**sip**

...Ahhhh...Damn fine coffee.

Last night's small dinner gathering was a rousing success. I made four more or less authentic Thai dishes, all of which were very well received, particularly the savory minced chicken. This was one of my favourite dishes whilst in Thailand and I was gratified that my own version was very much like the real thing. It's a fairly simple recipe too with prep time being far, far greater than actually cooking time. Prepping the ground roasted rice that goes in the dish was by far the most time consuming. First you have to dry-roast the rice to a nice golden brown color, then spend an eternity grinding it with a mortar and pestle. Next time I may just throw it in the coffee grinder and see what happens.

My sister and her fiance brought over last night the DVD collection of a wonderful British comedy series called The Office, which was remarkably delightful in a very subtle way. Though I've long been a fan of British comedies (Are You Being Served, Keeping Up Appearances, and 'Allo, 'Allo) I had not heard of this one, and was quite surprised as to how good it was. It's filmed in the style of a "documentary" which certainly adds a unique touch which also gives the cast these great humor opportunities when interacting with the interviewer and "camera." Very original.

I just hope I'm not as bad a boss as the one features in the show. So no more jokes around the office.