Heaven in a Wild Flower

Goodbyes and A New Beginning

2012-02-11T10:16:00.001Z

It's 2012. In fact, it's already the second month of the new year. I am quite ashamed that I have not updated this blog in months, if anyone is still reading this! I don't know if it's because I've lost theinspiration to churn out blog posts, or the fact that I've gotten lazy, or that I have quite a lot going on generally that has caused the silence. Probably a bit of all three. In truth, I have

Exploding Dog

2011-11-04T22:12:00.000Z

Back in the day when I first started blogging (way back in 2003!), this was something I had shared. explodingdog is a collection of drawings by Sam Brown, a really talented artist who draws these stick cartoon figures based on titles he receives. Anyone can submit a title and if it inspires him, he'll draw it. Now that there's twitter, facebook and whatever other social media, guess it makes it

Book Review: Perfection In Imperfection by Janice Wong

2011-09-22T00:16:00.000+01:00

If you are a dessert aficionado and/or lover of beautiful cookbooks, you have to get Chef Janice Wong's first book, Pefection in Imperfection. This hand-stitched, hand-made book (every cover is hand-torn and stuck on) is the product of many hours of loving labour. It contains recipes that form Janice's signature dishes featured at her 2am Dessert Bar, all beautifully shot and artistically

A Feature in Heart Home Magazine

2011-09-16T02:31:00.000+01:00

I mentioned in one of my last posts that I was asked to contribute an article to a soon-to-be launched interiors magazine Heart Home Mag. Well, it's just been launched! And it looks amazing, there's so much great content by the creative community gathered by the founders Arianna, Carole and Daniel. I'm so honoured to be part of this inaugural issue! The feature I contributed is of course one

Guest Post on 6 Bittersweets - Pink Wedding Macarons

2011-09-10T22:54:00.000+01:00

Some of you may know I was back in Singapore recently for a wedding of my close friend J. Other than bridesmaid duties, I had also offered to make some of her bridal flowers (reception tables, bridal bouquet and bridesmaids' bouquets) and put together a dessert table for her lunch reception. It was all very fun albeit a little hectic, flying in from London with all my recently collected vintage

The Cult of Iced Gem Biscuits aka Biskut Ais Jem

2011-08-12T16:40:00.000+01:00

Source: Khong Guan Sparked off by the stream of nostalgia brought on by Plusixfive's latest post, and my horrible memory never being able to remember the name of these little biscuits, I set off on a little investigative googling mission to find out more about these old school sweets. Let's take a trip down the halls of history shall we? Source: Huntley & Palmers Collection Museum The real name

All The Greatest Things!

2011-08-09T14:39:00.004+01:00

How has everyone's summer been? I've been up to all sorts of things, but that's not really a good excuse for my absence is it? I put it down to Twitter addiction, busy travel schedule and plain laziness :) There are some pretty exciting projects I've been involved in that I can't wait to share! Some will have to wait but will divulge a couple of things here. For those who follow the online UK

Nopi by Ottolenghi

2011-05-18T01:15:00.004+01:00

You might be thinking - Nopi? What in the world is that? Let me decipher that for you. It means NOrth of PIccadilly, which is also the name and location of a wonderful new(ish) restaurant by the people behind Ottolenghi. Situated on Warwick Street (just off Regent Street, and indeed yes north of Piccadilly Circus), this beautifully designed restaurant is like a more polished and sophisticated

Petersham Nurseries & Cafe

2011-03-04T01:44:00.002Z

After 1.5 years of being in London, I finally made my way to Petersham Nurseries. It has been on my to-do list ever since I moved here since it ticked all the boxes for me - beautiful flowers and plants, interior/homewares and a great chef with a great cafe. Basically everything I could ever dream of. But due to various reasons (weather, laziness, hard-to-get reservations without planning), I

I Heart Flowers!

2011-02-10T01:48:00.000Z

Warning: super flowery post ahead! I was sorting through some of my photos and was looking at all the floral arrangements that I've done the past few years and decided to re-post some of my favourites in a round-up post. Looking at them inspires me to make even prettier designs though I really haven't done much floral arrangements recently. I hope they brighten up your day as they did mine!

