Hari Raya (or Eid) Open House

This Saturday, we have open house invitations to 2 different houses in celebration of Hari Raya (or Eid as it is called in other countries). Open House is a unique Malaysian way of celebrating major festivals of the Chinese, Malays and Indians. The Chinese do it during Chinese New Year, the Malays in the months of Syawal (after fasting for a month in the month of Ramadan) and the Indians during Deepavali (Divali as it is called in India). Christians too have been known to have open houses for the Christmas celebrations. Open House is when friends. colleagues and acquaintances are invited to the house to eat and drink and have fellowship with one another.

The first open house we went to was Indah's. She was the LSCA admin many many moons ago and this year is the second time we are going to her house. For company, we had Jeanie (another ex admin from EMG) and Madeline (also an ex admin from EMG). The day started off HOT - really searingly HOT! Indah's house is located in Bukit Jelutong - not too far from my other house in Denai Alam. We first picked up Madeline from work - her boss allowed her to leave 10 minutes earlier since we were already there.

By the time we arrived at Indah's, Jeanie was already there. Indah had her food catered by Chakri Palace!! We had satay, bee hoon, colorful rice, colorful cookies and a whole host of edibles!. I had to remind myself not to overeat and leave some space for the second open house. Burp!!!

From Bukit Jelutong, we used the Guthrie Corridor Expressway (GCE) to get to Rawang. That was my first time using the full GCE and I am very disappointed - I had to pay tolls 3 times within a relatively short stretch of 20km or so. Before we reached the Rawang interchange, dark clouds were gathering in the distance ahead.

And by the time we reach Marya's house, all hell broke loose with torrential rain hammering on everything on the roads and in the area around Bandar Tasik Puteri. For Marya's open house, she had also invited a couple of orphanages to join in and so Jeanie and I had prepared some GREEN packets for the orphans. This in itself is an evolved custom. The Chinese gives RED packets during Chinese new year and over the years, the Malays had adapted the practice by giving GREEN packets. Indians give PURPLE packets during Divali.

After our group had gorge ourselves on rojak (we prepared it ourselves in the comfort of the kitchen instead of getting soaked in the tents that Marya had put up), Nasi dagang, soup ayam and teh tarik, Jeanie and I hurriedly went to the front to distribute the GREEN packets before the orphans went home.

It was also good to meet up with more ex colleagues - Syidah and her sister were amongst Marya's visitors.
Apparently after the sudden deluge, many roads in PJ were flooded. What a day!

An Italian restaurant in Cheras - Venezia

Alex has been moaning about the lack of nice Pizzas in KL, ever since Piccolo Mondo closed down (the one in Mid Valley , next to Madam Kwan's). I had already banned Pizza Hut from our menu since the Taiwan Pizza Hut has tested positive for melamine contamination. In any case, PH's pizzas has such a thick base, it is more like one is eating bread than pizza. And Alex always leave the crust behind.

So when my cousin sister and husband dropped over around lunch time, I asked them if they would like to have lunch - my treat. After suggesting more that a few places (Thai, Nyonya, Bak Kut Teh, Eu Yang Sang, Expired Chicken (er.. Esquire Kitchen la)) and many more, Madeline thought of an Italian place near Leisure Mall. Italian?? Alex was all for it.

We've always seen this place on our way to and from Leisure Mall, but never did have any urge to try it. Since Madeline has tried it before, she says it wasn't too bad. I'm sold! If any one want to try this place, it's called
Venezia
No.1, Jalan Manis 4,
Taman Segar
Cheras
Tel: 03 9130 8992

The poor waiter who served us looks very new, very nervous and obviously not in the boss's good books. And the boss had a scowl that lasted almost throughout our lunch!
We ordered a couple of bowls of soup of the day (tomato soup), a plate of calamari fritters ( too much dough in my opinion), Pizza Alla Diavalo (beef pepperoni pizza), Spaghetti Bolognaise, Penne Arabiata, Fettuccine Pescatora and drinks. And those who knows me knows that on such occasions, my pseudo Italian slang will just pop out naturally!

When the boss (obviously not trusting that poor slob who served us) came by to confirm our order line by line, I was muttering - si si to each line of order he repeated. Still could not get a response from him (no smile, no look of bewilderment). Just a SCOWL!!

The food was reasonable. Alex loves the pizza - gooey with cheese. The soup was fresh and the fettuccine was creamily tasteful, with mussel, calamari and prawns all over.

