banished to the loser table

went by the santa maria in the 'hood and asked for a seat. was unceremoniously banished to the communal table in the middle because i was a lone diner. not wanting to be the entitled pregnant person but sitting on a hard bench is really uncomfortable, more so than sitting on a hard chair. and there were plenty of empty two seater tables which were allegedly saved for parties of two to waltz in. but there were none the whole time i was there. did want to kick back, to put up a fight but was just too tired. and sadly, i wanted the pizza badly enough to put up with the mistreatment. 

went by sunday night a week or so later and same thing, empty tables supposedly reserved so i got takeaway instead and stood morosely by the till until my pizza was ready. customer service mega fail.

autumn

 

was walking home from a boozy brunch in the 'hood when i chanced upon this pretty sight. there's no real point to it, really, except to say that introverted as i can be, it's nice to be selectively social. hadn't seen this bunch since summer ball at the natural history museum, and that night at maddox, so we were long overdue for a catch up.

east meets west

i fear this is how my son is going to grow up - but is it such a bad thing? 

36 month old pata negra, kaya toast and grilled cheese crostinis (well it's just bread in the photo but soon to be grilled cheese!) you can't tell from the photo but the baguette is saturated with melted butter. to make it a truly singaporean brekkie i would've needed soft boiled eggs and kopi too! but the pata negra was too good to resist, although next time insisting i watch it being cut and packed cos the guy at the deli was lazy and conned us into buying the vacuum packed stuff. ugh :( hate being oversold and stuck with something sub-optimal when it could've tasted even better. even grumpier when paying a pretty penny for it.

soho

woke relatively early for a saturday and it was dreary and drizzling. the natural breakfast choice was therefore hot japanese at koya bar for rice porridge and udon. nothing like hot slurpy breakfast to warm the cockles of my heart. had onsen egg and hard boiled egg with runny centre, and grilled fish, but somehow that still wasn't enough protein and waltzed outta koya bar and straight to shackfukyu for wagyu sukiyaki picanha (and more uncooked egg :/) and because i can't leave shackfukyu without kinako french toast and matcha soft serve, that went down too. moseyed around soho, found our way to covent garden and then to mr fogg's. after visiting the gin parlour a couple of weeks ago with my cousin and cousin in law, it seemed like an appropriate stop on a still rainy afternoon. i wanted something hot and non alcoholic, like mulled wine or toddy but they did neither. a hot spiced cider would've really hit the spot but unforch had to make do with a fruity mocktail. meh.

and maybe a negroni...

park chinois

voyeuring the menu before hand, the park carbonara done with inaniwa udon, uni, pancetta and sous vide egg made it hard to say no to a dinner reso there. dark, subterranean and with clubby music, beautiful moneyed types (arab, russian and asian, typical!) was not my scene and i kept judging us for going there. had to shout to be heard at dinner (not nice) and got annoyed with the general chi chi-ness of the place. because, believe it or not, my taste runs more simple and something without table cloths and where you've to pay before sitting down is increasingly becoming the sort of dining experience i lean towards. but the waiters were attentive, frequently topping up my tap water (so classy, i know) and hm in part that might've been the MSG speaking because darn did my lips sting and boy was i disproportionately thirsty! 

the king crab with home made noodles was even better than the park carbonara and if i were ever to return, it'd be for more of this silken goodness. although i'd need bottles of coke to counteract the MSG.

was overambitious and forgot how my appetite's shrunk now that the little space invader is occupying the space where my stomach used to be. natural gastric band, much! so most of the aubergine with tofu in claypot went to waste :(

santa maria

first foray to santa maria near work was a roaring success and had spied one dangerously close to home. visited at an odd time but it was still relatively busy for tea-time. weirdly there was an old man with younger male (looked like bizniz buddy?) who was openly chatting up one of the sweet young waitresses. am usually not this sexist / ageist but it was really gross and almost enough to put me off my pizza. but hey, why not... maybe i'm just so attuned to safe guarding vulnerable adults / children that his sleaze really got my heckles up. think he was asking her about her boyfriend and if he was any good (presumably at horizontal activity) and i wanted so much to interrupt and ask her if she was ready to take our order. but she did seem to be encouraging him so who am i to meddle. ew ew ew all the same.

