Author: Bao Bao Qiu

Momotu Poke and Bento – London, Camberwell

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Recently, I’ve had not many reasons to make a blog post, but finally, there’s a new eaterie in Camberwell, London. A Japanese style takeaway (and eat in) that sells poke and Japanese style curry.

I’ve been eyeing this place for a while and waiting for it to open. Sometimes after work I forgot it was even there, so one day I decided not to make lunch the night before and go to this place Momotu.

As I entered there’s a self-service like till area with the menu on the wall, where you use a touchscreen to choose what you want to eat, and you can pay either at the counter or at the self-service area. It’s the first time I’ve encountered one of these in a small restaurant in London. Most will take your order at the counter, or well-known fast food places will have those large touchscreens.

There’s a seating area right in front of the window so you can stare at people who pass by…

I chose a large poke with white rice and various toppings, here’s the counter area which is neatly equipped.

So back in the office, I closed my office door to not be disturbed in this moment of eating time… My colleagues are quite noisy and nosey during lunch time, and sometimes I can’t rid of them unless I say I’m busy and can’t talk to them… The many times I get disturbed in the office is ridiculous!

I chose tuna and salmon as the main fish which tasted fresh. I asked for edameme beans, carrots, kale, seaweed, tofu and fish roe with a slightly spicy sauce. The mixture of ingredients I chose was incredibly amazing…

By the time I finished this I was practically full, next time I will try it with the brown rice with different toppings…

I would be happy to buy this again than eat the M&S versions, as the refrigerated versions can taste a bit stale (and sometimes not enough to fill one’s stomach).

Total came to £12.90 with a can of diet coke (I think there was a discount at the time I bought this).

My geeky rating: 4.5/5 … and will try and remember to test out their curry next time!

Address: 69 Denmark Hill, London SE5 8RS

Telephone: 020 7967 1435

Deliveroo menu (it says Peckham, but it’s actually Camberwell!):

https://deliveroo.co.uk/menu/london/peckham/momotu?utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=google_maps_link

December Frost and Snow 2022

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Last month was rather cold and frosty, and apparently we’re expecting more cold nights but I haven’t felt them yet. I’m feeling rather warm these days. We’re expecting more snow this month, and I actually can’t wait!

London and most of the UK had snow from the start of the second week of December. My colleagues and I were texting each other in the night trying to work out how to get into work the next day. Well, we knew the trains would be cancelled or delayed, and the buses would be running but slowly on the roads. It was cold! And for the first time I saw London’s temperature going down to -6 degrees Celcius. That’s bloody cold for London!

The cold nights and the snowy days meant it was a good time to take pictures! I love photography. 🥰

We saw some frosty cobwebs, and these were amazing!

A fox at night looking for food in the snow… it ran off as there was nothing to eat.

In the morning, the trees were filled with snow! Everyone was taking pictures.

I was on the bus to my work destination, and passed the Salvation Army base in Camberwell. The statue of William Booth was bombed with snow. 🤭🤭🤭

And the road heading to East Dulwich was just beautiful with the snow!

Nearer to home, this was how much snow that piled up on a wall… and no one touched it!

Loved how a bird just left it’s footprints in the snow. 🐾🐾🐾

Waiting for the January snow to come into London…

The 2022 Christmas Get-togethers!

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December 2022 was a time of festivities and a display of gratitude (for most).

This time I did not back down on the parties and went socialising with my colleagues and friends. One colleague from my team wanted to do Secret Santa and have an early get together before the many other parties and get togethers started. So she decided on where we were going and there was a random (sort of) name given.

One late lunch (and practically dinner) we all went to Cote Brassiere in Hays Galleria which is situated opposite London Bridge Station. I went in with another colleague and waited for the others to arrive… There was only 5 of us, but we sat there for over 3 hours during the lunch rush hour, do our secret santas AND have an alcoholic drink. 😁

Most of us had the Christmas meal, and there was just one of us who had to have a burger and calamari. Hahahah!! Very filling meal… I actually slept for 2 hours when I got home. Was so sleepy from the steak and chocolate pudding. 😆

It was a pricey lunch! But I shall not complain, as I’ve had expensive meals in my time.

