Living in a Foreign Language

Elephants, Children and Demons all in one Night

Sounds like a NIGHTMARE!  But, alas, it wasn't, just a night out...the nightmares came later!

We decided we would go to see a "show" and dinner while in Phuket.  The highly recommended shows were 1) Lady-boys (and this means just what you think it does, it IS Thailand or 2) Siam Niramit.  When I asked Mr.Ken his preference, 2 won hands down.  So, we booked tickets for the dinner and the show on Saturday night.  Siam Niramit was to be about the history of Thailand...so here I am thinking it will be one big The King and I production.

First of all upon entering the "theatre" and I use this term loosely...it was more like a convention center!  It was huge.  It was clearly built for this performance.  Anyway, upon entering there was an elephant you could feed, ride, take photos of.  I'm a sucker for all things elephant!  I don't much like the picture of me but I love the elephant, looks like he (she) is smiling.

After I fed the elephant (and washed my hands) we went to the dinner.  It was this massive buffet.  Have I mentioned just HOW much the Asians seem to LOVE a buffet??  They do.  What I found most interesting about the buffet was not the food itself (which turned out to be delicious) but the children.  Yes, me, (OP) children, and interesting  ~ but never would you think all in one sentence.  Here they are surrounding one particular area:

You are thinking there is nothing interesting about this!  Well, this was the sushi area of the buffet and when I say these kids went MAD for it, I am not kidding.  Later, when I was walking around I saw their plates - piled high with sushi and FRENCH FRIES.  LOL.  How funny is that?  Culture meets MickeyD.

Then we saw this guy making fruit/vegetable sculptures - crazy amazing they were!

This entire display is all fruit or vegetables!

Anyway, after dinner we went to a pre-performance which we figure was held basically so all the tourists (because let's face it, only tourists go to these kinds of things) could get some pictures as during the show, no pictures.

We got seated and looked around and the theatre was practically empty.  We were all grouped together on these two rows in our area (there were other people in the seating area below us) but no one on the row in front of us at all.  Once the lights dimmed we jumped down to the row below, because, why not? There was no late seating and no one there! Our butts had only just touched the seats and this prissy little girl came up to me (in the dark I might add) and hissed "You CANNOT sit here!"  I said "Why not, the theatre is practically empty and you've got us all crammed into one row?"  She said, very indignantly "these seats are RESERVED for VIP's!"  I looked around and said, very sarcastically, "REALLY?"  (At this point Mr. Ken leaned over and said "tell her we ARE VIP's!")  I said "I see no reason we cannot sit here."  She said "these seats cost WAY MORE than what you paid."  I said "REALLY?"  She hissed "Yes, 200 Baht more, 400 for both."  Okay, guys and dolls, this is about $12 USD, total for both.  I said "Okay, but I don't like your tone."  She said "Ma'am, if you are going to stay in these seats you MUST pay 400 Baht."  I said, "Ok, but I don't like your tone."  I grabbed my purse and took out money (in the dark), I handed her what I thought was 1,000 Baht.  She hissed at me "This is only 100 Baht."  I said "Again, I DON'T like your tone."  I then handed her threw at her the 1,000 Baht and gratefully she went away with a GLARE at me as she turned.  Later a very sweet and seemingly abashed and embarrassed young man brought us back our change of 600 Baht!  Can you spell e-x-t-o-r-t-i-o-n?  I can!

Then, the show!  First we went through more or less the traders and others coming to Thailand to make money, some of that The King and I sort of Siam...then some of the small villages and living in a small village.  What was really cool was they had an entire river for the village that flowed through the theatre!  Serious!  And, then a huge storm with real rain!  (Mainly this rained upon the already wet area of the river).  I've been to ALOT of performances and never have I seen a REAL river running through it!  They also had real elephants (as you saw above) and real chickens, goats and crops that looked amazingly real as they grew!  So, then there comes a brief, shall we say intermission (though you cannot leave) where there is a magician of sorts entertaining the crowd.  Okay.  

