The 'hood of Steppyhouse

The light around the 'hood this afternoon was very, very beautiful. 

So beautiful was it that even though I'm usually the sort who hops into the shower straight after I've returned home, this afternoon I decided I was going to head out, go for a jaunt around the 'hood, and take a couple of pictures. 

I'm glad I did. 

It is, after all, not every day that the place gets blessed with such inspiring skies and inspiring light. 

It is, after all, also, not every day that I have the spirit and the energy to throw in the wallet, the water bottle, the card, sweets and Chonkycam before heading out the house again. 

I wasn't exactly sure which direction I wanted to go, so I simply let my feet take me. 

There're a couple of streets around Steppyhouse, all of which balance between the public and the private. What makes this place interesting is that both types of housing are separated by just a single road, and it is this road that I find myself most frequently walking on. 

Actually it wouldn't be right to say that they're separated by a single small road.

It's more like the public housing estate sits right in the heart of the entire area and I'm (mostly) on just one side of this very big one. 

The area around Steppyhouse stretches all the way from one end of Eunos Link (Jalan Eunos) all the way till Chai Chee.

From Jalan Ismail, one cuts through the houses, past Lengkong Tiga, up a hill, down into Jalan Senang, and up again onto a steep slope where you find yourself at the back of Chai Chee. 

Suffice it to say that this be the route experienced drivers take to avoid traffic and traffic lights, and suffice it to say that the roads around Steppyhouse become like a thoroughfare where cars and lorries and bicycles make their way to and fro at all hours of the day, all hours of the night. 

Not to mean that the 'hood's a noisy one though. 

On the contrary, she's as quiet as she can be. 

Over here, the road names are transliteration of a distinctive language. 

How, and when they came about I don't know, but there's gotta be something if the road names within the zone are either a Lorong or a Jalan, and have names like Marzuki, Marican, Melayu, Awang, Ishak, Daud, Ismail, and Sarina. 

There's also gotta be something if the nearest estate is a transliterated name called Lengkong Tiga. 

Much of the estate comprises of lovely little houses, mostly terraced, but there're a few condominiums planted here and there, all of which are of reasonable size where some have swimming pools and ample parking space and others are compact size with just enough occupants in them.

I've been charmed by the houses for quite a bit of time. 

There's no house that looks the same. 

There's also no garden that looks the same. 

And whether it be a house which carries the vibes of today or of yesteryear, it's charming all the same. 

I've not lived here very long, but if there's one thing I've noticed about this place, it is that there's an overwhelming presence of the kampong. 

It's not a feel easy to describe, as in, I'm not able to put it into words as well as I wish I could, but it's there when the rains come, it's there when the winds blow, it's there when I walk into some of the little spots that might have been something else once but have now become playgrounds. 

What's more, the kampong feel comes and goes.

Sometimes it's along the path that I take when walking to the shops.

Sometimes it's in the air when I'm on the balcony at home. 

And sometimes it's in the trees and the plants that line the road which I walk on. 

One thing I'm quite sure of, though, is that the kampong feel's quite dominant here in the flowers and the trees and the plants. 

So it might seem a little surprising, and I'm not really sure about it, but never has it been that I've seen such beautiful flowers grow so well in garden after garden. It's not just there in a single house or two houses, It's there in nearly every garden that lines Marzuki and Melayu and Daud and even Marican. 

They don't even have to be pruned or in excellent green hand care.

If there's a huge grove of trees like at the corner of Daud, they're growing magnificently well. 

If there's a mango tree somewhere, the mangoes are growing very well.

And if there're flowers of various breeds, even a hibiscus and a bougainvillea and some other flowers whose names I know not of, they're all always in glorious bloom.

There's a house which has, if I'm not wrong, some sort of sugarcane.

There's a house with a small papaya tree. 

But it's the shrubs and bushes out on the little patches along the roads that surprise me most of all. 

I'll try to have more pictures when I go out for a walk another time but since it's not every garden and every house that I get to snap pictures without permission, there won't be many. 

