speed cat and new phone
Birthdays seem to be one of those difficult times when you live and work overseas, the pang of not being home and around family and friends is fairly intense. After Cassy’s birthday last week, it was mine this week and my friends and colleagues here and friends and family from home alleviated most of those symptoms by sending messages and giving some lovely gifts.
Carl, Hiroko and the boys were astoundingly generous when they presented Cassy and me with a mobile phone for our birthdays! It’s very cute and features all the latest and greatest and we signed up for just a pre-paid plan at first, till we see how much we use it. I’d been humming and haaing for a while about getting one and although Cass said w2e didn’t need one, we’ve both been known to borrow another’s phone to make that vital call or two. We were a bit embarrassed by their generosity, but Carl was quite determined so, in the end, we accepted gratefully. Cassy’s parents and my mum sent lovely cards with gifts of cash, also quite large and always very welcome! My aunty Virginia and family sent cards to us both and many of our family and friends back home sent e-cards and messages and Sue rang us both individually for the big days, as did Mum and Cassy’s parents. My colleague Blair, gave me a 1.25 litre bottle of California’s finest Cab Sav and my 3rd grade team bought a most delicious Swenson’s ice cream cake, which we all shared. All in all, it was a pretty good time.
Cass cooked me my favorite dinner, with a twist, on Thursday night. I absolutely love a recipe Mum used to make, but of course, it is very fiddly to make and very heavy on the waistline. It is crumbed veal with slices of hard-boiled egg and anchovies on top. Veal being a commodity impossible to come by here, Cass performed miracles with thin slices of chicken breast and she scoured Jason’s market to get the anchovies and capers. We washed down this feast with a superb bottle of Penfold's 389 that the parents of one of my kids had given me just the other day. As if this wasn’t enough, Cass had also cooked her famous and mouthwatering banana cake in her little pocket oven, so I was thoroughly spoilt and fed to the point of bursting.
We’ve had a really low-key weekend, yet had a few little outings. Cass enjoyed her first ever pedicure with her Australian friend and colleague Kristin, on Saturday afternoon. She is ecstatic with the results, but I can’t really see much difference! Cass assures me that her feet have been completely transformed, so I’ll take her word for it! I watched the league with Carl and Hiroko and when I returned we went to Big Nose Pasta for their famous snapper with garlic and roasted pumpkin on spaghetti. Earlier in the day, I dropped in to see Chad and Cathy and lent them series 10 of Friends and a couple of other movies. Poor Cathy is still feeding little Ella at 2 hourly intervals and says she feels like a milking machine, so she was pleased to have a little video distraction.
Ross and I rose early to get to the beach before 8 o’clock but the water, while smoothed down free from a ripply surface, those hoped for corduroy lines stretching to the horizon were sadly lacking. The Rocket was more like a paper airplane today and a sailing boat would be more at home than a surfboard. Frustrated and hungry we headed back in mild disgust!
Cass and I had lunch at NY Bagels in the new cinema/department store building today. While quite tasty, I wondered again why they insist on putting a hole in them. All this hot gooey stuff kept falling through the hole! Wouldn’t just a normal bun do the trick?!
We saw “The Interpreter” and found it to be very entertaining, both Nicole and Sean Penn doing sterling service. I’ve always liked Sean Penn and he seems to be growing in stature, a little more gravitas in his performance as he grows away from those “bad boy” roles he always seemed to get.
Talk to you next week!