Christmas Day

Brew some mulled wine during Christmas day afternoon to get into the Christmas mood....

The turkey was 4.98kg and was simply too big/ too much for the 4 of us!! Managed to cook the turkey and get the table ready at about 6pm. We makan the turkey wings, drumstick and abit of thigh meats, the rest were left for the turkey porridge (Boxing day dinner).

We were so busy on Boxing Day and today!!! Shopping at Bicester Village on Boxing Day and the place was packed!!! Today we were off to NEXT sale at 5am today (27/12) and back to sleep for about 1 hour before setting off to Cambridge again in the afternoon for second round. Grabbed some fantastic bargains but I'm now too tired....:(

Got to sleep now to recharge my energy for London trip tomorrow.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Turkey

This year, I had ordered a free-range turkey from the Bury Lane farm shop instead of buying it off the supermarket's shelf.

Hope it's worth the money. Cost £8.75 per kg and the turkey I ordered was the smallest at 4kg. Seriously doubt the 4 of us would be able to finish it but it's the smallest turkey they have!!

According to this article, the most expensive turkey is the Whole organic free-range Devon bronze turkey from M&S, priced at £12.69 per kg. So expensive!!

Christmas Party

Back from last night's Christmas party. The food was good and the dessert was excellent. Thought we had to choose among the 3 choices but we got all 3 in the plate!!!

Christmas Deco

We had done up the Christmas deco in our flat last weekend and the result....

Secret Santa

Sam is having Secret Santa this Friday at his office and he bought the demotivator calendar from Despair.com for his colleague. The calendar came last Sat in this..


Front


Back


with a booklet of products


2 calendars (one for Sam himself!!)

Thanks for the work
Our manager bought us each a bottle of wine as a thank you for our work!!! Such a nice gesture to show appreciation. Bet you don't get that in Singapore.

Cold

Very cold last weekend and it doesn't help that I miss the first snow of this winter!!! While chatting to a colleague and a friend, they both separately mentioned 'Did you see that snow on Sunday evening?' My reply 'What snow!!'

Apparently, it was snowing for a while on Sunday evening and because we shut all the windows and the blinds, we didn't realised that it was snowing!!!

Errrrr!!!!!!

MPH Earls Court 2007


Being such a big fan of Top Gear, we thought this is a show we can't miss and thus bought tickets this year to the MPH car show.


My favorite - a hotwheel truck!!


Such a cute car, but doubt both of us can sit in it comfortably.
Hmmm, what's that on the front of the car??


Yes, this was an ice-cream store, cute hor..


When do police even get to drive such a car??


This was the Toyota car that Jeremy and James drove to North Pole in the Top Gear's Polar special.


We bought the tickets that includes the theatre and we chosen some pretty good seats!! The show runs for about 1 and a half hours with some games, performances and introducing cars.


The best was the Suzuki football which makes all our money well spent!! I always wanted to watch that live.

Ipod touch
My Ipod touch had arrived last Friday!!! Been playing with it all weekend, now I can surf the net on the sofa without someone shouting at me for not balancing his laptop properly, etc.

Love every bits of it and had set my favorite picture as wallpaper but how come the ONLY time you can view the wallpaper is only when you try to unlock the ipod touch (how long you get to view it all depends on how slow you slide the bar across to unlock it). The wallpaper where the icons are on is only a black screen and you can't change it. Oh well, I'm sure someone will come up with a hack code, or is no one as bother about it as I'm.

Nasi Lemak

Found the spicy chicken wing recipe online and I thought of trying it out, so here's my treat for Sam for dinner.
Notice the coconut rice is green hor. That's because instead of pandan leaf (which our pandan plants are still small but growing), I had used pandan paste.
Recipe :-
- Spicy chicken wings
- Coconut rice (2 cups of rice, about 150ml of coconut milk, abit of pandan paste & add water to require level to cook the rice)
- Eggs, Spam, Ikan Bilis, just fried separately.
- Chilli, we bought the paste from Singapore, so didn't make it myself. If not, you can found the recipe for the chilli here.
That's it. Next I shall try to source out the fish paste and make some otak!!

New TV

Worked from home today and our new 32" TV had just arrived.
Now got to wait for Sam to come home tonight and install it.

Dinner for one
Sam is working late again today. I can't be bother to cook something for myself so this is my dinner. Easy, simple and extremely addictive (I love saltly butter....). Not good for my waistline though.

