Year of the Horse

Lunar New Year is the “real” new year for me. This year is not quite the festive Lunar New Year that I used to have in Vietnam or Singapore, since the Brits don’t celebrate it, nor are they aware of such occasion. It’s the last day of the year and I had 4 consecutive hours of lecture and seminars. Tomorrow, the first day of the New Year, I’ll be attending lectures until 5pm.

Being far away from home in this occasion is one thing, being away from home in a Western country during Lunar New Year is a whole new level of depressing. Nonetheless, the situation forces me to create festivity for myself. Even though I cannot physically be with my family and friends, they’ve been keeping me busy on my phone and on Skype. So I don’t have any “banh chung” this year, never mind, there’ll be a big pot of caramelised pork with eggs (thit kho trung) through out the new year week in my house. No colourful decorations or flowers around to create the festive spirit, that’s okay because I’ll be listening to those annoying New Year songs!

It just happens that my birthday coincides with New Year’s Day, all the more reason to celebrate.

Here’s wishing you a very happy new year, the year of the Horse. May this year be filled with health, happiness and good luck for everyone!

Kart Racing Durham

Yesterday we went with some friends to Kart Racing in Durham. It’s a new game for most of us so we were all very excited.
After filling up our details at the reception, we were given a set of hideous jumpsuit each and given the basic instructions. We then put on our helmets and started racing.

To be honest I had some difficulties manouvering the steering wheel as it does not seem to steer very smoothly. Nonetheless, the ride was definitely a good adrenaline rush for me.

Then we took an hour long walk back to the city centre. I have always liked Durham this time of the day, when the lights start to shine and the city starts to have this misty magical vibe all through its corners. Even the wet cobbled streets and the cold breezes don’t bother me anymore, they just make the night more mysterious and thrilling to be in. Such unique beauty!

Cook with me: Fried Chicken Wings in Fish Sauce

Disclaimer: Me writing about cooking is by no means an indication of how well I can cook, or how knowledgable I am. If something I write about is not quite right, feel free to point it out!

When I think of home back in Vietnam, this dish is one of the first things that come to my mind. It reminds me of my mom and of dinners in front of the TV with her. The taste of fish sauce and of crispy fried chicken are plain nostalgia and comfort for me. This is also the one dish that I am somewhat confident about, after months of learning how to cook, because it is really, really simple.

Here’s what you need:

– Chicken wings
– Oil
– Tapioca Starch
– Salt
– Pepper
– Garlic
– Fish sauce
– Sugar
– Bird’s eye chilli

And here’s how you do it:

Get your chicken wings, clean them thoroughly and cut them into two parts (the wing and the drumlet) and use your kitchen knife to create cuts on the pieces as below.

 

Lightly season them with salt and pepper.

Put the chicken into a plastic bag together with some tapioca starch and shake well until all the chicken pieces are covered in white powder.

Put the chicken into a pot and pour oil into it until all the chicken is submerged. Put on high heat and stir occasionally as the chicken pieces tend to stick into the bottom of the pot.

The chicken should take around 15 minutes to cook. While waiting you can fix the fish sauce. Use a liberal amount of sugar with chopped up garlic, chilli, fish sauce and some plain water. Add fish sauce and plain water in small amounts until it taste right. The sauce should be both salty and sweet. And I really meant it when I used the word “liberal” for sugar. The sugar should make the sauce’s texture more dense, almost glue-ish.

When the chicken is cooked and turns golden, reduce the heat but keep the pot bubbling, take each piece of chicken out, dip in the fish sauce. Make sure that the chicken piece is well covered so that some sugar melts onto it. Put all of them on a plate, take out some garlic from the sauce and put it on top of the chicken, and your dish is done!

Today my chicken dish was served together with some garlic fried water spinach and rice. Feels just like home!

 

 

 

 

Weekend bliss

The weather over here has not gotten so cold as for us to have snow, but it’s cold enough for me to put away my wool coat and constantly reach for my puffy duck-down jacket instead. The days are more gloomy than ever. With that said, yesterday when we went to Durham city, the sunny weather both comforted and cheered us up.

We decided to have our routinely English Breakfast and black coffee at our all-time-favourite Chapters Cafe.

 

The warmth of the sun was kind enough that we took a stroll around the city and found ourselves lost in a little tea shop with too many adorable looking kinds of tea, tea pots and all sorts of accessories.

 

We went shopping around for a little while and then strolled along the river, to breathed in all the beauty that was before us.

London Buzz

I got away from Durham and spent 10 days in London, all through Christmas day and New Year’s Eve. After a little more than 3 hours on the train, I finally arrived at the beautiful city that welcomed me with warm sunshine , a pleasant change from the gloomy weather up north.

Korean food near Tottenham Court Road

My Favourite: Korean rice cake in spicy sauce.

The famouse chocolate store Goldiva

I got one of those chocolate-wrapped strawberries and they were divine!

