Friday, March 8, 2013

Minimal Happenings

There aren't too many pictures this week. As a result, I don't think I'll have much to say. Let's find out.

Last Friday we went to a birthday dinner for my friend, Jonathan. It was at a restaurant named Saravanaa Bhavan, and the cuisine was south Indian. I had no idea that there was a regional difference in Indian cuisine, however it makes sense. Surely you Stateside folks can recognize there's a regional difference in American food, amirite?

As Jonathan stated, south Indian food is kinda like junk food. It's not all that healthy, but damn if it isn't delicious (reminds me of another southern cuisine).

Kenz ordered the southern sampler - rice, a hard (almost like a cracker) rice tortilla, and a softer wheat tortilla. Surrounding the outside were various dips and chutneys. And that big block of what seemed like condensed sugar and milk - almost like toffee. 

I got this mammoth rice pancake/burrito thing. It was off the hinges. 

The paste on the inside - I can't even remember what it was.

The birthday boy trying on a young lady's jacket for effect

All in all, there were about 20 of us. We were there for about three hours. It was equal parts yum and fun.
Jim brought Hunter by for a visit this week as well. It's been amazing watching Hunter grow up - we arrived in London about three months before he was born. He's now walking around, investigating nooks and crannies, and picking lots of things up to carry them to the other side of the room. He's got a few words in his vocabulary. He'll talk to you in his own language which I find hilariously entertaining. They were only here for about an hour and a half - and Hunter was fantastically behaved - and I was still exhausted when they left. I didn't even lift a finger. Since we've moved here, I've become a 'tidy'-er as well. I think it has to do with working from the house; part of my morning routine is cleaning up the mess that Kenz left the night before. I sat there and watched Hunter pull books, tools, remotes, etc. out of their 'place' and hand them to Jim, Kenz, and myself - the whole time, thinking I need to put this back! It was a delightful workshop on serenity. I don't know how I'm going to handle one of my own - I get so nervous around kids, that they're going to hurt themselves or choke on food. Suffice it to say we're not in the market for our own at the moment.

Hunter appeared to enjoy chewing the 'chick-chick' much more than swallowing it.



Jim also brought these by. Interestingly enough, they're not an American import.
Every now and again, I find something worth photographing on my walk back from the gym. A few days ago, I spotted this man in his Fiat pulling an Austin Powers in the alley. 

Awkward
 And this morning, I saw the longest window-washing-pole of my lifetime


I knew I wouldn't have too many pictures this week (I've dropped my phone so many times that the camera doesn't focus much anymore; if anyone has a phone they'd like to mail me, I'll gladly accept...for the blog, naturally), so I asked Kenz to send me a few pictures. This is what she's been up to this week:


Along with her regular schoolwork, she's finally built something out of all the Diet Coke bottles she's been saving the past few months. It's an actual weight-bearing chair (although I haven't sat on it yet...)



Her friend, Annie
She saw a London funeral procession and wanted me to point out the guy in the front of the hearse. He's wearing a hat, tails, and using a cane - walking right down the middle of the road.


Part of her new work has to do with learning how to do computer coding. She bought a microcontroller so that she can start to use sensors and other components to make kinetic sculptures. These are sculptures that'll have potential for movement or in constant motion (I think). If you're interested, she says you can find out more by going to Arduino.cc.

"Boffin means inventor" - Kenz


She's pretty excited to have started writing code.

Folks...that's it! I wonder, are you relieved that it's about a quarter of what usual posts are? Ha!

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading.