Christmas, The Good The Bad and The Ugly

The Good - dinners and lunches and exhibitions with BIKSS over the last couple of weeks - 

Lunch at a newly discovered French-style restaurant.

Cheese plate, smoked duck salad, mushroom and chestnut soup,

turkey breast, grilled (I forget what type of) fish.

Pre-Christmas dinner at a French restaurant before that, a place we have been wanting to try for a while now. So since it was OUR Christmas dinner we decided to go. It was a little underwhelming. A popular spot, it seemed like they were more concerned with just turning tables over as quickly as they could. Probably never again. 

Fish Quenelles, roasted squash w/risotto, b-sprouts and foie gras.

We also had some time to peruse the Banksy exhibition that was in town. Fascinating stuff. We both had a good time looking at the art. 

I really like the rat themed pieces.

The Bad - after church this morning after we had crossed the road, we saw an elderly couple fall while they were crossing. My caregiver went over to help, then turned back to look at me and made the symbol for "telephone". Uh - oh. 

Some other church goers stopped to assist too. But in the end we ascertained that the wife needed medical attention. Thankfully she wasn't the stubborn sort. I think I should go to the emergency room, she suggested, when I asked if she wanted to be taken to the clinic near our homes. As luck would have it, they live near me. A mere 5 minute walk from my flat. 

I called a ride-share and took them both to the hospital's emergency room. Along the way we managed to contact the wife's sister who said she would come straight away. The husband needed some convincing. He was insistent that if I didn't want to be reimbursed for transport, then he would owe me a favour. Right, you can do me the favour of giving me peace of mind by registering yourself at the emergency dept too, I said. Let them look you over cos even tho you don't seem to be bleeding anywhere, you took a fall too. Flat on the wife. Who thankfully just had flesh wounds. He agreed reluctantly. 

After a bit the sister arrived and we took off, but not before speaking to their daughter (who lives an hour away) and son in law. 

I took their numbers and they promised to update me. The daughter just texted to let me know that mum needed stitches on her forehead, she finally got to the hospital and is now with them. 

All good I suppose. I reassured them that they could call me anytime if they needed any help since the sister is 30 mins away and the daughter is far far far away (by our standards). I'm 5 minutes on foot. So yeah. It'll be a lot quicker for me or CG1 to get to them if they need anything. 

The Ugly - I had Christmas eve dinner at my place for my close friends. The people nearest and dearest to me. Betty's birthday is the 24th so I throw her a Christmas cum birthday party here every year. It's not happened in the last 2 years tho since mum wasn't in the best shape to tolerate a huge to-do here. But I resumed my annual tradition this year and Betty's girlfriend was in attendance. And I don't like her. 

Two friends from the freecycle / food rescue group I had gotten closer to were also in attendance. And while one of them is a lovely person, the other, I realised, tends to be the sort that just SAYS what she thinks she ought to to be thought of as a good person. She'll say this and that and then not follow thru. 

And BOTH of them share the same malady of being snobs. They're both very well to do, and I do NOT appreciate the way they speak to or think of or dismiss my caregiver, whom I treat as a sister, a companion and a true friend. They on the other hand think of her as merely THE HELP. But even then, you do NOT get to speak down to her, seeing as she's MY hired help, not YOURS. 

Too many details to get into, but suffice to say I'm done with these two. I'll be cordial, sure. But don't expect me to include them in my inner circle anytime soon (or ever!). 

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For now, Blessed Christmas everybody.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

 

We Tried Burmese Food

...and we won't be going back. 

I'm not saying it wasn't good. It was, probably. There were many locals eating there. The flavours that their cuisine is famous for just aren't for me.

Too much lemongrass and pepper. And the stems of those greens were inedible. We ended up eating the mushrooms and drinking some of the soup but chucked out the veggies. It was listed in the menu as "Hangover soup". 

Tea leaf salad. Fermented gree tea leaves with a bunch of spices and chillies and other condiments, and a ton of assorted nuts.

Deep fried crispy fish with crispy bits... we identified some shallots and garlic, but the rest of it was probably flour. It was pretty good, if a bit dry.

Fried tofu - that wasn't tofu at all. Burmese tofu is apparently made of chickpeas.

And 20 minutes later I had a twisting ache in my stomach. Nope. No more for us. Been there, done that. 

How am I Spam?

 

It has only NOW occurred to me that some of my messages / comments (and yours) have landed in the spam folder. It's really weird that Blogger would flag my own replies as spam. 

