Elly's Blog

Happy 2012

2011-12-31T14:48:00.001-08:00

Again, I left blogging till end of year, my hubby has just pointed out that I only blog at this time of the year.

Sitting at home with the folks after a roast chicken dinner, I am yet again blogging about random stuff.

The only thing on my mind right now, is what will 2012 bring me?! Whatever happens, we just have to take it as it comes! It's what I have learnt in past year!

Happy 2012! Bring it on!

If I do not blog again, ha ha....

Gun Hei Fat Choi!

2011-02-12T07:59:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe its nearly been a year since I last posted on here! Have been too lazy to write anything really but hope to change this soon!

The Year of the Rabbit has arrived and I have wiped my slate clean and will focus on some new challenges, change my bad habits and change for the better really.

So what had I been upto for the past year or so....I have been exercising a lot and dieting and have lose quite a lot of weight upto near the end of 2010. I did Race for Life, now that was challenging but it was very enjoyable! We went to New York and Hong Kong for holidays which was a great end to the year!

I havent made any specific New Years resolutions as I have lots to try and concentrate. I am still continuing with the exercise and diet and hope to lose bit more. Thinking of doing Adidas women's challenge in the summer! Hub and I already organised some holidays for Easter, we are going to Japan and Hong Kong again! :) Love both places and will be aiming of doing different things in Japan than last time.

Hope to do more cycling and outdoor actitivies like camping, jogging and hiking. The last few months have been pretty cold so I am really looking forward to warmer weather when that comes along.

Requested by a friend: Homemade chilli oil recipe

2010-03-26T15:10:00.000-07:00

My dad makes a good mean chilli oil from scratch. It's one of his many cooking talets. However, I'm not keen on the taste of chilli oil and the last time I brought a jar back, I gave it to a friend who loved it and wanted to know how to make it.

List of ingredients include:
Dried scallops
Dried shrimps
Dried chillis
Shallots
Garlic
Shrimp paste (optional)
Fresh red chillis
Fresh large red pepper
Oil - lot of it!

Instructions
Finely chop everything and stir fry in hot oil. Once they look cooked, transfer them into a deep frying oil and cook like a casserole till the colour of the whole pan turns bright red and to own preferred taste of chilliness. Let the whole pan cool down before dishing them into jars. Seal jars and put in fridge. It can be used as dipping sauce as well as in cooking.

My dad also commented that if the whole kitchen / house does not smell of hot cooking chillis, then it hasn't been cooked enough!

My 5km challenge!

2010-03-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

I have signed up for Race for Life 2010 and going to be doing the 5km race for Cancer Research UK. The day of the event is 26th June held in Old Deer Park, Richmond, London.

I started training for this event over 2 months ago. Having never done any running/sports events before, this event is going to test my fitness and determination. I did do some research on training for running events and how to train for them and I must admit, I didn't know there was so much to learn about running. Anyway I am doing between 2-3 training sessions per week which is not bad for my lack of fitness and my physique.

There is a list of things one need to look into when training for such an event from trainers, running position, diet, stamina, fitness to clothes to wear. Eventually, I came across a training plan on the Internet, called Couch 2 5K. This plan is 9 week plan and for each week, there are 3 training sessions. For each session, you follow the regime, for example week 1, brisk walk for 5 mins, then 1 min jog and 1 min walk until you reach 20 mins. By week 6-8, the plan says you should be able to jog at least 1.5 miles.

Here is the link to that training plan.
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

At the moment, I'm on week 7. I managed to comfortably skipped a few weeks and still hold on to my training. Getting comfortable with the jogging but I think I need a new pair of trainers! :P

By the way, I managed to jog 5km today, in 40 minutes though which is not great, but at least I know for sure I can do 5km!

Free money and new pastures!

2010-03-20T14:33:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a long time so it is time I caught up and get back into blogging!

The past 3 weeks have been a mere for me! 3 weeks ago when everything was calm and I was pondering on where to go on holiday, next min, the project which the team I am in was under the threat of closure. In the space of a week, I had almost lost my job, however, the good thing is...I didn't because I chose to take voluntary redundancy!

The VR package was not fantastic but its much more than if I was made redundancy. In total, I managed to gain quite a few thousand quids from the company. At the end of the day, it was free money!

So what next?! The usual thing happen which is to find another job. The IT job market was really busier than I thought, however so was the IT candidate market! I didn't have any difficulty with getting interviews, some companies were weirder than others and I won't mention any names here!

After over a week of interviews and chatting with job agents, I landed myself with a 'safe' job. I will start this position in over one weeks time. I say 'safe' because its as safe as a job can get I guess. I am now relaxing for another week and catching up with being a better housewife till I go back to a job sitting in front of computers! :)

Christmas is nearly here!

2009-12-14T06:15:00.001-08:00

I haven't blogged in a while, but today, I have nothing better to do than to think about Christmas! I have eventually written and now posted all my Christmas cards! Was conned in the post office when the lady serving me claimed she has no second class stamps left and I had no choice but to buy first class stamps. I did say 13 and she gave me 30! Oh well, the 20 odd stamps will last me for a while!