I added this book to my wishlist for the secret santa, and one of my colleagues got it for me! Woohoo! I read Bob Mortimer’s The Satsuma Complex in 3 days the following week. It’s been a long time since I sat down with a hardback book, and read during the evenings

There’s a section on page 18, last paragraph… and my manager and another colleague said almost exactly the same thing about this book. I actually enjoyed as it’s set in South East London. When I pass Camberwell on the bus in the mornings, I look at the gambling arcade, and think is there really a detective agency up there? I very much doubt it. Hah!

Before the above meal, I went on a Toot bus tour with Miss Pinky and one of her uni friends to celebrate Miss Pinky’s birthday. One thing’s for sure, I don’t think we’ll be ever doing the roofless bus tour ever again together… and I will not take them together to eat Chinese food in China Town ever again… the amount selfishness was going up, and my tolerance was very high that day. 🤪

Mrs Hen invited me to her department’s work party (I worked with them before but left them many years ago). We went to Latin House in Camberwell. It was a bit cramped for the amount of people who were invited. Thankfully I had something to eat beforehand because there wasn’t enough food for everyone to enjoy… I got quite tipsy afterwards, and not sure if Mrs Hen was enjoying herself though, so I said to her that we should meet up before Christmas, and just enjoy a meal together. 🤭

And the last work party was a bit too formal (as one colleague said) at Camberwell Arms… but after I left, I think they all went a bit crazy… I’m thankful I wasn’t there to see another drunk team. 🤣🤣🤣 It was a very expensive dinner which I didn’t have to spend a penny.

What disappointed many other colleagues was that they weren’t even invited. Not even the managers who does this team’s dirty work… I felt a bit lonely being the only managerial person in the room, so I was texting another colleague telling her to gatecrash (obviously she didn’t gatecrash), and then I was unshamelessly tweeting my disappointments… 😅

The food was so-so. Those roast potatoes were really salty! Cut down on the salt peeps. And the dessert was meh.

I’ve had an enjoyable December … I had one more get-together for January 2023 but unfortunately I got hit with Covid again. My family caught it and passed it on to each-other. Thankfully, I have the mildest symptoms ever compared to the first time I had it.

Here’s wishing and hoping 2023’s Christmas get-togethers will be a much better one!

The Hallyu Wave Exhibition @ The V&A Museum

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Alright, I admit that I’ve been lazy to blog last year! I’ve lost interest in the Christmas adverts and so I won’t blog anymore on those ads, but hopefully I will regain my momentum in this new year. (I’ve been reading a lot as well… 6 books in December, and I’ve even joined Goodreads to review the books and keep an eye out of what I’ve been reading. It’s been a good challenge to myself after many years of not reading intensly as I used to. So on the sidebar of this blog shows the books I’ve read so far).

Last year I went to the The Korean Wave exhibition in London!

I haven’t been to an exhibition for a few years, so I thought why not break the ice, and go back into my once upon a time very geeky adventure mode. I’m still studying the Korean language, and my classmates and teacher said we should go and have a look… so I went. ^_^

It took longer than expected to reach the V&A via bus, was there something going on or did I just go in the wrong direction? I went in the wrong direction! I also bumped into a French tourist couple who wanted to go to Camden Town from Baker Street… that’s far, so in my very limited French, I said to take the Bus number 27… And then off I went via Tube to South Kensington! I arrived maybe 30 minutes late, but I was thankfully allowed in. Woohoo.

The best parts of the exhibition were seeing the costumes from Squid Game, a replica of the toilet from the film Parasite… and all the amazing costumes and dresses worn by Korean celebrities.

It was a short exhibition, but if you reviewed every single exhibit, for example, the paintings, the history of Korea, screens, explanations of how the Korean Wave came into effect over the many years etc., etc you’ll be admired by how much one small country has won so many fans across the world.

After the exhibition, it was time to go around, take in the after artworks and monuments at the V&A, and then do a little Korean Wave shopping. I bought a keyring (now on my office door key), a badge, a wallet and a book called The Pachinko Parlour, which I haven’t read yet… It’s on my reading list for this year.

As I was leaving the V&A, I had a craving for Kimbap from Oseyo. I arrived to the one in Charing Cross Road, and there was none, then I went to the one in Tottenham Court Road and there was none… so I had a Kimchi Honest Burger, with coleslaw and a weird tasting diet coke. ㅋㅋㅋㅎㅎㅎ🤭🤭🤭

Ticket Price: £20 (adult price)

https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/hallyu-the-korean-wave

Address: Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year! 새해 복 많이 받으세요! (I copied that from Google Translate 🙃)

The Elizabeth Line

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Hey Ho, it’s outrageous that I’m only posting about the Elizabeth Line right now, but I didn’t have a reason to get onto it until a few months ago when one of Miss Pinky’s nephew had a birthday party (following Baby B’s birthday party!).

