A Little Girl Story

Dear Diary,

This is a story about a little girl. A little girl named Zarra. After she and her family enjoyed a smoking hot dinner at The Steamboat Ketam Village, all of them strolled towards e@Curve. They were only steps away from the steamboat restaurant when suddenly Zarra stopped and didn't want to move.

Her attention was glued to a shop few doors from the restaurant. It's a nail parlor, no wonder! Her father had to indulge her in a nail coloring session since she wouldn't move even an inch from the shop until her nails are beautifully done.

The Steamboat Ketam Village, Ikano Power Center, Apr 2012

Dear Diary,

After purchasing our movie tickets, we searched for a place to eat. Suddenly, Hubby felt like eating steamboat. Lucky for Hubby because we found exactly what he’s looking for. We stumbled upon The Steamboat Ketam Village. I’ve read about this place before in Sweet, Sour and Juicy.

Since that was our first visit, we took awhile to peruse its menu and order. The most distinct feature here is that it offers individual set of steamboat. Compared to other steamboat restaurants in which we share the steamboat in one big pot, at Steamboat Ketam Village you can have your soup in a small individual pot. Yup, all to yourself. No sharing!

Its menu offers variety of individual steamboat sets. Not to worry because there are quite a handful of items per set. Kiranya kenyang la makan set untuk sorang tu! There are 3 choices of soup, namely clear, tomyam and curry. Each of us ordered individual set with tomyam soup. Oh dear, the tomyam soup was very spicy! Both Hubby and I concluded that we like Johnny’s steamboat more. Staffs were very friendly and courteous. Service was swift too.

While we were having our dinner, we noticed Yasmin Hani at another table having a good time with her friends. She didn’t have any make-up on her face. Au natural! Too bad no picture as proof, apparently both Hubby and I were too shy to approach her.

Prawn Set

Prawn Set

Special Combo Set

Special Combo Set

Curry Chicken Noodle

The tou fu and dumpling are yummy!

Location: Lower Ground Floor, Ikano Power Center. Telephone number: 03 – 7722 3286.

Battleship

Dear Diary,

At last, I’m done with raya stories. Let’s continue where we left off, shall we? Oh dear, I have so many overdue entries to be posted.

During the new Agong’s installation holiday in April, we went for a movie treat. Hubby chose to watch Battleship. I was skeptical at first because I thought it’s gonna be another typical alien invasion movie. Boy, I was totally wrong!

Battleship is a war action movie and yes it has aliens in it. But it’s definitely not another stereotype alien movie. The movie is directed by Peter Berg and starred by Taylor Kitsch (Lieutenant Alex Hopper), Alexandra Skarsgad (Commander Stone Hopper), Rihanna (Petty Officer Cora ‘Weps’ Raikes), Brooklyn Decker (Sam Shane), Tadanobu Asano (Captain Yugi Nagata) and Liam Neeson (Admiral Shane).

Although alien existence is still unknown for sure, this film is realistically believable. Both sides of the war fight to outdo each other in showing prowess in tactical intelligence. All humans on Earth regardless of background work hand in hand to evade world invasion from an outside force. Ironically, in this movie Japan cooperates with USA against global enemy. Japan even shares its trade secrets and war tactics. How bizarre given both nations’ history!

Aliens, as always, are equipped with very smart advanced technology. Their “army” destroys anything that poses as a threat but spares anything that is harmless. Their sophisticated technology can detect which is which.

In my opinion, for this type of movie in order to enjoy maximum satisfaction, it should be watched at a cinema. In a cinema hall, you’d be more engrossed in the storyline with the help of good sound system that enhances your movie experience. Unless you own a mini theater or have cool sound system at home that is.

Source from here

Aidilfitri 2012 in Klang Valley

Dear Diary,

I’m still with raya stories…

After about a week of balik kampung, we returned to our home sweet home. But our raya celebration did not end there. We continued having jolly raya times here in Klang Valley. We do however limit the merriment to weekends only. If we have invitations on weekdays, Hubby will attend them alone. As for weekend’s invitations, we tried our best to fulfill as many as we could.

