1st Meal + The Forgotten Lunchboxes

As you know, SOMETHING & I just moved into our new place last Sunday. We managed to squeeze out some time on Tuesday to do some super-marketing and got the necessary raw ingredients in prep to whip up some simple dishes in our new but ill-equipped kitchenette.

Our simple but nutritious (in our pt of view) dinner:

Steamed Chicken Breast + Steamed Mushrooms + Raw Tomatoes + Raw Yellow Capsicum

(oh... the food doesn't look too appetising in the pictures, but trust me, it was very satisfying)
p.s. the yellow casicum was extremely sweet! *yum*

Cost of living in Beirut seems to have gone up this year. We observed that most of our colleagues usually bring their own food for lunch everyday except Fridays where they tend to indulge a little and head out to some restaurants for lunch.

Now that we have a place to live and have our own kitchen, we decided to give the whole ‘bring your own lunch’ thingy a try. So last night, while preparing for dinner, we prepared the next day’s lunch as well.

Iceberg lettuce + Cherry Tomato + Yellow Capsicum + Cucumber + Smoked Turkey Breast

Looks pretty darn good right?

Well . . . I DON'T KNOW!!!

WHY? You ask . . . cos we forgot to bring it to work this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *aahahahhaahaha*

We were in such a hurry when we left the apartment this morning that we forgot to bring the lunchboxes we've packed so neatly and placed on top of the refrigerator.

Can you imagine how stupid we felt when we only realised we forgot our lunchboxes after we arrived at the office and saw our colleagues' lunchboxes!? *diaoz* -_____-

To think we even took the effort to boil an egg to add to the salad this morning... and still, we forgot all about it.

Guess there's no surprise what's for dinner tonight~

Welcoming New Life Is A Pretty Affair For The Lebanese

A guy from IT just had a baby boy and was giving out some treats to everyone in the office to share his joy . . .

The Pretty Serving Tray

(Filled with baby blue egg-shaped candies, milk candies & chocolates)

The Chocolate
(Wrapped in baby blue paper w/ a miniature pram)

So so pretty right?! I wonder what will the Lebanese think if they start receiving red hard boil eggs as a traditional Chinese custom during a baby's full month. *teehee*

How does your custom welcome a new life? =)

Welcome, Step Into Our Crib

For those of you who don't already know, SOMETHING & I have been apartment hunting for the past one month or so. And last week, we finally settled on one particular apartment conveniently situated along one of Beirut's busiest streets -Hamra.

Yesterday, 24th Feb (Sun) was MOVING DAY & possibly one of the busiest & most fulfilling day we've spent in Beirut by far!!!

What we did:

• 06:30~07:00 - Woke up + Wash up
• 07:00~08:30 - Went jogging along the corniche
• 08:30~09:30 - Breakfast @ Costa Coffee along Hamra
• 09:30~11:30 - Packed luggages
• 11:30~13:00 - Checked out from hotel + Moved in to our crib
• 13:00~14:30 - Picked up my 6yr old friend-Yun-chan for a play date along the corniche
• 14:30~18:00 - Back at the corniche for fun & games with Yun-chan
• 18:00~21:00 - Dinner @ Yun-chan's place then retire for the night

>>>>> ( Result: Aching muscles on a Monday morning )

Back to the apartment, here's a peek at our new place! =)

Step Into Our Crib

SOMETHING & Our Luggages

Our room+Kitchen+Dining area+Lounge=Our Humble Home

*hahaha* This picture pretty much sums up the whole place actually =p

Small studio in fact, but we figured since we are almost always travelling and hardly get to enjoy the place, so no need to get a place that is too big & pricey. Besides, we'll never know when the company might decide to relocate us again, so we try not to get too comfy in a way.

Now, a closer look @ everything bit x bit:

The "Bedroom"

The "Dining Area" Beside A Nice Spacious Balcony

The Nice Spacious Balcony

But Accompanied by A Crappy View Of The Construction Taking Place Behind the Building *sulk*

The "Kitchen"

The "Lounge" (w/ the very 'orbit' looking covers) The Tiny Bathroom

And finally . . .

The Very Excited Tenants!

(check out the golden keys in SOMETHING's hands)

Unleashing the Coffee Addict Within Me

Today is a pretty momentous day to me.

After staying off coffee for exactly 2 months (my last cuppa was taken here), I finally decided it’s time to reward myself for having such good self-control by preparing myself a nice steaming cup of coffee.


To keep the contents low in fat & sugar, these were the products & quantities used:

>>> 2 tsp of Nestiva Skimmed Milk Powder + 2 tsp of Nestle Gold Coffee + ½ tsp of White Sugar

Result?

>>> A wee-bit too milky coffee. But generally, my craving has been satisfied! *yum*

Only In Algeria

You know how we sometimes receive forwarded mails attached with really bizarre photos of places/ people/ languages/ menus... blahx3.

And the caption says "Only in India" - if the photo shows 50 people squeezing in a 4-seater truck for example?! Or "Only in China" -if the photo shows people eating rats for example?!

Well, here are some interesting photos I snapped while I was in Algeria for the past one year plus... some photos might have been posted before, but nevertheless, let us take a look at them again shall we.

May I present to you . . . "Only in Algeria".

Pic 1: Freaking Packed Beach @ La Madrague (Algiers).

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Pic 2: Camel Along the Highway @ Cheraga (Algiers)

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Pic 3: Stray Cat Drinking Off A Display Fountain @ Houari Boumedienne International Airport Boarding Area (Algiers)

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Pic 4: Creatively Vandalised Road Sign to Remind That Particular Someone The Way Home @ Cheraga (Algiers)

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Pic 5 & 6: Remake of Princess & The Pea On The Move (Blida) - at least you know it won't hurt that much if the mattresses were to fall off the truck >.<

Belated V-day + Anniversary Celebration

Well, calling it a celebration is a wee-bit exaggerating. More like a dinner date I would say.

