Picnic at the Park

After one too many request for me to lower the volume of my TV particularly one at 9pm, I think I've guilted my upstairs neighbor into giving me a pair of preview tickets for Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds' The Proposal. (No, my TV doesn't really get that loud normally, but then part of my ceiling had fell down almost two years ago and yet to be repaired.) The preview was scheduled to be shown last night but since the scar that was Hamlet 2, I'm a little skeptical about these free preview screenings and I wasn't expecting a lot from another Sandra Bullock romantic comedy, although I was curious about that rumored nude scene of Ryan Reynolds. Even since Amityville Horror, Ryan had made himself into my hot hunk radar and any naked image of him is very welcomed in my book. Too bad in the beginning of this week, my good friend BL had sent out an email about having a low-key picnic at a nearby park for his birthday which happened to be at the same time as the movie and after watching Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, my bad movie quota had reached its limit and I wasn't gonna take the chance with something I thought would be bad at the first place and I especially didn't want to watch it in a controlled environment.

The weather had been quite strange lately, there was a heavy downfall Tuesday morning where rain was pouring down like an open faucet in the sky. It formed a wall of water for half an hour, turning streets into rivers. Along with the thunder and lightning it woke me up and made me a little claustrophobic, like the air flow was blocked off by the air and I might suffocate. I didn't know that clouds could be suicidal and homicidal like that. We were afraid that it might happen again at the picnic, we wouldn't be able to run for covers fast enough. I got some food prepared anyway.

BL specifically didn't want anyone to make a big deal out of it, I guess because he's turning 30 and wasn't quite thrilled about the idea of getting old. I can testify to the strange feeling of not being about to call myself a twink anymore when I turned 30 a few years ago. I thought it'd be nice to cook and bring something celebratory to the picnic, so I got some cupcakes from a cute patisserie, some individual sized bottles of Prosecco, some Banh Mi beefed up with extra BBQ pork since BL likes them and I also fried up some jumbo shrimps with some leftover mango coconut sauce. Everybody liked them. We had a mighty good time chatting, drinking and eating at the park. No extravagant party, birthday cake, candles and songs, just like BL wanted it. Afterwards, we went to the bear/leather bar that the boyfriend and I like to go to and had a couple of drinks and chatted some more. All in all, it was a pretty good night.

I think cooking generally makes me happy, too bad I don't think I'll enjoy doing it as a career.

---


Via Serious Eats and Daily Mail

On another note, Heinz is unveiling their prototype of the smaller microwave in the UK. This 7.4 x 6.2 x 5.9 inch portable microwave can be powered by a USB connection to your computer and can be used to heat up a little cup of tea, coffee or soup. Maybe a small burger or a cup of noodle soup? The final product will cost £700 (≈$1150) and the production cost is estimated to be lower once the item gets popular.

Do we really need a mini portable microwave? Most offices have microwaves and this one doesn't seem to be good for a lot of things. In the U.S., you can find a fast food joint and a Starbucks on every block and at every train station. I don't think there's any shortage of hot food and drinks. Also, do we really want to heat liquid near our laptop? Seems like a disaster waiting to happen. Unless you have a liquid resistant laptop, I guess. Personally, I'm a little squirmy about new technologies and their affects on health, I don't think I'll be a big fan.