First Landing in America! (Part 3) 🌞🌞

Taterscape brunch in Arturo’s Underground Café – fried potatoes, eggs and avocado (for the third time this week!!)

My final post on my week-long trip to Austin as I count down my final few days in my first trip to America! Just like the rest of the week, the sun shined brightly across the river on Thursday with my first stop being the central library by the river. Not only is the library well facilitated, but it also has a rooftop garden overlooking the scenery nearby. And I managed to squeeze some work in there for an hour or so haha (as the reality of being back at work soon was starting to hit me)- such an amazing working environment! 😛

Depiction of all the famous murals in Austin

I then walked across the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge, enjoying every bit of the scenery nearby as I headed to my next place of interest, which is the the Picnic Food Truck Park in Barton Springs in the south of the city. ☀️☀️

The Picnic Food Truck Park in Barton Springs

A funky display of caravans next to the food truck park

I was dying for the toilet when I arrived at the food truck park but unluckily the toilet there was locked, so I decided to sneak to the bar/restaurant next door. Out of embarrassment (and I doubted they will lend me the toilet for free), I ordered a drink to sit in. I unwittingly ordered the cool-looking Earth Rita (not realising it was probably short for margarita, partly blaming the unclear menu who only said “secret ingredients”… 😂🍹)and OMG that drink was so so strong (literally tasted like pure alcohol)! 😵 But I was adamant to finish it since I paid over $10… 💵 Ended up stumbling my way back to the food trucks and hazily ordered a Louisiana fish and oyster platter that I can just about remember what it tasted like haha… 🥴

This Earth Rita drink literally killed me… 🥴😵

A Louisiana fried fish and oyster platter – can barely remembered how it tasted haha. I assume it was good cause I finished the whole plate! 😂

Lemon pie, coconut and hazelnut gelato (the latter saved for my friend)

In a bit of a drunken stumble, I headed back to the central library, meeting my friend there before we headed north to the Blanton Museum of Art together (and I managed not to have the gelato melted all the way haha!😀) And it was free entry on Thursday (with free lockers provided)! Here are some snapshots of the artworks inside. 🖼 🎨

The Blanton Museum of Art also has a special chapel-like exhibition piece (called “Austin”) by Ellsworth Kelly.

Dinner was Tex-Mex grilled chicken with beans and rice. Tasted much better than it looks hehe!

After a brief rest in the evening, we then decided to make full advantage of Austin’s busy night life and headed to clubbing in the downtown! 🌃 Haven’t been out in ages, and it was definitely hot and sweaty on the dance floor there haha! (So unprepared for it! 😂) But it surely was nice to feel like I am back in uni again! 🕺🕺

Not being too hungover from the night before, we then headed to the Bullock Texas State History Museum the next day (with my history buff friend acted as the tour guide!) Truth be told I know very little about American history, let alone the history of Texas so it is nice to be able to get glimpses of their culture and all the stories behind its making.

We then continued our sightseeing tour, visiting the campus of St Edward’s University and Lake Austin.

Grabbed a fried chicken and burger whilst waiting for the bus 🚌🥤🥤

Tea break at Mozart’s Coffee Roasters by the lake

And on my penultimate night, after making a quick pass through Waterloo Park, I finally get to sample some Texan BBQ brisket. 🔥 I went to Stubb’s which was very close to my hotel. It wasn’t highly recommended by a lot of people I spoke to (Franklin which was quite well known was pretty much fully took up 😕). However, I actually did enjoy my brisket which was tender and also the sides of mac and cheese and collard greens. 😋 (Though the cheese and jalapeño sausage were slightly on the dry side for me).

On the last day, before heading to the airport, my friend and I managed to squeeze in an All-you-can-eat meal in a Japanese restaurant near to him. The food was average but I thought $27.95 was quite reasonable for the quantities you get! 😙

And finally after saying a proper farewell (also slightly ready) to my friend, it was also time to say bye bye to the city. 😢 Until the next time, Austin! I hope I can come back soon!

First Landing in America! (Part 2) 🌃🌃

Four days into Austin, and I still need to get over my jet lag problems! 🥱😴 Hence I started my morning with a very Tex-Mex brunch of tacos! 😂🌮🌮 (Weather was as glorious as ever! ☀️☀️ Though I still can’t get over the extra tax charges at the end of bills! 💵)

Spicy chicken taco and Mexican egg taco 😋☀️

After a filling breakfast, I then visited Harry Ransom Center within the UT campus to see the Julia Child exhibition inside (recommended by my friend living here). I started this blog back in 2019 after watching the movie ‘Julie & Julia’, so it did give me a sense of nostalgia and coming back full circle to see snapshots of her journey again. 😁 (And also at last grabbed a copy of her famous cookbook for myself!)

