Month: October 2013

Maynards Sour Patch Kids – Heads and Bodies

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Happy Halloween Peeps!
Heheh, heads and bodies. Maynards Sour Patch have been out for a while, but I saw this version in Morrisons and had to have a look plus try them out. Haven’t tasted the other versions before, so this is going to be interesting.
Maynards Sour Patch Kids – Heads and Bodies

Not enough heads in this small packet

This is by so far the best Halloween treat I have seen in the supermarkets. ^_^ There are loads more out there but I just can’t grab them all. (I’m spending more on paper than I am on treats… see previous post on why!).

My separated heads and bodies

Close up of a head and body

The heads are sour. The bodies are sour. And they look weird too. These are some really sour sweets! But I really like them. And they are sugary too!! 😀

And here’s a pumpkin I spotted in a nearby street…

Pumpkin in a nearby street

Have a great Halloween whatever you’re doing this evening!! 

3D Origami – Hello Kitty and Family Guy

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Woah! Why haven’t I discovered 3D origami in the first place?!

As an origami fanatic (who likes to make all the easy folds and not the hard ones) I found 3D origami quite easy, compelling at moments and a way of spending time in front of the laptop watching Korean, Chinese and Taiwanese dramas. Yes, I watch online stuff. Doesn’t anyone else?! 3D origami is also a great way of giving a gift to someone too. ^_^

Well, this first model which I tried to copy from a YouTube video took me 5 hours to make. The pieces take forever to make and because I used thick white paper in this model it took me longer than expected. This Hello Kitty went to a colleague’s 1 year old girl, and so I took a few pictures before it went to its new home. Hopefully it’s just sitting on top of a cupboard somewhere… Friends said to me it looked either like an owl or it had a stroke. Not impressed friends! ¬_¬
My not so popular Hello Kitty

One of those friends is from Denmark who I’m calling Mr EvilMonkey from now on. An ex-colleague of mine. He loves Family Guy, and (I think) he challenged me to make Evil Monkey as it is one of his favourite characters in the cartoon. Challenge accepted… Here I used a penguin design I found on YouTube, and then I just changed the details i.e. arms, feet, ears and tail… I also had no brown paper, so I made him into the Golden Evil Monkey!! 😀 Mr EvilMonkey loves it, and I will give this to him whenever I ever see him in the future. XD
Golden Evil Monkey

Golden Evil Monkey’s backside

I love its tail!!

As soon as my friends saw the Golden Evil Monkey, Miss Pinky declared that I was not working during my working hours!! SHOCKING!! It’s not my fault I’m so clever and such a geek and very, very creative that I can make this in two days after working hours!! 😛 Was very hurt and disappointed with her… But I got Mr Picky to whack her on the head… 😛 I got my revenge…

I was then challenged by Mr Games to make the entire Griffin family from Family Guy. And Miss Pinky said to go for it and finish it before Christmas!! Mr Games told me later in the week that he said it as a joke. ¬,¬” Not funny Mr Games… I spent hours and days making all of these models (just over a month)… They are all my own designs, and I think one of a kind. I’ve only see one picture of Stewie in 3D origami and none of the others. I’m such a clever geek! 
Family Guy in 3D origami ^_^

Stewie was the first one to make. He was actually quite hard to design because I didn’t know how to make his oval shaped head. But what I should have done was glue it sideways. Nevermind. If someone asks me to make it again, I will change the design.

Stewie with an odd shaped face

Stewie’s backside

Peter Griffin, the father, was ok to make, he wasn’t too hard to design except for the head again and his facial features which took me a while to come up with. It was my fourth model, so was still new at 3D origami.

Peter Griffin

Peter Griffin’s backside

Peter Griffin from the side

Lois Griffin, the mother was difficult as I had to make her shorter and I added her shoes too. I ripped it apart  at one point and then started again. Her hair was hard to stick on as well! Many minutes of gluing…

Lois Griffin from the side

Lois Griffin’s backside

Chris Griffin, the second child of the family, was not hard to design at all! One of the easiest characters, and I actually even made him a cap using normal origami folds. ^_^

Chris Griffin

Chris Griffin from the side view

Chris Griffin’s backside

Meg Griffin, the eldest daughter. She was easy to make too although I started using different beige paper as I ran out of the other one and this one was thicker, so I had to make her head smaller. But in the end it worked out fine. I couldn’t find an origami hat that could fit onto her head so I just flattened the piece of paper and stuck it on her head. XD

Meg Griffin 

Meg Griffin from the side… didn’t make her nose very well

Meg Griffin’s backside

Brian Griffin, the family dog. My favourite design of all!! He was very easy to make although it took me two or three attempts to make the nose as I was using half sized pieces. Was going to make him some legs but that didn’t work out so the pieces went to his arms or in the bin!

