Nicocism

Life Evaluation

2011-07-14T23:35:00.002+01:00

It's performance reviews again between July and Aug. I've just submitted my review list. This will be the first time I'm participating in a formal review process. It will be interesting how the result may turn out. I guess it's a good thing to let others evaluate yourself and get constructive feedback.

Same applies to life. Sometimes I am so busy in life that there never seem to be time to stop and evaluate life. Occasionally, something happen in someone's life and it triggers your thoughts on your own life - it makes you think, although it may not change anything, but at least it made me think. I guess my point is, my life is pretty dormant at this very moment in time and hence the thoughts of trying to evaluate my life and desire for some change.

As my previous post said, I should really let life design itself. But it's frustrating or even disappointing when you don't see the design taking shape no matter how many pencil strokes you've made.

I don't suppose I have the right to hate my life now and I must admit I don't think it's that bad to a point where I can claim life sucks. But there is just something that doesn't feel right. I wonder ...

2011-06-07T20:30:00.002+01:00

And so Lily says ... "You can't design your life like a building, it doesn't work that way, you just have to live it and it will design itself ... Listen to what the world is telling you to do and take the leap" ...

Looking fwd to Spring

2011-03-12T21:49:00.012Z

Winter has never felt so long and dreaded before. The cold started early this year and lasted for a bit. It's still cold now even though it's nearing end of March. But there is always some lovely things to spice up the winter gloom...just like stumbling on a dainty lil gelato place in the side streets of town...

I felt guilty of abandoning my blog for almost 2 months.

Updates...

And so they say, time flies when you are having fun. Undoubtedly I am enjoying the company of the BF very much for the past couple of months - minus the bitter moments of course :P. But hey, ain't it the fact that the sad times will make you cherish the happy times more? Or am I just being optimistic. But to be fair, I once believed that unhappy memories tend to be more vivid than happy ones, I'm thinking twice now. I confessed to the BF that our relationship is indeed like a roller coaster. One day we can really happy and over each other, the next day could be as gloomy as a winter morning. He agreed. I have no other complains :)

In Jan, I was pretty much spending most of the time recovering from an annoying cold and cough bug. It did took me over two weeks to completely recover. And the winter chills just add pain to the sick me. Anyhow, apart from skipping the gym sessions, weekends were quite productive - made a trip to Bicester Village and being so amazed with the good deals - loving it! - food wise, the mocha ribs in Tsunami, crispy thin organic pizzas from Story Deli and queuing at Breakfast Club for my banana and bacon french toast just made the month so much more exciting. Also paid a visit to The Forge after failing to book the 30 quid deal in Claridges :( - don't ever go to the Forge - everything is tasteless! Oh and also ... met the parents :P.

Went home for a week in Feb for Chinese New Year. Didn't really do much apart from seeing family and friends and eating of course - I really needed the break to chill - and wasn't as active as the last time I went home in terms of finding good food - guess I just wanted a break and see family etc. - guess that's sign of aging? - or maybe just too stressed out of city life =.=. Well apart from eating, I did spend half a day at the Spa - another very much needed thing in my break! - such good Balinese massage for my overworked shoulders! Well, sitting in front of the PC with two massive monitors staring at you for 8 hours a day is just an abuse! Drove to Ipoh as well - just to prove my driving skills have not gone rusty :). Had a couple of drinks at the Sky Bar - very nice indeed. Oh and the Singapore Airlines plane food was quite interesting as well - they had Yu Sang and this "lin chi" + mandarin orange jelly which is very nice! I guess the nice food make up for the rescheduling of my flight from KL to SG without me knowing till the day before flying!

By the time I was back in London, it's already past Valentines. But we "celebrated" the week after ... avoid the crowd and cut throat meals! That said, we did made our own candle light dinner and had a very nice French lunch at Clois Maggoire.

Well, first valentines is always memorable and I wonder if the ones to come will be as memorable since it might not be as special anymore ...

Paid a visit to the Plough in Bedford again after last year's visit. They have really good desserts!

Highly recommended!

I guess highlight this month - March will be the surprise the BF planned for our anniversary. I was told we are going dinner but I don't know where. Turns out it was Pearl. Had a really lovely evening and the dinner is really good - love the place :))).

"Love makes you cry your heart out but it can also make you laugh out loud..."

The weather seems to be progressively getting warmer - hope I don't jinx it! So looking forward to Spring, the flowers, the dresses and also hopefully more things to do around town!

Have been spending some time looking for flats - tentatively moving out end of May - and so they say, moving is one of the top 3 most stressful things in life. Luck and stamina is all I needed now! And hopefully my bosses won't be too particular about me on the phone talking to agents all the time! Well I hope staying late on a Friday night and working on some of the weekends make up for it! Work is just overwhelming these days...

...and so that is city life for Nico...

Bunny Chow :)

Feeling Poetic

2011-01-21T00:03:00.003Z

If there is one thing in the world that triggers Nico's emotional turbulent nature, it would be the occasional conversations with the dearest mummy. I must say, almost every mum in the world never fails to remind you of the things you should be doing next in your life. And this makes Nico ponders about life again.

Sometimes you feel loved...

You smiled and cherished the company of your loved ones...

Sometimes you hated and cried...

That is the times when you enemied the entire world...

And then material came on stage...

He tries to pollute feelings...

Backed by the bonus pay cheque you earned...

With sweat and hard work...

He made feelings worthless...

Feelings fight back with priceless as its ultimate weapon...

Reality interrupts, tries to find peace and dissolve the dispute

...

So what does life means to you?

Where have the year gone

2011-01-03T17:39:00.008Z

After an almost 10 adequate days of no work, chilling out and spending time with loved ones, Nico already envisioned herself having the holiday withdrawal syndrome by bed time tonight.

So what have I been up to in Nov and Dec 2010 -

Started off Nov with a weekend getaway to Milan. We booked about 2 months in advanced and got ourselves a 160 quid package for easyjet + 4 star hotel mediolanum package from Expedia - pretty good deal. Milan is not that big a city. The only magnificent building and the prettiest sight in town has to be the Duomo in central. Spent the first day going around thecity visiting the duomo piazza, galleria vittorio emanuele ii, had GROM gelato, aperitivo and take a detour to naviglio grande which turns out to be quite dead and not as scenic as we thought - the economy in Europe definitely has an impact in this fashionable city. Take a day trip out to Lake Como which is really beautiful. We had lunch by the lake - the octopus carpaccio was heavenly :)). Got back into town in time to grab tickets to the Inter Milan match at San Siro. I've never watched a match live in my life - this is the first. And of course I am not as enthusiastic as *someone* but it makes me happy when others are. The following day is reserved for exploring the Fashion District - Montenapoleone - where all the designer brands are - unfortunately it was a Sunday and thus most of the shops were shut - well not like I was planning on grabbing a Gucci bag or Prada heels anyway :P.

Rest of month and the following were spent on going to farewell drinks and parties, dinners with

friends, christmas lunches and dinners with colleagues, constructive time spent with the BF - cooking or / and dining out - Taste of Christmas @ Excel, Dovetail, Koya, Byron

and of course Pearl Liang to "celebrate" the first day we know each other (lol) :) etc.

By the end of Nov, the weather turned evil. It started snowing early this year and weather has not been warmer since. Although I enjoyed the pretty sight of the snow, slush and ice are the worst aftermath.

And then comes christmas - the long awaited vacation.

Had a lovely time just chilling out with the BF ... watching dvds, playing Sims, baking savoury muffins and had 2 attempts on

the japanese cheese cake, roast a turkey for our christmas dinner and had the turkey leftovers for the next 3 days, attempt to make Nico's best scrambled eggs :P, roasting chestnuts and be a chipmunk (chestnut sponge cake from royal china is really yummy :)), grabbing some after xmas sales deals and shopping with friends, bratwurst, mulled wine and profiteroles from the Winter Wonderland Christmas Market, New Year's Eve dinner @ Mahgreb Moroccan Place up the road, 50% off food bill for lunch @ Tsunami, and finally, taking care of the ill BF and paying a visit to the A&E first time in my life!

All in all, I am not sure if I have made any progress in thinking of the direction of Nico's life this year. But there are some vague resolutions across the horizon for the new year ahead and perhaps Nico would like to think that she has matured in one way or another :). Someone says happiness is only real when shared. I'd say fun is only real when shared :). Finally, Nico would like to wish you all a very happy new year, be strong and however lost you are, just remember to follow the "light" ;).

Post Summer Update

2010-10-31T09:19:00.008Z

I have abandoned by blog again, I must confessed. I suppose it's not too bad a crime since it just shows how busy I was the past few weeks.

Rewinding...

October had been a busy month indeed. To start off, my trip to India, a total eye opening trip which pretty much changed my perception of the world a little bit ... yea just a little :P. I won't say I will not go back, in fact, I hope the next time I do go back, I'll see a much better state of the country. The trip does make me realise why ppl like Gandhi and Mother Teresa exists. It's a completely different world out there. And I now have greater motivation to do more charity work :P ... yet to be one of my new year resolution !

Rest of the October? ...

Highlight was welcoming The BF home :) ...

Had a lovely welcoming back lunch at Artisan, The Westbury ...

Such an amazing deal due to London's Restaurant Week ... such a brilliant meal with N numbers of complimentary dishes.

Busy busy at work,

Had been doing weekend releases for the last 3 weeks including today... stayed in the office till 10pm for the first time, due to waiting for Chicago users to finish testing ... Got myself a mentor which I haven't been that good at keeping in touch with yet ... finally had a chance to try out the massive cafeteria at RC ... and of course, welcoming the grand new opening of One New Change, a mall a couple of mins walk from my office!!! More lunch time shopping! Wohoo! ... etc ...

Finally bought the iphone!!!

But haven't have much time to play with it yet due to work commitments ... how sad ... but enjoying the fact that I have now unlimited text on my tariff...

And I don't need to get the new nano :P ...

Other stuff ... had been going to quite a few of the stuff going on in London while it's still summer - Thames Festival, Design week - Tent London, Matsuri Festival and then ex-colleague's leaving due ... who is quitting to go travelling in the down under ... surprised how many had started leaving after I left ... felt strange to see my other ex-colleagues again ... just like the old days ... still couldn't have imagined how I stayed 4 years back in old Hatfield, LZ's visit in London again ...had a brief catch up during lunch near St. Pauls. Friend's birthday parties ... food overloaded, wedding invites which I have to politely decline invitation of although I would have very much loved to attend - sounds like it's a good wed month!, cooked rendang for The BF ... my second attempt on the dish ... I'm yet to perfect it!, made red bean and coconut milk agar - agar to a pot luck party ... etc etc ...

Got another hair cut and colour touch up yesterday ....

Next stop...MILAN! and of course, XMAS ! ... stay tuned ;)

9 years...90 days

2010-09-11T09:02:00.014+01:00

Today mark the 9th year I have been in the UK. I arrived Heathrow 9 years ago today, filled with anxiety and uncertainty, just like a kitten about to be let loose into the world of independence - almost unwillingly because of a tinge of fear for being away from home.

Still remember vividly the smell of fresh yet chilly and foreign breath of air as I stepped out of the arrival hall. Now that I am sitting comfortably in my lovely Ikea eggy chair in my flat in London, recalling those very moments, I couldn't deny how much things have changed, personally and also everything else around me.

The news coverage airing on the hotel room TV couldn't have been more dramatic that day - and that definitely changed pretty much a lot of things in the world. As for me, I realised I've signed up for a never ending road trip...to independence and more uncertainties. But I am glad that the fear had subsided and these 9 precious years have definitely trained me well to be stronger me - or at least I would like to think that I have :).

The computer log on screen at work had been counting down the days for me too. Today is also the 90th day since I started my new job. It's just a wonder how amazing one can adapt to life.

The 30 minute walk to work that I thought could be dreadful has become somewhat a refreshing activity to wake me up every morning. The apprehension of being in a completely new and different environment has somewhat become all so familiar. The heavier work load (sometimes) and longer hours (only by a bit) are not as bad as it seems - the mocha from the tea point's coffee machine, lunch by the fountain in the square and okonomiyaki from wasabi almost manage to cheer me up most of the time.

It also feels so surreal yet to walk out of the office and realise I am actually surrounded by the majestic St Paul's cathedral and Victorian buildings blending in with the glassy contemporary office buildings. It feels uptown, if not pretentious. But it always never fails to remind myself that I've bagged another piece of valuable experience to my collection.

So hey, let's drive on...

Counselling oneself

2010-07-26T21:32:00.002+01:00

The 8th of June 2010 me reminded me to live life as it is. How ironic the past me is the most effective counsellor...

I really hope I can convince myself to do better...

Re Mdm Yap's comment, thank you for the moral support! We'll fight this battle together and remember to just shout when you needed anything. I might be across the Atlantic, but the sound of friendship travels faster than any other things in the universe!

The dreading 3rd week of July

2010-07-25T20:48:00.005+01:00

Last w/e spent productively in my continued mission to hunt down bargains for all so needed work clothes before the summer sales ends. Met up with LZ and her bro who was in London for the w/e and had dinner at Dehesa. Too bad we didn't have enough time to fit in a homey Msian meal as they wanted to.

Also allocated slots in my w/e s to VC with the BF. LD is definitely not new to me. But for some reason, I felt it being so much harder than my previous experience. Am I being more needy now? Has it got anything to do with aging maybe? LOL...or is it actually a good sign that I am feeling so? This month, admittedly, seems to be the longest month I've ever been in - firstly I am still waiting for this month's pay to feel I am in a better position financially - since I am still recovering from all the move etc, secondly, I am so looking fwd to Oct to come. Tbh, I don't think I am able to do LD anymore. I blame it on the age, or maybe bad experience :P.

This w/e was Ottolenghi brunch and Inception after with hsemate. Again, food lovers like us tend to make the same mistake of over ordering again and again and again. I had the Egg and Courgette bake which was really good! Packed the rest of the bread board that we couldn't have finish. But too bad we can't really bring the jar of yummy banana jam home :). During the movie, there was a few minutes of interruption. Initially we thought it was part of the show, but apparently it was a genuine fault of the cinema. After the show, they gave us a free voucher to claim a free ticket next time due to the inconvenience. Nice! The movie was quite good. A very interesting concept indeed! Aww now I want to design my own dreams!

Also went up to MK to collect and sort out mails for the BF. Wandered around MK Shopping centre for an hour or so before heading back to LDN. One exciting discovery though is that I found Kookai!!! I miss it so much now that they don't have any in LDN. That said, I didn't get anything - I need to clear out my cc bill first!

The week had been ok at work. Went to a couple of talks - pensions, technology community update and performance reviews etc. Only visited the gym twice this week. Aiming to do 3 next week :). Had lunch with a bunch of other new joiners on Wed and a another bunch of summer interns on Thurs. I guess that is the advantage of working in a bigger company, more events, more people, more opportunities to do different things - instead of sitting in front of the screen programming 8 hours a day. I have more thoughts than this, but I don't think I should go into details - the only thing I would like to remind myself is that, I've come too far to slack off - it's time to continue climbing the ever so high fleet of stairs after a good rest. A good cup of 'yin yeung' is what I need to keep on pushing!

Last post, I mentioned I have been thinking a lot of what I am actually doing with my life now. It's surprising how many other ppl I've talked to are feeling the same. I know at least I am not alone. But I do wish these dear friends of mine will find their 'direction' of life some day soon. If there is a meteor to visit this part of the earth tonight, I will wish for that one day when everything just fits and fall into place nicely...

*The 'fertitily' tarot card says I should be patient. I guess it's a good enough piece of advice to stay happy. Pressure from external forces can be suffocating some times. But from an optimist's point of view, these forces do inject a reasonable amount of motivation and project positive energy to a certain degree.

A random peek into my life...

