Love The Iphone?!

SUCKER!!!

I'm still puzzled at this Iphone rave. Of course this craziness is happening only in America. No one in Asia (with a brain) would get one. Well, the Taiwanese are supposedly excited, but they're Tainwanese.

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with buying an expensive phone... I can't believe these people are willing to sign a two year contract to deal with those losers at AT&T! What happened to just being able to buy a phone and then choosing the phone company you want use? $600 over isn't much of a subsidy to be stuck with AT&T.

A couple of fair comparisons between the Iphone and the N95 (Nokia's newest of her N-series).

After using your phone as a verbal communication device, the next most important thing to most users is the camera-phone! Guess which phone doesn't fulfill this need? Iphone's camera SUCKS! N95 has a 5, yes, read FIVE megapixel camera, has flash and auto focus - just like a real camera. iPhone has a two megapixel camera, no flash, no autofocus and imagine this, no video capability!!! OMFG!

Did you know that when your battery life on the Iphone dies, your phone is dead!? So in 12 to 18 months, your phone is just a useless piece of crap. But ohhh, you have signed a two year contract! What do you have to do? Send your phone to the manufacturers (in China) and get the battery replaced - just like your Ipod - except most people usually just buy a new Ipod 'coz it's relatively cheaper and there is no AT&T asshole customer service agent on the other end of the phone trying to suck the living life out of you. With the N95, you removed your dead battery and replace it yourself by simply buying another battery!

If these two reasons are still not enough for you not to reconsider buying the Iphone or have your tongue stop wagging after this stupid piece of metal, you're an idiot!! Not like the Memphis idiots who are still searching for idiots (unless you're a Memphian who is dying to have an Iphone) but an idiot nonetheless!

You gotta' give it to the marketing team of Apple. They certainly know how to do their job lol while Nokia... hmmm... they need to wake up!

Here are a line of videos that'll explain clearly what I really mean. Thanx Ricky for teaching the general public of idiots who has no idea what a good phone should do! He's done at least six of these hilarious videos. If you're interested in finding out which phone to get, check his youtube site here:

'C' Is for Cancel, 'D' Is For Delay

After too many trips on Northwest Airlines and not getting the service we're used to on American, we decided to fly loyal and get to San Francisco on a one-stop flight via Dallas. For once, I wish we'd taken the non-stop on NWA.

It really is a long story... and lots of angry people involved. Oddly enough, we are still calm and collected :) After a flight cancelation, sitting in the plane on the turmac for umpteen hours, we eventually ended up flying into SFO six hours later then our original time of arrival. Missed our reservations at Bar Crudo :(

Then three short days later, it was time to go home... this time, we were flying via St Louis on AA. With all the crazy weather in Dallas and Chicago, we were quite relieved we weren't flying into either of these cities. We even checked online before we left and true enough... flight d-e-l-a-y. We hung out for a couple more hours in the hotel room then took the limo to the airport. Guess what!? LOL! Yes, of course it was further delayed and it meant we had only 35 minutes to make our connection. We tried making all sorts of alternative flights just to get home on the same day. No luck. An hour went by and yup, the flight was then canceled due to mechanical problems!!! WOW! I thought there was gonna' be a riot lol! Talk about angry people... it was chaotic and all the gate agents could advise was 'please call the airlines on the toll free number'. Of course, the king was already on the phone trying to fly somewhere, anywhere. Las Vegas, Seattle... but no... every damn flight out of SFO was fully booked for another two full days! I kid you not! We were literally stuck in San Francisco! Too bad neither of us had our passports with us. We would have flown internationally in a heartbeat lol!

So here we are... yes we have people to see, more restaurants to try...but the husband is ready to go home to our own bed. Me, I don't have much of a problem... the weather here is perfect and I have extra time to shop hee hee.

We can only hope that when Sunday morning comes around, our flight home will not be as eventful... you can follow myself or the king on twitter for 'live' updates :)

Trip #4 Of Summer '07

Tomorrow, we head out to the San Francisco. It feels like it's been forever since we went together. Maybe more than a year. Yes, that is letting a lot of time past considering it used to be our top favorite American city to visit. My last trip there alone was for the girl's night out in San Jose. Pretty fancy shmancy huh!? Live in Tennessee and have a girl's night out in California then take the first flight back lol.

It'll be one of our infamous short trips - but not as short as our first trip right after we got married; we flew to San Francisco for two good Chinese meals. One good dim sum lunch at Yank Sing and then dinner at the king's favorite Hunan restaurant. Yes, we flew there, ate lunch, shopped, ate dinner and took the red eye back to home. All done within 24 hours :)

Timing couldn't be better for me. A couple of trips ago, again, a solo one out to Sacremento, I visited a friend who's mother was in town from Singapore - boy did she cook up a feast! Well, I couldn't have asked for more but Nora's mom is back in town and this morning, my girlfriend called and asked what I wanted to have her mom cook. You know who is happy camper lol! So exciting. I wish my mom would come to America as often as hers... but oh well, I have no kids to bribe her with :D ...no, that is NOT a good enough reason to have kids lol.

