Kites, packages, and the IFT

Happy November!  Can you believe it's here already?  Sheesh.  I think part of the reason I feel like time is flying past me is that I'm not in touch with the seasonal changes.  In MN, you have to start worrying about the s-word this time of year.  In the Bay Area, the rains are just beginning.  Batten down the hatches all you nice folks in Marina Bay Yacht Harbor!

But here, it's gorgeous.  Cooler, but still sunny and warm enough to walk around in a tank-top and sandals.  I went to downtown Taipa to buy groceries at lunch today and was really tempted to shirk my afternoon duties and just wander around in the beautiful weather.

But I didn't.  I went back to work until 4, then to the post office to pick up my packages, then back home and out again to get my laundry.  On the way to pick it up I saw a sight that made me stop right in the middle of the sidewalk and stare.  Can you see it?  Look closely!

It's a kite!  It wasn't this hard to see in real life, but it was pretty high up there.  It wasn't even windy today!  Who on earth is flying a kite in the middle of a crowded city with no wind?  I want to meet this person!  Are they standing on top of a building?  I just can't tell!  But it made my afternoon.

And the day only got better!  When I got back from the laundromat, I opened my packages.  One contained 2 boxes of Golden Grahams from Alsie Abbott, Alison's mom in PA.   Woohoo - thanks Alsie!  Bedtime snacks for a couple weeks!!!

The other was from Cat, my very dear dental-hygiene-loving friend in CA. (Full disclosure, I asked for the dental tools to combat my tea stains.  Didn't want to have to go a whole year without a cleaning.  DIY, F!)  Thanks darling!!!  Super excited to try the high-tech toothbrush and the tiny between-the-teeth brushes.  And you know I need that dish scraper.  Please thank Shaw as well, since I can tell from the handwriting that he mailed it for me.  :)

Then I rushed around to make dinner for Carol and her friend, Karen.  I made the wild rice in a rice cooker, which I've never done before, and of course the bouillon cubes were a different size than I'm used to, so it turned out a little al dente and a little salty, but I was pleased overall.  Carol pointed to the vegetable and asked what we called it in English.  She thought it was very funny when I answered "green beans".  Not very original I guess.  :)

 
Since Karen was over, they recorded a conversation in Cantonese for me to practice listening.  I will include the audio file and script below for those interested.  To hear the audio file, you need to click the play button on the blue Streampad bar at the bottom of the page.

A=Angie, C=Carol, K=Karen

A: beauty, how many of you?
C: Two please?
A: what kind of tea do you want?
K: Jasmine Tea please.
C: Karen, what do want to eat?
K: I want to have dumpling turnip cake and thousand years egg and pork congee, how about you, Carol?
C: I want fried milk, shrimp dumpling, sesame ball, and fried noodles.
K: Great, let’s order, waiter!
An hour later.
C: wa I am so full. Do you like the food here, Karen.
K: it’s okay.
C: let’s have dessert then, how about milk pudding.
K: Great, I know a place just down the corner. But I think you just said you are full.

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After dinner and our recording session, we went out for drinks and dessert at a place near our house. It's called the INSTITUTO DE FORMACAO TURIS, or IFT for short.  It's a training hotel and restaurant for students going into the hospitality and food industries.  The restaurant was awesome, and I've heard the hotel is very nice as well.  If anyone is planning to come out to visit me, (which you all should do), I would highly recommend you stay here.  I'll include the link to tempt you.  :)

http://www.ift.edu.mo/pousada/eng/index.htm

Here's the front of the hotel.

And Carol leading the way to the restaurant.

The dessert menu.  Predictably, I got the rhubarb and forest berry crumble.  Nice huh?  This is the kind of place where they put your napkin in your lap for you and give you a lot of extra glasses and utensils and then take them away again after you've ordered.  I loved it though.

I also got a coffee drink that came with a tiny pistachio biscotti.  (Hard to tell the scale here, but the cup was like an espresso sized cup.)  It was called the portuguesi, I think, and was espresso with dark rum, some kind of brandy and cream?  I should have paid more attention, but it was lovely, whatever it was.

This is not the best photo of my rhubarb crumble - so sorry.  That eggroll looking thing in the center is a rolled cookie, and hiding behind it is some caramel ice cream. 

The cheese plate was also very good.  At last we've found something Chinese people don't like to eat.  Blue Cheese.  They got creme brulee too, but I forgot to get a photo before it was too late.

The decor was lovely as well.  They had a super cool wine room when you first entered, lit with ultraviolet light.  My phone camera just couldn't do it justice.  But I did manage to get this beautiful lamp.  I totally want one of these to bring home with me.  Can't you just see this in my future SF apartment?  I can.

A great day overall and a holiday tomorrow.  I really, really need to focus and get a bunch of work done so I can enjoy my movie in the evening, so I'm going to bed.  Goodnight!