Whisky tasting in Islay, Scotland

A couple of days before we flew to Glasgow for our holidays, Scott woke up one morning and told me he had a bad dream. He dreamt that we had our holiday in Islay and he didn't visit any of the whisky distilleries! Oh the boy was upset! The primary aim of visiting Islay is to do a 'whisky crawl' and be merry.

Every day was planned with military precision. The boys wanted to visit as many whisky distilleries as possible while for us girls, it is also about getting some good chow to line the stomach. We (ok, not so much me) would pore over the island map and plan our route making sure we have potential lunch places en-route to these distilleries. On the first day, we drove by a house with a 'home-made tablet' sign outside, we made the boys stop the car, ran to the house under the rain dodging peacocks in the garden (random but true!) and grab some for the car ride. A little sugar fix is always good for the soul!

There are 8 distilleries on the island and we visited 6 - Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Ardbeg, Bowmore, Bruichladdich and Kilchoman. Each distillery offers whisky tasting and we had most of ours for free with Bruichladdich being the most generous! Scott was extra smug about this as he gets double measure of this 'liquid gold' since I am not a whisky person and my tasting dram gets passed on pretty swiftly to him!

We did 2 tours of the distilleries - Bowmore and Laphroaig. As the brewing process is similar I did not have a preference for one over the other though we did get to see how the malting of the barley is done in Laphroaig but not in Bowmore. The malting process is an interesting one for me as it is fairly labour intensive compared to the rest of the processes involved. The soaked barley are evenly spread out on the ground and it has to be turned every 4 hours to encourage germination. This is now done by a machine though some distilleries try to maintain tradition (e.g. Bowmore and Laphroaig) and malt 20% of their barley using the traditional way whereby a man has to turn over the barley with a shovel every 4 hours!

My top 2 favourite whisky distilleries are Bruichladdich and Laphroaig. Bruichladdich blew me away with its branding and design - it feels fresh and current with a crisp font and color. It wasn't immediately obvious that a Bruichladdich bottle holds whisky in it if you are not familiar with the brand. The aqua colour stood out. There are many speculations on how the color came about but on their blog, they said that it was simply inspired by the colour of the sea outside the distillery (OMG yes they have a blog - how progressive for a whisky company!). I think the branding appeals to the younger whisky drinkers but may have a tendency to alienate its older clienteles. But we 'get' it and and to quote Jenna - we fell for it 'hook, line and sinker'! We left the shop with 6 bottles of whisky, 1 bottle of gin (mine!), a scarf, a cap, and a hipflask....Yup, we 'get' it.

Laphroaig is another favourite but for the exact opposite reasons of why I love Bruichladdich. It has a great museum detailing its history, it feels traditional without being stuffy and it has some clever marketing up its sleeves. They encourage you to be a 'Friends of Laphroaig' - a free membership that comes with a free 1 square foot plot of land around the Laphroaig distillery.  In the museum, you are provided with wellies and waterproof jacket and are encourage to walk the land to find your plot. Once you have found it, you are provided with your country's flag to 'mark your plot'. You can see flags of  various countries sticking out of the empty land surrounding Laphroaig - it inspired you to find your plot and leave your mark too. They also offer the opportunity to choose and bottle your own whisky directly from cask which is such a great idea. I would have bought that experience as a present for Scott if I had known it was on offer. I obviously did not do my extensive whisky research!

I initially thought this holiday would be mainly for Scott but I actually had a great time and would love to visit again. We had a great holiday home, good food, bought 8 bottles of whiskies and I personally came home with a bottle of gin and a tea towel. Not bad...not bad at all.

Islay , Scotland

You know what they say about Scotland...if you are lucky and the weather is fine, Scotland is one of the most gorgeous places in the world. Unfortunately the weather is rarely fine in Scotland (based on personal experience!). 

In our early dating days, Scott tried to change my perception of the weather in Scotland. I clearly recalled him telling me that palm trees grow in Scotland and his granny has them in her garden in Aaran. I wasn't convinced - I am not sure how those palm trees survive (he wasn't lying, there are palm trees) but they are clearly a different type to those I am familiar with in Malaysia! As luck would have it, the first time I visited Scott and his family, Scotland was experiencing a heatwave and I remember going for walks in inappropriate footwear traipsing around Culzean Castle and Loch Lomond.