We're gonna' try some new restaurants while we're there, of course. I'll fill you guys in soon enough.

Another Entertaining Movie

It's funny, witty and it confirms (for me, again) not to have kids lol. Watch "Waitress"!

Kerri Russel plays the sweet sympathetic waitess. Never saw her on tv but she's great in this movie. Cheryl Hines and Adrienne Shelly - writer and director of the movie - are funny and real... and Nathan Fillion who plays the doctor is absolutely adorable - you can't help but like him! It's a drama, a comedy and a chick flick all in one. Don't run away men, the husband liked it too!

Artisinal Cured Meats At Salumi

We finally made it to Salumi!! Having lived in Memphis for too long, I never thought I would ever hear the words 'pork overdose'! Well... looks like Seattle has something even better then pork bbq that will make you scream for m-o-r-e!

We've heard of this very popular small eat-in deli owned by the father of celebrity chef, Mario Batali, for the longest time... we heard of their artisinal cured meats, their sandwiches and the long lines that come with the experiance for getting a mere sandwich from Salumi. Alas, a mere sandwich they do not make!

Our favorite foodie friend, Julie, was the only one who'd been to Salumi before, so she packed us in her suv and got us promptly, as planned, outside the store fifteen minutes before it opened at 11am. As expected, a line was slowly forming already. Nice! We get the full experianced lol. ...this is a working Wednesday morning... and not everyone in line was unemployed and/or a slacker like the king and I lol. Well, Julie isn't of course. Only a few looked like they were tourists and most others were certainly locals! That's a mighty good sign to other customers if a restaurant has people waiting outside before they're even opened - without having to offer free food or money lol!

At the end of the line, I could see the not very decorated area where you can grab your food and have a quick sit and eat area. Two two-person table and a family style table that might fit ten - if you're in Europe. Not in America! ...the line moved fast. Well, fast enough since I hadn't even thought of complaining lol! We looked at the chalked written menu on the wall, the specials on another board and basically ordered almost everything that looked good to us. I think it scared the person behind the counter. She asked, "just three of you?! You're going to have lots of leftovers!". Obviously there haven't been some serious greedy and/or hungry people who've walked through those doors till us three...










Three large sandwiches (cut in thirds); a cotto salami sandwich with onions and peppers, a magarita sandwich with prosciutto and a meatball sandwich... an order of the white bean tuna salad, a simple tomato based penne (which the husband frowned towards me as I ordered it - c'mon I had a taste for pasta when I saw it!) and a last minute cold cured meat plate (with no cheese) by the husband. No wonder the lady was surprised it was only for three people. These sandwiches weren't exactly bite-sized :)

My favorite was the cotto salami sandwich with onions and peppers. Sooooo good! Almost like a mufeletta from Central Grocery in New Orleans... but not quite. The meatball sandwich was awesome also! There is no way I can eat another meatball sandwich anywhere else... I didn't get to try the magarita with prosciutto simply because I was stuffed to the brink. The delicious white bean tuna salad with chopped red onion and fresh parseley was practically addictive(!) ...and I had to have my fair share of the penne dish I'd insisted on having lol! For the record, the husband did not even try the penne which was al dente and tasty :) He did however enjoy the spicy sopressata on the cold cured meat plate. He says the next time we go, he's gonna' have that in a sandwich.

Yes, we were stuffed. Yes, we were satisfied. Another successful adventure with the mountain tortoise foodies lol!

Summer '07, Trip #03

We're in Seattle this morning - woo hoo! Note: not woo hoo like in the 'Sims' game lol.

Emily, the king's god-daughter is graduating from high school and we're here to celebrate this occasion with the rest of the Shultz family.

We arrived yesterday morning and our friend Julie was so sweet to pick us up at the airport. Her aunt, Hisako, is also in town from Tokyo visiting, so we all, together with Yoshi, had our usual first-meal-after-we-arrive-in-Seattle at Shultzy's. As usual, the meal was excellent and I ate WAY too much. Those fries... it's just a sin to leave any left in the basket. Hmmm... fries from Shultzy's.

