Good-bye dear friend

The time has come to say good bye to a very close (literally) friend of mine - my first pair of Sass & Bide jeans. *sob* Admittedly, when I first bought them, I considered returning them. They were far too tight and I cried in pain everytime I wore them, but I was reassured that they would stretch and stretch they did.

They have been with me since late 2001 and have travelled all over Australia and the world with me. They've seen me through thin days and fat days, witnessed my weight fluctuations, had numerous episodes with food spillages and have enjoyed the constant companionship of my muffin top.

I was criticised a few years ago for continuing to wear them with a rotten crotch (see below), but that only fuelled me to wear them with pride. Jeans that rotted and molded itself to my gait.

My rotten seams.

So what happened exactly? Well, it was a normal day and I pulled out the dear ol' friends and put them on, ready for action. I was aware of the presence of a small hole adjacent to the top corner of one of the pockets. That hole had been getting progressively larger over the past months and I cared little for that fact that the colour of my underwear was (slightly) visible.

As I bent over, I heard a loud *rrrrrrrrrRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPP*. Uh-oh. Bum visible. All I can say is that I'm thankful that I had not yet left the house.

I cannot salvage this.

Oh well, at least I have another almost identical pair, but nothing shall replace the original, faithful friend.

Birthday Bash

Another year and another inch closer to the big 3-0. Yay. *deadpan face*

Drinks on the actual day were a quiet affair at Canary Wharf. I must say thanks to Lil Miss J for her Waitrose flowers. Since we don't have a vase, I made my own classy one out of an Evian bottle.

Following that, there was a weekend soiree to celebrate mine, Mona's and K's birthday. Not much more to say about that.

And again, the obligatory girly shot.

Thanks to everyone for helping me celebrate!

Retro Night

Last night, a bunch of us joined BT for his birthday celebrations at The Clapham Grand. We were all prepared for a Mambo/Retro style of music but for the first 1.5 hours, the music was crap!!! The club itself reminded Lil Miss J of Metro but reminded me of nothing, as I've forgotten what Metro was like.

My definition of good music (read Cheesy hits) finally kicked in at about 12 midnight when some proper 80s music came on. My night was made when Michael Jackson's 'Don't stop til you get enough' and Wham!'s "Wake me up before you go-go' finally played. I could've happily gone home from there.

Kt, BT and I with our shiny disco balls.

The night is incomplete without a girly pic.

We left at about 2am and I was crippled. My shoes hurt so much and I was glad to finally get home. Otherwise, happy birthday BT!

Crab vs. Lobster

After our lobster adventure, Smee had the audacity to circulate my photo to other female members of the Circle. It's a crap photo, my skin looks like shite, my face all puffy from lack of sleep but whatever.

Anyway, J kept referring to Lobbie as Sebastian. Me, being on the same wavelength, totally understood her reference the 'The Little Mermaid'. Last night, on the way to BT's birthday celebrations, Sebastian the Lobster came up into conversation and it went something like this. Also, try to picture all of us on a London double decker red bus on the lower floor, sitting at the backseat.

Kt: Sebastian? He's a crab.

J and I: WHAT?! Nooooooo, he's a lobster!!!! What makes you think he's a crab?

Kt: I wikied it and it says he's a crab.

Me: Whatever. Anyone can write anything on Wikipedia. Look at Sebastian's head, he has a long head! He's a lobster.

J: Yeah, he's a lobster! He looks nothing like a crab!

Kt: Yeah but wikipedia says he's a crab!

J: How did you google it? Why did you google it?

Kt: I just typed 'sebastian, little mermaid, crab' and that's what Wikipedia showed.

J & Me: No way!!! he's a lobster! Look at him!

Mona (pipes up from the seat in front of us after checking the web from his mobile): He's a crab. It says so on wikipedia.

Me: Yeah but anyone can write anything on wikipedia!! Tell me what it says on the Disney site.

(You can see this argument never ending)

J: What!?!? No, he's a lobster!!!

Kt: Have you guys watched The Little Mermaid? I swear they say he's a crab in the movie. It's on the DVD too.

J and Me (indignantly): Nah, no way they say that. Yeah of course we've watched it!

J: Have a look at his head. He has a long head. He looks NOTHING like a crab.

