beloved bel

We've had a fun filled weekend but let's go back a few Saturdays ago when we visited a farm and got us some pumpkins. This was a 9kg pumpkin Pumpkins galore We bought two smallish sized ones Not easy trying to lift these up! We invited some friends over yesterday for a home cooked dinner.  Alas one of the pumpkins turned bad and so we had one left for carving last night.  We cooked up a storm in the kitchen, thanks to contributions from various friends. Our spread!  From top: duck spring rolls, octopus tako-pachi balls courtesy of Rachel,  Cottage Chicken courtesy of CY, (in the big wok) is K's 'pride and joy' chicken dish, yet in another big pot (covered) is Rachel's clams and seaweed soup, and lastly I cooked the bottom two dishes - simple veg and a prawn and tofu dish One pic before tucking in! We've got seriously talented friends here because not only did we have octopus tako-pachi balls from Rachel, the Kim's...

October has always been my favourite month because it's my birthday month :) but ever since stepping into this job more than a year ago, October is now one of my busiest months at work.  For the past three weeks it has been just work, home, sleep on repeat mode.  On quarter end months I try not to meet up with friends and have no social life for a bit but of course I had to make some exceptions in October... let me recap. The weekend before... Hubby K booked us tickets to the musical Aladdin, upon my request months ago because I thought it would make a fun night out.  Before that I booked us a theatre dinner at a French tapas place in Soho, a 10 minute walk away from Prince Edward Theatre.    The musical exceeded my expectations in terms of the set and props, and oh that genie.  He was soooo good!  I loved every minute of it and would totally watch it again. Dinner before theatre Can you tell I was very excited about the musical? ...

Just because I am an autumn baby :) after all the hot summer days, cooler days sets in.  Well to be honest these days are actually cold, not cooler.  These mornings when we leave the house for work, we see our misty breaths as we walk hurriedly to the train station.  K's catch phrase these days is "omg it's so cold..."  The sun sets earlier and by 5pm it's dark.  My favourite is seeing green leaves bursting into colours of yellow, orange and red all over. Signs of autumn in our garden again Has it been a year already? Work wise, we have moved to our brand new building next door last week.  I have to say the move was very smooth and seamless, well done to the move team.  To move more than 5,000 people to one building over a few weeks is no mean feat.  These days, banks are moving towards an agile workspace.  What does this mean you might wonder.  It's a first for me too, so let me explain.  Technically you don't hav...

The rain and strong winds persisted at Durness throughout the night but we were snugly wrapped in our blankets and enveloped in our comfy beds.  When we arrived at our breakfast table, wow what a spread! All organic and homemade.  And this was even before ordering our cooked Scottish breakfast. Today was meant to be mostly driving - eastwards towards John O Groats which is the most northernly tip of the United Kingdom.  We started driving in that direction along the coast but the strong winds and poor visibility was making it rather difficult.  I suggested to the group that I didn't mind giving it a miss because I could foresee us making that 2h drive in the bad weather to arrive at John O Groats, only to scramble out of the car to forcibly take some photos before scrambling back into the car.  Hmm not sure if it's worth it.  We discussed and decided to drive south down to Dunrobin Castle before ending our day at Dornoch where our last night B&B ...