A Helsinki Gem: Chez Dominique

2011-02-09T02:12:00.000Z

As with most of my work trips, I don't usually do very much reading or planning beforehand for my leisure time, often relying on inflight magazines or hotel in-room guides for suggestions on what to do and see in the evening after a work day. So on my way to Heathrow in a cab, I was furiously searching for Helsinki-related apps and googling for a guide on interesting places there on my iPhone. I

Pandan Chiffon Cake - Food for Angels & Babes

2011-01-31T23:13:00.003Z

For the longest time, I've been trying to perfect a decent rendition of a pandan chiffon cake. A chiffon cake is akin to angel's food cake, except it also has egg yolks to make the taste a little richer, but uses oil instead of butter to maintain that soft spongey texture. Pandan chiffon cake is common in Singapore and Malaysia, sold in most bakeries and eaten commonly as teatime snacks. To me

A Belated Happy New Year & The Singapore Episodes

2011-01-17T00:35:00.002Z

I promised I'd blog this weekend and so here's my inaugural post of the year, although it's going to be a little of a cop-out since I'm going to be linking you guys to my fab gal pal Connie's posts on her whirlwind food-coma-inducing weekend in Singapore in December (more of that in a bit). I've been very quiet on this blog because 1) I spent a good decent 4 weeks of the holiday season in Dec/

Guest Post On Notabilia - Pandan Kaya Cake

2010-12-10T18:26:00.000Z

One of my lovely classmates from the Blogging Your Way course invited me to do a guest post on her newly inaugurated blog Notabilia, and of course I said yes! She has recently moved from New York to Singapore and Notabilia is about her experience as an expat discovering Singapore, focusing on her interests in arts, culture, crafts, design etc. She has just launched her series Cooking With... and

Matcha Green Tea Sablés and Japanese Bakeries

2010-11-22T02:45:00.002Z

I've been baking a lot this past week, and mainly green things for some bizarre reason, matcha (green tea) chiffon roll, matcha sables and also pandan cake. Matcha, a type of Japanese green tea, is a wonderful flavour that pairs really well with red bean and or black sesame, as many Japanese sweets and desserts attest to. The rich fragrant aroma and the bittersweet aftertaste of matcha lends

Five Faves - Great Blogs You Should Check Out!

2010-11-07T04:03:00.002Z

I've spent the past 2 nights trawling through lots of blogs and getting incredibly inspired by all the talent that's out there. Given my varied interests, my google reader list is getting longer and longer by the day and I want to read them all! I've been surfing tons of food (but of course!), interior & styling, wedding and event design and also photography blogs and I just can't get enough of

Refreshing Pear Sorbet, with Mint & Lime

2010-11-03T23:47:00.002Z

I've been trying to do so many different things lately. Having recently finished (most of) the Blogging Your Way class, I've been thinking a lot about how to improve this blog, what I want to achieve with it and most of all, what is it that I'm passionate about and want to pursue. As you may have noticed, I've changed the layout of the blog and made some slight tweaks, begun to consciously

Mactweets Mac Attack 12 Challenge - Fig and Mascarpone Macarons

2010-10-25T15:46:00.001+01:00

Once again, it's Mactweets Mac Attack time! This month, the theme is Pinkarons for Pinktober Challenge in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness month in October. After a long hiatus (I can't even remember when was the last time I made macarons), I am finally getting my act together and rejoining the Mac Madness, with some gentle prodding from the lovely Jamie over at Life's A Feast :) Inspired by my

My Macaron Journey

2010-09-27T23:30:00.000+01:00

Having looked at my Google Analytics recently, I realised that most of the search engine traffic was being referred to my blog as a result of people searching for macarons, especially lychee macarons to be specific :) In order to make it easier for people searching for macaron recipes, do's and don'ts, trial and errors, I shall compile the various macarons I've attempted below in this post.

Blogging Your Way

2010-09-20T23:15:00.001+01:00

I've been taking this e-course called Blogging Your Way conducted by Holly of decor8 and Leslie of A Creative Mint on how to find your blogging voice, as well as many other tips and materials on how to publish a successful and attractive blog. It's been nothing short of inspiring, far surpassing my expectations. I had originally expected there to be lots of 'technical' how-to's like how to take

Strawberry Mousse & Panna Cotta Pots

2010-09-13T01:41:00.000+01:00

I had some leftover strawberries that needed to be used, and so I decided to whip up something simple. In the end, this endeavour took more effort than I envisioned as I foolishly decided to whip the cream by hand instead of using my Kitchenaid. And why? All because I didn't feel like washing the big mixing bowl. Yes, it is indeed silly of me to expend all that energy whipping the cream instead

New Covent Garden Flower Market

2010-08-29T14:53:00.000+01:00

I finally made my way down to the New Covent Garden Flower Market yesterday morning. It's a wholesale market located at in Wandsworth just south of the river from Pimlico. Since it's meant for trade, it opens at 3am on weekdays, and 4am on Saturdays. I aimed to get there at 8am but only found myself at its doors at 9am. *sheepish look* By then, most of the vendors had packed up and only a handful

Beautiful and Yummy Finds

2010-08-20T17:21:00.000+01:00

Been really behind in blogging lately, in fact, behind in everything! I find myself playing catch-up with my life due to work, visitors and an extended battle with the mice plaguing my apartment (YES very gross and icky but it's not cos of me!). Haven't posted anything, baked, arranged flowers for a long time, and even my laundry is piling up to the height of Everest! I do hope there are still a