If you have commented in the past but it hasn't showed up on my posts, I do apologise.  What a mess. 

Where to Next? And Some Foto Treats from Bangkok

We've just recently come back from a trip to Thailand (Bangkok) where I spent a lot of time walking about the malls. Well, just the couple of malls near the hotel, because all the "traditional" sight-seeing had already been done in my youth when I visited with my family (it's a popular short-holiday destination if you live in Asia).

BIKSS was there for work. And I tagged along. It was more of a quick get-away than an actual vacation, if you know what I mean. 

BUT we're planning next year's holiday and have no idea where to go. Well, I have ONE idea, but am thinking about other possible options. 

At the moment we were thinking we could go to a different part of Tasmania than Hobart, since BIKSS enjoys the slower more laid-back pace in general, but that involves a pretty long flight.

Or we could do Hue in North Central Vietnam cos I want to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of La Vang (which is 90 mins drive from Hue) and some of the churches in Hue itself, the Phu Cam Cathedral being one of them - click the Images tab to see pics.

Hue also feels like the kind of place BIKSS might like. It's got a citadel, fort, moat etc., things that appeal to his love for military history. And it also has a great menu! That's something *I* will enjoy!

We also looked at Delhi. But I'm not sure I'll be able to survive the smell. 

There's the option of Dubai. But all that desert. And heat. 

So I dunno.. if you have any ideas about where we could go in Asia (if there's somewhere you've been that really made an impression on you) do leave a suggestion in the comments!

Since there aren't a lot of touristy pics, I'll leave you with a few choice selections from BKK - 

A fried donut bun with pork curry and cheese filling. It was surprisingly good. 

I'm going to stick cheese on my curry bowls from now on!

The view from or dinner venue the night before our departure.

Bikss got a mani (no polish) while I got a pedi. With their high tech drying system LOL. I mean, that's ONE way to get your customers out of the chair quickly. Time is money after all. And the shop had a steady stream of customers to be sure!

If there's ONE thing BKK has no shortage of, it's sweet treats! 

Here's more - 

(How cute is that hippo!)

(Local brand, based on K-beauty formulation and manufactured in Korea. I didn't get this, but I did pick up some foam cleansers and a bottle of bakuchiol serum.)

Japanese desserts and Korean cosmetics are really big in Thailand evidently.

MORE sweets - 

I had Afternoon Tea for brunch at the Cath Kidston Tea Room. It was probably the best scone I've ever had in my life. Lightly toasted, warm, and just a little hint of crisp on the outside, but fluffy, light and full of buttery flavour on the inside. The cakes were delicious. That there was an option for roobois was simply perfect!

My favourite brand for tinted sunblock. I made BIKSS buy 5 tubes for me the last time he was here without me. I still have some left from then. So I didn't need more this round. I DID pick up a powder compact for about $4 USD. Even tho' I do own and use Western brands like Clinique, Revlon and Physician's Formula, I find that Thai cosmetic brands have a better / wider / more nuanced range when it comes to matching their bases to Asian skin tones.

Spoils from the first day's shopping - 

This lot plus the big box of aromatherapy stuff I ordered to be delivered from Chiang Mai made up the bulk of my loot. I did pick up a few more small items (essential oil rollerballs, lip balms) but nothing I couldn't stuff into my already-gonna-be-too-full luggage. 

And last of all, my favourite thing to eat in Thailand - skewered grilled pork (left) aka Moo Ping. We went to get some the very night I arrived! 

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EPILOGUE

This trip has taught me 3 things - 

1) Don't bother bringing a swimsuit cos hotel pools are never really good for laps. And if I'm going to be swimming, it's gonna be for exercise. 

2) From next year onwards I'm not going to bother with souvenirs. It's just too much stress having to think about what to get everyone. 

3) I'm going to have to get a Medium sized suitcase cos my Cabin sized one is way too small for clothes AND shopping. As my girlfriend and I were discussing over the weekend - there is a minimum volume of luggage space that's automatically gonna go to the toiletries bag, the tech bag, the pharmaceuticals bag, and the one extra pair of shoes. Those 4 things are non-negotiable. That's already HALF the cabin bag. 

And with that, I shall leave you. I hope you enjoyed the pics/vids! 

