beloved bel

Over here there is this concept of music festivals, the most famous probably being Glastonbury. Kat has never missed any for the past 7 years- can someone shout "dedication"! Last week I attended a similar music event last Saturday called the Big Church Day Out. This is a Christian music festival held in West Sussex on this sprawling manor grounds called Winston House. It's a privately owned house (can you imagine owning such a house- excuse me- manor I mean.) and I have no idea how huge the piece of land is. It's massive! such a beautiful English rose garden For the past two years Gabby and Ben have been attending and they told me how enjoyable it is with the sunshine and having a picnic on the ground with the bands playing on stage. The idea sounded really good to me, and I decided to go this year. Only thing was, the sun decided not to participate this year. It was cold and gloomy :( very cold to be precise. I had wind swept hair for the most par...

If you do not already know, Bel is a girly girl. When I saw the Group On deal on a cupcake decorating class at £25 (valued at £60), I excitedly asked around my friends if they would be interested to spend 2h learning how to decorate cupcakes. Finally I found Elissa and Pam the two cupcake enthusiasts. :) The venue is a very old school hotel but in the posh and lovely surroundings of Primrose Hill. Remember I recently went to Primrose Hill with Dot? I was back for the second time in 2 months :) As we had messy hands, you can imagine we couldn't take too many photos. Here are a few I managed to snap in between rolling and shaping the fondant. It was like playing with play-doh! At the end of the day, all I can say is… it's hard work trying to decorate cupcakes! But I was quite proud of what I did though..! *beaming* One of the teachers Our first creation - the bow My cupcake on a cupcake We were asked to be creative ...

Got an email from my aunt the other day. ~~~~~~~ Do you like claypot rice? I got this recipe from the website that is cooked using the rice cooker. I've tried it twice so far and they all love it. In fact the first time i tried it only uncle and me ate it. It was nice so last night i cooked it and the boys like it. Here's the recipe. 2 cups rice, 1 stalk scallion, chopped (you can add more if you like) 1 skinless chicken breast & 2 drumsticks ( i used drumsticks and chopped them to smaller pieces) 3 inches ginger (sliced thinly) 6 shitake mushrooms (soaked in warm water and cut into halves when soft) 2 chinese sausages (optional) Seasoning for chicken: 2 tbsp oyster sauce 1 tbsp soy sauce 1/2 tsp corn starch (corn flour added with a little water) 1/2 tsp sesame oil 5 dashes white pepper powder (add a little more for better taste) 1/4 tsp sugar 1 tbsp shaoxing cooking wine (or rice wine) i used Hua tiao jiu Seasoning for rice: 2 tbsp soy sauce 1/2...

And it was another great Hillsong Colour Conference, not at the Royal Albert Hall which I'd very much prefer, but at the Wembley Arena this year. I've long heard of Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena so was glad to "check it out", but oh man, I soon realised how far it is from my home (more than an hour to get there). Anyways main thing is not the venue but the conference itself! This year Bobbie Houston the host stepped up in faith and chose this bigger venue from ROH, and there were more than 4,000 ladies who attended the 2.5 day conference. Can you imagine the level of screams and shrieks that we could potentially generate? I think it could bring the roof down. Guest speakers included Lisa Bevere, Jeanne Mayo, my fav Judah Smith, and Bobbie Houston herself. I've never heard Lisa or Jeanne speak before so it was all new to me. Judah however, I heard him at last year's conference, wow he is one amazing preacher. He is young, ...

On one of the days, we decided to take the easy way out by joining a local tour to two neighbouring Tuscan towns, Siena and San Gimignano. First stop, Siena. It is a medieval town that once thrived much more than Florence until the Black Death in 1348 which decimated the population. Florence then dominated the Tuscan scene and Siena did not have enough funds to overhaul its Middle Ages look, which is not a bad thing for tourists today. A very old medieval building which was once owned privately and used as a bank.  This is where the first bank of Italy started here in Siena.  See the black rings on the wall?  They were used by people to chain their horses to. Siena's Duomo is a massive Gothic complex and we did a quick tour inside. A very majestic cathedral in a nice shade of pink :) Siena's Duomo Perhaps the more popular is the Piazza del Campo which is a huge public square made famous with its biannual Palio horse race. This tradition has bee...