Home sweet home

The past few days have been glorious. I'm starting to notice a few factors that almost guarantee holiday and home bliss:

1) Meals with the family, with great funny conversation and great Penang food. Also, and very importantly so, making sure I visit my grandmother who raised me for many years. Sadly, she is in a home for the aged now.

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2) Putting aside the grimness for next year, and instead, reading my gifted Calvin and Hobbes collection (my all time favourite comic strip) in bed.

3) Morning walks around the lovely hilly area my parents live in. They're lucky that their condo sits right beside a water catchment area = verdant jungle = cool and quiet. There's even a waterfall that can be seen from their balcony. My walks are my time with nature and myself. How I wish I lived with these surroundings every single day!

4) Great end of the year sale finds :) These comfy flats with unexpected tie details were 70% off at Vincci+, a more upmarket sister to the cheapo brand that's been around forever

Merry Christmas

Tis the most wonderful time of the year.

December Nowness

Currently reading:

1) More Terrible Than Death: Violence, Drugs, and America's War in Columbia.
I have taken a great interest in current affairs lately, and have finished From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey, a powerful story about the triumph of human spirit, about spiritual and political awakening, in Burma. The story of a young tribesman who survived through an uprising and deadly crackdown, fighting in malaria-infested jungles to study English Lit in Cambridge, juxtaposed against the hauntingly beautiful descriptions of the Burmese landscape, tribal traditions and spirituality, and unimaginable horrors of human shields, landmines and just pure, plain fear and despair. I was left awed, disgusted, depressed, respectful. Next read is this one on Columbia. I have thus far found this book sometimes downright disturbing to read, especially with no happy ending in sight, but I push on anyway. I want to get my hands on Anna Politkovskaya's works next.

2) Christmas-themed reads: Donna Hay magazine, Nigella Christmas. Both 'zine and book boast truly exquisite styling and photography.

On the iPad:

1) Martha Stewart Living, December and January issues (I just could not resist January's kitchen designs cover story) - everyone needs a dose of frivolity every now and then. Ideas for home decor and care, entertaining, quick suppers and gorgeously taken photos.
2) George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm
3) Conrad Thomas's Heart of Darkness

Glimpses of Andalusia - Cordoba

Blazing sun and cloudless sky. Sandy terrains dotted with palm trees that make me think of Palm Spring. Except Palm spring doesn't have a 14th century castle towering imposingly in the background.



In the Mezquita, traces of Christianity in what was a predominantly Muslim (and gloriously so) structures. It almost seems as if, with the original Muslim/Ottoman structure of the Mezquita so glorious and grand, the re-conquerors (the takeover of Spain by the Christians from the Muslim rulers) only managed to "Christian-ize" only a part of the structure. They did do a spectacular job of it though, and the white-plastered, gold-trimmed area of the Mezquita they altered now sticks out like a sore, but heavily jeweled thumb.





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Amazing wrought iron details that cast the most spectacular shadows.



Whitewashed walls, blue pots and greenery in courtyard gardens, amongst narrow alleyways once meant for pedestrians and one-horse carriages. Every turn a surprise and yet echoes of the familiar white-green, accented with bursts of colours from the blooms painstakingly cultivated by the Cordobans.








Cordoba, Andalusia - October 2011.

Chocolate Crackle Cookies

The iPad and my newly purchased iPhone 4s will be my undoing. So far I've already succumbed to subscibing both ELLE and Martha Stewart Living on Zinio.

Love, love the ideas in MSL, so much so that I decided to try out these decidedly cute sounding chocolate crackle cookies. What I liked about them - so easy to make, no creaming required, just melt butter and chocolate together and stir in the rest. No need to bust out the mixer or elbow grease. I rolled these in both icing sugar (as recommended) and demerara sugar, which gave a nice crunch. In fact I prefer the demerara sugar coated ones better - no icing sugar flying everywhere and the crunch contrasted nicely with the softer cookie.

