Dropping in to post a few layouts I did some time back before continuing with my work.

These were some cute pics of my grans taken at a recent family dinner. Put my new chrysanthemum punch to work for the background and I like how quick it was to put together this  layout.

My memories of Seville is abit clouded by the wet and blustery weather. The day we visited the Alcazar was no different. I cannot say how much I love studying the clean yet intricate Moorish designs of the palaces and cathedrals found all over Southern Spain. The Islamic influence in a predominantly Catholic country is fascinating and I think the architecture in the region reflects this phenomenon more clearly than anything.

Florence conjures to the mind art and history and beautiful sculptures. These are all true. But one of my favourites spot in this Renaissance city is not the Uffizi museums but the splendid view from Piazzale Michelangelo. I've been there when it was sunny and swarming with tourists, when it was rainy and deserted and so delightfully peaceful and this time, I managed to catch a glimpse of a Florentine sunset from this rather underrated place.

 

 

I'm not lying when I say I cannot get enough of Cinque Terre. They're probably my favourite pics to scrapbook cos it has everything that makes a good picture - sunlight but not too harsh, blue skies, greenery, colourful houses, hills and the sea. Notwithstanding how much I love that place. It turned out to be a happy misfortune when we had to hike the more challenging Sentiero Rosso when parts of Sentiero Azzurro was closed due to a landslide.

 

Finally.

I was surprised, excited, delighted, absolutely excited when I chanced upon a copy of Nylon at the 7-Eleven near my house. Not any Nylon but Nylon SINGAPORE!! Woohoo, we're finally getting there! Never thought we would be cool enough to join the Nylon gang. I love it that the style and typeset of the magazine remains the same (lots of graphics and drawings) as its US sister but the content is more relevant now since the references are local. Here's a rather unglam pic of me holding the inaugural issue:



Had another kind of heart-pumping-blood-rushing surprise last week when I saw the cover page of MyPaper announcing that Tokyo ramen stall Menya Musahi has opened a branch in Raffles City. Sounds familiar...sounds familiar... then it struck that it was the one and only ramen stall that I visited in Tokyo at the recommendation of my colleague! Finally tried the original of something before it got transplanted here though we took almost an hour and lots of guesswork before locating the stall (even then, we were unsure that it was the stall until a kind Jap guy confirmed it haha).







Was reminded how brilliant the Artemis Fowl series are and how much I like it when I borrowed the latest book from my cousin. I have all the books except the latest one, having stubbornly refused to buy it at a whopping price of $30 for a paperback. Eoin Colfer is underrated I feel, his writing is sharp, witty and humourous - I'm not even sure kids will actually get some of his jibes. I would even go so far to say that Artemis Fowl is a perhaps a little more thrilling and imaginative than Harry Potter. Both involve magic, one is charming, the other mind-blowing. Highly recommended, I love his writing style.

Am glad to have snatches of time to update my blog again.

Hello Friday.

Love Fridays. It's the anticipation of 2 days of free time even though my Sunday will be spent churning out affidavits for rather undeserving people.

Have some a couple of layouts to share:

A very simple layout. Pic taken at midnight on Christmas eve in our hotel in Hong Kong 2010. Was in a happy mood after dinner at the relatively posh Cafe Gray near Causeway Bay (Admiralty station) with its panoramic view of HK. I just love dressing up and going to nice restaurants overseas. But if you note, I did not really dress up for Christmas in Tokyo partly cos I ran out of clothes haha and partly because I was more concerned about keeping myself warm.



One of my fav pics of the Amalfi Coast. This is actually the town of Atrani, about 15 minutes walk from Amalfi town. It's Amalfi's less famous sister but no less stunning as you can see. I was especially smitten by how the town appears to be elevated. What you can't see is the town square which is actually at sea level and hidden by the ramparts (or whatever you call them). I like how the houses are built outwards from the quaint little town square.


I have another of my fav layout of Cinque Terre. To say that I like the Italian coast is probably an understatement. Short of dreaming about it, I can remember my visits quite vividly, the colours of the sky, buildings, sea, trees and rocks, the weather, the mood, the wind, how I was feeling at a certain time - it is usually a comfort but also a "curse" sometimes when I compare it with my usual boring life. Anyway, will share the layout when I take a pic of it.

An honourary mention of this layout made by my mom. After all her agonizing , it turned out pretty good. I like the pic of my mom and aunt taken and edited by my bro (see the tiny pic of damn smooching haha). Have a soft spot for black and white shots!

Land of pretty fluff

Where else but Japan!

I had to exercise alot of discretion and restrain when I kept coming across endless, fabulous! collections of Washi tapes in Tokyo. These are probably one of my favourite buys!



