May 31, 2007
Repeat After Me
Oh, you can say that again! With "funds" naturally comes "fun"! :p
I spotted this cute little piggy bank in a shelf display at a gift shop in Covent Garden.
Give Me Some Sun
In view of the rather cold, rainy and dreary weather London's been experiencing in the past few days, the USP (unique selling point) of this gym becomes somewhat ironic. Like, WHAT sunlight????
Surrealist Ball
Last Thursday evening (24/5) there was a Surrealist Ball at the Victoria & Albert Museum which was held in line with the Surrealist exhibit that is on at the museum presently. It's a special exhibit so you have to pay £3 to view the exhibit.
I was there to meet a friend and also to see what it was all about. I didn't bother with the exhibition as the people at the ball were more interesting to look at. Many of the attendees dressed up in costume and in line with the theme, came up with all sorts of weird stuff.
I love this magnificent glass structure which hangs from the dome of the museum. There's such a fiery energy to it. I can't remember the name of the artist who did it, but I know some of his works hang in the Ritz Carlton hotel in Singapore.
The courtyard was filled with people hanging around and drinking lots of beer. It was so cold outside though. But I enjoyed looking at the different costumes that the people were donning. So many people dressed up and it does show that Londoners have a great sense of fun!
And here are some examples of the quirky get-ups people came in.
There were people dancing as well and it's at such times where I wished I didn't have two left feet! It's so lovely seeing people moving gracefully to the music.
This man's tribute to Rene Magritte. Love it!
May 30, 2007
Portobello Market
Wherever I am, I LOVE going to markets. I love the energy and the buzz that goes on at these markets, the hustle and bustle of people walking past the stalls, buying food, looking at local arts and crafts etc.
Portobello Market is one of many markets in London and this market which runs along the whole stretch of Portobello Road has three sections to it – fashion, food, antiques. The fashion is quirky and bohemian and there are many local designers there. There are also a lot of stuff from India and China which are sold for heaps cheaper back in Asia. Many of the clothes are very retro looking and they look really funky. The antiques end of the market is also very charming but of course my favourite is the part of the market which sells food!
My friend tells me it's much cheaper to buy from these markets than the supermarkets. Most of it is also locally produced which makes it more environmentally friendly.
The part of the market selling clothes and accessories.
A stall selling dried foods.
One of several stalls selling vegetables.
Ooh, several huge pans of paella simmering would have been perfect for the cold and rainy weather. But I had already had lunch so it was dessert time. And that was when I went for the Red Velvet cupcake at Hummingbird Bakery instead.
A stall selling fresh bread – my friend swears by the bread sold at this stall! Go in the late afternoon at around 4.30pm and you can buy the bread at discounted prices.
A stall called Betty's Cakes selling homemade cakes and cookies. Very charming.
I knew this had to be some Malaysian or Singaporean eatery when I saw the word "makan". I was right! But I didn't bother eating there.
Anyway, I'm planning to check out more markets in the time I'm in London. I think such markets are absolutely charming!
May 28, 2007
Hummingbird Bakery
Hummingbird Bakery is such a charming little bakery along Portobello Road. It's a very popular bakery judging by the number of people queuing up to buy the cakes and extremely pretty cupcakes.
The cakes are almost sold out by 4.30pm.
Giant chocolate chip cookies
I bought the Red Velvet cupcake which is just a plain cupcake with red colouring and vanilla frosting on top. It was nice and spongy and wasn't too sweet.
The red colour of the cupcake is a wonderful reflection of its name Red Velvet. I wanted to try everything! But of course I couldn't afford to buy so many and neither could I afford the calories! It's been raining so much in London and it's been so cold that I'd rather stay at home. It's almost summer yet temperatures are equivalent to those in Sydney where winter is reigning at the moment! Insane. Anyway, I'm hoping the weather will get better soon!
Meanwhile, the amount of cooking I've been doing in the past week is more than the average number of times I cook a year in Singapore! Cooking chronicles to come!
