Weekends come and gone with the previous one being amazing just coz we had both days with sunshine outside.

So off we went to visit my sis up north, and we also headed out to Mangawhai heads with little one and his playdate. The winds were really blowing but little E was completely ignorant about everything except for water and sand. Belle though had a tough time with her poor eczema condition, so the water and sandy winds were hurting her. We were not there for long but it was just amazing to admire beauty with our kids. We pretty much pushed E’s nap so by the time we got him out we had to be quick and got him dried up. He knocked out in his car and so off we went to my sis’s place where there where chooks and tea made. They are slowly getting one container done by having the kitchen and bathroom set up so watch the live show of getting one side of the container ‘sliced’ for the doors. 


E unusually woke up before 7am the next day, crying to go out. I think he was wanting his swim lessons? No idea but was a late night sleep and an early rise for him. We were finally in the right session for swimming, he was really engaged and it didn’t take long to pick up the new skills he learnt on the spot and it’s amazing to see how much he absorbs in the pool. We were pretty much at home to recover, so I had a nap before teaching my class in the evening. I love weekends like this.

Hey ho, time for an update!

Been spending the last week and abit settling down with me new job and place and it's going great! Despite the 'ninja' mosquitoes that I never knew until I arrive Singapore...yes, they are small and tiny and you don't see them and when they bite, they really bite! So we've taken some measurements...although we haven't actually bought a proper citronella plant but yeah, we've planted a few joysticks around our place.

One day of the weekend was spent with good ole sis, where we watched anime the whole day. Yes, we are sucked into Avatar! The last air-bender WOOHOO.

The other day of the weekend was spent on wake boarding for the first time...but unfortunately my camera battery is dead and I do not know where the charger is so we don't have a video camera :( . Was relying on our friends camera to help us out.

Wake boarding is becoming a more popular 'leisure' sport and it's pretty much like skiing but on a skateboard...as well as the spot people go to do it was very close to our new place, plus there was a sea food restaurant nearby. Heh, that says it all.

Punggol, Singapore - Wake Boarding from Gjin Ow on Vimeo.


I was the last one out of the 4 of us and was the only person who was able to stood up the first time the driver took off! Haha, and it lasted so long (about 10mins non stop). It's real fun because it's really like surfing and there is no hassle to 'catch' the waves since there is already one. I then got adventurous...started to ride left and right, tried jumping and riding with one hand. So want to do it again!

After a 3 hour workout, we headed off for Seafood dinner and then a poker session back at our place. The next day was spent at a German restaurant for lunch and we feasted so much that we were not hungry for dinner.

2nd week of work, but this time without the senior! Do hope I'm doing the right thing as right now there is so much catching up to do (9 months of design work is a real challenge). Short week since it was Singapore day on Monday (saw the fireworks on tv). Things are progressing well regardless, got my work permit, got a bank account and now am just waiting for my first payslip!

=)

This time we went to a bigger mountain in which we got lost on the first day! If you look at the map we are staying on the bottom left and on the first day we went as far as to the bottom right! haha.

The mountain this round is much higher but it wasn't superbly high as we thought coz the peak only has runs for advance skiers. Kinda ripped off in one way. But hey, can't complain when 4 of the 5 days was sunshine, had a nice 'panda' tan on the way back and waking up to exercise everyday is what everyone can dream for.

Not forgetting fresh water and french pastries everyday...Mmm, our trip this round was much more 'comfortable' with cab services taking us to the accomodation, cable cars and escalators to bring us around, train tickets to the airtport instead of the Easybus and we even manage to come back earlier than expected to avoid the school holiday traffic =).

As well as I have gotten much better with my snowboarding (almost tempted to try jumps) and I can't complain with runs going as long as 40mins and as wide as 3 football fields! T'was a great time just to get away in the snowy slopes.

Check out the pictures and videos as they say more of course ;) . Here's one for a teaser:

Alpe d'huez, France - Jumper in action from Gjin Ow on Vimeo.

Hey ho! In this times of keeping low and quiet, not much highlight has been happening besides shopping for gifts, checking out the markets (in which I went to the same one again and again) and setting up my other blog. Am contemplating on whether to combine them....as it does gets tough when it comes to traveling and having 'food' involved.

Hmm...anyway, am perfecting the other blog regardless. As well as that one is more publicized and this is rather for family and updating about my trips = ). I will try with 2 blogs regardless and perhaps link the both of them in a way so that my blog snippits could perhaps be 'summarised' instead (i.e. if you want to find out more, 'click here' or something like that).

