Well, it's been kind of weird at work these few days.
I've had spurts of busy with lots of drama, along the lines of, "the deal is dying!" to "the deal is dead!" to "the deal is back!" with a flurry of phone calls and a few emails and presentations to draft *on demand* (and as awful as it is, I have to say - there is no discipline like drafting on demand, because there is simply no time to procrastinate; it just has to get done) but then I've also had quite a bit of down time, such that I made it to the gym four out of four days, browsed online for water filters that attach directly to the kitchen sink, researched computer docks, shopped art prints, and have been blogging, woo hoo!
So basically, the point of all of this is that within a span of 24 hours my deal went from dying to dead to revived to a confirmed trip. Let's hope my trip to Sydney is a bit better this time, shall we? This time, I am dragging Michael with me because it's such a long trip and I will likely be there a whole week and it simply has to segue into a babymoon! And I'm not giving him a choice about it! So there.
I leave on Saturday night. Fingers crossed.
So, onto other stuff that are all just a mishmash of random thoughts that don't really fit together.
I just got my status upgraded on Cathay Pacific, and I'm really bummed that I got the upgrade just in time for me to be on maternity leave and not go anywhere.
I saw the largest snail EVER while hoofing it up to the Asia Society to pick up my Contemporary Art Show tickets today. In my usual impatience and inability to allocate my time properly, I was speed walking up a very steep incline, and I think maybe soon I am not really going to be able to do that safely. Basically, I was the opposite of this guy in terms of movement:
I saw him coming and going and he had not progressed very far in the time that I was gone. Snails seem so gross to me, but then I remember that I gladly eat them in butter and garlic. They seem more innocuous when they're small, though - I don't think I'd be as comfortable digging into this one if it were served up.
Speaking of, I think I'll go to the Contemporary Art Show at the Conrad hotel this year. I haven't been in a while, and it might be fun to see if there's anything affordable (likely not) that I would want to hang in my office or at home. Our apartment came furnished with all these stock prints that are beautifully matted and framed but are of patterns and images that I just really don't like. We've lived here for nearly two years and I've never fussed about them, but lately they're really bothering me. Is this a sign that I'm nesting?!
And speaking of food, last night, I went to dinner at Table, a restaurant on Bonham Strand in Sheung Wan, with two girl friends. It was so much fun! We totally talked (only a little) about our other halves and commiserated with each other not only about them and their irritating habits (eye roll) but all kinds of just general life stuff. I laughed so hard! I came home all hyped up and euphoric and Michael was extra grumpy that I was in such a good mood, which only made me grin harder. Hehehe.
The service at Table was a little awkward (nice, but really over-eager and unevenly paced), and the portions were small (not surprising) but I thought the dishes were pretty innovative, or at least interesting. It's a seafood focused restaurant but their vegetable dishes were delicious. They served us an amuse bouche of fried cheese and some grilled flatbread with bruschetta.
We ordered a starter of Korean marinated crab (it looked so SO good but I am being a good mommy-to-be and did not eat it because it's raw and also fermented in wine):
And a delicious crab cake with a gooey, molten crab roe center (how did they do that?!) which was served piping hot, but eaten so quickly I neglected to take a picture.
We got the Hokkaido sea urchin with plankton risotto - now I can say I've tried plankton! It was very good, but definitely not a dish for the faint of heart because plankton has a very (very) strong seaweed flavor, and sea urchin, of course, is of a slippery texture and an umami flavor that many find unpalatable. I personally love all of this stuff so I was very happy with the dish.
We also ordered a homemade tagliolini with red prawn. The prawn was so tasty, but I wish they had given us more than one!
I didn't manage to get pictures of the vegetables, but the stir fried jasmine flowers and the mushrooms were really wonderful - full of flavor, simply prepared, and very tasty.
I'm currently watching and really enjoying the lighthearted romp that is Jane the Virgin, a telenovela styled TV show that is funny, a little ridiculous, but also well written and acted. I very much appreciate a show that understands its genre and storytelling arc. Another one that I watched and really liked (when I had access via Amazon Prime) was Catastrophe. While also funny, it's not aiming for the slightly slapstick, but rather just very real life drama that happens to be humorous and not take itself too seriously.
I'm also re-reading "The Handmaid's Tale", which is a book that in retrospect I read when I was wayyyy too young, before I start watching the TV show. I've got a few books on my to-read list, but I've found myself kind of veering toward a few classics as of late. Virginia Woolf's "To the Lighthouse" is one that I may re-visit.
Lately, I've been podcasting on my way to and from work, and my staples have been The Daily, Radiolab, Death Sex and Money (I love her voice and interview style - I think she asks good questions), This American Life (but when will it ever drop from my rotation, although sometimes they have some really blegh ones), Reply All (except their Yes Yes No episodes, which - I don't care!!!) and Longest Shortest Time (I find her a little annoying sometimes, but it's been a nice podcast to listen to as I enter my third trimester and hear about other parents' experiences). Michael thinks I'm crazy and weird (and maybe I am) for listening to my podcasts at 1.4x speed, but really it's more efficient! I get through so many more podcasts this way. I saw this tip when I was searching for new podcasts and now I swear by it.