The Company Shed

Since Jaster was coming here for the weekend, I thought we can have a day trip, so off we go seafood hunting.

My colleague had recommended me a place in Essex for great oysters so a search on the internet and I found The Company Shed. Great review and you got to bring your own drinks, bread and butter......hmmm...

Long way for Sam to drive us there and with me as the navigator, there's always a chance that we're lost!! Nevertheless, we eventually reach Mersea Island after crossing the Strood. The Strood can flood at high tide, you need to check the tide time before setting off.


It's low tide when we crossed, so was ok. You can see here that it floods. So inconvenient, if it floods, you got to wait for a few hours for the water level to drop. No other mode of transport available.


Finally found the place but there was a queue so need to wait. No advance booking for this place too!! See the big dog next to Jaster, thank God, Jaster offer to switch places with me.....

Can't wait to eat, really hungry.....


Seafood platter for 2!!! Yummy, tuck in!!! A pity that the seafood platter was serve as a cold dish... nevertheless, we finish it all and the seafood were absolutely fresh and juicy!!


Cannot go without hot food, so we order the grilled prawns with sea salt. We love it soo much, this was our 3rd plate.


Scallops with bacons and beds of leaves. Never thought the scallops tasted soo good with bacon. Ordered 2 plates!! Forgot to take pictures of the Oysters we ordered, hopefully Jaster will had took some pictures of it.


Of course, we walked back to our car feeling very satisfied. Think I ate too much, only had some bread in the evening as dinner and this trip had put me off seafood for a while... too much seafood (I guess).

Zestar Apple

It's pink and it's apple juice!! Don't like the taste, too tangy!! Reminder to self, never to buy this apple again.


According to this website for Zestar apple:-

A variety of apple that grows well in cooler climates. Zestar apples are harvested late in the summer season maturing into a bright red fruit with some greenish yellow coloring. Medium sized, the Zestar has a crisp white grainy flesh that provides a slightly tart but sweet and tangy tasting fruit. The sweet spicy flavor of this apple makes it excellent for snacking, as well as for baking pies, bars and sauces. Store it in refrigerated areas to keep for approximately 8 weeks. When kept at room temperature, the spicy and sweet flavors of the Zestar will increase.

Dyson vacuum cleaner
After thinking about this for a few weeks since we are back to UK, we finally bought the Dyson vacuum cleaner (DC08 complete). It's so amazing the way it wrap itself to be so compact. The suction is very powerful and eventhough I just vacuum the flat (using our old vacuum cleaner) on Friday, this new dyson one still picks up alot of dust when I vacumm it today (Sunday)!!!

At the moment, the only bad thing about it is the cost, this cost us £229. Hopefully our flat will be cleaner and will improve my sinus condition

猪先生



Love the song the moment it starts!!! Song in Cantonese and my traditional Chinese isn't that good, so a search on the internet and I found the lyrics and translation from this forum.

许志安-猪先生
曲: 蓝亦邦 词: 林若宁 主唱:许志安

虽则天真的蠢猪 我未搏得欢呼赞誉
sui ze tian zhen de chun zhu wo wei bo de huan hu zhan yu
Being a silly pig by nature, I receive no praises or acclaim.
然而有你爱上我的短处 快乐也许不必富庶
ran er you ni ai shang wo de duan chu kuai le ye xu bu bi fu shu
But you fell in love with my weakness: maybe one doesn't have to be rich to gain happiness.
繁盛世界惯了已冷眼 去看我滑稽的际遇
fan sheng shi jie guan le yi leng yan qu kan wo hua ji de cheng yu
The prosperous world is inured to my comical bad-luck.
能令你去发笑 也有用处 我用傻事去捐输
neng ling ni qu fa xiao ye you yong chu wo yong sha shi qu juan shu
But if it makes you laugh, maybe there is some good to it, and I try to coax more laughter from you with my silly antics.

多么蠢的蠢猪 个个也来揶揄
duo me chun de chun zhu ge ge ye lai ye yu
What a silly, silly pig, derided by everyone.
高攀不起公主 并没段段艳遇
gao pan bu qi gong zhu bing mei duan duan yan yu
Unable to befriend the princess, and not even a chance encounter with beautiful women.
悠然面对这悲剧遭遇 齐集给了你当笑话书
you ran mian dui zhe bei ju zao yu qi ji gei le ni dang xiao hua shu
Insouciantly facing the unfolding of this tragedy, becoming your collection of jokes.

