Month: October 2017

3D Origami Vampire… Happy Halloweeeeeeen…

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Happpppy Halloweeeeeen! ๐Ÿ˜ˆ๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ˜ฐ
Why are we so inclined to celebrate this Americanised custom is beyond me…๐Ÿ˜Œ
It’s been a while since I’ve made a 3D origami piece, so this is what I made in advance for Halloween. A vampire. The green face, big eyed version… LOL! I’m not sure how it came to this but still need to use up a lot pieces.
If you have no problem with colours, you can easily spot that I had (accidentally) used two different green shades… whoops! I was making this in the middle of the night. ๐Ÿ˜… Oh well, it’s unique.

Five more days until Guy Fawkes night! ^_^

Panadeira (Bakery) – London Walworth Road

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Apart from experiencing the Spanish bakeries in Spain, thought I might as well try out this Spanish bakery on the Walworth Road (there’s a couple I think in Elephant and Castle – near the train station entrance). It’s been around for more than 6 months!
So this bakery replaced what was the bridal shop which is now next door, it was then converted into a shop for a fairly short while (guess that didn’t work out) then now this Panadeira (Bakery). ๐Ÿ˜€ย 
I was out with MummyGeek, but had already a big bowl of beef brisket noodles and a plate of veggies to go with it… since I was passing, I thought I might as well top up with some Spanish goodies. ๐Ÿ˜‹

I bought three items which I found interesting…

First was this beef ball. Wow it’s massive! Looks crispy on the outside… but what’s inside?

It was this amazing mix of salty beef, cheese and I think there were a few veggies… It was actually too salty and so I had to get a bit of ketchup to suit my palate. A bit oily but nice. I would go for it again!

Next was this corn bread… I thought it would be mega sweet, but it wasn’t. Tasted grainy. It had some sweetcorn pieces. Not sure what to think of this one really… I think I will need another go at this…

And lastly, which I took to work in the end the next day, is this hot dog bun… When cold the bread tasted slightly sweet and tough. So I don’t recommend eating this cold. It dried my throat badly… I placed this in the microwave for 30 seconds, and it actually tastes better when warm. Make sure you this one as a warm bread!

Overall a good experience! Total spent was ยฃ6 if I remember correctly…

Lots of Spanish speaking peeps were there on that Sunday I went… Wow.ย 
Definitely not a big competition to the other bakeries as this one is quite unique.ย 
The other bakeries on Walworth Road shouldn’t be too alarmed with this newish entry. ^_^

Address: 201 Walworth Road London SE17 1RL

Macbeth (Ninagwa Company) in Japanese @ The Barbican

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Whilst I watching a drama (a Japanese one), this advert popped up about Macbeth in Japanese. Thought this might be exciting! I’ve seen the play in English and Cantonese, so why not see it in Japanese. ๐Ÿ˜…
I know the story inside and out now, I remember all the parts, but this time I felt at a loss…ย 
I’m becoming to understand basic Japanese. It’s improving for sure! But ancient Japanese dialogue is incomprehensible for me. ๐Ÿ˜
Love the costumes, the set, and the three witches all played by men! ๐Ÿ˜† Lady Macbeth had a lot of dialogue too which I forgot about… Anyway a good play, although the theatre was quite warm (and has a very confusing layout), which meant I felt a little sleepy trying to read the captions and watch the actors/actresses act, (someone did offer me a seat towards the centre in the upper circle but I declined)… Easy escape from where I was sitting!

One reason why I also wanted to go to the Barbican was to see one of Banksy’s latest piece in collaboration withย Jean-Michel Basquiat who has some artwork displayed at the Barbican… There was one opposite this piece, but might take a pic of that another time… ๐Ÿ˜Š Need to find some time to go!

The New ยฃ10 Plastic Note

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I’m encouraging myself to write more! Even if it’s meanlingless to the rest of the world…! ๐Ÿ˜… (And Blogger has the Emoji icon… at last!).
So we’ve had the plastic ยฃ5 note, and now it’s the ยฃ10 note.

The main difference is obviously having Jane Austen at the back… It’s been the talk on the news a while back… There’s also another difference in comparison to the ยฃ5 note, there’s like for visible and feelable dots where the ยฃ10 sign is. Hmmm, wonder what that part is for.

