Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Schrobbenmaster's birthday

Word of the day: bijna = almost

I'm sitting on the train again writing this post, on the way to work this time. A little later than usual cuz we had a plumber over to fix the kitchen sink. Still had to wake up early though, unfortunately. Sigh.

Last weekend was Schrobbenmaster's weekend. I thought that it was gonna be a really busy and not very relaxing weekend cuz on Saturday I had to plan things to do (plus buy his present because I was at work all week) and on Sunday his parents would be down all afternoon.

It turned out very nicely in the end. His birthday started off with eenbrauw Ruben coming over for dinner and a chat on Friday night, where he told us how he brutally killed flamingoes when he was a student and needed money, by breaking their necks and selling each pink feather for 50 cents each*.

On Saturday after breakfast, Schrobbenmaster and I headed to town where I picked up a present and a card, and sent his Fossil watches to be fixed as a surprise. I got him a new bath towel. A nice one to replace at least one of the old towels which, after washed, feel exactly like biscuits.

(Train has just stopped at Delft. Just giving up-to-date travel information.)

Because we had a really long and exhausting week at work, Schrobbenmaster and I completely konked out after lunch for 3 hours. Just felt so heavy and drowsy. But it must have done some good, even though we felt so heavy after.

I wanted to bring Schrobbenmaster out for dinner but obviously didn't know any good places in Rotterdam. It had to be somewhere he hadn't been before either. Which is actually not that difficult to do, since most Dutch rarely eat out anyway. So I searched the internet and found some options. It was made easier by us having to walk, so the options had to be close to home. I finally found one called Azzia and called up to reserve. They were really friendly and I had a good vibe.

I had to borrow Schrobbenmaster's iPhone to check directions to the restaurant. As we walked along, he kept guessing which restaurants were down the street. He's a walking Rotterdam map, I'm tellin' ya. Which made my job of surprising him rather difficult, as he named Azzia in a list of restaurants down that road. And when I admitted that it was Azzia we were headed to, we just happened to pass by one of their small on-the-road signages, where he found out that it was modern asian fusion.

Oh well, so much for the surprise, but at least he hadn't been there before.


Reminds me of my grandparents' old house back in Butterworth.






They charge for every pot of tea you order! What the... pots of tea should always be refillable. It's the culture! Why eat at an Asian restaurant and not follow the culture? Just like all Thai restaurants have unlimited rice refills. Pffft.

Anyway, I had tamarind red curry goose which was really delicious, and we had dim sum as appetiser. Which also reminded me that it was my first dim sum in 3 months. I have a lot of catching up to do when I get back to KL.

After dinner, we went home to have brownies for dessert. I'm tellin' ya, it really makes a difference when you make brownies with butter instead of margarine. Never substitute the real thing!

On Sunday, Schrobbenmaster's parents came over after lunch, and I got a bouquet of roses from his mum. How nice! Then we headed out to town, where Moeder Irma followed me to look for boots and a long-sleeved shirt for work (to protect me from the cold, rather than to look professional... no such thing in that office). After V&D and de Bijenkorf (which was stupidly crazy in there), we still couldn't find anything that fit my comparatively thinner (than Dutch) legs, and, disappointed, we met back up with the boys and went to have cake as it had also been her birthday a few days ago.

I had chocolade truffeltaart and a kinda strangely strong-tasting black cherry berry tea in a cafe called Opa's Eetcafe. Nice interior but seriously understaffed.

For dinner, we went to Tapas Barcelona, just round the corner from home. It was really good, and it was great to have prawns again. Everything else was so filling - the meatballs, the omelette, the patatas, the chicken... when the prawns finally arrived, it was great! Plus it tasted the best, drenched with olive oil, herbs and chilli. Yummity yum.

(Passing some rather bland houses now. Thought I could end the post by writing something nice about my view on the way to work, but I guess not.)

So all in all, a really enjoyable weekend, and hopefully this week continues to be good at work and at home!

* Okay, I exaggerated. He was a Medical BioScience student and dissected loads of yucky animals, which unfortunately included tame, friendly flamingoes.

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