19th Oct 08 - Ateh's Doa Selamat & Dinner at Uncle's House

Got up at 8am to a mee hoon breakfast. Got the girls ready, and left home at 10am to pick Mak up from Puchong to go to Ateh's house. Reached Damansara Prima at 1130am and proceeded to help arrange the food on the dining table. The menu was: Mee Hoon Goreng, Mee Goreng Basah, Rendang Daging, Rendang Ayam, Lemang, Nasi Impit, Roti JalaChicken Curry, Paru Goreng, Ayam Masak Limau Kasturi, Nasi Putih, Apam Manis, Buah Tembikai

At 1230pm, Abg Is decided to start the Doa Selamat even though there were only 4 males. Anyhow, it went as planned, and we started to eat right away. Abg Is's neighbours came over and after there were quite a lot of kids, we cut Amir's cool Spongebob Squarepants cake at around 3pm.

Acik and Lela only arrived at 330pm, after which we left at 4pm to send Mak back to Puchong. It was raining heavily all the way to Puchong, and I just felt like going home and taking a nap. I called Uncle when we hit the LDP, and he asked us to come after Maghrib, which was fine with me!

After a much needed nap and Maghrib, we left for Uncle's house at 745pm. Chef said he'll be coming, so we waited for him before eating. While waiting, had a good chat with Uncle on the restaurants progress. While we were digging into some delicious satay and mee hoon goreng. After dinner, the ladies got down to some serious women talk, so uncle and I adjourned to the livingroom and spoke more about the restaurant. Among the issues were:

1) Delay of project
- Due to many other projects taken on by the contractors, Subak's progress has been slow
- At the moment, only half of the decking has been laid down
2) Plates
- Uncle mentioned that plates will be purchased in Msia, using only white ones but in many different shapes and sizes
3) Tables & Chairs
- Unc has ordered 15 3'x 3'tables and 6 3'x 4' tables with enough chairs
- with 4 pax per 3' table, and 6 pax per 4' table, we can seat 96 people
- within the main restaurant, only 6 3' tables can be set-up
4) Coffee Machine
- Since unc said we'll be serving cappucino & espresso, we'll need to get a small sized but good quality machine
- Unc mentioned that if we buy the coffee beans from this company, they will sponsor the machine
5) Table Setting - Unc has bought rectangle placemats and glass bowls for floating candles
6) Storeroom - there will be wooden racks built
7) Website - Unc mentioned that he wants a feature that enables visitors to view the restaurant at any time of day, so that they can see its different moods
8) Revenue
- if we make RM2,000 a day, we can pay for Operating Expenses like payroll, electricity, water, buying of raw material & rent
- if we make RM3,000 a day, we can pay for Operating Expenses, as well as Capital Expenses like purchase of tables & chairs, POS & kitchen equipment
- if above RM3,000 a day, we can pay for Ops, Capex and make profit
9) Sales v Average Check:
~ if RM40 per pax / RM2000 a day = we need 50 covers a day
~ if RM50 per pax / RM2000 a day = we need 40 covers a day
~ if RM60 per pax / RM2000 a day = we need 34 covers a day
~ if RM40 per pax / RM2500 a day = we need 62.5 covers a day
~ if RM50 per pax / RM2500 a day = we need 50 covers a day
~ if RM60 per pax / RM2500 a day = we need 41.6 covers a day

17th Oct 08 - Masjid Shah Alam & Shahril's Open House

Got up at 730am after numerous snoozes, and reached the club at 8am. After a quick breakfast of scrambled eggsand baked beans on toast, I started to bring in the cakes and boxes to be packed for the catering at Masjid Shah Alam today and tomorrow.

Created a production line and divided the tasks among the crew: cutting up the kueh bakar, filling up the boxeswith one slice of kueh bakar and pulut panggang, packing them into boxes etc till we get to 1,000 boxes.While we were busy packing the cakes, someone else was supposed to go thru the checklist and locate these items. It was 1030am by the time we finished packing, then it was another 30 minutes for them to find the listed items, and we only left the club at 12pm.

By the time we reached the site, it was close to 1pm and boy was it hot. Met up with Hj Azizi and was told thatTabung Haji has changed their mind and amended the lay-out. Azam Pandan ended up with a longer buffet area, but a less strategic location for our work area. Decided to create a central buffet in case of heavy rain.After a thoroughly exhausting morning, I was glad to leave behind my jack for the boys to get the van out of the drain, and headed for home.

Reached home at 230pm and found my little princesses asleep. After a lite lunch of nasi lemak and chicken curry, I got some shut-eye at around 3pm. Azie woke me up at 430pm to go to Shahril's house in Kota D'sara. Reached his place at 5pm, and started to dig into some satay, mee hoon soto, roti jala with chicken curry. Draggie went out with Niebab, and baby Umar was at his grandparents house, so we ended up just chatting with Shahril and his friend.

