year-end fun ... mitasu

Not many would know this cozy little Japanese restaurant tucked 'underground' of Central Plaza, Jln Sultan Ismail, KL. I guess word of mouth turned out to be the best promotional tool for them as diners here almost always leave this place with a big smile on the face. It was my first time here having my last Japanese meal of 2013.

Of course I had my besties with me.

Along with a great bunch of ex-colleagues.

Here's some of the food we ordered and enjoyed every bit of it.

Needless to say, the food was delightful and memorable. A good recommendation indeed. So good that i hope to return here to try their 'serve-to-order' buffet at a reasonable price of RM 53.90+.

The gift corner all ready for our gift exchange.

Ivy wishing the presents were all hers.

After the draw...!

 Next, we went for drinks at Wolo Bukit Bintang Hotel.
The name 'WOLO' straight away reminded me of 'We Only Live Once'. Ya, i got that from the Kardashians and their 'YOLO' motto (that's 'You Only Live Once')

This is Tous Les Jours, a French-Asian bakery which is actually a franchise that originated from South Korea back in 1996, and today it has more than 1000 stores globally. Their other store in Malaysia is in Telawi, Bangsar.

Very tempting array of cakes on display.

Took the pic of someone's latte coz of its artistic foam work.

Surely a place like this serves macaroons too.

A wonderful coffee-and-cake hangout for the (not-so) old ...

...and the (not-so) young.

I'm gonna get it now.

year-end fun ... steamboat party

Steamboats are for the health conscious. And for the aged. haha, it's true.
I attended one recently hosted by a SPY, better known as Ms Siew Pooi Yoke.

SPY calls it shabu-shabu ... minus the beef and pork slices.
Lotsa and lotsa of balls though.

While the 'husbands' were cooking in the kitchen, the 'moms' were mainly in the living room which suddenly turned into a kid's play area.

Steamboat was immediately followed by ice cream and chocolate banana cake. The night ended with a free Polaroid session courtesy of SPY. What a great way for our year-end / pre-CNY gathering!

My other steamboat party was at Chua's, better known as CKO, at Villa Wangsamas..

It was a gathering with our ex colleagues from AXA.

The awesomely rich soup base.

Fresh produce! Though the pinkish one sorta looks like brain.

 All set!

 Ngow Yong's adorable daughter, Bernice.

Agnes' daughter Theng Theng and Bernice posing for the camera.

Agnes' youngest daughter, Mei Ru and her first close encounter with alcohol. gasp!

Looking at Mei Ru's facial expression alone was so entertaining. She definitely knows how to pull the Angelina Jolie pouty look.

And check out her tauke look.

Darren grew tired waiting for dinner.

And so dinner was served.

Darren made a new (girl)friend

And Siew Hwa made a delicious wholesome Fruit Cake.

Good times!

Darren was of course the happiest to know 3 new girlfriends that night.

Goodbye 2013.

 Hello 2014!

my polaroid shot

year-end fun ...jlt annual dinner

A month after joining my new company, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Insurance Broker, i had the opportunity to attend their annual dinner at Doubletree Hilton, KL. 

Pre dinner drinks

 Lucky me as the door gift was too good to miss out - a powerbank (the basic 'made in China' kind, but still something-lah!), 2 bars of Toblerone chocolate and RM 100 AEON voucher! Ok la, not that of a biggie but still the best door gift i've ever gotten my entire working life. Even better, every staff was allowed to bring a partner to the dinner, be it your spouse/ bf/ gf/ family member/ best friend or even a neighbour(?).

The theme for the night was 'Oscar' hence lots of glamorous gowns and tuxedos were paraded throughout the night.

As you can see from my stacked up plate here, dinner was buffet style.

As you see the quality of photos here will clearly distinguish which ones were taken with my hp from those of the professional photographer. ^^

with Hasni and Alicia from my dept

Photo with our ever-smiling Michael Leong, our CEO and his wife.

With my dept SVP Mr Vincent Anthony. Jacket and pants looking a bit loose there, boss. =>

 The 'macho' side of JLT..

With Mr Organiser of the dinner aka Vice President of Sports Club aka Alvin.

With the Claims team and my trusty assistant, Fara looking ever so sweet in pink.

Finally, highlights of the night ....

Power-packed 'feathery' hired dancers for the event!
(and omg, the guy even did a split!)

 I won a lucky draw prize of another RM 150 worth of AEON vouchers! And even THAT's the second lowest prize leh. The grand prize being an iPhone 5C. oooomph, better luck in 2014!

Our emcee of the night ...NOT. Do not know his name but remember this cute babyface and NOT to ever hire him as any event emcee. It would have been a perfect night if not for his lousy emcee skills, pathetic energy on stage, and the way he fumbled at the lucky draw numbers. It was so bad, towards the end of the draw, there were no more numbers to draw but many more prizes remaining! Really felt like kicking his backside off the stage. (_._)

It was most fun watching this crowd-favourite performance from the newbies of JLT. (I managed to escape, phew!) If you know your MTVs well, you'll definitely recognise this dance move from MJ's 'Thriller'. It was ultra fun and crazy to watch, they really deserved the win! Kudos, guys!

Overall, it was a simple yet grand dinner that i am grateful i was able to attend. Since we are a company with less than 100 employees, it was delightful that we could all come together for a group photo on stage.
Let's just say we may be small in numbers, but we're certainly big in talent! (grin)

(Can you spot me?)