And Here You'll Find Me...

Too many cooks spoils the egg-sale?

2012-02-10T17:24:00.001+08:00

A pasar malam (night market) hawker selling eggs put up a sign board “Fresh Eggs Sold Here”. A friend comments that the eggs are definitely fresh, so the word ‘fresh’ can be dropped. Another friend tells him not to mention the word ‘here’ because it is understood. If not here, then where? Yet another friend asks him whether he is giving away or selling the eggs. He realizes the word ‘sold’ is also redundant. He is selling only eggs and every passers-by can see them. Finally his sign board is blank.

The moral of the story is too much conflicting advice will lead you nowhere.

White as Snow and Crazy Eggs

2012-02-06T18:22:00.002+08:00

Lately, we've been getting into the habit of boiling eggs to bring with us to work for lunch alongside our meals.

We would boil a batch at a time and store them in the fridge. This week, Ying boiled the eggs. I opened the fridge and saw this. Our very own Hard-Boiled Egg Hunt.

Thanks to a Wonderful Boss's wife, I got some lovely sambal to stir-fry some leftover shrimp from CNY with. One of the tastiest dinners this year yet.

The first snow of 2012 has come softly all through the evening and night. We could tell as it was the one night's sleep that was not laced with the occasional sound of ambulances. 4 inches outside our apartment. Beautiful Sunday except for my very worn out boot soles which left me slipping and sliding down the hill.

However, unlike the worn out soles, the soul was very much refreshed being reminded how His blood washes us whiter than snow. Seeing it blanket the city and absorb the groans of machines turning the unsettling noise of urban life into pure quietness brings this metaphor into life for me. So clean, so calming. The transient and seen snow reflects the eternal unseen glory. Wonderful reminder at the start of the new year.

Cupcakes, Christmas and other loveliness

2011-12-09T05:04:00.000+08:00

I made Orange cupcakes~!

It had to go with cream cheese icing. :P Fat fat fat

I also made barley soup with 'Pak Kor'. He keeps finishing them pot after pot. Amazed that I found some pandan leaves in Chinatown!

We took a free guided tour of the Houses of Parliament courtesy of our MP.

Silhouette

Hahaha! This is how we would look in mug-shots!

Thanks to a very lovely boss's wife, we got to try yummy sambal ikan bilis. I made nasi lemak to go with it. Ah cravings....

Speaking of cravings, I wrapped wantans and popiahs! Deep-fried goodness. :D

His parents have come to visit for Christmas and brought lovely ornaments along with them. Our bare tree is finally preetti-fied!

They came bearing lots of lovely gifts!

Lovely orange flowers from Ying. It's an orange month.

Food for Thought and Day Out

2011-11-06T05:49:00.001+08:00

This is the beautiful lamb panini at a cafe nearby our place. The fiancee took me there today and I must say, the red onion and yogurt combo was perfection against the crispy panini. Droolssss

I made some Rogan Josh to go with the roti canai Ying scored from the King's cafeteria.

I tried my hand on Claypot Rice. Cravings is the mother of experimentation. Turned out really yummy especially with 'cili padi'- birds eye chillies and lots of ginger! I've really been considering to buy halal chicken if I can find. Something about the quality of the meat when cooked. It's much more tender and less toxic tasting. Don't know yet if there is a difference but I'm keen to find out. I asked the lady working at the High Comm in London and she was surprised to see non-Muslims wanting to find halal chicken. Hehe.

Ying made the most lovely fried pork for dinner. He added many special ingredients. Much more complicated than it looks, hence it tasted so amazing.

I also found some lovely okra from a grocery shop nearby! A pound a bowl of fresh okra. It could make 3 servings! Ying cooked it with tomyam. Brilliant!

We walked from the High Comm to Hyde Park.

The Rose Garden.

Squirrels were everywhere. They were not afraid of us at all. Don't know why a group of gabby girls sitting next to us were angry and shooing them away while squealing in horror and terror. One of them cursed. Another said: STOP STARING AT ME! Geez. How can something so adorable be petrifying???

Grabbed the latest issue of Glamour as they finally had a red nail polish freebie!! I have been looking for a proper red for a long time now! Happy! And it was affordable!

We continued walking all the way to Piccadilly Circus. On the way we saw this cool building!

I brought Ying to JapanCentre! So excited to see some Daiso stuff. Too bad they had very few. Still entertaining nonetheless..... for people who want to make cute eggs.

We decided to get some sushi for lunch. He was overjoyed to see salmon sushi at a cheaper price than elsewhere. I was happy to see unagi!

I got five, huge and fantastic prawns for only 1.45! They were the sweetest prawns we both ever tasted. Kudos to Japan! So fresh! I got some lovely pork bones for soup too for only 50p a pack. What a deal! I know where I'll be going back for good raw supplies now! :) This is my favourite thing to do with fresh whole prawns: Steamed with wine and egg! These were such a luxury.

Ying stir-fried lovely vegetables with ginger and lemon. So goood!!!!!

I got a whole bowl of huge tomatoes for a pound too from the same shop. These reminded me so much of the Greek tomatoes. Fat, red, sweet and juicy!! So good when heated up slightly. Sainsbury Basics no more!

"Red" Velvet Cupcakes and Claypot Chicken Rice

2011-11-02T22:30:00.001+08:00

I decided to try my hand at making red velvet cupcakes but without the artificial red colouring. It took me a while to gather the ingredients because I kept forgetting to write them down. I tweaked them a little to suit what I already have. I also finally found the perfect baking tray. I've always wanted one that is deeper than muffin trays and without the slants on the sides. Then I made cream cheese icing. They turned out superb!

I also had a hankering for claypot chicken rice so I made some. Sadly, I didn't get 'kiam hu' (salted fish) which would have perfected it. However, on the bright side, the fiancee managed to score some birds eye chillies! With some ginger and garlic, it was good to go!

Food for Thought

2011-10-14T17:44:00.001+08:00

Here are August's and September's highlights in culinary adventures.

I made OATMEAL BAKED CHICKEN.

It tasted really good- like Southern Fried Chicken except that it was healthier.