After lunch we dropped the husband at the hotel and us three ladies went off on a shopping spree at one of Chealsea premium outlets in Marysville, Washington - about 45 minutes outside downtown Seattle. We had a ball there! ...or at least I did. At one store, Hisako bought tweleve, yes, 12(!) bags. I know a professional when I see one at work. Pretty impressive :)

Dinner last night was at a little family-owned izakaya in the International District called Tsukushinbo. Good food, good drinks - I had my first ooling tea with shochu :) - and great company. Both the king and I love the cozy ambience. We will certainly be back. We apparently had been here before on one of our crazy drinking sprees to sing karaoke one late night last year; but the memory is hazy on that encounter :) We enjoyed every thing we got and I'm salivating now just thinking of the two pieces of saba (mackeral) I had. At one point, the entire restaurant, with the exception of the king, Julie and I, ran out of the restaurant for a UFO experiance lol! No kiddin'! They few men, Hisako and the owner/sushi chef were still discussing the topic when we were leaving more than 30 mins later lol. His daughter convinced us it was merely a few parachutes from a distance lol. It was quite funny to see a bunch of older people just gushing at their unidentified foreign object sighting hahahha!

For a change, we called it an early night. It was close to midnight our time back home and we were a little beat from the flight and the day's excitement :)

It's a little past 5am right now and I've been up for more than an hour. No laundry to do, no kitchen to clean - guess who's a happy camper?! It's yet another day with full of excitement. We already have lunch set up with Julie at Salumi - it's owned by celebrity chef's father, Mario Batali, Armandino Batali. Watch out of the review later.

Cooking @ Home

Fired For Blog Entry!?!

I like the king's entry on this - go check it out!

Basic Blog Tips For My Memphis Readers

First of all, welcome Memphians!

When I started this blog, it was to communicate with my friends from around the world. As a Singaporean who went to school in Canada, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Arizona and traveled to all points of the globe, I have a lot of friends in faraway places; I wish they lived nearby, but unfortunately they don't. The majority of my readers have been, continue to be, and always will be non-Memphians. But lately a few Memphians have decided to waste their time here...

Thanks to my web reporting software, I have been watching my few new Memphis visitors and they do some weird things. I thought I would write a post to give these "newbies" a few tips.

1. Get some self esteem! For some reason, Memphians like to search on their own names to see if they're in my blog. The next thing they do is click on the label "idiots". If you think you'll find yourself under "idiots", you need something other than this blog to help you. If you think you'd find your friends under 'idiots', you need to think better about your friends... MUAHAHAHAHA!
   
   
2. You don't need to search the archives again and again. Nothing new is happening in the past. DUH! New posts appear on the front page of the blog - like this one! Just come to the front page, and you'll see anything new I have to say. That goes double for searching my blog again and again via Google. One poor soul searched for my blog using the exact same Google search phrase three times in the span of four hours today! Again, new stuff shows up at the front of the blog, and if it wasn't there two hours ago it probably won't be there now. Also, if you weren't aware you typed the same phrase into Google three times, you need to check out this site now.
   
   
3. Sorry to disappoint you but there's not much here about Memphis. There are lots of good blogs on Memphis. If you're interested in Memphis restaurants, here's a good one (though I liked it better when Leslie Kelly was writing it). I don't write too much about Memphis because the overwhelming majority of my friends/readers have never been and never will come to Memphis and they're just not interested. In six years, I've had three friends come here from out of town and my husband has had five (but he had to pay for the airfare to get most of these people to come see us).
   
   
4. If you're looking for new stuff in the school category, you're too late! My husband left his teaching position earlier this week - so thankfully school is in the past. I am looking forward to leaving Memphis and going to a new and bigger city. WOO HOO! Don't get me wrong, I'll miss my house (real estate is CHEAP(!) here in Memphis) and I'll miss bbq and a few close friends I've made while I've been in town. But, I'd be lying to say that I'm not THRILLED with the idea of seeing Memphis in the rear-view mirror.

Awesome!

If you're not yet mezmerized by twittervision and don't have any twitter friends or even a twitter account... you're a loser! Ok, maybe not a loser yet but I just discovered what might be the coolest thing a person has done with twitter. This creative person, who obviously has tons of time to burn (lol!), uses our twitter icons to replicate pictures and photographs. ...and omfg, what an awesome job he's done! Check out his cool works on his page.

Dopplr Is Neat!

I've just joined this new cool online service for frequent travellers who have friends who are also frequent travellers. Doppler gets you and your travelling friends connected.

How does Dopplr work? It lets you share your future travel plans with a group of trusted fellow travellers whom you have chosen. It also reminds you of friends and colleagues who live in the cities you're planning to visit. You can use the service with your personal computer and mobile phone.

Besides, when everyone is travelling, you might not even know when some of your friends are in the same city! That's why I think this service is awesome. Their service is free. Yes, it's free but you can get it via an invite-only membership. I have 'some' memberships to give away if you'd like one - and I like you (muahahaha!) -- leave a comment.

