Digging the food

Weather: Cool with low clouds

Photo caption: Construction company logo on a gate behind the Phoenix apartment complex.

It really didn't feel like Saturday today. The alarm went off at 6, which Frikkie reset for 7 and then our day started. After breakfast Frikkie went off to the office and I, sloth that I am, went back to bed to finish Khaled Hosseini's A thousand Splendid Suns. I loved The Kite Runner and was reluctant to read Hosseini's next novel, because it seems to me that new authors often don't get it right again and that second novels can be a bit disappointing. But not this one. It made me cry. I loved every page. If anything it's better than The Kite Runner, although one does not want to compare the two too much.

Then I was up and at it. Although I got a local SIM card for my phone yesterday the damn thing didn't work. So I had to go back to China Mobile to get it sorted. And the cable we bought for the Mac to plug into the TV to view DVDs didn't fit, so that had to be swapped. And one of the sheets we bought from Ikea was the wrong size, so that had to be swapped. Yes folks, the exciting life of a house wife. 

It was my first outing on my own, with no Frikkie to lead the way. One small step for man... And I didn't get lost - not even once. Very proud of myself. On the way back from the Apple shop I stopped at Starbucks for a coffee. Don't ask. What was memorable though was the two American guys behind me who had a whole debate with one of the staff members about the milk in Mandarin. I think my mouth might have hung open slightly. So there is hope for me - if they can do it, then I'm pretty sure I can too.

 

I picked Frikkie up from his office late afternoon and we wanted to go for a drink somewhere. But nothing presented itself and we ended up ducking into a covered market. It's more like a permanent market with small cubicle shops than a flea market. I spotted a Sonia Rykiel coat that I may have to go and get. Anyway, by now I was ravenous. And a ravenous Henri with low blood sugar is not a very happy Henri, so instead of a fancy pants cocktail bar we ended up having a quick snack from stall in the market. OMG was it delicious! Frikkie had his staatmaker: veggie noodles and I got myself this steamed skewers dish. You select what you'd like from the display of skewers, they steam it up with a bit of sauce et voila! And the dipping sauce served with it was delicious - spicy and tasty. 

Not to mention full of garlic, but then everything is full of garlic and lots of it. If a vampire came close to the two of us after that meal I'm pretty sure it would have died. 

We then took a taxi to Ritan Park to go and check out the Stone Boat bar. WOW people. The park is beautiful and so far our favourite. When we finally found the Stone Boat bar, after being sent on a wild goose chase by all the security guards, it was worth the walk. It's a very cosy venue and according to Frikkie serves delicious martinis... 

After a round or three we headed home to go and get one more cable to pug into the Mac so that we could watch some DVDs. On one of walks earlier this week we discovered a DVD store, but not the kind that rents out DVDs, but rather the kind that sells very real looking fakes. After we purchased the last required cable we headed down the road to our friendly fake DVD store. Don't judge - I don't even know where to start looking for genuine DVDs...  I was very tempted to get the box set of Gray's Anatomy, which according to the Hollywood reporting is "Ren hot", but we settled for Hellboy 2, the latest X Files and Deniro and Pacino in Righteous Kill. We started with Hellboy 2 and had the English subtitles on for a while. Well, how entertaining. I think they use Google translator and boy oh boy does it get it wrong. But the image quality was excellent and we were given a VIP membership card from our friendly pirate DVD shop manager for "future discounts" so we may go back there.