I have ordered a 3 bird roast for Christmas. It is a pleasant inside a chicken inside a duck! Have nevered tasted pleasant before, so this 3 bird combination should be interesting. Gravy does not seem appropriate for this kind of bird roast, so I googled for some simple sauce recipes. Eventuall, I came cross an easy red wine sauce! Will try it out.

The Ultimate thank you present

2009-01-20T06:27:00.000-08:00

Recently, my hubby has not been well and requires a back surgery. I have been doing my best with trying to take care of him and making sure he is eating well before his operation. Today, I found out that my dear sweet hubby bought a 'Thank You' present for me for taking care of him for so long.

The last few months I was looking into boots and had been fasinated with recent Ugg hype. My hubby tells me that he has just ordered me a pair of Uggs Ultimate Cuff in chocolate! It also seems like he knows about Uggs more than I do, like people usually order a size smaller since the lining inside can get worn out and thinned and hence making the fitting looser.

Finally, I hope my hubby makes a speedy recovery so we can go on days out and able to stroll along the river bank on the Thames and feed the swans.

Thank you hubby, love you lots! :$

Lazy eye makeup!

2008-12-16T06:37:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, my cousin who is a stylist in hair and makeup, brought over a lot of makeup for me from HK. She was doing my wedding makeup at the time, so she was very equipped including bringing over 10 different shades of purple eye shadows. Mad really but I was very pleased about the amount of makeup to choose from.

One of the fastinating things she give me was the Eye Majic Instant Eye Shadow kit. This kit consists of two pairs of eye shadows which you just press onto your eye lids. I was given two different shadows, one brown and pink and the other is purple and blue moon colour. Anyway I finally tried it on today. I must say that it is extremely easy to use. OMG, the eye shadow was done in 10 seconds on both eyes which is very very quick. The result was very pleasing, I was in a hurry to get to work, so I ran out of the house, but next time, I will take a photo of my eyes and post it here. I love this product, its so good for lazy days or lazy people like me who want to look presentable! :P

Check out the Eye Majic's website at http://www.eyemajic.co.nz/

E.L.F makeup haul

2008-12-12T16:50:00.001-08:00

Recently, I read a lot of articles and reviews about a cosmetic brand called E.L.F which stands for Eyes, Lips, Face. A lot of people online recommended their cream duo eyeshadow and their makeup brushes and I happen to be looking for affordable makeup brushes. Although MAC brushes are well-known to be one of the best brands I was determined to shop around and find good brushes at great prices. So I decided to do a bit more research about about E.L.F products.

After surfing around, I discovered a site called makeupalley.com. This site enables users to give reviews on any makeup/beauty products. I couldn't resist not joining in with the reviews and I registered myself. Many bloggers commented how the ELF brushes were so soft, wonderful and inexpensive. Also it sounds to me that ELF products are very inexpensive in general, with the average price of £1.50 and so many people giving reviews on their eyeshadows and brushes, I decided to make my first purchase.

Earlier in the day, I had browsed through ELF website and had compiled a list of products which I want to try out. They were charging for delivery which made me think if I should held back a bit till there was some kind of promotion.

A fews hours later, I received a mailshot from ELF detailing free delivery on all UK & Europe orders. I thought, its just my lucky day and that was when I went rather crazy and brought quite a few products. I am very excited about this because I think I have chosen my products well, with buying only one eyeshadow shade to try out from each range. I am also very confident about their brushes after reading its reviews, so I brought a whole range of brushes. I should get this by first class post very soon.

Bargain opera tickets

2008-11-23T12:35:00.000-08:00

My hubby and I will be heading to Munich for a long weekend sightseeing and experiencing the Christmas activities in Germany. I am current really chuffed with myself for able to get tickets to see a Mozart opera in the National Theatre in Munch.

I was reading tripadvisor and a lot of people had recommended going to visit the National Theatre. So found the website and checked out photos showing the building and thought it was probably worth going to visit for like half an hour.

After browsing around this German website, I found the schedule list for the dates, then saw the Magic Flute is going to be on the Sunday evening we are in Munch. Checked out the if there were tickets available and was shocked that there was but the cheapest range of 11 euro each! They were seated on the 3rd level up in the theatre though but it didn't put me off because the inside of the theatre looks amazing. We probably won't see much from the height but thought the experience will be memorable and more precious. So I took the decision to book the tickets!

I've never see an Opera before but in a few weeks time, we will be sitting in the National Theatre in Munich, watching a German language opera of The Magic Flute!!! Looking forward to this!

What age do I act?

2008-11-23T12:30:00.000-08:00

You Act Like You Are 27 Years Old

You are a twenty-something at heart. You feel like an adult, and you're optimistic about life.

You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences.

You're still figuring out your place in the world and how you want your life to shape up.

The world is full of possibilities, and you can't wait to explore many of them.

What Age Do You Act?

Yummy Hoi An food

2008-11-13T03:44:00.000-08:00

So far, all I have written about is the Vietnamese food. I have to continue writing more on the diverse foods in Vietnam.

Hoi An is a place where the Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese have many spectular buildings and archifacts around the town. We visited the ancient part of Hoi An, our guide told us that many Chinese resides here and have adapted the Vietnamese way of living. Hoi An has many delicancies and we only tried 3 dishes whilst walking around in the ancient town.

