Unexpected joys

Once in a while, you get pleasant surprises and find unexpected joys crossing your path...

But... somehow, they always seem to be short-lived. Is it because you start having these expectations that what was originally "unexpected" becomes "expected"? And you then project your future expectations based on this one-off event, which essentially is an anomaly... and as such, this projection becomes distorted?

Looking back...

They say you shouldn't look back in anger...

I say you shouldn't look back at all...

Because if you do... there's always the temptation of asking yourself the "What if..", "Could it..", or "Perhaps.." questions...

There's no point in dwelling in the past... the past should just remain buried in the past...

I've said this many times in the past and I've failed to do so every time... but this time, it'll be different...

I'm determined not to look back.

And the first thing to do? Stop counting how many times I've failed in the past... because that's dwelling in the past! *Ooopsssssss*

Wisdom

Just realised that I FINALLY have a wisdom tooth coming out on the top right...

"...Wisdom teeth are third molars that usually appear between the ages of 16 and 24. Most people have four wisdom teeth, but it is possible to have more or fewer..."

Gosh... my first wisdom tooth... way past the age range of 16 to 24... which means that all these while... I have been suffering from hypodontia!!

"...In dentistry, hypodontia is the condition of naturally having fewer than the regular number of teeth. Hypodontia explains a situation when there is a missing number of 6 teeth or less. Hypodontia is often familial, or associated with ectodermal dysplasia or Down syndrome..."

What??? ectodermal dysplasia?? Down syndrome??

Sob sob sob... I'm deformed and mentally challenged....

No wonder I don't have any wisdom and have the tendency to make all the wrong choices in life... sigh...

Will I ever have wisdom? With my ONE tiny wisdom tooth?

Or will it just bring me pain and trips to the dentist to get it removed?

Shopaholics @ The Shopping Queens

Went to Barcelona two weekends ago... just to SHOP! Hahaha.. it was literally a shopping trip as we flew there early Saturday morning and came back Sunday night... we did nothing apart from shopping... no sight seeing, no proper sit down meals and no touristy activities...

We didn't even take any photos.. apart from those with our shopping bags... and we literally went to every other Mango and Zara around the La Rambla and Plaza Catalunya area... apart from Mango and Zara, the only other place that we shopped at was this brand called Stradivarius, which incidentally is under the same parent company by Zara! Hahaha... I guess at the end of the day... it's still back to the two brands...

It was definitely a fruitful shopping trip as the prices there were significantly lower than what we could get in London even during the Boxing Day sale... imagine a jacket in London costing £69 AFTER sale... in Barcelona, the same jacket would be 69 Euros BEFORE sale... and after the sales, it's around 49 Euros only!

And we shopped all the way to the airport... yours truly bought a bag 10 minutes before we board the plane back to London.

Let's just say that we went there with only 12kgs of luggage between the 3 of us and came back with more than 25kgs and 3 additional bags full of our shopping goodies!

I'm convinced that we actually shop enough to save more than our total flight and accommodation costs combined!

Can't say I disagree with the above! :P

The Nobu Experience

As part of my herculean efforts to dine at all the restaurants that made it to the The World's 50 Best Restaurant, I made a trip to Nobu London... it was my own little reward for all my hard work in pursuit of being a qualified actuary... a little treat for myself :)

Ranked 17 on this year's list, Nobu London at Park Lane was the first Asian restaurant to receive a Michelin star. It's international celebrity chef, Nobuyuki Matsuhisa is known for his fusion cuisine which blends traditional Japanese dishes with South American ingredients.

Trivia about Nobu:

1) Mr Nobu himself is friends with Robert de Niro and actually has a cameo appearance in the film Austin Powers in Goldmember as the Japanese business man "Mr Roboto" (not that I've watched the movie :P hehehe... but my my... the man CAN cook and act... not bad)

2) The tables at Nobu are always fully booked even on week nights... you usually have to book about a month in advance... and rumours have it that some celebrity figure actually paid a £1,000 bribe for a table on a certain night!

3) The broom cupboard incident - where tennis player Boris Becker had a tryst while his wife was in labour... which led to the birth of his illegitimate daughter...

Okay, okay... enough about facts and statistics... after all... I was there for the food! Since we wanted to try everything on the menu, we eventually decided on the tasting menus... to ensure that we sample all the signature dishes as well as the traditional dishes... we went for the Omakase (Chef's Choice) and Traditional multi-course tasting menus...

Shiromi Usuzukuri (Whitefish Sashimi)

Salmon Tartar with Caviar

Traditional "Nobu Style" Palette

Shrimps with Spicy Garlic Sauce

Tuna Tataki with Ponzu

Tomato Rock Shrimps and Scallops Ceviche

Salmon Kelp Roll

The Nobu Signature Dish - Black Cod with Miso

Anti-Cucho Peruvian Style Spicy Tea-smoked Lamb

Beef "Toban" Yaki

Traditional Sushi Assortments

Chocolate Bento Box with Green Tea Ice Cream and a French-infused Dessert

Hokusetsu Junmai Dai-Ginjo Sake in Bamboo

THE VERDICT:

The restaurant definitely lived up to it's reputation of being the elite socialite dining venue in London. And the food was simply fantastic... everything tasted so fresh and they melt in your mouth with its juices and seasoning tantalising your taste buds... it was also a fine dining experience with luxury additions like caviar and truffles added to the dishes...

Now... with 1 down on my list... I'll just have another 49 more to go...

On a brighter note, 7 of them are in the UK... so maybe it's not that difficult... hahaha... who am I kidding?

Lisbon!

Went to Lisbon last month just before Christmas to beat the holiday crowd... and to escape the cold and for a much needed break from work...

