THE DINNER DATE FOR THE SHORT WEEKEND

This week's weekend is a short one as tomorrow (Saturday) will be a replacement school (for SMK Dato' Jaafar). Fortunately, an ex-student of SMK Taman Universiti, Mr Muazzam Amat Sairin, asked me out for dinner so at least I had filled up my day with something interesting.

The chosen venue was Foodzania at Setia Tropika. Finally I had my meal there after seeing the advertisements frequently on my FB wall.

It was raining and the traffic was bad on my to the restaurant. We had to make the meeting worth the effort so we ended up at the nearby Starbucks for dessert and coffee/tea.

Thanks Mr. Muazzam. Looking forward to more meetings in the future.

SPOT THE ERROR 185

Seriously? Starbucks?

It [personal pronoun]

I have a cat. It is a female.

It's = it is, OR it has [contraction]

The cat is lazy. It's sleeping in the kitchen now. [it is]

It's been sleeping for 2 hours. [it has]

Its [possessive adjective]

The cat is sleeping soundly. Its kittens are walking all over the place.

 

A 3-DAY ELECTION WEEKEND ACTIVITY - DAY 2

On the second day of the 3-day election weekend, another lunch date was set with an ex-student of SMK Taman Universiti, Mr. Afif Farhan Zulkifli. 

The proposed restaurant was a Muslim Chinese eatery in Taman Daya, called Adam's Kitchen.

We had rice, fish, vegetable and tofu - and all the dishes were delicious. There will definitely be a next time.

And to conclude the scrumptious meal, we went for coffee and dessert at a nearby Starbucks. The two different types of cheese cakes were just the brilliant choice I made.

Thanks Mr. Afif Farhan for the lunch treat and the company. Hopefully we could meet up one more time before you pursue your studies next month.

MORE EATING OUT SESSION FOR THE LONG WEEKENDS

What better way to celebrate the long weekends other than eating and hanging out with friends? This time the last minute choice for lunch was Dari Korean Restaurant in Setia Tropika. This should be a shift from the regular KFry outlet we used to go to in town for Korean food.

We had all the Korean food that I did not know the names but that was alright.

THE VERDICT: I still prefer KFry to this newly discovered place but I don't mind coming again.

There was this HALAL logo on the door so you could always eat with confidence.

Then someone wanted to have coffee so we marched off to the Starbucks cafe which was just nearby.

Happiness was when you got to see an ex-student working in the cafe [again] and he voluntarily paid for your coffee. Thanks a lot Mr. Zul, an ex-student of SMK Taman Universiti. This should be my third time meeting him while he was working and he could still remember the place where we met for the first and second meeting.

Thanks a lot to my adventurous gastronomic friends who are always happy to eat and sit and chat for long hours. There were others who were missing but it would be hard these days to get all the gossip girls to gather at the same time.

MY COLLECTIBLES: STARBUCKS MINI MUGS

This is one hobby I started late. So how did it all begin? A friend asked me to buy her a bigger mug during one of my travels and I bought a set of mini ones for myself.

Just cannot wait to travel again and expand my collection.

COFFEE SESSION AT STARBUCKS ONE FRIDAY AFTERNOON

18TH DECEMBER 2020 ~ This would be something that I rarely do - spending time at Starbucks. One reason: everything is overpriced. However someone was kind enough to give me a treat so I had no complaint. It was at Paradigm Mall, where I had had another farewell gathering at another venue earlier.

I ended up choosing Caramel Hot Chocolate which was a tad too sweet for me.

Thanks Mr. Haiqal Johari, an ex-student of SMK Taman Universiti, for buying me drinks. I don't really mind coming again if you happen to have extra money in your Starbucks card again. 😀

MY HOMETOWN GASTRONOMIC ADVENTURE - OF MEATBALLS CRAVING AND COFFEE FIX

I have been craving for Ikea's meatballs and today the craving was finally satisfied. 15 pieces of meatballs were more than enough and luckily I did not take any other food except two pieces of spring rolls even though the temptation was very strong.

After that, we then adjourned to get coffee from a Starbucks oulet from the AEON Tebrau City Mall nearby. It was a perfect way to sum up the outing this evening.

I met an ex-student of SMK Taman Universiti, Mr. Zul [SPM batch 2003] who was a staff there. I would have to remind myself to find him first before making my order at this specific outlet next time.

So that was how my Friday evening was spent. It was not really an adventure but for me, to be able to eat out once in a while was already an achievement. Thanks to Mr. Afif Farhan (SPM 2010) for the company and the time, and the coffee treat too. We will find other place next time for the next gastronomic adventure.

THE LONGEST GATHERING WITH MY TESL FRIENDS EVER

This should be the longest gathering in one session ever, starting on 26th July and ended the day after on the 27th. It was time to meet a few of my girl friends of UPM TESL class of 1993 when I was in Kuala Lumpur and a dinner date was set at TGIF, the Curve.

We first went western for dinner and there were four housewives who managed to make it this time, and was joined later by a husband of one of the ladies who paid for our food eventually.

It was getting late but we decided to go for coffee at Starbucks which was just a few doors away. Someone was already leaving with her husband but then she suddenly came running back to join us. Who could resist a midnight party at a cafe in the middle of the city?

the door was finally locked

We only went away when they had to close shop by 12.30 a.m.

Thanks again to all my friends: Pn. Adila Ahmad, Pn. Hazlina Aziz, Pn. Hanna Sheikh Mokhtar and Pn. Zanariah Abdul Shukor for the food and company. It was good to feel like teenagers again, hanging out after midnight with friends and I couldn't even remember when was the last time I did that.

FOOTNOTE: Someone ran after me while I was walking at the Curve. I thought he was a stalker but so happened he is an ex-student of SMK Taman Universiti [SPM batch 2006] who was also there, waiting for his friend. Thanks Mr. Marzuki Mazlan for chasing after me to say "hi". It was indeed a pleasant surprise to see you.