Forgetful

When Jenni and Glenn left, they forgot a pair of shoes, that I am now wearing. Thanks Jen.

When Denise and Colin left they forgot to mention they were leaving us with a bit of a tummy bug. It only took a few days to pass through, literally, and I'm sure we will soon forget and forgive. We have since enjoyed the surprise gifts we came home to after work on the evening they left, they forgot to mention those.  Thanks again, the orchids are still gorgeous.

Sorry Mum, I keep forgetting to ring you!

Eric's birthday again! He keeps reminding me that for a long time he had planned to retire at 54yrs and 11months but I'm sure, as he gets even older, he'll even forget that.   It was on Friday but he slept-in most of that morning and so we postponed a special dinner until Sat night when we ate at Ivin's Peranakan Restaurant. Peranakan refers to the early Chinese immigrants in the Malacca Straits settlements during the days of British and Dutch control. I can't figure the difference between Peranakan and Nyonya cuisine but we love it. We shared a Beef Rendang,  Braised chicken in thick spicy tamarind gravy with buah keluak nuts, sweet potato and its leaves in coconut curry sauce and rice. Your mouth is watering isn't it?

I didn't forget to get Eric a present, and when I gave it to him I got just the reaction I was expecting. Last year when we were in France we were impressed by the simple wine buckets they had for your table.  It is just a simple plastic bag.  I decided that we just had to have one, but for the life of me, when we got to Paris we couldn't find them for sale anywhere.  This week the wine merchant in Nex had a special where you got given one if you bought 2 bottles of French wine. Hey, there are worse things than having to drink a crisp white wine from the Loire Valley! I forgot that Eric prefers reds (not really). I also haven't forgotten that he, who loves listening to Adele, gave me an Adele dvd for my birthday earlier in the year.

The walkers hiked around our Serangoon loop this week and as you can see from the picture above we have turned them all into bird watchers. After the walk we had a meeting at our hawker stalls to discuss dates and details about the Nepal trek. We are thrilled that Jim from SW Rocks is now planning to join the trekking party too. A pity Joan is not expecting to after her recent accident in Norway. Peter had forgotten to mention that we will spend most of the nights in tents, rather than lodges, since we are not on the tourist trails but really just the trail the villagers use.  I'm trying to forget the images that keep surfacing before my eyes of squatting over a hole in the ground,and focus instead on how bright the stars will be! If anyone else is considering taking up the offer in last week's post to join us, you need to confirm before the end of the month because Peter needs to pay a deposit based on numbers.

The MAE Tipping Competition wound up yesterday with a trivia afternoon at a condo in Simei.  Luckily we bumped into Peter on the same train because we had forgotten to read the directions from the MRT. About 25 people had a fun afternoon with lots of prizes, and poetry of all things. Eric got pipped in the last round by a guy who only works part time, we think he had too much time to study the form guide. I surprised myself by coming fourth, just out of the money of course. I can't remember ever doing that well before.

I promise not to forget to write again next week.