Monday 31tst December 2007

Kensington

As I mentioned earlier, we've had plenty of hometown food the past couple of weeks. Couple that to the lack of walking, I've unsurprisingly put on weight. The last dinner of the year was at this restaurant. I only got round to taking the picture of the garlic bread, coz it tasted really yummy. I'm salivating just thinking about it. Unfortunately, the rest of the food was expensive and yucky. I didn't feel like taking pictures of them. Let's see. My sis and I had the set dinner for two.

The appetizers were stuff like salmon sashimi (not too bad), badly handrolled sushi and something called geo-duck sashimi. It was white and raw. My sister dared not taste it. I took a few bites but the natural fear of the unknown and raw stopped me after awhile. Then, there were the oysters. O.K.. Not exactly in my fav food list, but edible enough. The 2nd course was a chicken wing and fish. Both mediocre. The main dish was the main failure I think. A kebab with awfully marinated meat. Eek. At least the dessert was a good chocolate mud cake. I think I enjoyed the garlic bread my mom ordered the most. hehe...

Friday 28th December 2007

rings attack 2007

I have two rings added to my drawer of accessories this month. One is picked up by the good-taste Ru, and another is a silver ring x'mas gift fm my sis. The Superman one is fm Ru earlier this year, the green and purple one we (Ru & I) got mid of this year (yes?) and the woven one fm an arts bazaar some time ago if I recall correctly.

Thursday 27th December 2007

Joni and Jona

ooh...such cute dogs. Not too small to be puny. I vehemently dislike tiny dogs. Not enough surface area to pet. Big dogs are fine but they come with sharper teeth. These are not too big to chomp u in two in a bite. Joni is the girl and Jona is the male. I'll let u guess which is which. They are both brother and sister in a family of 6 siblings and two very mixed parents. Ah.. the delights of mixed parentage...

They are my ex-piano teacher's pet. A gift fm her student who knows she love her animals. These two are living with 5 cats at the moment. I did take a couple of pics of the cats but they don't show them as handsomely as they deserve to be shown, so, some other time maybe.

Sunday 23rd December 2007

Beef beef beef

Us cousins went on a buffet binge just before the eve of xmas this year. Between the four of us, we devoured the many parts of a cow and many many many round and delicious scallops.

The yashiniku buffet comprises of a barbecuing stove in a square table. We had the karubi (fat and meat) beef, roast beef, beef tongue, beef liver, pork, scallops, more beef, raw beef, semi-raw beef, beef ribs, pork karubi, more scallops, 3 scoops of ice cream ice, a bibimbab and lots and lots of lettuce. Oh my... it was fun.

Surprisingly, we were not extremely full. But we had enough. Glad to report we didn't go all the way. We did finish up all the liver in the shop tho.

Monday 15th December 2007

Flying in december

Flew back to hometown with my mom and Mauerize after one whole year of living elsewhere. Golly, life is so boring without dramas and movies for company. I was begging to go back to 'elsewhere'. It was the initial plan. I was to help mom settle in with M, then hitch a ride back to S with Uncle Jeff in his dependable brown car. But no... plans are made to be changed. After some arrangements, we decided to all go back with Uncle J and then come back with him the next week. And after that, my initial plan is to come back with Uncle Jeff first, to celebrate NY with Ru and spend some alone time in the flat by myself, but this was thwarted once again. Mom issued her "Don't be selfish" demand and us humble servants must of course comply. *big sigh*

Complains aside, it was nice in a way to be back home. I get to drive. I get to eat many good food (which equals many extra pounds). I get to see my nieces. Yup... not too bad i guess.

Wednesday 5th December 2007

It's December

Went with Ru on our final concert outing of the year together to a concert entitled Rhapsody in Blues. Here are some of the pictures taken. (Yes, finally, a concert where pictures can be taken. Woo-hoo!)

Sunday 2nd December 2007

Final wedding bash (+ taxi tale)

I think one of the best things about being in the 'sister-entourage' is meeting new friends. This time round, thnx to Hingee's wedding, I've gotten to know 2 very cool girls.