What I do have is this, though. 

An electric pole.

An (old) electric pole. 

Again, it might not seem like much- like, what's the big deal, this is not the only estate on the island that's got such an electric pole, but this pole- often seen in areas where electricity first started running all through the 60s to 80s (at least) is a symbol of its heritage, it is a representation of its history, and grants new visitors and residents a tiny little clue to what this estate might have once been. 

Birthday & Christmas @ HH

You know, I really wasn't intending to write about these two celebrations here at HH. 

Not because I didn't think the occasions worth a celebration, but because it is not a genuine celebration when someone tells you that you have to 'follow instructions' and 'be a good worker' to the perfected letter, and should you fail, you 'don't love' the person and therefore 'i won't celebrate for you either'. 

It has been a heavy, and exhausting price to get these pictures.

And really, I don't quite know what and how to make of them. 

I can't say they aren't valuable. 

Yet neither can I say that they're treasured. 

Perhaps they are just what they are- a piece of documentation for my birthday and Christmas for 2024- and nothing more. 

With that being said, that's not all there is, however.

This place doesn't belong solely to just one. 

No, it's more than that, and this place, this table, this celebration, and everything that is still on here down to the table cover and placemats, used to be known to Mr. Radioman. 

To disdain these pictures and treat them like trash made me feel like I would be disdaining his former presence, his present memory. 

He did, after all, for my birthday, use to be tasked to get one of those round chiffon marble cakes from the neighborhood bakery downstairs. 

And he did bring out the cake knife and all, and then we'd share this chiffon marble cake together when we met up a week or so after. 

Same it was for Christmas.

He'd be the one buying the tub of ice cream and the fruit cocktail. 

I'd be the one getting special cookies for everybody. 

There's no ice cream now (thank God) but there's still the fruit cocktail and the soft drinks, and instead of cookies, I got butter cake, and pannetone. 

Afternoon Tea @ Jen Tanglin

Couple of months ago a friend told me about the weekend afternoon tea at Hotel Jen Tanglin.

Tell the truth, I was surprised. 

I had completely forgotten that their afternoon tea buffet was available year round, even now, at Christmas time, and not just during the (mutually) patriotic month of August every year. 

One very cool thing about the restaurant here is that the food's halal.

That makes a difference, really, because for the longest time there didn't seem to be a lot of halal hotel buffets here on the island, save for this well known one on Scotts Road, and I'd always wondered why. 

Yes, there's no pork and there's no wine, but oy, we're in the age where there's chicken char siew pau and chicken siew mai, and there're plenty of alcoholic-free beverages to go around. 

Perhaps that's where the charm of high tea comes in. 

I don't know anyone who takes wine or beer or champagne at tea time. 

But I do know that everyone and anyone can have a coffee, a tea, a teh tarik, a fruit punch, a peach tea, a rose drink. 

And that's one of the things we took this afternoon during our meal. 

My friend (surprise of surprise) helped himself to a big mug of thick, sweet teh tarik. 

I, for some reason, hovered all around the drink dispensers until I decided I wanted a rose syrup drink (without the milk, so it wasn't bandung) and got myself a glass. 

You'd be really mistaken if you thought that the food here wasn't good.

No, on the contrary, everything was very well prepared. 

Here at Jen65 they had specific cuisines at various counters all around the restaurant. 

On one side they had the salads and fruits fresh and cold. 

On the other side they had the sushi and the soba (if I'm not wrong).

There was the cooked food side where you got soups, you got pasta and mashed potato and even stir-fried vegetables done Chinese style. 

There were the appetizer type of bites, then near to the show kitchen there were the briyani rice, the mee goreng, the satay 

Especially all the spicy spicy local dishes that tend to make an adjusted palate and adjusted appetite feel very, very heavy when they're eaten elsewhere. 

I don't have to worry about feeling jerlak when eating the mee goreng here. 

