Geeky Tai-Tai's Great Road Trip Oh-Eight, La Troisième Partie

Where was I?  Oh, let's see, yeah, da boyz and I were headed to Carlinville.  We arrived there around 5:30 (Central) Saturday.  We were greeted by by Buckner, Skip and Beth's dog (a Great Pyrenees).  None of the dogs really knew how to react to the other.  Hunter and Clyde mostly tried to hide behind me.

We drank a few beers, watched the dogs play, and then decided to head uptown to Angus Bailey's for some dinner.  I forget now what I had, but I can assure you it was teh yummeh!  I love that place because they have such a varied menu, and the portions on huge.

Buckner, Beth, and Hunter

We spent Sunday getting the garage ready for the big Thanksgiving feast.  Skip vacuumed the big rug (which terrified Hunter for the longest time), set up the tables, and then he and I had the best time decorating the "Thanksgiving" tree.  It turned out really cool.

In the afternoon, Skip took da boyz and me to visit my mother-in-law, Gloria, at the nursing home.  She's had Alzheimer's for years now, but the illness has progressed very quickly of late, and it's heartbreaking.

When we arrived, Skip said, "Hi, Mom, do you know who I am?" and she very politely replied, "No, I don't believe I do."

Skip led us down the hall so that I could see her room and we could get her jacket.  Skip and Beth have seen to it that she has all of her special things -- photos, her favorite chair, things like that.  She told me that everyone there is very nice and she likes it there. 

After we'd retrieved her jacket, we went back down the hallway to head outside when I discovered a "deposit" on the sparkling floor left by one of mah boyz!  One of the aides cleaned it up for me since I didn't have any of my plastic bags with me.  Doh!

We went outside to sit on the bench she likes to sit on.  We didn't have a conversation really, but it was nice to sit with her and she seemed to enjoy petting Hunter.  He loved it!  After about 15 minutes, Gloria was ready to go back inside.  A young lady was there doing manicures.  Skip helped Gloria select a new color besides the bright pink she'd had on. 

While Skip went to back to set Glo's TV to FOX so that she could watch football later that afternoon, I stayed in the commons area with Clyde and Hunter.  They were perfectly behaved!  One resident in particular, really loved petting them. I was so proud of mah boyz, and it made me feel good that they brightened the day for so many people.  This is what I hope we can do on a regular basis in the future.

My niece, Jessica, came over later in the afternoon along with her puppy, Reilly.  Take a look...

We had the best time just watching those three little fellas!

Sunday evening, I took the boys out to potty around 10:30 and had a smoke. It was so cold and Hunter is still scared of the stairs. I got he and Clyde up on the deck and decided I couldn't put that cig out on the deck because it would leave 

a nasty black spot. I spied the planter nearby and thought, "Aw, well, I can just put it out in there and then head upstairs with the boys."

Around 3:30 a.m. I heard commotion downstairs -- Beth calling very loudly for Skip. I went back to sleep, but wondered why she was getting up so early for work. We woke up around 8:30, I threw on some clothes so that I could take the pups out to potty.  Skip came in and said, "Good morning", but not in his usual jovial tone.

"Well, good morning, Skip, how are you today?"

He had an odd look on his face, and he hesitated before speaking.

"Skip, are you OK? Is something wrong?" I'm getting scared now because he's a pretty laid back guy most of the time.

Skip finally said, "Uh, yes mostly, but we've had a bit of a problem." He put his arm around me, helped me with getting the leashes on the pups, and led me out onto the deck. What I saw -- well, it just sent me into a state of shock. It took a few seconds for the sight to sink in before I realized that I HAD SET THEIR HOUSE ON FIRE! OMG! I started bawling!

He was kind enough to let me cry on his shoulder, held me, and then he said, 

"We need some coffee. I can't figure out how to work that new coffee maker, so I'm going to take Buckner in the truck to get us some."

Hunter was so upset about me crying and being upset, he couldn't stop shaking. I couldn't stop shaking and eventually felt like I was going to be very ill. The damage is rather minimal when I think what it could've been, but that's when I get nauseous -- again! I am so grateful that Beth decided to go through the kitchen to get to the bathroom at 3:30 a.m.  I still can't believe that it happened. GAH

Buckner letting me know that I'm an idiot!

To be continued... at my NEW blog:  The Real Life of a Geeky Tai-Tai

Geeky Tai-Tai's Great Road Trip Oh-Eight, Première Partie

I think the most difficult thing about living in Singapore for us was not being able to be with our family and friends during American holidays.  Oh my, please don't misunderstand!  We have always had fun with our friends (chosen family) wherever we've lived because, really, how can one not appreciate the special people that we've been so fortunate to meet? 

Now that we're back stateside, we still struggle with the logistics of being with our families. Most of WHH's family is in Carlinville, IL, most of mine in Indianapolis, and we're in Atlanta.  Jim was busy with OTR truck-driving school and was unable to leave Indy.  Patrick is going to school and working in Atlanta.  We couldn't be with one son and not the other.  It's just not right.

The more we talked about it we realized that it would be simplest for me to take a road trip to Carlinville and Indy, and visit my friends along the way.  I love road trips!