My purse feels a lot more lighter with these plastic notes!

No exact date has been mentioned on when the old ยฃ10 note expires – likely March or April!

Baby B’s Pirate Ship Cake

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Last month, it was Baby B’s 2nd birthday! Woohoo! She already can talk, walk and do many things independently without having to supervise too much. The only problem is the obsession of George from Peppa Pig and chocolate cakes, and sweets in general… She’s got Mr Picky’s obsession with sweets… Uh oh!
Not going to share too many pictures from her birthday party (we were fairly organised this year… going to have to be organised from summer time next year!!) but I must share the birthday cake made by her uncle (one of Mr Picky’s brothers, I shall call him Mr Cake – he’s really good at creating and designing them). Baby B loves him loads. I can’t beat their love! LOL. Very special bonding between them. ^_^

Mr Cake made this gigantic pirate ship cake… Every part, apart from George, the Lego and flag parts were all edible… I have no idea how he designed them. Ideas must flow in his head, like I do with my 3D Origami and other creative works. Heheheheh.

It was all amazing! Very tasty too… Not too sweet. And thankfully it was soft icing… Yummy! Chocolate cake! Many have said Mr Cake should go on that baking programme… Well that’s up to him I guess… ๐Ÿ™‚

Here’s a covered up pic of Baby B… Getting cheeky now… She snuck her cousin’s dummy on. Tut tut.

And Miss Pinky with Baby B… She was stressed out the night before. For real. We were doing last minute preparations – still trying to catch up on my sleep!

So Happy Birthday Baby B (a few weeks ago)… Hoping for many more good times. I just hope her uncles don’t turn her into a mega tomboy with all the “gender neutral” toys. :p

Okan Ramen and Soba ใŠใ‹ใ‚“ – London Coldharbour Lane

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Still craving for more ramen…
One evening after talking to Miss Pinky about tonkotsu ramen, so I ended up looking for local Japanese restaurants with ok reviews. I was also watching Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san, a Japanese drama about a school girl who loves ramen. I think I shouldn’t have watched it! Lol!!!! ^_^
… In the end I came here…
Okan Ramen and Soba ใŠใ‹ใ‚“ opened last year in April 2016. It’s not far from where I work and it’s about a 20 to 30 minute walk away or a 10 minute bus ride. Wow. So close, and I’ve never been?! Walking to Brixton is actually really, really close… Had I known (as the bus swerves in and out of the roads) I would have walked to Brixton to eat after work! ^_^ It might happen more often…
Forgot to check the opening times for this place, and so I ended up being 40 minutes. That’s when I decided to walk around a bit. Walked around Brixton Village, then went back the other way in some heavy rain and did my food shopping in Tesco… The walk back was about 10 minutes, but carefully walked back as it was still raining… It was 6 o’clock when I got there. It wasn’t opened yet, but the door was opened!! So I went in and made some sort of polite noise… First customer of the evening!

Their website doesn’t show their full menu, so I took a picture of it, unfortunately it didn’t come out clearly here…

It’s a very cute restaurant. Reminds me of those ramen bars in those Japanese dramas, but it might be more pleasant if they remove those plates from the counter top…ย 

When the guys started cooking my orders, I could smell an aroma like garlic and ginger just lifting my moods and opening my appetite… I was ready to eat!!

I resisted a lot to order two starters, but I just couldn’t help myself! This is fried aubergine. Yum, yum, had the right sort of seasoning… not overly cooked and not too oily… Could have more of this!

Came with a mustard dipping sauce…

And this was my second starter… I like Japanese fried chicken… This was really hot when it came out… Tried to resist eating it all in one go before the ramen came out…

And finally my tonkotsu ramen came out! It already came with the sesame seeds inside and other toppings. Unlike some other Japanese restaurants where you can add your own bits and pieces in you can’t seem to this here in Okan…

So what about the soup? It was nice and creamy, not too salty and not too bland. The noodles were nice and thick, not the typical thin sort of ramen you would see in the Central London restaurants. It came with only one piece of chashu which was a little disappointing but I guess the soup does make up for it.

