Fragmented Friday (AM)

TGIF, right guys?

It's been a hella busy working week and I am super excited it is about to end. Plus, this weekend is going to involve a range of fully sick things including:

• sleeping in 
• yum cha
• dinner with Crimpy, Blephanie and Legsly
• lunch with Le Flav, Neville and Giusep
• hanging out with J (just because we write a blog together doesn't mean we don't hang out...we totally do)

And they're just the things I've organised so far! I really want to get on with it so the sooner I can get this work business out of the way the better!

But first, lets get our Miss Soft Crab on, shall we?

So as you may have noticed, this post is called Fragmented Friday. Not because I am trying to introduce another day to the MSC schedule,  just because I have a bunch of different things I want to talk about and therefore the post will be kind of, you know, fragmented. Plus, I love an alliteration.

First thing

The other night I had dinner with AB, Chambo and CoCo and a funny thing happened. AB, who is pregnant, pretty much couldn't eat anything the last few times we went out because being pregnant has made her want to vom all the time. This was very confronting for all of us, because eating is AB's raison d'etre, and seeing her go off food made the whole world seem topsy turvy.  But happily, at our meal the other night, I was delighted to note that AB is well and truly back on from. Consider this:

This picture shows the remnants of a dish of strawberries,  balsamic vinegar icecream and meringue that we all shared for dessert. AB had all been going at this pretty enthusiastically,  but at this point, at the exact point that all that was left in the bowl was a couple of bits of meringue and some strawberry juice, AB said "whoa, I'm done, you girls can finish the rest of that".
HAHAHA.
Oh, AB.

Second thing
The following is a transcript of a conversation I overheard between two women in the kitchen at my work.

Lady 1: Wow, I like those shoes.

Lady 2: Thanks, I LOOOOOOOOVE these shoes.

Lady 1: .............

Lady 2: Would you believe me if I told you they were eleven years old?

Lady 1: Yes.


HAHAHAHHAH.


Third and final thing
 
This:

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Reasons I hate the film The Devil Wears Prada

1. It's always on TV.

2. Anne Hathaway is meant to be unattractive and like she needs to lose a few pounds. Its ridiculous. Anne Hathaway is really annoying, but she is really good looking. No one is buying that ugly duckling BS.

3. Its not funny at all.

4. People with shitty jobs can't afford to live in totally cute apartments in Soho.

5. There is no friend chemistry amongst Anne Hathaway and her friends. Their 'banter' is appalling. They all seem like knobs.

6. We are meant to feel sorry for her because of all the crappy things she has to put up with at work. Everyone has had shitty jobs. I used to have a job that involved checking for fungus between the toes of old ladies. And that was a volunteer job!*

7. Apart from a few cute outfits in the post-makeover montage, Anne Hathaway totally looked better before the makeover.

8. It's not charming at all. Or insightful. Or enjoyable.

9. The fact that it is so crap is bad for Emily Blunt, who I really like. She is married to Krasinski in real life!

*Chambo and I once volunteered at a hospital where they did a lot of hydrotherapy with oldies who had had hip replacements, strokes, etc. We would get in the pool and teach them aqua aerobics. But first we had to check between their toes for fungus. It sounds worse than it was.

A tale of two mexican dinners

Quite coincidentally, J and I found ourselves at two separate Mexican dinners last night. We thought we would compare them on Miss Soft Crab today, though not in a competitive way. Just because.

Let’s begin with the Mexican dinner AB cooked for Lil, Chambo and I.

Menu

AB served chicken burritos with buttered corn and chunky guacamole.

She also made sangria, but after having a sip of it told us we weren’t allowed to drink it because she feared that the special sangria wine she used to make it had turned. (I had a sip and thought it was fine, but didn’t argue because I didn’t want to look like someone who can’t tell when wine has turned.)

The burritos were delicious. It was the buttered corn and the chunky guacamole that did it. The corn had been char grilled, then the kernels removed and butter stirred through. We spooned it in to our burritos along with all the other delicious things you would expect in a burrito – cheese, sour cream, jalapenos, salsa, lettuce and guacamole. The guacamole had chunks of avocado instead of mushed avocado, tomato, coriander and lots of green chilli and lime juice. It was a real winner.

The first burrito I constructed balanced the different ingredients perfectly. I congratulated myself on every bite.

I guess I got a little cocky, because the second burrito was basically stuffed full of so much stuff that I couldn’t wrap the tortilla all the way around without delicious things oozing out either end. I soldiered on, but didn’t take a photo because it probably looked pretty gross.