Then Act II.  Which started with --- Fiery HELL.  Progressed to a Forest and ended with Celestial Heaven.  Or, a representation of the three worlds (each consisting of a number of planes you can find yourself in before going to your next life) ~ none of the planes are permanent and you exist in one or the other based on your past karma and your karma at moment of death.  Or at least that is as much as I understood about it anyway.

What?  I thought it was the history of Thailand?  Mr. Ken kept saying to me "yes, but Buddhism is part of the history."  Okay, then I guess I go with I SO didn't expect to see Fiery Hell complete with demons and all the punishments you will receive once you arrive ~ beat your children; you will be beaten by demons (and they are not nice, nor are their tools they beat you with) ~ steal from the Temple; have your hands chopped off ~ commit adultery; climb a tree of thorns.  And so on...I guess I expected a lot more The King and I ~ call me a romantic!  I'll answer.  Hahaha.

Sometime during the Celestial Heaven part these beautiful celestial maidens came to where we were sitting and poured water over our hands which they held over a fragrant dish of orchids.  Mr. Ken and I decided THIS is what the VIP seating is all about!  You've got to be a VIP (or pay 400 Baht) to have your hands rinsed off by a celestial maiden.  Such a well spent $12!!!

And, then it was over and we were whisked back by our driver to our hotel to dream have nightmares of Elephants, Children and Demons...I didn't once dream of the $12 celestial maidens.  

Love, spajunkie

 P.S.  On the advice of my attorney, my friends, my psychic, and the DES, none of the aforementioned is in any way an attempt to deningrate any religion, belief or thought.  It was simply an experience that happened one night at a show in Phuket!  I believe with all my heart in the freedom to choose whatever religion or belief works for you personally .  

More Phuket in the next one...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Randomness on Thursday

Did you know if you actually start writing a book it makes you far less likely to think of anything to say on a blog?  Yes, it is true!  Peeps, I've got the prologue, and three chapters under my belt.  Now, the only problem with them is they are BO-RING.  I'm not sure how to fix this unless I just write about someone else's fictious life.  Maybe they are BO-RING because I've already blogged about them, told people about them, basically exhausted all of the fun out of the stories.  Hmmm.  I have to think more about this conundrum.  Plus I REALLY need to think twice about sharing every little thing here because you are likely the ONLY people who might read my book, if I gave it to you as a gift, so by saying it is BO-RING doesn't do much for readership in the future.  Yet another conundrum.  Word of the day:  conundrum!  Definition by Merriam Webster:  (noun) 1)  a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun; 2)  a question or problem having only a conjectural answer; 3)  an intricate and difficult problem.  Yep, that about sums it up!

Since I was without blog materail I considered taking my camera around with me today just to get a look at the day to day life here.  Then as I was getting ready to go I realized I had to have DES because today was his grooming day, so then I needed a leash, I needed more iced tea really, I had to stop for gas and pick up dry cleaning before delivering him and darn!  I'm late!  No camera made it for the day to day life of today.  Sorry!

I've found that if you want to feel better when your week is sucky,  just post a new profile picture on FB!  I love every single one of you who commented this past week.  Totally made my entire week.  You see you never know what a nice comment here or there will do for someone else!  Practice random kindness as often as you can!

On a more serious note...not that this blog has one serious bone in its body but...I have realized that brunch on Sunday with shell fish and mass quantities of champagne just makes me regret ever doing it come Monday.  Then the entire week gets off to a bad start and well, I'm useless.  I normally make my menu and my grocery list for the week on Sunday, shop on Monday.  That all got pushed out to Tuesday.  Then I felt so bad all I put on the menu was Comfort food with a big capital C (as you can see) and healthy flew right out the window.   Now, Mr. Ken was loving this menu (because anything that gets him REAL food as opposed to the healthy version is a step in the right direction according to him ):

Tuesday:  Smothered Pork Chops, rice and green beans

Wednesday:  BLAT's with french fries

Thursday:  Fried Shrimp, hush puppies and cole slaw

Friday:  Grilled steak, ceasar salad, mushrooms and crusty bread

Saturday:  King Ranch casserole

Sunday:  Pot roast, mashed potatoes, gravy (for someone, not me!) and peas

See what I mean?  Not a healthy thing in the bunch.  However, it is but one week and most every other week I am all about the healthy and nutritious.  Just let it go is all I can say (to myself, loudly as I get another hush puppy).  Not to mention - come on, frying stuff in this heat??  I'm on my third shower of the day at this point.  Oh well, sweat helps carry away all the bad stuff, right?  Oh my, did I just say sweat?  Forgive me dear readers, glisten!  The glistening helps carry away all the bad stuff.  Jeez, you'd think this was a guy's blog or something.

