more of oxford

we took some photos of the punters under the magdalen bridge but didn't feel like going for a ride. thoroughly enjoyed the punting tour i did with Y in cambridge over easter and, well, this looked pretty backwater in comparison :/

little known fact that both R and KH were good to mention! magdalen college (pronounced "maudlin" for the non-oxbridgers out there)  has a beautiful deer park and we went just an hour before the college closed. there was such solitude in the cloisters and an uncommon sense of serenity. dare i go so far as to say i'd even stay on in the uk to get PR so my future children have a better chance at going there? 

chanced upon this beautiful plaque and poem just on the border of the deer park and felt it a fitting tribute to the evening.

it was a leisurely day in oxford and quite embarrassingly we somehow managed to eat on the hour. from breton crepes to a full brunch at the grand cafe, followed in quick succession by scones and home made coffee ice cream (better than hagen das! i was amazed!!!) at the rose cafe. and just as our stuffed bellies started protesting, who should we meet but H, an old friend, who pointed us to atomic burger for some retro renditions.

so as not to sound like a complete glutton, we also went to the christchurch meadows (again, both R and KH said to go there!) and had the most delicious home-made daim ice cream at G&D's on the way. oh, right, so it's still about food haha. and gosh we ate so much ice cream i'm surprised we didn't start moo-ing.

pseudo-intellectuals oxford

londontown got a little claustrophobic over the weekend and we went to oxford on a whim. didn't hurt that T, the big friendly giant, was teaching there over the summer. however, unbeknown to us, the BFG was himself roadtripping that weekend. never fear, R and KH came to the rescue with their winner winner chicken dinner lists of where to go and what to eat. as luck would have it, i also bumped into a high school friend in the streets, and he pointed us to the cutest little burger joint for dinner. but more about that later!

the only problem with oxford is the absolute lack of parking. we laughed at the park & ride on the way in wondering who'd be so silly as to park outside the town centre. turned out the joke was on us when we tried to park on the main street where it'd cost GBP5 for a measly 2 hours. tails between our legs, we backtracked and thankfully because it was sunday, scored some sweet free parking just by the university parks. and we just had to stop for a celebratory breton crepe after.

right after crepes, we went to the grand cafe on R's recommendation. was also keen to try olives which had KH's vote but it was unforch closed for summer :(

passed this on the way to the redcliffe camera and i must say it's so much cuter than a sandwich board!

more on oxford to come!

deep fried banana skins brixton

so we made a little foray into brixton over the weekend past. after hearing rave reviews from in-the-know friends, we were inclined to get a piece of the ethnic action for ourselves. funnily enough, i told the mister that if we weren't going to the carribean this summer, then brixton and her deep fried banana skins (!!!) were as close as we could get to azure waters and island living.

i am a tiny bit ashamed to admit that brixton sort of scared me. it was downright weird to be the only girl walking around without a headscarf. but the village itself was gentrified, and, dare i say, about the only part of brixton that we saw anglosaxons in. hmm. thoughts on segregation? while i do think that london is a melting pot of cultures and more often than not you don't hear english being spoken in the streets, there are still these invisible lines and minority and majority are sometimes all too clearly demarcated.

but food! oh food! the wonderous entity that binds regardless of race or religion (now i'm starting to sound like the singapore pledge!) we were oh-so-fortunate to be able to bounce from federation coffee with its divine cappucino cake to honest burger followed in quick succession by a bite of beijing with peanut noodles.

taking a bit of singers

to chelsea!

now we're back in london, and slowly piecing the apartment together, nothing shouts "home" like our trusty egg poacher. i don't know about you but as long as i can remember, we've always had one of these babies in the house. i grew up on soft boiled eggs from our little red hen, before organic and free-range was in vogue. and now, it's come full cycle where i'm boiling fresh, free-range eggs (this time courtesy of a friend's guinea fowl).

 some soy sauce, truffle oil and we're good to go!

them rottie pups

are so big i couldn't believe it. and now, they've all gone to new homes so i'm a little sad that i didn't get more time with the litter. doesn't help that they're offspring of my all-time favourite dogs. this must be how grandparents feel when their favourite child and favourite in-law (in this case, also our doggie!) has babies. oooh! purpieees :))))

i don't profess to be an expert in genetics but ohmyword, this baby looks like a perfect cross between his parents.

a bit of summer in singers

soon after the honeymoon, the mister had to travel for work, leaving me in the care of our very good friends, who make void decks cooler than cool. much as we wanted to check out dr koo's new digs, his parents were none too amused when we landed on their doorstep at 2317h. banished to the void deck, we morosely nibbled potato cakes and slurped soy bean pudding :) the stuff good nights are made of!