The rain clouds started to bother me, so we left at 6pm via NKVE and got home by 630pm. By that time everyone was exhausted, so we had a snack and got the girls to bed. At midnight, I watched Man United defeat Westbrom 4-0 with excellent goals from Rooney, Ronaldo, Berbatov and Nani. I must admit that I slept like a baby that night.......

The aftermath after the Outside Catering on 11th Oct 08

This morning was a blur as I awoke from my slumber to a back ache and a mind weary from a long and hard catering job.

The source of my ailments is the chaotic fiasco that was the outside catering at shah alam yesterday. After thorough meetings and an extremely long 'briefing', things still got out of hand for reasons that I can't comprehend. For no reason, additional trips had to be made to collect items left at the Club, which caused everything to go pear shaped. The huge thunderstorm added an extra dimension to the concept of Murphy's Law: When you think nothing will go wrong, something will. Oh well, that's the life of a caterer I guess. You plan for every eventuality, and next thing you know, something just jumps up and bites you in the arse.

So, it's the morning after, and my resolve is stronger to make a change for the better. I'm not so sure the people at APSB are ready for change, but I'm gonna give it my best shot. The least that I can expect to happen is for someone to wake up from their slumber, and rouse up everyone else to make that change.

This Sunday morning started off with us waking up at 830am, and shocking our system with some excellent tosai with some lovely tomato and coconut chutney. Then it's the TV with the Horse Wisperer, X-Men and now Which Planet ARe You From?. Let's see where the day will lead us.....

Sunday, 5th Oct 08. Final weekend before going back to work!!

After a long day on Saturday playing host to our close friends and family, Sunday morning was just another blur. Azie and I only woke up at 10am and found our little girls calmly watching their daily dose of cartoons. Mak got a call at 1015am, and it was Untie Bedah who told her she'll be popping in at 1030am. Well, that woke us up pretty quickly, and Azie started to cook a batch of Mee Hoon.

Untie Bedah and Uncle Mail only stayed for 10 minutes, and at around 2pm, Azie got a call from Achik announcing their arrival. Azie got down to cook some Macaroni while I got busy setting up the table once again. Pak Itam, Untie Azizah and Aiman then came over at 630pm and left by 8pm.

Right after that, we left home to raid Kak Ah's house (it was Kak Lin's brilliant idea). I can't even remember the last time I went to my sister's house, and I guess we'll try to make it a yearly affair. Abang Nizam cooked some nice mee hoon, and we spent the time watching Bourne Identity. We got home at 10pm, and watched Suster Ngesot and The Messenger. My back ache is not giving me too much grief, and hopefully it'll clear up by tomorrow morning

Adriana's 4th Birthday Party & Eid Ul Fitr 2008

Well, it's been a while since my last posting, around 4 months to be precise. Well, I think it's about time I ended my silence, so here goes nothing.

Since yesterday, Saturday the 4th Oct 08 was the first Eid Ul Fitr weekend, it was only fitting for us to organise a small party cum gathering to celebrate our lovely daughter's birthday. Azie invited her whole Kelly Selection team, while mak invited only very close friends and family.

Azie started cooking before I woke up at 0730 hrs. I went with Mum to get some supplies at the Farmer's Market (Pasar Tani) while the girls were still deep in slumber. Bought some nasi lemak and roti canai for breakfast, which was the perfect elixir to start off our day.

While Azie was busy in the kitchen, I went about setting up the dining table and buffet area. I used all available Kain Pua to decorate all table tops, which ended up looking pretty neat. The menu was:

Nasi Minyak (Ghee Rice)
Kari Kambing (Thick Mutton Curry)
Ayam Panggang (Roasted Chicken)
Sambal Udang (Prawns cooked in chilli paste)
Salad Timun dan Tomato (Cucumber & Tomato Salad)

The first guests started to trickle in from 12 noon, and Mak Long was the last to leave at 1030pm. At 3pm, Azie brought out the birthday cake and the kids just gravitated towards it. All in all, it was another succesfull event, and we're glad our guests enjoyed the food, and hopefully they enjoyed our company as well.

Goodbye KK - 19 May 08

We woke up at 7am, and got to the breakfast room at 8am. It was full, and we got a table near the back and promptly got down to some serious eating. Since our airport pick-up was at 1030am, we rushed back to the hotel to finish packing, and left the room to check-out at 10am. Our coach arrived at 1045am and we reached KK's LCCT at 11am.

While waiting to board the plane, an AirAsia staff turned a lot of heads. She turned out to be a stewardess on our flight, thank god. There was friendly banter among the men in the queue, and Azie encouraged us even more. I have never enjoyed a 2 hours flight than today's. I even paid attention when they had the safety briefing!! Anyway, I managed to speak to the lovely stewardess when I said to her, 'one nasi lemak and one nasi beriani'. She even spoketo me, "would you like a drink, sir?'

The food arrived in plastic containers, that doesn't do justiceto the RM8 bucks we paid for them. We arrived LCCT at 230pm and missed the first AirAsia coach to KL Sentral. We got the next one and reached Sentral at 330pm tired and hungry. Got some lousy food at the mamak restaurant next to the Monorel station, and caught a cab home. I couldn't wait to reach home, and I wasn't dissappointed when we were at the gate when our daughters screamed with delight to see us.

