London 2010: the case of the missing hour

It's about 7:30am London time and I'm already up. Think I'm having a little wee bit jet-lagged. Got in at 7:30pm London time (2:30am Malaysian time), which works out to a 14-hour flight. I thought it was 13 hours? Where did that extra hour come from?

Neways, when Airasia launched it's London route, I said it was suicidal to take such a looong flight with narrow seats and no in-flight entertainment. Look what I did to myself....

3:33pm. Only 3 hours into the flight and 10 more hours to go...*sigh* *groan*. They served us lunch about an hour ago, late because there was a small turbulence... soooo hungry by then. I think I’m in love with Airasia’s in-flight meal. I had a lovely chicken spinach lasagna and it was piping hot and delicious! I’ll fly Airasia just for the plane food haha. Still, I can’t say I’m equally impressed with their plastic cutlery. The ends of my fork broke and even though I prodded and sifted through what remained of my lunch, I couldn’t find the other bit...ugh.



6:16pm. The sky is still so bright that it’s hard to tell what time it really is. Took a short nap earlier and found that the seat only reclined by 10 degrees or so. Good thing I’m not taking the red-eye. In fact, I should try to stay awake as much as I can because it’s only 11:16am in London and I wouldn’t want to get seriously jet-lagged when I get there. I’m beginning to feel bored and my bum hurts. I’m also stuck in my choice of window seat and the guy next to me seems to prefer to keep to himself. Oh well. I’ll go play with my pictures now.



9:41pm. I’ve been occupying myself with Solitaire for the past 2 hours or so and I’m awfully hungry right now. Where’s my food?? I’ve always said I cannot imagine sitting in a plane for more than 10 hours and especially in an Airasia flight but look at me now, taking a 13-hour flight to London. Actually it's better than I imagined. The seats are definitely more spacious (it’s an Airbus after all) and there's an entertainment module I can purchase for RM30 if I'm totally bored outta my wits. So far, I've read 3 chapters of A House for Mr Biswas (funny), played said Solitaire, slept, oh and I finally spoke to the guy next to me. He's from Scotland and he's been on holiday for 3 months...so nice.

Overall, the flight was pleasant, love love love the food, and it's on time. I haven't been on an Airasia flight that was delayed, ever. Touch wood. I'm thinking of doing more trips to Europe now. Spain next year, maybe?

portraits of Toby

Taken with the 50mm lens while hiding in the room from my mum's karaoke party.

my anchovy pasta

Ever since my acquaintance with Greyhound Cafe's Thai Anchovy Spaghetti some 2 years ago, I've been meaning to re-create it in my kitchen. Of course, procrastination got the better of me. However, since I've got so much time on my hands now (and I'm hungry and the household chef is out), I will now make this for lunch!

First, a little introduction to anchovy. From BigOven.com,

"Anchovies are very small, silver fish native to the Mediterranean Sea and the coastlines along southern Europe. Though their sharp taste has earned them a widely negative reputation, many people enjoy anchovies without even knowing it. Anchovies, used sparingly, are often that little, unrecognizable “something extra” behind favorite recipes."


Anchovies in olive oil

Anchovies are mostly used in Italian cooking and in Ceasar salad dressing. There's a distinctive taste to anchovies that is hard to put words to, and smelly is the other way I would describe it. You have to give it a taste to know what I mean. Used sparingly in cooking, it gives the dish a magnificent flavour that's hard to forget.

Anchovy Pasta



Some pasta
Chilli flakes (dried whole chilli preferable)
10-15 peppercorns, crushed
5-6 anchovy fillets
1 clove garlic, minced
1 ripe tomato, diced
A couple of thai basil leaves
Olive oil

1. Boil pasta in a pot of water with some oil and salt until al dente. Drain water and leave it aside to cool.

2. Heat some olive oil in a pan/wok and add chilli. If you like it spicy then just use more chilli.

3. When the oil mixture is slightly smoky, stir in the peppercorns. Fry for a minute or two until fragrant.

4. Lower the fire slightly and add garlic and anchovies, stirring until anchovies began to dissolve in the oil. Fry a little while and add thai basil, then diced tomatoes.

5. Stir fry the mixture until tomatoes turn soft and pulpy. You should have a sauce-like mixture.

6. Add pasta and stir fry well until the juices dry up.

7. Eat! I like mine with a little parmesan shavings.

Note: Recipe serves one.

Note 2: BTW, it doesn't taste like the real thing... dunno what's missing. Otherwise, it's very edible la.

freedom

From that which is sucking life out of me, I have.

FREEDOM!!

thirty plus one

I can't believe I'm turning 3-1 tomorrow.

It seemed like such a BIG IMPORTANT number.

Chemical Brothers was playing on my CD during my drive home, and I'm just thinking how I miss those days where we would dance and dance until the lights went on. Once in a while I get this deep longing to go dancing, but my partners in crime are all either (a) married with kids, (b) has quit the social scene or (c) has left the country.

I wanna go dancing...