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...

YEs, I baked through the week. And have created another blog in which I'm not sure whether I want to keep going coz typing down recipes and adding nice photos is tough work! Nevertheless I shall persevere. Am wondering as well as to whether to use this new website as more of a recipe base type info or write about all my food experiences. Hmm, it'll be hard to decide which to use if I were traveling and trying out the food. Too many things to think about for the moment. Would rather just go out there and be more practical instead to begin with = P

Any hoo, below are the cupcakes I baked over the weekend:


I have finally mastered the way of melting marshmallows...it ain't easy as putting them in a pot. The answer is using a little bit of milk ;). Not only that, I was asked to bake a cake for a birthday, in which I've separated the experiences to my new website as it's more descriptive in a way and I've listed the recipes and methods too as well as external links for reference and picture steps...

Gosh, I should start renaming my lables too to make it look more informative rather than personal...if I bother,sigh.

Decisions decisions. Anyway, am procrastinating in bed as I type. I should get up, get a go and head out to make of this weekend!

Guess what?
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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!

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.

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!