No, this isn't the usual formal annual dinner where everybody must attend and pretend to enjoy themselves. Where the Boss would give a speech and awards given to the best employee and the managers patting themselves on their collective backs saying how good they have done in the past year.
This was a ritual. Every Ramadan the Bosses from the Oncology team would organise a berbuka puasa event for the nurses and staffs of the Oncology team, and this year it was held last night. Last year, the hosts, Dr Matin Mellor and Dr Ahmad Kamal had it at Sime Darby Convention Centre, and even though the food was great, the grappling to get to the food and the fact that the venue were slow to prepare the dishes left a sour taste to the mouth quite literally.
This year it was more organised. And the fact that the venue, Holiday Villa was just around the corner from the hospital helped quite a bit. No more parking a mike away from the hall this time around. And if you felt like it, there was always the option walking to the hotel.
The venue was bigger than I thought. We were tabled at Victoria Hall, right at the very end but the food was aplenty and there was hardly any queue most of the time. The selection was also pretty decent as most of the Ramadan Buffet I attended before only paid a courtesy attention to the actual food. There were mainly local and Indian affair although there was a bit of Japanese, a grill and some pasta. Enough to keep everybody interested. But the Malay desserts were smashing.
The place was rather crowded however and it was not designed for privacy. No real room for chit chat across table. The place was too crowded to mingle around as well. Food, a bit of chit chat and we were done. Not before a group photo though. And as usual, I bought Puan Anita with me.
Sunday, July 5, 2015 at 3:25PM 
Pasar Ramadan is Back
Yesterday was the first day of Ramadan for this year. And as usual, it also marked the return of food stalls at Pasar Ramadan. A quick fix that not just the Malays would enjoy.
We broke our fast - or as my more Arabinised friends wold call it performed iftar - at my in-law's place. And with that, Anita and I went out on a rampage at the local Pasar Ramadan at Melawati! Anita even collected her small change into her handbag for the occasion.
We bought all the usual suspects, mostly from the same stall we had frequented over the years. But, the disappointing thing was our usual drinks vendor was not there. In fact, he wasn't there since last year. Another vendor which was missing was my favourite cucur udang stall. The alternatives - although plenty - were not as good.
After filling up both my hands with carry bags - should have brought with us a couple of shopping bags with us - we decided to call it the afternoon, although if she had had her way, there would be more!
Surprisingly, we finished most of the food yesterday, if not during berbuka, the left overs were gone by sahur. Idlan however asked for Nando's chicken for his breaking fast, so we had to stop by the mall to get that for him. Irfan wanted chicken rice. That was easy enough.
So, for the second day, we planned to eat out as the boys wanted chicken teriyaki for their berbuka. Plotting being done as we speak ....