A Fortnight, Give or Take

Please click the photo above to play the daily videoWoke still rather blue. Not dramatically so — nothing that would trouble anyone looking at me — but the low weather from earlier in the week hadn't quite moved on. It was still there at the edges of the morning, the way a headache sometimes lingers as a rumour of itself.

London again, mostly. I've established by now that this is simply what my head does at this point in the year, and knowing the mechanism doesn't seem to switch it off. Some part of me has been packing a bag for weeks and keeps wandering into the hall to find it isn't there. I'd like to report a mature reckoning with this. In truth I just kept thinking about the particular grey of a Marylebone afternoon and being mildly annoyed at myself for it.

And Irfan goes in a fortnight, give or take, which is the other thing circling. It doesn't help that the number keeps sounding the same however many days pass — two weeks has a way of remaining two weeks right up until it's three days. I'm not making a production of it. He's going where he's meant to go and everyone concerned is quite sensible about the whole business. But there's a countdown running somewhere behind the ordinary hours, and it makes you notice things you'd otherwise walk past. Him in the kitchen. The particular noise of him coming in.

So it was a slow start, and I decided not to fight it. Might as well. There is a certain wisdom in recognising the days when your own resistance is the most expensive thing on offer. The morning went at whatever pace it fancied and I followed along behind it, and the world declined to collapse in the meantime.

In the evening Anita and I went to the Gardens for dinner. Nothing planned or particularly considered — just the two of us getting out of the house, which turns out to be a more reliable treatment than anything I could have engineered. The Gardens does its usual thing: polished, calm, a bit hushed, everyone moving at the speed of people who have decided the evening is not urgent. We ate, we talked about not very much, and the not very much was the point.

I've noticed this often enough now to trust it. A flat mood rarely survives a proper meal and decent company. It doesn't get argued away — it just finds itself with nowhere to sit. By the time we were heading back, the thing that had been sitting on my chest since morning had thinned out considerably, without anyone having addressed it directly.

Home, and a bit of television, which neither of us watched with full attention. Then bed, at an entirely reasonable hour.

The blue hasn't gone, exactly. It's more that I've stopped giving it a seat at the table. And there are two weeks yet, which is either not very long at all or perfectly adequate, depending on how you decide to look at it.

I'm choosing adequate. For tonight, at least.

The Little Garden

Since the renovation was done, Anita had been keen on getting some greeneries at the balcony. It may be a touch overboard but I felt that it was a nice change. It created some space for me to chill at, and who wouldn’t want that, especially when you were tired after work.

I finally had the chance to take come picture of the flowers since it was Sunday and I had an extra hour at home before heading out to work. We were blessed with gorgeous weather that morning as well.

There was a still one end of the balcony that she cold expand to if she wishes so, but as it stood at the moment, she would start with a small area first. Maybe in the next few month, we may venture to other side. The morning breeze certainly made a lot of difference and I could just spend all morning there ... with a mug of coffee in hand.

I also noticed that Anita loved to keep pitches as decorations. She picked plenty of them up when we were in the UK, and now that she had some pace to put them, they all came out from the boxes. I wonder what would be next ...

Frozen Out

Not done with a long day with the kenduri, we went out for a late nighter. Watching Frozen at Signature and returning home well after midnight. A first outing watching a movie on 3D. Quite impressive.

Sad to report that I slept through the middle third of the movie. I just couldn't stay awake. In between I could hear the gasp from the boys, while munching on their fries and popcorn.

The theatre was just too comfortable ...

Will blog about the movie later. But the initial verdict was Idlan enjoyed the 3D more than Irfan. I think it had something to do with the fact that the 3D glasses didn't fit Irfan terribly well. It was a touch too big for him despite using a children size. I also had some issues since I was wearing my usual glasses underneath.

The effect was amazing though ...

I was suffering from it this morning, having to wake up as usual for work with not enough sleep ..... Sipping on my coffee when I started this entry.

Gnomes Are Here

I let Irfan loose at one of the interior design store at The Curve yesterday, and all he thought about was getting some gnomes for the balcony. No plants. Just gnomes. Gnomes don't need tending too. And judging from the pets that he had before - all were dead within 2 weeks - I thought it was a sensible choice.

So, off he went and got himself four gnomes. One for me, Mama, Idlan and himself. The one for Mama still had a beard though .... Bless!

Garden @ The Curve

It was a barmy Sunday afternoon. I had to review a patient in the ward this morning, and by the time I got home, the boys were already settled in for their homework and was having lunch. Puan Anita asked if I can take her to The Curve. She was eyeing some dress last weekend and wanted to sneak out and buy it. Of course I said fine, so off we went.

The welcoming sign to the Sunday MarketThe stalls from the second floor of The Curve. Too warm for my liking!Waiting for Puan Anita to finish her shoppingBreakdance anyone?

Due to the heat, there were not that many punters doing the shopping. So at least navigating was simple. Even the vendors were finding it hard to cope choosing nearby shades rather than incubating in their tiny little stalls. While Puan Anita was doing her shopping, I went to browse around the shops in The Curve. There was a breakdance show at the main foyer courtesy of one of the local gym. Too 80s for me those dances. So I went over to IKANO. Nothing much going around either. But for Anita, she was having a blast. She did more shopping indoors after she was done with the market. At the end, to cool things off, we decided to try a new restaurant at the Curve, right at the end of the row towards cinemas, called the Gardens. We only noticed it a few week back and reckoned they must be new in town.

The menuThe elaborate ceiling decorations It was basically themed after the English Garden and the menu was pretty much fusion. Since we were still full, we decided to have snacks instead. I ordered Caesar Salads and iced coffee, while Anita had some sandwiches. To finish things off we ordered mango sorbet.

Our table - number 12 - Check please!Hail Caesar!The ambiance was really neat with pretty lightings and elaborate ceiling decorations, as you can see from the pictures. No, they were not live plants, although I wished they were. The restaurant was quite busy when we took our table, but the order zoomed in really fast. From what I can see, the chef during the shift was a tubby Malay guy who spoke in Perak dialect, which got Anita interested. The caesar was fresh with delightful dressing, although they overdid it a bit on the crouton and mozzarella side. Not much complaints really. Anita’s sandwich was really rich and tasty. It was so rich that she could not finish them off. The iced coffee was nice, and the sorbet was something else. The mango ice-cream was placed in an orange peel, topped with fresh cream. You can smell the orange while tasting the sweetness of the mango. It finished in double quick time!

Anita's sandwichesAnd finally the sorbetThe price was also really reasonable. The whole meal was under RM50, enough for the change to tip the waitress. She was nice and polite although a couple of male colleagues on duty were a bit much on the camp side …. If you know what I mean. I will certainly swing by again and apparently they also have a promotion going where kids eat free. I was not able to read the terms though. I will see what the deal was about next time I drop by. We chose a table indoors because of the warm weather, but the seats outside were just as welcoming. There was even a grand piano parked at the shade by the entrance. Shame that there was nobody playing then. Will I recommend the restaurant to friends? Definitely for snack as it would not be fair to say otherwise as I think I really need to come again to give a final verdict.

GARDEN LIFESTYLE STORE AND CAFE Lot G41, Ground Floor, The Curve, Mutiara Damansara