6 August 2005 — I’ve been to the airport twice this week alone. On Tuesday, Sumie & I were there to surprise Andrea by sending her off. Yes, she’s going back to Cape Town to be with her man for good. Never having the need to do it myself, I forgot how common it is for those with curly/wavy hair to get their hair straightened. So imagine my shock when I saw Andy with her straight tresses! Go there to surprise people, ended up surprising myself. Wow! She looks totally different and oh so sultry. At first I even mistook her for an Asian chick! And when you feel it, her hair is so baby soft and silky… hmm… Mark will enjoy running his fingers through them… hee hee. Ok, better don’t embarress her anymore, I still need a place to stay if I ever go to Cape Town.

I love frogs! So happy to see this huge shiny one at Departure!

some last minute repacking at the cafe

Sumie & Gabby (Andy’s housemate, and our course mate)

goodbyes are so hard…

Andy & Sumie at the departure gates

an accidental shot, but I quite like it

and now the proper shot

and with that, Andy was gone… Sigh… that’s part of the tragedy of being a foreign student, many of your friends are also from abroad, and one by one, either they leave you or you leave them… well, I’d like to think I will still see them some day…

Hah! At least the next trip to the airport was a more joyous occasion, this time we are going to Arrivals! Yes, on Saturday, Satoko flew in from Melbourne to see us! Yay yay yay! She so cute, when she heard from Sumie that Wil and I may be leaving soon, she panicked and quickly booked her air tickets so that she can come and see us before we go. So sweet right?

So where do we go first? Where else? As any of our guests who have visited us here in Sydney will tell you, the first stop is always Yum Cha! And since we’re already at the airport, we went to our favourite yum cha place, Forest Court at Hurstville.

haha! THIS is my favourite dessert/snack – 牛舌酥.

and what other surprises does Hurstville have in store for us… mooncakes and lanterns!

more battery-operated lanterns

Billie and I ended up buying the Kee Wah 3 yolk white lotus paste mooncake — 4 for $42.80 (S$54)! Like eating gold! But last year after eating many cheap, lousy mooncakes, we told ourselves that next time we’ll eat less but we’ll eat the very best. Afterall, Mooncake Festival only comes once a year, keep eating those yucky ones 就太对不起自己了 right?

Now for some mooncake trivia:

Back to Satoko. ‘Cos William had to work, he dropped us off at Bondi Junction where we were supposed to meet Sumie after her work. What luck! We managed to catch her on her lunch break, and sat down with her while she had a coffee. Here she is with Satoko on the couch. (Sorry Sumie, I know you’re not totally pleased with all these pictures, but because we didn’t manage to take anymore, I took the nicest one from this set)

While Sumie returned to work, Satoko and I proceeded to walk around the new upmarket Bondi Junction, went to Borders, sipped herbal teas and caught up somemore at The Coffee Club, and before we know it, Sumie was done! We proceeded to Sumie’s place, but not before I did myself the disservice of gulping down a huge tub of muesli yoghurt. Bad idea. Bad bad idea. As healthy as it may be to the general population, it is anathema to me. Many years ago when we first came, I discovered and loved it so much that like a pregnant woman, I was sending William out to get it for me on a daily basis, so much so that I developed a food sensitivity towards it. At that time, this intolerance took the form of a nasty, boily, itchy rash that lingered for 6 months until I relented and took antibiotics for it. Today, a spasmodic crampy debilitating stomachache. Oh Man… of all times. Satoko comes once in 3 years, for one day only, and I have to have a stomachache today?!? and besides, the plan was to go down to Bondi beach for pizza for dinner, I want pizza, not today… please… Amazing! There I was, crouched over in pain, and STILL I’m thinking about food?!? 真的是死性不改!

