Visit Leicester on 25th Feb 2012(Sat)

Saturday morning, around 11am, we set off to Leicester. A small city which only takes half an hour drive from my house.

We drove past the north of the City-passing Belgrave Road. This is where we can see the stretch of shops selling indian spices, groceries.. I believe if we were to get any herbs or spices for cooking curry. This is the best place to stopover, and also to have a taste of authentic indian cuisine.

We headed straight to the shopping center-Highcross Leicester, the grand shopping mall in Leicester. In here, there are more exciting shops waiting for you than Nottingham-Hugo Boss, Apple, Superdry flagship store,  H&M, Mango, Primark. Plus 3 leading departmental stores-Debenhams, House of Fraser, John

Lewis.

 Just right outside the Highcross shopping mall, which was the city center and there are more retails shops to explore if have time.

There is another shopping center=St Martin Square which worth taking a walk, but we were starved , so we didnt really stop over and visit all the shops. It was said that St Martin Square house is based on open street scene housing 32 individual units, which include cafes, restaurants, electrical shops, gift shops etc. Our stomach filling brunch of total cost 11 pounds for the day is "Grilled chicken wrap" & " Tuna mayonaise baquette :

Never to miss the "Leicester Market". This is where you get variety of goods, ranging from fresh farmers' fruits, vegetables, spices to textiles, bags, clothings. There are many fascinating stalls to visit. But we were not doing grocery shopping, so we have to give it a miss. 6 big oranges for 1 pound, 4 lemons for one pound etc.....

 

After few hours spent in Leicester, hubby got himself a cargo pant from H&M of 20 pounds, addidas pants of 15 pounds in Sportsdirect.com, and had made an order of a pair of Aldo casual shoes, whereas i bought myself a mini black skirt from H&M of 15 pounds.

A parking charge of 7 pounds was paid for approx 5 hours time, and we left the city center, heading to IKEA.

The Cambridge-18 Feb 2012

On a cloudy day with showers (approx 6-10C), we drove to Cambridge.

Setting off around 10am in the morning, but due to road closure at J23 & J24 on A14 Motorway, we made few detours, stucked in traffic queue and ended reaching Cambridge City Center at 2pm. We learnt the lesson, ie we should look out for road traffic information on our next trip.

Cambridge has host of diverse and interesting attractions to visit. It is an intriguing experience if we could  explore the architecture of all the University's 31 colleges, being the oldest one -Peterhouse built in 1284. It gives you sense of living in history. How i wish i am one of the student there. They all look smart with the graduation robe.

It is quite easy to travel within the city center. We just parked our car along the roadside (max of 2 hours, and free after 5pm), and we took a slow walk from main entrance which between Trinity and Clare college, crossing the bridge on River Cam (Where the punting tour is), and there we reached. Tourist information counter is just located at one of the street-Peas Hill, and of 1 pound, you got a local city center map.

We had our light lunch-one big Chicken and vegetable pie, two pots of hot teas at one of the Patisserie to stop our grumbling stomach, and also to seek shelter for the rain. Emm..the pie is yummy, i love it. I should have bought a few back home for my lunch. Regret :(

The city center is easy to get around, and in fact, it is a better shopping place compared to Nottingham. There are more array of shops and boutiques, and two big shopping malls. There are many patisserie, cafes, bars, restaurants if you want to indulge in food.

We didnt have time to join any old colleges' chapel visiting tour, or visit any museum. This could be our next explorer on our if we have chance to come back again. But we really admired the magnificent view of the old colleges architecture.

Here are some pics:




Street view




Cambridge University Press Bookshop-Oldest bookshop site in Cambridge since 1581.











King's College Chapel seen from King's Parade Street





King's College Chapel Grand view





St John's College Chapel




Standing along King's Parade Street, behind is Great St Mary's church


Our last stop was at "Patisserie Valerie" cafe. My dear broke the rules, and allow me to buy 3 pieces of cakes + pie home. Yummy yummy. These were our Sunday afternoon tea , and after dinner dessert.

As night falls, we had our Chinese food dinner at "Hong Kong Fusion", and had ordered a cup of "Yuan Yang". Food and drink were not bad.

The return trip took only 1 1/2 hour to reach our home sweet home. Here ended our pleasant trip to Cambridge. :)

 

First trial on curry chicken

Dishes cooked for tonight dinner:
Curry chicken
Ikan bilis soup with pak choi, carrot, sweet corn, fried beancurd and dried scallop.
Tried on chicken curry tonight..emm..need further improvement.