I put Clyde and Hunter in their car seats on Friday, November 28, for the first leg of our trip to Louisville, KY.  I hadn't seen my friend, Junebug, in 4 1/2 years.

  

Junebug and Me

We spent the evening talking, laughing, drinking lots of beer, before I went to bed at 2 a.m.  I set the alarm on my phone for 8:00 a.m. because I was going to meet-up with Sodapop and LaciLoo at Lynn's Paradise Cafe for breakfast at 9:00.  Uhm, guess what... I didn't wake up until 8:40!  I jumped up, threw on some clothes, called Laci to apologize and tell her I would be on my way as soon as I could feed and walk mah boys.  

I hurriedly said my goodbyes to my friends and loaded up my things and the dogs to head over to the restaurant.

As I was driving into Louisville, Laci SMSed to say that they were seated at the very rear of the restaurant.  When I arrived, I was an hour late!  I was terribly embarrassed, but they both made me laugh when they told me that they were both jittery from drinking so much coffee!

Sodapop and Me

LaciLoo and Me

We spent the next hour and a half getting to know each other better and enjoying the delicious breakfast.  Oh, and we also talked about the awesomeness of other bloggers I've met at TequilaCon '08 and Avitable's Halloween party (Dave2, Adam, Miss Britt, Hilly, Karl).  There are more, but we didn't have that much time because I needed to get on the road to Carlinville and they were going to see Twilight.

You can bet that the next time I'm in Louisville, I will definitely meet-up with Sodapop and LaciLoo again.  These gals know how to have fun and they make me laugh!  Thank you for spending your morning with me.

To be continued...

Things Are Looking UP!

It pretty much sucks getting older... we fight the battle of the bulge, we fight the cholesterol and the triglycerides, and we lose our hair -- all over! Damnit, that really does a number on the ego. Seriously.

Asians tend to have very sparse or almost non-existent eyebrows and their eyelashes are rather short. Caucasians on the other hand, mostly have eyebrows and eyelashes, but we lose them as we get older.

My friend Jing and I went to get our eyebrows tattooed last month, and I was very pleased with the results. Jimbo and I were talking on Skype the other day, and he said he thought I looked younger. WOO-HOO! Such a good son he is.

I went for a touch-up this past Friday because the tattoos fade after a bit. They're only semi-permanent, unlike regular tattoos. The eyebrows don't hurt that much, but the eyeliner did -- especially the lower lids even though she applied a numbing gel. My eye was twitching so much that Emily (the artist) had to press on my eyes to keep them from twitching! Owww! By the time I left the place, both eyes were completely numb and my vision was blurry. The price we pay, right?

Yeah, well, I'm happy with the results and also happy not to have to draw eyebrows everyday to keep from looking sick. I hate that. They're a bit dark now, but they'll lighten and look more natural in a few days. They also will "do" lips, but since I'm addicted to lipgloss there's really not much reason for me to have mine done.

Everyone at the center is friendly and helpful. The facility is spotlessly clean, the treatment rooms have "spa" music playing. and are quite comfortable. and it smells really nice, too. If you're interested in finding out more...

Derma-Aesthetics Centre
3 Killiney Road #01-03 Winsland House
6836-8388
www.erabelle.com

Saturday evening we met up with Nabil and Shyanne at Pete's Place for dinner, but the first order of the evening was my purchase of a brand new Macbook from Shyanne. Yeah! I'm so pumped. After we gabbed about how much I'm going to love my Mac, we ate dinner which was definitely not on my diet (spaghetti and meatballs), but damn it was yummeh! I ate every bit of it! We went upstairs to mezza9 for drinks and had the best time chatting and laughing. They definitely know how to make a great martini, and Shyanne and Nabil are so nice to hang out with a couple of old people.

My Macbook is simple to use, it's incredible! We just took it out of the box and turned it on. I plugged my mouse in, and it worked without having some pop-up saying that it "Found New Hardware". I.LOVE.IT!

The plans for our repatriation are starting to come together. We're going to move into a service apartment April 1. The packers will start packing our stuff April 5 and we'll hand over this apartment on the 15th. We will take the direct flight from Singapore to Newark April 30 (we leave 4/30 and arrive 4/30 cool, huh?). Then we'll rent a car and drive down to Philadelphia for TequilaCon '08! I've booked a room for us at the Holiday Inn in the Historic District, for May 2 and 3. Unfortunately, we'll have to leave early on the 4th because of our flight to Atlanta. We don't feel like arriving late at night. It's an hour's drive from the airport to the hotel where we'll be staying until our "stuff" arrives.

I am so excited about getting to meet Dave (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!), Jenny, Mr. Fabulous, Shelli, Lisa, Karl, Avitable, Miss Britt, plus a whole bunch of other bloggers I haven't read yet, and with the help and generosity of Avi and Miss Britt.....

Hilly!