May 23, 2007
The Orangery at Kensington Gardens
It was a beautiful day in London yesterday and it also happened that Umami was in London and so we met up at a cafe called The Orangery situated in the heart of Kensington Gardens.
It's situated in this building facing immaculately pruned lawns.
The white, refreshing interiors of the cafe mirrored the lovely weather outside.
Some lovely spring flowers to brighten the place!
I felt that I needed some greens just to keep a more healthy diet and decided to go for the tomato, feta and basil salad. This costs £3.95...I don't even want to think about it in Singapore dollars anymore, 'cos that just gets depressing!!! It tasted OK...I mean, there's nothing much to it anyway. I had a cup of lemon & ginger tea to go with my food too. What's afternoon tea without tea?
Umami ordered the Orangery Cake which had some icing at the top and some orange bits in within the sponge cake. I thought it was a little dry for me and didn't really like it that much when I tried a bit of it.
She also ordered the fruit scone which came with full cream and jam. We were rather disappointed with this scone as they had reheated it by microwaving it, and so it didn't taste very good (we were placing high hopes of having some good English scones here).
Seeing that it was such a gorgeous day, we decided we couldn't just sit in and that we had to do the weather justice by taking a walk in the park. After all, such weather doesn't come all that often in UK!
We came across many squirrels nibbling on their food and these squirrels are so used to humans that they have no qualms about coming right up and sitting next to people. They were all very adorable!
Many people were out boating on the Serpentine, a lake within Kensington Gardens. That just made me itch to paddle. I miss paddling!!! Hordes of people were also out sunbathing on the lawns. All that's missing is a beach which will never ever materialise here!
Meanwhile I've been exploring the neighbourhood and I must say it's really very nice and charming! Many small and pretty shops! But I can't buy anything at the moment so that's pretty useless to me now.
I've also discovered that my two pals, Joe & Keith are very good cooks. I need to hone my cooking skills now. I bought blueberries and strawberries from Sainsbury yesterday and so I'm enjoying these seasonal fruits!
Anyway, back to the Orangery. My verdict is that the place scores higher on ambience than its food. But I think I'd rather do a picnic in the open...bring some food, a book and just lie on the grass and enjoy the sunshine!
Kensington Palace, Kensington Gardens, London, W8 4PX
Tel: +44 (0)871 3327927
May 21, 2007
One-Way Ticket
Hello everyone, I'm now writing from London after arriving here last night local time. And now for the second part of the change I'm making in my life – I've relocated to London for awhile on a working holiday visa. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to be doing at the moment but it's just going to be very different from Singapore that's all. And I think that's what I need for the moment. It's not going to be all smooth-sailing, but it's going to be different.
I don't deny I'm scared...who wouldn't be? Leaving the security of home and venturing into a foreign land with no job waiting and few friends. It's having to build a life all over again. But it's something I've always wanted to try and I know I'll regret it for the rest of my life if I don't give this a try. I mean, what's the worst that could happen, right? Just go back to Singapore and find another job if I don't like it.
I bought a one-way ticket for myself. Well, I redeemed airmiles accrued through work travel in the past three years. I didn't have enough miles to get a return so I just opted for a one-way ticket instead and paid $111 in tax for the ticket. It's probably the only time in my life that I'll ever get a one-way ticket. It is quite liberating to do so. Haha.
Thank goodness the immigration officer didn't make things difficult for me. One girl at another counter had a very tough time with one immigration officer. I think she was also trying to enter UK on a working holiday visa. I also had to have a chest x-ray done. They were screening for TB. Anyway, clearing immigration was a real bitch. The queues were horrendously long and I took a total of about 1hr 20min to clear immigration. And when the plane landed, it waited on the tarmac for about 15min for parking space. All in all, it took me about two hours from landing to get out of the airport. Fantastic introduction to English efficiency.