The Trouble with Men

Is that they screw up. And then what am I left with? A broken heart? Nay. An unsafe one. That's the outcome of our most recent squabble. He did a stupid thing. A repeated stupid thing. One that I've already worked out a solution for, but would he do me the favour of just doing it the way I've asked? Nope. Cos in his head his way MAY still be the better way. Perhaps this time his way will work. Well it wasn't, it didn't, and a massive screw up followed. 

That's been sorted by now. But for the first time in a decade, I told him, my heart felt unsafe. How do I know this isn't going to happen again? It's happened before and it happened again, despite his saying in the past it wouldn't. Am I to be resigned to a rinse and repeat situation for the rest of my life?

Long story short, he assures me that it won't happen again, perhaps because this is the first time I've ever said I don't feel safe anymore. And that made him sit up. So we'll see. Do I wish it didn't have to come to that? Yes. But it did. So it did.

But this is just to say that the same shit can happen again and again, and with each working out of the mess that ensues, something may change. Sometimes a big thing. Sometimes a small one. But we just keep moving forward. That's all we can do. 

And just cause you've sorted out a mess, it doesn't mean it won't happen again. Frustrating, but true. 

Meanwhile, here are pictures of our most recent dinners - because what else can I write about on this non-R-rated blog. Pfft. 

Fried yam ring with scallop in the middle. 

Various dim sum dishes. 

This was had at a dim sum restaurant that was offering its bestsellers at 50% off as part of their anniversary special. Who doesn't love 50% off dim sum?!

Doesn't look like much but this butter chicken shakshuka was very delicious! 

Thats a wagyu burger. I think waygu is wasted on a burger. 

This was had last week when I was in town to see my jeweller. We looked for a quiet-ish restaurant because it was a Friday and the masses were out and about. The crowd was ridiculous. Ended up at a farm to table Australian place. Not bad, but very expensive.

Barramundi with a side of lotus root and artichoke. Soaked and baked in a medley of Mediterranean flavours, olives and all.

A friend recommended the pancake stack but the dessert version sounded way too sweet for my liking. We ordered the fish and chips with pancakes instead. I really liked the maple syrup. 

I'm going to sign off abruptly now because Blogger seems to be editing my words. Like I'll type something and then it'll just change magically to some other word. So before I lose the entire post, I shall take my leave.

This is getting Ridiculous : A not-steamy Poem

I have a warning landing page. And still I'm getting warnings. So let's see if this one will pass the censors.

Right. So I'm going to tell you a story about a steamy thing that happened. But without using any of the words that Blogger might flag as "dirty". Which means it really won't be very steamy at all. So you may as well enjoy some poetry. If you're even halfway decent at rhyming you'll be able to figure it out.

One fine evening as we lay in b--

While BIKSS was beside me, kissing me head.

We googled how roosters did fertilise eggs

Then somehow I found his head between my l--s

Most days I'll give him a signal, I'll say

Wanna have s-- ? or Wanna play?

But strangely that night he didnt delay, not a bit

His tongue made its way right down to my c---

Not so hard, I giggled, and began to sigh

As he ran his hand up and down one th---

I shuddered, and shivered, but was it the cold

Or just me getting excited cos he was so bold

At some point we pulled off his shirt and my frock

And we changed positions, put my mouth on his c---

When the jaw starting aching, I knew I was done

Poor fella had to move on to some other kind of fun.

Not that he minded, oh of all the luck 😏, 

The b--- j--- was over, but now we get to f---. 

The pu--- was wet which is not always the case

I blame the hormones- these premenopause days.

But this time I think I knew why it was so

He's been very accomodating to my missing li bi do

However this night he had such a need

To have him some f---ing so f--- me he did.

I guess what I'm saying is I miss our D/s

But it's a bit of a minefield, a bit of a guess.

In theory I want to, even tho nothing's wet

But my brain says it's a service he deserves to get

(Ok, so this part is in prose cos I'm tired now and I want to go for dinner... and I don't think there's too much here that could be objectionable. I supposed what I'm saying is I really do want to continue to 'serve' and please him in that way, but when things don't always flow naturally it's hard to get spontaneously amorous... so I appreciate the dominance cos that's at least one of the things I can count on that still makes my tummy turn into a butterfly farm.)

MY LATEST SNACK OF CHOICE - because tater chips are too hard. 

A Bit of This and a Bit of That (2)

They put this post under a warning too. Let's try this again. (where s-- is you know what... - when did that become a bad word?)

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Mooncake season is officially over. I received a total of 9 mooncakes from various people and (gasp) my brother was one of them. 

I'm glad I didn't overdo it. Most of them were shared, and/or eaten over a few days and not all in one sitting. 

The jaw continues to annoy me. For a whole week there was no clicking and no pain. And then last Wed it began hurting during a session of Roger-worshipping. And I wasn't even vigorous or nothing. 

Speaking of playtime, last Friday after a particularly delightful (we ate too much of course!) dinner out in town we got back home and while I was playing with Roger under the waistband of BIKSS' pants, I remarked that he should take his pants off. "The whole way?" he asked. "Well, how else are you gonna have s--?" I retorted. 

BIKSS then went on to ask ME "And how are YOU going to have s-- when you're on your period?"

Ladies and gentlemen, the day has finally come when I must officially declare myself forgetful. 

I clear forgot that I was on my courses. DUH! 

"Well, what are we to do now?" I asked in mock dismay (actually, there was some REAL dismay on my part cos I was pretty keen to get some lovin' on, tbh). 

"You have two choices," he declared matter of factly, "a h a n d job or a b l o w job". 

And so some massage oil later, a h-job it was. 

Hopefully we'll get ACTUAL action going tomorrow! 

Um, what else is there this week... oh I got a text message from what I think is a scammer - They sent it from my actual mobile service provider's official channel, which made me panic. Apparently I'm to be charged $5.99 per WEEK for something. I rang them up and they put a barring service on my number effective immediately. They don't seem to see anything suspicious on my account so far, so I've been advised to monitor my bill and let them know if there is a charge I didn't sign up for. Good gawd. 

In other #techfailsme news - I tried sharing my Fever Up code with a friend who wanted to sign up to get some tickets... and all she got was a voucher for $10 AUD. Which can only be used in Australia. Which is kinda useless to her cos we DON'T live in Australia. 

But since the customer service rep can't do anything except say they're sorry and give me a voucher code in my home currency, here's a link if anyone in Australia wants to sign up for a Fever account or pick up tickets for a show there. 

https://use.fvr.to/eLh0grS9xIb

I don't know why this is the case tho, when my account is registered to my actual home address and the city that I'm in (under location services) shows my home city. 

I suspect it's because the first ticket I purchased was in AUD. But even then, it should pick up the location I'm in presently (or my registered address) when generating a link no? I guess not. 

Sometimes tech frustrates more than it assists. 

In good news, we've booked our flights to Bangkok. We'll be going at the end of October. There really isn't a whole lot of stuff to buy from there that I can't get here. Except sanitary products.. They used to be less than half the price of what I would have to pay here. If that's still the case, it looks like my luggage will be just THAT and chips. They have Lays chips in flavours that we don't get here. Spicy squid, tom yum etc. 

The weekend before that I'll be in Malaysia for 2 days to attend a conference. So I might get some shopping done then too. 

Look at me, jet-setting all over the place and feeling very adult to be doing so. Speaking of which...

I sent an old jade pendant that belonged to my father to my jeweller's on Friday. (Again, look at me, having a jeweller even!) It's a carving of a goat - my father's Chinese zodiac sign - on a traditional red string necklace. 

The problem with this is - 

1. That red string thing is a really old-fashioned way of wearing jade. 

2. Strings (and chains) are a no-go for me cos I'm very susceptible to skin tags around my neck. 

So I asked if he could lose the string and attach a clasp to it (in white gold) so that I can pull some ribbon through to wear as a choker. He said yes, and showed me a sample that looked something like this one - 

The goal is to have it worn in a fashion resembling this - 

As for it being a goat? Lucky for me, I was born under the zodiac sign of Capricorn. How's that for appropriation! 

There's More (2)

(Blogger gave me a warning. I already HAVE a sensitive content warning... so why are they telling me this post has been put behind a content warning page? Anyway, I'm trying a second post to see if this one gets thru.)

First of all I don't understand how I could have a bad jaw when it's so strong. 

I mean, bj's! Amiright? (I would type it out but I'm thinking they'll just slap another warning on me...)

Anyway, that's still here, it's not completely gone away, but it's only acting up from time to time. Like now. I've taken to blending my veggies cos green leafy veggies tend to be a bit too crunchy in the stem. Mama's caregiver is more than a little amused. At least she has a lot of experience with food blendage. 