CHOW MEIN

STEAMED PLAICE- Teochew style minus the asam/tamarind.

CHICKEN CHOP WITH ORIENTAL SAUCE

PORK BURGER

JAPANESE CURRY

STIR FRIED BRINJAL AND CORN ON THE COB

GRILLED PORKCHOP AND SPINACH

SINGAPORE LAKSA

THE BEST VELVET CUPCAKES EVER

Ying made this. AMAZING CHICKEN CORDON BLEU

BEANCURD SOUP (TEH AH GEE TH'NG)

AVOCADOS FOR GUACAMOLE!

ABN's yummy recipe for PANCAKES!

All in all, a very productive and interesting month in the kitchen. :)

The Whitecliffs of Dover (Post-Cliffs)

2011-10-01T03:00:00.000+08:00

The next day, we decided to walk up to the Castle.

We took the back road which led us to a some sort eerie lane which faced a shaded hill and many trees. The buildings were tall and boxy. I like how they look especially with the smoke coming out of them. Makes me think of Oliver Twist or those old 60s movies where children would be fed gruel and maids with frumpy white frocks as well as hairnets.

Eerie, no? Except for the cars. Haha.

My favourite part was the church that was bombed in WWII by the Germans.

We stood there for a long time examining the blown off parts and the charcoaled marble.

There were tombstones all over the church paths. Look! 1722!

The Whitecliffs of Dover (The Cliffs)

2011-09-26T17:11:00.000+08:00

Before we begin, switch on the soundtrack to the post:

We decided to walk to the cliffs from the town itself.

We took a small back road leading up to the base of the cliff. The view from that road was beautiful!

Somehow the place really reminded me of Santorini. Rocky cliffs and bright coloured houses in a row. :) Look into my eyes and see what I see. :D

The chalky cliffs. The climb began with a tiny steep road which only had room for one comfortable climber at a time. With the sound of locust/cricket type thingies with every step we took, it was hard for me not to think of Ancient Thira which was quite a similar experience.

Finally, after about 20 mins or so, we got to the entrance of the cliffs.

The walk was straight from then on. I was getting height jitters. I could feel my legs turning to jelly involuntarily and the bottle I was holding was slipping from my sweaty palms. I kept squealing, "FIVE METRES FROM THE SIDE, YING!!!!!" (the pamphlet said that the cliffs are continuously eroding so we must keep 5 metres from the side). Naturally, being afraid of heights, to me Ying seemed to be hovering over the waters. I couldn't take it any longer and told him to go on without me.

He wouldn't leave me so we walked around the area trying to find an alternate route apart from the one tracing the sides of the cliffs without any protective poles/wooden beams. After failing to do so, we agreed that he would go on that route and I would stay back and enjoy looking at the English Channel.

I decided to do some climbing so I heaved myself up onto the highest plateau of grass and realised that further up, there was a tiny wooden gate. I saw a couple walk there and disappear around the peak of the plateau. I hiked up there and there it was: PUBLIC FOOT PATH! I walked through the Z-gate designed to keep horses from escaping and started on Ruffit's Trails.

Meanwhile, Ying was treading the precipice of the cliffs and took some magnificent shots with the camera.

Spot the crazy rusted metal trail. Thank goodness Ying had more sense than to try to go on the path. Although I'm sure if he didn't have me to worry about, he would have gone on. There's no stopping his adventurous spirit! The guy RAN down all the way from the peak of Mount Kinabalu for goodness sakes! :D

He managed to lean across the sides and snap a picture of what he was told, was supposed to be a sunken ship which would be visible had the tide been lower. Try see if you can make out its shape.

I wonder if that whitish outline is the ship or it's just our eyes playing tricks on us.

Haha, you can see how tempted he was to get on that metal railing.

I couldn't call him to let him know that I was already in the trail because our phones had picked up on France's mobile services and it would cost us much more to call/sms although we were still in the UK.

While we were both walking towards each other from opposite sides of the cliff, suddenly, in the middle of the cliff, a giant flock of seagulls flew out of nowhere making the most crazy sound ever. I was snapping away at it on my handphone and Ying was on the other side filming the sound for me to hear on his camera. Hahha. It was insane. Just look at the number of huge seagulls!

We finally met and I took him upwards to where I came from to show him some horses. He then began his obligatory Progression of Oddity. (It's something he always ends up doing without knowing it on our holidays)

The Z-Gate at the peak and the beautiful cliffs.

We caught the ferries coming into the Port of Dover. Very cool.

The Whitecliffs of Dover (Pre-Cliffs)

2011-09-25T01:24:00.001+08:00

The long absence has been due to dissertation duties and relocating to London.

Ying & I decided to take a short trip to Dover, Kent to off-load our collective study stress before starting his job. When we arrived, we walked around Dover town itself for a bit before passing out in the B & B. We were terribly exhausted and sleeping was a much understood necessity. :D

The next day, we finished our walk around the town and passed this beautiful church. You can see the castle from many points in the town.

We walked around and decided to have lunch at Castle Fish & Chips on Castle Hill Road.

After which, we saw a seagull window-shopping on the quiet Flying Horse Lane.

The church has a sundial at the side of its walls. I don't think I managed to snap a shot of it. Another church laid just around the corner. There were three old churches within walking distance, one of which was bombed by the Germans in World War II. We visited it on our last day there.

I managed to capture the beautiful sunlight on the church lawn.

We walked from the Market Square towards the ports. Beautiful buildings were scattered along the way. Dover is really quite interesting. You turn a corner, you see run down slummish buildings and noisy drunks. Another corner, you see majestic castles and yet another corner you see silent and stately white columns. You walk for a bit and you see the cliffs facing a busy port. Curiouser and curiouser.

Spot the contrast of the castle and apartments facing the sea behind me.

The cliffs will be in the next post.

Today's Thoughts- Our purposes or His purposes?

