a long sunday...
12 years ago
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Cap Dewa Perempuan
My all time favourite soya sauce that I grow up with has to be the Angel Brand (Cap Dewa Perempuan) by Bidor Kwong Heng Sdn Bhd. Finished my "imported" soya sauce bottle and so tried to look on the web whether it is possible to get it in London. Was quite surprised to have stumbled across the company's website: http://www.bidorkwongheng.com. Seems quite established indeed. But still haven't manage to find any on the shelves in asian supermarkets here...
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
What's for dinner tonight
Was looking through some japanese recipes the other day and stumbled on a youtube clip of how to make tamagoyaki. I know...it's the simplest thing on earth, but was my first attempt.
Sauteed chopped vege, minced porkie and tamagoyaki with egg noodle base...
Sauteed chopped vege, minced porkie and tamagoyaki with egg noodle base...
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Reykjavik Easter w/e
9/4/2009 - Boarded the 20:30 Iceland Express flight from Stansted and reached Leifur Eriksson Airport around 22:00 local time. Took the bus which runs very frequently from the airport to the city center's bus terminal where we took another smaller bus shuttle to the hotel. First impression, everything seems so simple, one bus, one destination, one route. The bus costs about 2200 kronas which includes hotel drop off (1700 without).
10/4/2009 - After an early breakfast @ Hotel Holt, went on the Golden Circle Classic tour. Again, same company (Reykjavik Excursions) that picked us up from the hotel to the bus terminal where we join another bigger group, bigger coach, about 63 on the tour. First stop, Þingvellir National Park and then headed to the waterfall of Gullfoss. Had lunch at a restaurant there serving traditional icelandic lamb soup. Tasted like ABC soup without the tomatoes :), but very soft lamb. Next, the spouting hot springs of Geysir and Strokkur. And then to the Skalholt memorial church. Tour ended with a visit to the Nesjavellir power plant. Got back to the city center around 5. Maximising our time and taking advantage of the late setting sun, continued our day covering some city sights, Tjornin city pond, city hall, Adalstaeti sq and down by the harbour. Had Fish buffet, a lot to choose from but most of them were not kept warm. Only a few were. Tried whale meat for the first time and don't like it at all. It has almost similar texture as beef.
After filling our tummies with yummy fishies, went back hotel and geared up layers of clothing ready for the nothern lights tour which started at 22:00. The bus drove us out of town so that it is dark enough (away from all city lights) to get better view and literally hunt for the aurora borealis. The tour guide said there is 3 important criteria to be able to see it - clear sky (not obstructed by clouds), very dark and aurora activity. Once I saw a documentation which says it needs to be very cold as well. We stopped somewhere in the dark and literally waited in the bus until the guide called us out when the lights were visible. It was VERY cold! I would blame it on the wind...English wind can't even beat it! This site has pretty good forecast : http://www.gedds.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/. The tours run from mid Sept to mid April. I guess we were quite lucky to have just catch it before the summer comes. I would say it was amazing seeing it the first time! Although the pictures turn out much much nicer than what we actually see. Well, not my photos though (my G9 can only go up to 15 secs), at least 30 - 60 secs is required. We saw some really good ones from some of the tour members which were so well equipped, with their tripods and professional SLRs etc. Now that I have seen it for the very first time, it just felt like I wanted to see it again, next time, in the winter, when the aurora activity is much stronger! (hmm so demanding :P)
11/4/2009 - Early morning, went up the Pearl (on a little hill) to get a good view of the whole city. Then headed for the Art Museum where they were having a chess exhibition. And continued walking down the harbour to see the Solfarid, viking ship. Had lunch @ Sea Baron, also known as Sægreifinn which is a very popular place among tourists, serving very yummy lobster tail soup and fish, scallops, prawns kebabs. A very small place, it is literally like it is in a big green container, but packed with tourists! The soup tastes like prawn mee soup or even curry mee soup, just without the spiciness. A MUST go if you are in Reykjavik. Reserved the rest of the afternoon at the Blue Lagoon, about 40 mins drive from the center. Spent almost 3 hours in the hot spring! Dinner was just a simple light 3 plate sushi and then went for a drink at b5 where we met this magician who was going around from bars to bars doing tricks for his own iterests. And apparently from what he was telling us, there are only 10 magicians in the whole Iceland! Bazaar.