Have you been on this line yet? If not, go now! It’s clean and not many people are using it at the moment. Is it because it’s pricier than the rest of the London Underground, and taken an extra few years to build?

The Elizabeth Line has that Hong Kong and China metro feel. Smooth running and modern style transport.

I hope in the future there will be more lines like this. Not sure if the line is running from end-to-end, at the time we went people had to stop off one stop and get off to get another train.

John Lewis Christmas Advert 2022 – The Beginner

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It’s the John Lewis moment!

(I actually viewed a leaked video on YouTube in September, and my mouth just opened at how it picked up the harsh reality of the UK’s future. Was this video for real?

And thankfully no, the “leaked” video was not the Christmas ad!…)

Hmmm… Every year, John Lewis changes their style to fit whatever they’re campaigning for… In this one, I felt a little sympathy but a bit annoyed (?). I put a question mark there because I don’t know how I feel at the moment..

Well, it’s not a fun Christmas advert. It’s cut down to 1 minute and 30 seconds compared their very long ads in the past. The music is depressing as it has been in their previous Christmas ads… if they were trying to make this ultimately sad (as in make you cry), then it hasn’t ticked off many items on the sad list. Unfortunately the Foster Dad who was learning to skateboard did not break my heart at the end (shouldn’t that be the case when you watch a sad ad?) …

Follow up story needed with the Foster child. Did she get to skate with the Foster Dad at Christmas… that’s probably what I wanted to see at the end of this advert.

Better time next year John Lewis??

p.s. I’ve just realised the guy sang Blink 182’s song! Not a fan of the slow version!

Supermarket Christmas Adverts 2022

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Ho ho ho, it’s time for more Christmas ads!!

Sainsbury’s – Once Upon a Pud

My arms were crossed when I starting watching this. Don’t know why… was probably expecting the worst. Is this really Sainsbury’s Christmas advert? Christmas pudding?

Set in the probably 16th-17th Century (that’s 1500’s to 1600’s), a countess dressed like Queen Elizabeth I who seems to dislike Christmas pudding and wants a new dessert. The pastry chef is then set a task to create a new dessert. Does he succeed?

Not the greatest from Sainsbury’s. I think they could’ve glide a camera over the food at the end before the Sainsbury’s label came up.

Morrisons Farmer Christmas Advert 2022

OMG! Did Morrisons just listen to my thoughts? Seriously, I didn’t watch this before the Sainsbury’s one! Hah, at the end the camera just glides through the food on the table whilst Mr Farmer is talking, and before the Morrisons logo comes up.

Gammon seems to be a popular dish so far. I still have this gut feeling that the supermarkets liaise with each other to promote certain foods during Christmas.

Morrisons always comes up with good adverts … it’s like a docu-advert in 1 minute!

M&S – Fairy is back and is joined by her new sidekick Duckie 2022

Ok, skip all the talking and just look at the food! I love M&S when they do the food close-ups, it’s my favourite part of their adverts.

So much babbling in this advert 🙄 but I guess the food and drink makes up for the Fairy and sidekick Duckie. Maybe I should pop down to the local M&S and get one of those bottles of gin to drown the noise!

LIDL – The Story of Lidl Bear

Lidl is always up-to-date with the times of our modern lives… TikTok, fame, parties, early autobiographies, advertising with food… the lot.

Forget fame and go back home to celebrate Christmas with the people who love you!

I did giggle at the end of this advert, as it reminded me to not forget the people who were around you from the beginning.

Tesco – The Christmas Party #StandForJoy

Every year Tesco become more political with their Christmas adverts!!

They’ve listened to the Government, they’ve listened to the Public and now it’s time for them to act to help the Public with our cost of living and bring some sort of joy to Christmas… Will Tesco deliver their Christmas spirit with discounted food prices in store? We’ll see…

Did they also had to mention about Bin Day at the end of the ad? What the heck was that all about?! 🤷‍♀️

More adverts coming soon! I can’t wait to see the ALDI ads… they’ve released a 50 second clip, but it looks like there’s more to come!

Barbour Christmas TV Advert 2022

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Annnnd the Christmas TV ads have started!

