Iftar at Sri Ayuttahaya

It was work last night, but tonight iftar was with family. Destination, Sri Ayutthaya in Wangsa Maju, one of the more upmarket-looking Thai restaurant around where I live.

I couldn't pretend that I like the place, but for the family, it was about the go-to place as far as Thai food restaurant if we were planning a family do. Good ambiance, clean environment, not bad food, but with a good efficient service - if the place was not packed that was.

The upper floor was kept empty for the evening.So, for fear of the place being crowded and full car park, we set off early. We were there well before 7, and we later found out that the restaurant was only half full. Instead of having a buffet spread, the restaurant offered a Ramadhan set menu for Iftar, making selection easy and food preparation straight forward. We know exactly what to expect, and the food came in early as well as they were pre-prepared.

It was my brother-in-law's treat this time and he was the one doing the ordering. We had the usual selection of tomyam soup, soft-shell crabs, vegetables and fish as part of the set. Food quality was pretty OK, but for the amount you paid, you would really expect something special in the meal. In the scheme of things, it was just about fine.

The food came thick and fastWe ordered separately for the boys. They had some fried rice. As you can see, the tomyam just looked too menacing for them.The fish was definitely the best dish of the night. And it didn't take long to finish it off .....The boys had to cool down after the sweet dessert.Time to go .....You couldn't fault the ambiance and service though, but bear in mind that the place was only half full. A couple of years back, we came here for a usual dinner and the service was rather poor. It was better tonight, but the food remained the same. I would recommend the sister outlet in Damansara if food quality was the one you were looking for.

For dessert, we had the firm favourite, water chestnut. On the whole, we quite enjoyed the dinner tonight. We ordered separately for the boys as the food were too spicy for them to stomach. 

Shopping Day

So, it had been a full afternoon. After the ward round was sorted out, I took Anita to Jon my Mum and Julia, my sister at Wangsa Walk Mall for their Raya shopping. I was doing the babysitting, and the boys were creating havoc, big time.

Plenty was shopping done, and after a couple of hours, we went to another shop near my Mum's house. Being a shop, there were plenty of space for the boys to roam around. And it was air conditioned as well.

The shop was owned by a friend of Julia's, called Tasbeeh, situated right above Pegaga restaurant where we frequent. Nice selections there, and the boys seemed content, and Anita got what she wanted.

But she planned to go to Ampang Park tomorrow. With Selangor being public holiday, I would be able to baby sit them at the apartment. So, plan for tomorrow sorted out .....

Night Walk

The boys have been fussing about staying at home all week now that they were on their second week of holidays. We planned to stay at the apartment next week, during my on call period. But this week, they had mostly been staying at home. And they were bored.

So, we decided to take them out to KLCC for a nice walk after berbuka. KLCC was crowded, mainly with shoppers planning for an early Raya bargain. The decorations at the foyer was already up, mainly stalls. But there was a main stage there as well. Nothing was playing tonight.

We then settled for a quick drink at Chinoz, while enjoying the water fountain at KLCC park. Cool weather tonight.

We plan for an early night tonight before waking up for sahur early to catch the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Looking forward to that.

Irfan Back to his Old Tricks

It looks like finally, Alhamdulillah, Irfan's fever was touching baseline. He finished his last dose of antibiotics this morning and was still on paracetamol round the clock. His appetite was back and he was jumping up and down all afternoon. He enjoyed his bit of "mercun" - firecrackers - which I bought at Pasar Ramadan earlier. He was running around in the lawn.

As for Idlan, he had his half-day fasting again today - late breakfast and no food and drinks until Maghrib. He appeared to be getting the hang of things now. I managed to walk around Pasar Ramadan in Melawati earlier armed with the X-Pro1. Snapping away. Quite fun. Will be uploading the photos soon, although they were already up on Flickr and SmugMug.

First Ramadan

So, where did you have your first berbuka. I try to make sure that I would be on leave the first day of Ramadan. This would allow me to have the first Tarawikh knowing that I do both have to rush to work tomorrow morning. And the second major advantage was, I could get to plan where to enjoy my first berbuka. Inevitably it would be with family.

When do I start consciously plan for this? Well, staying abroad for 13 years did put things into perspective. I've been on call on first days of Ramadan before, had exams, alone to myself. I did not mind so much back then, but your mind do wonder. How nice it would be to be with family.

Nowadays, it was not really a choice anymore. I would make sure that the first day of Ramadan was free. A bit of a personal holiday for me. In fact, I value it more than the Eid as it was a lot more hectic on Eid, and one do not have time for themselves then.

What did I do this year? At my Mum's, enjoying her cooking. I couldn't say no to that. My sister was there as well, minus Irfan who was still having a temperature. We didn't want him to pass it on to his cousins.

So, Happy Ramadan again to all ....