Josie's Roses Garden 2

My sister Josie send me some new pictures of her garden, which is doing quite well, she told me that this time her rage is planting orchid and I totally like the idea of it. There are so many varieties and beautiful orchid plant to choose from and I am sure her garden is going to be splendid and blooming with colours in no time. Her roses plant are doing quite well too, here are some pictures of it;

My favourite of her many roses plant

Red Rose

Beautiful bunch

Chocolate Chips Cookies

I love chunky nutty chocolate chip cookies, I also like to shape it big when I bake it, and thus my favourite recipe to use is from my old recipe book by Betty Crocker. The chocolate cookies never failed to impress and it tasted fantastic. I also like to add in some rolled oats. The baking time will depend on the texture of the cookie you want, usually I like mine a bit crispy and chewy at the same time.

Chunky Chocolate Chips Cookies

London Buildings

Whenever I was in London I like to take a walk around the neighbourhood and observe the surroundings, especially the architectural wonder of the buildings. The buildings are mostly centuries old, late England time. You can never get tired of studying them, iron gates are made intricately and buildings with emblems are mostly periodicals too. It is just so inspiring to look at it and know what great builders and architects have created these.

Liberty , Great Marlborough Street London, Tudor Revival  Style
Building

Nice Fencing and Door

Great Big Heavy Door

London Town for English Breakfast

If you are looking for a good English breakfast in London it is a very easy task, we take a walk around the Tottenham Court road and these are the breakfast board signs that we came across, all beckoning you to have your breakfast in Pub cum Café. You will be spoilt for choice and from wanting to choose just by looking at the boards.

Awesome English Breakfast

If you have been to Garfunkel's then you will surely relished the taste
of their food, delicious.

The many Cafes in London, awesome place

A visit to the Royal College of Physician, London Sept. 2015

I went back visiting the UK during the first week of September 2015, as my husband has got an event at the Royal College of Physician, London he was to receive his FRCP Scroll. The weather was fine the day we landed at Heathrow, though it can get very chilly at times, the second day was raining as we went down to Oxford Street to do our shopping and then we had lunch at Chinatown in Leicester Square. We Stayed at The Fitzroy Place which was convenient because there were two nearby tube stations, Goodge Street St. and Warren Street St. we just have to reload our Oyster card and then travelling is a breeze. 

One of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physician, London
giving a talk on Herbal Garden

The Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physician, London

English Tea in the Garden

Lipsticks of Gorgeous Colours

Seas of lips on an advertisement board along one of the shopping mall in the city. I like the colours and the cute shaped of the lip, gorgeous dense lip stick colours that can persuade a gal to really want the products. My favourites are lipsticks by Mac especially "Lustre" and all those beautiful shades of pink.

Mac Art of The Lips

Lipsticks by Mac, smooth and creamy

Blue Delft Cheese Slicer from Holland

My best of pal Lucy has just come back from Europe after two weeks of holiday; she bought me this awesome cheese slicer from the Delft Blue Shop in Amsterdam, a tin of delicious waffle biscuit, cheese and a Godiva chocolate, all yummy favourite. Holland is famous for its Tulip, cheese and windmill and even from young we had learned from our Geography lesson that cheese is the major exporter of Holland and also its Tulips. It is famous for its windmill and dykes too.

Blue Delft Cheese Slicer from Holland

Nice Tin of Waffle from Holland

Healthy Brekkie

Most of the time I have breakfast at a favourite café, and sometime at home. If I were at home, I would opt for cereal, yogurt and 2 soft boiled eggs. I tried to cut down my caffeine intake and drink more water. If I were having breakfast outside, I would stick to a healthy menu. Here is a short video I made.

Happy Birthday Meal, July 2015

Two weeks ago I celebrated my birthday, this time we have not gone out to eat at a fancy restaurant but we did have a good celebration with store bought food. I have decided to buy some frozen boxed food from Marks and Spencer and that was what I did and I have no regret in that. We had Chunky breaded Haddock for main and mashed potato cakes. We really enjoyed the birthday meal. My hubby loves the breaded haddock fish. I was a bit skeptical at first, but when I tasted it, I thought to myself ‘Money worth spending on’. We washed it down with a big bottle of carbonated white grape drink. Well, I will not hesitate to try any frozen air flown food the next time I wanted to have another celebration and to be hassle free with an event.

Birthday Meal With My Favourite Cranberry Chicken salad

Had this Chunky Marks and Spencer Haddock Fillet, Yummy Baked in the Oven

This Mashed Potato Cake s

Can't Resist my yummy Chicken Meal either

Ralph Lauren Summer Theme

The most endearing window display I have come across this season were those of Ralph Lauren store. I admired the use of pastel colors throughout and  the perfect activity for any summer day, the pause for a cup of tea dressed in a willowy summer dress. My favourite flower, the hydrangea is beautiful, even though it is artificial. The wood panel of the store is an added attraction. Sigh, how nice if every day is as good as it shows. Anyway, I have always enjoyed a cup of tea or coffee every now and then.

Beautiful Summer Window Display

Absolute Favourite Summer dresses

Seafood Aplenty

On our trip to Kota Kinabalu formerly known as Jesselton, we sampled a few of the delicious seafood, namely crabs ,cooked in a variety of style, buttered prawns, clams , calamari and a vegetable dish. There was plenty of seafood left over as the crab we ordered was a lot. Kota Kinabalu is a fast progressing city but it also can be quite frustrating if you have to depend on the public transport, the taxi charge a flat rate around the city centre. 

