lobster spaghetti

was decidedly decadent by cooking with rose (instead of water) and tomatoes on the vine (instead of canned tomatoes). the fresh pasta soaked up the stock and made for a wonderful umami bomb. the lobster tails were on discount at the fishmonger and the prawns were wonderfully fresh.

oxtail stew

the recipe called for 5h on high-ish heat in the oven. which i couldn't bring my parsimonious self to do. turned oven off after 3h and left it overnight (el cheapo short cut) but should've known better than to cut corners because it wasn't perfect. didn't melt in mouth although it was tender and fell off the bone, ish. it was also the stew that kept giving because it probably lasted almost a week which in retrospect isn't the best of things because i'm incapable of throwing food away and have an embarrassing history of consuming things on the brink or maybe even a little over, to my detriment.

st john's donuts

one of the few things that get me outta bed on a saturday morning is the prospect of a vanilla donut. that and maccas. it used to be a mad rush to get across town to maltby street in time because the inflection point was 1230 and donut scoring chances dwindle past that time. dunno if they're making more donuts / less demand but have managed to get donuts into the early afternoon now. which means my perpetual sloth and need for 12h zz is further encouraged. not complaining though :)

also had a grilled cheese sandwich! wanted the stilton but they hadn't made new ones so think ended up with cheddar and chorizo. or maybe just chorizo. should've held out for the stilton. there was someone day dreaming and a stilton made the rounds - i'd told the vendor that if no one claimed it i was happy to swapsies the chorizo but alas stilton-buyer roused in time :( just as well i guess, if not it would've been grilled cheese anarchy. #firstworldproblem much.

sakaguna

chanced upon this new place on instagram and wasn't disappointed. £25 lunch bento box? sign me up! and a cute bar with extensive collection too. the service was attentive and the food authentic. was feeling brave and hazarded central london at lunchtime but think would it be just a good at night, maybe more pricey and more crowded cos it was pretty empty when we went. maybe three other tables and the rest were journo types.

had seen the raindrop cake on social media and thought to try it but think this was different from what i'd in mind. it was basically agar agar. meh. but still tasty!

took advantage of already being in the city to meet N for drinks at mr fogg's!

seafood stew

riverside cafe is one of the places we've been meaning to go to for years but just keep forgetting. have run past it once but it wasn't open for lunch yet, and it's been closed over the christmas / new year period. think the set lunch wasn't available till just recently. but it came highly recommended by a dear friend whose good taste i trust wholeheartedly. the next best thing was to go online and see what cooking videos they had, and this one was just asking to be tried. went to bute street fishmonger and got a whole lotta seafood and whipped out the le creuset. been a bit of a one trick pony with shellfish (repeated lobster pasta, alternating by adding squid / prawn) but hey why not.

petersham

petersham is a summer go-to and think was last there about 18months ago over third wedding anniversary. in fact, we ran from home and met my parents (who went by car!) there so we've fantastic photos of us looking fit in compression tights. or maybe that's just the endorphin high speaking. was much less energetic at 38 weeks pregnant but did still religiously walk my 10k steps / 7km in hope of walking the baby out. no such luck and prof later laughed at me because 'walking doesn't work'. oh well, that was reason enough for me to give up. 

there's a different charm to the place in winter. all lovely soft light and crisp blue skies. walking along the thames path towards kew after lunch was good fun, albeit cold. the restaurant wasn't too crowded and while it does cost a pretty penny to dine there it was a nice mid-week treat.

NYE primrose hill

it's a little tradition to see the year in from primrose hill whenever in london. granted we've been out of town more than in, but having almost missed the fireworks last year, was extra careful to leave early this year. wasn't disappointed, although it seemed more crowded than i remembered, and the increased police presence was reassuring yet scary at the same time. i tried to stay away from drunken revelers and hold my breath every time secondhand weed floated by, but hey, only so much one can do. had a tiny bottle of champers and proper flutes because we're grown up like that ;) and then posted a photo on fb where i look esotropic, as my dear brother kindly pointed out. 

love seeing the fireworks across the thames, and it was a great time of reflection and realisation. things were so different a year ago, and i'm excited for 2017.

coworth park

was visiting a friend in berkhamsted when thought to check the coworth park availability on a whim. last there before june 2012 wedding and distinctly remember hiding my cocopops under a glop of yoghurt so the mister-to-be wouldn't clock my failed wedding diet. thought it fitting to revisit just before baby was due. turns out there was the one room left before NYE and in a stroke of doubly good fortune, managed to score a last minute reso at hand&flower (!!!). S, dear foodie friend, had invited us to join his hard earned reso there a almost exactly two years ago and he'd literally booked a year in advance, in faith that he'd have enough friends to fill the reso when it came round. brave, considering the credit card guarantee one needed to put down. it was our best meal that year and quite easily one of the best in 2016. 

late start meant rolling up just in time for check in, then cream tea in the beautiful restaurant. good thing h&f reso was late-ish, because there was space for cream tea and a fantastic meal heh.

