No Pun Intended

Avillion Admiral Cove

2009-07-27T09:38:00.000+08:00

Ummi attended her annual IEP at the above said place last week, and naturally I tagged along with Aiza Izzati. I worked for half a day on Tuesday (even though I am actually on leave), and then fetched Ummi who I had dropped at Koi earlier, before setting off to PD just after lunch. We reached the intended destination rather uneventfully (with Aiza sleeping soundly all the way).

Dinner at Madam Lim's

2009-07-11T22:25:00.004+08:00

Yesterday we went to Tesco Mutiara to buy some groceries, well, mostly Aiza's I should say; diapers and milk are top of the list. One excellent thing about Tesco Mutiara is the parents/baby parking, which is very well implemented, unlike other Tescos. Here they have Rela guys guarding the specially allocated parking space, so there's usually ample parking especially during weekdays.Although I can see some parents still manage to get through and park there, even though they only brought a 7 year old school-going child. Well, that means at least another 6 years of reserved parking for us at Tesco Mutiara!

We spent quite a sum on jajan, Huggies diapers (they're going for sub RM30 now, cheaper than Tesco Choice), Dutch Lady formula milk, and some chicken and frozen dory for Aiza's porridge. By the way, we made some bite-sized fish tempura with the dory today, which I thought was excellent. The batter really worked this time. And using the hidup segan mati tak mahu cooker hob is a big no-no.

Anyway yesterday we went to Madam Lim's for dinner. Considered another of Abah and Ummi's great food discoveries; reasonable price, tasty food, generous portions. Although they claim they're some sort of Nyonya fusion food specialist (I hate so called fusion food by the way).

Aiza waiting for the food to arrive

Presumably their best-seller, Char Kuey Teow

Mee Hailam; tastes more like Hokkien to me

That's all for today. I have to go to Shah Alam tomorrow morning to do some repairs on the fuse box and settle some wiring issues. Hopefully it won't take too long.

An afternoon in Shah Alam

2009-07-08T21:45:00.007+08:00

Today after work, I fetched Ummi and Aiza in PJ and straight we went to our house in Shah Alam, to collect the remaining deposit and to sign the tenancy agreement. Coincidentally I had also received a call from RHB's panel valuer earlier, and we set an appointment to meet there at about 6 pm.

The tenants seemed happy enough with the house. Judging from the condition of the house after being rented out for 5 days, we really hope that we've chosen the right tenants and I'm optimistic that they'll keep the house clean and well-kept. They did request for a few more things to be installed/repaired so I'll probably have to bring Har over in the next couple of weeks.

The master bedroom; before

The master bedroom; after

A few more before and after pictures of the living room

The valuer guy from Irhami and Co. did drop by for a while around 6.15 to do whatever he's supposed to do, and we managed to settle everything at about 6.40 pm. We stopped by Khulafa' for a quick dinner before heading back to Kepong via the NKVE.

Pity Aiza. She was already a bit cranky at Khulafa' while we're rushing through dinner, and she kept crying in the car all the way to Kepong, as it was way past her dinner time. We're so sorry Aiza!

Such a long and tiring day for Aiza

Aiza is 8 months old

2009-06-19T21:19:00.008+08:00

Today our little Aiza is 8 months old. So we decided after 'school' to bring her to 1Utama to celebrate the occasion (well, actually we'd go there almost once a week after work). And where else would we go to if not Fish & Co?

Aiza enjoying herself

We proceded to order our usual menu, just plain old fish and chips (self proclaimed to be the best in town). For Aiza, it was fish chowder.

Aiza waiting to gobble up her fish chowder

To her credit, Aiza managed to finish half the bowl of chowder. Its texture was certainly baby friendly, although it did contain bits of crushed peppercorn, but Aiza didn't seem to mind it one bit.

Fish and chips for Abah & Ummi

Extra tartar sauce; essential!

The fish and chips is a generous cut of dory, dipped in batter and fried to golden perfection. Served with chips, topped with lemon butter. We've made it a habit to ask for extra tartar sauce before the orders came, as it'd be wiped clean even before half a plate is finished.

I suppose Ummi and myself have really grown fond of this place. We considered this one of our great food discoveries. Ummi is already planning a buka puasa session here for this Ramadhan, this time with Yai and Nyai.