Noel

It is that time of the year, when the malls are decked out in all their garish glory, where fake trees in purple and white and gold are decked out in all sparkly spangly things.

It is that time of the year when I re-attempt to put a very grumpy Boo Boo in a Santa hat.

This year, maybe jaded from all the spending I did this year, the urge to shop eludes me. I just cannot wait to get home.

Welcome Angel.

Boo Boo asleep while mama relaxes (AK: So what else is new??)

One of my few Christmas deco purchases this year - an adorable FAT Santa.

And three sparkly stockings + December reads.

A little visitor.

Roundup

This year will be the beginning of change. First, I WILL BE MOVING BACK to the Peninsular! Being able to see my family more than three or four times a year, getting our OWN place, having my parents/brothers/cousins stay come over for weekends, celebrations or just dinner, these are just a few of the things that I plan to do once we get back. Plus all this, of course.


Having said all that, it was not an easy decision to give up on a posting opportunity to come back on local. Having grown up, studied and worked local, I have always dreamt of what it's like to live abroad. But as AK said, we've been away long enough. It's time to go home.


And another year passed by. Here's a lookback:


I read quite a bit (could have been more), quite a few on my newfound interest no less. The best one so far is Nouriel Roubini's Crisis Economics. Damning, fascinating and powerfully informative all at once. I plan to continue my learning and education on the state of world finance and economics. One of the gravest mistakes I ever made was to invest solely based on little details and not taking into account the bigger, more serious picture. I am playing catch-up now, and no doubt it has been made all the more difficult given today's votality and uncertainties, but it is hugely fascinating and most of all, truly essential.


I cooked and baked quite a bit. Nothing groundbreaking like making pizza or bread or gyoza for the first time, more of revisitations of my past successes and little tweaks here and there. Fun nevertheless.


I travelled! India, Bali, Bangkok, Seville, Cordoba, Venice and London! I am so thankful for the opportunity. India especially, I have been wanting to go for like, forever! And finally I decided to just DO IT, coming back feeling altogether overwhelmed, grateful, sorry and ecstatic. Next year will be year of travel austerity for me, as I expect my finances to be tied up in a new home, and other things involved with settling down. So the plan is to cut down on travel and instead visit BKK to shop for home stuff and maybe another sojourn to Sri Lanka or Vietnam, both of which have been on my list of must-go's for the looongest time.


Most importantlt from now on, I resolve to be more myself. To practice confidence, to NOT be afraid of who I really am and most of all, to not be afraid to show it. I am an emotional, tear-easy shopaholic who loves to cook, who dreams of entertaining, who travels because she seeks both spiritual and material fulfillment. Who still dreams of being successful on the virtue of writing about food. Who loves football and the act of watching it with father and brother. Who would rather stay home and re-arrange the furnishings than go out drinking till wee hours. Who would rather spend money on a cast-iron teapot than a pair of really pretty shoes, much to the horror of her best friend. Who really appreciates the simple joy of a sparkling clean home, as well as brunching with her friends. Who invests. Who voraciously devours news and information on economics. Who sobbed uncontrollably reading both Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper and Nicholas Kristoff's Half the Sky. Who keeps up to date with what is happenning in the world. Who thinks her cat is the cutest, most precious thing in the whole world. This is who I am.

Cosy

Bie and Boo.

Us lazy bums.

Teriyaki Hamburgers

AK loves burgers, and I've been making my own for some time now. I've learnt a couple of neat tricks by now, e.g. some freshly ground coriander can surprisingly uplift a couple of ounces of ground beef, that bacon fat can make it practically orgasmic - I kid you not, try it yourself. That all that machine ground meat can never beat lovingly hand-minced (unfortunately, sigh).


I discovered a Japanese version of the burger when I purchased Harumi Kurihara's Harumi's Japanese Home Cooking at one of Amazon's online sales months ago, but never got round trying it until last weekend. You basically use a mixture of beef and pork, raw onions (I normally soften mine first, preferably in the aforementioned bacon fat), and - the Japanese touch here - homemade teriyaki sauce. It just so happenned that I have a bottle of mirin I bought from yonks back that I intended to use to make katsudon. However the recipe intimated me so much (read it here) - all that deep frying and timing etc etc that I never got around to trying it out.