berry souffle at hand&flower. the beer chicken was divine (but i didn't get a photo)

walked the grounds to kill time between checkout and antenatal massage

blissed out post massage :)

day trip to dover

the plan was to stock up on baby things during the boxing day sales. the reality was further escapism. whiskey cabinet on boxing day and the cliffs of dover on 27th dec. made a mental note to hit peter jones in the evening but wanted to escape from london first. love dover, having first been (and taken a cruise from there!) just before starting university, and again summer 2014. was back a few years later in summer, for a makeshift picnic of roadside stall berries and almost late for an important dinner back in the city. might've gone by (or past) en route to margate / ramsgate two summers ago, maybe three by now. there's a farm shop i like en route but forgot to stop there this time. also managed to mis-program the gps and end up at the wrong end of the white cliffs (near the lighthouse instead of the tea room / visitor centre) which wasn't too bad in retrospect cos saved on parking. but wanted food after the walk and ended up at said paying car park to access cafe for soup. and discounted christmas cards, it must be said.

really lovely weather-wise and the cliffs were crowded with like-minded walkers.

one crazy day

it's no secret that i've a bad maccas habit and had been craving a maccas breakfast since before christmas. but with maccas being closed over christmas, there was no scratching that itch. so as soon at it opened after the bank holiday, i was on it. not proud that i woke late and succumbed to an uber ride (from hell) but still managed to miss the breakfast hours by a couple of minutes :( scored two lousy leftover hashbrowns but no sausage mcmuffin. boo! in my haste to get to maccas that morning, i literally ran outta the house in my pjs, without realising that i'd end up out of the whole in said pjs the whole day. there was the slight logistical issue of picking up a friend's car. she kindly lent it while she's in sg for a few months, and after some coordination  / miscommunication with her cleaner, managed to swing by hers at the same time the cleaning lady was there to pick up keys. with wheels came a newfound sense of freedom! went to liberty and got a whiskey cabinet on a whim. the plan, really, was to buy baby things but all that flew outta the window because, well, priorities.

after miraculously getting whiskey cabinet into the borrowed convertible, it was off to duke's for drinks. again, in my pjs and i didn't know where to hide my (un made up!) face. the next table, incidentally, was a bunch of uhmurikan doctors talking about the boards. so i eavesdropped and maybe picked up some tips, or not. they were pretty drunk by then and annoyingly brash.

memory fails as to what exactly happened after dukes, despite my not having much of said martini. maybe dinner in the 'hood, maybe not. but what started as an relatively early morning maccas run quite quickly escalated into a whole day affair. oops :)

last ikeda of the year

back from zurich and straight to ikeda, kinda. because it was their last night before closing till early january, and the very shrewd ken-san has decided to stop serving noodles next year. where am i going to get my inaniwa udon fix??? he said it was typically a quiet night, which led me to opportunistically asking if he'd mind going off piste and having the chefs prepare tempura soba rolls. there was a name for it but in the midst of my gluttony, it was in one ear and out the other. also, it's one of the first dishes i'd tried at ikeda before it was discontinued so to finally savour it again after all these years was very special.

they're known for their norwegian king crab, which was wonderful as always. also had the hamachi collar and would've loved to have the iberico tonkatsu but resisted cos i'd a obgyn weigh in just before :/

a little bit test kitchen

incredible

wengen

BA flies pregnant women till week 36 and i wasn't about to waste a single day of precious freedom. decided to impose once again on the gracious S and M whose holiday home in wengen i'd crashed in summer. without realising that it was 5 (!!!) trains to get from zermatt to wengen :P took the train from zermatt to visp to spietz to interlaken ost to lauterbrunnen to wengen. phew! made all the connections and rocked up late at night to S' cooking fried rice. perfection! the trains were retro and more than a little spooky when empty. 

had a full day in wengen with S and M and we went for a 10km walk, part of which was the lauberhorn ski race route! the views were spectacular and they were great guides, familiar with the route like the back of their hands and appropriately but not overly concerned about my fitness ;) because, hm, as a grumpy pregnant woman aside, what really gets my (mountain) goat is unsolicited advice and people being patronising / condescending. sure they (mostly) mean well but being pregnant is physiological and not a disability. i like to think that i listen to my body but seriously there were so many people tsk-ing that i was flying  / traipsing around mountains / some distance from tertiary medical care etc so late in pregnancy. there was defo some passive aggression on fb when i posted pics of being out and about doing stuff heh. but oh well, to each his own and i'm a strong believer in maternal choice. if the prof whose care i'm under hadn't given me the green light, if i hadn't felt up to it, then of course i wouldn't have gone. but he did, and i did :)

coffee schnapps ;)

and the day after we did 10km, kept going uphill for the views (and waterfall in the distance!)

zum see

another cool mountain resto was zum see, which was so good we went two days in a row. got a little lost the first day and accidentally walked halfway up a ski slope (!!!) before realising the correct path wasn't 1. covered in snow 2. sorta parallel to the ski run. because i didn't fancy walking down an icy slope, we found a little path through the woods, went back to the gondola base and tried to get a cab. but the cabbie refused to take us cos, well, there was no road. which meant a 30min uphill hike from base camp. and anxiety about being late for our friends. half the lunch party ski-ed and part of the other half that was going by foot abandoned ship halfway cos it was too treacherous a hike, but for those who made it, the reward was the world's bes millefeuille. home made - crisp, crunchy, flakey with subtly sweetened fresh cream and reason enough to make multiple return trips. 

 

it was a really pretty walk to get there, too.

more lamb's lettuce salad

the millefeuille of dreams