Chinoz for the Roast

After the morning ward round today, I had to head out to get the boys haircuts. The choices were pretty clear - it was either The Curve, Great Eastern Mall or KLCC. Since we wanted to have some lunch, plus I needed to head for the currency exchange, I thought the best bet was KLCC. There was Saw Hair Saloon there as well - which I mentioned in another entry.

For lunch today, we headed for Chinoz at the Park, on the Ground Floor of Suria. They do serve a mean pizza there. After being sat, the waiter mentioned that on every Sunday Lunch, the do a roast buffet. I wouldn't mention the price, but I thought Puan Anita deserved a treat with me flying off to London in a couple of days for a conference. Roast buffet it was, and I must say, it was gorgeous.

The buffet was actually very simple. You pick up your starters from the buffet spread, then the mains - a choice of lamb, chicken or beef - I went for chicken, never really into lamb of beef if I can help it, unless it was cut as a sirloin. And grilled well done. Then you finish things off with desert and either coffee or tea. As usual, the boys had their pizza.

Even though the starter spread was simple, it did offered what I wanted. You can have a couple of choices of pre-prepared salad, plus other entree such as roasted asparagus, smoked salmon, and my favourite, sashimi. I was almost done by the time I finished my starters. My roast chicken was succulent and the gravy was rich. Anita's roast beef was really soft, tender and very well cooked. No raw bits, and you can also have a Yorkshire pudding with that should you wish.

To finish things off, I had bread and butter pudding - with custard sauce of course, taking me back during my A level days when pudding was the highlight of the meal. Anita had apple crumbles instead. the boys had some brownies, which sent their sugar level through the roof. They were running around the foyer to burn it off after that.

At the end of the day, it was a very enjoyable lunch. Everything on the buffet spread was nice, and you certainly get your money's worth. I gather that they only offer this buffet on Sunday afternoon, from noon to about 3 pm - there was always afternoon tea after that. The choices when you get in, in terms of food on the buffet table was pretty straight forward. It also came with a complimentary cup of tea or coffee as well. Since it was a hot barmy afternoon, I ordered some extra fruit juice to go with it.

Saw it Coming

After the nice roast lunch we had, having fueled up the boys with sugar up to the eyeballs with brownie dessert, we took them to the fourth floor of Suria for their haircuts. Saw was the destination, and the joint has recently been renovated and reopened. Yes, it was a tragic name for a hair saloon, especially if you just came out of the cinema watching Sweeney Todd, if you catch my drift.

Over the years, the stylist came and went. Three years ago, when Idlan was still a toddler, he had the same guy doing his hair every couple of months or so. Unfortunately the gentleman left. Since then, we just had the hair trimmed by who ever was available. Today, we had a new stylist, judging from what he did earlier, we might come again and request for him. For a Sunday, the place was relatively quiet. In terms of price to pay, it was surprisingly affordable. Myself personally, I always prefer the mamak. In fact, I had to go and have a cut today actually. I need a trim before traveling to London in a couple of days. Come to think of it, I would need to pack.

Rather Quiet

First day of school holidays today. As usual, the traffic going into work was predictably lighter than normal. That was great. Rather than spending almost 45 minutes in my journey into UMMC, it was only 25 minutes today. It would have been faster if it was not for AZRB still messing about with the fly-over on Jalan Duta leading into the new Istana Negara. It was supposed to be ready before the end of 2010. It was now close to June. It looked like it would take at least another couple of months before everything sorted out. But I digress.

The main Suria KLCC foyerMy boys running around the hallway at Alpha Angle. As I said, it was rather empty.Heading back home in the afternoon, I stopped at KLCC to deposit some cheques. I was expecting the crowd to be bigger there, but instead, it was surprisingly quiet. Later, when I went out to do the groceries, Jaya Jusco at Alpha Angle, it was quiet there as well. Maybe everybody took the opportunity to head back to kampung. This must be what KL was like back in the 80s. Traffic was much lighter, and the pace of life would have been much more manageable.

An investment of sorts

So, I finally decided to get the iPad. Yes, not exactly an early adopter. A few months back, I decided to go for the MacBook Air rather than the iPad when I had the choice between the two. Did I regret it? Not a jot! The Air was more relevant to my work and since having it, my productivity has definitely gone up. Very mobile and does what one expects of a notebook twice it size does.

During the weeks leading up to Irfan's birthday, I have been asking him what he really wanted as a birthday present. He kept mentioning the iPad. A couple of weekends before his party, we went to another party at KLGCC and Irfan saw a few children playing with their iPads and he has been on and on about it ever since.

It happens that Idlan had an assessment the this week, so, we decided to delay the iPad until tomorrow. So, I went out to get the iPads earlier today right after work. I got it all set up, ready for the unveil tomorrow evening. So far I loaded up will all the usual stuffs from my account, Plants vs Zombies HD of course. I also set up the twitter client as Anita was planning to sign up later on. I think she has already got one but has never been active. She wanted to sign up for Facebook this time around as well. So, it looks like it will be a long weekend for all of us.

Since I will be away most weekends in March, we might take a trip tomorrow for the weekend. Just the four of us in our van, with the iPads of course. And of course, you know what I used to write this entry with ......

Non-typical Sunday

It wasn't a typical Sunday in a sense that I had meetings to attend to, followed by a sumptuous buffet lunch at an eatery that is was fast becoming my favourite, Latest Recipe at Le Meridien, KL Sentral. Following the meeting and paperwork, I had the time to bring my boys out to the park. Oh boy! Did they enjoy that. So much so that the were fast asleep in the car on the way home, and went reached home just before 6.30 pm!

I remember the park at KLCC used to be full during weekends. It was almost empty today. Maybe it was the overcast weather threatening to rain. Which ever way, it was not the first Sunday it was like this. A couple of months ago, before Ramadhan, I had the same feeling. In fact, web the parents and children I saw were mainly Indonesian. I kid you not. It seems that KLCC and the park is turning into foreign worker's land during Saturday and Sunday. I better stop here for fear of getting my site spammed by our friendly neighbours.

After the run around the park, jumping and skipping, it was time to take an early dinner. It seemed like the most convenient stop would be Chinoz by The Park. Mind you, it has been a while seen we stopped after an unsavory incident with a waiter gave us second-rate service because we were Malaysian - they prefer the Mat Salleh there of course, but what would I know. The boys had their pizza and I decided to order some Japanese. The miso the was gorgeous, although a bit expensive. Seeing my temaki, Idlan wanted to try one as well. My God, that was messy.

As I mentioned, the boys were fast asleep on the drive home. Idlan has since woken up but it wouldn't be long before he heads for the bed again while Irfan was still sleeping. I was hoping that he will sleep through to the morning. Fingers crossed!