New Friends

Having lived in the bible-belt now for six years, friends haven't come quite so easily as the days when I used to live in Toronto as a high school kid; then Indiana, Massachusetts and Arizona for college. It's not as though I had a neverending supply of friends then... but it never took too much effort out of me to find a small group of people pretty quickly to fit in like a glove comfortably. Maybe it's got to do with my age or the city I'm in now... or maybe because everyone here I meet is either hanging on to three unbearable crying kids, or having their own preconceptions about Asians not born in this country are like before they get to know me. ...of course, when they realize I'm just a stubborn heathen and that I'm going to hell, all bets are off about any friendship. They can't wait to run the other direction in case I drag them down with me lol! Either way, I have found it hard to make good friends. When I do, their husband's job will take them away from here within two years. Of course that doesn't stop us from being friends... we just can't hang out on a daily basis like we used to. I don't believe that good friends take time to build. I think most friendships are instantaneously decided by chemistry. You either hit it off or not. Worst, there are the kind you remain acquaintances till you go your seperate ways. Why bother?!

This past weekend, we were in Chicago for the Nokia S60 party and conveniently scheduled to meet up with Ling and her husband, Mark. Having 'been introduced to Ling (online) via my friend Gen (who lives in NYC) who met her initially via myspace - then physically in Singapore (what global people we are lol) when both of them were 'home' on vacation - I took the opportunity to do a 'meet and eat' kind of deal. Well, meet and eat we did. Twice! We are, after all, true blue Singaporeans! As I predicted from all the phone conversations we had, we hit it off with no problem. We've spent hours on end yakking on the phone about everything under the sun. She is as warm in person as she is over the phone. ...and fortunately, even the American husbands found each other interesting enough to talk to. It's always nice and refreshing to meet new friends who are smart, funny and well travelled. The only regret, they live in Chicago and we don't...

Two Meals With Rick Bayless...

Suffice to say, I did not actually dine "with" celebrity chef, Rick Bayless, himself lol! But the two lunches we had at two of his reknowned restaurants in Chicago (the third one is a little cafe kind of grab-&-go sort of place in a department store also in the city) was quite the highlight of our few fun days in the windy city.

Our first experiance with Rich Bayless obviously stemmed from his PBS tv show, 'Mexico - One Plate At A Time'. While I don't care much for the history sessions, I try to appreciate it. I enjoy his pretty straight forward cooking styles and his casual mannerism - not over the top like some others on the food network. He's a pioneer in education the general public is good Mexican food and boy, if you think it looks good on tv, wait till you go to his restaurants! It is wonderful! ...and no, I'm not getting paid for this post lol!

From the most basic, like the guacamole (the best I've ever had!!!), to the more complex tasting moles (I had three different kinds in two meals) to the most delicious soups. You can't go wrong with anything you order here. The ceviche (Trio Trio Trio) was wonderful too!










Having made our reservation at Topolobampo for lunch on day two of our trip, we decided to try our luck without a reservation at the Frontera Grill where they do not take reservations. We got there at opening at 11:30am and there was already a long line of people whose palettes were craving to be wowed. Service was prompt, friendly and lively! They give good recommendations and we had a great time and very good meal here. Even the long wait between appetizers and entree did not bother us a bit. No, we were in no hurry to go nowhere. It just gave us an excuse for us to have another magarita each.

Topolobampo, the fancier place (right next to the Frontera Grill - both restaurants use the same entrance) is slightly less noisy. Even though it's only seperated by a thin curtain, the noise from Frontera Grill was actually well contained... don't get me wrong however, it certainly is not a quiet restaurant either. At least not during this particular lunch with the angry (ex)wife and her divorce lawyer (we guessed) sitting two tables away from us lol. I don't know if the restaurant was going for the serious and/or romantic ambience... but nah, I didn't find it to be either. Of course, I've never been to a 'fancy' Mexican restaurant either. At Topolobampo, you just have the more sombre wait-staff, more fanciful plated dishes with the higher priced menu. Of course, the food was excellent. Both places have flawless food. Absolutely no complaints. Both places have good service but because I prefer people who are of high energetic and exude fun, I lean towards the service at the Frontera Grill a little more and give her a 8/10 and 7.5 for Topolobampo.

You can see more pics of these two meals as well as our trip in Chicago from my flickr site. The food is also more well described there.

Last Night @ Arun's Thai Restaurant In Chicago

Our drive to Chicago was not very exciting... I did, however, learn that you can not just find people with no teeth in Tennessee or Mississppi; close enough to big city Chi-town, you can still find very odd looking people in Illinois... three teeth on one man lol! Never heard of dentists?!

If anything at all, the meal at the end of the drive waiting for us helped the king make the seven hour plus drive into the city. I was of no help of course... I mean, I offered to drive but he was sweet and took charge; and I could only 'enlighten' him that much during the drive lol. After awhile, even I needed a nap. Fine(!), I took more than just one nap...

