Aqiqah

Aqiqah is an Islamic sunnah event to celebrate a new member to the family, hosted by the parents. No, there were still only Idlan and Irfan for us. We were talking out neighbour here. The neighbour right next door, celebrating the arrival of their baby daughter a couple of months back. It was a really happy day for them, since they lost their first child last year - a stillbirth. Syukur, everything was well this time around.

We got there by 11 am, starting with doa and selawat, followed by the event of cutting a small amount of hair from the baby’s crown. The baby was well-behaved, no drama. I remember when we did Idlan’s back in July 2004, we gave Idlan some cough mixture. We actually separated the haircutting - cukur jambul - and aqiqah. The aqiqah was held in Kota Bharu instead. As for Irfan, it was done only with the lady’s present. It was also done during working day, and I was not even present. My mum-in-law wanted it that way you see.

After all the readings were done, we finally settled for lunch, which was initially for the people from the mosque - a simple rice affair. The initial party then adjourned before another one for relatives and close neighbour. The main attraction for the afternoon was the roast lamb, prepared the Malaysian way. Great stuff! They were also freshly fried koay teow, prepared on the spot and curry laksa, which I must say, turned out to be better then the lamb and koay toew. I missed the cendol unfortunately from the earlier event. Puan Anita said that it was really good. Shame!

The roasting was done right behind our kitchenUnfortunately, since it was a rather personal event, I did not bring my camera over. I don’t think my neighbour would appreciate me snapping away at their event. We initially wanted to take the boys out to the park in the afternoon, but they were already too tired by then. I decided to take the 7D out on my own for a proper spin. I’ll post those pictures in a later entry.

The Apartment

It has been a long couple of days with the exams and after work this afternoon , I had to run some errands for Anita, preparing for Idlan’s birthday party next weekend. We headed initially to Damansara Perdana, to a newly renovated shopping complex called Perdana Shopping Centre - previously called the Tropics. We wanted to order the birthday cake, but unfortunately the shop was closed. Mama Min - the owner - was out for a couple of hours and we just missed her, which was a shame.

Next stop, the Curve for some afternoon tea and more shopping. I actually missed lunch and was therefore rather hungry. A few weeks ago, we wanted to try the Apartment restaurant there, but Idlan wanted to go to Marche instead. Since it was just me and Puan Anita this time, we thought why not.

The Apartment was best described as cozy. It was nearly empty when we arrived. We took our seat on the back room, on a sofa. There were three other tables taken up in the restaurant at the time, so we got our privacy and was attended by a Pilipino gentleman as our waiter. The menu was more extensive than I thought, and items containing alcohol were clearly marked. Therefore, the famous mussels they served there was out of the question.

I ordered three items - buffalo mozzarella salad as starter, seared salmon for main and for drinks, I ordered the tangerine cooler. Anita ordered prawn skewer from the tapas menu, shepherd’s pie and tea. The prawn skewer was really nice. We ordered a small tapas portion, and got ourselves only 4 succulently-baked tiger prawn, in a pineapple, peppery, nutty sauce, with hints of oregano. Difficult for me to describe the exact ingredients, but definitely something we will order again in the future. I was quite disappointed with my salad. The portion of cheese was small compared to the potatoes and shallot which made up the rest of the serving. The cheese was also too mild to contrast with the sour taste of the tomatoes, and the dressing did not do much to add to the flavour. I ended up leaving most of the tomatoes, and munch on Anita’s prawns instead.

My buffalo mozzarella salad Anita's prawnThe seared salmonThe seared salmon however saved the day. It was served with baby potatoes and puree sauce. Simple but nice. The salmon was very well poached, although I wished that the portion was bigger. Anita’s shepherd’s pie was not much to write about I was afraid. It was baked well, but was too dry in the end. I definitely prefer the chicken pie from Smokehouse over this.

My tangerine coolerI must say that the specialty of the Apartment was definitely the drinks. My tangerine cooler was definitely ……. cooling. It was lemonade with a hint of citrus, topped up with mint. Definitely will order that again should I drop by here in the future. Hit the spot in the hot sun. Shame that they don’t to drinks to take out …..

Will I come here again? Definitely with friends for a chat, but not for serious dining. I doubt that my parents would have appreciated the food. It was certainly more fusion than traditional - my parents were a bit more conservative when it comes to food. Cost? Medium, comparable to Marche and the likes. In short - grab a nice corner sofa, order the cooler and some tapas, and sit back. Didn’t check if they do free wifi here but I did see a few of the customers opening their laptops. For those on the rush, there was also an express lunch menu - very reasonably priced, but I was not sure if that was a regular fixture.

