Birthday news

Had an early birthday party last night. Laurie (finance manager) cooked Mexican. We couldnt find the right spices and the tacos were improvised from Malaysian flatbread but it was still yummy. And better than "dog au coco" on offer last week! Indonesians are never to sure about a meal if it doesnt contain rice but they happily munched their way through the guacamole, refried beans and encilladas.

The evening livened up a bit when we played a game of Pictionary. None of the Indonesians had ever played anything like it before but soon got very excited. Whatever the drawing was they would always guess "cumi cumi" which is squid or as we call it "chewy chewy"... not a bad guess when you see Chris' drawing.
One of my birthday presents was membership to the local gym as now Im living in a city the opportunities for eating have increased massively but exercise options are limited. The gyms not quite Fitness First but it has enough things to keep me active.

The best thing is the aerobics classes. It's how classes used to be in the early ninties; limited stretching, lots of bouncing, heavy techno beats and complicated sequences. Everyone took it really seriously except for me and Laurie who spent most of the time laughing.

Hot dog

New Year new location. Me and Chris have moved to the city; so no more screaming pigs, no more nasal passage hoiking. Now its blaring mosques to keep us awake and food hawkers playing annoying jingles. I never want to hear the first line of Fur Elise again!
I do still get to visit my old project and made a trip there last week. I wasn’t quite ready for the celebration meal the staff organised though. It was a late Christmas party and here a celebration is not complete without dog! YES that’s right they cooked man’s best friend. I didn’t believe our driver when I saw him grating up some coconut for the sauce but when I looked into the bubbling cooking pots there it was. The whole thing – lungs, ears, stomach and teeth.

Just proves dog can make you crazy!

The gourmet preparations involved barbequing off the hair, chopping into small pieces then boiling with chilli and coconut for 2 hours. And erm I didn’t partake in the tasting session.