Julia Child Exhibition including some original letters and photos that reminded me scenes from the movie

There is also a exhibit of the Gutenberg Bible – one of the earliest bibles made using printing press

A lunch break back in the Taiwanese eatery near the UT campus – ordered a lychee slushie and a satay beef lo mein

Following some more wanders around the city centre, I headed back to the hotel for a change of clothes before meeting up with my friend again to head to the upscale Japanese restaurant Uchiko. And what a feast that was! 😍😍 Some of our personal favourites were the soft shell crab makimono rolls (absolutely love their unusual use of apple in them! 🍎), foie gras sushi, unagi sushi and the jasmine cream dessert.

Sake toro (Scottish salmon belly) and Masu (Tasmanian ocean trout) sushi

Our favourite dish of the night- soft shell crab makimono with honeycrisp apple! 🤤🤤

Tiger Cry rolls with Wagyu beef, vegetables and rice paper

Foie Gras sushi – my personal favourite! 😍

Kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) tempura with a delicious shishito pepper aioli

An incredible dessert! 😍 Jasmine cream with cilantro granita 💚 and pineapples 🍍

After having such a satisfying meal, it was even more of a treat to use the outdoor hot tub in my friend’s apartment to round off a perfect night! 😂 🛁 👌 👌

Crab crepe in a classically French brunch

After a good night of sleep, I woke up for a crepe brunch before visiting 99 Ranch Market, a Chinese supermarket in the northern area of Austin by Crestview Station. I thought it was a perfect day for some home cooking for a change after days of eating out! 😉

I try to go a bit more budget as some of the items (particularly meat) are actually quite expensive, but they sold quite cheap seafood, hence I went with some peeled shrimps and squids (dissected and cleaned the squids all by myself – haven’t done that in years since my last visit back to my home city of Hong Kong! 😂) It was also quite challenging as my friend didn’t have stoves installed in his kitchen (beside one self heating electric pot), so I kept things quite simple for the night.

Salted egg shrimps and squid stir fry with peppers and beans

Austin is a vibrant city with a busy night life, so after dinner, we both went for a walk along Congress Avenue Bridge and explored the beautiful Downtown Austin and its amazing skyline. 🌃🌙💫

Also grabbed a nice fro yo before heading back! 🍨🥤

First Landing In America! (Part 1) ✈️🇺🇸

For the first time in my 28 years, I have finally leapt across the pond of the Atlantic Ocean to visit our neighbouring country of the USA! 😂😂 This was a long trip coming but was delayed due to restrictions caused by the pandemic, and I used my half term break to grab this opportunity! 😉

For my first ever trip into the State, I decided on Austin (since I have a friend there who can help me with the navigation if needed 🧭😝!) Resting in the heart of Texas, Austin is a city with a very diverse culture and artistry. 🌃 A perfect place for someone like me!

My friend calls it the “chubby” pigeon 🤭

A beautiful building that turns out to be just a car park! 😂

Vietnamese dinner at Pho Thaison on the first night (my friend’s recommendation haha!) That lime soda was huge lol!!

Despite being firmly in winter, my first few days in Austin were blessed by glorious sunshine and heat! ☀️☀️ After finishing the hotel breakfast, my friend (being a political student) took me to a political rally featuring the amazing AOC that was reported in local news.

Never ate hotel’s breakfast on a sofa with paper plates before! 😂 The sausage was dry but the patties aren’t actually that bad (went back for seconds haha!)

Top: Queso (Mexican Cheese Dip) with Chips; Bottom: Pork Tamales and their signature chili

We then headed over to lunch at the Chili Parlour (cause I was dying to try some local Texan/American food! 😂) Really enjoyed the homemade nachos chips which were nice for a change. The cheese dip and salsa were nice too but the heat was getting to me haha! 🥵 Loved their chili especially the fact they are chucks of meat rather than mince which I was used to. 😋 The tamales were slightly on the dry side, but I did enjoy the flavourful rice and beans they came with. Following this, we paid a visit to the Capitol of Texas and UT campus at the heart of the city.

