Tag: London

B’s latest buys – Haute Couture.

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In the weekend I went shopping to Bicester Village Outlets to buy birthday gifts for me from the husband! 🙂  Guilt free brand shopping is a therapy. To get your hands on little haute couture goodies is a blissful feeling.

In Dublin,  my Dior sunnies were stolen.  It was really tragic at that point.  In all honestly, I still feel sad about it even while typing this!  Funny how attached we get to materialistic things… What can I say?  I am guilty as charged.

I went searching for a replacement as I had gone to Westfield to see current models but they don’t compliment my face shape as much.  Bicester Village has older models that suit me more.

Roberto Cavalli:

ImageThis was rather chic and the color was vibrant.  it just suited me!  I had to get it.  🙂

My next gift was a Burberry.  Since I have a Burberry jacket and a Burberry bag it was time to get a different merchandise.  I was thinking wellies!  Boots!

The sun aint going to shine forever in London no matter how optimistic we might be!

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I’m looking forward to winter again, just so I can wear these 🙂

xx

B

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Travel Thursdays: Dublin

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B travels.

In Ireland do as the Irish do!  Wear a leprechaun hat, just because you want to.  Walk around in green the whole day because you want to celebrate St. Patricks Day but are just a few months late.  Just.. HAVE FUN!  That’s what we did!

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Just because I am a serious person who takes life far too seriously. 😉  HAHA! I actually try to adhere to the aphorism “Don’t take life too seriously, it’s not like we’re going to get out of it alive anyways.”  I’ve met some people who are far too gloomy and make the sunshine seem grey.  Really not my sort of thing! Try to put LIFE in LIFE and LIVE.  I did that in Dublin.  Walked around like a looney and had tons of fun! Ok, so many people assumed I was drunk. It happens when you try to be high on life.

Dublin is a bustling city with surrounding beautiful nature.  I was there on a family trip with cousins, aunts, and my husband.  It was a nice mix of company and ambience.

We stayed at Louis Fitzgerald Hotel (4 Star) and very reasonable priced from lastminute.com.  I would highly recommend it as the rooms very comfortable, there was free wifi and it was air-conditioned.  However, my cousins would disagree as they argued with the manager (long story).  So I won’t get into the technicalities of that as it had to do with noise control.  We were a tiny bit noisy. 😉

Places to see in Dublin:

  • Main city centre (very much like London actually)
  • Ha’penny Bridge over the Liffey River – beautiful for pictures.  There are many love padlocks here to symbolise undying love of a couple. You can put one too! Though I didn’t!
  • Trinity College – pretty college to stroll along.  It’s near the city centre so you can simply walk there.  We met a friend from that college to show us around.
  • Temple Bar- the bar that holds a Guinness World Record of 114 hours and 30 minutes of guitar playing.  You go DAVE!  Yes, so we went there to see this famous bar.  It was bustling.  I don’t drink but it was worth seeing the atmosphere.
  • Day tour from Dublin – I highly recommend to do one! You get to experience nature like never before.

We did the Connemara Day Tour.  We left the hotel really early as we had to be in the city centre at 6.30 am.  This is an early start, especially for someone like me.  I stress about waking up early.  All my university classes were always late as I simply could not do early mornings.  Therefore, if someone like me is highly recommending waking up early, it must be completely worth it.  The tour lasts 12 hours in which you pass through Galway to make your way to Connemara.  A boat tour is also included in the tour package of around 38 Euros per person.

This was the breath taking view of Connemara (the place where the romantic movie PS. I LOVE YOU was shot):

ImageIt resembled a beautiful postcard.  The photography-freak in me could not help but keep clicking pictures.  Some on our DSLR camera and some on my iPhone to whatsapp my family and friends who were missing out.  The view was really breath-taking.

We stopped in Galway and were free to roam around for an hour in the small town.  We grabbed something to eat and were back on the coach.

All in all, it was beautiful.  I even saw a beautiful sunset!  I love sunsets – there’s just something about the sun setting that gives me peace.  The beauty it exudes lights up the sky and then in a moment it’s dark.  Sunsets are mystical in my opinion.  There’s just something about them that I can’t describe as words do not seem to do justice to it.

ImageThis was taken on my iPhone and was edited with just one filter on Instagram.

