Dining With Jewelle

And if that is what it takes to live in a city where you can get everything, I think rather stay put in my small town.

I may not get much things and may have quiet nights, at least I get more value out of my dollar for most of the things that I do get.

My husband idea of comfortable walking shoes are sport shoes and I would stay home rather than walk around town with those - unless I am going for an exercise!

And because of that, I am always on the look out for stylish and comfortable casual shoes for use when I go on holidays. Although I usually walk around in low heels most days, you can’t actually do that if you intend to walk the whole day like you do when you’re on holidays right?

So check out these collection of comfortable and definitely trendy Blowfish shoes. I checked out the Blowfish women’s shoes last night and I saw several pairs that I do like - and even some boots (if only I have the right environment!). The prices are pretty reasonable too with most that interest me costing less than $50. I’m sure the Blowfish men’s shoes collection would be good too so if you’re looking for a pair comfortable and functional shoes, check this site out!

Last Friday we had a family dinner in Kuala Belait to celebrate a birthday and a “birthday”.

These two birthdays were actually my mother in law’s birthday and my father in law’s anniversary since he retired. While at first my mother in law surprised me by suggesting that we have Japanese, she then changed her mind and decided on Jolene Restaurant.

The only Chinese restaurant in Kuala Belait which they approved of - and where we had my father in law’s birthday dinner last year.

I am beginning to think that we are the only family who always dine out early as everywhere we went - especially in Bandar Seri Begawan - the restaurant is always empty when we arrived. And when I commented on this, my husband will always replied, “What time is it now…” - and true enough, an hour later there would be more people.

But is 6.30 - 7.00 pm really that early for dining out?

Anyway, this time I requested that we pre-order some herbal chicken soup. And later at the restaurant, the two birthday couple ordered sizzling deer meat, winter melon shoots and bean curd.

The vegetable was not popular though because I thought they were a bit old and tough. Also it’s more sayur kampung than typical Chinese dish so the others were not very keen on it. The bean curd was good.

And I am still amazed that we can get deer meat so easily here in Brunei as this is one of my favorite dish.

But these days, I have extra cravings for noodles and maybe that was why although the customary noodle dish for birthday very delicious, my portion was seriously pathetic and I could have eaten much more.

As for the highly anticipated herbal chicken soup. Total letdown. There was no herb smell and no herbal taste - basically it was not brewed long enough. Did not deserve a picture at all.

Well, it had better not disappoint because this was the most expensive dish - for those two slices of steamed cod fish!

Our total bill this time was below $150 (after some birthday voucher of 7% off) and was actually cheaper than last time - which was a whopping $200.

Because my two girls were so ready to sing the birthday song - I was told that while I was in the loo with Eu - Qi had been warming up with her songs a few times as soon as the cake was on the table.

So it was no surprise that their voices were the loudest when we finally had the sing song - and do you need to ask who helped to blow the candles? My nephew did not stand a chance - and luckily it was not his birthday!

We would like to think that the staffs were “entertained” by the girls antic - especially Qi who was tired and was extra boisterous…

It was another good birthday dinner outing.