Now back to Aiza.

She had been going through another bout of cough this past week, with a day or two of mild runny nose. Well, her entire 'class' is battling with some kind of infection or another, so it wasn't suprising. Good way to build up your immune system I suppose. She's managed to grow another tooth as well, this time on her upper jaw.

From left; Nina, Busyra and Aiza

An Entry on Kabsa

2009-06-10T11:37:00.004+08:00

At the risk of turning this blog into a food column, today I'm going to talk about this particular dish of Middle Eastern origin called kabsa.

While I was still studying in Dublin, we used to have the kabsa during iftar at Clonskeagh Mosque during Ramadhan. Or whenever we had enough money to eat out. Clonskeagh was pretty much second choice for Ramadhan then. First choice would be Dublin Mosque and the Pakistani biryani prepared by pakcik Yusof, where myself and the gang would usually help out in serving the food. Clonskeagh even had to limit their iftar sessions to weekends only as most people would go for iftar at Dublin Mosque, and a lot of food was going to waste in Clonskeagh.

I didn't know it was called kabsa then. To me it was just mildly flavored rice with slow roasted chicken or lamb. Certainly no match for pakcik Yusof's biryani. For starters, we'd have a mildly flavored soup called shurba, served with bread.

Yesterday, that is what I had for lunch, compliments of Dr. Ayman.

Chicken kabsa, one whole leg with a generous serving of rice

The shurba didn't contain lentils unlike Clonskeagh

There's quite a number of Yemeni restaurants in Cyberjaya that serve this dish, and I've went to two of them. The place I went to yesterday is more comfortable, cosy and certainly quieter. Cheaper too, chicken kabsa and iced Milo will cost you about RM10.

An Entry on Aiza

2009-06-10T11:15:00.004+08:00

Aiza attempting to sit unsupported

Our daughter Aiza is nearing 8 months this coming 19th. For us, it has been such a wonderful experience. My wife and myself can no longer imagine ourselves without the company and of course, constant babbling of Aiza. And it's one heck of competitive world for children nowadays. Now and then, we'd get questions like 'Aiza dah pandai buat apa sekarang?' Quite regularly I must say.

From my observation, Aiza is a bit behind her peers in terms of motor development. She only really started rolling over at perhaps 5 months of age, and her crawling skills certainly isn't as honed as her schoolmates. Probably because of her weight which is constantly around the 95th percentile for her age group (she wears dresses meant for 3 year olds!). Having said that Aiza's verbal and socio-emotional development is comfortably above average. Babbling, laughing loudly, playing peek-a-boo, showing stranger anxiety, saying 'abah' (although spontaneously), and of course, watching Ice Age 2 on the laptop.

And whenever she sees Ummi, she'll give the sweetest smile and gets so excited and played up. Only with the one and only Ummi.

YTF

2009-06-05T14:18:00.005+08:00

Yesterday was pasar malam day in the area where I live.

I think one of the best offerings of this particular pasar malam has got to be the yong tau foo. This particular stall has a wide range of choices to feed your appetite, from imitation crabsticks to quail's eggs to my personal favorite, tofu bean cakes (?) Actually I don't really know what they are really called and what is the actual composition of those tofu bean cakes. I call them ikan kerisi anyway.

Then the sauce is particularly good. Probably a good mixture between chilli and oyster sauce, although I've always wondered if black bean sauce is included in the ingredient because it does taste somewhat similar.

Probably the best Yong Tau Foo in Klang Valley

2nd Anniversary

2009-06-03T14:21:00.003+08:00

Coincidentally, today is our 2nd wedding anniversary.

Honestly, I didn't remember about it, up to 20 minutes past two, just a few minutes ago.

Consequently, I have nothing specific planned today.

And now I've finally realized why my wife drew that thing she drew on the white board last night.

Happy 2nd Anniversary, Ummi!

And it is especially special now that we have the little sewu on board.

Aiza and Ummi at Sushi King

Aiza watching her favorite cartoon, Ice Age 2.

The Relaunch

2009-06-03T14:17:00.000+08:00

Well,

Any bets when this blog is going to dormant again?