UT campus (blending in quite well with all the college students!)

The famous cat of the campus- Domino 🐈‍⬛

Eating zongzi again after so many years remind me of my late grandmother 👵😢 (Also ended up missing pretty much the whole of Super Bowl during this haha!)

After a rather early night back in the hotel (fell asleep 😴 💤 with the Winter Olympics playing at the background 📺 lol), I then visited the Austin city hall on the next day as well as the LBJ Library.

More inside the exhibition – love the old TV ads 📺

Olmec Statue outside the library (reminded of something I saw in a childhood anime movie! 😂)

So sunny in Austin today! ☀️☀️ (Quite hot too 🔥🔥! Is it really February!?)

Brunch at a sidewalk 👍 Really enjoyed this sandwich made with Jalapeño & Cheese bread.

When the night falls again, I met up with my friend for a Italian dinner in Quattro Gatti Ristorante e Pizzeria! 🤤🤤 (Also Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone lol! ❤️) FYI everything tasted amazing! 😂

A classic Italian dinner: Meatballs and rosemary focaccia; lobster ravioli with vodka sauce; truffle sausage rigatoni; and finally chocolate and Strawberry with a cookie that tasted the cannoli shells! Yum! 🤤🤤

Happy New Year from Edinburgh! 🥳🥳🎉🎉🎉

Happy New Year, everyone! May 2022 be your best year yet! 😁😁 Hope you had also enjoyed your holiday – my new year’s resolution definitely needs to be to work off all the food I have eaten over the past weeks! 😂

Edinburgh at night 🌙 (not really… this was before 5 in the afternoon 😅😅)

Delicious seafood lunch in Mussels Inn (one of my favourite seafood spots here! 😋)

The Pakora Bar – popped in for a quick snack!

A nice, warm bowl of ramen is perfect in this chilly weather 🥶

And got treated to a nice dinner in the hotel my mum works at! 😁👍

A belated Merry Christmas! 🎄☃️❄️💫💫

A slightly late Merry Christmas from me!! 🎉🎉 I got a little carried with a lot of stuff lately (work, uni essay and readings among many other things 😬), but finally found some time to do some festive baking in the past month. 😁 What kinds of festive baking have you done?

And also a quick shoot of the beautiful Christmas lights here in Edinburgh!! 😍😍

Half Term Getaway to Spain: Part 2

Beautiful view of Valencia from the top of Torres de Serranos

Valencia really was a beautiful city with a very interesting mix of cultures, history as well as modernness to it – evident from the buildings across the city.

Being a my usual foodie self, my first stop on my last day in Valencia was the impressive centre market. It features a wide range of food ranging from the famous Spanish Jamón, fresh meats, fruits and sweets as well as different kinds of preserves. It certainly took a long time to go around the entire place! 😉

Of course it won’t be Spain without Jamón! 🐷

Love all these exotic fruits! Shame I can’t buy them all home!

“Snacking” in the food market (from top left going along the row): spinach empanada, pepito carne (fried stuffed sandwich), mandarin juice, Jamón and an apple semifreddo dessert 🤤 (thought it was a cake but it turned out to be ice cream!)

I then headed the city centre of Valencia, visiting the grande and historical town hall as well as the central post office.

The Laws of Valencia standing at the centre of the room!

After a long walk in the heart of Valencia, I then headed back to the direction of Plaza de la Virgen where I was last night to visit the Valencia Cathedral. But before that, I stopped for a little tea break sampling a local drink called Horchata, which is a milk made from tiger nuts, typically accompanied with a sweet pastry called Farton. 👌

Valencia Cathedral (entry for 8 Euros – though I got away with a student discount again! 😂👌)

Love stained glass whenever I visit a cathedral!

After wondering through the town some more, I then rode the bus to the more desolated Pinedo beach which sat on the outskirts of Valencia, enjoying the breezes from the sea before riding back to the city again. 🌊 🌊

And after a few drinks at some bars and places across town (getting a little light headed lol), I settled for a final light dinner at a couscous bar near to my hotel in the Russafa area. The waitress was so lovely and welcoming, and we had such a nice chat about the city and travelling (turned out she is from Miami, so we got chatting about America which I longed to visit!) 🥰🥰

Couscous buffet bar for a light and healthy dinner! 😋

And don’t forget it’s Halloween this Sunday! 🎃👻 Stay safe and enjoy the festival! 😉

Half Term Getaway to Spain: Part 1

After a very busy month of work, it was time for another one of my getaway trips! 😁 Taking full advantage of my week-long break, I jetted of to a popular neighbour of ours – the exotic county of Spain! 🇪🇸

This time, I decided on a cheap early flight that set off from Stansted airport to Valencia at 7am in the morning (which meant I had to leave home at about 4am in the morning haha 😆🥱 barely even slept lol!) The airport is known for cheap commercial flights, but just annoying it’s a bit far away from the city centre (about one hour of train journey from Liverpool Street Station.)

