Company's new ride ... Toyota Previa

My company hired a car and driver to ferry us around everywhere in Abu Dhabi since most of us do not have a valid UAE driver's license. The driver in question is Basheer. Very dedicated and pleasing chap and prior to this, he was fetching us in his Toyota Camry station wagon. Pretty decent ride but with more staffs joining in soon, the Camry just isn't going to be big enough to fit the lot of us.

So upon signing a one year contract with my company, Basheer purchased a new vehicle to accomodate us. A more suitable one ... a classier one. :) He got the 2008 7-seater Toyota Previa (known as the Toyota Estima back home in M'sia). After ding-donging for a number of days ... pending approval for the insurance and loans, registration blah blah blah, he finally took delivery of his new 'baby' today. The car was only two hours old when I took these photos. The photo above does not do justice towards showcasing just how proud Basheer is of his new purchase. In fact, I believe he's celebrating the occasion now as I'm blogging this. Congrats Basheer ... you deserve it. In his own words ... CLASS!!! :)

How Far Is Heaven ...

Life is so unpredictable,
Like spreading your soul on dinning table,
Making sense would be a miracle.
Like achieving victory over evil,
One must make life to be achievable.

Family bond is thicker than water,
Our loving bond is what keeps us together.
There will always be storms to weather,
But our love will become a shelter,
Only then our bond will grow to be better.

Love is so like a drama on tube,
Six billion people and I found you,
Loving you feel like every morning sun,
Loving you makes everything so fine,
Yet we still make love such a difficult time!

Friendships should be like gold,
But why do I feel so cold?
Like a prisoner trap in a cell,
Like a lost soul in hell,
How can I make stone turned back into gold?

Religion, do I still believe in thou?
Trying hard to be the lord child,
Sometimes feel I’m the preacher child.
Finding thou again only yesterday,
But finding thou moving further away.

Hope is what I need in this world,
Finding it, where? I was never been told.
Without hope, where am I to go?
Maybe I need to go to another world,
To find all ready to be tow, back to my world.

Heaven is where I wanna be,
Heaven is where I should be.
Where life, family, love, friendships, religion and hope are happy to be with me,
But only one question from me,
How far is heaven……………………for me?

A good friend wrote this wonderful piece requested anonimity. So let's just appreciate that this friend of mine is willing to share it with you and I ...

China Restaurant

A couple of days ago ... well, last Friday to be exact, I met up with Hiskandar for lunch. I wanted to try out this Indon Restaurant called Bandung but apparently Hiskandar gave it a big no-no. Hence he suggested that we head to China Restaurant instead located inside Novotel Hotel along Hamdan Street.

Entering the restaurant, it'll hit you immediately how detailed and authentic the interior is paying close attention to the decor' and setting of the place ... from the dimly lit lanterns to the hanging posters of ancient Manchurian figures.

We ordered a couple of dishes to share. We each had a portion of sour and spicy soup (I almost never fail to order this whenever I see it in the menu), brocolli with mushrooms, ma-po tofu and fried spare ribs. The soup was authentic enough, unlike those cheap imitations served in the many Filipino Chinese restaurant chains. Just like its name, sour and spicy enough for my liking and worked wonderfully well to whet the appetite.

The mains ... well, let's start with the spare ribs. Very very well marinated with the chef's special ingredients as well as salt and pepper and it tasted good to the bone. Finger licking good to be exact.

Next up, the ma-po tofu. As with most tofu, it was oh-so-soft and smooth. The blend of fiery chillies, peppers, meaty chunks and soury sauce complimented the subtle taste of the plain tofu incredibly well. In fact, I could easily devour the entire bowl of steamed rice with just this sauce alone. It was that good.

Finally, to make up a balanced meal, we musn't neglect the vegs. Stir fried brocolli with braised chinese muchrooms, it was delicious nonetheless and washing it all down with some good ol' chinese tea ... it brought the meal to a very satisfying conclusion.

Went to Hiskandar's lavish pad after that just to kepoh (look-see). Now this guy is living the life man. Betul betul living the luxurious lifestyle of an expat. :) Would really like to head back there and play on his Nintendo Wii ... downing shots of JD along the way. Let the good times roll ... :D

Adrian the chef ...