Let's talk about shellfish for a minute shall we?  I have still not forgotten the whole crab debacle in December in  Singapore rendering me unable to eat for more than a week.  Now, again Sunday, I had shellfish (but NO crab - muscles, clams, and something which still remains undetermined but I was assured was a Chinese delicacy once it was steamed).  Monday and Tuesday were not good days for me.  The only shellfish I seem able to ... stomach, as it were... are shrimp, or prawns, you say potato I say potatoe...whatever you prefer to call them.  I find it odd none of this previously bothered me (the undetermined Chinese delicacy when steamed notwithstanding)...so, do you chalk that up to OLD or foreign travel.  Ding, ding, ding, ding, b) foreign travel it is Alex!  You are only as old as you feel..yes, but get sick on enough shellfish and you will feel ancient.

The thing I love most about the random blogs is you can flit from thing to thing because well, it's random!  I bought a "mosquito" plant at the nursery.  The guy assured me that when the "breeze" blows the scent of the plant perfumes the area and the mosquitoes leave.  Breeze?  Really.  What was I thinking?  Speaking of breeze - has anyone ever noticed that if you wear a particularly frilly or billowy or well, anything that isn't a pencil skirt, frankly - skirt, that is the day it decides to be breezy?  You could have rocked along for weeks with no breeze but sure enough!  Particularly I find this phenomenon to occur when I have to ride an outdoor escalator.  Yes, of course, this did happen today on my way for a facial...see, when DES goes to the groomer, I get a facial.  Works out nice, they are in the same shopping complex and then I don't have to come back and, dread of all dreads, find yet another parking space somewhere in the vicinity of the groomer.  Because walking with DES and a bunch of people, NOT good!  Especially men people who may or may not be of another ethic group than I.  Big SHUDDER.  Anywhoo - where was I?  Oh, yes.  Escalator, skirt.  Hello world!  No it appears I did not listen to my mother on the whole "you never know you might get in a car wreck and then what" discussion and perhaps I should have rethought the undergarments.  Enough said.  And, very politely, I might add!

At any rate, I am sitting with my feet propped up in another chair and the "mosquito" plant under my legs.  At last count I had twenty one bites.  Yeah, a breeze is definitely in order, particularly since I've changed clothes and the skirt is hung up now.  I sure wouldn't want to be showing my business here on my private patio, after all!  

 I DEFINITELY need to think twice about sharing everything here!  What a conundrum!

Love, spajunkie

The Pickled Spajunkie

Isn't that catchy?

My VBFF (Hi Shar!) coined that phrase recently and I'm thinking more and more it will be the working title to my book.  Oh, have I not mentioned?  I've finally decided to start writing a book.  I have a rough outline in my head...I even actually have the first chapter just about written (in my head).  I'm thinking it needs a further tagline..."The Pickled Spajunkie:  An Expat Wives' Tale".  What do you think?  That is all I am at liberty to give away at the moment but I would be open to any suggestions!

I got these amazing shoes for Mother's Day!  LOVE Them!

So, to celebrate we went to Brunch at Shook and met up with some friends...

Brunch should have ended at 3 pm....at 7 pm we poured ourselves into a taxi and went home!  A very, very fun time was had by all! Pickled spajunkie, INDEED!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Make Tiramisu

Tomorrow night we are having a dinner party...I've gone with an easy menu...kind of an Italian theme, more or less. So, when I asked Mr. Ken what he would like for dessert his first response was "the raspberry brownie from Panera".  His second response was "Tiramisu"?  His third response was " ...I don't know, fresh fruit with cream or something"?   Which means he went from what he really wanted, to something else he really wanted, to what he knows I usually do since I don't like to make dessert.  I said "Tiramisu it is".