2011-08-15T20:12:00.008+08:00

Was watching a video earlier by my favourite encourager on Youtube. She spoke about 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. But somehow I felt that she fell short of fully understanding the verse. The verse really intrigued me and I decided to read it for myself. It's a very common verse and I've read it many times before but as always, everytime I read something, it's like the first time and I have new thoughts and I see things differently. So here are my thoughts:

1 Corinthians 9:24-27: The Need for Self-Discipline

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. ²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶ Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. ²⁷ No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Many people look at this verse and say that it is for people to discipline themselves to lose weight, battle laziness, achieve something etc. But it’s not.

Paul is talking about the spiritual race. He uses physical races as an analogy. People of this world, he says, race to get a crown which will not last i.e. beauty, work, sports, academia. But we race for a crown that will last forever. We should not run like people running aimlessly to an arbitrary finish line/ to beautify ourselves/ work our butts off for higher rungs in society. While those things are pleasant and noble goals in this world, they cannot be our ultimate aim because these don’t last. They fade. Each of us actually know the truth about things that we hold important in this life. We know where it all ends but we never face it head on: Everyone dies, beauty fades, physical strength fades, intellect fades, and memories fade. SO what are you working towards???

But we should strike blows to our body and make it our slave. Discipline our physical self which refuses to obey God’s word. Our flesh which is so reluctant to do God’s will, to live the Christian life. Our flesh which is so willing to take the easy way out and just fit with everyone around us, just belong and do what the world does. Our flesh which thinks that so long as I look good, make tons of friends and sit high in society’s circles, so long as I am the perfect/good housewife, so long as I am handsome and fit, so long as I am studying hard etc., I have achieved the prize. The Bible says no.

This part is vital. WHY must we discipline our bodies? We need to discipline it to obey God and put Him first in everything so that after we, like Paul, preach the good news to others, we ourselves will not be disqualified for the prize. He is talking about making sure that we are not disqualified from the kingdom of God. We must take care that we ourselves will not turn into hypocrites, that we ourselves won’t forget the message that we preach i.e. that the world is temporal and what matters is Christ. We need to be careful that the message we first preached about disciplining our bodies to follow God's purposes doesn't change to a message that uses God's purposes revealed in scripture to fulfil our own purposes.

The danger of interpreting the verse to mean self-disciplining our bodies to achieve OUR purposes i.e what WE think is honourable, beautiful, successful, noble etc is that we end up reading the Bible and doing the age-old mistake- twist the verses to suit our agendas. We end up quoting scriptures to 'encourage' us to run the worldly race stronger. The Bible becomes a self-help book instead of what it really is: God's word. The result is we end up ignoring the spiritual race altogether while being blinded and thinking just because we cite scriptures to support our every decision and move, we are spiritual. NO. We must discipline ourselves for GOD’s purposes and what HE says is honourable, beautiful, noble etc. For our righteousness are filthy rags.

Hence, we should discipline our bodies for wisdom, love, self-control, faithfulness and everything God loves and deems as glorifying Him. We are to reflect God through our faithfulness in our marriages, attitudes towards our jobs, work and our love for others. The attitude we must point others to is not that we are successful, able to lose weight, get prizes etc because of God but the attitude that while we do everything to the best because of God, we always remember that things in this world are temporal and that our spiritual lives are really what matters the most (the emphasis being on the latter). We must point others to God instead of our 'God-helped-achievements' every chance we have.

We must discipline our bodies when we feel like cheating on our spouses, or lusting after another, or coveting other’s success, or ingratitude to God for our lives, or anger/ unforgiveness towards others. These are the things we must battle with our bodies and make our bodies a slave to God’s purposes. Why? NOT just to achieve better social relationships, or better loyalty to our spouses or even better responsibility for earning our own money(although again all these values are noble and good in this life). We discipline our bodies because the ultimate aim is that we want others to see Christ in us, to see the hope of the kingdom of God in us.

Also, most importantly, the end (by 'end' I mean: A result; an outcome, Something toward which one strives; a goal) to forgiveness, love, loyalty, faithfulness etc is not merely forgiveness, love, loyalty, faithfulness etc. Because even non-Christians can reach that goal everyday.

But the end to all these is God.

More Crazy Dreams

2011-08-07T06:25:00.000+08:00

Due to the stressful dissertation writing, I have been needing more and more sleep. But instead, I've been getting more vivid dreams. Every night now is filled with tons of dreams. I sleep on an average of 9 hours daily now but every morning I feel as though a truck just drove over me and can barely get up. Yesterday night, I hit the jackpot of crazy dreams.

ALL IN ONE NIGHT (These were after one major nightmare which I forgot what it was about but I remember waking up shuddering and going back to sleep):

I dreamt about people ripping off a Hillsong song and saying they wrote it themselves. I threw a fit and started spewing sarcastic remarks out loud to let people know the person was lying. (This dream was probably due to the fact that I'm writing a dissertation concerning copyright infringement and I just heard a Hillsong song).

I also dreamt about Ying eating fried chicken balls which cost 70cents per ball. I was so shocked that he ate it without paying. I then proceeded to a table filled with many different dishes. Suddenly, a loud announcement came on saying: YOU HAVE 5 MINS to pick your dishes. After 5 mins, you have to leave. I had only a few seconds left and ended up scooping tons of chicken curry onto my plate.

I dreamt about going swimming but falling asleep in the changing room for 3 hours. Then I had to climb on the metal fences(those diamond-shaped ones) between vines while watching people run past me on the proper road.

I dreamt that I was sweeping a mini mart floor all dressed up in a suit saying: 'I like to sweep'. Then water flooded the mini mart and swept away all the accumulated mess.

I also dreamt something to do with spiders but I forgot. (This is probably due to the fact that spiders are invading my bathroom).

Now the noisy neighbour has been blasting awful hip hop music with resounding bass since 8.30pm. It's 11.22pm now and I am keeping my frustration at bay by writing this entry. Good Lord, make him stop!

Here's hoping I have dreamless sleep tonight.

Juin & Juillet - An Update

2011-08-01T18:30:00.004+08:00

I had learnt the days of the week, first 10 numbers, months in the year and season names in French. :)

Discovered £1 nails :D Pleasantly surprised at how natural they looked. Used them for our engagement shoot in Nottingham. Will write about that later on. :)

A Certain Phd Student hosted a marvellous dinner. Look at how she set the table. I adore the blue napkins. Thanks so much for handmaking the wonderful pasta... loved the gnocchi!