Home-Made Japanese Meal

2010-07-01T23:12:00.000+01:00

Having not cooked in a long time, and finally having a free evening tonight, I decided to make myself a Japanese meal. I was inspired by the wonderful dinner we had at Sake No Hana last night (where I saw Ralph Fiennes!!) where we had the always delicious Inaniwa udon with prawn tempura, prawn sashimi, sashimi with wasabi jelly, a lobster broth (that had lobster brains in it!), yellowtail and

Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons

2010-07-01T22:26:00.000+01:00

I've been eating out quite a lot recently, no, make that all the time. Friends have been visiting, so we've been trying new places and revisiting tried and tested crowd pleasers like Lobster Noodles @ Mandarin Kitchen or Roast Duck @ Gold Mine at Bayswater. The return of Wan (for a short visit) also means that all the crazy eating that stopped half a year ago has restarted. And so the Fat Duck

Truffs & Friends

2010-06-16T17:31:00.000+01:00

Two of my friends from Singapore, EL and JL, came to London recently and bunked in chez moi. The thing we all have in common is the love of food (as with most of my friends!) and one of them has taken this passion further and opened his own chocolate atelier, Truffs, in Singapore. In this cosy open kitchen, he makes and serves only 2 products - hand-rolled truffles (4 varieties - 55%, 66%, 70%

Mactweets Mac Attack 8 Challenge! - Black & White Sesame Macarons

2010-06-12T01:17:00.000+01:00

After missing the last few rounds of Mac Attack challenges, I am finally back! Thanks to Jamie of Lifesafeast, who reminded me this month's challenge was due this week when I met her at last weekend's Food Bloggers Connect (more on that soon I promise!), I am back with a vengeance! This month's theme is "Take A Walk on The Wild Side", macarons inspired by Africa and the safari. The first thing

iPhone 4 - DROOL....

2010-06-08T19:38:00.000+01:00

Watch this and drool - I really want a new iPhone! Ok, will probably just be contented with the OS upgrade. Can't wait!!

World's 50 Best Restaurants and My Trip to Jaan par André

2010-04-27T01:10:00.000+01:00

I was really excited to be invited to the San Pelligrino's World's Best 50 Restaurants Awards tonight (am still buzzing from the high!), imagine being in the same room as all those amazing chefs and restaurateurs! The evening began with cocktails and canapes, after which we were ushered into the main gallery at Guildhall for the awards. I spotted a few chefs that I recognised but obviously didn't

Memories of Turkey and Greece

2010-04-21T01:29:00.000+01:00

I've been really lazy lately about posting and a busy work schedule isn't helping. I've taken to tweeting short updates but guess that's quite different from a full post. The long awaited pictures from the Turkey and Greece holiday are finally here. I love love love Santorini! It's an amazingly gorgeous place with pastel coloured houses perched on the cliff of a caldera. Maybe because we went

Greetings from Istanbul and Ephesus

2010-03-30T22:07:00.000+01:00

'Tis been a manic month of travelling. Since I came back from Singapore after Chinese New Year, I've not spent very much time in London either. Was off to Berlin and Copenhagen for work over the last 2 weeks, and am now in Istanbul, at the start of my Eurasia vacation. All in all, by the time I'm done, I'd have taken 12 flights in 4 weeks. Crazy! I'll probably do a post on Copenhagen design and

London Selected * 141

2010-03-10T23:16:00.000Z

Cool site on what to do in London...London Selected * 141

Inspirational & Beautiful

2010-03-05T00:20:00.001Z

So beautiful, pretty and so amazingly talented. The below pictures are from Housemartin, the blog for portland based home decor & floral shop ink & peat. Makes me ashamed that I haven't done any floral arrangements in a while... Enjoy the beautiful florals and pictures!

Project Craft Room

2010-03-04T00:04:00.001Z

Since I've got a compulsion to decorate and change things in my house ever so often, my energy is now directed to turning my guest bedroom into a craft room. Yes, it's an excuse to get new furniture, fill it with nice and pretty things and hopefully have a roomful of inspiration. Currently, it looks more or less like this. I'm going to push the bed against the window, so I get a lot more

Long Awaited Tiramisu!

2010-02-24T00:09:00.000Z

Now that I'm back in London, I'm finally getting around to clearing my backlog of posts. First up, the Tiramisu recipe that I promised. I was looking at the stuff in my fridge just before I left for Singapore and realised most of the perishables, which I would have otherwise thrown away, could make me a tiramisu! Or rather, I could make one with them. Now, I've not made a tiramisu in ages and I

Chinese New Year, Thoughts & Tiramisu!