 

Burberry Outlet:

We spent a whole morning at the Burberry Outlet in Hackney. I love Burberry. Passionately. So this was probably the place the looked forward to visiting the most. I got a few things for my relatives back home and scored a beautiful green wool scarf for myself.

 

 

 

Westfield Stratford:

We went shopping in Westfield, which was packed with people on Sunday. I also managed to get myself a bottle of Burberry Body perfume (which shall be my scent from now on, although my DKNY bottle is still half full after, what, 5 years?). After shopping is, of course, feasting. My man went for curry broken rice while I opted for vermicelli with spring rolls and grilled pork from a small Vietnamese food stall in the Westfield food court. Not quite the authentic Vietnamese food, but close enough.

 

 

 

Limehouse – Caribbean Food

We went to Limehouse to meet up with a friend. Below is a badly-lit me.

 

 

We had Caribbean food for lunch. Chicken Jerk and Chicken Salad for starters and Chicken Curry for main dish. They were all delicious though *thumbs up*. With it being the 30th of December no one was really eating out around that area so we had the nice cozy restaurant all for ourselves.

 

Borough Market:

After lunch we went to Borough market, one of the largest and oldest markets in England. This is decidedly the most unique market I have been to in England (I haven’t been to many…). Here you can almost touch the holiday-ish vibe in the air. Nothing beats strolling around the busy market in the chilly air with a cup of warm wine. There is me trying out a scotch egg wearing said green Burberry scarf (<3).

 

 

 

 

Poor babies…

As a Vietnamese, I can say that this is the first time I have heard of such dish. It smelled delicious though! If only I wasn’t too full to try some.

London at dusk:

I can look at this scene for hours.

 

 

Mexican Food at Cafe Sol:

One of the best nachos I’ve had. I would’ve tried their steaks but I was too stuffed for that, so I went for a salad with a non-alcoholic cocktail on the side. Everything was great! Will definitely try the steak next time!

 

 

 

 

 

New Year’s Eve:

We wanted to watch the fireworks, but once we got inside it was way too crowded. We wouldn’t have enjoyed the fireworks very much with people constantly stepping on our feet (my Zara flats were thrown into the bin after the night as a result), so we decided to get out and have some Chinese food instead. Not the way we expected to spend New Year’s Eve but it worked out well for us as when midnight strikes, it started drizzling. So we got home safe and sound while everyone else was stuck in the rain trying to get out of the crowd. They were probably too drunk to mind anyway. My friends and I stayed in and chatted until we drifted into sleep.

 

 

Gourmet Burger Kitchen:

We walked into GBK by chance and were so happy we did so as the burgers were very well done. My man’s was the Taxi Driver (basically lots of meat) and mine was the Avocado Bacon Burger (they had a fancy name for it, I think, but I can’t remember).

 

Greenwich Park:

We got a glimpse at the Queen’s house and took a walk in the beautiful park. The weather was very cooperative. Just look at that blue cloudless sky. The view was breathtaking!

 

 

Cosmo Buffet Restaurant:

I was having a flu that night so couldn’t enjoy the food like I usually do, but I’d give it to the restaurant’s wide selection of cuisines. The buffet area was huge and it took a long time every time we went to get another plate of food. In my ill state I found their sweet desserts so irresistible!

 

 

 

 

Now i’m back in college and will be busy for a while. Already, I’m starting to miss London. See you again in the summer! x

 

2014

Hello from London with a cinnamon crepe.

After a 1.5 years break from blogging, I realized that I sort of miss recording down what I think and do. So that’s why I am back here today.

First and foremost, I’d like to bow down to social pressure and say that this is a good day to look back at the year 2013, which went by extremely fast and boils down to a few notable events:

1. The end of my first year in college, which was filled with mostly doubts and uncertainties, silver-lined by the few friendships I made and I am so grateful for their existence in my life.

2. I made an effort to travel during the past year. In the UK, I went to York, Manchester, Newcastle, London, Coventry, Sunderland, apart from Durham where my university is located. During the summer I went to Bangkok with a few friends from Singapore and also visited Hanoi and Vinh, the 2 places in Vietnam I should visit more frequently. The summer ended with a short trip back to Singapore to visit old friends in the beautiful city I am still so attached to.

3. I did a 2-month internship at a bank in Vietnam. It was an amazing learning experience, on all aspects.

4. The family remains mostly the same, although I feel that as I grow older, my family becomes a bigger, more important part in my life, in contrast to popular belief that kids grow away from their family.

5. The start of my second year in college also came with a fresh new start in my personal life. It has been wonderful so far and I’m learning something new everyday.

In short, I am incredibly grateful for all the people in my life and the experience of 2013. Everthing, no matter how good or how bad happened to teach me something and helped me grow up. I hope to make 2014 an even more fruitful year, and hope that I remember to record them down here, in my blog.

Having said that, I expect to have shenanigans such as cooking recipes, traveling or style-related posts this year, just a little bit of everything for me and for everyone.

Happy holidays to all and have a great year ahead!