So dC decided to take us away on a weekend stint and it was fun! Tiring of course but it was amazing to travel NZ and check out the beaches.

Our goal initially was to hang out at Pakiri beach but we ended up hopping 3 beaches instead haha. Headed to Mahurangi bay first where there wasn't too much wind, some sand and safe enough for ezra to check out the sea water.

As the sun came out we quickly hung out at Goats island. Ezra was so cute when he stood amongst the waves and felt like he was falling backwards when the wave went back. Wasn't there long, 3 mins and off we went to our accommodation. Very well set up so that we don't even need bed sheets and towels! We did bring them.

It was near a walkway too so off we went just down the driveway to check out. Very nice views all around by the cliff as well as we always felt like we were walking into someone's backyard.

Tried Leigh's Eat (famous fish and chips shop), pricey but meal was good overall.

All that over one day. Next day we tried to check out horse riding for li'l E but the storm overnight damaged the site so they were closed. Off we went to see me sis at Kaiwaka (yay). Hung out till E was a little bored of the chickens and mud plus the weather was really crazy (4-in-1 again) so we looked up the swimming pools and dinner.

Ended up at Glenfield Leisure Center (nice place with more than enough family room) and had Korean for dinner at Biwon. There was actually a night market happening next to the Leisure Center and I bumped into a fellow instructor too. Nice facility as well.

Haha, after some short moments of pondering, I've decided to change this blog right away :P

My new blog link is now http://www.travel-genial.blogspot.com

You'll get the email updates anyway...enjoy!!

Here is the summary to each of the days snippit as well as my photo album if you're lost =). And if you're extra bored head to check out my videos.

Enjoy reading!

1. Egypt Day 1 - Cairo and the picture album
   
2. Egypt Day 2 - Cairo and the picture album
   
3. Egypt Day 3 - Aswan and the picture album
4. Egypt Day 4 - Aswan & Felucca and the picture album
5. Egypt Day 5 - Felucca all day and the picture album  
6. Egypt Day 6 - Luxor and the picture album 
7. Egypt Day 7 - Luxor and the picture album 
   
8. Egypt Day 8 & 9 - Cairo and the picture album
   

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I got another blog...
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Check out: KitchenVirginTil27

And so I went to check out what this cupcake competition is about after being told by a friend while I was selling cupcakes at BrickLane. The theme this round was 'booze' and you only needed to pay 5 to get in with free tea and not forgetting tasting all the cupcake entries of course. A great value for dinner, heh. And after having them, we judge on which ones were the top 3.

I must say, the hardest bit was judging and tasting ALL the cupcakes! I really loved 6 of them and have to keep thinking bout judging them according to theme rather than taste. Haha. Met a couple of ladies who were from Japan and China and so I joined them so that I don't have to eat all the cupcakes myself. We teamed up to get all the cupcakes.


Had to leave before the prizes was given out but I was happy to meet the organiser in person and she told me next month's theme is spice. First thing on my mind is 'chai'. So yeah, I am inspired to participate the next competition :)

I walked all the way home just to get rid of all the sugar I ate and have been doing that more and more often lately before the weather gets darker by the day. It feels wonderful to enjoy the cooler breeze and familiarise the city more. And everywhere I go, I tend to see or spot nice restaurants with great deals and never knew how close they were!

Thought I'd share my experience so that anyone who is thinking of going to the USA Embassy to get their visa done can learn a few pointers.

So I started off by going to their website to find out how the process goes...filled the form up and printed it online.

After that, I had to call them up to pay (US$131) and made an appointment which costed £1.20 a minute.

When the day came, I was told in red that it was advised to be there half an hour before my appointment, in which it actually took a total of 2.5 hours as I did it in the morning (so there's no harm in going in earlier). So I started off arriving an hour earlier at the embassy, where I saw 3 queues. First one checked my form as well as told me that I had to take off my watch and belt. Off to the next queue. This time the guard only called when the next queue into the scan room is cleared. She checked my passport. On to the next queue heading into the scan room. And so they scanned my documents and off I went to the entrance of the embassy.

Apparently my form was smudged, so I had to re-type the whole thing, in which I was told by the reception that there are computers round the corner that does it. After 3 times of re-printing (rushing and making so many mistakes), was back at the reception to grab a number. And the waiting begins.

