I have turned 24

My birthday was celebrated in a simple but in a slightly bigger scale this year with my colleagues. The main reason was to utilise the prize money that our department had won from the CNY Inter-department Competition. Since there are two March babies in the dept (which includes me), all of us have decided to make good use of the funds available. Our neighbour dept is also celebrating one of our colleagues birthday; which is why our party turned out to be not triple but a quadruple celebration.

We headed to Shogun, a newly opened outlet at Sunway Pyramid to start our feast. The variety is fairly wide ranging from Japanese to Chinese fusion dishes although the it is marketed as a Japanese buffet restaurant. The food was okay but don't expect anything better. Ice creams are of non-Haagen Daz origins unlike the ones served in Tenji, mind you. Since there wasn't any cake for the birthday babies, each of us are being served mini sliced cakes decorated with fruits & desserts taken from the buffet tables.

Ain't it fun to celebrate with someone who shares the same date of birth as you? Seen here is my ex colleague who is older but born on the same day.

Of course, celebrating my big day with WL was always memorable. It was only a simple dinner at Riblee's but it was definitely an enjoyable night. Like they all said, it doesn't matter where you are celebrating - as long as you're spending time with the person that you loved the most will more than make up for the less favourable environment. No doubt the good food & ambience will add more flavour to a special occasion.

The humble entrance to Riblee's.

The food we ordered that night tasted pretty interesting although the pasta wasn't up to my expectations. Good food, nevertheless. Yum! =)

Wild mushroom soup & crisp roast pork salad for starters.

Our double main course - smoked ham quesadillas & Riblees classic carbonara

I'd have to say that the quesadillas was amazingly good with the thin, crispy crust...the juicy ham & sauce mixed with the scrumptious onions. Omg, so heavenly~ I'm craving for it while I'm blogging this =P. However, the carbonara had too much sauce which tasted overly creamy to begin with. It felt a little bit challenging to have the mouthful passing through the throat. The carbonara could've been slightly drier instead of soaking wet with too much cream & cheese. There you have it, a little short story about the day I turned 24. Despite not receiving any gifts, I supposed having a good meal is hell one of an easy-to-satisfy gift. Really hoping to visit Riblee's again for those yummy quesadillas. XD

A sick person at home

Now that grandpa has finally returned home, many things had to be changed. Besides learning how to feed him milk through the tube, we need to get up in the wee hours of morning to change his diapers. Ultimately, feeding grandpa porridge at a very slow pace requires lots of patience.

Unfortunately, grandma is the one who is difficult to handle as she throws tantrum every now & then - being impatient during feeding & perhaps feeling a sense of guilt that she couldn't do much. And perhaps feeling frustrated that why her care is not helping much to speed up recovery like before. Despite all the commotion, I can't express how glad I was when grandpa arrived home. How much I missed not having him around for almost 2 months. What's even more joyful is seeing a smile on his face when he knew it's time for him to return. Lets just hope the yelling & screaming would lessen as months come by.

Noodles with added vegetables

Being alone at home has its pros & cons. The good thing about it is that the house becomes less noisy & nobody distracts you from doing your own thing. The bad, however, is you're left to take care of your own meals all the more if you're a grown up. Grandpa's car was available & I could easily drive out anytime to buy lunch. But the terrifying thought of getting stucked in jams & no luck in finding a parking on a scorching hot day is more than enough to keep myself glued at home.

Much thanks to the inventor of instant noodles, a simple meal can be prepared conveniently at anytime of the day. The cooking instruction is as easy as cooking lesson for dummies. Everyone can create seemingly tasty noodles by just following the steps-by-steps. As for me, eating only the noodles are definitely unhealthy without some protein content. Since there was no eggs in the fridge, I ended up garnishing my noodles with spinach & sliced carrots for a slightly healthy diet. XD

Ta-daa!

You only need the following:

1 pkt instant noodles (soup/dry) - I used Ibumie Har Mee Mi Goreng for the above

Vegetables (your preference)

Egg (highly recommended)

Poultry/seafood slice

Now says who that instant noodles are unhealthy? It can be another balance meal when cooked properly.

For the love of pasta & all that Italian

Most of the celebrations this year were not pre-planned as I have hoped for due to many reasons. First, it was due to my grandpa's current condition. Secondly, the celebrations clash with one another. Hence, I had weigh the opportunity cost & reluctantly postpone one. After all, family matters prevail.

Despite all the commotion that is still happening, I still managed to spend some quality time with WL. And to celebrate his long gone birthday & our belated Valentine's Day for the 2nd time. It was less than 2 weeks before CNY & poor WL still couldn't find a new shirt. With shopping in mind, we went to Sunway Pyramid in hope to scout for one that suited him. In the end, we settled for a simple, light-hearted meal at a Italian restaurant with a Japanese twist. It is Pasta de Gohan we're talking about. =)

While waiting for our main course, we digged into our appetisers. XD WL was so engrossed with his cream mushroom soup & commented several times about how delicious it was! I was literally mad over the mashed potato salad. Absolutely yummy~ Mmmm...

My order for the day was Chicken katsu tamato-ji.

Me indulging in spaghetti with wafu sauce.

When it comes to Italian food, we were never bored laying our eyes on those lovely pastas prepared in the restaurant. As if dining in a Japanese-Italian restaurant ain't enough, we decided to celebrate our belated Valentine's Day at more authentic Italian restaurant - Italiannies at 1U.

This outlet will always remain the closest to our hearts because it was this friendly dinner that led to our union. Many things followed after that night & until now, we couldn't be more glad than having that delicious meal together.

Our selection this time was parmesian crusted fish & smoked salmon pizza. The fish was deep fried in bread crumbs with with some salad leaves & melted parmesan cheese on top the boneless meat. Whereas the pizza was made of thin, crispy crust topped with onions, melted cheese & slices of smoked salmon.

What's surprising is that I have turned into quite a salmon lover despite not eating it each time my family ordered salmon dishes. I guess when a certain food is not to your liking will eventually be one of your favourites if at least once in your life you've tasted the best dish ever served. And I've discovered that smoked salmon is actually cooked salmon! Little did I know that I'm THAT ignorant~ =P

Me & WL never failed to dig our hands into when it comes to Italian food. If not, we wouldn't have attempted cooking our very own pasta. After all, it's just our way to display our passion for each other...as well as Italian delights.