If you've got a Paypal account, it would be so nice of you to give 1, 5, or $10. All of us bloggers would appreciate it because it wouldn't be a good TequilaCon without her (as you can see from this photo)

(Photo courtesy Hilly's camera)

I've been reading all of these bloggers for over a year now, and they are friends to me. I am so grateful that my WHH is willing to do this for me. Our 30th wedding anniversary is April 1... his gift to me is to fly us home in Business Class (rather than the back of the bus deal as we're accustomed) and attending TequilaCon '08 in Philly.

With all of the travel I've done over the years, I've never been to Philadelphia before! This trip is going to be a great incentive for me to do the inventory, move to the service apartment, box up all of our important documents and bills, give away appliances we can't use in the U.S., etc. Moving is always a huge disruption in our lives, but moving overseas is even more complicated. It's worth it, but it still takes a toll.

I'm glad that I'll get to meet everyone at TequilaCon AND get to see our family and friends. That's what life is all about!

We Had a Very SPECIAL Visitor!

Skip & Cheese Lobster at River Quay Seafood in Boat Quay

Remember those big-ass storms in the Midwest the week before last? Well, those stupid storms kept my favorite brother-in-law, Skip, from making his flight to Newark! Stupid storms. He was able to make it the next day, cutting his visit short by one day.

There's something you need to know... no matter how much my BIL is like his dad, he was not born a travellin' man! This is a big trip for anyone, but for someone who's not a "travellin' man"? Ummm, it's a very scary proposition!

However, he arrived safely from Singapore Airlines (he was impressed with the "care" bestowed upon passengers). Once he got to our place, we proceeded to ply him with several Stella Artois' and he ate the snacks that he 'stole' from SIA (HAH!)

He slept a while and then we took him out for a walk along Orchard Road. I'm not sure (I wasn't keeping notes -- he was), but I think we all needed a shower after that. GAH! It's humid here, but it's so good for the skin!

Mike & Skip at Ngee Ann City

We decided on dinner at our fav place, River Quay Seafood, in Boat Quay. As we were walking "The Gauntlet", we could hear drummers up ahead...

We watched and listened, and then we ate...



There's more to come, because I'm pretty sure I serenaded WHH and BIL for several hours one night with my broken saxophone! Yeah, we had quite a good time!

Happy Twenty-Oh-Eight!

The sun has been shining in Singapore for the last few days and it has been WONDERFUL, and I'm over my pity-party. Yes, I miss my boys and my family, but I'm telling you, that sunshine does me a world of good! I just can't do 3 weeks of constant pouring down rain.

Remember Neil's, Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair? I couldn't talk about this before because I would've given away the surprise for Mom and Dad's Christmas. Anyway, I bought this painting from Kyra...



Isn't she beautiful? I just fell in love with her, and thought Mom and Dad would too since they have 6 beautiful daughters. Now, they're trying to figure the perfect spot to hang the painting and they want to get a light to highlight it. Thank you Neil and Kyra for the wonderful gift to my parents!

I got my WHH an iTouch for Christmas. He happened to have a $100 American Express gift card from last year. So, he used it to buy a bunch of tunes and of course the Umbrella video. He can't seem to get enough Rihanna (heh). He used up the money on the card and needed to register for iTunes again. Guess what? We have a Singapore address and there are no iTunes available for download here! WTH? If I'd known that, I think I would've held off buying this particular gift for him.

It's nice that he can copy our cd collection, though, so we won't have to mess with changing them all the time. Last night he connected it to our sound system in the living room and we got the dust off the speakers! Good times! I don't think we have neighbors above or below us and nobody complained that it was too loud.

We're listening to it now, and there seems to be a problem with the volume control. One song will be very loud, we turn it down, then the next song is too low. I guess I'll be calling Apple about it tomorrow.

For New Year's Eve we went to River Quay Seafood and had our usual favorites. Madam Irene is always so good to us. She gave us a bottle of Chardonnay too. How nice is that? We came home after dinner, listened to music, and I turned on the Stickam then kissed my WHH on camera at midnight and drank some champagne. What is it about champagne that seems to make me get goofier than usual? Still, it was a fun evening and a perfect start for 2008!

Happy New Year everyone!

Another Blonde Moment

A few months ago, I was over at Blonde Blogger's, and she was having a contest for the coolest aprons and cookbooks from Another Blonde Moment. I didn't win anything, so I decided to order myself the apron in the picture. I didn't get a confirmation about the order, so after a few weeks I emailed. I got an email response from Debbie, one of the owners, that yes, she'd received my order and would be shipping it soon.

A bit more time went by, and I still didn't have my apron. I decided to give Debbie a call. She has the most delightful Southern accent! She told me that she'd suffered a serious blonde moment. She was cutting up some foods and also sliced up her hand. She had to have surgery to repair it because she'd also sliced some nerves. I wasn't in a big rush for my apron and told her to wait until she was feeling better.

A couple of days ago I got a notice from SingPost that there was a parcel I needed to collect. When I got there, the queue was so long I almost had to stand outside. There were only 3 people working the counter. I spent a full hour just to collect my parcel!

Message to SingPost... Hire some more people to work those counters!

After I collected the box, I saw "Another Blonde Moment" on the return address, and I couldn't wait to open the package! I love getting packages in the mail, don't you?