2010-02-09T16:04:00.000Z

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! As you can see, the Christmas tree has given way to a more ching chong red auspicious arrangement of pussy willows, rose hips and amaryllis. It's been a while since I last posted anything. Very hectic month and even more busy trip back to Singapore thus far due to work. The first month of 2010 has past and there's a lot of thoughts going through my head

Gastronomic Ultra-Marathon Part III - Chez Bruce

2010-01-27T00:40:00.000Z

The third installment of the never-ending Gastronomic Ultra-Marathon that was Eugene's farewell. After hearing him rave about it for the longest time i.e. since I arrived in London, we had to make this one of the stops on the list of must-eats. Since it's tucked away in some corner of Wandsworth (SW17!!) and not exactly accessible by public transport, we rented a Streetcar for the evening for our

Mango & Lychee Mousse Macarons - Mactweets Challenge 3

2010-01-18T02:11:00.000Z

This post has been a long time coming. While I made the macarons quite a few days ago, I haven't had the time to photograph them in natural daylight as I'm always rushing to work in the morning and there's hardly been any sun. Finally I manage to sneak a few minutes yesterday morning, despite it being a really really gloomy and grey day. The Mactweets Macattack Challenge 3 hosted by Jamie and

Chewy or Moist Macarons?

2010-01-13T01:15:00.000Z

I'm getting obsessed with the texture of my macarons. I made some macarons with mango and lychee mousse filling for the Mactweets challenge and they were quite soft. Basically my macarons used to be pretty chewy and I was trying to figure out how to get them more moist and soft and now they're TOO soft and almost falls apart when you bite into them. For the life of me, I can't figure out the

Gastronomic Ultra-Marathon Part II - Battle of the Japanese Restaurants

2010-01-10T00:55:00.000Z

I love Japanese food. I think I could keep eating Japanese food and not get sick of it, because there are just so many different types of things to eat - ramen, sashimi/sushi, teppanyaki, donburi, tempura, hotpots, grilled items, salads, small plates and the list goes on! Sadly I've never been to Japan, it will definitely be food heaven for me! I was very excited to be going to Sake No Hana as

Gastronomic Ultra-Marathon Part I

2010-01-10T00:14:00.000Z

Happy New Year everyone! After some new year house troubles with my heat and hot water, I'm finally not cold and homeless anymore, just in time for the big London snow-in (or so the media puts it). I still haven't blogged about the eating ultra-marathon that was Eugene's farewell. I seem to have been eating non-stop since November and I definitely have put on quite a few pounds, definitely need

My Christmas Tree and Happy 2010!

2009-12-30T18:01:00.000Z

Yes, I know it's a bit late, but there are 12 days of Christmas right? I haven't been blogging much as I've just been busy meeting up with friends and pigging out on food back home in Singapore. Didn't take many pics either so none to share so you'll just have to imagine it!! Bah, 2 more days before my holiday is over, dreading the return to cold dreary London...

Paris Weekend

2009-12-19T20:30:00.000Z

A couple of friends and I went to Paris during the end of November for a short chill-out and eat weekend. All of us had been there before so we didn't have any must-see touristy things on our agenda. So guess what we grativated towards - searching out good food as usual! After reading good reviews about Chez Robert et Louise, I made a reservation for this restaurant which was located in the

Going Home!

2009-12-17T22:20:00.000Z

Wheeeeee!! I'm finally going home tomorrow! Can't wait. I only hope the snow doesn't stop transport and flights :( Usually I'd be happy to see snow but today as the flurries got heavier and heavier, my heart was sinking lower and lower, what with all the warnings for a snow storm (by london standards) overnight. Praying very hard. Can't wait to get back home and eat more goodies, see all my

Raspberry White Chocolate Macarons

2009-11-30T01:18:00.001Z

In my last post, I mentioned I made macarons last weekend as well. Was saving the pics for a stand-alone entry on them :) I bought a punnet of raspberries and decided to put them to use in my Raspberry White Chocolate Macarons as part of the Mactweets challenge that Jamie of Life's A Feast and Deeba of Passionate About Baking are hosting. Seeing I haven't taken pictures of any macs I made in a

Lots of Cooking

2009-11-30T00:42:00.000Z

Last weekend was a weekend filled with cooking and baking. I stayed at home and made scones, bread, shepherd's pie, mac & cheese, macarons and creme brulee. Unfortunately I was too lazy to take photos of everything. So here's a selection. I made matcha (green tea) creme brulee with the egg yolks left from using the whites for the macarons. It's a really simple recipe that I've adapted from

A Quick Meal

2009-11-21T02:17:00.000Z

For a quick meal last night, I defrosted the japanese hamburger patty I had made earlier this week, cooked some rice and fried an egg. While the rice was cooking, I threw together a salad with beetroot, avocado, corn and lamb's lettuce. The beetroot was pre-cooked so I just had to heat it up the packet in boiling water. I like the type cooked in its own juices not the ones with vinegar added.

