Today we were invited to Reiko’s temporary place at Suva Point for lunch and she cooked up a lot of nice things. What is really great about the place is the seaview … the house is right at the water front and a constant seabreeze blows. That sure was nice. Edo and Marly came too.
At some point we all started exchanging our cell phone numbers … and nothing is more fun then seeing a group of people playing with those little keys on the phone or trying to recall their own number.
I was a bit ‘under the weather’ .. so I was glad when later I got to lay down again.
Yes, I know my desk is a mess … this is actually the dining table we bought at IKEA way be when .. well, when we did not know that we would get a house that already has one.
And no kidding … all the trash has its functions … i need each and everyone of those machines 
Well, one is actually Ritsu’s which we needed to watch some DVD, since my computers were busy doing other stuff like burning CDRs.
Someone send me a G5 please !!!
For the last couple of days, Nietzsche, our male cat, has displayed quite some interest in exploring the car. He lost his fear (e.g. when I back into the drive way, he does not even get up anymore, he knows where the car goes) .. .and he also had a bigger number of rides in his cage in the car … so … he started to check out the interior … and then I let him accompany me when pulling out of the driveway or coming back .. then I gave him a little tour up and down our street … he seems antsy, but also positively excited … he looks around very curiously … So, then this week I even took him twice to pick up Ritsu from work.
My biggest fear would be that he’d jump out while we are as far away from home as possible … but let’s see how we continue from here … but very cute …
Yeah! … a couple of months ago i was about to buy some imported avocados … they looked bad and were supposed to cost way too much …
So .. now it seems that local avocado is in season .. and it is really good !!!
I totally made up a recipe in which I cut some slices from some fresh tuna and fry it and then smother it in Sake and Soy Sauce … then I just stapled the whole thing sandwich style layer by layer with thinly sliced avaocado .. (3 layers of each .. anything higher becomes tricky to eat)
I tried two versions .. for me I even flash fried the avaocado slices .. as if it was not greasy enough already …
while it was very yummy … I cannot really put my finger on this recipe .. I think IF frying the tuna all the way .. it should be garlicky / olive oil .. french/italian …. if one wants to keep it japanese (Sake / soy Sauce) .. then i think the tuna should be raw …
I thought about scanning in some fun newspaper articles for today .. but then I got lazy / busy … It was fun today to compare the 2 main papers .. the FijiTimes and the FijiSun … e.g. there was a dead woman in a motel … one paper called it just ‘death’ the other one already calls it ‘murder’ .. while all factoids that have been published so far indicate it was a heart attack thanks to a very unhealthy lifestyle …
The other story is about an american tourist who unfortunately drowned in a pool … most likely another heart attack … while one paper says “police refused to name in which resort that happened because that would be negative for the tourism industry” the other paper gets right to “he drowned in the pool of the Outrigger Hotel” … I guess it depends how you ask and how you do your research … I do not see how withholding the name of the resort would benefit the tourism industry … it just makes people more paranoid .. not knowing where that ‘pool of death’ is .. I would go swim in there any minute .. if Outrigger was not such a not very interesting place (vacation factory in my book
Besides that I keep singing Burt Bacherach songs to the baby .. and Ritsu learnt (or ‘learned’. depending on which school of grammar you follow) a german lullaby (La Le Lu) … we had another appointmnent with Dr. Sharma today to discuss the pictures … he confirmed yet again that all is going well … he also educated me that ‘liquor’ in this context IS a medical term (see post below) .. and in a semi related matter we got even better news …
All is well .. from what he says (and many books say that too) NOW starts the ‘honeymoon phase’ of the pregnancy … while trimester 1 is fun-filled with morning sickness and mental confusion .. and tri 3 will be all about weighing a ton and basic bodily discomfort … tri 2 is fairly mellow .. expect some mood swings (maybe more on my side than on hers) …
Its just great to get that reconfirmation from the doc that it is all well.
Pal Chris got me into the fantastic idea of joining him for some swimming at the NAC, the National Aquatic Center, at an early morning time, even before sunrise … not sure how he talked me into that
The place is nice, HUGE, clean and spooky empty at that time of day … but sure enough there is someone to take 3FJD from you per session (or 30FJD per month or 150FJD per year … I am kinda thinking about it
The pool is olympic size i believe, which would explain why my muscles are getting sore now … and i only did like 8 laps. But doing that at this eery time of day was sure entertaining … the rising sun was just beautiful (someone forgot the key for the floodlights .. so .. all took place in the dark pretty much)
They have that cool display screen there .. but I doubt they can screen movies on that … anyways .. for people in Suva, this pool is close to cost-u-less .. and the new “multi purpose hall”
Not a super spectacular Monday … but which Monday ever is ??? hmm … Oh, right, I got married on a Monday .. now THAT was spectacular
anyways … I made Lasagna for dinner … I am not sure if I had ever done that before … whats with those curly edges on that pasta ???