Here we’re going to start off with Barbour, the men’s clothing store. I guess it’s hard to shop for men these days, so they might as well start off with the Christmas advertising. 😁

Gone are the days of The Snowman, and now we have Paddington Bear for the second year running re-introducing the world of Barbour jackets.

Paddington Bear wants to cheer up a grumpy neighbour, Mr Curry (he was missed out the Bear’s list in last year’s ad), with marmalade but is diverted to the Barbour shop of old unique jackets… Will this cheer up his grumpy neighbour? Watch and find out.

An old style advert transporting you back to the old days of the one door London buses, when people were probably nice to their neighbours and Paddington Bear who appears to be the nation’s favourite bear at the moment.

Very lighthearted. Simple and not over the top. I’ve watched it three times already. 😅

Work Lunch Ideas – Autumn 2022

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It’s finally Autumn. Working from home is now 2 days a week and the other days I go into the office. So before the Christmas adverts start, I’m sharing this post now!

On the days I go in, I really try my best to make my own food for lunch. It saves me some money, and gives me an excuse not to be lazy. Mrs Travels encouraged me to post some of my lunches (and I think some other food I make but have not posted) onto this blog, as I haven’t posted in a while.

Here’s some ideas which I had circling in my mind to make and try out. I’ve been watching a lot of food videos on YouTube for the past couple of years to get some ideas as well.

Macaroni and Vegetable Soup

I made this one day on the weekend, and thought this isn’t too bad! And it’s really filling. Hong Kongers often have macaroni soup for breakfast and lunch. So I made a slightly similar version.

  1. Add a bowl of water to boil (for 1 serving)
  2. Add one vegetable stock cube (any brand)
  3. Add some pre-cut vegetables – then boil for 2-3 minutes (try and get discounted vegetables – it gives you an excuse to cook them on the day)
  4. Add 2 handfuls of macaroni (add more if needed) – boil for 10 minutes
  5. Cool down, then add to a container and refridgerate if making this the night before.

If you have no microwave to use at work, just reheat the soup in the morning, and add into a food flask. If you’re making this in the morning, add to your food flask straight away. Take some bread rolls or an extra sandwich!

Spaghetti with Japchae sauce

Have you watched the Korean show The Backpacker Chef 백패커? In episode 15, the chefs come up with Pasta Japchae, which I wanted to try making myself. I had a look online to see who else have made this in the past, and saw one post. I already had readymade japchae sauce, which you can buy in Asian or Korean supermarkets.

  1. Cook some spaghetti (add more if you plan to eat some before you pack them).
  2. Stir fry some halved cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumbers and a couple of frankfurters in a frying pan (usually the Koreans would cook the ingredients separately, but I’m a lazy Geek, and this recipe is supposed to easy).
  3. Then drain the spaghetti, place in a bowl, add the stir fried ingredients into the spaghetti and finally added the ready made Japchae sauce and additional sesame oil (I find the japchae sauce doesn’t have enough sesame oil in it).
  4. Mixed it all together and finally pack it. There was space left in my container, so I made a Chinese style spring onion omelette. Nothing fancy.

When I had this the next day, I noticed that the spaghetti had soaked up the japchae sauce, and it tasted great! I bought some more spaghetti too.

Tinned Mackerel Stew & Rice

There was some tinned mackerel at home, which I was planning to make this in Hastings but that never happened, so the tinned mackerel came back to London. I actually found a recipe on YouTube, but only looked at the ingredients used, and used my own instinct to create my own version. .

One day I bought a pack of mushrooms in Tesco as it was on discount (33p). Thought they would come in handy for a work lunch.

So in this one pot stew, you can add any vegetables for this but here I just chose what I had:

  1. Added olive oil to the pan, and fried all the mushrooms in one go (they shrink, so it was fine).
  2. Added some chopped onions, and the last of my cherry tomatoes, and stirred it in.
  3. After a couple of minutes, I added 2 tins of brined mackerel into the pan with the brine included (you can drain it if you want to).
  4. Stir, then add some salt, 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, a table of corn syrup (or add some sugar, but corn syrup is not too sweet), a cube of vegetable stock and half a cup of water (add a tiny bit more water if needed), white pepper (optional), a sprinkle of chilli flakes (optional) and some chilli powder (optional). Stir and turn down to a medium heat, and boil for 10 minutes.
  5. Cool down for a few minutes before serving with some rice.