Well, I did some thorough observations while waiting. There was a cafeteria, a mini photo studio that takes last minute photos for £1 each and computers to re-print your forms for free. the section is divided to 2 areas. One to submit your form, and the other to carry the interview process. There were screens and announcements and numbers were not in sequence when called out. 'Nxxx, please go to counter x' or 'Ixxx,please go to counter x' There was a division somewhere in which each stall takes up to numbers in 10's or so and they jump after that. So it wasn't easy to do anything else while waiting except to be prepared.

Stalls 1-11 sorts out the forms and relevant information. When I was called to the counter, the only panic attack I had was when the person asked if I have any extra documentation to include to my form, as though as he was expecting something in which I forgot. So I told him I had none, which was so weird as all I submit was my passport. I then felt uneasy as I wasn't sure whether I should be photocopying my IC to back up my passport. He really works like a machine. So there wasn't any room for a relaxed conversation.

I had to wait for my number to be called again by stalls 12-25 who does interviews. Took another half an hour before I was called. The interview process was much more relaxed. It pays to be cheerful and to really compliment these people who does this as their job and deal with tough challenges everyday. Amazing.

'Good morning, how are you today?'
'I'm fine what about you?'
'I'm good good, thanks. I see you work at Paternoster Row, very nice area'
'Yeah, it is'
'What are you working as?'
'An engineer'
'And what company is CB Richard Ellis?'
'It's a property leasing company'
'So you're going to Florida for holiday?'
'Yes! Can't wait'
'Very nice'
he typed frantically
'Wow, you're a machine! How in the world do you type that fast'
He laughs
'Thanks.....and he mention something about my visa is approved and that to enjoy my travels'

To my utter surprise, that only took 2 minutes! :D. Off I went to the courier service (another extra £14.20) to pay for my documents to be sent to me and off to the work after.

It did feel as though I was under close surveillance all the time and even the slightest mistake on the form could make me go behind the queue and wait for another hour or send me home. The thing is I felt good, I felt that things will all go through despite the nervousness and anticipation (seeing that this was the first time doing it).

America, here I come!

And so I put my hand up to help out with a friend selling cupcakes at the market for the first time of my life. She didn't want to do it alone and I was keen to take on this challenge. And what an adventure last week was! It wasn't just that that took up my time but workload has somehow slammed me too as well as my baby was leaving me too! I'm glad I pulled through.

Anyway, it all started with us setting up our stall at the Pop-up market held at the Truman Brewery on Bricklane Road, one of the famous streets known for indian restaurants. This market is held once every month with a different theme, being this weekend to be Vintage. So we had to come up with some vintage decorations...with pastel colours. And so this is how the week started...

Monday - Bought stationary for the displays, and some ingredients from Sainsbury
Tuesday - Started doing up the poster, getting more ingredients from Sainsbury
Wednesday - bought bananas, made first banana and victorian spongecake
Thursday - Bake another banana and Victorian spongecake, place the earlier cakes into the fridge
Friday - All on cupcakes and icing......with chocolate ganache (liquid chocolate)
Saturday - cupcakes didn't sell, made chocolate fudge brownies instead and ice the 2nd batch of cakes

The real challenging part was storing and organising things in my small little kitchen. Oh and not forgetting that I did most mixing with just a hand mixer and muscles and bones haha.

Anyway, here are some clips of the weekend. More on my album :)


Check out more photos here

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!

"Swine flu will carry the name "pandemic" even if the new virus turns out to cause mainly mild symptoms as it sweeps the world, raising questions about how serious the global alert actually is."

Full article here.

As well as the media might be overhyped upon this breakout.

In my honest opinion, I think it's ok for the media to make a drama out of this since it is something for all of us to be weary about. Better than being over hyped about gossips on celebrities etc.

But do take care, all of you out there. Keep warm, take enough vitamins, sleep well and wash your hands ;)

MEanwhile, Its Milan tomorrow baby! Woohoo! Check out the weather forecast ^_^

Photos all loaded!

Oh and click here if you want to know more information about the castle

Happy New Year y'all! This is definitely not from my camera since I was miles away watching it and it was shadowed by the OXO building :P. Would have been awesome to have stood of where this person was but we were in a fairly medium sized group and thus it gets harder to decide with too many brains together. Hehe. As well as it was absolutely freezing! We were on a bridge slightly away from London Bridge itself so that we could head back quicker when the crowd leaves.

And boy, London crowd is HUGE. Even where we stood had people creating 4 rows from the front of the bridge... o.O on the way, there were lotsa hot dog stands and people selling toys that light up at night.