First Syawal weekend – We just spent the first Saturday at home unpacking and unwinding. The next night, we beraya to Chik’s house in Bandar Tun Hussein Onn. She didn’t go back to Kelantan, that’s why we paid her a visit. Menu – laksa, kueyteow goreng, kebab and raya biscuits.

Second Syawal weekend – Due to Independence Day, it was a long weekend so people took the opportunity to organize open houses. We ourselves got invited to several. On Friday, we headed to Klang to my dear friend’s house. We were housemates back in university. At her house, I met up with a few bloggers as she’s a blogger too. Menu – mi kari, soto (sup tulang), roti jala, chocolate cake, carrot cake and raya biscuits. The next day was my brother in law’s open house in Subang Permai. On his lunch menu, he served laksam, nasi putih, keli masak lemak, sayur campur, ayam masak merah, kambing panggang, coleslaw, fruit cocktail, cakes, raya biscuits and fruits. A little bit later in the evening, we went to Putra Heights to my Mak Lang’s “makan-makan” party. Pak Yang and his family came down from Kedah so we got a chance to beraya with them too. Foods cooked and bought by Mak Lang were mi kuah tulang, capati, roti canai, kari daging, chocolate cheese brownies, fruit cake, carrot cake, muffins and raya biscuits. On Sunday, we attended Ayah Yus’ open house. It was quite an affair. We met up with more relatives there. Ayah Yus catered culinary extravaganza such as nasi minyak, ayam masak merah, dhal, acar timun, satay, rusa & kambing panggang, coleslaw, raya biscuits, fruits and cendol.

Third Syawal weekend – My ex-colleague, Zura, invited us to her open house in Ampang. We arrived late in the evening. In fact, we were the last guests to leave her house that day. Menu – mi kari, spaghetti, nasi impit, rendang, kuah kacang, kastad jagung, cake and fruits.

Fourth Syawal weekend – We traveled north to Taiping for a wedding and spent a night there. On Saturday after the wedding, we sped up back to Klang Valley because we got two open houses to attend in Cheras. Since it would be a waste of time if we go back home in Shah Alam first and then rush through weekend traffic to Cheras, we decided to just shower and refresh ourselves at R&R Jejantas Sungai Buloh. There’s always a first time for everything! Hubby went to his friend’s open house while I and the kids went to my friend’s. Yen arranged for a raya gathering especially for us, former 7-Eleven Internal Auditor gang. He even cooked all the foods himself. He’s a great cook by the way! I eagerly looked forward to eating his rendang. We savored bihun goreng Singapore, nasi impit, lemang, rendang (the famous Yen’s rendang), ayam masak merah, kuah kacang, kuah lodeh, blueberry cheese tart, kuih bakar and fruits.

What a month of festivity eh!!!

Aidilfitri 2012 in Pahang (5th & 6th Raya)

Dear Diary,

After a good rest in the morning and a good lunch of ayam golek in the afternoon, we packed our bags and said goodbye to Kota Bharu. Late evening, we shot off to Bukit Betong (Mama’s kampung). Traffic was heavy. It took us 6 hours to travel from Kota Bharu to Bukit Betong. Exhausted from the time spent on the road, everybody had no problem going to dreamland.  Within minutes all were fast asleep except for my dear Irfan. He already had a good sleep all through the journey so he was up and about exploring his great grandfather’s rumah pusaka. I can barely open my eyes but got no choice than to keep myself awake until at around 4a.m. when Irfan finally called it a day!

The next day (6^th raya), we just chilled out at late Tok’s house. We were served finger licking lunch, cooked by Bonda Timah. The entrees were everyday simple menu but tasted superbly delicious – patin masak tempoyak, ayam masak merah, ayam goreng kunyit, kacang panjang goreng kicap and ulam petai.

After Asar, we made our final raya trip to Kuala Lipis to Bonda Rani’s house for a wedding. Many relatives attended the event. We returned home to Shah Alam that very night to avoid traffic jam expected on Saturday and Sunday.

It was one jam-packed raya week!