Like any holiday, it becomes a memory that is etched in your heart.  The adventure that it entails is a story for one to always tell.

Dublin was a wonderful memory!

xx

B

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B’s Eggless Oven Pancake Topped With Frozen Banana (ice-cream)

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Me again 🙂  Today I thought I’ll blog again – another healthy recipe to keep the vegetarians going!  This oven pancake is eggless and puffs up in the oven – thus there’s no flipping required!  Easy treat with minimal ingredients.  Recently over my eggless home-made scones, a friend and I were having a conversation about eggless baking and she gave me a tip about substituting buttermilk for milk in the recipe and omitting eggs completely.  I had  to give it a go! 

I lined a pyrex dish with baking paper.  This allowed me to omit buttering the dish.  You can slightly butter the paper though.

ImageLooks kind of iffy, but it comes out easy don’t worry!  

The final result (I love this photo- it’s been edited using Snapseed):

ImageThis is a great low-fat treat.  There is NO SUGAR (except for the chocolate sprinkles on top which is minimal if you ask me). Also – the ice-cream is frozen banana which I blended.  That’s it!  Easy!  B’s food is usually quite easy! 

If you haven’t frozen banana before, here are the steps:

  • Peel the banana that is slightly browning
  • Cut it in small pieces
  • Freeze in ziplock
  • Can be frozen till 6 months (I’ve read online, but to be safer I’d say 3 months as I’m not a huge fan of freezing food to begin with)

B’s Eggless Oven Pancake Topped with Frozen Banana (ice-cream)

Bakes: One pancake for 2 people

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 tbsp vinegar (for the buttermilk)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • Vanilla essence to taste
  • A bit of butter to butter the tray (can omit this if using baking paper)
  • Frozen Banana
  • Chocolate Sprinkles (optional)

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 210 C.
  2. Pour a bit less than 1/2 cup of milk in a measuring cup.  Add 1/2 tbsp of vinegar to it and let it sit for 5 minutes.  This becomes your buttermilk.
  3. Pout milk in a bowl and mix in the flour and salt with a whisk.  Add vanilla essence. 
  4. Don’t overmix as it will lose its fluffiness as a pancake. (Just FYI)
  5. Pour in a pyrex dish lined with baking paper.
  6. Bake for about 30 minutes till it’s golden.
  7. Blend the banana pieces with a tiny bit of milk. 
  8. Top the pancake with the ice-cream and serve!

Enjoy a healthy dessert to beat the summer in London!

xx

B

 

B’s Easy Guacamole (Avocado Spread) Recipe

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HOLY MOLY – GUACAMOLE!

I’m trying to go back to my healthy eating regime.  It’s really a challenge with all the visitors that keep coming to London. No guest would like a bowl of salad for a meal or a healthy spread.  But since everyone’s gone for now – I can eat healthy again.

I made a guacamole spread as I had 2 avocados in the fridge and didn’t feel like eating them raw in salad. It’s really very easy for those of you who haven’t made it before!  I leave out onion and garlic just for the added simplicity.  However, you can fancy it up all you want!

Many people mash the avocado up but I prefer it to be a smoother paste.

I blended my ingredients to form a paste:

ImageThe creamy spread after I seasoned it:

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It was lovely!  Tasty and healthy vegetarian food, you can’t go wrong!

B’s Easy Guacamole (Avocado Spread)

Ingredients:

  • 2 avocados (ripened)
  • 4-5 cherry tomatoes
  • 1-2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp cumin powder
  • Salt and Black Pepper to season

Method:

  • Mash avocado.  Put it into a blender/chopper with cherry tomatoes cut into halves.  Blend till its a creamy paste.
  • Remove into a bowl and season with lemon juice, cumin powder, salt and pepper!

So easy, so tasty, so… there’s just no excuse 🙂

xx

B

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OPI: Turquoise Bright Nails

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The sun is blazing in the midst of London’s summer.  Yes summer.  It’s been so hot the last few days that I feel I’m living in the tropics.  Funny how I complain about the weather either way.  Haha!

The bright weather made me get bright nails done today!

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It’s the OPI Turquoise Shatter.  I’m not into shatter-look nails anymore, but since I have the color, I thought why not! 😉

Simply love the brightness of it.