Lot 72, 73 & 74, 152, Ground and First Floor (next to TGI Fridays), Western Courtyard, The Curve Shopping Centre, Mutiara Damansara. Check out their neat website here.

Lunch at Atrium Cafe, Sunway Hotel Resort

Last Saturday, after attending the wedding, I took the whole troupe to Sunway. The boys did not eat much during the kenduri. They wanted some spaghetti instead. I remember last year, we went Atrium Cafe at Sunway Resort Hotel and the food there was a hit with the boys. For a Saturday afternoon, the traffic was rather kind. We glide through the New Pantai Expressway, parked at the hotel - less crowded then the Sunway Pyramid carpark - and settled in pretty quickly.

Anita's spaghettiThe cafe itself was accessible from the main shopping complex on the Ground Floor. There are two parts to the cafe, the buffet and the cafe. We prefer the cafe as usually the money spent on paying for the buffet was more than the food taken as it was already late afternoon. We can also order whatever we fancy that way. My favorite there have always been the buffalo mozzarella. Yes, I know it's full of fat, but hey! Cheese were supposed to be good fat what?

Now you see it ......... now you don'tThe setting was pretty basic. A simple cafe and a sports bar. There were pinball consoles and pool tables. There was also a fusball table. The seating was very comfortable table with a few rows of wall sofa. Since the main crowd was on the buffet area, we got the whole area to ourselves and the boys just loved that! For a cafe, the food was actually really nice. Nice for snacking with friends. Especially good since the shopping area was just next door ….

The skating rink being transformed with the Chinese New Year themeThe customary lantern

Quickly settling in for our mozzarella and spaghetti, I explored the shopping centre looking for any interesting decor. There was a dragon dance troupe doing a show there at the time but Irfan was not really that keen. Initially Puan Anita was keen to see the dolphin show there. Apparently, there was a special pool being erected for the show, located in a tent just outside the shopping complex. We were under the impression that it was located in the lagoon itself initially. Since it was on the opposite side, we gave it a miss.

We went to the Wildlife Park instead …. which will be uploaded here later. Slideshow of the visit is here.

Should I stay away as protest?

I had a bad experience last night when I went out for dinner. After work, Anita wanted to head over to Kinokuniya to order some books for Idlan. I thought we might as well have dinner there in KLCC, taking Irfan along with us. We left just after Maghrib, headed straight for food. Anita decided we should try Sakae Sushi.

The restaurant was quite full already at that hour of the evening. About 60% full. The waiter ushered us to a table at the back. And that's when the problem started. I soon realised that all the staff there were foreigners! Worst still, their command for the local nor the English language as we say, left much to be desired. That was to paraphrase, they can't speak a word of Malay and their English sucks, and they are not from Indonesia. The majority was either from Myanmar or Bangladesh.

Let me put you in the picture here. You are at Suria KLCC. One of the tourist hotspot. Probably the only place for tourist with is under the pressure of time might encounter Malaysia before jetting off somewhere, or get stuck in a meeting room with no time to explore KL. Hmm! Under the Twin Tower, decent shopping mall, they might want to walk around. I just can't find any sensible reason why the Tourism Board not insist on making sure that the front-line staff re, waiters etc at these premises are at least Malaysian! They took a step in the right direction when insisting that all front-line staff in KLIA are Malaysians, which is in my book, a brilliant move. The foreign worker can still be employed as backroom staffs. No problem with that!

I ordered some California handroll and Anita wanted some extra mayonnaise. The answer from the waiter was, it's already in there or some muttering to that effect! Disgraceful! I looked around to find the manager. Alamak! Even the shift manager was a foreign lady, and I would rather eat my necktie and have a conversation with her. And the place is getting full by now. Around 30% of them were Mat Salleh.

Suggestion: High profile tourist attraction such as Suria KLCC should be manned by the locals. Before long, even the people behind the desk at the information counter may be from Indonesia. It already is from all we know! This is just appalling! Hmm! I'll probably be quoted as racist for saying all this, but hey! It's a free world ... or is it?

Dah selesai!

Rather peckish on my way to Klang. Decided to catch a quick bite. Maybe this is lunch. The session this afternoon will be confusing since this will be the first time I will taking a group through this module. Evidence-based Medicine, and it's for the 4th year Medical Student. More like the blind preaching the blind - hey! That's a double-blind study. Nuff said!

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