I'm not sure how long I'll remain here for even though the visa is valid for two years. But I can only work one year out of the two. The rest of the time I'm supposed to be travelling, which is what I want to do anyway.
But I have no concrete plans as yet and I'm taking a play-by-ear attitude to things. I'm now staying with two very good pals, Joe & Keith, who have kindly offered me couch space in their living room for the moment. Thank you my dears!!! They're staying very near Leicester Square, Covent Garden and Chinatown so it's a really nice place.
So the dimsumdolly is now conquering London! More tales and pictures to come!
May 13, 2007
Ugly Betty
Many of my girlfriends and I are fans of the popular American sitcom Ugly Betty and I think the reason we enjoy it is because we all see something of ourselves in her.
Thankfully none of us share the same fashion sense as Betty (played by the very endearing America Ferrera), but we can certainly identify with all her insecurities – finding her place in this big and scary world, getting started on her career, dealing with the struggles of life, dating woes and figuring who her true love really is etc.
The characters in the show are also interesting, each nicely fleshed out by a great cast. I love Betty's gay nephew Justin (Mark Indelicato) best. This young actor is so fantastic with all his rather effeminate mannerisms and portrayal of the way he idolizes Martha Stewart is hilarious. Betty's boss, Daniel Meade is played by Eric Mabius who is good-looking in a very believable, everyday way. I mean, he's not drop-dead gorgeous like the Adonis-like hunks you typically see on the big screen, but he's still someone whom women would consider "cute" if he walked past us on the street or saw him at a bar. So it's that kind of cute where women find accessible, so to speak. Vanessa L. Williams also plays the rather evil-looking creative director, Wilhelmina Slater, to a hilt.
The show has a great mix of elements - humour, romance, and mystery. It also has a good dose of family values, friendship and also enough cattiness to keep audience interest up. I also love to look at all the couture that's paraded in the show, what with most of the action centred in Mode magazine's office.
Ferrera manages to play Betty with such earnestness and at the end of the day, we are all rooting for her, the underdog, to triumph against all the odds against her.
At this point, I'll segue into a conversation I had with a good friend couple of days ago. We were musing about how struggles are a part of life and he said that he actually enjoys swimming against the tide and dealing with those struggles as he finds it challenging. And that, he believes, is what life is about.
Hmm...I don't know about that. I guess the only reason why he can say something like that now is because he's never encountered any major obstacles in his life. So far, everything has gone smoothly for him. He's gone to all the top schools, managed to find a job he enjoys, knows where he wants to go in his career, has recently purchased a studio apartment and is already planning other investments in preparation for retirement in years to come.
As for me, I don't enjoy swimming against the tide - put it down to laziness or whatever, but I'd rather have it easy than hard. But I guess it's true, too, that you can't appreciate the good times if you don't know the hard.
Anyway, we agreed that probably the only way out of this struggle is to opt for a spiritual or religious life, which would mean renouncing the secular world. But we both agreed that it's not a path we would choose for ourselves (at least at this point in time) because we can't give up all the yummy food in the world, men (for me) and women (for him). Haha.
So there you go. My Sunday musings.
May 9, 2007
May 3, 2007
Health is Wealth
A really unlucky streak has seen me being down with a cough for almost a month now and on Sunday I sprained my left ankle while missing a step as I stepped off the road pavement. Argh. I stupidly thought the ankle would heal on its own and that the pain would go away. Obviously it didn't.
So finally I went to a Chinese sinseh along Upper Paya Lebar Road and got the ankle fixed back into place. By this time, my left leg had already become slightly shorter than the right and the bones in the foot were slightly out of place. He told me I shouldn't have left it for so long and that I really should have gone to get it treated straight away. OK, so everyone please learn from my mistake. Now the foot is being bandaged with some Chinese herbal medicinal paste under it. I'm not supposed to let my foot get wet - so that means putting a plastic bag around it when I bathe. And that also means no paddling! Boohoohoo.
Because of my cough I've already been out of action for almost a month. And now this. Sucks big time.