2010-07-12T22:53:00.005+01:00

W/e spent with a lovely brunch @ the Breakfast Club in Hoxton with couz and frens, a random stroll around spitalfields mrkt, a discovery of Thai Ann oriental supermarket right off Chapel Market, and of course, the World Cup finals...I am enjoying the trips down to Chapel Market to pick up some cheap and fresh produce...Wonder when I will get bored on London...

4 working weeks down, and the challenges of work is significantly increasing. How I wish I will wake up one day knowing everything about the financial markets! I heard a lot of ppl telling me it will just click one day. I am still eagerly anticipating that one day to come ... asap!

It's that day in life where I have time to ponder about life again. Some times I still wonder what I am doing with my life.

It's that feeling that you've longing to buy that all so expensive pair of heels displayed on the window of that vintage boutique shop. And then you finally saved enough to bring it home, wore it the first time for that special night, and neatly place it back into the wooden chest shoe box that comes with it... then what's next...This is how I felt July 2010, after everything that has had happened the first half of the year. Classic...it's the classic feeling of desire and "disinclination"...

Work and weekends,

Can life be more meaningful that this?

Family so distant, friendship so fragile,

Is that sign of growing up and taking responsibility for oneself?

Wedding invites, baby showers,

Am I just being the tortoise in the race with the hare?

Wishes under the meteor that came true,

Are they a blessing or otherwise?

...now back to short selling and ex dividend dates...

June 2010

2010-07-04T22:07:00.009+01:00

Almost a month since I've moved in my new place now. I can say I think I have now filled in all the 'incompleteness' of my room today after a brief second trip to Ikea :). I finally got the chair I always wanted!!! :)))

3rd week into my new job ... everything's ok so far I'd say. Quite proud of myself to be so motivated to walk to work everyday. Had been trying out different routes to beat my 27 minutes, but with no avail so far. On the bright side, I am also starting to explore the area a lil more. For e.g, Necco Jap Cafe discovery made my Friday evening! I do enjoy the convenience of the city and the benefits working in such an established organisation - all the training and subsidised incentives! But of course, it's not without any hard work - all that I am looking fwd too (yea right :P)

A week to the BF not around. Time just seem to pass so slowly... October seems so far away :(. All of a sudden I felt all so lonely again (some times) - you can so tell when I have time to update my blog :P

All in all June 2010 were filled with QT with the BF, celebrating birthdays, BBQ, watching footie, summer sales shopping, soaking in the sunshine, although not quite enjoying the heat that much, trying to settle in life working in the city and wearing skirts to work of course :P

Mid 2010

2010-06-08T23:47:00.005+01:00

Birthday + Bank holiday weekend was spent at the Foodies Festival at Hampton Court on Sat in which the main highlight was meeting Jason Atherton and having him signed his new book for me!!! The weather was unwelcoming, the festival wasn't as happening as I expected, but meeting Jason Atherton just made my day. Got back to London later in the afternoon and met up with Holly for dinner at Sushi Hiroba - had the weirdest sushi ever in my life - the place certainly has a very interesting sushi line up, ranging from sushi with banana to fried ones.

Started the Sunday with a girlie salon trip and lunch at Le Pain. Thanks Holly for the lunch treat :). Shopped for a bit before meeting up with the BF and had bubble tea at China town (well I had red bean ice to be exact :P). Having some spare time before dinner, we manage to fit SATC 2 into our afternoon - unexpectedly. It was quite a decent movie, I have no complains. But watching it with a girlfriend and a boyfriend is just not the most ideal cinema trip, enough said :P. Birthday dinner was at Eastside Inn. Wanted to try this new place out for a long time and it didn't dissapoint - highly recommended!!!!

The following week was my last week at work. Didn't have much to do but had quite sinful meals- fish and chips take away at a colleague's place on Thurs, Lahore Kebab House dinner with new colleagues and Red Lion on Friday. Got a 10 inch digital photo frame and a couple of John Lewis vouchers as my leaving gift. Such thoughtful colleagues :P. The weekend was then spent moving things into my new flat. I was quite impressed with myself having to finish unpacking in a day! Went back to Hatfield to clean up my room etc today and am quite tired myself after all the packing, moving and unpacking. A full day spa will be a real treat for me now!

Tonight is the 3rd night in my new flat. Everything's quite ok. The little little things I would complain about but think I shouldn't are - well first thing on top of the list is the traffic noise from outside. My room is facing the main road and it can be quite noisy especially those sierens! Can Londoners be a bit considerate and try to reduce the frequency of being drunk and beaten up less often? :P. Other small little things are like if only the toilet flush has higher pressure and if only the carpets are a lot more cleaner. Well, I do understand its not new. Anyways, everything seems ok for the time being. I just need to get some curtains and more textiles / cushions to absorb the noise! Any other advice welcomed!

Although London isn't new to me, to be actually living in the city is definitely something I need to adapt to. A country girl like me still kind of prefer the quiet and peaceful little towns like Hatfield :P.

Some Nico's philosophy after this couple of weeks:...

There has been so much things happening around me the past two weeks, and I suppose more to come in the following weeks, and there are occassions where I feel I've lost myself for a bit. I thought I have a clear direction on what I want to achieve. But there seems to be other external forces that are distracting me, be it good or bad. The devil in me is not helping either. I also realised how hard it is to please everyone around you especially when they don't see the situation as a whole as you do. I found myself being nagged on things lately, small little things in life by my closed ones. But what they don't understand is that although they are part of my world, they don't see it how I see it. Sometimes they just have to know that I am old enough to make my own judgements on what I should or should not be doing. I do need advice from time to time, but when I am not asking for it, I am quite definite it's a right thing for me.

Things to remind myself:

Life's too short to worry about the missing jigsaw pieces or the pieces that just don't fit. Friends who are impartial to your life can say whatevever they want whether it is sincerely from the bottom of their heart or vice versa. At the end of the day, the decision is yours. Decide and never regret! Take things lightly Nico! Live life as it is and enjoy the moment!

Turning 28

2010-05-30T23:58:00.003+01:00

At 28 I learnt that this is a fair life I am living in, when you gain something, you lost something along the way. Things happen when you least expected it. At the same time, what you wish for might not be the best for you after all...

Another Piece of Nico's Philosophy

2010-05-27T19:45:00.006+01:00

I have not been updating my blog that frequently this month. I suppose it's a good thing as well because that means I am actually busy occupied by other things that are happening around me.

...*rewind to where I left my blog*...

Finally got my Tier 1 visa approved and got my passport back around the 10th. It was the Monday that I had to bring myself to say I am quitting my current job. It's not easy, but it wasn't hard as I thought it would be either :).

Met up with CM and JJ for dinner @ Hereford Road, Bayswater after work on Wed. Their menu were very adventurous indeed. The pigeon I had for mains is ok. And also tried a lil bit of JJ's calf's brain. It was not that bad, just tasted deep fried jelly :P. But need to thank JJ for the dinner since its on his treat for my BD :)

Spent the following weekend with the BF after the whole 3 weeks not seeing him and missing him dearly...had dim sum lunch, ice cream @ patisserie valerie, Iron Man 2 and then Thai for dinner - another w/e norm for me these days. Not for long any more though...

Weekdays were spent productively sorting out my room, clearing out 4 years worth of clutter. Felt a bit 'ng seh tak' to part with most "junk" that have been with me since I came to the UK - 9 years! But it needs be done. Most of the old clothes, shoes and bags are now in the clothes bank. That said, I am no where ready to move! Only managed to throw away a lot of stuff and got some empty boxes from the shops in the Galleria.

Last weekend was a very good w/e. Never had such a special weekend for a long time :))). Took a day off on Friday and spent the first half of the day with the BF and then started our road trip - direction - North East towards Norwich. Stayed at his friend's house who is living there with his wife. Such a nice couple and really appreciate them for accommodating us. It is a very quiet area - totally out of the city - can you imagine living somewhere without phone reception? And the only thing around you is lovely big green fields, inviting and chilling al fresco english pubs and friendly, polite people who are actually generous enough to return your smile :). Got there around 6ish and then headed out to a local pub for dinner. I had a fish platter which is not bad. The BF's lamb shoulder is soooooo much nicer.

Spent the next day boating for a good couple of hours at the Norfolk Broads. I think we were at Horning...Lovely weather, driving a boat (although a small one), dodging ducks, a pint of beer, a couple of pretty shots and a homey BBQ after made my day :). The weather is super kind to us. The hottest weekend ever so far this year! It is also a big factor to how pretty my photos turn out to be :). I'd say the best meal have to be the Sunday lunch at the Birds in Hand pub. The crab I ordered were super yummy :))) and of course the bailey's cheesecake! All in all a w/e well spent, enjoyed the laughs at breakfast, the company and most of all the surprise from my dearest :). How can Nico ask for more :)))...Photos in my picasa album :)

It's 3 days to Nico turning a year older. I'd say I have been holding on to the 2010 luck quite well so far. The BF said when something is meant to be, they will just fit into your life. I guess it's quite true. When things are meant to happen, they just do. Plus, so far, there are a lot of changes in my life the first half of the year but at the same time these things trickle through slowly and I suppose it's a good thing as I also get the time to adapt to them. Although I am not looking forward to turning 28, I don't see why I should be depressed or complain about it either.

...now...need to move my ass and start packing again....what a dreadful task!

2nd May w/e - A Step Forward

2010-05-09T22:41:00.004+01:00

The weekend weather is a bit unfriendly. Anyhow, went to meet JL for lunch near his service apartment, just in time to say goodbye to him before he flies back to sunny SG. Had a chicken burger and oreo's milkshake at Byron, Glouster Road. I still thinks it is a bit overrated by food bloggers. To do Fine Burger Co. justice that is. Dropped by Real Food Festival at Earl's Court. There were quite a lot of stalls set up. Some brands I've not even heard before. Products range from chocolates, wine, cheese, sausages, spices, sauces, beverages etc etc. I've only bought two packs of Teapigs tea - a chocolate flake tea and a jasmine pearl! Am tempted to buy the matcha too but thought it's a bit over priced at £20 for a small bottle. I wonder if it is that effective since it claims to detox and help weight loss! Wonder how is it different from normal Japanese matcha too. Hmm.

Had a pretty chilled out Sunday too although I woke up super early like 7am! Lingered a bit before heading for the gym to burn off yesterday's lunch and food tasting at the festival. Met up with CM to check out the Puppet festival at Covent. Watched Punch and Judy for a bit. Felt a bit out of place since most of the people there went with their kids and stuff. After a Le Pain moccacino, I headed home and started pondering...

I am already feeling the Monday Blues creeping in. In fact, am mentally preparing myself for the next step ahead. The hurdle that I've been anticipating for a while, one of the biggest yet.

I realised how 'emo' I have been the past few weeks. I am still trying to justify whether it is healthy being 'emo' occasionally. Some people think it's bad because it may lead to all sorts of psychological problems like mental break downs and depressio?!. But I suppose a small dose of 'emo'ness doesn't do much harm? And also, I do believe that 'emo'ness is one of the source of inspiration to most writers' and artists' works ;).

Anyhow, the ups and downs of my emotions is having an effect on me. I am losing grip on injecting positive energy to myself and those around me. Someone once said ... "It's not all about me"...I do admit that I tend lose myself sometimes. I have people whom I care about that I neglected. Time to bin those uninviting negative feelings! And also, time to stop being frustrated of whatever happens. "Take responsibility" as Susan Jeffers says, and reclaim my power!!!

Where Is Everyone?

2010-05-07T20:47:00.006+01:00

There has been a lot going on the past week or so. The traffic lights has suddenly turned green. And I have to proceed. An undecisive Nico suddenly have to make loads of decisions for herself. I know those who care about me are with me on the whole transition, it's not fair to say this, but it just felt like I am all alone on the case all of a sudden cos everyone's so far away. Well, I guess there are just decisions that I have to make myself. Why is Nico suddenly became so dependent? Where is the all-so independent her that others use to be surprised about? A sign to pick myself up, crawl out of the cocoon and face the ugly world! The responsibilities of being a grown up is never to be undermined!

I suppose I am concerned because I care about what others think of my decisions as well. Oh well, another lesson to learn - be confident of your choices. No matter what happens, I promise myself to embrace it. I believe luck is on my side. Be brave!

Keep on believing! ... these are just what I need:

The same song by 3 artists in 3 languagues respectively.

Opposite Attracts?

2010-04-15T23:13:00.007+01:00

And so they say...opposite attracts...

I can't believe I googled for "opposite attracts" and ended up reading an article on dating tips...

Quotes:

Stubbornness in a relationship where opposites attract will bring about disastrous results. Being open and open-minded, with a strong ability from both people to compromise, can create an environment of security and contentment amongst opposites.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

1) Can you live with the differences or would you rather share your time with someone who likes and wants similar things that you do?
2) What is the foundation of your relationship based on?
3) Does being opposite create conflicts in your relationship?
4) What is it about the differences that you find exciting and stimulating?
5) Are you both great communicators with the ability to compromise?
6) Do you find that being opposites help compliment the relationship versus bringing conflict?

Being opposites can work if they are complimentary to the relationship and both people are open-minded with the ability to compromise when needed. Not having those abilities could create potential conflict leading to a bitter breakup. You need to analyze which category your relationship falls into. Good luck

All the luck I need indeed!?

Easter 2010

2010-04-05T20:58:00.007+01:00

It was a chilling long weekend for Nico's 2010 Easter break. Friday morning was occupied by Easter treat baking for the BF. Only the chocolate mini muffins made it. The normal mango vanilla ones failed miserably. I knew it was a bad idea but didn't realise it turned out that bad because the centre doesn't seem to cook properly due to the mango puree. Anyway, luckily the chocolate ones turned out reasonably well.

Had dim sum for lunch later the day and watched Clash of Titans in 3D. It was a so-so movie. Not too great, maybe because we kind of expected too much before the movie. Even Sam Worthington's performance was not as good as he was in Avatar. He had very limited dialogue, and again, maybe he just need to look good in his spartan suit, showing off his muscles.

Got down to Wembley on Saturday just to check out the new Pacific Plaza which is suppose to be something like the closed down Oriental City. Only the food court and some shops were open. The oriental supermarket is not open yet. We tried some malaysian food at the food court. The curry laksa and the mamak mee goreng were quite decent. But the satay was not authentic enough. There were quite a variety of asian food stalls - korean, japanese, chinese dim sum and roast mixes etc. I'd say the food there is ok but not a place you will go specifically if you need an oriental meal fix. There are better restaurants in central london. The most interesting shop would be the Japanese bakery - Tetote factory - bought a melon bun, a fig and orange bun and a brioche to try - but missed the adzuki buns cos they were sold out.

Another lazy Sunday was spent "productively" in Bolnhurst with a yummy Sunday roast lunch at The Plough. Now that I am actually blogging about this place that I found out it's actually run by Martin Lee (he's one of Raymond Blanc's trained chef). A very cosy and lovely pub indeed with posh patrons and of course - high quality british food - especially the delicious rhubarb crumble!!! :)). What could be more heavenly than beautifully presented food sourced from fresh local produce and a meal with complimentary warm home made bread! Plus, it was a nice drive at the country side with only blue skies, green fields and cute cottages in sight - out of all the polution and crowd of the city.

So how is life treating Nico so far?...It felt like Nico's been abducted to lala land this easter weekend. There is quite a lot things floating around my mind to ponder about. But suddenly it just felt that no matter how much I think about them, it is not going to change much of reality. Thus, Nico's decided that there is no point thinking so much, and to fully enjoy every moment of happiness, bravely embrace every pinch of misery. It's only a few more hours to go before Nico has to face reality again. Time to wake up!

April Fools Day Ponder

2010-04-01T22:34:00.003+01:00

I wonder sometimes what am I doing to my life right now...

Can life be more pointless than this?

There are some things that doesn't feel right at the moment

I don't know what it is or what they are...

How many times do I need to tell myself tomorrow will be a better day

How many times do I need to remind myself I need to be brave

How many times do I need recall the promises I made to myself to focus...

...too many times...

