Life in Dulwich

Malaysia is 50 years old today. How time flies. I'm going to celebrate in true Malaysian style with my favourite foods from C&R. Can't find any celebrations happening in the UK but I can't believe Malaysians abroad would pass up the opportunity to eat food aplenty.

Merdeka!

My assistant is on hols again and I am left in a sea of overwork and tedious tasks. The lift at work has been out for 4 weeks and I am weary of electricians and lift engineers. The mention of them makes me curl my lip in disdain.

We went to see the Bourne Ultimatum again and despite seeing various anomalies which appeared on the second viewing - it's still a cracking film.

Have a casting tomorrow for a Boots ad for which I am not to wear any make-up. Eek. I hope it's not one of those 'real women' in vests showing off their charms in white underwear ads. The humiliation would be too great.

An exciting teashop has opened down the road. Le Chandelier, formerly purveyor of antique-type goods and furniture, is now a French style tea place with particularly sugary looking confectionery in the window. Choux pastry covered in a sugar glaze features strongly.

Lord of the Rings was good. It's had to grow on me a bit, but actually we quite liked it. The music wasn't toe-tapping or anything, but it was very atmospheric. The hobbits jigged and the elves did funny head and arms movements while warbling in a Gaelic fashion. The set was the star of the show. It was amazing. The whole stage was a giant revolve divided into 3 concentric circles which moved independently of each other. Then, the middle section was split into about 6 segments which all went up and down individually. The lighting was beautiful. The acrobats were thrilling. They got the whole story in. Galadriel was great, as was Gollum. Some of the rest of the acting was a bit duff but nonetheless we might go again.

We went to Blind Light at the Hayward on Sunday. That - we weren't so keen on. I think I'm not really inclined towards visual art. We went into the Blind Light installation which was a large box which you had to queue to go into, full of steam. Then, you wandered around bumping into people until you're thoroughly damp and have to go out because your eyes are watering and your nose is burning.

The Bourne Ultimatum on the other hand was great. I want to go back and see it again straight away. There was an anomaly in the story though. They changed Jason Bourne's birthdate from the last two films by one year.... Da, da, dahhhhh! He is one year younger (born in 1970) than in the last film (1969). Bet they didn't think anyone would be so geeky as to notice that.

Work has been quiet, although the boss lady has been e-mailing me at nine in the evening, even though she's supposed to be on holiday somewhere that is eight hours behind us.

We've booked tickets to see Lord of the Rings - The Musical. I am fully expecting to be disappointed on the whole music and how the heck are they going to cram 3 booksworth into 3 hours front, but also hope to be completely wowed by the spectacle, as that is what everyone has been talking about. We got four tickets for £100, so have not spent too much for the privilege.

I am currently addicted to Scrabulous on Facebook and am playing about ten games concurrently. In between, have just bought Life of Pi because I couldn't wait for middle blister to unpack.

Transformers rocks! Went to see it last weekend and liked it! It was funny and the effects were great. 'Nuff said.

Also tried out a Singaporean restaurant called Kiasu on Queensway with BB and a friend, P. It was pretty darned good. We had four starters - ngoh hiang (pork stuffed bean curd thing), oh jian (oyster omelette), roti paratha with curry sauce and otak otak (fish paste grilled in a banana leaf). It was all good. The oysters were big and tasty, the otak otak good but small, the curry sauce excellent.

Main courses were Nyonya laksa for BB which was pronounced tasty and not too coconutty. P and I shared Nyonya chicken curry and stewed duck and pig's trotters with tofu and hardboiled eggs. The duck and pig's trotters were excellent and presented in such a way that there wasn't a bone or trotter in sight, all neatly sliced and laid out on the plate. The sauce was rich and sweet and the thinly sliced tofu was soaked through with the sauce. It was goooood. The chicken curry was the only thing I wasn't so keen on. There was way too much cumin in the sauce, but it was okay.

A great discovery and we will be back to try all the other stuff we didn't manage to try.

One of my fellow bloggers has asked me to post this link to save Central Street Market, Hong Kong, and pass it on to other bloggers. I've only been to the market once, but I love markets and all the interesting stuff that inhabits them, so I'm all for it. After all, Hong Kong wouldn't be the same if it was all high rises and confined spaces, without all the hustle and bustle in between.

http://www.savethestreetmarket.com/

So here it is folks. Please sign up and keep the Central Street Market going.