Into My Snow Globe

Christmas Day, reading a book by the beach Christmas in Kiwilandia still throws me off kilter even if it is my 2nd time around. Here, the season brings in the hot summer, sunlight till 8:30pm, people frolicking barefoot and wearing their skimpier clothes. You roam the city and there are hardly anything that alludes to Christmas. Whatever decor you see usually has Santa in a singlet and board shorts riding a surfboard! To top all this, instead of the warm Christmas dinners, people plan Christmas BBQs! Then Christmas day arrives and that's it. The day actually feels like Good Friday in Manila, where the streets are deserted, the shops are closed, and you know everyone's left the city for a nice summer break elsewhere. Even the island girl in me is thrown for a loop. Yes, Christmas in Manila can still get hot and muggy, but December is usually one of the coolest months we'll have in a year. The days are shorter, and we all get into the season with an ove

Our Bale Dutung Visit - Feb 28, 2011 PIC and I are huge fans of Anthony Bourdain . We love the sarcasm, the biting honesty, the lack of frills and endless ennui that he projects on No Reservations. I've even read his books Kitchen Confidential and Medium Raw, and own his Les Halles Cookbook. Heck, we've even dined at Les Halles in NY and to this day use his onion soup as a true gauge of fantabulous onion soup.

Enjoying my new smile! Just a quick post to say I finally have my braces off!!! Last Friday the ortho took an hour and a half taking my braces off and fitting permanent retainers to the back of my lower teeth. Surprisingly, it wasn't as easy as I expected it to be. Having the doc pry the train tracks off with pliers when they feel like they've been super glued to your teeth is not the most pleasant thing. But I plowed on and kept my eye on the prize whilst I squeezed all the blood from my fingers. I hate getting into that chair but such is the price you pay for vanity. And voila! At 1:00PM Auckland time on the 25th of November I am officially braces free. After 19 months of having them, it felt weird to finally get them off. My teeth felt ridiculously light, smooth, and slimy! Then there were those endless hours in front of the mirror getting used to my seemingly bigger teeth, and dare I say, odd smile. It was so different that for a minute I actually went