More than 'play-play'
This is how I exploited the use of Blackberry playbook :):
To ensure she will be occupied when traveling so that mummy can doze off for a while (or more time for FBing).


To entertain herself while mummy busy with house chores (or FBing again).

To ensure she would be obedient and finish her meal faster so that mummy can clear all the dishes in the sink (or again more time for FB).

To put her to sleep so that mummy can finish off ironing and what nots (or of course, FBing). ;P

The treasure called friends
We made friends wherever we go. But no doubt, we may make enemies as well. Of course, we try to avoid making enemies and treasure the friends that we meet. This is a tale of friends I met along my life, doing the activity we love best: EAT!!

Intan Zubaidah is a friend from high school. She was one of those who came in during Form 4, or commonly referred to as budak Form 4 baru.:) The newcomers were grouped in a different class and thus we did not mix together much. And frankly, the feelings of hostile and berlagakness sebab kira macam senior kat sekolah tu did exist.:P Anyhow, during Form 5, the classes were revamped and Intan happened to be in the same class as me. Analogically, we 'struck gold' together. We had the most wonderful treasure of memories: from sharing jokes, to sharing stories about boys, to sharing knowledge and to sharing the ridiculous gila-gila moments or what we used to say as 'tolol'. Not to mention the race to the dining hall for supper after night prep.

Recently, Intan who is currently residing in Kulim, came to Bangi. And we made a date to meet. We went for lunch at Red Wok Restaurant. Highly recommended by other friends who have previously dine there.


Intan brought her daughter along, who has a very unique and long name. Intan Andrea Khadijah.


I had this dish: rice with beef cooked with basil leaves. Not bad... Caution! Ada petai.
I also ordered this, fried chicken wings with thai sauce. Sedap...
Intan shared this dish with her daughter, nasi goreng kampung. The portion is enough for 2-3 people.
Intan also ordered this vege dish, spinach with soup. Simple dish but so yummy. I'm impressed to see Andrea eating the spinach. I was thinking of my kids yang tak makan vege.

And finally, we had this dessert of jackfruit and water chestnut. Memang sedap...

I parted with Intan with the promise too meet again whenever she came to KL/Selangor in future. Her 'gila-gila' antic from the school days surfaced when she said this as she was about to close the car's door  'Kejap..kejap... nak tengok muka you puas-puas...' Ha ha...

After school, I went for matriculation. The first year of matriculation was in Muzaffar Syah School in Melaka. I met Norharlina there (ok.... I met my husband there too...:)). We have quite a number of Linas in that matric year. Myself, Norharlina, Norhaslina and Nurhajarlina. Luckily, Norharlina has a different nickname (Mona) and so does Nurhajarlina (Hajar). I developed a new nickname thus differentiating myself from Norhaslina was made easier. Well, Norhaslina was fondly known as Lina Hassan anyway since later on, memang ramai betul Lina-Lina ni...:)

Again, I struck gold with Mona. Even though Mona was ex-TKCian and considered musuh rasmi STF, we never had any dispute about our alma mater during our friendship. Few months ago, before she went for her hajj, we met for lunch. She was the one sitting in front yang tersengih ala kanak-kanak riang itu. Memang sesuai dengan her role as child psychiatrist. The one sitting besides her is Nora. Mona's ex-schoolmate and we were together during 2nd year of matriculation in Kuala Pilah. The one sitting besides me is Rahanawati, my colleague (but different department). She met Mona in Australia during her study leave.

We had our lunch at De Warung, somewhere near HUKM.
I had this fish and rice dish. Lemon fish ke apa ntah. Lupa dah.
We shared this otak-otak dish. Anyhow, we had an unpleasant experience with the otak-otak. But the company override the unpleasantness.

We also ordered these dishes. Seriously, lupa dah makan apa hari tu.

During the 2nd year of matriculation in Kuala Pilah, I make more friends. And I survived my degree with some of these friends, namely Zakiah (lovingly known as Jackie) and Siti Fatimah (lovingly known as Timeh).  And to make it even sweeter, these friends are now my colleagues, but different departments though. We have a long years of memories together: in the same matriculation, in the same course, renting the same house (masa zaman bujang) and now working in the same faculty.

We had lunch recently, at Secret Recipe.


 I had Tom Yam Kung.

Jackie & Timeh had this fried rice. Bukan kongsi, tapi sepinggan sorang. I have to stress this so that I won't be seen as kuat makan....keh keh keh....


Can't remember what drink was this.

And chocolate banana cake.