First local delight was Cao Lao. This is noodles with a little gravy and thin slices of cooked pork, topped with mint, vegetables, spring onions and pork scratchings. It was delicious. I took a pic of my Cao Lao.

Second dish is called White Rose. I am sure this name was given by westerners. This white rose dish is pieces of either fried or steamed rice pastry which looks like a flower. They are like the Italian pasta pouches, I can't remember what they are called. (they have spinach in them!) These white rose have shrimp and seafood in them as filling. See photo. They taste fantastic!

Finally, one of my favourite, the Hoi An pancakes, see the above photo. I know how these are made and will try it out sometime in the next few weeks. I have posted the recipe up already.

Vietnamese sauces recipes

2008-11-13T03:21:00.000-08:00

Another thing I admire about Vietnamese food is their different dipping and cooking sauces. I ate loads of different sauces when I visited Vietnam, but I only have the recipes for 3 of the sauces.

Sweet & Sour Sauce
1 Tablespoon of water
1/2 teaspoon of sour chilli saurce
1/2 of tomato puree
1/2 of finely chopped white onion
1/2 tablespoon of finely chopped pineapple
1/2 tablespoon of finely chopped tomato
1/2 teaspoon of crushed ginger
1/2 teaspoon of vegetable oil

Heat wok with vegetable oil and add all the ingredients (except water and sour chilli / tomato sauces) - starting wtih onion. Fry for a few seconds, then add remaining ingredients. Bring to simmer and serve as a dipping sauce or cook with other meats/seafood.

Peanut Sauce
1 teaspoon of crushed garlic
2 tablespoon of crunchy peanut butter
2 tablesppons of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of brown sugar or honey
1 pinch of chilli powder
1/4 cup of water or cocunut milk

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and mix over a moderate heat for 10 seconds (add lime juice if necessary)

Fish Sauce
2 tablespoons of fish sauce - clear or light fish sauce only
1 tablespoon of crushed garlic
1 teaspoon of finely chopped chilli
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 lime or lemon - juice only
1 teaspoon of grated ginger (optional)

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly until sugar is dissolved. Serve as dippying sauce for spring rolls.

Hoi An Pancakes Recipe

2008-11-11T07:19:00.000-08:00

Rice Batter
1 cup of dried rice flour
1.5 cups of fresh water
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon or turmeric powder
Mix all together, leave in room temperature for one hour.
An alternative is to use the batter mix from the fresh rice paper rolls.

Ingredients
300 grams or finely cut shrimps, shelled and deveined(or any other seafood)
Vegetable oil for frying
2 thinly sliced spring onions
250 grams of beansprouts
topping mix - mint, coriander, Vietnamese basil, carrots and banana flower
packet of rice paper

Add the shrimps to the rice batter and heat a little oil in a small non-stick frying pan. Stir the batter and pour just enough into the pan to create a thin layer - top with a few beansprouts and spring onion. Fry over medium to high heat until the bottom of the pancake is crisp. Fold the pancake in half and turn out onto a plate. Repeat this process with the remaining ingredients, adding a little oil to the frying pan for each pancake.
To serve, each person tables a pieces of pancake, addes a little topping mix and wraps it in a rice paper. Dip it into peanut sauce (recipe later) or soy sauce before eating.

Asian Eggplant In Clay Pot Recipe

2008-11-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

This recipe is type copied from our cookery lesson.

1 Medium size clay pot (or thick metal pot) - keeps the food hot for 20-30 mins.
2 Asian (long & thin) eggplants (aubergine) into strips of 1cm pieces
Root of 1 lemongrass crushed
1 teaspoon of salr
2 cups of water

Cooking Dressing (Mixture)
1.5 tablespoons of tomato puree
teaspoon of sugar (or honey or pineapple juice)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of water

Modern Method
Add 2 cups of water to the clay pot, add the crushed lemongrass and 1 teaspoon of salt (this removes the bitterness from the clay pot), and bring to a boil. Add eggplant and continue boiling for 3 more minutes. Drain all the water from the pot, then add the cooking mixture and simmer for approximately 10 minutes, or until tender.

* The traditional method uses a lot of oil, so if you have low cholestrol, give it a try as well.

Traditional Method
In a wok, deep fry the eggplant in vegetable oil for 3 mintues. Drain well and then add to the cooking dressing, and bring to a boil. Continue boiling for 3 more minutes, removing the oil on top as you go.

Tip
Serve hot with steamed rice.

Our Vietnamese cookery course

2008-11-11T06:08:00.000-08:00

One of the highlights of our Vietnam trip was the cookery session. We decided to join the Red Bridge Cookery School based in Hoi An for a half day cookery lesson.

The day started of with us relaxing with a fresh fruit drink in the Red Bridge Cafe. Here, we got briefed on the day's schedule. We were put into a group of 6, my hubby, husband and I with 2 other ladies and an American guy. Our guide for the day is called Nhat (pronounced 'hat'), she is a small Vietnamese girl with a big voice and probably younger than us.