She made amazing chocolate molten lava cake with raspberries!

My exam results came out. Thank God for His grace, I made it through very well. Phew! Now 1 more dissertation to go!

The celebratory Thornton's cake. The cake was so so rich. It's like chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!

Baked a beef pie- no idea what to call it. :) Turned out so good.

A Certain Photographer brought amazing chocolates back from Switzerland. These definitely cost a fortune. Thank you so much!

Thanks for the lovely cards on our engagement. So adorable! Haha Ying is the tall bird. Hilarious. They join the window sill with other milestone markers :D

Discovered a Walled Garden in the uni grounds. It was just like a secret garden right smack in the middle of buildings. Tucked away so that no one can see it. It was lucky that we stumbled upon it. Once you enter the gate, you find so many beautiful flowers forming the square behind the tall hedges obscuring your view of the garden. Then, in the middle, there is a lovely well-looking thing surrounded by lavender.

I love macro-ing plants!

Just look at the dew drops!

Enjoying all the flowers as summer is coming to an end. Time flies. You become even more aware of how fast time passes in seasonal countries since there are more markers. Your brain goes: Oh my gosh! It's autumn again??!

Love this shot. These flowers point downwards. Looking at this shot makes me feel like I'm Alice walking through the garden talking to the giant flowers.

'♫ All the flowers... they would sit and talk to me for hours.... when I'm lonely in the world of my own ♫'

Shades of pink and fuschia. Nature's immense colours always point me to the Creator and the source of such creativity and detail.

Scores of lavender beckon you to fall asleep as the gentle winds whisk you away into fields of green. I believe the Sandman (if there ever is one- would have his bag of sand infused with lavender).

Summer is almost over.... and I'm still in my Kathmandu!

Learnt to ride a bicycle! Yes I know, I'm 20 something and I just learnt how to ride a bike! Still, I'm so proud of myself for having done it in 1 and a half hours! Haha! Still need tons of practice though. Thank you my darling for being such an amazing teacher. ♥

Got a Malaysian fix!!! We went to the Msian High Comm in London to begin the registration process for our marriage. The nasi lemak sold there is always sold out. We got the last few boxes and some teh tarik. I was the happiest person. :D Ying always has stomachache after nasi lemak and steamboat but they e still his favourite. Sadist.

Had the most intense first interview ever. If there's anything to be said about entering the working phase of life, I dove in head first. :) I'm pleased with how I handled the entire thing. 9am-4pm of tension and stress plus 2 weeks of work before to prepare. Thank God for His amazing grace and strength. I had outer body experiences and went NO WAY is that me? Couldn't have done it on my own. Every other candidate was much older and boasting on and on about their practice although that does not indicate at all how good of a lecturer you can be. Here's to entering the next phase of my life! If there's any motto I would say my life is based on, it would be

2011-12: The year of many plunges :D

The month finished off on an upper. Took a roadtrip down to Portsmouth filled with BBC Radio 2 which played all my fav songs. Ying & I had fun navigating and fighting with the GPS which kept trying to get us back into the main motorway which was jammed for eternity. We drove through lovely countrysides instead. Portsmouth is right at the south point of the island of Britain. It was so warm down there- where it was truly summer. Nottingham is still stuck in autumn weather. *Note the Kathmandu shot above* But Portsmouth was beautiful and sunny. People were at the sea swimming, cycling everywhere, children out playing, people just sitting on benches and staring out into the sea. We attended a wedding there of a very sweet and God-loving couple. Had a blast and walked along the coast. Had hot and crispy fish and chips beside the sea. I'm glad I got a taste of summer before the cold comes again.

The wedding was the most beautiful and meaningful one I have ever been to. The speeches by the FOB, best man and groom brought tears to my eyes. You could really feel God's love in that wedding which to me speaks volumes about the couple. It was such a privilege to share the day with them.

Here is the cake made by the mother of the groom. It's so intricate. What a masterpiece! The cake is made to look like an ordinary wedding cake except that when you turn it, you see corners telling a story!

Here is the groom's room! See the sweaters, laptop and pictures. Find the rubber duck!

Espresso maker. Oh the details!

Cambridge- where they met and he proposed!

While waiting for dinner, the guests got to linger in the field outside which was filled with fun and games such as giant Jenga, giant chess and quizzes on tree trunks about the couple!

The best man giving his speech on the 3 Ws that the groom was: Weird, (forgot the other W) :( and Work in Progress

There was strawberry and white chocolate buttons scattered on the table. They tasted fantastic.

The bride picked these shells and used them as seating labels/souvenir. So creative.

The heavenly dessert. Brownie with creme fraiche.

Beautiful cookies. I love how everything tells a story! Must have taken days!

These were the best cupcakes I'd ever had in all my years. There were 5 different flavours. Each as good as the next, I'm sure. Love how happy the cupcakes make you feel when you look at them.

We stayed at the new Acorn Lodge- so cosy and just what I pictured England would look like. I really appreciated this short holiday which honestly made me feel like I finally arrived in the England in my head all these years. :)

Eventhough it was so short, it made my year. On the way back, musicals were playing on BBC R2. So much fun.

Beautiful Santorini Day 8- Goodbye Oia!

2011-07-20T18:50:00.001+08:00

Here it is: the final instalment of the best week of my life thus far. Every other holiday I've taken, blogging about them gets tiring from the 3rd post onwards. Not this one. After returning from Santorini, both him and I had 2 weeks of withdrawal symptoms. It was really a trip to remember. So as the curtains fall on this beautiful milestone, I relish the possibility that we will go back there someday. :)

Sending a postcard.

Oia's cute little post office

After which we took a final stroll around Oia, desperately trying to imprint the view of the caldera into our minds.

Got Ying a bracelet to remember the trip by. :) I love the island-ish design. It's his favourite colour too.

