Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Chakri Xpress

Four good friends gathered and went out for dinner together. They went to a Thai restaurant, ordered 29 dishes (yes, it's TWENTY NINE), 3 desserts, and a cup of Thai pandan tea. They went crazy, stuffing themselves with these yummilicious Thai cuisines.

That's what happened last week.

Situated in Alamanda, Chakri Xpress is located near to the fountain, facing the garden.

We started off our dinner with the appetizer Mieng Kam. My all time favourite!!


Next was everyone's favourite: kerabu mangga! We ordered three types, including somtam.

Then some seafood (mostly squids and prawn). The squids tasted better. Prawn were not that fresh, but tasted good! The lala was ordinary. (note: Puan Lala, ni bukan rujuk kepada Puan Lala yer, sebab Puan Lala EXTRA ordinary ;-P) 



Then the curry: We ordered roasted duck curry, green curry, fish green curry.... and many more.


Other dishes that we'd ordered were tomyam kung, mixed tomyam, mixed vegie, stir fried kailan with roasted duck, Thai style bean curds, black pepper beef, stir fried venison, fish.... many more......


And for the dessert, we ordered this one that I'd forgotten it's hard-to-remember Thai name. We ordered agar-agar too.

And of course the famous mango with glutinous rice topped with creamy sauce. WOW!!!! SPLENDID!!

The grin on our faces said it all! Four hungry ghosts were heavily fed! hehehe


And the bill............ Priced at RM19++ per person. It's ALL YOU CAN EAT! With four of us, it's only RM93.85, that's RM23.50 per person. Good deal?? INDEED!

Honey larling was satisfied, and was gladly posing to promote this wonderful offer!

Joom!! jooooom!!!

Note: The Manager Mr. Mohd Affandy was very nice, the services was good.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Love Birds in My Garden

My garden was blooming with flowers recently when this pair of love birds decided to build their love nest in my garden. I spotted them in the morning and late evening almost everyday.

After surveying for a few days, they decided to build their love nest on my potted palm, a mere 5 feet away from the main door of the house. It's kinda strange why they choose the spot as me and my wife would pass by so frequently everyday going out and coming in to the house. I guess they feel secured with our presence.

Sometimes they would rest at the brim of this lily pot, and had some drink.

Otherwise, they would spend their time eating the fruits of melastoma.

The male was always watchful.

And on one fine morning around 7am, right before i leave home for work, the female stroke a beautiful pose on the branch. I quickly grabbed my camera and shot these picture. Simply beautiful.


A week later, the laid their eggs. And in another couple of weeks, the chicks flew away with their parents. Such is the life of birds. The freedom that God gave them was clearly demonstrated. We, precious in God's eye, should shine bright in our life.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Chronic Sinusitis

I was diagnosed to have chronic maxillary sinusitis about two decades ago. And since then operations were done, a septum was removed, and numerous nasal cleaning was done. To this day, the pain and discomfort of this chronic sinusitis still haunt me.

I was down with severe sore-throat and nasal congestion a week and a half ago. Went to our home doc. Medicines and antibiotics were prescribed. Yet the symptom turned worst. Then i turned to the specialist. A different set of medicine was prescribed. Augmentin (antibiotic) was given. And now, after a week, I'd finished up the course of antibiotic. But the symptoms persisted: Sore-throat, nasal congestion, thick yellow mucus discharge....


I begin to get worried. The pain and discomfort affected my job performance. I can't focus. I'll have to go to the specialist again, and might end up with operation. Sigh....

More information about chronic sinusitis is available at this website.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Kak Ja's Future Son-in-law

Two little boys texting each other:

" Hey bro, since you're in KL, shall we meet up?"

"I'm staying at XYZ Hotel, possible to meet up tomorrow?"

"That's great! But i got something on at KLCC-CC till 5.00pm. Why don't we meet up for early dinner after the event?"

"Sure, i can catch u at KLCC then. I'll be wearing a pink short and purple t-shirt. hahahahaha.."

"Hahahah... I'll try my best to spot you."

And at 5.45pm the next day, the little boy from Kajang and another little boy who'd just got back from UK for his holiday met up with the little Kelantanese boy who'd just came back from Amsterdam. They met at the Dome, KLCC. Since that was their first meeting, everybody was well behaved. Seated straight, self-controlled and fake smiles...

Then off the three boys to Sakae Sushi for some yummilicious Japanese cuisines.

They had tons of stuff. But their favourite dish was the soft shell crab. Soft shell crab temaki, soft shell crab sushi, freshly fried soft shell crab...

As if They didn't get enough with the soft shell crab, so they ordered more. More and more soft shell crab.. so much so that....erm... they eventually acted like crab, and became crappy. ;-P
Note how they try to imitate the 'penyepit ketam'??

Oh ya, the little Amsterdam boy gave me two Amsterdam souvenirs. I was delighted. Thanks bro!!

And before they say good bye to each other, they had a photo. Kinda strange that the Kajang little boy and the UK little boy look so alike, even though their body size are totally different.