Nearly end of March Update

2010-03-22T22:06:00.003Z

Last w/e...

Met up with JL for lunch at Ten Ten Tei. It's been a while since I last saw him! So jealous that he gets to go back home again for 2 weeks. If only I have a job that involves more travelling, that'll be fun!

Then wandered around Regent St and Selfridges with Kev before having dinner at Viet Grill near Old Street. Really good Vietnamese food!!! And good ambience too!!! Highly recommended!!! These are what we ordered:

Các món rang mu i (Chilli salt and pepper squid) - the first few pieces were a bit too salty for me but it's good - A*
Canh c i n u tôm Seasonal bok choy greens in fragrant broth tofu - really yummy broth!!! A*
Cà tím n ng ‘Piggy Grilled Aubergine’ with scallion pork in tangy sweet and sour sauce - really like the sauce, light and appetising! - A**
Sake Lamb skewer BBQ cubed leg of lamb, with cumin and fennel, flavoured up with a touch of vietnamese sake - still good but the rest are better - A :)

We also ordered plain noodles with bean-sprouts and onion and surprisingly it's not plain at all! It's like a proper fried noodle dish itself!!! Satisfying Vietnamese meal :)

Went to YF's house warming party afterwards. Was only drinking and chatting...quite relaxing...I'd say they did a good job furnishing the place...plus the 37 inch TV is brilliant!

Come Monday, I was dreading myself to work. But it turns out the day wasn't that bad after all. Manage to deploy some fixes and do some proper work without being hassled by users.

p.s...The current chapter of Nico's life is about to end and a new one yet to begin...stay tuned...

And I Survived

2010-03-19T20:46:00.003Z

Note: the following is one of Nico's rants again and is definitely beyond human comprehension...so just ignore...

Totally unbelievable that I survived the week! It had been an extremely busy week. When is this going to end?!?!?...Hopefully soon!!!...I'm getting impatient waiting...and it's only past one week >< ...!!!

At this moment, it seems like I am holding on to all these things...One day, I promise myself, if all these ever fell off my hands, I'll let everything go, take up a photography course and travel this world till I've used up every penny I saved up all these years...

Not So Happy Day...

2010-03-18T20:43:00.003Z

...bad day! bad day! ... I seriously think the devil is playing a prank on me >< ...

Being Happy

2010-03-15T22:37:00.007Z

So what makes you happy?

...a meteor across the pitch black sky?

...a rainbow after a wet rainy day?

...a light and fluffy macaron?

...a freshly baked, just out of the oven egg tart?

...a surprise post in the mail box?

I have always doubt the phrase "...as long as you are happy..." used in a lot of advices people give you no matter whether you are trying to make a decision or what not. Doubt because I never knew what makes me happier and for the fact that for the past year or so life has been as it was until now. I think I can finally admit to myself that at this very moment, I am happy. No matter how bad a day I had to go through at work or what not, there seem to be a great force pulling me back together. I thought I am just on lala-land mode (as I normally do)...but everything seems so surreal...there is no switch...it's all happening for real! Of course I wish the feeling will continue... but even if it ever fades, at least I know I felt this way before...It's very strange...to an extent that my logical mind can't seem to explain why I felt that way...maybe that's called love x))...

p.s Life is hard...but the positive energy you inject into your life and others are the greatest motivation and help of all...

Last w/e

2010-03-07T10:47:00.003Z

As the strange things continue to invade my life this new 2010, another unbelievable thing happened last w/e...we missed our train to Liverpool! Devastated, and unable to accept the fact that we actually missed the train not because we were late but because we hopped onto the wrong train a little too early, we decided to cancel the trip and went for a drink at St. Pancras Grand...

Spent the rest of the w/e chilling out at home and in London...went to YF's new place and hang around helping them move, although I didn't do much :P. Had dinner at the Circus, Covent Garden. Good food and there are actually performances in between meals! Highly recommended!

Went shopping in Brent Cross yesterday and quite a lot of damage done to my bank acct ><, but hey it's the new Spring Summer collection, how can I ever resists since I'm a Spring girl!!! Oh well, I'll try to control myself better hehe :)

2010-03-06T21:35:00.001Z

...I know I told myself to be brave this year...but, suddenly there is a strong feeling of fear in me, fear of going back to square one...

2010-03-03T00:38:00.002Z

...as much as I can be rational enough to counsel others...I am hopeless at counselling myself...I guess that is why you need your closest friends and family to do it for you...

2nd w/e of CNY

2010-02-22T20:45:00.000Z

Monday morning surprise.....heavy snow in Hatfield...

Spent the past few days at work going through spreadsheets for a data collecting task...TBH, I've never used that much Excel in my life! Tedious as it is, at least I brushed up my Excel skills...

The first week of CNY in London is as dull as work goes. I have to keep reminding myself it's still the CNY cause it just doesn't feel like it. How I wish I am back home celebrating. Life...the way I chose it...is the way I should live it. I should stop complaining. But hey, I just said I wished :P...

Anyway...w/e spent quite productively I'd say. Watched Valentine's day and All's Well End's Well at Prince Charles cinema - as mou liu as expected, Louis Koo is surprisingly good in the movie and it's just the sort of movie I need to watch, just to get away from "reality". Coincidently the CNY parade is held on Sunday as well. Managed to make my way through the crowds in China Town - just not a day you wanna be in town. London crowd is fatal!

Look what I found in Japan Centre! Taiyaki!!! 4 quid for a pack of 2 - not the cheapest thing on earth - but it's London after all...

Valentine's day is a so-so movie...not great, but has its good moments. Personally I think there are too many casts - too many stories - too cramped. And it definitely does not have a fairy tale ending - which is good - at least you don't feel cheated :P. I like the reality in it. There is a scene where Ashton Kutcher tried kissing his best friend Jennifer Garner to see if they have feelings for each other, after both of them broke up with their other half. Coincidently one of my best buddy told me yesterday night that it is something that really works - tried and tested apparently. Well, its a scene you usually see on screens - but I've always thought it only happens in movies - Amy, I'll take your word for it :P. And just realised Eric Dane is equivalent to Heath Ledger + Leonardo Di Carpio - what a discovery! :P...Comparing to 500 days of summer ( which is almost the last romantic drama I watched ), 500 days definitely have more story to it, although a bit sad and a little too realistic.

So many romantic films out since it's the Valentine's month, but there is still nothing that is remotely as good as "10 things I hate about you" and "Love Actually"...oh and "Needing You" too :).

p.s "...Love, I ask, What are you made of, You are too mysterious and most of the time, too complicated for my simple mind to comprehend..."

Pancake Day

2010-02-16T23:58:00.000Z

It's pancake day and also third day of CNY...

How's your celebrations so far?

Made these impromptu:

Mood on Shrove's Tuesday: Nico suddenly felt so much grown up now, it takes experience and maturity to realise the reality of life and be able to think rationally. Defensive Nico is still very well aware of the existence of the angel and devil who have the same ability to bring a smile to Nico's face. Still remember, pancake day last year, Nico was at a very emotional state. A year today, Nico thinks she is lucky to have survived and learnt from it.

Quote of the day : 'It's been a while since I have this kind of feeling...'

2010-02-14T09:24:00.005Z

It's a good day, it's the first day of CNY, I know I shouldn't be ranting, but....A Sunday, a Chinese New Year day, a Valentines day - this just shows you can't fit too much in one day! Especially when those components just doesn't tally together! Anyway, hope you lot manage to pull everything together and hope your day goes smoothly.

I must say, a whole lot of strange and unexpected things happened since the past weeks or so and still continuing...I can only comment that sometimes, you just have to believe the power of fate and destiny - never undermine them. I am not complaining, in fact hope more of it is coming...

Anyway, Nico wishes you lot a very Happy Chinese New Year ! May you have a prosperous and eventful year ahead! Hope this is another brilliant and memorable year for you - in a good way. Don't hesitate, don't waste time on the past, move on, just let it go, leave all your worries behind, tomorrow is a bright new start, trust me, everything will be fine! Love the tiger, and it will love you back :).

Nico need to focus now!!!

3 days to CNY and Valentines

2010-02-11T19:50:00.005Z

Apparently it is very rare that CNY falls on the same day as Valentines. For me it's just another Sunday. Of course, there are very much a reason to celebrate, but I managed to get myself really really, I mean super duper busy these few weeks. Everything from work to life! Is this a good thing? I am sitting here blogging feeling so exhausted - a little bit of regretting why I fit so much stuff in my schedule - talking about being a power woman ! gee!!! Salute to those working mums! That said, I winged when I'm bored, and now I winged when I'm too busy too. Nico's never satisfied! Anyhow, I should be glad that things happen as it is now, I think...

Valentines - There are people whose life evolve just around themselves and their partner. I wonder how they managed to do that. Don't they get bored? I guess not - duh. That makes me ponder...what does my life evolve around? ... At the moment, everything feels such a stranger to me ... I wonder why. Some of my colleagues have just started to think of what to get for their GFs, shouldn't they do it earlier? Hmm. Some are making roses origami - so sweet - I'd prefer its made of money though :P. So, have you got something already for your valentine?

Chinese New Year - I don't really like CNY when I'm back home - maybe because I don't fancy the questions relatives bombard me with and the gossips they make - so much family politics. Now that I'm away, I actually miss having a nice scrumptious CNY dinner with my family - note just my immediate family :). Anyway, life is how it is - so unbelievable I am telling myself this! And I used to buy a lot of new stuff for CNY - family tradition, but I couldn't really be bothered this year as I don't have that much time to shop! Argh...I wanna go shopping!

Ok enough of ranting, I will wish you fellow Nicocism readers a proper CNY and Valentines in 3 days time. For now, ciao! - back to the serious matters I have to do!

01022010

2010-02-01T23:02:00.004Z

Date: 01 02 2010 - the day and month mirrored the year!!!

It's Feb!!! And what a Monday! Got to work to find a production issue waiting for me to work on and spent literally whole day on it. Suddenly it felt like work has assimilated into my life - not a good thing? Hmm.

Thinking of my travel plans makes me happy bunny again I guess. :).

People say you work to live. At the moment, I work to travel...and to fulfil my shopping habits, and of course to realize my photography dreams.

Daily horoscope says: Continue to work diligently for now. You will soon be able to reap the fruits of your labor.

Next 2 days' horoscope says: Success comes to those who are willing to wait for it.

I shall be positive! I will be patient and 'wait'...

Where Home Is

2010-01-23T20:25:00.004Z

Serving my last 24 hours of On-Call support, I've been obediently staying at home the whole day even though it is a Saturday. Mum said it's an auspicious day to clean the house before Chinese New Year. And so I did, well my room at least.

Upgraded my gym membership from Flexi-fit to Pay Monthly. This is just to motivate myself to work out more since I've been eating a lot since the Dec holidays. Hate Winter! I just can't stop eating! I blame it on SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). Believe me, I really had that for the first couple of weeks since I got back from KL!

The whole week has been a quiet one outside work. At work, a couple of production issues kept me busy for the first part of the week. And then it died down. Friday was pub lunch at the Red Lion for a colleague's leaving due. I'd say they do pretty good Sausage and Mash with red wine and onion sauce! Calories overloaded I know, but just can't resist! And the leaving due continued to drinks at the World's End, Camden after work. This colleague of mine is going back to Italy to help out his family business. I have to say he's a really great colleague to work with, such a nice friendly and grateful guy! I am lost of words to describe him but all I can say is that I'd learn that people will appreciate you more if you appreciate them as they are.

Right, coming back to the main topic...Where Home Is...

On the bus home from the pub, things keep floating around my mind...

I've come six thousand miles from home to live in somewhere so foreign. This September mark the 9th year I've been living in England. Along the way, I meet people, coming to this city full of hope and aspiration. To me, suddenly London's became just like an airport. It's a city with people flocking in for opportunities. But as time goes by, these people leave, back to where they 'belong'. Of course, some stay because they made here home. The question I ask myself - do I belong here...

During lunch, this Italian colleague of mine asked me if I am planning to go 'home' or stay. I know this is a very common question I get every now and then. But coming from him, I wonder, now that he's decided to go 'home', he has the right to ask because he's made a decision. And the fact that everyone else who asked the same question already know what they want and thus has the 'right' to ask? You must be wondering why am I so bothered? Well, that's cause I'm frustrated that I don't know the answer. Some said I think too much and that I'm worried for no reason and that I should just go with the flow. Is that true? I shouldn't be worried? Hmm. I really want to think that I'm thinking too much...full stop

...ok maybe not yet...and then life goes on.

Maze

2010-01-17T21:45:00.006Z

Lunch at Maze:

We had the 4 course tasting menu each. There were 9 to choose from on the menu, and we literally ordered everything except for the oxtail. 5 savoury and 3 sweets.

Menu as per Maze website :

Savoury
Onion squash soup, puffed wild rice, ewe’s curd, smoked bacon, braised chicken thighs,chestnut powder
Marinated beetroot, Slipcote cheese, pine nuts and Cabernet Sauvignon dressing
Cornish red mullet, tapenade, croutons, aioli, fish soup
‘Scotch broth’ roasted halibut, black pudding,Argyle ham, turnip purée
Citrus spiced oxtail, wild turnips, horseradish and sour apple risotto
Braised shoulder of aged lamb, faggot, parsnip purée, pear jam, ox-eye daisy, cob-nuts
Sweet
Devon milk and yoghurt mousse, winter berry sorbet, dried winter fruits and oats,berry syrup
Winter clémentine mess, powdered brazil nuts, clémentine sorbet, vanilla oil
Devonshire rice pudding, spiced blackberry jam, clotted cream and blackberry ripple ice cream
The best dish of all would be the lamb - it was heavenly - meat cooked to perfection (as they always say on reality cooking shows :P) - very tender and moist...lol. Beetroot and slipcote cheese is quite an interesting combination of sweet and salty - nice. Soup is nice as well. Both fish were decent, but preferred the halibut and black pudding over the mullet.

All in all it was quite a nice meal. They even gave us some sweet treats after paying - chocolate with some crispy raspberry filling, ginger and vanilla fudge. Plus, the table next to us doesn't have it! Sweet!

That said, I think I still prefer Petrus. But that was a couple of years back, maybe I have higher expectations now? lol...But then again, the Petrus meal was double the price, so can't really compare I guess. And also, as a lil' fan of Jason Atherton, I think I should also put in a little bit of biased comments - Maze is really good! :P

Total damage done: 40 quid (plus wine though)

Ilaichi & Choc Apple Devils

2010-01-15T23:30:00.002Z

Went to Ilaichi - the new international buffet place at the Galleria for team lunch today. £7.50 for all you can eat is reasonable enough. Food wise, it's not as international as it seems. There are pizzas, pastas, mexican tacos, ratatouille, a lot of indian curries, some sweet sour and stir fried noodles and a decent salad bar. It is no doubt a little more variety than just having a normal Chinese buffet across the road, but still the food is very take awayey style.

Brought the chocolate and apple devils to colleague's house warming party...went with 35, 9 came back...and got some pretty good compliments, or maybe they are just being nice. Anyhow, I think I should level up my baking adventure :))

2010 Baking Kicks Off

2010-01-14T21:56:00.003Z

Sometime last year in the autumn, I came across the book 'The Worry-Free Bakery' by Kumiko Ibaraki from Japan Centre. I thought I found the most brilliant book in the planet! Why, because it's a baking recipes does not use any oil or butter at all. Absolute genius, a girl's best friend it is!

I was meant to try out some of the recipes, but was caught up with busy schedules at work and holiday plans. Now that I am almost snowed in, I gave the recipes a try - start out with some simple ones - apple muffins - made it my way - they now look like lil' cupcakes to me :). Also tried the chocolate banana muffin, except there ain't banana in it, but apples as well. I really think the recipes are brilliant! So who say we need butter or oil in cakes? :)

2010-01-11T22:54:00.002Z

突然見... 覺得很累...

Things to Remind myself

2010-01-10T00:09:00.002Z

Things to remind myself as I battle through my 2010 resolutions...

