African Violet collection - new ones

I had this AV since april and it has been the best performer. the blooms are continuous and extremely pretty.

as most of my AVs are in their greens only, decided to get a new pot so as to get some flowers. this is a common pinkish purple one.

this is the first time I seen a pin-wheel colored one! it is known as "chimera" and they say if too hot, the blooms might revert back to the normal purple. so I kept it in office to enjoy aircon.

Rose collection - update Aug 09

I got myself another 2 new pots of roses recently. 1 pot with dark red flowers

and the other with mini bloom of red stripe

My Rose Collection

Remb my lilac rose? It has not died on me yet. Although the weather has been very hot recently, it managed to re-bloom 2 days ago ... swee bo?


Then I got this very special 7-sister rose. Why it is called "7-sis"? actually I also not too sure. But look at the roses, arent they sweet?



close up of the flowers. If you stick the roses close to your nose, the faint fragance is heaven!

London Food

After a day of outlet shopping, we had fish and chip for dinner. the fish is very fresh and thick.

we made a day trip to Oxford and had lunch at this BLANC ... the set meal is quite valued for money and very tasty too

we decided to have a change and have parkistan food for dinner. the restuarant is messy and dark and noisy but food is good and cheap. but to go again ... will consider twice

we made breakfast at the apartment ... luncheon meat, something bro & sis in law have not had for a while

we also cooked chicken rice for 1 of the dinners using the pre-mixed pack

bro brought us to this restuarant which serves nice set meals. service is really good too.

we also bought this frozen peking duck from the supermarket and grilled some mushrooms for dinner. the duck is really good

decided to hv chinese dim sum for lunch ... long time never eat chilli ... and I think we took a lot ... :P

before watching the muscial The Lion King, we had an early dinner nearby. The set is also quite good but serving was extremely slow.

Spain Food - Seville / Cordoba

Seville, being a small town, food is not as pretty as those in big cities. they tend to be on the salty side

Lunch - Hosteria del Laurel

for dinner, we were at a restaurant in a hotel (Taberna del Alabardero). very nice design, like old english style, even the toilet is very interesting

we spent a day in Cordoba and lunched at La Almudaina. Soup was salty but luckily the salad was refreshing.

We could not reach the restaurant which we wanted to have dinner, roads in the town are closed and no taxi is willing to bring us there. so we had no choice but to return to hotel and ate some italian food for dinner, just to fill up the stomach.

the last day in Seville, we made our way into town early in the morning before roads are closed. Found this restaurant which we wanted to try the previous day. The food were good, although many dishes which we wanted are not available.

I saw in a magazine that morning where it featured a bakery with the famous spain dessert ... some bread soaked in honey (cant remb the name) - the 2 squares on top left corner. so after lunch, we made our way and ordered lots dessert!

Spain Food - Madrid

we spent 2 days in madrid and the food there are good! yum yum

this is the world's oldest restaurant, Sobrino de Botin.

fish / seafood soup

the famous, must try roast suckling pig!

wood-roast pig
dinner was at El Amparo. setting is nice but no english menu, so hv to rely on the waiter to interpret the menu to us

I had fish (oops, cant remb what type)
yum yum

bro/sis inlaw had been to this restaurant (La Manduca de Azagra) in their previous Madrid trip.

The white asparagus is soft and delicious
I had roast pig again but this is different style... very nice too
we had too much for lunch and decided to eat Tapas for dinner. this cafe alike (Cerveceria Alemania) is crowded with locals but luckily they have english menu

Scones 09May2009

I know nice scones are not easy to make but who cares. the recipe is simple enough

this is cherry & sultana scones. ok, I know they do not look exactly like scones ... realise I dont hv round cutter, so I just rolled them into balls and flattened. I did brush some milk on top but seems not enough to brown the top ...

taste ... ok lah, not fantastic but reasonable lah