekend

It used to be a hall with occasional stalls at the end of the months. The stalls used to indicate to me that it was pay day! I definitely spend money there. Usually at the shop selling pickles, asam and jeruk. And I usually buy for the nurses as well. They love them. Unfortunately there has not been any stalls for the last few months, ever since the constructions were going on.

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What I was up to today

It was a long day for me today since I had to get to UKM very early. I was involved in the Masters of Medicine Examinations held over there. I arrived there late due to traffic. After briefings and preparation, we were ready to kick off with the exams proper.

We were lucky this time around since we at UM were not hosting for this diet. The part II were held in UKM. The part Is boys and girls were not so lucky. They had to make their way to Kubang Kerian for their clinicals. Some of my colleagues also flew off earlier in the week to examine there. It was the first time such arrangements were made. Previously USM hold their own clinical examinations for their candidates with the examiners coming from KL. The candidates from both UKM and UM will alternate between the two venues, often one centre doing part I and part II at the other. We were yet to find out whether the new arrangement is better or not. A meeting will be held later to discuss that.

It looks like the Masters program will be going through a period of transition in the near future. We are taking steps to change the marking system for the MCQ. No longer are they marked true or false with negative marking system. We are transitioning into the best of five answers, streamlining with the MRCP. Unfortunately, to get there will involve replacing much of the questions from our bank. That's going to be hard work.

Another change would be the inclusions of other parties into the fold. It looks like UiTM are interested in building up a post-graduate program similar to the Masters, and will be affiliated into the conjoint board once the plans are up. Maybe UPM will also follow suit, but I am yet to hear anything of that as yet.

After finishing my examinations, I rushed back to PPUM to quickly make sure that the final years have submitted their bounded thesis. All except one did it. I just hope that the last one do prior to the Board Meeting at 10 am tomorrow.

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At tea earlier

Got home relatively early and had tea with Anita and the boys. We are back with the in-laws for the week since their maid is taking a couple of weeks off to return to Medan to see her daughter. Will be staying with them during the time. The boys got to ride their bicycles since the return, and boy ... did they ride!