Here's the report to Kak Ja:
Kak Ja, confirm little Amsterdam boy tu BOLEH dijadikan menantu yang baik! Bersopan-satun, berbudi-bahasa, berpengetahuan yang luas, very humble, pandai lawak, tau ambik hati mak mertua!! CEPAT Kak Ja, buat booking!!

Foot note:
Kajang boy = Ah Josh
Amsterdam boy = Azizi
UK boy = Danial

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Farewell Dinner

Two of our dear friends will be leaving KL, to a greener pasture. I was honoured to be invited to their farewell dinner, a small gathering to cherish to moment we have. Of all the places, we chose Riverview Restaurant of Kuala Selangor as our venue.

Our friends Dr. Shah and Abg Bear will be leaving to KK soon. We would certainly miss them. I was glad to be able to meet up with Dr. Hamdi too. His presence and witty acts had made the gathering merrier.


As for the food, we ordered a lot, now i really mean A LOT! What is shown here is only a SMALL portion of what we had (for more details, read Dr. Shah's blog).





But my favourite would be this dish. The steamed Thai style hot and sour fish! The gravy was superb!! Hot, sourish, a bit sweet, and the aroma was tantalizing.

Great food and great company. The dinner was fun and was certainly an occasion to be remembered.

Even the sky was rejoicing over our friendship with great display of colour and pattern. For a moment the sunset was blueish red, and it turned into striking red in after a minute or two.


To Dr. Shah and Beruang Madu, all the best to you both. We gonna miss u both.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

What I Did Last Weekend

Date: 6~7 June 2009
Venue: Excel Training Resort, Lenggeng, Semenyih
Event: ELM Family Camp

Young and not-so-young, gathered in this place to enjoy the fellowship. It was a camp organised by our church, for the English Speaking congregation. Picture speaks louder then words, so here goes.









I was busy with this camp for the past few weeks. And now that it's over, i am relieved. The camp was held successfully, the objectives were met, and everyone was happy.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Parent's visit ~ Genting Highland Trip

Mum and Dad have not been to Genting Highland for ages. We visited Cameron Highland when they were here last year. Since they like cooler place, we decided to visit Genting Highland instead.

Genting Highland is not that far away, and had only taken us 1 hour plus to reach our destination, the Awana Genting Resort. The resort is situated near Gotong Jaya and the Skyway Cable Car station.

Though it's not at the top of hill, Awana offers cool environment with nice surrounding. The two room apartment we took was big. The master bedroom had even furnished with jacuzzi!

Genting Hihgland had changed alot. So many new buildings and new wings of theme park have been erected. To be frank, we're kinda lost in this concrete jungle.

Genting offers two choices, either you go for the casino (which I don't even bother to go in) or the theme part (great excitement for children, youngsters and young adults). But for my parents, these 'entertainment' meant nothing to them. They dislike gambling, and the games in the theme park are just too 'aggressive' for them. With nothing much to do, we decided to have some coffee at Coffee Beans instead. I love their cheese cake!

We spent some time at the garden behing Highland Hotel enjoying the cool sensation of the cloudy breeze. Ahh...... very refreshing.

On our way home, mum blurted, "Nothing much lah in Genting, Cameron Better."
Yah, I agree. At their age, Genting is just a place for young and healthy people. My parents are aging. Both have knee problem. Walking from one place to another at Genting had been a 'huge task' to them. I shall bring them to Fraser's Hill for some good rest next time.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Parent's visit ~ Melaka Trip

My parents were here last weekend. I took a few days off just to be with them.

On the first day, we drove 2 hours down south to my 2nd brother's place at Melaka. Mum and Dad were excited to meet their grandchild, my 2nd brother's daughter. She'd grown taller and more active yet still quiet and well behaved. Uncle Josh ajar dia A B C.

Together with brother's family, we all went to a few tourist spots in Melaka.



We stopped by a food court in the evening. I LOVVEEE this food court! Lot's of yummy food! Mum and dad had some soup.


Though the trip is tiring, but we're happy to see our parents happy.

p/s Tak sempat makan asam pedas nyonya yang sedap tu... Dad sakit tekat dan tanak makan makanan pedas.... lain kali je lah gi makan.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Bird Nest Soup

I had not been well recently. Probably due to the hectic schedule, the work stress, or may be the hot weather. I often suffer sinusitis pain nowadays. Sore-throat was unavoidable.

Because of that, my wife boiled some bird nest soup for both of us. Bird nest soup is actually made of hardened swift saliva boiled with rock sugar. The soup is known to be able to improve skin complexion (for my wife), to strengthen lung function and to sooth sore-throat (for me).

My wife put the hardened swift saliva (processed, and cleansed) into a bowl of hot water, boil them in slow cooker for hours. Add some chinese dates, dried longan, ginseng and rock sugar. And tadaaa.......

Not cheap though. This bowl can cost easily RM50. Aiyaaa.... we are not rich people, so, can have this once in a blue moon only.