Brian Giffin

From the left angle

From the right angle

Brian Griffin’s backside

The models are up for grabs now… And I’m sure Miss Pinky or Mr EvilMonkey wants the set! Oh dear, who will get them first? Need to charge them for £5 per model or go for eBay style and wait for the highest bidder – that’s for my time and work fee. 😉 (I actually have one bid for £20 from one of my personal friends! :D)… Let’s see how it goes!!… I think Miss Pinky is going to go ballistic if she doesn’t get the set… ¬,¬””

Next challenge is from Mr Picky. He said to make the South Park characters. Oh boy, I think I will start that next year or at Christmas time!! In the meantime I will be making Pikachu from Pokemon, Domo-kun, Winnie The Pooh, and a couple more of Hello Kitty designs using newspaper and normal paper… Plus an aeroplane!

And the challenge after South Park is from Mr Games and I have to make The Simpson’s (just the family of 5). Mr Games said to make every single character in the series. Uh. No way am I doing that!

Anyway, watch this space or wait until the next 3D origami blogpost!! ^_^

p.s. Best paper to use is printer paper 80gsm in weight. It is thin and easy to fold and model. Highest weight of paper you should go up to is 100gsm unless you are highly skilled at folding and piecing the pieces altogether with heavyweight paper!

p.p.s. I have no idea on how to draw my designs in triangles for other people to make but will find a way one day.. or maybe not! 😀

Halloween Treats 2013

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It’s Halloween time!! f(O_o)f  f(O_o)f  f(O_o)f
For supermarkets it always starts early buy not early enough before the Christmas treats start in September! So here’s some treats I’ve found…
How interesting. I’m sure supermarkets have been doing this for ages, but I’m a grown adult who’s going to have some fun decorating a Gingerbread Bat! Only costs £1.55…
Decorate your own Gingerbread bats

Sprinkles and icing included

Decorating is fun!
It was fun decorating this bat but need to enjoy them with a hot drink.
Next is this Jaffa Cake Bar Lemon and Slime. These are quite boring for me actually. Tastes like normal Jaffa cakes with coloured jelly inside. The slime is yellow but you need to dissect the whole thing to seeit! Only cost me £1.
Jaffa Cakes Lemon and Slime

Jaffa bars with yellow slime
Last treat I got are these Cadbury mini rolls. Very normal jam and cream chocolate roll. Have nothing much to say about these. Pretty normal, and suitable for a lunch box! Cost me £1.
Ordinary mini rolls

But I love this packing!!! 

Chocolate mini rolls
Quite boring this Halloween although the packaging is very colourful.
Well, have a Happy Halloween whatever you’re doing!

Maryland Gooey Cookies

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Spotted these in Tesco the other day. I was quite happy and I wanted to try something new! 
Maryland Gooeys
Cookies are another favourite for me. I love soft dough…
When I opened these, there were only 10 cookies. I think they’re a bit expensive for 10 pieces of cookies. But nevertheless I had to try them!
Cookieeeeeees!!
Hmmm… not my type of cookies, they tasted a bit on the stale side. It feels as if you have to have them with a hot cup of tea or coffee and dunk those cookies in. But the gooey chocolate inside made it a little better! That was the most interesting part of this biscuit. ^_^””
Bad closeup

Look at that gooey centre!! Woooow!
Not buying these again. Will buy the regular Maryland Cookies instead!!
Price: £1.98
Where to buy: Tesco

JinGuan Plum Candy with Brown Sugar 黑糖話梅

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I wasn’t going to blog about this candy, but since Mr Bear had one he couldn’t stop eating them. He actually went to China Town to buy them and I’m not sure how many packets he bought, but apparently he went twice to See Woo Supermarket to look for them!! Mr Bear never usually likes dried Chinese plums as they usually have this salty taste with a kind of sweetness to it plus there’s always a pip in the middle… But he really liked this one! (He doesn’t even sit in the same office as me anymore, but still gets to eat all of my snacks!! ¬,¬””). He took one of my pot noodles the other day. Must ban Mr Bear from entering my office!! 😀

On the packing it says 黑糖話梅 (Canto: hak tong wa mui; Mando: hei tang hua mei) “black-sugar-dried-plums”, but it really means brown sugared dried plums.