Weekend has come and gone, here's what I have been up to:

Went out and met up with friends and made a quick decision to go watch a movie with them. We ate at one of our usual restaurants where we keep ordering the same meal that is not on the menu list. It had like 8 chinese words for the dish so I keep forgetting the name of the dish. But the dish consisted of fried rice, topped with the 'ying yong' sauce and pork ribs covered in curry powder. Mmm, nice to have for winter. Went to watch 'Couples Retreat' after that and I find the show quite nice in the sense of reminding married couples who are on the verge of breaking down what love is again.

I couldn't sleep last night so I went home and did some decoration on the lemon cake...only to suffer abit from 'writer's block' haha. I bought a few decorative ingredients and asked myself 'if I only had these to create something wonderful, what would I do?'. But it turned out great at the end. See here for the results :)

Woke up rather late, contemplated to check out the Farmer's market (they have a few branches) and see whether we could set up a cupcake stall, only to receive an email today that they don't do that but more on 'cakes' instead. Guess cupcakes may be abit commercialised? Before you know it, it was time to come home, shower and change for yummy dinner tonight. We had lovely 3 course meal at Pearl set up by a celebrity chef called Jun Tanaka. Friend's birthday and she was his fan hehe.


We went to a place called Buddha Bar after that (apparently celebrities come here alot) which was decent but they didn't allow the cake to be cut and distributed =(  . Oh well. I went home early anyway to recover from the late night before.

Woke up really late today bout lunchtime, so I just went up the road to shop for groceries at the usual Sainsbury, passing by Chapel market before coming back and realising it's time to leave the house if I were to walk to the badminton hall (which I did). Played a friendly league in which I wasn't mentally into the competition mode until the last 2 games (in which I won haha). Came back and overdone my hip flexes. Again. Gosh, the old habits just don't die!

And yes, it is really getting colder over here. Thermals are out, heaters are on. I wake up to a cold studio as the heater doesn't have a timer function which sucks! Nevertheless, am awaiting for a nice portable heater coming...soon...

In this quiet period, I thought I take the initiative to explore London. So last Saturday, after a lovely pancake and sausage breakfast, I headed to Portobello Market. Am growing fonder of the markets these days rather than the retail area because of the originality of what people produce at the market and I find them intriguing.

Initially, I was suppose to 'scout' for the next cupcake stall. So I walked the entire street. And to my suprise, there wasn't any except for a proper one called the hummingbird bakery, where it was jam packed with a long queues. So I went in to check out the cakes and the prices. I really wondered what it was that made it so popular, when I thought to myself that I can make those these days. I have to admit that their marketing, packaging and the whole brand does look very attractive. And of course I am using their ingredients too hehe.

Yes another Friday spent in the kitchen...this time, I attempted to make a simple chocolate cake in which I wasn't too happy because it didn't turn out as nice as my brownies. Nevertheless, it's all part of learning (in which I spend every night researching on the types of chocolate cakes and what makes each recipe yummier or tastier)

The secret ingredients were sour cream and oil =)

Anyway, I wanted to practice my icing skills...in which the most frustrating bit was making the icing to what I want!

Anyhoo, I spent Thursday making the chocolate cake so that I have time to make pandan swiss roll again for the host. Yes, every thing I bake is for an occassion and this one is for a friend who's leaving the country.

To avoid wasting the weekend...I pushed to finish everything on Friday. So on Friday, I made my swiss roll and made the icing decoration for my cake. Decorating was half done, so I finished on Saturday morning.

I headed out in the morning after that to meet up with friends. Have just given myself a small project to help out sell cupcakes at a market next weekend. So we discussed and I then tag along and randomly head to check out Broadway market at Bethnal Green. Very lovely as it was pretty much like Borough Market but directed to the locals as it was quite far from central and away from the tourists. Lots of yummy food, pastries and a few shops selling clothes and accesories plus one vietnamese shop that sells good coffee. We were scouting and analysing the cupcakes and cakes sold in this area as well as tried the food of course.


And since we saw a vietnamese stall, one of our friend asked a question and apparently if we walked through the London field park which is next to this market,we'll find a street full of vietnamese shops and restaurants. So off we head for an adventure since the sun was out. We bumped into Hackney Borough, and pop by the museum to the free toilets and read abit about the city's history.

3 things that I found interesting:

1. Hackney used to be an area where madhouses and asylums were built. One of the famous one was Dr.Parkinson's and so came along Parkinson's disease :)
2. Hackney was famous for Eel pies o.O
3. Asian settlers boomed in this area as it was near a port, as they were boat drivers in one part of the much later history. Hence a street of vietnamese shops.

