Welcome to the respiratory Unit PPUKM

After a prolong season of drought, we welcome two new doctors to our unit. Here is a cake...which we had for our Unit meeting last friday. Happy Days!

Pasta Zanmai

We had dinner ( sushi and salad) at Pasta Zanmai at Plaza Damas on Friday. It being Friday and no meat rule for us catholics. I was a little fed up of Thosai so we decided to have a japanese meal. And for a change....we opted to go a little further. So rather than the more obvious choice of Publika, we chose the zanmai outlet at Damas. ( I feel the sushi here is much nicer)

Avacado Salad( seafood with salmon bits)

I must blog about the salad. Because it is very nice. And if you eat here, you really should consider ordering this. the avocado is nice and soft and goes very well with the salmon bits.

The amazing dressing for the salad

BUT, the real reason for the tastiness is of course the dressing. It's refreshing and just a little bit sour and a tinge of lemon taste. I couldn't decipher the ingredients and gave up after the second mouthful. I decided I should, just sit back and enjoy it.

Bak Kut Teh Post

Porcelain spoon

We had Bak Kut Teh (BKT) for Saturday morning breakfast. A bit of a rush because 1. we woke up early but the body refused to budge for a shower until it looked very much like we would miss breakfast altogether. 2. We had a meeting to attend at 0900. ( Meetings should not be scheduled on the weekend if possible).

The Eu Char Kuey was crispier than usual. ( A good reason to have BKT earlier really) and I was 30 minutes late for the meeting. I told the truth: I took my time chewing and enjoying BKT breakfast that's why I am late. Of course nobody believed me. You see, sometimes telling the simple truth is easier than coming up with a decent ( but untrue) excuse.

Ren Dim Sum

Huge selection of Dim Sum

 This was our second visit there. Sadly it will be our last. Let's just review the good things before I explain more. Huge selection of Dim sum. A major plus point. And we had porridge this morning. Which dare I add was yummy. the issue we have with this place is the service of a certain person who I suspect owns the place. The lady, Madame X ( for lack of a better more original name) served us for the second time.

Due to a bit of greediness ( on the part of WT) we had an array of little dishes surrounding us. As our tummies have a finite size...we had no choice but to "tah pau" a few back. Madame X came by and gave us two empty polystyrene white containers. She left them at our table. How rude. One would have thought the very least was she could have packed the food up for us.

And to add to that.....she also intentionally miscalculated some money when we paid. So no, I feel strongly that we should avoid this place for now. Until Madame X decides to be nicer and have better math.

ABRSM grade 7 violin exam

My violin

When you're old, you should avoid exams. It's not good for the nerves. Your sleep is disturbed one month before. And the day before the exam is possibly the worse. Your old mind decides to scare you into imagining the worse. And trying to remember the notes for the scales brings palpitations and a bit of dry mouth. Everything ( and I really mean it) appears much more appealing to do rather than play your songs.

I survived my grade 7 exam on Monday. It was held at Hotel Istana. The staff there are lovely. And they don't cringe when you frantically practice your scales quietly in the lobby. ( With the mute) Sadly I must confess to being less prepared than my grade 6 exam also the nerves got the better of me during my first song.

Was a little down after the exams ( post-mortem done ....ie high chance of failing) so I cheered myself up by changing my violin strings to Obligato ones. I must say they sound divine. My violin "sings" once again. And I don't hear the squeak from the "e" strong any more. Happy!

The weekend.

Bunga Telor

 On Saturday ( which was just yesterday) I went to a wedding. Two siblings got married on the same day. The reception was held in a new venue. ( Waze refused to acknowledge the address so we car pooled there....rational being if we're going to be lost, let us at least not be alone ) There were many cars on the road. So traffic was bad for a saturday afternoon. I got my Bunga Telor ( not very fashionable these days I am told) but I mentioned some weeks before than bunga telor is a nice tradition and I WANT this as a door gift. And my wish came true. I felt extra special because...not everyone got this. Ahem! Thank you prof RH for this.

A wish for today!