Seems only yesterday :)

Got myself a bracelet too with the Greek Nazars on it :) His Claddagh ring and my engagement ring :D

The Bakery which fed us during our stay. If you speak to Ying about the trip, you would have no doubt heard about this bakery. He has to go there daily for his baclava fix. I loved the cheese pies- feta and gouda. YUM. The chicken pies were amazing as well.

Homemade cookies and traditional Greek cookies- they love hazelnuts and pistachios.

His usual conundrum: What to get arhhhh babe?????????

This rack has many cookies which have filling piped into them. Ah divine.

All my fav pies!

These are Ying's objects of temptation: the Kataifi.

Cannot pronounce but say custard and honey, Ying's there.

Walnut cake! Very good.

And alas, the pièce de résistance

My pies! How I miss thee.

Last looks at Ecoxenia.

Our huge family room- so happy for the free upgrade!

The happy never say, and never heard said, farewell- Walter Savage Landor

Beautiful Santorini Day 7- Part II: Ammoudi Bay

2011-07-16T19:32:00.002+08:00

We finish off Day 7 with the sunset at Ammoudi Bay- said to be the best and longest sunset on Santorini Island. As such, you have been forewarned: The longest sunset post ahead. :)

The sunset on the way down to the bay.

We finally arrived at the end of the road. Cars were parked at the side of the slope.

The gorgeous bay. Beautiful restaurants tucked into the cove.

I just love how the small boats come to berth there after a day of fishing.

We selected a comfy spot to view nature's momentous closing.

The way the sun rays reflect off the quiet sea in that vertical symmetry is just sublime.

The beautiful clear sea. You can see how deep the dive is from the cliff where we were. No shore due to the volcano explosion centuries ago.

Wish we were sailing away in that little boat to the sunset.

The horizon keeps changing with every shot. Miraculous sights.

The different hues of sunset. Now I know how artists are always inspired to paint sunsets.

The reason for the entire surreal experience

My favourite picture- the giant fireball. *Great balls of fire!!!* :D To think this happens everyday!

The Grand Finale

After the sunset, we decided to take a walk in the little cove.

Pretty little row of boats

The tourists there were so friendly. We were just walking around and they offered to take a picture for us.

A cliffhanger end. Haha. A landslide warning sign.

Beautiful Santorini Day 7 Part I- Perissa Beach, Firostefani and Oia

2011-07-08T20:22:00.001+08:00

We set off to Perissa Beach on this bright sunny day. On the way, we saw this beautiful cafe perched on the side of the cliff.

After so many pictures, I am still not sick of this view.

Perissa Beach! See the cliff? Behind that cliff is Kamara Beach!

Spot the boy!

I love how the planes here always look like they're about to crash into cliffs.

The sand is really interesting. It's ashy so when you first step onto it, it burns like no other due to its latent heat. But after a while, your feet get accustomed to the 'haba pendam'... :) My nails happened to be in Santorini colours. :D

Onto Firo! Ying wanted to stop by one last time because he loved how quiet and calm the town was.

Went to Lucky's in Fira one last time! LOVE LOVE LOVE the souvlakis.

Headed back to Ecoxenia and I spotted this HUGE grasshopper. Look at the size of it compared to the plant!

After some outdoor jacuzzi time, we went back to Oia town for teatime. We went into a beautiful shop called Skiza.

I forgot what this is called. Some walnuty thing that Greeks are famous for. SO good. Their honey/maple syrupy thing is so good.

Ying tried some Raki. Boy, was it potent!

The best ice cream I have ever tasted. It's homemade pistachio icecream. Smoother than butter. Rich and creamy, milky goodness. I wish I had tried other flavours.

The view from outside Skiza

So adorable.

The sun began to set.

Dreams

2011-07-04T18:01:00.001+08:00

My dreams have never been anything short of crazy adventures and mind-boggling details.

I have been to Chennai and back, a place which I have never thought about or heard about consciously before.

I have dreamt of standing right in front of a 20 foot tsunami and suddenly seeing it crash into the shore from the position of a pilot in a helicopter above.

I have waddled out of quicksand with a luggage in my hand and climbed onto a large mountain to escape.

I have flown over scenic gorges on a metal chair and land into whitewater.

On the non-adventure side, I have dreamt of people overeating strawberry shortcake (which I have no feelings for- neither like it nor don't like it) and fried chicken out of my fridge.

Today, I had another crazy dream among many. My KL law pals and I were jungle trekking, organised by our late beloved sir's wife. It was stormy and the wind was blowing so hard I couldn't move forward with my umbrella. I needed a friend to help push it forward against the wind. When we finally arrived at wherever we were, my friends were so eager to give speeches to gush over the fun experience of jungle trekking and how awesome it was in superb English. (Addie: YES YOU! :D). I had no idea what to say! Finally, I went up to the platform all clueless. I said this:

"I have always been an advocate of the principle: If you have nothing good to say, don't say anything. *Pregnant pause* But let me define what good is. I don't mean good in the very sense of the word. I mean that I have literally no words to describe how good and enjoyable this trip has been for me. In conclusion, I have nothing good to say. And that in itself, is very good. Thank you."

Ladies and gentlemen, a window into my subconscious.

Half-Price Week, DIY Mania & Book Swap

2011-07-02T02:54:00.001+08:00

When I first arrived in Nottingham, every single time I went grocery shopping, the reduced rack was stocked with goodness. Salmon, roasts all for half price. December was amazing since everyone would return home for Christmas. So Sainsburys would be overstocked. There would be stacks and stacks of fish for half price. Happy I was. Nonetheless, soon after, I would find the rack empty from week to week. I started trying to angle for the day which the near-expiry food would come out. A few friends were convinced it was Wednesdays. So I would go on Wednesdays and sadly, it proved not to be true. I guess they switched it up. So I gave up and let coincidence take over. I was pleasantly surprised that day when the reduced rack was loaded again, although the location of the rack was switched. Happy I was again. :D Ying saw ONE packet of a dozen scallops for more than half price off. It was only £2.55! Imagine. RM10 for 12 scallops! We decided to splurge (yes, splurge because our usual cap for individual raw food items is £2 max for big meats). Gordon Ramsay helped me cook these to perfection. HELLO CHOLESTROL!!!

A few days later, I made chilli fried rice to go with the leftover scallops. Yum! For some reason, the picture looks unnaturally greasy.

Was waiting for quite a while to make Carbonara. Finally got some cheap British luncheon meat ham and made it. Shame. Would have tasted even better with real fatty bacon! Nonetheless, it will do.

Another bargain! Spatchcock poussin. This was heavenly. After half an hour in the oven, the meat literally melts in your mouth and the skin is sinfully crispy. I wish the poussin was a bigger bird. :D

Tonight we had turkey thigh joint with seasoning! Also half-price!!!! Roasted turkey tastes like DUCK!!! YUM!

On another note altogether, since we're leaving in September for London, I felt that I should commemorate the efforts I took to make this place cozy and fun. Lots of good DIY memories here. We had lovely friends who showered us with chocolates. ♥ I needed a board to stick things on because post-its are a failure. They are supposed to stick but they constantly fly off everything. Also, this is a rented house so you can't really nail anything into the wall. So I had an idea which in my opinion is very inventive. :P I took the layer above the chocolates and used some blu-tack to stick it on the wall. It works perfectly with thumbtacks.

Another idea for deco. I had lovely postcards, some of which were given to me by my sister and others collected over my tour in Australia. I decided to put them up on A4 paper and stick the big piece up with blu-tack

I decided to buy one board to hang on the existing towel hanger on the wall. I used it to organise my accessories. :)

The paper crowns from Christmas crackers made for a very whimsical frame for the mirror. :)

Cookie trays made good organisers for makeup. I used the tray from cookies wrapped in plastic so it's not greasy and does not require cleaning.

On an unrelated note, for a while now, Ying has been part of an online bookswap community. Very interesting. You can get rid of books you're tired off/ don't want and exchange them for books you want. We decided to choose this as a swap. We could tell from the other books listed by the other owner that he was interested in art. We were pleasantly surprised when this came with the book in the mail! A handpainted card of horses with an envelope! How nice!

Beautiful Santorini Day 6- Part II: Firostefani, Imerovigli and Oia Sunset

2011-06-28T23:01:00.000+08:00

This is Firo (a town a little further up from Fira-the center of Santorini) continued from the last post. A beautiful tattered boat on top of one of the houses.

We walked past this place where there was a pool tucked in secretively behind a rocked wall. Ying stuck his hand through and got a wonderful shot!

Firo was much quieter than the other places on the island. It's a different experience taking in the gorgeous views of the caldera and the sea without bustling noises of music and tourists. Calm, tranquil... surreal.

We spent some time just walking slowly along the path and stopping every so often to take in the view.

Ying, the daredevil that he is, decided to do push-ups on the concrete. :) I was half-worried he was going to miss his step and go tumbling down the cliff.

Mighty cool place to be doing push-ups I must say...

Headed even further up to the town of Imerovigli.

We parked very high up and walked down through the maze of stairs past several houses. A turn around a corner revealed this spectacular view of a volcano. If you look closely, there are steps leading up to the peak. I was ready to go climb it. Haha. Ying, thank God for his sanity reminded me that I had no sneakers on and also that we would miss the sunset in Oia town which we hadn't caught yet. It is the 2nd best sunset on the island.

So we walked on someone's roof :) and took some shots. We also saw a bride walking along the path.

After a while, we had walked quite a distance down from where we parked. The climbing back up the steep stairs was a killer. Haha. We would run for ten steps or so, then pause panting for breath. Then run up a few more steps. We reached our scooter finally in triumph!!

After which, we sped off immediately to catch the sunset in Oia. This was the view of the sunset on the way to Oia.

We ran through the crowds like crazy. I thought we didn't make it already. We ran right to the end of the path which opened into a clearing. There was already quite a crowd gathered there waiting for the sunset. There was a violin playing. So lovely.

We found a spot and enjoyed the sunset.

A nice French couple offered to snap this picture for us. How kind.

So magnificent!

You can see from here, everyone who was there to see the sunset. This corner is just one out of many others where you can see the sunset. Most restaurants and cafes there have terraces with sunset views.

Everyone watched silently as the sun disappeared. The second the sun set, loud applause broke out and people hugged and cheered. It was such an experience.

The evening view of Oia. You can see some lights being turned on. The town is gorgeous at night!

To see what Oia looks like further into the night, click here.

Beautiful Santorini Day 6- Part I: Oia beach, Lucky Souvlaki & Firostefani

2011-06-23T22:34:00.001+08:00

We started off the day by driving down to another boat berthing area.

The clear blue waters

We headed to a random stretch of beach in Oia.

The boy decides to float for a bit

The best FETA CHEESE PIE EVER! See what I mean when I say they pipe cheese into every crevice of the pie.

A homemade hazelnut creme-filled cookie!

We were watching these planes flying and they were about to collide. It was amazing. Then they made the 'X'. Coolness.

Dropped by at Lucky Souvlaki again- our favouite place to eat

The kebab pita

We headed to Firostefani after that.

The view from Firo- I will let the pictures speak for themselves

Something to live by

2011-06-22T04:15:00.001+08:00

THE FARMER

Without delay he's up each day

before the crack of dawn.

After breakfast, a kiss from his wife,

he yawns and pulls his work boots on.

Out the door he stands with pause

to smile at the gold-blue sky.

The rooster crows and the man steps off

with purpose in his stride.

There's livestock to feed and fences to mend,

till the soil and plant some seed.

His list of chores has no end

for there's a hungry world to feed.

This is what he's called to do

as steward of God's good Earth.

Like his father and the fathers before,

'twas passed to him by birth.

The sun has set and he's earned the right

to relax on his old back porch.

He shuts his eyes and breathes in the night

praying tomorrow he'll rise once more.

Life is a Ladder?

2011-06-20T21:28:00.001+08:00

Why are we obsessed with climbing in life the moment that we are born? From the moment we are born, we are compared with people around us and compare ourselves with others. In every aspect of our life, we seem to be climbing and climbing. The higher you go, people marvel and affirm you. WHY?