Have I ever made it? No.  But I thought it would be one of those super easy recipes you just throw together and refrigerate until ready for consumption.

As it turns out I was right!  It is super easy...as long as you have lady fingers and espresso and marscapone cheese.  I found pound cake instead of the lady fingers (which Giada assures will work just as well), everything else good to go and so I figured it would be easy to just stop by Starbucks and get a giant espresso to go.

Okay.  I admit I don't really drink much coffee, don't really like it. If I were on a game show and the million dollar question was "what is the difference between espresso and any other coffee"?  My answer would be they serve espresso in a tiny little cup.  Truth is I have no freaking clue except the one and only time I drank it I was kept awake until four in the morning with my heart pounding and I drank it at four in the afternoon.  For the longest time, I didn't know there was any difference in a cappuccino and an espresso except for the size of the cup... and the foam on top...which apparently you could get on an espresso if you really wanted it but that is just even more confusing to this coffee novice.

But I digress, I left the store with ingredients in hand and swung by Starbucks on my way out.  I very confidently sauntered up to the counter and said " I need an espresso for take away in one of the Venti size cups please".  The very nice young Asian man behind the counter said "....um, are you sure ma'am that would be like five shots of espresso".  I said "no, no, no shots" (thinking he meant some kind of those extra things people are always adding...a caramel mochiato with a shot of raspberry ... or something) I continued..."just the espresso please but I need a lot of it, 3/4 of a cup to be exact".  He said "oh, I understand, 3/4 of this"?  He held up one of those thimble sized espresso cups.  "No, no," I said, and picked up what I thought to be a Venti cup, "this".  Now, I will just go back to the million $  ? Above but ask instead for a million dollars "name what Starbucks calls these size cups"...I have never understood the whole tall, grande, Venti, what have you scenario and am super glad I order iced tea which is small or large.   

But back to the espresso.  At this point my erstwhile barista  (is it baristo if male?) asked a fellow barista (a female) to come help me.  So I repeated my request and added to the end of it "I'm making tiramisu".   "Oh" says the male barist(o)a as if that explained everything!  I further went on to explain "yes, and the recipe calls for 3/4 of a cup of espresso, so I was going to take this (holding aloft the Venti cup) and let it cool, then dip the lady fingers in it" (making dipping motions with the invisible lady fingers knowing I was really lying because I couldn't get lady fingers, just pound cake, but at that point it seemed like admitting this would just confuse the issue further).    

So, now the first male barist(o)a, the new female barista both shake their heads as if totally understanding this dessert making scenario and start making me espresso...all the while speaking to yet a third barist(o)a in Bahasa what it is I'm trying to do.  So, now everyone seems to be on the same page.  Everyone is mumuring "tiramisu..." and shaking their heads yes.  So, while I'm waiting the first barist(o)a says to me " Tiramisu, huh"?   I brightly, but inanely, say "yes, Giada's recipe".  He says " I don't know Giada's but I like tiramisu!". I admit I came very close to explaining Giada but thankfully for him and for me thought better of it.

While I continued to wait on my FIVE shots of espresso the lady barista motioned for me to come back...to the super secret Starbucks pantry.  I was a little confused but I followed her.  Here she hands me some small miniature packets of coffee and says "next time you want espresso for a recipe use these, I give them to you as a gift - you just bought 35 Ringott of espresso"!   By the look on her face I could tell this was a ridiculous amount of espresso to have purchased...a whole $11.50 worth.  Nonetheless, I thanked her profusely and said "if the tiramisu turns out good I will bring you a piece".  She smiled and said "okay, it's a deal".  Then my first barist(o)a said "me too".  

So, I paid my 35 Ringott, tipped a considerable amount and took my incredibly hot, full cup of espresso and went on my way.  All the while wondering to myself how I possibly just agreed to bring dessert to the waitstaff at my favorite Starbucks?!  I know, I don't drink coffee but I have a favorite Starbucks...they make a great iced tea, with a little coaching...