Online Shopping

2009-11-20T19:01:00.001Z

I seem to have lost my mojo for regular street shopping cos it seems like everytime I get myself to the high street, I can't really focus or nothing seems to grab my attention. Unless I go equipped with a list of things to buy (and boring necessary stuff like socks or a whisk), I inevitably get very tired after an hour and will end up in a supermarket or something and spend money on groceries

Entertaining Myself

2009-11-18T00:11:00.001Z

This past weekend was pretty quiet. I took a look at the bad weather and decided it was probably a better idea to stay home than venture out. But I did pop downstairs to the farmer's market to get some produce and flowers when I thought it cleared up for a bit (bad idea cos it started raining the moment I stepped outside I swear). Btw, the roses I got were the most amazing scented roses. They

Bad Day

2009-11-15T01:23:00.000Z

Although Friday the 13th is over, the bad luck did not leave and had instead multiplied manyfold. Today will go down in history as THE DAY that I broke the most number of things. I really don't know what's wrong with me (or my slippery fingers) but first I broke a plate while washing up, and just minutes later I broke a cup while trying to hang it back onto the cupstand.I thought that would be

Lazy

2009-11-12T22:26:00.000Z

I've been quite lazy about taking photos, even of things I make. I made my first ever batch of macarons in London last week (or rather almost 2 weeks ago), and I didn't take a single picture :( Lazy to style, lazy to even pick up a camera. I blame it on the bad lighting and darkness prevalent for most of the time.Anyway, I made 3 flavours - chocolate peanut butter banana, matcha buttercream and

Singapore Food Festival Chez Moi

2009-11-08T14:31:00.000Z

Tomorrow will be the 3-month mark since I've been here in London. How time flies. I think I can say that I'm more or less settled down here although I definitely haven't gone to a lot of the places I want to yet. This coming month will be quite manic for me in terms of work so I apologise in advance if blogging will be sporadic and short.Here are some pics from my camera that I haven't put up yet

Parcel

2009-10-27T14:40:00.000Z

Look what I just got in the mail! so cute and pretty! I love Asian Food Channel, now I wish I was back home watching it, they've got some pretty exciting programmes coming up! Do look out for it if you have it on cable!

A 6-Star Week Part I

2009-10-27T01:23:00.000Z

This post has been long overdue (and warning to all, it will be long). Where do I begin? To tell the tale of 4 foodies (well 6 if you count the friends who joined us), 8 days, 2 countries, 6 stars, countless restaurants and 20 courses of food and countless pintxos (pronounced pinchos), not to mention many pounds poorer and heavier. That sort of summarises the gastrohedonistic week we started in

Home Made Food

2009-10-27T00:40:00.000Z

You can probably tell I'm trying to clear my backlog of posts. Here are some pictures I took around my neighbourhood one Saturday as I explored the farmer's market downstairs my house (Pimlico Farmer's Market) and the Partridges Market at King's Road.I haven't gotten around to baking much but I did manage the below. Made a blueberry and fig tart with some figs I brought back from Barcelona. They

YAY!

2009-10-26T22:50:00.000Z

The cable tv has come back!!!

Trials & Tribulations of Living in London Part II

2009-10-26T20:37:00.000Z

I can't believe this. After I waited about 2 months to get my broadband (and thank God it is here and working), guess what? My cable tv decides to go kapoot on me. You can truly never have the best of both worlds, can you?Since it was installed, it had on occasions decided to go on holiday especially when there's inclement weather but it always returned within an hour or so. Not this time. It's

Dreams

2009-10-25T11:09:00.000Z

I dreamt of my friends and family last night. In fact I think there were several dreams, the first involved Aniki and there was also this whole thing about catching mice. Apparently wherever I was at was overrun with mice and we were told to catch them for a reward. I can't remember if it was one or two dreams, you know how they all sort of melt together?Next it segued into this big party in a

Chilli Crab Invasion

2009-10-20T15:25:00.000+01:00

I just thought the sight was too cute to pass up. Packing all these crabbies to Paris with me. Now I just hope the customs doesn't stop me and accuse me of crustacean cruelty.

Travelling again

2009-10-20T14:20:00.000+01:00

It's been quite a busy couple of weeks so I haven't really blogged or twittered much. Got a few posts backlogged on draft mode, mostly from the San Sebestian trip and foodie posts in Waterside Inn. It takes a while to pull together all the pictures so pardon me for the silence. Those who've told me I haven't posted for a while - I hear you, I will endeavour to put it up this weekend.Actually,

Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

2009-10-08T00:03:00.000+01:00

While I haven't really been able to see much of Barcelona during this trip since the conference is tucked in some ulu corner of the city, we did go out to an amazing venue this evening for the conference host dinner. As it was being sponsored by Barcelona Turisme and all the various federal/state/provincial tourism entities, they were pulling out all stops to impress the British travel trade. The

