Yakiniku Like! - value for money fast BBQ

It's been a long time, but we're back and eating out again. Stopped posting for a while, because Photobucket was sold off and then all my old pics were either hidden or disabled (what a pain in my ass!). And I am too lazy to use imgur. 

So now, I'm going to use youtube video instead. Easier on the sanity in the long run. Anyway B1 pointed out that there is a new yakiniku outlet at Junction 8. I didn't mention that I already tried the branch at Suntec while out with my cousin. So we went to try it out yesterday, only to find a long queue outside.

But thankfully we discovered that you could book a table using QR code and go off shopping in the meantime. So we did, only to be bewildered by BHG decided to relinquish its second floor rental, and keeping its rental at Levels 1 and 3. How does that work? Refreshed the site and discovered our turn was imminent, we dragged ourselves back to level 1 where Yakiniku Like! is located (opposite the super salty AOne porridge).

The place was busy but the staff were polite and speedy, quite impressive.

Lazy (ah the running theme of my life) to order, we decided to start off with the Matsuri set. It claimed to be 400g of meat. Since I am very auntie nowadays, I started to calculate if it was worth it. 200g of karubi (S$11.80) + 100g chicken (S$5.90) + 100g pork (S$6.90) + 2 Sapporo beers (S$13.60) = S$38.20... hmmm I guess the rice, mentai cheese + soup must be worth 4 bucks?

Alas, we weren't full because we had little B with us. I added on 100g of prime karubi, 100g of karubi, 1 mineral water and 50g of gyu-tan. By the way people, 50g of gyu-tan, ie beef tongue, equates 4 thin slices ok? Also, why is beef tongue round???

In the end, I paid S$71.40 which included GST and excluded service charge. I think can eat again, except don't order the matsuri set. 

[Violin Score] Braveheart

 

original source: 简谱网

[Violin Score] Back to the Future

original source: 简谱网

[Violin Score] Gravity Wall by 澤野弘之 Sawano Hiroyuki

 

original source: 简谱网

Reading during the Covid-19 Pandemic

For one thing, I was super glad that the national library extended the loan period to 6 weeks for the remainder of 2020, since I am always notorious for reading and then chucking the book somewhere and forgetting to return on time. 

Woman's weekly (UK version, the Singapore version is lame and the US version sucks) was always a favorite of mine and it became even more so during the pandemic. I had started reading the magazine way before, back in 2012 when I discovered it in the library. For me, I loved the short stories, gardening tips and the puzzles, in that order. I even loved to look at what people were wearing (I did notice that the ladies they photographed tended to meet the demographic of their readers. No bare midriffs and short shorts!). But during the pandemic, the puzzles became my top favorite because they kept my mind active and away from thinking about all the terrible things they keep reporting on the news about Covid-19. The editors probably realized that as well, since the number of puzzles increased following the British waves and lockdowns.

Truthfully I thought that the crossword puzzles were very difficult. The codeword puzzles were more my tea because it tapped on my knowledge of English vocabulary and grammar without need for contextual knowledge. Word search was fun and no brainers. They also had sudoku too, which I then shared with my mom and aunts.

First experience of Parental pride from a high five

For many years, I did not have the burning desire to become a mother because I felt that I would be too demanding or harsh a mother, i.e. my child would probably hate me and write her own Mommy dearest memoir.

Now with B, this fear continues to resonate. Sometimes I wonder as a first time mother if I push her too hard or expect too much. I often have to remind myself, she's just a little baby. Don't compare or compete with other mommies in the mommy group (seriously like miss bear said, very toxic).

Today I decided to visit my corlick who had a leg operation at NUH, despite having to haul B along and it being bloody far from my house. I felt bad not going because she came to see me n B at the hospital when she was born. (Surprisingly given my nasty nature, a fair lot of people visited, to both my n bobo surprise. Probably to see what kind of devil spawn will come out of the nasty screaming witch. Lol)

I know she felt vulnerable because another dear corlick just died last weekend. And she sent me a pic of her injury... 

