In Singapore, at the Royal Plaza On Scotts Hotel

My family & I are staying at this hotel in Singapore. I searched the internet for a hotel where the F&B outlets are halal and I came up with this.
We just checked in this morning and so far it's good.

We booked a deluxe room as we needed a room that can accomodate an extra bed. The room is on the Club Floor which means we have use of the Club Lounge - free unlimited snacks and use of the lounge's TV, internet facilities, etc.

This is Carousel, the restaurant where we will be having breakfast tomorrow.

We just came back from a swim at this pool about 2 hours ago. A rather small pool, rather deep with no wading pool for little kids. OK for a holiday leisurely swim but not one if you are into serious multi-lap swimming for exercise.

This is our deluxe room. Nice sized plus there is an LCD widescreen TV as well! For a deluxe room on the Club Floor, the minibar is FREE! On the downside, the fridge only has a few canned drinks and no food. But hey, it is FREE.

The other amazing thing is that this hotel provides FREE unlimited internet!

The lobby.

Note: All images are taken from http://www.royalplaza.com.sg .

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

Dinner at Bosphorus Turkish Restaurant, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur

It was another Saturday. After waking up to a breakfast of home-made roti john and doing some gardening and then lunch at a neighbourhood kopitiam, I sent my daughter to her monthly orthodontic follow-up appointment.

Then we decided to go to the Pavilion for jalan-jalan and dinner. Took a slow drive as my son was sleeping in the car.

Christmas decorations are aplenty at the Pavilion with Christmas trees, decorations, faux snow, santa sleigh & reindeer replicas, Santa clauses/santarinas/elves milling around the mall and department stores, Christmas carol performances and muzak, etc. One can't help feeling a little christmassy all over.

The hibiscus bowl fountain just outside Pavilion reminds me a little of London's Piccadilly Circus- lots of people lepakking around and posing for pictures. There are so many foreigners here speaking all sorts of languages, all enjoying the carnival-like atmosphere.

So my family & I walked around, shopped and even sat and watched a performance of harmonica quartet performing mainly Christmas songs at the centre court of the mall. After that, we went to Bosphorus at Level 6, a Turkish Cuisine fine dining restaurant.

The decor was very pleasant- modern with touches of Turkish design elements/decor items with a predominating blue colour scheme. We were given a table in the centre of the restaurant.

Before taking our orders, we were shown a tray of appetisers that were available. This was very helpful to us who were relatively new to Turkish cuisine. Then the orders were taken.

The appetisers came with a complimentary bowl of turkish bread.

These were what we ordered:

Coban Salata (Shepherd's Salad) - a salad dish of greens, olives, feta cheese in a tangy olive oil dressing with herbs (chopped coriander?). This was really nice and refreshing.

Lahmacun (Turkish pizza) - mini pizza pieces with spiced mince meat served with a mildly hot salsa-like chili/tomato/onion/parsley dip. This was also very nice.

Patlican Salata (Eggplant salad) . Grilled eggplant with tomatoes and grilled green chilies with a yoghurty sauce. This is also very nice.

Next - the main course!

Karisik Izgara (Mix Grill for 2 persons). Consists of grilled chicken, grilled beef, lamb kebab, chicken kebab, salad, grilled chilies, grilled tomatoes, 2 bowls of yoghurt dip and 2 portions of rice. This is really good plus you get to sample of a lot of things on the restaurant's menu.

Kekikli Tavuk Budu Izgara (Grilled chicken drumsticks). Described on the menu as "off the bone, grilled with fresh oregano and served with tomato, chillies, and eggplant sauce". This was really nice as well.

Then, comes the desserts!

Baklava- the ubiquitous Middle Eastern/Mediterranean/Turkish/what-have-you dessert. This was really one of the nicest I have ever tasted where the baklava is nutty and not too sweet and the milk sauce really complemented it very well.