Here’s another shot:

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Trying to add spark to my mundane monday which consists of just way too much laundry (entire weekend), chores and grocery shopping to stock the fridge for the upcoming week.

xx

B

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Bright Summery Nails!

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Sunshine, a word that seems to now exist in London.  I’m loving the weather.  It’s surprising how the weather can affect a person’s mood and even the colours they choose to wear on a daily basis.  When I moved to London my first impression of British was that they wore rather “dull clothes” which seemed to reflect the “grey” weather of the country. On the contrary, the Aussies are bright reflecting the sunshine of the country.  Does this also affect people’s moods?I guess the weather does play a role, but the extent of which it affects behaviour and mood is questionable.  I guess an easy scapegoat for people being in a foul mood would be “blame it on the weather”.

I LOVE COLOR.  The last few days I’ve been enjoying bright colours to reflect the beautiful bright weather.

Today I made a trip to the nail salon (poor husband hehe) and got a nice bright summery print done!

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I love it!

xx

B

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Technology Tuesdays on a Thursday? Over dependancy on Technology!

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I wanted to write my Technology Tuesdays this week but my iMac froze on me.  That made me think how dependant we are on gadgets.  We expect them to work all the time – and when they don’t – a wave of frustration comes over us.  I could have written a post to upload later from my iPad or iPhone – but I was simply too annoyed.

I got over the annoyance in a day.  The next day another technology mishap was waiting to happen.  Yesterday I was out at Westfield with a friend and realised I forgot my phone at home.  I realised when I reached the tube station – before meeting her. I stood there paralysed for a minute.  How do I contact her?  How do I ask my husband to pick me up from the station in the evening?  How will he gauge the time?  I was stressed.

I regained my composure and used a public pay-phone.  To my surprise, they are hard to find and the price reflects the fact that they take advantage of people’s desperation.  60p as a starting rate is a joke in my opinion.  Funnily enough, the credit expired after a second of me getting through.

Fortunately,  I brought my iPad mini along in my handbag and upon reaching Westfield made full use of the free wi-fi. THANK YOU WESTFIELD!  🙂  I iMessaged my way into successfully meeting up with my friend and contacting my husband too.

Sadly, Wifi saved my day.  We depend on technology more than we know.  I’m questioning the effects of technology on my everyday life.  Certainly, it makes life easier.  Yet, the absence of it paralyses us in a way it would not if we weren’t so dependant on it.

One night in Brussels

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The great advantage about living in London is its location.  Location is everything when it comes to travelling!  My husband and I hopped on the Eurostar and reached Brussels in just about two hours in time for us to break our anniversary there.  The plan was pretty last minute last year – as our first year anniversary was in Switzerland (that was more planned).  However, he couldn’t get leave so we just wanted to make the best out of the situation.  When life give you lemons – make tequila! 

We stayed in Radisson, simply due to the fact that it was opposite the Eurostar station.  Subsequently, it would save us on the cost of a taxi and the inconvenience of having to drag our luggage around.  Surprisingly, I travelled light.  (Even a day-tripper usually results in a big bag. I’m just not a light traveller!)  Radisson had above average ratings on tripadvisor which made us choose it to be honest.  I was astonished in my first few Europe trips at the fact that many hotels do not have AIR-CONDITIONING!  Without a good night’s sleep, it’s impossible to enjoy the country.  Luckily, this was not the case here.  I had a very comfortable sleep!  In case you’re wondering what I got as a gift for my anniversary – you can see for yourself!

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To match my new Burberry Collection, I got my nails done in Burberry print!  That was one of the highlights of my trip 🙂

Moving on to the actual country, and tips for future travellers…

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These pictures speak a thousand words and summarze my one night stay in Brussels.  I almost always have pizza at least once in Europe.  I guess being Vegetarian can get tricky in some European Countries.  The Pizza is a safe delicious bet 😉  On the same note of food (why do I always seem to highlight food in all my holidays?  That was completely rhetorical.) – the waffles were amazing.  They were everywhere – but I would definitely recommend it!  Also – we tried a waffle on the stick.  I’m not putting up a picture of that as it wasn’t as good in comparison.  Indulge in waffles and chocolates as its Belgium is infamously known for making people fat. Ok, so it’s not but I think it should be!

