Alicia, Don't Eat It!

One of my favourite blogs has this great Steve, Don't Eat It! section. He hasn't posted anything new in a long time, but every time I visit it to see if there's anything new, I re-read them all, and end up laughing uproariously to myself over my laptop. I highly recommend it.

Today at lunch, my friend Julie and I had a "Don't Eat It!" moment. We went to this great little noodle shop, where some very spicy noodles can be had. And some yum, yum yummy dumplings. I admit it, we had big eyes. We ordered way too much. But we did sample everything we ordered. Including a highly suspect "Stinky Tofu" that was on the menu. I had never heard of the stuff, but I've always been one for trying new things. Like Duck Tongue. Which I did like. (but then put everyone else off of, when I kept sticking them out of my mouth! sometimes two at a time)

So we ordered it.

When it came to the table, I was a little taken aback. It looked like little, square, floury candies that had been sitting in a candy dish since my grandmother was a child. With a little dish of chilli oil next to it.And it STANK. Whoa, Nelly. It smelled like gorgonzola that had really gone off.

I went first. I tried it without chilli, to get the full effect of it. Not good. Julie tried it. She gagged and put the rest of the piece into a tissue. I tried it again, this time with chilli (maybe chilli enhances the flavour?). Still not good. It tasted like gorgonzola that had really gone off. And I have to say, the floury stuff on the outside had the texture of sawdust, without the flavour. I don't know how people can eat this stuff.

We ended up asking the lady to take it away, as the pong was starting to ruin the taste of the rest of our lunch. Which was lovely.

Techno.............phobes

Yeah, so we tried to sort out our sound and video systems yesterday. Ha! There is a reason why the amp and speakers remained in their boxes for two months!Despite all our attempts, we still did not get the amp and speakers sorted. At least Plan B worked - we got the DVD player hooked up and the Wii re-installed (at some point, when James was trying to sort out the DVD player before, he accidentally knocked the Wii sensor behind the TV cabinet, so we had been sans Wii for a couple of months as the TV cabinet is incredibly heavy). I am going to buy one of every type of connecting wire this week, and we will have another go at it this weekend. At least it's a long weekend!

He's Got Style, He's Got Class, He's Got Soul, He's Bad-@ss!

Can I just say how wonderful James is? For my birthday, he surprised me....

The pick up:...Arrived at the Peninsula Hotel - soooo posh!
Then a massage and facial at the spa:Oooohhh, the SUITE (!!):
A lovely dinner at Gaddi's,then breakfast the next morning (notice East meets West breakfast of congee, dim sum and scrambled eggs and hash brown!)....followed by ANOTHER massage, before heading home.
I am bursting! I'm the luckiest wifey in the world!

Words of Wisdom

I forgot to post these words of wisdom that fell from Kate's lips on our holiday.

Charlie was waving his fork around, as usual:
"Charlie! Be careful of your eyes! You only get two of them, and THAT'S IT. Not like your ears, which are made of plastic or something."

She was 'reading' one of those 'I heart England' souvenirs....
"I.....looove.....ME!"
Then she turned to me and said,"If you don't love yourself, how can you love anyone else? That's how I love you. Because I love myself."

I don't know where she gets this stuff from.
: )

While I'm Here...

While I'm posting, I thought I would add a couple of cute photos...

Lunch anyone?

FIND THE HIDDEN CHILD

School is HARD

Kate started Year 1 a couple of weeks ago (a bit later than the others as we were on our holiday that was booked last year, for the last week of summer hols on the UK schedule).

She was so excited to go to 'big school'....(again, because she kinda started 'big' school last year in England, but then is starting it again here because 'big' school here starts at Year 1, not Reception like in England). She loves school, she loves her class, she loves her teacher, she loves her uniform.

She does not love reading anymore.

She was doing really well in Reception, got a new book every day. But when we moved here, she went into a pre-school again, since they don't have 'Reception' in the ESF programme. The pre-school only had reading once a week. Needless to say, Kate's reading fell by the wayside. Some of it is my fault, too - after coming here, our routine was really knocked for a loop, since there is so much stuff to do outside. I didn't keep up reading before bedtime, because they were so exhausted at the end of the day, after having the "Summer Activities Programme", then playing outside, or swimming, or visiting friends....And now I'm reaping the rewards - Kate has forgotten a lot of the things she knew 6 months ago, and is now less confident about her reading. It has been a battle every day to do her reading assignments, and just to get her to focus on the book in front of her. I am really concerned about making this a negative experience for her.

SO. I'm changing tacks. I will not make her do her reading assigments anymore. I will read them each a book of their choice every night, and that will be that. I will put my comment into the homework book that she did not read her book. I will allow the teacher to think I am a bad mother for not doing the reading homework with Kate. I am hoping that she will decide for herself that she wants to learn to read. I am hoping this will work.

My Kid Is Victorian

I just heard Kate say,"Oh, my word!"

OCD?!?

It seems both of my kids have this need for order. We already knew about Charlie's fixation with cars in a line, but I feel the need to highlight Kate's similar fixation.And then there is the traffic jam....But I'm not sure what this means:

My Super Son

Remeber this?

Charlie has really come along on his potty training. Last week was a bit iffy, there were a couple of interesting accidents. But he really clicked yesterday. We had number 1's AND number 2's in the loo. Not even the potty - IN THE LOO.

This morning he did a wee and a poo in the loo. Our helper and I clapped and clapped. And I said,"You are a super poo-er Charlie!" and he answered,"And a su-pah wee!".....

"AND a su-pah FAHT!"

T8?!?! Arnold's too old!

We just had another T8 level typhoon last night. And this morning. First school/work closure we have experienced here. Everyone has told me that this year has been a bit light on closures - apparently there were loads last year. Our child-free friends would spend the day drinking G&T's from morning onwards. Ah, I vaguely remember those days. Sort of. I should probably say, "I remember some of those days"!!!

Anyhoo. Last night the wind DID. NOT. STOP. It was like being in a haunted house. Like being in the Amityville Horror house. Whirling and swirling, every once in a while battering away at the windows. Strangely, the kids stayed in bed all night. They were probably too scared to move. But they woke up well-rested and cheerful this morning, so go figure.

Here are a photo of this morning out of the window. Obviously it was too dark for photos of last night. Plus I wasn't going to open the balcony door to take the photo!Here is a close-up of the waves.

My Super Kids!

Supergirl! And a super girl.And then there is Charlie...he is trying very hard!

School Daze

First day back, first day of school! I push 'em hard here!

Home, Sweet Home

We had a most lovely holiday, but this was the first time in my life I have been so excited to come home. It says a lot about HK.

We had a really good visit with family in England, and then off we went to a little town called Turunc, in Turkey.
Talk about relaxation. We had a great big villa with its own swimming pool. The furthest we strayed was to the sister property, which was a hotel with an incredible infinity pool,and the local waterpark, a ten-minute walk away. The little shop at the bottom of the drive makes the world's best pancakes (kind of a cross between a crepe and a roti canai, with delicious fillings like sugar and lemon, sugar and orange, local honey, etc) and we had those most days (she even delivers!).

All in all, a wonderful holiday. But it's great to be home.

The cool looks of Charlie:

Pool Fight
Wacky Races