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 ....

Deepavali at the Malls

Last weekend, I had the chance to hit the town for a quick walk. It was the weekend after Deepavali and the decorations were still up. It had been a while since I had the chance to go out with my camera and explore.

I was lucky enough to be able to stop at both Suria KLCC and later Pavilion and I just could not resist the chance. It was just too good ....

The one at Suria featured a couple of giant peacocks in the middle of the main foyer. With their long tails and shimmering lights of the main atria, the colours were just great.

The decorations at Pavilion was slightly different. It was more traditional with large kolam filling up the main floor. The other day, they had a dance troupe doing their merry dance there. Quite a spectacle ...

I wished that I had time to explore Nu Sentral which is located right in the heart of Brickfields ....

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 ...

Anniversary Lunch

I arranged for the dinner and Anita sorted out the lunch. That seemed fair. But I must say that the choice Anita made was better.

We enjoyed our 20th Anniversary this year and last Sunday we had lunch at Maison Franchaise, a French restaurant located at a bungalow nestled in the middle of Kuala Lumpur. The place was nice and the food was something else.

The front Really neat inside ...Started with some drinks

We got there early since we wanted to just chill out. The lunch option was mainly from a set. You could request a couple of changes from what was offered but that was just about it. Dinner was a la carte.

The restaurant a converted bungalow, with a hint of European architecture, now fully converted into a restaurant. There was a terrace on the ground floor where there was a pool, a perfect place for an evening candle-lit dinner.

What's on offer ...Waiting for the starters ...

The restaurant was empty for lunch and we got all the attentions to ourselves. Nice French music in the background and all the food were freshly prepared. Absolutely fantastic although I felt that the cod for the mains was rather out of place in the scheme of things.

The menu item for starters were oysters. We were not into it and got some lovely smoked salmon as replacement. Then came the entree, artichoke soup with season ducks. OMG!

The smoked salmon ...The gorgeous antichoke soup ....Sauteed shrimps. Asparagus. Scrambled eggs.Salted poached codSlow cooked lamb loin ....We had the cod and lamb for the mains. The lamb was alright, the cod was not great. The lunch was topped up some ice-cream, cherry and crumbles.

All in all a nice afternoon ..... Definitely worth a visit.

Sunday Scones

After buying the ingredients and browsing through many YouTube videos, Anita finally decided to take the plunge! She decided to make some scones!

For my Sunday morning breakfast.

It turned out superb and filled me up before heading out for my morning rounds .... It won’t be complete without the whipped cream and preserves. To top things out, she brought out the old China we had for England just to complete the ambiance ... Happy Sunday morning all then ...