Friday, October 31, 2008
Curling Event - Department Outing
4:02 AM

One of GSK's big boss came down to tonbridge yesterday. So there was a Curling event organized at Fenton's Rink to welcome & "entertain" him.

It was held on Thursday night, and it's really an eyeopener!! haha. havent heard of Curling before this actually.

anyway, kind of difficult to explain how the game's being played. but if u go search in on youtube, u'll be able to find a video of the professionals playing =)

To start, someone has to push the 22kg stone thingy off (requires alot of technic to do it properly), down the lane and aim it at the target right at the end. Goal would be to get the stone into the target zone. (and hit the other team's stones out) - click on photo below to have a zoomed-in view.

His team mates are lined up ahead, geared with Brooms, ready to sweep/scrub at the ice ahead of the stone, to allow it to go faster to progress into the target zone.

the hilarious and vigorous sweeping scene..

anyway, i was in the same team as the BIG boss. and i didn't even know!! =P yep.. and the stone slab was reli heavy so my "push" didnt send it far and my team mates (read: big boss) have to sweep like mad. haha. talk abt getting on the gd books of ur big boss. getting him to sweep like mad for u dun exactly make the mark..

our team lost in the end. haha. oh well.. but we all had great fun! =)


~gone in a moment..

London - Apple Day, Camden Market
1:38 AM

26th oct was apple day. met up with siru, aiwei, steph and angie (the stevenage girls) at borough mkt. it was so crowded!! there was totally no room to move ard.

here's the street procession.. the performers were all dressed up in costumes =)



rite.. next up is the food! pork + apple sauce baguette!!



and another more appetizing one. WILD BOAR meat + apple sauce again =) heh. it's Apple day for a reason.

next up was camden market! it's reli huge.. kind of like a maze.


they sell second hand stuff, loads of clothes and gothic fashion, antiques, jewellery, arts and craft & lastly, International FOOD!!


bought a long leather coat there as well. it's only 10pounds. in preparation for cold winter days.
yup! all in all a great wkend!


~gone in a moment..

Saturday, October 25, 2008
FOOD FOOD and more FOOD!!
6:02 AM

havent had so much fun in a very long while!!

yesterday it was WII party II at Jam's (one of the student intern's) place again. it was potluck session and everyone had to bring either RED or GREEN food. haha. seems tough at first eh. sth that's red or green that's not a vegetable.

it turned out to be awesome! we had tomato pasta, camembert cheese + bread, some other french food, nachos, pizza, spicy chicken & cakes!! i brought a HUGE strawberry swiss roll and cranberry and apple juice =) everyone was too full so i happily cleared up all the leftover cakes. eat today, worry abt the fats tmr. always the case! slept over at Jam's house for the night as well. I just didnt have the energy to cycle all the way home at night. It was raining anyway.. so...

today (friday) was even better!! went to a reli posh restaurant - Tunbridge Wells Bar and Grill for dinner with my housemates + Adam (Stu's fren). It was extremely expensive but the food was simply heavenly!!! It was easily the BEST dinner I have had in my entire life. i had smoked haddock hash brown with lightly poached free range egg and chive butter sauce (Starter), marinated breast of chicken with malayan spices, sweet potato, coconut and lime (main) and cream profiteroles with chocolate sauce and ice cream (dessert).
here's the dessert.. lousy photo coz u have to take it very discreetly

no photos for the rest of the food though. the restaurant was too atas to whip out ur camera and start photographing ur food. woohoo.. Fine Dining!! =)
and each serving was HUGE!! but i cleaned the plate entirely and helped Cara finish her portion. haha. MONSTROUS!

anyway, here's everybody!!

