Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Iraq, Baghdad, Afghanistan
This conversation was taken from one of the episodes of Beauty and The Geek (re-aired on Star World) I watched some time ago, during the elimination round. The Q was asked by the host (H), to one of the female contestant (FC)
H : "What is the capital of Iraq?"
FC: "Can you spell that for me?" (Me: really? Have you never heard of Iraq, woman?)
H: "I- R-A-Q" (I could've sworned he had that smirk on his face before spelling Iraq)
FC: (thinking hard...)
FC: (still thinking hard...)
FC: (Finally answered) "Afghanistan?"
Whaaattt...? Did she not know that a capital is supposed to be a city and that Afghanistan is a country??? I'm just lost for words... ^^;;
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H : "What is the capital of Iraq?"
FC: "Can you spell that for me?" (Me: really? Have you never heard of Iraq, woman?)
H: "I- R-A-Q" (I could've sworned he had that smirk on his face before spelling Iraq)
FC: (thinking hard...)
FC: (still thinking hard...)
FC: (Finally answered) "Afghanistan?"
Whaaattt...? Did she not know that a capital is supposed to be a city and that Afghanistan is a country??? I'm just lost for words... ^^;;
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Saturday, March 14, 2009
Bizarre Foods
Anyone familiar with "Bizarre Foods" on Discovery travel & living, hosted by Andrew Zimmern? Well, it's this show that showcases Zimmern travelling around the world, trying out foods that are, well, bizarre. From eating a live insect to squished octopus boiled with leaves, the guy has done it all, and still doing it!
It's not a fear factor type of show, where you eat bizarre foods to conquer your fear.. In this show, Zimmern eats something bizarre,willingly, but the things he eats are original/traditional foods from a certain country/region. Everytime I watch that show, I always think that the man should go to Indonesia, he can tape a whole season just by visiting this one country! Like.. We eat almost every part of an animal here! Even a goat's balls is served on the menu - although I could never bring myself to try them-, and some of my friends really like them, right Tutut? ^^;;
I went to Medan last month for an event, and since I always love trying out local dishes everywhere, I was looking forward to get a taste of Medan, and what I experienced was my own moment of Bizarre Foods
It was a cloudy Saturday Morning. We were at the venue, drinking our tea with kaya toast, wondering where to have lunch. And then Arief said,"My friend said we should have lunch at Daun Pisang, and try their Gulai Bibir Ikan (best translated as Fish Lips in Coconut Milk Soup, I think)". And I was like, "Whoaa... I didnt even know fish have lips!" Hahaha..
Being adventurous, Arief-Fadil-Rio-Bayu-and I decided to give the restaurant a go. It was located in Jl. S. Parman, in a ruko. It was nothing fancy, but it sure was crowded. We ordered the Gulai Bibir Ikan (GBI), among with other things on the menu. As it turned out, the GBI was delicious! All of us (except Bayu, he was never in to Bizarre Foods ^^;;) gave it a try, and loved it. The texture is kind of like Tunjang (I absolutely don't know what this is called in English), but very soft and smooth, not chewy like Tunjang. And the soup tastes very good too, very savory and tasty. The only thing off about the GBI is that the lips are still attached to the mouth and you can see the fish's teeth.. not something I'm fond to see, I tell you. But that's not really a problem, you can just skin the lips off the bones and throw away the part with the teeth to another plate. The others that we ordered were also delicious, there was the chicken (I forgot the name but it's covered with leaves), and the deep fried squid (this tastes good anywhere :P), and the vegetables in coconut milk soup-also forgot the name, is also tasty.I didn't take pictures though, so you'll just have to see it for yourself should you ever go to Daun Pisang ^^ (So Flo, this is what you missed while you were being talent coordinator, hehehe)
I guess this is not the first time for me to eat something bizarre in Medan. Back in 2007, I had bone marrow (sumsum) soup at this place (I forgot the name) where the bone was absolutely humoungous! Usually you just need to tap the bones to the plate until the inside comes out, right? At this place, the bone was so huge that you can just sip the insides using a straw! Saves the trouble of tapping the bones, definitely. Hihihi.. How big are the bones, you ask? Just take a look at Banto and Pak Hamdan sipping the bones below! Now.. I wasn't exaggerating, was I?
Bottom line, if you're going to Medan anytime soon, and you're feeling like trying out something new and a bit bizarre.. you should try Gulai Bibir Ikan at Daun Pisang restaurant (Jl. S. Parman). And if you're into bone marrow soup, perhaps you could ask the locals where you can find the place where they serve the huge bone marrow soup v(^^
Selamat Makan!
Wish List
There are a few things that I'm thinking to buy, things that I might actually don't really need.. ^^;; So I'm going to avoid Becky Bloomwood's syndrome by writing the list here-with my own justification if I have one, and then think wisely on whether I really need them or not. To the tagged people, be my Suze and tell me honestly what you think
1. Bobbi Brown's book : Make-Up Manual (from beginners to professionals)
Surely this will help me apply make up better, hence will reduce my frequency of going to the beauty salon (especially when I get invited to close friends/family's weddings).. so buying it means saving more, right? But it's in hard back and hence so expensive! T_T
2. QWERTY mobile phone
To be used for my mobex (office number). Can't stand texting using non QWERTY keypads now.. But probably something not as expensive as E71/E63 though..