self-appointed protector of womankind rant aside, the pizza didn't disappoint and it's hands down better than franco manca and rosso pomodoro which are also in the 'hood. so glad to have discovered it and can see myself going back. oh and the tiramisu (technically contraband with all that raw egg...) was also incredible.

bit of stockholm in london

when C reached out to say she was going to be in london, i very excitedly contacted N and arranged to meet. they're wonderful people i met while in stockholm on exchange many many moons ago when we were law undergrads. "stockholm friends" who aren't really from stockholm are some of my firmest friendships and i'm constantly reminded how amazing an experience being on exchange was. if i could relive any period of life, that would definitely be it. C is from bilbao and lives in madrid (via NYC) and N was born in london but grew up outside perth, before moving to melbourne and is now based in london. last saw C when i was in NYC easter 2012 (!!!) to buy my wedding dress and have caught up with N and his better half L when since they relocated to the +44. 

shamelessly played the last trimester / early bedtime card and had them over for drinks and nibbles instead of going out to dinner. because i'd an inkling that C wouldn't be ready for dinner till past 10 and my (new) bedtime is 8pm. i kid you not. quite accidentally cobbled together something spanish-themed, cheeses and cold cuts, chips and dip, olives, grapes and crackers... all washed down with cava and tempranillo. it was uplifting to catch up, to feel like no time had passed since we last met yet knowing we were all in different (but still good!) places. 

i maintain that the acid test of friendship is how much time one spends in the present, and while we did lapse into stockholm nostalgia momentarily, so much of it was catching up on what we've done since, and what we're doing next. very forward looking! social circles inevitably shrink the older we get but we're fortunate to be as mobile as we are and it's really about making time, and not excuses.

waffles

craved waffles one weekend. tell a lie, craved pancakes but was averse to having to queue. figured i'd chance kings road instead and found these at wanted*man. it was roasting inside - greenhouse effect with blazing sun and glass frontage so not somewhere to linger. but the sourdough waffles were light and crispy, not at all stodgy like they too often tend to be. the peanut creme and jam was a fancy spin on PB&J and being partial to sweet/salty, i thought it went very well together. tried their roiboos latte too which was interesting but gimme matcha latte any time.

bob dylan

passed the halcyon gallery when i was last in the area and clocked the fancy people and waitstaff serving champagne, not realising it was the private screening of bob dylan's art. later realised that it was opened to the public and after a disappointing visit to bedlam at the wellcome collection (so lacking in art and information!) figured i might redeem the afternoon by going to the bob dylan exhibit. nothing life-changing and got the feel that most of the paintings were copied off postcards or photographs but liked his easy, unpretentious style and a glimpse into american at the middle of the 20th century.

maze grill

am without a doubt a creature of habit and justify my beef-eating as defensive diet to avoid pregnancy-related anaemia. 

