Free Lunch!

I have had two free lunches this week! All thanks to the Dutch Oil Company. And both lunches were so scrumptious, I ate so much that I was full even until dinner!

The first lunch was the official farewell lunch for the 4 Topsides engineers who were leaving us. Fine, they actually missed out my name in the invitation list and I actually merajuk and didn't want to go. Until the Topsides Lead told someone to tell me to come. Hah!

The farewell lunch was held at the Saisaki Japanese Buffet in UOA. The second last time I was there was when I was still carrying Aiden. Back then my fabulous boss decided to take the team (they didn't forget to include my name in the invite list this time!) for lunch to celebrate one of my final meals before popping and being officially on maternity leave! It was my first time at the restaurant and I was so impressed with not only the food and the choice, but also the price! They laid out so many dishes that I actually wondered how they could make a profit from the price they charge as compared to the choices they provided. The soft shell crabs were absolutely to die for. They had fresh oysters and delicious desserts. And not to forget the lamb shanks, roasted duck, pasta, sashimis and all the sushi that you can eat!

I was so impressed that two days after that I dragged Hubby there for dinner. Just as I was shoving the first spoonful in my mouth, my sister called to ask on my whereabouts and upon hearing where we were, she dragged her fiancee there for dinner as well. The four of us piled our plates high and ate so much until we could eat no more. Then we discovered that they had a wastage rule. If you have uneaten food on your plate, they will weigh the food and charge you accordingly! So we had to resort to discarding the uneaten food the 'smart' way - by hiding it in our napkins, dropping it on the floor, dumping it with the remnants of the eaten food. Okay you get the drift. And thankfully, we got away with it.

Sorry, no other pictures other than this one because I was too busy stuffing myself silly!

Edmund, the Topsides Lead giving a thank you speech to the four engineers.

The team.

My office gang were a bit late so they had to sit at a smaller, separate table at the side.

Farewell souvenir for Sanjeev.

And Hazli.

And Su Fook. Edmund made a joke about how Su Fook came in so fast and left so fast that we didn't even realise he was in the team!

Sanjeev's farewell speech *sob*sob*crocodile tears*

The office gang bored with all the speeches.

Then the Project Manager gave a speech. Next time, if you're ever leaving a project, make sure it is in numbers. Because that justifies not only team lunch, but also a souvenir!

"I would like to thank my Mum, my Dad......" (typical Sanjeev lawak)

Invaluable contribution? Really Sanjeev??? What about all those office hours on Facebook? *cheeky smile*

And the second lunch was just today. I organized this one for the team, to celebrate a milestone - the end of conceptual design (soon!) and to bade farewell to the consultants who have helped us throughout this phase. It was a group decision to have lunch at the Traders Hotel, because most of us were bored of the Nikko and Mandarin Oriental buffet.

I have only been to Traders twice. The first time was when Hubby organized a surprise birthday dinner (surprise sangat la, on my birthday I had to walk all the way through the KL Convention Centre with Hubby telling me "nothing, nothing, let's just take a walk..."). It was such a pretty place, the food was good and the cake was nyummy! The second time was when a Dutch friend of mine was in KL for a meeting and he wanted to meet up at the Sky Bar. It was there that I had my first taste of lemongrass mocktail, and also, remind me to not wear high heels there ever again for fear of losing my balance and falling into the swimming pool!

Love the elevator wall. Can I replicate it somewhere in the new house?

5th floor - Gobo Chit Chat. I was so surprised to find that when I walked in, it was the exact same place that Hubby had taken me to for my birthday. *sentimental*

That's the (incomplete) team.

Kong made a joke of ordering the Cristol Louis champagne which is RM2190 per bottle, and then taking the rest of the day off!

Can you see the restaurant? Also, I was amazed by the glasses they used. The glasses came complete with bubbles already embossed in them. So when you pour water in it, it looks like the water is all fuzzy, bubbly and cold (condensation). Now where can I get these... hmmm...

My full plate - round 1. And the food was sooooooo good. Definitely taking Hubby here!

My favorites in one plate: prawns and bread/butter/chocolate pudding.

The vast selection of dessert.

Very unique. Instead of having printed signs for the desserts, they actually handwrite the dessert name using cream/icing on the platter. This is the caramalized jackfruit.

Can you read this one? I think it says banana something?

I definitely have a sweet tooth.

The waiters and waitresses at Traders were very proactive in picking up your plates and utensils once you're done. Twice, I had just placed my fork and spoon together and they immediately swooped in and cleared my plate!

Kong, enjoying one of his last peaceful meals before becoming a Daddy!

Near to the end of the meal, I received an urgent phone call from the office telling me that I had left my laptop and books in a meeting room which was going to be used for a meeting! And here I thought that I had booked the meeting room for the desktop review the whole day! So I had to leave the others still enjoying their lunch and walked (jogged?) back to the office.

Walked all alone through the KL Convention Centre, and realised that HomeDec was coming!

Tomorrow to be exact! And the sudden realisation that Hubby will miss this for the very first time! But no way am I missing this. See you at HomeDec!

Baby Steps and Dump Trucks

Aiden can now take independent steps! (Although he has yet to master the art of standing without using furniture to pull himself up.)