There were some minor problems before the wedding lunch, but, aside fm the small hitch, and oh, a bus-captain-wannabe-taxi-driver(details later), all things were smooth sailing. I'm proud to say, I have been working with very capable brides these past few months. Kudos to y'all. U can add 'capable administrator' to ur resume right under superbly amazing wife. *grin*

Wedding issues aside, let me blog about the above mentioned taxi-driver. There we were (bride's mom, bride's sis and me), hunting for a taxi, when this guy who had 2 passengers in his taxi roll by, asking us where we wanna go. After we've decided on the taxi-fare and put in our luggages, he said that he will drop off his 2 previous passengers slightly ahead. Stupid stupid me. I should have wondered why his previous pessenger had not left yet while we were discussing the fare. Warning bells started atolling, but we were tired, and he did say he was just dropping them a short distance away, so we agreed grudgingly.

His short distance away was more like a minute of driving. Bride's mom was very unhappy. His fare was not that cheap afterall. And imagine 4 people crammed inside the back of a small taxi. Not a happy picture at all.

After dropping off his 2 previous passangers, we relaxed into the taxi space, me chatting amiably with the taxi driver, glad the minor hitch was over. To our horror, he started driving to a housing area, saying something about this poor girl, in a need to go somewhere. Turns out, he is planning to pick up another passenger, with us inside!

Bride's mom was fuming by then. She adamantly declared (whispered) to us that we shall pay him less than what we have agreed. Mr. Driver (whom I suspect actually plans to drop off his new passenger before us changed his mind when he saw our whispering and was 'kind' enough to drop us first) finally drop us off, after having had us call to confirm the destination's exact location.

When we reached the resort, bride's mom started arguing with him, refusing to pay the full fare. Mr. Driver claims that I have made an agreement of the fare. In the midst of our argument, he even had the guts to claim that the last passenger he picked up was actually his wife. Not that it actually matters. Anyways, we finally, unhappily gave him the fare minus a 2 dollar. Bride's mom vehemently claimed we should not have paid him at all. Sigh...

So anyways, dat's the taxi drive hitch tale. I guess we could have been nastier, but, we were heading for a wedding. It was not worth the distress. I guess, in a way, we did get to our destination in one piece. Albeit, taking a longer time, and with extra strangers. Hey, just like taking a bus.

Currently reading: Ascendance (Book 1 of the Second Demonwars Saga) by R.A. Salvatore - I am only at page 50 or so, so I can't comment much. But I recall Salvatore as one of the better writers, so I am looking forward to finishing the saga. It's a continuation fm the 1st Demonwars which I had not read yet. So far, I gather about 3 key roles. Jilseponie Wyndon, who is a 30+ Baroness ruling Palmaris in peace and prosperity, Aydrian, her stolen child raised by the queen of elves. I don't like him. I think he is going to be the evil one in this book. And lastly, De-Unnero, who'll probably be joining force with the power hungry Aydrian to work against Jilseponie.

Just finished reading:
(i)The Tiger In The Well by Philip Pullman (Book 3 of the Sally Lockhart series) - Hmm... very distressing book. Sally was in so much trouble and heartache because of the claim by a man that she is his wife. She ended up broke and without a home or friends around. I can't think of another way to convey the story except that it distresses me. Pullman is truly a powerful writer.
(ii) Another book about stolen identity. But I forgot to note down the author and title of the book. This time round, it is about an author who's identity was stolen. The story was good, but the ending was rather lame. Why would her aunt want to do it, just because?
(iii) Night Warriors by Graham Masterton - A book about a few people with abilities to sleep and dream and protect other people in their dreams. Rather silly book. More like a youth-series sorta writing.
(iv) Brother Odd by Dean Koontz - The 3rd book about Odd Thomas. Very good read. Unlike Pullman, Koontz's books are always full of hope and makes u wanna be a better and good person.
(v) Little Pink Slips by Sally Koslow - Nice chick-lit about an editor-in-chief. Very chick indeed.
(vi) Dead Watch by John Sandford - More a thriller sort of book. But I totally love the lead, Jake Winters. He is not a spy or anything fancy like that; rather, he is just someone who specializes in 'forensic bureaucracy'. It was so cool, the way Sandford portrays Winter harrassing all the political people to find out what really happened and he even has a happy ending falling in love with wife of the missing US senator.