wandernut

A movie about America’s first black President.
(He’s actually half black. But what’s with the skin colour label anyway?)

Who else to play him but Denzel Washington, who ironically has the name of America’s first President? I wonder who will play his wife. Or Hillary. Or his running mate Biden. I’m sure someone has started writing the screenplay already.

It was an interesting morning, going into CNN.com in between meetings to check the voting stats. As of right now, he’s leading with 338. He only needed 270 to win. McCain is barely halfway there with 156. This with 4 states to go, 2 of them with Obama in a comfortable lead.

It took 4 decades since their Civil Rights movement to get here.
And although I’ve never set foot in America, it feels damn good too see empowerment in her people, and how they can affect change.

There is hope for America.
There is hope for this world yet.

(whispers)
I wonder when Malaysia will see a Chinese or Indian Prime Minister.
Another 50 years?

*hahahahahahahaha*

Fat chance.

Happy Halloween

Halloween is really big here in Shanghai.
It’s even bigger than Mid Autumn Festival, minus the public holiday. I mean, big parties all around the city. I was surrounded by witches and ghouls in Xintiandi when I was there for dinner. People were taking pictures with ‘ghost’ mannequins (what the?). Lamp posts were coloured orange with ’scary’ faces. People were walking around in costumes. They didn’t look very scary though. In fact, think people look scarier on a normal day.

Anyway, we had dinner at Afternoon Tea (hee hee). Nice pasta and chai tea. Followed by some hot chocolate at a new chocolate place called Cocoa Island. I must say the chocolate was good, but something just wasn’t quite right with the decor (it’s neither here nor there, like it couldn’t decide between oriental, tropical and modern chic). Not to mention the menus. The grammar and spelling were atrocious. 

Earlier that day I had breakfast with MY, CY and HF. HF’s office (W&K) was having a Halloween party that night, and she went as Michaelangelo the Ninja Turtle. She actually left the house, had breakfast with us and commuted to work in that costume. It was really cute. In my office, my immediate boss showed up today in a Harajuku cosplay French Maid outfit. Mmm.

By the way, HF won 2nd prize in the W&K Halloween best dressed contest. A trip to HK woii! I’d walk around in a turtle costume too if that was at stake! She took us on a tour of her office after some martinis at Citizen Bar. WK is such a cool, creative, office. Nothing like the clinical pigeon holes of O&M.

Anyway, here’s HF again. Hey… Barack Obama! And the WK office.

Happy W eek orkend

Saturday morning was a quiet one at home, and I made myself a nice brunch of tea and biscuits, grilled cod with lemon butter and grilled veges. I love my cherry tomatoes on the vine. So yummy and sweet. The fish was lovely as well, firm and creamy and I could almost feel all the Omega oils doing their magic. There was some delicious fish and vege juices left in the baking dish, so instead of wasting it, I mixed it with some cold rice and made fried rice with an egg. Yummmy. Hahaha!

Then it was off to work, spending the rest of the day in the office, followed by dinner at this new beef noodle place on Changle Rd with MY. It’s called Noodle Bull (no bull?). No, they use beef, not bull. And they’re very nice noodles too. So nice we came back the next day with the rest of the gang. The noodles are of the ‘pan mee’ variety. Limited menu, but they do them well.

Saturday night I had their signature noodles which came in a giant bowl for RMB 25 (RM13). Lovely beefy soup, smooth chewy noodles, tummy warming carrots and onions and braised beef. On Sunday I had the sour and spicy noodles which were great as well. Side dishes of vegetables or tofu are only RMB 5. And for a nice clean, ‘designer’ place like this, bloody good bargain. It’s near my office, so I foresee that I’ll be eating here quite a lot from now on.

Sunday was slightly better - had a good tour of CY’s new office, a brand new offline post house. Beautiful place with a huge garden. They plan to get a dog too! Yay!

Then it’s off to lunch at Kommune. Got a lovely fry up of bacon and eggs, mushrooms, toast, juice and coffee. I love Kommune. It must be smell of grilling bacon in the air. Then we made a quick stop at Uniqlo where I picked up a fleece jacket (reversible, so I get TWO for the price of one! heehee) and some warmer PJs.

And I got my M&S ankle boots last night. They’re light and soft and would be great when I don’t feel like wearing my heavy duty Timby boots. Something I can wear when the weather gets warmer too. Finally, something to alternate with my one and only pair of ‘work’ shoes.

CBK, they also come in Black. I hope they’ll still be in stock when you get here. I had to request an order and wait over a week for new stock to arrive cos they got sold out so fast.

