Hong Kong Stewie

Hong Kong was HOT, steamy and incredibly polluted. My skin broke out like I was seventeen thirty-four all over again.

Work was tiring - I was giving about 7 hours of training and presentations each day but everyone was so friendly and enthusiastic I forgave them making me lose my voice.

I went wandering a little bit around the Causeway Bay shopping area where my hotel was. It was completely chaotic and it was quite exciting to be in Asia again.



My favourite thing of the whole week was the supermarket next door to the hotel that sold trays of tropical fruit, for about a pound. Papaya, watermelon and pineapple was my favourite combo. YUM.

I love this street art I saw in an alley, just around the corner from a string of designer stores

...Hong Kong Banksy

Cycling Weekends

A few pics from a couple of kinda recent cycling trip. Smithy cycled and I was support knitting crew.

In June we went to Italy near Milan/Lake Como to meet up with Smithy's hard core cycling friends (we're talking 200km a day for a week...in mountains). It was fun observing the action though. The gang had assembled from Canada, Singapore, London and Dubai for the event. The scenery around Lake Como was beautiful. I always love being in the mountains. It was a lot more populated than I expected though.

This church is at the top of a steep climb and is dedicated to cyclists. It is kind of a cycling museum as there are bikes from famous cyclists over the years hung all over the walls. Bikes haven't changed very much in 100 years.

We had lunch in Bellagio on the lake. I had the best icecream I've ever tasted. It was the flavour of Baccio chocolates. Ahhh.

T in the Park

When Nic first mentioned this festival I imagined it was spelt "Tea" and was intended to be a bit ironic. Or cosy. Or something. I didn't realise T was for Tennants lager of which copious amounts were drunk over the weekend. Not so much by me incidentally, as I had truly written myself off on the Friday night before (accidentally, like, oops) and almost couldn't make the flight to Glasgow. Luckily I rose above the pain and constant spewing (sorry Mum, I really don't do that much any more) and made it up there as it was an awesome weekend.

Not having been a festival goer before I didn't really know what to expect. What does one do for two days while stuck in a muddly field with thousands of other unwashed people? It was all pretty chilled out. We alternated between watching bands, queuing for drinks and eating dodgy burgers.

The mud was horrendous when we arrived and I had to chuck my work shoes out that I was wearing due to being too drunk the night before to remember to change them. But they gave me blisters anyway so it was a good excuse. Happily N had purchased wellies for us which I gratefully wore for the entire weekend. It dried out over the weekend as it didn't rain at all after Friday night and the weather on Sunday was really nice.
The music was really good although noone was very impressed with Babyshambles and Amy Winehouse was a total shambles and didn't even show up. We saw Razorlight and the Killers on Saturday night for a fun headline show. See you next year for a nice cup of tea.

PS. I think it would have been a lot cooler if I hadn't been wearing my glasses but then I would't have seen the awesome view up there. Note to self - wear my contacts more.

Its been awhile

And some silliness via Kimbofo for my return. Apparently I'm a rarity among personalities! OK stop sniggering you guys. I will have to check this against the full test we did at work a while back - I think its the same from memory.

Your Personality is Very Rare (INFP)

Your personality type is dreamy, romantic, elegant, and expressive. Only about 5% of all people have your personality, including 6% of all women and 4% of all men You are Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

Lyme Regis

We loved it here so much I wanted to bring the Robbos as they started their roadtrip to Cornwall and Wales. On Saturday we walked around Lyme Regis and had a lovely devonshire tea at a cafe terrace overlooking the beach. Then we went for a stroll along the cliffs at neighboring Charmouth beach.

Lewis is captivated by the grass - he loves it.

We stayed at a lovely cottage - very cosy with a beautiful garden. There is a summer house and a deck with a creek running by. I only took this quick snap which doesn't do it justice at all as we were leaving.

It was a lovely relaxing weekend and we didn't do much except eat, chat and read (and knit for one of us). Smithy made an exceptional dinner, inspired by the River Cottage cookbook. Butternut pumpkins hollowed out and baked with a soup inside. Yum.

Topped off by a three hour drive back to London and no delays - incredible for a Sunday.

Hampstead Village Walk

I had a dream week off work last week, hanging out with the Robbos, sleeping in and eating nice food. Ahhhh.

On Tuesday we had a lazy day and hung out in ED (East Dulwich for short). We went to lunch at the Bishop and I noticed for the first time what an excellent veggie menu they have. Said hi to Clarence the pub wiemerana who is just beautiful. Robbo and I managed to do a bit of shopping, while they boys patiently waited.

I tried out this Delia Roasted Veggie and Brown Rice Gratin which received the seal of approval of the veggies and even the carnivores.

On Wednesday we ventured far afield north of the river and went for a London Walk in Hampstead Village. It was a gorgeous day and our guide Peter was excellent. It wasn't until the end of the walk that I realised Peter was the same guide as I had for the only other walk I had done (half of) with P over a year ago.

We went through an atmospheric church graveyard. Almost every second house had a blue plaque and we learnt some interesting London history.