The answer is Greatness. We are desperate for approval. Everyone tends to be competitive with everyone around them. The rank on the pecking order seems so important.

The context: The night before Jesus was betrayed, his disciples (bear in mind, these were the people closest to Him and loved Him sharing a precious moment with Him: vs 28) were arguing over who was the greatest. In vs 27, Jesus exposes the premise on which society is built. Who is greater He asks? Clearly in society, it is the one who is AT the table. We strive all our lives to get towards the "table". SOCIETY= FROM SERVING TO SITTING.

^{Luke 22:24} A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. ²⁵ Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. ²⁷ For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. ²⁸ You are those who have stood by me in my trials.

How does a ladder work? You grab the rung to pull yourself up. We grab things in life that we can pull ourselves up with. Adam and Eve grabbed the fruit and ate it to become 'like God' as the serpent told them. This is the earliest display of a yearning for greatness.

But here, interestingly, we are not talking about celebrities or the world but about Jesus's DISCIPLES themselves. Christians! On the night before He was crucified, they were disputing about the LADDER. If those who were witnesses of Christ's trials and gave up their lives to follow him struggled with this, we are definitely in danger. The ladder comes in different forms for each of us.

Here are some WAYS WE GRAB FOR GREATNESS:
1. Henry the High Achiever- this is the gifted/intelligent/sporty/business-minded type. They work really hard with the wrong motivation: TO CLIMB. Ecclesiastes 4:4- And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Some are even willing to throw away and sacrifice everything in order to climb higher and achieve success.

2. Billy the Bully- this type rely on the strength of their personality/ physically strong to push their way up by intimidating/ attacking the people around them. This happens in work places and churches all the time. They gain influence, status and power through the strength of their own personality.

3. Brenda the Beautiful- this type hold beauty in the world's eyes. They are physically beautiful and naturally start higher up on the ladder in society. Society is obsessed with appearance because people look at that as a measure of how high you are on the ladder. Gorgeous = great in society.

4. Richie the Rich- this is self-explanatory. Money makes the world go round. The richer people are, the more secure they feel on the ladder.

5. Diedre the Do-Gooder- this type is kind hearted and charitable. Note the last part of vs 25- those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. Jesus was talking about the bullying type in number 2. A form of religious hypocrisy would fall into this category as well. The kind and charitable exterior is all a facade staged for one purpose only. TO CLIMB HIGHER AND EXALT THEMSELVES ON THE LADDER.

None of these are wrong on its own but they are wrong when they are used to climb. It produces competition, insecurity and friction with people. It brings about fruits of jealousy and envy. What happens when someone else gets rich? What happens when someone else does more good than you? What happens when someone more beautiful comes along? What happens when someone smarter comes along?

The fact is= WE ARE NEVER GOING TO REACH THE TOP OF THE LADDER. SO WHAT EVERYONE IS DOING IN FACT IS TRYING TO GET AS HIGH AS THEY CAN AND THEN DIE.

HOW ARE WE TO LIVE INSTEAD??

^{VS 26} But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.

How do you get down from a ladder? YOU LET GO.
Jesus teaches us that we do not pursue greatness by grabbing hold but we pursue greatness by letting go.

There is a TRICKY part here that many people may end up misinterpreting.

Jesus is NOT SAYING that the youngest IS the greatest.
Jesus is NOT SAYING to the people on higher rungs to stop ruling/ working hard/ shirk their responsibility BUT

Jesus IS SAYING: Let go of the prestige that comes with the higher rung. Instead be a servant.
^{End of vs27} But I am among you as one who serves.

Jesus, for all eternity past, the son of God, the source of all intelligence, wisdom and knowledge, wealth, honor and beauty did not grab at the position rightly His but he let go to die for our sins in ugliness, horror, shame and poverty- what appeared to the world as utter foolishness.

For those who do not do what society expects them to do, to accept the things society accepts and to behave the way society expects immediately gets labeled as 'Stupid and not knowing how to be a person'.

In order to serve and save us from our grabbing and competing nature, Jesus died for us. He saved our life from the punishment our grabbing deserves.

WE SHOULD USE OUR ACHIEVEMENTS TO SERVE, NOT TO GRAB. Achieve as much as you can. Do business as much as you can SO THAT YOU CAN SERVE OTHERS. If you are strong, defend the weak. If you are good at business, excel and give to the poor. Don't hold on to the prestige it brings you.

We should MAKE IT OUR AMBITION TO SERVE.

A beautiful ending: A GIFT. You can never get there by climbing. It is reserved for the followers of Christ.
²⁹ And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, ³⁰ so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

At that table, there will be BOTH RICH AND POOR, PROFESSORS AND PROSTITUTES.

Beautiful Santorini Day 5- Part II: Ancient Greek Settling, Wine Museum and Pyrgos

2011-06-16T20:16:00.001+08:00

Ying spotted a sign leading to an Ancient Greek Settling. We decided immediately that we needed to explore it. This is Ying's favourite place. He loves the narrow lanes which fit a single car at a time. It was such a calm and tranquil place.

These houses are so interesting

We came to this courtyard.

A quaint cafe tucked in the middle of the settlement, beside the courtyard with a cute car parked outside. We parked there and walked around.

So clean and quiet! Spot the church behind.

I Am Cat.

Love LOVE LOVE the lime green door!

Pretty bell tower-arch.

We headed to Pyrgos.

PYRGOS!

Spotted two very beautiful houses side-by-side. Look at the baby blue flower pots and the pretty red vines crawling up the coral walls. I adore how white and bright all the houses are there.

The plaza at Pyrgos

We drove down to the Wine Museum for a bit because the souvlaki place we were looking for in Pyrgos only opened for dinner.

The vineyard had this entire movie crew models.

Pretty, pretty vines

The bright-coloured loo!

Which was equipped with toilet-seat covers!!

Headed back to Pyrgos. Found out the souvlaki place was closed that day! :( Decided to explore Pyrgos instead.

I felt like Dorothy except that the stairs were my yellow brick road...

After a few flights and a few dark corners, walla!!!

Stood there for a couple of minutes in the windy silence and enjoyed the view.

