Merry Christmas Cookies

Christmas is just round the corner and this time I have decided to bake only three types of cookies. This year Christmas I am going to London with my sister Josie to spend Christmas with Jonathan, who is on Christmas break from his University in Bristol. I have lined up an itinerary so that we will be occupied most of the time hoping to enjoy the season over there. I have been to London so many times that I feel it is a really busy time during December. It would seem that London central will be packed full of shoppers and holiday makers. I am going to bring some homemade Christmas cookies so that we can consume it on Christmas day there.

Spritz Butter Cookies

My Gingerbread Cookies

Mark and Spencer Christmas Time 2017

Like I said if you are going to look for some Christmas gifts, Mark and Spencer has it all of its stores.
There are all the regular body, hand lotions and bath gel just to name a few. For men there are the nice smelling colognes and shaving cream. I particularly liked the floral fragrance Florentyna, it is quite a powerful scented Eau De Toilette

Gifts aplenty

Mark and Spencer Christmas time

Christmas with Mark and Spencers KL 2017

If you have not yet caught up with the mood at this time of the year, do not frets as I am sure you will after visiting one of the most well known British stores, Mark and Spencer. At Christmas time this popular stores, always do not disappoint shoppers. I like to browse through the Christmas goodies as soon as it hits the stores. This year as with every other year, there are a variety of fruit cakes, delicious confectioneries, biscuits and beautiful hampers filled with the season goodies. There are attractive gifts too, so you can do all your Christmas shopping in one store.

Mark and Spencer's Christmas Fruit Cakes

Photo by Mark and Spencer KL

From its Brochure, a Merry Christmas Greeting!

It's Christmas Time Again, 2017

The Christmas season is here again and I am already in the mood for some merry making and soaking in the holiday atmosphere. As usual, at this time of the year I like to observe what fun and creative decorations that all the Mall have to offer. This year I think Christmas is being made out to be just too commercialize with each shopping malls trying to outdo one another and to entice shoppers and visitors to shop at their mall. Anyway, it is fun to see all the Christmas trees with all the trimmings being propped up at this time of the year.

Cozy Log Cabin

Beautifully decorated trees

A Special Mark and Spencer red bus

Patisserie Valerie, Cabot Circus, Bristol

I stumbled upon Cafe Valerie in Bristol City Center, the shop is located inside Cabot Circus and there are plenty of delicious cakes and pastries to feast your palate and eyes on. I noticed there were outlets in London too. They have beautifully decorated cakes and various types of pastries displayed in the windows.

Patisserie Valerie

Delicious Cakes

Yummy Pastries at Valerie

Bristol get around

Bristol is a City South West of England, it is one of the place that I really felt comfortable with. The place is not overly crowded and you can get almost anything in the city center, which is great.The people are friendly and yes, I quite like it there. You will have to get around the city with buses, which covered a great area and also there are taxis, and it is very convenient to take one. The other way to get around is on foot, yeah, as always we did a lot of walking from where our hotel is, and to town, I guessed both ways amounted to a mile plus. Its great for your walking exercises. The weather in autumn is not very cold, you can still walk around with just a thin jacket or a T Shirt. Getting from London to Bristol is very easy, we have decided to travel by Coach or bus, just get to Victoria Station near Buckingham Palace and you will have a choice of whether to travel by National Express bus or the Mega Bus, both were great choice. The journey is roughly two hour depending on the traffics. I hope to go back for a visit when my son graduated next year.