When SY came over recently, we mostly spent our times indoors catching up on HK TVB's Chinese series on my notebook. Yes yes ... some of you might think WTF??? But for the both of us, this is the kinda laid back quality time we treasure.

Anyways, one of the evenings, I decided to prepare dinner, to cook for SY and let her be the judge of my non-existent culinary skills in the kitchen. A futile effort in trying to recall my days of cooking during my uni times, I just went ahead and did the best I could.

We went to Carrefour and bagged the necessary groceries. Meats, vegs, condiments, spices etc. Lugging it all back to the villa, I started making the preparations ... slicing the beef cubes, dicing the onions and bell peppers, chopping the garlics, beating the eggs etc. Well, you get the idea. In the midst of all these, something struck me ... I actually miss cooking. Been doing it almost daily when I was studying abroad ages ago. Well, anyways being away from home now will present more than enough oppurtunities to don my chef hat once more. Hahaha ... step aside J. Oliver, a new chef's in town and it ain't big enough for the both of us. *pai seh* *pai seh*.

Alrightey ... back to the kitchen. Come dinner time, I fired up the stove, the wok positioned over it, a healthy amount of sunflower oil heated up, it was all LIGHTS ... CAMERA ... ACTION!!! Ok la, the kitchen LIGHTS were on ma, SY was armed with the CAMERA and I was the one doing the ACTION lo.

On the menu were stir fried black peppered with bell peppers, lady's fingers with dried chilly, crispy ommelette and steamed thai fragrant rice. Beverages included Alphonsus mango juice and Mirinda orange fizzy. Later that night, we shared a Magnum Almond ice cream for dessert.

Well, the meal was errr ... edible I guess or at least that's what SY commented. More importantly, it felt good to be cooking again especially for a loved one and that we both enjoyed the meal. Bon apetite peeps.

P.S. Yea, that's me in the background in the first photo above doing the dishes. Fat oledi ... sigh.

Fuddruckers - World's Greatest Hamburgers

My absence in the blogosphere recently is due to the holiday season here as well as an impromtu visit from SY. In conjunction with the Eid and Hari Raya hols, SY managed to get a few days off and flew over here for a short visit. It was really fantastic to have her here since for 10 days or so, I'm was sole occupant in the company rented villa.

One of the days, SY and I went to Marina Mall for dinner and we dined in Fuddruckers. Hailing from Texas and proudly claiming to serve the world's greatest hamburgers, we took a number and waited approximately 15 minutes before we were seated down at a comfy table by the corner of the restaurant.

I'll let the photos above do most of the 'talking' but a short description of what we ordered were a bowl of Fuddruckers hearty Chilly served with garlic bread, an appetizer (can't remember the name) comprising of fried cheese, buffalo wings, fried chicken strips, fries (more like potato wedges really) lathered with chilly and cheese, onion rings, carrot and cucumber slices and an assortment of dips and also The Works ... a 2/3 pound hamburger slammed with bacon, sauteed mushrooms and cheese. I had a Fruit Punch Snapple and SY washed down dinner with a refreshing glass of sweet iced tea.

As to their claim of serving the World's Best Hamburgers ... I'd have to disagree cause I've had better. Nevertheless, it was a good meal, overall approved ambience ala TGIF or Chilly's and nothing-to-complain-about service.

Atlantis Hotel, Palm Jumeriah, Dubai

One day peeps, one day I shall visit the great Atlantis. Not the Lost City but rather Dubai's latest star attraction. Situated at the esteemed Palm Jumeriah, this 5 star uber luxury hotel boasting 1539 rooms comes with an island load of activities to keep one enjoyably occupied throughout their stay there. Aquaventure, the water theme park is the most well known of all where you can whiz down a water slide into 'shark-infested waters'. Check out photo no.2 above. One can also swim with bottlenose dolphins in Dolphin Bay, marvel at hundreds of species of marine life at the Ambassador Lagoon and enjoy the many other ammenities such as restaurants housing Michelin Star chefs and award winning spas.

I wanna go I wanna go!!!

For more info, visit www.atlantisthepalm.com