In fact, so clean-tasting are the noodles that I can have more than one portion, and this afternoon, I went for two. Best thing I liked about these noodles was that I could taste the spice, but didn't find them overwhelming, nor too uncomfortable. 

On the same plate I took a couple sticks of chicken satay. 

Eating them kosong style, sans the peanut sauce, there was a bit of sweetness to the meat, they were fun to eat (as all satay sticks are) and they tasted good. 

One of the dishes that we took a lot of this afternoon was crab laksa, done our way and done our style. 

It wasn't just the crab that was attractive. 

The offering included a lot of mussels, prawns, and some other chilled seafood which we eyed but went more for the crab instead. 

Of course having crab laksa style meant much more effort on our part, but prawns fill you up, neither of us wanted mussels, and fresh crab meat seemed (by calculation) to be the most worth. 

Obviously that meant that my friend had to get in all the cracking and the hammering, but- with some help from the makcik wait staff- got into the hang of things pretty fast and we worked together where he hammered open the shells and I pulled out the meat with either fork or chopsticks. 

Into this bowl of laksa soup all the meat went, and even though you can't see it, it was smooth, tasty, good, and we slurped it up by the spoonfuls. 

All that effort made one very hungry though, so in between watching my friend hammer out the crab, I went for another plate that had some of the food I had been wanting to try the first round. 

There was this spinach quiche which I had been eyeing. 

There was a fried ham and cheese toast that had been cut into long rectangles and which, simple as it was, tasted pretty good. 

And I got myself some mashed potato simply because I'm not the kind who can resist trying (even a little bit) of mashed potato when I see one. 

Maybe the quiche would have felt cozier on the palate had I been able to eat it warm, but what with dividing my time between the laksa, the quiche, and the mashed potato, some parts of the quiche were warm, others, unfortunately, felt a bit cold. 

Still I liked the spinach.

Spinach, like pumpkin and boiled soupy leafy vegetables, is one of my favorite vegetables. 

I like it for its distinctive taste, its mushy mushy feeling on the tongue, and the dark green color that makes one feel somewhat calm. 

The mashed potato too was pretty good. 

I wish I had taken a bit more and eaten it fast. 

But there were still other foods I wanted to try.

Like the soon kueh, the kueh pie tee and a piece of char siew sou that, well, made me wish I had gone for the soon kueh instead. 

You know, I had thought that soon kuehs would only be appreciated by those familiar with it. 

Guess what, I could not be more wrong. 

The tray of soon kuehs was almost empty by the time I got there, and right behind me, a lady (whose soon kueh is not in their dining culture) took three, ladling out a generous amount of sweet sauce. 

Small and simple though they might be (really, just glutinous flour wrapped around turnips- nearly tasteless) these little kuehs had a most lovely boing boing chew when you bit into it. 

But it were the kueh pie tee that I fancied though. 

First of all, it is really hard to find kueh pie tee outside. 

I mean, you have to get the pastry cups, you have to prepare the ingredients, you have to lay them out nicely and you have to ensure that they're all prettily done to the right proportions. 

Lazy lar. 

I'm more chin chai when it comes to ingredients, just so as long as there're those that I like.

So this afternoon, instead of the usual mix of ingredients- the turnips, the finely chopped hard boiled egg, tiny prawn, everything- I filled the little cup with just the hard boiled egg, the parsley (a lot of it), the sesame seeds, and a little bit of sweet sauce. 

That was it. 

Nothing more. 

I liked it better this way. 

I didn't have to worry about the ingredients falling out when I bit into the cup.

I didn't have to think about the prawn sliding off the turnip or the parsley entangling itself with the prawn. 

Best of all, because I hadn't put in any of the warm, moist turnip, the pastry stayed dry and crunchy and crispy till the end. 

So nice was this combination that I went for Round 2 of kueh pie tee, taking on the fruits of dragon fruit and watermelon this time.

After that came dessert. 

One cannot come to an afternoon tea and not have sweet cakes or anything of the sort. 