Making my own teriyaki sauce, on the other hand, was super easy and dare I say, much cheaper than buying my own chemical-laded version - although having said that, the soy sauce I used probably contained a preservative or two. Two-thirds soy and one-third mirin. Add a bit of sugar and rice wine vinegar to taste (I used about a teaspoon to make one cup of teriyaki). I also threw in a clove of garlic (slightly crushed) and grated in some ginger. This sauce, as Harumi says, can be used to marinate meats and seafood, stir fry veggies, basically your all-round hero. I modified her recipe slightly, incorporating a little of the teriyaki into the burgers instead of just salt - just to echo the sauce and amplify the Japanese tinge.

The burgers were accompanied by (as Harumi recommended) plain boiled potatoes and carrots microwaved in butter and salt. Everything is topped with spoonfuls of the delicous teriyaki sauce. We did find the potatoes slightly too bland for our liking though. So for our dinner (i.e. burger round #2 - I made enough for 2 meals) I roasted them a la Nigella, parboiled and tossed around in flour then roasted in preheated oil over high heat for the ultimate potato experience (golden and crunchy on the outside, creamy within).

Milestone - not

Sigh, how time flies. I can’t believe I am turning the big 3-0 soon *cringe*. There is still so much I want to do, and to be absolutely truthful, I kinda expected more from myself coming into this age.

Nevertheless there is still so much to be thankful for, and so much to look forward to. So it is to the future I look to (where else?) and to a life more whole in my thirties. But that is a story for another day.

So I shall treat the looming date less like a milestone where I have to have something to show for, and more like an excuse for another round of self indulgence and frivolity. So, without much ado, here is my requisite birthday wish list:

1) One of Michael Kors black or silver oversized watches for ladies. I have lusted over Cartier and Tag Hauer in the past, and almost pulled out my trusty credit card when we walked into a TH store and I discovered that the prices are much lower than I expected. But after much contemplation I realize that a) I need to conserve the cash for our plans next year, and 2) even if I didn’t, I’d much rather spend the money on another set of plane tickets. My wanderlust knows no bounds, and surpasses even my shopaholism. Besides, I kinda have a thing for big mens’ watches (I like to juxtapose against with my perceivably small wrist), better still if they look like my grandfather owned them.

2) Ferragamo Varina ballerina flats. So stylish and versatile, and comfy too. I tried on a pair in Venice and fell in love (they felt surprisingly more comfortable than the Tods loafers I also tried). But again, can’t bring myself to splash out on them.



3) An iPhone 4s. I still do not own a smartphone, and am tired of waiting for the iPhone 5 that just refuses to show itself.

4) A large order with Amazon.com. it has been somewhat of a yearly tradition for me to either place a yearly magazine subscription and/or an extra large order with Amazon.com for my birthday. Here’s on my list this year:

- Holly Becker’s Decorate. So many good reviews on Amazon.com, including a video one! I admit I was a little put off by some reviews stating that her style is more shabby chic/ cottage, but seeing the video review made my mind up for me – I want!

- India Contemporary. I have mentioned before that I love the Indian aesthetic - in small, modernized doses. This book looks just like something I am looking for.

- Jamie Oliver’s Cook with Jamie: My Guide to Making You a Better Cook. I’ve been wanting a culinary encyclopedia for ages. One with great writing, of course. And while I usually prefer Nigella Lawson or Nigel Slater’s writing, the reviews of this book, and the fact this one is rather more technical – diagrams of cuts of meat, the fine details of pasta making , etc. are calling out to me

- Any of Donna Hay’s books. I also want Nigella Christmas.

*I’ve already placed my order (I threw in Martha Stewart's Cookies too) Nigella Christmas, orgininally on sale at only USD14, is sold out!! Now I want it even more damnit!