My parents and in laws could be dismayed to know I knowingly exposed B to icky germs but I never heed people who comment but 隔岸观火. And I am tired of my kid being deprioritised in favor of another grandchild.

Dear NUH, please do something about your layout. I could die just pushing B around the  maze of corridors and avoiding the hoards crowding into the visitor lifts. I am almost sorry for grumbling about TTSH which  i have now come to appreciate its excellent pharmacy.

But I digressed. I was surprised to see okasan and two other corlicks visiting as well. Okasan didn't visit after the first home visit but i understand, she has her own troubles. 

I have always noted that I have a child with much superior situation awareness than me. As usual, she was her charming baby self, obediently wearing her new strawberry hat (which she silently abhors) and baby mask, which earned some admiring marvels from my corlicks, who didn't hesitate to share their kids brattiness.

Okasan asked me what new tricks can B do? I said somewhat recklessly that she could do high fives. By reckless:

1. it's a new thing that we do as part of her guerilla crawling (i encourage her to crawl and tag my hand as "destination"). 

2. I dont call this tagging as high five.

3. B doesnt really respond to strangers.  She usually sees my face to determine if i am familiar with the person googoo gagaing her, thereafter choosing to smile or evil glare the person. Like i said, better situation awareness than me. She can also do a mean fuck you glare, like "why the fuck are you making googoo gaga face? What are you? A baby?"

Thankfully, i think because i was super happy chatting with okasan, she registered okasan as ok and immediately high fived her back. And true to okasan's nature, she tested b to see if it were a fluke and asked her to high five again. 

Which she did. 3 times.

I was like... Rainbows and hearts i tell you.

Not in nearly 4 fucking decades has a high five brought a burst of meaning to my hapless life. Thank you B, in that magical instant, you made feel that my decision to stop work to full time parent you was worth it. You wonderful, brilliant brat.

P.S. I hope that when you do write that mommy dearest memoir, you'd remember that you bring joy to your mother's jaded, hardened soul even if she doesn't tell you that to your face.

Killer Litter: Explained

Translation:
A 1kg rock will kill you from 30 m above.
A mahjong tile will break a bone from 20th floor drop.
For a falling egg, you will get:
- wetness from 4th floor drop
- torn scalp from 8th floor drop
- broken head from 18th floor drop
- death from 25th floor drop
A palm-sized watermelon rind will kill you from the 25th floor drop.
For an empty can,  you will get:
- broken head from 15th floor drop
- death from 25th floor drop
A 4 cm nail can break your head from 18th floor drop.

Blame Female Empowerment for your singlehood?

Getting ready to zzz after the typical shitty day, I decided to lurk at the other EDMW's site which highlighted this youtube clip (the voice sounds like that of a Sinkie male, doesn't it?). By the way, the youtuber is encouraging responses @ theNSFWview@gmail.com. 

 A few minutes in, I was wondering what happened to me. Because I wasn't even getting mad at what was said in the clip. I was doing this...

Should I be disappointed in myself for my level of indifference huh?

Maybe when I wake up, I will feel different enough to sign up that email address to "penis enlargement" adverts. After all, the intent behind this antagonistic rhetoric, is to sell a book *roll eyes*.

我的心情谁会懂

 

等你等到我心痛　等你等到没有梦
所有感觉已成空　就让一切都随风
等你等到我心痛　我的心情谁会懂
所有真情的感动　已消失无影踪
爱你爱你始终　恨你恨你不懂
我付出的心有多深重
反反覆覆的爱不能相拥
爱你爱你始终　恨你恨你不懂
我真的等你等到心痛
平平淡淡的爱怎么相容

How my teeth will forever be clean

thanks to Darlie and their excellent marketing campaigns.

