Again

Three times in less than six months.

I really shouldn't. Especially when I'm inviting inevitable suspicions.

Then again, Gorgeous really, really shouldn't have seduced me with my favorite.


: )

In six hours... : )

December Part One

Before anything else, I just wanna rant...

FARK THOSE SHOES! Fark those shoes that I so love!

Why is it that the most glamorous things in the world are sometimes also the most insensibly useless ones? Why is it that I have got pretty heels but cannot show them off to the world?

Why is it I cannot handle even 4 inches?

This so calls for some training. =/

*****

Let me recount the past week. Oh, the past week.

December is already midway through its run, and I'm lamenting it's flying by and wishing December never ends. I love December, for the coolness in the air (I walk around in just a tank top at times), for the layering of clothes (and I'd like to clarify I am not a boot-wearing polar bear), for the holiday mood (read: laziness) at work, for the Fun Fridays and Congee Tuesdays (can't remember when I last had hot pot).

I love December, because every day is a party in December. That, at least, is my very-new-though-very-late resolution for the year.

And I am darn sure taking my resolution seriously for once.


TUESDAY
Drank.
Didn't really have to. Shouldn't really have.
But running my guts out and staying home on Monday night was good enough to make me feel like a good girl.
So I did. And I did also discover a lovely new place, Le Jardin.
My Japanese friend is finally out again these days. We're back chatting about shit.

WEDNESDAY
Drank.
Christmas cookie frosting! Pizza! Wine!
Never in my entire life thus far have I ever baked nor much less, frosted Christmas cookies. Am not a big cookie monster to begin with.
But it's the fun, and the company, and the wine that really count.
My small-town Vermont babe is awesome.
I made the ugliest United-Colors-of-Benetton Santa - that, of course, I had to eat up.



THURSDAY
Drank.
Farewell drinks for a not-so-close colleague, and I swear I will never step foot into Sevva again - if I can help it.
I have never hung with all the girls from the work place. And only the girls. Weird.
Dinner at Wagyu was decent, though. Been dying to try the cows there, but none of the girls ordered a steak, and I would feel like a cow if I did.
The phone call came in the middle of my salad and carpaccio feast. And I can't wait to sneak off.
Back to Le Jardin. Nice.
My Japanese friend is out again. Hmm.

FRIDAY
Drank.
From 5.30 in the afternoon. On the pretext of "office party". A PYOB one, at that - thanks to the recent budget cuts.
5 out of 11 beers from the list. Blue shots and pink ones too. And another one that looked really like good ol' plain water.
Giggled and stumbled out to Fatburger with the boys.
Ah, I miss these crazy nights.
And obviously way more than the boys, because I didn't go home at half-past-nine while they did.
What's a week without spending time with my Gorgeous?
It's training week, too. : )
Never mind even if I have to stumble home at 3. Or, was it 4?



SATURDAY
Drank. Drank. Ate. Laughed. Drank. Danced. Sang. Laughed. Talked. Drank.
It's our glamorous Christmas dinner. (Yes, the fucking' glam dinner for which I bought the fuckin' glam shoes, which didn't even bring me a fuckin' hundred meters away from home.)
We promised we'd all come out in our glamorous best, for once - and not have dinner at hot pot.
French was equally tantalizing.
I got a can of abalone in the gift exchange. Which invited much jibing. But I think it's cool I've something to bring home for Mom.
Laughter. Company. Memories. That's Christmas for me.
All the way till 7 in the morning.



SUNDAY
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


"Oh office buddies again huh..."

And I can see the sneer at the other end.

Yeah, I happen to love these guys. And I still love you boys lah.

1800

I think... I think... I think I just bought my first pair of Italian-made shoes (when I really SHOULDN'T FUCKIN' HAVE).

I hope it's comfortable.

And I hope it's not the beginning of a new addiction.



I can't believe tonight's finally here.

Oh! Toro!

I know I've kinda sworn to myself, I'd try to stay away from Japanese food when I'm anywhere in the world but Japan. But I think my adventure number two might have led me to possibly the best otoro in town.



It wasn't just the otoro.

It was the raw egg over my fluffy rice, sprinkled with dabs of shoyu, that had me completely sold.


People come, people go. That's what they do in my life.

I'm glad you chose to let me stay in yours.

Saturday

I eat, and eat, and eat.



And eat.

That's why I have to run harder than I eat.


Crime scene: Y by-the-bay at the Repulse Bay (just more atas Japanese hot pot, really)

Further activities: Undisclosed

Yamapi!

The first, and usually most interesting, motive for me to explore a place is food.

Where it is known to have good food, I usually cannot find another reason otherwise for me to move my ass.

That has, if I think about it real hard, been what I've been unwittingly doing for the last few months - I have seen parts of the Honks I'd have otherwise never seen in my hot pot adventures.


I started my new resolution as a pseudo-tourist in my new hometown by looking up all the foodie blogs and forums and web sites on the Internet. Don't ask me why.

And of very late, I have a newfound interest, more like curiosity, about private kitchens in the Honks.

Hmm. Don't ask me about private kitchens too - at least not at the moment, until I get this mystery sorted for myself.

A seemingly normal, usual Wednesday-night dinner plan with the gorgeous one set up the perfect opportunity for me.

"What do you wanna do tonight? Something simple, or something nice?"
"Nice."
"Perfect. French."


Turned out neither of us had ever really tried "French cuisine". What makes French cuisine, anyway? Rabbits? Snails?

Le Blanc was something I found randomly over the Internet - a private kitchen specializing in French cuisine, that has won quite a plenty rave reviews from customers, and didn't seem expensive. (I'm a budget tourist.)

I think I was quite sold already from the time I stepped into the "private" establishment, up on the sixth floor of an obscure commercial building in a Wan Chai, to the time I sat at our table in our "private" booth, to the time I 'ooh'd' and 'aah'd' at the amazing menu.

Everything in Le Blanc, as the name goes, is white in color yet retains a rather cosy and homely atmosphere. Indeed, while understaffed on a surprisingly busy Wednesday night, the folks somehow made me feel like I had been invited to a random house-dinner party.

There were many courses - I lost count. I can't imagine how I managed to pick all my dishes for each course, knowing how hard a menu usually makes my life. And I can't believe I didn't drink. Someone refused to touch alcohol and share a bottle with me. GRrrrrr.

The one thing I do remember though, is the taste of my grilled angus rib finger that was my main. I wasn't asked how I would like my beef cooked (which would've been rare), but the chef grilled it to such near-perfect state (which was rare - both in taste and in occurrence). Grilled but not charred on the outside, tender and almost rare in the inside, I was surprised that grilled beef like this could melt in my mouth.

I knew we both had a good dinner because I finished everything despite worrying about the number of courses earlier. And most of all, I have never seen Gorgeous eat this much - much less finish his food.

Would I return? Oh yeah. I think I do the chicken next (though I know I'd do another beef). And I'd better take advantage of the no-corkage-charge the next time.




Now I remember too why I was so happy Wednesday night.

An unexpected trip to the dodgy 188 with Gorgeous before dinner had me stumble upon one of my most amazing finds in the Honks.

Now I know where to get all my Japanese fix. : )