Back to the dinner party - the menu:

Romaine lettuce with an avocado, green onion, lemon and olive oil dressing (I refer to this as an upside down salad because you mix all the dressing components on the bottom of your salad bowl, put the cut up romaine on top, refrigerate for several hours, then toss.  It is sublimely good, tart, creamy yet crunchy).

Real Meatballs and Spaghetti by the Contessa herself, here is the link:   http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/real-meatballs-and-spaghetti-recipe/index.html

(If this still isn't showing as a link you can click on, my apologies, I'm STILL learning this laptop.)

Garlic bread

And The soon to be Famous - Tiramisu

I did a very casual, little bit rustic, little bit elegant,table scape:

Buon appetito!  Arrivederci!  

Amore, spajunkie

Back From Perth

It was a short trip but we sure did have a good time!  It's funny...turn us loose in Western Australia and we manage to make half the dinners there all about Mexican food!!  

Friday night we met our good friends, Debbie and Jack, for dinner at the Swan Brewery.  The food is always, always good and the company even better!  On Saturday we went out to the Cottesloe area and just messed around, stopped in for lunch at a (relatively) new place called "the Dish Cottesloe".  

And, were we glad we did!  We ordered the fish tacos  They quite possibly were the best fish tacos I've ever tasted.  Plus, the place is very nice.  

 We met one of the owners, Sally, and chatted with her for quite some time...she is from Arizona!  It is crazy how small the world really is.  Anyway, I mentioned to her that I would blog about the restaurant and give it a review!  Well, I'm no restaurant critic but the food was delicious!  If you are in and around the Perth area I highly recommend you drop in...and tell her the spajunkie sent you!  

Nice outdoor seating too!  Perfect for enjoying the gorgeous Perth weather.

Speaking of weather...wow!  It stormed like crazy Saturday night!  We went to a party that evening...in fact, it is the entire reason we flew to Perth!  I always wanted to say "I flew to....for a party..."  Now I can!  Some friends of ours we've known a long, long time are being transferred from Perth back to Houston so we went down for the going away party.  We had a really good time...and the food was really good!  Gumbo, spicy boiled shrimp and fried calamari.  Yum!  We met some new friends (Hi Kim!) and said goodbye to some old friends.  Nice time.

On Sunday we got up and headed to Freemantle to visit the market, have some brunch and just mess around.  We went to a shop called "the Pickled Fairy" which was just precious.  It was for little girls but this old girl enjoyed it all the same, very much!  I just simply LOVE the name as well...

That evening on the recommendation of our hotel concierge we tried a new restaurant called Los Cholitos.  It was mexican-ish...we enjoyed it though it was admittedly very trendy, loud and different than our usual style but we had a fun time and ................they had HOMEMADE FLOUR TORTILLAS.  Enough said.  They even gave me some to take away!  While we were there we chatted with a young man at the bar who was in Perth on business.  We talked a lot about travel and funny travel stories.  He had quite a few!  Very entertaining evening all the way around.

So, go to Perth, have some mexican!  You really wouldn't think you would say that in the same sentence!

Speaking of which...today at the grocery they had real, honest to goodness JALAPENO PEPPERS!  Our menu for the week quickly changed to how many things can I make that need pico de gallo!  Yummy, yum, yum.  

Adios for now spajunkies!