But they are right – Scotland is truly beautiful when the weather is right. We spend 4 nights in Islay last week and it was bliss. We flew to the island from Glasgow and we were filled with anticipation in the tiny propeller plane whilst overlooking the sunset landscape.

Jenna (sis-in-law) found the amazing house we rented at Port Ellen (the southern tip of the island) – underfloor heating, beach at our doorstep, fireplace, full length window and sliding door with views of the beach and remote enough that there is no mobile signal.

We spend our days walking and whisky tasting and are often back in the house for a cuppa late afternoon and chill on the sofa with a roaring fire before dinner time. On our second night, we ordered lobsters from the local fishmonger and she drove by the house with the 2 lobsters in her hand, still alive and wriggling, no plastic bag! Free range, green and value for money at £15! We initially made the mistake of putting them in the tub with hot water, thus ‘waking them up’ but we got smart quick and shove them in the freezer to ‘put them to sleep’!

We got lucky with the weather on our first day, the wind is still and you can feel warmth from the autumn sun on your back. But often the weather changes during the day and the in-between offers the most breath-taking view of the island. The clouds changing colour, the distant mist, the moody landscape, the sea salt in the wind and if you chance it for a second too long, that ‘wind’ might drench you. We caught sight of a beautiful rainbow after the passing rain on our first day.

I was hoping to see seals on the beach as apparently they are frequent visitors to the island. The last time I saw seals was in Sea World in Gold Coast Australia! Oh my, we got lucky and saw 4 seals playing hide and seek with a dog in a cove! The seals would slowly surface to air and the dog, standing on a rock close to the water would look out for them. When the dog caught sight of the seals, it would bark and the seals would disappear back into the water! The seals will slowly resurface again until the next bark. Those seals was a highlight for me.

The Orange Buffalo Wings

Let's just get to the point with this one - my favourite bit of a chicken is the wings - not drumstick  or thigh and definitely not the breast meat which I consider the most bland bit of a chicken. Shock horror but yes, too much white meat that can easily go rubbery/stringy. Brown meat all the way for me.

It always baffles me when I shop for chicken in any supermarket in the UK and you get the usual - breast meat at  extortionate prices, thighs and drumsticks marginally cheaper and and and....no wings. Where are the wings?! Do they end up in some cheap sausages or exported to China? The only time I ever see wings being sold is during BBQ season but it is often the basic range that carries it. Where have all the free range wings fly to?

Ponder, ponder, ponder...

Then one fine day Arya mentioned The Orange Buffalo Wings food truck at Brick Lane and I just had to check it out. The 'Orange' must be referencing the colour of the spicy coating of these hot wings - and boy are these babies hot! I was chancing it by ordering half the wings in original sauce (which is hot enough for me!) and half in a 'back-counter' sauce which pretty much killed my tastebuds.

It was a messy affair, I had orange sauce all over my hands, my top and even in my hair (it was windy, lesson learnt) - and they cleverly provided kitchen roll and hand sanitizer, but a good one nonetheless. They serve the wings with a portion of fries that comes with blue cheese sauce and celery which in my opinion is a redundant '5-a-day' garnish (maybe because I dislike celery).

The truck is permanently set in Brick Lane and I think I am due another visit soon for my wing fix and to show some love during the cold winter months. These boys are mad...but I am glad they are mad about wings

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green Tomatoes

The garden received little love from us this summer as we got busy with the wedding. Of course the too-wet weather doesn't help either! But we did get lucky with a glut of plums that have been turned into jams and plum vodka (hell yea!), handful of chillies, salad boxes and tiny globes of kohl rabi. Surprisingly some of our tomatoes survived the summer and we recently harvested a handful of them. I am hesitant to eat them because they are so pretty but they will be chopped up into a salad sometime this week. We also have a big bowl of green tomatoes which is often the case towards the end of the season....so many never 'make it'...these will end up being roasted up for cheese/pasta

Street Feast London

Last Friday Scott and I, alongside Arya and a mate of his went to Street Feast London for dinner. It was what I would described as a pimped out version of our Malaysian pasar malam: Street vendors selling food,a couple of stores selling homeware/clothes but without the 'wet' market element (e.g. selling fresh meat/veg). It had a great vibe and atmosphere - 16 street vendors, 2 bars serving drinks, sharing tables, reservation tables with waiting staff if you are so inclined, music and very kids friendly.

