Get-together at The Z**e & Emerald Rawang...

My apologies. This posting is one week late due to my hectic schedule at work the last seven days. But, as the saying goes - better late than never, huh?

The gang had a get together in KL last Saturday (16th August 2008) - the occassion : to meet up with our friend Kmar who was back home in KL from Barcelona with her hubby, Jose, and their gorgeous kids - Daniel and Aisha. They were back for 5 weeks and only flew back to Spain last Monday.

I last met Kmar and her family when I menempek ikut Ayah who had a conference in Barcelona in 2006. The rest of the gang, apart from Sal and Awin, had not met Kmar since we left school in 1985 - that was 23 years ago!

Kmar and co. normally come back home every 2 years, and her parents would visit them in Spain in between. As her hometown is in Ipoh, and as everybody was always pretty tied up with things and stuff, we rarely got the chance to meet up with Kmar in KL before this. This time around we decided to make a point to have a get-together just a few days before she flew back home to Barcelona.

The venue was The Z**e in KL, where they were putting up for a few nights before their flight home. As it was the first day of the school holidays, there were still many of our friends who could not make it. Most of them had balik kampung that day. But, we went ahead with it, as realistically, it would never be possible to get everybody gathered together at any given time anyway.

It was a pot-luck thing and some of the dishes we managed to whip up (or got somebody else to whip up for us...Hehehe!) were Kuey Teow Goreng (moi :)), Ketam Masak Lemak Kuning (who else if not Ibu, who also bought with her some VERY juicy tembikai - but alas, NOT from TES*O! Hehehe!), Yam Cake (Awin), Satay Sa**ri (Sal), Cheese Cake (courtesy of Onair with the help of Sec**t Re**pe ;)), and those yummy Roti Boy buns (Abid).

Myself and co. were the first to arrive, followed by Ibu, Awin, Onair, Sal and Abid and their families. Suffice to say, when the gang got together, tak ingat dunia semua...

To Kmar,

It was really good to have met up with you and the family. And thanks for the ole-ole from Barcelona :). I hope next time Daniel will not be too shy with his Mom's VERY loud friends...Hahaha! And I'm so impressed with Aisha's Bahasa Melayu (or rather - Bahasa Perak! Hehehe!). It was quite interesting when we saw her automatically changed her language from Bahasa Perak to Spanish/Catalan when she spoke to Jose. And when she had to be the interpreter for Daniel and your parents - SOOOOOOO CUUUUTTTEEEE!!!

We should do this again next time when you're back in Malaysia, and hopefully we'll get more people to join in the fun, insya Allah.

Anyway, we said our goodbyes to Kmar and made our way home around 8:30p.m.

About an hour later, Ibu sent an SMS which I only read way after midnite-

"Guys, how abt teh tarik session at rawang 2mrw petang? Latest challenge in secret chamber for men n boys. Ladies...err...cabut rambut gatal?"

(Ibu's secret chamber is really an 'underground room' beneath her first floor garden, entrance to which is from her groundfloor garden)

The next morning, I texted her -

"Sorry, only read SMS late smlm. Jadi ker ptg ni? If all ok, we're ok, too. But, haizal nds anor secret chamber 2 work in. Can? What time nak serang rumah u?"

And she came back with -

"Ok 5pm. Teh/nscfe tarik, krpk lekor, sotng ball, roti smbl telur. badminton, carrom, fsball, scrble. Mic? Then watch chng wei vs lindan. Haizal can use mini libry or guest rm, free wifi"

But alas, only Onair and myself could make it as Abid was already heading her way to Penang that morning, while Jo was still in JB, and Reha was still in KB. Kengkawan lain pun semua out of town.

It was another pot-luck thingy, and I fried some meehoon for tea, while Onair bought a yummy Sec**t Re**pe cheese cake. (Errrr...Onair you ada share ke kat SR??!! Hahaha!)

The new challenge in Ibu's "secret chamber" turned out to be a pool table - much to the kids' delight! I lost count of how many rounds of pool, and how many games of badminton they played that evening. Suffice to say, all the kids were drenched with sweat by the time we made our way home that night.

Everybody was glued to the TV when Choong Wei played against Lin Dan in the Men's Single Finals that evening...Well, not for long though. Halfway through the game, a few of us were already having palpitations and found the game too much of a stress to watch, and we decided to just peep in every now and then. So much so, that we forgot to take pics of all the muka-muka tension that night. Everybody knows what happened to Choong Wei, so, let's not go into that, huh? :(

Anyway, later that night, Onair had a baking session in Ibu's kitchen, and surprise, surprise - MY Hanna helped her out! Hmmmm, IF only she is as helpful in MY kitchen! Hehehe!) As it turned out, Ibu had never used her new oven since she moved into the new place, and the racks were all still TIED together. (Errrr...why am I NOT surprised?! HAHAHAHA!!!) And the user's manual was just too much to absorb in 10 minutes. Last-last pakai the mini oven in the wet kitchen :)

Unfortunately, we could not wait until the cake was baked as we had to go and visit my biras who was involved in a cycling accident earlier on at DSH. Su**ian had his nose broken in three places and had to spend a night at the hospital. Syukur alhamdulillah, it was not serious (in fact, by Thursday morning he was already on his way on the plane to Hong Kong with L**n - my SIL, and their kids!) And check this out - one of the reasons they're there (besides bringing the kids to Hong Kong Disneyland) was, get this - to get ANOTHER bicycle! Sigh...

Anyway, that's that for now, ya...

In the mean time, here are some pics.

Enjoy!