Lunch

 

M and I had a nice lunch out. We decided to try a new restaurant, Maguldi, which seems to have no website, and is directly opposite Mustafa. The curries weren't that spicy, but the naan was excellent. M said that we should just learn to stick to the tried and tested.

Also it was just nice to hang out with M :)

Weather

M and I went out for lunch, and then went to Mustafa to pick up some stuff. In the hour or so that we were in the store, we realised that it had gotten very hazy. The sky is still polluted right now. Then in the evening, Dad called to say that there had been some tremors at his building. There was apparently a really bad earthquake in Sumatra. This after the earthquake in Samoa. It looks like the devastation is immense. Apparently there have been no deaths reported so far in Indonesia at least - let's hope it stays that way. Also let's hope there are no tsunamis or bad aftershocks. On days like this, coming so soon after the Sydney dust storm, it might be best to get into bed and just stay there.

Princess Ariel

Princess Ariel
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Poor Princess Ariel had to go to the vet today. She was having some problems with her gums, and while she was there, she got blood work done. It seems that she has a heart murmur but there isn't much to do about that. She was shaking like a leaf at the vet but was very brave.

Little India

 

Mom and I went to Little India and ate at Seven Sensations where they had Penang Laksa for lunch. It was pretty good, and we also had the usual yam soup and yoghurt. Then off to Mustafa! The place is all decorated for Deepavali, and there are a number of markets set up, but it was just too hot to linger and look at the stuff for sale out in the heat.

Amber and QueeQueg

Bobo and QQ
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

It's been so hot of late - just putting on my Vibrams to go for a run made me sweat. It's a good thing then that Amber (on the left) got her haircut last week!

Roomba

I knew my Roomba was smart - but an ARTIST too :)

Dinner with friends

 

M, D, J and I caught up over dinner. It's been ages since we all sat down - and we had a lovely dinner at Lingzhi, though service was NOT very good. The waitress looked offended when M asked if we could have utensils for all of us.

Baking

 

I made cheesecake brownies, spreads and also peanut brittle for M. The brittle was not as good as I remembered it but the brownies were yummy!

Owl hats

Owl hats
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Mom knitted me some cute winter hats - these are the two with owls on them!

Pear Butterscotch pie

Pear Butterscotch pie
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

I went for facial today and then stopped by Jason's to get ingredients for my pie and had sticker shock. I know they're pricier than most other places, but how on earth could two lemons cost $4.87? I told Mom for that price, the lemons better squeeze themselves while doing a jig!

I bought just enough stuff (without the $6.10 tiny jar of nutmeg) to make the pie. The pie was pretty good though.

Whole Earth

 

Had dinner with M, Imp and Planetofsound tonight at Whole Earth vegetarian restaurant. It was great to catch up and get the latest (and exciting!) news and to see them again. The olive rice and oatmeal tofu were especially tasty.

Dead Sea Scrolls

 

Got back just in the nick of time to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition. Mom said that it was closing today so we headed down this morning and I was glad we went. It was really fascinating - there were perhaps two or three fragments of the scrolls (which we are told are a misnomer as they really were mostly fragments!). There was also information on the translation of the Bible into other languages. What was also interesting was the concept of how the need to translate the Bible led to the development of the English language too - I had never heard of William Tyndale till today. Also, indirectly, translations led to the power of literacy being handed back to the common populace that broke the power of church.

Apparently the texts of the scrolls differ quite dramatically from the Biblical texts that we do have. The importance of translation has been highlighted so much of late. Simian and I just had this discussion on the differing theories of language - does language faciliate thought or does language exist independently of thought? There are certain phrases that can only communicate certain ideas/attitudes only in that particular language. Translate it and it loses some of its flavour

Back in Singapore!

Just got in after an eighteen hour flight, where I finished two books, watched two movies (Sunshine Cleaning and the Young Victoria - yes an Emily Blunt fest) and of course slept. One of the stewards was so impressed by my ability to sleep onboard that he came over and commented on it, and as I was about to leave, gave me some playing cards and postcards. I sleep on planes, I sleep on trains and cars but hotel beds - that's another thing altogether.

Butterscotch pear pie

Butterscotch pear pie
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Boy was this good - though I've learnt not to be lazy. I wanted to save myself some cleanup so rolled out the pastry on WAX paper - BAD mistake. The dough got stuck and I ended up having to peel off the top. My nice large circle of dough shrunk visibly. At any rate, you can see some of the pears :( Still it tasted great - fantastic recipe.

Simian stayed home today, and I cleaned house. I also saw the fox running around the garden in the evening. When Simian and I went into the garden at twilight, there were 5 deer in our neighbour's yard. They ran to his veggie patch, stared at it, then ran off.

Windchime

Windchime
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

K got me this - it has a cat, it has birds. What more could you want?

I went to Catonsville today to get a podcast taped on mediation. Earlier Simian and I had gone to the tax office to try once again to get my tax rebate but it was too crowded.

Fish

Fish
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

G and M got this at the Maryland State Fair and gave it to Simian. Apparently G won it after climbing a rock wall that Simian and him tried to climb last year - hence it is the prize of shame, a constant reminder that G did it :)

Baby N really liked the toy and Simian was insistent they keep it for her, but they were equally insistent that Simian take it. In the end the compromise is that it's held in trust for her here. Literally it was like taking candy from a baby!