So there was a plate which held three cream puffs (or profiteroles), a mango (or is it passionfruit) mousse cake, a kueh lapis (too difficult to resist) and what I think is a lemon curd cake. 

Then there was another plate which held more cake, of strawberry mousse sponge, more of the lemon curd cake (or is it something else), and then little cubes of Oreo cheesecake. 

I didn't get to try the nyonya kuehs or the pudding or the scones or the ice creams. 

A bit silly lar, I know, I also don't know why. 

Instead we tried making our own version of ice kachang where we ground the ice, dumped a whole lot of gula melaka syrup, and ladled some chocolate over it whilst waiting for it to freeze up a la McDonalds ice cream cone style.

Hey, it worked. 

Holland V's Tai Cheong

A friend, immensely surprised by the fact that till date I had not had a meal at Tai Cheong Bakery before, decided on the prompt that it was time I gave this place a shot, and go there for a proper meal. 

If my friend was surprised by the fact that I hadn't yet tried, I was even more surprised by the level of enthusiasm about me having not yet tried. 

After all it wasn't that I hadn't had their tarts and pastries before... 

But, of course, as I soon found out, having a full meal there is another matter altogether. 

It's not just the decor, or the ambience, or the menu. 

It's everything. 

You don't realize it at first even though, honestly, the char chaan tang vibe of the place should give you a clue. There're traces of Hong Kong's presence on the walls, the floor and even the tables itself, where underneath the glass-topped table you find little postcards, mahjong tiles and tourist-type of paraphernalia. 

The decor's a little reminiscent of 60s and 70s Hong Kong though. 

At least that's what I feel anyway. 

Can't say for sure if the menu's just as reminiscent- it would take a local to tell me just that- but the menu today at Tai Cheong here in Holland Village included dishes like Macaroni Soup, Noodle Soup, Scrambled Egg with a host of additions to choose from, Curry Rice where you could have Chicken or Beef, and Cheese Baked Rice. Something else they had was Silky Egg Rice. 

What made the foods here interesting were that you had lots of choices, and had lots of add-ons to choose from. 

Like with the Scrambled Eggs, where you could have a choice of Chicken Chop, Spam Fries, Cheese, Ham, Corned Beef, and Cheese & Chicken Chop together. 

With the Curry Rice, you could choose the Beef Brisket or the Chicken. 

With the Macaroni Soup, you could have it with Shredded Chicken or Three Eggs/ Luncheon Meat or Three Eggs/Ham.

I had thought we'd go only for the curry chicken as I'd heard that the chicken pieces were no tiny bird, that the curry was solid with the perfect blend of sweetness and creamy, tasty curry powder spice, and that there were generous pieces of potatoes in the curry. 

But my friend thought we should also try the Baked Rice, so Cheese Baked rice with Beef, Truffle & Mushroom Cream it was. 

No kidding you, it was SO good. 

You'd think this be just an ordinary dish of rice and beef slices mixed with cheese of various kinds and thrown into the oven. 

But here at Tai Cheong (maybe what with them being a bakery), they got the texture, temperature, and heat distribution pat perfect. 

Inside the very, very hot dish the rice was fluffy and warm with the truffle & mushroom cream evenly distributed all over, so much so that every mouthful included not just the warm grains of soft rice, but also the thick, warm cream oozing between the grains. 

For bite there were the beef slices, which, whilst I had feared they might be overcooked hard, turned out to be incredibly soft, full of beef flavor, and surprisingly easy to chew.

What I liked most about this dish was the cheese on top of the rice. 

You know how it's like if you've ever had cheese baked rice where the cheese doesn't blend with the rice, where the cheese literally can be peeled off the bed of rice below, and where both the cheese and the rice don't taste good whether together or even separate. 

Tai Cheong here gave you zilch of that (slipshot) (cookie cutter) experience. 

What's more, the cheese- crusty on some sides, melty on others, went so well with both the rice (and cream) and the slices of smooth, tasty beef. 

