Easter Weekend

So much to say not enough time!! Hope everyone had a great weekend where ever you were.

This weekend I helped doggie sit Miss Fliss' two lil monsters. They mostly behaved themselves, mostly. I had to laugh when N and I were walking the dogs, Jack did number 2's while N was walking him (N was rather unimpressed about having to clean up after him -N's not too fond of germs). Next time I walked Jack and it was Penny's turn to play up. She attacked another dog twice her size, bitting it on the nose, then she wriggled free of her collar and ran. Poor N wasn't having much luck.

On Sunday we drove out to Chinatown (45 min drive along Holcome* for those few who now have visited me and know this road**). Houston's Chinatown is nothing like any other Chinatown I have been to. As usual for Houston, everything was very spread out, single story and spacious, stretching for miles. Not many trees, lots of concrete. We were on a mission to try out an Indonesian restaurant that was supposedly the best in Houston (it would want to be for driving that far just for lunch). The restaurant was actually Chinese but also had Indonesian food however we had to request that menu. We sat down next to the fish tank, like all good Chinese/Indonesian restaurants have, only to note one of the gold fish floating upside down. Our distress was picked up by a neighbouring customer who remarked that that fish just like swimming upside down. At first I thought the man was trying to be nice to us, like you might to a 3 year old to prevent them getting upset, but no the fish was alive and actually did swim upside down. The end result was the food was yummy and the fish a constant conversation point but I wont really go back, as there are plenty of nice restaurants that are 5 mins away with no distracting talented fish.

On the way home we stopped by Hong Kong Market, a gigantic supermarket where N and I were the only non-Asians in the whole complex. I was very excited as I had been to a similar supermarket last year (also a long way from my place) and found tins of Thai curry and other delectable foods that I miss from home and aren't available in regular supermarkets in Houston. This time the best find was dum dum dah... a jar of Patak's Butter Chicken. I had completely given up hope of ever seeing this in Houston. I had even gone so far as to make my own Butter Chicken (love my recipe!). I also was able to stock up on Lychee jelly shots mmmm and grabbed a pack of the new Mango jelly shots yum!

Talking of dogs earlier, I was sent this from one of the students in my lab. It's so great!! At first I thought oh someone has put a dog on a skateboard and pushed, but no this is a clever doggie!!




*Yes it is a very long road (like most in Houston) and although there are a few name changes along the way we never actually made any turns except for left onto Holcome from my street and a right into the carpark of the restaurant.

**I often mention how Houston has an inner loop (610 freeway) and an outer loop (beltway 8). I live inside the inner loop. I was always told that mostly you want to stay inside the inner loop as it is another world outstide the 610. Actually it really depends on the area as there are some ok areas outside the loop but I digress. To get back to my point on how far we drove we were outside the outer loop, out near Beltway 6. Even I have not been that far except when leaving Houston for another fine city elsewhere.