Stretching spaces

Well, I guess it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the kitchen is my favourite part of the house.

My obsession with all things food means that is is also the room that I will (and have done so) spend most of my money on.

Back when we stayed in the run down old bungalow, the only thing I loved about the house was the big, airy, light-filled kitchen. It straddled the east side of the house and one wall was completely lined with windows that looked onto the small garden outside. This meant that a) It was cool almost all day b) It was flooded with natural light and c) being part of a bungalow, it was HUGE. Lots and lots of counter space (I have made pizzas, homemade dumplings, Penang Hokkien Prawn noodles - stuff that require a ton of mise en place - with little issue), a big double sink, cabinets that the owner put in that I totally under-utilized.

Well, that's that. We've moved, at my behest, to a smaller, more maintainable home, though (dare I say) - almost as run down as the first. I have come to love this little space that I have made my own - the manageable size meant that I did not collapse thereafter cleaning it, , the living room in which I have proudly put out all my stuff collected from our travels and bedrooms. The only downside was the bare, rather under-lit kitchen.

So this is what we added to the bare space:

1) A simple industrial rack that houses a myriad of most often-used items – the kettle, mini blender for quick drinks/smoothies, and my acrylic glasses and water jug. I love acrylic kitchenware – as pretty/classy-looking as glass, but safe enough for clumsy people like me or even for kids.



I bought the glass jars on the second from top shelf to store coffee, Milo, sugar, oats, pasta...and reused glass containers that I collected for storing spices and condiments. So much easier than fiddling with opening tins and Tupperware covers. And prettier too.

The rack also houses some of the stuff I have amassed on our travels and - chai tea and coffee grounds from India, orange oil and honey from Phuket and Bangkok gourmet food stores, cinnamon cloves and more coffee from Bali. Organic pasta, soba noodles and couscous from the health stores all around Miri, KL and Penang. Protein powder my mum insisted on giving me, more spices and flavorings – Indian spice rubs, herbs for a Chinese herbal chicken stew. Oh, and the grey oven mitt was a most thoughtful gift from AK, who, knowing how I admire Jamie Oliver, splurged a good 12 pounds on it when he dined at Jamie's Italian in Liverpool recently.

2) I bought this cabinet from my old housemate - a total lifesaver. One side holds my small (but carefully selected) collection of serve ware that I am rather fond of – I have sourced them from flea markets (Amcorp Mall, Penang), Japanese specialty shops, simple grocery stores in Brunei and Miri, handed down from my Grandfather to my mum and of course, more ubiquitous ones from Parkson and the like. It also houses my ever growing collection of bakeware (all manner of baking tins, cupcakes, loaf, springform, tart, silicone and aluminium, my hand held mixer, as well as dry pantry items (flour, instant noodles, canned goods). Its tiled top serves as a workspace too.

It wasn’t enough though. As soon as we moved I knew we had to something about the kitchen to make it usable. At the first sight of the next trip back to KL I coerced AK to drive me to Ikea, armed with a shopping list I created on the Ikea website. My mission could not be clearer.

These rails I got there now hang above this cabinet and hold my oft-used single-serving cookware and my ladles, spatulas – anything I need within easy reach.

3) We also got this bigger metal wall rack, which hovers over the sink. Another piece that is absolutely essential in this space-starved place. Perfect for air-drying dishes and - when I added the hooks - hanging my peelers, scissors, sieves, hand held colander, silicone tongs, etc. off it. Silicone spatula, grater (this one is also from Ikea, I wanna upgrade to a Microplane one)


4) Another space saver - racks that elevate the gas stove off the only (very low) built in countertop. I use the space underneath it for my microwavaeble bowls and pot lids. The rack that holds my tray of condiments has a basket of garlic and onions, and my pestle and mortar underneath it.

5) And because I am helpless at the sight of pretty packaging that I can reuse, and the only place I could fit a part of my collection – tins from cookies, mooncakes, tea, my teeny liquor collection – was on top of the fridge.



