Again!

I will start at a new department next week. Panjang ceritanya but its not my story to tell. I will be back in HQ but am going to do something totally new to me. I'm still not sure of my new job scope, but whatever it is, i dont care la..
However..ade sedeh sket coz I just let go of a great opportunity (good rewards+good career path+something that I've always wanted to do since uni)..
Good news is, I no longer need a car..

Lunch: Summer Palace

I had a great lunch experience today. Actually I didnt know what that lunch was for. I got the invitation and accepted it, no questions asked.

The lunch we had was at Summer Palace, Marriott Putrajaya so we had to drive all the way to Putrajaya from KL. There were supposed to be 6 attendees but two bosses couldn't make it so there were only 4 of us. We gerak at 12pm and because the EVP wasn't around, we got to use his car.

When we Summer Palace, we were escorted to the VIP room and immediately the starter was served. There were 10 dishes for us on the menu. I didnt take any picture there, but I brought home the menu booklet.

Sliced Octopus with Apple Sauce
Stuffed Crab Claw with Salted Egg Yolk
Pan-fried Lamb Rack Cantonese Style
Double-Bolied Hai Fu Shark's Fin in Superior Stock
Steamed Bamboo Fish Hong Kong Style
Smoked Crispy Qing Yuan Chicken
Braised Supreme Whole Abalone with Fish Maw
Stir-Fried Baby Kailan with Garlic
Baked Rice with Seafood and Cheese in Pineapple Boat
Double-Boiled Bird Nest with Six Treasures
I cant comment on the taste but the presentation was awesome.

While having our meals, my colleagues educated me on Chinese dining etiquette/table manners.
I remember the following

1-Seating arrangement
Main host should sit facing the door (oh yes, must book a room and guests shouldnt be treated to meals at common dining area) and the second host on the opposite of the main host. If there are third and fourth hosts, the third one should sit on the main host's 9 o'clock and the fourth one on 3 o'clock. The most important guest is seated on the main host's right and second most important on the left. The rest of the guests are seated (according to rank) in clockwise direction from the second most important guest. The waiter must serve the most important guest first followed by the second guest, third guest and so on.. Guests from China would be offended if these arrangements are not observed. However, many Chinese restaurants in Malaysia (even 5-star hotels) dont know of these things so every time my colleagues bring China delegates out for meals, they always have to educate the staffs of the restaurants first.

2-Napkin as per pic below - under the plate. The rest of the napkin should sit on the lap.
3- When you wanna do the 'cheers' thingy, those of the lower ranks cant raise their cups/glasses higher than those of higher ranks

4-Chinamen pay great attention to courtesy. We didnt have 'personal' waiters for us at Summer Palace but if you go to China and book a room at a restaurant, dont be surprised to see if they allocate 2 waiters per guest.

5-Declining a toast is considered rude. And they dont understand why cant Muslims consume alcohol coz they've seen lotsa Muslims do.

6-The glass for toast should be full and it must be emptied

I was shocked when I saw the bill - it was more than RM900 per person. As for the total, multiply that by 4. Khalis didnt believe me when I told him that. He said he'd eaten at Summer Palace before and it wasnt that expensive. True - New Year's Eve buffet was only RM140 there and even I myself wouldnt believe it either if I didnt see it with my own eyes.

We reached the office at 300pm and now I'm kenyang gile..

Dinner 230310

Khalis wanted to have spaghetti last night.. He said..dah lamaaaa nk makan my spaghetti.. So I prepared carbonara for him (menyesal plak rasanya x ambik gamba..but takpe..its just carbonara je pon).. Khalis finished 2 pinggan of spaghetti and I ate 1/3 of what he had.

My fav drink in the entire universe is Coconut Shake. Imagine my surprise when Khalis said he never heard of it. Perhaps it only exists in the East Coast? coz I've never seen it in KL. My earliest memory of Coconut shake's when I was 8. maybe 9 or 10. I first had it at Kada Stop Salor. I think it was invented by Kada coz it was only 1 or 2 years after Kada Stop that I started seeing it being sold everywhere. But the taste's never as good as Kada Stop's.
So last night I prepared Coconut Shake for him. 1 coconut gave me 4 glasses. I used kelapa pandan, so the coconut taste wasnt as strong as normal nyer kelapa. But the result was still good. At least better than pasar mlm kt kg nyer. And Khalis loved it!!

Pulut Mangga

I made pulut mangga tonite. It wasnt my first attempt, but the first one didnt turn out really well so I gave it another go tonite. Khalis said that it could be because of the santan - I used santan segera. So this time, I bought shaved coconut instead and squeezed santan out of it myself. And I tell you, it was such a painful experience I have no wish to go through again. My hand hurt so much!

We also changed the mangga. Last time we used waterlily and this time we experimented with mangga madu and mas hitam. We concluded that the pulut's best with mangga madu.

Celcom B.band

One of the 'benefits' that I got being in my old dept was this.

But I handed it over today. My transfer was effective Feb 2010 but I still kept it for approx. 2 months, when I had no right to..hahahha.
I hardly used it - only when I went traveling and balik kg. Or when I wanted to download music/video files at the office. So farewell you little one. You had served me well.

On a separate matter, I went out for lunch with friends from my old dept today. Got myself good gossips, good food and good company (pls note the order..hahhah =P)..

Saturday 140310

I just stay at home today.

But I went out yesterday with Khalis and his family. First we went to see Alice in Wonderland. Was planning to watch this Fri last week but I couldnt get to KLCC on time. Anyway, Khalis and I went to Tropicana first and collected the tickets for everyone. They bought 8 tickets online when there were actually 7 of us. I found the movie ok2 only. Khalis said x best. I'd give 3 stars out of 5.

His parents went to a kenduri afterwards but they tapau Kenny Rogers for lunch for everyone. Khalis and I plak pegi drove round2 poli (me drove, Khalis komplennnnnnn aje) to perfect my cornering skills. And then Khalis and his bro went to pick up the hard disk he sent for repair and window shopping brg2 komputer.

At night we went out for dinner. To celebrate his bro's recent success in SPM (all A's) his dad brought us to One World Hotel. His uncle's family joined us too.

So yeah, my diet was ruined yesterday.
1-Sausage Roll for breakfast
2-Caramel popcorn + mirinda oren+ nugget while watching movie
3-1/4 KR roasted chicken
4-Buffet dinner

Super Junior

Back in 2008 Khalis promised me that he'd bring me to this particular concert. No, he doesnt like Super Junior. In fact he doesnt listen to anything he doesnt understand.


But now, 2 years later and 15 days to the concert, I dont feel like going.. Why? Saje malas..