3. Nintendo DS Charger
Somehow I lost mine, maybe it got misplaced or something.. but I can't find it and now I can't play my DS T_T - I think for this one it's already a necessity right..?
4. Twilight Saga
I used to want to buy the books, but they couldn't be found anywhere because of the sudden twilight craze a while back. I borrowed the books from Sashimi, and am now almost finished (am reading breaking dawn now).. but perhaps I should just buy them for my own collection, in case I want to re-read them? FYI, They're now on sale in Periplus Yogyakarta airport.. (20% off) and I'm coming back there again on the 23rd.. Hmm..
You know what, after reading this list, 2 and 4 shouldn't make the cut. 3 should be bought.. but I'm still contemplating on number 1.. Hmm..
Any other views..?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Confessions of a Shopaholic
Last Thursday, I got an invitation to a CLEO event, to watch "Confessions of a Shopaholic" (CoaS) @ Senayan City with other CLEO readers. I've been meaning to watch the movie,since I love love love the book so much, hence I was super excited to go.
Now, for those of you who have read the book, before going to the movie, I must warn you.. The movie and the book are like two different animals. I mean, of course a movie based from a book will always be different from the book, since you'll need to chop off here and there to make it more concise, but the essence is basically the same, right? Whereas for CoaS, that's not the case. Sooo many things are different from the book.. such as:
1. Becky Bloomwood is American. In the book, she's in fact British
2. The setting is in NY. In the book, Becky didn’t set a foot on America until the "Shopaholic Takes Manhattan"
3. Becky first worked at Gardening Today before she applied for Successful Savings to get a job at Aletta. In the book, she works at Successful Savings from the beginning, and there's no Aletta magazine
4. Luke Brandon is an editor at Successful Savings, and he's Becky's Boss, before he opened his own business called Brandon Communications. In the book, he's the owner of Brandon Communications, the biggest financial PR company in London
5. Becky goes to Shopaholic Anonymous (AA for shopaholics). In the book, there is no such thing as SA
2. The setting is in NY. In the book, Becky didn’t set a foot on America until the "Shopaholic Takes Manhattan"
3. Becky first worked at Gardening Today before she applied for Successful Savings to get a job at Aletta. In the book, she works at Successful Savings from the beginning, and there's no Aletta magazine
4. Luke Brandon is an editor at Successful Savings, and he's Becky's Boss, before he opened his own business called Brandon Communications. In the book, he's the owner of Brandon Communications, the biggest financial PR company in London
5. Becky goes to Shopaholic Anonymous (AA for shopaholics). In the book, there is no such thing as SA
There are still so many other details different from the book, like the green scarf (in the book it's greyish blue), Derek Smith being a debt collector (in the book he's a manager at the bank issuing Becky's credit card.. The collection manager I presume), Alicia being Luke's girlfriend (in the book, she was his subordinate at Brandon Communications), and how Becky auctioned her entire collection to payoff her debt.. (In the book, I don’t think she did that.. Or am I mistaken? --- could fellow shopaholic series readers confirm on this please..?) and so on...
Nevertheless, it was still a good movie ^^ Light, funny, entertaining, and it will make you feel less guilty about your recent shoppingvaganza (at least for me it did), since you certainly not a match for Becky Bloomwood, haha.
Isla Fisher totally matched my imagination of what Becky would be like if she were a real person. Attractive - but still approachable, cheerful, talkative, sweet, a little foolish, out of control, clumsy.. She really portrays Becky well, and for that I am definitely not disappointed. Now if I re-read the book, I'll be able to put Isla's face to Becky's character, and it would be totally suitable.
As for Luke Brandon.. Oh my God, I am totally in love with the character, and of course, Hugh Dancy, the actor. He is so damn good looking! Plus, he's got that boyish charm and also a bit of that quirky/geeky/awkward thing going on (which I absolutely love in a guy), all of which, make him totally adorable and lovable! And he's British, one thing I'm glad they didn't change in the script. I don't think he'd be that cute with american accent ;p Hira, Sasha, and I were discussing about him on the way home, and we concluded that he might just be the next Hugh Grant, only cuter and younger ^^
If for most movies based on a book we usually say that the movie doesn't justify the book, for this one, I can't really say that.. Since the two are very different. The only few communalities are that the main character's name is Becky Bloomwood, she's a shopaholic in debt chased by someone named Derek Smeath, and she ends up with a guy named Luke Brandon. That's it.
But that shouldn't stop you from watching the movie. If you're looking for something funny and entertaining, you've got to go to the cinema and watch this movie. You're guaranteed to have a good time. I know I did, with a bonus too.. I was elected one of the "Best Dressed" by CLEO and got a goody bag consisting of a Body Shop bronzer, a photo album -which I can totally picture as a cool scrapbook, a compact mirror-CoaS branded, and a CD of the movie soundtrack! Thanks a lot to CLEO for the invite! I certainly had fun!
Anyone want to watch the movie..? Count me in.. I definitely don’t mind watching Becky and Luke again ^-^
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