A Day Off

Ramadhan starts tomorrow. As customary, I try to take the Eve and the first day of Ramadhan off, basically just to hang around with the family or do some shopping.

I started off the day ferrying the boys to school before touching base to do my ward round. It finished later than expected and I had to rush to join my Mum and Sister at IOI Mall for lunch. Anita was in IJN with her brother who was having an angiogram done today.

At IOI Mall waiting for my mother. I never actually explored this place. Looked huge!The decorations at KLCC being builtI joined Anita and visited her brother after I had my meal. This followed by a spot of shopping at KLCC - I ended up buying more than I originally planned. And that took the whole afternoon, followed by sorting out the boys for early bed as we would be waking up early for sahur tomorrow.

Traffic building up in front of the apartmentWaiting for the sun to set ...Another day off tomorrow, and very likely I would be breaking my fast in Gombak after of course a quick trip to Pasar Ramadhan!

Lunch at Common Grind

It was the day after Valentines, Chinese New Year Eve. With everything happening at home, we didn't make any special dinner plans. As I had some time during lunch, I decided to go out for quick meal with Anita.

Anita wanted to go to The Row at Jalan Doraisamy and check on the cafés there. Not many were open during lunch. We settled for Common Grill located the end that street.

No grinding seen ...If you prefer sitting outsideWe prefer the air-conditioningA serene surrounding in the middle of the city, with greens all around. They served sandwiches and pasta as warm selections. More pastries and coffee than anything else. But the ambiance was nice.

Both of us had some pasta and they were delicious. My mocha wasn't half bad. A nice place to chill actually but the problem would be parking. That area was not exactly blessed with plenty of space for the car. But there is a Monorel station nearby or you could park at Quill City Mall just across the road.

Checking out the menu ...We started with some iced lemon teaInvitingThe place was worth another look should I need a quiet place to meet up with friends.

Lunch with Mak

My Mum has been staying at Bukit Antarabangsa for the last week, away from my sister in Kajang. She wanted to see her friends as well as visit her usual surau. She may be back to my sister's next week.

So, come Sunday lunch, we went out for lunch with Anita coming along. Looks like she was OK staying alone at Bukit Antarabangsa from time to time.

The Clan Meetup

It was not often that I have family gatherings, not like others who I saw in Facebook. I tended to see these faces during weddings and funerals. It was kind of sad. Why not have a meet up some other times?

Then came my late Father’s cousin, Mamu Mohzani - who was doing this almost yearly - who decided to make it a occasion. It happened to be his birthday recently - and that was as good an excuse as any. His late Father - my Grand-Uncle - was the de facto leader of the pack when he was alive. And it was only right that he carried on the tradition.

The meet up was held last weekend at Double Tree in town. At least 60 of my family members turned up. I brought along Anita, my Mum and Sister, Julia.

A great occasion. Great food. Great company. And then Mamu Mohzani brought out his Father’s old diary and writings. Wow! Those were really something. One of the entry was on the day my Grandfather died. He described in detail how sombre the occasion was, complete with the names of those who were present. He mentioned that I was with my late Father at the foot of the tomb. I was only 10 then. I was sure that if the Internet was around then, he would have had a blog ....

We had a nice lunch and people were still having a laugh when I took my Mum home. It would be great if this were to be a yearly occasion. And I could see myself being one of the host in the future ....

Another Anniversary Lunch

My parent-in-law celebrated their 58th Wedding Anniversary yesterday. When Anita was pregnant for Irfan, we went there for a fabulous lunch buffet at Genji, PJ Hilton. We went there again this time around for old times sake.

Over the years, the place retained the nice food although there were plenty of items being taken out from the menu now. No more oysters - my brother-in-law’s favourite. But the rack of sashimi was still sublime. So was the tempura and tappenyaki. Idlan especially loved it.

This way to Genji ...The startersWe spent a good couple of hours at the restaurant, taking multiple trips to the buffet line. By the end, the boys made their way through the food and picked up what they liked. We topped it up with a nice cake that Anita brought through an instagram advert. Pandan cake topped with gula melaka. Sublime! Even the restaurant staffs asked for a slice. A flavour not very common I guess ...

The restaurant was pretty secluded, located right at the deep end of the hotel on the first floor. I had to ask around for directions not being able to find the place from the car park.

Cosy interior

In the old days, one had to make an advance booking to get a table there. Now, there were plenty of fast sushi outlet as well as other competitions. The place was not as popular. In fact, despite being a Sunday lunchtime, patrons can walk in and ask for a table. It was something we never even dared to do before.

The food was great. Everybody enjoyed themselves. The staffs were very nice - all of them Malaysian. Definitely would be going there again now that we knew that the boys loved the food. Price-wise it was comparable with many 5-star restaurants in town, but this being a buffet and if you loved Japanese cooking, then it was well worth it ...