politically correct moleskine diary stickers for your anniversary ;)

it's been a (long) while...

No...it's been ages! The last time I posted something here was a year ago. It was the beginning of my final year as a student and boy what a year it was!!! Busy was not even enough for all the hours of studying, researching, working, interning, being an RA and a lot more! what a journey it was!

Really quite cliche sounding, but it's another chapter in my life. I've graduated, got myself employed, and even moved house. Thanks to more stable resources...I can now safely say...let the wandering begin!

stately weekend of learning

Last weekend not only was i ecstatic that i didnt have to stand up for 8 hours on the shop floor; I had a free weekend of learning at Cumberland Lodge inside The Great Park in Windsor. Thanks to being a Resident Assistant at one of the coolest places to live in London, we had an amazing weekend of cultural awareness, event planning, hearty eating, and movie making! Oh and a Blair Witch type of walk after dinner...erm of course I dont have pics of that!

music room

part of the grand stairs


view from the window

can i have a library like this??


wish i had dishes like these everyday!!!

healthy and yummy veggie tart

dessert over the weekend...my faves!

dinner i enjoyed the most..mushroom soup, salmon cakes, and chocolate cake


challenges we had to do as a teamany thoughts on how we did them? ;)

the winning team from norway, palestine, philippines and uk!

Cumberland Lodge regularly conducts conferences and their next big one is the International Christmas Event..details here

And for the events at ISH...please visit http://www.ishevents.org.uk
50% discount on local and international tours for UK students
Karaoke Thursdays, Free Sunday movies and much more!!!

first asos purchase

Browsing through ASOS has been a regular thing for me to do..specifically when I'm waiting for Gossip Girl/Entourage/True Blood to load..slow internet I know..I was a bit apprehensive to buy online though as usually pictures are heavily retouched.

These brogues were in the Clearance section at 12 pounds. Great design. Check. Great price. Check. Great replacement for my old brogues. Check. I figured it would be made of cheap material but hey there's no harm in engaging in fast fashion once in a while. Take note! Just once in a while.


They arrived one time with the 3 day delivery. The box was just taped once; luckily no harm done. The box was crushed though. Thanks to the plastic pillows the shoes were unharmed. I was so happy the shoes looked exactly the same!





I was right with the materials; they are definitely nowhere near leather and I already have a small scratch on it. Nevertheless, I am very happy with my new shoesies!!! In fact, I wore them today for my first day at my new internship. Teamed my ASOS brogues with the outfit below..Sorry forgot to take a pic..


Now let's see how long they will last. I was almost fuming when a mom nearly ran a pram through my brogues on my way home! Luckily, they were okay, suprisingly without a single scratch..maybe it was the rain.

PS. Can the powers be please please reorder these black & white brogues...I promise to buy!

missing indo/malay food: C and R Westbourne Grove

For my last day at my internship i decided to reward myself with feel good food. I spotted C&R Westbourne Grove while in a bus home. The place is probably three times the size of the one in Soho plus it has a bit of ambience to boot! I was the lone customer at 1:00 p.m. so as expected service was really fast.


Here's my before picture. Nasi Goreng Kampung at 7.50 pounds and Es Teh Tarik for 2.50 pounds. My measure of good nasi goreng is the amount of chili and shrimp hidden in the rice. This passed with flying colours! Around 10 pieces of shrimp and generous amount of sliced chillies. The rice was right seasoned with soy and piping hot. For 2.50, the tea was big as I get the Thai Iced Tea from Mangosteen in Carnaby and it's half of this one and .25p more expensive.

Excuse the gluttony...it was my first meal after lunch the day before. Excuses..excuses! ;) Eating at C&R also reminded me of my dinners with Sara at the Soho branch. She introduced me to the place and would always order Hainanese Chicken and Sambal Sotong which I also highly recommend.

on the tom ford experience

Tom Ford in Selfridges. Shriek! I am so there! Hang on...Tom Ford in Selfridges??? Signing perfume bottles?? Errrmm...for someone so A-list and someone with known for astronomical prices in luxury the image of him signing perfume bottles is somewhat too mass for me and my friends.

