Partays 2011 - Part 1

Due to lack of energy recently, I haven't really done much on this blog. Since it's that time of the year again, I thought I'd add a couple of photos just to remind myself of what happened recently when I need to remember it this time next year.

I guess the partays started last Friday with Faye's (not counting Cindy's red velvet cupcake birthday bake date 3 weeks ago). We went to a Thai restaurant downtown and I really liked the tom yum goong soup! Over dinner, the men (Danny and 文生) yapped about cars as Meishan, Faye and I talked about plans for Faye's big day next year.

Then Sunday was 可可's baby shower/birthday lunch at Oliver Bonacini Cafe followed by 波波茶 at Green Grotto. Had smoked meat sandwiches and fries with 文生 while Gootoe, 細V, 可可 (and 林B I suppose) and Ka had the Summerlicious menu.

Last night, Tinlop and Cindy took me out for dinner and I decided to try out the vegetarian sushi place that 可可 recently raved about on her blog. Not bad for vegetarian! Now I know what to make when I'm out of ideas while making my maki's at home. Presentation and service was definitely worth mentioning albeit a little on the pricey side.

Credit Card Rewards

I'm melting in this 37C plus humidex 47C heat!! I found myself short of breath just walking from the No Frills parking lot into the store! Eek!

People who know me well know I'm very 師奶 when it comes to grocery shopping. The greatest thing (next to sliced bread) is the MBNA Smart Cash credit card that 細V discovered, giving me a whopping 3% (non-tiered!!) cash back on groceries and gas. I've been loving that card for the last two years and use it every chance I get. So today, I was at No Frills, lined up and ready to pay for my $5.31 package of extra lean ground beef, and thought: "hmm, it's kind of embarrassing to 碌卡 for five bucks." Mind you, I've done it this week for under $5. Then the guy in front of me proceeded to pay for his purchase with his credit card:

$2.94

I LOL'd.

Foodie Weekend

The weather's been great the last few weeks. I'm really enjoying the sunshine and the feeling of summer! EXCEPT, I haven't been able to stay in the heat for any longer than a few minutes before feeling like I need to pass out! Aiya~~!!

Since June, there's been something going on every single weekend in the GTA and will last until Labour Day: Ribfests, night markets, street festivals, Taste of the , Pride Parade, CNE, etc etc. On Friday, 文生 and I went to check out the larger-than-ever Night It Up 夜市 that conveniently moved from Metro Square to Markham Civic Centre. Wah, the amount of people! Unfortunately, we arrived at about 8pm and the event was completely packed to the extent that you'd be lucky if you could order something within an hour. While things looked authentically Taiwanese, they sure didn't taste right! Sigh... We saw a booth for some HK style stinky tofu and decided to have some before we tackle the Taiwanese style ones but what a mistake! I was so disappointed! Later, the lines got even longer and you couldn't even move in the isles so we just decided to leave. So, after some fried tofu, 四川涼粉, bbq squid legs, Malay pancake and 雪花冰, a disappointed and grouchy me left for dinner at 半畝園.

Nasty HK style stinky tofu! Nothing more than just plain FRIED!

Looks authentic enough, but looks can be deceiving! (and proved to be!)

Now this, doesn't even LOOK good :(

Saturday rolls along and 文生 knew I wanted my stinky tofu fix, so he took me back to First Markham to have 美濃刀切牛肉麵's version of Taiwanese 臭豆腐. Now that hit the spot! Not to mention, their noodles are pretty good too!

台式臭豆腐 @ 美濃刀切牛肉麵

Sunday saw us having a spur-of-the-moment dimsum date with 可可, her 蜜糖兔仔, 林B, 細V and Gootoe. Since I wasn't close to being full after lunch, we trekked over to 許留山 for dessert. OMG, FMP 3 days in a row... nasty.

Neglected?

It's been almost 2 weeks without a blog post and I just thought to myself, is blogging over? I mean, is the life of blogging in general done for? I've noticed that there are several blogs that I've been following that are in some serious need of updating. *hint hint* cough Sai V cough~ Without a doubt, Facebook, Twitter and Weibo (even Instagram!!) seem to be the go-to medium for many people nowadays since you can update so easily over your mobile device. No longer do you need to log on to your blog, think of a witty (or less-than-attractive) title, write out a blurb of random nothings and perhaps post a photo that you have to manually upload from a memory card. God forbid, that takes waaaaay too long!! Not to mention, some spur-of-the-moment thoughts do indeed get lost in the sea of constant stimulation in our busy lives. How easy is it to snap a photo on our phone, hit Share and boom, it's already updated on all 6 of your favourite social media sites (and you don't even need to sign in!). Sigh...

Call me a dinosaur! I've just been lazy, so a lazy dinosaur at that! My phone has a crappy 2MP camera without a flash, and I need a WiFi network to post pics from my crappier iPod camera so guess what? Back to basics. Which is fine when I don't feel like sleeping 24/7. Lately, all I've been wanting to do is sleep. I'm feeling so out of shape it's not even funny, well not funny anymore at least, LOL! By 11pm, I need to hit the sack, like I mean, I NEED to. Only to wake up the next day feeling somewhat rested until about ... now (almost 3pm) ... when I feel like I need to sleep again :P

So I came into work today and people asked me what I did for the long weekend. I racked my brain and answered, "Sleep." Yep, Friday I got up kinda late, went out and ate a late lunch, walked around with 文生 looking for a hair salon (didn't find one that wasn't busy), got extremely tired, fell asleep at a food court while waiting to go to dinner, had dinner, hung out a Meishan's for a bit then went home and slept. Saturday had a late lunch with Gootoe, went to Ribfest to pick up some pulled pork, went home and by 7pm I was so exhausted that I fell asleep right away. Sunday went out early with Mar Mar for dimsum, got a nasty nosebleed while lining up at a supermarket to pay (how embarrassing) and almost passed out by the time I got home at 2:30pm. If Mar wasn't around all afternoon to help me cook and I wanted to keep her company, I would have slept too. I'm such a pig!

Exhausted!

Sigh, we didn't leave the office until 1:15am last night so by the time I got home it was almost 2:00am. Factor in doing dishes, folding laundry that's been sitting in the dryer for 3 days, making lunch, cleaning out my fridge, and that took me till after 3:00am. By the time I got into bed, it was after 4am and I couldn't fall asleep. I'm so exhausted! The night before last we left at midnight and tonight will be another one of them long ones (I'm hoping for midnight). Day 17 and counting...