Sushi, Sugar 'n Skin

Sick. Ick.

Went to see the new musical in town last Thursday, The Light in the Piazza; it was out of obligation but I was glad I went. Good seats, and the music was fantastic. By Friday I was already feeling pretty crummy; still, E and I went to a Grey's Anatomy mini-marathon at Ling's, who TiVO'ed the last two riveting episodes of the latest 3-part story. We joked about wearing scrubs, masks, and tags like on the show - a red one for me (highly contagious) and yellow one for E. Even though I'm not an avid follower of the series, it's hard not to catch the buzz. Everybody there was a die-hard fan. Okay, so it's not bad.

Saturday was mostly spent recuperating on the futon. I promised E it was time to install Ubuntu in proper, so we dug around my baby's guts, partitioned the hard drive, and had a little installation party. I've officially initiated into the world of Linux and open source. *tiny cheer*

Spending a Saturday afternoon wrapped in a blanket, drinking hot tea and tinkering on computers became vaguely unsatisfying after a while. Bummed about not being able to spend the day in town, we brought the town to us - sushi takeout, Dozen cupcakes, and a tub of Coldstone ice-cream.


Ta-da! Dinner on the town

That evening I felt a ton better, good enough to accept Jennie's invitation to a late night pseudo stitch 'n bitch. Had to dust the cobwebs off my amateur scarf-knitting project I started last summer.

The hosts treated us to Mexican Ibarra hot chocolate with a splash of liquor (I went with Bailey's). The gals huddled around with their knitting needles, the guys with their laptops, and we decided to watch the 1968 classic, Barbarella. It was.. psychedelic. I tried picturing our parents watching this flick in their 20s, making peace signs and eating brownies. Kinda hard to take an erotic sci-fi film seriously, especially when the antagonist is named 'Durand Durand'. Jane Fonda was hot. I know we're grown-ups and all, but all that skin was more than we expected (for something made almost 40 years ago, anyway). Here's a clip of the opening sequence - the unveiling of the heroine, so to speak... the guys really enjoyed it. :)

We stayed up till 4am listening to David Bowie, talking, and knitting. Felt fine on Sunday, but crashed again on Monday.

On the bright side, spring is near! Can't wait for color to come back.

Peachy

Lou Hei! With the S'porean kiddos at our alma mater

Happy (belated) Chinese New Year! Wishing everyone a prosperous year of the oinkers.

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* The last piece of my V-day gift arrived. It's great. Dianne Reeves is a goddess.
* E is a sick puppy. Oddly, he has been somewhat dependent on my little just-in-case vial of Chinese medicated oil for the sore back and sinuses. Can we say, bwah?
* My mid-year review at work went well. I feel like I hauled ass for a myriad of other projects, but in the end, the only thing that counts is what I can show - consider the behind-the-scenes work for everything else a charitable contribution of my time.
* It was 48 deg F today - it might as well be April. This heat wave could foil plans for snowboarding/skiing this weekend... boo. I guess that means we'll be doing our taxes (joy!).
* I miss home.

That is all.

Valentine's Day

Iced

Best random day off ever.

Woke up at 8am (oh, the luxury of sleeping in) because last night the weather hotline announced a late start for scores of people due to the treacherous snow and ice. A late start was already nice, but when I checked my work website and saw they announced a snow day, it was like striking the lottery. I slumped back to bed, with an acute appreciation for my satin sheets and a warm husband.

Finally rolled out of bed at 10am (!) and grabbed breakfast in my PJs. Exchanged V-day gifts with E - I got roses and Dianne Reeves, he got earmuffs... the biggest gift, though, was the gift of ditching Windows. "Just say no" - after all the mockery from Mac Boy and continuing general dissatisfaction, I've been contemplating this for weeks, so of all days, I finally made the switch today. Goodbye Windows, hello Ubuntu. Today is Day 1 of my test drive (lily-livered me can't go cold turkey) - I'm running the OS off the DVD for now and I've been playing around with GIMP and OpenOffice. Still exploring options and plug-ins for non-Linux supported applications, but so far I'm a happy camper. E is elated and has been more than helpful with troubleshooting.

After geeking about my laptop, we bundled up and ventured out into the icy wonderland for lunch. I love the sight of pristine, freshly fallen snow. The neighbors' yards were coated in inches of it; everything was so bright 'n white. That's one of my favorite things about winter - the snow, that is. Oodles and oodles. It made me want to make a hundred little snowmen.

We crossed the slushy roads, found refuge at a cafe and settled in a cozy spot. Nothing like bagels and hot coffee along with a good book. E later left to spend some time at the lab, and I continued on to Coffee Tree Roasters for more coffee and more reading. I finally started 'The Time Traveler's Wife', after holding Will's copy hostage for months, and I'm really enjoying it. By page 103, I've fallen in love with Henry. (I've finished half the book now, and am sorry that the story will end soon.)

Dinner was at Bangkok Balcony, as promised, and we had our usual. The place was packed. The guy at the next table planned an elaborate surprise with roses and balloons; his girlfriend reciprocated with lots of kisses. Valentine's Day may be a pathetic Hallmark conspiracy and gimmick, but sometimes I do get warm fuzzies.

The whole day felt sinful; it was weird bumming around on a Wednesday, and I kept worrying that when I return to the office tomorrow, my co-workers will give me a look and say, you're in trouble you skiver. But it was an awesome day and E is... well, I'll do everyone a favor and save the mush. No wild monkey sex, but that's okay.

The weekend approaches. To bed!

Flaming Kitchen

One week before Chinese New Year, and I've already begun gorging myself! What can I say... you can take a girl out of Singapore, but never Singapore out of a girl.