14th Feb was a public holiday in Beirut…well, kinda. 14th Feb this year marks Lebanon’s ex-Prime Minister, Hariri’s 3yrs death anniversary. Thus most of the offices particularly those situated at downtown area were closed.

SOMETHING & I wanted to make use of the day off to celebrate V-day by strolling along the corniche and perhaps find a nice seafood restaurant facing the Pigeon Rock for a cozy, romantic dinner.

But sadly, we woke up only to find that it was pouring outside. Thinking the sky might clear up later in the day, we merely hang around in the hotel room, snuggled under the covers and watched Entourage Season 3 on our lappies for the whole afternoon.

Well, the sky didn’t clear up that day. It continued to rain well into the night. There goes our plan to stroll along the corniche, and there goes our plan to find a nice restaurant facing Pigeon Rock. All we did was get hooked on Entourage & grabbed quick dinner at Nando’s along Hamra.

To make up for the lost opportunity to celebrate V-day in a more romantic fashion, we decided to head out for a nice dinner date yesterday which happens to coincide with our 4yr 7mths anniversary.

It wasn’t all that smooth actually.

We had planned to head down to Chili’s near Ashrafieh, but once again, it started pouring the moment it was time to knock off.

Pictures below shows SOMETHING busy mending my broken umbrella with a needle and thread so I won't get wet in the rain. *sweet*

And so we decided to walk over to Gemmayze Street (one of the hot spots for nightlife in the center of Beirut filled with restaurants, cafes, & pubs) for some Japanese, only to find the restaurant closed.

Along Gemmayze Street

The Japanese Restaurant-Soto, that was not opened

And finally, after walking up and down along Gemmayze a couple of times, we finally decided on the restaurant with the corniest name – LOTW. *hahahaha* uber corny right!

Nice decor + ambience

SOMETHING loves the map portraits hung on the wall (apparently similar to LOTR Middle Earth map or something like that *shrugz*)

The Menu (a wide selection of wings marinated in different styles) P.S. They even have SzeChuan Pepper flavour. Wonder how that's gonna taste like! ;p

We ordered ourselves 8 BBQ hot & spicy wings + a BBQ classic pork ribs to share (yes, I know, all very sinful food...it's also our day of indulgence) *bleh*


Corny signboard aside, the wings & ribs were really juicy and mouth-watering! *drool* I can't wait till the next day of indulgence to stuff myself with those yummy ribs again!

I'm Not Racist! In Fact, I Might Be The Victim Here!

SOMETHING & I arrived in Beirut from Algiers on Sunday night.
And on Monday, we took the day off to do some apartment hunting cos we were instructed to relocate from Algiers to Beirut starting from this year. (Finally, some of the terms written on our contract are starting to make sense *roll eyes*)

Anyway, we shortlisted a couple of furnished apartments before we left on our biz trip to Algiers a week ago. When we re-visited one of the apartments which we had shortlisted yesterday, we encountered a pretty absurd situation with the receptionist on duty.

A bit of background story before I relate the absurd situation which happened yesterday:

> A week ago – Walked in to enquire about apartment availability. The on-duty receptionist (a friendly Muslim lady w/ head scarf in her mid-20s) showed us some of the apartments which were available and explained the costs to us.

> Yesterday – Walked in, saw a different receptionist (also a Muslim lady w/ head scarf, but she was in her late 30s or early 40s) and decided to enquire about the apartments once again.

Below was the conversation between us and the middle-age receptionist yesterday:

Us: We would like to check if you have any furnished apartments for rent.
Recep: Are you 2 married?
Us: ??? No…
Recep: Then what are you? Friends?
Us: Something like that...
Recep: Just so you know, our DIRECTOR doesn’t approve of couples who aren’t married to rent the same room.
Us: ? ? ? ? ? WTF? ? ? ? ?
Recep: It's not me... it's my DIRECTOR...
Us: ? ? ? ? ? (Thinking to selves: but we came just a 1~2 weeks ago, and the other receptionist; didn’t mention a thing about their DIRECTOR's dislikes)? ? ?
Recep: Sorry, glad to help anytime! Bye bye!
Us: ? ? ? ? ? ? (Walked out the door…) *mumbled to selves* SH*T! Absolutely RIDICULOUS!

I am not racially prejudiced. (Honestly! Cross my heart!)

But I really cannot understand how this is any of their business or how this might affect their business!? *roll eyes*

Unless they think unmarried couples who cohabit might be involved in a lot of indecent activities like weekend orgies & drugs, or have vigorous raunchy sex that might disturb the neighbours and ruin their beautiful furniture!

(-_____-) "

爱心餐 v(^_^)v

Here's a peek into what I usually have for dinner @ Beirut.

For the sake of my dieting & saving plans, SOMETHING & I usually have really light dinners. And our usual menu is, a can of tuna in water while munching on a couple of cucumbers.

On one particular dinner (23-01-08), SOMETHING prepared a really special meal . . . *beam*

His 'WORK STATION' >.<

His Masterpiece \(^o^)/

The Lovely Meal He Prepared Just For ME! *BEAM*

Postcard from Bhutan

First working day back in Algiers and I was greeted by a pleasant surprise – A postcard from Bhutan sent by senorita-e.


The postcard was sent out on 18-12-2007, and it just arrived in Algiers this Thursday, 31-01-08.

*Woof* It took more than a month for this postcard to travel half way round the globe! Cool~

Thanks for the lovely postcard sweetie! I sure hope this ain't gonna be the 1st and only postcard I'm gonna receive from The Land of the Thunder Dragon! *winks*

P.S. Postcards from Beirut soon, I promise! *hee*