Seatbelt

Seatbelt
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Dad was appalled by Simian's car which is missing a seatbelt in the back seat. Here is K and her makeshift seatbelt - she kept fighting with me to sit on the side without the seatbelt!

Dad's trip

Took Dad to Fells Point this afternoon for lunch, and then we went to Pitango's - which he liked! We went by Simian's lab where he got the walk through and got to meet a few people. Then we came home and sat on the deck for a while, before we dropped him at the airport. He had lovely weather today too - which was a good thing.

Simian and I got back for dinner, and then collapsed on the couch! :)

I liked this article - the wedding dinner thing sounds like Singapore. I guess we Singaporeans have the same sense of 'rubber time' - I do! - though I know others who are super punctual of course.

Hunan Manor

 

I met Dad and Simian, M, G and Baby N at Hunan Manor after dropping K off. We had a really early dinner, and then went home. Dad was missing Chinese food - so he enjoyed this better than the food we've been having the last few days (Brewer's Art - he liked the tuna starter but wasn't so keen on the well done steak - and 5 Guys Fries).

He said the fish was very fresh though Dad ordered a LOT of food. We'll all have leftovers for days. The food was a little sweet but it tasted fine after I asked for chilli (which was good). The lion statue outside was creepy - is it strangling the baby lion?

Fells Point

 

K was in town this weekend, and Simian and Dad went hiking up Old Rag Mountain. I cleaned the house, and then K and I went to Fells Point before I dropped her at the airport.

K and I walked around and bumped into G and M and baby N. There was a flea market and we walked around and had ice cream at Pitango's.

I finally saw an arraber horse!

826 Valencia

826 Valencia
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Planetofsound - this is for you. We lived just a few blocks away. This was a drive by 'shooting' because it was already closed.

Sea Lions

 

I love the sealions on Pier 39 and the cool story of how they got there.

Fisherman's Wharf

 

We walked all the way down Fisherman's Wharf and even stopped by a Dali exhibition. There were some historic boats that you could go up and walk around. We didn't go up, but we did walk by and admire them. Simian and I being vegetarians clearly did not get to enjoy the full benefits of Fisherman's Wharf!

Ghirardelli Square

 

Of course we had to go to Ghirardelli Square where we had an ice cream!

Sausalito

 

Simian drove us to Sausalito on our last day in San Francisco. We walked by the little galleries and had a nice lunch of grilled vegetables and 'quiche'. Simian who is now an expert declared it could not be a quiche as there was no tart base and could at best be a frittata.

Where's D

Where's D
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Looking at the dates, I wondered what happened to D.

Been busy since we got back because my Dad got into town Thursday night.

Golden Gate Bridge

 

We went to see the Golden Gate Bridge. It's beautiful, but of course I kept thinking of how many people jump, and which side people tended to jump on. Simian and I remembered reading an article in the SF Chronicle and thought most people jumped looking out to sea (some posts are far more popular than others). I'm glad they finally decided to put up barriers, though funding is an issue. I just learnt it's the most popular place to commit suicide in the US.

Language of Birds

 

We saw this a block before City Lights and I just googled to find out what it was. If I had known that the books moved, I would have gone to walk under them - as it was, they were beautiful from a distance.

City Lights

 

Of course I had to go to City Lights. It was the first thing we did in SF :) Parking was however horrible and so Simian sweetly waited in the car while I went in. It was amazing - and I got to walk down Jack Kerouac Alley. It's funny that they have the chinese name right next to it but I guess it's because it's next to Chinatown.

I bought myself a Howl bag and a book on the Beats. While logically I knew Ferlingetti would not be at the counter, I was disappointed when he didn't show up!

Chinatown

 

While looking for City Lights Bookstore, we had to look for a parking spot. Simian went down a backlane, and we went into Chinatown. It was huge - also you wouldn't believe you were in America! Some of the stuff looked like it was from Toa Payoh!

City of Hills

 

San Francisco is really a city of hills. Simian assures me that biking up and down the hills is torture - though there are plenty of people doing it. Incidentally, Californians are really healthy - there were always people running or cycling!

Simian said he had to show me Lombard Street because it's the touristy thing to do. Sure enough, the lady in the full length warm coat was Singaporean (I noticed the incongruous coat - Simian heard the accident). There were so many tourists there, one wonders how people ON the street actually live. The cable car in the bottom right hand corner is full of tourists disembarking to go check out Lombard Street.

San Francisco by night

 

Our first night in SF and Simian drove us around (in the Prius!). We drove down Fisherman's Wharf We stayed at a friend's house in the Mission - he was out of town so we had the apartment to ourselves. He's renovating the entire place and it is really impressive!

Palo Alto

 

We met goiriego, S and baby B for a late lunch on Monday in Palo Alto. We went to the Counter, which was really good. goiriego - the jury is still out though on whether 5 Guys has better fries :) I admit though having sweet potato fries was a fantastic touch.

goiriego and S were not only sweet enough to buy us lunch, but S also drew us a map of all the geek highlights. We went by Stanford and Facebook - yes there are random people who go up and take photos with the signs. We also went by Tesla. S's map was fantastic too. Thanks guys!

Baby B was also extremely well behaved. He didn't fret or fuss at all!

Pigeon Point

 

The gorgeous Pigeon Point Lighthouse. We saw the lens at the Maritime Museum in Monterey.

Along Highway 1

 

The views along Highway 1 are absolutely breath taking and we didn't even drive down to Big Sur or to Bixby Bridge. Simian said we need to leave some stuff to do next time.