A dear friend is battling cancer. There! I said it. It doesn't sounds right. At times it appears unfair. And while the symptoms may have been minimal the disease appears to have quietly progressed. I wish you a speedy recovery with a minimum of fuss along the way. As well as a good response to treatment. May God be with you giving you strength to go through this journey.

Sausages and bread.

Breakfast

This is a much better way to have sausages and bread. It avoids the usual dreaded slipping away of the sausage. Not seen in this picture is the generous amount of butter spread on the bread. Taste factor definitely right up there. Calorie count? Don't even go there. Is it any wonder my waist is slightly thicker these days?

Bakso

The pakcik who worked efficiently.

 I went to Sandakan to give a talk. This was my second visit there. The first was about 10 years ago when I flew there from Tawau to get on a ship for a tour. This time we stayed at Sheraton Four points, very new, very nice and very strategically placed in the city centre making walking about town a feasible option. There were not many shops selling souvenirs like T-shirts and K chains and other stuff. Different from Kota Kinabalu which is more touristy. The only decent shop we found was in within walking distance from the hotel but the prices were ridiculous. I didn't buy any.

Anyway I am deviating. We found this delightful stall by chance in town after walking in the scorching hot sun for an hour or so. Bakso sold here the sign said. And the tables and chairs were small and the people sitting down eating looked like they have been here a zillion times already. All thoroughly happy and slurping away. So we entered made out orders and waited.

It looked like foam initially

No regrets at all. The dish came pipping hot smelling of spices and we had some samba to be put in the amount to be decided by you. The taste was super. Loads of stuff once you dig in and it was SO GOOD I returned on Sunday after church to have the same thing before flying back to KL.

The goodies when you dig inside

Anniversary

Crepe Cakes

My parents celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary on the 2nd of August. And our very close ( and dear) family friend celebrated their 50th Wedding anniversary that weekend.  I got all creative this year and decided the cake should reflect my current obsession with crepe cakes. So I got them three pieces and lined them like so. The parents were pleased and tucked into 1/3 of them, They left the other two for me. Hmmmm...I wonder why.

May God Bless my parents with continued good health and may the grace of God always be with them.

** crepe cake from Coffee Stain, Publika

Hair cut!

French sole Henrietta shoes.

This picture was taken during my second visit to J creation. ( Jay from Min International at his very own shop in Kota Damansara) I made an appointment before starting my ward rounds that morning. It was  one day Raya and parking was a breeze. There were loads of empty parking spots all around. And the roads looked wider because nobody was double-parking on the road.

Unlike the first visit, when I circled the area twice before finding a spot. And only because someone came out unexpectedly. Otherwise I would have been forced to park quite a distance. Jay was lovely. ( As usual) And I got my hair trimmed back to its original shape. ( Not that it looked bad before but I suspect I am losing hair and the puffiness was less) After some layering I am proud to declare that my head looks like its full of hair once again. No Yun Nam needed.

Here is the full address:
J Creation Hair Studio
12-1, Jalan PJU 5/10, Dataran Sunway
Kota damasara, Petaling Jaya

Tel Number 03-61417591
Opening hours 10am to 8pm

Bak Kut Teh Breakfast

It rained this morning. I couldn't swim. And even though the whole scene was catered for a lazy lie-in, I woke up at 0700 to practice my violin. ( Exam is on Monday and the stress level is high high ) What is the best breakfast for a rainy Saturday morning? Bak Kut Teh of course!!! So we drove through heavy rain and bits of water to this stall in Taman Batu, Segambut. ( Or it could be in the fringes of Kepong, my geography of this area is bad.) I saw one shop which claimed to cover Kepong and another with the name " Taman Batu". It is an area parallel to the main road i.e. Jalan Kuching you turn off into this abyss of houses and after 4-5 turns you arrive at this stretch of stalls.