First the Singapore Darlie had that massive mugs that came with two tubes of toothpaste.  Was great, I bought two sets (i.e 4 tubes of toothpaste), and broke one mug. *heart break*

[photo credit: MyFatPocket]

Then there was the mug where Hello Kitty is riding the great tube of white (less pretty, Darlie everywhere). 2 more tubes of toothpaste...

Then when I was in Hongkong with the girls last week, what happened? I came across Darlie in Wellcome.... and they came with Rilakkuma summer edition procelain bowls.

Yup you heard me, I lugged one set back (earning me massive eyerolls from the gals, especially since I was already lugging lots of weird shit back). Which brings to a wonderful total of 8 tubes of toothpaste to be used by my tiny household. Damn you Darlie.

There~! Proof that I am a victim of cartoon gimmicks. Thank god the plate didn't shatter during the flight. I might have committed seppuku if I only had the darlie. That's how I ended up with a Brown cup (exclusive to HongKong Airport, or so they say), the summer Rilakkuma plate with 2 freaking tubes, and some toy vehicles).

Going overseas with gals is sure different from going overseas with Bobo. Tripping with him, all running around capitalizing on time and making sure we catch every single sight (leaving us super exhausted. Though in the last 3 trips, I have started to set aside some relaxation, e.g. cycling around Lake Forggensee, admiring the clouds at ChingJing and spa in Busan). Tripping with the gals, small catfights, sleep-ins and lots of girl talk. Last year we didn't manage to kill one another in Ho Chi Minh, but this time around, we destroyed one another's wallets, 损友 style. At one point, it became like this:

Miss Bear: Do you think I should buy this luggage tag (which I totally don't need?)

Me: Why ask? Buy la.

She ended up with 3 luggage tags and 7 foldable shopping totes (as did I).

The other Miss Bear also insisted that we wipe out to the last Hongkong dollar we had, down to the Octopus card, which is how I ended up with the McDonald's cup and the Hello Kitty roller coaster toy.

The obligatory Omiyage. The yellow purse I bought simply because it is a long running joke between Bobo and I.

The gardening crap were stupid buys, in general, especially the hangers. Was a pain trying to pack them since they couldn't fit into my luggage or my bags. I had to go around Hongkong begging for cardboard. Fuck, you have no idea how big Hongkongers are on recycling. I literally had to almost fight with the cardboard collecting uncles and aunties. In the end, a super lovely cashier from Wing Wah took pity and emptied a box for me (which also led to me overspending at the shop in gratitude).

I endured some whines from the Misses Bears, who couldn't understand why I would wanna compete with the old people for cardboard, and told me to buy a 红白蓝, 损友 style. I would except that the only one I saw, sold for 65 Hongkong dollars (Perhaps they upped their prices after being copied by turn-cheap-into-expensive Balenciaga). Seriously go rob a bank or something. Almost S$13!!!!

It's all Balenciaga's fault

I have to say, this is the first trip I spent so much money without blinking. When I told お母さん, she said, "Good!" (alluding to the fact that I am a skinflint and seldom spent money on myself, other than food).

ユーリ!!! on Ice

I am late to the fangirl party, seeing that this anime ended in Dec 2016 already. I have developed an unhealthy thirst for variety shows where people complain about their relationships these days. So I usually rely on Bobo, who of course, filtered this anime because it contains Yaoi.

I don't have a preference for Yaoi themes, though one of my favorite anime of all time is Gravitation.  My preferences for anime run along these lines, specific theme + excellent OST +  biantai relationship. Which is why I loved 2015's Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso.

But Yuri on Ice!!! It's really вкусно!!! An excellent combi of men's single ice skating and self-inflicted stress + wonderful music (i.e. compositions by my new favorite 松司馬拓, though I love "La Parfum de Fleurs" as much as I hate  "Shall We Skate") + the will-they-wont-they-are-they-gay relationship between Yuri Katsuri and his ice-skating-rival-turned-coach, Vitya Nikiforov.

I had to admit that when I saw Vitya's eyes narrowed as he watched the viral video of Yuri emulating his own freestyle program, I thought he was a twisted individual who was going to fuck Yuri over after he steals his heart. Nope, the only twisted individual was me. It was pure BL at its best. He saw the video and recalled the poor drunk sap who clung to him like a desperate leech and beseeched him to "be my coach" if he won a dance-off with other Grand Prix finalists.Of course it might also have been because he was also in the doldrums after winning the championship 5x. You know it has become the "this is nothing, it is to be expected"?

There are plenty of guffaws that sensual yet flawed Vitya made as a first-time coach, to one sad, yet poignant point that he made Yuri cry and then the latter even had to console him. Like Yakov his former coach, said, he thinks only of himself, so suddenly he has to start putting the introverted, self-deprecating Yuri first, must have been tougher than teaching him any of the jumps he knows. Yuri's low self-esteem is quite unbelievable, he says a few times in the anime that he is a dime-a-dozen JSF skater (when he was the top Japanese representative for 2 years *I felt like smacking his head with a slipper everytime he said that, what a diss to the rest of the JSF*). Kein wunder why he received a nice burn from his coach.

There is a lot of obsession online about whether Vitya actually kissed Yuri during Cup of China. IMHO, this is the power of suggestion at its best. The fact I don't see it makes it even more powerful and magical a scene :D And then at Episode 10, we find out that the whole relationship was Yuri X Vitya and not Vitya X Yuri? It just made everything make sense.

Anyway during the same weekend wannacry was wrecking havoc all over the world, I was immersed in fangirling the **** out of the anime. From finding the songs (I discovered that Soundcloud has nicer versions than Youtube *no diss to the covers* - just own preference), hunting the doujinshis and rewatching favorite scenes in the anime like 100+ times. My favorite scene is the first episode where they sliced in Vitya's performance with Yuri's one of "Stand by me", as if they were skating as one.

I also liked the screenshots of the skaters' instagram (very realistic and engaging). I bet every girl who watched the anime tried to set up v_nikiforov (only to discover that there is a real-life Victor Nikiforov from Novosibirsk, who has already taken the handle) 

I am very intrigued by the recent Japanese animators' including real-life locations into anime. Say for example, Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari which hard-sold Kagawa and Shodoshima Island in 12 episodes (I have to say that this "product placement" worked for me, watch this space for details later). I now have a burning desire to visit Saga, Kyunshu prefecture lol.

Interesting quips from 涂磊

Our fav youtube show before we got netflix was 爱情保卫战, though it is slowly being replaced by another favorite 一转成双, which I was reassured by Mr Bear that would deliver violence on top of the volatile relationships ( I had to watch like 20+ blurry episodes before someone finally got slapped).

But of course 一转成双 does not have the erudite 涂磊, whom we cheekily nicknamed a nice foul word courtesy of the Canton dialect. He can toss 4 worded, 8 worded chinese idioms 蒺藜火毬-style at warring couples. Sounds very bombastic, but I cannot really understand them (possibly because my Mandarin is pretty shite).

Here's a great sample:

Korean adventures in Blowfish aka Pufferfish

Yesterday, we wanted to have dinner at my aunt's favorite Korean restaurant, Xing Xing Korean Restaurant, along Tanjong Pagar road (which I also had lunch at with colleagues to celebrate the end of fucking horrible 2016 *an epic horrendous year of losses*). Unfortunately that evening the restaurant was fully occupied with a Korean tour group (seriously,  you come to Singapore to eat Korean? It's like me going to Korea to eat mee pok :D but I can understand. After a few days in Australia, my mother and I wanted to just find rice, any rice.). 

So we ended up at another Korean restaurant which I had eaten before, because I wanted to ask Bobo to try sea squirts, only to receive a vehement "NO". The BBQ was cheaper but because we were freaking cold from the relentless rain, we decided to order a hotpot. I wanted to get codfish (they were out *sigh*) so I suggested blowfish. 