that said, feel horribly let down by my GP and nhs antenatal care in general. had booking visit at week 8, returned to sg week 9, registered at new practice week 17 and informed them that i needed an urgent referral to local maternity services because anomaly scan (done at 18-20 weeks) was coming up. was reassured by the f2 i saw that this would be done. a month passed and i started to wonder if i would ever see the midwife. rang the GP surgery repeatedly to follow up week 21 onwards (because i thought it was reasonable to wait a month before kicking up a fuss) and was told by various people to 'wait till the end of the week then ring again' if i'd still not heard from the midwives. by which time, i was so frustrated i gave up and paid for an anomaly scan at harley street because, uh, if there's anything wrong with the baby i'd 1) want to know 2) be in time for legal termination. had the scan at 23 weeks (late) and thankfully all good. continued to ring the GP asking why no midwife appointment and finally spoke to a receptionist who took ownership and said he'd personally check with the hospital. turns out the previous referrals were never received (!!!) and he made a new referral at week 25 (!!!), i finally got an appointment for week 27 (thanks) and scan for week 28 (no thanks, way too late!). so i see the midwife week 27 and get put through third degree about why i was a 'late booker' something associated with single mothers, unplanned pregnancy, chaotic lives and general irresponsibility and i swear she's about to call social services on me. she takes another set of bloods (yuck) because they've to be done by their own lab. week 30 comes and i ring the GP practice to ask about my blood results. apparently it takes more than 3 weeks to get results for routine bloods (i wanted to know if there were any abnormalities eg anaemia) and you guessed it, "please keep calling to check". ARGH. what's a girl to do. 

so i decide to take matters into my own hands and comfort eat steak (in addition to making sure my antenatal vitamins contain iron) just in case, you know.

rosa's

it was one of those days where i was desperate for azn food and must've managed to slope off the ward a little earlier than anticipated. also think the waitress was new because she gave me the set lunch menu when it was clearly too late for lunch. so i was opportunistic and had tomyam soup wtih pineapple fried rice for £7 (?) which, while not cheap, is great for thai food in chelsea. however she gave me prawn tomyum which i ate before realising it was an extra £1 (compared to regular tomyam with just chicken!) oh well, can't win 'em all.

maltby street

one of the few things that gets me out of bed on a saturday morning is the prospect of a st john's vanilla cream donut at maltby street. because, of course, they're gone by 1230 and i've narrowly missed scoring one if i hit snooze. have also been the lucky recipient of the last donut more than once, so i console myself with the thought that it all evens out. although my recent maltby street discovery, and hence newfound life hack, is that the st john's wine bar (oops, bad jo!) also stocks said donut and doesn't sell out as fast. but really, getting the adrenaline rush from scoring the last donut is how i get my kicks over the weekend. 

after the donuts, it's a predictable circuit that involves monty's deli and coffee. tried the grilled cheese sandwiches for the first time, and big green egg steak which was a bit blue for my liking and probably why i needed to be tested for toxo :/

santa maria

the GP trainee i've had the pleasure of working with was due to change jobs. suppose that's the beauty / problem with medicine where jobs are transient, 3-4 months and then it's all change. works well insofar as giving the trainees a taster / rounded experience and broad based training but having found a good team and one i like working on, it's sad when people go! as a sort of farewell, we went to santa maria's for pizza because the consultant on the next ward and taken his foundation doctor there for lunch disguised as supervision. which sounds like a pretty good deal to me! or maybe he hadn't but told her about it because he was a self-styled foodie and she'd tried it and verified it was good. i did enjoy the pizza but the service less so and might visit but the one down the road from the flat instead of the one near work.

wagyu sushi

 

so this bump appeared overnight and when i went back to ikeda, my all-time favourite restaurant,  mrs ikeda i.e. boss lady very excitedly asked if i'd a bun in the oven. she conspiratorially whispered that she once asked someone the same question only to be left red-faced when the customer said she wasn't. oopsy! but she was right this time and they very kindly comp-ed seared wagyu sushi to celebrate :) and withheld judgment for all the sashimi i was scoffing. the london foodie scene tends to be fad-y and there's always something new to check out if one can be bothered (i often can't) but there's something to be said for being a regular and knowing that every dish is going to be a winner, as is the case with ikeda. in a perfect world, i'd have almost every meal there. however i only make it there once every six weeks or so, monthly if i'm lucky.