Herewith the ingredients for curry chicken
-Chicken thigh or breasts
-Onion (peeled and chopped)
-Mummy's home made chilli paste (to add spicy)
-Curry powder (to mix with water)
-Beancurd skin (Soaked in water for about 3-5 mins, and drain)-cut to smaller pieces
-Fried beancurd
-Potato (Peel the skin and cut into cubes)
-Water
-Evaporated milk mix with water (to replace with coconut milk)

Preparation:
-Rub chicken thigh/breasts with curry powder and salt. Put aside

-Heat the pan with oil and add in Onion and fry till fragrant.
-Add onion and stir fry, then followed by the curry powder.
-Pour in chicken, and make sure it is half cooked and well coated with the curry powder.
-Add water, evaporated milk
-Cover the lid and simmer for awhile.
-Put in potato and simmer
-Put in beancurd, dried beancurd skin when the chicken and potatoes are cooked.
-Add soy sauce to add taste if necessary

What to improve:
-Not enough gravy
-Not enough spiceness

However, overall not too bad, we enjoyed our dinner while watching tv .

Winter Sonata 4/2/2012 (Sat-Sun)

Snow scene taken at Wilford place

 

We experienced a heavy snow fall on Saturday evening (4/2/2012) . Lucky us, we dropped the idea of going IKEA after the grocery shopping at Tesco, or else, we could be like other road users trapped in jam..

Saturday night was excited, as we finally felt snow. we went down for few quick shots after dinner..the feeling was great.but too cold for me.

The snow stopped at middle of night, but the thick layer of snow(guess more than 10cm) had covered the green grass field, road, cars... residents brough their kids , dogs out and had great fun..even the local still having the excitement of seeing snow. Hubby & I went for slow stroll to the opposite river side..cool..

My first birthday in foreign land

A bright sunny day, but i feel so cold even staying indoor..is the heater not working strong enough, or my body has not yet adjusted to new cold temperature.
The temperature was -5, and right now gets better. around 1 degree.
Check out this pics..this lady brought the two dogs out daily with her winter wears..it make this living place more lively ...

Today is my birthday, so i call off a day. Not going to cook as my hubby is going to bring me for good English dinner tonight..look forward for it and see how it taste like.., not going to do any housework (except Laundry )...

oh ya, here the surprise birthday card which secretly placed in the letter box by hubby..thanks, lovely.

Skype my parents , and i am so happy to see them, my bro & sis-in-law and also my two lovely nieces-Zhilyn and Xuan Xuan. They are just lovely.

Miss my friends, my family so much today..

My first plain fried beehoon

Inspiration from my hubby, as he is missing Singapore local fried beehoon as breakfast badly..so i m trying one
Doesnt look too bad right?

Ingredients (very simple)

-approx 4 gloves garlic (fined chopped)

-half packet of vermiceli

-sliced lean meat (optional-marinate with pepper, salt)

-beansprout

-Oil

-water

-light soy sauce

-dark soy sauce

preparations:

-Boil beehoon and add bits of sugar, salt to add taste.

-heat the pan with oil. Saute garlic, add pork and stir fry till fragrant.

-Add water and then add in beansprout. stir fry till cooked.

-Pour in the beehoon, followed by soy sauce, dark souce. Mix & stir.

-making sure the beehoon are well coated with soy mixture.

-Ready for tuck in.

Unique Birthday feast @ The Royal Oak-English home cooked food

3/2/2012 (Fri)-Dinner at The Royal Oak

Hubby brought me to this small pub & restaurant for a local taste:

"Taken from the home webpage"
The Royal Oak is situated in the picturesque village of Long Whatton, Leicestershire with close proximity to East Midlands Airport, Donington Race Circuit and the university town of Loughborough.
The gastro pub offers diner’s good quality home produced food with a strong emphasis on using fresh locally sourced produce. The pub serves great real ales including St. Austell Tribute, Bass, Timothy Taylor Landlord and regular guest beers. A carefully selected wine list and a range of other draft beers make it a great venue for meeting friends for a drink.

The guest bedrooms benefit from being in a separate building and have been recently furnished to a very high standard. Each of the spacious en-suite bedrooms are comfortable and stylish with all the facilities a discerning traveller would expect for a relaxing and enjoyable stay.

The perfect place for business travellers or leisure seekers.
The Royal Oak is the ideal place to eat, drink and sleep.

Some pics to share. We started with :
Bread & Dips- Simply delicious. Fresh hot oven baken breads to be dipped with 3 different gravy..yummy. £2.45

Starter (For dear)
Assiette of salmon: Homemade gravadlax, Scottish smoked and mousseline, with fresh horseradish and beetroot slaw & honey mustard dressing. £6.95

My Main course:

Char grilled chicken breast studded with garlic and tarragon served on a vegetable rosti cake, with a stilton, spinach and leek ragu. £12.50

Hubby main course:

Fish of the day-mix of prawn, fish, scallops with home make gravy.£14.95

Finally we are now ready for delicious English Dessert

Sticky toffee pudding served with ice cream £5.25

Nice delicious dinner at a cosy small pub & restaurant..thanks dear.