Delicious Dinner

While worrying and waiting for Mr. Ken to get home from Vietnam I busied myself with making dinner...I created the following and it turned out SO yummy! I was wanting something comforting, light, fresh but very tasty and with good crunch! This fit the bill! I regret I was in creative mode and I didn't know how good they would turn out, I didn't take any pictures...anyway...they turned out as pretty as they were good! The other thing is if you did use store bought tostado or chalupa shells this meal is on the table in less than an hour! Additionally, I made everything in advance and put it all together once he got home. It works out very well for thinking ahead meals. You could even use leftover or store bought rotisserie chicken to save even more time but I did love the marinade on the chicken. Chicken Chalupas with Guacamole (this was made for two people, adjust accordingly for more) Ingredients: 1 large chicken breast (I used with skin and bones, you can certainly do without) 1/2 cup fresh lime juice 1 heaping teaspoon chili powder 2 large avocados 1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice (I juiced two large lemons) 1/4 cup olive oil 1/2 cup shredded green cabbage 1/2 cup shredded red cabbage 1/2 cup shredded romaine lettuce (I did all three in long thin strips) 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes halved 3 or 4 radishes julienned 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (you could use cilantro, I didn't have any) 10 soft corn tortillas (you could substitute pre-made tostada or chalupa chips - I can't get those here, but I loved the homemade version and might always do that!) 1/3 cup Canola oil Lemon Pepper, Cayenne Pepper, Course black pepper, Crazy Janes Salt, Garlic Salt, Sea Salt (all to taste, below) 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used white cheddar, use whatever you've got) Preheat over to 180 C or 350 F. Put chicken breast in smallest oven proof baking dish, with lid, it will fit in (I pulled back the skin some and put the breast in upside down so the most meat was in the marinade). The point of the small dish is to maximize the marinade surrounding the chicken and make the chicken really tender and moist...more pan surface, less marinade on your chicken meat. Mix the lime juice and chili powder, pour over the chicken. Put the lid on and bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven, leave in dish with lid on until ready to dice. While the chicken cooks... Guacamole I've tried numerous versions of making this. I've added tomatoes, cilantro, onions, jalapeños, mixed and matched all of those. Our favorite way to eat it is super simple this: Mash two avocados in a bowl. Add about two teaspoons of fresh lemon juice. Season to your personal taste with lemon pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic salt, and Crazy Janes salt. We like ours pretty well seasoned especially with the pepper. Remember when adjusting your seasoning that your chips are salty also! Store in the refrigerator with the seed of one avocado in it until ready to serve. Serve with tortilla chips (or with warm tostada chips below). Assemble your salad by mixing the cabbages, lettuce, radishes, tomatoes and parsley together in a small bowl. Dress the salad as follows: In small bowl whisk the remainder of the lemon juice, olive oil, and I add some Crazy Jane and some cracked black pepper to taste. I prefer the dressing more lemony than oil, if you prefer the opposite whisk in more olive oil. You should be able to tell by the smell - more lemony or more oil to your taste! Toss with the salad and reserve in the refrigerator until ready to assemble the tostadas. Heat the canola oil in a shallow skillet large enough to hold a tortilla. Drop a tortilla in the oil, turning a couple times. Let them just brown and crisp up a bit. Remove to paper towels to drain. Repeat until all are crispy and golden brown. Sprinkle a little salt on them while hot to season. To assemble: Remove your chicken from the dish, remove bones and or skin, dice the chicken in small bite sized pieces. Remove your salad, cheese and dip from the fridge. Take the avocado seed out of your dip for serving, and give your salad another toss to make sure all ingredients are mixed well. Take a tostada, layer on chicken, cheese (I don't actually do the cheese but Mr. Ken prefers it), salad and a dollop of guacamole. I made two per person. I broke up the rest of the tostada chips and served alongside the remainder of the guacamole. Fresh, easy, delish...Enjoy guys!

Back to some new sights in Singapore

 Let's see we were working our way backwards weren't we?

Friday we stayed in and caught up on computer work...him work anyway, me seven hours of frustration to upload three pictures.  Essentially what I've decided is MacBook has a mind of its own when it comes to blogging and sometimes I can upload pictures and sometimes I cannot.  Frustrating.  Today, so far has been good and I'm on my third blog ... cross fingers it holds out.

Friday night we met up with our good friends John and the very lovely, Jennifer, for dinner and drinks. We always enjoy our time with them!  They are totally living a fantastic life in Singapore with their four adorable kids.  I know you've heard this before but I think there is a blog in there somewhere guys!!  We started our evening at the St. Regis for drinks, then went to Dan Ryan's for dinner (a new favorite of ours) and then drinks at an outdoor tapas place on Orchard.    The evening seemed to end too quickly!  It was midnight before we even realized it.

