The one about a bar and Taboo...

"Taboo" is a board game la.

Anyway, we had a comparatively mellow weekend. Saturday afternoon, Jo and I went out to do some banking and proceeded to a spot of furniture hunting. We've been putting off getting an oven for the home but lately Jo has been checking out the options. Either a microwave/convection/grill such as the Panasonic Genius range or a built-in full oven/grill by either Faber or Electrolux. You see, if we get a built-in, then the exact spot where the oven will be is currently holding all my alcohol/bar stuff. Which means, if we go ahead and fix the built-in, I will, once and for all, have to get a bar for the home.

Ages ago, I had been eyeing a compact, expandable wooden bar but didnt get it. So the whole of Saturday afternoon was spent hunting for something similar since we dont have a sizeable home to recreate a pub scene in one corner. Gotta tell you, very few furniture places sell bars or anything similar. At least not for reasonable prices...

Later that evening, we had went for Mass at the Church of the Assumption and then proceeded to this new restaurant "OZ" on Burmah Road, next to Edgecumbe Road. It boasts to be the first Australian Fusion Restaurant in town. What is Australian Fusion, you ask? Well, your guess is as good as mine! The dishes were hardly familiar and can't say is strictly Australian. The names were surely Aussie...with the Freemantle Fish & Chips coming close to the real fodder you can pick up at the corner shop in Perth. The menu tries to live up to its tagline but for those who book a place there hoping to find Ostrich, Witchety Grub or even Barramundi, they would be disappointed. No exotic meats or ingredients here, just the same ol' stuff cooked in an Aussie Fusion manner...which strangely enough resembled any other western style cooking.

In my humble opinion, here's the good and the bad of it -

Good: Ample & Easy Parking; Quite & Fairly Good Ambience; Menu items - Freemantle Fish & Chips, Peach Melba; Beverage - they have VB!! (Victoria Bitter - oft regarded as the best beer in Aussie).

Bad: Intrusive & Distinctly Poor Service; food temperature was mediocre; Menu items - Mushroom soup, steaks (all of them). Missing menu items especially the desserts.

We did have a good time though with our dinner companions - KH & Jinny, Chean Hong, Tek Wooi & Priscilla.

After dinner, it was off to Mel & Stacy's for drinks and leisure. Mel & Stacy couldn't get out this week cos Mel's folks were away and they had to watch little Naomi. So we brought the night to them, unknowingly causing little Naomi to stay awake wondering what all these uncles and aunts were up to! We eventually got to playing a game of Taboo which for the record was won by the guys! It was KH, Mel, Yan & myself versus Jinny, Stacy, Sue Khoon & Jo. I got to say it was close though a mere 2 points separate the teams at the end. Needless to say, the usual array of goof-offs were present giving us a fun, laugh-filled end to a pleasant night.

Well, a new week begins, hopefully a useful and productive one. It's leading into the Advent season and there're not many weekends left before X'mas. With the Penang Jazz Festival up on Dec 3rd and my cousin's wedding the weekend after that, doubt we have that much time to shop. Still, tradition must prevail. Just hope we can find that bar...