15-Dec-2022
Our normally relaxed pace has become ridiculously frenetic of late, and we're going to be glad to get away for a rest (departure is scheduled for tomorrow, all being well).
Anyone who wasn't in the UK in (I think) the 1980s will wonder about the title. The full mantra is "chop-chop, busy-busy, work-work, bang-bang"; it's uttered by teams of frazzled and scurrying penguins; and it comes from this British Telecom advert.
Yep, that's definitely how we've felt over the last week or so.
Busy with what? Well, end-of-year socializing; spring-cleaning (can't leave the house a mess -- what if we don't come back? -- so embarrassing); journey-planning (the one immediately forthcoming, of course, but also the subsequent one, to make sure we catch the best fares); sorting out routine medical stuff; chasing round for the insane number of documents Nigel's insurance company wants (totally NOT what they say on the website -- don't start me...)
Anyway, out of all that, the first category was infinitely the most enjoyable:
Fantastic dinner with friends at the Night City Pub. We'd never have found this place by ourselves...
Bamboo clams
Potatoes done in some interesting vinegary way
The most amazing fish soup. There was good brinjal too, but I forgot to photograph that
Breakfast at Blendsmiths. Food's gone already...
Mine was this cool purple bun thing, with cheese on top: a good combo of sweet and salty
Dinner by the pool at a friend's condo. Not sure what happened to the red guy over there...
She has awesome views ...
... including of places you never normally get to see
And there have been lots more food highlights over the last little while:
Pork binagoongan, crispy bangus, and bitter gourd with egg, delivered from Panlasang Pinoy: Well, you can't clean AND cook, right?
Another delivery, this time from Lepau. This is quintessentially Sarawakian: black pepper beef, anchovies in tempoyak (fermented durian), and terong asam (which I didn't snap)
Brekkie at Borneo Coffee
Mee jawa from Syn Wah Hui
Keeping up the Kuching food supplies
Plus, we discovered another smart new cafe, the (Bali-accented) Tirta Barong. They're so new they're still experimenting with their opening hours, but we hope they'll stick to an eight am start:
Very nice cold-brew coffee
And we went back another day to sample the cakes
You can see from the picture at the top that the Big Padungan Cat is season-ready. We've held off photographing him, as we were expecting the arrival of a jacket and festive arch, as per usual. But no, he's breaking with tradition, it seems. He has opted for sartorial minimalism, and traded in his arch for a forest of Christmas trees. It's up to him...