UK trip, Aug 2007 - Sandringham

The Sandringham House is the Queen's privately owned estate (along with Balmoral Castle).

(Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse are classed as the Occupied Royal Residences. The Occupied Royal Residences are owned by the sovereign of Great Britain, not by an individual as such.)

SP and I didn't venture into the Sandringham House, as we were already running late and you can only visit the house on a fully guided tour.

We did took a few photos in front of the gate and at the church of St Mary Magdalene.

The wrought-iron gate were made in Norwich for the1862 Great Exhibition, and they were later presented to the then Prince and Princess of Wales (later King George V and Queen Mary) as a wedding gift.

We spoke to the lady looking after the church and she was happy to share with us some information about the church:

• The Royal Family traditionally attends the Christmas morning service in the church each year.
• Two monarchs has died at Sandringham (George V and George VI). Both bodies were rested in the church before being taken to London for burial
• There is a collection of really old flags in the side chapel.
• There were memorial tablets around the walls of the church, one for each recent Kings and their Queens.

I have later found out that Princess Diana was baptised there.

Prince John, fifth son of King George V and Queen Mary and the central figure of the 'Lost Prince', was also baptised and buried there.

I've just watched the mini-series last week and it is very touching! Too bad I didn't see the grave when I was there.

UK trip, Aug 2007 - Elveden War Memorial

After Cambridge and on the way to King's Lynn, we saw a giant column rising high above the ground. What surprises us was that we are in the middle of no where. There were a spot to stop, so we stopped by and had a look.

The column turned out to be Suffolk's biggest war memorial for three parishes: Elveden, Eniswell and Icklingham. The column stands at the point where these three parishes meet to commemorate the 48 local men who lost their lives in the Great War, which is a very important event in the UK history.

The monument consists of a Corinthian Column built of Weldon Stone surmounted by a vase of Portland stone with a total overall height of 127 feet. Can you see me?

The tale of two homemade burgers

SP and I went to a house party the weekend before last. During the party, we mentioned the burgers at BurgerFuel in NZ. That reminded me that I have a precious jar of aioli from Provence! What's better than making a gourmet burger with it!

SP and I went to Waitrose next day, trying to source our buns and burgers. The buns come in a packet of four. So, SP and I agreed that we will take turn to make dinner for the next two days.

No.. this is not another competition. We decided to make different burgers: I was to replicate the 'Ford Freakout' burger from BurgerFuel and SP was to make his special prawn burger.

So here are the results:

My creation: Angus beef burger, crispy bacon, avocado, generous amount of aioli and leaves. It was very very very yummy. The beef was tender and it is also tasty. The crispy bacon added some crunchiness to the burger and it is balanced by the creaminess of the avocado and the aioli! Absolutely wonderful! I LOVE aioli!

SP's creation: fried Madagascan prawns with aioli and leaves. SP added bacon on his. The Madagascan prawns have a very fine texture to it. It also has a very sweet taste to it. This certainly beats the normal king prawns (tasteless) and the normal tiger prawns in Australia! The only other comparable prawns are Panamanian prawns.

Dinner is served! Luckily, our white wine supply hasn't run out yet! We also made a streaky bacon salad (with balsamic vinegar sauce) to go with our meal. Aren't we healthy? :)

UK trip, Aug 2007 - Midsummer House

It was the middle of summer, so it felt appropriate to visit a restaurant named the Midsummer House. To me, the name is quite romantic. It certainly doesn't hurt that it is a 2-Michelin star restaurant! :)

This restaurant was a personal recommendation from SP's foodie friend, who has been providing trusty food advice to SP. Well, until his migration to Australia anyway!

First thing we noticed when we walked in, the staff are mostly French. SP and I both love the French accent. But one thing remained unclear: it is easy to source Eastern Europeans in UK, but what do these French people come here for??

Anyway, we ordered our aperitifs. SP has his usual Patis and I had my 'le cocktail Champagne fraise'. It was a refreshing drink for a summer evening and it was the beginning of a lovely time for both of us. The dining room is in the conservatory, which is set up beautifully.

Things to nibble on.

The conservatory overlooks the private garden and in the middle of the garden is a large tree. The logo of the Midsummer House is based on this tree. I think the logo look different to the tree though.

After careful menu reading, we ordered a la carte, with matching wine to go with the food.

