Happy 30th Birthday

Happy Birthday darling!!!
30 really ain't that bad, join the club! :)

Chinese New Year

picasion

Chinese New Year Yee Sang to usher in the Year of the Snake. We did it twice this year, first at Aunty Janice's place on Chinese New Year Eve and another at plusixfive supperclub last night.

Both were good and satisfies the once-a-year-only cravings. It is not my favourite dish but having in on the table symbolises Chinese New Year and for that I toss as high as possible, wishing for good health and good fortune (winning the Lottery) and having a plate-full of it.

Love day

He says: She sings like a duck
She says: He farts under the duvet

This is how we roll...

Happy Valentine's day!

Accidentally deleted this post so am posting it again - duh!

Pancake race and pink pancakes

Shrove Tuesday (yesterday) was so so cold. I can vouch for that because Arya and I were standing outside Truman's Brewery watching the Great Spitafields Pancake Race taking place. I lost sensations on my fingers the minute I took my gloves off to take pictures of the race. We saw the first half of the race but after 15 minutes we admitted defeat and returned to the warmth of the office.

I was completely inspired by the range of pancakes that people make on Shrove Tuesday - the standard pancakes to okonomiyaki to roti jala to kueh dadar. I wanted to make the ricotta pancakes I did last year but good ol' Tesco sold out on ricotta so I went back to basic but made my pancakes pink instead.

The end of a (CNY) era for me

There are many things or moment that screams 'You are no longer a kid, you are an adult!!' even though I still feel like a kid deep inside. Often these moments conjure up a mix of emotions in me: of excitement and anticipation and sometimes fear, such as:
- getting my first credit card (not Bank of Daddy's supplementary card)
- buying expensive make-up from a proper make-up counter
- buying that first designer handbag with my hard-earned cash
- planning my own holiday
- first pay check from a 'proper' job
- going for an expensive meal (without Daddy and Mummy)
- the biggie, getting married (doh!)

Then there are those 'smack right in your face it hurts' moments that signifies you are  'not such a kiddo anymore love':
- getting life insurance
- mortgage
- paying off credit card bills (without Bank of Daddy's contribution!)
- pension plans
- dealing with a broken boiler
- getting the 'tick tock tick tock' lecture about the state of my ovaries from a nurse

I am going all melodramatic because today I feel old, which is even worst that feeling like an adult. This is all coming to a head because I just handed out my first ang pows at Chinese New Year! This is seriously like, the end of an era for me!!!! Once you start giving ang pows there is no going back!!! I would consider this to be one of the bigger disadvantages of being married.

No more excitement of sneakily trying to open the ang pow to see if it is a biggie. No more feelings of disappointment if the ang pow received is heavy (horror! coins instead of notes! This ain't cool aunties, aint cool!). My siblings and I will tip all the angpows we collected into a middle pile late one night and fan out all those notes and feel rich and beautiful while we count our takings. Mum will be watching with eagle eyes to make sure we did not sneak a note under our PJs.

The only way to soften the blow is to have kids so you will get something back in return - technically the ang pows are for the kid but if they are a toddler it doesn't count right? I think it should go to the parents. Mum always say she has 5 kids to recoup her 'loses'. Maybe she is right.

OK...I'm off to find Scott! ;)

Paper planes love

First seen via Jo's website

This makes me go ''aaaahhhhhh.......sweeeeeettttttt'. So good it is being nominated for Best Animated Short Film at the Oscars this year.

So it is Friday and I am getting excited for the weekend, there are lots (of food) to look forward to:

©       Kicking off Friday evening with a feast of SpitandRoast Jamboree. They are serving chicken wings, buttermilk fried chicken bap, mac n cheese and doughnuts. I feel sorry for my waistline and cholesterol levels just typing those out!

©       Chinese New Year dinner at Aunty Janice’s place on Saturday. I cannot wait to Yee Sang the year of the Snake in!

©       Our friends Ewan and Laura are visiting us from Scotland. This often means a bit of sight seeing (I am thinking Columbia Flower Market)and possibly a pub lunch.

©       I also need to prep for a dumpling party I am having on Monday night. One of the girls is not keen on dumplings and I am making it my mission to convert her! 

