NZX and Lunch At Pandan Leaf

We went to 1 Utama 2 Saturdays ago. It was supposed to be a trip to The National Science Centre in Mont Kiara next to The Securities Commission and followed by Niu Ze Xui(NZX), supposedly to be Malaysia's Largest Covered Buolevard in Ara Damansara near Subang Airport. Click here for a map to get to NZX. But it was not supposed to be as Astro was having some kind of promotion at the Science Centre and it was packed like sardines in the car park. I could imagine what it would like in the Centre. So we decided give it a miss much to Ee Sean's dismay. So we went to 1 Utama instead before dropping by in NZX later in the evening.

NZX was a so so thing lah. Nothing to shout about. Entry is RM2 per car. A lot of retail outlets and restaurants. Big Apple Donuts and Starbucks (Or was it Coffee Bean?) were also there. Surprisingly I didn't see MacDonald's or KFC. There is this Festive Funtasy thing going on there (until February 2009) where they have all the Disney Characters on Display in an enclosed section in NZX and you have to pay RM10 for adults and RM5 for kids to enter. We did not enter because it was drizzling and secondly it was really no big deal if you have been to a Disneyland. If you want to know more about NZX, just type "NZX Malaysia" in any search engines and there will be a lot of write ups from other bloggers.

When we were in 1 Utama we had lunch in Pandan Leaf restaurant because it was the first restaurant in sight when we got out of the roof top car park and also because everyone was hungry. It was a Penang food restaurant. Food servings were quite small and pricey.

Nasi Briyani at RM11.90

Acar tha came with the Nasi Briyani Asam Laksa at RM7.90
Chicken for the Chicken Rice at RM8.90Bean Sprouts that came with the Chicken RiceAnd the pathetically little Chicken Rice A very pricey indeed bowl of "Homemade" Cendol at RM4.50
And their menu
The restaurant was quite old and had this dirty restaurant smell.

Dong Zhi Festival 冬至

Last Saturday evening, Ee Sean and Ee Hann decided to make some Tangyuan (glutinuous rice flour balls) for Yeh Yeh and Mah Mah for Dong Zhi on Sunday.
It started with Mummy mixing the dough below

The rock sugar which was to be inserted in to the Tangyuan

This how is looks like before the rice flour balls are rolled up.

The rice flour balls before boiling

Cooked TangyuanTaaa Da! The Chefs

Dinner At Fei Chai Restaurant

My Badminton Kakis and I had a "Yeh Mei" dinner last Friday after one of them hunted something that walks on four legs with a long tail and a spotted body. Yucks!!!! I swear I did not touch any of it.

This is the Main Dish. Guess what's in the pot?

And this guy bit the bullet, literally. He found the bullet in the 'Exotic' meat above.

This is the pellet found in the meat

And he seems to say that the food is GOOD too.
A Fish Dish

四大天王

Delicuous Tofu

Foo Yong Egg

These two have a score to settle on the Badminton Court this Thursday. A Fifty plus guy against a twenty something lady. Now that's something to look forward to this Thursday.
Boy! Are they drunk or what?

Nostalgia

I played a friendly badminton match at my Alma Mater, SPI primary, last evening. Needless to say, me and my partner, we won our match lah. Ahemmm!. Overall we played 5 doubles matches and the score was 4-1 to my team's favour. It was a big achievement considering that the opposing team had 2 or 3 state players on their side. But they played the wrong strategy by using the wrong combination of players.

It was such a great feeling stepping on to the very same hall again to play badminton after 25 years. The last time I played there was in Standard Six when I was 12. And the Standard Six class picture above was taken in the very same hall. Can you spot which is me? Malaysia's very first angkasawan's brother is also in the picture. Can you guess which one?

Mukabuku

I just realised I still have a blog and it has been 20 days since I last posted. I have been quite busy lately with work. And the work seemed never ending. It started with my company's Bursa quarterly report and the group budget in late October which I had to handle simultaneously and thank god it was finally finalised and approved and everything was sent out together with the Board Papers to the directors yesterday for the meeting next week. It was such a relieve. Phewwww! I just cannot recall the number of drafts that I had printed for those reports. It's not my fault that I had to waste so much paper printing those drafts. Blame it on my fickle minded bosses who could not make up their minds on the final figures.

Another thing which have been keeping me busy is Facebook. It's addictive, believe me. Once you are in it, it's like drugs. You are hooked. You want to keep on logging in to check out who has befriended whom and who commented on whose status. It's fun. And through Facebook, I have got in contact with so many of my Form Five mates from SPI (Class of 88), Seremban and my former Uni mates (Class of 94). And also through Facebook, I recently got the shocking news that one of my classmates in SPI passed away on October 21. May his soul rest in peace. And lately was a very tearjerking news of the passing of my friend's younger sister. Even though I hardly knew her (I met her a few times before), by seeing her pictures and the statement that says "J***n is missing his sister greatly" that my friend had posted on his Facebook, I just felt really really sorry for him and his parents. And that's the wonder of Facebook, you get news about your friends everyday be it happy, sad, good or bad.

So if you are not in Facebook, get in now and add me. Nope, Facebook didn't pay me to promote them.

P/s If you'd notice below, there is a new item called "Reaction" which I have added. Please tell me your reactions to my posts. Thanks.