6) Another very useful space I improvised – I originally bought this rice-husk cutting board from The Penang street market for, well, cutting. Turns out it fits nicely above the sink, so now I place my other cutting boards on it and use this space for cleaning meat and fish, and basically cutting everything. When I’m done I just wash the boards. No need to hunch over the other worktops. I use the yellow plastic one for meats and fish, the wooden one for stuff like vegetables, fruit and hacking up chocolate bars. Oh, and these two boards serve as splashbacks as well when they’re not in use.





It took me some time to grow into it and make it as friendly and functional as possible – and I would still love to have more work surfaces (I now make my dumplings in the dining room), but as with everything you build, bit my little bit, with things you use and grow to love, you learn to cherish.

F & M

AK is not one to plan our trips abroad - he leaves these things to me - where to go, what to do, where to stay and eat, etc. Oh, he'll chip in with the odd "Do we really need our own villa?" or "We should explore China next year", and of course gasp at the rates of my desired hotel every once in a while, but most of the time, he goes along with my whims and fancies.

This time I got lucky. Since he was exploring London with a colleague two weeks before we met up there, this time he had an idea of where he wanted to take me in our limited time in London - a place he knew I'd go absolutely bonkers in given my love for food markets and such - one of my favourite things to do in any foreign place is visit the food markets, or even just regular supermarkets to check out the fresh produce and conveniences on offer. I've brought back French pate, German dried pork belly, wines, polenta, Ritter Sport chocolates, even cat food from abroad.

Despite my online orders arriving safely at AK's hotel, I was a little disappointed at not being able to visit Harvey Nichols as we wanted to reduce our travel time as much as possible, and I had made Anthropologie my top priority in London. Luckily Forntnum and Mason's was just a few blocks away. Happily, the visit there well made up for not making to Harvey Nicks. I went a little nuts there, and of course wished we had more money and luggage space to cart back it all.

Handmade marshmallows - plain vanilla, rose, strawberry.



Skull and ghost candies for Halloween.






Honeycomb and chutneys and crabapple jellies.





Stilton in clay jars.






Garlic-infused olive oil.




Lovely assortment of baked goods.






We spent a good two hours there and would have stayed for scones and clotted cream if time permitted. We also carted back lots of tea for our families back home in their lovely silver and turqoise tins. Love :)

It's all in the details - The Kiasu Traveller

The more vacations I take it seems, the more and more obsessive I get about planning every last detail.

I guess the habit first started out during our first trip to Europe - to Paris and Rome. We stayed in some flea-ridden hotel in Paris I picked out at the last minute and then something better in Rome (The Beehive - book the double room if you can. I loved this little place - clean, beautifully appointed, and its location right opposite the main train/bus station), but still, we shared a dorm with a couple other people, and generally did not enjoy the best the cities had to offer. Sure, I had read a ton of tips online before going - the best 3-day itinerary, how to save money by surviving on crepes and kebabs in Paris, which city pass we should get (just the metro ones IMHO, there are only so many museums one can stomach in 3 days), cautionary tales of child pickpockets when lining up to enter The Vatican...but I realised soon after that we somewhat missed some of the very essence of where we were going - Paris especially. Why oh why did I not go to Laduree??

There was our trip to Singapore and Universal Studios, where we regretted not getting the express pass and ended up having to queue for everything in the crazy heat.

And the last trip to India, out of fear of being stranded in the middle of nowhere helpless, the real planner/obsessive in me came unleashed. I booked our train tickets online waaayyyyy in advance (First Class, I might add. Doesn't cost much - and totally worth the money). I read and read BOTH Lonely Planet and Rough Guide books, mapped out our itineraries, even took down notes from TripAdvisor on where to seek out the best wood print fabrics (Anokhi hands down, by the way - for the workmanship, quality and styling) and good restaurants. I fretted about not being able to book my favoured hotel (also courtesy of TripAdvisor - and all the excellent reviers are true by the way), finally managing to confirm our reservations after changing a couple of dates. I booked, cancelled, rebooked, cancelled again and re-re-booked our train tickets from Delhi to Agra to Delhi again, to Jaipur. I printed out our hotel reservations, our train and plane tickets and filed them in a plastic binder to tote to India.

