2007-11-26

the smell of idiots

Sol and I were at Kimono Ken today. That's our new favorite japanese restaurant. I've been disappointed at Sushi-ya the last few times we've been there because while they've kept the prices the same, they've reconfigured the menu so that cost is lower (i.e., they provide smaller portions).

At the low end, the other alternative is saisaki. But that's like the Delifrance at St Lukes for me now. I will never eat there again. In fact, it's possibly worse than the Delifrance at St Lukes because I will never eat at saisaki again even if someone else pays for the buffet.

The food is reasonable, but saisaki is part of a group of restaurants that includes Dad's and Kamayan. Unfortunately, Dad's (or Kamayan, but now the whole group of restaurants) has a singing group at each combined restaurant. They're cute, I suppose, for people new to the Philippines, but they're extremely annoying to anyone who just wants to enjoy their meal. So we're never going there.

But back to that title there. We were at Kimono Ken. It's our new favorite japanese restaurant (Sugi in Makati would be an easy favorite, but we can't afford to go there more than once or twice a year). We've had a few great meals there. Today though, the waiter was wearing some cologne that smelled like ammonia. Seriously, what non-idiot would spend a fortune on a scent that makes them smell like a toilet? I have never thought it was a good thing for anyone (particularly men) to wear any sort of scent. But when I can smell someone from 6 meters away, I start to estimate how dumb that person must be, and the further away I can smell them, the dumber they must be.

I wouldn't mind if they were just dumb, but, like smokers, they force their stupidity into my consciousness just by being there and stinking. Next time, we might go to another Kimono Ken branch. Or if not, I'm certainly going to request another waiter.

The salmon sashimi, yaki-soba, yaki-udon ang uni were wonderful though. The spicy maguro sushi wasn't any good. don't go there. the juice shakes were too sweet, but after I'd cut my shake with about a glass and a half of water I could finally stand it.

Too sweet is a problem in this country, but it's not something i fight too hard. Some wars are not worth fighting (and this one is unwinnable). I would have ordered beer, but we had gone to the Podium by motorcycle, and I won't have a single beer if I'm going to be driving within the next twelve hours :-).

2007-11-12

Timmy's Birthday

It was Timmy's first birthday last Friday, Nov 2, 2006. Fortunately, that's a holiday due to All Soul's and All Saint's day. We're going to miss Nov 1, Nov 2 being holidays when we're in New Zealand.

We decided to go to a hotel, take a suite and have the party there instead of at home. Home is a bit small and parking is impossible, so having the party in a hotel works *much* better. We liked that enough that we'll probably be at the same hotel (at the same floor) for New Year's too.

The preparations started at home. The suite at Richmonde hotel has a kitchen (and two bedrooms and a living room area) but not enough pots, pans and other gear for everything sol and her mom wanted to prepare. So most of the food was prepared at home.





There were the shrimps for the pesto

That shredded bacon is for the carbonara that's left of the pesto there



Timmy met his cake early on.




The cake was home made, by Sol. Carrot cake with lovely lemon zest and a picture of Timmy on top.



Timmy was very happy while waiting for the guests to arrive.



His mother was very proud.


Sol thought the candles and the whole celebration would be better with the lights out. I think she was right. The video comes out a bit dark though.






The pump had to be primed a bit
But Timmy got the idea and started to do some damage

A whole bunch of celebrities wanted their pictures taken with Timmy







That's my mother-in-lawPats
ArdieBobot and Keith
my brothers-in-law, Jay on the left, Bobot on the right

Timmy's cake was a work of art when he was done





The pasta was great, missing from the picture was the most incredible clam chowder
The cake barely survived :-). So Sol had to make more when we got back home



Timmy met Julia, Sol's godchild, daughter of Rhoda, Sol's best friend, and one of mine now, too





The exhausted birthday boy

2007-11-10

New desktop background

Timmy is, once again, on my desktop:



That's from a few hours before the actual party.

I'm sure Victoria is going to say something about that right second toe too :-).

[Update]
Sol changed my desktop background for me ;-). I agree though, this one is even better.