Snow skin

And the baking streak continues.

Well not baking precisely, since what I made was the ping pei type mooncake and not the baked one.

All that had to be done was to roll the dough into balls, wrap the filling in, press it into the mould and knock it out.

Easy peasy.

And these wee boxes to place them in were such a find!

 

 

I reckon they’re presentable and saleable, dontcha?

How much would you buy this for?

 

* Happy Mid-Autumn Festival *

The simple delights

The feeling of flour and water assimilating with each kneading motion.

The joys of watching the ball of dough double in size.

The tingly sensation of heat emanating from the oven.

The marvel of my creation turning golden brown before my eyes and

the wonderful whiff of freshly baked bread in the air.

 

Introducing the lovely sweet potato flowers and sweet potato whirls.

 

Nothing beats the contentment of baking your own bread.

Invisible tug of war

Pull.

Tug.

Pull.

Something isn’t right.

It’s bothersome.

It’s exasperating.

Can’t place a finger on it.

Branches visible.

Roots untraceable.

 

Captivated

Immersed in the lives of Edward and Bella, fictional characters of the gripping vampire love story, the Twilight saga.

Once I got started, I got so caught up in their lives that it was so hard to put the book down. Sis said it wasn’t fair cause I didn’t have to wait in anticipation like she did for the next book. =P Just finished the last of the series, Breaking Dawn yesterday. So it was a wee bit anti-climatic but a happy ending nevertheless. Movie’s coming out sometime soon but I doubt it’ll be as good as the book.

It never is.

***

It’s been a year since I’ve gotten red spots on me and now I’m getting them again.

Oh you bloody bloodsuckers. Why don’t you pick someone your own size?

Time to say goodbye

Oh how fast a year has gone by in a blink of an eye.

And the time has come for me to say goodbye.

Farewell Glasgow, you will be missed.

Everything from Greggs to Thornton’s, the random walks and even the unpredictable weather. And also the sound of bagpipes in the air. And the hot men in kilts. =)

And hello mamak and all good food that makes Malaysia truly Asia.

Okay I’m gonna stop blabbing, eat and do my last minute packing now.

Brit Explorer : Day 5

The final day of the tour brought us to Sherwood Forest in Nottingham, the legendary home of Robin Hood.

Through the forest trail we came to the mighty ancient Major Oak, knotted and twisted by age, supposedly Robin Hood’s major hideout.

Alas, we were a week too early to attend the annual summer Robin Hood Festival, one of the midlands largest free festivals with activities such as archery, jousting with jesters and people dressed up in costumes.

***

Then it was on to Stratford Upon Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespear.

 

Had our final cuppa tea and scones with clotted cream and jam then it was back to London killing 300 minutes of our time in 2 restaurants before heading back to good ol’ Glasgow.

 

***

And so the great Haggis adventure around Britain and Wales in the awesome,

wild and sexy yellow bus came to an end.

Forget the fact that my sexy tak menjadi and I look like I’m trying to contain a very strong urge to pee.

 

The end of this trip also marks the last of my trips around Europe before heading halfway around the world back home.

Brit Explorer : Day 4

After a breakfast of muesli, we headed to Orrest Head for a 20 minute walk in the forest. In reward, we got a stunning view of the lakes.

Leaving the Lake District, we headed to Yorkshire. In between, we made a couple of photo stops. First up was Devil’s Bridge; a fine 3 arched bridge that spans across the River Lune in the small town of Kirkby Lonsdale.

The bridge is a popular haunt for bikers and indeed there were many of them gathered around whilst we were there.

The bridge is also famed for being the perfect bridge to jump off as one would have a momentary feeling of being out of control  but would still land in the water. Doing so could get one fined but that does not deter some from attempting suicide.

As if being on a suicidal bridge is not enough, Gary had to play a whole list of depressing songs to bring us down as he said we’ve been listening to cheery songs throughout the trip. To start the ball rolling, he blasted Queen’s Don’t Try Suicide, to raise our spirits up and ingrain it into us not to try suicide first (reverse psychology?) then it was an emotional down hill from there. Even the weather turned gloomy with all the songs that were being played.

Lunch was at Skipton where we had a choice of meat with Yorkshire pudding and vegetables on the side.

 

***

Going up and down slopes heading to moors, we listened to sketches of Monty Python as we came into York where we spent a good 2 hours exploring the town.

Sites of interest include the York Minster, the second largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe

and The Shambles, a narrow medieval street once the street of butchers; now lined with shops and tea rooms aplenty.  The buildings present such and old world charm with the narrow walkways and the overhanging upper storeys. So narrow it was that a person from the balcony above could possibly stretch out his hand to shake the hands of another person on the opposite side of the road doing the same thing.  