My Followers

I have added a "My Followers" widget on the right. If you click on "Follow This Blog", your blog name and picture will be displayed as my followers.

Price Up Long Queue, Price Down Also Long Queue

The above picture was taken at 8:56am this morning at the Shell station along Jalan Labu. And boy! Was I shocked to see the long queue. The picture tells it all, everyone waited until this morning to fill their petrol tanks. Effective 12:01am there price of petrol was reduced by another 15sen to RM2.15. Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad said "if the world crude oil price continued to drop at the present rate, petrol price would likely revert to the pre-June price of RM1.92 per litre. The cap has been set at RM1.92. If the world crude oil price goes down even lower than that, the Government could end its fuel subsidy and use the money for other purposes."

Real dungus! If they had wanted to reduce the petrol price by so much, then they shouldn't have increased at such a drastic rate of 78sen and set everyone raising food and other essential goods prices. A plate of Char Kweh Tiow or Won Ton Mee costs about RM3.80 and there is no signs of these people reducing their prices although the petrol price has gone down. Someone was telling me that the price of flour increased by RM20 by with the huge petrol price cut, the price of flour has gone down only RM1. Sigh!!

Candlelight Vigil At Dataran Seremban

Much has been buzzing around the office yesterday about the candlelight vigil that was supposed to take place at Dataran Seremban last night at 8pm. The vigil was actually a call for the abolition of the ISA. So after dinner last night I drove the whole family out to town to "8" a bit. I took the above picture at 8:10pm. It was quite a dissappointment as there were not many poeple who turned up. The reasons that I could think of for the poor turnout were maybe because not many people knew of it, the difficulty of parking and for fear of being arrested.

Melamine is safe?

From The Star, Friday 24th October 2008,

"Melamine is safe unless taken in excessive amounts and it will be expelled by the body in less than four hours.

University College London trained chemist Datuk Dr Neoh Soon Bin said the controversial compound was at least two times less toxic than aspirin used in painkillers, 16 times less than caffeine and 63 times less than nicotine if consumed at the same levels.

This means that a 15kg child would have to take 9.5mg of melamine for it to be have toxic effects.

If a 70kg adult ate 44kg of biscuits in a day, it would still be within the international safety limits of melamine intake.

If you ate that much biscuits in a day, you could die from a heart attack, not from melamine."

Dinner At Santi's

We reached Santi's House at 8pm as agreed and FM Yap was there with his family. He was there since 7pm and left at about 8:30 pm. After Yap left, Santi served us delicious mutton and chicken curry for dinner served on banana leaves just like in a curry house. Yum! Yum!

Chicken Curry

Mouth Watering Spicy Mutton Curry
Acar - Pickled Vegetables
Itti - Steamed Rice Cake
And my perfect meal on a banana leaf

Mamak In Jalan Lobak

I have been passing by this Mamak stall located at the intersection of Jalan Lobak and the road leading to Chung Hwa Primary School and have always been curious about the morning crowd and the cars parked along the road whenever I pass by it on Saturdays. Once I even noticed a couple of Mat Sallehs having breakfast there once. RO also told me she noticed a lots of pre-packed nasi lemak in the stall. So, today out of curiousity, I immediately stopped by the roadside to check out the place after my wife told me that she saw a lot of pre-packed nasi lemak in the stall as we passed by it. As I entered the stall I was astonished at the number of pre-packed nasi lemaks on three tables. There were so many varieties of Nasi Lemak like Nasi Lemak Sambal Petai, Nasi Lemak Ikan Bilis (Manis), Nasi Lemak Ikan Bilis (pedas) and Nasi Lemak Telur Dadar. We just did not know what to choose but just grabbed 3 packets at 70 sen each and left. Maybe we'll have breakfast there next Saturday. Anybody interested?

The Stall

The Yummy Nasi Lemak
And More Nasi Lemak On Another Table

Hari Raya Breakfast

After the Hari Raya lunch we had as Nilai Springs Golf and Country Club, the 1st floor Malay Girls of Wisma BBN gave everyone in Wisma BBN a treat on the 20th October 2008. The food was certainly much better compared to the lunch we had in NSGCC. There is another Open House which I can't wait for this Sunday is the Deepavali Open House to be hosted by Santi. Will post pictures and details on that later.

Part of the feast that we had

Truffles

Roti Jala
Delicious Curry Puffs

Chocolate Cake Pudding

Ketupat

Rendang Ayam

Popiah

Mee Rebus

Garnishing For Mee Rebus

The Gravy For Mee Rebus

Hari Raya Lunch

A Hari Raya lunch was held in Nilai Springs Golf & Country Club on the 9th of October 2008 for all the 1st Floor Staff in Wisma BBN. The food was nothing to shout about (so what's new?), nevertheless, everyone had a great time.

Wani, Miza, Jamaliah and Ms Ho

Mei Mei, Rena and Ms Low (My CFO) Azlena and Ms Hiew (Secretarial Department) Who else but Parmes
These outsiders decided to pop in to "8". Ellena and Ms Lim (NSGCC Finance Director and Asst Finance Manager)

Rosa, Auntie Kim, Punitha and Azman

Jiha, Siti and Salwah
Haiya! She's here again with Aina Miss Liew, Lina, Joon Leong and Michelle
Sisters?