beloved bel

I'm just back from one of the most amazing and lesser known countries in the world- Slovenia . The Julian Alps in Slovenia It all started early last month when Chris suggested us visiting Slovenia together and Jos and I readily agreed. Little did we know that Chris changed her mind after Jos and I booked our air tickets so we felt * ahem* a little cheated. Looking back now, after 5 days of travelling in this country, we now think we can't thank Chris enough!! What is different in this trip is that we had no idea what to expect. We didn't know what we would be doing, or what we would see in this young nation, which was part of former Yugoslavia. Even my colleagues here kept mixing Slovakia with Slovenia. Lovely Askar kept asking me to be extra careful, esp "it's only 3 girls..." and "I think I watched too many horror movies..." Err thanks Askar. Of coz I didn't tell this to my family. They haven't heard of this country before even, ...

Mich is here for work at the Farnborough Airshow, and in the short span of one week, we managed to meet up for 3 times! So nice :) And even nicer of her to bring for me..... a whole pandan cake from Bengawan Solo (!!) And if that's not enough... a nyona bak chang!! (you know one bak chang in Chinatown cost about GBP5 each!) ... ... A very happy bel. (Yes I couldn't wait.) Thanks Mich! We were at Portobello Market (our fav). The Good Fairy behind us is to be pulled down soon for a block of flats (sad sad) so... this might be the last time I see it :(

Last year my sweeties back home gave me 2 bottles of sake wine for my birthday, they said to keep me warm during winter. I don't drink much sake so when Pris came over and saw the bottle of sake, she suggested me making teriyaki sauce from scratch. I was really intrigued and so finally got down to doing it after making a trip to Japan Centre. Can I tell you how easy it is?! The finished product - Salmon Teriyaki To make the sauce, mix the following in a bowl 2 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce 2 tablespoons mirin (Jap sweet rice wine) 2 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon sake ** almost immediately it smells like teriyaki! haha I pan fried the salmon and when it was almost done, I poured the sauce (ensure the sugar is dissolved first) onto the salmon pieces, and when the sauce thickens, switch off the fire. Thanks Pris my shifu for this wonderful suggestion. Really, I think I won't buy any more ready made teriyaki sauce off the shelves. This is too good!

Slovenia is a young a republic, only about 15 years old, part of the former Yugoslavia. It's just east of Italy and south of Austria with spectacular mountains, the Julian Alps, which are just perfect for hiking. The people are friendly, the country is immaculate, the food is wonderful. The relative unanimity of the region has made it a unique and untouched location, unlike anywhere else in Europe. Slovenia has a population of two million, of whom the vast majority are ethnic Slovenes. People hailing from the other former Yugoslav republics make up a significant minority, albeit less than 10% of the total population. The Italian and Hungarian ethnic communities have protected minority status, despite their small size. The collision of four major European geographical units has created a very invigorating landscape, much of it thickly forested. More than a third of the country’s area is protected. The location of the Bled village is a day hike away from Italy and Austria, winding...

Wimbledon has well ended with Nadal winning and my excitement has obviously dwindled considering how long ago it was.. but here are the photos :) Reaching Wimbledon train station to be greeted by this huge sign and a long queue for shuttle bus to the ground We were very excited. Gorgeous sunny weather too! One of the smaller courts Schedule of play Champagne Bar Did I tell you HSBC is the best bank ever? Enjoying our pimms and strawberries & cream What an interesting couple haha.. cute! Our centre court tickets. We were joking it's not even row Z. It's ZA! But then again, who are we to complain. Waiting for the match to begin... wheeee look who's here Look at all the power looking cameras And he serves After 3h, Federer wins and then they were gone *applause* The ladies' singles Taking the routemaster back to Wimbledon station, perfect end to a beautiful day =)

A random mention.. I chanced upon a fruit loaf recipe the other day and so bought the ingredients which includes this wholesome vine mix, which is a mix of jumbo raisins and sultanas. I kept telling my family they are the biggest raisins I've ever seen in my life so I have to take a picture of it to show them. Amazing right.. the bottom left hand raisin is the usual ones we see but fwahh compared with the rest of the jumbo ones... is it just me who hasn't seen such huge ones?? haha Another random mention. We had extra mushrooms the other day and M introduced me to eating mushrooms, the Korean way. She accompanied her grandfather for some concert in Korea a few years ago and she learnt that over there, they bake the mushrooms and apparently after baking, the mushroom would "collect" water in the middle. You drink the water (healthy I was told) and then eat the mushroom. Very interesting I thought. She seasoned it with salt and pepper after the mushr...

One thing about London is that you are always saying goodbye to people. People come and go and so did Faith & Noel. They came over from Australia 3 years ago thinking they will settle here for good. But over time, they felt the urge to move home to Perth and so they did. Faith has been a special friend to me and both of them were part of my close Canada Water bunch. For their farewell, they decided to have a picnic at Greenwich Park. It was a warm and sunny day perfect for a picnic. ~~~~~~~ And on an even closer level, I can't believe but I actually said goodbye to Alicia and QKL yesterday! *sobz* They were my first Singaporean friends here, and have been there for me for the past 2 years. My friends, my travelling companions, my shopping kakis. So it's really sad.. altho the good thing with saying goodbye to Singaporean friends is you know you will see them again back home. As a farewell, we went to Hakkasan, the one star Michelin Chinese restaurant. We thought ...

Okay I know I'm not gonna win the sweepstake.. Germany came in third. Whew and so I am gonna win a whooping... £ 16! hahaha oh well, it has been fun. So riding on the World Cup fever, the guys at work also played a very serious game at David Beckham Academy (yes David Beckham Academy) with a real referee from the school! And so a few of us ladies turned up to watch (umm and cheer?) for the guys in our dept. In the end, unfortunately our team lost to the front office guys after a penalty shootout. :( I think my colleagues are gonna cringe to know I posted some of the photos online! eeek! The coveted GEM Cup. So professional rite.. this personalised cup actually cost £100! A professional team shot haha.. got manager somemore, don't play play. One of the guys play for some league so he borrowed the jerseys for the whole team. half time break No, we are not WAGs. The penalty shootout.. gooooaaal! And then they won.