Our first stop was at the local market in the ancient part of Hoi An. Nhat introduced various fruit and vegetables we don't usually see out of Vietnam. These include green Vietnamese oranges, banana flower, bitter melon, beetle nut and Vietnamese basil. After walking through a busy market where local women buy their food for the day, we stopped at a kitchen utensils stall. Here, Nhat talked to us about various cutting tools Vietnamese use. We were so impressed with the simplicity look of the tools and what it can do, that we bought a set and also got more freebies with it, without the other group members knowing! :-)

Our next stop was a boat ride to the Red Bridge cookery school. We cruised along the river in a motor boat passing fishing boats and local people going about their daily affairs. Many locals were in the fishing industry and we saw many moving their stock around and selling them on boats and in the markets. The weather was hot but breezy and refreshing as our boat moved along.

After half an hour, we arrived at the cookery school. It was situated in a small village like area but the cookery school was very nice. The whole place was all bamboo and palm trees. I guess it has to look good and a bit commercial to attract tourists. There was also a herb garden where a lot of the herbs like lemon grass, banana flower and some chilli plants grew. What I can remember, there was a herb plant and its leaves smelt of fish, very interesting indeed!

We were shown into a large room and waited for our chef to come so we can start out lesson. The chef did not give a name but was a smug guy. He was funny and entertained everyone. We were a class of around 20 people, all non Asians apart from my hubby and I. Everyone was very excited and holding on to our clipboards containing our lesson papers.

The first dish we had to make was the Asian Eggplant in Clay Pot. Recipe in later post.

Then we tried making fresh rice paper spring rolls. This dish was an experience as we have never made fresh rice pastry before. The chef demonstrated beforehand how to use the steamer and cotton cloth over the top where the rice flour mixture was spread. My hubby and I successfully made our rice paper first time, which I am really impressed about.

Throughout the cookery lesson, I took loads of pictures, see my flickr site for pics!

We also tried carving vegetables into a fan and tomato into a rose. Let's just say, mine was was more presentable than my hubby's. :P

Another dish we made was the Hoi An Pancake, again lots of fun there! Recipe in later post!

After our lesson, we were sat down to have lunch. The food was the same dishes as we tried to make, but how it should be! I especially like the Asian eggplant dish. So I have decided to try and make this dish at home!!! My hubby will be in for a nice/scary surprise!!! :P

Back from Vietnam!

2008-11-11T05:42:00.001-08:00

Just got back from a 15 days touring around Vietnam. At the moment, I am recovering from jetlag.

Whilst flying back to London, I was thinking about the good points and bad points of the trip. There are so many things to write. So I am going to be splurting out random posts about my holiday.

One of the most memorable things about Vietnam is their food. We attended a cookery class in Hoi An and learnt quite a few dishes. Going to be typing up the recipes later.

Full on Korean meal

2008-10-10T01:54:00.000-07:00

Friends are coming over for dinner tomorrow night and I want to cook my special dish, Korean chilli chicken and potatoes! Just scowling the web to see of any other dishes I can make. So far I have in mind, Pa Jun (Korean seafood pancakes) and Korean soup.

I plan to cook the following

Korean Chilli chicken and potatoes, see earlier post for recipe.
Beef ribs Bulgogi
Pa jun
Some korean pickle vegetables (no cooking required, buy from my one of faviourite shop, Kimchi Village! :P)

Just found a site with loads of simple to follow Korean recipes
http://www.recipezaar.com/recipes/korean

Will decide on any more dishes!!!

Pop pan crackers

2008-10-09T14:09:00.000-07:00

Remember these spring onion and chive crackers from Garden?!

I bought a packet yesterday and finished them by lunchtime today. They are very addictive, as they are thin, tasty and crispy.

I want to try the mini pop pan crackers!!!

Why does going to the spa make me so sleepy?!

2008-10-09T04:06:00.000-07:00

We went to visit Bath City over the weekend for our 2nd wedding anniversary celebrations. Staying in a small cottage in SouthStoke.

One of the things we planned to do is go to Thermae Spa in Bath City. Hubby didnt feel too excited at first when I mentioned that we are going to the spa. However we decided to check it out the day before we intend to go the for the spa session and after seeing the place and talking to someone about spa sessions, hubby got surprisely excited. I think he wanted to jump into the pool and from the top of the building! :P

We decided to go for a 4 hour session of spa, consisting of different saunas, minerva pool, rooftop spa and jacuzzi! I love relaxing and taking it easy, but somehow, the longer I was in the pool, the more tired I got, till the point that I had to leave my hubby in the minerva pool and I had to go and have a little kip on the spa benches. I might haved drifted off for around 30 mins and continusously hearing hubby talking to someone. He was actually happily in the whirl pool with a noodle joining others drifting around merrily.

The saunas were bliss, it made me feel absolutely relaxed and my mind so tranquil.

After we got back to the cottage, I wanted to have a long sleep which I did and a late lie in. :)

New toy!

2008-09-24T14:28:00.000-07:00

I received my latest new toy today, Dell Studio 15 laptop in midnight blue. I am very pleased with it, though it will take me a while to get familar with using Vista. I'm loving my laptop!