Mar-mite Crab, Clam and Calamari

Steamed Fish

Jesselton City

Recently we went on a short trip to Kota Kinabalu, better known as Jesselton during the British Colonial days. Here sea foods are plentiful and that was the attraction for us. My nephew is a tourist guide and he bought us to one of the city’s eateries and here you can order a variety of dishes, among them the yummy grilled sting ray fish accompanied with a heavenly dipping sauce, my absolute favourite among all, and the omelette which is delicious and equally enticing. The lemon chicken was also a hit. The total cost was reasonable and I feel that I had a great meal without breaking the purse.

Grilled Sting Ray Fish

Egg Foo Yung, delicious

Yummy Lemon Chicken

Flame of the Forest Tree

Recently I went back to my hometown and I was really pleased to come across many types of trees, my favourite as from young was the Flame of the Forest tree. I remembered walking pass this big Flame of the Forest tree to the hospital where I worked every day. This particular tree always has bright blooms and it is striking orange red, when in bloom it is breathtakingly beautiful. This tree is deciduous and can grow very tall. The scientific name for it is, Delonix Regia. I can never get tired of looking at its flower and the tree.

Breathtakingly Beautiful

Flame of the Forest Trees

Condominium Cafe

Wow, this month we have our Café at the ground floor of our Condominium refurbished with new furniture’s, I like the wooden table and the comfortable rattan chair that accompanied it. This Café is situated in a windy location and I like the fact that you sometimes can see little Squirrel running all over the concrete ledge while you sit there enjoying your food. It is surrounded by the beautiful lush garden. How I wish the Café have more finger foods to offer. Anyway, it is a nice place to relax if just to immerse yourself in the greenery of the garden.

Nice Cafe Overlooking the Garden

A Cafe With a Character!

My Sister's Garden

It’s good to know that my sister Josie has been keeping herself busy and occupied in her little garden, she recently sent me these pictures of her pineapple bearing fruit and she was so ecstatic about it. She started to plant a variety of ground orchid and she really knows what she wants in her garden. She also has avocado trees and it bears an abundance of fruits. She only tends her garden after she came home from work. How I wish I have got a plot of land as a garden because, like Josie I too like gardening, but then I have to be contented to only have container plant as I stay in a Condominium.

Ground Orchids

Beautiful Pineapple Fruit

  

Josie's Advocado Fruits

Cross Stitch Table Cloths

Cross stitch and crocheting have been my hobbies since young, I used to eagerly finish off a project and then I would give it as a gift to my family members. I have lost count of the craft that I did when one day my sister Josie called me up and told me that she has found some cross stitched table clothes I have made a few years back when I was still in nursing school. I was delighted and asked her to send me pictures of it. Looking back, I wonder why now it is so difficult for me to finish off a project unlike before, but I was grateful I had all these for keepsake.

Wild Flower

Cross Stitch Narcissus Flowers

Nostalgic Things

I have been cleaning my cupboards and Library when I came across some nostalgic booklets with fabulous presentation of pass products. I cannot help but feel drawn to the pictures. As I tenderly recollect those memories, it transported me to the time when all these things were the ‘in things’ and popular then. It was in the 70s and 80s. That era was so much different from now, because now it was all about technology, looking back things evolved and we have to move on with time.

These are Cassette Player Recorder

Classic Television, Love the legs

Platform Shoes ,It Looks Kinda Nice.

Food for Thought Abroad

I wish I was going on a holiday again, after last year trip to the U.K., this time we are planning to go either Hong Kong or Taiwan. I would prefer Taiwan as I have never been there before. Well, we will just have to wait and see. Anyway, I would like to share some of the food that we tried while in the U.K. last year, we encountered an international type of cuisine all around us, not only English. Thus, in the pictures we have tried, Vietnamese, Indian and Arabic meal, all deliciously prepared. 

Vietnamese Meal In Chinatown, London

Chicken Briyani Rice 

This is what I like, the MacDonald Cup with Christmas Motives

Aline Beautiful Piano Music

Sometime I like to listen to instrumental music. The one I am most familiar with and still a firm favourite of mine is ‘Aline’ by Richard Clayderman, but there is a French version of the song sung by Christopher. It is a sad song, but the music is beautiful and like me it can get stuck in your head anytime of the day , which can be quite daunting at times. Please click the YouTube link below to hear my favourite song and piano music.

My Favourite Piano Music by Richard Clayderman

Aline by Christophe

My Favourite Food

These are some of my favourite food for breakfast and lunch. I like to have a full breakfast in the morning so that my hunger pang can be satisfied. I usually will have only light lunches and my tea time will be around 3 pm. I like to have a small piece of cake, maybe once or twice a week.My favourite are butter and chocolate cakes, but it varies with my mood and craving.

Salmon Egg Sandwich for Breakfast

salad for Lunch

Yummy Cakes for Tea

Painted Giant Bottles

Here are some art form I have observed that had caught my attention while visiting the various shopping malls in my area. These colourful painted giant bottles  look nice and beautiful. It reminds me of painting all the used bottles that I had and which I had collected. I only collect bottles that were attractive in shape and size. Here are the painted giant bottles that I had come across.

Beautiful Painted Giant Bottle and Below.

Crochet,My Work

I was discussing crafts with my friend Lucy when we nonchalantly talk about crochet, then I recalled that when I was in Nursing Training College I had done a few crochet pieces. I called up my sister and asked her to check it out, where it has gone to and luckily she told me my mom kept it. She recently bought all of it to me and I was very happy to be able to see what I can accomplish at that age, even more now that I can enjoy using it to decorate my house.

This type of crochet is called ‘Filet Crochet’ an old technique, which is popular in the late nineteenth century. It is still popular in countries like Holland, France and Germany. It is used to make curtains, tablecloths and decorative edges.

Here are some of my pieces;

My first piece Cherubs Filet

Beautiful Peacock Work

Double Deer Crochet

Awesome Rose Crochet