Kunefe with cheese. A dessert with a pistachio centre with a ring of fine noodles which is fried and served with a sweet milky sauce and cinnamon powder. This is really, really good. A must-try should you ever come to this place!

Overall, a very nice dining experience with nothing to complain about. Actually the main reason we came to this restaurant was that my wife got a RM100 voucher for this restaurant when she purchased some jewelry at KM Oli in Bangsar Shopping Centre about a month back.

It was a good thing we had the voucher as the prices of the items here are on the steep side (as with most restaurants this side of the Pavilion mall, I gather). Still, it was money well spent.

After dark, the Christmas trees and decorations outside the mall lit up and attracted lots of people.

See the faint white dots? That's snow (fake snow, actually - small bits of soapy foam)! Kids (and adults) got really excited about the whole thing!

I like this Santa's sleigh and reindeers lighted decoration thingy.

We went home around 9pm.

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

Ben 10 - Power of the Omnitrix show at Plenary Hall, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre

My family & I went to this show, mainly because my son is a big Ben 10 fan. He is also a big Transformers fan, a big Spiderman fan, etc. We went with my sister-in-law and her family. The hall was full of families with kids and boys with Ben 10 t-shirts, jackets, omnitrixes, and other Ben 10 paraphernalia. My son Hilman, was also dressed in his Ben 10 Alien Force long-sleeved tee which we bought at Mothercare a few weeks back.

The show was not too bad, considering that the target audience is probably 3-11 year old boys. The first half of the show was the original Ben 10 (the pre-pubertal Ben Tennyson) and the second half of the show was Ben 10 Alien Force (the adolescent Ben Tennyson, 5 years later). The script, characters, set, costumes kept very much to the spirit of the two Ben 10 variants - the original Ben 10 being more child-like and cute while the successor Ben 10 Alien Force being more mature, darker and with a much cooler set of characters, aliens and scenarios.

Showtime!

Gwen, Ben & plumber Grandpa Max with the RV in which the 2 kids live in the summer holidays with their grandaddy. Grandpa Max isn't the kind of plumber that you & I usually encounter. I'll bet Grandpa Max can't fix a leaking tap even if his life depended on it.

Some participants of an extreme contest in which Ben & Gwen participate but lose to Kevin Levin.

Ben & Gwen Tennyson (Ben 10 & Gwen 10). Notice that their names rhyme?

One of the aliens that Ben changes into.

Kevin Levin - bad boy in Ben 10 but Ben & Gwen's ally in Ben 10 Alien Force.

Kevin and 2 droids who held Grandpa Max captive as they are seeking the omnitrix - an essential tool for world domination, apparently.

Teens Ben, Kevin & Gwen in the 2nd half of the show. Notice that their costumes have changed to sync with the costumes of each character in the Ben 10 Alien Force cartoon. Gwen's looking pretty hot while Ben's looking a little nerdy in his green jacket. Kevin Levin now owns a cool green car in which they all travel in. Kevin also now has large pectoral muscles all of a sudden (looks like fake pecs - probably foam pads underneath the costume).

They spend a lot of time at this joint called "Burger Shack" where they always seem to be the only customers. Mmmmm...strange, isn't it?

The naughty droids who are helping the big-kahuna villain (I forgot his name) to dominate the world.

The now good guy, Kevin in a fight scene with a baddie.

Bad guy (on the left in white and long black arms - apparently useful for scrubbing his back while showering) holding Ben 10 captive in this weird-looking machine while the baddie assistants in white labcoats (are they medical doctors? Hmmmm..) look on.

Another scene with the baddies.

Ben 10 said, "Tolong! Tolong! Lepaskan Aku!"

Bad guy said, "Aku takkan lepaskan kau. Hahahahahahhahaa!"

Ben then uses his omnitrix to change himself into this yellow octopus-like alien.

Gwen, Grandpa Max, Ben & Kevin.

After the show, we had tea at Aseana Cafe. After that, we walked for a bit and then went home.
Replicas of two aliens that Ben 10 changed into on the show.