"Blowfish? Is that pufferfish?" Bobo asked. Yeah, turned out it was. After a few grumbles about being poisoned, we chose the pufferfish. As we were eating the hotpot, Bobo suddenly piped up, "wait a sec, didn't we have pufferfish the other time?"

"You mean at Jagalchi? It was abalone."

"No, that pufferfish specialty restaurant."

금수 복국 specializes in pufferfish

Oh Yah! That pufferfish specialty restaurant 금수 복국! Back in Jul, we decided to go to Busan and Seoul for a week. As usual, I used blogs for references, earning me a lot of brickbats from Bobo this time as many of the suggested eateries are no longer open. I must say that South Korean turnover is super high, as compared to other recommendations I get from blogs for other countries, we encountered close to 70% failures.

Fortunately, 금수 복국 was open. In fact, it was bustling with lunch hour business when we reached in our usual blundering, confused mode (GPS and Google maps suck when standing along narrow streets especially with nearby tall buildings. The business is split into two floors, one floor serving the busy lunch crowd of ajummas and ajussis (I noticed an overwhelming proportion of older folks) who just want to eat, gossip, and glare at us two strange morons not necessarily in that order. The top floor is the more atas, zen establishment where you can dwell in silence about being potentially dying from a bite of the poisonous fish.

The saner priced menu (downstairs)

I was determined to try the atas "Kaiseki" menu, of course, having read that the blogger had a romantic set which I thought was reasonably priced. Bobo kicked up a fuss of course, because that salty olive wanted to eat the cheaper dishes downstairs.

But of course I prevailed.

But the so called romantic set was no longer available. Instead we ordered the fugu sashimi lunch set (40,000 won per pax). On hindsight, this is still cheaper than eating in Singapore (the hotpot alone was S$75, didn't even come with rice. Is so banned by me now).


For this price, we enjoyed the following:

See? Upstairs is different. Once you sit down, there is a chilled pumpkin soup

Banchan comprising of anchovies, cabbage kimchi, eggplants and octopus (or was it Jellyfish?)

Palate cleanser of "gelatin-like" fugu skin salad

La piece d'Resistance, Fugu sashimi

The service is different upstairs and downstairs. Downstairs they were polite, efficient but abrupt, even had a lady who could communicate in Mandarin. Upstairs, while the Manager could not communicate well in English, he was really effusive and endeavored. The lady who served us could not speak a word of English, but was very kindly and gentle, guiding us on how to eat the fugu sashimi. To roll chives and fugu skin (white strips in middle of plate) in a slice of see-through flesh before dipping in wasabi or gochujang, whichever floated your boat.

Some fishes. We can't understand Korean, but by the staff's hand gestures, they should be and were super yumz

More fugu in a yummy sauce

Fried Udon to fill us up. I super like!

Tempura. So-so I thought.

Finally we had the fugu stew. You could choose between spicy and non-spicy, which both of us tried. Spicy was better.

Both spicy and non-spicy versions came with golden mushrooms, watercress and bean sprouts with the fugu. You could add condiments, which came at the side.

I thought that for the variety and service we had, the price was worth it. Also there was the beautiful and quiet ambience, nice to relax and cool down after a morning trek to the gorgeous but bloody ulu Haedong Yonggungsa (famous temple by the sea). Note: one of the Busan's outlet malls is about two bus stops down from the temple's bus stop. I would have stopped but Bobo didn't let me *infuriated*.

Seriously no joke, trekking in the hot Korean summer to reach the temple.

Lisa Beazley - Keep me Posted

Title	Keep Me Posted
Author	Lisa Beazley
Publisher	April 5th 2016 by NAL
Genre	Chick Lit
ISBN	1101989866 (ISBN13: 9781101989869)
Length	320 pages

Two sisters separated by oceans started writing to each other after being inspired by their grandparents during Christmas reunion. Each sister encountered family life problems, one self inflicted by her own unhappiness and low self-esteem, the other by her husband's infidelity.