Happy Friday!

January...according to Instagram

©       a Moroccan lunch date on a cold Saturday

©       finally done with our wedding Thank You cards

©       bike shopping on a very early Saturday morning

©       the snow came

©       made pork dumplings

©       had a takeaway Indian with Ross and Nat in Cambridge

©       baked chocolate and marshmallow brownies

©       spoiled for choice of Chobani yogurts in the office

©       got creative with Scott's 30th birthday presents

©       a day trip to Long Melford

5 minutes of wedding fame

Couple of months ago I received a surprised (possibly awkward, on her part) email from Marianne, our wedding photographer in London. She wanted to informed us that a couple of our wedding pictures have been picked to be included in a wedding how-to book in France! Awkward because we have never been informed or gave consent to use our pictures and at that point in time, the book is in the process of being printed (i.e. too late to pull out).

The back story was the publisher commissioned Marianne to photograph her wedding and she later approached Marianne to use some of her pictures for this wedding how-do book she is creating. Marianne provided the pictures and was waiting to see what was selected so that she can inform and seek consent from her customers to publish these pictures. But typical French way of working, she heard nothing and when she did, it was to be told that the book is going to print!

We saw the funny side to it, told Marianne we are fine with them using our pictures and had a good laugh when our complimentary book arrived in the post. We are on the contents page which gave us the biggest giggles. They also used one of our favourite picture which we are pleased about. Overall is it a lovely book though we have no idea what is being said in it as everything is in French! If you fancy a copy, you can buy it here

We will also be featured in Singapore's Peranakan magazine in the coming months, an article about our Scottish-Peranakan wedding. These 2 pieces would be the extend of our '5-minute wedding fame'. We declined other magazine offers and an interesting proposal by a Travel Channel - the idea of an interview and an additional 2 camera crews following us around on our wedding day is a little too OK magazine for me...which really, it not OK.

NB: This post was meant to be written at NuffnangX #Blogbash held at The Luxe restaurant. But I got too busy chatting to the bloggers instead...don't forget to check out their blogs!

Adeline, http://love2feed.wordpress.com/

Anastasia, http://www.anastasiabakes.com/

Ben & Jules, http://www.londontheinside.com/

Ceri, http://cucinaceri.com/

Chris, http://www.tikichris.com

Claire, http://www.countrymouseclaire.com/

Eleanor, http://cakeovertheworld.wordpress.com/

Fleur, http://www.diaryofavintagegirl.com/

Jaime, http://jaimskitchen.blogspot.co.uk/

Jean-Luc, http://allthingsalpine.com/

May, http://www.slowfoodkitchen.com/

Natasha, http://girlinthelens.com/

Prad, http://uncoveringmylens.com

Rebecca, http://www.biteablebeauty.com/

Sara, http://loblerdelaney.co.uk/

Sam, http://globetrotterpostcards.blogspot.co.uk/

Serena, http://thefworld.org/

Shu Han, http://mummyicancook.blogspot.co.uk/

Photo a day: Canonbury Station

When the weather is not bicycle-friendly, I take the 'ginger line' to work

White January

So we had a rainy and fairly warm Christmas last year and the snow finally made an appearance in January. I was home alone last weekend while Scott was back in Glasgow with optimistic plans to watch his (2nd division...2ND DIVISION okay, this is love) football team play a match - unlucky though, frozen ground means he ended up in a pub instead. I mean I could have told him that but he was insistent and he braved the 1 hour delay flight up - his choice!

Sunday was the ideal day for a very lazy morning and I was in bed until 2pm. Milky tea, nutella on toast and the Sunday papers kept me very happy but I was eventually forced to leave the bed when nature calls and the tummy rumbles. So after a quick bite of something leftover in the freezer, I wrapped up warm, braved the snow and went for a walk towards Upper Street.

Walking through Highbury Fields is my favourite bit - all the snowmen! Sometimes I wished I was a kid growing up somewhere with snow - the sledging, the snow fights, the building of snowman and of course hot chocolates at the end of the day to warm up cold fingers. I had a bowl of kimchi stew to warm up my cold fingers instead. I was also about £100 lighter in my pocket after a casual walk in to Whistles....bad move.