Plum Candy with Brown Sugar

The back of the package

Well these tiny plums are coated with brown sugar. As you put them in your mouth you will think what the heck did I put in my mouth?! It tastes of a creamy brown sugar coating (a bit like Werther’s Original) with a bit of the salty / sour taste of the plum… It is quite delicious and for me it quenches my thirst! If you crunch it in the end you will taste a lot of creamy brown sugar!!

There’s more than 3 in packet, so don’t worry… they do taste nice!

Looks odd, tastes a little odd, but you might start getting cravings for them!

Pregnant ladies in China love dried plums, that’s without the brown sugar. I don’t know why. And it’s Mrs Travels favourite snack of all time! Must buy these for her when I visit her in France next time. 😀

Price: Forgot… less than £2 though
Where to buy: See Woo Supermarket

Wife Cakes 老婆餅

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I promised @Banjo_Chocolate (a Twitter follower) that I would blog about Chinese Wife Cakes a.k.a 老婆餅 (Canto: lou po beng; Mando: lao po bing).
To the Western world it is a strange name to give to a cake, but in the Eastern world it’s isn’t that strange at all. You get pineapple buns that don’t have pineapples in it. You get mapo tofu that’s supposed to resemble a pock-faced old woman. Geez I could go on forever about the strange names of Chinese food!! Hahahah!!
There’s a lot of stories that is believed to be the reason for the name of Wife Cakes… But I don’t know them all… So here’s the Wiki page to go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetheart_cake. 
Most Wife Cakes from Asia are made in Macau, and apparently the ones from Macau are the best. They are mainly popular in the South of China. These ones I bought are from China Town and imported from Asia. You can even find them in a Chinese bakery.
Wife Cakes imported from Asia

The back of the box – aaa, it expires on my birthday XD

10 in the box

It’s made with melon paste and surrounded by a very light pastry. This actually has some coconut in it which you can taste as you chew it. The melon actually tastes a bit sour, but the sweetness of the pastry makes up for it.
Fluffy light pastry on the outside

Melon paste and other ingredients in the inside

I quite like these actually but I don’t buy them regularly. It’s a snack that can be enjoyed throughout the day with a cup of tea or coffee. ^_^

Price: £2.99
Where to buy: Any Chinese store that has them in stock, I got these from Yang Guang Supermarket

p.s. Support @Banjo_Chocolate to bring back Banjo Chocolate – I can’t remember the chocolate bar, but I’m sure others will do!!
http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/bring-back-banjo-chocolate-bar-support-and-sign-this-petition-to-get-banjo-back-into-production
Here’s her Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bring-Back-Banjo-chocolate-bar/269555819831128

IKEA Taiwan Advert for 2014

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I can’t seem to get this IKEA advert from Taiwan out of my mind . It’s so strange! IKEA adverts worldwide are getting stranger and stranger! But this probably better than the recent UK one we had which scared the life out of everyone…
In this video, the daughter is asking why can’t she invite any of her friends over to her home, and then the mother explains that their place is just too small. The door bell rings and this elderly man enters their home and said he was there to get rid of the monster… He became a monk / exorcist and got rid of a toy snake!! The mother asks what did he get rid of? And the monk replies he got rid of the snake. And then somehow two IKEA magazines popped into the hands of the parents… OMG. It’s a strange advert.

How does IKEA in general come up with these adverts?! That’s my main question…

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/9a69qJRYPv8&source=uds
For one thing this is an advert for 2014, so it means to get rid of the Snake year (which we are in right now) and into the Horse year… But as I keep saying it is a very strange advert.

Solution: Use IKEA to get proper storage ideas in the household I guess!!

Czech Club Restaurant – London West Hampstead

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If you have been following me for a long time you would probably know that I was studying Mandarin, but this school term I’ve decided not to… Methinks I have spent too much money this year! From the last school year, I’m still friends with a few of the classmates and a couple of months ago I went to My Old Place 老地方 in the Liverpool Street area with two of them. This time it was the three of us again and we went up to North London to eat Czech food.
So off I trek up to West Hampstead. My colleague Mrs SweetTooth told me that someone had jumped in front of a train around the Stratford area and said the Jubilee Line might be affected. Oh dear! But I got there early thankfully…

Both my friends have created their own names for this blog!! 😀 So my male friend is called Mr ÆðelgarYellowcloak (aefelgar-yellow-cloak, ¬,¬” don’t ask, long story) and my female friend who introduced us to the Czech Club is called Ms LǜFù (Chinese Traditional characters: 綠嬔, meaning Green Baby Rabbit… that’s a long story too!!).