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

Trip to Kota Bharu 7-10th November 2009

I just came back from Kota Bharu, Kelantan yesterday. I had to go there to do some work which took up the entire Monday. So I decided to take the family along. We flew in on Saturday morning from KLIA and flew back on Tuesday morning.



No, this wasn't our ride. Our ride was a Boeing 737-400. This was a picture taken from the MAS Domestic Golden Lounge at KLIA where we had some breakfast.

Hilman & Mama.

Dayana smiling as she munches on a sandwich.

Julina's nasi lemak which she shared with Hilman.

The flight was approximately 50 minutes and we were served a nice breakfast of cheese and prawn salad sandwiches, chocolate cake with coffee sauce. There was also the drinks at take-off, hot towels at take-off and landing. Nice!

We took a taxi to the Renaissance Kota Bharu. After checking in, we walked next door to the adjacent shopping mall and did some shopping. We had lunch at a food court at the mall where I had the Kelantan special dish, Nasi Kerabu - blue coloured rice mixed with bean sprouts, vegetables with fish/coconut flakes, budu (anchovy sauce), sambal (chili with prawn paste) and fish crackers. Yummy!

Hilman as usual wanted to ride this thing so badly that we just gave in. Sigh!

That afternoon, we went to the hotel pool for a swim. The pool was not crowded at all, so it was a really nice swim for the whole lot of us.

Deck chairs by the pool.

Dayana with her trademark "peace" sign.

Hilman planning a water gun attack on the hotel pool towel attendant.

That night, we had dinner at the hotel's Chinese restaurant, Dynasty. We had the Dim Sum appetiser platter, Yong Chow Fried Rice, yam basket with chicken & cashew nuts
and baby kailan with garlic. Nice!

The interior of the restaurant.

Dayana & I.

Hilman coyly smiles while playing with his Ben 10 Alien Force omnitrix while his mama does the "peace" sign thing. Hilman is really handsome, isn't he? Just like his papa.

The next day we went shopping! After a hearty buffet breakfast at the hotel, we took a cab to the famous Pasar Besar Siti Khadijah, a very famous landmark in Kota Bharu. At the centre court of the market, you will see ladies sitting on elevated platforms peddling their colourful wares - fruits, vegetables, spices, seafood, meats, etc. At the other floors of the market, dried foods, toys, batik, songket, brassware, clothes, local crafts, etc are sold. We did our fair share of shopping there.

The centre court of the famous Pasar Besar Siti Khadijah.

After that, we went to the nearby Bazaar Buluh Kubu, a multi-storey complex of shops selling local batik, songket and other Kelantan crafts. After some frenzy of batik-buying, we had lunch at a nearby stall. After lunch we continued our retail adventure. Not wanting to be outdone by my wife, I bought two pairs of batik shirts for myself.

We shopped till we dropped! Our feet were aching and blistery. The long walk to the bus stand for a cab ride back to the hotel didn't help much either.

When we got back, we rested for a while. Around 4.30pm, we went swimming at the hotel pool again.

That night we had dinner at an Arab restaurant, A M Tarbush. It's tagline was "Masakan Arab, Citarasa Malaysia" (Arab cuisine, Malaysian-style). This place is about 2-3 minutes walk from the hotel. We had chicken and lamb kebabs, lamb briyani, Lebanese bread and roast chicken. Not bad!

The next day was a busy day for me at HUSM. While I was busy at work, my wife and kids went to Pasar Wakaf and bought some pyjamas and toys for Hilman and t-shirts for Dayana.

After work, I joined Julina & the kids at the swimming pool. We stopped when it started to rain.

At about 8pm, we waited at the lobby for our ride to the Examiners' Dinner at Four Seasons Restaurant. The food was simply awesome! We had, among other things, seafood tomyam, butter prawns, sizzling tofu, deep fried siakap with mango kerabu, sweet sour fish, etc. Thanks to the USM Radiology lecturers who brought us to this place for this wonderful makan.