Dinner at Arun's last night was awesome! Speaking from experience, having the best Thai food in Thailand, Arun's did not disappoint. Seated in a non-descript corner of a not-so-nice neighborhood, the Thai restaurant sort of stuck out with it's slightly fancy outside decor - though even that was minimal. You can hardly tell there was anything going on inside. We stood outside for a little waiting for my friend Ling, (we were early) and scoped for parallel parking spots for her. The restaurant has valet parking on Friday and Saturday nights, but has no parking lot of its own.

Inside Arun's was not that exciting either. It wasn't a very beautifully decorated restaurant nor that unique. A little scary once you realize what the wallpapers are pictures of actually lol. Maybe it's just from a Chinese Singaporean's perspective, I don't know... we were greeted immediately by one of the friendly wait staff and were offered our choice of bottled still or sparkling waters - which they, fortunately (and surprisingly) did not charge a bunch of money for considering how many bottles we had lol. Our waiter then explained to us how the meal would be served; six appetizers, four dishes to be done family-style (i.e. shared), and two desserts. I could hardly contain myself. I was hungry and I could see and smell the goodness from the neighboring tables that they were having a feast and a half! There is no menu at Arun's -- just a fixed price 12-course dinner which they customize to your dietary preferences and desired spice level.

Our first dish, though not a very traditional Thai dish, was pretty on the plate and a good way to start our culinary adventure. The spring-themed dish had perfectly cooked green and white asparagus, a couple tied together with some limp green onions topped with a vinegarette dressing garnished with some freshly toasted almonds was nice. The vinegar in the dressing prepared both my palate and my appetite for what was to come. Not impressed yet but no complaints. After all, it tasted good :) I was afraid this was the start of a overly fru-fru meal that was not going to be very Thai-tasting. After all, all those reviews on Yelp weren't exactly given by the Thai nationals.

The very familiar second appetizer was 'miang khum'. We've had this often and as I understand it, served everywhere from the most fancy of Thai restaurants to street vendors. Sitting on the betel leaf, you have one chilli-padi (super hot!), fried shallots, fresh onion, a couple peanuts, one dried shrimp, some toasted coconut shavings, one tiny wedge of lime and ginger. Wrap that up in the leaf, add some of the tamarind based sauce and you get a perfect burst of all the flavors in your mouth. YUM! This dish is usually served in a big platter where you get to pick everything you want on your leaf... but this way, you eat it as it's supposed to. How can anyone not like this!? The flavors were perfectly fresh and the leaves were unusually large compared to the ones we've had elsewhere.

Appetizer number three came all pretty and wrapped up by a cucumber 'string', also too pretty to eat - yeah right! A dumpling, the staff explained... and I don't quite remember much more after that :) ...unlike normal Chinese dumplings I'm used to, the skin of this dumpling used that of rice noodles... like hor fan... just a lot more delicate. I can't quite remember what was in this dumpling but it was very good. Served in an almost sweet tomato sauce... it was gone in two gulps.

The next dish is familiar to most Southeast Asians. Well, not at first by sight, given the elaborate plating... but when the waitress informed us that it was a Thai spring roll. But, instead of being wrapped in a wonton wrapper or rice paper, this one was rolled in a poh-pia wrapper. Poh-pia is typical Singaporean hawker food, but the wrapper was where the similarity ended. Last night's poh-pia had pork, sweet crabmeat, cucumber and green onions. The spring roll was cut into two pieces, and we were instructed to take the shiso leaf from the tomato garnish, cut in half, and eat it with the spring roll along with the sweet sauce, the jalapeno slice hidden underneath, and a dot of very very hot "Chinese-style" mustard. Very good. But I think I like my $2 pohpiah back home better lol! OK, I'm clearly becoming delusional.

Next was one of my favorite dishes last night, and we still haven't made it through the appetizers yet! Not THE favorite... just one of them! "Emerald Sea" is a gorgeous dish that is reminiscent of one of my favorite Thai noodle dishes, phad kee mao ("drunken noodle" in America/English). The large unbattered prawn is wrapped in egg noodles then fried, crispy yet juicy. It sits atop a little puff-pastry kind of cup that hid a huge slice of jalapeno (yes you're supposed to eat that) and a couple of strands of rice noodles (also used in phad kee mao). All that sat on the spinach sauce that was absolutely delicious! When I mixed all the above (in small doses of course) in one mouthful, I realized, 'hey, this IS pad kee mao!!!'. Pretty bloody cool!!