多么蠢的蠢猪 爱上那条人鱼
duo me chun de chun zhu ai shang na tiao ren yu
What a silly, silly pig, falling in love with the mermaid.
即使争都争输 仍然从未怪罪于天主
ji shi zheng dou zheng shu reng ran cong wei guai zui yu tian zhu
Even if it competes and loses, it has never blamed the Lord.
自信恋爱运肯特殊 明日你前来叫我蠢猪
zi xin lian ai yun ken te shu ming ri ni qian lai jiao wo chun zhu
Believing that love is very special, you will step forward in the future and call me an silly pig.
讲爱情暗语
jiang ai qing an hua
Conversing in the dark language of love.

即使悲观的乌龟 我亦看出牠的美丽
ji shi bei guan de wu gui wo yi kan chu ta de mei
Even a pessimistic turtle has beautiful points that are apparent.
仍然有你爱我我都矜贵 快乐要先抛开智慧
reng ran you ni ai wo wo dou jin gui kuai le yao xian pao kai zhi hui
I still have you loving me, giving me bragging rights; to be happy, you must first cast off wisdom.
谁又会似只蚁去献世 各有各独一的惯例
shui you hui si zhi yi qu xian shi ge you ge du yi de guan li
Some appear to the world as a lowly ant, each has their unique path.
同样你爱锡我 那有代替 证实人没有高低
tong yang ni ai xi wo na you dai ti zheng shi ren mei you gao di
You love me regardless of my paths chosen, accepting no substitutes, proving that there is really no high or low status amongst mankind.

开心多么简单 要爱有何疑难
kai xin duo me jian dan yao ai he he yi nan
It is so simple to be happy, for there is no confusion or difficulty to loving.
不必苦苦支撑 但愿是是但但
bu bi ku ku zhi cheng dan yuan shi dan dan
There is no need to hang on tenaciously, but one hopes for smooth resolutions to all matters.
谁人自怨说生活艰难 成就似爬完勉强高攀
shui ren zi yuan shuo sheng huo jian nan cheng jiu shi pa wan mian qiang gao pan
There are some who penitentially say that life fraught with difficulties, and completing the arduous process of befriending someone is a symbol of success.

开心多么简单 那怕爱人平凡
kai xin duo me jian dan na pa ai ren ping fan
It is so simple to be happy, even if love becomes ordinary.
A餐B餐C餐 原来无论吃什么早餐
A can B can C can yuan lai wu lun chi shen me zao can
Meal A, Meal B, Meal C... it doesn't matter which breakfast set you eat.
共你的每日都灿烂 而幸福秘诀太过简单
gong ni de mei ri dou can lan er xing fu mi jue tai guo jian dan
Every day with you is scintillating, and the secret to happiness becomes too simple -
于好处着眼
yu hao chu zhuo yan
Just look on the bright side.

Clumsy = the word for me
My back is recovering and am feeling soooo much better now. As such, we went to John Lewis in Cambridge for shopping last Saturday. All was well until I missed a step on the stairs!!! Luckily I managed to sit on the next step and landed on my butt. God know what will happen to my back if I landed on my to-be-recovering-back!! I had also used my left hand to break the fall and the hand is now blue black and painful to touch.



Right before this mishap, I was trying to convince Sam that we don't need to buy any Family Protection insurance (as recommended by his financial advisor). I was winning on my argument right until the mishap which caused me an instant defeat.....

Off sick

Thought I hurt my back last weekend when moving those luggages around, but I felt ok then and was back to work on Tuesday. However after a day at work sitting on the chair, the condition seems to take a nose dive and I struggle to get back home that day. Walking and sitting down is sooo painful that I prefer to lay on my side these days. Saw the GP today and she informed me that it's muscle spasm and prescribed me with codeine as the pain killer. I have to take the codeine together with Ibuprofen and Paracetamol to reduce pain. Sooo much pain killers!!!

A check on the internet shows that codeine is a Class B drug in UK!!! The GP did mention that codeine is slight lower than morphine in strength, and will prescribe me with higher strength medicine if codeine doesn't reduce my pain. I hope codeine will do the trick...., ok off to rest now as my back hurts like hell from all the walking to/ from GP.

Update : Codeine is effective for me and it's also making me very drowsy!! Zzzzzz....

Car Showroom

First time I been to car showroom but I wasn't buying a car, just to accompany someone!

