beloved bel

Work's been pretty quiet for the past one week or so, which is really goooood. Our Friday actually started on a Thursday as it was Sherrie's leaving dinner and we all went to this Turkish restaurant, Haz near Liverpool Street. The kebab I had was good but everyone had too much to drink esp after Mark ordered a round of Raki, some potent Turkish alcohol for everyone and (ewww it tasted horrible btw) after dinner, I had to pick up ah Boon n Jingyi to go home while they adjourned to another pub. I was quite surprised to see that both of them were rather drunk themselves! Jingyi met his colleagues and started boozing with them from 2pm and then evening they met ah Boon's colleagues who too, brought them out drinking together with some brokers. "Liquid food" as they call here.. booze, booze and more booze is enough to fill the tummy. Jingyi kept having hiccups and I kept giggling. heehee He was like "I started *hic* drinking since *hic* 2pm... heng *hic* ...

Pandan cake & kueh bahlu from Bengawan Solo and a box of mooncakes! Snow skin mooncakes: strawberry, banana, green tea & normal lotus :) happy bel thanks to ah boon & jingyi

It's been some time since I had guests over and this time round, my friend Boon Hui and hubby came over for their honeymoon making London their first stop. I knew Boon Hui, affectionately known as Ah Boon, long time ago when we were in the same JC and then in NTU altho we were never close. Later she joined JPM too and that's how the whole bunch of us started hanging out more outside work hours. In fact in January I went back home to attend her wedding. Anyways they arrived on a cold and rainy late Saturday night and so we just had a precious Sunday for me to show them around. And what else but shopping comes to mind first haha she wanted me to bring her to the "worth to pay a visit" stores which of coz included Primark. (That is the only place I can afford to go on a mini spree here in London.) I met them after church service and we started at about 2pm. They had a long shopping list from colleagues/ friends for branded stuff so we spent quite some time in Self...

I had the best church service here in London yesterday!! It was a special combined in one service at 5pm at the O2 Arena to mark the 10th Anniversary of Hillsong London. Some facts n figures... if you turned The O2 upside down, it would take Niagara Falls 15 minutes to fill it, the volume is equal to thirteen Royal Albert Halls, it would take 18,000 double-decker busses to fit into it AND the Eiffel Tower could fit inside the arena lying on its side!!   That aside, you would surely know it as the place where Michael Jackson was due to perform his concerts here in London. Everything just fell into place. The Dominion Theatre which we always meet at is having a change of cast and they needed the theatre yesterday for extra rehearsals.. and since it was the church's 10th anniversary, they thought of a combined celebration service together with the one in Surrey (think: one big happy family). And then the availability of O2 came...

Some shots I took along the way from work to Bankside where Shakespeare Globe is.. The grand St Paul's Cathedral (the oldest in London I think) up close and from the Millennium Bridge sunset on the Thames Spot the tiny Tower Bridge 2 bridges away? There is a pier here actually which I can take the ferry home! Just go straight in this direction towards Tower Bridge and it would reach Greenland Pier in 20min. Quite cool eh?! Unfortunately the last ferry from this pier was at 5pm so I had to stick to the Tube to get home. The other side of the river. Watching Shakespeare "As You Like It" at the Globe. It's an open air theatre and guess what.. it was cold. Summer is gone gone gone. 9deg at night now! After watching this play, I'd have to say this is not my cup of tea... I had difficulty understanding what were they saying in the Shakespearean English :(

Yeelin's gone back to Singapore for good, and well although it's sad for me to say goodbye to another friend here, it has been a wonderful period of time hanging out with her. It's great that we both lived in the same neighbourhood and meeting up is no chore at all. Talking to her is like talking to an older sister I never had coz she gives so much insightful advice, it's amazing.. it's like there's so much wisdom within her?! Gonna miss her definitely!

What's better than a bowl of hot steaming noodle soup for dinner when the weather is cold? My version of ban-mian. Another source of comfort food. *slurp uh oh it is really onset of autumn.. weather is turning cooler nowadays and for some reason, the wind just cannot stop blowing making it feel colder than it really is. Stores are all stocking with autumn/ winter jackets (which honestly is a big temptation for me) but people are somehow still in denial, hoping the British summer has not ended and no one's looking at those jackets haha (see even as I type now, I can hear the clear rustling of leaves from the trees just outside my house) oh man, I don't want winter to come so soon!