Here is a review of the Dell Studio 15 by Jerry Jackson.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4518

Birthday at a windmill

2008-09-16T13:00:00.000-07:00

My hubby organised a nice weekend away for my birthday. The trip was going away to a place called Rutlands and he had booked for us to stay at a windmill.

There seem to be only one windmill in this area from what I can see whilst on the road. You can clearly see the windmill at the bottom of the A47. As soon as we drove into the private road leading to the windmill, there were loads of rabbits hopping around and away from us. It was obvious we were in their territory.

For my birthday dinner, we decide to cook a beef roast and this meal was almost a disaster because I forgot the pack some bistro! My hubby nearly ran out of his mind when he found out. Anyway, the roast was saved when we managed to get the gravy from a very small village shop in Lansdown.

For birthday dessert, my hubby bought a tub of chocolate overload which was unbelievely sweet! It took us two evenings to finish it and over several cups of tea in the process.

During sunset, we both ran out to take pictures of the windmill in the light. The view was magical and relaxing. As part as the photos, I have posted them on my flickr!

Apart from the constant attack of midges, I had a brilliant time!

Age only matters if you're a cheese!

2008-09-11T02:39:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday to me! :P

Although it's not my birthday till Saturday, I received most or all (I wouldn't know!) my presents already. Here is what I got.

Space NK makeup bag set with body lotion and bath gel.
A pair of VN concept earrings from my cousin sent from HK.
A box of chocolates from a great friend/colleague
A pair of Hello Kitty earrings.
A lovely birthday cake, will post up photos later!
A Berghaus paclite goretex jacket from hubby

Last night, some friends and I got together to celebration my birthday over a lovely meal at Song Vue Vietnamese restaurant. Had tons of food and all so yummy and delicious! It kind of set my frame of mind in preparation for the Vietnam trip, which I will be going on in October. The food alone is attractive enough for me to go there! :P

After this weekend, I will be another year older! Well, does it matter at all that I am past the 30 mark?! I cannot be bothered worrying about it. I just want to enjoy my times with my family and friends. Life is too short to be worrying, stressing and regretting.

One thing I learnt though, appreciate what I have now and not regret what went on in the past or stress about things which hadn't happened.

I really treasure the family and friends I have now and hope that they will be happy too!

Want to go to Remix UK 08!

2008-09-02T02:42:00.000-07:00

Just read about this event, its an event for web developers and designers. Two days of discussions and conversations on the future of web development, tools, techniques and technologies.

What I'm really interested in is finding out more about Silverlight. Anyhow I don't have enough annual leave or the cash to splash for the event. :(

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/remix08/

Let's drink to that! Victory!

2008-08-28T12:29:00.000-07:00

Received a letter from Padstow council today regarding my recent letter about the parking penalty. At last, I heard from them.

What happened was, when we were in Cornwall, I parked in Padstow, bought a pay and display and put it on the dashboard in the centre of the windscreen. When we walked back to the car 40 mins later, got a jerky slapped on the windscreen. So I wrote a letter of appeal and paid my penalty in the meantime.

This letter from Padstow council only consists of a compliment slip and a cheque for the amount of the penalty payable to me. So, victory to me and thumbs down to the parking attendant!

Went to eat out to celebrate, a lovely spicy korean! I wanted to have some Ben & Jerrys ice cream but didnt find any in Waitrose or Somerfields. Oh well...still happy! :)

Olympics

2008-08-09T15:12:00.001-07:00

I watched the opening ceremony of 29th Olympia online on Friday and it was spectular! I have never seen it so good and China has done extremely well!

My favourite bit was the countdown. They had 2000 drummers each with a drum and each drum surrounded with a light panel. When the drummers hit the drum with hands or sticks, the panel lit up. They used the drummers to create the numbers for the countdown on the ground of the stadium. That was fantastic to watch and amazing on their precision and organisation of the whole performance.

The opening ceremony was so well thought out. They spoke about the history, the current and future China. They had loads of dancers, talented musicans and singers. I think they had the best team this year.

When the torch was lit at the stadium, it was brilliant how it was performed. I think the gymnast Li Ling, held the lighter and was wired and pulled up onto the top of the inside roof of the stadium. He lit the end of this pole near the torch which then exploded into a burst of flames and passed along the pole to where the torch is. Then the flame burst into a big fire and created this firework like display which brought the large torch alight.

I think overall the whole opening ceremony was brilliant. How will London beat that in 2012?! I would love to know. I believe that London haven't not got their budget for the Olympics sorted out yet. I read the other day that it was over 35 million/billion which over-estimated what they originally thought it was cost by multiple times.

I think they will give just as good closing ceremony! Let's keep watching!

Big Cats at WHF

2008-08-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a full day out at the Wildlife Heritage Foundation. WHF is a UK charity and dedicates to caring and protection big cats from extinction. We had bought the Wild Enigma photography safari and the course was held in WHF, Ashford.

The WHF was located within the Marley Farm Industrial Estate and the entrance wasn't very obvious, however, my hubby spotted the high wired fencing in the distance and we knew that we were in the correct place. When we got there, we were introduced to Andy, our guide. He was a nice guy and talked about the day schedule and we felt right really relaxed. Had a cup of coffee and snack and wait for the rest of the group, there were only 9 of us, so it wa a nice size group to go around the park.

