Walking down memory lane...

I finally have the chance to walk down memory lane. It has been many years since I left London, and I have been dying to go back for the longest time. I am so happy that the time has finally come! Hubby and I will be off to the UK for the next two weeks- so watch this space for updates when we get back!

Shall the London I find now be the one I left? Most probably not, huh...

But perhaps this way, I shall truly find closure indeed.

Banquet, Bangsar Village II

We were pleasantly surprised to learn that Banquet is owned by the same people who own Café Café. After our lovely experience at Café Café, we were looking forward to give Banquet a try- especially after I took one of their menus home, studied it and pretty much decided what I was going to order when we got the chance to eat there! Haha :)

And dine there we did. Hubby ordered a set menu, and started with Sauteed Mushrooms with Garlic and Olive Oil- simple yet so yummy.

His main course was the Oven Baked Butterfish with Honey Mustard Garlic Sauce, which was really delicious. One bite and I felt like kicking myself for not ordering this instead, although hubby was very generous in sharing his food! The fish was very fresh and the honey mustard complemented it perfectly (although I could be biased since I lurve honey mustard... mmm).

For my main course, I opted for the Spaghetti with Duck Lard and Sundried Tomatoes. Now this might seem a tad gross, but think of 'duck skin croutons' and it might not sound so bad. Anyway, I didn't quite know what to make of this dish. It wasn't as nice as I hoped it to be; but it wasn't lousy either. Somehow the spaghetti felt a bit 'waxy'; maybe it was the lard? :p

A mouse in the house...

We had a rather dramatic experience recently. A few nights ago, hubby got up in the dead of the night to check out the sound that was coming from our bathroom. Half-asleep, I heard him mumble, "The bathroom is wet." Now I was thinking.. "Huh? It's a bathroom, for crying out loud.. of course it's wet".

Turns out he was saying "The bathroom has a rat." Oh.My.Goodness.

We poked around the bathroom a little bit (making use of the long handle of the broom), while keeping the door open so that we could run out in a flash, and shut the door in time to prevent it from running out of the bathroom into the other areas of the house. Gosh.

We still couldn't see where the rat was (hubby was beginning to wonder if he was dreaming it all up), so we both decided to go back to sleep and worry about it in the morning. Needless to say, with all the adrenaline rushing from trying to battle a rat at 3 in the morning, we stayed awake for a good whole hour or two, while discussing where we could buy a mousetrap. And assuming we did actually manage to trap it, what next? I shuddered just thinking about the options.

By the way, did I mention there is only ONE bathroom in the whole house?!? Imagine trying to use the toilet while looking out for a rat that might just scuttle across the floor at any moment...

Anyway, when we got up the next morning, hubby decided to move the things in the bathroom out of the way so that we could get a clearer view of the rat... and there it was, hiding in the corner, looking at us with those cute(!) eyes.

And then, without warning, it RAN and LEAPT onto the top of the toilet bowl!! We screamed and half tried to run from it, while trying to trap it under a bucket at the same time. Anyway, everything happened so fast- the next thing we saw was the rat FALLING INTO the toilet bowl, where it dived right in and disappeared down the hole!!!

We shut the lid, put a heavy bottle of Dynamo over it, and flushed about 5 times. Needless to say, it required a certain amount of courage to use the toilet after that. O_o

Ironman!

We watched Ironman last week and we really enjoyed the show. It was full of action and funny at the same time; and even the 'lifeless' objects had a character of their own! Think 'Jarvis' and Tony Stark's robot helpers... :)

And oh... Robert Downey Jr. as Ironman was just superb! I first saw him on Ally McBeal, and there was just something about him that got me hooked to the show (he seemed the perfect guy for Ally). I was so sad when he got himself into real-life trouble (yet again) and had to leave the show so suddenly. I think I even cried watching the episode where he left Ally (I can't recall how or why though.. just that it was very sudden). Well, I guess the producers had no choice, since he got himself arrested. Hmm.

I really hope the success of Ironman gives him the chance to redeem himself and get his career back on track. Hopefully we will see more of him in the future (in movies; not in the tabloids for getting into trouble!)

House tales...

We've made a bit more progress fitting up our new place. Hubby efficiently took the lead in the curtain-hunting (thanks to Madame AAL's recommendation); and we decided to seal the deal by paying a deposit last weekend. One more thing done- hurrah!

This weekend, we picked out all the lights for the house, received a quotation for those, and now we're just waiting for a proper quotation for the installation fees (there's some hacking to be done to re-align some lighting points), so I think the lights are pretty much sorted already. Yippee! :D

We're also slowly trying to clear up our current place a little bit, and start throwing things out, but our progress has been slow. We're so busy on weekends- church activities, doing stuff for the new place, and also planning for our England trip; so it's been a tad stressful.

Just the other day I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by the serious need to clean our current place (it was REALLY messy, dirty and dusty), but I simply had no time nor energy (plus I had to rush off for music practice). When I got home from church, I was so grateful and pleased to find that hubby had vacuumed and mopped the floor! That simple gesture of love really helped to ease my anxiety (hubby knows I worry and stress out quite often)...

He's such a dear, isn't he?

Up, up and away!

The company I work for organised a carnival recently, and the main attraction was the hot-air balloon ride! Ok, so it was just up and up (no away) but still, it was rather interesting. We basically just went up for a couple of minutes and came back down again... :)

There were activities for the whole family- a colouring contest for kids, pony rides, games, and this rather cool 'inflatable boxing ring thingy' where the aim of the game was to knock your opponent off the pedestal. Hehe.

Truth be told, I'm terrified of heights. Fortunately it wasn't too high up, and the basket wasn't swaying too violently. It was hot in the basket though; felt like the flames were going to singe my hair off any moment.. at the end of the ride we were sweating! :p

Quite a cool carnival, eh? :)

Duck King, Jaya One

We checked out the new Jaya One recently, which seems to consist mainly of office space and F&B outlets. This idea seems to be rather popular these days- reminds me of Plaza Damas and Solaris Mont Kiara.

Part of the landscaping..

We had dinner at Duck King, which apparently is quite famous in Indonesia. I was quite tickled when I saw the bill, as all the items were listed in Bahasa Indonesia (although the menu was in English).. somehow the names just sounded so cute! :)

The 'Ikan Krapu Soun Sereh' (Fish with Lemongrass and Vermicelli) was quite interesting...

This was our favourite- the 'Mun Tahu & Ayam Cincang' (Beancurd with Minced Chicken); such a simple dish but it was oh-so-delicious! One side of the beancurd had this yummy layer of something (I think it was seaweed), so that was a nice touch.

'Nasi Kecap Asin Min Babi' and 'Nasi Hainam'

Is it me, or does this duck look rude?!? *chuckle*