Once I got the box open, I saw that she'd not only sent me the "Will Cook For Highlights" apron that I ordered, she also sent me a copy of each of her cookbooks: "Any Blonde Can Cook: Two Hundred 69 Ways To a Man's Heart", "How to MEAT a Blonde, Brunette or Redhead: A Dating & Cooking Guide", and "Any Blonde Can Do It!". These are the cleverest cookbooks I've ever seen! Oh! and she included some catalogs, and now I want to order some of the Blonde Floozies.
I just checked my order and saw that I only paid $7 for shipping and Debbie paid $37 to send all of these goodies to me! I owe you big time Debbie! Thank you so much.

I was going to put a picture up of me wearing my new apron, but something's wrong with my USB port again. It's either Windows (which wouldn't surprise me a bit) or a hardware issue. I've got some investigating to do. This has also messed up my "This is Today" thing on Flickr. Stupid USB port!

International American Thanksgiving

WHH carving Tommy under the watchful eye of Joerg

My scarcity around here has been due to planning and preparing for our International American Thanksgiving party and my compulsive Scrabulous-playing with friends and family online: Alex, Curisoity Killer, Jeremy, Kentucky Gurl, NYC Watchdog, Patrick (who had a damn good blog going and deleted it), Shelli, and Shyanne. I love that game, even though I mostly suck at it -- especially playing against KG and Jeremy! Damn, those two never cut me any slack, and it's making my stats look really bad.

We had our International American Thanksgiving Saturday. We called it that because we had African, American, Dutch, Filipino, German, and Romanian friends with us to share some Tommy Turkey and we're in Singapore. Some of our friends had never eaten a turkey fresh from the oven (bag), and I think most everyone liked it. You just can't go wrong using an oven bag for roasting a turkey. They cook in half the time -- even over-stuffed the way I do mine.

Cristina said that my dressing was the best I've made in the last three years. I thought it was good, but that's just me. The secret is: the sausage and my MIL's recipe (mother-in-law for all of you non-geeks). I got me some fresh spicy Italian from a Brazilian (there we go with the international thing, see?) butchery in Great World City, Espirito Santo. It's a small shop, but they were so nice and very helpful. The sausage was perfect -- spicy, but not so much so that it would do any gastrointestinal damage, if you know what I mean. I will definitely go back there again.

While my MIL is not renown for her culinary skills, she is the first person to actually show me how to roast a turkey. My mom will cook some meats, but there's no way she's going to even touch a raw turkey, let alone stuff that bad boy! LOL! If you're interested in trying the stuffing, you can get a 4 x 6 recipe card here (I must have my recipes on 4 x 6 card(s) and alphabetized in my special recipe box).

Seeing as how I grew up in a family of 8 and the fact that we have two sons, I've never really learned how to cook small amounts of anything. We had a lot of left-overs and sent some home with anybody who wanted some. I gave the guards some cherry tarts and an apple pie too. We packed a cooler full of food for the family of the drowning victim. The guards told me that the husband and the adult children were spending the entire day with her in the hospital -- not coming home until very late. I know I get tired of eating out or getting take-away. It was the only thing I could think of that might be of help to them.

We had a great time with everyone, but there wasn't much time to take pictures because we were hosting the party. Alex took this one of me and the one of my WHH and Joerg above.

We are very thankful for our family and friends... who are our chosen family!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I got a call this morning from the husband of the woman who drowned thanking me for the food. He said that a lot of people are coming and going from his place, and it really helped out. I felt good about that. Then, after a pause, he told me that she passed away Sunday, two weeks after the accident. May she rest in peace and bless her family and friends who loved her so much.

Please Sir, Can I Have Some More?

Saturday evening our friend, Bogdan, took Alex, Cristina, Catarina, the WHH, and me out for a Japanese dinner at Yakiniku Daidomon. Bogdan knows the place very well, but asked us before he ordered anything if we liked "everything". Meaning, did we like beef, fish, chicken, and seafood? We answered with a resounding, "Yes!"

This restaurant is one of those cook-it-yourself places. There's a small circular grill in the center of the table. Both the WHH and I were reminded of The Melting Pot in Alpharetta. Yes, of course, completely different cuisine, but you still get lots of raw food and cook it at your own table. I thought it was cool that we both thought of the same thing at the same time, OK?

A literal feast was gradually brought to the table. There was so much food we had to tell them to stop bringing it. Most was absolutely delicious, but there were a few "delicacies" I'd never tried before. Saturday evening, for the first time ever... you're just not going to believe this, well, maybe you will because most of you know that I'm a doofus, but damnit if I didn't eat me some steak tartare, kim chee, and RAW BEEF LIVER and I did not get sick or even make nasty faces (I don't think I did anyway).

I can honestly say that the steak tartare was a succulent treat, especially with the rice. The kim chee was hot and spicy, and I enjoyed it. I couldn't eat it every day as Koreans do, but it was nice. The marinated raw beef liver... while it did not taste or smell like beef liver, I didn't like the texture at all. It was just too slimey. I can say that I tried it, and "no thank you" in the future.