By the time we had finished, we asked the boss over for the bill. Asked him if he was Italian. He wasn't - he was a Croatian. Been in Malaysia almost 8 years now. Setup such restaurants in Singapore, then Johor, Damansara and finally in Cheras. AND finally his face lit up as I asked more about the authenticity of his food - is this really Venetian taste/flavor? He went on and on about how difficult it was to get authentic ingredients, the costs , etc etc and he actually smiled. Blimey!! Anyway, we finally said our grazie and were off.

Alex aka Garfield would like to come back to try the lasagna!

I am wondering if Venezia's boss is not a fugitive war criminal from the Croatian/ Serbian wars of the early 90s??

Hari Raya 2008

KL is not as traffic free as in previous years during major festivities. Maybe more people realize that it is better to remain in KL during such times. Maybe it's because a lot of people are working on Friday after a 2 days break on Wednesday and Thursday. More likely because prices of everything has gone up with this current facsimile of a banana republic government that we have.

We spent the first day of Raya cleaning up the new house in Denai Alam. Now it feels great to walk bare feet over the floors. Both upstairs and downstairs and the driveway was cleaned up. In fact it was so clean that Shirley's brother was hesitant to walk to the store room to get some putty to do up the Allan's house.

On the second day, Kuen Kuen managed to get 2 lanes for bowling at the Kiara Equestrian club. She brought along her son, Joel and daughter, Jolene (or was it Jolyn??). My game has gone to the dogs. But we had a good time chit chatting , eating and drinking during the games.

I think I need to frequent the lanes more often to bring my game back up to where it used to be during the HP days when I captained the company's team.
Sigh!

Melamine tainted milk and Corporate responsibilities (Updated)

After reading yet another corporate statement on the "safety" of their products, I feel compelled to voice out my concerns on these communication gymnastics that these corporations are resorting to.
A) On Sept 24th, Mars Food which imports Snickers, M&M and other dairy based confection from China issued an advertisement that states " We are confident none of our chocolate or confectionery products made in China includes any dairy ingredient adulterated with melamine"
What has confidence got to do with safety of the products? Moreover - those made in China at this time? Get them tested and show the test results (the latest results). Test the products sold in Malaysia. It's not like the problem just happened overnight. It has been on going for quite a while. I am banning Snickers, M&M, Dove and any other Mars Food products from my house with immediate effect!
Updated info for 30th Sept:
Indonesia's food supervisory agency said at the weekend that it discovered some 16 Chinese-made diary products contained melamine, adding that all those products - including well-known brands such as Snickers and M&M's chocolates - would be immediately destroyed. "Mars is extremely surprised about the recent announcement that tests conducted by the... Indonesian regulatory authority, have shown that M&Ms and Snickers products made in China contain melamine," the company said in a statement released late Monday in Hong Kong. "The results announced (in Indonesia)... conflict with and are completely inconsistent with all analytical results received to date by Mars from governmental agencies and independent laboratories across Asia and Europe."

B) Today 29th Sept, the local Pizza Hut (in response to another news article of positive presence of melamine in cheese in Pizza Hut Taiwan) says " we did a thorough review of our supply base last year which demonstrates that none of our supply was impacted. All our suppliers have confirmed that this is still the case". Huh??
Hello - this is already September 2008. What you did last year may have an effect (if any) only for the few months thereafter. How sure are you that you are not affected by the melamine adulteration since then? I am not!! And you asked your suppliers for their scout's honor?? That's like asking people to swear on the Quran that they are innocent. Of course they will swear their innocence - or risk losing money in product recalls!!
Pizza Hut is also off my household list of prodcuts to purchase.

Denai Alam - 98% ready!!

As mentioned in the previous post, my house in Denai Alam has been cleaned up and is almost ready for occupancy.

With a land area of 20 feet by 70 feet, the building itself takes up almost 60 feet of the 70 feet length, double storey. With 4 bedrooms, 3 washrooms/bathrooms, a separate kitchen area (renovated from the original design), a separate washing machine and clothes drying area upstairs - I had renovated the house to be as I would have liked it if I were to stay there. In fact, end of this year, we may just move into it so that I can commence renovations on my existing house.

The security of the house has been beefed up with grills - both front and back, upstairs and downstairs. Even the main gate had been changed to one of heavier iron bars.

Each room has an air conditioner point added as well as lights and fans installed.
All 3 bathrooms have heater points installed.

If anyone knows of any potentials who would like to rent a double storey house in Denai Alam, please contact me by leaving a comment and your contact number.

Thank you.