But before I resorted to that I was eating stuff that my gut wasn't the happiest with. Obviously the diet was tweaked and I wasn't eating the usual veggies / fiber that I was used to. Enter, Lactulose. Yup. I'm on an osmotic. The constipation cramping was irritating. Which is why I'm back to my usual green veggies, just blended, not chewed.

While I was dealing with that, I developed a case of thrush. Popped a fluconazole and I was right as rain after that. Thank goodness the days of a 7-day-course of pessaries are well and truly over. All it took was 2 days and ONE pill. 

BIKSS hasn't been issue-free either. Some time ago I noticed a few more bumps on Roger than I'm used to. We waited for a bit but over the months they seemed to be multiplying. We paused all sexy time activities, and got him to a clinic. Thankfully it's nothing serious. Just some skin-tag-type growths likely caused by abrasion as he shaves. 

Sadly that good news came in just as I was mid-thrush so we had to wait for a bit more before resuming any fun-time frolicking. 

It's all good now, the sex bits are all operational again. The jaw, not so. 

Meanwhile I've been in Borneo over the weekend where I ate way too much crap. It was noodles for breakfast, noodles for lunch, noodles for dinner. Sheesh. The boss had a conference and me and my colleague decided we would tag along and explore the city while he was holed up in the ballroom. We did manage to buy some specialty noodles - yes more noodles. (Kuching is famous for "Kolo Mee" and "Sarawak Laksa". Click the links for more info.)

Sarawak Laksa (Laksa Sarawak) comes from the Malaysian state of Sarawak. Its uniqueness lies in the spices mixes that are not found in laksa dishes in other states. In addition to those spices, the basic ingredients of Sarawak Laksa are rice vermicelli, chicken, fried tofu, omelette, bean sprouts, black mushrooms, shrimp, boiled eggs and musk. The broth is made from a mixture of sambal belacan, coconut milk, tamarind juice, garlic, galangal and lemongrass. Famous celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain named Sarawak Laksa as 'Breakfast of the Gods'.

We cooked up some of the noodles that I brought home with me, and added a heap of different toppings. Given that we don't usually eat a carby main, this was definitely NOT our usual fare. I was hoping the proteins and veggies would help with that. That's my bowl of noodles. BIKSS had his with some dark soy sauce mixed in. 

And that's it for now. I'm happy to announce that since there's a National Holiday at the end of October I've decided to tag along when BIKSS heads to Thailand for work. Making up for all the lost years, I am. And looking forward to it!

ABCDE

A is for AI. I have been enjoying the meta AI function on Whatsapp and have been spamming people with tailor made pics. Such as this one - because sending a pic is more fun that just SAYING "bullshit".

B is for Brunch. I went to brunch last Sunday. It's been many years since I've ventured out on a Sunday. For as long as I can remember Sundays are work days. Then when I quit Sunday classes it was because dad and mum needed me to elder-sit as our caregivers typically get Sundays off. I daresay everyone (myself included) has forgotten that I am now available for outings on Sundays. This has been my first Sunday social engagement since mum passed. 

C is for cakes. Mooncakes that is. I wasn't planning on indulging this year but since the jaw's been such a pain (pun totally intended) I decided to go for it. They're soft, don't require much chewing and there are ones without seeds or nuts which eventually melt into gooey yumminess if I get tired of munching. This one is a frozen during mooncake I shared with the sister when we went mooncake shopping yesterday.

D is for  Drinkmate. I buy sparkly water. Cos I like sparkly water. I don't have it everyday, but I do like having some in the house in case I get the urge for some fizzy liquid. So I decided to get a carbonator. It arrived today. I am happy. :D

and E is for earrings. It turns out you can do a tooth test to figure out if your pearls are real pearl or plastic. Now I had been hunting for a pair of pearl earrings for a bit (drop pearls, fishhook), so I was really glad that I found  a pair of freshwater ones for just $10 from a reputable jeweller - it was the last pair and they were on discount. And I had vouchers and points from the cashback app. Would have been $40 otherwise. I'm happy with them. I also bought a cheaper pair from a local Amazon-like site. For $2. I mean, why wouldn't I? For 2 bucks? It said "pearl" on the listing, whereas some other pairs were listed as "faux pearl". I figured they couldn't be real, but since it was listed as such, I decided to try my luck. I expected them to be plastic. But both my very primitive tooth test and the rub-together test tell me they're real. If, indeed, they are, then yay me! What a score! If not, they're still pretty.

Left, cheapo pair. Right, jeweller pair.