I tagged along the trip without even knowing the flight times or what we were supposed to do in Lisbon... but... luckily dear Bin Bin and Chong did some research so we were not completely lost!

Our first stop was the Belem area where the oldest and the most famous Portuguese egg tarts were sold... The bakery was established since 1837 and supposedly sells about 10,000 egg tarts a day... in addition to egg tarts, they also have an extensive collection of Port wine (a type of sweet Portuguese dessert wine)... the verdict: with more than 170 years of refining the recipe, all I can say is that it's the best Portuguese egg tarts that I've ever eaten! Yum yum yum...

We walked around the area of Belem, which is called the historical heart and soul of Portugal since Belem's natural harbour made it the starting point for many voyages of exploration.

Their version of the Golden Gate bridge... think it's supposed to be designed by the same architect and hence, the sister bridge of the one at San Francisco...

And a stroll down the memory lane... of those days when I used to memorise all the facts for my history exams on the Malaysian history... The first expedition to Malacca by the Portuguese was way back in 1509 but they failed to conquer Malacca initially... it was only when Alfonso de Albuquerque came in 1511 that the Portuguese finally managed to make Malacca one of their overseas colonies and gave us the "A Famosa" which is still standing in Malacca today!

And us, trying to mimic the poses on the Monumento a los Descubrimientos (i.e. the Discoveries Monument), the riverside monument built to commemorate the death of Prince Henry, the navigator... what a group of posers! :P

One is not enough... so the guys had to pose for more! hahaha...

And ooooh.... a little xiao bai... lost in the city... I miss my little dog, xiao bai... where are you???

The famous Belem Tower...

which is supposedly a UNESCO World Heritage building...

A walk through the gardens near the Tower with its many monuments, all relating to travel and exploration...


And oooh... my first ever live football match in my 25 years of existence... hahahah

The match was between Belem and Benfica... but..er... being a complete dummy when it comes to football... I hope I at least got the names of the teams right! :P

Turns out... the match was really quite boring without much action... and in fact... the crowd was a lot more interesting than the match itself! The Benfica fans were cheering for the full 90 minutes non-stop and they even have fancy red lights and smoke to show their support!

And Benfica, the supposedly favourites and much better team... lost 0-1 to Belem!

The next day, we headed for the Sintra area... dubbed as the Glorious Eden and was the summer residence of the kings of Portugal and of the Moorish lords of Lisbon. It is meant to be a romantic getaway and another UNESCO World Heritage Site (hmm.. another one?)

The love birds... aawww... sweet...


Our first stop... the Moorish Castle... since we're all young at hearts (and in mind, of course)... we decided to climb the stone pathway which leads us around the ruins of the castle... kinda reminds me of the Great Wall of China! hahaha...

And how can we forget to take a photo to prove that we did climb all the way to the top...which has excellent views over the Sintra hills and the Sintra national park...


And our next stop... the Pena National Palace... the colorful dream-like palace built by a German noble man for his Portuguese wife...

This time though... we resorted to taking the tram instead of trekking through the hills to get to the top... hahaha... I guess age has caught up! :P

Once we had enough of ancient castles, palaces and parks... we headed back to civilisation and for the "real world"....

The casino and shopping! Hahaha... the guys went to the Casino Lisboa to try their luck at the tables... while Bin Bin and I hit the Vasco da Gama shopping mall! Have to say that I really miss having late-night shopping... this particular shopping mall opens till 12 mid-night! yeay!

Since the guys carried my tripod around town the whole day, KT Yeo insisted we all have to take a few night shots to reward him for his efforts... so here we are... a random night shot near our hostel...

And oh... some pictures of Portuguese food... all I have to say is that EGGS feature prominently in their dishes... and somehow, unintentionally... I ate 7 EGGS IN A DAY! Gosh....

I must also mention our hostel... it has to be one of the best hostels that I've ever stayed in throughout all my backpacking trips around Europe...


For a start, the rooms were quite spacious... the bathrooms were also clean... they provided us with individual lockers, bed linen, internet access, various card and board games and even towels free of charge! But the icing of the cake... they had someone cooking hot breakfast (scramble eggs and toasts) for us and cleaning up after us in the morning!

No wonder it was awarded the NO. 1 HOSTEL WORLDWIDE for October 2007. If you do happen to travel to Lisbon, I strongly recommend this hostel!

As usual... we always end up not sleeping when we should have done so... we spent our last night in Lisbon drinking and talking till the wee hours of the morning!

Oh well... nothing new there... regardless of where we are...

New Year's Resolution

It's the time of the year when everyone ask you about your new year's resolutions... I don't believe in making resolutions that you know you're never going to achieve and I don't want to feel bad at the end of the year when I reflect on the year and realised that I've not achieved anything at all...

Perhaps I should start making resolutions like the one below on exercising... that way, I'm sure it's a lot easier to achieve! Ha ha ha ha...

Well... to those of you who have made up your mind in making resolutions, good luck!

My first football match in the UK

Yes, I know that I've been living in the UK for the past five years... but I've never ever watched a football match before! In my five years here, I've even passed up free tickets at the Chelsea stadium... UNTIL NOW...

I actually paid to watch Chelsea vs Fulham on New Year's Day! Surprise surprise...

I'm not a big football fan... and I don't even know much about football apart from the basic rules... it took 3 guy friends to explain to me what offside means in the past... and the only time when I actually made the efforts to watch football at the pub were during the World Cup season and the occasional Championship League finals...

But, to my own amazement... I actually enjoyed the game (at least in the first half!)... watching it in person made a difference to the whole atmosphere and it's a lot more fun to cheer with everyone in the crowd...

I wouldn't say that I'm a converted football fan... but perhaps, I will watch a few more matches in the future... especially if all the goals in the match are scored on my side of the field! hehehehe... :P