Beautiful view outside the balcony from my hotel room

Upon descended in Valencia, I visited a local cafe for the Spanish tostada and then the famous beach of Malvarrosa. The weather was sunny but with just enough of breezes in October, so it was a nice day to be out chilling in the sands for some time! 😎

After a brief break in the hotel, I then walked to a futuristic part of the city where the Hemisfèric and the science museum are located. The area is such an iconic wow factor of the city! 🤩 Felt like I took a time machine straight to the Year 3000 haha!

My initial plan was to visit the science museum on the first day, but once again (I know it’s a running theme lol) I didn’t pay attention to the fact that opening hours change between seasons (closing time at 9pm in summer but 6pm in winter) 😅, so I decided to then head to dinner early. Though, it turned out restaurants in Spain open really late (most dinner services here start about 8/9pm and finished at about 11pm), so I ended up trying my luck to a few closed doors 😕 before finally stumbling upon an open tapas place called El Temple. (Was wanting to find a paella place but had completely no luck… 😞 ) Though it was still a very nice dinner and I absolutely loved their Patatas bravas! 👍

Quartet of tapas (from top left clockwise): Patatas bravas, squid ink croquettes, grilled prawns with guacamole and grilled pork tenderloin with Camembert cheese and caramelised onions

The first day ended with a rather early night (mainly down to the exhaustion of waking up early in the morning for the flight lol! 😴) In the next morning, I headed to a popular cafe called Dulce De Leche nearby (recommended by the receptionist in my hotel) and decided to do a takeout breakfast on my way back to the museum area.

Bocadillo and carrot/orange/apple juice 🥤 (One of the best sandwiches I ever had seriously!)

After about a 40-minute walk, I arrived back at the science museum and bought the all-around ticket which covered the science museum, Hemisfèric and Oceanogràfic (costing about 38 euros – though I did mange to get a student discount thanks to me now doing my Masters course part-time lol. 👌) The three places are all very big, especially the Oceanogràfic aquarium (which basically it’s a “smaller” theme park on its own) so there is an option to have the ticket covered over 2-3 days in order to allow yourself enough time to see everything gradually. As I was only here for a few days, I obviously opted for the reckless one day option haha! 😂 (Yeah, was exhausted by the end of the day from all the walking I did lol!)

Jellyfishes are always so stunning to look at!

The whole park of Oceanogràfic- it’s massive!

Under the dome! (Watching out for 💩💩🤣🤣🤣)

Never seen these before! (Apparently there are called Western crowned pigeons)

Under the sea

My favourite attraction in Oceanogràfic is the Artic centre, which features the amazing Beluga whales. It was my first time seeing them ever in real life and I was absolutely blown away!

Amazing Beluga whales!

Cute little penguin walk!

Dolphin show! 🐬🐬

Going back to the science museum, I was intrigued by this egg incubator exhibit – everyone was surrounding it and anticipating all these chicks hatching from the eggs and it was such a cute and miraculous thing to see! 🐣 ❤️

Watched this little guy trying to come out for hours – finally it’s here! 🥳🥳

🐣 🐣 🐣

After finishing the all-around tour with a science movie screening in the Hemisfèric planetarium (it was nice but the film was a little too educational and too work-related for my holiday mood 😝), it was finally dinner time again (and I timed it right to fit the Spanish opening hours that night haha!) and I headed to the beautiful Plaza de la Virgen.

People dancing under the bridge in the park on the way lol
💃 🕺 💃 🕺 Totally feeling the vibes haha! 🤪

Beautiful lights in front of Virgen de los Desamparados Basilica

And at last, I got to try the authentic Spanish paella (which apparently originated from Valencia) to mark the end of a busy day! 😋😋

Birthday Weekend @ Eastbourne

The past month had been absolutely hectic 💨💨, hence I have took some breaks away from my blog and baking. It did start to feel a bit depressing as I had been spending most of my evenings and weekends doing work stuff 💻😪😪, so honestly this birthday weekend did come at the right time for me to find any excuse I can to get out of London! 😂

For this getaway trip, I decided on Eastbourne (kind of come out of blue to be fair lol) as I hoped some rare sunshine 🏖☀️ will be a perfect change of scenery to the miserable weather in London in the past week or so.