After a long 2 days, I was finally reunited with the lights of my life. Uploaded the latest pictures and showed mum and the girls our little holiday. After dinner, we set off for Sentul to send Rini and Adah home. Bg Meor looked well and his knee can bend more than 90 degrees. Got home at 10pm and put the girls straight to bed. While I was rocking my babies to sleep, I realised how much I loved them, and what would I do without them around. It just wouldn't be the same and that made me love them even more. I fell asleep with fond memories of the flight home, and my terrible nasi beriani meal and .......zzzzz

Kota Kinabalu Day 2 - 18 May 08

I woke up at 524am with a bad back ache, due to the walk and the soft mattress. Got dressed and left the room at 715am to go for breakfast. Found out breakfast was served at another hotel, Imperial, whichI thought was silly and the hotel should inform their guests by providing directions or briefing them.The restaurant was located on the rooftop and was quite nice, which cooled me down a lot. Had a nice egg omellette with toast but the coffee was weak.

After a hearty breakfast, set off for the tamu at 8am. Instead of going to the Jln Gaya tamu, we went to the seafront, where we found a small tamu right next to the Filipino Market. Discovered some weird things like green barnacles, edible brown corrals and live rock garoupa that didn't swim around. Just before we left the tamu, we saw a lady frying something in 3 little woks. It looked too oily so we didn't buy any.

When we reached the roadside, Azie hailed a bus which happened to be heading for Kampung Likas. It was a small mini bus, with loud Hindustani music blaring for its speakers. The bus followed a coconut tree-lined coastal road and entered the kampung area, which had an equal number of wooden and brick houses. I then understood why some Sabahans envied the development that is taken for granted by their countrymen on the Peninsular. Our driver and conducter then decided that it's time for their breakfast, and proceeded to pull over to buy some mee hoon at a roadside stall. At the end of the journey, we were told that the Yayasan Sabah building was only 'about' 1 km by foot,and it's 'just over the bridge'. So, we set off on foot, crossed the busy road and over the bridge,and then realised....oi, it's more than 1 km!! Anyhow, we reached the roundabout in front of theYayasan Sabah building (which was nothing to shout about), and then decided to go back to town on the first thing that we can get, which happened to be a van.

We got off near Kampung Ayer as we wanted to check out the tamu along Jalan Gaya. Well, we found out the hard way again that Jln Gaya was a very long road, and we joined the tamu somewhere in the middle.It's quite an interesting tamu, with a nice mixture of stalls selling pearls, wood carvings, freshorchids, different snacks, clothes, shoes etc. We got our stock of Sabahan snacks and made our wayback to the hotel. Azie got into a movie on TV, while I went over to the cafe to update my holiday pics.

After a much needed rest, we set off by taxi at 445pm to Tanjung Aru. We were dropped off at the main building, which housed a modern upmarket seafood restaurant. We then walked along the path fronting the sea, and got our first view of the Sabahan coastline. Wished I had my swimming trunks with me as the water really looked inviting. At the far end of the path we found a large complex that has close to100 small stalls selling all types of food. I saw an interesting way of displaying different types ofpickled fruits (jeruk), and fresh fruits. When we decided to sit down for a snack, I ordered an ABC while Azie ordered Satay Punggung Ayam. My ABC was interesting, the bottom part has a condensed milk base with black grass jelly (cincau), red cendol, sweetcorn, topped off with slices of watermelon and honeydew and 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream. After finishing off the pickled fruits, steamed groundnuts and corn on the cob, we continued our walk on the beach to catch the sunset.

Tanjung Aru (Bay of Pines), is a huge crescent shaped bay. At 6pm, the beaches had dots of people here and there. We headed for the far end of the beach but realised that it's about another km away, so we stopped at a boat carrier. While waiting for sunset, I chatted with Azie, and only later I realised that we haven't chatted like that since we had Adriana and Alyssa. Gradually the sky turned redder by the minute, and eventually the sun became a red circle, and then the sky transformed into this beautiful kaleidoscope of colours, with shades of red, orange, yellow. It was a spectacular scene, and I kept busy taking shots of the sunset, as well as sillhouetes of Azie.









By 6:55pm it was all over, so Azie suggested we eat a snack of sotong panggang (barbequed squid). The service was so slow that we walked off, and took a cab back to town to go to the pasar malam area. We found a huge seafood restaurant near Kampung Ayer,and decided to have our dinner there. We ordered BBQ squids and Cantonese noodlesw which was delicious, but the squids were a little salty. After dinner, we walked around the area and saw GSC, and simply walked in and bought tickets for Iron Man. It was an entertaining movie, but I thought they could have developed each character further. Anyhow, we enjoyed the movie, and had a nice walk back to the hotel, and reached our room at 11pm. All in all, today started off interestingly, and ended with a great movie. Boy, were we tired, and the sight of our made up room was a sight for sore butts...er I meant...sore eyes...LOL