(left to right): Cara (Stu's gf), Sylvia (german lady), Me (juz in case i've grown so round u cant recognize), Adam and Stuart!

now u noe why they keep insisting that I'm SMALL but eat so much more than them. mwahhaha. let me self-delude for a little while more. then maybe when i outgrow all my clothes, i'll stop eating chocolates after every meal.

ooh.. i almost forgot.. guess how much was the meal? it's 35 POUNDS per person! POUNDS mind u, not SGD. that would be like 100sgd for a 3 course dinner.. haha. equivalent to Equinox? but it was reli worth it.. I felt like a Queen!! =) alright.. now i'll have to scrimp and save for the next 2 wks =(


~gone in a moment..

Thursday, October 23, 2008
little things that make my day..
5:33 AM

today started out sleepy, cold and rotten.
but it turned out well in the end!! =)

1) Beautiful day with clear blue skies, (read: NO RAIN in sight!!)

2) The operations team manager brought my bike home during lunch and helped me fix it. His house is reli nice.. and he farms his own vegetables - His wife even fixed us lunch!! (one gd thing abt ulu tonbridge is that the ppl here are soooo nice). Grateful beyond words.

3) Someone from work brought in an entire TRAY of cinnabons (cinnamon raisin pastry with loads of icing sugar). it's reli sweet but tastes soooo good! i had 2 before lunch. haha. my colleague was commenting tt it's impossible to lose wt in this department. there's food EVERYDAY! (btw, it's a tradition in my department tt if it's ur bday, u bring in ur own bday cake. haha. 2 bdays this wk!! Heaps of choc cake!)

4) Stuart gave me this halloween choc cake bar after dinner.

5) I received letters from miff and oint!!
cat from miff... delightful piece of artwork from oint. =)


6) went grocery shopping tonite.. MORE chocolates!!

7) millions of stars twinkling in the clear night sky (they're reli obvious over here coz it's soooo dark at night - ulu countryside remember?)

what more can i ask for. brilliant weather, great colleagues, loads of food to get fat with, LOVE from home! .. ooh and of coz - a working bike =)


~gone in a moment..

Tuesday, October 21, 2008
cycling home.. in the rain
3:54 AM

dark clouds overhead,
unrelenting wind chills.
rain drops - small yet falling rapidly.

frantic paddling,
looming, foreboding slope,
gears squeaking - in need of oiling.

cars zoom by,
splashing muddy water puddles
onto the cursing cyclist - still frantically paddling.


~gone in a moment..

Monday, October 20, 2008
trip to Stevenage
4:29 AM

after a disastrous wk of punctured tyres, I had a wkend DEVOID of all forms of physical activities (Read: cycling up impossible hills) =) went up to Stevenage to meet up with the rest of the ppl. basically that means everybody else.. all 15 of them. it was a potluck session at Eugene's (one of the snr) place.

Stevenage's north of london.. so i had to travel thru london before catching the other train towards Stevenage. Stopped by (no, not stopped by - i went there on purpose) at the reknowned Borough Market - popular for their food!! =) pictures speak a million words.. look at them urself!! and drool =)

BROWNIEs TOWER!!

loads and loads of fruits and veg..

and guess wat's this??

it's GOOSE FAT!! (i have no idea how they eat it)
Turkish pastries and delights

Glorious display of CAKES!!

Foccacia bread in ALL flavours..

Loaves of bread

Thick Minced pies

For the love of handmade choc truffles!! (i just HAD to buy a packet - w/c has since been demolished)

and OSTRICH feather duster!! (the same stall sells ostrich meat as well.. i wonder why i'm not surprised)

cheese cakes and desserts

seared cheese on roasted potatoes

more cakes!! ( i bought the spiced carrot cake with cheese icing - it was awesome!)

and savoury pies..

there're loads more of course.. too many to upload.. please refer to facebook photos if interested =) there were oysters - u eat it on the spot, many different kinds of burgers with ALL sorts of meat, cheese blocks.. and wild boar stuff.. everything wild boar.