And another of my weakness - socks and stockings. The range they have in Japan is mind blowing. But considering every girl there is decked out in stockings / socks - very very few girls wear jeans, I did a count seriously - the domestic market must be roaring. See how one of my drawers is completely crammed full with them (there's an additional row of stockings at the back which you cannot see in the pic and this does not even include my collection of leggings!). I can't believe I didn't even get a pair in the end :(

Starry eyed

Hello again blog.

I started this blog while vacating for a month in Toronto in 2007 to update everyone back home that I'm alive and fine (and so that I don't have to call/sms home, a habit that I have - no contact when I'm overseas please, give me a break!) Hence Wanderlust. Lately, it's not been living up to its name with the infrequent postings which only indirectly refer to travelling or at all. New year resolution to revive my dormant blog!

It's therefore apt that I start the year with my first encounter with a 3 Michelin starred restaurant (and No. 20 on S.Pellegrino World's Top 50 Best Restaurants in 2011) in the Michelin star capital of Tokyo! The experience was so sublime that you don't really balk when you get the 60,000 yen bill, or maybe it's cos I was not the one picking up the tab haha. And just to show that I am relatively objective of the standard of the restaurant, I didn't know which restaurant I was going to (until we kinda lost our way and KM had no choice but to reveal the name so that I could look out for it haha), least of all the 3-star Michelin accolade.

Service was top notch and unobtrusive. We were half an hour late and no fuss was made even though there was a second seating later. But then you generally get unparalleled service in Japan so I was expecting that. I like that even though it was obviously a fine dining restaurant, the staff were warm and welcoming with no hint of snobbery even though we looked very newb.

RyuGin is located in a nondescript apartment along a small lane in Roppongi. This is as hole in the wall as you can get. You have to slide this screen door to enter, very cool. I would say that we literally stumbled upon it in desperation after much searching in the cold with many bags in hand.


Just like the books, they welcomed us in, took our coats (!) and bags and gently ushered us to our table which was plainly our table since all the tables were filled and everybody had already started on their 11-course omakase journey. I was wondering whether it is appropriate to be taking pics but everybody around me were doing so and seriously, how often does one get to eat at such places?? I like how the waiters will explain each dish to you for eg. where the ingredients are from, and inform you the best way to mix the food or which part to start with. It was with excited anticipation that we waited for each dish (both cold and hot dishes) to be served!

The representative dragon motive floating behind me. Our menu was tucked in the red envelop and placed under a dish for us to uncover when we sat down.

The cosy interior and pretty crystal ornaments on each table.

The menu printed on handmade paper no less!

1st course - creamy tofu with moochi in turtle soup drizzled with green onion oil. the green specks are green onion.


2nd course - simmered abalone with seaweed from some place in Japan, shrimps and roe. all these were placed on top of vinegar jelly. The tartness of the jelly went well with the saltiness of the other ingredients. I'm not fond of abalone but this was so fresh and well braised that you can see the "sinews".


3rd course - Monkfish liver from Hokkaido with ark shell clams and a sprinkling of veggies. I hate liver but Monkfish liver makes me crave for more of it. KM's fav dish haha.




4th course - Crab of the day was from Sanin. It was wrapped in a delicate piece of cabbage and then placed in crab broth with a hint of yuzu. Ignore the bubble in the pic! The tag which came with the crab in the morning was presented to us in a plate. Simply love how the Japs do things!



5th course - a smattering of sashimi. The unseasoned squid and turbot (fish) were to be given a dash of sea salt or wasabe. The semi grilled Spanish mackerel simply melted in my mouth.



6th course - sea perch (fish) grilled on charcoal with the chef's famous roasted rice on top (like rice krispies!). The orange glob is sea urchin which tasted kinda bubbly to me. There were nicely grilled oysters too and some fruity tasting chewy moochi like thing on the side. I'm really bad at identifying food as you can see.


7th course - this dish brought the most appreciative murmurs and camera flashes. it is called "Christmas Chicken!?" on the menu haha. The waiter will carry a Christmas tree with billowing dry ice to your table while ringing a bell. At first you'll think that this is some sort of dessert or surprise present until they whip out a steaming hot fried chicken from within the boughs! A very delicious fried chicken hollowed out inside and stuffed with glutinous rice and truffles.


8th course - Waggyu beef in sukiyaki style with a fried poached egg on top. Fried poached egg?! How on earth do you fry a poached egg?? The pairing was delicious though just as egg and beef will always be.


9th course - Love this dish especially the rice cooked in sakura tea and the crunchy morsels of sakura shrimp which was lightly coated with some sort of batter. The bowl contained miso soup which is totally unlike the miso soup we get here because it was made from shrimps and mini clams. In fact the miso soups we get from restaurants in Tokyo all had mini clams in them so you can imagine how sweet they tasted.