...Be Patient...

...Remain Positive...

...Be Prepared To Be Flexible...

...Adapt if things don't work...

...Trust my instincts!...

...Keep faith in what I am doing!...

Any kind of support very much needed!

勇敢

2010-01-07T23:24:00.005Z

原來...人大了, 就需要懂得勇敢面對一切一切...

When it snows...

2010-01-07T22:56:00.004Z

I thought I've completely missed the snow this winter. I was wrong. It started snowing yesterday. And the snow remained today as the temperature fell to all time low - the coldest night of the year tonight? Hmm. As usual, when it snows, everything comes to a stand still in UK.

Putting on my "UGG Boots", I managed to drag myself to work and all the way to Asda to shop for food later in the evening - I've just came back on Sunday and have been surviving on take aways the first two days. Such a bad day to do grocery shopping. As I had expected, there were not that many buses. I called for a taxi, but it didn't turn up. After about 15 minutes waiting, some other taxis pull up in front of Asda trying to get some customers. Almost all taxi companies hiked up their prices that day. One of the drivers asked me if I want a taxi (obviously I did) but there weren't that many people on the streets - and they still want to hike up the price? hmm look who's in charge here! And so I tried to haggle managed to get a flat price of a fiver instead of something ridiculous if it's by meter - like 7 - 8 quid.

At work, there are people having difficulty getting to work and likewise some others had to leave early and work from home in case they get stuck in the office. Wasn't a productive day indeed. Anyhow, I don't have the excuse to slack since I live so near to the office! It's just the walk that is unpleasant. But I think I should be fine with my snow boots :). Hopefully the weather gets warmer again soon and melt all the iced snow away!...

2010

2010-01-04T22:53:00.006Z

It's already 2010! Why don't I feel any different, I wonder...hmm.

First day at work as well. After a tiring 12 hours running around Rome - I blame it on the 10 hours flight from KL and most of it was down to not feeling well (women's problem that is :P) I was still half zombified at work but managed to go through the 5oo odd emails in which almost 70% are irrelevant and got some work done! I already felt a tinge of regret before boarding the flight - wondered why I squeezed the 12 hours transit time in my flight. Anyhow, I survived (although I didn't quite enjoy much of Rome due to the exhaustion and the freezing weather)!!!

Recap of 2009:

It had been a year of ups and downs - every year was - but 2009 had its fair share. Life had been revolved around work and travel - bilbao, iceland, kent, bristol, new york, denmark, sweden, cambodia, hong kong, rome and of course, KL - wow, didn't imagine I'd achieved so much! Also met up with a lot of friends who I haven't met for ages - had a great time catching up with each other's lives - and thanks for technology (facebook etc) that brought us back together! I'd also moved teams at work - which kept me challenged for a bit more. The economy hadn't been easy in general and although it didn't affect me dramatically, some things had to be delayed. And come to think of it, it is time to resume execution in this year! I've also realised that in 2009 alone, I blogged more frequently than ever and hopefully I will continue to do so. 2009 ended with my long awaited 3 whole weeks holiday. This long vacation was a really good break. It was tiring. I fitted a lot into this 3 weeks, it was suffocating (well some of it) but a very fulfilling one. I spent quality time with family and friends. It made me think more of what I should be heading for.

In 2009, I learnt the art of endurance and hope it will stay with me and leave all sorrows behind.

I hereby declare 2010 starts at this very moment!

Firstly, I like to wish all my friends and everyone that is dear to me a great and smooth sailing new year ahead. May this year be your year! Thank you for all your love and support and of course for tolerating the demanding Nico - love you lot dearly. To those I think I hate, sorry you annoyed me but I love you as much and may you have a wonderful year as well.

Nico's 2010 blue-sky resolutions:

Direction. direction, direction

Be more motivated and determined!

Work Harder (i.e. don't be lazy cleaning up my room ><)

Be more honest to myself!

Start investing

Time to settle down? (mum and dad's getting worried :P)

Wish me luck!

My new motto of life for 2010: Be Brave! The sky is a big quilt at the end of the day!

Nico's Vacation - KL - Day 13, 14, 15, 16

2009-12-28T16:00:00.001Z

25/12/2009 - Drove down to Gopeng super early in the morning. I'm the one driving :) - to and fro! A two hours drive got us to Gopeng and had 'lai fun' breakfast at the morning market. My annual dose of lai fun - I grew up with it!

never knew what this is called, but it's part of the accompaniment to the 'lai fun' - and still thinks this deep fried fish mash rolled in bean curd is the yummiest thing on earth!

Bumped into mum's sec bro (i.e. my uncle :P) who was on the way to Cameron...what a coincidence.

After breakfast, continued our journey up to Ipoh to visit grandma. Spent a good few hours there before heading to town for lunch at Lok Wee Koi - had Ipoh Chic Floss Ho Fun, Popiah and Rojak. Yummy!

Drove back down to KL after lunch and got home around 4ish. It was indeed tiring after driving for 4 hours in total and waking up at 5am! Took a nap before mum woke me up for dinner. It was Christmas day and it doesn't feel Christmassy at all in KL. We tried to find a decent restaurant for dinner, but everywhere's fully booked with wedding banquets - ironic! And the roads were quite jam packed with cars. Ended up going back to one of the restaurants in Pandan Indah. Uncle John and 'Teng Che' also came for a chat.

It was Christmas day after all. And as I said it doesn't feel like it at all in KL. In England, it is all dead, no one's on the road but it's completely opposite case in KL - everyone's enjoying their day off shopping, clubbing, mamaking etc etc.

26/12/2009 - Met up with MN and HL at Pavilion. Had lunch at Kampachi - ordered quite a lot of food but enough to last the catch up session. Shopped around with the girls after that and mall crawled a bit at Bintang. Went to T-Bowl which I failed to visit the previous time and had our late dessert session there. The food was not nice at all. The whole place does not even feel like a restaurant. The patrons were merely taking photos all the way - it is a tourist attraction site! Besides the food, the service is another thing to complain about - we waited for half an hour before our orders arrived! Plus, since it is relatively new, many of the items on the menu is not available - such a disappointment. But then again, it was a funny session - we had our fun moments taking pictures and criticising!

27/12/2009 - Insisted that I had to pay Hutong Food Court @ Lot 10 a visit! Dragged bro and sis in law to accompany me after mum and dad refused to go. I had the tauge chicken rice in which the meal comes in a bento box with tauge, chicken, char siu and tauge for RM13 plus a herbal tea. Bro had the Mong Sang Kor Bak Kut Teh while sis in law had the Honkee porridge. Also ordered other stuff like Luk Yu Tea House's prawn dumplings and You Tiao. While sis in law bumped into one of her friends there, I also bumped into SY! A popular place indeed! But the food court is a little different from conventional ones, it is rather a maze in there and you can easily get lost while searching for food and tables!

Window shopped in Lot 10 after that and then went up to Genting again that evening! Mum and Dad brought us in to Club Elite again and had steamboat buffet - such a luxury to be a Genting Platinum Card member! - simply unlimited food - all you want to eat!

28/12/2009 - Met up with Zay for a breakfast session at San Francisco Coffee @ KLCC and went to the salon for a quick wash-blow dry before packing up for my 6:45pm flight to HK...

Nico's Vacation - KL - Day 11, 12

2009-12-24T09:13:00.007Z

23/12/2009 - Went all the way to Klang to eat seafood at Yong Tat restaurant - very nice Lala beehon, 'lai liu ha' and 'kam heong' crabs!

And then to Mid Valley to help Dad choose a threadmill. Conveniently bought some durian and cempedak pancakes from Lee Lee's Sumptuous Desserts (LG Floor @ Gardens) - they were heavenly!!!

Met up with YV that night and she brought me to try out a very nice Thai BBQ place in Taman Cahaya - Jimmy Thai - very nice Tom Yan and Baked Fish. They even have 'yau cha kuey' dipped in kaya! But our lil stomach just can't fit everything! It was pretty good catching up with her again. I've not seen her for xxx years!!! I think in this year itself I've met up with a lot of my high school friends - a 10 years meet up again huh...we were in the class of '99. Time flies. But as she said, a lot had happened, people changed, things around us changed, we ourselves changed - but not completely - I just felt there are still a lot in us that remained.

24/12/2009 - A lazy and unproductive Xmas Eve for me this year. A little bit of me wished I am in London building snowmen now but thinking twice, I enjoy the sunshine in KL more :). Went for facial pampering session in the afternoon after lunch at Papparich.

Mum cooked garouper fish congee and fried beehon for dinner - yummy!

Nico's Vacation - KL - Day 8,9,10

2009-12-24T02:45:00.012Z

20/12/2009 - A 5am morning call woke me up and got ready to leave for the airport. Flight back from Siam Reap to KL was delayed for about half and hour. Dad bumped into his ex-supplier co-worker. What a coincidence! How often do you bump into people you know even if you are in KL! Bro and sis in law came to fetch us at the airport and went for lunch together. Got home after that, unpack a bit and I was out again to the Curve. Met up with SY and gang and then dinner at TGI.

21/12/2009 - My KL days normally starts with a morning market session to get breakfast - yummy chee cheong fun and egg tarts!!! Made 'tong yuen' for tomorrow's 'tong yuen' day. My teddy tong yuen...:

And then had lunch at Kim Gary @ Jusco and shopped a bit to pick up some random blank cds, shampoo etc and a quick hair fix at the salon there. Drove up to Genting later that evening where mum brought us into the Platinum Club Elite. No wonder mum put on weight - the food in there is pretty good! With a reasonable selection of canapes, sushi, sashimi (ok maybe not as fresh), scallops, and of course other normal stir fry stuff - unlimited food and fruits that you can order! And the desserts! God!!!

22/12/2009 - Another early start day - grabbed a Starbucks ice coffee and went to watch Avatar at Pavilion. It was a very good movie. Somehow I felt very 'Titanic'y feel to it. Maybe it's the music and the whole romance plot! But the graphics is pretty amazing. Was meant to have lunch at T-Bowl @ Sungei Wang but unfortunately it was closed for a couple of days for renovation! Dear me! Went to a Formosa Tawainese restaurant next door instead. It's also a newly opened restaurant and they mixed up some of our orders - can't really blame them I suppose. Since it's a 'Go Tong'/'Tong Yuen' day - we booked in for a family dinner at Chef Choi, Jalan Ampang. The only 2 things I like were the Aromatic Duck and Almond Milk with Papaya. Other dishes were just normal.

Nico's Vacation - Day 7

2009-12-24T02:08:00.010Z

19/12/2009 - It was an Angkor Temples day. After breakfast, we set out to Angkor Thom and started the temple crawl from Bayon. There were already a lot of people on each site even though we started early. It was quite hard to take pictures dodging those tourists. But then again, I suppose those tourists also thinks that they should start early to avoid crowds. It's just quite amazing that Angkor has so many visitors every day and yet there are still some parts of it that is quite run down - particularly some paths to the temples which are still sandy roads. I suppose the boom has just started a couple of years back and possibly it will turn better in the years to come.

It was 1ish when we finished Angkor Thom - the place is really big, luckily we are on the mini coaches that drove us around the temples. Otherwise, I would imagine it will take almost a whole day to cover the temples. Drove back into town and had lunch at a Cambodian Chinese restaurant before being dragged into a gems store where the only thing they do is give you free cambodian coffee and tries to con you into buying their gems and jewelery!

Next in the itinerary is Angkor Wat itself! The scorching sun hold us back. Went back to the hotel to freshen up and relaxed by the pool for about an hour before heading back out.

As the bus turned into the junction nearer to the sacred building, the moat was the first insight. The moat itself is pretty amazing. I felt very peaceful and calm and as the building itself came into view - there is just a very 'sacred' and 'holy' feeling that I don't quite know how to describe - serenity is the word. It is quite evident how grand and amazing it is. We got to Angkor Wat around 4ish and it took about another one hour to visit the temple. The crowd has subsided then. There are still a fair amount of visitors but not as busy.

Headed for dinner buffet and cultural show at a restaurant called Amazon. There were a lot of cambodian, vietnamese and thai food. I particularly like the vietnamese Bang Sung. The cultural show was a bit boring and so we left after half an hour of the show and went shopping at the Night Market instead!

Angkor Night Market is another buzz. A lot of tourists having their beer and fish massage sessions. Most of the stuff they sell are souvenirs ranging from handicrafts, bags, clothes, local produce etc.

That is it for a 2 days in Siam Reap...

Will be looking forward to another visit - a photography expedition!

Nico's Vacation - Day 6

2009-12-22T09:41:00.010Z

18/12/2009 - Another super early morning as we depart from Phnom Penh to Siam Reap. The bus journey took 6 hours but with 3 scenic stops. First stop is a place with a couple of hawker stalls selling edible tarantulas, crickets etc. They look really gross. I think the only thing that puts me off is the flies that parties over them. The guide said the crickets are the tastiest...hmm...never in a million years will I dare to try them out! There were also other random stuff like mangoes, dried seafood produce etc. Some local children were trying hard to get tourists (like myself) to buy the tarantulas and bananas. They will pester you to death I swear!

Second stop was just a normal toilet stop at a resort like restaurant. Took the opportunity to sleep on some hammocks there for a while before continuing the journey. 3rd was the Kompong Kdey Ancient bridge which used to be the connecting bridge between Phnom Penh and Siam Reap. It is too old now for vehicles to cross and therefore not used excessively nowadays.

We reached Siam Reap around 1pm and went for lunch straight away. It's another chinese meal but with herbal crocodile soup - tasted like normal pork ribs herbal soup but a bit more stronger taste. Proceeded to Les Artisan Angkor - a local handicraft centre and then to Tonle Sap Lake for a one hour cruise around the floating village. It is quite amazing to see how those people live on the lake. Some houses are really very small but have to fit a lot of people! There are even floating school and church. The guide told us that 3 years back, there was no cruise for tourists. Visitors have to walk on mud to get to the center to the floating village - we went on the right timing! We got off the boat on one of the tourists stop in the village, lingered for a while before heading back to the main pier.

By the time we finished our cruise, it's almost 4ish. Next in the itinerary is to view sunset of Angkor Wat from Phnom Bakeng. The trek up the hill was about 15 minutes. Once up there the bigger challenge was to climb to the top of Phnom Bakeng. The steps were really very steep. That said, by the time I reach the foot of the temple, there were already a big crowd on top of the temple. As I squeezed my way through the crowds, I managed to take a couple of shots of the almost setting sun - satisfied!

Dinner was at Green Suki Soup Steamboat. And checked in Monoreach hotel after that...

Nico's Vacation - Day 5

2009-12-22T08:49:00.007Z

17/12/2009 - Morning call was pretty early, but I woke up earlier than that since there were 3 of us in a room. Went down for breakfast quite early too so that we can try out the buffet in our own sweet time. Breakfast for me that morning was soup rice noodle, toast, coffee and fruits. Other than that, the breakfast buffet also has fried mee, fried rice, some random oriental stir fry dishes, omelette, porridge etc. I particularly like the soup rice noodle.

Started the city sightseeing tour at 8 and first stop was the Independence Monument and then to the Tonle Sap river side before proceeding to the Royal Palace. Unfortunately, the prime minister of Vietnam were visiting that day and therefore we can't go in to the Royal Palace itself, just the exterior gardens and Silver Pagoda. One of the interesting sights in there was the Cannon Ball tree and there are a couple of buddhas under the tree and they called it the Buddha tree. Apparently the flowers bloom in the morning and withers in the afternoon. Next stop was Wat Phnom - a temple on a 27m high hill. There are quite a few people praying in there and inside the temple the guide asked us to wash our hands with the 'holy' water which was supposed to bring good luck...hmm.