When Ms LǜFù arrived, she directed us on where to go. She can speak Czech by the way and often goes to this place! You need to turn left out of the Tube station and keep walking. It is a well hidden place as it is amongst some houses. It was once a house itself back in World War II and then turned into a club for Czechs and Slovakians. More history is on their webiste!! ^_^
Outside the Czech Club

The Czech Club is very different to normal restaurants, it feels like you can just walk around the place as there are various sections. There’s a restaurant bit, a club bit, a pub area and another room. It is a very popular little place during the evening for various people. The Czech club serves a lot of different dishes and there menu is written in both English and Czech…

A couple of empty tables which were filled up in the end

A Czech and Slovakian memorial

Paintings and pictures along the staircase

My beer. £3. Very good beer.

This is what we had…

Someone on Twitter (@WHampstead) recommended the wild boar dish so Mr ÆðelgarYellowcloak had that one. I never got to taste it but he said he could taste mostly the cheesy sauce but the meat was tender. Hmmm maybe I should’ve went for that in the first place.

Wild Boar roast with creamy and cheesy sauce & dumplings

Ms LǜFù opted for this pork dish which had sauerkraut and dumpling pieces. She never said much about her dish. But she loved how her meat was so tender.

Pork Roast with sauerkraut & dumplings

I had the pork goulash. I should’ve went for the beef goulash which was what I had wanted in the first place… why didn’t I go for it?! So disappointed with myself. But anyway, this dish was ok. It was on the sour side because of the sauerkraut. The dumplings was just like white bread so nothing too special… and I felt like I didn’t have enough meat… would’ve liked more pork in my dish. 

Segediner Gulash & dumplings (pork cooked with sauerkraut and double cream, spiced with red paprika)

My dish was only £8… and I definitely wanted dessert and so did Mr ÆðelgarYellowcloak… He tried to order his in Czech, heheh, and the waiter looked at him… ^_^. I ordered mine in English just to be on the safe side. It was a 20 minute wait but that was ok…

Mr ÆðelgarYellowcloak decided to have the pancakes. He said he liked his. Pancakes are always good…. his cost £4.

Pancake with chocolate and whipped cream

I had the apricot dumpling with yogurt, cream and ice cream. It looked big with a lot of bread. I thought it was going to be like a fried dumpling. Too bad it’s not. The apricot tasted quite sour. Ms LǜFù said it was because of the yogurt. Thankfully I had mine with ice cream as I think I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much. Mine cost £3. Love big cheap desserts!

An apricot dumpling with Yogurt & Ice cream, cinnamon icing sugar and whipped cream
Inside my apricot dumpling

We all paid separately rather than split the entire bill in three. But the entire cost including beer came up to £44. That would’ve been about £14 each person. That isn’t bad for a night out in West Hampstead! If I were to go again, I am definitely going for the beef goulash or the wild boar!

My geeky rating: 4/5
Good points: 
– In a quiet area of Northish London
– A homely type of dining experience 
– Cheap food
– Can easily roam about from room to room
Bad points
– Wasn’t too keen on the dumplings. It just looked like a lot of bread to me
– Didn’t have enough meat in my dish otherwise I would’ve given the place a 4.5!

Address: 74 West End Lane, West Hampstead, London NW6 2LX
Telephone: 0207 372 1193


The Shard

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Question: What’s 1004 feet high, has 87 floors, costs approximately £435 million pounds to build and lives by London Bridge?
Answer: The Shard.
Once again I have become a London Tourist XD… Miss Pinky and Mr Picky were supposed to go together and had invited me, but Mr Picky didn’t go in the end, and I hadn’t seen Miss Pinky for a month!!