Interesting conversation

The topic on everyone’s lips was dentistry. It all began with the discovery of a bunch of what AB called Piksticks in the drawer of her coffee table. These things are like tiny bottle brushes which you shove between your teeth to use instead of dental floss. AB raves about them, and likes to keep them in the drawer of her coffee table so she can maintain dental hygiene while watching television.

She invited us to try them for ourselves, but recommended we select carefully as some of them are definitely used. In the cold light of day this invitation seems so unappealing, but last night it seemed like a good offer and I can cheerfully report that Piksticks really do work.

Sadly, it was too late for Lil who told us that she was in the process of getting a root canal. Readers, getting a root canal is a three stage process that involves removing the nerve, drilling a hole then filling the hole. WTF. Lil has just completed stage 2 – drilling of the hole. Apparently the dentist had to up the size of the drill-bit three times. *Shudder*

AB advised that she too had spent a great deal of time in the dentist’s chair of late, having her canine teeth rebuilt. We all looked at her blankly. “Because of all the grinding” she said. She thought our blank looks were because we didn’t understand why she needed tooth rebuilding, not the fact that you can get your mother flipping teeth rebuilt. Ha!

Turns out AB grinds her teeth in her sleep and had ground her canines down so much they no longer had any pointy bits on them. These days, dentists can replace lost pointy bits. Isn’t that incredible? AB doesn’t think so. Apparently her dentist rebuilt the heck out of her canines, so much so that her chewing motion was impeded. Anyone who knows AB also knows that impeded chewing motion absolutely will not do, so she went back to the dentist and told them to fix it. I understand that tooth filing was involved. *Shudder*

Despite the talk of dentistry, we all had a lovely time. Thanks AB.

The elegant and the abject

Here is the wrap up from last night's dinner with Lil, AB and Chambo at Izakaya Den.

Lil is pregnant
This, we already knew, but it was our first dinner as a foursome since she broke the news so we had a little celebration. Apparently she had been to the obstetrician today and the matter of whether she would like a cesarean or a vaginal birth was discussed. Lil advised that she is considering both, but wants complete assurance that if she had a vaginal birth they could give her an epidural that would last the whole time, and that it would be totally pain free. This from a woman who has a pathological fear of injections. We explained how epidurals are administered. I told her that my Mum reckons that the needle they put in her spine was the size of a pencil. When I was little and would hear this story, I always imagined that the pencil would be massive, like this.

Lil went quiet. AB noted that she never really thinks about the pain when she thinks about giving birth. Lil said "I do. I think about it all the time. I don't want a bar of it. Haven't you ever done a really big poo? It kills!"

AB said "I know, but then you feel so relieved."

We ate this delicious eggplant and mushroom thing

I don't know exactly what was in that orange topping but it was nice and spicy. The dish was served cold, in that good way.

Chambo advised she wants total privacy to watch the royal wedding
Chambo is going to her Mother's house to watch it so there will be no distractions and she can totally focus. Those Chambos love the royals. I think Mrs Chambo even met the Queen once. Anyway, she asked us all what we were doing.
I casually advised that because Pickle and Minderbinder are having a going away party tonight, I wouldn't be watching the royal wedding. I hadn't said that out loud to anyone and as soon as I did, I realised how badly I wanted to watch the royal wedding, and how disappointed I am to be missing it. I kind of love the royals a little bit. Its my dirty shame. As is the fact that I like to watch movies like Eat Pray Love at the cinema, and get really disappointed when I miss them and have to watch them on DVD. Anyway, no royal wedding for me. Such is life, as the tattoo on Ben Cousins' stomach always says. I'm sure I can just watch the replay on Saturday.

AB did a gross thing
We ordered the ox tongue, which was served in thin, matchbox shaped slices topped with finely shredded spring onion. Lil looked a little queasy when the waitress said it was ox tongue. This is very unlike Lil, but I guess she is pregnant. AB, Chambo and I dove in and sure enough it was super yum. Have some! We chanted to Lil while shoveling more of it in to our mouths. Lil timidly picked up a slice and placed it on her tongue, then closed her mouth as if to chew. I guess she had a change of heart, because straight away she leaned forward and spat it out on to her plate. We sat there in silence for a second or two because that's not something you see every day. Then AB stretched out her chopsticks, picked up the discarded ox tongue and popped it straight in her mouth. Girl hates to see good food go to waste.