Lunch was at TonleBassac restaurant - international buffet -with most of the food of the type Vietnamese and Thai. We then spent about an hour at the Russian Market (Psar Tuol Tom Pong). It is an indoor market but it's quite stuffy and narrow. Most of the vendors sells souvenirs, handicrafts, jewelery, wood carvings etc. There are also some food stalls selling baguettes(french bread), fried and soup noodles etc. After a full one hour of free sauna, we proceeded to the Tuol Sleng Museum (Genocide Museum). The building itself used to be a school which was turned into a prison, a centre of detention and tourture. The exhibits are mostly about the barbarism of the Khmer Rouge leaders and stories of the victims.

Next stop was the Casino! It's actually owned by a Malaysian but not Genting. We got a 4USD voucher bet each courtesy of the tour company. The guide taught us a way to win 2USD each by playing banker-player. It is really a sure win method. But with 4USD voucher, we need to top up 10USD each and bet 6USD on Banker, 4USD + 4USD free voucher on Player. So if the Banker wins, we get 12 back which makes us profit of 2. If the player wins, we get 8 back which make us a net profit of 2 (8 - 6 which we lost by betting on banker). Such a tourism gimmick! Drinks are free as long as you are gambling. Managed to try out the Angkor Beer there which was pretty ok.

The last sightseeing stop of the day was Central Market - an open air market selling stuff that are pretty much the same as the Russian Market. Didn't manage to buy anything since we didn't feel the need to get souvenirs so early in the trip. Dinner was at a Vietnamese-Chinese restaurant called 'Yee Bo'.

Nico's Vacation - Day 4

2009-12-22T08:26:00.006Z

16/12/2009 - It's another travelling day. Bro drove us to KLIA LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal...hmm what a name!) which is serving the budget airlines and had brunch at Old Town before meeting the tour leader and checking in. There were 19 in the group, aged from 9 to 72!

Boarded the 15:15 AirAsia flight to Phnom Penh and touched down approximately 4ish Cambodian time. The flight was pretty ok. I can say AirAsia has higher standards stewardesses tan MAS! The tour booked us in for a chicken rice meal (so-so only) and reserved seats and so we didn't have to be kiasu and queue early to get seats together.

We met up with the local tour guide and straight to dinner from the aiport. Dinner was in a Malaysian Chinese restaurant - the boss is actually Malaysian and according to the 'si tau po' - boss' wife, she actually preferred to stay in Cambodia because she felt safer there - hmm I'm not quite sure about that though. After dinner, the guide brought us to a local fruit market and introduced to us one of the seasonal local fruit - milk fruit - it's round and sized of a small coconut, just that it has smooth skin and apparently it comes in green and brown colours with white coloured flesh.

Checked in Diamond Hotel where we stayed for 2 nights in Phnom Penh.

Nico's Vacation - Day 3

2009-12-15T16:26:00.008Z

15/12/2009 - Today is a 'gastronomically' interesting day. Woke up around half 8 and went to our local wet market to pick up some breakfast - it's apam balik for me - a type of peanut pancake. Spent the rest of the morning helping mum shift things around the house - free labour

-_-.

Lunch was at Chynna, Hilton. Had read a couple of reviews of it from food blogs and was determined to try it out. The dim sum menu is quite extensive. They have different variety 'categories' I'd say - the normal steamed ones, savoury fried ones, sweet desserts, well being (healthy and vege options), specials, different kinds of rice rolls (cheung fun), congee and another section with funky fusion dim sums named 'Taste Bud Journey'. We ordered 'cha siu bo lo pau', char siu bau, siu mai (the normal stuff) and a couple other special ones - grilled unagi rice roll, sambal petai samosa, spring onion pancakes with chicken floss, spinach and goji berry congee, prawn and mango roll and tom yum bean curd roll. Comparing Chynna to Ritz, I think Ritz is better in terms of the normal dim sums, but will definitely go back Chynna to try out other interesting stuff.

Mall crawled again after lunch - Pavilion this time - just to get myself a better pair of sandals for Cambodia - weather forecast has it that it's going to rain :( the next few days in Phnom Pehn. Had a tiramisu gelato from Gelato Fruity before starting shopping. Was quite amazed by the variety of shops and stalls that have opened since my last visit. Managed to get a pair of Sketchers sandals for 15% discount. Bro got himself a golf glove. And then we spent about more than half an hour choosing trinkets from one of the stalls there. Bought myself four individual sided earrings - meant to be mixed and match - RM12 each - right you might think it is cheap - but I don't think so. Maybe it just that I felt that some random trinkets like that shouldn't have costs so much in Malaysia! Thing's changed - they are not cheap in KL these days!

Had dinner at Fong Lye (Taiwanese Restaurant) at Midvalley. Was meant to try this place out twice when I was back home last year and didn't manage to make it. This time, I have more dinner slots to fit this in :). Food is good - in fact I think we ordered a little too much - not sure how many more gym hours I need to fit in after this holiday >< ! Anyway...not caring too much now, I shall continue my gourmet journey for the rest of the two weeks...stay tuned!

Nico's Vacation - Day 2

2009-12-14T16:53:00.006Z

13/12/2009 - Woke up uber early @ 4 am to catch the 7:30 am Alitalia flight to Kuala Lumpur, transitting in Rome. I took the taxi - well there wasn't any public transport that can get me to Heathrow Terminal 4 at the wee hours of 5 in the morning. Apparently MAS is also flying out from T4 now with the closing down of T2, I guess they are shifting things a bit. There are a lil more shops in T4 compared to the last time I was there - Berlin Dec 2008 I think.

At the check in, I was told that I was to get my Rome - KL leg boarding pass when I am in Rome Airport. I was a bit concerned then already considering the fact that I only have one hour and 20 minutes to do. It is a bit weird for this kind of joint airlines flights. Normally, you are issued both boarding passes if you are transitting, right? Well at least this is the first time I had to do this, so I was like ... err .. OK.

Grabbed a Starbucks Eggnog Latte for breakfast. Is it just me or Starbucks... that nowadays, I don't think I can stand their flavored coffees anymore...they are simply too sweet without any coffee taste. Oh well, should have ordered a tall instead of grande.

Flight from London to Rome was about 2 hours plus. Flight was only half full. I'm not sure how bad is was for Alitalia to get such notorious reputation before this, but my flight was considered OK.

Touching down Rome airport, I hurried to find my way to the gates. Wasn't sure where to get my boarding pass but passed by a transfer desk with MAS sign on the screen - but it wasn't the right place -_-. The lady told me to get it from the gates...right...to the gates then. By the time I get there, 40 minutes to scheduled depart time - not too bad, not really panicking either since I don't think they dare to leave without me when I am already at the gates. Another 'queue' confusion - which queue to get my boarding pass! Argh! There were a lot of people trying to make sense of the few queues there too. I wonder why they have to do it this way - just too confusing! Anyway, I managed to board the plane...phew.

Food was quite good this time. Wonder if it is because I'm flying from Rome instead. Lunch consists of smoked salmon salad, chicken biryani, cheese and bread and a slice of apple pie ... yummy. Breakfast was nasi lemak, croissant with jam, a muffin, yogurt and fruits.

Touched down KL after 10 hours, 20 minutes ahead of schedule...

My first day in KL was basically, went to the same restaurant for lunch and dinner to meet relatives and a brief stroll in Mid Valley to shop for a threadmill for dad...that's about it. Am still trying to get over my jet lag and pack for Cambodia...

What's in for Dec

2009-12-14T15:53:00.004Z

It is really very cold this early in Dec in London. I didn't remember it being that cold same time last year. Maybe it is just me denying the fact that it is already winter! Caught a lil cold earlier this month because of that...well I think it started from the sore throat I had after eating some deep fried tofu. I know, shouldn't have deep fried them! Was supposed to go to company's Christmas party as well on the 3rd, but didn't quite make it. My excuse(s)?...well since I was about to go on holiday in approximately one and a half weeks then, was quite bus at work. By the time I got home from work that night, I was already running a bit late and I was just not feeling right..the cold, the sniffles, the freezing temperature outside etc etc. I called it a miss. Anyway, luckily I'm all fine now in time for my holidays.

Took the Friday off, just to cleared some of my holidays. In fact, I have one and a half days left...and might just burn it. Holly came down to London to visit that day for the weekend. Just went for Jap lunch, shopped a bit in Ox Circ and then watched Law Abiding Citizen - was the only decent film on that time (not many good movies out yet). It was an OK movie - wouldn't bore you too much but not a WOW film either.

Met up with JL, YF and gang for Pearl Liang dim sum. It was quite good. Food bloggers did do a the restaurant good justice. I particularly like the Scallop Peashoots Dumpling and Sponge Cake. I'd say I prefer dim sum here than any other places I normally go to - Imperial China, Phoenix Palace, Royal China and Princess Gardens. We ordered so much food and the bill came to merely 17 quid - pretty good deal. It started raining after lunch and so decided to hang around Westfield before heading to YF's house Xmas party. Loads of people as usual, coming up to Xmas.

It was BSS Team's Xmas Dinner on Monday at Isarn, Islington. We had the 25 quid party menu which comes with a selection of 4 different starters in a bento box for 2 to share, a few dishes - green curry monk fish, chicken cashew, garlic prawns, roast pork, bok choi (not really thai isn't it) and rice to share among 4. Dessert was chocolate mousse - this is so much bigger proportionally compared to the mains! Although dessert was very chocolaty and satisfying, it was quite a bit too big I'd say.

Was in town on Saturday to spend the first day of my 3 weeks holidays do some last minute shopping. There ain't much to buy - just some bits and pieces - like Laduree macaroons for mum dad bro and sis in law :). Oxford Circus two weeks before Christmas is a nightmare. I'd never seen so much people! The economy must have got so much better I swear based on the sheer number of people spending on the high streets.

Got home in time to catch X factor and then pack...

Nov Update

2009-12-06T01:46:00.003Z

My bad...I just realised I have not been blogging for the whole of November. Anyway, just briefly recapping what happened in November...

It was a little more eventful month than I'd expected. Although most of the days were "On-call" days, I think I did a pretty good job in squeezing in bits and pieces of "social life". Apart from the usual movie nights and/or weekends, went to JJ's birthday party cum Halloween dress up party on the 31st Oct at Passage Cafe. I wasn't that inspired to dress as anything in particular but saw a flapper dress from FCUK with factory outlet price plus a 20% off that day. With that, I decided to dress up as a 20's girl. Also went to Camden Market the w/e before to check out trinkets and accessories.

The following Monday, we managed to make a dinner booking at Bocca di Lupo. I'd say the food is good but I don't see the WOW factor in it to be so popular and hard to get a booking in. I had to make the booking about a week in advanced. The lady that greeted us wasn't that nice either. We ordered quite a lot of food, and I'd say the dessert is the best part of the meal! (as usual, pics in my picasa gallery :)).

And then 2 weeks ago was Anita's birthday thingy - Went go-karting in the afternoon and had dinner at Erebuni (Russian stuff). The go-kart track was so much easier than the one up in Letchworth. We had a full 2 and a half hours between us. But some other stranger teams were so aggressive. Although the whole of us 3 teams weren't even on the top 5, it was good fun. The not fun bit would be that my hands and back ached the day after that and lasted for at least 2 days.

Sambal Ikan Bilis

2009-11-11T22:16:00.002Z

Found some Indonesian belacan in China Town the other day. And since I have some ikan bilis at home, had a go at making sambal ikan bilis. It was pretty good, except that I forgot to add in garlic. Recipe's from Nico's own creation after doing some brief research on some recipes online:

2009-10-28T20:52:00.003Z

If only I know how to expect less or even none,
I wouldn't be as blue as I am now...
To master the art of expecting the least,
Anyone willing to spare some inspiration...
To this "eager to learn" lost soul?

Readers...don't worry, I am fine...just a random daily dose of rant...I blame it on the weather...

3rd w/e of Oct

2009-10-18T23:05:00.008+01:00

Had an early morning in Borough Market on Saturday. A part of the market was moved to a new part and they named it the Jubilee market. The new section were quite spacious, less crowded but that also shows they have less stalls there. Greatest discovery would be the Flax Farm stall that sells Linseed Museli and Porridge. Bought the Linseed and Quinoa Porridge but not yet try it out - supposedly to be very healthy hmm... Monmouth Coffee is forever packed with coffee enthusiasts and the queue had already reach the side road at 10am! Also discovered Konditor and Cooks bakery - the Chocolate Swirl cookie is really nice - made from organic ingredients and no other preservatives or E numbers too!!! With definitely go back there to try out their Black Velvet muffin! Didn't try it out that day because was simply too full after a breakfast.

Hopped on the Jubilee Line and headed for O2 Arena to watch the World Gymnastics Championship. It was the Apparatus finals that day. The arena was not that packed but still there are quite a number of fan groups for China, England, Japan etc...The events started at 1pm with the Men's Floor Exercise first followed by the Women's Vault, the medal ceremony and then moved on to the Men's pummel horse and Women's asymmetric bars. I quite enjoy the vault and bars compared to others. The last event was the Men's rings, which I think was quite boring to watch - but maybe it was towards the end and we had already been sitting there for more than 3 hours already.

Met up with LZ and her friend again in Liverpool Street for dinner at Kazan City. The starters were so - so. The girls had the lentil soup while I had the goat's cheese boreks which I think was quite big portion for a starter - there were 4 on a plate. I had the Fistik Kebab (lamb with 2 nans, rice and salad) for main course - it really good - I would go back for that surely! We had the 50% promotion for 2 course by booking from toptable. It was a pretty good deal.

Guilty of my w/e dining out etc, woke up early on Sunday and did a 6km run to make myself feel a little better ^^. And also to get myself ready for afternoon tea at Yauatcha! Made the 3pm booking and ordered one set of the Yauatcha Afternoon Tea set and some other savoury dim sum (jade dumpling and siew long bau - really yummy!) to share between two of us. The cakes was so lovely!!!!! It came with a high tea set, two scones with a raspberry and apricot jam, honey and clotted cream and a great selection of teas to choose from...

Bottom tier - a siu mai, a venison puff and a char siu bau
Middle tier - a good selection of fruits (dragon fruit, mango, lai chee, rambutan etc), one lychee with jelly cake and one chocolate layer sponge cake
Top tier - random selection of delectable mini cakes, macaroon and chocolates

Now, a relaxing Sunday even more perfect with Heath Ledger in Imaginarium! Quite a confusing movie...but so what...who cares...Heath Ledger's in it :P...Ok time to wikipedia the story line...

Complimentary pic: week one bento box - shreded chicken with chick peas, green beans and shreded carrots + cubed papaya

Yalla Yalla

2009-10-16T21:07:00.004+01:00

Finally managed to make a booking to Yalla Yalla for 9pm yesterday (so late I know). It is a very small Lebanese restaurant that can barely fit more than 10 tables! We got there around 9 and had to wait for almost an hour before we get our table even though we had a booking! It was a bit too ridiculous a wait, but I guess they can't really help it either with the high demand and such a cramped place. And because of that the drinks were on the house. But then again they should at least restrict the turnaround time of the tables.

Once seated, we ordered immediately - having investigated the menu so thoroughly during the one hour wait. Food came quite fast. I quite like the lamb casserole - really tender and soft lamb meat served with fragrant spiced rice. The makale samak (Deep fried tiger prawns,calamar and white bait and aubergine) is quite nice as well . We also ordered some other mezzes which are decent - hommos and the fatayer spicach pastry.

All in all the food is good and reasonably priced. Will be much more convenient if people can just pop in and eat a decent meal without having to make advanced booking and such a long wait too! Although it seems it is recommended to order take aways rather than dining in - which I think is a pretty wise thing to do until they have a larger restaurant!

2nd Week of Oct

2009-10-13T20:47:00.012+01:00

Have been dining out a lot lately...also maybe because it's London Restaurant Week. Had dinner at Atheneum after watching Julie and Julie on Saturday. We had the 3 course meal + champagne deal from Toptable for only 24 quid. It was pretty good. The restaurant wasn't that big but the atmosphere is pretty relaxing. Food wise was pretty decent - particularly the cappucinno LOL.

