27 May 2006
Home
It rained heavily for 5 hours straight yesterday. Where does all the water come from? And where does it all go? It's a mystery.
Dad suddenly had a fixation for KFC so we all went off to have the Colonel's finger lickin' best. It's still beyond me why they don't do mashed potato in the UK KFCs.
Lunch yesterday was Ampang Yong Tow Foo. The place had mysteriously moved and no longer had a disused mining pool beside it. Mum says it never had a pool but I think we're just going to a different place from where we used to go. It's a funny thing the old memory - now neither of us are sure that we're remembering things quite right.
Then we went to KLCC. The approach was via a long underground tunnel that started miles away from the twin towers. It was very strange. We ended up in the deepest recesses of the KLCC carpark. Big blister bumped the car on the way out and is now mortified as the front bumper is a bit out of shape. I hate underground/multilevel carparks - I only ever scrape our car when I'm in one. They're too narrow by far.
Dad suddenly had a fixation for KFC so we all went off to have the Colonel's finger lickin' best. It's still beyond me why they don't do mashed potato in the UK KFCs.
Lunch yesterday was Ampang Yong Tow Foo. The place had mysteriously moved and no longer had a disused mining pool beside it. Mum says it never had a pool but I think we're just going to a different place from where we used to go. It's a funny thing the old memory - now neither of us are sure that we're remembering things quite right.
Then we went to KLCC. The approach was via a long underground tunnel that started miles away from the twin towers. It was very strange. We ended up in the deepest recesses of the KLCC carpark. Big blister bumped the car on the way out and is now mortified as the front bumper is a bit out of shape. I hate underground/multilevel carparks - I only ever scrape our car when I'm in one. They're too narrow by far.
26 May 2006
Stormy Weather
We had a big storm last night. Heaps of forked lightning and protracted rain showers making all internet connection impossible. It was very impressive but not enough to distract me from the dull television viewing available.
The garden was fumigated for mosquitoes yesterday with some manure smelling stuff which meant we had to keep all the windows shut for a few hours. There were insects of all sorts beating themselves against the glass trying to get away from the fumes. In revenge, last night, the mosquitoes (who had apparently got away unscathed) descended en masse and attacked me mercilessly. So much for mosquito spraying then.
Dinner at Sam Yau was Fukien mien, Gong Fu chow mai fun, ham choi tau foo tong and sweet potato leaves. The cooking was not up to their usual standard. The soup was most odd - sour, but in the wrong way and the mai fun seemed to be mainly hor fun instead.
On the other hand, had an excellent curry mee for lunch at Sam Yau in its daytime incarnation. It had see ham, tau foo pok, squid, fish cake finely sliced and mint - all important in the quintessential curry mee. The curry stock was good too.
The garden was fumigated for mosquitoes yesterday with some manure smelling stuff which meant we had to keep all the windows shut for a few hours. There were insects of all sorts beating themselves against the glass trying to get away from the fumes. In revenge, last night, the mosquitoes (who had apparently got away unscathed) descended en masse and attacked me mercilessly. So much for mosquito spraying then.
Dinner at Sam Yau was Fukien mien, Gong Fu chow mai fun, ham choi tau foo tong and sweet potato leaves. The cooking was not up to their usual standard. The soup was most odd - sour, but in the wrong way and the mai fun seemed to be mainly hor fun instead.
On the other hand, had an excellent curry mee for lunch at Sam Yau in its daytime incarnation. It had see ham, tau foo pok, squid, fish cake finely sliced and mint - all important in the quintessential curry mee. The curry stock was good too.
Labels: food, restaurants, weather
23 May 2006
Rainy HK day
Last day of Hong Kong. Am staying at sis' place which is up in the clouds. We have only caught fleeting glimpses of Hong Kong through the mist all weekend. It's rained almost the whole time. Somehow we've managed to catch the only three days that HK has had rain in ages and it's going to be sunny tomorrow when we've gone.
Spent most of Sunday playing with the kids. L's piano is pretty good and we played some duets. Played a lot of Monopoly with S and L until even they got bored.