yup.. there're simply too much stuff to eat! u'll be reli reli confused by the choices tt u have (provided money is not an issue of coz) and for most stalls, they let u sample the stuff. it's simply a glutton's heaven. haha. will be back next sunday!! it'll be the annual APPLE DAY at Borough's market.. whereby u'll have everything apple-y there. apple meat burger??? hmmmm..

anyways, back to the stevenage trip.. since it was potluck, siru, aiwei and i joined forces and made this! ==> bread pudding! haha. ya again. it's the easiest most brainless thing..


they hosted me for the stay over.. and here's our makeshift bed for 3 ppl =)

we then walked ard the OLD and NEW town at Stevenage.. the new town looks like ang mo kio town centre. so no photos required. heh. anyways, we kind of pigged out for the rest of the day (again). we discovered a donut that's even better than krispy kreme!! haha. and also.. the apple cinammon crepe!

yup.. oh.. and lastly.. i HAD to buy this..

my contruction worker look-alike safety vest for cycling at nite. ooh wonderful.. if in singapore or anywhere else.. i'll probably look like a dock. or some corrective-work-order road sweeper. but here in the UK, EVERYONE wears it.. even the motorcyclists.. (or the person who distributes flyers). so oh well, for the sake of longevity, i shall wear it dutifully when i cycle at night. =P

yup.. on the way back from stevenage, i dropped by london's chinatown (yet again) to satisfy my red bean paste craving!! woohoo =) ended up buying the lotus paste bread & char siew pastry as well. i seriously can't seem to stop eating. oh.. and it doesnt help that u're allowed to eat on their trains here.. (mainly coz the train rides take super long). the long train journey back from london to tonbridge, on the eating-allowed train, did nothing to preserve my bread(s) for breakfast tomorrow..


~gone in a moment..

Saturday, October 18, 2008
karma
4:16 AM

u wont believe just how unlucky i was this wk!!

tuesday: my bike's REAR wheel got punctured while i was riding home from work. and it can't be wheeled along coz the tyre's totally flat. i half carried and half pushed it along tonbridge high street, chained it in front of the cycle shop (which has JUST closed)and took the stupid train back to tunbridge wells.

on the brighter side, it turned out that stuart (my housemate) knows how to fix it. so we drove down back to tonbridge to get my bike and he mended the hole for me.

sounds too good eh?

friday: was abt to cycle to work when i realized that my FRONT wheel's punctured!! woohoo. was sprouting vulgarities while walking to the train station. paid 2.30pounds (6 SGD) for the train ride to work. mind u, it's only ONE station away. and upon reaching tonbridge station, i had to walk 25mins thru the stupid jungle to gsk. oooh.. wat a wonderful day.

stuart got home before me and tried to fix my bike.. he took out FOUR thorns from the stupid tyre and mended them all. but an hr later, the tyre went flat again. guess wat? there're probably a million more thorns stuck in it. he says he'll attempt to suss them all out for me tmr. i can only hope for the best.

oh yay. BOTH wheels got punctured in a week!! how lucky can one get. maybe if i go buy lottery, i'll win a few hundred pounds. enough to get me tyres that are impenetrable to thorns eh.

P/S: it's NOT the cyclist. it's reli the route. 2 of my colleagues had their tyres punctured as well. within the same week! get wat i REALLY mean when i say i have to traverse a jungle enroute to work? thick dense jungle with thorny underbush and spiky rocks. how can life get any better. I LOVE NATURE!!

bought stuart a HUGE box of Thorntons chocolates for his help. now i'm even more broke. thanks to all those evil thorns.


~gone in a moment..

Monday, October 13, 2008
wonderful wkend!!
6:03 AM

This wkend's wonderful! it was a non-stop food searching and bingeing wkend. went to tunbridge wells town centre on saturday and there happened to be some sort of farmer's mkt at the pantiles =)

food galore!! there were turkish, dutch, german and french street snacks i think..

turkish..


