Bubblicious
This weekend Travis and I decided to stay at the Jakarta Shangri-La on Saturday night. We were meeting a huge group of friends (well, some are friends, some haven't been upgraded from "coworker/acquaintance" status) at the hotel's French restaurant, Margaux, for a fabulous champagne brunch on Sunday so it was convenient AND fancy!
Saturday night we ate at one of the hotel's other restaurants, Satoo, which is an incomprehensibly huge international buffet. We'd eaten there once before and had been quite happy--fabulous curries, to-die-for roasted chicken and...the piece de resistance, A CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN. This time...eh. The naan was cold, the roasted chicken was replaced by mass-produced beef Wellington that was practically beef jerky and all the dishes that should've been hot were room-temperature.
I was mildly annoyed; I'd been craving some menu items that were either non-existent or mediocre. Then I wandered over to the dessert spread. Two skewers of chocolate-dipped strawberries later, memories of bland chicken tikka had begun to fade. Throw in chocolate ice cream so rich it tasted like frozen fudge, top it with some rainbow sprinkles and all was forgiven.
*Side note: at the dessert station, two of the available dessert toppings (unless I'm mistaken and these things had just been misplaced) were red beans and corn. Corn?! Why?
Later on that evening, mid-Daily Show International, we realized that we were still a little hungry so we ordered a few late-night snacks from room service. When the white linen-covered table was rolled in bearing our spring rolls and cake, it also included a bottle of champagne chilling in a silver bucket.
"The champagne is complimentary. Happy anniversary, Mr. and Mrs. Armknecht!" the waiter told us.
Ooh la la, indeed! The hotel was beautiful. We'd stayed there once before, when we surprised Kristin and Mark and Kim by picking them up at the airport and taking them there instead of to our house. They'd remodeled since then, and the room was gorgeous. Minutes after we'd checked in a bowl of fresh fruit and a huge bouquet of pink lilies, orchids and roses arrived-not by special order, just as standard procedure.
The brunch was nice today, too-waaaaaaay too much delicious food and waaaaaay too much fantastic Italian sparkling wine. I gotta say, I likes me the bubbly!
The reason we'd decided to go to brunch as a huge group was because in a few short weeks some of our friends are leaving for good. It was bittersweet, knowing this would be our last brunch with this particular group, but it was still quite fun and it was great to make some more good memories with our friends.
Two more weeks to go, kiddos. Two more weeks.
Tomorrow is my last class with my two 7th grade classes. I'll teach some of them next year in 8th grade English, but they've been so much fun. I also have two days left of teaching my 8th grade English class. These kids are my babies. I taught them last year and I was SO excited to learn I'd teach some of them this year.
The group I have is my biggest class (19 kids-I know some of you other teachers out there are hating me for that right now) and their energy level is HIGH. They're all super-smart, though, and so when I get that energy focused they are just a phenomenal bunch to teach.
Tomorrow I also get to have Mr. Throw Furniture and Scream Obscenities back in my 10th grade English class for the first time since his little tantrum. Yaaaaaaaaaaay. Luckily for me, how the schedule is working out this week means tomorrow is the ONLY time I have to deal with this kid for the rest of the year. Next year he'll be in someone else's class, someone else's ticking time bomb. *sigh* Thank goodness.
That class is having a reading day tomorrow so they can finish their books by the end of the year, so at least he'll be quiet. I hope.
Two weeks! I can't wait to see everyone. I can't wait to hug my dog and my family and my friends. Two weeks and two hours from now, I'll be on the ground in Omaha. Yay. :)
Saturday night we ate at one of the hotel's other restaurants, Satoo, which is an incomprehensibly huge international buffet. We'd eaten there once before and had been quite happy--fabulous curries, to-die-for roasted chicken and...the piece de resistance, A CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN. This time...eh. The naan was cold, the roasted chicken was replaced by mass-produced beef Wellington that was practically beef jerky and all the dishes that should've been hot were room-temperature.
I was mildly annoyed; I'd been craving some menu items that were either non-existent or mediocre. Then I wandered over to the dessert spread. Two skewers of chocolate-dipped strawberries later, memories of bland chicken tikka had begun to fade. Throw in chocolate ice cream so rich it tasted like frozen fudge, top it with some rainbow sprinkles and all was forgiven.
*Side note: at the dessert station, two of the available dessert toppings (unless I'm mistaken and these things had just been misplaced) were red beans and corn. Corn?! Why?
Later on that evening, mid-Daily Show International, we realized that we were still a little hungry so we ordered a few late-night snacks from room service. When the white linen-covered table was rolled in bearing our spring rolls and cake, it also included a bottle of champagne chilling in a silver bucket.
"The champagne is complimentary. Happy anniversary, Mr. and Mrs. Armknecht!" the waiter told us.
Ooh la la, indeed! The hotel was beautiful. We'd stayed there once before, when we surprised Kristin and Mark and Kim by picking them up at the airport and taking them there instead of to our house. They'd remodeled since then, and the room was gorgeous. Minutes after we'd checked in a bowl of fresh fruit and a huge bouquet of pink lilies, orchids and roses arrived-not by special order, just as standard procedure.
The brunch was nice today, too-waaaaaaay too much delicious food and waaaaaay too much fantastic Italian sparkling wine. I gotta say, I likes me the bubbly!
The reason we'd decided to go to brunch as a huge group was because in a few short weeks some of our friends are leaving for good. It was bittersweet, knowing this would be our last brunch with this particular group, but it was still quite fun and it was great to make some more good memories with our friends.
Two more weeks to go, kiddos. Two more weeks.
Tomorrow is my last class with my two 7th grade classes. I'll teach some of them next year in 8th grade English, but they've been so much fun. I also have two days left of teaching my 8th grade English class. These kids are my babies. I taught them last year and I was SO excited to learn I'd teach some of them this year.
The group I have is my biggest class (19 kids-I know some of you other teachers out there are hating me for that right now) and their energy level is HIGH. They're all super-smart, though, and so when I get that energy focused they are just a phenomenal bunch to teach.
Tomorrow I also get to have Mr. Throw Furniture and Scream Obscenities back in my 10th grade English class for the first time since his little tantrum. Yaaaaaaaaaaay. Luckily for me, how the schedule is working out this week means tomorrow is the ONLY time I have to deal with this kid for the rest of the year. Next year he'll be in someone else's class, someone else's ticking time bomb. *sigh* Thank goodness.
That class is having a reading day tomorrow so they can finish their books by the end of the year, so at least he'll be quiet. I hope.
Two weeks! I can't wait to see everyone. I can't wait to hug my dog and my family and my friends. Two weeks and two hours from now, I'll be on the ground in Omaha. Yay. :)
posted by Erin @ 8:03 AM
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