The book is written from Cassie's perspective, so we only hear about the other Sid from her letters. Sid is definitely the more lovable and zen character, reminded me of my own aunt, than her sister who is hung up about her own regrets to a point where she neglects her wonderful husband (he splurged his life savings so that she could have IVF treatment to have their beloved twins, ceded to her when she wanted to stay in their beautiful apartment which became too tiny to contain the same boisterous twins and didn't even complain when she spent nearly 4K on clothes), preferring to get excited about meeting an ex who treated her badly.

I thought it was an easy read for a dull afternoon, though the happy ending had me rolling my eyes a bit lot. Oh come on, it's a little too good to be true.. [spoiler in white: Cassie gets to share a beautiful new compound with her beloved sister and their families]. I kinda want to slap Cassie, I thought her husband and her sister gave in a little too easily. I mean her sister spurns social media and her idiotic little sister accidentally posted their letter exchange online with "Slow News Sisters" blog that goes viral. I WOULD HAVE PLACED HER BETWEEN MY THIGHS IN A MOUNTAIN POSE AND SLOWLY CONTORT THE BREATH OUT OF HER. I am not convinced that Sid loves her husband, it felt a little as if she just went with the flow since she is so zen. And the husband character just existed so that he can pay up for the expensive alimony at the end.

It was like the author gave up towards the end, and like "fuck it, lets give a nice ending so that I can stop writing."

3 out of 5 stars (because of the ending).

Happy Father's Day

Just Kidding.

Happy Father's Day to all Daddies (including mine) out there!

Susan Mallery - The Friends we keep

Title	The Friends We Keep
Author	Susan Mallery
Publisher	Mira, 2016
Genre	Romance
ISBN	0778318729 (ISBN13: 9780778318729)
Length	402 pages

Edit: I mistook the writer as Jill Mansell (another of my favorite authors. Ah, the errors when reviewing via phone. Sorry Jill!

Susan Mallery's books usually revolve two or three women who are related to one another. In "The friends we keep", three friends who know one another from "Supper's in the bag" face their own life challenges as they prepped their meals three hours a week. Interesting business concept, I must say.

Gabby Schaefer, the law graduate turned second wife/stepmother, is readying her twins for kindergarten so that she can return to part time work. She doesn't really have to work because her hubby's quite well to do. But she is dying to find herself after being a hausfrau for five years. Ah first world problem, as compared to her friend Hayley Batchelor who is shortchanging her and her hubby's life in her desire to have her own child. Never mind that she had five miscarriages and her husband's desperate pleas for her to have a hysterectomy to save her from hemorrhaging. 

Nicole Lord, the only person in this story who i find is the protagonist of the love story, is the last friend who makes up the trio. Her ex was just the sperm donor to her lovely son Tyler, so much so that her son no longer cares whether the man shows up to see him. Instead he latches onto the author of his favorite book series, Brad the Dragon. Too bad mommy had a bad impression of Jairus after he mistook her for a hooker. Interesting friends he has but too bad, the book focuses on her friends instead and we never get to see his friends. Would have been interesting to meet the kind of people who might get their friend a hooker after he complains of a dry spell.

All three stories are engaging, sad and touching all at the same time.  Nicole's story was romantic but very run of the mill.  Could have predicted that she would fall in love with Brad the Dragon's author. Boring. Hayley's story was a bit whiney, not about her not having kids but her emo baggage from being an adopted daughter. Gabby's a great mom and I liked her story the most because it showed the progress of her relationship with her step daughter strengthening through adversity.

Fairly interesting read. 3.5 out of 5 stars

Robin Kaye - A little on the Wild Side

Title	A little on the wild side
Author	Robin Kaye
Publisher	Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2015 (first print 2013)
Genre	Romance
ISBN	1492608564 (ISBN13: 9781492608561)
Length	387 pages

I can understand why romance authors like to write serials. They are usually set at the same location with the same family and friends, so basically they only need to explain a place and characters once, and keep regurgitating the material over and over again in the subsequent books. This way they don't have to create a new setting with new characters every time.