Yesterday we shopped till we dropped. HK and Kowloon were absolutely heaving despite the torrential rain. I don't remember there being quite so many people the last few times I've come. What with all the rain and shoving, it was really quite unpleasant but it was all made up by getting lots of good booty. Managed to get two pairs of Merrells for about a third cheaper than in London and there was heaps more choice. Nice sandally ones for the summer, so my toes can be free and trainers to replace the smelly, tatty ones I've had for the last 5 years.
Then Shanghai Tang for nice pressies. Nice shop, still expensive in Hong Kong (though not as much as London). Bought a new Mahjong thing (don't know how we'll get it to Malaysia as it's bigger than the suitcase), Seven Swords on VCD (not bootleg), hand warmer things (for wintery days at home) and went to Yau Ma Tei for BB's army gear stuff.
Got back to N & C's, pooped, to yummy roti canai, leftover mutton curry and homemade spinach curry and daal. Mmmm!
Spent most of Sunday playing with the kids. L's piano is pretty good and we played some duets. Played a lot of Monopoly with S and L until even they got bored.
Yesterday we shopped till we dropped. HK and Kowloon were absolutely heaving despite the torrential rain. I don't remember there being quite so many people the last few times I've come. What with all the rain and shoving, it was really quite unpleasant but it was all made up by getting lots of good booty. Managed to get two pairs of Merrells for about a third cheaper than in London and there was heaps more choice. Nice sandally ones for the summer, so my toes can be free and trainers to replace the smelly, tatty ones I've had for the last 5 years.
Then Shanghai Tang for nice pressies. Nice shop, still expensive in Hong Kong (though not as much as London). Bought a new Mahjong thing (don't know how we'll get it to Malaysia as it's bigger than the suitcase), Seven Swords on VCD (not bootleg), hand warmer things (for wintery days at home) and went to Yau Ma Tei for BB's army gear stuff.
Got back to N & C's, pooped, to yummy roti canai, leftover mutton curry and homemade spinach curry and daal. Mmmm!
Labels: food, shopping, travel
17 May 2006
Jet lag
Time zone difference, mosquitoes & an attack of the munchies are keeping me up. Foot is well on the mend which leads me to believe that it was not a twist of the ankle but redislocating my ankle. It would be nice to envisage a future without ever hurting my ankles again, but I suspect that is just a nice flight of the imagination.
After dinner today, Pa handed me a book about diet and the risk of diabetes and warned me that I had the diabetes gene as both his parents had it. Cheerful no? Mainly I suspect it's because he thinks I'm fat. Ah well. Still, I'm happy to find ways of losing weight so I shall read it through. It's about the Zone Diet and looks pretty good. Especially as it doesn't actually seem to involve eating less food - just changing the proportions of fat/protein/carbohydrates around.
After dinner today, Pa handed me a book about diet and the risk of diabetes and warned me that I had the diabetes gene as both his parents had it. Cheerful no? Mainly I suspect it's because he thinks I'm fat. Ah well. Still, I'm happy to find ways of losing weight so I shall read it through. It's about the Zone Diet and looks pretty good. Especially as it doesn't actually seem to involve eating less food - just changing the proportions of fat/protein/carbohydrates around.
16 May 2006
One Utama
I love shopping in Malaysia! We went to a shopping mall that I've never ever been to before. It's even bigger than the Megamall! There's a sort of rainforesty bit and apparently the biggest indoor rock climbing facility in Asia.
1 Utama is huge. We spent 3 hours there and still managed to miss a whole section. Bought 3 T-shirts for less than GBP12, two of them discounted by 50% and 30%. It's just great and if it wasn't for my bad ankle I'd have probably bought a whole heap more.
We ate at a place called Dragon-i that specialises in hand pulled noodles and other mainland Chinese staples (dumplings and the like). One of the chefs there holds the world record for the number of noodles he can pull in a minute. It's quite cool cos you can watch them pulling said noodles as you eat.