View on the Way to Bristol

Bristol First Bus, will take you to your destinations 

 

Spear Mew Road, London

Our trip to the UK was a very enjoyable, fun and a lot of walking kind of trip. We decided to stay around the Earls Court area because it is very convenient and most of the things we need is within walking distances. We checked in to Kensington Court Hotel, it's a three star rating. What I like about this hotel is, it is very near to the Earls Court underground station and the location is on a quiet street, Nevern Place and the area have many others boutique like hotels along the parallel and nooks and corner. It is an interesting area. We also like the refurbished apartments along Spear Mew Road. As we were strolling along admiring the garden, an elderly Englishman came out from one of the apartment door and greeted us. We were very lucky as he told us a bit about the history of the place, it used to be a Coach house and stable for the horses, you can still walk on the cobbled stone road. He also told us that one of the Famous Bee Gees's brothers used to stay in one of the apartments. I like to see the beautiful garden at each door there, the residence really took their time to beautify the place.   

Spear Mew Apartments, beautiful

Kensington Court Hotel

Beautiful Garden

Ibis Hotel Temple Mead, Bristol

Bristol town is quite interesting although we only managed to stayed around the town area and walked a lot around the area as we stayed at The Ibis Hotel Temple Mead. The hotel is very spacious and nice, they checked guests in via an iPad thus one will not see a grand reception area instead you will see a bar there. This hotel serves delicious food, thus we had our dinner there on most nights. The staffs are a friendly lot. It is also within walking distance to Cabot Circles and the surrounding shopping areas. I would definitely stay there again.

Ibis Hotel Temple Mead

Cabot Circles Shopping Center

Delicious Hotel Food

National Express Coach to Bristol September 2017

It's been awhile since i updated my blog, been very busy lately, the reason being the preparation of my son, Jonathan going to the UK for his final year in the University there. It was a very rush affair, with all the necessary procedures and correspondences to the various authorities. Thank God, it all went well and now he is happily settling in. Bristol is about 2 hours by coach or bus and one and a half hour by train. We decided to travel by National Coach this time, as in the various visits to the UK, we always traveled by train. I noted that the Coach is big , clean and very convenient. The staffs are very efficient and the Coach are on time to leave their destinations. The journey is a breeze and in no time we have reached our destination, Bristol.

Gate 15 for National Express Coaches

 

                                                         from Victoria Station, London.

                                              Comfortable Coach, National Express.

                                                      Jonathan waiting patiently to load
                                                       bags.

Perth weekend market

My nephew in Perth posted these lovely weekend market scenes. I don't know which suburbs was this. I surely  would love to visit one of these exciting, full of character market and maybe I would also be interested to purchase something as I can see there were many interesting items on displayed. Australia is an interesting and beautiful country in every way, with its diverse culture and amazing landscape. 

Perth Weekend Market

awesome  view 

Interesting  items 

Jonathan's 21st birthday 2017

On 22nd of July 2017, my son Jonathan  turned 21. We had a modest celebration planned for him,which he never have guessed. He knows he will invite a few of his University 's mates to come over to the house to celebrate, but he didn't know that I had also decorated the place to suit the occasion. Everyone was surprised to see the venue so nicely done up. I made some big blue roses and pinkish roses using crepe papers and bought some nice gifts for him. I cooked some of his favourite foods and baked the most awesome brownies. I am glad that he and his mates enjoyed the whole day having fun and playing interesting games. We also have some of our closest friends over to celebrate the joyful occasion of his 21st birthday. Thank you to all, for making that day special for him and thank you all, for the thoughtful gifts.

Awesome  Key Shaped Cake

Delicious foods

Happy 21st birthday  Jonathan 

Celebrating with his University's  mates

My beautiful  blue crepe paper roses with
awesome  gifts

Bibimbab, one bowl dish

Nowadays my diet consists more of vegetables and less of meats. One particular dish I like was the Korean dish bibimbab. This one bowl dish is tasty and delicious with the accompanying sauces, Korean chilli paste and some bean paste. My favourite YouTuber and cook Maangchi, if you were lucky enough to watch her channel  will take you step by step through how to prepare and cook bibimbab. I gave it a try few days ago and was surprised just how simple and easy to prepare and cook the accompanying vegetables. You can choose how many types of vegetables you want depending on how busy you are. I choose six types and added the kimchi, doraji and gosari stored bought. It turns out very nice and now I can cook it anytime I feel like having it, thanks to my favourite YouTuber, Maangchi.

