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 ...

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.

The Pink Tulips

For Anita's birthday, I had a couple of main things planned up. One materialised, but another came earlier than expected.

A couple of pink things. One of them were the tulips, specially ordered for the day. I got it on the day. And Anita loved it. As for the other plan, Anita got it about 2 weeks earlier .... I'll show you the picture.

The whole bunchHer other pink presentI gave this to her 2 weeks earlierAnd yes .... it was pink as well ....

Mak's Birthday Dinner

We had a couple of dinners for my Mum's birthday since for the first one, my sister and her daughter couldn't make it. Nana was in Kedah at school and would be flying back to Kajang only during the weekend. That basically opened up an excuse to have another dinner during the weekend.

I let Julia book the venue and she picked one in Bangi, nearer her place. It was a new Western joint called Don's Diner. Unfortunately on the same afternoon, Nana developed cough and it was soon found out that she had a lung infection and had to be admitted into the ward.

Julia had selected a spread before we came inA big tray came to join usLet's tuck inSo, after all that she still had to miss the dinner and we all went to visit her after our meal.

The meal itself what quite good and we ordered the set meal. The portion turned out to be bigger than we thought and we had to packed up some of the left-overs home. The desserts especially were excellent. And Mum got her cake as well.

Dada's turn to help himselfTime for cakesHappy Birthday DadiThe diner mainly served western food, mixed of grills and Italians. They had pasta aplenty and the steaks came with my favourite salad - rocket. The setting was neat and the whole place was still new. It was full by the time we left and the spot appeared to be becoming a local favourite.

Idlan couldn't wait to get into the dessertsHe's in!Irfan and SuraiyaWe then congregated at KPJ Kajang to visit Nana. She was coughing away but her fever was much improved. She should be in for at least a couple of nights and had to change the plans to fly back to Kedah the next morning.

Birthday Lunch

From my MRSM days, I have a friend who was born on the same day as I am. Each year we wished each other Happy Birthday. A couple of years back, he was taken ill but has since been making good recovery. Since it was right after Raya and I was on a long break, I asked if we could out for lunch.

I also had a friend coming back for a short break from New York, and invited him to join with our parents. Unfortunately my "twin" couldn't make it, but we had a fabulous time with my other friend none the less.

The venue was one of our favourite joint, a Arab restaurant - Al-Halabi - at Pavilon. I thought I eat too much there and spent the afternoon sleeping .... Might as well as the EURO 2016 Final would be later on that night .....

Will be planning another lunch next year hopefully and this time I would make sure that he can join ....