I wanted another helping of ramen, so I asked for another portion (couldn’t help myself, just watching that Ramen Girl drama drove me to do this!)… It was nice and warm, and when I added it into the soup, the soup felt like it was all warmed up again. ^_^

The soup felt it was never ending, but I drank the lot…

Finished!

Total cost came to ยฃ27.55 which includes a ยฃ3.05 service charge. I ordered no drinks but had their water. If I had ordered any drinks, I think I would have bursted at the stomach. ^_^
Ramen craving over for now! Well more like tonkotsu ramen craving over. ^_^ Will definitely come again!

My geeky rating: 4.9/5 (more chashu in the ramen please!)
Good points:
– The soup is good and will satisfy people’s stomachs
– Love the starters
– Polite service
Bad points:
– A tiny bit expensive (but worth it)
– Should add a bit more chashu in the ramen!! A bit stingy with it…

Address: 338 Coldharbour Ln, Brixton, London SW9 8QH
(Please be aware of opening times during the weekdays 6-10pm and longer hours on the weekend)
Tel:ย 020 3441 1084

Aizu Seimen Curry Ramen ๅˆๅ›ณ่ฃฝ้บบ ใ‚ซใƒฌใƒผใƒฉใƒผใƒกใƒณ

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I am a curry and ramen addict. I confess! ^_^
Bought this giant packet of Aizu Seiman brand Curry Ramen ๅˆๅ›ณ่ฃฝ้บบ ใ‚ซใƒฌใƒผใƒฉใƒผใƒกใƒณ from Japan Centre. I was going round and round in circles trying to find things to buy, so I bought this. There was a dipping version, but opted the safer option where I wouldn’t splash myself with curry soup.
I was a bit upset with the Destiny 2 Ramen at Kanada-ya, so I hoped this packet of ramen would fill in an empty spot in my stomach.

The dried ramen doesn’t come in straight lines, instead they’re bent. I’m not sure of the reasons for this method of packing.

After cooking it came out like this… I think I should have added more water…

It tasted ok. Not too spicy. Wished I added more water to make it look more soupy. There’s enough for 1 person, but could be shared amongst two people.
Price: ยฃ4.68… Had a look at Japan Centre’s website, and looks like this was limited, and sold out! I think this packet of ramen is definitely worth the price by the amount of ramen give. ^_^
Wow!! It might expensive, but thankfully I had a chance to try this once!

Update 04/11/2017 – went to Japan Centre today, and they’re selling this in store (instead of online) including the dipping one… will blog about that one soon!

Japan Centre – London Panton Street (is this the final move?)

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ใ‚ˆใ—๏ผAlright! I’m hoping this is the final move for Japan Centre. Fingers crossed that we don’t have to keep travelling to find this Japanese store. I think I’ve encountered their four stores and three moves from when they were on Piccadilly Street to Regent Street St James’s to Shaftesbury Avenue and now Panton Street.
Stay where you are now Japan Centre! (Fingers crossed in the meantime).

As you enter you’ll see a food counter and a bit home-ware…

Liking the light bulb arrangement!

Then you go down some stairs and you’re greeted with a big food area and I feel the shopping area has gone a little smaller… maybe because lots of stock had gone beforehand. Hmmm.

On exiting to the till area, you’ll see a lot of raw meat, fish and a whole big section of sushi.
I’m trying to cut down on the rice, but that might not be possible if I came here all the time!! ^_^

Usually I spend a lot in Japan Centre, but on this day before the end of September I received a text message offering a discount! So in the end I spent under ยฃ15. So happy, but I think I should have bought more…. ๐Ÿ˜ฆย 
Think the layout is not super great… The magazine section is right next to the takeaway hot food section – bit of a bother if you wanted to browse.ย 
The toilets are right next to the till areas, it means you have to pass the queue to get there…ย 
Maybe a re-layout needs re-thinking!!

At the end of this short visit, I decided not to eat in Japan Centre, but instead went to the neighboring Kanada-ya of Panton Street and tried out the expensive Destiny 2 Ramen. The waiter said it was super spicy… hmmm… I didn’t think so. Soup was quite bland too, so I wasn’t too impressed. Maybe I should have ordered something a bit salty. Oh well!