The street food scene in London has definitely grew in epic proportion in the last 2 years of so - a concept that works really well in the summer and bringing it indoors to a disused carpark (for shelter and some warmth) in the winter was a super idea! I cannot tell you how excited I was to go - I was counting down the hours on Friday, keeping up-to-date on twitter, went to the cash point at lunchtime to make sure I had enough cash in hand, I have not felt this excited for a long time!



Overall I would say my excitement was justified but some of the street food was a let down. Between the 4 of us, we did get over-excited and over-order, naturally.

The Good:
Homeslide pizza: They have a custom build wood fire oven producing thin based (but not soggy!) pizza, flavourful with each bite. I had the ricotta (flavoured with lemon zest), mushroom and basil pizza and you can taste the faint hint of lemon - love!
Big Apple Hot Dogs: I didn't get a bite of this but Scott vouch for its tastiness. I will take his word for it, he knows his sausages.
Bharga Burger: Scott wolfed down his portion so I assumed it was pretty good. They had a steady flow of customers throughout the night so it can't be that bad
Sorbitium Ices: Crazy different flavours of ice cream. You can't go wrong with artisan ice cream when it is done right

So-so:
Mother flipper burger: I had high expectation...it was tasty but not as tasty as Lucky Chip's burger. The bun failed to hold up to the sauce/beef and it was a soggy mess towards the end.
Rainbo: chicken and tofu dumpling - flavourful and tasty as a dumpling should be but it lacks something that I can't really put my finger on. To start with, they serve the dumplings with the wrong type of chilli sauce (a thai chilli sauce - no!) if you want to be purist about it.
Horn OK please: Love the name! Arya's friend bought a portion (not sure what it was), I liked what I had (texture similar to tiny rice krispies!) and I would give it a proper try next time

Let-down:
Yum Jungle: I was debating between their spicy chicken which had rave reviews or some fresh scallops from Pop up Barbados. I should have gone for the latter. The chicken was so salty I left the last piece of chicken on the plate.
Kimchi Cult: I wasn't completely sold on their burger USP just by adding kimchi, Arya tried it but ended up nicking some chilli sauce off Big Apple Hot Dog to make it more palatable...enuff said
Bar: I was disappointed with the drinks selection - esp.the beer: Either bottle of Becks or cans of Red Stripes?! Really? I thought they might be serving beers from Hackney or London Field brewery which is pretty much down the road. A shame really as it would be a great place to drink/support a local brew.

Overal, I am glad they are open every Friday for the whole winter and I know I will definitely go back for more - Homeslide pizza alone is a big enough attraction to return.

My weekly World Wide Web treasures

Too cute for words 


More cute-ness - Best Halloween outfit seen online so far (via Beautiful Mess)


Beautiful handmade stuff, run by a daddy and daughter, beautiful stuff with one of the best looking online shop around


Nutella, sea salt, choc cookies: I need to make this soon - on my list but kept forgetting


Photograph by Laura Lee (via Poppy Talk)
This is for Scott

Spit&Roast buttermilk fried chicken bap

A picture speaks tastes a thousand words.
The best fried chicken bap evarrrr - just the right crispiness of the skin with a hint of heat (from black peppers in the coating?), tenderness of the meat and a good chilli kick. The bread is nothing to shout about but who cares about the bread when the chick blows your tastebud.

I suggest you hunt them down here

Paris, crepe and a surprise night event

Ever since we got together 7 years ago, we holidayed in Paris at least once a year, sometimes twice which makes Paris our favourite and most frequently holidayed city together, well apart from Glasgow - though I am not sure if that counts as we travel to Glasgow to visit Scott's family so not technically a holiday per se.




Similar to our previous trip earlier this year for Scott's birthday, we rented an apartment in the Marais area. This is definitely my favourite district - the shops, the Jewish quarter patisseries, the proximity to St-Martins Canal, Jacques Genin chocolate shop and our new found love-Alain Roussel crepe!


Alain Roussel was a surprise find. I initially had my heart set on trying the buckwheat crepe at Breizh Cafe after reading countless reviews about their crepe online. We got there for 12pm on Saturday, the shop was jam-packed with Americans and Chinese tourists and we were told we can have a seat in 2 hours. Shiteeeee - Gutted...we should have booked but when in Paris we rarely do, esp not for crepe! So we (more me really) shuffled out of the shop reluctantly and ended up in a Brasserie nearby which was actually pretty good for lunch.