Before we bid the charming place adieu, we dropped by the Little Shambles for a cup of tea drunk with our pinkies sticking out.

Then it was on our hostel which was by far the nicest hostel I’ve ever stayed at! It looked pretty much like a lodge you’d see on TV with wooden beams and all that. I mean, look at it!

 

Exterior

Kitchen

Lounge

Dorm

***

After dinner we headed out to the local pub, Queen’s Head for a Silly Hat themed night with the group, where you guessed it, we wore silly hats of all sorts to the pub. Thumbs up for creativity as one guy wore his dad’s boxers over his head as his hat. Another wore a paper hat while the majority wore sun hats and berets.

 

We split into groups of 5 and participated in a quiz organised by the pub and we emerged champions (among our tour group anyways). Another team, probably the locals outwon us by 5 points. But we were happy that we won nonetheless as the look of disbelief on our tour guide’s face was priceless.

To celebrate our victory, the guy on our team bought us drinks. As the clock drew close to 11, I hurriedly gulped down a pint in the matter of minutes and hailed a piggy back ride to the hostel just in time for the lockdown. Yes, the hostel had a curfew at 11pm. I know. Tell me about it.  

 

* photo (coloured) cred: Lene

Brit Explorer : Day 3

Driving through the lovely Northern Wales scenery, we headed straight on to where the skies were blue. Crossing a bridge that was constructed the same year the Battle of Waterloo occured, we entered the walking capital of Wales, Betws-y-Coed a lovely place with rustic B&Bs and pine trees surrounding the area. What a stunning sight it was to pass by the clear blue lake on the left and great big rocky mountains on the right.

Heading to a higher altitude, the mountains got bigger and rockier. Some were so high that clouds were in between the ridges.

Along the highway we traversed to Holyhead. Crossing over the Britannia Bridge with the Menai Bridge on the right, we stopped by the town with the longest name in United Kingdom and one of the longest in the world, with 58 letters. Try pronouncing this:

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

Bwahaha. Looks like a random jumble of letters doesn’t it? Spelling it is hard enough. Pronouncing it is a whole different thing. But hey it actually means

The church of Mary in the hollow of the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the church of Tysilio of the red cave.

Getting off the bus, we headed to the souvenir store to get some mementos and our passports stamped to prove that we really did go there.

Moving on, we made our way to the walled town of Conwy, home of the smallest house in the Great Britain, the Quay House (the red one in the picture) with dimensions of  3.05m x 1.8m. Believe it or not, a 6 foot man once lived in there! As small as it was, I was able to go through the doorway without the need to bend my back or watch my head.

Our stop in Conwy was also the last chance to get our hands on some Welsh souvenirs and a sample of local delicacies such as turkey and cranberry pie and hitman pie as we left Wales and headed to the Lake District.

Crossing River Lune, we headed on to Windermere Lake, England’s largest lake for a photo stop. Into the town of Clappersgate, passing  by a house with 23 freaking chimneys, we ascended Hawkshead Hill where dry stone walls separate the road from the woods in the direction of Coniston Water, the third largest lake. There, we took a 50 minute cruise around the water with the Old Man of Coniston, the highest peak of the Furness Fell overlooking the lake.

Next up was a walk into the woods

and a sudden unexpected transformation of a certain someone into Smeagol/Gollum which was absobloodylutely hilarious!

A wee bit of sheep chasing down the hill later,  we left the woods and headed on to Ambleside at the head of Windermere, our stopover for the night.

Brit Explorer : Day 2

Leaving Bath, we headed over to Wales. Crossing over the Severn river bridge, we stopped at the Norman town of Chepstow. The ruins of Chepstow Castle, the oldest stone fortification of Britian stood majestically on the cliffs over the River Wye.

As we approached the midline of the bridge, we strategically placed one foot in front of the other and hey, we were in two places at the same time as the pole in the middle of the bridge marked the borderline of England and Wales.

To get a full view of the town, we walked up the marked Wye Valley path to the ruins of a church.

 

 

Leaving Chepstow, winding 5 miles north through the Wye Valley, a 10 minute drive brought us to Tintern Abbey. (Somehow I can’t seem to find any pictures of the Abbey)

***

Cruising along the river and rolling hills through the golden wheat valley, we stopped at the town of Ludlow, the lowest of the Luds (Okay, so that’s not what it actually means. Ludlow means a place on a hill by the loud river) for a local lunch of roast pork baguette with apple sauce and stuffing. Bellies filled and 80s songs blaring from the speakers, we continued our journey up north.

Green pastures, large flocks of sheep congregating under shady trees. Dairy cows grazing and horses trotting as we trailed behind a white caravan making our way to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, the longest and highest cast iron duct in Britian.

It was so high that my legs were weak and trembling and I had to hold on to someone/something to walk. Which is ridiculous I know, because there’s no way that I could fall. I’d probably splash into the water duct and get crushed by a canal boat first before I fall 126 feet over. 

Following that was a long steep walk up a hill to see the magnificent ruins of Castell Dinas Bran, a Welsh medieval castle at Llangollen.

This was only half way up!

Though energy draining, the views we got from the summit was definitely worth every bead of sweat and muscle ache. Twas here that we taught some of our tour members from around the world how to do jumping shots. We did plenty of our own too. Unfortunately, I don’t have the photos with me now. Will definitely post some up when I do get my hands on them.

 

Most of the group started their descend while we were still taking photos. As a result, we trailed behind. Because the hill was so steep, I couldn’t walk down on twos. Instead I went on all fours, and created a walk of my own; what Khai dubbed the tarantula walk, which was bloody hilarious to watch I’d imagine. Oh wait, I don’t have to. I’ve seen myself in action courtesy of Selene. But hey, it worked. With my centre of gravity lowered, going down was a lot faster and safer that way.

Leaving Llangollen it was another 25 minute drive to the farmhouse where we spent the night. 

 

Upon arrival, we went on a quest for dry grass and sticks. After a good hour or so, the guys in the shack managed to get the pit going and we stuffed ourselves with a well-worth-the-wait BBQ in the backyard.

After cleaning and washing up, we gathered in the kitchen for a late night talk with topics ranging from discrimination to the painfully well argued topic of watermelons coming out from lemons then it was off to bed.

Brit Explorer : Day 1

Departing London in the wild and sexy yellow bus parked out on Vauxhall Bridge Road, we headed out of the city. First impression of our tour guide, Gary, crazy (in a good way =P). I wouldn’t expect less of course. After all, it is a Haggis tour and they’re known for their whacky fun loving guides.

Passing Reading, we stopped by Marlborough for provisions then it was off to Avebury to see the stone circles which is said to be the largest of its kind and is older than the Stonehenge. In my opinion, they were far too scattered for me to see the big picture. Apparently though, a Celtic cross pattern can be seen from an aerial view of the stones.

A 7 minute drive later, we stopped by the roadside to see the Cherhill White Horse, one of the many Wiltshire White Horses cut into the steep slope of chalk hillsides.  

Next up was a stop at the tiny 18th century village of Lacock. Lacock is a village where little is changed by modern development.

 

Leaving Lacock, we passed through the towns of Pickwick and Box to get to our stop for the day, the Roman city of Bath where we checked into our stay for the night, Christopher’s Inn. The hostel was so close to the Abbey that we got a great view of it from our window.

After freshening up, we explored the town and everywhere we went, there were decorated sculptures of pigs! In the parks, by the roadsides, on rooftops and even on trees! Imagine that! Each pig has a name; Hedge Hog, Bacon Butty, Pig-eon, Hogwarts Express, Pig in Prada are some to name a few. Ah, pigspotting paradise. =)

Legend has it that upon his return from Athens, Bladud, father of King Lear contracted leprosy and could not be king. He became a swineherd instead and passed on leprosy to his pigs. However, he noticed that some pigs were cured when they rolled in the hot mud of Bath’s springs so he followed suit and indeed, he too was cured. He then returned home and became King.

***

For tea, we headed to Sally Lunn’s, which is not only known for its tea and Sally Lunn (Bath) bun, it is also the oldest house in Bath. Looking through the window, we saw that the buns were massive! The bun was probably bigger than both my palms put together! There was no way we could each finish one after our snack so we shared one. Sitting in one of the themed refreshment rooms, the Jane Austen; we ordered cream tea and the bun with a cinammon butter topping and a generous serving of clotted cream. Yums!

 

Satisfying our tummies, we strolled around town, right back up to the Circus and the Royal Crescent where we saw more pigs. Heck, they were everywhere!

Our stroll took us down to the river bank where we walked quite a bit.

In the background the church bells rang. Walking past boat-a-vans, we got lovely views of the river, its wildlife and the bridges going across it.

What a serene setting it was. If only we had banks like these back home. I would go for walks and sit for hours reading a book, taking photos or just to gather my thoughts. But we don’t. So I sat there savouring the moments while it lasted.

As the sun began to set, we headed back to the inn and called it a night.