And yes, I haven't been updating as fast as I want to be since the internet has been down lately. Feeling rather depressed without it and I have been going to McDees a bit more than I want to for their free WiFi's. There's nothing else to do at home besides cook, read, watch tv or clean. Bleh.

NyHoo Christmas was rather decent (eat, sleep and watch tv + open pressies!) at a friend's place.


And from Boxing day onwards, it was shopping shopping and more shopping! D pretty much saved himself for this moment. Sales here are cheap, cheaper than anything so much so that if you're bothered to wake up at 6am for it. I on the other hand kinda shop through the year since style changes constantly so I behaved :P. So here goes my journal shortened:

27th Dec: Shopped
28th Dec: WiFi at McDees
29th Dec: Checked out Darwinism at Natural History Museum. He was superbly interesting and if not for his Grand Dad, he wouldn't have created and proven a fact. But he has somewhat made science boring in the sense that almost everything relates to this fact. The fact of Evolution and Natural Selection. But it is amazing to find out that I somewhat think like him when thinking about life. And when I found a summary to my questions and observations, I feel wiser (cheh wa *kembang*)


Oh and we went more shopping after that,where we checked out Kensington High Street. Stumbled across this place called 'My Old Dutch' and they were selling huge pancakes for £5 on Mondays. So happened it was Monday :D. Milkshake came in 2 cups too!


30th Dec: Shop at Kensington High Street as there were less people and more space. Stumbled across things on the way...







31st Dec: Went for a swim and did 1.3k including sprints and underwater! Super proud. Am wondering about doing Masters swimming now (sprint events) since I think I can do about 32sec for 50m free...hmmm. Headed to a friend's place in Bermondsey before we went to check out the fireworks. We came back cold and shivering but with fried chicken and chips for supper. Mmmm...

1st Jan: Slept in....went out abit late where the shops were closing in an hour but I manage to buy myself an awesome deal. 75% off feather down jacket for £22.50 from Gap. Yowser! I am wondering to myself why did I buy it since I have had experiences with down jackets and told myself not to buy one...and then I got addicted to looking for pants and jeans. Oh no.

Today: Am at work. Need money. Heh.

And if you ever make it to this bottom, has anyone made any resolutions? I feel that I have been quite aimless recently. But I think I have a couple of things I want to do this year. To travel to at least 3 different countries and learn to cook at least 3 dishes on my own.

2008 has changed immensly both personally and globally, and I wonder what 2009 will bring. I am grateful that this celebration has come and gone, as it is a reminder for me to reflect on myself, my goals and to re-direct my focus again. I got an email that mentioned that one does not have to do everything in his / her life on his / her own as there is God to guide the way. It does make me wonder whether I have been doing that, as I haven't been keeping the faith. Hmm...

The origins of the mince pie begins with themedieval pastry, chewette which was either fried or baked. The "chewette" actually contained liver or chopped meat mixed with boiled eggs and ginger. Dried fruit and sweet ingredients would be added to the chewette's filling for variety.

By the 16th century 'mince' or shred pie was considered a Christmas speciality, but in the 17th century, Oliver Cromwell made the eating of mince pies onChristmas Day illegal. (This law was voted fourth "most ridiculous British law" in a 2007 poll) In the mid-17th century the liver and chopped meat was replaced by suet, and meat products were no longer generally used in the 'mince' by the 19th century in both North America and Great Britian. Though traditional suet pies are still made, they are no longer the dominant form

Who is Oliver Cromwell?
Apparently really famous among the Brits as he was the first to leader best known for his involvement in makingEngland into a republican Commonwealth and for his later role as Lord Protector England, Scotland and Ireland.

That's so dumb. He did something ultimately great and something ultimately stupid...

I learn something new each day ;)

Gosh, I saw this advertisment in a tube stop about 2 weeks ago and I was thinking of going to it (although there was a price to pay)


And then I found out that my company were giving away FREE tickets!!!


God really works in mysterious ways....

on other news, Pasta Hut is replacing good ole Pizza Hut

Being such a doofus dits again, I thought I'd bought some yogurt for dear D since he hadn't been buying any. It was quite a bargain, since it was 4 for £2. But it turned out to be sweet rice instead.

So....I have no choice but to 'attempt' to eat it



And...it actually taste quite nice!!! I think they put too much toppings to hide the rice :P

Speaking of purchases...I spoiled myself with something...mwahahaha....and there will be more coming,wahahahahahhahahaha


Photobucket is kinda cool...allows you to do funky stuff now like effects etc. Like this: