When Will wed Kate...

If you are in London during in the past few days, you will know how crowded this England capital suddenly became! I felt like half the world is congregating in this already jam packed city. Despite many friends who tell me I am lucky to be in the right place at the right time, I think I rather be enjoy the city in peace...

1 think I do appreciate, of the wedding, is a Bank Holiday out of the deal!

I was out at Harrods yesterday, I can't help but feel just a little jealous observing all the indulgent Royal Wedding festivities. Look at how this shopping instution devoted all its window dressing to the royal couple:

Honestly, I think this is mroe suitable for a Bollywood wedding! LOL.

This uni-jack cake is my favourite!

Look at this... even the bus is not spared!

So, where were you on April 29?

5 things to bring from London (to Singapore)

We had our Chinese New Year all planned away back in Dec. Coming from a traditional chinese family, it was to be the first CNY without our family as we were quite clear we ain't keen in the 14hours flight!

So we hooked up with other expats family to have the big celebration "our way". And had all the necessary stuff prep for the big bang. Yep, big bang, if only I didn't receive a late request from my boss on a business trip to SG.

Well, let's just say there's quite a bit of self interest that i gladly accepted the assignment.

It was less than a week before the trip, so we basically pick up anything in Sainsbury which we can think can interest our Singaporean folks

After we arrived, and gauging from the respond of the recipents, here's what we gathered will be great stuff to bring from London:

1) Scottish Shortbread.

This is basically just butter cookies, but my niece who is a big fan says those from UK beats those from the local supermarket.

2) PG tips tea bags.

We saw some leftover xmas pack on the shelf, and they are the same price as the standard ones.

PG tips was first launch in UK, and believed to aid digestion. I do not know how much truth in the health benefits but i love the revolutionary freeflow pyramid teabag. The bags were developed using unique 'webbed' fibres that allow the water to reach the leaves faster, resulting in a quicker brew. So now you don’t have to wait as long for your cup of PG tips! These are all the technical stuff I read from the box.

This tea is great for home made teh-tarik, I must confess!

BTW, this is not commonly found in Singaporean's supermarket, and if by any chance you do, I was told the price is probably a few times more than it does in UK (it was less than £5 when I got this in late Jan 2011).

3) Lemon Curd

Lemon Curd to English is like Kaya to Singaporean. It's a great cultural exchange. Personally I am hooked to the tangy yet creamy taste!

4) All things Chocolate.

Most people (inluding me) thinks London is expensive, But believe it or not, the chocolates cost a fraction than it would in Singapore.

I checked out the prices of these After Eight in Singapore: we paid £2 (~S$4) while it goes for S$11 in Cold Storage!!!

5) The Nespresso

If you are a coffee lover, you will know this expresso machine.

If you are not, you still got to have this in-thing sitting pretty in your kitchen or living room. As long as your guest can see!

I found out about this good buy when my cousin annouced in Facebook of his latest acquistion. He got this exact model in SG for S$728, while I paid £199 (~S$400)! I am not qualified for the VAT rebate; if you do, you get back another 2o% at airport.

When in SG, I dropped by Ion Orchard and found out that even the coffee capsule cost less in London - I paid about £3 (~S$6) per pack while it retails for S$10 here.

As for this cute Hello Kitty, I am sure it can find it in Singapore, but it I simply can't resist when I saw it in the aisle!

Is there anything else that you would lug from London?

My First White Christmas

Oh what fun, is to lie on the snow. Ask my favourite niece!



When I first arrived in London last summer, my colleagues gave me advices how to bruce myself for the bitterly cold winter but categorically told me forget about the snow. Snow in London is like snow in Sahara, the wise one said.



Haha, lucky lucky me. Last month, there were 2 snow fall in London. The first one in early Dec - when my family decided we should go to Austria Alps to experience the snow. After few days of enduring the snow in Salzburg, we saw snow falling when our returning plane arrived at London Gatwick Airport!


The 2nd time, when i had my family of 11 over for holiday! We were in Paris when I read about the snow alert on Dec 18 from Met Office. I do not know if I should trust the weather forecast but I shared the alert with my brother-in-law who is so keen to let his kids experience snow.



So when we all came back to London on Dec 18, all eyes on the sky before they draw their verdict if they the Met Office is worth their salt.



The first snow flake ascended on us on that Fri afternoon. But so little that there's only muddy patches here and there. Then it snowed thru the night. When we woke up the next morning, you can see the glistering eyes staring at the thin film of snow in the garden.



Snow knew they can't disappoint my honourable guests; it snowed heavier. By late morning, we had pure white sheet when the kids had lunch by the garden. Boy, we got it!



All the parents dressed up the kids in full attire, and were out in full force. See how much fun they are having!





PS: Dot and all, thanks for coming over. Thanks for bringing us so much goodies that I missed from home, and most importantly, thanks for the 2-week fun we had together!

Happy New Year

I have grossly neglected my this little blog. I know. But truth is that I am so busy with work these days, and by the time i get home with a tired body, i only have enough energy for a quick meal and some family chores. Social life is non-existence on weekdays. Leave alone baking.



Come weekends, things turn for the better. I am always busy exploring the Enlgand countryside with my family together in our little Poppy. Oh btw, Poppy is our new additional, a red mini cooper, my dream car.



Ok, enough of showing off!

Many friends have emailed or Facebook-ed me to ask if the snow in London is as bad as it has been report in the papers... well, I leave you to figure out from this pic.

Before I go, wish everyone who is still holding on to the handle of my Happy Cup, have a very warm and wonderful 2011 ahead!

When the tube is on strike

Last week, many of the tube services were suspended due to the strike. Needless to say, i can't get to work, and I didn't bring my notebook home, so I had a day rest at home.

The usual Singaporean in ME would have wailed how ridicules it was - how can the country allow anyone to be on strike causing so much disruption!!!

But looking at the right side, I will be happier if I accept the fact, and deal with the consequences. In the case, the consequence is take charge of the kitchen for the day.

I gladly be - i served the simple stired fry lettuce, briased soy pork & potato, baked beans with spam. Sheen was so happy to have me at home when he came back... for that, I have no qualms for anymore strikes!

A New Home, A New Start

I have slacked again.... taking a long break between post. But all for the better - did some 'soul searching', seen a few places, met some people to finally come to terms with my stint in London.

After all we have been thru you will see why London ain't a bad place after all - it has milder weather compared to some part of UK and European countries. We get the best (probably, since i have yet to travel to all European cities) chinese food, and the variety of food offered in London Supermarket is unbeatable! The most important of all, we have no language barrier here - when everyone and everything here is in English. Imagine my anguish when I was seated in a restaurant in Munich staring at all the German text... not to mention signages in tube station and everywhere else.

Another thing that helped to settle us is that we have stopped living out of serviced apartments. Yeah, after over 3mths, we have moved into our 'own' place. I say 'own' cos it is not really our own, but a rented place but it is good enough to make us feel back home again. We spent much time and efforts (+ financial damages) to decorate the place... now we are proud to have our HOME!

Thanks to all the advices when I whined painlessly - because of your sharing, I was able to reflect and mull over my circumstances. My family and I are now playing happy tourists every weekend visiting the beautiful countrysides in England. We have a long list to go thru, and not sure when we can move on to explore the Scotland... haha, slowly we will get there, maybe next summer!

Stir-fry Noddle in a Jiff

Home cookign can't get any easier than this - I pick up these 3 items from Waitrose for £2.50, and had them cooked within 15min.

All i need to do is to heat up a wok, add 1 tsp of oil to fried the veg for 5min, then add sauce and noodle and dry until they are heated thru.

They have quite a wide choices - you just choose 1 from each category

• noodle :egg, sweet chilli, beehoon
• stir fry sauce :black bean, sze chuan, sweet and sour, chinese style
• vegetables: mushrooms, chinese veg, etc
  

I have to say that they taste great too: the noodle still have some bite, and the sauce is neither too salty or taste artifical. The best part is that it has lots of vege, I love the fibre!!!

Jason thinks this is a great idea... and I suspect I am going to have to content with the similar noodle in days to come. Agh.