The 3 cars we viewed :-

Honda Civic




Pro : Look great, dashboard speedometer look far too cool to give this a miss.
Con : Expensive!
Review from UK Autotrader : 8.8
Conclusion : If got the money, buy this car! It has the WOW factor.

Toyota Altis




Pro : Cheaper than Honda Civic
Con : The above photo were taken on a Limited Edition Altis. The 'normal' Altis is very woody looking. The stereo also very cheapo looking, didn't seems to fit in with the interior design of the car.
Conclusion : A BIG NO NO!!

Nissan Latio




Pro : Super silent. Very spacious, can even put a lady handbag in the glove compartment. Cheaper than Honda Civic. Impress with the keyless sensor.
Con : Still woody looking.
Conclusion : Buy this car. But if you got money, buy Honda Civic!

Singapore

Reach Singapore safe and sound & have been going shopping almost daily. It's sooooo enjoyable to be walking into shops and malls when it's not crowded, no waiting for fitting rooms/ cashiers, sometimes you get good personal shopper services too.

We were wandering around Bargain City last week and saw that the Juicing machine which we bought in UK was selling for S$99.90!!!



We only bought it for £9!!! (£9 = approx S$30)...... Not everything in Singapore is cheap...

Marley & Me
Just bought the book (Marley & Me) this morning and can't seems to put it down. It's funny and at the same time also makes me cry in some pages. I was reading at March station platform while waiting for the train when the lady next to me saw the book I was reading and commented that I will be crying towards the end!!

So if I got puffy eyes when you meet me in Singapore, you know why.....

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Got the book at about 7am yesterday (after our half yearly shopping trip to Next at 5am) and start reading when we got home. Spent whole of yesterday reading the book and I finished it at about 11pm. It was worth reading!!!

No review to avoid revealing any spoiler.

Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix

I'm a big Harry Potter fan! So we watched this movie yesterday at VUE (long time since we been to the cinema). How I wish the movie was longer as they have cut quite a few bits from the books. Despite that I still love the movie as while I was reading the book previously, I kept thinking how it will look like and now I get to see it in the movie, everything fits!

I admire JK Rowling for her imagination and creativity of the Harry Potter books, especially for 12 Grimmauld Place. The books are definitely worth reading and to keep.

Now, I'm waiting for book 7, as said in my previous post, I had ordered it from Amazon which I should be able to receive the book on Monday (23 Jul) but I doubt I can wait till Monday. So I decided to drive to Tesco very early on Sat (21 Jul) to get a copy. As for the spare copy from Amazon, I will try to sell it on Ebay, if any of you wants it, please email me and I can bring it back to SG this coming August.

Juicing machine
Bought this juicing machine for only £9 yesterday!! Bargain!!!
So today we bought alot of fruits and tried to be healthy.







Pink lady apple juice, orange juice & the cheap apple juice. The cheap apple juice taste sweeter.

Guarantee delivery

Why Amazon US got guarantee delivery but UK don't??

Guaranteed Release-Date Delivery (Saturday, July 21) of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"!

We will deliver Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on its Saturday, July 21 release date to eligible customers who pre-ordered from Amazon.com and chose standard, Two-Day, or One-Day shipping when placing their order. (Amazon Prime customers will receive it on the day of release at no additional charge. Learn more about joining Amazon Prime.) If you qualified for guaranteed Release-Date Delivery, in the unlikely event that you don't receive it on Saturday, July 21, we'll refund the cost of the book.

Most deliveries will be made by UPS or the U.S. Postal Service, either with your regular mail delivery or in a special, later delivery. All copies that qualified for Release-Date Delivery should be delivered by 7:00 p.m. in your time zone. If you have not yet received your copy, please wait until 7:00 p.m. on July 21 before contacting Customer Service.

I had ordered the book and stupidly put delivery address as Sam's office. The book will be released on 21 Jul (Sat), Sam not working on Sat!!!! Should I cancel my order and buy from shops on 21 Jul??? Or can I wait till 23 Jul (Mon) to read the book (where half the world already know what happen in the end)..... Errrr I don't think I can wait!!!

Blueberry Cupcakes
Bought this Pre a Manger recipe book and tested out the blueberry muffins early this morning. I don't have muffins tray so made blueberry cupcakes instead. The recipe is great, the texture of the cake is just right and the recipe for the toppings makes it sooo much like those muffins you buy in sandwich shops (crispy on the top). Hmmmmm......delicious....