On Thursday we headed for the Sentosa Botanical Spa for a half day of pampering.  Now, I must back up, or speed forward as it were, to Tuesday.  Jennifer, her lovely friend Lorraine, and I went to the spa that day.  I loved it so much I took Mr. Ken back!  Jennifer went here a few months back and highly recommended it, and she was SO right!  It has now moved to my NUMBER ONE spot on the spas of the world list.  I will admit that the indoor part of the spa and the treatments run neck and neck with the St. Regis but it is the outdoor space you just can't beat!  If you book any treatment you have access to this all day.  Beautiful!

There were peacocks everywhere!  This one was coming down the stairs to have lunch with us!

 

That evening we went out to dinner at Morton's.  It was deliciousness times three!  We were so thrilled to have a REAL ceasar salad, like they only make in the US, baby!  Crunchy romaine, fantastic, classic dressing.  While it was definitely a splurge as dinner goes, it was worth every penny for every yummy bite.  

On Wednesday we decided to take a tour throught the city.  We hit Arab Street, Chinatown and Little India.  Basically what you would expect of old street markets.

Arab Street:

 

Little India

Hindu Temple

Chinatown

We had lunch in a former Opium Din!  We had Thai food and it was fantastic!

That evening we went for a quick, inexpensive (for Singapore) dinner then headed out for...(here we go Jen!)  The four floors of...  (nope, I can't do it!)  Let's just say the last word rhymes with floors and could be used to describe persons in an age old profession and... leave it at that.

We have heard about this forever so we decided to check it out.  All it really is - a bunch of different nightclubs, some of which have girls dancing (not stripping and they are clothed) and in essence they are trying to find that ex-pat guy that will take them away from it all.  The girls come from eastern europe and southeast asia mostly.  It is a rather sad socio-economic experiment all in one building.  It was boring though some of the music was okay but not by far our cup of tea.  However, it is checked off the list...

And, most of Singapore is checked off the list now!  I definitely got carried away with this one but the photos were working so I wasn't stopping.

Until another one....Love, spajunkie

Wicked and other Deliciousness

We had so much fun in Singapore!  Lots of pictures and lots of new things to report.  I've decided to start with our last day there and work my way back.

I had purchased tickets for us to see  "Wicked" at Marina Bay Sands theatre on Saturday afternoon.  It was fantastic!  While it was not quite as good as on Broadway in New York (where we saw it in December 2006), it was a very, very, very close second.  Jemma Rix, an Australian actress, was superb in the role of Elfaba.  In fact, the entire Australian troupe was awesome.  We throughly enjoyed every minute of it.

A couple of funny quotes from the play:

“I know you don't want to hear this but someone has to say it! You are out of control! I mean they're just shoes... let it go!”   (JUST SHOES???)

“We can't all come and go by Bubble!”   (WHY NOT???)

“Let the green girl go!”   (Try to use that in a conversation!)

After the play we wandered around Marina Bay Sands for a bit...we were due to have dinner at Ku De Ta on the top of the hotel but we ended up at Mozza and well, cancelled our reservation at Ku De Ta.  The food at Mozza was wonderful!  The restaurant is owned by three people, one of them is Mario Batali of Food Network fame.  There are only three restaurants - two in California and one in Singapore...which seems a bit odd but the food was so good!  We ordered Artichoke al Forno with ricotta crostone:

Fried squash blossoms with ricotta:

Insalata Mista (which was bitter greens with lemon viniagrette and a pizza with goat cheese, leeks, galic and bacon - YUM!!!!!

A beautiful restaurant with beautiful food and ambiance...and, for Singapore, not expensive!  

 We then stopped in here for a drink:

Little did we know that in fact they specialize in "Handcrafted Cocktails"...and they mean it seriously as much as they do the food!  We decided to try one...it was called "HELP - Save the Bees".  Ketel One Citron, Thyme and Lavender infused honey, Limoncello and Lemon Bitters.  When I say it was the best mixed drink I have ever tasted in my life I would not be joking in the slighest!  Maybe it is the Hand CUT ice they carve out of a huge chunk each morning...or maybe the infused honey, or maybe just because I love most things lemon.  It was divine!  Or, maybe it was our mixologist, Rico!