BOAR sausages anybody?

dutch cookies and pastries..

and i found this gem.. apple cinnamon custard puff!! it's humongous and deliciously wonderful =)

went to the reli huge sainsburys superstore with stuart and cara after that. and stuart accidentaly ran over my foot (with the car). i was alright though.. just really perplexed that i'm actually unharmed. heh. anyway, he felt sooo bad that he went into town to buy me THIS!

the inside..

it's from Thorntons.. it's a reali famous and posh brand of choc in the UK. kinda like Godiva i guess. the chocolates are divine =)

then come nite time, it was stuart's best frens' housewarming. they invited everyone over for drinks at 7pm! guess that's the style in UK - housewarming, parties, every other event are about drinks. no food.. juz drinks!! heh. they literally survive on alcohol alone. amazing. of coz, i was the only one who actually ate dinner before i went over. my housemates were stunned.. they were like.. u dun eat before drinking.. how else will u have enough room for alcohol??

...........

anyway his frens' new house was awesome. right in the middle of town, reli pretty. his frens are.. cranky. but they're reli nice. and they're all reli big on drinking. (duh) i drank a cup of cider and white wine and that was it. =P wonder how they can keep gg at it. alcohol's simply awful. (with the exception of liquer choc of coz)

oh.. and this has got to be the biggest joke of the year!

stuart (to me): u're amazing. u eat chocolates and a barrel of ice cream everyday, and u're still all skin and bones.
...
and all his frens nodded in agreement!!!

i really want to laugh.
this is the first time in my entire life that someone has told me i'm SKIN AND BONES!!

note: he's either extremely drunk, or the UK ppl are reli big. go figure.
..................................................................

ok.. reli long post. but here's the post for SUNDAY! (today)

went london to meet up with the rest of the stevenage trainees. an entire bunch of them (and u wonder why i'm all alone at ulu tonbridge)

had fabulous dim sum at this restaurant in chinatown!! (note the big gordy incense on top of the sign board)


it was soooooo satisfying!! finally had my red bean pau!! woohoo!! =) i have a mad love affair with my red bean paste.
and here's EVERYBODY! (notice the background.. looks very much like a wedding photo eh)

after that we split up and siru, aiwei and i explored covent garden mkt.. there was this performance gg on.. they're reli good.. look at the crowd!

covent garden mkt is kinda like an arts and crafts mkt.. there were many special sophisticated handmade stuff..
look! pyjamas doll!!

hand crafted wooden pens..

and alot more of coz.. can go facebook to take a look if interested.

rite.. and guess what we chanced upon.. THORNTONS!! haha.. remember the famous choc brand in UK? here's what everyone's queueing for!

TRIPLE scoop ice cream!=)


visited some other places as well.. too lazy to upload here. anyway, we went back to chinatown's bakery to get fat fluffy yam buns =) their yam tasted more like salty tau sar actually. but who cares.. look at the huge gluttony smiles.

and of coz.. how can i leave chinatown without my beloved tau sar pau =)


if i lived nearer to london.. i'm so convinced that i'll morph into an unrecognizable fatty monster within 18mths. kind of secretly glad that i live in an ulu-ated kampong in a forgotten part of UK. haha. oh well.. till my next london trip!! =)


~gone in a moment..

ME~
23 yr old fresh grad from NTU (beginning to go stale)... stuck in the mad world of elites. perpetually tanned w/o even trying; nonsensical; prone to mood swings; yet highly lovable when asleep.

AgaPe
♥ I adore FOOD!!=)
♥ love adventure sports, travelling ard the world, experiencing the unexperienced.
♥ my beloved family & chumchum.
♥ dreams to be a doctor.. or a food critic!!

I have ZERO tolerance for:
(1) disgusting house lizards!,
(2) fishball noodles,
(3) cycling up monstrous slopes (this will stay here for the next 16mths of my stay in UK)

Let me hear u SAY...

Frens
haoz
oint
alex
roomie
dorcas
yupin
bing
madaliene
all time best bud - PK
noo's online dress galore!
miffu!

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