Qoomonster moved here

My team didn’t win, and I’m left wondering if I jinx everyone I seriously root for. It would explain a lot of Michael Chang’s career.

Finally caught Avatar, and yes, while I like 3D as much as the next guy, I’m not all that impressed with the movie. Certainly not US$15/ticket for a matinee impressed, that’s for sure. That’s almost double the usual matinee price.

Anyway, what’s the sudden fascination with Avatars anyway? They’re so 2004.

That romance is dead.

Or ukuleles are uncool.

Tah dah!!! My first rosebud ever!!! I’m so pleased!

First, the Lily of the Valley aka Hanazawa Rui bloomed, then now my little Bonica, yeah for Spring!

Can’t wait till the larger roses start doing their thing.

It’s my cat Happy’s birthday today. Happy is 10 this year. Strangely I don’t have a picture of her on Flickr. Ah well.

Imagine an uptight, skulky, suspicious and mean black cat.

That’s my Happy. I didn’t name her. My dad did.

So after a whirlwind great time back in the tropics, I finally had to come back to the drab that is the end of winter. Fortunately, it’s not raining (yet), but it’s been a little on the cold side – even for this time of the year.

Crappily enough, I managed to fall sick just before getting on the plane. The evening before my throat started getting really sore, and I was sick as a dog on the plane. I tried to sleep as much as I could, but my head hurt, my ears felt like they were going to pop and my nose was sore from all that snot I had to keep wiping off. Add to that the general state you’re in when you have to leave home, it was pretty darn miserable.

My stopover at Narita Airport was pleasant as usual, and I had time to treat myself to a bowl of noodles. It wasn’t the best ramen in the world, but it was the nice, warm, comforting meal I really needed. I couldn’t really finish it, but it was all I ate for 1o hours and in that regard, it was totally nourishing. The only thing I ate after that was fruit (I skipped dinner on the plane, and breakfast was fruit and a sad croissant and some other pastry I didn’t bother to look at). I’m not sure if I’d have enjoyed my meal if I was feeling ok, but being sick made plane food totally repulsive.

Anyway, it looks like the most significant thing I missed out on while away was the 1 hour Spring Forward to DST. Ha.

In other news, I received my copy of Neil Gaiman’s Blueberry Girl today. Yay. I also forgot to pack the books from my room in SG, so boo. Ah well. There’s always next year.

We were a little sad to find out that the Scharffen Berger plant in the Bay Area was going to close down. Hershey bought Scharffen Berger and another local Bay Area brand, Joseph Schmidt a few years back, and now that things are not doing well, they are going to fold in production at the Hershey plants in Pennsylvania.

I haven’t heard of Joseph Schmidt, but I love Scharffen Berger chocolate. It’s like the chocolate equivalent of good tea. For example – you can get your Cadbury’s, Hershey’s, Van Houten at the supermarket. Each bar is relatively inexpensive. However, they are too sweet and a little too watered down for me. Great for perhaps a little snack everyday. But nothing that really should be called chocolate. Same can be said of bag teas that are sold at the supermarket. Often of lower quality (not whole leaf, and even so, leaves might be broken), the teas often hide behind wonderfully creative blends – Raspberry Rapture, Chamomile-Honey-Dream-Tea, you get the picture – so you really can’t tell how bad the tea really is.

When I discovered Scharffen Berger, it was like discovering whole leaf tea. It made having chocolate a completely different experience. And rightly so. It is one of the few chocolate makers that source the beans themselves, roast, grind and blend their own beans to produce the end result themselves. They were also one of the first to feature the cacao content on their bars, although every Tom, Dick and Harry does that now.

The result, is an exceedingly smooth chocolate. I usually chew my chocolate, but when I have Scharffen Berger, I let it melt in my mouth to savour it. Complex and luxurious, you don’t need to finish an entire bar to feel satisfied. Which is why they often sell it in little bite-sized 1 inch squares. Yeah it’s a little bit pricey – but I suppose at some point you can’t go back to being satisfied with supermarket chocolate.

Anyway. Yesterday we went hunting for the Joseph Schmidt retail outlet to get some chocolate before it disappears from the Bay Area. I wanted to go to the Scharffen Berger outlet too, but it was over at the Ferry Building and we didn’t have the time to drive there. No matter, Joseph Schmidt in Castro carried Scharffen Berger as well.

Unfortunately, I’m not as nuts about Joseph Schmidt chocolate. They specialise in truffles, and I prefer my chocolate pure. I don’t like Turkish Delight or Raspberry Mousse in it, not even truffles or praline. I don’t want peanuts or orange slices in it, unless it’s not very good. Incidentally, you should demand the same of your tea. If you pu-erh is really good, you don’t need to and really shouldn’t add chrysanthemum to it.

Hershey says it will continue production of their Artisan chocolates, ie the Scharffen Berger, Joseph Schmidt and Dagoba chocolates, but when we asked at the store yesterday, the employees said they were sure if the store would still be in operation after Easter. So I suppose I’ll have to go and get a refill after I get back from SG.

Inexplicably, I’ve been thinking about curry puffs the whole day. Some days I wake up and there’s already a song in my head. I think it happens in dream sequences where I have the radio on, or the iPod is playing or something. Doesn’t happen with food though, I hardly dream I’m eating, maybe because I do a lot of it when I’m awake. In my defense, I do get awfully grouchy when I’m hungry or food deprived, so to keep my spirits up I eat. A lot. Often.

Anyway. I got the ingredients and all, so for my culinary experiment this week I’ll make curry puffs, the kind I remember from Home Econs class way back when (apologies to my home econs partner Roseline, who now takes care of my insurance policies, in an odd twist of fate, for the totally chunky potatoes the last time we made it like 17 years ago) – simple shortcrust pastry, not the oily puffy stuff from Polar, and simple fillings.

Can’t wait.

Inexplicably, I’ve been thinking about curry puffs the whole day. Some days I wake up and there’s already a song in my head. I think it happens in dream sequences where I have the radio on, or the iPod is playing or something. Doesn’t happen with food though, I hardly dream I’m eating, maybe because I do a lot of it when I’m awake. In my defense, I do get awfully grouchy when I’m hungry or food deprived, so to keep my spirits up I eat. A lot. Often.

Anyway. I got the ingredients and all, so for my culinary experiment this week I’ll make curry puffs, the kind I remember from Home Econs class way back when (apologies to my home econs partner Roseline, who now takes care of my insurance policies, in an odd twist of fate, for the totally chunky potatoes the last time we made it like 17 years ago) – simple shortcrust pastry, not the oily puffy stuff from Polar, and simple fillings.

Can’t wait.

I heard two different people say “deja vu all over again” twice today. Once on CSI where the washed up stripper blonde said it, and now the announcer for the Olympics 100m Women’s Freestyle.

Talk about deja vu all over again!

Thank you for reading. Arigato gozaimasu. Kamsahamida. Xie xie.