This book is about Bianca Ferrari who appeared in an earlier book about the same Kincaid family, which I didn't read, did not know the back story and became lost at some parts. E. g. Why is Grandpa joe their grandfather even though he is not blood kin? Who are Ben and Gina? The book assumes you read the earlier book so it picks up from where Trapper (cute, three brothers, Hunter, Fisher and Trapper. Why not a Gatherer while you are at it?) last fucked Bianca. We are told that they did the dirty in three or four time zones, and somewhere along there, they became pregnant.

So its a pregnancy book, and even though Trapper found Bianca's black book (ah yes, the notorious little black book, when Bianca has a cell which can also store a contact list?) full of eligible men's names with little stars and his name was not even inside,  he was able to conclude he was THE baby daddy. This when he has a back story of a cheating fiancee who became preggie with the senior partner's baby despite being in an ongoing live-in relationship with him for 3 years?

Wow, no emo trauma from being conned the first time. This is how we know it is true love because he never asks for a paternity test. And how loving and accepting the family becomes after they learn that Bianca is pregnant? Even though they apparently did not like her earlier (in the earlier book).

Luckily Trapper's faith is absolute and proven when the twins are born and they look like their Auntie Karma. If not, wouldn't he be like trapped? 

Would have been a more fun ending. I mean he loves her right... so he should be down with raising her two babies. Lol.

Rating: 3 out of 5. If you like to read about pregnant emotional women.

Believability - 3/5 (if not for their terrible childhoods, it is very irritating to accept these two very intelligent and goodlooking people meeting each other and procreate without knowing basic protection); Romance factor - 3/5; Readability - 3.5/5 ; Yummyness of male protagonist (YMP) - 4 (can stand up to abuse well)

Sophia Nash - The Once and Future Duchess

Title	The Once and Future Duchess
Author	Sophia Nash
Publisher	Avon, 2014
Genre	Romance
ISBN	0062273639 (ISBN13: 9780062273635)
Length	384 pages

This book is one in a series of books about dukes being forced to marry by the Crown Prince after they had too memorable a bachelor party before the Duke of Candover's wedding. So memorable that someone died and the is public outcry on the state of the monarchy.

So the Duke of Candover, James Fritzroy, is anal and rigid, and not very well liked by the other dukes. But because he is a premier duke (not all dukes are equal, it seems) , he has many women still wanting to marry him, most of all, the super desperado Duchess of March, Isabelle Tremont. I cannot understand the fascination on her part, other than she may have 恋父情结. Her dead daddy is his godfather/friend, and she transfers her desire for daddy's approval onto his friend. Otherwise please explain to me why she likes much older, very zzz man?

And because James is anal and rigid, he and the determined Isabelle spent a lot of time discussing what is marriage, passion, love. So boring. Luckily distraction comes in the more exciting shapes of the Duke of Sussex and his Scottish bride. Their story is more exciting but unfortunately spans across this and an earlier book so basically we get a summary and then randomly inserted slices of a conclusion. Somehow Sussex realized what his bride did for him and all was forgiven. He was suddenly down with marrying the poor governess. 

This book was pretty haphazard with the various characters appearing in the book. Like why does Mary of Kent like the Duke of Barry? Well because suddenly they did, thats why Mary, unlucky in love is upset by Barry wanting to marry March. *roll eyes* 

Rating: 2 out of 5. 

Believability - 0/5 (right, because the elite can readily accept a governess as a fellow peer); Romance factor - 2/5; Readability - 2/5 ; Yummyness of male protagonist (YMP) - big fat 0.

YEah Baby! Trumpie is the Republican candidate

Frozen "Let it go" Violin Solo

[source]