Now that I am fortunate enough to be able to pay Europe another visit, I am even more determined to make the most of all my time there. This time we are going to Seville, capital of Andalusia (Southern Spain I guess) and Venezia. Oh, and we're going to spend a night and half a day in London before taking off.

So here's what I came up with:

1) I've already placed my online order with Harvey Nichols for my hot chocolate, Mariage Freres tea and yellow tea submarine, having them delivered to AK's hotel. Tip for serial shoppers with friends who travel to places you can't - big department stores in the UK and the US most often have online purchasing and can deliver to your friend's hotel - just get your pal to tell the front desk to look out for it. Harvey Nicks sent me endless updates on the status of my orders - packed, despatched, delivered and signed for. I chose the 1-day delivery which cost slightly more than the normal 3 - 5 day one, and they were true to their promise.

2) Since we have so little time in London, I narrowed my itinerary down to only one must-visit, and a few options. Now of course I booked my hotel in London already, strategically situated near the Liverpool St. Station, the central London station where the Stansted Express train stops at. We will be departing from Stansted Airport to Seville, so it makes sense to live nearby the station so we can check out in the morning, leave our luggage at the hotel, go shopping and have lunch, then come back to the hotel to get our luggage and depart straight to the airport instead of dragging the bags through a couple of interchanges. The London Tube is infamous for its stations not being pedestrian/travel/disabled friendly, so I decided to take no chances.
Now if I had to choose one place in London I had to go to, it would be the Anthropologie store in Regent Street, so I mapped out our route there to and from Liverpool St.! Crucial to avoid wastage of my precious shopping time. Oh, what do want to buy? Six of these, two in green and four clear ones :).

3) The last time we were in Barcelona we both felt that we had a bit too much time to spend there. So this time in Seville I booked us a day trip to nearby Cordoba, where we'll visit the Mezquita Mosque and walk the old city. Turns out most of Seville's attractions (The Cathedral, the Alcazar) are closed on Mondays anyway so it would be a perfect time for a day trip to another Southern Spanish town. I booked our tickets via the Rail Europe website, which was easier to navigate than the Spanish national train service, Renfe's.

4) I also checked out happennings in Seville. With the Euro being at its all time low against our currency, I thought that this is as good a time as any to indulge in something that we wouldn't normally do - catch a football match, some kind of seasonal performance. Turns out the famed Cirque du Soleil is in Seville, and ending on our first day there! Guess it was meant to be. So I booked us tickets and printed out the map to the venue.

5) I also booked our seats for a flamenco performance. Would've booked us tickets to see a bullfight too but they're not fighting in Seville in October :( Oh well, moral dilemma resolved.
Update: Turns out advance booking (at least a day in advance) is a must for the top-rated shows! We tried to get into another performance nearer to our B & B and it was all fully booked two hours before the show, so thank goodness for the one I booked online.

6) Phew, am not done. I read that Venice can be really overcrowded with tourists and long lines to enter the attractions are more common than not. So I bought us Museum Passes from veniceconnected. This way I save 2 Euros per person, and won't have to line up for tickets nor for entry. Score. I was sorely tempted to get vaporetto and bus passes as well, but am not sure if we will really need them and at 40 Euros per pass, best to get there first and assess the situation first. (Update: Unless your hotel is really far away in Cannaregio, or you have issues climbing stairs/walking, or lugging a ton of stuff, I'd say you don't need it. The city is small enough. We stayed near the Accademia and had no trouble trekking every day to St. Mark's Square and Rialto areas to shop/see/eat. Plus the vaporetto's are really slow, up to the point of being annoying. I much prefer trekking on foot to my own pace.)

And of course, naturally I printed out all our Ryanair boarding passes, hotel bookings, etc. Now that's just being responsible.

Adieu Steve Jobs

I don't know why, the news has affected me more than I expected.