Well, it is somewhat easy .. once you cooked a chunck of pasta sheets which will always be more than you need .. i figure about a double too much (and anticipating that, I did TWO, not just one lasagnas … one straight for the freezer … )
It is actually just a variety of Spaghetti Bolognese … with more egg, cheese and some more chesse .. and sandwiched ..
grease a pan shaped tin foil thingie .. layer those pasta sheets .. then some spiced up / leftover bolognese sauce … to make it more interesting .. how about a layer of fresh tomato or mushroom slices ??? I mean, the fun is in the layers, right? If that was not so we could just pour all that stuff in a blender and have a savory italian smoothie. On top of that a mix of egg and grated cheese … nutmeg is also nice … and just keep layering … end it with sauce .. pop in the oven for around 40 minutes … THEN add some more cheese and give it another 10 minutes … I am sure this has no calories and is totally fat free !!!
I’d like to share my experience about this TV show here, a show which is actually 15 years old, but I just got to get to see the beginning of it …
I recall having seen on or 2 eps on US TV .. but could not really get the feel for it .. I believe the key is to watch it from the BEGINNING !!! .. you have to know who the characters are .. or at least listen to the narration after the credits …
In terms of funny factor it reminds me a lot of “Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy” … and why is it that britsh TV shows always look like they have been shot with a handycam (I mean, not the way that NYPD Blue-cool way … but the dusty old daddy way?)??? I really want to know what makes them look so different .. in terms of lenses and camera stuff … it just looks so fake ..
But anyways .. as for this show .. its not important … actually … one should forget that this is related to Sci-Fi at all .. sci-fi- here is just a good way of throwing a variety of impossible characters into silly situations … and see them talk themselves out of it! … (the special effects are laughable and I hear they actually added some CGI stuff in reruns later .. not necessary .. the talking is the funnier stuff)
and HOW come this is related to Fiji??? Well .. as i pointed out long time ago … this main character, David Lister, who is a low life on the mining ship “Red Dwarf”, has this plan, this dream of getting a goat, a sheep and 3 horses (and cute crewmember Kochanski) and go to Fiji to have a farm … well .. things are getting into the way of his plan … like being suspended in time for 3 million years, while the whole crew gets whiped out by a radiation leak, his only mates now are his much hated bunk-mate Arnold Rimmer, a stiff who came back as a hologram, Holly, the ships computer, who dry freezes the word “dry” in “dry british humour” and Cat, a life form which has evolved from a cat Lister brough on board illegaly
There is still much room to add other characters (flashbacks, hallucinations, parallel universes, a crashed and homeless robot) and its not getting boring. Also the frequent mentioning of Vindaloos makes one yearn for some spicy curry.
Personally I am very happy the DVDs have subtitles .. as some of the slang is VERY slang .. and the english is just british (liverpool) .. well .. and I have already been accused of having adoped some of the speech patterns.
Maybe one of those anonymous millionaires who read this blog want to send me Season 3 and 4
Today we had a fairly extensive scan including measurring length (8cm) and counting fingers (yep, all there). According to the doctor’s report everything is going according to plan.
Here some of the more visible ultrasound pics
And her we have Fiji’s cyclone front for tomorrow … no . this is actually a good shot showing the spine of the baby, it also seem the kid loves sucking its thumb … just like i did .. at age 5
I love this one … does it mean our kid will be very religious ?? This is a shot from above … the round thing is the head and it has both hands / fists close to its mouth.
This one also shows very nicely the fetal position … the scetch on the side also helps …
And this is an excerpt of the radiologists report … sounds great .. one thing that really makes me wonder is the word “liquor” … i THINK he meant ‘liquid” or it is a medical term I am not familiar with …
FUN FUN FUN
Bottom line is .. everything is A OK … yippieh …
Since both cats were up for their regular anual vaccination shot, we thought it would be fun to bring them both at once … trick is, we only have one carrier cage … initially I opted to put Misha in there, since we did not have her in the car in a long while and I feared it would be hard to control her … I tried the new towel trick on her … but she was just faster and Ritsu wanted her in the hamper as a year before (will look for archive link later) … I thought Nietzsche would be ok in the hamper, as he had even started driving car with me a bit without freaking out .. but ok .. we put Nietzsche in the cage (which went fairly smooth) and Misha in the hamper .. and off we went …
It did not take long for Misha to escape (and scratching Ritsu) and I was about to return (before she finds refuge under the brake pedal or jumps out the car at a place far away from home) .. but we got her back in and proceeded nicely to the doctor’s office.
Dr. Asha Reddy took care of them both, she had not seen Misha in a year and was amazed how big she had become and well groomed … Both cats behaved ok and we were done in a short while and went back home.