The last appetizer came as the hottest dish of the evening. OMFG, it totally shocked both Ling's and my palette and system hahaha! The both of us were practically in tears. I know my face was as red as beet lol! Not that neither of us finished this dish of course lol! A mouthful of egg noodles, basil and fish balls in ma'phuckin' hot green curry :) This might have been the king's favorite dish. The boy sat there gleaming in all that spiciness and taste while the two of us kept downing the water lol. He even drank the rest of the curry gravy with a spoon. Must have been quite funny to all the pale skins in the restaurant :)

I was already full by this time but I was also much anticipating the real meal to be served. Yes, family style... but then, not really family style lol. You each get one serving of everything served. But it was nice to be served all four dishes at one time to mix all of the typical greatness of Thai flavors with rice.

Eating Nemo lol... why I'd never be able to perfect the art of cooking Thai food. Vegetable and fruit carving is a big part of it lol. This lightly pan-fried seabass topped with three different sauces (sweet, spicy and sour) was to die for! Crisp on the outside (almost like panko breaded) and soft and moist on the inside.


Minced chicken in basil and cilantro - much like larb, but very herbal rather than fiery spicy. Absolutely delicious! One suggestion however, they should serve this is a slight bowl... kind of hard to scoop fluffy ground chicken from a plate :) [Note from "The Boy": it wasn't that tough to serve -- the Queen was too distracted by her meal to be bothered to serve it properly -- heehee].

The massaman curry beef tenderloin was my favorite of the evening. Much like Singapore's beef rendang, this dish was made to perfection! All I needed was more rice to have the gravy that sat there screaming for all of our attention lol. I think we agreed it was just as well none of us had second servings of rice - as much as some of us were very tempted to lol!

The lobster in yellow curry paste might have been my least favorite of the four entrees. I love lobster (of course) but this sort of paled in comparison to everything else that was a few flavors mixed in one dish. Of course the lobster was good too! It was cooked perfectly and wonderfully sweet, but just a tad strong in curry powder for me, if you ask me. But what do I know :)

Don't be mistaken. This (left) is certainly NOT the lowly viewed, mango pudding you can get at any Asian grocery store! This is made 100% of the sweetest mango you'd ever come across served on top of the most fragrant sticky rice (you can certainly taste the pandanus leaf / flavor it was cooked in). I cleaned everything off with no problem, of course. Full as I was... even the mint went perfect lol! ...and the final desert... the lychee sorbet... how could have they served two of my favorite fruits as dessert? All they needed was to bring out the halved watermelon and I would have been in heaven lol!

I'd love to return to Arun's again to see what else they can come up with to impress me. They change the menu often so I'm not worried - I'd be quite happy to have the same meal all over again! Arun's Thai Restaurant gets a 8/10 from me. Why only 8 when the food was flawless and the service excellent? Well... the asparagus though helped with the start of a perfect meal just did not taste Thai enough for me... and the decor of the restaurant... they can do something about it if they've been serving not-cheap omakase-style meals since the 80s and can pack the place on a Wednesday night. Spend some money to make more money please!

[Another note from "The Boy" -- I liked the decor. The brightly colored Thai wallpaper provided for a festive atmosphere. My only complaint was the lighting which was strangely harsh and it made my pictures appear washed out. Ignore the Queen's comments on decor -- unless it's a glass table with a brushed aluminum floor, something akin to an operating theatre, she thinks it's dowdy).

Trip #2 Of Summer '07

We're off to Chicago tomorrow... it was supposed to be a one-day trip to attend a Nokia party... but as it turns out, timing is right and we decided to spend the king's birthday there with some friends! Yes, we're meeting up with a Singaporean friend of mine and her husband. Can't think of a better way to spend four full days away.

I will, of course, update you during or after this trip... either way, I'm excited about trying Rick Bayliss' restaurant, Topolobampo... among others, of course :)

Fun Date Movie

This movie is hilarious! Quite a few shocking scenes (ugly baby already in one scene in the trailer); so do not bring your kids; it's rated 'R' for a reason. Fortunately, unlike other longass trailers, they did not just show the funny parts - yes, lots more to laugh about. Really!

Who I loved in the movie: Seth Rogen - the unconventionally cutie who was ohhh so sweet and ohhh so what a guy. Paul Rudd - the conventional hottie whom I've liked since 'Clueless' and '40 Year Old Virgin'. ...and Jason Segal (of TV sitcom 'How I Met Your Mother') the funny guy who played creepy guy and rocked. Of course, for all the guys, I agree, Katherine Heigl is HOT!!!

This movie kept both the king and I laughing throughout ...so go watch it already!