I was talking to my Dad over the phone about this, and he said. "Pity, he won't be able to enjoy his retirement."

Thing is, I think he didn't have to have a retirement to enjoy his life. He was doing what he loved, he got excited every day and he enjoyed every moment of what he did, as it was evident to see.

Listening to his 2005 Stanford commencement speech, he followed his heart and his head (his parents couldn't afford his expensive college fees, so he dropped out and started a company out of their garage instead), office politics of the worst kind - maybe even betrayal (the CEO he brought in to lead Apple ousted him out of the company), and through it all, the love for what he did kept him going, reaching the heights greater and greater.

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

London Shopping List

My excitement is quickly building up in anticipation of joining AK in Europe! Despite all the bleargh stuff happenning at work (the only way I know how to describe it all now), it's not every day, month or year that we get to travel like this. So I say f*** you to all that is wrong with my life right now and roll right on over to happier stuff.

Like couch surfing research on how to make the most of our half day in London before jetting off to Seville and then Venice. Am also thinking of a day trip to Córdoba when we are in Seville, to see the Alcazar, the Great Mosque of Córdoba and all the Moorish architechture I can take in.

Being from Penang, I do appreciate beautiful buildings. I might not be able to pull a Ted Mosby but I do try to distinguish between Gothic, Renaissance and Art Noveau best I can. I take in all that I can - the stained glass windows, the gargoyles, the signages, the cobblestone streets. This is also why I love Penang, and fell in love with the Cordoba district of Mumbai. I never realised it until I looked through all my vacation photos and realised that in addition to food (and shopping, might as well just admit it), I am a (European) architecture buff. Feel free to guffaw now.

On we go, back to the delicously frivolous.

The last time we were in London I managed to get to Harrods and its famed food halls. Not as great as I expected, and the prices were, well beyond me. I didn;t even buy an Ispahan macaron (5 bloody pounds a piece)

This time I have been checking out Harvey Nichols. They also have a pretty famed food market which I am dying to check out.

Meanwhile I have of course already checked out the goodies on their website. Ansd here's what I have my eye on so far:




Harvey Nichols Chocolate Drink Caddy. I fell in love with this the moment I saw it in ELE Singapore magazine a few years ago. Just look at that adorable label. Our tropical weather might not be all that condusive for a mug of thick hot chocolate with peppermint marshmallows and a slug of brandy/whiskey/Bailey's, but I sure can whip one up for snuggling under a blanket on a rainy day. And I'll hand down the tin to my kids, I promise!






Mariage Freres Green Tea from Provence. Super posh. Knowing me I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between this and other supposedly more inferior stuff. But again, I am a total sucker for such gorgeous packaging. Gotta have it!







And this one is just too cute to let slip. Yellow submarine tea infuser. I want I want I want!

With the exchange rate less wince-inducing, Christmas coming soon, the fact I need as many pick me ups as I can get, it might be another year or two before I visit London again...and many other perfectly rational reasons :)....I am definitely going to get my hands on these. Now the only question is whether to buy them online and have them delivered to AK first, or pay a visit and decide then....

Our Boo

So AK is now in the UK, and will be there for the next two weeks until I get to join him. Then we're off to Seville and Venice.

In the meantime Boo Boo and I are holding down the fort. Here are some snaps from the weeks past.

I know I've said it many many times, and he can be very very naughty/infuriating/irritating, but I'll say it again. I will forever be thankful for the fateful day that AK took matters into his own hands (I was offshore) and decided that he was ours (or we were his). He has been an endless source of laughter, joy, amusement and the recipient of so much love from the both of us.

Busying himself checking everything out while I spring clean.




And making a right nuinsance of himself, wrestling with, of all things, my British pounds and managing to do good damage to a 5-pound note before I wrestled it out of him. I know I should have probably put down the camera, but I reckon this shot was worth it :)



Reaaaaching for his ball under the woven chest in the living room.



Fast asleep, without a single care in the world, because he knows he's safe, that he is loved.