Now, if Alex offers me some of the delectable chicken liver pate that he makes, then I will say, "Please sir, can I have some more?" (that's for RW)

Speaking of food... my favorite New York City Watchdog has snacked over here at Geeky Tai-Tai's place a second time for his Sunday Smorgasbord! You really must go over to check out his personal blog as well as his fun Cerealwednesday.com website. NYCWD reviews every kind of cereal that General Mills, Kellogg's, Post, Kashi, or even obscure company's make (have you done a Kashi thing yet Dawg?) Anyway, last week The Queen Bee made two appearances for Honey Nut Cheerios. Yeah, yeah, yeah you don't need to remind me that I'm a 50-year old woman. I'm not blind yet and I know hawt, hawt, hawt when I see it. I don't think you'll want to miss The Queen Bee.

Get on outta hee-uh! Go on over to check Dawg's Cerealwednesday.com videos. They're fun, and he does make them instructional because he analyzes the labels (Jimmy and PeeDub, remember when I used to drag your sorry butts to the store and read labels? Buahahaha!)

Bullet'n

Jim, Michael, Patrick (my "boys)

• My WHH sent me all of the pics he took last weekend when he visited his family and our "bouncing baby boys" in Carlinville, IL. I miss everyone so-so much, especially my sons. No, they're not boys anymore, but still, they'll always be our "boys".
• The lady who drowned Sunday is still in a coma at Singapore General Hospital.
• I met some very nice people tonight at the Obama teleconference. There was a technical glitch, but it was still nice to meet everyone, eat, drink, and and talk a bit about politics -- or talk about how Americans don't talk politics. I think that will have to be another blog post (I promise no preaching about either side, though).
• My WHH will finally be home tomorrow. His flight arrives at 6:45 a.m.
• I have bowling at 9:30.
• I want to call Valerie and tell her that something has "come up", but I'm not a very good liar. That reminds me, you should check out Hilly's post from November 7. She's one of my "deep-thinker" friends. Actually, I have quite a few of them. I just let them deep-think for me ;-)
• I still might call Valerie to tell her I "can't" bowl this week.
• I am pretty sure that I hurt my Filipina friend's feelings this morning. She asked me about when our trouble sleeping started. Sheesh! It's been years. She was trying to be helpful, but when she told me that I needed to move my dressing mirror a few inches, I burst out laughing. I couldn't help it, but I think I really hurt her. I will apologize to her in person. Sometimes, I'm such a blurter-outer-of-things, when I should really be a deep-thinker-of-things.
• I'm still thinking I might have to call in sick tomorrow though.
• I miss my boys.

Bucaresti and Iasi, Romania

We arrived on time in Bucharest Saturday afternoon (that would be 10/13, yeah, I know I've been a real tai-tai after this trip) Alex's parents, Ana and Constantine, were waiting for us beyond the cordon. I saw Ana right off and we walked as quickly as we could to greet each other. She and I met 2+ years ago after Catarina was born. I don't speak a bit of Romanian, but she knows a few words in English. I did remember "Bunica" which means "Grandmother".

Ana greeted us with kisses and gave me a beautiful rose, a lovely porcelain rose covered dish and a hand-beaded egg. So pretty! She and Constantin were our guides at the Bucharest airport. They took us to the ticket counter where we needed to buy our ticket for Iasi, but it was closed. Our innate GPS systems took us to the bar where Constantin and Ana proceeded to purchase many Peroni beers for us. We "chatted" for over 2 hours -- neither couple actually able to speak the other's language.

Ana had pen and paper that she used to give us some lessons in the Romanian language. The most difficult word in that lesson was "multsumesc" (thank you). That "t" has one of those squiggly "s's" under it which means that it sounds like a double "z" for us in American English or like the "tse" in tse-tse fly.

The flight from Bucharest to Iasi is just about an hour long on one of those puddle-jumpers. The WHH took a pic out of the window of the countryside.

Cristina's mother, Claudia, Cristina, and Alex were waiting for us at the Iasi airport. Somehow we managed to pile all of our luggage and ourselves into Claudia's car. Fortunately, it was only a short drive to our hotel... you're not going to believe this, but it's called "Little Texas"! Some Texan decided he loved Iasi so much that he built a hotel. It's a really nice place, with clean, sparkling rooms. We had a small terrace too. We were very happy with our accommodations. Oh, and we got a full breakfast every morning as part of the deal.

Our first day in Iasi, the weather was crisp and quite windy... autumn! I'm glad I took my old fleece jacket with the hood. Cold wind always gives me an earache! It was such a beautiful change from Singapore though.

As it turns out, we were visiting Iasi at a very special time. People come to Iasi from all around the country for the St. Parascheva Celebration. We went to the central market area to shop for handmade Romanian things. The streets were lined with tents selling all kinds of handmade items, barbequed foods (where I saw my first gypsies), but it was so crowded that it was difficult to even get close to some of the displays. I found a website, Romania Through OUR Eyes, that has more pictures of the festival.

We had lunch at Bolta Rece, a restaurant built in 1864 that has arched ceilings and lots of ambience. I had pork, sausage, polenta with a fried egg and cheese. I don't remember what everyone else had, but I know there was a lot of food, and it was delicious. We needed a nap after that because later that evening we were going to Cristina's grandparents' for dinner, and then back out to watch the fireworks.