Had I not been starting to feel a little full, I would have gone for spoonful after spoonful after. 

Especially since the curry chicken was remarkably rich in flavors and taste, tummy-warming, even cozy. it wasn't as thick as I thought it might be, and I had a lovely time savoring the curry as if I were sipping on a soup. 

I'm definitely going back for either one of these dishes whenever I'm back at Tai Cheong. 

Maybe I'll try the Silky Egg Rice or the Cheese Baked Rice with Pork Chop and Tomato Gravy- the Pork Chop sounds interesting.

And I'm not going to miss out on their savories nor their bakes either. 

I'd be silly to. 

If I'm not going for the Buttered Toasted Bun with Condensed Milk or the Coconut Cream Bun- both of which I have not yet tried- I'm going back for the egg tart- which I usually do because the crust is crisp and buttery and the filling isn't very sweet- the Hong Kong Egg Milk Tart, and the savory Chicken Pie as well. 

Bangkok: Chicken Rice

Today marked the last day here in Bangkok, and the last day here at 42 Sukhumvit Residences in the Ekkamai zone. 

Was I pensive?

Very much so. 

This day, after all, culminated in 9 months' worth of monthly (bi-monthly) trips here to the capital city of Bangkok. 

When I first came here in March I had no idea how to ride the BTS, much less know where or what the stations were. It was a time where we got mixed up between Central World and Central Embassy, couldn't find our way from Nai Lert Park to Central Chidlom except by wandering around and studying the map. 

There was a time when I didn't know what Thipsamai was or how good the chicken of Go-Ang Pratunam was or how great the price of a BOOST smoothie was. 

Let's not talk about the regular, day to day things, where to stay, where to eat.

I didn't know about Big C or Siam Square or MBK or Jodd's Night Market. 

I didn't know about Emquartier or EmSphere or places like Thong Lor. 

Not to mention that I hadn't even been back to Chatuchak in 28 years. 

It might seem regular for me to appreciate beauty and cosmetic chain Eve & Boy or Beautrim now, but at one season we got into an argument with each other over whether to use the Chidlom BTS or the Siam BTS simply because Google Maps had parked the location of our phones separately. 

And about the BTS, let's not talk about stations like St. Louis or Sathorn or Phrom Phong or Silom or Victory Monument. 

We barely even knew the difference between Nana and Asok and Siam. 

But that was 9 months ago, and thankfully I know my way around the touristy shopping areas of Bangkok way much more than I used to. 

I know a bit of the Death Railway in Kanchanaburi too. 

This morning we had our breakfast of eggs and toast, packed, then checked out. 

Before leaving, however, I made sure I took a couple pictures of the room, so beautifully quaint were they. 

From here we headed out to Siam Paragon.

I wanted chicken rice from Go-Ang Pratunam, and because there wasn't time to run to the original outlet as i had done couple of months before, it was at the food court of the mall that we ordered our rice and steamed chicken and breaded fried chicken. 

There was a bit of shopping- I couldn't resist, finally- where I got nail polish from Eve & Boy. 

I think we went for a 90 minute foot massage at LeLe on the same side of Siam Square after, then took the BTS back to Ekkamai, where we got a Grab to Don Mueang. 

Thus ends the 2024 year for Thailand. 

I couldn't be more thankful for all the months that I've been here. 

There's a lot going on to ensure that I am here.

There's also a lot going on to ensure that I get to keep coming here.

This, I won't forget, I won't ignore, I won't treat lightly- ever.

Never in my life did I ever think that I would have the privilege to come here so frequent, and this, despite, circumstances that make it nearly impossible for me to be here. 

Perhaps one day, soon, in 2025, I might have a chance to go Pattaya or Trat or Chonburi or Chiangrai or Chiangmai. 

That's a lot to want to go. 

There is a lot too I wish to say about this entire season that I've been here, but perhaps I shall leave that for another article, another time. 