Presenting the food orgy, in chronological order:

Wednesday: Neesha was in town, so Courtney, Mel, Chris, E and I joined up at Pinati's for some Middle Eastern fare. The place has the best hummus in town - we think the secret's in the tahini. Warm pitas fresh from the oven... mmm! We ordered shish kabobs and rounded dinner with the most decadent chocolate souffles.

Thursday: Had L & W over for dinner. I made the usual Chinese - pork with black soy beans simmered in a clay pot, baby bok choy - and a stray Indonesian dish, fried tempeh with kecap manis (E's favorite). We munched on edamame and broke out a semi-sweet table red. The highlight of the evening was the dessert that L & W had brought - cupcakes!! Not just any cupcakes, these were gems from the new bakery up the street that I've been craving for.


From Dozen: Orange Blossom, Snowball, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Vanilla Vanilla, Milk Chocolate

Friday: We invited Liz over for dinner. After a hurried trip to Whole Foods to fetch 2 lbs of yellowfin tuna and packed-'n-ready haricot vert (I'm a lazy bum, I know), I whipped up pepper-crusted seared ahi tuna, short-grain rice, the beans, and chopped salad, while E gave Liz the grand tour of our teeny apartment. We opened the organic pear wine from Four Chimneys (Liz raved on about it) and, even though we were stuffed, managed to have rich brownies (laced with chocolate ganache) for dessert.

It had been a rough week at work, and toiling in the kitchen after hours wasn't the best way to decompress, but I was pretty psyched... iron chefs never shy from a challenge!

Saturday: Another night with Liz, this time trading the kitchen for a huge tabletop grill - hibachi at Yokoso. There was a long wait, so we hovered at the bar and ordered a Sakura (sake + cherry brandy) and Malibu coconut martini. The martini was bliss in a glass. Our chef at the grill looked kinda young and new, and he took things slow and simple. Basic knife-flipping, easy does it with cracking the eggs and slicing the shrimp. The part during dinner where the lights go off and the flames go up, we had a tame baby flame. :) At least he made a little onion volcano.

Sunday (finale): No company for dinner, but it was fun all the same. It's the time of year for fondue; instead of the classic Swiss, we made one with gorgonzola, port, and walnuts. Dippers include seared beef tenderloin, granny smith apples, and cubed Italian bread. We had generous servings of port with the meal. Delicious - definitely will do it again for company.


Gorgonzola, port, and walnut fondue - recipe from Rick Rodgers

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Watched Pan's Labyrinth on Sunday. I walked in expecting a fantastical journey a la Chronicles of Narnia, but left feeling somber, shaken, and a little depressed. It was well done, and at parts I felt like I was cuddled up with a good book, though I couldn't stand to watch the gory scenes. The two realities were cleverly woven; I can't decide if the story ended well or not.

The Spanish definitely added to the enchantment (pun). Whenever E recognized a phrase, he'd lean over and repeat it excitedly in a whisper, "Vamanos!" "Un poco!" Pretty funny. Dark theater, dramatic scenes, and a boy shows off his vocabulary with vim. :)

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Countdown to Chinese New Year begins!

BFF

The cats had been wrestling viciously with each other this morning. It was a neck-biting, paw-flailing, body-slamming, fur-grabbing, full-out rumble. Then the kids decided to take a break... nappy time.






Salty's paw resting on Pepper; Pepper stirs

BFF!

Artsy fartsy

Went to the art museum today - lately I've had this strange urge to walk around aimlessly and watch people and things... no reason at all, just feel like it. It's too cold for the park, so I headed to the galleries.

E was a good sport and tagged along. We got in free; he as a student, I as a former docent. As soon as we walked through the double glass doors, I felt a sense of calm wash over me. The polished hardwood floors, tall sterile white walls, bright lights, and space... the art therapy begins.

The first few galleries we walked through showcased stuffy Victorian and Renaissance paintings and elaborate furniture. I learned a new word: garniture. Dictionary.com says it means something that garnishes (heh, duh), but an art buff will say it refers to a display of Chinese porcelain, in odd numbers, atop a cabinet or mantle. It's a European thing. Strange, no? A series of tilting helmets led us to a hallway filled with ancient relics from Asia and Africa. Ancient art is sometimes cool, but mostly creepy.

As we progressed on through the eras, back to the Renaissance and onwards to Expressionism and Surrealism, I became convinced that I will never understand art. Torn muslin, a wrangled piece of aluminium, paint splashed arbitrarily, and my favorite - an utterly blank, white, piece of canvas - these all have some abstract message behind them, from the atrocities of the Holocaust to the profoundness of life, the artwork being the physical expression of that epiphany. My 4-year old nephew could easily be the next Jackson Pollock, but his spaghetti scrawls won't be selling for millions of dollars.

Anyway... despite not being able to grasp some of the art (we are but common folk), we had a good time.


Giant dandelion: An exercise in futility


Great Love: My eyes hurt if I stare for too long

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Tried to make something fancy for dinner - rabbits with prunes. It's a popular dish among small restaurants in the French countryside, I was told. Except, since I was too lazy to pick up rabbit meat at Wholey's, I spared the bunnies for chicken and substituted the prunes with apricots (both swaps are totally acceptable, according to the recipe). So it's more like chicken with apricots... doesn't quite sound the same, but one can use some imagination. I didn't have enough of a pyromaniacal streak to do the flaming cognac bit, but nobody can tell anyway after it's soaked in red wine. Turned out well! I made sauteed potatoes and a simple romaine salad to go with it. This one's a keeper.

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I've jumped on the 'Heroes' bandwagon, and I'm officially a fan. The plot is riveting and the characters are well-cast; Hiro Nakamura is definitely my favorite. House and BSG currently take a back-seat - am I fickle or what?