The view.

These abandoned houses fascinate me to no end. Look at that door! Alice would have gone in there :)

How interesting it would be to be invited by someone living in that house. :)

Shadow shot. I'm a little teapot, short and stout!

We went back to Oia for another BBQ session since the first one was so irresistably tasty! We used the big BBQ with a chimney.

Different type of sausages and the steaks Ying brought with him. :)

We bought tomatoes on the way back. I MISS THOSE HUGE RED & SWEET TOMATOES!

Beautiful Santorini Day 5 - Part I: The Red Beach

2011-06-13T19:37:00.001+08:00

We did many things on this day so I had to split the post into 2. Cloudy day when we first set off to the Red Beach which was on the other side of the island. We took the high road that day which did not terrify me on that day because we were on the other side of the road. But on another sunny day I was close to tears when we rode back that way. On the left, it's like landslides were about to happen. On the right, you basically look off a very steep cliff. The road was very narrow too. It's actually quite insane when you take the low road (as you can see in the picture below), glance upwards and see huge buses turning corners on the high road.

Spot the ship!

Couldn't help but take a photo of the clouds. Clear and crispy cotton.

On our trusty scooter.

Stopped at another scenic spot. 10 virtual high-fives to those who spotted the fishing circle!

Watercolour studio and dramatic clouds:)

We have arrived at the Red Beach!

Gorgeous waters

Check out the red lava sand.

Lo and behold: TADA!

See the tiny people laying on the beach? We have to go on a mini-hike to get down there. There was no real path cut out to get to the beach. Simply that we saw people there, so we figured it's possible.

Up this steep rocky terrain

See that couple up there? We came down from there. Quite scary cos the rocks would crumble when you step on them.

We were standing at the edge where the group of people are earlier. Then the steep hike towards the left and down towards the beach.

Spot a person who went the lower route

The shore in Santorini is always filled with pebbles. Walking into the water is like walking on those foot therapy stones.

How to resist attempting artistic shots with the ring yet again :D

We had a challenge of who can throw the stone the furthest :D

I left my heartttt~in San- toriniiiii~

In his eyes...

Caught the cutie mid-climb lol.

The customary shot :) We make it a point to take our shadows in new places we visit when it's sunny.

Crystal clear.

More baked goods ❤ This is a Milk Pie.

Door to Zeus? Yes, Greece has peculiarly shaped clouds.

Beautiful Santorini Day 4- To the beach and Fira

2011-06-10T22:49:00.002+08:00

We decided to spend a relaxing day on the beach. We spotted a nice shore on our way to Fira.

The waves were too strong for us to go wading/ floating so we sat on the shore and had some baklava and homemade hazelnut creme-filled cookies.

Interesting sign.

We went back to the spot on the 2nd day which dips down to an area where yachts berth. It's very quiet so it is an ideal place just to hear the waves. We enjoyed our lunch there. We went crazy at the local bakery in Oia. I got myself a sesame seed chicken pie which I ended up eating more than once because it was soo soo good. We both shared it and it was enough to make us full. Talk about value for the money. 2.20 Euros. I love the baked goodies. For one, there is no false advertising in bakeries here. If they say it's Feta Cheese pie, you can expect a truckload of Feta cheese being piped into every crevice of the pie. The same for all the pies and cookies with fillings in it.

Ahhh... ❤

Just look how long the pie is :D And every square inch of it is literally covered with sesame seeds :) My fav.

One huge wave came and the aftermath as witnessed below: Ying went on to enjoy his baklava after that.

We headed to Fira a short while after. Looking at all the Fira pictures here makes me want to weep. It is so astoundingly beautiful that I have no words except to fill this post with neverending pictures. I apologise if I flooded your screen with an overload of pictures but the view!

Absolutely adore these doors that seem to beckon you to walk through to another world. In actual fact, they all lead you down some stairs to the shop/house below :)

Interesting name :) They have a live webcam broadcasting from here everyday so you can see Santorini's caldera view live if you want. GO CLICK!!!!!

These cafes offer the most splendiferous views. Imagine sipping a cup of coffee/ eating some icecream at that middle table over there!

Jaw-dropping awesomeness. I'm about to fall off my chair- and I have looked at these at least 3 times already!

Seriously, do not step foot on Santorini unless you are ready to have a week of depression afterwards :D We were having withdrawal symptoms for the entire 2 weeks after we returned.

Just look at the magnificent ferries which double as cruise ships. They ferry people from island/volcano to island/volcano. They are huge and look so stately on the sunlit waters.

I could not stop snapping pictures as you can tell. My fingers were so trigger-happy that day.

At this point, I have gasped so much I was quite out of breath.

Made Ying go atop a platform protruding out from the cliff to get some great-er (as if anything could get greater than this) views

No caption necessary. *gawks speechlessly*

Nice passerby offered to snap us a picture.

Look- they number the stairs!!! The place is OCD- friendly!

Went to the famous Nikolas Tavern for some even more famous tomatoballs. The waiter/Nikolas himself (IDK) came out and said confidently (as Ying was staring at his Blackberry looking rather puzzled), "I know WHAT you are looking for!" Ying: "What?" Him: "What you are looking for is HERE!" Hahaha... Brilliant sales strategy huh?

We had some fish soup

AND THE BEST TOMATOBALLSSSSSSSSSSSS... my mouth is watering :'( COME BACK TO ME!

More spectacular-ity. :D If you're wondering why I'm wearing a cardigan, the wind was quite strong. :)

I cannot help but wonder how this would have looked like on a DSLR!

DONKEHHHHHH. There was a tiny little dog always running behind the last donkey it was so adorable. We would laugh so hard everytime we see it. Imagine a tiny dog herding donkeys. Failed to capture it in picture though.

How much is that doggie up on the roof???

We headed back to Oia and I cooked some lovely couscous, macaroni and pollock fillets for dinner! Spot the cat's tail. Follows us around everyday. Greets us the moment the scooter rumbles into the garden. Check out the gigantic tomato. The most luxurious and sweet tomatoes that I've ever tasted in my life.

Another magical sunset.