We Had A Great Surprise Today,

Mick, Mocky and Jimmy called round,

 we had not meet up since before Christmas, so we had a lot of catching up to do,

 after saying our goodbyes it was then party time, today was Rizas's birthday, so we were off

 to Cherry's and without comparing notes in a strange happenstance both girls wore the same colour dresses,

 and what better way to start the evening than with a bottle of bubbly,

  we then all decided on the Sunday set menu, first an amuse bouche,

followed by,

  a selection of boiled shrimps with avocado, smoked salmon tartar

and parma ham with melon,

 which we all enjoyed,

 the salad bar,

 so I had to use the zoom on the camera,

 eyes down and tuck in,

 next course a curry flavoured cream soup with deep fried ginger and chili, not my favourite although the girls liked it, so I went with the lobster bisque,

 the soup was followed by a sorbet,

 which was nice,

 on to our main courses, 

 the girls both chose,

 beef tenderloin steak on potato-leek sauce, served with forest mushroom and tarragon-saffron sauce,

for myself baked pork tenderloin with pepper crust on vegetable ragout served with port wine sauce and rissole potatoes,

we finished with tiramisu, with oriental fruit salad,

 'Cheers!',

 and Happy Birthday to Riza,

 after the meal we made our way outside,

 and caught a baht bus home, if you want to dine at Cherry's it is located opposite the site of what once was the X-Cite disco on Third Road, after arriving home and saying our farewells to Riza we were off to bed.

There Seems To Be A Debate,

about modified crops entering the human food chain,

 but we already eat crops so modified from the original plant or fruit that many we would not recognise today without humans making the wild product better, like this wild carrot above,

or this banana untouched by human farmers,

and whilst we take corn on the cob for granted, this is what natural corn really looks like, and it should be noted the natural product only has 1.9% of sugar in it, unlike the corn we are used to today that has 6.6% sugar, as the article states, 'next time someone tells you we shouldn't be eating food that's been genetically modified, you can tell them we already are'.

I Am Surprised It Took So Long,

for someone without a mobile telephone,

to make a selfie stick for their MacBook, it is all in the name of art according to the artists behind the idea, the selfie stick even has it's own web page, the thought of hundreds of tourists using these is just to funny to put in words, great stunt by the artists.

This Is In The,

'what a neat idea' department,

it does what it says on the label, non dog friendly shops, where you buy your food for instance can now have a short time dog hotel outside, a company in Brooklyn has put the first two units in front of a retail store and coffee shop in the Fort Greene neighbourhood, it is a simple idea, instead of tieing your pet to a tree or lamppost you pay by the minute to keep your pet safe for the few moments you have to dash in to pick up shopping, the Dog Parker is insulated to avoid temperature swings, while a solar powered fan provides air circulation, users can track the inside temperature through the Dog Parker app, on days when the inside temperature goes below 32 degrees or above 85 degrees Fahrenheit, the units will be shut down and unavailable for use, users have to show proof of vaccination when they apply for the membership card that provides access to the Dog Parkers, members are then charged 20 cents a minute ($12 per hour), there is a three hour limit per 12 hour time period to avoid anyone leaving their dog in a unit too long, if anyone leaves their pet a Dog Parker employee will pick up the dog and bring them to a boarding facility, the company plans to have 100 Dog Parkers across Brooklyn by next spring, and eventually wants to expand throughout New York City and to other areas of the country, what a neat idea, and here is another great idea, make one for kids, so parents can have a few quiet hours for shopping, well I thought it was a neat idea.

Art On A Giant Scale,

on the side of a mountain,

is Simon Beck's canvas, 

 he often walks an estimated 5,000 steps an hour for up to 10 hours at a time to complete an average piece,

 the work is mapped out on a computer,

 then it is snow shoes on and the work begins,

we have featured his snow work before,

 but this is the first time we have seen pictures of his art in sand,

completing a work like this before the tide comes in has really got to take a mammoth amount of planning, never mind racing to the top of the hill to take a picture of it!

We Decided On A Steak,

for the main course of tonight's bar-b-q,

 so off to Friendship we went, as it was not market day the bike park was almost empty,

 and as a treat we stopped off at the coffee stall for a couple of ice coffees,

 the day sailed past, all too soon it was time for our evening meal starting with some New Zealand mussels in garlic butter,

 followed by garlic bread,

 then lite the barby for the steaks, so with smoke,

 and sparks we were soon in business,

 Diana decided that she was not hungry, 

 so only my steak ended up on the grill,

then a surprise,

 Diana had added bacon and onions to the baked potato,

 and nice it all was too,

 Diana decided on a ham and cheese toastie,

 and for dessert what could be better than strawberries and cream, we spent the evening listening to the Yardbirds, a great 1960s pop group which had a line up of three of the pop era's greatest legends, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page,

but I have to say in these PC correct times,

I am not sure if their songs would have been so well received as they were then,

but in any event we listen to all of the tracks that we had and thoroughly enjoyed them all, with that it was well past midnight so we were off to bed.

Are You A Doctor?

do you want to earn Aus$400,000 a year?

and receive a few other perks like no weekend or night duties and co-ownership of the clinic where you would work as a GP, if the answer to all of these is yes then look no further your dream job is here in Tokoroa Family Health clinic based in the Waikato region of New Zealand’s North island, 61-year-old Dr. Kenny has to cater to the clinic’s 6,000 patients all by himself and is finding it quite difficult. “It’s a huge problem to find replacements or find locums,” he said. “Last year, I cancelled a holiday because I couldn’t get a locum… and this year I am probably going to have to cancel a holiday, and it’s just tough for me.” Dr Kenny believes that the lack of interest has to do with young doctors not wanting to practice in a small town like Tokoroa, because the 13,600-strong rural town is perceived as a dead-end place to work, while he agrees that the job is nowhere near as exciting as a similar role would be in a big city like Auckland, he says that the plus side is the “ridiculous income,” over double the average income of a GP, “I can offer them a really, really amazing income; it’s incredible,” he said. “My practice has exploded in the last year and the more patients you list, the more money you get.” and all of that living in a dream location, I knew I should have kept going to medical school, but after 5 years of study I gave up, I did not think I would have the patience (patients), OK a feeble joke at best, but the job offer is not.

Street Art Comes To Glasgow,

this photorealistic mural, 

 popped up in Glasgow last week, from graffiti artist Sam Bates (aka Smug),

The piece is just one of several wildlife-themed contributions by the artist over the last year as part of the Glasgow City Centre Mural Trail that began in 2008 to help rejuvenate the downtown area,

and for me the good news is that they made a short film of the artists at work using just a small scrap of paper as a guide, amazing!