Small circle this time, us, Reiko and Bill (who we had not seen in quite a while). Food was Hot Dogs, deviled drum sticks and a kick ass potato salad made by Ritsu. While eating we were all more or less eaten by mosquitos (especially the newcomers / returners)
After the whole ultrascan fun we went to a recently opened japanese fastfood place called Ikyuu (need to check spelling) … unfortunatelly they are not in a super great location and they really should hang out some menu …with pictures !!! … because their food is good, authentic and cheap … Do not expect great sushi and sashimi .. but great TakoYaki (Octopus balls) and Okonomi-Yaki (everyone compares it with a pizza … and it is not .. just try .. great stuff) … of course they have some very basic Sushi .. and upstairs they have a small grocery section which has some really great japanese food too .. but the prices are .. well .. island style
Big event today was to go to the hospital and had done a full checkup of that little fetus swimming around Ritsu’s tummy … some pics here … for bigger pics and possible explanantions head over to the babyblog
Incredible how traffic becomes chaos when those sheets of water come pouring down. Summer is in full swing it seems and little lakes seem to appear everywhere.
Remember that great bed we bought just 3 months ago from Pacific Green ??? Well, I had to call them a while ago since I discovered that ours must have been on the assembly line on a monday morning and some fairly important and obvious parts were missing … gladly customer care responded quite positively … we also pointed out that some of the wooden planks seem to attract mold way more than others … seemingly someone forgot to treat them … but really … look at the below pic .. and is a brand new piece of furniture supposed to look like that after less than 3 months in a pretty well ventilated place ???
Please no one get me wrong .. a) i LOVE this bed .. though we never even planned on buying a new one b) so far the company had responded fairly well on customer care issues … i just hope the bed is not falling apart anytime soon
So .. the guys from Pacific Green came and exchanged 3 of the planks and added the missing plastic rings …
….. a stroller … scary thing
And yes … Ritsu does look cute in her maternity pants …
but “patiently waiting” ? well I do have a video clip saying something else 
Good time to watch some movies … I have noticed recently how asian movies more and more enter mainstream movie watching of the R1 DVD world … 2 examples:
“Double Vision“, which I did not like too much … Set in rainy Taipei (big hello to William) it tries to be a horror mystery thriller … it has a token US actor (David Morse) to get into the US market (an extended cameo at best) and .. well .. maybe i am missing something here .. the trailer was selling a very different movie … still. worth watching … better than some other crap …
and then “The Returner” .. besides having a silly title … some stuff is just wrong here … the anime like cover pictures make it look like that guy is the main character .. he is not …. some 16 year old chick is … the movie is pretty cool though .. it does not hide that it takes chunks (“homage”) of Terminator, ET, Independence Day and Matrix … heck, what is new anyway .. all songs have been sung and all keys have been played … it is how you re-arange them … and in this case .. a job nicely done … I enjoyed it quite some .. though the switches between real life scenes and CGI scenes were too seperating .. and the ending I am still mulling over .. not sure if there is a bigger thing i should ‘get’ (like “who is that kid in the bed in the end scene ??? ” )
I’m 15 weeks now – woo hoo! And I wore my maternity pants for the first time today! It looks bulky, but feels very comfortable… I can still wear my regular clothes, but many of them feel quite tight… Still, my tummy is small and nobody would notice that I’m pregnant! People told me that I should start to “show” when I’m 5 months, so I’m patiently waiting…
Got back from our romantic Valentines Weekend at Sonaisali Resort over on the west side. Usually the weather is much nicer on the west side of the island … but sure enough not this weekend
But still we had a GREAT weekend … I found one of these nice local ads for a nice weekend special, including “a sunset cruise including champagne and canapés – intimate dinner “Under the stars” featuring 5 course menu – Rose for the Lady – upgrade to bure – breakfast included – late check-out … etc. etc.”
After a 175km / 3.5h drive we arrived at the resort’s parking lot (which turned into a little lake thanks to all the rain we encountered). The resort is on an island only 300 meters away from the main island, so, a boat shuttles over pretty much whenever one wants. When we arrived, there was no welcome or even directions or anyone taking our luggage … but we found the main reception area. When checking in I asked about the cruise, and, well, the weather made the sunset cruise pretty much impossible. When I asked if that would lower the package price, they just mumbled something about “bottle of champagne for dinner”.
We then were shown the basic facilities and our bure (which was like half a kilometer away). The bure was pretty nice, modern style, spacious, TV, phone and AC … but somehow SO WET that the tile floor was very slippery all the time and the bed felt damp. The best feature was the outdoor Jacuzzi which we would use twice over this one night stay.
The resort itself is pretty nice, feels fairly big and had quite a number of guests (at this off season time-slot). The weather sure made it look a bit sad and though we tried the pool and the pool bar (to get our complementary fruit juice, which they call ‘tropical welcome fruit cocktail’) it was a bit too cold.