Home Sweet Home

2009-10-04T20:19:00.000+01:00

*commercial break from food*Long overdue post on my apartment. Many have asked me to post pictures of my apartment so I finally got around to taking some pictures, it's hard to get proper lighting since London is grey and dreary quite a fair bit.The first set of pictures is from when I first moved in, before I changed the furniture layout, moved in my things from Singapore and added in some

San Sebestian - food capital of Europe

2009-10-03T18:58:00.000+01:00

A quick hello from SS. Here on a foodie weekend eat-out with 4 other gastronomes (is there such a word?). We spent the day eating and eating non-stop. Renowned as the foodie capital of Europe with the highest concentration of Michelin starred restaurants, it's not hard to see why this beautiful seaside city earned that reputation. With tapas bars at lining the streets serving exquisite and

First House Guest

2009-09-29T11:34:00.000+01:00

I had my first house guest this past weekend! My colleague Serene from Singapore extended her work trip over the weekend and stayed with me. She's into vintage stuff and markets so we went to Portobello on Saturday morning. The last time I went to Portobello I didn't really manage to see much of the vintage and antique shops and wasn't very impressed. I was quite amazed to see all these alley

Summary of the Week

2009-09-24T15:53:00.000+01:00

I know I'm rubbish at updating. It's been quite manic these past few days. I've quite a bit of backlog in terms of posts - at least I try to tweet more regularly...The weekend went by in a flash, spent mostly unpacking my stuff (yay!) and going to markets (Borough and Columbia again) and buying some plants. I got a small olive tree (which I actually wouldn't call a tree, more like a plant) and

Why Everyone Needs a Phone Line in UK

2009-09-17T10:42:00.000+01:00

I can't wait!! My shipment arrives today! Or at least it's supposed to... one more hour.. counting down! Maybe by the time I finish this post, it'll be here!After yesterday's fiasco with the Internet guys, my confidence is not very high in the systems here (what systems??). I took the day off, or rather it became more like working from home, to wait for the Virgin Media guys to come and install

Monday Blues

2009-09-14T22:18:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post to let people know I'm alive. Work's beginning to build up and honestly, I feel kinda swamped at the moment. A lot of the time I feel inadequate to make decisions, not having the background knowledge or relevant info but I suppose I need to bite the bullet and survive this baptism of fire (I hope!).Despite endeavouring to spend more time at home, relaxing and just doing nothing,

Midweek

2009-09-10T00:19:00.000+01:00

I've finally kinda caught up on the housework, put away the leftover laundry, cleared the table somewhat and *almost* cleared the boxes. My new white table and fuschia pink chair from Maison Du Monde came yesterday, which was a nice surprise when I returned home and saw two big ass packages awaiting me. Amazing that I got my furniture from France before stupid UK Ikea (still another 2 weeks!). Go

My Weekend

2009-09-07T14:37:00.000+01:00

It was quite a packed weekend, starting once again with an outing to Ikea on Friday night. Background - I had gone there just on Monday since it was Bank Holiday and we rented a trusty Zipcar to carry back all the stuff. Somehow we managed to spend the ENTIRE day in Ikea, like from 10am - 7.30pm, and we still didn't manage to get everything cos errr I was quite indecisive plus several pieces of

Desire: Laura Ashley Cupboard

2009-08-30T23:17:00.000+01:00

By request, here's the picture of the cupboard....

End of Week 3

2009-08-29T22:46:00.000+01:00

Time flies. It's been 3 weeks since I got here. The past 3 days I've been busy trying to move into my new place. What that means is lugging lots of luggage and things back and forth. I'm thankful that my friend helped me with quite a fair bit of the heavy carrying when he can. One can't imagine the number of things that you would need to make a house a home. Ok maybe it's just me since I seem to

2009-08-24T22:08:00.000+01:00

Char Kuay Teow from KiasuA little burnt, too salty and not sweet enough. Prawns were fresh and big. Probably not fried with lard. Probably a 3 out of 5.The curry puff I ordered was the flaky pastry sort, the curry wasn't terribly tasty, again more salty than fragrant. Not enough chicken or potatoes, no egg.Ice kopi was passable, made from coffee bag and using condensed milk at least. A little

A Foray to Bray & Fat Duck

2009-08-23T21:08:00.000+01:00

So yesterday, 4 of us went trotting off to Bray in search of 3-star Michelin restaurant, The Fat Duck. After missing the first train, we caught the 1743h train towards Maidenhead. We passed through Slough and my companions informed me that it was one of the most unimpressive places in Greater London. Well, it was where The Office (remember Milton and the hole puncher?) was set. Yeah, it's quite