After that, we went off to check out the stall where we'll be selling our cupcakes. And then I headed home to rest up and brought my surprise to a friend's dinner do. Gosh, she cooked the same amount of dishes on the same amount of people that came!! I overate until I could barely move...
Starters - tomatoes, home made guacaomle, crackers, cucumber and carrot sticks


Dessert - my cake and mango pudding

There was home made brewed green and flower petal tea too! Amazing. So amazing. Wish I didn't eat to the point of discomfort.

Oh yeah...and this is how my cake was made ;)


We checked out a new grocery shopping place called Morrisons and found a closer bus stop that took as to Camden Lock which was quite handy since it was frequent and had yummy indian for dinner. And of course I spent the whole day researching on types of icing I want to make for the market weekend. I have decided to make marshmallow cupcakes, banana cake and a victorian sponge cake. Wish me luck as I will be pretty much baking all of this the night before the market!

T'was short, sweet and wild! Never in my life that I wore a short skirt dress, dressed up as a Nautical Sailor Girl as well as was constantly swooned by never ending guys and honking cars at night! OF course there was the chocolate fix (Mmmm) and pure indulgence pastries over the same weekend.

As well as apparently once in a blue moon, the statue of Mannekin Pis was dressed up to celebrate the Guiness book of records that one of Belgium's beer Delirium was voted as the best beer :)

Click the pic below to my photos and a couple of videos :)

I tend to eat alot, which depresses me...hmm,is London becoming depressing? I don't know for sure. I have even lost the motivation to play badminton but did so anyway to earn myself Korean at night.

Check out me photos and videos :)

Was a weekend trip (with Friday off) just to support my friends playing badminton at the World Outgames 09. The medals are really cool.


It was an interesting experience, being exposed to a different culture all at once. As well it did feel kinda awkward and uncomfortable at the same time. Copenhagen city is quite small, but very spacious. T'was my first Scandinavian country and the city reminded me of Amsterdam but more prestigious and cleaner too.

Friday started off early in the morning to catch the 8am flight. And we headed straight to grab the train to the city centre and to our accomodation, that was by the river (amazing view). We headed out for lunch near a church in which I tried the Herring dish for the first time. It was rather sour, and I think I should have gone for the cooked meat instead. We then head to the hall to check our friends playing. They were in the finals. They all won silver, and so we head back and out for dinner. We had vietnamese since it was cheap and the lady gave us watermelon after that was on the house! Too lazy to load photos here so check the album.

Next morning I headed out to the famous bakery on my own to try the yummy pastries, hehe. And then met up with friends who woke up later. Me and Joyce then headed to take the boat cruise before having lunch at Nyhavn. Weather was nice and warm, so I had a lovely tan from that day :). We then explored more around the city before heading back to get changed for the after party. Had yummy roast duck for dinner (the copenhagen way). I wasn't really up for the night since I traveled so much during the day but it was rather interesting. We actually took a boat to the venue. It was very nice, with a chill out area, house and pop music indoors. I was only there for a couple of hours before heading back. It was interesting observation though since it was a 'mix' party so yeah, kinda learning how the 'grey' people hang out and socialise :)

Last day was more of exploring the city again, with cheap lunch and yummy double scoop home made ice cream. There were alot of hot dog stands in which I wanted to try, but wasn't worth the money. And I was on a budget too, quite proud that I didn't use any of my British pounds but use up my foreign money instead. Checked out some museums, and took photos before heading to the airport. Came home to London about dinner time (in which I heard it rained).

Short and sweet weekend away :)

Check out me photos and videos again

Thought of the best way to ease the reading and me taking time updating :) . Click on the links below to read my Italy trip. I left the last few as a picture album as pictures can speak a thousand words.....cheh wah. No la, I got lazy to blog really. Hehe

Enjoy!

• Day 1 - Arriving Naples
  
• Day 2 & 3 - Naples to Capri
• Day 4 - Capri to Sorrento
• Day 5 - Sorrento to Amalfi
• Day 6 - A day in Pompeii
• Day 7 - A day in Salerno and driving through the coast
• Day 8 - Back to Naples to Londres (No pics but there is a video clip)
  

And of course more videos this way :)

We left Sorrento and headed to Amalfi through the coastal areas. We passed a city called Positano, whereby we tried to look for a park to have lunch but no luck since the road were narrow and there was tow away signs everywhere. We skipped it and headed off to the next small town (I can't remember what it was called).

Driving through these small towns were quite interesting in the sens that the road were narrow and each town were quite close to each other (no gaps in between). The views were amazing through the journey.