Our first animal of the day was the serval and we were actually in the enclosure whilst Andy had a bucket of horse meat to entice it out. I was very nervous because I have never been so close to a big cat before. The serval wasn't a big cat but it was very similar looking to a small cheetah or just a big cat. Anyway after waiting for 10 mins, we decided that we would go around other enclosures and went back near the end of the afternoon.

I saw the Siberian tiger and it was huge! We were not allow in the enclosure obviously but there was only a single fencing between us and the big cat. I have never seen such a large tiger, at one point Andy teased it with the meat and held the meat up against the fencing above head height, the tiger stood up and I am sure the tiger was over 7 feet tall. His paws were huge, bigger than a dinner plate and it was very padded. I was so amazed at how close we were to him. He was so good looking, I mean, I never thought I hear myself describe an animal like that, but this tiger had really great definition, the stripes, the fur and the looks he gave was amazing!

Another favourite cat is the Chinese leopard. We saw her only for 3 mins, as she was hiding under a bush for a long time, so when she came out, she pounced towards us and hissed. She was quite extordinary. Her eyes were so feminine and so sharp. She looked very protective of herself and at the moment, she isn't really that socialable.

My most memorable thing of today's events is the fact that I got to see a lyxn up close, so close I was actually around a feet away, no fencing, as we were able to go into the enclosure and see it. It was carrying a dead rabbit in its mouth and it walked around and upto where we were standing. It was such an experience!

The three lions were huge and very impressive, I watched them each eat half a horse head, gross, but it was cool to watch! At one point, one of them was bothered by the sight of a dog and ran around the enclosure eyeing the dog constantly. You can tell it was about to pounce on the dog if it could get out of the enclosure! It was riveting to watch! The lions had a lot of character and it was photogenic.

I enjoyed the whole day and learnt a lot about photographing animals. Wished I had charged my camera though, the battery dead half way through the morning. Had a wondertime time though, now I am absolutely knackered!

Recent cooking disasters

2008-08-07T13:47:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much luck with my cooking recently. Tried to cook that gochujang dish (see earlier posts for receipe) and when I went to put the sugar in, too much sugar fell into the pan. The sugar had all clogged together in lumps and I wanted to spoon it out. Being very impatient, I just shook the jar and next min, a lot of lumps fell out. Anyway, hubby thought it was way too sweet, but I thought it was OK and ediable.

Tonight, I cooked chicken katsu curry. This time I put too much salt in the curry, it was rather salty and I think the curry was too strong. It was dark in colour and not spicy, I used Japanese curry blocks and melt it down with hot water in a pan. Anyway, not good but still ate it.

Seriously need to rethink my cooking technique, recently cooking skills are not up to scratch! I think it because I go on my laptop watching tv whilst Im in the kitchen.

Finding the SuperLambananas

2008-07-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

Another aim of my trip back to my hometown, was to track down some Superlambananas.

Another attraction for Liverpool, these superlambananas are sculptures of a cross of lamb and a banana. See pic. There are over 120 of these located around Liverpool. Each one has a different design painted by local artists and community.

My favourite superlambanana has to be the one near to my home. It has the local street map painted on it.

Whilst I was in Liverpool, I managed to spot around 10 of them. Apparently the Superlambananas move around the city, so they aren't in the same location. My mum told me that they are also rotated around from time to time. According to my mum, the one with the lips, was facing the traffic last week.

Me 'ometown Liverpool and Antony Gormley's Another Place

2008-07-22T02:44:00.000-07:00

Just got back after a long weekend to my hometown, Liverpool. Had a really good weekend. Did a lot of sightseeing and spent time with my family.

One of the aims of the trip was to go and see the Anthony Gormley's Another Place. Just read that he s famous with the sculpture, 'Angel of the North'. 'Another Place' is a set of 100 cast-iron figures along Crosby beach. The beach itself isn't that special and like any beach, its got sealife, sand and water.

My hubby and I woke up at around 4am and drove to Crosby beach. I did not where this beach was nor where Crosby was, for that matter, I have never been to that part of Liverpool. Anyway we managed to find a parking area, after seeing a tourist sign for Anthony Gormley's Another Place. The sign led us to this residential/industrial estate. There were two parking areas, or empty tarmac areas. No-one was around, as we parked up still wondering if we were in the correct place. There is a little path leading us out to the beach. It was very windy but dry, so the walk up wasn't bad just no-one around.

The cast iron figures were all facing out towards to the sea. The tide was low and it was pretty dried out. The sky was starting to get light. We changed into our wellies and walked out onto the sand. There was a lovely feel to it. The sculptures looks very thoughtful and one thing which really got me noticing them is they were all male figures. Why Anthony?! The figures looks rusty and had these studs on the chest and butts. They are like the figures from the 'Matrix'.

I took plently of photos and with the sun about to rise, the sky became partially red, the lighting was very pleasant. It was worth waking up early for this!

Remake of My Sassy Girl

2008-07-21T14:42:00.000-07:00

I just found out that Hollywood has remade the Korean romantic comedy, My Sassy Girl and guess what they called it, yea...exactly My Sassy Girl.