12/4/2009 - It was a Super Jeep Glacier and Waterfalls tour day. Only 5 of us on the tour. Visited the Skogafoss and Seljalandsfoss waterfalls, walked on the Mýrdalsjökull glacier with our crampons on and drived through the black sand beaches overlooking the North Atlantic Ocean. Very strong waves and winds! Up on the glacier, the wind isn't that inviting either. But the view was just too amazing. Dinner was at the Seafood Cellar. It was a WONDERFUL meal! We went for the sort of "chef choice" menu which includes a few starters, a few main courses and a few desserts for 9900 kronas (approx. 50 quid). Starters were bread with thai sauce and grounded nuts dip, sushi platter, lobster pot with a lil tiny piece of truffle on top. Main courses was four different fishies and lobster tails. Dessert were three different flavoured sorbets - lychee, plum and mango with some fruit pieces around them and oriental style tiramisu - very different from the normal ones. It was not a cheap meal, and probably need another two weeks of gym work out to burn the calories off, but was a very satisfying one!
13/4/09 - Fly back to reality on a very early morning 7:30 flight.
Nico on Iceland:
10/4/2009 - After an early breakfast @ Hotel Holt, went on the Golden Circle Classic tour. Again, same company (Reykjavik Excursions) that picked us up from the hotel to the bus terminal where we join another bigger group, bigger coach, about 63 on the tour. First stop, Þingvellir National Park and then headed to the waterfall of Gullfoss. Had lunch at a restaurant there serving traditional icelandic lamb soup. Tasted like ABC soup without the tomatoes :), but very soft lamb. Next, the spouting hot springs of Geysir and Strokkur. And then to the Skalholt memorial church. Tour ended with a visit to the Nesjavellir power plant. Got back to the city center around 5. Maximising our time and taking advantage of the late setting sun, continued our day covering some city sights, Tjornin city pond, city hall, Adalstaeti sq and down by the harbour. Had Fish buffet, a lot to choose from but most of them were not kept warm. Only a few were. Tried whale meat for the first time and don't like it at all. It has almost similar texture as beef.
After filling our tummies with yummy fishies, went back hotel and geared up layers of clothing ready for the nothern lights tour which started at 22:00. The bus drove us out of town so that it is dark enough (away from all city lights) to get better view and literally hunt for the aurora borealis. The tour guide said there is 3 important criteria to be able to see it - clear sky (not obstructed by clouds), very dark and aurora activity. Once I saw a documentation which says it needs to be very cold as well. We stopped somewhere in the dark and literally waited in the bus until the guide called us out when the lights were visible. It was VERY cold! I would blame it on the wind...English wind can't even beat it! This site has pretty good forecast : http://www.gedds.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/. The tours run from mid Sept to mid April. I guess we were quite lucky to have just catch it before the summer comes. I would say it was amazing seeing it the first time! Although the pictures turn out much much nicer than what we actually see. Well, not my photos though (my G9 can only go up to 15 secs), at least 30 - 60 secs is required. We saw some really good ones from some of the tour members which were so well equipped, with their tripods and professional SLRs etc. Now that I have seen it for the very first time, it just felt like I wanted to see it again, next time, in the winter, when the aurora activity is much stronger! (hmm so demanding :P)
11/4/2009 - Early morning, went up the Pearl (on a little hill) to get a good view of the whole city. Then headed for the Art Museum where they were having a chess exhibition. And continued walking down the harbour to see the Solfarid, viking ship. Had lunch @ Sea Baron, also known as Sægreifinn which is a very popular place among tourists, serving very yummy lobster tail soup and fish, scallops, prawns kebabs. A very small place, it is literally like it is in a big green container, but packed with tourists! The soup tastes like prawn mee soup or even curry mee soup, just without the spiciness. A MUST go if you are in Reykjavik. Reserved the rest of the afternoon at the Blue Lagoon, about 40 mins drive from the center. Spent almost 3 hours in the hot spring! Dinner was just a simple light 3 plate sushi and then went for a drink at b5 where we met this magician who was going around from bars to bars doing tricks for his own iterests. And apparently from what he was telling us, there are only 10 magicians in the whole Iceland! Bazaar.