So we did Jacuzzi session #1 and after that we got ready for our romantic dinner “under the stars” … wondering what the “stars” part would be. I spent some pre-dinner time at the bar, using the 25% off happy hour discount and ordered a Margarita … note to self, do NOT order a Mexican cocktail in Fiji. The guy had no clue (even though they have it in the menu) and so he just mixed some tequila with lemonade … I kindly asked where the triple sec and the real lemon was … he was good in doing the salt rim though (which I hate) and he did not notice a tiny insect in his salt Ah well .. so I switched to beer. I got to talk to a nice German guy who was exploring Fiji while his wife stayed back in Switzerland.
Once Ritsu came we entered the “Plantation Fine Dining” Restaurant. And indeed, fine it was. While the main restaurant area has a bit of a fast food feel to it, this space was small and intimate. The head waiter was wearing a tux, the wait staff was fantastic and as a compensation for the missed cruise (a 70FJD value) we got a bottle of white wine (a 35FJD value ?!?!)
We first got both a big glass of sparkling wine, then a little 2 piece Sushi appetizer. It was tasty, though not very Japanese (smoked salmon, red and yellow capsicum). In between we got a little pineapple sorbet with a squirt of real champagne. We both had chosen the duck/pine nut ravioli as entrée and then for the main course Ritsu had the slow roasted Chicken and I had the Coconut Surprise Actually a really cool presentation, a whole fresh coconut, filled with all kinds of seafood which had simmered in coconut milk. Very nice. Ritsu liked her chicken, but said the sauce was pretty much the same that came with the ravioli.
Desert was some very yummy chocolaty creamy concoction that we both loved.
We slept very well that night as the wind and the waves created a very nice sound scape that just would not let any other sound come through.
After enjoying the American style breakfast (big buffet style ugly-tourist get together) we went for another round of Jacuzzi, wondering at the miracle of just how much bubbly stuff we can make to play with, while wind, waves and rain were doing their freaky ballet around us.
Although we had the option of late check out, we pretty much left at 11AM, weather still not being too inviting … and where on our way home quickly … pretty much smack in the middle of the trip is the Warwick Resort where we stopped for lunch … and it seems to be a very nice place. They also have a “fine dining” restaurant, which is located on a small island just off-shore, and they have a Japanese restaurant which claims in its menu that they have quite some stuff I have NOT found yet in Fiji, like ikura = Salmon Roe … I need to find out where they get it from.
We had lunch at the lagoon grill. A bit pricey, Ritsu had beef chow mien and I had a basic cheeseburger … the burger was not that great (I was positively surprised they even asked “well done” ? and I said “medium rare” … and .. well .. it came ‘very well done’ … and not even an onion or a slice of tomato in sight), ketchup was rationed in little plastic containers … they gave 2 .. needed at least 4 for the fries and 2 for the burger. I wanted to ask for mustard .. but somehow I mouthed the word “mayonnaise” instead … and what I got was disgusting … it was warm, yellow .. and looked like it came from someone’s nose … this is the stuff that salmonella spawns.
Gladly our lunch was also a bit overpriced .. but we got really cool music .. a live church choir was singing somewhere and it was very nice indeed.
After that another 1.5 hour ride got us home where our cats where awaiting us. As a new test we kept Misha outside and Nietzsche inside (he is the one getting into cat fights whenever he stays outside at night) … it seems he had no problem at all with staying in all alone that long … he sleeps all the time anyway.
… and WHAT a nice load of seafood we are going to have tonight
www.transpacificseafoods.com does deliver seafood party platters and this time around I got a flyer and how could I hesitate … the offer comes in 3 sizes, S, M and L … 43, 63, and 83 FJD (right now 58 UScents buy you a FJD). The basics are 500 grams prawns, 450 grams NZ half shell mussels, smoked walu and morton bay bugs … those bugs seem to be quite seasonal .. so they offered to substitute them with more prawns at first … then they offered upgrade to crab (such a hassle to get the meat out of there) .. so I politely asked for lobster instead.
The company is located in Lautoka, which is like 4 hours drive away. So I was very happy when they arrived around mid-day, Thelma, the sales lady was on the truck herself to say hello to know customers … very nice indeed.
So… what to do now … most of the stuff I leave as it is (it is pre-cooked), but I took half of the shrimp (prawn) and steamed them in a white wine/garlic broth with Old Bay Spice on top. And half of the mussels I gave a garlic, cheese, white wine treatement and baked them for a bit … I made some dips. A wasabi cream, a thousand island like orange thing (sour cream, pepper, ketchup, mayo, cayenne pepper and paprika spice) and a classic American cocktail sauce (ketchup, horseraddish and a bit of tabasco)
Will let you know later how it went.
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