Straight after work on Friday evening, I took the tube to Victoria Station to board my train to Eastbourne. Though my initial train was cancelled, there were plenty of replacement lines which meant I only arrived slightly later than expected. 🚂 However, it was pitch dark by that time, so I headed out straight to dinner after checking in the hotel.

Charlie’s Special Burger (with egg and bacon) plus a Blue Lagoon cocktail 🍹

My mum was a big fan of Snoopy and Charlie Brown, so growing up I did read a lot of the Peanuts comics. (Immediately sent pics to her after! 😛) The diner was a quirky little place with a lot of American references and deco. The menu wasn’t exactly wow, but the portions were absolutely massive (just like America would lol- I barely finished the whole plate.) And that Blue Lagoon was certainly getting into my head afterwards haha! 🥴😵‍💫🥴😵‍💫

Tipsily walked into the supermarket to get a chocolate and mint ice cream haha…

After a rather early night (for me at least lol), I woke up to the worst weather possible on Saturday morning! 🌧🌧☔️☔️☔️ So I settled for a more indoors day (far from what I had initially planned…😓) and ended up going to a café in the shopping mall for a nice brunch and doing some work stuff on the laptop… (The wind was so strong that day, I actually felt absolutely battered by the time I got there! 😮‍💨😵)

Mushroom Brunch – and then worked some more lol 💻💻

Even by late afternoon, the rain seemingly had no plan of stopping. 😕😕 After some long pondering, I ended up buying an ice cream takeaway back to the hotel (sticking to traditions regardless of weather lol!)

Whilst I took a semi nap soaking in the bath tub 🛁 , the rain somehow miraculously stopped (honestly I had totally given up hope by then lol!) So I decided to brave the winds (it was still super strong… actually used that to dry my wet clothes earlier 😂👌) and headed out to an Italian restaurant called Rostick.

The sizzling Brodetto di Pescatrice (mussels, clams, prawns, scallops, monkfish, skate wings, razor clam, langoustine and baby octopus)

I ordered their signature Brodetto di Pescatrice which is cooked in a hot clay pot (it was still sizzling when it served.) The flavours of the broth were good, but some of the seafood was a little overcooked (octopus and monkfish was good, but the scallops were a bit rubbery…)

The next morning, the rain and wind has completely ceased, with rays of sunshine shining brightly across the beach front. Finally got to enjoy what Eastbourne was really about! 👍 (Essentially squeezed what I wanted to do yesterday into 3 hours before I hopped on my train back to London!)

Victorian Tearoom at the centre of Eastbourne Pier

Inside the Victorian tearoom – beautiful chandeliers

The classic combo of sandwich 🥪 and soup 🥣

Always love to see beach huts in these coastal places

Glimpses of Beachy Head (was supposed to hike across yesterday… 😣)

Whilst the trip didn’t go fully as planned, it was still memorable in many aspects! After arriving in London, I caught up with some of my old pals from my uni judo club in Mercato Metropolitano- all in all not a bad weekend to complain! (And I had one too many mixers whilst with them lol! 🥴)

Had this delicious Korean fried chicken with my drinks! 😋😋

28 Today!

Another year flew by and so much had happened during these times… Went through months of lockdown; adapted to the new working environment; dazed through hundreds of online Team calls; forged new relationships with new people; rethought my careers path, enrolled to a new university course; felt the highs from the Tokyo Olympics and explored parts of this amazing world I have never encountered before… Going to a new year of my life, I feel like I am certainly turning over a new leaf. 🍀

There are many future plans I would like to share with you all, but I shall keep things under wrapped for the time being as the dusts settled. Meanwhile, I thought a new biscuit selfie profile pic is in order to celebrate the beginning of yet another chapter! 😉 The background is in light of my trip to Paris a few years ago – the stunningly bright Eiffel Tower under the midnight sky was a memory I would never forget!

Whose Birthday Is It Tomorrow? 🤔🎉🎊

Getting ready for the party! 😉😏 (Not!) 😂