The Queen Thanks Malaysian Ah Pek

I recently came across an interesting blog and now subscribe to this sometimes very funny money-making personal blog that is also filled with insights to technology and his own interesting writings. Ah pek dot com is not really owned by an ah peh, oh, unless your name is ah pek (shit! lol) considering he is of the same age as my own father :) ...and "60 year old men are not ah pehs, ah pek!" lol. I know, you're probably naming your blog ahead of time since you're going to be blogging for a long time :) ...so no need to change ah chek dot come to ah pek later on right lol. But my dad would have a coronary if anyone called him that lol. Nonetheless, thank you for the shout out! Ah pek's blog has a free saturday link giveaway for his week's favorite link as well as blog whores like me lol... so when I read about this a couple of weeks ago, I, of course pleaded to be on this week's link on his blog. ...and link he did! :)

A couple of answers to your intro of my blog... why do I called myself 'queen of mountain tortoise' and where is ulu-land, Tennessee... first of all, Tennessee is in the south... (yes, usa)... and most of the Asians (and those who read my blog) probably will never have the inkling of visiting this state. Nothing wrong with that. I live here and I don't want to be here sometimes lol. Usually, first thoughts when thinking of this place, people think "eeeeeee, danm kampong" or "soooo ulu"... "what's there to see other than mountains and Elvis' house?' Seen the movie 'Deliverance'? :D I rest my case. Thus, the birth of... ulu-land - especially compared to the well known big US cities. Which explains why we (the king and I) call site Mountain Tortoise dot com... you're absolutely right in translating the 'mountain tortoise' part; directly translated, sua gu in hokkien or in Mandarin, shan-gui 山龟. As you know, that's what we call people back home (Singapore) who are 'unsophisticated' or 'hicks' - for lack of a better term... people lost in their own cubicle world decades behind and never improving... well, that's ulu land here for you! I always feel like I'm still living in the 80s here (I see their cellphones - one tiny example - I get embarassed for them man!) when I return to the fast-paced life in Asia... live in ulu land sure become sua gu right!? LOL.

Thank You For Visiting

I refer to my previous blog 'they found me!'... I think it's so funny that both yesterday and today, my site's been flooded with (extra) people who are have been searching for their own names on my site. Probably wondering 'shit, did the bitch blog about me?!' lol. No, I did't! I know there actually might be even more clueless people around (then the ones I've written about) and I'd admit, I was pretty surprised that a couple of these people actually knew how to search my site for their last names hahahahaha! But no, sorry, I have not (yet!) blogged about you... but search a few more times and I just might muahahaha! <hey, good way to sabotage someone I'd say> But yes, I do know how you get to my blog, where you go afterwards (yes, even if you go shopping at Target five minutes drive away from home lol), what you read and how long you're browsing when you're here... you can bookmark me all you want from that one article about you... I can only thank you very much for visiting my page.

They Found Me!

It turns out that summer vacation is really summer vacation even for the staff who are supposed to be 'working' in school lol! Wow, get paid with a phat check to surf the web... even irresponsible me can do that without failing!

Turns out that someone in school from a certain known department found my blog... yeah... they did lol! I suppose coming to terms with some reality and harsh words from my honest blog has made 'us' quite the talk on campus today. I suppose this will make the king even less loved now then before... oh well... life goes on.

Who Needs God When There Is Heaven In Las Vegas

The husband and I have had a gazillion fantastic meals since we met almost ten years ago... this past weekend, our impromptu dinner at the less fancy of Joel Robuchon's restaurant was not only a big treat but we were wow'd over and over again, dish after dish! It was refreshing to be serviced by a young (not forgetting to mention, good looking lol) professional waiter who not only knew his food but also his wine very well. His recommendations were spot on and we were certainly impressed. I was certain it would be hard to get seated at a Joel Robuchon restaurant at almost 7pm in Las Vegas. Fortunately, it was still pretty quiet with only three couples seated at the bar counter and a few foursome tables taken up and we walked in with no fuss.

Below is the front view from our corner counter seats:



Our meal started with an amuse-bouche in a little shot glass filled with cucumber gelee, tarragon cream and cumin yogurt... unfortunately, we were too engrossed with the start of our dinner we forgot to take a picture of it... so this is it... or what's left of it lol! It didn't sound all that tasty but the mix of these three flavors brought out the sweetness in the cucumber. Even the king who is not a cucumber lover liked this.

We were then served our four mini loaves of bread and (unsweated) butter. Now I know it wasn't any special butter but the temperature was so perfect together with their bread I wanted to eat it all hahaha. What a bloody mountain tortoise lol! I didn't, of course :) Promptly, after we were served some very good white wine (chablis and sancerre, I had the former), the waiter - I cannot, for the love of my life remember his name right now - brought us our L'Aubergine - an eggplant cavier served with tiny slices of asparagus, radish, zuchinni... yum, very garlicky, very good! Sort of like a fancy babaganoush I suppose... just a lot better and smoother lol. Together with that, they also brought out our La jambon. La jambon is a procuitto ham dish served with toasted tomato bread on the side - I'm not at all a prociutto person so I wasn't big on this... but I still tried it. The tomato bread, much like the tomato bread we had at Cal Pep in Barcelona was extra delicious here. Not only did they just rub the juices of the tomato like they did at Cal Pep, here, they included chopped up super sweet tomatoes; and you can literally taste the fantastic flavor of the olive oil...












