of eja's birthday & break fast outing

i almost forgot that i haven't bring my staff for the buka puasa outing yet. my schedule is damn packed this time, thats why. we went to gurney hotel last year. click here to read about it. eventually they would never know of where we gonna buka puasa as i always kept it to myself until we reached the destination.

so this year i have to make do with a nearer place (here), being that i am terribly busy this time of the year. plans were immediately made yesterday, where i booked the place with abang ali via sms. some of my staff went today, while the rest will be going on this coming monday. take note that our business aren't easy for us to close shop anytime we wanna, just like that. if not... hmm... you will be seeing these people coming uninvited grr... btw it was such a co-incidence that one of my cashier' birthday falls today too. i only realized it yesterday! some of you people may know already by now that i love to surprise people and make them happy, especially my closed ones. i went back home early from work yesterday for us to bake some multi-colour swirl cupcakes, to surprise eja today. i made an arrangement with abang ali, to keep the birthday cupcakes in their kitchen as soon as i arrived. then they are to bring it out after we finished our main break fast meal.

eja was damn surprised when one of the waitress brought out a big plate of the birthday cupcakes. "this must be kakak. thank you so much", she said while looking at me. i am so glad that she likes the idea. she smiled all the way... anyhow, enjoy the pics people--

but back to dinner. the buffet ramadhan, available for RM28 nett for adult and RM19 nett for children, is served at the other section. the usual coffee house area is under renovation.

the ambiance was great. soft lighting, distributed buffet areas and raya music (recorded) makes it a great business dinner venue. you can actually hear yourself talk, and not hear the conversation of others nearby. you don't get elbowed at the buffet, and the staff look you in the eye when they smile at you.

the spread itself was nothing to shout about at first, until you taste the food. dessert, my main interest whenever i go for a buffet, was simple yet distinctive. of course, they had the local fruits, local kuih selection including my favourite, none other than kuih limas, and a mean bubur pulut hitam. i was pleasantly surprised that the teh tarik was not THAT sweet! finally... lol...

to abang ali,
tqsm for the great hospitality. not forgetting the discounts! there were 9 of us i.e. 8 adult and 1 children, but the cashier charged me for 7 adults only plus 1 children. besides that, she even minus 10% from it, that makes the grand total of less than RM200. i knew that it must be you. also a very big thank you to all the f&b staff who were very helpful when we needed your assistance. see you all again on monday!

alright, i guess i would better call it a night then. its gonna be a whole day community event for tomorrow with my N7 team. i really need a good rest. nite-nite people!

kuE's note:
read about our quick get away at bukit merah laketown resort last year here.

i love and wanna do it again

what i would like to say here is that i really faced my monday blues today. i went back to bed after i send the kids to school. i thought maybe i could recover a quick nap. unfortunately i dunno what had happened, when suddenly i heard mother's voice from outside of my room, telling me that it was already 10. i was like, "haa?!!...". oh gosh... i took my fon to look at the time. yes, it was already past 10am. i unlocked the room door. mama wanted to see what i bought. i was not in the mood, just awoke. i have the book that i am currently reads, marrying buddha in my left hand. i must be trying to read it earlier but i slept instead. since mama saw that i was not in the mood yet, she walked-out. i pushed back my body down. i have no mood to get up. i managed to continue reading.

again, i dunno what had happened when my sister came-in. argghhh... i slept again! it was around 11.15 am. my parents went to kl for a day trip yesterday. maybe she followed them back here. as usual, she would asked any of us who drive to bring her to places that she wanna go. looks like she has to wait for me to get ready. i continued reading after she left. i only got up for shower at about 12 noon.

you must be wondered of why i was kind of so lazy today. well i took some time off during the weekend for a break in penang. we stayed in one of the studio suites in the gurney hotel for two nights. just look at the wonderful pictures below, a view from my hotel room on the 17th floor. the one on the left showed a sea view, covered with haze. while the other one was a city view, from behind the hotel.



on my previous post, i typed about my break fast outing with my staff at the same hotel's coffee house on last thursday. the hotel's ramadhan buffet is available during the weekdays only. the food were so good, delicious... on friday, i went there again with another group. i guess it's already like a yearly event for us. i started to do these two years ago. the best thing was that i didn't tell any of them of where i wanna bring them. it would be a surprised for them. i brought kids and grandmother with me. while my staff would just follow me wherever i go. i believed that that was a great way for me to strengthen my realtionship with my staff.



those staff that went on friday was so surprised when i told them that they will go back alone that night, without me. there are guys anyway, not to worry. they should know how to find their way back without any hassle. one of them helped me with the luggage. i checked-in earlier, as soon as we reached the hotel. so we parted. kids were very happy enough as they seems will be with me the whole weekend. they understood that i would be normally busy. one of the tv programmes that we watched that night was mtv cribs, featured mariah carey's pent-house. her place is so beautiful. then i remembered kc. she posted about this some time ago. i quickly send a text message to her, hoping that she will watch the programme too.

the next day, saturday, we left the hotel about 10.30 am for metrojaya in island plaza. we really shopped like nobody's business. besides, i really love to do my raya shopping there from my younger years, starting from their first outlet in bb plaza. for me, metrojaya is still my first choice. after almost more than six hours there, we went back to the hotel. at first we thought of having our break fast elsewhere. but since grandmother looks tired, we decided to order from room service. it was very good indeed. a nice and relaxing meal for all of us.

at about 9.30pm, i took the chance to pamper myself with a balinese massage at the hotel's suite spa. puteri accompanied me. at the same time also she wanted to know of how is it like. the spa has 17 individual suites. i was lucky that mine faced the sea. i love that environment so much more than the one that i frequent at syuen hotel in ipoh. i hope that i could go back there again some day. if only i remember to take pics of the spa suites, then you would know how nice it was. we didn't go up to the room immediately. but puteri and i had a mother-daughter saturday night-out at the CB outlet in beach hut gurney, located at the hotel itself. just look at the pics, its a great environment there right, facing the beach.



we checked-out yesterday at about 10.15 am. and guess what people. we didn't go straight back home as yet. we headed to gurney plaza instead. more shopping there, until we left the place only after 5pm. earlier in the morning, i received a sms from mama saying that she went to kl with dad and will be back on the same day. that was fine. we dropped-by bukit merah laketown resort after 6pm, just nice for us to relax and have our break fast there on time. food was great. they had a kampung-style buffet. one of the male staff asked me of how i knew about their ramadhan buffet. hmm... you asked me how huh?!! just figure it out yourself— what a stupid Q, don't you think? lol...

so how about all you muslims out there. would you like to share with me your raya preparations?

break fast with staff -- day 1

an outing with staff yesterday was wonderful. we went for a buffet break fast at the gurney hotel's coffee house. yes we drove all the way to penang. we were full by the time we left the place. in fact, we went straight up to the room and slept as soon as we reached home. we were already sleepy that puteri and i decided not to watch the repeat programme of astana idaman 3 at about 11.30 pm.