Jones the Grocer (Mandarin Gallery)

Started the day at 6am super early now i drive to and fro work in the dark so prob be as pale as a sheet when i finish this posting in......5 years?

It was a day when i discovered A SNT is the only thing you need to do in a PE, and how at the end of the day its all about collecting the changes and awaiting to round PRN (which can be quite disconcerting). 55 is only gonna be where i am, and fri's the firing day. omg! for a month.

gotta trouble fly on the first day and she orientated me on thurs - the list printing (only select the located ones) down to being split by two teams to just vitalising everyone. out of the ot they come and check one by one in the middle of the day. bumped into candice at the lobby so happily gathered all of us to lunch with mothi/nings and eventually (finally!) a very sniffly kels. a great respite to the rush of the morning. tho had a momentary shock re : the next mornings grand ward round and feeling super unprepared (and the shock never translated to action in the end too.....)

the exits then lasted forever (cos 730 was the magic no!!) and eventually when it all ended there was 2 washouts and 2 cs to be done and a listing for a persistent bld so womg it was mega lateness for this dinner.

So I arrive at this dinner at Jones the Grocer (Mandarin Gallery) totally apologetically to meet Joanne and Ms K - our long awaited date (cos Boeing Boeing was just impossible for tickets). Carol couldnt make it and Nat can only do supper (sigh) so it was just us. Ms K read the msg aloud in the teachers room to responses of the place being in Dempsey but of cos she checked it out and it opened in July 2010.

The entrees and tapas page looked too wonderful to miss out for the mains so we did just that :to order loads and loads of entrees and tapas. It was eclectic mix of ingredients and tastes we absolutely loved it.

Antipasti; I can't believe I only remembered I had this before AFTER I browsed through the pictures and saw it again. Loved the sundried tomatoes loads and the onions. We swooped for the onions plus sundried tomatoes, and for more feta instead of blue cheese. Absolutely delightful platter.

Is still a fan of the brown nutty bread x3.

Wanted to order the mains of lamb meatballs (but the 27 bucks for meatballs just puts me off) so had the Lamb and Rosemary sausages instead - absolutely loved the long long plate and how its laid out amidst all the nuts! You can see that its still not the end (s) that I managed to capture on my camera !

Seared scallop only as an afterthought (and I had an extra). I must say that even though salads make a big chunk of the dish that we ordered for the other things besides, it was still dressed very well and so we didn't mind all that much.

I bet this would appear to be a salad we ordered - but its a portabello mushroom with cheese! And an ang moh chai tao kway below (still can't figure out what it is). I still like the quirky layering of tastes in this.

Another tapas of salmon and avocado on baguette- i realise I don't like avocado all that much unless its mashed into a milkshake (or some other variant). Totally not a purist. Loved the preserved fruit (whatever it is) right atop.

Was gonna let the waitress take away the plate (we each took one and told her to clear ) till the waitress told us - hey you're missing the whole point ! the highlight is the dots on the plate ! the balsamic reduction !

Then you should be like 2am where chanting of every dot and scrape on the plate is described larh!

Anyway it was really good and we didnt let them clear it. Till they offered to give us a small serving of it ;P service is commendable.

Lasagna's the most unique version I've had - layers of crisp pasta (and i really mean, CRISP!) sheets with blue cheese stuffing and the most tart poached pears I've ever ever eaten. Easily of the most interesting dishes I've had.

Really enjoyed the evening dotted with updates of old classmates/old teachers(and their funny nicknames)/principals/pet peeves of english/40/40 feats/6 jades tradition, it was an evening filled with laughter and reminiscing.

Walked with Jo to the train station (cos I thought Borders'd still be open)and didnt mind cos i always enjoy my conversations with her. Tryin to have more dinners with mrs lee sj/Lim LL/mrs eng soon. Working just makes me miss the old times so so much!