'Bangkok: Hey Hai Seafood & A Movie

We began the morning with fried toast and fried eggs and hot coffee the same way we'd been having few days before. 

A meal like this might look simple, might even feel simple- a slice of bread fried with butter and eggs made in the form of scrambled or omelet, with instant Nescafe Americano sugarless coffee (for me) at the side. 

But the best things in life aren't simple. 

Because if they're the best means they aren't simple. 

It's a blessing to be able to bite into the crunch of the thinly sliced toast and let the warmth of the butter melt inside the mouth. 

It's a blessing to be able to cut up the omelet into pieces and savor each piece as slow as I can. 

This morning we hung about in the room a little bit more. 

There's something about 42 Grand Residence that gives off a bit of an 80s nostalgic vibe. I don't know if it is the lay of the room, the space of the room or the furniture. 

I just know that there aren't many places that let you have a giant a** black leather L-shaped sofa with a high glass-topped coffee table facing the TV. 

Neither are there that many places that strive to give you that sense of warmth with their presence of furniture. 

I don't really know how to describe it, but if there be one thing about the room of 42 Grand Residence that still sticks in my memory, it is how they've laid everything out so neatly in such a harmonious manner that you can move seamlessly from stove to table to sofa back to fridge again. 

There might come a day where I forget just how the room looked like. 

But at this moment I can remember how the kitchenette is to the left right after you step through the door, where there is a sink, a stove, a countertop, and drawers for the crockery and cutlery. Next to the stove is the washing machine, which, whilst there may be those who balk at its placement, I actually find it rather practical where one can prep and cook and wash their clothes all at the same time. 

Facing the stove and washing machine on the other side of the wall you get the microwave, and the fridge, and in between both sides, a small coffee table that I think works well as a sort of pantry where you can place your sauces and breads and jams and snacks and cookies and all manner of cooking oils. 

Our loaf of bread sat there for three days. 

The bedroom comes right after, the bathroom is to the left, and may I just say how large and spacious this bedroom is, complete with headboard, wall counter (supposedly for the second television but one might just as well place books there), and a sort of dressing table that was comparatively empty save for a couple of little decorative plants that Housekeeping had thoughtfully placed there.  

Right outside the door of the bedroom is, of course, the living space, with TV cabinet, high coffee table, the TV itself, and next to it, the carved out dining space in the form of four dining chairs and a dining table. 

My favorite part of the room had to be, I tell you, the balcony. 

Maybe it was the direction the balcony was facing.

Maybe it was the peaceful (residential) neighborhood quiet of cars at that hour.

Maybe it was the lovely glow of the morning's sunshine over the balcony and all the charming houses in front of it. 

Later in the afternoon we took what felt like a very long walk from Sukhumvit 42 to (exact address) 112 1 Ekkamai Road, Soi Alley 10 on the other side of the BTS station for lunch at a Michelin-starred crab and seafood place called Here Hai. 

You know, until I got here, I hadn't known just how popular this place was.

Outside the outlet there was a queue stretching 20 people long, and then we got told afterwards to expect a wait at least an hour long. 

Queue or no, that didn't stop people from coming. 

And then for a while it seemed like it would be a very boring wait, but then chance happened and I got to see a bit of Royal Thai Police action. 

Right where I stood there was a burger place called Burger Dads. Up on the second floor, via a flight of stairs, there was a hostel called The Bob Hostel. 

What exactly transpired, I don't know, but four policemen drove up in their official ISUZU truck, got out, went upstairs, hovered out on the balcony a little bit, and then not long after came down with a sorta disgruntled male guest who was then guided up the back of the truck whilst the officers got in the front. 

It wasn't too long a wait after that, thankfully, and we were soon shown to our table so happened to be right next to the door. 

Like many family-run restaurants, Here Hai has a homestyle, no frills sort of vibe, with muted white (crabmeat-colored) walls, wooden square shaped tables with stools, and for decor, a kitchen wok hanging right above my head. 