Now, we all know this guy is smart and that through his sunglasses he was able to find his clothing venture. However, we do believe there is no need to remove the mystery of his porelessness and for us to see him in real life. Did Tom do this to say thank you to his fans? We think not. Did Tom do this because he was paid a hefty sum by Selfridges as part of their 100th year celeb? Maybe..hhmm...Coz you see..let's do the math. Minimum purchase is 100 pounds per bottle. Let's say 100 people queued to meet and greet Mr. Sex Personified. That's just 10, 000 pounds which is probably not even one suit from his tailoring line. Then again, he gave the exclusive perfume deal to Selfridges, so maybe he came with the package.

Hey, this post is not to say I didn't enjoying seeing him in the flesh...and the staff doing last minute prep by using lint remover to clean the carpet he was going to stand on..and seeing beautiful boys surround him and hold his pens for signing...

Maybe a talk at LCF next time Mr. Ford?

take a bite from your ring shall you..

the SA at Boucheron laughed at me...well because i squealed when I saw these...

two loves in one...i wonder if these will actually sell..

all things yellow

Trying to kill time waiting for a university letter, I headed over to Selfridges and stopped at the usual suspects..NARS and Kiehl's counter, magazine section, Artisan du Chocolat and then I remembered with all the yellowness around me that there was an exhibit downstairs for Selfridges 100th birthday...Ive never seen so much yellow in my life!

Random faves...

red is for oscars, purple for mtv, yellow is for thee..

look at what i found in the kid's corner...why hey he's a kid at heart

(Outside) rubber ducky you're the one...you make bath time time lots of fun...

Now I just have to wait to run into the Selfridgettes...of course in their Giles rubber ducky dresses...

I wonder if it's the best way to celebrate your 100th?

missing my northern retreat

i woke up today feeling like i should hop on the train northbound to durham...

i just checked my pics and out of my all my trips my fave pics are from different bridge views..

from the side of the shopping centre

on the way to in shanghai

photo op with priest on the way to the cathedral

otw to city centre

durham uni students rowing

otw to the library

not too long now...

london dimsum part 1: yauatcha

I've read so much about Yauatcha from blogs, guides and reviews. It sounded perfect to me. Asian taste. check. Sweets. check. Yummy cocktails. check. And to be honest reviews about bad service in a Chinese restaurant only means one thing to me. It means it's authentic, served by Chinese people whose concern is to serve food fast, piping hot. I know that's a fast generalisation but really I always find that when I go for restaurants with reviews like this, I tend out to be fiiine.

What better way to entertain my amiga Chloe who's visiting from Vancouver than merienda in Yauatcha? :) She's my forever culture vulture, gourmet and sweet tooth partner in crime. I was too lazy to take pics but here are shots by Chloe:

dessert heaven!!!!

Chloe's dessert (i forgot the name). What i remember is chloe asking for a soft dessert as her teeth were still sensitive from a dentist thingy. Chocolate-mousse like this dessert was perfect! Kudos to my amiga for trying very hard not to finish the dessert before i get my food.

First meal of the day after an all nighter for an essay. At nearly 5 pounds per dish, the dimsum was all worth it! i got the char siu cheung fun and the peking dumplings. Both filled to the brim, steamed with proper timing and just the right thickness to the skin. Loooved it! As it wasnt crowded we were served quite promptly. We did notice that later on it was getting harder and harder to get the attention of the servers. Also i was expecting them to stop us from taking pictures but it didnt happen at all.

Now, with not more than an hour of sleep, I had to pass from the cocktails. So I just chose to have my hint of alcohol with my dessert. I chose jade ganache which had absinthe whipped into the cream. I really enjoyed the hint of bitterness in the cream constrasting the sweetness of the chocolate and nuttiness of the almonds. The coffee taste blended in quite well too.

And of course our last measure of a good resto...the washroom. Yauatcha passed with flying colours! Thich tissue, good handwash and unique sink. ;)

I would definitely go back to Yauatcha to try other dimsum dishes and the cocktails. To try more the key would be to bring your girlfriends. The only thing I was underwhelmed with was the interior. To be honest, for being a trendy resto, I expected more. All in all, the right choice for a place to catch up with my amiga ;p