 

 

(tat sengs not in picture)

rounding up the minimoon

three days in phuket was way too short but when your days start like this...

round up with glass after glass as the sun sets

which don't bode well for precarious roof-edge shots

but if one's last sunset were to look like this...

who's complaining :)

a visit to friends'

after two days of languishing in our villa, our wanderlust got the better of us and we were more than happy to take up a very kind friend's offer to visit her villa. as it turns out, it was just a stone's throw from where we were staying. we spent the afternoon at hers, tucking into a hearty thai feast, followed sufficiently later by a two hour (!) massage and more lounging by the sea. bliss!

the pool

and because our personal infinity pool just wasn't enough (haha, it was, i'm just being difficult) the main pool was even more beauteous.

chivalry is alive and wading

self-confessed internet junkie, and shade seeker

sky, sea and pool

the pool by night

minimoon

phuket was a dream and i'm truly grateful for a husband who's planner supreme. after planning and executing three weddings with aplomb, he also pulled off a wonderful minimoon. to be fair, we did roadtrip iceland after the wedding. but seriously, 13 hour treks up fjords, beautiful as they may be, do not a honeymoon make. 

so to phuket it was! near enough to singers so we don't waste precious holiday time, and far away to be blissfully undisturbed by our well-meaning folks. 

our very own infinity pool overlooking the andaman sea

a good clean massage, overlooking the andaman sea.

as a funny sidenote, my resourceful husband somehow scored us a double upgrade so while he paid for a basic room, we were really living it up in a beautiful villa with its own pool. it was so beautiful and secluded we hardly saw any other guests and quite embarrassingly, i started to fear for my kidneys, lest they be fattening us up for the kill on the last day. but we lived to tell the tale :)

bringing the party home!

iceland, wonderful as it was, is not home. and there were so many more people we wanted to share the wedding with than logistically possible in the tiny wooden church in the tiny town. we were very fortunate to have the luxury of doing two separate celebrations in singapore. we'd a luncheon for family and family friends, where we were the youngest at, and a dinner party where we were almost the youngest.

finally catching a breather after lunch! our wedding car was a buggy, or so we'd a great laugh over.

the legal eagles, including my dashing mr august man changmoh cousin. that makes me hot by proxy.

and team oz, essentially the stockholm crew because we spent a glorious six months together in stockholm in 2009, flew in specially for our wedding. humbled by their presence. especially when every one is in starter jobs, leave is short and liquidity even shorter... 

three weddings? check, check and check. 

honeymoon shots to come!

the wedding photos!

our wonderful icelandic photographer was very fast to give us the full set of photos from the wedding. however, we wanted our family and friends in singapore to be the first to see the shots so we only shared some of the better ones on facebook after the singapore celebration. it's been a short six weeks since we tied the knot but oh wow does it feel great to be married to my favourite person on earth :)

we had a leisurely morning start. tea ceremony at 9am followed by the church ceremony at 11am. here's my sister, and C, my oldest friend making sure we were all set for the short walk to the church.

the bridal procession, and if you look hard enough, you'll see my brother running ahead to tell them we were en route!

14 family and 16 of our closest friends made the trek to watch us exchange "i do"s

surprise poppers that also took our 16 friends a good 2 hours to clean up after. character building!

just about the greatest friends ever

after the church ceremony and before our wedding pancake brunch, we went to the beach to take some photos! 

we took some portraiture shots on the beach, by the lava fields, in the meadow, by the church, on the jetty, just about everywhere! then we proceeded to the next town (15 minutes away!) for lamb soup and icelandic pancakes, washed down by copious amounts of DP, courtesy of our exceedingly gracious guests. the young at heart then drove to the neighbouring natural hot pools, we'd a luxuriously long (5 hour!) dinner back at the hotel and because the sun just refused to set, we were dancing on the rooftop terrace till 4am.  V, the manager, introduced us to putrified shark chased by brennivin. vile!

that's all, for iceland :)