Monday, March 25, 2013

Here We Are, Back At Monday!

It took Kevin two hours to get home from the airport Friday evening! After he sent me a text from the car and asked me to make sure there was plenty of beer in the refrigerator, I knew my plan to go out to dinner was not going to happen. I didn't even mention it. Poor guy! Bangkok traffic is always pretty bad but it seems to be the absolute worst on Fridays. It is so bad that I won't even bother to go downtown on a Friday - it is just not worth the aggravation of sitting in traffic for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. 

PeePorn is giving me some competition in floral design. She put this together with flowers and leaves from our yard. I told her last week that we are moving at the end of June and we both got a little teary-eyed. She is such a great fit for our family and we are lucky that she takes such good care of us.
I spent Saturday organizing uniforms, hats, travel bags, etc. for the baseball tournament in Singapore. Bags, bags and more bags were delivered to our home and I had to sort through it all and organize  for each team. Yet again, I really wish I could learn to delegate! Thankfully, everything was delivered and it was all in the correct sizes, quantities and colors. I don't know what I would have done if something was missing or incorrect as there really is not much the supplier could fix or make in 2 days.

As always, my shadow was nearby...
Sonder seems to have forgiven me for the allergy-testing drama (he is back to sleeping on his bed on the floor next to me) but he hasn't yet seen me packing my suitcase for Singapore - I am sure I will get some attitude from him after we return. He is worse than a cat sometimes! He and I seem to take one step forward and then two steps back! 
 
Saturday night, Kevin and I went to the "Emerald Ball". I knew it would be fun when I saw this quote on the ticket, "Many people die of thirst but the Irish are born with one." When we lived in Australia, we attended many formal events because of Kevin's job. Fortunately, I was able to wear a dress to this Ball that I already had in my closet. It is very popular to have gowns and formal wear tailor-made here but 1) I have about 15 formal gowns/dresses in my closet so it would be hard to justify (well, really only to Kevin - my friends would understand) why I needed something new and b) I procrastinated for so long and missed my window of opportunity. Thank goodness everything still fit.
The Ball was held at the Imperial Queen's Park Hotel which is a bit off of the beaten path but the Hotel was very nice. I was surprised I didn't lose Kevin to the NCAA March Madness games that were being replayed in the hotel bar. There were two tables of ten people each in our group and, at our table, I only knew 1 1/2 of the couples. Poor Kevin only knew our hosts - but he is better at making small talk than I am.

I must say that the food (at least what we selected) was not good. The appetizer was an Oakwood smoked salmon mille feuille with salmon rillette, pesto oil drizzle and lavosh crisp. It was just okay. We were then served a traditional green valley farm broth topped with grilled focaccia croutons. Boring! A green apple sorbet to cleanse the palate was served and then it was time for the entree. 

Kevin and I each ordered the braised lamb shank marinated in Guinness Stout with Colcannon mashed potatoes, stewed carrots, peas and onions.  
After a few bites of the lamb, I had to push it aside because there was more fat than meat. Yuck! Fortunately, there was a nice bread basket and the potatoes and the veggies were good so we didn't starve. I think the wait staff knew how bad the food was because they kept refilling the bread baskets (and our wineglasses!). 

Dessert was an Irish tiramisu (?!?) flavored with Bailey's cream and nutella lady fingers. Again, it sounded like it might be good but it wasn't - I had an Irish Coffee instead.  There were two live bands and the second one (I think they were called "The Unicorns") was the better of the two - we even went and danced for a few songs. Oo La La! After seeing the food that was served for the dinner, there was no incentive for us to stick around for the midnight breakfast so we left just before midnight and made it back to Nichada by 12:45 am.

I am off to pack for the week. We leave tomorrow at 4:30 pm and our first game is at 8:00 am Wednesday morning against the team from Jakarta. I will try and post updates as best as I can.

Have a great Monday!

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