A leaf from...

"Cook with Jamie"

Click here if you want to know who Jamie is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Oliver

My version of his Pan-fried sirloin steak with simple Chianti butter sauce and olive oil mash!

Looks good? hehehe :P

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

Okay... you may ask... Ukulele?? What's that???

Hehehe... before this, I have no idea as well... It is actually a small, four course, or four string, re-entrant tuned, plucked chordophone. A ukulele is a bit like a small guitar although the construction details are different and give it a distinctive tone. It is said to originate from Hawaii...

There you go... the whole family of ukuleles! (Of different sizes and hence tunes!)

Anyway... I went for one of their gigs last week because Grace wanted to watch them perform... to be honest, I wouldn't even know that they existed if it's not because she wanted to go...

Apparently, they are quite famous... and have toured to places like America, Canada, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Ireland and Japan... they also performed at places like The Royal Festival Hall, Glastonbury Festival, Chicago Chamber Music Festival, The Big Chill, Cropredy, and the Edinburgh Festival.

The orchestra members... with their instruments...

And here are some of the pictures that I took at the gig...

It was surprisingly good and entertaining... I'm glad that Grace dragged me... hehehe... just kidding... I decided to go watch them because I wanted to spend time with Grace... but I ended up enjoying their performance thoroughly and as Grace put it... see, we're not boring people!!! :P

BBQ

We had our first (and hopefully, not the last!!) BBQ during the May Bank holidays a few weeks ago... since the weather was warming up...

The guys took my BBQ pit over to Thame Road in addition to their own pit since they are the only ones who have their own private garden... hehehe... I think this is the first time I ever stepped into their garden since they moved in!

Everyone helping out to prepare the food...

We had lots and lots of food! And Zhi Rui even went to Billingsgate market to get fresh seafood for our BBQ... yum yum yum... prawns, scallops and razor clams!!

Heheheh... me trying to pretend that I'm helping out... first time I don't have to do anything for our gatherings... I just turned up for the food... hehehe... (it's not that I'm lazy ok? I wasn't around!!!)

And the guys actually did most of the stuff including starting up the fire and cooking the food for everyone!!! Hehehe...

Look look... see how everyone swarm for the food when it's ready?? :P

I love BBQs... hopefully, we'll have another one when the weather is nice again! :)

Spring (Summer) is here!!!!

Woohooo.... finally... the good weather has arrived... temperature is rising... days are getting longer... we had a full week of sunshine and warm days... :)

And this means pretty and colourful flowers blooming everywhere...

Ice-cream fiestas... and no more jackets required!!! :)

Espana Extravaganza - Part 4 - Granada

Granada means pomegranate in Spanish... Situated at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains (which explains why it is a lot colder than the rest of the Southern Spanish cities that we've visited!), it is a Moorish city...

The whole city has very strong Moorish influences and Morisco constructions can be found throughout the city...

And of course, the world famous Alhambra... now a UNESCO World Heritage Site... is what makes Granada a hot tourist spot...

I think I vaguely remember studying about Alhambra in Sejarah during high school in the Islamic chapters... If I remember correctly, it's supposed to be the place where the Islamic artists and intellectual scholars used to congregate during the Muslim rule in the Europe...

We had to wake up at about 5.30am in the morning to get there as our allocated visiting slot was 7.30am in the morning... our hostel was on the opposite side of the town where the Alhambra is, and the palace is actually on top of the hill! This meant that we had to allow ourselves time to trek up to the palace...

Thankfully, the palace is really beautiful and it made our early morning efforts worth it... Moorish poets used to described it as "a pearl set in emeralds"... and not to disappoint... there are many gardens complete with cascading fountains and reflecting pools to keep to its theme of "paradise on earth"...

Due to its mountainous site, the temperature here was significantly lower... and so when the sun came out... we wasted no time to sit around in the sun to warm ourselves up! :P



The Alhambra mixes natural elements with man-made ones... the art and decorations within the palace are a testament of the skills of Muslim craftsmen of that time...



Do we look like directors??? hehehehe...



Since we woke up so early... the guys couldn't resist taking a nap in the sun! hehehehe....



We didn't do much after spending half a day at the Alhambra... the remaining of our time was spent walking around the city centre and shopping (again!)... although by now, we have all conclude that the shopping king is Wally as he ended up with more shopping than anyone else including the girls!!!



Well... this concludes our Espana Extravaganza of touring Andalusia... think I'm catching it from the Brits... but I find myself loving Spain more and more!!! :)

Espana Extravaganza - Part 3 - Malaga + Torremolinos

From Seville, we made our way to Malaga, a port city on the famous Costa del Sol coast...

To make our way to the coastal town of Torremolinos... where we were promised the sun and the beach....

However... unfortunately... the good weather in Seville was no where to be seen here... on our first night... it started to rain!!!

And the temperature dropped! See how we were all wrapped up in our jackets again... but rain or no rain, we are determined to make the most out of our holiday!

And the guys tried to convince themselves that it was not cold (although it was drizzling and windy) to challenge each other at frisbee by the beach...

And they were all determined to parade in their shorts and bermudas!!!

Given the weather... you can see that we were practically the only ones by the beach... boo hoo hooo.... :(

After the guys had enough of the beach... we strolled around in the town centre... this place is a beach resort... and there's lots of little shops for you to explore...

We also took the opportunity to return to Malaga to visit the city...

But in the end... we ended up spending most of our time in the shopping centre as the rain started pouring!!! What bad luck!!

In the shopping centre... the guys entertained themselves by challenging each other at the arcade... while Yan Ping and I went shopping instead! Shopping in Spain is always good... with Mango, Zara, and my new found brands of Stradivarius and Friday's Project! :)

We went back to Torremolinos to catch the Liverpool vs Arsenal Champions League semi-finals match at this Irish bar..

And when Liverpool won... the guys (Nav, KT and ZR) went absolutely crazy!!!

They got so drunk and entertained the staff at the bar which were all from the UK that they fell in love with them! Throughout the night, the bar staff were giving them free drinks and coming over to chat with them!!

I think they don't even remember what happened the next day! And they supposedly swore off alcohol....

The next day... the weather in the afternoon improved and we tried our luck at the beach again... at least this time, we weren't the only ones at the beach!!! hehehe...

I love how the waves come rushing to my feet... one of the many reasons why I love the beach... :)

Although the guys said they weren't going to touch alcohol.. they went back to the same Irish pub....


And the staff, especially the manager at the pub were so friendly that we had free shots the whole night... and when we ordered drinks... e.g. JD coke, the JD was 75% of the glass with only 25% coke!!!!

See... he's making his Irish flag shots for us... and it's all on the house!!!

Not only they drank with us... the manager even unlock the pool table for us and let us played for free!!!

They even invited us to stay and wait for them to close their pub so that they could bring us out for more drinks!!! What????

The guys drank so much that it's so funny... and they kept on ordering and ordering more drinks for them... up to a point that Mr Yeo was actually pouring away his beer secretly!!! hahahaha... :P


Sigh... on the day we were due to leave Torremolinos... the sun came out shinning brightly...

So, we couldn't resist and hung out at the beach until it was time to leave to make the most of the good weather...

Oh well... at least we tried!! :P