Went for Oktoberfest beer and sunday roast at Bavarian Beer House near Old Street. I ordered the Sunday special which is Pork Roast with red cabbage and a big blob of potato (looks and taste like a very big gnocchi) and it comes with a 2 pint beer - was sooooo big that I couldn't even finish everything! Otherwise, the hot apple strudel and black forrest were really good.

Also dropped by Covent Garden and apparently there's the Covent Garden Real Food Market on. There ain't many stalls but did saw some pretty cool stuff like artisan food and Ella's cupcakes. Highlight must be Jeff Koon's massive bunny!

Another highlight of the week must be Annie's leaving dinner. Went to Bibendum in Michelin House on Monday. The food was pretty good - I had the curried parsnip soup and fish and chips with lovely tartar sauce. But all in all I think the chocolate with prune cake was the loveliest (in fact check this review out!)! And because it was London's Restaurant's Week, they were doing a "roll the dice" event. The way it works - after the dinner, they offer us a roll of the dice and if we can get a 4, we don't have to pay for meal. And guess what, from Annie's lucky hands, we did get a 4!!! It was so unbelievable. A free meal worth 30 quid indeed!!!

...You must be wondering...why am I always posting stuff I did on weekends...so what happens during the rest of the days? Well, there ain't much to blog about work anyway. Anyhow, I thought maybe I should mention it briefly.

Mornings - I've been eating breakfast "religiously" these days - thought that might help boost my metabolism and also so that I don't go hungry during mid morning and start snacking. So, I tend to wake up a lil earlier and prepare and yummy breakfast - normally it's a cup of coffee, a piece of fruit and/or Kellog's Nature's pleasure Wholegrain cereal with soy milk or yogurt (this is a wonder to releasing energy at a steady rate and thus my body's sugar level had just made friends with it! :P). I've also discovered Yeo Valley's new Smooth and Creamy yogurt - another healthy and yummy wonder!

Besides breakfast, I have also been "studiously" bringing pack lunch to work. Think I got bored with sandwiches now - used to just make turkey ham and hummus sandwich with some cherry tomatoes - I've decided to make more complicated stuff - i.e. putting more variation to my lunch for e.g. salads or something that I can put into my new bento box bought from Japan Center. Which also means I'll need to wake up earlier! At work - seems a lot of work to do and so little time...it had been weeks of "distraction" ... production issues, running around meetings and demos etc. Other than that, nothing much changed. After work's typically back home, make dinner, watch TVB or BBC iPlayer and/or surf foodie blogs while having Restaurant City and Country Story running at the background. Else, I'd be out in London for dinner and/or movies and/or drinks

...that's Nico's life as of Autumn 2009...

Kicking Off the Lose Weight Plan

2009-10-08T22:31:00.004+01:00

Approximately 2 months / 9 weeks to my trip back home in Dec. It's about time I kick off the Lose Weight plan so that my mum won't say I put on weight every time I go home -_-. Objective: I've got about 3-5 Kgs to lose :). Not that ambitious right...but just seems so hard -_-.

And so I'm on my healthy diet plan and gym visits again. I've been trying to compile a list of all the healthy food I should be eating. Will be putting it up on one of the columns here.

On the other hand, I've also got a list of London restaurants I want to visit. LOL. Women are simply contradicting themselves too much :))). Column up soon ;).

Oh oh also...I have two recipes to try out - mango cupcakes and fried sweet potato balls! ... Hmm more gym sessions!

Nico's just made Healthy Food and the Threadmill her best friend.

Nico's Million Spiced Lamb

2009-10-08T22:09:00.009+01:00

My first ever attempt in cooking lamb - never a big fan of lamb and therefore won't normally buy and cook it, unless it's eating out.

Marinated with a lot of spices - literally everything I can find in my cupboard. Ok, maybe I exaggerated.

In the marinade: 5 Chinese Spice, Fennel Seeds, Ground Coriander, Ground Ginger, Peppercorns, Salt, Lemon Juice.

Dinner tonight - Roasted Lamb with Fennel base and Ginger drizzled with Olive Oil... Ta Da...

1st wed of Oct 2009

2009-10-07T20:14:00.004+01:00

October...weather's starting to get crappy...it's been raining almost whole day today. For some weird reason, Nico's motivation is rising a lil bit again. Maybe she's just very looking fwd to her big break in Dec and thus have to concentrate at work more.

It's been quite good sitting next to the Creative UE and Marketing team (the BSS team had moved to the second floor of Titan after the "falling glass" incident). They always have freebies and left overs (products that they want anymore after taking photos of). And since it's almost Christmas (omigod!), new seasonal products start coming in. For e.g., yesterday alone, the photographer gave us more than 4 rounds of free chocolates!

I've also volunteered to place an MSC trial order - more free stuff - ordered the cod, plaice, lamb, pork and scallops. Got it today. Most of the products are well packed. But I still think there's a lil too much food to fit my humble fridge - along with the rest of my order of course. Hope my hsemates wouldn't complain too much.

Have you Nicocism readers also realised something? - Nico's been blogging so much more compared to the previous years...Hmm I am actually thinking of starting some serious themed blogging - Travel Blog? But I don't think I travel frequest enough, Food Blog? Hmm a tricky one - so many people's done it...Anyway...Nico need to start planning...Watch the space ;)

Fame

2009-10-04T12:26:00.006+01:00

Another teen flick, but quite like it...wonder if the musical is better...

Just as I was discussing the movie with my movie buddy, we both agreed that this (see video below) will never happen in reality on the planet so called earth!... Say me cynical ... neway ... it's another one of those lovely scenes that almost most women "buy" into !

Mid Autumn and Scandi Spirit Continues

2009-10-04T03:40:00.004+01:00

Paid a visit to the Scandinavian Kitchen today to check out the stuff they are selling. This is what I discovered...Roasted Onions...just like the way they do it back home in Msia! I thought it was just an Asian thing but after my Curry Chicken and Roasted Onion Sandwich discovery at Stockholm's airport, I just figured out it's a Scandi thing as well!

Plus to my discovery - tried their 3 piece Smorgasbord - hot smoked salmon, egg + kaviar on rye bread and crayfish tails - pretty good

And for Mid Autumn - had dinner with YF, her parents who were in town for a couple of days, Angeline and her bro at Royal China, Baker St. Such a Msian family styled dinner which I haven't had for such a long time now. Feels so strange! The restaurant was quite packed. Didn't realise the chinese community here take mid autumn so seriously. Apparently quite a lot of chinese restaurants were fully booked as well. Food was pretty good apart from the dessert (red bean "wo bang" ain't up to standards) but the complimentary mooncake made up for it I think.

Another Scandinavia Trip

2009-10-03T11:47:00.020+01:00

I don't think I've ever felt so excited before after a trip. I miss Sweden so much! Love the place! When we first planned the trip, I actually wanted to go to Norway. I initially thought that there ain't much to do in Sweden and hence wasn't expecting much. Plus, the initial motivation for the whole trip is to visit LZ and travelling around with MN. But now that I'm back, I missed the place! Stockholm has just top in my fav cities chart.

19/09/09 - Boarded the 10:35 am Ryanair flight from Stansted and touched down Aarhus 20 minutes ahead of schedule at around 13:30pm. It was a really small airport. Immigration was simply just a lil counter along a narrow corridor where everyone pass through after getting off the plane. And then directly after immigration is the baggage collection area. Only waited for abt 10 minutes before I collected my red trolley and headed out to the bus station, right outside the arrival hall - literally a few steps away(just trying to describe how small it is :)). Miss CLZ gave me the bus stop's name but was still quite worried if I'll got off the wrong stop and so double checked with the bus driver and a guy sitting in front of me. Managed to get off the at Randersvej/Noddre Ringgade, i.e. the University stop. Miss LZ smsed me to say she's stuck in the woods and can't get back in time. While waiting, I wandered around the area. It was a bit sparse, not many shops around but managed to venture down Tordenskjolos-gade where there are more shops and cafes. Went into one and ordered a salmon sandwich. It was quite nice. Miss CLZ came back to me 2 hours later to say she's back and so I wandered back to the bus stop where we walked back to her apartment. It was quite a cosy, contemporary apartment - just the sort I hope I can get in England for 600 euros! There is this a thing abt houses in denmark and sweden: a lot of them have the same lamp shades. Walked into the city center later the day and had dinner at Ziggy - an italian place.

20/09/09 - Woke up super early to catch the 7 am train to Copenhagen. It was quite a comfy train journey, big seats, quite nice views occassionally, but I didn't get much sleep on the train, I think mainly because I had a cup of very strong coffee freshly brewed frm LZ's coffee machine. MN picked me up at the station and lead me to the hostel she booked a few days earlier - Hotel Loven - abt 10 mins walk frm the station - convenient indeed. Bought the Copenhagen card where MN thinks is a better deal if we want to go places out of the center. First dest - set off to Lousiana Museum of Modern Art at Humlebæk. A very nice museum indeed, with the park overlooking the Øresund. We spent quite a fair amount of quality time in there. Exhibitions on were "The World is Yours" - international contemporary art and "Green Architecture for the Future" - new modern architecture. We continued our journey to Helsingør and tried to find things to do there.
After considering a few things like the aquarium (ahem), some random castles, we finally decided to go and have ice cream instead! Yes, it was apparently the best ice cream in town - Brostraede Ice Cream. We then head towards the Hamlet castle by the sea. Got back to Copenhagen city center just before dinner time and decided to make a visit to the Round Tower to get a sunset view - view from up there was a bit dissapointing due to the so-so weather. But the random design exhibitions on the way up the tower was pretty interesting. Had Greek Buffet for dinner - tasty dessert surprisingly! Stuffed ourselves with quite a lot of food. Walking to Tivoli after that doesn't help much since it was too near a distance to walk off the calories! Although, we did wander around Tivoli for a bit to wait for the Light show and Fireworks.

21/09/09 - To maximise our use of the Copenhagen card, we were left with very few interesting places to visit. Choosing between the zoo and aquarium, we ended up going to the latter. There was supposed to be a giant squid on display but I think we were too early - the squid was still sleeping - hidding in one corner of the aquarium. One of the guys working there were nice enough to wake the squid up for us to see - but the squid just refused - was quite funny how the guy tried so hard to wake it up LOL. Next was Rosenborg Castle - nothing much there - just another castle - but since it's free, why not :). At lunch time, we set off from CPH to Helsingør and took the Scandiline ferry to Helsingborg, Sweden. It was only a 20 min journey for 18 SEK with the CPH card. The ride itself was another amusing experience. It doesn't look like a ferry at all - it was like a mall - with a few shops and cafes and very little seats - all seats are like restaurant seats - with tables and chairs! Anyway, after the ferry, it was a 2 and a half hours train ride from Helsingborg to Gothenburg. On the train, there were two super uber friendly "uncles"(i.e. middle aged men) who started chatting with almost everyone sitting around them - including us. They were quite funny and gave us some rather "useful" recommendations on where to go in Gothenburg and Stockholm. Arrived Gothenburg around 7 in the evening and weather wasn't that good - didn't really help when we were trying to find our way to the hostel.

22/09/09 - Explored Gothenburg - a moderate sized city - very easy to go around. Woke up bright early and went hunting for breakfast - cinnamon buns. Went to 7 Eleven initially (there were loads in Denmark and Sweden!) and saw something like it, but wasn't sure since the tag was in Swedish and so asked the cashier there. Poor cashier, she was trying so hard to describe to us it's cinnamon! Finally when she did a long stick hand gesture and said its a spice, we understood. We then recalled that we saw some cinnamon buns - has the same name - kanelbullar - in the bakery opposite. MN bought hers from 7-E. I went back in to the bakery opposite - Dahl's Bakery and asked for one. It looks moderate sized sitting in the oven rack from the counter but when she took it out, it was massive! I still can't believe I actually bought it. But there you go...really yummy cinnamon and apple bun. We couldn't finish it and so had the other half the next morn. Stumbled across a shop with a lot of cool design stuff - it was actually DesignTorget - a quite famous design shop in Sweden - and bought an inflatable foot bath. So what's in Gothenburg...there is the harbour, the opera house, Nordstand mall, Da Matteo latte (recommended by Lonely Planet - I was so excited to get my cuppa and take a pic of it that I almost forgot to pay for it!), Kronhuset - oldest secular building in the city, Gothenburg's Choklad & Karamelfabrik (choc factory), Feskekorka - the fish church they call it, which is simply a fish market - loads of salmon, crabs, lobsters, crayfish - seafood heaven, Kungsportsavenyn - supposedly the main high street - but we were quite disappointed with the shops there - only bought my HRC t-shirt, Haga Nygata - old cobbled street with loads of lil boutique shops - loved it there - randomly discovered a vey nice cafe - Le Petit - with very "girly" and comfy interior - loved the cafe too! Highlight of the day must be the massive cinnamon with apple bun I bought from Dahl's Bakery. Didn't expect it to be such a massive bun, since it looks small from the counter - 49 SEK for such a big bun, I'd say pretty good :) - aww quite miss it now, although I think MN must be quite sick of it by now.

23/09/09 - Woke up uber early AGAIN to catch the morning train to Stockholm. Apparently faster trains costs more and the earlier you book, the cheaper it is - 40 quid is the cheapest we can get for a decent 5 hours journey - without seat reservation. Checked in to our Red Boat Maleran Hostel in Soldermalm - it is really a boat itself - and set off to explore Gamla Stan (old town) for the rest of the afternoon. Had lunch - salmon quiche at one of the cafes - Old Street Cafe. The cafes there do Dagens Lunch (Specials Lunch) at a pretty good deal.

24/09/09 - Explored the City part of Stockholm - went to Hortoget and Ostermalm markets - such good markets!!! Ostermalm Saluhall was packed with working folks in suits having lunch and it was only 12...hmm they do have a very early lunch break indeed! Had a hard time deciding where to eat - too many food stalls around and ended up having husmankost at Willy Ohlsson - MN had the Kottbullar (meat balls with mashed potato - pickled cucumber and lingonberry sauce self serviced) while I had the pork schnitzel with peas and sliced potatoes. The sauce was really very yummy - it tasted like "dong guai"!!! It actually gave me some inspiration to make the dish myself!!! - Dong guai pork fillets - hmmm...

Other hightlights of the city - Culture house, Dottingham street - high street, Ahlens department store, NK, Armemuseum, Music museum etc etc. We even walked all the way to Vasastaden - Northwest of the city to check out Vurma and Melquist cafe. But the biggest discovery was Ritorno Konditori (bakery) where we have a strawberry cake for half price and budapest cake. It was a cafe with a lot of chandeliers - but then again, most of the bakeries/cafes do! - That's the lovely thing abt Sweden - really nice cafes! And yea...buns and cakes are sold for half the price between 5 and 6 weirdly - maybe they just want to get rid of them by the end of the day! Dinner was at Kungsholmen - an upclass modern food court with 6 open kitchens. A must go if your in Stockholm!! Loved the place! One of the waiter even shared his photography experience with us - it was brilliant - friendly waiters and good service.

25/09/09 - Was meant to go on archipelago but woke up too late and missed the morning departures - there were less ferries after the summer. And so went to Skansen at Djurgarden instead. It was quite a huge open air museum - a lot of animals to see too - just like a zoo! But of course there are other interesting stuff like the old Swedish houses and shops - glass making, bakery, pharmacy etc etc. Explored the Djurgarden island for a bit after that and managed to take quite a fair bit of sunset pics as we walked back to gamla stan. Had dinner at Valvet - some random restaurant we bumped into - I think it was the lobster soup that lured us in! We shared the lobster soup + pork with chantarell sauce, herring cooked 3 ways - original, mustard and garlic sauce and for dessert - blue cheese with cloudberry and lingonberry sauce. Food was so-so but the only bonus is...haha...hmm c*** waiters :).