On to shopping malls new tomorrow.
Had a 10 course Chinese meal for Ma's birthday. We were struggling rather as there were only 5 of us and the meal was for 6 people. Started with 1/2 a suckling pig, went onto Shark's Fin soup (against our better judgement), abalone, Chinese mushrooms and siu pak choi, prawns cooked in two ways (chill and salt/sweet chilli), huge giant steamed garoupa, tasty curry leaf/oatmeal crabs, pineapple fried rice, boiled papaya & snow fungus sweet soup and Chinese pastries (char siu so & coconut/pandan jelly). We pretty much gave up when we got to the crab - there was a lot to put in a doggy bag. The good thing is that we won't have to eat out/cook for several days.
1 Utama is huge. We spent 3 hours there and still managed to miss a whole section. Bought 3 T-shirts for less than GBP12, two of them discounted by 50% and 30%. It's just great and if it wasn't for my bad ankle I'd have probably bought a whole heap more.
We ate at a place called Dragon-i that specialises in hand pulled noodles and other mainland Chinese staples (dumplings and the like). One of the chefs there holds the world record for the number of noodles he can pull in a minute. It's quite cool cos you can watch them pulling said noodles as you eat.
On to shopping malls new tomorrow.
Had a 10 course Chinese meal for Ma's birthday. We were struggling rather as there were only 5 of us and the meal was for 6 people. Started with 1/2 a suckling pig, went onto Shark's Fin soup (against our better judgement), abalone, Chinese mushrooms and siu pak choi, prawns cooked in two ways (chill and salt/sweet chilli), huge giant steamed garoupa, tasty curry leaf/oatmeal crabs, pineapple fried rice, boiled papaya & snow fungus sweet soup and Chinese pastries (char siu so & coconut/pandan jelly). We pretty much gave up when we got to the crab - there was a lot to put in a doggy bag. The good thing is that we won't have to eat out/cook for several days.
Labels: food, restaurants, shopping
15 May 2006
Back home
Only one day into the holidays and I've managed to sprain my ankle. Hurrah! So no trips to the Megamall just yet. Although, we have managed to fit in a couple of trips to Rajus for roti canai, fried fish & chicken. We landed on Wesak day in honour of the birth, enlightenment and some other thing I can't remember of Buddha. BB & I went to the Siamese temple near our house for the first time in my life. It was quite interesting to wander round. It was distincly non-touristy which is a good thing, with people just praying, burning incense, giving offerings and the like.
The little shops near our house were packed as a consequence, especially Rajus. Otherwise, there's just been a lot of pottering about due to hurt ankle - mainly sleeping, reading and a bit of mahjong playing. BB is going stir crazy I feel - a combination of heat, tiredness and mosquito bites. The mosquitoes seem to have gone off me as a menu option - thank goodness.
The little shops near our house were packed as a consequence, especially Rajus. Otherwise, there's just been a lot of pottering about due to hurt ankle - mainly sleeping, reading and a bit of mahjong playing. BB is going stir crazy I feel - a combination of heat, tiredness and mosquito bites. The mosquitoes seem to have gone off me as a menu option - thank goodness.
10 May 2006
Back from Helsinki. And what a whirlwind 4 days it was. We worked till 20:30 the first night, which was the early night, after getting off the plane (we left at 07:30 in the morning). Then the next two days we finished at 22:00 and 23:45. The structure and stories we were telling changed every two minutes and even between the two performances yesterday (which were 15 minutes apart) we were making additions and alterations. Certainly keeps you on our toes. But it all went well and all the bigwigs were happy apparently.
Security was very tight and we weren't even allowed to use wireless mikes in case someone on a ship in the harbour picked up the content of the presentations/show.
Helsinki was interesting - it has a very Eastern European feel about it. It certainly didn't seem to be a late night party city. We went in search of food on Monday night at 02:30 and could only find a McDonalds open. They wouldn't sell us chicken nuggets as it was past 23:00, so we had burgers and chips. Very strange.