Going back to Singapore

Booked our air tickets yesterday, we are flying back to Singapore to sort out the visa!! Will arrive in Singapore on 5 Aug (Sun) and depart on 25 Aug (Sat).

Looking forward to see everyone again!

Tomato Garlic Prawns

Stir fry prawns with Tomato Garlic sauce this evening, smells and looks good, but abit too salty, prehaps it's because I used 2 packets.

Britain's Got Talent

Managed to catch the show on Tuesday when Conny was singing. She was absolutely brillant! She brought tears to my eyes.....

Oslo = Sunburn
Our weekend trip to Oslo from 8 June (Fri) to 10 June (Sun)

Day 1
Woke up at about 3++am cos the flight was 6++am from Stansted airport. We managed to check in and have about an hour before the flight depart. However the check in lady inform us to run as the gate is closing!! The departure board also states 'Final call'!! Doesn't help that the security is tight now and takes ages to go pass. We ran and ran and when we reach the gate, it wasn't open yet!! Not cool Ryanair, not cool... I could have shop at Duty free. :(

Being bargain airline, you don't get food, etc but the condition of the loo is just appalling! (I even warned Sam not to go unless he's terribly urgent!). The loo STINKS, the floor sticky and dirty, condition even worst then some kopitam toilet in SG! That's the price to pay for buying a 99 pences (exclude taxes and charges) air ticket. :(

Reach Oslo and got onto the bus that takes us to the City (approx 2 hours journey).


Taken on the bus ride, I love yellow houses!!

Can't believe that the weather in Oslo is abt 30 deg cel (warmer than England), very hot and humid. The weather forecast I saw the day before seems to suggest that it's about the same as England so we were caught unprepared with no shorts and slippers (Sam blame it on me!).

Check in hotel and we bought the travel card which is valid for 24 hours and you can take the metro, tram, bus & ferry) all for the price of NOK60 per ticket. Great, cos it was just too hot to walk around (plus I forgot to bring sun block :P)

First stop - to supermarket to buy water to dehydrate ourselves. everything is Oslo is expensive that why it's the most expensive city in Europe (more expensive than UK).

Our 10 litres of water which still wasn't enough for both of us.

Off to Munch Museum next. Our main purpose was just to see The Scream painting.

Sam being very ya ya, don't want to look at the camera, want to look at painting (as if you know how to appreciate it)

After a bit of shopping/ wandering around, we reach the harbour and bought some food.

Mixed plate. Sam loved the fish, very fresh


Dish of whale meat. Taste like beef but don't like the way it was cooked.

After dinner at Hardrock Cafe, we head back to the hotel (Best Western West) to find the room boiling hot! NO AIRCON!!! We spoke to the front desk person and the best they can do was to provide a fan! This is truely a 'summer' holiday.

Nevertheless, we were too tired and have no trouble going to sleep in the heat.

Day 2
After stuffing ourselves with the breakfast buffet, we head to Holmenkollen Ski Museum & Tower. While waiting for the metro, we saw this superclean (from the outside) train.


Labelled as 'SIEMENS Designed by Porsche Design Studio'. Too bad it was the train we were waiting for.


Almost reaching the Ski Museum, just a bit more walking upslope.


Ski tower, a view from below. Ski tower used for Winter Olympics before.


Ski tower, a view from on top of the tower. Very high up and thus can see the City.

Next, we were off to Vigeland Scupture Park.

Scupture not that big according to Sam!


Love this crying child.

Last stop, we decide to go to one of the island using the public ferry covered by the travel card we bought. Queue for more than half an hour and got onto the ferry, apparately it's an hourly ferry for the island we wanted to go. Nice to feel the sea breeze..... and love the scenery.

Taken on the ferry. Can see the Ski tower from here!

Got to our stop but we didn't get off the ferry cos we can't face another queue plus that will mean we miss our dinner reservation.


The queue on the island.

On the way to the restaurant for dinner, we pass this store giving our free cooked salmon.

Salmon for free, cooked at store. Don't know what they were trying to promote here, cos the leaflets were not in English.


Nevertheless, we did queue to get the free salmon each. Look and taste good. :)


Off to our romantic dinner for two at the seaside. Most expensive dinner we ever had but very enjoyable. By this time, we were sunburnt.

Day 3
Check out and managed to grab some breakfast by 8.10am so that we can catch the tram to the bus terminal for the coach to the airport.

Reach home at about 3++pm. Home sweet home, love my cold bed.... and have been praying for miserable weather in UK ever since so that I can enjoy the cold weather.