My triathlon endeavour has been put on an indefinite hold since my move to Shanghai. I initially planned to continue my training here. Bring my bike over. Join a tri club. But because the cost of shipping a bike was higher than expected, I left my dear Scottie at home.

I thought of buying a bike here but they’re more expensive than bikes back home. And although people here drive a lot of slower than Malaysians, I fear for my life as they have little regard for traffic rules. That or they’re colour blind and don’t know their left from right.

Work is also a lot busier, which means time is a luxury. And tri-training needs a big time commitment. I’ve joined a gym, and as it is I’m struggling to clock in regular mileage on my runs, swims and spinning classes. Just so my body won’t forget when one day I get to ride and run long distance again.

I miss cycling terribly. I miss the hills and the green of Sg Tekala, whizzing down Frasers, and I miss the company of my running and cycling buddies.

Meanwhile, Scottie has been at home in his box. But he’s not going anywhere, and it’ll be awhile before I’ll be back to ride it. So I decided to let him go.

YT bought Scottie last weekend.
My heart aches. But at least I know he’s in good hands, and will be put to good use. Hopefully win a prize or two with his new owner too. Uhuk uhuk uhuk uhuk *sniff*

Enjoy Scottie, YT! And kick some ass on the tri circuit!

I also have a solid, almost unused Minoura AC-Pro bike trainer for sale.

Pop me a message if anyone’s interesed.

While our Malaysian friends back home got a day off, we in Shanghai had to work.

Not to miss out on the festivities, I got the gang together for a Deepavali dinner, in honour of our Indian friends. MY recommended Indian Kitchen, next to her office on Yongjia Lu.

We ordered:

Tandoori Chicken - juicy (even the breast) and fragrant on a sizzling hot plate.

Mutton Masala - yummy and tender without the usual gamey mutton smell.

Palak Paneer - good balance of spinach and cheese.

Aloo Gobi - cauliflower and potatoes in mild curry, a bit too mild.

Chapati (wonderfully fluffy) and some Naan (tad too dry) to go round.

All washed down with Kingfisher beer (made in India, of course). Found that the beer had a very strong smell though.

It was pretty authentic. The cooks were Indian. And by Shanghai standards, it wasn’t all that expensive - about 70 yuan each (RM35).

There were bus loads of tourists coming in to eat.
Where from? You guessed it.

Check out the tourists behind CY! And KL doing the bhangra!

I take a different route to work these days. Too much construction going on near the Yongfu Lu part of Wuyuan Lu, so I take the lane house shortcut to Wulumuqi Lu, then out to Wuyuan Lu, then into the lane house shortcut that leads to Anfu Lu next to my office.

Here’s what I’ve been seeing these days on my way to work:

- In summer, people hawk their watermelons by the bike or truck load. Now, it’s pomelos. Today, I saw someone selling freshly harvested walnuts in a huge basket. Fresh from the tree WALNUTS! (I know, I so jakun).

- The wet market near my place now sell some seasonal fruits and vegetables too. Lots of persimmons. Big and small. I remember eating persimmons from China back home in KL and they were delicious. But looking at the ones here (obviously export rejects), I didn’t feel the urge to buy any.

- There were zucchinis with their zucchini flowers still attached. ZUCCHINI FLOWERS! Yes, so jakun. I’ve seen so many recipes for them online before (usually stuffed with cheese and baked). Now I can finally buy some to try. Maybe this weekend.

- It’s hairy crab season (it’s been hairy crab season since late September. Yet to try some but my friends are planning a hairy crab dinner soon. Many shops on one of the streets I take to work sell hairy crabs. Huge aluminium bins are filled with ice. A bamboo basket is placed on top, and the crabs sit in the basket, still alive and frothing in the mouth. The ice melts of course, and leaks water puddles onto the pavement. Quite a bitch cos you don’t want to step into fishy smelling water.

- There’s a new bakery and ‘chocolate’ place on Wuyuan Lu near Wulumuqi Lu. I bought a chocolate croissant last week and it was good. Cheaper than Paul’s too! Will be going back again one of these days.

- A mobile florist sets up shop in front of this chocolate place, which has deep burgundy walls. Her bright , colourful flowers stand out against the dark background. Really pretty. Brightens up my morning.

- Right opposite, a small fruit shop sells sesame seeds and nuts, still in their shells. She grinds the sesame seeds (black or white) and nuts into powder if you prefer them that way (using the old fashioned stone grinder, of course). The smell of freshly ground sesame is quite lovely. I may buy some from her one day to make sesame paste dessert. Mmmmmmmm.

Will try to take some pictures this weekend