Breath taking experience - Jungfrau

After a long and complex selection process, a group of us finally decided to go to Interlaken, Switzerland for a long weekend.

For me, the must do there is to visit the top of Europe, Jungfrau. Due to train ticket discount, we took the earliest train, 6:40am, to get there. Even though the journey took about two hours, but the scenic view is so relaxing which makes me forget about the fact that we were all up at 5:30am that morning!!

This trip is a truly breath taking experience, not only the pure white mountains against the clear blue sky took my breath away, also, because Jungfrau is elevated over 3000m, I found it hard to breathe. As shown in the photo here, it was me struggling to walk to the little hut about 1km away from the main building, but it is all worth it because of this view...

Do cashew nuts grow on trees?!

Yes, they do and here is the proof, a cashew nut fruit. 

Some cashew nut facts:

• India (home of the fruit above) is one of the largest cashew nut exporters. Vietnam is the largest exporter according to the latest Google results.
  
• Each fruit only bears one nut and it is on the outside of the fruit (the green bit at the top)

I thought cashew nuts "grew" in plastic bags at the supermarket. It is sad that we don't seem know or care how food is grown and where it is coming from. Next time before you put food in your mouth, ask yourself  - Where does it come from?

Looking for a smily face?

Look no further, here is one, a friendly face looking right back at me everytime I need to dry my hands at work. Oh yes, it is the bathroom in the office.

I have been working in that office for months, but never notice how this hand towel dispenser can smile. I suppose when you slow down and look around, you will find friendly faces in the most unusual places.

Singing tree

Dad said the reason he doesn't like the movie Lord of the Rings is because there is no such thing as walking talking tree, which is true, but see what I have found in the Amsterdam airport, a singing Christmas tree!!

I am sure if I look hard enough, I will find a walking and talking tree one day! 

Takeaway for two

After a long day of work, we really don't have the energy to cook, so we got some takeaways. We went to a little local restaurant/cafe place and ordered two dishes and we ended up with 9 items!! 

We wasn't sure why we have got so many boxes of food by paying a bit more than two Big Mac combos. We rushed home and opened our dinner and here is what have got:

• Freshly baked bread with two dipping sauces.
• Lamb curry with rice and freshly made salad.
• Grill quails with rice and freshly made salad.
• Free desserts.

 

The food was amazing, I am not a big fan of fastfood or takeaways, but this is really not a bad alternative.

Say cheese!!

Do you know any kids or big kids who do not like cheese? This may be your solution, animal shape cheddar cheese!! 

It reminded me of the alphabets pasta soup that I had when I was young, I will drink the soup and left the alphabets pasta behind!! Never managed to get all 26 letters in a bowl of soup though.

2 in 1 movie snack

Instead of holding a bag of maltesers and a tub of popcorn, you can have this - Chocolate popcorn. It is popcorn coated with thick chocolate. Surprisingly, you can actually taste both the chocolate an the popcorn. Now, all you need to do is get your coke and off you go to the movie.

Talking about 2 in 1, I must show you this product which I think it meant to simplify our lives, handwash and air refreshener??huh?..interesting....

Moist roast chicken made easy

After my successful roast lamb, I moved on to roast chicken. Here is my not very precise recipe (.. cooking is an art not a science; it doesn't need to be exact..!!).

1. Put ginger, garlic and spring onions inside the chicken. This is to remove the chicken smell.
   
2. Season the chicken with plenty of salt, black pepper and oil. Put some five spice powder if you have any.
3. Cut up carrots and potatoes in big chucks. This way everything can be cooked at the same time.
4. Put some water (about half a cm deep) in the roast dish, then place the chicken and vegetables in it.
5. Cover the roast dish with foil and bake in the oven for 40 mins at about 200C, then bake for another 10 mins without the foil, so the skin dries up.
6. Cut up the chicken and enjoy!

It is a "leave and forget it" kind of dish, so easy to make, you can even make it during the week.

Sleeping beauty in the British Museum

Sorry, he wasn't exactly a beauty, but he's definitely "sleeping"!! This piece of art work is called "Mask". It is amazingly realistic, you can even see the ear hair and stubble!

I cannot help but stare at it and (kind of) hoping that he will "wake up". 

His side profile

Hmm... pancakes

Dad didn't cook very often when I was young, but I do remember he made pancakes for us every now and then. They were yummy and were perfect circles!!

I have tired and failed so many times to recreate the yummy and perfectly circular pancakes until I found a "Just add milk" pancake mix and a Chef'n pancake flipper.

Is it cheating? Maybe, but I don't care when I can make it look this good...

Don't worry be happy!

Grandpa loves putting messages on the red pockets before giving them out.

Here are two of his favourite messages: "Be happy forever" and "May every aspect of your life go well".

Grandpa 1927 - 2009

He held me in his arms when I was born

He took me for yum cha breakfast at dawn

He bought me ice cream when I was torn

He told me off when I was wrong

He will be waiting for me in heaven when I am gone

Grandpa, you're the bomb!!

Roast lamb leg

A sunday roast looks impressive and difficult to make (well, to me anyway). 

I was surprised to find a roast lamb leg recipe in my "Best three & four ingredients cookbook", so I decided to give it a try.  

Lamb leg + fresh rosemary + garlic  + 2 hours = Perfectly roasted moist lamb leg 

One more reason why I love Sundays! 

White Chinese New Year

While I am still hoping to experience a white Christmas after the white Easter last year, guess what? I am having a white Chinese New Year!! 

It is a complete chaos over this side of the world especially the London public transport! Trains, tubes, buses and even taxis are all affected. Took some people 4 hours to get to work, but we are wondering how are they going to get home? Thank goodness my manager let me stay in. 

Strangely enough, I am actually enjoying this (on top of staying at home). The streets are quiet, everything is white and it is beautiful!

Happy Chinese New Year!

The first Sunday after Chinese New Year is when the London China town puts on events to celebrate this most important Chinese festival of the year! This year there is no exception. 

As expected, a big crowd gathered for the fireworks which marks the end of today's celebrations. What surprises me is how the fireworks were lit - by hand?!?! 

To me, seeing the staff running around Leicester Square lighting the fireworks for our amusement was the main entertainment. (No staff was injured during the lighting of fireworks!)

England national dish

According to Wikipedia the national dish of England is Fish & Chips and according to me, it should be crisps (or chips for us Kiwis) ..... and voi-la: Fish & Chips crisps!!

My verdict: hmmm... I will stick with lightly salted, thanks.