The next dish was La Langoustine... plainly, the langoustine lol! But this was wrapped in what seemed like a wonton skin hahaha - I'm sure it wasn't that easy... probably home made skin of some form... fried and served with some basil pesto and a side of salad... omg, I wanted ten more of this... at this point, I wanted the meal to last forever... this was just too good to even fathom.



The next few dishes that followed, pictures just don't do them justice. I wish all of you could have been there to enjoy this awesome meal with us. Le crabe royale makes me understand how a perfectly simple dish with fresh ingredients make all the difference in the world! No need for special sauces... no need for secret ingredients. King crab and a light avocado salad between two pieces of crisp romaine burst with flavor when I bit into it. The lady who sat next to me later picked it up and ate it like a burger... which to me was quite comical... but I suppose it worked for her. All three items in this dish were seasoned seperately and yet when eaten in one mouthful (ok, not the entire thing in a mouthful, but all three things in one... oh you know what I mean!), it's a wonderful sense of perfection. Gawd, I feel like one of the idiot judges on Iron Chef lol. But I suppose I can relate more to them now... mere words just don't do it!

Les huitres, the poached baby Kussi oysters with French (Echire') butter was also a magnificent dish... it's also one of those dishes that make two greedy people sharing a dish fight lol. Five oysters, two of us... hmmm... who gets the last one? Of course, the man does. Plus at this point, I was already VERY full... but being the bottomless pitt I claim to be, I urged on and pleaded no defeat. The oysters are light despite being 'soaked' in butter, there was no strong buttery taste that I abhor in a lot of food I find here that should not contain any butter. I like butter, don't get me wrong... I just don't like my vegetables or eggs to taste even the slightest hint of butter. These oysters, however, were perfect; with a slight detection of a peppery hot aftertaste. With the accompaniment of the micro-organic chives (I believe) or greens of some sort... ahhh, just too good to even rehash this experiance! ...or not :)

Wait, we've not even gotten to our mains lol. Our final dish before the meats came was le homard. A maine lobster custard with a slight curry scent and fennel foam. The unbelieavable mix of flavors made me want to weep! ...and yet, none of it overpowering the other. ...you didn't hear me complain about the big lumps of lobster in the custard either hee hee. This meal just got more amazing with each mouthful of food!










The only dishes we didn't quite share were the mains. I picked the French-styled hanger steak topped with fried shallots, the l'onglet, was served with the restaurant's signature dish - the pommes puree (mashed potatoes sounds so lame next to pommes puree - even if you don't know how to pronounce it correctly lol). I can understand why it's the signature dish... the smoothest mashed potato you'd ever have... but here, the overpowering of butter I did not quite enjoy... of course, by now, my pants were about to burst out of my fatass! ...and yet, I persisted and ate along lol. Can you imagine just how good the food was?










The king had le runsteack; the steak tartare! I was a little apprehensive when it was served. Next to my great smelling steak, his looked a little scary. Pretty... but scary... he took a bite into it and didn't really have to force me to try it. WOW!!! I've never had raw meat before (well, I have... horse sashimi lol but that's for another blog entry another day...). This steak tartare is absolutely delicious!! A little tangy from the seasonings and marinade... sweetness from the meat itself... I certainly returned (uninvited) for a few more forkfuls of steak on the husband's plate.


We could have walked out of there and been perfectly dazed and impressed by this meal... but we could not leave without trying their dessert. Well, actually, I couldn't after hearing they had strawberry milkshake on the menu. Of course, they didn't quite say that lol... but la fraise seemed so fancy... and fancy it turned out to be! Yum... not too sweet accompanied by sweet thinly sliced fresh strawberries practically etched to the side on the inside of the bowl in a glass... I finished every bit of that milkshake. I figure I can pay for it later (physically) or just sleep it off :) ...speaking of fancy, the husband got the la framboise which came looking like a mini red ball of Edam on a plate. It was pretty plain until our server told us to take all pictures we needed before he changed it's look... and down he poured what must have been hot rasberry syrup (just a fancier name lol)... and in a blink, the entire red, white chocolate casting of the ball melted to unfold yuzu ice-cream on the insid. Double wow!!!










What a wonderful way to end an awesome evening of dining. 9/10 for L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon!! Should we try the fancy Joel Robuchon restaurant next?!