26/09/09 - Relaxing final day at Stockholm. Took the ferry archipelago trip to Vaxholm - abt an hour from Stockholm. It was a really small but nice lil island town. All we did there was walk around the harbour - with views of the fortress, loads of ships, yachts, stopped by a really cosy rooftop (only two storey high) cafe, had apple cake and pie with vanilla sauce at Café Silltruten, lingered around the "main" street where there were some stalls set up (supposedly to be a weekend market or so, but there aren't many stalls) and took the afternoon ferry back to Stockholm. Flight back to London was at night, but by around 4pm, we were already on our way to the airport since it'll take us one and a half hours to get from central to Skavasta airport. Took the Ryanair airport bus with a very cheap deal - 2 for 1 - 75 SEK for two person, it normally cost 89 SEK with the other bus company. At the airport, we tried to finish up our Swedish Krona coins and I ended up buying a massive Curry Chicken sandwich with Roasted Onions (the ones I normally find back home in Msia!!!). Oh and aslo bumped into a colleague who was in Stockholm for the past week! What a coincidence!

I think Ryanair has surely did good job in repairing their reputation - at least that is what I experienced this time - no problems at all and in fact, up to the standards - cheap and efficient. I have to give them some credits here - and probably shot down a lot of other bad experiences I've heard. The only fault is that the cheap bus to the airport was full initially and they had to arrange another bus to take the rest of the 11 people (including us) - and we did waited for about 15 minutes like they promised.

Nico's thoughts on Sweden:

People are really nice. Most of the time there are people coming up to us and ask if we need help. I think we just look too blur looking at our maps.

Shopkeepers don't shout at you taking pictures of their store

Most people speak good english (quite strong American slang I think), i.e. won't get lost in translation

Food are so much lighter - which makes you feel less guilty eating more :) - that's why I like Scandi food!

I still feel the land there is about 15 degrees inclined on the left. Just as I felt my left foot starts aching hours before my right foot does, MN brought up the same discussion!

September Rewinded

2009-09-28T20:53:00.008+01:00

I've left my blog untouched again for almost the whole month :P. Well I guess it's a good sign since I only update my blog when I have free time. i.e. I'd managed to keep myself busy for the whole Sept. I can already see Oct and Nov coming as really boring months. With the chilly and windy weather kicking in, credit card bills to pay and in fact haven't got anything lined up. Need to be a good girl for the next 2 months before my big big holiday in Dec :).

September...

1st weekend - was YF's birthday party at Tamarai on the 5th, Saturday. We had the party tasting menu for half the price - pretty good deal - 9 tasting yummy courses. And was also the day I double booked myself since I only realised a few days before hand that Mei Nee's also arriving London that night! Almost couldn't work out how to split myself into two. Eventually had Mei Nee waiting for me at the Galleria and guilty me rushed back after the dinner to pick her up. Brought MN to Old Spitalfields Market and walked around London for a bit doing the normal tourist thingy again.

2nd weekend - was Annie's leaving due thingy. Only managed to go to her morning + afternoon session - went Zorbing at some random big green fields in Oxford. It was quite an extreme sport. There were only a small tent set up on the site and the only equipment they had were two zorbing balls, one with water and the other without. Basically they just strap you onto one side of the ball and roll you down the hill...lol. I'd say it is quite extreme, when the ball stops at the bottom of the hill, I was literally hanging off the ceiling of the ball and was a bit worried for a bit that I might break my neck! All in all it was fun. Went to the Thames Festival at night with MN. A lot of stalls set up along the Thames! Lots of food - spanish, kenyan, korean - simply weird combinations! The interesting bit is the Fire Garden in front of Tate Morden, although we didn't quite work out how those things works!

...just as I was telling MN that I've never seen the bridge opens for ships to cross, we turned around and saw it openning!!!!!! ... and I'm not joking! What a coincidence! I should have bought a lottery ticket that day!

The following weekends....to be cont. in the next post...

Re NYC Halal Food Cart

2009-09-02T23:08:00.002+01:00

Re comments about the halal food cart in NYC - yea it seems quite big in the city itself ! Just came across this article : http://midtownlunch.com/2009/05/15/has-street-meat-student-carnegie-john-surpassed-teacher-tony-dragonas/. Although the one I saw wasn't this itself. Hmm regret not trying it out! LOL.

Stuffed Chicken Wings

2009-09-02T22:47:00.005+01:00

Had always wanted to try making stuffed chicken wings. Came across Ocado selling 4 chicken wings a pack and so taking advantage of free delivery for staff, which just started this week, had my almost 10 quid off delivery today.

It took me almost half an hour to de-bone 3 chicken wings - well that's including other distractions - Claire telling me she's got a new pet snake in the house *gulp* and Debbie showing me her new tank for her turtle. Didn't know what to stuff in the wings, so just randomly stuffed them with sauteed shitake mushrooms, carrots, mangetout and baby corns. It wasn't that hard to debone the wings, just that there must be a faster way to do it! Hmm need more research.

Results...ta da...

Last Bank Holiday of the Year

2009-08-31T21:27:00.005+01:00

Started off my bank holiday with some shopping at Covent. Dropped by Camden Market before that to check out a stall which is suppose to sell some japanese clothes. Only managed to buy two tops from a boutique in Covent and a dress from Warehouse which was on sale - 20 quid off :). Strangely central London wasn't that packed as usual, maybe its just because of the bank hols. Later, had dinner at Imli - second choice to Yalla Yalla which was closed for the long w/e. I'd say the tapas in Imli are quite spicy. The naan is so-so, just normal naans, and I only remember I like the aubergine masala more than any others we ordered.

Was down in Portsmouth on Sunday for the International Kite Festival. Got there around 1ish. There were a lot of different shaped kites at the festival and there were some kite "performance"ish thingy going on where they make different formations with the kites. The weather was not too bad but it was quite chilly and windy. After lunch, we walked back to the festival ground and bought a "pink octopus" kite to fly. Portsmouth looks like every other seaside town. There are quite nice houses around and the Spinnaker Tower is quite impressive.

Had a lazy Monday doing laundry, cleaning my room etc and planning Sweden trip. It seems to be harder and harder to do planning having three ppl living in three different countries, with different time zones, and pouring each other with a lot of different ideas and opinions on where each wanna go etc, trying to go on a trip together! LOL. Hmm just wondering if I should start getting worried since we haven't actually have a proper plan where to go yet and thus no accom arrangements made yet. Anyway, I'm sure we'll come up with something that works soon!

Work day again tmr...sigh...happiness level dropped to below zero again. I think I miss home. Reason I'm quite definite about it is because I'm starting to get bored of almost everything. I know it's not the first time I'm rambling about this. But just can't stop myself. Hmm. Ok so it seems this year is a record year - almost more than a year I've not gone "home". The bank holiday weekend seems so short. Well, you must be thinking who wouldn't want longer holidays. Hmm but it seems different, even though I have some holidays coming up, "they" are just not enough to cheer me up.

p.s. I've started using Flickr again - http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicocsm/ .

The Perfect Brunch @ Lantana

2009-08-22T22:00:00.005+01:00

After reading good reviews one after another on other foodies' blogs, I tried out Lantana for brunch today. It was gorgeous! Flat white is even better than the one from Flat White itself and Milk Bar! Although it's quite relative since standards vary depending on a lot of other conditions. They serve really generous sized portions, very rare in London! The kiwis know their food definitely! Highly recommended!!!

http://www.lantanacafe.co.uk/ OR http://scramblingeggs.blogspot.com/

Quotes of the day

2009-08-19T21:21:00.003+01:00

Quotes of the day

...A good photographer makes everything seems so much more beautiful...

...Nothing in life is worth doing unless you are going to be serious about it....

Days after Bristol and NYC

2009-08-17T22:14:00.002+01:00

I came back from my Bristol and NYC w/e with so much more holiday planning to do for the rest of the 2009. Just managed to book my flight back to KL via Alitalia (luckily the journey from Rome to KL is on MAS) through Lee's Travel for £600 (cheapest I can find for Dec!). But the agent mailed me today to say they couldn't get the transaction through. Sigh, need to call them up tmr.

Had dinner with the girls at Cinnamon Kitchen on Thurs before saying farewell to the gals who are off to South America for their exciting adventure. The food was REALLY good. I had the seafood broth and lamb curry and some random lychee and rice kheer dessert. Curry was soooo yummy. Definitely one of the top choices for Indian! Bill came to about £21 per person - about right since the 3 set menu was already £21

Watched The Time Traveller's Wife on Sat. It was such a well written story, very interesting yet funny and simply sad. Hmm I would imagine the book to be really good and probably much better than the movie. I am yet to read it.

Spent most of Sunday planning my Sweden hols at Sept and couldn't yet decide the places to go. Anyway, just need to sort my accom and train journeys at the mo.

Next in the list to plan is Cambodia in Dec. Can't wait! This is so bad - I really look fwd to trip back home but just felt depressing time flies, so fast, too fast that I just can't accept the fact that I am "aging" so fast :P.

Oh oh, I saw ONE of the perseid meteor on Sat night, approx. @ 23:58 lol. I was so happy that I did. It was really fast, almost a fraction of a second, but I managed to capture it clearly in my mind. Didn't quite expect it until Carman asked me to stare and the sky and just wait. Such a good lesson - patience is all you need to let things happen. And such a good motivation to think that you will get what you've longed for when all you need to do is go and get it yourself! The past two nights were quite cloudy, not even a single star in sight. Sigh...I guess I can't be so greedy...I am contented with just one :).

A packed 2nd w/e in Aug

2009-08-17T21:24:00.005+01:00

It seems like yesterday, but it had already been a week plus since my hectic schedule of Bristol and NYC.

06/08/09 - Half day at work. Got off work around 12 + and head down to Hammersmith where we started our journey to Bristol. Managed to catch the last hour of Bansky vs Bristol Museum. There was a bit of a queue but we got in, although we had to literally rush our way around the exhibits. After that, off to the Balloon Fiesta ground. It was the Special Shapes Launch @ 6pm. Disappointingly, there were only 4 huge balloons - Up, Monster, Churchill and Harvey Nichols and none of them were launched. Hanged out around the fiesta ground where there were a lot of different stalls set up selling random stuff from lollipops, hog roast to sunglasses etc. @ 9pm, the Night Glow started. It was basically just making the balloons light up coordinating with the discoey music. Was great fun. Drove around Bristol at night searching for some places to get a drink and ended up at a boat pub. Slept in the car that night to maximise time since we need to be at the balloon grnd again @ 6am. 07/08/09 - Woke up @ 5am and drove down to the balloon grnd again. Got ourselves sorted and waited for the Mass Launch at 6am. The launch was awesome. So many balloons!!! It was simply amazing. How I wish I could be up on one of them! We left the place at around 8 ish. There were much less people compared to the night before. But there were so many people with such cool camera equipments. Had a yummy breakfast at the Boston Tea Party - nice latte :) and then sneaked in to the Banksy Exhibition again to cover off the top floor galleries. We had to sneak in because the queue was just unbearable. Unbelievably long - does ppl in Bristol has nothing to do than Banksy? Left for London arnd half 10. Said goodbye to the gang and took the tube to Heathrow for my flight to NYC.

Continental Airlines was better than I excepted. But then again, I had quite low expectations before this since it was the cheapest flight I can find. The seats didn't recline that much (-10). The food sucks - so much carbo (-10). The personal screen is pretty good (+10). So there you go, it's still a negative rating :P.

Reached Newark around 8ish and got to Hilton arnd 10ish as I eagerly awaited for Amy's arrival. The first thing that caught by attention as I walked from Bryant Park (42nd St - where the bus stopped) to Hilton at 54th st is Magnolia hehe. Thought of stopping and getting a cupcake, but didn't at the end. Next thing was that there was a Halal Food stall in front of Hilton. It's not the food that attracted me, it was the queue. It was superrrr long. Never had I ever seen so many people queuing for a 5 dollar bowl of rice and halal food. After checking in, we head out for some late night food and ended up at Friday's (of all places lol)

08/08/09 - Due to my jet lag, woke up quite early but linger in the hotel room till around 11 before heading out for my first day in NYC. Had brunch at La Bonne Soup - yummy Mushroom, Barley and Lamb soup. Started at Disney Store @ 5th Av and walked (shopped as well) all the way down to Broadway at 30 odd st. Had dinner at Sakagura - very yummy uzaku and sake. Went to 230 @ 5th Av rooftop bar for a couple of drinks. This place serve quite a few malaysian dishes! Nasi Lemak is one of them! Weird! Continued drinking at the hotel bar after Amy thinks it would be safer if 3 of us got drunk, the hotel room is still close enough within reach, lol.

09/09/09 - The day was not sunny but very stuffy. Just like the sky is about to burst in tears. Had brunch in Kyotofu - such a lovely place - loved it so much :). And then head to B&H Photo to witness the chaoticness of this place. Didn't buy anything since I think I need more time to consider which lens I should invest in. Walked around Macy's etc but shopping wasn't fruitful at all. By the time I bought the Coach bag my mum requested, our legs were too tired to continue further. Randomly popped into a restaurant and ordered some refreshing juices before we decide where to eat for the night. Went down to East village to find the vietnamese place we wanted to go weren't there anymore and so went to a fusion Thai place - The Elephant which serve decent pad thai and calamari salad - satisfied. Had drinks @ the Salon De Ning - another rooftop bar at the Peninsula. Cocktails were quite expensive at $22, but all worth it, nice chilled venue and yummy crackers :).!

10/09/09 - Went out to Greenwich early morning, had breakfast @ Sweet Revenge. The chocolate and peanut butter cupcake was superb! And then basically walked almost the whole of greenwich, soho, china town and nolita. Saw a lot of pretty dresses, but can't really afford them unfortunately. Got back to the Hotel around 5 before going out for dinner at 6 and then back to the hotel, pack and get ready for flight back to reality the next day.

...I think I am so much more an explorer now and want to do more and more of it!

p.s more pics @ my picasa web gallery

It's August

2009-08-03T20:46:00.004+01:00

Past weekend spent on sorting myself out, i.e. had a hair cut, dyed my hair @ J Moriyama and went for a facial @ Pacifica Spa, Nottinghill with a Ottolenghi's blueberry and crumble muffin breakfast b4 that :)). And also, watched Coco Chanel - really good movie, so inspiring and went to have lunch around Spitalfields Mrkt. Was so tired the whole weekend, don't know why since all the stuff I did was supposedly to be relaxing...hmm.

Anyway, need to pack for Bristol Balloon Fiesta and NYC!!!

I need more sleep!

p.s. I finally can justify why I would spend a few hundred quid on a camera lens instead of a designer bag - that is - Looking back at the pics I've taken makes me so much more happier than showing off I have a designer bag on the street! :)...ooo can't wait to tell that to my MUM :)))

Another Chilling Weekend Well Spent?

2009-07-26T21:40:00.017+01:00

Woke up unbelievably early today and made myself a healthy breakfast smoothie. It is really good detox...found out after having Innocent Super Foods Smoothies a couple of times!

And so I have been making smoothies quite frequently these days. The Innocent Smoothie recipe book has pretty good recipes.

Made good use of the mini blender I bought a couple of weeks ago as well. The only downside is that I don't have a juicer for the apples.

And therefore need to live with crunchy apple bits in my smoothies. Juicers are quite big though. Not quite sure whether I should invest in one.

Pics - left: the day b4...1 apple, 1 orange, 1 banana & a bunch of cherries...; right: today...1 grapefruit, 1 apple, 1 banana...

Got to central arnd half 11 and went straight to LA Fitness @ Holborn. Not a member myself but just to help Annie complete her weekly gym swipe ins. Not that big a gym. The one in Hertfordshire Sports Village has more equipment and way more spacious. I guess it's just London that is. Spent about an hour there and then hit Covent to look out for the final bits of summer sales, just in case they put out the good stuff towards the end of the sales season. End up not buying anything.