Bibimbab accompaniments

Birthday cake

Recently  I celebrated my birthday , after  such a long  break from baking, I then decided to bake my own  cake. I was very satisfied  with the outcome. It was a fun theme  colourful  birthday  cake with buttercream icing. It was delicious too. Needless to say everyone enjoyed it and also the fresh fruit cream cheese tart. Nowadays, cakes come in all sorts of colours and flavours and it has been completely revolutionized with everyone recreating their own version.

My colourful birthday  cake

A slice of  my delicious  hazelnut butter cake 

Japan, a beautiful country

Japan is a beautiful country , as long as I can remember , it is one of my favourite countries. When I was  young, I remember watching the documentary programme on the television entitled 'The John Gunther High Road '. and one of the countries shown were Japan. That was in the 1970s, where communications were not as established as now. I was mesmerized with their tradition, such as their beautiful kimonos, geisha, springtime cherry blossoms and gardens. It is still one of my favourite  countries and I hope I will have a chance to visit it in the near future.
One of my nursing colleague, Maureen, we were in the same batch of Group 1/79, is in Kyoto now  doing a course, and she sent me these beautiful pictures from Kyoto. I am sure she is enjoying herself there.

One of Kyoto's gardens 

Beautiful greenery

Mother's day 2017

On the 14th of May we celebrated mother's day, its a day when we all reflect upon the good deeds and sacrifices a mother have unwavering showered upon her children through thick and thin. This year as I celebrate it from afar with my own family, I feel a nostalgic longing to join them. I was quite elated to know that my eldest sister Veron baked a beautiful butter cake complete with butter  icing to celebrate with our beloved mom and all the beautiful moms that were  present that  day, and also the family members gathering for the afternoon barbecue. Truly awesome and spectacular.

Veron, special mother's day butter cake with butter  icing 

A dreamy delicious slice of the butter cake 

Laurence doing a good job BBQ

Josie's Pineapple

I am compelled to write about how utterly ticklish that is that my sister Josie is always sending me updates on how her pineapple plants were doing. I can see that she really took great care of it. She is lucky that she has a great garden too. Having said that, she has also devoted most of her free time tending her garden. She is a workaholic too, nonstop doing anything around the house when she is not at work. She is a great sister and I am glad that her altitude towards life is hands on with a friendly disposition.

Beautiful  Pineapple Plant 

Tropical Pineapple 

Christmas 2016, getting ready

Last year Christmas was at my mum's place, a few days before  Christmas,my mum, brother and sisters were busy putting up the  decorations and picking out the tree. Last year they have decided to get a live Christmas tree upon many  requests to do so. I am happy to see that the tree they put up remind me of my childhood Christmas tree.

Mom and sister  Veron putting up the  Christmas tree

Christmassy Swag

Spanish Lunch

Just the other day we had lunch at a Spanish restaurant, I like the ambient there. The restaurant was quiet and the waiter was  really nice and helpful with the menu. Anyway, we have Spanish seafood paella rice, which was delicious, chicken salad, which was flavourful  and my favourite chicken tacos which I enjoyed very much. Thinking of it made me want to pop into their restaurant, Sentidos is the name . Their menu is extensive together with their wine selections. They have a weekend buffet too, which is very tempting.

Chicken Tacos 

Seafood Paella Rice

Chicken  Salad

My balcony is ready

At last my balcony  has been  retiled and i am elated for being able to take  tea and  coffee there . For a start it is a bit bare as i am still thinking of the types of plants  and theme i wanted to relay. I have an outdoor  table and  chairs which I bought from  Ikea and which i think is practical because it's made of steel and can withstand the weather, whether it is rain  or shine. I would like to have more live plants later, but i really do not  mind the beautiful artificial flowers.

My newly tiled balcony 

For a start...

Wonderful time at my balcony