Bebe Robbo slept through half the walk and enjoyed the second half very much...

Paris continued...

On Easter Sunday we started the day with some treats from the Boulangerie. Delicious!

I had one of the scrumptions rasberry tarts on the left.Then we went for a marathon walk from Marias to Musee d'Orsay via Isle St Louis and Isle de la Cite. We hadn't discovered Isle St Louis before but were completely charmed. Notre Dame in the sunshine was spectular.

More photos of the weekend here at flickr.

Easter in Paris

We jumped on the Eurostar on Thursday afternoon, excited to be escaping work for a few days. In Paris we found our appartment in the Marais district and met up with the Robbos who arrived earlier. We experienced a weekend in Paris at baby pace. Which meant doing and seeing much more than Smithy and I ever would have, left to our own devices...

Friday:

We walked down past the Bastille, through Place des Vosges and had lunch at Cafe Hotel de Ville.

Pompidou centre where we spent more time in the cafe than looking at the Art. Robbo and I went to visit the baby change facilities and came out to find R & Smithy looking down from the balcony bar, beers in hand looking quite pleased with themselves.

Saturday:

Designated as shopping day. We went back to the amazing Marche St Ouen full of treasures and interesting things.

La Fromagerie

A few weeks ago we were invited to a cheese and wine tasting at La Fromagerie. Three courses of cheese with accompanying wines. Fromage-tastic.

It was such a fab shop I went back with Tim on the weekend.

We stopped for a flat white and brunch at the Tapa Room. Here we are loving the flat whites....

Then we wandered up the road to La Fromagerie. The cheese room is incredible.

Goats cheese selection

Le Weekend

Its been a recovery weekend of eating, cleaning, washing, crafting and blogging. No socialising and very little leaving the house.

Except on Saturday when I ventured across the road to the hairdressers for a much needed colour and trim. Somehow a trim turned into a major lopping of several inches.


I'm very happy with it and it has passed the Day Two test of looking ok without salon expertise. This is with no product and no blowdrying which is pretty much how I run out the door every morning so I'm relieved.

How does it compare Robbo? (My friend Robbo and I have an uncanny ability to get the same haircuts despite living on opposite sides of the world and not discussing styles).

Wales v Ireland

Wales v Ireland

On Sunday afternoon we drove from Lyme Regis to Cardiff for the Wales v Ireland in the six nations rugby. The city centre was buzzing and the stadium is right in the middle of the city next to the beautiful Cardiff Castle. We joined over 74,000 people in the stadium and enjoyed the fine weather with the roof off.

It didn't seem like a particularly dramatic game to me - a complete non-expert when it comes to rugby. I asked Smithy if it was a good game - he said it was "ok". I was cheering for Ireland who won 19-9.

Smithy convinced me to go to the game by saying the atmosphere and singing is great and it was very impressive. I would have liked to spend more time in Cardiff but we had to drive back to London (very slowly due to one or two traffic accidents - Sunday night joy)

Weekend at Lyme Regis

I booked a cottage in Lyme Regis over Christmas in the dead of winter. I never imagined that when we were there it would be the most beautiful winter weather I've ever seen here.

I also had no idea that it was right in the middle of the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO world heritage site, famous for dinosour fossils. At the beginning of our walk along the coast I popped into a dusty, dark fossil shop and was awestruck by a dinosour fossil. We had a rather leisurely walk along the beach and over the cliffs. I definitely didn't need my new waterproof jacket that I rushed out to buy at lunch on Friday. We enjoyed sarnies and Beths yummy chocolate and banana cake. A Bill Grainger recipe - apparently the secret is to double the recommended amount of chocolate!



Beth was looking for fossils...


She found this one

NYC

Taxis & St Pauls

After an awesome weekend in NYC with Miss Jo I have been struggling all week.

We mostly shopped and ate. This photo is taken from the World Trade Centre area where there are huge photos of 9/11 on display. It is still very emotional to be there and see it. There were a lot of people in tears and I was feeling a bit choked up.

Then we went across the road to Century 21 for a bit more shopping. What a fabulous place - great bargains if you have the patience. On your receipt they have the total spent in small font then how much you have saved in massive print - very satisfying.

It was very very cold and there was much talk on the news about the first snow of the season.

Back in London its a balmy 11 degrees. Hardly even coat weather!

Brrrrrrrr

A rare sight in London this morning. Snow covered trees in our back garden when we woke up. After weeks of mild weather we are finally experiencing winter.

Windy city

Chicago has nothin' on London today. I almost got blown off London Bridge walking to work this morning. Lunchtime was even worse when I ventured out to go to the gym. A girl walking past me in the other direction was blown into me and we both almost landed on the street.

Tonight almost all the tube lines were suspended. Information on the web said trains were operating from London Bridge but by the time I walked there, the whole station was cordoned off and closed. I jumped on the number 40 bus which took about 50mins but at least got me home.

On another topic, we've signed up for the Reading half marathon in March to really kick start the fitness thing. I've been for a few short runs but am yet to get into a routine. Its a start.