Let me tell you, Cristina's Bunica (everyone calls her Mama), is a tiny little thing, but can she cook! She had a table set up that was so large that it completely filled their living room. I regret that I didn't take my camera to get pictures. Alex's parents had taken the train that day from Bucharest along with Alex's two older children, Alexandra and Stefan, and they were there for dinner too. Mama, Claudia, and Cristina brought out dish after dish laden with food! Then Gabriel, Cristina's dad, brought out the wine. In Iasi, the favored wines are white wines. I can't remember the name of this one, but it was light and not too sweet. It went very nicely with all of the foods that Mama had prepared. I'm not sure if Mama ever actually ate anything because she was up and down so much. It was a delightful evening.

I think this is a good place for me to stop for now, but I'll finish it later because I don't want to forget anything.

Jet-lag and Other Stuff

When we first arrived in Iasi, Romania last week, I started a post, but I was too jet-lagged to finish it. Then, of course, we got busy visiting our friends and sight-seeing, and I was too tired. Now, we're back home, but I'm too tired and sleepy to try to back-track our holiday happenings.
I did, however, manage to buy groceries and replenish the beer supply with many flavors. I made us a pot roast, potatoes, and salad tonight, and it was while dining on this fine meal (hehe) that we talked... about all kinds of things because I have the attention-span of a... well, I can't think of it because I have a short attention-span.

ME: How's the meat? Is it tough? Because I cooked it slowly. Is it OK?

WHH: Yeah, it's good.

ME: Yeah? But you ate your salad faster than you ate the meat. That's a bad sign. Are you sure it's ok?

WHH: [Chuckle] Yes, it's good. It just tastes different.

ME: Oh, then it's the cut of the meat. It's not like it's a rib-roast. What did you eat for lunch today, something with green in it? At least your getting green veggies tonight.

WHH: I had chicken with mushroom soup, tuna sandwich, and some chips.

ME: Don't you get tired of eating the same thing every day?

WHH: They change the soups, so I get something different every day, and the ladies always fix me a special bag of chips.

ME: Oh, well, OK, so long as you get some veggies. So, I finally emailed myself the pictures that I took at the Goethe-diner in Frankfurt.

WHH: Hmmm.... hey, I heard a new Riahanna song today.

ME: Really? Girl-crush, girl-crush! Whoever the artistic director was of her "Umbrella" video should get an award.

WHH: [Smile] So, did you notice the guy with the Bad Monkey t-shirt when we were in the Frankfurt airport?

ME: Bad Monkey!!! and you didn't tell me? Was it Dave's Bad Monkey?

WHH: I don't know.

ME: Whaddya' mean you don't know! (I get my Bad Monkey t-shirt from the closet for him to double-check). Well, was it a Dave Bad Monkey?

WHH: Aw, hell, if you hadn't been ogling and secret-squirreling pictures of the waiter-dude you thought was so hot, this wouldn't be an issue.

ME: Uh, yeah, I guess you're right.

Here are the pictures of the hot waiter-dude at the Goethe-diner in Frankfurt Airport for your viewing pleasure...


PEE-ESS: Our sleep and poop-cycles are OFF, and that "cut" of beef is going through the WHH like "Grant took Richmond". Shit! Shit! Shit! (My grandmother's favorite expression, and mine too).

Friday Morning Ladies' Bowling League

Today was our first day of bowling. We decided that today's scores wouldn't count so that the new gals could learn about etiquette and generally understand how things work in a league. This year we have 8 teams! Lots of new ladies, and I think it's going to be even more fun than before (if that's possible because we had fun then too).

Val, Sung, and I have a new bowling buddy this year, Trish. I told her today that I will not be introducing her to the Way-Hot Husband because, uh, she looks like OMG... I am so NOT making this up!

The ONLY celebrity WHH gets all hot 'n bothered over! (OK, she's the only one he's told ME about)!

Problem is, she joined a bunch of us for lunch in the Union Bar and she's NICE too! Sonofa...! If that don't beat all. So, maybe I will introduce her to him some time after all. :D

Oh yeah, Thamo and Henry took very good care of all of us gals after we raided the Union Bar this afternoon. The Union Bar has the best service with a smile! OK, yeah, I'm partial because they're really great to look at too (heh)! *

The only thing wrong today was that our bowling buddy, Diane, was not there with her coffee and banana bread. She and her husband, Mike, repatriated recently. She's gonna be pissed at me for linking to her picture, but that's what she gets for getting away without letting us buy her lunch and stuff! That's just not right! So, Diane, you'd better email me to let me know where you're staying until that big-ass new house is finished! I've got a little gift for you that's been in my tote-bag in the dining room for 3 weeks. I think you should have it before Christmas!



*Some people may consider me old, but that doesn't mean I'm BLIND, dammit! ;0)

A WAY-Hot Husband's Birthday

Friday was my Way-Hot Husband's 54th birthday. I'd asked him earlier in the week what he'd like for dinner knowing full well what he'd want. For those not in the know, he LIVES for black-pepper crab from River Quay Seafood in Boat Quay.