After lunch, we walked around Marais and as the rain started sputtering down we seek shelter in Marche des Enfants Rouges. We were sniffing out the cheese and fruits when I caught a queue waiting for crepe...we got closer and the guy making the crepe looked familiar and then it strikes me! He was the guy in Rachel Khoo's The Little Paris Kitchen TV series! So of course we joined the queue and while waiting, he passed round bits of crepes that he has sprinkled with sugar and lemon and it tasted good enough for us to stick around for our own! We had one crepe each (because it is cheap and I don't like sharing) - mine was with honey and Scott had his with sugar and lemon. The main difference is the texture of the crepe - soft, somewhat creamy but not in a dairy way and floppy-like unlike most crepes which tend to be on the thicker side. We had smiles between bites making it a happy-crepe-ending afterall!


We have done most of the 'must-see' tourist bits of Paris but every trip we try to see/eat/explore something new (to us). This time, we checked out Musee Carnavalet - a great museum all about Paris. Unfortunately, I can't remember the specifics of the museum as we were not allowed to take pictures and I was suffering from a lunch coma. It is larger than it looks - with rooms after rooms of amazing paintings - of the war, the revolution, Parisian in their daily life. My lack of knowledge of art meant I am not doing justice at describing the museum but please go if you are in the area, I enjoyed it and will go back again to cover the areas that were closed that day.




On Saturday night, we were also lucky enough to be in Paris for the annual Nuit Blanche event (White Night) - an annual event celebrating all things art and culture where various museums, galleries, city halls and other grand buildings open their doors for one night only, all night, free entrance for all. We didn't plan anything but as most of the events were happening around the Marais area, we just follow the crowd and saw light installations, dancing in a courtyard of a grand building, opera singing and the obligatory men being sick by the sidewalk...all part of the joys of late night entertainment. We have never see Paris that bustling around Hotel de Ville before.

Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - The way we Percheevals do it

Quick facts: Scott's Uncle Fred attends this horse racing event every year for the last 27 years and his dad has done is for slightly less but still an impressive streak for the last 17. It is an annual pilgrimage for them - not so much for the soul but more for the food and wine (we are talking Paris for cheese-sake) and the added thrill of potentially winning some moo-lah...which tends to go towards the weekend wine kitty, so it is a big deal!

If we stick to the comparison, Scott and I are way behind with this year's race being our 3rd. So yes...we were in Paris last weekend! We took the Friday afternoon Eurostar train to Paris, got there in time for dinner and stayed until after lunchtime on Monday. Perfect long weekend.





We (or should I say, the way the 'old men' have done it for the last 27 years) tend to attend the race on a Sunday, the big finale where the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe race is on.

The format is always the same...

We get to the race course about an hour earlier than the first race. We find a little quiet nook in the park opposite the race course and toast each other to another year of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, reminiscence about previous races, winnings/losses (these men memories of horses name and corresponding years of winning/losing blows me away - how they can remember such minute details but not where they last left their car keys are beyond me) and discuss the bets we have laid out - who manage to secure better odds - hah!


but it is not all serious business of course, we are on holiday!


but but but then of course it is serious business once we get the info sheet out and re-evaluate our bets and put new ones on!


I mean, the level of concentration for these races...


Scott did well at the race, winning just over 200 euros but the rest of the team are let down by an unexpected win at the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe race. One of the Japanese horse (Orfevre) was leading and was very close to finish and the cheering crowd was going mad and the noise was deafening (no Japanese horse has ever won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe) but out of nowhere Solemia came charging by and won the very close race. Immediately you can hear the crowd went silent. But I bet the bookies must be rubbing their hands in glee. I mean the odds of Solemia winning was 33-1 - a surprise win no doubt.



Horse racing is not really my thing but I enjoy it for other reasons: the horses, the adrenaline, the men's banter, watching Scott creating memories with his dad and uncle, ogling chic French women and playing spot the English women in their too-high high heels and too-short dresses (or in one case, "gasp - is she wearing her wedding dress?!") carrying a bottle of white wine/can of beer.


Of course, my main treat for the day was this, I can't do horses all day without something to bite on