Aight, it's time for dinner... BIKSS Just got here. And I wanna let him have some of that fizzy water! 

One Thing After Another

I was watching a FB reel recently where a slightly more mature woman dispenses "wise words" and one of the things she said was that as you get older it's like one body part after another is saying "you think that's bad? wait till you see THIS!" I think there's a lot of truth in that.

After I sorted out the soy problem I managed two days of regular food before I heard a click in my jaw. It happened on a Friday morning and it has been a week since I've eaten anything that needs real chewing. 

My TMJ (temporomandibular joint) is acting up. I heard the click then the pain came. (click link for more info... )

I've been eating bean vermicelli, soft tofus, hard boiled eggs, pumpkins, and cruciferous veggies that have been boiled to death. As I said to BIKSS, if it can be mashed with a spoon, I can eat it. 

We tried fish - it didn't work. Not because it's not soft per se,  but because it's not MASHABLE! Still needs chewing. Foods with give 🠈 that's what I need. 

I've had a real epiphany with regards to what foods are considered soft and what are not. Which is strange considering I had so much experience with the mama's feeding situation. It shouldn't come as a surprise tho, we had to blend her fish too. 

And so I've had to put a stop to the choir-ing. All that "drop the jaw, create a vertical space" that is required is NOT what I need to be doing right now. 

I'm also grouchy because this means I've not had potato chips in a week. Hrmph. 

(Meanwhile I've discovered House of the Dragon. YES! Click here for the trailer.)

It Was the Soy

Turns out all that gas and indigestion and bloating was the result of a new organic non GMO soy powder I was adding to my coffee. 

I stopped it and my tummy issues went away. 

To science it, I tried a local brand of soymilk. No problem. I've had soy sauce in my food the whole time, and continued to use it when I cooked following the stopping of the soy powder. No problem. I had some bean curd rolls. No problem. 

So it's not soy. It's THAT soy. 

The human body is weird. What can I say. 

The latest update - I've been invited (ok, I wrangled an invitation) to sing with another community choir for their Christmas season. So Fondles is choir-ing again! 

I'm glad. And happy to be singing in a group once more. (Only this time it's more of a sextet than a choir!)

That is all. I shall continue to munch on my shortbread. The proper shortbread-tasting ones. 

School-Girly Me (aka P is for Pain, Passing, Purchases, Peelable Polish, Parcels and Presents)

Before you get excited about the school girl in the title, it's not what you think. 

1) As a child I used to have tummy aches from anxiety around exam season. Recently I've been dealing with tummy aches again, like bloat, or indigestion or something. Not sure what it is but for now it's neither my appendix nor my gallbladder.  Which is good, at least. We're treating with Famotidine twice a day and keeping a food diary. It seems to be about 75% successful at keeping the pain away. We'll give it 2 weeks and see how that goes.

2) I'm also back to school. Or rather, I got back to my course and am now done with it. I've finished my final assessment and am now certified in "Lifestyle Medicine - Improving the future of health care". Let's see how much I can impact that future LOL. 

3) The girly thing I am referring to, is the fact that I've recently become obsessed with beauty Advent Calendars. They're not out yet where I live, altho I did manage to get hold of the W7 Beauty Box from Amazon. I've linked the one from Superdrug in the UK cos that's where I first saw it, and I would take a photo of it for you except it hasn't arrived yet. I've seen a few unboxing videos on Youtube from the UK stores already, so maybe you guys are just ahead of the rest of us over there.

4) What HAS arrived is last year's Sephora 24-day Advent Calendar which I bought at 50% off because, well, it's last year's! I haven't unboxed it yet tho, which surprises even me because I WAS looking forward to doing that before I left for music school this afternoon - it arrived as I was leaving the house! And that's all I was looking forward to coming home to, really.

5) Instead, what I found in my mailbox when I got home was even more tempting - a set of water-based, peelable nail polish. I wanted to see if it really was as quick-drying and convenient as the influencers say. So far, drying time is brilliant. It does smudge a bit (water based after all) if you go to do the dishes within 15 mins of putting it on, but then because #Chemistry, somehow the rough smudged bits just sorta smoothened themselves out as my nails dried. Dissolved into a lovely shiny layer! (They say don't let it get into water for 4 hours.... I supposed the best thing is to paint them then go to bed?)

Here's a video... the shine was totally a surprise to me. I wasn't expecting it to be glossy or shiny at all.

6) Now little girls love presents and I'm no different. Especially when they're pressies I like! 