We met at Penny Black's to have a beer and to meet our friends, Dirk and Jarek, then walked "the gauntlet" to River Quay Seafood. I've posted more pictures on Flickr. We enjoyed black-pepper crab, cheese lobster, lemon chicken, bok choy, and seafood fried rice. Of course there was a generous flow of wine and beer with our meal, lots of toasts, and fun conversation.

I think that WHH must've said something that made me laugh (he does that to me a lot) just as I had taken a bite of the rice. I proceeded to inhale said bite of seafood fried rice! I managed to rid my lung of a green pea, but it still felt like there was something in my lung... a grain of rice or squid leg??? I partied on because I'm really cool that way.

It was a wonderful evening, but the next morning sucked. I was gasping and wheezing because, really, you're not supposed to actually inhale food. Fortunately, Dr. T's office is open Saturday mornings so I walked over there to get checked out. He gave me a breathing treatment and sent me home with two antibiotics, an inhaler, and kick-ass cough medicine. I think I'm slowly getting better.

50th Year, Day 2

My computer is still giving me fits! Why doesn't it see my CD-ROM/DVD drive all of a sudden? Last week, I "removed" a bunch of programs that I haven't used in a while after backing everything up on the 160GB external hard-drive and on Norton. Do you think I removed a driver or something? I need help!!!

I have a cordless keyboard, and it's worked perfectly until two days ago. Now, it goes in spurts. I changed the batteries last night, and still I'm dealing with it sometimes working and sometimes not. I'm a fast typist (100 wpm when the keyboard isn't being stupid) and this is slowing me down and pissing me off!

My camera is working fine now, but why was the memory card empty Sunday? Saturday evening, it showed that the memory was full, but we'd only taken a few pictures. It's an Olympus SP-350 and we've never had any trouble... until now. Stupid camera!

One of our cordless phones with the answering machine has decided it doesn't want to work anymore too. WTF? Everything decides to break during my birthday month/week/weekend? We now have two phones that work. Of course, the cordless phones won't work if I wander too far from the base because of the concrete and steel walls. I hate when that happens. Stupid phones!

So, Ludo, with the kick-ass camera sent me this picture of us (excluding him), but he's not going to send anymore via email because the files are too large. The WHH is out of the country for two weeks, so it will be a while before I can upload anything to Flickr. Trust that we had GOOD TIMES! :D

On This Date...

50 years ago... [insert baby picture that I was planning to upload, but my computer is completely screwed] on this date, August 26, 1957 this HAWT Geeky Tai-Tai was born!

I had a lovely birthday, and I am happy to be 50!. We spent the evening with good friends, had a delicious meal at Flutes, and then fun times at Ballymoon's and Harry's @ Orchard.

I was planning to blog all about my birthday weekend, but nothing seems to be working properly. I am counting on Ludo with the kick-ass camera to bail me out with pics. My camera had nothing for me this morning. I am not happy about that.

Please stay tuned...

Hurry!

So, I took the plunge the other day and installed "Stickam" here and in Facebook. Somehow, I've got to figure out how to block horny young pervs. My gawd, they're younger than our sons! Why on earth would they want to see women like me? I don't get it, but I guess that's nothing new. It still seems cool to have a chat room on my blog, but we'll see.

When I was in ATL in June, my friend had me over for lunch, shopping, and of course, I ended up staying overnight. Anyway... I loved the salad that she made. It was a curried chicken on baby greens, or something like that. It was colorful and flavorful, and quite filling. When I emailed her later to thank her, I asked her about the salad. It turns out it was a Rachael Ray recipe, but my friend didn't have time to send me the direct link.

This morning, she sent me a scanned copy of the page she printed from the Food Network. My big plan for this afternoon? Go get all of the ingredients to make this savory salad in addition to other unusual stuff! I didn't take my trolley this time because I needed to buy a new mop too. The old one died. I also needed to get peanut butter, mayo, and mango chutney. After that, I had to stop at the doctor's to get muscle-relaxers for my neck. OMG! I think I slept on my left side the entire night! My neck cannot do that. Not all night, anyway.

After spending an hour and a half in the store with people stocking shelves and not getting out of my way so that I can look for the Mango Chutney I needed, screaming babies in almost every aisle, and not knowing where everything is now that they're in the process of expanding the store, I was finally on my way to the doctor's to pick up my medicine. Half-way there, I realized that I'd forgotten the chicken I needed for this new recipe! GAH!!! I went back to get the chicken. I really had to rush home because Mr. Nice Deliveryguy always stops at our condo first!

One of my gripes about Singaporeans is that they do not give way on the sidewalks. They'll be ambling with their friends, maybe three or four abreast, and even though they'll see you coming toward them, they will not budge an inch! It's like they're playing "chicken" with other pedestrians. Pisses me off! The only nice thing about me rushing home with my new mop was that people got out of my way! I'm a bad-ass-mop-wielding-bitch! Clear the way cause I'm in a hurry!!!

Just as I was entering our condo's front gate, my cell phone rang. It was Mr. Nice Deliveryguy wondering where I was. Oops! I apologized for my tardiness. He was cool about it.