This is an expensive London attraction that even Londoners like me want to experience. For me, I’ll only do this once, just like with the London Eye when it was my 21st birthday… (a very long time ago ¬,¬ when the economy was doing ok)…

The Shard experience is definitely something to share on this blog, not just for the tourists but also for the Londoners and people around the UK!
I say it is expensive because if you didn’t buy a ticket online, it costs £29.95 on the day. That’s just the adult price. Online it costs £24.95. It’s only a few pounds difference, but it’s still expensive. Miss Pinky was complaining how she could have bought loads of groceries with that money… (I think Mr Picky has infiltrated her brain on spending as she never would have said that!! Wow!!). I wonder how much profit they have made so far… Will they ever get the cost back from building this tall building? And not forgetting that this is a hotel as well… I think they will…

Pricing is shown on the screen outside 

So what do you get for £29.95…


1. You need to go through security, so take your jacket off

Going through security… it’s like going through airport security!

2. A photo shoot (£30 for the picture which comes in a leather bounded like frame, and you can’t take a picture of it!)… So evil… It’s not worth it really. So make sure you take a lot of pictures upstairs. Miss Pinky and I took a lot of selfies thankfully. 😀

3. A trip up a couple of lifts… It feels like you’re going through a very, very posh and technological lift. I thought I was in a Star Trek movie! XD… Each lift went up in less than a minute! Felt dizzy because it went so fast…

Waiting by the lifts

At Floor 33

In the second lift

Arrived on floor 68!!!

4. A look around of London from the top of The Shard on two floors
View from the first viewing floor…

A view from the top

This is the south part of the river… The sun was in my way!

North part of the river

East Central London… that’s the building that melted that Ferrari in the summer!!

East Side of London

The tracks at London Bridge

Tower Bridge

Miss Pinky looking through a monitor

You can look and spy on people close up!!

View from the second viewing floor…

It’s airy on the second floor

The south side again

It was a bit cloudy last Sunday!

The ceiling

A big gap… Is it even finished up there?

Tower Bridge and Tower of London

Trying to find my home in the distance XD
People viewing and observing

Tower of London

Construction on a rooftop

5. There is a restaurant and a bar somewhere, but I think it was closed off when we were there… I heard the restaurant is a bit on the bland side, maybe it’s because you’re so high up your taste buds tend to change. I think the chefs need to change tactic… It happens when you’re flying!!

6. The Shard’s mini shop when you go down…

Going down to the Sky Boutique

The mini shop

Nothing much here…

And that’s it really!!

Here’s the view from the bottom. See how high up we were!!

A view from the bottom XD

Afterwards Miss Pinky and I were a little hungry so we went to one of those old ancient pubs for Sunday dinner… 😀

Miss Pinky’s Beef Sunday Roast

My Chicken Sunday Roast

My advice. If you want to see London from the highest point then go for it. For a tourist it is spectacular, but for a Londoner it probably isn’t worth it for that price. I lost interest after a few minutes and after a few pictures… It was an EXPENSIVE Sunday. I also recommend going on a sunny day… You will see more that way…

Address: Joiner St, London, Greater London SE1 9SP
Telephone: 0844 499 7111 MAKE SURE YOU BOOK ONLINE!!

Website: http://www.theviewfromtheshard.com/ AND http://the-shard.com/

New Japan Centre – 19 Shaftesbury Avenue

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Oh boy, another move! Why??!! I wish it stayed in its original location, but unfortunately there’s a project going on.
Now the new Japan Centre has moved to a new location. It’s now on 19 Shaftesbury Avenue. It’s practically right next door to GAP and next door to one of Jamie Oliver’s restaurants.
Outside the new Japan Centre
For those who have lived in London for a very long, long time like me, it’s the place where many artists sit along the street and paint a lot of portraits of people passing by. I think my brother was grabbed once (when we were young) by an artist to get his portrait done, but my mother refused! Hahaha!! You’ll still see the artists sitting outside drawing furiously and looking for customers at the same time!!
Artists being hard at work!
There is a big sign for Japan Centre, and they have a little eatery area too (I preferred the previous location where it was inside).
There is an escalator that takes you up to the first floor, but unfortunately I had to walk up because the escalator wasn’t working at the time. Oh well, a bit of exercise won’t kill me!
The escalators
It is now one big shop floor. Sorry for the blurry pictures. Was trying not to get in people’s way.
One big shop floor
It was a bit dark on end
The book section
Some bento stuff was on the table
I felt as if there wasn’t enough stock so I didn’t buy a lot, and the sushi was limited, otherwise I may have just gone on the wrong day as it was Japan Matsuri… I’ll have another visit and hopefully they’ll be lots of stuff next time!!
Address: 19 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 7ED