Address: 35b Panton St, London SW1Y 4EA
Tel: 020 3405 1246

Tombo Fitzrovia ใจใ‚“ใผ: Hello Kitty Cafรฉ pop up – London Windmill St

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Update 13/10/2017 – good news! Just received an email from Tombo(!) on one of my personal emails (how?)… The Hello Kitty pop up is being extended to October 22nd 2017!!! Yay!!!

Have you been waiting for this post? I’ve been dying to get this post out, and I’m almost up-to-date with most of my posts!! Yay!!

Had a disastrous morning trying to find this Hello Kitty Cafรฉ! Was searching online before I went but I think Google was giving me past events and another Tombo branch! ยฌ_ยฌ”” What is wrong with Google Search… give me up-to-date stuff please!

After almost two hours of travelling here and there and everywhere, plus meeting up quickly with Miss Money to give her a very early birthday present, I finally found this Japanese restaurant along near a side street on Tottenham Court Road and not far from Goodge Street Station.

The Hello Kitty theme at this restaurant is a 6 week event and ends on October 8th. So sorry for my late posting for those extreme Hello Kitty fans in London!!

This is the limited edition of the Hello Kitty menu.

The Hello Kitty section wasn’t over the top (but my food pictures might be a little OTT) ^_^ some kids brought their own Hello Kitty toys along…

Had the Yuzu Kukicha, which is a citrus green tea. This tasted really nice, like a hot lemon tea. It came in a double walled glass so that you wouldn’t fill the heat of the tea. I think I want one of these glasses! The tea came with a green tea Hello Kitty cake. Cool!! ^_^

I ordered the Hello Kitty Pokรฉ which came with a free Hello Kitty soy sauce bottle that you are allowed to take… This is the only reason I got this dish. LOL!ย 
There were so many Hello Kitty shaped veggies, but the best thing is, is that it all tasted great! Rice was not over filled with sugar and vinegar (some places really go over the top with the vinegar and sugar). The salmon tasted fresh. The only thing I didn’t eat were the flowers as I didn’t realise they were edible.

I knew I needed a dessert too. I was already hot from all the walking around. I ordered the Matcha Berry Sundae.ย  Yatta!!ใ€€ใ‚„ใฃใŸ๏ผ๏ผ
I enjoyed the rich green tea flavour in the ice cream but the sweetness of the strawberry syrup and the white chocolate and biscuits made the green tea flavour dissappear… Well, at least the dessert made up for the rest of the empty stomach. (^_^)b

This was one of the cafรฉ’s I mistakenly went to in Soho…

And this is the other Tombo I ended up in. However they do sell the Hello Kitty merchandise!

A good experience in getting lost in London. I must say, even the geekiest Londoner gets lost in London!! Just don’t forget to go before it ends on October 8th!!!!!!!
Total came to ยฃ25.31 which included a service charge of ยฃ2.81.
My geeky rating: 5/5 (just being able to get lost and able to take pretty pictures was a good enough for a good rating)
Good points:
– Nice seating area, limited space
– Felt like I was placed into a Japanese environment
– Polite service
– Prices were reasonable

Bad points:
– Have none… I got a free Hello Kitty soy sauce bottle!! ^_^

Address: 4 Windmill St, W1T 2HZ

Tel: 0203 205 0001

Ibis Hotel – Gloucester

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After looking at a bunch of places of AirBnB, it was decided by Mr Games that we should stay in a hotel… I can’t remember the price at the time he booked, but it was over ยฃ50 per night. We stayed for two nights.
Mr Games booked two rooms with double beds. There were no twin rooms available. ๐Ÿ˜ฆ
From entering the hotel you got this canteen looking area.

I made sure Mr Games requested an extra duvet as I’m usually the victim of the other person taking the duvet. There was enough space for both Miss Money and I.

Shower was amazing! Toilet could have been a better option. Toilet roll could be placed somewhere more accessible.

The coffee drinkers (Mr Sensible, Miss Money and I) weren’t really impressed with the selection of coffees… the coffee machine outside at the breakfast buffet was more decent!
Overall the hotel was generally quiet. Even our neighbours hardly made any noise. You may hear someone’s shower or TV but it was ok. Could advise on another bin in the room as well…

Address: Corinium Ave, Barnwood, Gloucester GL4 3DG
Tel: 01452 623650
Website:ย http://www.ibis.com/united-kingdom/index.en.shtml