While we waited for my stomach to settle, the conversation turned to handy Japanese products. I really ta-pek these Japs, there’s no denying it, they really are at the forefront of innovation. Not just that, they are also concerned with design and packaging, so everything is aesthically pleasing. For instance, just things we got from Sumie’s house:

I’m probably just being suaku here, you all know how slow Australia is with keeping up with modern gadgety things… anyway, I was totally amazed when Sumie showed this instant heat compress to me. Wow, so light, convenient, portable, simple to use and the heat lasts so long. This particular one lasts for up to 9 hours! And so cheap! In Japan, you can get a pack of 10 for just A$2.50.

And how about this? Have you seen this? It’s called obulato in Japanese, and it is a medical wafer. Actually it’s exactly like the rice paper layer around the good ol’ White Rabbit Candy, instantly melts on contact with water. So no more tasting of yucky bitter powdered medicines/ supplements. You just place those in one of these wafers, pop it into your mouth and follow it with a water-rush. Absolutely brilliant! And again, very cheap, you can get about 100 for just a few dollars. So yes, if anyone is interested, I’m taking orders for Sumie until she sets up her own company to import them in.

Luckily for all of us, especially me, my stomach finally settled. So off we went to Pompeii at Bondi beach for pizza. Sumie and her daughter Maiko had just been there the night before and really enjoyed themselves. Unfortunately our dining experience was marred by the fact that because we didn’t make prior bookings, we had to share a table with some outwardly rascist pigs! Even after Sumie so kindly welcomed them by saying “let’s enjoy together”, they completely ignored her and continued to send evil belittling stares our way the whole night, both the mid-40s husband and wife, and even their 11/12-ish year old son! As though it was daaaamn jialat for them to have to sit with us, like we weren’t good enough or something?!? Not happy don’t sit down lah! Afterall, we were there first! And so miserable their faces, didn’t smile once, not once, the entire time. Sumie said that the energy felt so bad that even her stomach stopped secreting hydrochloric acid and she couldn’t eat. Huh… times like these I wish I could speak Japanese, so that the 3 of us could openly and loudly “gan” them. I hope at least Sumie and Satoko did, but then they’re such prim and proper ladies, not like me, sure scold them until they 臭头! Aiyah Tommy, where are you when I need you? But anyway, we shouldn’t let this kind of 小人 ruin our time. Choi! Choi! Choi! Wash away all the 霉气!

Next, we headed back to Sumie’s place for dessert where Billie joined us. The rascal, supposed to have 搞定 his own dinner, but ended up coming to Sumie’s on an empty stomach. And even though he insisted that he didn’t need to eat, how could Sumie, who was once a self-confessed full-time professional mum, imagine the thought of letting him go hungry right? So while the rest of us sipped bancha tea and chatted, she quickly whipped up a Kaki-tama Udon.

WAH!!! Look at how gorgeous it is! And it smells so fragrant. And the taste, as usual, as is anything cooked by Sumie, was simply out of this world! With Sumie, we have come to expect only the very best. The dashi for the soup is from some highly acclaimed restaurant in Japan, their own secret recipe, the dried mushroom is the same one used in the imperial palace and has been stamped for approval by Japanese royalty, and the kuzu to thicken the soup with is also some special brand that Sumie brings all the way from Japan, and I’ll bet the eggs are free-range organic ones, etc, etc, etc. Nothing is as simple as it looks with Sumie. Everything is meticulously picked and prepared. This William, I bet he purposely don’t eat so as to savour Sumie’s cooking. Gei gei only somebody.

And as talented as Sumie is with her pots and pans, so is Maiko with her sewing machine. Look at what she made just with some scrap cloth! And it only took her a few hours?!?

So cute hor? So again, I’m taking orders for her if anyone wants to buy. Wah, I this middle-man very busy.

After William finished his udon, we finally had our dessert of apple strudel with thick cream, mooncake, specialty chocolates that Satoko brought with her, and fruit salad. So full but so happy…

We started to wind down for the evening, and finally at around 12+am, Bi and I went home. What a wonderful day it has been… Satoko, though your visit was so short, it was so sweet! We really enjoyed your company. Thanks for coming to visit us. We miss you dearly oredi! *MUAK*

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