This evening we popped over to the Asia Park shopping centre. Primarily because one of Irina’s friends has her birthday this week, and Dana had kindly passed on a voucher she bought at Chocolife for the Bomb Cosmetics boutique. Whilst Irina decided on the gift (I’ll not yet post details on the off chance that Balzhan ever actually practices her English by reading this site!), Tim, Anna and I took a little stroll up and down, during which time Anna wanted an explanation as to why she couldn’t eat the apple on a plastic tree, and Tim eventually conceded that not having Mummy directly in front of him did not mean a constant scream was required. Eventually a gift (and something for our flat, a nice smelling citrus candle that caught my eye) was selected, and we proceeded upstairs with the idea of grabbing a quick and easy tea from the fast food area. Every other time we have visited this mall in the past, and selected the naughty but nice treat of no cooking or clearing up, we have gone with pizza. Today, however, was a break from the routine, as we decided to finally check out the prices of the Sky Bar. Although not cheap, given the view and the relatively upmarket (for a shopping centre) feel, we decided to try it out.
Quite a few items of food and drink from their menu were not available, but I decided to try their beef schnitzel. Well worth the gamble, definitely the second best schnitzel I’ve had in Astana. Given that I can not remember which restaurant served the best ever (I’ve tried all the likely suspects, all of them disappointed), I think the Sky Bar will be getting a few return visits in the months to come! Irina had sushi (she thought it was an average result in terms of taste, but definitely small portions considering the price), and Anna had the (beef!) carbonara. As it was an adult-sized portion, Ira and I helped her to finish it off in the end. Do our sacrifices know no end? 
Oh that reminds me, for friends and family who have an interest, I don’t think I’ve yet mentioned on the blog the reason that all four of us have mostly been in the flat since last Thursday, rather than the normal rushing around to playgroup, Chubary etc. – it turns out that Anna and Tim have both got bacterial tonsillitis (at least that is the closest translation we could fine, and it apparently is different to viral tonsillitis?). So we have been trying to keep their temperatures down, dealing with short sleeps/naps, and generally not doing a great deal instead.
