Dinner at Restoran Sri Melaka

This morning I was chatting with my cousin Seekan on MSN and asking him what he wanted to eat for dinner since we were going to have dinner with him and his girlfriend Marie.

They had been having seafood the past two nights and he mentioned that he wanted to eat Malay food. At first I thought of bringing them to Rasa Nyonya but Sharon Lai told me the food was not that great when she went there for dinner with the Alpha Team during Deepavali.

So I decided to bring them to Restoran Sri Melaka. We went to fetch them at Marina Court Condominium where they are staying with cousin Christopher and Marianne.

Altogether there were nine of us including three children. Since the upstairs of the restaurant was closed, we had to settle for a long table that can sit ten people.

The menu was as follows.

1. Lemon Chicken. Quite nice.

2. Sambal Sotong. A bit on the spicy side.

3. Sayur Manis with Dried Shrimp. Very fresh and crunchy.

4. Rendang Beef. Mixture of soft and tough meat but quite tasty.

5. Asam Fish Head. Too spicy and therefore lots of leftover.

6. Black Pepper Mutton. Quite soft and tasty.

We had to pass the dishes around all night since we were not sitting on a round table with the ‘Lazy Susan’.

It was good to catch up with Seekan after not seeing him for three years and to get to know Marie.

We went for a car ride to 1 Borneo, the city and Tanjung Aru Beach after dropping mum, Aunty Alice and Barnabas. We bade the lovebirds goodbye outside Centrepoint where they were intending to watch the movie James Bond.

Permanent Guest in the House

This morning Aunty Alice arrived from Sandakan to stay with us for good.

She is my late dad’s cousin. Her husband changed his earthly address two years ago. Their only son is married, has a toddler and lives elsewhere in Sandakan with his own family.

She has a lot of illness and doctor advised her not to live alone for fear of her depression may lead her to doing stupid things. Therefore she is going to sell her house.

We are glad to have her with us. In fact even two years back we had already invited her to stay with us.

President of United States of America

I was watching the Mandarin news on TV2 just now.

Even if a person who does not understand the language, somehow I think he or she could guess who had won the election. His name was being mentioned umpteenth time in the course of a few minutes.

The winner is Barack Obama. He made history by being the first black USA President elected to power.

On the side note, Kenya (where Obama's father came from) will be having a public holiday tomorrow because of Obama's win.

The Beauty of Technology

My cousin Seekan from London arrived here yesterday for holiday.

While chatting with him on MSN (he was somewhere in Warisan Square, maybe at Starbucks or San Francisco Coffee), I was at the same time making room booking for him on the phone to Sutera Harbour Resort.

While the person from the Reservation Department was asking me questions, I could type and Seekan can reply by typing his preferences.

By using my name to book the room at Pacific Sutera Hotel, he could save over RM100 for three nights stay. From my point of view, the amount of saving is not that much if converted to pounds. But in Seekan's point of view, the amount is good enough for a nice dinner for two. :)

I will have to check in with him next Monday night after he comes back from Sandakan.

Working Under Pressure

At the last minute, lady boss had to go to overseas yesterday and therefore I passed her to sign some cheques two days ago. I did not have the time to check whether she had signed enough cheques or not.

This morning as I was preparing the payroll, lo and behold, I counted and there were only twenty cheques being signed. That means I could not make a single stroke of mistake in writing out any of the cheques. Eventhough I am No. 6 on the payroll list, I left myself until the 20^th cheque in case I make any mistake. Yup, if any mistake occurs, I myself will not get paid at the same time as the rest of my colleagues. The boss's definitely had to be later.

Thank God in the midst of everything that was going on in the office, I managed to be error free. Phew! That was a close call and I hope I would not have too many of these kind of days.

Kian Kok Middle School Concert Band

Before Sharon Lai, Monica Leong, Elizabeth Chung, Alice Hiew and I went to the concert, we had dinner at Upperstar, Damai Plaza. Elizabeth fetched the rest of them. I drove since I live the furthest from the rest of them.