The main piazza is the Grand Place.  It’s the central square of Brussels which is etched with gorgeous architecture.  It’s the most popular landmark for tourist.  Enjoy the surroundings, walk a bit and soak the atmosphere.  We went searching for a Hard Rock Cafe which was meant to be at the square itself.  However, we were told it has not opened yet!  What a pity!  Unfortunately,  I couldn’t expand my collection of Hard Rock Tees from this city.  If you go – please send me one 🙂

What is Brussels famous for besides chocolate?

Manneken Pis. It’s the little Manekin up there pissing.  Frankly, the hype pissed me off.  It just sounds absurd, but after my research that was apparently a must-see.  Frankly, I did not think much of it.  I much prefered the waffles.  But since it was all around the same area (the piazza) – we walked to have a look at what the fuss was about.  There’s a story to it!  Well, my inquisitive nature insisted that I googled it before going.  There are many stories linked to this.  My favourite marks a little boy saving the kingdom from a huge fire by his urine!  Imagine the tank loads of water he had to drink before this act.  HAHA!

Enjoy your travels while I’m in Singapore for my Mom’s 50th Birthday Celebrations.  I leave tonight!  Can’t wait! X

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Living in the UK Exam – there’s an APP!

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Hello everyone! 🙂

I PASSED the exam! CELEBRATIONS are in place!  My husband picked me up from the centre and he got take away for lunch! How sweet of him.

I was in exuberance upon getting my result.  Ok, the actual exam was very tricky.  I was surprised that the first question left me dumbfounded. I was like huh? The Crimean War? What does that even have to do with Living in the UK.  Luckily, I remembered a bit here and there from the study guide.  I studied more on UK policies than the history.  Studying does pay off. I started off Uni in law school – that actually really helped me study smart and mind map concisely. All in all – I’m just so happy to get it out of the way.

Completely side tracking, but the examiner loved my nails. 🙂  Pretty nails are usually a conversation starter or just a simple ice-breaker.  🙂

YES.  So I passed.  The APP really did help.  I’d suggest anyone applying for a settlement VISA in UK to download the app.  It was 2 or 3 pounds – enough to make me pause and think.  Then I weighed out the opportunity cost and logically thought to myself that I just makes sense.  And it did.

There were about 7-10 exact questions, or very similar.  It’s a bit of a blur right now.  Somehow after an exam its always hard to recall EXACTLY what was asked.  Saying that, I know exactly what was not asked (nothing about the elections or the UK coalition party).  Which makes me wonder about the importance of the exam in the first place.

Furthermore, around 10 questions were completely new to me.  They weren’t in the trial mock exam database in the app and the remainders were just similar content but different wording.

Tips for people taking this exam in the future:

  1. I’d suggest to actually study.  Even if you feel nerdy doing so, do it.  It’s 50 pounds – don’t waste it.
  2. Download the app – do the mock exams repeatedly until you know the answer before reading the question.
  3. Make notes – trivial facts are actually asked.
  4. Be confident but not overconfident. Re-read the question.

Good luck to all.  Migrating often seems adventurous and fun to most.  Unfortunately there’s endless paperwork and issues regarding legality that need to be followed.  To top it off – an exam!

Nailin’ it with ART.

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I love fashion, almost as much as I love food. 🙂  The finishing touch for me is definitely pretty nails.  When I notice a well groomed lady, head to toe in high fashion labels – the finishing touch must be the nails.  That pretty much seals the deal.  I usually get acrylics done to maintain that look.  Luckily, its pretty cheap to do nails in the suburbs of London.  I go to Javi Nails – the women there is excellent.  It’s good value for money.  A full set costs just 15 pounds.  Nail art is an additional depending on the intricacy of the design.  The city of London is about 2-3 times the price depending on location.  (Just FYI, if you ever go to Thailand, do your nails even if you don’t really want to.  It’s just that cheap that not doing it, is almost a sin)

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Just got this done today.  I absolutely love animal prints.  Thankfully, its still in fashion.  It’ll always be in fashion in my bubble! I can’t believe I went a month without acrylics – to let my nails breathe.  Although saying that, every time I looked at my nails chipping due to natural nails just being so naturally annoying – I cringed.

I have this undying love for immaculate nails.