Homesick

2009-08-21T15:36:00.000+01:00

It's been about 2 weeks since I got here, how time flies. I'm beginning to freak out about how long I am going to be here and what that means. Getting increasingly frequent pangs of homesickness and mini panic attacks. Yes, I know life here sounds exciting (it's London after all) and the experience of setting up a new home and all is great but at the risk of sounding ungrateful, I sometimes ask

Jude Law in Hamlet

2009-08-21T14:59:00.000+01:00

Once again, I lucked out, thanks to Eugene the well-connected one! Someone couldn't go last minute to the Hamlet performance last Thursday and I jumped at the chance since this was a sold-out show. And of course, what wouldn't I give to see Jude Law up close and personal? Sorry my pics turned out quite crap since I was using my iphone to sneakily take it. Yes, the figure next to the ghostly

Eunice in Wonderland

2009-08-20T00:29:00.000+01:00

Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! I'm going to Fat Duck on Saturday!!!!!!! No 3-month long wait for me!Woooohoooooo I can't wait!I super lucked out, all thanks to my good friend here :)

Notes of a New Londoner Part II - Food!

2009-08-18T21:22:00.000+01:00

I'm slowly catching up with the posts I've been meaning to blog about since last week. First up, I wanted to show everyone where I'm putting up at the moment - Saco Covent Garden Serviced Apartments. It's a nice one bedroom apartment with a kitchen and a large outdoor terrace that I don't make enough use of. It's right in the heart of Covent Garden on a quiet street, walkable to work, with H&M,

London In Pictures

2009-08-18T10:19:00.000+01:00

Figured this would be easier since people would be lazy to go over to flickr. I'll be adding more to the Markets set since my stupid Flickr Pro expired and 1/3 of my photos didn't upload properly.Random Sights Around London Markets in London

Notes of A New Londoner Part I

2009-08-15T09:35:00.000+01:00

I feel like a student again. Everything's so expensive here, I have to watch what I eat, drink and buy in case I overspend. I guess I should stop converting everything back into SGD cos that's only going to give me a heart attack soon. I probably will end up eating Pret sandwiches a lot, or take-out M&S food, gotta start rationing my Starbucks coffee as well, gone are the days of S$1 kopi. The

My Sweet Pad (Almost!)

2009-08-14T23:28:00.000+01:00

So, after 5 days of relentless viewings and tons of walking, I finally found the place I am going to call home for the next 3 years. Well, almost as I've got to wait for the paperwork to clear before I get the keys. Crossing my fingers that nothing goes wrong and the approval goes through.I'm really quite excited about it! It's situated in Belgravia, near Sloane Square tube and also Victoria tube

Starting In London

2009-08-13T09:55:00.000+01:00

I've been meaning to blog about everything here since I came but haven't been able to because it hasn't been convenient to do so thus far, and there was just so much thoughts and observations to pen down that I didn't know where to begin.I wanted to start another blog just to talk about London, but then again it might be troublesome for those who would read both. So I'm sticking to this for now,

Leaving On A Jet Plane

2009-08-05T19:32:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the radio silence. The past couple of weeks have been hectic to say the least. Busy packing, buying, preparing, selling car, meeting friends on top of work stuff and finishing up my flower class. Yup I've finally finished my Professional Cert in Floral Design, I barely passed and it was quite sad seeing how raw and unskilled I am still after all this time. Guess I just have to practice

The Return of the Macaron Chronicles

2009-07-01T17:52:00.000+01:00

Finally the macaron gods have smiled on me and I am in their favour again. Or perhaps it was the beginner's luck of the new Kitchenaid. Whatever it is, I finally succeeded at making macarons after 2 previous failed attempts. And this time, the flavour was a big hit! Chocolate Peanut Butter & Banana :) If I were ever going to make macarons for sale, I'd definitely include this! Once again, I shall

Lalala

2009-06-25T16:23:00.000+01:00

I want to karaoke!Kinda a short blog post huh. Maybe I should join Twitter since that's the latest rage nowadays. Will also help people keep up with me next time...

Packing

2009-06-23T16:45:00.000+01:00

I really really need to pack my room. All the new clothes and stuff I just bought in HK and all the other random stuff lying around. Must get around to reading my books also. Things need to be put in their proper places and categorised and prioritised. Too. Much. Stuff. But I haven't had a free weekend in ages :( I need more time!!!

New Template (again!)

2009-06-18T18:35:00.000+01:00

As much as I'm fond of the last one.. I really do prefer white-background templates. It's so much brighter and prettier...