12/4/2009 - It was a Super Jeep Glacier and Waterfalls tour day. Only 5 of us on the tour. Visited the Skogafoss and Seljalandsfoss waterfalls, walked on the Mýrdalsjökull glacier with our crampons on and drived through the black sand beaches overlooking the North Atlantic Ocean. Very strong waves and winds! Up on the glacier, the wind isn't that inviting either. But the view was just too amazing. Dinner was at the Seafood Cellar. It was a WONDERFUL meal! We went for the sort of "chef choice" menu which includes a few starters, a few main courses and a few desserts for 9900 kronas (approx. 50 quid). Starters were bread with thai sauce and grounded nuts dip, sushi platter, lobster pot with a lil tiny piece of truffle on top. Main courses was four different fishies and lobster tails. Dessert were three different flavoured sorbets - lychee, plum and mango with some fruit pieces around them and oriental style tiramisu - very different from the normal ones. It was not a cheap meal, and probably need another two weeks of gym work out to burn the calories off, but was a very satisfying one!
13/4/09 - Fly back to reality on a very early morning 7:30 flight.
Nico on Iceland:
- A lot of tourists - everywhere we go we saw familiar faces and they were all tourists (e.g. it's quite easy to bump into some ppl from the tour you joined yesterday). Most of them are Aussies working in England or simply from UK itself.
- Everything's so simple and easy, not much to choose from, but the choices are good enough. Life can't be any better! Life in a busy and big metropolitan with is just too complicated!
- There are only 2 reasons why I don't think I can live there - too cold and the water smells funny (of sulfur).
- Oh I must mention Kaffitar - a coffee chain in Reykjavik - has really very super duper yummy Swiss mocha. Tried the Glacier coffee too (ice coffee) and at least it has more coffee and less ice that the ones we get from Starbucks!
- Oh oh and, apparently the hot dogs are quite famous too, but we hadn't have time to try as shops were closed on Friday and Sunday.
p.s photos coming soon in picasa gallery
Monday, April 13, 2009
easter monday
...just back from Reykjavik, Iceland...
...next post on the trip...
...watch the space...
...5 year old vaio granny got infected by malware...*damn*...
...maybe it's time for a new one...
...next post on the trip...
...watch the space...
...5 year old vaio granny got infected by malware...*damn*...
...maybe it's time for a new one...
Sunday, April 05, 2009
A day up north
Went up to Manchester yesterday...Virgin trains are much more efficient nowadays I can really say. A train every 20 mins to Pic Stn, 2 hours. Manchester - Not much changed since I last been there. Most significant change would be the new "Bin" building (looks like a bin to me now) that replaced the old Maths tower. The campus has more leisure space it seems now, more empty open spaces to wander around. Layout in the city centre is still as it is, except for a lot of new shops replacing old ones and of course a lot that has been closed down as well!
Found a couple of nice trendy bars around town and went to Walrus (http://www.walrusmanchester.com/) for a drink. A pretty bar, very much quite girly. Then went to Simple bar for lunch. They do quite good pub food. A cosy trendy bar (http://www.simplebar.co.uk/). This site has pretty good recommendations -
Didn't do much apart from walking around town and "tea" stops, chilling.
Took some random pics of Walrus and the bin:
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