Staying resolved

Lifehacker has an article on web sites to help you keep your resolutions. I could probably use all of them but am going to take a close look at using Fitday to help track weight loss goals and the online running log at Coolrunning.

There is a definite fitness theme running through my (non-environmental) goals. As usual. But since my recent fitness test revealled that my fat percentage is 34% which is off the scale, beyond 'very fat' and even beyond 'really really fat' I have been even more motivated.

The personal trainer I have enlisted to help bust the fat has assured me the only way is to create more muscle. This is because I am not all that big - well a UK 12 is considered pretty big these days next to bloody Posh's size zero but not compared to 50s starlets at least. But I admit there are still a couple of kilos to loose in any case.

I think if my PT really knew the situation she would probably say "create more muscle and eat A LOT less cheese". I'm addicted to cheese. And recent experience shows that if I cut out chocolate and alcohol the cravings just get worse. This latest episode falling off the wagon started on New Years Eve when the choice was chips (crisps) or a massive block of Blue Stilton. Well it was conveniently located near me and the half of the block I consumed unassisted (ok ok more like 3/4) was divine. Ever since then I've had cravings. I'll be in the middle of a meeting at work and drift off thinking about the cheese on biccies I'm going to have in the evening. It has got to stop! From this point forward I am going to replace Blue Stilton with carrot sticks.

Yeah right.

P.S. sorry if this is all too much information.

Resolved

I have some environmental new years resolutions this year:

• Turn things off more (computer, work and home, TV, lights, heating)
• Only buy veggies without packaging. Harder than it sounds, but more than half the veggies in our local big supermarket are wrapped in two layers of packaging. Possible solution - buy elsewhere - this will definitely take more organisation and planning.
• Recycle more - I have been lazy about this in the past - No longer!
• Use environmentally friendly products in our renovations
• Consume less generally
• Avoid flying and catch trains whenever possible

And this is not a resolution but I am going to at least think about cycling to work. But that would mean getting over my fear of the Elephant and Castle roundabout which is not going to happen in a hurry. But I think I will start going to spinning classes so at least the concept might be physically possible!

I'm sure there are more things I can do and I will also get more educated.

PS tonight we went to the supermarket and managed to buy all the vegies we needed without any packaging Yay! - there were packaged versions for everything we bought though.

Delicious Sunday

Delicious not just for the food, but also for the chance to savour time spent with friends.

We train and tubed it in to Marylebone High Street to The Providores. This cafe & restuarant, wasn't hard to find as we spotted the queue of people out the door from halfway down the street. The Tapa Room which is the cafe downstairs was heaving. Happily we had a booking in the restaurant upstairs and swanned past the anxious, drooling queuers.

The Kiwi roots of Chef and Owner Peter Gordon are revealed through the menu by gems like Boiled eggs with Vegemite soldiers and FLAT WHITE coffees! Probably only an Aussie or Kiwi living in London can really appreciate the excitement seeing those two unassuming words on a menu can bring. It is fresh fusion style food and impeccable yet warm and friendly service. Apparently the wine list is a winner too.

I find it hard to resist French toast on a brunch menu. But when it is French Toast stuffed with Banana and Pecans with grilled, smoked streaky bacon and vanilla verjus syrup there is no chance of me passing it up. Ahhhh.

When we left the queue had grown to about twenty people waiting with anticipation outside.

After that we made our way to far north London, having been invited to Afternoon Tea. The day just got more and more civilised. We had a lovely afternoon chatting and enjoying German style Honig cake and another delicious creation with lemon butter icing. With cups and cups of tea from a teapot. Yumola.

Year in Reflection

Recent years have been dominated by travel, long distance relationships, running, moving countries and upheaval. In contrast this year has been distinctly domestic with house buying, wedding and planning renovations. My cancerian homebody soul definitely is happier with the recent trend!

Its been an incredibly busy year with some amazing highs but a lot of hard work in between. I'm looking forward to a quiet year with just a small renovation project in 2007 ;)

January:: Australia::hot::London::cold::February:: 10km "Love Run"::House surveys::March:: Paris ::Impatiently waiting for house::April:: Completion:Moving:: New house::Switzerland:: May:: Painting rooms::Making Curtains::Cricket at Lords ::Jo Visiting::Wales::June:: Birthday::Istanbul::Turf::July:: Backyard BBQs::London TOAST::Isle of Wight::August:: Provence cycling::Indian Monsoon wedding::Started Craft Actually::Wedding Invitations::September:: London Girls Night Out::Dancing Lessons ::October:: Australia::Mum’s 60th::Noosa Wedding::November:: Maldives Honeymoon::New job::December:: Architect plans:: Wedding Thankyous::Christmas parties

Happy Christmas

Joe the Christmas dog

Cheers! Hope you're having a lovely day and thanks for dropping by here throughout the year.

We're having a very low key day today. After breakfast we decided to go for a walk in Greenwich Park. We were joined by a few hundred dog walkers. This festive guy is called Joe.

As you can see its a bit grey but still a nice day.

Smithy is now prepping the turkey to a soundtrack of cheesy Christmas carols and I'm getting really hungry.