Updates

2009-06-18T18:24:00.000+01:00

I had started some updates on my iPhone while I was in Hong Kong. Got a bit too lazy to finish it up properly and post it. However, I did post up the pictures on FB, so I'll let those do the talking intead.In short, I was away for the past couple of weeks. First for a personal holiday in Hong Kong where I spent infinitely more than I planned, and then a work trip for a conference to Seoul, where

Candy Bar, Strawberry Cake & A Dead Mixer

2009-05-24T15:22:00.000+01:00

Apologies for the lack of posting. It's been pretty hectic the past few weeks with work and friends' weddings. Just this past Friday was Miss Ene's wedding and I was pretty tied up helping out as a jiemei and general planning. It was a great wedding and there were lots of fun moments! The full set of pics that I took are over on Facebook for those who are on my FB. Pulled out the below photos of

Flowers for Juliana

2009-05-03T17:16:00.000+01:00

Jul and I went flower shopping so that I can make her a bouquet for her photoshoot. Had a lot of flowers leftover so made 2 other arrangements.I had planned for her bouquet to be mostly green with a little bit of pink, but the white roses turned out a lot more white than greenish. The bouquet was made up of lime green hydrangeas, kermit poms, viburnums, lime green argenteas, light pink ranunculus

Uninspired

2009-05-01T17:42:00.000+01:00

I've been quite uninspired of late to bake or go for flower classes or anything in particular. Maybe I'm burnt out. Or tired. Or both. Sadly many eggs, butter, macaron shells are sitting in the fridge unused. Been pretty pms-y and easily irritated.I also really need to get my ass to the gym more as I'm rapidly putting on weight, no thanks to many good meals and slowing metabolism. Bah... growing

The Great Macaron Construction Adventures Part II (in pics)

2009-04-21T18:40:00.000+01:00

As I mentioned, here are the pics from my last successful batch of macarons - Mango & Black Sesame flavours. Till the macaron gods smile on me again, savour these... was too lazy to set up nice backdrop...

Macaron Failure

2009-04-19T15:46:00.000+01:00

I know I haven't blogged about Part II of the Great Macaron Adventure cos I've been lazy about putting up the pics. Those were pretty good tho a little chewy according to the taste testers. In fact they were my last successful batch of macarons. My last 2 batches have been catastrophic failures :( Ok, the one today wasn't that catastrophic but the one before that was super runny, no feet, cracked

The Great Macaron Construction Adventure Part I

2009-04-08T17:49:00.000+01:00

Yes, yet another macaron post. I actually lost half of the post due to my fat fingers. Anyway no pics today cos it's only Part I.Due to the broken state of the eggs I bought the other day, I was forced to crack them all and store them in bowls, for almost immediate usage. I used 4 eggs that very night to make a batch of simple Vanilla Cupcakes and separated the other 4 into whites and yolks for,

Pistachio Macarons

2009-03-26T17:04:00.000Z

Made some more macarons tonight - pistachio ones. Shells came out well at 150C@14min. I managed to reduce the sugar amount as well so they're not so sweet. I followed Cannelle et Vanille's Pistachio Buttercream recipe to make my filling (by the way, I adore her blog, and am very inspired by her photos and recipes!) which turned out a bit soft. That's my problem with buttercream always, it being

Macarons Galore!

2009-03-23T20:38:00.000Z

Was quite domesticated over the weekend - went to buy flowers to beautify the house and continued experimenting with macarons.I went to Far East Flora to do a spot of flower shopping after having not gone there since the last events I did in Dec. I wanted to get some nice spring flowers since Mar 20 is supposedly the first day of spring. After looking at the rather dismal selection at Far East, I

Crockery Spree

2009-03-18T16:35:00.000Z

Somehow the above looks a little vulgar. Whatever. Warning: the following post may be a tad rambling about nothing of any interest to you -- dishes. You have been warned.I went a little crazy today and finally bought all (ok not really all, more like half minus a little bit) the flatware, glassware, bowls, plates, cups I've been wanting for a while. I really needed some retail therapy but clothes

To Buy or Not To Buy

2009-03-11T16:41:00.000Z

How important is it that I be able to afford little luxuries when I crave them? Such as the list of cooking gadgets that seem to be forever growing - cast iron pans, ice cream makers, fancy cake tins and molds etc etc. Not that I actually would use them. I just WANT them. My food processor is a good example of my bad hoarding habits. It's still in its box after so long. I've yet to bake another

Cute!

2009-02-09T03:55:00.000Z

JW just showed me this Wired article on Annathered's bento sets. I love the Rayman Rabbids haha... below is a teaser photo, see the article or her blog for more!clipped from annathered.wordpress.com

Domino is Shutting Down

2009-02-06T10:29:00.000Z

ARRGGHHHH!! They're shutting down Domino mag!!!!!! It's such a good mag!!! And I just paid for a year's subscription!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How can they? Boohoooo :(

Pretty Pretty

2009-02-04T16:15:00.000Z

Beautiful isn't it? I don't know why I keep going back to the site to look at it. I first noticed it a few months ago when I was looking for gown inspirations for Jul. It's a Junko Yoshioka Jacqueline gown. I think the combination of the ivory lace embroidery against the white, and that the velour ribbon really speaks to me. Oh so pretty!