As I continue on towards Waterstones Pic, decided to drop by Nordic Bakery and bought a Cinnamon bun. Really sticky and cinnamony bun. But I can really say the bun can almost fill my stomach for the whole day!!! Quite filling that is. Pic courtesy of flikr...

Spent a good few hours in the book store looking for travel books so as to plan my holidays for the next couple of months. Also bumped into the "You Are Really Rich" book. A quick read, finished it in the bookstore. Wonder why anyone would wanna buy it? There are a couple of things in there that is quite funny and quite true and meaningful too. The book is actually about measuring richness without using money as a metric. Every other thing in life make us a lil richer...this is exactly the message I try to convey to my mum everytime she tries to convince me money is everything and very important.

Quotes:

"...life is worth living just for the sheer physical beauty all around us...". And so it says even though one's out of job, one's partner walked out or even one's house burnt down and lost everything, there is still a very valid reason to live on happily, just because of the beauty of everything else arnd. We just need to look through a painter's eyes.

"...Mondays are terrible way to spend one seventh of your life...but mornings can bring with it a huge sense of promise and change...today everything could be better, today everything could be fantastic. Believe it and it just might happen...". I know it's Sunday night, but keep on believing Nico!!!

When it comes to touch on Happiness Quotient and Optimism, I remembered the time my mum told me how she was trying to reverse her car from the parking space outside our house and nearly hit the neighour's maid and kid (or is it a dog...) because her mind went blank for a few minutes and although she knew the car is still moving backwards, her mind somehow failed to communicate the right message to her legs to press the brakes. She kept saying how lucky she was that she did not hit the maid and kid (...or maybe it is a dog the maid was with...doesn't make a diff here). After I heard the story, I realised how optimistic my mum was. She claimed it was lucky no one's hurt and did not even worry about why she didn't press the brakes immediately! If it was me, I would start worrying why I didn't react asap as I needed to. Such an optimistic mum! I guess that makes her so much more happier than people who are just not contented about what they already have (like me? hmm)

Maiko Make Over X years ago

2009-07-22T22:57:00.002+01:00

Holly found this site...it was the place we went for Maiko make over when I was in Kyoto in Dec 2006!!!! Omigod didn't even realise they actually put our pics online!

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/yumeyakata2/m/200612

A Romcom Princess

2009-07-20T21:41:00.004+01:00

Flipping through this month's Marie Claire (note, I did not buy it...just read it in Waterstones :)) I came across an interesting article about how romantic comedies can be a disaster to your love life. I am undeniably a big fan of romcoms myself. Uh oh does that sound disastrous?

Quote from the article: "...researchers found that people who watched them were more likely to believe in predestined love and as a result were less likely to communicate what they want with their partners...". Hmm I do admit I sometimes think love is predestined. Or stepping back a lil and looking at a wider picture, I think a lot of things are predestined, not only love.

One point being so true is that romcoms make you crave for those fantasies. Maybe not everything. Those lil things that girls will think is sweet when a guy do something for e.g., although insignificant (and the guy might not even realise).

It does make you feel a lil more demanding and a lil more picky because you have criterias and check boxes that are already embeded in your mind, consiously or subconsiously. Another alarming quote: "...there are 20% more single women than it used to a decade ago...".

So are these romcoms brain washing our minds, leading us into thinking that we deserve someone better? Hmm...no?

Well at least I think meeting the "RIGHT" guy is not easy anyway...although it never was hard after you've found one. I suppose if you are practical enough to pull yourself out of all the wonderful reveries after the movie, you will be fine ;). That is what I believe anyway.

I mean, come on, how likely are you going to bump into your Mr. Right on a street or along a medieval bridge or in the art gallery, how likely is it to bump into your ideal hottie on the check out queue at your local convenience store, how likely is it to bump into your perfect guy by accidentally crashing into his office?!?!

Kiwi Coffee

2009-07-19T17:06:00.004+01:00

Lazy Weekend Brunch...

A cuppa Flat White & a Smoked Salmon with Cream Cheese bagel sandwich made my day!

Do check them out if you like quality coffee!...

along Berwick St., a lil cramped place but it's good

stuff!

Lumix GH1 again

2009-07-19T16:58:00.001+01:00

And so the Lumix GH1 is finally out in the market.

It is absolutely, ridiculously priced at £1200 (on amazon)!

What on earth?!?!

Lavendar Farm @ Hopshop. Castle Farm

2009-07-12T20:47:00.003+01:00

5 July 2009 - HopShop Lavendar Festival @ Castle Farm, SevenOaks, Kent [ http://www.hopshop.co.uk/festival.asp ]

Pyjama Party @ 7 Cunningham Av

2009-07-12T20:36:00.004+01:00

27 June 2009 - Pyjama Slumber Party @ 7 Cunningham Av, Hatfield with Malaysian Food Cook out, Mojito and Strawberry & Basil Cocktail making, drinking + card sessions with nachos, guacamole, pea and mint dips etc...

Hard Rock Calling

2009-07-12T20:22:00.003+01:00

26 June 2009 - Hard Rock Calling Festival - Took half a day off and got to Hyde Park arnd 4. Watched Air Traffic, Silversun Pickups and finally The Killers ... with a couple bottles of Pear Cider and left after dark...

terminator salvation

2009-06-15T01:11:00.001+01:00

christian bale is sooooo goood in the movie...

that said, apart from having great effects etc, it's quite a cheesy movie...lol

hummingbird cupcakes

2009-06-13T20:59:00.003+01:00

Dropped by Nottinghill today to shop for a birthday present. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything particularly interesting. I guess I will have to leave it for now and continue searching for it, although I already sort of have something in mind that I want to get. Back to Nottinghill, and so I was walking on Portobello Rd and passed Hummingbird Bakery. I have heard of it being the equivalent of Magnolia Bakery in NY and never taken the initiative to try the supposedly super duper cupcakes. And so I joined the craze. There was a queue, not that long but I suppose long enough for a bakery in London to be famous for. Queues ain't that common in England I would say, compared to anything else in for e.g. HK (remembered every visit to HK restaurants needs queuing). That said, Patisserie Valerie tends to be "queuey" sometimes too.

Bought two cupcakes - the Red Velvet & Peanut Butter and Chocolate - £1.95 per cupcake, takeaway. Tbh, I don't see what's so special in the cupcakes. Hmm, ok they are quite fluffy and moist. But is that the best already? Personally I don't really fancy the icing...I think it's a lil too sweet which makes the cupcake base tasteless. So, that is another overrated bakery?

Happy Birthday Mommy

2009-06-11T23:51:00.002+01:00

I totally forgotten it is mum's birthday today. Such a disobedient daughter. Will try to make up for it and send the wishes through tomorrow. I blame it to the busy at work (maybe) yet boring and mundane life I am having these days. In fact, am starting to question whether I am willing to settle for a 9-5 job for the rest of my life! I think it is all because I get bored of things, not very quickly but within a long enough period of time that I desire a change. People say that the more you wanted something, the less likely your gonna get it. Hmm, in that case, am I suppose to not long for anything? And just let things happen? But I thought it is desires that makes people motivated and just go and get it!? Dilemma. Sometimes I wonder if it it is just me myself who is not contented. But I clearly know I wanted a change, a bigger change. And am just getting myself ready for it at the moment.

Jumping to another topic...

I think I have been tolerating a lot of people lately, i.e. I realise I have been telling myself to "YAN" a lot of times recently. Is it just because I am getting frustrated more easily or is it just that those people are being merely annoying. Well, to be fair I think it is the former case. Hmm...another thing to ponder about.

Just before I decided to hate everyone around me...I think I should do something to spice up my life to avoid that from happenning!!!

Current mood :- Floating...

Birthday 2009

2009-06-01T19:46:00.015+01:00

Can't believe the year passes so quickly. The sun is shining so brightly and the weather has been really considerate lately. Just hope it won't suddenly decide to rain and get windy that soon. Note pic below...watch closely, can you spot the moon? Such a wonder :) cloudless blue sky that you can even see the moon at midday!

Ah well...summer is here! Spring's over and so is my birthday...

One year older, sigh. Birthdays - just something we have to live with. I suppose I should appreciate it more since there is never going to be two same birthdays. So what is it like being 27? Hmm, starting to feel that I should seriously plan my life out rather than going with the flow.
Anyway...so what did I do the past birthday weekend?...

Woke up super early around half six on Saturday, had two pooh shaped toast with manuka honey (just discovered this health wonder that is claimed to be able to heal a wide range of conditions and infections) and a mocha (milo + parisian coffee):

Ok...it is a bit kiddo, but it just makes my breakfast "happier" :). (Bought the pooh mould from Art Box...isn't it cute! :P).

Colleague came picked me as we head off to Warren Wood Paintball site. Yea, it was my ex team's paintballing outing. Still can't believe why I tagged along considering the "danger" of the activity. But then again, it was quite fun apart from the heavy guns and smelly paintballs :). Got hit quite a lot especially during the "VIP" game round where I was unvolunteeringly nominated to be the VIP since it was my birthday. Being the VIP, I was literally invincible an had to be escorted by someone else in order to move around. And because of that, I got shot most during that round!

The worse hit was the one targetted on my face. Since the mask we were wearing have air holes below the eyes, a lot of paint got into my mouth! Ewww... not the most pleasant taste! But then again, it's a fun day out. Haven't really counted how many bruises I'd suffered yet. Funny enough, the bruises aren't really bruised coloured. Some are still red spots sized of a 10 pence...Lunch was included but not that interesting, just sausage and beans :). I left around 2pm while they continue playing.

Got home, washed off the paint and went out to watch Coraline. Such a cute but creepy story. And so much so I initially thought that the message of the story is that we should appreciate what we already have and not complain and be contented instead. However, for some reasons, after I've watched the show, I don't really see the message coming through. *Ponder*... Went to a relatively new Malaysian restaurant - Sedap near Old St. after that. Only managed to get some take aways since the restaurant was already almost closing. Had Penang Char Kway Teow and Nyonya Kuih...yummy...the rest of the menu looks quite interesting too...will definitely go again!...

Sunday morning, woke up with muscle aches all over...Was the paintballing...the pain was not from the bruises though, it was the running, crawling and rolling around the woods! Need to allocate more time for gym to be fitter!

Went to J Moriyama and got my hair done, braided my hair ... not quite what I've expected, but I can see the hair stylist was actually struggling for a bit initially when she redo it for at least a couple of times. Bless her. After salon, just randomly shopped, bubble tea'd, nero'd, borders'd...just a lazy Sunday.
Had my "birthday" dinner at Koba, a Korean place near Tot Crt Rd. Randomly stumbled on it on some sites ... can't really remember which one. I think it was london-eating. Quite a cosy lil restaurant. The mains on the menu are quite standard. The starters were more interesting! If you are looking for a decent, good quality, chilled ambience and worth of money Korean, Koba is highly recommended. They do bbqs too.

p.s: Thanks to Annie, Yi Fei, Soke Hwooe, Jun Jehn and Carman for the pressies, cake and dinner, as well as to everyone else for the birthday wishes. Loves you lot. Muaks ^^

Baking Again

2009-05-23T17:00:00.004+01:00

Was meant to try out a swiss roll recipe. And obviously, as expected, it cracked. A bit overcooked. Which in the end turned out to be a matcha & adzuki layered cake instead...

Mid May Update

2009-05-17T21:15:00.007+01:00

It's mid May already! And the weather is dull and gloomy this weekend...rain and wind...the usual annoying british weather.

Got my eos 500d on amazon delivery the other day and haven't have much time to play with it yet. Still reading up the manual. Yes, reading the manual...I know. Holly actually commented that I am the first person she knows who actually reads the manual. Well...hmm why not =P.

Had lunch at Amano near the city hall with Holly and Darren (who was in london) and then went to one of the Banksy exhibition in Andipa gallery, south ken on Sat. It was smaller than I expected, but it's free so can't really expect that much. Actually quite like this one (two kids on a hill of weapons):

Linger around V&A for a while before heading home to watch Eurovision. Norway did a good job winning the title this year. With such high scores and popularity, I am sure there is indeed a sheer amount of believe and/or liking of Fairy Tales, in which what most adults define it as just something too ideal to be a reality? *Ponders*. Or is it JUST because it is a catchy song? Or perhaps, he (Alexander Rybak) just seems a "nice" guy?

Dim sum on Sunday @ Imperial China, and thought I should utilise the new slr a bit:

Cupcakes Ep 2

2009-05-04T23:14:00.007+01:00

Unsatisfied with the previous attempts, I had another go at making the mini cupcakes. This time, I used the non fan-oven. The results are much much much better! At least, it looks more like a cupcake now. But the other thing which makes it non-perfect is the texture. It is moist enough but seems a little too moist and "solid". There just seem to be something missing...I think it's just not crumbly enough. Hmm, possibly because I am just approximating all the ingredients I've put in. Ok, next improvement: ingredients measurement to get the texture right!

Ok folks, that's it for the first May Bank Holiday. Should resume work as of 8 hours later and therefore will probably not bake till the next bank holiday!

And thought I should also mention, Happy Birthday to my brother who is turning 33 today =). I would like to take this opportunity to dedicate these lil cupcakes to you bro, although you won't be able to try them, but I really think their appearance is more attractive than their taste! So you didn't miss anything keke.

Cupcakes

2009-05-04T16:51:00.004+01:00

Had two attempts on making some mini cupcakes - the very basic ones without any buttercream on top...

They somehow turn out to be weird in shape - doesn't rise uniformly and texture is just so not cupcake like...

Still thinks its because the oven's too hot and the way I scooped the batter onto the mould...and the mould too...perhaps I should be using proper cases or parchment paper even.

Matcha with adzuki filling...

The shorties...

Nicocism No.6

2009-04-28T18:54:00.001+01:00

Nicocism No. 6 - Rejection = great catalyst to Motivation

Cap Dewa Perempuan

2009-04-26T10:00:00.002+01:00

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...

What's for dinner tonight

2009-04-22T20:12:00.004+01:00

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...

Reykjavik Easter w/e

2009-04-16T20:58:00.008+01:00

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:

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

easter monday

2009-04-13T21:16:00.002+01:00

...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...

A day up north

2009-04-05T12:57:00.013+01:00

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 -

http://www.manchesterbars.com/top10.htm .

Didn't do much apart from walking around town and "tea" stops, chilling.

Took some random pics of Walrus and the bin:

Summer time

2009-03-28T17:29:00.002Z

British Summer time begins tmr! Less an hour's sleep...aww man...

Anyway...am catching up on sleep and TV this weekend after Bilbao last w/e ... more pics in my picasa gallery ;)

New Day

2009-03-18T20:34:00.003Z

...First day on the new team...spent whole day setting up environment !...

...'Business brief' said they having bad times with the banks wanting money back sooner than agreed...Credit crunch really hitting hard...Such frustrating times for those with ambitious minds...

...now...need to pack for Bilbao...

Carmen @ Royal Albert Hall

2009-03-08T00:48:00.007Z

Brief: Carmen on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen

Dropped by Natural History Museum b4 the show...

...in RAH...

Nicocism No.5

2009-03-03T21:16:00.002Z

Nicocism No.5: Nico can be pretty defensive sometimes. She tend to keep a lot of things to herself. Just felt unnecessary to bother others.

Nicocism No.4

2009-03-03T21:14:00.003Z

Nicocism No.4: Nico ponder on "...Good things come late in life...". Really?

Lumix GH1

2009-03-03T21:09:00.002Z

Panasonic's Lumix DMC-GH1 is finally here...announced at the 2009 PMA!!! After long waiting for it to come out...now just need to wait for it to get to the shops! Wonder how big a hole it will make to my piggie bank!?!? But just can't resist not buying!

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0903/09030316lumixgh1handson.asp

Nicocism No.3

2009-03-02T19:07:00.006Z

Nicocism No.3...When things don't work out, people blame it on naivity. But when things do work out, they claim it was because they took the right decisions. So where does the element of naivity fit in during the process of decision making when the naivity is ultimately part of the result!?...