Baoey: (sits in silence and pretends to not know the rest of us)

Parts of the conversation are slightly fabricated, but you get the idea. We must've sounded so silly to the other passengers sitting on the bus. Full grown adults arguing in the back seat about the shellfish status of the Sebastian in The Little Mermaid. We weren't exactly quiet either.

Look at the picture above? Does that not look like one of the lobsters I ate?

Anyway, I can't remember how the conversation changed topic - maybe the bus stopped and we had to get off, but I still was convinced that Sebastian was a lobster.

Today, I had to settle it once and for all. I had to get to the bottom of this Sebastian Lobster/Crab debate. And I concede - HE'S A FRIGGING CRAB!!!

Damn Disney. Can't draw for peanuts! All these years, I believed him to be a lobster. I feel cheated of my late childhood.

Come to think of it, I don't think I have watched The Little Mermaid in it's entirety.

UPDATE: A few days later, I had to ask Mooey about Sebastian - Queen of Stupid Trivia that she is - and she came back with "Lobster". A-ha! Damn Disney.

She was in disbelief, just as I was. As she says, "It was like I believed the sky was green."

Another friend in London

ASu from my college days managed to drop by London on business and we caught up for a quick drink. I haven't seen him since hmmmmm March 2006? All is doing well except for the fact that he dislikes the 2.5 hour daily commute to work and the humidity of Indonesia. London suits him just fine.

Here's me at my disgusting best with ASu. Touristy photo a must.

Lobster Abuse

Smee and I live embarrassingly close to the London wholesale fish market, Billingsgate, where London restaurantuers, fish & chip owners etc go to buy their seafood supplies. Seriously, it is about a 10-15 minute slow walk. Members of the public can also purchase here but be warned as many of the stall owners only sell in bulk. Oh, and also be prepared to get there before 8.30am when it shuts. As typical wholesale markets go, trading begins at the crack of dawn at 5.00am. The market is actually open at about 3-4am, however law forbids any monetary exchange prior to 5am. I have no idea why. Some silly English law I presume.

Smee and I are seafood lovers and have always talked about going to Billingsgate, however we are also very lazy and hadn't made enough effort to get there. It just so happened that we had an adventure on Friday night, whereby we went into Chinatown, and then decided to not stay, came back, went to the local Asda and ate dinner at 1.30am. I had the bright idea of "hey Smee, Billingsgate opens soon, we should just stay up and go there". So we did. Smee played computer games, I caught up on my blogging and then off we went to Billingsgate.

Despite it being 5am, the carpark was already full! We found our way to the door where other patrons were emerging with garbage bags full of seafood goodies.

Nothing beats the Sydney fish markets in terms of service to the general public (errrr non-vampire trading hours? sashimi on demand?) but clearly Billingsgate is servicing the food industry. Yeah it was a wholesale market - boxes and boxes of fish, prawns, shellfish all piled high and priced accordingly. Damn it was cheap!

Anyhow, there were a few traders who do allow the tiny people like myself to buy singularly and by the kilo. Smee and I made our way home with scallops, prawnies (Smee plans to master Har Mee next), pippi meat and of course two beautiful lobsters. We should've bought some fish but decided not to as we had no storage space.

Do keep in mind, by now, it was about 6am. I did want to sleep but hmmm we were a little peckish. Hence the early morning lobster breakfast is born. I made aioli (thank you food processor) while Smee prepared the lobbies for their impending date with destiny.

Smee and I do like to play with our food, and these photos are reminiscent of our Yabby dish

Smee with L1 and then breaking up a battle between L1 and L2.

Me so happy to have new pet, Robbie the Robster. Lobsters fighting it out on the stove.

The Doomsday Pot. Can you see L1 trying to escape?

Clockwise from top left: Smee sending the lobbies on their way to lobster heaven i.e my tummy. Lobbie looking peaceful. Lobbie claw up close. Two lobbies together.

I do have to say, the lobster meat was absolutely fresh and went very well with the aioli. I went to bed at 7.30am and needless to say, didn't get up until 3pm.

UPDATE: I do feel a little bad about eating Robbie the Robster after reading this article in the Metro, however I am in agreement with Trevor Roll's comment.