My posse at Four Seasons Restaurant.

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and slept really soundly, thanks to the wonderful dinner.

The next morning, we got up and packed. Then, it was breakfast at the hotel cafe.

Me about to shove a piece of french toast into my face. I really must restart my diet once I come back to KL.

Dayana and her "peace" sign thingy.

After breakfast, we checked out and took a cab to the airport. The airport was full of people sending off relatives for the Haj. We literally had to shove our way through the sea of people to the check-in counters and to the departure area.

Hilman enjoying the fight. No in-flight entertainment on MAS Boeing 737 flights, so Julina made do with her iPod.

The food was exactly the same as the KUL-KBR flight.

We really enjoyed ourselves in KB.
Hopefully we can come again someday.

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

Have A Little Faith by Mitch Albom

I like Mitch Albom's books. They are short and sweet. Sometimes perhaps a little too sweet. Nevertheless, he makes a lazy reader like me feel good as I can finish any one of his books 2 days tops.

This book, very much like his previous ones, has something to do with death.

"Have A Little Faith" is a true story and is quite reminiscent of "Tuesdays With Morrie". There are however two (instead of one) central characters.

One is a rabbi (Jewish cleric) who one day asks the author to do his eulogy when he dies. The funny thing is, at the time of the request, the rabbi was in the pink of health. The author, who is of Jewish faith as well only knew the rabbi as a rabbi. He then decides to get closer to the rabbi and meets the rabbi often, as a way to sort of prepare himself to write the eulogy.

The other character is a born-again Christian church pastor, a reformed drug addict and drug dealer.

To get the message that the author intended, one has to really read the book. I find it amazing that despite the fact that the insights of these two central characters are actually very universal. These two characters had very divergent backgrounds yet on the issues of faith, spirituality and purpose in life, many parallels are laid out. The lessons are really simple but thought provoking. I also like how the author addresses certain "uncomfortable" issues e.g. inter-faith understanding and tolerance through the perspective of these two characters.

I feel that there are many lessons one can take, regardless of one's religious affiliation.

Yeah, it does sound corny I guess but I found a renewed perspective of spiritually after reading this book.

My rating: 3.9 over 5
Message: Mitch Albom's works are not for everyone. If you are not into books without mind numbing horror, edge-of-the-seat thrilling moments, sex, violence, sappy romance etc then this book is certainly not for you.

Ciao!
Amir Fuad.

The Lost Symbol: the latest Dan Brown novel

I was excited to read this book. Knowing that Dan Brown was writing a story centered around the Freemasons, I actually bought a book and read about the Masonic movement to "prepare" myself for Dan Brown's latest outing. I blogged about that here.

As I mentioned in that post, reading about the Freemasons and knowing that a lot of the alleged history cannot be proven and is regarded by Freemasons themselves as unlikely to be true has made the Freemasons a lot less mysterious or as interesting as I thought they were.

Anyway, the entire 500-odd pages of the book covers a time span of less than 24 hours. Really! The book starts of with the now famous symbologist from Harvard, Professor Robert Langdon receiving a last-minute call from one of his best friends secretary, a 33rd degree Mason by the name of Peter Solomon to give a keynote address for a function in Washington D.C. in which the originally intended speaker made a last-minute cancellation. The secretary has also asked Robert to bring a small package which Peter Solomon has entrusted him for safekeepping. Robert agrees and decided to use a lecture covering the elements of Masonry in Washington D C's architecture since he had given a similar lecture before and he has kept the notes.

Robert is then whisked off to Washington D.C. in a luxurious private jet and was brought to the The Capitol (a very famous landmark in Washington DC) in a limo. Arriving just in the nick of time at The Capitol he rushes to the designated lecture hall. Instead he finds a severed hand in which the fingers are pointing to the fresco on the ceiling. Upon close examination of the severed hand, he recognises the hand to be that of his dear friend, Peter Solomon.