BIKSS was in London recently (and we're planning a trip there next year!) and came back with some delightful treats for me - 

Mini Paddington Tote. Love it!

Self-explanatory box

The rose/orchid was a little bit sus. We gave that one away. The other two were fine. I'm also very surprised that the one with Jasmine didn't make me feel ill. I can't smell it at all, in fact. There are two oils I don't agree with - Jasmine and Wintergreen. They make me throw up. I shall pray I never need Deep Heat or Counterpain rub in my old(er) age.

Knowing my penchant for shortbread, BIKSS got me this box. I was so looking forward to it, till I put one in my mouth and bit down. It was hard, and tasted like orange. That is NOT shortbread. Still, a bikkie is a bikkie. But now I have tasked him with getting me some REAL shortbread fingers from Marks & Sparks.

Another Paddington treasure. He went on the fridge as soon as I got him.

That's all for today's letter P round up. Oh and P is also for Paddington innit??

I shall leave you with this pic that BIKSS sent me earlier. Seen on socials.

 

Kuala Lumpur Highlights - II

After that lovely almost perfect proper afternoon tea at the Ritz I decided to stay on and fiddle around on my phone, read a bit etc... while BIKSS went back to work. 

I just couldn't stay awake tho, so I abandoned that idea and was thinking about heading back to the room for a nap. 

But I got sidetracked and ended up at a spa. Got myself a pretty good massage instead. 

After that I went hunting for Birds Nest (I found some - in the red bag below) and also picked up some of that Geranium Leaf Body Cleanser from Aesop I mentioned in the other KL post.

The yellow box in the first pic contains some of these yummy pastries filled with stewed pork. It's called "shao bao" over in these parts. Literally translates to 'baked' bao or pau. I absolutely will break my no-carb-no-red meat rule for these things. And I did. Yummy!

I also bought way too much Beryl's Chocolates. BIKSS liked the durian ones too so I went back to the store twice more - to get some for him, and later on to pick up more stuff for me. 

On the topic of loot, here are the lavender jadeite earrings BIKSS sponsored! They're so lovely. And I do have the Chinese word for jade in my name. It was about time I acquired a piece of jade jewellery because #namesake and all.

The theme of this trip's shopping seemed to be nice smelling things. There was a pop-up perfume store in the mall selling some scents for cheap, and I also took advantage of the awesome exchange rate and seasonal sale to get wallflower refills from Bath and Body Works. And a candle, of course. Candles are always a good thing to buy when they're on sale. And scented shower gels. I'm a slut for home/bath scents. 

Dinner was at another restaurant in the same building where we had tapas. This time, Italian. 

Arancini - Good. 

Lamb shank - Strong flavour but not gamey. Not bad. Very tender.

Flourless Chocolate Cake - Definitely the champion of the evening. 

We also had dinner on another night at a place called BBQ Nation! 

I'm not sure what I was eating but there was a menu on the table. What they do is they send a bunch of skewers and sides to the table, sort of as a sampler, and then you can re-order the bits you like. 

Top - pani puri. 

Bottom left - I don't know. 

Bottom right - condiments for the skewered things.

(Notable mention - bottom left, crispy crunchy corn kernels, coated and fried and dusted with spices. SOOOOOO GOOOOOOD! I had a second helping... heh.)

Aside from the sides and skewers, you could also go around the main buffet area and select from a bunch of curries, tandooris, and veggie dishes. I was so full by then that all I could manage was some garlic naan - because who can resist that garlicky goodness - and butter chicken and half an egg from some other tray. 

That cone on the right is a mango Kulfi. I'd never had it before so I was curious. 

It was quite good, I have to admit.  

On the day before our departure I was too tired to do any more walking / shopping so I sat at the courtyard for a bit while I had a smoke and coffee, and then headed up to the pool. That's Julius and me chilling out under a brolly. Ah... this is the life. (I did manage some laps... I wasn't a TOTAL sloth!)

That night we took a stroll over to the Petronas towers and KLCC mall where we walked around a little bit. It was more to have a look-see than for any real shopping. And just like that my little vacay was over. But I'm really glad I went with BIKSS on this trip. If nothing else, the shopping was awesome and the food was interesting! I'm glad I got to try new things. But perhaps the thing I'm most glad about was the fabulous exchange rate - and that's how I restocked my underwear drawer for 50% less than what I would have paid back home! 

Here's to another vacation well vacationed!