Here is the look on my face when Mr. Ken said to me - "So, the whole time we were watching the play I kept thinking Galinda (Glenda the Good Witch) reminds me of you!"  I said "Really? Why?  Because I'm not green?"  He said "No, because of your generally sunny disposition and always seeing the world and those it in as good."  I said, "Oh, I thought maybe because of when she arrived on stage on top of a heap of luggage that someone was pushing in a cart!"  He said "That too sweetie!"  LOL!

We had such a great day and evening!  I wished it could go on all night but alas, I had to get up at the crack of dawn to catch my flight back to KL so we left around 9:30...

Thanks, Mr. Ken, for the week in Singapore!  It was fun!  

Stay tuned for more new blogs coming soon!

Love, spajunkie.

Just a Teaser...

Some $40 worth of apps and 7 1/2 hours later.  That is all I am saying at this time!

Stay tuned!  There might even be a story to go with it later...

Easter Dinner

...on Thursday evening. 

There are some Cameron peeps in from the US and UK this week and they have been traveling for a couple of weeks, and prior more like a couple months so we invited them for dinner on today.  Since they won't be at home to celebrate Easter with their families I thought I would do an Easter dinner.  Here is the cast of recipes, with links to the originals.  I really stuck mainly to the recipes because they are flawless (sort of!).  Where I could and thought about it there are photos.  Did anyone know you can save recipes on http://www.myrecipes.com?  Wow.  I don't know how I missed that train but I've definitely made up for lost time this week!  You can even save your own recipes...I'm not as inclined to do this as you need to enter ingredients and amounts and well, I'm just not that patient yet.  I did save some from other sites that I copied and pasted but I just put them in the notes section...lazy that way.  I do however, LOVE that if you save a recipe from the site itself you can also send it to a grocery list and it will hold the ingredients for you in list form.  I can't tell you how much time and effort this saved me!  I just printed that sucker off, crossed through what I already had on hand and voila` grocery list you could add to!  Brilliant.  I seriously have no idea how I've missed this for so long.  I will continue to play with and tweak this and get back to you on how well it works.

First Course:

Marinated Lemon Shrimp and Artichokes in Martini glasses (along with some good quality breadsticks bought at the store and some nuts  ~ just for some salt with before dinner drinks) http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/marinated-lemon-shrimp-artichokes-10000001831989/  this was delish!  The one and only picture I did capture because once everything starts flowing I am so LAME at taking photos!!!

Second Course

Butter Lettuce Salad with Parmesan Tuiles and Almonds http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/butter-lettuce-salad-with-parmesan-tuiles-almonds-10000001598618/  Also Delish!

Third Course

Classic Baked Hame with Maple Mustard Glaze http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/classic-baked-ham-with-maple-mustard-glaze-10000001598619/ Yummy, second time I've made this recipe, it always delivers!

Southern-Style Potato Salad  http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/southern-style-potato-salad-10000000686261/  Very tasty

Marinated Asparagus  http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/marinated-asparagus-10000000364630/ I don't know, maybe not so much.

Refrigerator Yeast Rolls  http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/refrigerator-yeast-rolls-10000000520467/   http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/easy-three-seed-pan-rolls-10000001723324/)okay, so, NO!  They come out like little, well, I called them savory cookies!  So flat, so NOT a roll.  So, very, very NOT a yeast roll.  Now, could be a lot to do with our climate, the yeast I bought, lots of things go into dough rising or not.  I don't want to judge.  What I WILL say is even though flat and asthetically not pleasing, they tasted really good!

Fourth Course

Irish Chocolates (directly from Ireland, thank you Sandra!) and berries - straw, rasp and black!

The really good thing about this menu is ... enough for an entire complete dinner from the leftovers on Sunday with no preparation! 

Here is the super cute tablescape for the occasion, tweaked mildly from its original form:

I so love to entertain!  It just makes me happy.  A bed and breakfast or a catering business, this is what I think I need full time!

Anyway, a fun time was had by all!  And,now, spajunkie, must go to bed!  I wish all of you a wonderful Easter, time with your family, and a remembrance of what Easter really means!