I decided to watch the trailer on YouTube. My first impressions were, the female lead, Kim from 24, does not look as cute as Jeon Ji-Hyun. The male lead, Jesse Bradford, is more good looking than the Korean film male lead, Cha Tae Hyun. All the tricks and stuff in the American version is totally copied. Yep, totally stealing all of it! After seeing the Korean version, this Amercian remake looks boring, the replicated scenes doesn't look good. The whole film just looks like a very bad version of what Hollywood trying to get a slice of some Korean style of romantic comedy. This Hollywood romantic comedy looks crap!

I would highly recommend the original My Sassy Girl. By the way, I don't speak or understand korean, so I just watched the film with English subtitles. Anyway, I won't be watching this American remake.

My cooking success!

2008-07-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I attempted my first ever Korean dish, its the Korean Spicy Chicken and Potato (Tak Toritang). It was very tasty and so easy to make!

Here is a list of the ingredients:

4 chicken thighs
2-3 potatoes
2-3 carrots
1 onion
ginger
garlic
3 tablespoons of hot pepper paste (guchojang)
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
a splash of sesame oil
1 teaspoon of sugar
Around 60mls of water

Chop potatoes, carrots, onion into large chunks. Skin the thighs and slice flat and debone. Pan fry the thighs, ginger and garlic in vegetable oil over a medium heat till slight brown, then stir in the potatoes, onions, carrots. Add the hot pepper paste, light soy, sugar. Give it a gentle stir, then add water. Cook on a low heat for around 20 mins. The meat should be tender and the vegetables soft. Add the sesame oil just before dishing up.

Easy eh?! Yeah, it doesn't take much effort really! I will find more dishes to cook no matter the kind of cuisine, just want to cook more! :P Tonight's dinner was lovely!

Dealing with a dried meat jerky!

2008-07-08T06:07:00.000-07:00

If you are Chinese, you might know what getting a dried meat jerky really means! For those who don't know, a dried meat jerky is a parking penalty! I don' know why its called a dried meat jerky, but people tell me it's because the ticket is slapped on the windscreen of your car!

How did I end up with one of those?! This is the second ever meat jerky I ever got in my life!!! We were parked in Padstow car park, it was a pay and display. We got our ticket and I had put it on the inside dashboard, I didn't stick it on the windscreen! Anyway, the reason written on the ticket was, ticket faced down, unable to see it! It was raining most of the time and the ticket was there, faced up and so, I am not sure why I got a penalty. Was the warden blind or cannot be bothered to use his eyes to make out the writing?!

I will pay the fine of 20 quid, but this is not because I agree with it, I will be writing to the town clerk about this. Feeling peeved off! We'll see what response I get!

Mini adventure to Padstow

2008-07-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

This weekend, my hubby and I went to North Cornwall for a mini break, Padstow, to be exact. Our plan was to camp in a tent for a night and for the next two nights, stay in a bed guesthouse. I say, bed guesthouse instead of a B&B, its because there was no breakfast. The guesthouse is located in central Padstow.

Padstow is basically Rick Stein country, I am sure he owns half of the town. There is Rick Steins fish and chips shop, seafood cookery school, deli, gift shop, bakery, cafe and seafood restaurant. The guy must be minted. Anyway, I couldn't resist and ate at his fish and chips twice as well as at his bakery and even the gift shop, we bought a Rick Stein's apron. Very cheesy!

The weather was absurd, it literally rained all weekend. It was windy and wet and basically, any outside activities had to be abandoned. We couldn't go cycling, camping or have a barbe!

So what did we do?! We went to walk around Padstow and that lasted less than an hour, it was a small place. We ate at various places, such as the Old Customs House, Red Lion pub and all the RS places I mentioned earlier. We managed to drive to Bedruthen Steps, but it was so windy, it was too risky to be lurky by the cliff, so we had cream tea (scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam and earl grey!). That tea house does the best cream tea I've had.

We went to Golitha Falls, which was within Bodmin Moors. I heard that Bodmin Moors had the most hausted house in Britain, remembered watching some TV programme about this house. However we didnt see the house though. The falls were small and flowing, when we got there, the rain was heavy and it was a task getting to the falls. At one point, I almost fell down a hill (I was climbing up via a shortcut!). Anyway, some photos were taken and we headed back to the car by that point, we were both soaked, but luckily, I had waterproof trousers on and it kept my jeans underneath dry...those waterproof trouswers was one of my best purchases!

Whilst driving from Golitha Falls back to Padstow, we spotted an owl santuary, so the next day, we were there at the Screech Owl Santuary. OMG, they had loads of different types of owls, all so different and most of them are so so cute. Had a great time look at them and even got to fly a barn owl, Fluffy!

I didn't take any pics because I didn't have a memory card for my camera, totally oblivious that it takes a different kind of memory card to my hubby's camera!

Before we headed home, went to RS fish and chips to get some food, Haddock and chips and battered scallops. It was yummy, I can tell you that the scallops were so tasty!

After roughly a 5 hour drive, we were home to more rain and even thunder and lightening, how welcoming the british weather can be!

Bun or Pho!