Later, I made the Curry-in-a-Hurry chicken salad. It took me a lot longer than 20 minutes prep time, because I'm a slow-chopper in addition to being a bad-ass-mop-wielding-bitch! It was delicious. If you like chicken and curry, then you'll probably like this salad. I will definitely make this one again. You can download a 4x6 recipe card here.

Chef Monkeys' Meat Crust Pasta Pie

The other day I watched Bob's vlog, and he had the cutest kids on, Chace and Kindal. They've got their own website, Chef Monkeys, with some of their favorite recipes.

When Kindal and Chace were talking with Bob, Chace said his favorite recipe is Bacon-wrapped Breadsticks. That had me intrigued because you know I always love the goodness that is BACON!

However, after perusing their recipes, I decided to try making Meat Crust Pasta Pie just because the whole idea of a meat "crust" sounded fun. I made this Sunday afternoon, and thoroughly enjoyed myself in the kitchen. I enjoy cooking as long as I know that someone will be willing to give my efforts a try without complaint. The WHH is always happy to try something new.

This recipe will serve a lot of people, and it's comfort food presented in a new way! It would be great for a potluck or family gathering! Even if you don't like the "crunchy" part of the pasta from the top, there's still LOTS of smooth, creamy, cheesy pasta in the middle.

I'm impressed with the creativity and talent that goes into the Chef Monkeys website. I think it's wonderful that some fun grown-ups are actually taking time to teach young kids how to cook -- inspiring creativity in them, and encouraging them to provide for others. We need those things more than ever these days!

You know I'm compulsive about my recipe cards, as well as a lot of other things, but never mind... I emailed to ask permission, and the Chef Monkeys were very happy to share. You can download 4 x 6 recipe cards here, or you can go to their website and print out the page here. I think you'll be very impressed!

My Sister's Recipe -- Cluck-cluck!

A couple of weeks ago, my sister emailed her fav recipe that she thought I should try. You need to understand that the only meat my sister eats is CHICKEN. That is all. So, every recipe is adjusted for the "chicken factor".

I had to use 98% Fat-free Cream of Chicken because there is no such thing as Cream of Broccoli here -- at least in the stores where I shop in Singapore.

That being said, it was still an easy-to-make meal and quite yummy. I think it would've been more flavorful with Cream of Broccoli, but if you don't have that, then Cream of Chicken is good. I think I would use some garlic, onion, and a bit of chili to spice it up a bit. What does Emeril say, "Kick it up a notch"? Yeah, it needs to be kicked up a notch or two.

A Fun Contest

I discovered So A Blonde Walks Into a Blog today via NYC Watchdog's Smorgasboard Sunday (I'm a bit behind on reading blogs). The Blonde is a 35-year old mother of three, a freelance writer, and correspondent for an online news service. The first post on her blog is a contest for "Another Blonde Moment" prizes. I need to win those cookbooks and the apron. I love the apron!

Debbie Thornton is the owner of Another Blonde Moment featuring her cookbooks "Any Blonde Can Cook", "Any Blonde Can Do It", and "How to Meat a Blonde" along with some of the most fun and creative accessories I've ever run across!

Here are the titles of sections in "Any Blonde Can Cook"...

Four Play, A.M. Spirits, Souper Nooners, Cream of the Crop, Enter Courses, and Happy Endings

I just ordered the "Will Cook For Highlights" apron! Go on over to Another Blonde Moment and order some fun gifts or treat yourself! Be sure to check out So A Blonde Walks Into a Blog too. Yes, she's blonde, but she doesn't fit the stereotype at all -- she's an excellent writer.

Shepherds Pie and a Big Hickey On My Neck

Curiosity Killer posted her recipe for Shepherds Pie the other day, and it sounded so good that I thought I'd give it a try. I'm so glad I did! It is delicious and WHH says, "It's a keeper!"

I made a couple of mistakes like forgetting to put in the thyme and I didn't get my sauce thick enough. Still, it tasted great and it's nice to have something different to serve for dinner. I made quite a bit, so I portioned the left-overs and put them in the freezer.

Here's a picture of my somewhat runny Shepherds Pie:


You know how I'm compulsive with my recipe cards so you can download a 4 x 6 card here for Curiosity Killer's yummy recipe. If you try it, be sure to let CK know how you liked it.

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Do you have any habits that you do, completely unaware, whilst engrossed in a book, movie, or writing? Apparently, I have several one of them being scratching my neck until I give myself a hickey! It wasn't until last night as I was reading blogs that I realized my neck was itching like crazy!

I asked WHH, "Do I have a rash or something on my neck?"

WHH, "Uh, no, but you do have a hickey! What the hell you been doin'?"

"Well, I just realized that my neck is really itchy and I've been scratching at it all day long without knowing it."

He caught me at it again this morning before he left for work.

WHH, "Get.your.hands.away.from.your.neck! Jeez! You already have a hickey so big you're gonna look like a slut! I'm gonna fix that right now."

He proceeded to put one of those silicone healing patches over it. Now it sort of looks like I had some kind of bad tracheotomy or something.

I'm beginning to wonder if this could be some sort of blogger phenomenon??