And here I am now, Alhamdulillah, working, after years of studying. I'm blessed to have colleagues with whom I can share stories about work, staffs, office politics etc etc etc. Anisah works in a different department but we happened to be involved in coordinating one of the modules in the faculty. Anisah, being a veterinarian, also heads the Animal Unit in the faculty and are in the same animal ethics committee with Timeh. 

Believe it or not, after years of being colleagues, this was our first lunch date. Well, lunch sama-sama masa meeting tu tak kira la kan. We had lunch at Madam Kwan of KLCC.
I had this curry laksa.

And soya cincau. The unique feature is, they prepare the drink without sugar and they provide us with sugar in the form of liquid, so we can add on to the drink secukup rasa.

Anisah had char kuey teow.


Timeh had prawn noodle or something.

For dessert, we had banana fritters with ice-cream. Totally sedapp.... And cendol.


I feel very rich having these people as my friends. Priceless treasure indeed. Now, how I wish to meet up with friends from primary school pulak...:)
iFamily in iCity
We made a trip to iCity recently. We heard about the lights, the snow walk and thought it's about time we experienced it ourselves.

We arrived there a little after 6pm. The queue to enter the parking lot was quite long. Parking fee from 6pm to 6am is RM10. But from 6am to 6pm the fee is RM1. I read in somebody's blog that you should be there earlier, before 6pm and immediately pay the parking fee to get the RM1 rate. Then up to you nak leave pukul berapa pun. Not sure whether this tactic works or not. Anyways iCity management did advise people to pay parking fee ahead so that you don't have to queue very long to pay when everyone is leaving at about the same time.

There was still daylight when we arrived so the place was not enchantingly lighted yet.

You will see a few animal replicas as you walk out from the parking bay.

Dinosaur: Despite its lifelessness, I pity this dinosaur. Look at its mouth. Sape la yang tak de civic pegi sumbat mulut dia dengan sampah tu...

Horse

Giraffe

There was this reptile exhibition place.  We skipped it.

We had dinner here.

I had this noodle dish. Blurnya gambar ni...

To perform Maghrib, praying rooms are available on the 2nd (female) and 3rd (male) floor above the al-Rawsha restaurant. However, when we were there, the 2nd floor is closed thus the female share the male's praying place. Not too crowded because the space is big but kind of inconvenient because we have to share the ablution place. Leceh sikit.

The place is beautifully lighted at night. (The boy in the pic is not related to us. He was just being in the right place and I clicked at the wrong time.:) )





We met this Man of Lights and took pic with him.

The rides. Lots of people, long queue, jenuh tunggu. And as usual, there are certain height and rules that we have to comply before going on the rides.
Ferris wheel

Pirate ship
The wheel
Inside the wheel



View from top
Circus travel

Ambik gambar guna camera tak berapa canggih, macam ni je la output dia...:P

Train ride

Almost all rides charged at RM 5 per ride per person.

But for sky walk RM10 per person.


Snow walk RM25 for adult and RM20 for kid (with mykad).

We didn't know that babies or kids under the age of 3 are not allowed to enter. Reason: babies may not tolerate the extreme cold. So having Syamila with us, we forgo the idea of going into the snow walk. But the elder kids were disappointed since they have heard exciting stories about snow walk from their cousins. So, we decided that hubby stay outside with baby Syamila and I accompany the kids inside.

I mentioned to Syafiqah, nanti kat dalam, boleh main snow, baling snow kat Angah. So when inside, hmmm... what do you expect. It's not real snow anyway. More like shredded ice. Tapi Syafiqah kutip gak la nak baling kat Angah dia. Ha ha....







The kids had fun...for a while... I underestimated the coldness and most of us did not wear appropriate footwear and the cold really bites into your toes. And Syafiqah, my number 4, had started to feel uncomfortable and asked me to carry her. Carrying her in the cold on the slippery surface was not an easy task. Thus we exited after about 20-30 minutes? Lebih kurang la kot. Well, lesson learnt. Next time we will come prepared. My elder kids had long faces upon going out. They still haven't had enough of the snow walk.

In the city of lights, the business of these bling bling, lighted hair accessories and whatchamacallit flourished. And of course, kids are tempted to own one of these. And parents just haven't got the heart to say no. So we bought these. My number 1 and 2 are old enough to be embarrassed to wear these hair bands. 



To top the night, the kids had ice-cream. Imagine, having ice-cream at almost midnight. But with all the lights, it actually pushes the night cold away. So, we were not chilled at all.

On our way back, the kids have started asking for the next trip to iCity. The topmost agenda: Snow walk. InsyaAllah dearest kids, InsyaAllah.