Housewarming

We spent the afternoon at a friend's place. They had just moved in a couple of weeks back and the children - Idlan's best friend - would also be moving school. So, it was a reunion for the children as well.

The house was built up on a plot of land in Damansara and the concept was West African. And the design was excellent with water features and swimming pool in the central area. But the main thing was the quality of the building material. No compromise here, and I was sure it would last for decades to come.

The food was also nice. It was a Middle Eastern catering. A bit of lamb. Great company as we chatted until late afternoon. My Mum and sister came along as well as they were staying with me at the apartment this weekend. And they were impressed with the house.

Getting the children to leave was another matter entirely.

La La Chong Seafood, Damansara

Usually, we drove all the way to Kuala Selangor for our routine seafood feast. Yesterday was the first time we actually had something similar to this - a Chinese seafood meal - in town. And it was near Damansara, a place I was not really familiar with, but was glad to have come.

The occasion was Puan Anita's birthday. I wouldn't tell you how old she would be then, but there was a reason why all our cars carry the plate number 9972.

Earlier in the day, she was treated to a day at the spa in Ampang by my friends from the UK. After she was done, I picked her up from the spa, and we drove across to Damansara. The traffic was kind. The direction to the place was a bit tricky though, but I just followed the car in front.

There, we were joined by other friends - Amin and Syahril. In the end, it was a table for 13. We had the usual stuff - steamed fish, sweet and sour crab, soup, prawns etc. Azida, one of our friend, ordered lala - cockles - which was appropriate given the name of the restaurant. We were well bloated by the end of it.

My favorites were the steamed fish and crab. God knows how high my cholesterol went. The sauce went down really well with the hot steamed bun. All sticky and yummy. Unfortunately, I forgotten to snap pictures before we settled down for the food as there were plenty to catch up with the friends. And of course, I was busy stuffing myself as well.

The sight of my plate at the end of it. And this was my forst plate. I had two more after that ....I pity whoever having to clear the table after us .....I swore Syahril did this ....All the photos I had were of the damage that was done after the meal. I would definitely recommend the place again. Parking was aplenty, but the trick would be to find the restaurant in the first place. If you were keen, just enter these coordinates on your GPS - 3.124067, 101.607992 - and hopefully you'd be pointed to the right direction. Oh! And the Thai fresh coconut drinks were not to be missed as well!

I could see that the place would be packed for an evening meal. We actually arrived at the place after 3 pm, and there were hardly anybody there. The place were opened from lunch till late evening, and there was a separate air-conditioned area. The facilities there were clean, with plenty of places for handwashing as well. Refer at the photo above for the address and telephone number. Oh! They provide free wifi at the venue - albeit a slow one.

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.

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.