Meals consisted mainly of open sandwiches, although on the first night we had a proper dinner in which I had boletus, reindeer, lambchops and sea buckthorn and birch wrack pie (dessert). There was also lots of snatched takeaway food. Surprisingly, the Chinese and Thai food was pretty good.
Alcohol was hideously expensive - upward of 7 Euros for a pint.
All in all it was a very interesting experience and a shame we didn't see much more of Helsinki than quick 10 minutes rides in the taxi back and forth from rehearsals. Maybe there'll be a next time.
Learnt eight words of Suomi, but can't spell them - so excuse the spelling. Hei for Hello, ei for no, kylla for yes, hyva for good, kitos for thank you, ulos for out/exit and the all important, yhtaus ihmseen for connecting people.
Security was very tight and we weren't even allowed to use wireless mikes in case someone on a ship in the harbour picked up the content of the presentations/show.
Helsinki was interesting - it has a very Eastern European feel about it. It certainly didn't seem to be a late night party city. We went in search of food on Monday night at 02:30 and could only find a McDonalds open. They wouldn't sell us chicken nuggets as it was past 23:00, so we had burgers and chips. Very strange.
Meals consisted mainly of open sandwiches, although on the first night we had a proper dinner in which I had boletus, reindeer, lambchops and sea buckthorn and birch wrack pie (dessert). There was also lots of snatched takeaway food. Surprisingly, the Chinese and Thai food was pretty good.
Alcohol was hideously expensive - upward of 7 Euros for a pint.
All in all it was a very interesting experience and a shame we didn't see much more of Helsinki than quick 10 minutes rides in the taxi back and forth from rehearsals. Maybe there'll be a next time.
Learnt eight words of Suomi, but can't spell them - so excuse the spelling. Hei for Hello, ei for no, kylla for yes, hyva for good, kitos for thank you, ulos for out/exit and the all important, yhtaus ihmseen for connecting people.
Labels: acting, language, travel
4 May 2006
No one I know voted today in the local elections. Now, I don't pretend to know much about politics or to know what any of the policies of the local candidates are or the parties they represent, but I kind of think that if somewhere back in the annals of time and throughout the ages since, people have rallied and fought and battered themselves to pieces to get the vote, the least we can do is turn up at the local library and put a tick in the box - even just to show the incumbent party whether you are happy with them or not and prove the censuses wrong or right.
Am pooped today. Too much work in the run-up to not being at work for the next 3 weeks. Hurrah!
Leftover curry for dinner. It's always better the next day.
It was the first truly hot day of the year and I'm off to Helsinki where it's still snowing (apparently) and people pass out from drinking too much vodka in the streets.
Am pooped today. Too much work in the run-up to not being at work for the next 3 weeks. Hurrah!
Leftover curry for dinner. It's always better the next day.
It was the first truly hot day of the year and I'm off to Helsinki where it's still snowing (apparently) and people pass out from drinking too much vodka in the streets.
Labels: politics
2 May 2006
I don't know why I ever believe the weather report. Today the BBC said it would be 20 degrees. Perhaps they meant Fahrenheit, cos it sure wasn't Celsius. Foolishly, I came into work in a skirt and short sleeves and now am frozen into a sad and forlorn icicle. Ah well, just acclimatizing myself for later in the week in Helsinki.
Went to Buddha Jazz again at the weekend and had the frogs legs for starter. Fantastic! R, who came with me and is a semi-vegetarian and fussy about food, was almost tempted by them herself as they looked so good. They've started doing desserts also, but only of the sticky toffee banana, pineapple or apple variety. They also do glutinous rice balls with ginger sauce, but who can resist a good sticky toffee banana?
Went to Buddha Jazz again at the weekend and had the frogs legs for starter. Fantastic! R, who came with me and is a semi-vegetarian and fussy about food, was almost tempted by them herself as they looked so good. They've started doing desserts also, but only of the sticky toffee banana, pineapple or apple variety. They also do glutinous rice balls with ginger sauce, but who can resist a good sticky toffee banana?
Labels: food, restaurants, weather