Sharon and Elizabeth shared a pizza consisted of four different types of toppings and so the name Four Seasons. Monica had Fish and Chips. Alice had Spaghetti Cabonara while I had Nasi Lemak.

The pizza was not that great. The Fish and Chips were too oily. The Spaghetti Cabonara was a bit sweet while the Nasi Lemak was quite nice but would be a bit spicy for whoever who does not take spicy food.

The tv at Upperstar was showing EPL so the ladies told the waitress to change to other channels but to no avail.

I decided to leave the car at Damai Plaza and go in Elizabeth’s car since there is only limited parking space in Kian Kok School. I was glad of my decision because by the time we arrived, parking bays were rare to find.

The MCs consisted of two young ladies who spoke fluent Mandarin and English. They have the caliber to be in the debate or oratory team.

The band played various kind of music the whole night and was conducted by their in-house conductor Mdm. Chow Yen Ching and invited guest conductor Mitsuo Nonami from Japan. The band played his composition - The Star of Friendship. Among other songs were selections from the movie Mamma Mia, arranged by Michael Brown.

Just before Intermission, one of the MCs announced the number plates of two drivers and one happened to be Elizabeth’s. (Later she related to us when she went to move her car, she did not see any driver wanted to get out from the parking bay or that her car was blocking another car. As soon as she moved out of the parking bay, another car parked. She had difficulty in finding another parking bay and was going to leave only to Alice to call her to see how she was. She was thinking of going home but realised that we had all come in her car and therefore she could not go home yet. Poor lady.)

After intermission, the jazz club in their Hawaiian outfit played The Girl from Ikanema and In the Mood. They were moving their body to the beat of music.

A former student Ms. Ng who went to Taiwan to study music appeared next singing an Italian song - Nel Cor Piu Non Mi Sento.

Before the night came to an end, we heard the following.

1. The Witch and the Saint.

2. First Love – Addicted to Love.

3. Goodbye My Love.

4. I Could Have Danced All Nite.

5. Selection of songs from Broadway with emphasis on Cha Cha, Dixie and Swing Styles.

6. Copacabana – The most entertaining as some students were dancing and while others were playing and moving their instruments.

The band gave two encore songs, each conducted by each conductor.

We had an enjoyable night and the students together with the conductors did a fantastic job.

Goodies from Taipei

Recently my ING Insurance Agent DL won an incentive to Taiwan and from Taiwan took the Star Cruise to Japan and back.

He and some of his colleagues extended their trip and stayed in Taipei for a few more days.

He met me a couple of nights ago and passed this to me in a pack of eight small packets. They are pineapple jam tartlets.

The taste is just right for me. Not too sweet and I like it very much. Thanks DL for your gesture.

Rhema Learning Center Thanksgiving and Talent Time Night

The event was held at Sabah Golf and Country Club at 7p.m.

Chloe sang solo accompanied by Sarah Koo on the piano.

All the microphones were not functioning properly the whole night. And even sitting near the front did not help much.

Besides the Junior choir sang, two individual students performed on the piano and drums. A group of junior students also sang and acted.

The highlight of the evening were the dramas performed by five groups. All the creative juices came out during this time as each group had to write and act out their own script based on different theme such as love, peace, etc. given to them. There were so many props being used.

Barnabas and Chloe’s group won the best script award. I also thought their group would win because five of them acted really well and their voices were audible.

Sushi Mania

Today I had sushi for breakfast, afternoon tea, dinner and supper.

I am still not fed up with sushi.

Further Drop in Petrol Price

On 5 June petrol price went up from RM1.92 to RM2.70/litre.

On 22 August petrol price dropped from RM2.70 to RM2.55/litre.

On 25 September petrol price dropped a further 10 sen to RM2.45/litre.

On 14 October petrol price dropped a further 15 sen to RM2.30/litre.

Today petrol price dropped a further 15 sen to RM2.15/litre.

The problem now is prices of everything else have not gone down at all.