10th course - strawberries for dessert. I was a little resigned when I saw it as I curiously dislike strawberries but again, I cleaned out this dish cos the strawberries were not stinky or sour! This dessert, called the "-196 degrees Celsius candy strawberry and +99 degrees Celsius strawberry jam", is a RyuGin special and showcased Chef Seiji Yamamoto's expertise in molecular gastronomy. We were served with a candy strawberry and told to smash the candy open. What poured out was sorbet frozen into powder form with liquid nitrogen. The waiter will then heap a spoonful of hot strawberry jam over the sorbet so there! you get the dessert as it is called. This was the chef's only display of molecular cooking which was good actually as I don't like the newfangled foam or liquefied food.


11th course - dinner really ended with a bang (and a satisfied sigh) with the homemade egg pudding with honey. Again, I don't particularly like egg custards and pudding but we were told that this was steamed not baked to make it smoother. The creamy and dense texture was a dream! And aren't the origami wrapped lids a nice touch?



Matcha last to cleanse our palate.

When we were all bundled up and reluctantly trudged out of the restaurant into the cold, we were greeted by Chef Yamamoto himself all smiling and waving us goodbye.

Fresh picks for Dec

For someone who professes to be abit of a greenie, who loves trees and plants and all things green, who is pained and pissed at how they sawed and uprooted all the mature trees in the carpark, who tries to be little more environmentally aware - I am oddly obsessed with paper. Which probably explains the monthly income drain on books, magazines, scrapbook products, notebooks.

Had a couple of interesting reads recently. One is purportedly written for children but I think it is quite readable for someone older as well. I was attracted by the cover, the unique way which the author (who is apparently a travel writer) weaves pictures into the story. It was a very spooky and intriguing start but after the mystery is resolved at an early stage (and the spookiness gets explained away), it descends into a fantasy / adventure story (reminds me very much of the TV series Heroes) which doesn't quite get fleshed out along the way, but still makes a passably gripping read. I can totally see this book being turned into a movie!



The other book I read cannot be more different. It has an eye-catching lime green cover with a simple sketch of a shop house in front and is essentially a non-fiction trivia on Singapore. Though I don't usually buy books on Singapore, the writing in this is short and funny, and I think it makes a perfect gift exchange when you travel.

Can't open my inbox to get a pic of the book, will upload later!

Salzburg & Lantau Island

Been abit under the weather lately, not physically though. But enough said about that, here's a couple of 2-page layout that I completed some time back. They're more of my travel pics which I can never ever finish scrapping or putting in albums.


This seems like it was from a different time altogether! Our relatively carefree and energetic days of yore (and it was only 3 years back sigh). Though we only spent a day in Salzburg, I can proudly say that we managed to cover all the major sites and maxed out the one-day tourist card! It's a really gorgeous town, albeit a little touristy. Vienna or Salzburg? Give me Salzburg!



Ok here's our more recent trip to Hong Kong last year. The picture of the 3 guys rounding a bend is my favourite! An unforgettable, soul lifting hike along the undulating ridges of Lantau Island covered in golden grass. It's autumn again in December. This really gives meaning to "on top of the world" and I felt closer to the nature, the earth than I have ever been for a long time. We had the mountains (hills) completely to ourselves. Where else can you find perfect solitude?

Funny and fab shots

Looking through TY's Cinque Terre pics and saw that she snapped many impromptu and funny shots of TR and me! What the heck was I doing in those pics seriously??!





And she took many gorgeous ones too like the ones below! A tip: set your camera to the vivid colour mode in natural surroundings to make your colours pop like what TY did.

Distracted

Arrghh, I'm supposed to be working on a striking out affidavit now but keep getting distracted by youtube's "How do you make.....".

So far, have learned how,

1. Paint
2. Peanut butter
3. Oreo cookies
4. Potato chips
5. Orange juice
6. Waffle cones

are made. Catching a glimpse of the processes involved, they all don't seem all that unhealthy. I mean a potato chip is only fried for 3 s, how bad can that be right?!

Hello Saturday!

Hi again. Thought I'll blog abit more since I'm in the mood and I have abit of time before rushing off for more packing.

My bro's pitcher plant looks absolutely monstrous now. See the new pitcher that sprouted in the pic; it's almost 20cm???


Received a delightful surprise from Yivon through the mail! Love :) She sent it before jetting off to Turkey (jealous!) and probably cos she thought her friend here needed some cheering up for abandoning her grand plans to hold a full blown Martha Steward fashion Halloween party.



Here are a couple of layouts I did with group pics. The one with my whole family took forever to complete and is definitely more "handmade" - I misted, painted, embossed and sewed. Not very skillful with thread and needles as you can see.




Love Saturdays for its endless possibilities :)