What else, what else. I have my glucose blood test coming up, which I'm now trying to reschedule due to this impending trip to Sydney, and which I'm kind of dreading. I hate drinking syrupy sweet concoctions. Why can't they just let me binge on the sugar of my choice (like bags and bags of sugary processed gummies, sour straws, strawberry laces) and test my glucose that way? Like I was saying to my friend Emily, at least that way we would derive some pleasure out of it.
I've had spurts of busy with lots of drama, along the lines of, "the deal is dying!" to "the deal is dead!" to "the deal is back!" with a flurry of phone calls and a few emails and presentations to draft *on demand* (and as awful as it is, I have to say - there is no discipline like drafting on demand, because there is simply no time to procrastinate; it just has to get done) but then I've also had quite a bit of down time, such that I made it to the gym four out of four days, browsed online for water filters that attach directly to the kitchen sink, researched computer docks, shopped art prints, and have been blogging, woo hoo!
So basically, the point of all of this is that within a span of 24 hours my deal went from dying to dead to revived to a confirmed trip. Let's hope my trip to Sydney is a bit better this time, shall we? This time, I am dragging Michael with me because it's such a long trip and I will likely be there a whole week and it simply has to segue into a babymoon! And I'm not giving him a choice about it! So there.
I leave on Saturday night. Fingers crossed.
So, onto other stuff that are all just a mishmash of random thoughts that don't really fit together.
I just got my status upgraded on Cathay Pacific, and I'm really bummed that I got the upgrade just in time for me to be on maternity leave and not go anywhere.
I saw the largest snail EVER while hoofing it up to the Asia Society to pick up my Contemporary Art Show tickets today. In my usual impatience and inability to allocate my time properly, I was speed walking up a very steep incline, and I think maybe soon I am not really going to be able to do that safely. Basically, I was the opposite of this guy in terms of movement:
And speaking of food, last night, I went to dinner at Table, a restaurant on Bonham Strand in Sheung Wan, with two girl friends. It was so much fun! We totally talked (only a little) about our other halves and commiserated with each other not only about them and their irritating habits (eye roll) but all kinds of just general life stuff. I laughed so hard! I came home all hyped up and euphoric and Michael was extra grumpy that I was in such a good mood, which only made me grin harder. Hehehe.
The service at Table was a little awkward (nice, but really over-eager and unevenly paced), and the portions were small (not surprising) but I thought the dishes were pretty innovative, or at least interesting. It's a seafood focused restaurant but their vegetable dishes were delicious. They served us an amuse bouche of fried cheese and some grilled flatbread with bruschetta.
We got the Hokkaido sea urchin with plankton risotto - now I can say I've tried plankton! It was very good, but definitely not a dish for the faint of heart because plankton has a very (very) strong seaweed flavor, and sea urchin, of course, is of a slippery texture and an umami flavor that many find unpalatable. I personally love all of this stuff so I was very happy with the dish.
We also ordered a homemade tagliolini with red prawn. The prawn was so tasty, but I wish they had given us more than one!
I'm currently watching and really enjoying the lighthearted romp that is Jane the Virgin, a telenovela styled TV show that is funny, a little ridiculous, but also well written and acted. I very much appreciate a show that understands its genre and storytelling arc. Another one that I watched and really liked (when I had access via Amazon Prime) was Catastrophe. While also funny, it's not aiming for the slightly slapstick, but rather just very real life drama that happens to be humorous and not take itself too seriously.
I'm also re-reading "The Handmaid's Tale", which is a book that in retrospect I read when I was wayyyy too young, before I start watching the TV show. I've got a few books on my to-read list, but I've found myself kind of veering toward a few classics as of late. Virginia Woolf's "To the Lighthouse" is one that I may re-visit.
Lately, I've been podcasting on my way to and from work, and my staples have been The Daily, Radiolab, Death Sex and Money (I love her voice and interview style - I think she asks good questions), This American Life (but when will it ever drop from my rotation, although sometimes they have some really blegh ones), Reply All (except their Yes Yes No episodes, which - I don't care!!!) and Longest Shortest Time (I find her a little annoying sometimes, but it's been a nice podcast to listen to as I enter my third trimester and hear about other parents' experiences). Michael thinks I'm crazy and weird (and maybe I am) for listening to my podcasts at 1.4x speed, but really it's more efficient! I get through so many more podcasts this way. I saw this tip when I was searching for new podcasts and now I swear by it.
What else, what else. I have my glucose blood test coming up, which I'm now trying to reschedule due to this impending trip to Sydney, and which I'm kind of dreading. I hate drinking syrupy sweet concoctions. Why can't they just let me binge on the sugar of my choice (like bags and bags of sugary processed gummies, sour straws, strawberry laces) and test my glucose that way? Like I was saying to my friend Emily, at least that way we would derive some pleasure out of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment