Movies!

The going-rate for a movie ticket in my local cinema is £7 during 'peak hours' (Fri to Sun).

SP and I went to the movies for the first time yesterday. However, the fire alarm went off towards the end and we had to evacate from the building. We received movie vouchers in return. Gotta watch the movie from the beginning though :(

We will finish off the movie in 2 weeks!

We are going to Copenhagen this weekend!

I'm going to stop writing regularly

If you want to hear about my trips or just my life in London in general, email me!

House signs on Nerudova Street

On Nerudova Street in the Mala Strana district (Prague), a number of house-owners still proudly display the original house signs. House signs was used to distinguish between the different properties as there were no house numbering system until 1770 or so.

Here are some examples:

The Golden Key

The Red Lamb

My favourite! The Three Fiddles! A family of luthiers used to live here!

Touristy Photos of Prague

view from Prague Castle

Charles Bridge and the Castle

 

Monday races at the Royal Windsor racecourse

I went to the Monday races at the Royal Windsor racecourse yesterday evening. It was a company function so the entrance fee was all paid for.

The atmosphere was great. Many companies booked enclosures for their group and it was great for social functions. Some families also bring their kids along and picnic on the side lawn.

I only managed to bet on one race. My strategy was to pick the horse with the girls name. Sadly, 'Pretty Miss' came fifth. There goes my 5 pounds!

One of them ought to be 'Pretty Miss'!

One particular race was really close. They don't use camera judgements at the Royal Windsor. So two horses shared the first prize!

Equal first.

I've also met a real jockey for the first time. They are really quite tiny!

Overall, it was an interesting evening. Horse-racing is very English and I was planning to attend the Royal Ascot next year. But considering the high entrance costs, I think the Royal Windsor will do for now!

Also, I need a new betting strategy. Can anyone help? :P

Ducks at Four Seasons

It seems wrong to write sooo much about food, having consume all of them in just one day.

I promise my next post is not going to be about food :p

After our two afternoon teas on Saturday, SP joined SL and I at the Four Seasons. It's not the hotel Four Seasons, but a Chinese restaurant at Baywaters which is famous for their duck.


SL and me in front of the restaurant.

We made the effort to call up and book the day before and we are so glad we did. When we arrived, the place was totally packed out and the queue extended outside of the shop. We waited for a little and was asked to join another group of people on a large table. I guess sharing a table at a restaurant is a very Chinese concept. (Nevertheless, the Four Seasons is not one of the fancy upper-class restaurant.) However, if we don't share, it would probably have taken us over an hour just to secure a table.

The duck was the 'mandatory' dish. A whole duck costs 17.8 pounds and you can choose between a deboned duck or just a chopped up duck. SP, being the lazy eater he is, strongly argue for the deboned duck. Therefore, I missed out on chewing on the joints, sucking on the bone marrow etc.

The other two dishes arrived way earlier than the duck. There was only one person chopping up the duck and the deboning probably delay the serving time. When it finally arrived, we were all eager to dive in. We were immediately stopped by Steven, who insisted on taking a photo:



The verdict: the duck was way too fatty. It certainly needs some serious slimming down. The people who sat opposite us got much leaner ducks (all 3 groups of them got better ducks than us!)

We spent a lot of the time separating the fat from the skin. Then 'attaching' the skin (a.k.a 'the best bit') back with the meat.

I have to say their sauce is very nice and the meat is very tender throughout.

Next time, I have to order a leaner duck!

Two afternoon teas in one day!

After 'months' of separation, SL and I finally met up yesterday.

Food was on the agenda, of course.

SL found this great patisserie in Kensington Church Street, which she really want to take me to. But I had this chocolatier which I also want to go to. The simple solution would be going to both places, right? And what's better than having TWO afternoon teas to celebrate our reunion?

As we found out, both places are close to the High Street Kensington tube station. We decide to meet at 5pm. Underground engineering work delayed my arrival somewhat. Nevertheless, it didn't stop our emotions run wild as we greet each other in the station (ok.ok. I exaggerated a little. But still, I was really glad to meet up with SL once again.).



My choice is to have cake first because dinner is at 7:30pm and I need to digest the cake. The cakes at Maison Blanc turned out to be great. I chose a chocolate crème brulee cake which has a rich chocolaty body, a crunchy base and a slightly soft crème brulee centre. It is very very rich and I had to take it very slowly.

With much effort and perseverance, I managed to finish the cake in about an hour. Next stop was the chocolatier, Pierre Marcolini. SP and I saw the shop when we were in Belgium and it was forever packed with people. I’ve read various reviews on their chocolates and they all seem very positive. When I found out that they have a shop in London, I’ve decided this chocolate experience has to be shared with my dear foodie friend, Ms L.

Knowing that the chocolatier is close to the High Street Kensington tube station, we knew we didn’t have to walk far. I also knew that the shop is off the street that Maison Blanc is on. However, the street name ‘Lancer Court’ suggested a tiny street. Out come SL’s trusty A-Z (street directory). After some investigation, we only knew it is very close to us, but we still couldn’t locate it on our map. After a few minutes with the map, SL saw that the street is actually almost directly opposite us!

We then slowly drag our ‘caked-out’ body to our next stop. That took around 30 seconds.

I’ve been spoiled with fine chocolate recently, so ordinary chocolate no longer makes the cut. I had high expectations for Pierre Marcolini.

We picked a few choices from their range and decided to sit down outside the shop to continue our conversations. The tea and moka arrived shortly.

clockwise from top left (information from SL): caraibe (bitter ganache, 66% cocoa), venezuela (venezuela beans, 72% bitter), coeur framboise (raspberry pulp with ganache coated with white chocolate), another venezuela, and a truffe du jour (carribean bar coated with cocoa powder)

SL and I agreed that venezuela was our favourite. I still think Mary’s dark chocolate is the best. It is a little unfair to Pierre Marcolini in a way, as I’ve only tried a few pieces from their range. On the other hand, I’ve tried at least 2kg assortments of Mary’s chocolates. I have to say that not everything from their range is the best that I’ve had.

I think that the coeur framboise from Pierre Marcolini is very innovative and it is certainly the only raspberry chocolate that I would voluntary consume. It is also supposedly one of their most popular chocolate around Valentine’s Day! (A big hint for the boys!)

I didn’t have as much chocolate as I want because I was still rather full from the big brunch and the cake, and there were a big dinner to come. My suggestion for next time is that we should be less greedy *grin* and only have one afternoon tea in one day!

For more information:
http://www.pierremarcolini.co.uk
http://www.maisonblanc.co.uk

London Borough Market

VL, SP and I went to Borough Market to get the ingredients for our brunch today.

It is a really nice sunny day and the market was packed with people.

The Borough Market is mainly a market that sells food. There are lots more variety than Paddy's Market. The food are all of good quality and it comes with a matching price tag. It is certainly not a place for bargains!

Fruits and vegetables are generally not that fresh in the supermarket. So we were quite happy to see a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables here. SP was able to get a range of mushrooms from the stalls last time. Unfortunately, they had less choices yesterday and we were forced to settle with 6 varieties of mushrooms.

SP, the photographer, was not cooperating with me this time. So there are no photos on the mushrooms. You get a photo of cherry tomatoes instead.

Apart from raw produces, they also sell prepared food, including olives, pickle, jam, cured salmon, cured ham.

I tried some of the cured salmon from Scandelicious. The salmon is cured (not smoked) using various herbs and fruits.  It is absolutely divine. It is very expensive at 39 pounds a kilo, so I only managed to convince myself to get 4 slices at the time. I will definitely need to source it from somewhere else in the future! (again, no photos on the salmon)


VL got some olives from this stall.

A few bakery also set up stalls at the market. We bought some foie gras and wine from the French food & wine stall and naturally, we needed some bread to go with it.

The bread shop was really 'hard-sell' on their coriander and carrots bread, so we bought one. It wasn't the best bread to get with foie gras. But it was nice by itself.

Update (16/07/06): we ate half of the foie gras and the salmon for breakfast today. It is a bit luxury, but it's certainly very delicious.


We don't have a photo on our piece of bread. Here is a substitute.

There is also a stall that sells beers only. They have shelves and shelves of beer from around the world. It looked quite impressive. Having been to Belgium and Czech recently, we know their prices are greatly inflated, so we didn't get anything.



All these lead to a useless and hardly productive conclusion: it is great to have money in London! You can always get the finest things if you have £££ :P

For more information:

http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/

Trading a paperclip for a house

About one year ago, a guy named Kyle came up with an idea of trading a red paperclip on a dedicated website. His aim is to continue trading until he gets a property (house/island).

And tomorrow, at the one year anniversary, he will be achieving his goal.

This is his trading journey: 

 a red paperclip
 for
 a fish pen
for
  a door knob
for
 a coleman stove
for
 a red generator
for
 an 'instant party kit'
for
 a Bombardier Mach 1 snowmobile
for
 a holiday to Yahk
for
 a cube van
for
 a recording contract
for
 a year's free rental in Phoenix, Arizona
for
 an afternoon with Alice Cooper
for
 a Kiss snow globe
for
 a part in the movie Donna on Demand.
and was finally traded for

by the town of Kipling Saskatchewan Canada

Now, why didn't I think of that?

For more information:

http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/

Where is my French housemate?

I haven't seen him since France lost at the World Cup finals.

I'm worried.

Update (11/07/06 11:19pm): He is back. But I have yet to speak to him :(

I'm kinda back!

I'm back from Prague. It has been a tiring weekend!

Photos and stories to come soon!

I will be away for a bit!

Prague this weekend!

I will also be away for work next week with limited access to the Internet.

TESCO

Since moving into our home in Rotherhithe, we do most of our grocery shopping at the TESCO in the Surrey Quay Shopping Centre (http://www.surreyquaysshoppingcentre.co.uk). It is around a 15 minutes walk away. There is a bus service to the back of the shopping centre.

TESCO, according to Wikipedia, is the largest retailer in Britain. "It is also the world's #5 retailer behind Wal-mart of America, Carrefour of France, Metro AG of Germany, and Royal Ahold of the Netherlands." TESCO was founded by a man called Jack Cohen in 1924. The brand first appeared when Jack received a large shipment of tea from T.E. Stockwell. He combined the first three letters of the supplier's name and the first two letter of his surname to form the "TESCO" brand, and the rest is history.

TESCO is commonly considered as one of the cheaper supermarket brand. ASDA is supposed to be the cheapest. Then there is TESCO, Sainsbury and Waitrose. There is a Waitrose in Canary Wharf, which is one tube stop away. It is quite similar to CitySuper! in Hong Kong, as it has more variety of imported goods. It is also much more expensive to shop there.

TESCO is not all low-quality products though. The 'TESCO Finest' brand offers some good quality stuff which is much better than the average supermarket brands in Australia. Of course, there are still much to learn about the European brands, but we are contented with shopping at TESCO for now.

I've got my books

Thanks to the lovely SP, I've now got 3 books to read!

Why is it so HOT over here?

It doesn't help that I'm coughing uncontrollably and SP won't let me to have cold drinks :(

GER 0 - 2 ITA

2 amazing goals in the last 5 minutes! Italy is off to the World Cup final!

I will be watching tomorrow's game with my French flatmate. He gets a little emotional about the game. If I didn't write after tomorrow, please call the police for me :P

For now, enjoy some 'best soccer moments':

http://www.joga.com/VideoView.aspx?videoId=-6247272780250291395

Why are most libraries closed on Wednesdays?

I need a book!

Half a day in Damme

I know I haven't written an entry on Brugge yet. It is a lovely place. When I eventually sort out the photos, I will probably go back to it :)

SP and I spent 3.5 days in Brugge. On our second last day, we decided to hire a bicycle to ride to the surrounding villages.



Brugge was once a very rich town. There are a number of smaller villages around Brugge which provided for the townpeople. One of the major village/town is Damme.

The host from our B&B said it is a very easy ride. We had to exit Brugge through the East gate and then follow the canal. (and if we are fit enough, we can ride all the way back-and-forth to the coast in one day!) The instructions seems easy enough.


As we left Brugge, we found ourselves on this amazingly straight tree-lined canal. It is so picturisque that we took a number of photos before we even got there!


The other side of the road is equally pretty!

If cycling is not your thing, you can go on one of the touristy boat that runs along the canal:



This beautiful canal is called the Damse Vaart. Napoleon has a plan to link Brugge with the Schelde through this canal. This plan was never entirely completed and nowadays, the canal only goes from Brugge to Sluis.

Damme is about four miles northeast of Brugge and it was a quiet fishing village until 850 years ago. At that time, Zwin, a wide inlet, penetrated much further into the coastal plain and Brugge was connected to the North Sea. As Brugge began to gain importance as a trading port, a terminal dike was built up at the end of the Zwin, which is where Damme stands now.

Damme became the outer port of Brugges and it was considered as one of the largest harbours of its ages. According to historical records, French king Phillips captured the town in 1213 and his entire fleet of 1,700 vessels fitted into the harbour without a problem. In its heyday, Damme was also the chief trade center and the most important market in Europe for Swedish herring.

As the town's livelihood is dependent on its location, its fate was sealed when Zwin silted up. As other cities such as Antwerp overtook Brugge's trading position, Damme becomes a 'dead town'. Fortunately, there are still some historical sites remained in the town.

First, there is the beautiful Schellemolen windmill that I mentioned:



Also, the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady). Apparently, it is quite rare for a church to have a flat tower. So here you go. It's a special site!

The construction of the present church commenced in 1225. The town was rich and soon enough, the church becomes too small. In 1340, she was enlarged to accommodate the growing town population. However, after the Zwin slited up, depopulation made the church too big and the maintenance become too high. Eventually, part of the church was demolished in 1725. The part between the tower and what now remains as the church was pulled down, and the round arches was left to support the church tower. So nowadays, the building looks more like a ruin than an actual church.




Damme is also well-known for its cuisine and its bookshop. We didn't get to try the food, but we did have a quick drink with the locals.


SP with his beer!

I would love to return there someday to experience the food!

Windmills

When you think of Flanders, you would think of windmill. We saw a few of them during our visit to Belgium. Out of the ones which we've seen, I personally think that the Schellemolen windmill near Damme is the most beautiful.



The present Schellemolen windmill built in 1876. It stands right besides the beautiful Damse Vaart. The surroundings is beautiful when we visited. It is also one of the few Belgium windmills that is open to the public (and for free!).  When we visited the windmill, the operator (or windmiller?) was grinding some grain for stock feed. According to him, the windmill can easily grind one big bag of grain in 10 minutes when the wind is strong!

We also saw a few more windmills in Brugge. With some spare time on our hand, we spent a while imitating the windmills. Here are a couple of successful takes:


Going solo!


A combined effort! Do you see the resemblance?