I can't remember their menu right now, but there were definitely some dishes worth thinking about, and after a bit of peruse, plus some discussion, we decided we had stomach for just three. 

There was, of course, the signature Crab Omelet.  

I'm not sure whether we had it with rice or just plain but it has been some time since I had an omelet with this many chonks of chunky crab laid all over it, and it has been some time since I had the pleasant flavors of crab meat wrapped in a mouthful of soft, runny egg. 

Then because my friend wanted to have the recommended crustaceans, all of which were brought in directly from Surat Thani, we ordered a chili lobster, and a plate of mantis prawns fried in garlic. 

I'm not sure how to describe the chili lobster. 

Except that the flesh was remarkably sweet, the roe delicious, the lobster wasn't as spicy as I thought it would be, and it was actually quite fun yanking out the flesh from the shell of the crustacean. 

The mantis prawns were, to me, the interesting ones. 

Especially since up till now ignorant me hadn't known the existence of mantis prawns, which, whilst they do belong to the stomatopod family, they aren't exactly true shrimp. In fact, compared to regular shrimp, they're pretty huge- up to 10cm in length- and apparently are an aggressive predator in their shallow, tropical and subtropical habitats.

Gotta admit, they look fierce.

Even with their heads off, and, after being deshelled and steamed and cooked and fried with heaps of garlic.

They still look fierce.

But they are savory, their meat has a lot of chew, and they do have a lot of meat. 

Lunch over we walked across the other side of Soi Alley 10 towards the Thong Lor area to a Lemon Farm branch located on the 1st floor of a cute-sized shopping mall at the address of 90 Soi Thong Lor 2 in Watthana District. 

It was interesting trying to find the place. 

Somehow, goodness knows how, Google Maps led us to the delivery ramp of the shopping mall but fortunately the security there seemed to be experienced with poor lost farang Lemon Farm shoppers and right away guided us to the lift up to the 1st floor. 

Here we got a couple jars of biscotti, a few bags of cookies and snacks and more packets of organic tea.

Then back it was to Siam Square where we had a massage for two hours. 

in the late evening we headed to Central World's SF Cinema for the 9pm MOANA 2 movie. 

My friend had remembered just how much I liked the experience of The Bed Cinema, and gotten us tickets for two. 

I love this Bed Cinema experience. 

It's not that I haven't ever watched movies from a bed before, but to rest my head against comfortable cushions and pillows, snuggle under a blanket, and have a free flow supply of snacks, and soft drinks- in a public cinema- is a lovely, almost wild experience for me. 

I might want to come here in lovely pajamas and squeejee slippers for the movie.

I might even want to bring over a stuffie or two. 

Maybe one feels less stiff when it comes to The Bed Experience when watching a movie and so get to appreciate it more. 

Maybe one just wants a brand new method of movie watching- in a public space- like how drive-in movies used to be so popular years and years ago. 

There can be so many reasons for one to appreciate an experience like this. 

But I like it.

I like how lounging on a wide enough mattress makes me enjoy the movie more. 

I like how it gives movie-goers (especially those who discern their budget) a chance to watch their favorite movies from a bed aka in a bedroom where previously they might only have been able to watch from the living room sofa, or from the living room floor. 

Amenities at the bed include pillows, blankets and even a pair of slippers, but what I really, really love, are the snacks, of which (for that price of the ticket) SF Cinema does not stinge. 

There're little packets of salted mixed nuts & fruits. 

There're little packets of cookies. 

There're cute little bags of popcorn in the flavors of caramel sweet and paprika cheese. 

Then there're some sweets, some healthy stuff, and cans and cans of soft drinks which you can have to your heart's content. 

For those who prefer hot drinks, there's also coffee and tea. 

This evening I chose two bags of caramel, two bags of paprika cheese, a packet of cookies, a packet of nuts, and a can of Schweppes orange, which I'd seen sold on the supermarket shelves but didn't get to try before.