The CIA gets into the picture as they claim that this case has serious ramifications on US's national security. Robert recognises some strange symbols tattooed on the severed hand's fingers.

Later, it was revealed that Peter Solomon was kidnapped by a muscular, extensively-tattooed baddie named Mal'akh. Mal'akh, being the bad guy that he is has also lured Peter's attractive sister, Katherine Solomon into letting himself into Katherine's laboratory in The Smithsonian Institute. Katherine dabbles in the research into a new branch of science known as Noetic Science. What is Noetic Science? I don't NOE! (But if you want to know(noe), try going to this site).

Want to know more? Then, get off your butt, go to the bookstore, purchase a copy of the book and read it yourself, then!

The style is similar to his other novels. It's hard to put it down once you have started but being someone who has read all of his previous novels, some parts do get a tad predictable. There are a few "Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" moments here and there. I find some of the plot twists a bit too bizarre. It's also hard to imagine how Professor Robert Langdon, despite being the very clever person that he is made out to be, can have a long train of thought within less than a minute to death, literally.

Over all, it still is an entertaining read if you just overlook the bizarreness of the rationale for certain situations.

My rating: 2.7 over 5

Message: If you're a Dan Brown fan, get this book for your collection. If you're not, just wait for the movie. It's due to be out in 2012, apparently.

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

Buka Puasa at Zuan Yuan Chinese Restaurant, One World Hotel, Bandar Utama

It was our first buka puasa outing for this Ramadhan. While browsing the internet for suitable places to have our iftar, I stumbled upon this site: http://eats.my (Eats: The Good Food Guide). I clicked on the Ramadan Promotion link and got here: http://eats.my/PromoNew.php?id=608.

It said that there is a buffet for RM 68++ (adult); RM 38++(child) at this place serving Cantonese cuisine. It sounded different, I thought, so after consulting my boss (a.k.a. wife), I placed a reservation by phone.

When we arrived, I was surprised that the buffet selection was rather dismal. There were only salads, soups, bubur lambuk and desserts. Feeling disappointed, I asked one of the captains whether there was more to the buffet.

I was told that for the Ramadhan period, it was not a "full buffet". The salads, soups, and desserts are on a buffet table. The rest of the items are available on a separate "Ramadhan" menu consisting of over 50-odd dishes. Those paying for the Ramadhan buffet get to pick an unlimited number of dishes/servings from this Ramadhan menu. Yes, you can order as much as you want and as many times as you wish as well.

That was a cool concept, I thought.

We ordered Fried Rice and some dishes (pictures below).


Those ordering the Ramadhan Buffet will get a complimentary plate of dates for breaking fast.

Marmite prawns.

Mongolian chicken - crispy fried with soy sauce and garlic. Not bad.

One of the dim sum choices available - chicken char siew buns. The soft spicy sweet red chicken char siew pieces in the freshly steamed buns was really succulent. Nice!

Kai lan and bean curd skin in oyster sauce - also nice.

Kung pao chicken - fried pieces of chicken fillet with a thick soy sauce gravy with dried chillies. Very pedas and really tasty.

Deep fried pieces of garoupa fillet with salted egg and onions. This is really tasty!

Mixed vegetable dish consisting of asparagus, mushrooms, baby corn and carrots in a mild sauce. Not as nice as the bean curd skin dish.

Another dish we ordered but I did not take a picture of is the crispy fried chicken and duck platter served with this nice dark sweet sauce. This was really good as well.

For us, this was a nice change from the usual hotel buffets providing mainly Malay, Local or Middle Eastern and international fare. Because of the system of the buffet, there were no long mad queues at buffet lines and jostling through crowds to get your dish. Everything (except for the appetisers/salads/soups/desserts) was served at your table and it made for a much more serene and calm buka puasa ambiance.

I'm glad we went there. Might just come here again after the fasting month to try out the regular a la carte items.

Ciao & Wishing all Muslims reading this a spiritually fulfilling Ramadhan.

Amir Fuad.