2008-07-02T06:43:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, a couple of friends took us to a Vietnamese restaurant down East London. I have never tried Vietnamese food before and so I didn't know what kind of dishes they would serve. The most common dish is of course, the Vietnamese spring roll, but even then I had never tried the traditional spring roll!

For starters, we ate traditional spring rolls, which had cold shredded cucumber, carrots, meat, rice noodles, leek and rolled up with rice paper pastry. It was dipped in a hoi sin sauce with crusty peanuts. Also had traditional egg pancake, which is a large crispy egg omelete, but crispy and it had a filling of beansprouts, chicken, prawns, onions. Apparently its nice to put some mint leaves and lettuce and then dip it in some sweet chilli sauce. The final starter, was a rolled up leave with meat in. We are presented with a dish of lettuce leaves, a branch of mint leaves and pickled vegetables. We wrapped up these ingredients and ate it just like a peking duck and pancakes. It tasted so refreshing and tasty!

My main course was a raw steak and chicken pho, pronounced 'fur'. Pho is basically rice noodles in a bowl with vegetables and a nice soup base. There were slices of raw steak on the top of the bowl of noodles and you had to mix it into the soup, so the hot soup cooks the raw meat. The taste of the meat was tender and sweet. The soup was meat stock, I had put in raw beansprouts and mint into the bowl and so these vegetables made the whole dish taste fresh, crunchy and tasty.

My hubby had a 'bun', pronounced how it's spelt. Bun is a Vietnamese noodles salad ad the noodles is served cold. There were barbequed meat, some pork jerk stuff, cold shredded vegetables and he had to mix all this with the sweet chilli sauce. I must say that I prefer his dish! I liked the sweet and refreshing taste of the combined ingredients.

I learnt a lot about Vietnamese food and I think I will try to learn more when I go to Vietnam later this year. We are going to attend a cookery course there and so I will try and note down the kind of food they cook there and try and get some recipes fom the teachers. I might even try and bring back some dried ingredients which we cannot buy over here!

I concluded that I like Vietnamese food. The cuisine gives a refreshing, cool flavour to your taste buds and you are not eating too much coconut, chilli or just one type of ingredient, unlike other cuisines.

Next time when I go to eat Vietnamese food, I am not sure whether to pick a 'bun' or a 'pho'! At least I know what they are though!

Weddings

2008-07-02T06:21:00.000-07:00

Today, I heard of good news from a good friend of ours that their daughter has just got engaged. I haven't checked my email for a while otherwise I would have know earlier. This friend is based in US and having never been abroad for a wedding, it would be lovely to have the chance to go and experience weddings abroad!

I have another wedding to go to this summer and its held by the River Thames. The marrying couple have arranged to boat their guests to the wedding reception. How lovely! I am looking forward to their wedding because I think they are a great couple! I have already a dress ready to wear for their special occassion and I will be bring my camera for lots of nice pics.

Hot hot hot!

2008-07-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

There is a reason for the title above, let me explain.

First, Hot. The weather today is 27C and very sunny and hot. It makes a change really because recently it has been raining a lot in London.

Second, Hot. I have just been to Costa Coffee. Our team sat outside and whilst other others were under the shade, I was baking my arms, now they feel like a freshly baked lobster! I had an ice cold americano and a slice of lemon cake...lovely! We chatted about this and that and I generally dreamdazed at my surroundings and was tempted to just 'accidently' hop on the bus home!

Third, Hot. Me and hubby decided to cook'dak gochujang bulgogi' (Korean Spicy Chicken) tonight for dinner. This is a spicy chicken with potatoes stewed with gochujang sauce. We have yet bought the sauce but hopefully we are going to get some from our local korean food shop. They sell already marinated tasty meats, like bulgogi chicken, pork and beef ribs. I think I will cook some korean rice to accompany this dish. Spicy hot food in hot weather, sounds so fasinating (We' shall see!).

Day after Christmas

2007-12-26T14:36:00.000-08:00

Christmas should be about being family and sharing time together and being happy celebrating Christmas. This year, I feel very different, not excited, not content and not feeling that there was sharing of joy within the family. I am not in Liverpool this Christmas and its probably why I feel so different.

I have spent today, eating, drinking and sleep and nothing else. Its a bit boring! I cannot describe why I feel so different but I think its going to be a Christmas that I enjoyed least!

First Post!

2007-12-13T15:36:00.001-08:00

I don't know why I want to start writing a blog/diary, but it seems like what I want to do right this moment. Sometimes I feel that I have so many things to say to someone but just don't know where to begin. So I think this post is one of many!

Today I am not in work again, I don't start work till Monday. I am feeling so useless and lazy. I am trying to do things around the house but I don't know where to start. At least I did the second load of washing and some cleaning around the kitchen. I don't know how some people can stay off work for such a long time, to me, a week is my longest time away from work. I am feeling nervous about my new job.

Christmas is just around the corner but its like I don't want to get prepared for it. There are so many things on my mind now and I am not in the festive spirit. I really want to go back to Liverpool longer rather than a few days and leave on New Year's Day. It feels awkward to drive back on a festive day. Anyhow, I think its the only way.

OK, I am tired now! Will post some more another day!