All the way around

I went for my usual run this morning and made it all the way without my MP3 player breaking down. This is a good sign. It was a good fast run too considering that fall has arrived with quite cool temperatures and a blustery cold wind.

Small indulgence

The lemur took me out to lunch today. We went to Traditional Chinese Buns which is a hole in the wall in Chinatown specialising in northern Chinese dim sum type snacks, IWe had been once before and knew that it's quite different from the general run of dim sum places in town which serve a fairly standard set of Cantonese items. We had a hard time settling on one of the cold plates but finally settled on the boars' ears in chilli sauce though we gave due consideration to the red cooked pig's intestine. The ears were crunchy/chewy in a sesame/chilli sauce flecked with green onion. It was pretty good but even the small serving could better have been split among four than two (The 'large' must be a veritable aural hecatomb). We followed it with first rate steamed shrimp and crab dumplings. These are pretty much like the steamed dumplings elsewhere except for the wrappers which had a slightly doughy "home made" taste and texture. We finished up with a plate of pumpkin pancakes and some spicy mutton shashlik. All in all, a very satisfying lunch for two and less than $25 with tax and tip.

Silly kitten

One of these kittens thinks it's a ferret. It's trying to climb up the inside of my trouser leg. I am going to be so glad when these guys get past the messy, stinky kitten stage. Trust me, no-one would mistake these guys for kings!