I scoffed my dinner down and happy that I made this with the thought of having this for lunch the next day!

Leftover stew and rice packed away… the stew can be heated the next morning, and added into a food flask, if you don’t want to stink up the work office kitchen!

Swedish Meatballs and Vegetable Soup

Have you gone into Icelands or Morrisons recently? In the frozen section, you’ll see bags of Swedish meatballs. It looks like they’re popular. Instead of eating them the Ikea or Swedish way, I tried using them to make a soup.

  1. Add olive oil to the saucepan, then add in as many frozen meatballs as you want… and fry for a little bit
  2. Add any chopped vegetables. Here I added an onion, carrots and spring onions. Fry with the meatballs for a minute
  3. Add 2 cups of water, vegetable stock cube and tomatoe paste, (optional: Add a teaspoon of sugar if you like a sweeter taste) then boil for about 15 to 20 minutes.
  4. Serve with pasta and rice … and make sure to leave some for work!

And if all stews and soups and pastas fail, there’s the ultimate traditional egg fried rice with a veggie and meat side dish!

Hastings 2022 – 3 years later

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Boris Johnson is gone and now Liz Truss is the new PM. Blimey. Same Tories, but they’re shuffled in the wrong direction. I’m not looking forward for the next couple of years. May someone save us from this government. 😭

And I went back to Hastings after 3 years from when Master B was born, and Baby B at the time was only 4 years old. ^_^

It was very short break, and I think I can only handle Master B for a short of period of time. He’s started talking, but most of the time I can only understand him saying “Why?” and “Mummy”.

So the journey started off slowly. It rained heavily in London on the day we left, but thankfully it cleared up. Miss Pinky had to do some last minute shopping, so I was left with 2 energetic kids… I thought hurry up Miss Pinky before my energy disappered…

We finally left after 2pm on that Thursday afternoon, and walked all the way to London Bridge Station. The trains were either delayed or cancelled. Something happened along tracks. So we changed at Sevenoaks. But finally got to St Leonards Warrior Square (right next door to Hastings) just after 5pm, and made our way to the apartment we were staying at (booked on Booking.com).

Miss Pinky insisted we cooked food rather than buy takeaways, so we brought food (some not even used), then bought extra from the Co-op and SPAR (too much extra stuff, which we had to carry home)…

We all slept quite late but the early riser was Master B (let’s just hope he stops waking up early when he’s 5 years old… not long to go!). He was my alarm clock as well as the seagulls. Luckily Baby B slept through it all. Miss Pinky needed some sleep, so I babysat for an hour or so.

Time to head out, and I realised I left my purse in my jacket pocket (it was quite warm on the Friday), thankfully I had my phone to pay for the bus ride into Hastings Old Town (yes, you can pay with your debit card and credit card using Google Pay and even Samsung Pay).

We walked around, then looked for a place for lunch. We settled on a pub serving Jamaican style food. It was expensive according to Miss Pinky… cost of living has risen around the UK, so I wasn’t that shocked. My fish burger wasn’t fantastic but I ate the lot… the sauce was slightly on the bitter side. Oh well.

Time for clothes shopping in Primark (I didn’t buy anything), and some outdoor trampolining. Then back we went to the apartment. We didn’t even go to the arcades or anywhere else…

But in the evening, after doing some cooking, we went out and did a night stroll up to Hastings Pier. We couldn’t go to the arcade as Baby B wanted to go, as Master B wet himself – why didn’t Miss Pinky put a pull-up on him? Mistakes happen. Parenthood is tough!

Baby B was not impressed, but we “promised” to go the next day.

On the last day before we were to go back to London, Miss Pinky decided we should go back to London, but then Baby B made a fuss that “promises can’t be kept”. How did this young god-daughter of mine start talking like this? Shocked. I was a bit upset. Then Miss Pinky decided we should hide away her luggage somewhere after checkout, then head out. (I actually asked Baby B if she was able to keep her promises … I kind of pointed out her errors too 😛 – that’s Godmother Geek for you!).

We didn’t make it to the arcade, but we did go to the pier again, and spent some time on the rides. Everyone was happy in the end…

Finally on our way home after spending 2 nights and almost 3 days away from London. The best thing on this trip was that I made Master B cry a few times . I didn’t want him to think he could get away with things, and thinking I was the goody adult he could manipulate. Sorry to future parents and godparents – you can’t be nice to kids all the time!

Until next time Hastings!