Red and green chillies ( necessary condiments)

 I like my chillie bits to be spicy. This stall leaves you with a whole big bowl and the green and red chillies share the same bowl but are separated only by a miracle. Its best to take what you need and enough of it because this one bowl is shared with the other customers. Once other people arrive the bowl is taken away. There was also a bowl of garlic. It didn't look so nice in the picture but for bak kut the garlic is a very important condiment. ( Raw so you need to brush your teeth after)

Yu Char kuey ( must be hot and crunchy)

 And then we have this crunchy breadstick pastry to dip into the soup quickly before putting it into your mouth.I had a whole bowl of this to myself.

White rice.

Here is my bowl of rice. Nice and warm and a little bit gooey. But not too much. Just writing about this makes me hungry all over again. ( Am not greedy the current time is 7:22pm and I haven't had dinner.

And here it is....nice pork bits...meaty section in one clay pot and the bony section in the other

And here it is....the meat dish served like so. Nice and hot. Imagine eating this while you get a breeze and some dots of rain water on your feet. Certainly a very nice way of spending Saturday morning. Thank you WT for bringing me here for breakfast. And introducing me to authentic chinese food.

Ramadhan traffic standstill

 There is a lot of construction for the new MRT in the city centre. This indirectly has led to more cars using the same route I use to head home. The jam was terribly consistent throughout the month of ramadhan. 1.5 hours to get back on average. And the record was a staggering 2.5 hours by which time I was nauseated from the air condition in the car.

Am hoping the roads start clearing up soon by the year end.

St Joseph's Catholic Church, Sentul

I now attend morning mass at St Joseph's. A few reasons for this. Top of the list is the easier parking followed by the smoother drive to church and the slightly later mass time i.e. 0900. Yes I'm now finding it rather difficult to wake up at 0600 like a few months ago. Aaargh!!

Hidden object game

My study. ( After tidying up)

I've gone back to paying hidden object games. And this picture of my study (sadly) looks very much like a scene from the game. Am I a hoarder? Yes I am!!

Very good Wanton noodles

Wanton anyone?

WT and I had a lovely breakfast last weekend. We opted for wanton noodles with some chinese chicken curry. Here is the picture taken by WT. The lighting was good ( all natural mind) which makes this a rather nice picture I believe.

Where is this place you ask? Taman Batu...Segambut. Service was a little slow but the food was nice.

Has it been 4 months?

I haven't been blogging. The reason is laziness and quite a few distractions in the last month. I shall not bore you ( or fuel your curiosity with cryptic messages) Suffice to say I'm in a happy place now. So let's just see what my few obsessions have been since I last blogged.

French Sole shoes (KLCC)

French sole in KLCC had a storewide sale last month. Everything 50% off with the use of CIMB credit card. I was lucky to visit the shop. My credit card company failed to update me this very important message. Fools!! I bought 3 pairs. One bling bling pair....one tai chi-like black pair ( I've been eyeing this pair for some visits now...but the last sale...it was not discounted or if so very little) and a crocodile skin with red trimmings. That's my latest haul. I've worn them ALL. As expected...not a single blister in sight. And this is wearing them for long ward rounds with minimal sitting down.

Salt and pepper fried taufu

After quite a while, we've returned to this chinese restaurant near Burt's Bees at the Gardens. I can't remember the name. They serve this dish above. It is mouth-watering and very very nice. I dare you to eat it and not like it. I shall return very soon for another quota.

Tiramisu crepe cake

Do you know of any place in Kuala Lumpur that sells good crepe cake? Coffee Stain ( I have been to two branches, one in Publika and the other in Fahrenheit) serves this. So does 8 ounce and I think they have one in the Gardens and the other in KLCC. 

The best so far is the tiramisu cake. the raspberry is too sweet and leaves a taste very much like cough syrup. the mango crepe ( which I had last week only because they were out of tiramisu) was a bit on the creamy side.

Geogette Heyer books for  fraction of the original price

During the same trip to Fahrenheit, I went to book excess. Must nearer than heading to Amcorp mall. And here they are....some delightful books at a fraction of the price.  I don't understand why Georgette Heyer books must be so expensive. It's daylight robbery. Really! Book excess is nice. Small selection but if you wait long enough you'll get some good books ...new ones at a good price.
Oh yes and you can drop  by coffee stain after buying books. This branch is particularly quiet. Much nicer than Publika.