Hujung minggu penuh syawarma

I wanted it to be hectic anyway. That was three days of activities. Pure unadulterated activities. Haha. Saturday, it started out well. But it was spoilt with the fact that I started late. I was in my flat most of the day, and the texts from Paul did not help. In one of them, he was saying - "Zul, I am stuck in this film meeting, wont be over till 4:00pm". At first I was gutted to know that, but it also meant that I could take it easy for the day.

So by 3:00 PM, I got ready, cleaned the flat a bit, sent my laundry and headed to the city on bus No. 7. Upon disembarking the bus, I saw this demonstration about Falun Gong - a practice that is banned in China due to the insecurity of government that was suspecting that Falun Gong could turn into a group to topple the govt. I have been following about this development since my days in UK (2005/06), and some of the members had fled China to avoid being sent to concentration camps which might lead towards torture and deaths where their organs would then be harvested and sold. Well, more information about this here. I once tried to take up this conversation with my Chinese friend from China, he even refused to use the words Falun Gong, fearing that the present govt can smell that and he could well be connected to the banned practice and hunted!

+ This is the poster used in the Falun Gong demonstration on O'Connell St, Dublin. You could see the images of the man stitched up (middle, bottom), after his/her internal organs were allegedly harvested/removed against his will - a part of the punishment for the captivated followers

I met Paul and then, kitorang pergi makan kat Epicurian, a food court. I had Phad Thai and he had some Korma Chicken apa ntah. Well, that was not an awesome lunch but, OK lah. Then we had some tea, muffins, carrot cake at Debenhams. Paul told me that he has moved out and moved closer to his uni (UCD) where he reads for his 2nd masters - in film-making. Anyway, that is that. It is kinda weird not to meet Paul with Itamar. I would see both of them this Tuesday, for dinner or so.

+ Lepas makan kat Epicurian, we went on to do tea pulak. Melantak aje kerja. It was Paul's treat. Itu la dia Paul, Luke. Yg lubang idung tertonggok tu, aku la tuh. Eh Paul ni dah dekat 70 thn, tapi baby face *mati la aku...

Right after that, Lock See wanted to meet me for dinner. Alamak, asek makan aje hari ni. It has been a long time also since I last met Lock See. Lock See is such a dear. She is willing to listen to my crappy stories about my project and the pengurus projek yang gila and all that. Her favourite line, Same Shit, Different Day... bagus kan motto dia. So kita makan kat Captain Americas in Grafton Place. I have been wanting to makan kat restaurant ni, TGIF-like restaurant. We had platter of starters - wings, wedges, etc. And then we went on to makan steak and Lock See was busy with her 'chili corne carne'.

+ Sempat ambik gambar starters aje sbb gambar main course, tak sempat nak ambik sbb dah terus makan, haha. Starters pun dah banyak dah kan. Bela hantu ke apa aku dan Lock See ni...

+ Aku tak tau kenapa tempat ni ramainya orang, makanan biasa aje. Satu lagi makan kat Seafood Marina/360, by Burj Al-Arab kat Dubai, aku wonder, for 100Euro I spent on meal kat Seafood Marina/360 tuh, baik la aku makan kat Umbai Melaka tu hah...

So we balik, we took DART home and lepas tu Lock See called Simon - nak ajak main tennis on keesokan hari - Sunday. Instead Simon ajak to go out for a drink in Dalkey. I did not have the mood to go to Dalkey, it was cold. Instead, we compromised, we asked Simon to come to Dun Laoghaire to go Bodega (used to be 40-Foot). We were then joined by Andrea, Fabio and ALberto. It was quite nice there on Sat night. In Bodega 2 nights in a row. After that I stopped by at Ramlah's place. Ramlah was out with her boyfriend and Zila and Farid were in.

+ Bodega can be busy on Sat night. I left at 12 midnight - walking all by myself, heading home in that cold winter night

The next day, I got up at 9:00 am. Lock See sent me a text about tennis. Jenny could not join us. So there were three of us, playing. It was good tennis we played - for three hours. After that we went to grab some food at the Sunday market, at People's Park, not too far from the court. I had some Jamican stuff. Simon had the same. And Lock See had quich or something. We planned to walk by the pier, but it was too cold and Simon was complaining about his sore back, bum and legs! It sounded like orang tua already when he complained.

+ Tennis court by Clarinda Park area. Nice. Weather is getting warmer, I bet more tennis will be played here. So Shane, tak payah la caj2 lagi ye. Hahaha.

+ People's Park Sunday Market where you can get some interesting stuff - from organic vege to non-alcoholic wine. This is where I got the cake for Zila's birthday dinner

On the way home, I met Ramlah and I texted Zila. Ramlah was working at the mall and Zila was there as well - buying some stuff. I had the idea of cooking malam tu sebab nak celebrate Zila punya bday. So Zila setuju. We planned to masak nasi ayam - sedapnya. So aku dan Zila pun pergi la cari ingredients spt ayam halal (ops, ayam halal dah ada, Ramlah punya). So I went to Tesco dengan Zila. And then headed home to masak2. Actually Zila did most of the cooking, I prepared the soup aje. Soup ayam - sedap.

+ Dari kiri, Zila, Ramlah dan Farid (adik Zila). Happy si Zila...

As for the cake, we used the cake that I bought dekat People's Park - home made lagik (apple cinnamon walnut cake). Sedap. Tapi malangnya, sekarang Zila terlebih bergurau dengan adik dia si Farid, kek tu pun terbalik ke atas lantai. Sayang, aku nak jamah pun tak sempat. Rasa terkilan sangat. Ye lah sebab aku beli tu, bkn la beli dengan ayaq liuq lepas tu kek tu kek sedap, dan aku nak makan. Dah jadi cam tu, cam mana nak buat kan.

+ Tengok la gambar makanan dan kek ni hah, siap ada sate lagi kan. And, tengok la kek yg kontrobersi tu hah, sayang 1000 kali sayang...

+ Kat Dublin ni, even kereta pun boleh grow grass tu hah. Tak tau la berapa lama dah kereta tu tak kena drive sampai berlumut, berumput. Hehehe. Tak de la, I think keter ni promote some juice drinks I think. I think it is cute.

So malam tu lepas makan2 tu aku terlelap atas sofa si Ramlah, lepas tu aku balik aku kemaskan2 flat sekangkang kera aku ni. So it did not take me long kan untuk bersihkan. So I think, punya hectic weekend aku tu hah. Anyway, as I said, I wanted it to be hectic. Sebab tak de masa nak jumpa kawan2 dah. Lepas ni, lepas seminggu ni aku kena kembali utk menemankan makcik Lem Lem atas pesawat tu hah!

Finally, aku goreng ikan Tilapia malam tadi (Monday, 18th Feb). So makan dengan nasi. Nasi aku masak dalam pot (expert aku kan, hehe), ini sebab rice-cooker aku bermastautin kat tempat lain buat masa ni. Hehe.

+ Aku nak cari ikan bawal pulak lepas ni. Dalam malas nak masak tu, aku masak gak akhirnya