Pink grape fruit with champagne foam. It is appetising but it wasn't that special, to be honest.

Langoustine jelly in green foam made with pea and Chinese baby bean sprouts. This is nice and warm. But what's with the foam?

Seared hand-dived scallops, celeriac, truffle, Granny Smith and caramel. The matching wine is fresh and crisp. The scallops are cooked to PERFECTION! It is grilled on the outside and definitely not overcooked on the inside. With such small amount of truffle and sauce, we had to focus on the scallop. The apple adds a different texture and sweetness to every bite. I think this is one of the best scallop dish I've had!

SP ordered the poached and grilled Anjou squab pigeon, served with cherries, sweet potato, spinach, pistachios, valrhona. SP doesn't like gamey taste, but he likes game when it is cooked well. The way the chef cooked it made the meat very tender and flavoursome, but not gamey at all. Imagine my relief when I heard that he likes his dish. These days, I think SP is becoming more critical at food than me! Back to the dish. The chocolate sauce with grated chocolate is a nice compliment to the meat. I was unable to taste any pistachio though.

My dish was a slow-roast fillet of beef, shallots, celeriac, bonbon of foie gras with essence of port. The beef is pink and very tender! The slow-roasting definitely works its charm! The foie gras was hidden in the potato. Sadly, there isn't much of foie gras in it. The sauce is very French and this certainly brings back good memories from my Provence trip in July!

The pre-dessert did not deserve a photo so there isn't a photo.

The dessert was chocolate fondant, coffee and walnut ice cream. The ice cream is divine. It was rich, creamy and nutty, yet not too sweet. The chocolate fondant is rather big. It was certainly too filling, and I was not able to finish it all. The chocolate and coffee sauce was also a tad too sweet and too 'coffery' (I don't like coffee, esp when it is competing with chocolate!), and it overpowers the taste of the chocolate.

In summary, the dinner was a great experience for us. We had a good size table, which was not too close to other tables in the restaurant. The ambiance was great and we had a great time chatting. The staff were friendly and knowledgeable. We had some good wine recommendations.

The entree and the main course was both top-notch. They were both completely satisfying. I think where it fell behind was the dessert. It was still a good dessert, but it just doesn't have that 'wow' factor.

Overall, SP and I both think it is still a very deserving 2-Michelin star restaurant, and we won't hesitate to recommend the restaurant to others.

UK trip, Aug 2007 - Cambridge

Cambridge is an old English university town and it is best known for the University of Cambridge.

SP and I have visited the University of Oxford previously, so it seems natural to visit Cambridge as well. SP's foodie friend also recommended a Michelin-starred restaurant to us and it certainly doesn't hurt to accompany a weekend trip with some fine dinning!

So, back to the University of Cambridge. It was formed when a group of scholars decided to leave Oxford in 1209 after they had some dispute with the townspeople. The two universities are rivals until today.

The university does extremely well in humanities and the arts, but it is most famous for its scientists and mathematicians, which include Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Alan Turing and Stephen Hawking.

During summertime, the grounds of the colleges are filled with people. Most of the actual students are away for summer holidays, and the people there are mainly tourists and alumnus. So, what are the alumnus doing there? To get married, of course! The graduates of the university have the previlege to get married in the colleges that they read with. During our visits, we saw no less than 5 weddings!

In front of the King's College's Chapel. The people gathered in front of the chapel are waiting for the tourist to be kicked out so they can go in to attend the marriage ceremony.

The grounds of the colleges are generally nicely maintained. They usually have a sign on it that tell people to get off the grass (the blue one in the picture above). The rule doesn't apply to everyone. If you are senior members of the college, then you are allowed on the grass. However, you can only walk on your own grass. So a Fellow at King's College won't be allowed to go on the grass at Trinity College, unless he/she is accompanied by a senior member of Trinity College. There are also some patches on “the Backs” (riverside area behind the college) that are accessible to students. Certain lawns are accessible to graduates in formal gowns. Complicated, eh?

One of the most touristy place at the University Cambridge is the King's College. The college was founded by Henry VI in 1441 specifically for poor boys who graduated from his charity school - Eton College (formally known as King's College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor). The connection between the colleges and Eton remained very strong for many years. King's College only admitted first non-Etonian undergraduate in 1865.

The College Chapel at King's College is the symbol of Cambridge and it is on the logo of the city council. The Chapel Choir is also world-famous, performing in concerts around the world. In particular, it has broadcast its Carols on the BBC on Christmas Eve every year since 1930s.

The largest fan vault ceiling in the world.

The painting “The Adoration of the Magi” by Rubens.

The stained windows are beautiful. But what's more interesting to me are the carvings and what they symbolise. Here, you see the double Tutor rose (red rose of the House of Lancaster combined with the white rose of the House of York) on the left and the portcullis (emblem of the Beaufort family and Henry VII's mother Lady Mary Beaufort) on the right with the crown on top.

The King's Chapel and the Gibb's building.

The colleges at the University of Cambridge are not all welcoming. They are closed to visitors from time to time. Some of the more popular ones charge a entrance fee during tourist season. Trinity College is one of them.

The Great Gate at Trinity College, founded by Henry VIII. You can see his statute above the doorway. Trinity College is the largest college in both Oxford and Cambridge. It is also the wealthiest, with an estimated financial endowment of approximately £700 million. This amount excludes its land and other fixed assets. It has traditionally been considered the most aristocratic of the Cambridge colleges. King Edward VII, King George VI and Prince Charles all attended it.

I thought this is a very pretty picture. There is certainly a traditional university-like environment at Cambridge!

The Mathematical bridge in Queens' College is also famous. There is a story going around about the origin of this bridge. According to the story, the bridge was originally designed by Isaac Newton without using any nails. The students took it down and then found that they were unable to put it back together. However, the story is just a made-up one. The bridge was not designed or built by Isaac Newton. The bridge was erected after his death and it was designed by a fella called William Etheridge. Nor is the bridge that we see today the original one. The one in the picture below is the third one. However, the design was the same as the original one. It is made with teak instead of oak though. Finally, the bridge has always had bolts in it. So, why is it called the Mathematical Bridge? Well, in the 18th Century, the usual description for such designs was 'geometrical construction', so this could be one of the possible explanation for its name.

Punting on the River Cam is also very popular with the tourists.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre (also called the Round Church), is a small Norman church, which is now used for exhibitions. It is one of four round churches in Britain and it was built by the Knights Templar. One of the other round church is the Temple Church in London, made famous by the Da Vinci Code .

我的志願...

我的志願...是成為一位傑出的南瓜雕刻家。

Thanks for all the votes.

The results are out: 20 votes for the pumpkin on the right and 4 votes for the pumpkin on the left.

Now, I know you don't care about the votes, you just want to know who carved which pumpkin.

Well, let's just say that I am not the artistic one in our relationship! :)

A couple of people said that the left one if a lazy job, but I actually worked very hard in carving the pumpkin. I certainly took twice the time than SP! I guess it doesn't really show.. hahahaha

And for those who think my pumpkin looks like a penguin. Yes, my original design was the Linux penguin, which was going to be accompanied by the Apple logo on the other side (I know I will at least get one vote that way!). It was all going well..... until the nose of the Linux penguin fell out! After some diagnosis, we have decided that plastic surgery wasn't going to help, so I changed the design to the pacman-like figure.

Anyway, it is not too late to develop my artistic abilities! With this positive thought in mind, I've collected a colouring book from the supermarket. Now I only need some Crayola crayons! haha

Risotto ai Funghi Porcini

SP and I bought some dried porcini from the Italian market. It is very good quality so it is best that we consume it ASAP (that's my reasoning, anyway)

As we were cooking, I simply couldn't resist the temptation to do tastings every couple of minutes. The fragrance of porcini filled up the entire apartment! Luckily, there are still a good amount left when the dish is ready to be served.

We have made our risotto extra rich and it went really well with a glass of wine.

I can't wait until we make this dish again.

If only I bought more of this stuff from Italy, I would be making it everyday! :)

Who makes the better pumpkin? SP or me?

It's almost Halloween time and there are pumpkins everywhere! It looks all too easy, so we thought we will run a pumpkin carving competition this year.


Two contestants submitted their entries: SP and me. So, I am asking you to be the judge.

Please leave a comment with your initials and let me know whether you prefer the pumpkin on the left or the right. I will gather the votes. I will also decide whether you know your left from your right and make the 'adjustments' accordingly... hahahaha :)

This is serious and every vote will count!