Yes! My baby is now not only a toddler, but he now knows how to walk independently. He only lacks motivation. My friends who have more than one child would always tell me that their second child walked faster than the first. And the third faster than the second. It is all about motivation.

Aiden does not have any motivation at all to walk. The living hall is surrounded by sofas and cabinets which he can just use to help him stand. He does not have a sibling to run after. He simply has to yowl or hold his hands up for and we would almost always pick him up. Also, does not help that Bibik is constantly putting him in her body sling (kendong) or that we manjakan him too much with all the dukung-ing and everything.

Last weekend my cousins and their son Airyl (my favorite and only nephew) dropped by our house. Airyl, being a year older than Aiden automatically latched himself on the dump truck (Aiden's birthday present from my office gang). This was of course, a motivation for Aiden! Aiden, who previously pretty much ignored the dump truck apart from piling his blocks into the dump body and dumping it so that the blocks crashes to the floor - immediately took interest in the truck, and started walking towards Airyl. Talk about being the only child (for now!) and being possessive! I am talking from experience here...

The crime scene. At the edge of the sofa. Aiden actually has two other ride-on toys (excluding one other unopened one in the closet). And every time I make him ride on it, he would just bang on the console and then climb off the toy.

Aiden actually walked up to Airyl and demanded for him to get off the truck! (Don't be fooled by the hands. They were just to stabilize him when he started to pull on Airyl. But yes, he walked up to Airyl all by himself.)

"Mine, mine... all mine....!!!"

We tried to get them to make peace. By making Aiden kiss Airyl!

Airyl then zoomed away, leaving Aiden to bite the dust.

Airyl, preoccupied with the new toy.

"Try and catch up with me, Aiden!"

And a few days back, Aiden walked independently again! This time it was when an old friend of mine, Hariz, came by to drop off his wedding card. I have not seen this guy for a longggggg time. Maybe erm, 5 years? And suddenly, he's getting married?

Aiden greeted Uncle Hariz, by patting him down. Then when satisfied, he plopped to the floor.

Uncle Hariz then became Aiden's best friend, simply because Uncle Hariz shared some of his sirap with Aiden. I guess the motivation was probably to show off to his new best friend. Or maybe it was the sirap that encouraged Aiden to walk.

This is always Aiden's initial position before he launches himself on the floor.

Incidentally, Mummy was ready with the camera. So Mummy was able to capture his steps! Check out his "I can't believe I am actually doing this" face!

After a few steps, he lost his balance and met with the floor.

Also, Aiden has found something new and interesting to do. Put the bucket over his head and start screeching to hear the echo within the bucket.

Sounds easy enough. Except that he does this while turning himself seated 360 degrees around!

That's Aiden after shuffling one round around the carpet. Hillarious!

Of Kitchen Cabinets and RA Meetings

After spending the Saturday in Shah Alam, guess where we were on Sunday? Yup, Shah Alam again!

This time it was for the Resident's Association meeting - between the RA committee and the residents. The agenda was to inform the residents about the outcome of the last meeting with SPK and also to record all issues to be brought forward to the next RA-SPK meeting next fortnight. Also, since 80% of the current RA committee members (5 out of 6!) are not staying in their brand new homes just yet, we figured it was time for us to recruit new committee members who had already moved in and were actually facing these issues day in and day out.

But before that, a short stop at Signature Kitchen! Eons ago, we had asked for a kitchen cabinet quotation from them. And back then, Hubby and I had each fallen in love with their display cabinets, for the dry kitchen and the wet kitchen respectively. You see, my Hubby is the more artistic of us both. And because the dry kitchen is a "for show" kitchen, it was my Hubby's baby thus the onus falls on him to make it look good. As for me, the wet kitchen is where the actual frying, grinding and pounding would take place. Therefore I would be the best to dictate on the cabinet requirements of the wet kitchen, making it my baby.

So this was my pick. Beige cabinets with a black solid surface countertop.

The beige matches the existing brown/beige tiles in the wet kitchen.

Hubby loves white. He equals it to simplicity and cleanliness. But he doesn't like the aluminium frames like the one above.

He prefers this one. White simple clean lines.

Oh, and Signature Kitchen just launched a new array of imported kitchen cabinets, like the one above *drool*

Then off we went for the RA meeting. On the way we stopped to get a barrel of KFC (as it was held pot luck style!) and boy, it was such a big hit with the kids! The initial plan was to meet at the playground for the meeting, but then it started to drizzle and there wasn't enough space and seats for everyone under the gazebo, so we moved the meeting to the clubhouse instead.

We were the first to arrive at the playground, so Aiden had his first try at the swings!

Look at his fingers clenching tightly at the chains. Takut!

And just as Aiden was starting to enjoy himself, we had to move to the clubhouse...

After the meeting it was close to Maghrib so we decided to stop by our 'directly opposite' future neighbour's house for prayers and some hot water on the go for Aiden's milk.

Aiden and Amelle were both born in the same year. Play buddies!

Look at Amelle's chubby arms!

And this is Amelle's big brother, Aidan (pronounced Aiden). Both Aidan and Aiden are going to be so confused when both Mummies yell "Aidan/Aiden!!!". Look at Aiden Jr admiring Aidan Sr. And where is Amelle's other big brother, Adnan??