fish porridge

it doesn't look like the most palatable of meals but porridge is serious comfort food around these parts. felt terrible for parents who were stranded in france when the eurostar got broken. incidentally, cousin and cousin in law were lucky to be on the very last train through the chunnel before subsequent services got cancelled. what a nightmare. poor parents (in their 60s! with lots of bags! and not speaking a word of french!) had to make their way from ulu town to paris then to CDG and very luckily got onto the last 2 seats on the last flight of the day to london. well, not london but luton. instead of meeting brother at st pancras at 4ish, having an early dins then moseying to mine where they were gonna spend the night, they landed at luton about 10ish at night and only got to mine past midnight. was incredulous that they'd not eaten since lunch and were in a fairly buoyant mood despite the delay. of course this happened on a day when i was super busy at work and only bothered to check plans with brother about 5pm, to be fillled in about the day's drama. 

brother came over about 9 for dins round 1 (chicken rice) then re-purposed the rice cooker to do porridge for parents ETA midnight. felt like all i did that evening was cook and clean...

coffee&donuts

harwood arms with cousin and cousin-in-law when they stayed with me a couple of weeks ago. they bravely left their stable careers (corporate lawyer-ing and ship brokering) to spend a year at le cordon bleu paris. and now they're on their babymoon, the obvious destination was paris! they broke journey in london and were kind to invite me to dinner at ledbury (which i'd to forgo because i was in the cotswolds!!!) which i would've ordinarily jumped at the chance to go to. haven't been to the ledbury in years but have the fondest memories of the two times i was lucky enough to feast there. dunno why i've not been back sooner, really, suppose being in london leaves one spoilt for choice and i rationalise that the ledbury is always there. 

the harwood arms didn't disappoint and having only just had dinner there with a different houseguest (i swear, sometimes i feel like i'm running a revolving door B&B!) the menu had been updated and i found stuff i liked.

with babies taking up more space than anticipated, we only had the 2 course but i couldn't resist the coffee and donuts so does that count as a third course? :)

sloane square

a couple of sundays ago i met C and her lovely baby L for coffee near sloane square. was a little early and we hadn't pinned down a place to meet at so i sat on a bench and watched the world go by. it was a timely reminder to remain present, to enjoy the immediate surroundings. would be lying to say i wasn't the tiniest bit apprehensive about this surprise baby but grace for the day, eh? and constantly appreciative of good health and a smooth pregnancy so far, things i won't take for granted. because, as always, being in healthcare is a stark reminder of things that go wrong. although i've been chastised for being a tad too YOLO for planning to spend week 36 on the ski slopes. it's about the latest time BA will fly a pregnant person and hm i've been medically cleared by my fantastic prof. not that i'm going to be getting any (downhill) skiing done, mind, but you know. why ever not? hope this reckless behaviour doesn't come back to bite me in the backside. don't quite fancy delivering my own baby, ya know?

pad thai

patara is thai "fine dining" and i usually find it incredibly overpriced. however there is a good value set lunch and i did want something nicer than rosa's / suksan which are also local options. brother had the £14 2 course lunch and i'd the £18 taster menu, both excellent. then we were greedy and threw in an additional pad thai for good measure. rookie mistake. strangely enough i found the pad thai disappointing and lacklustre. it didn't have the flavour i've come to expect (rosa does a much better job!) which was a bit of a let down, really, because the set menus were so good. they also didn't have mango sticky rice for dessert, in retrospect not a bad thing because that would've set us back an additional £9. but, really, a thai resto without mango sticky rice??? thai iced tea was yummy though and when i asked if they did almond milk (my meal came with a latte) i was told quite sullenly "only full fat milk" which suits me fine, really. maybe they're in mourning and not allowed to smile but felt the service could've been friendlier.

shashuka eggs

i relish lazy saturdays when i don't set an alarm and wake whenever i feel like. something tells me it's a luxury i might not enjoy in the months to come ;) but for now, i'll take it! and greedily at that. wanted to change things up a little and eschewed the weekly pligrimage to hally's. truth be told, i woke too late to avoid the queue and didn't fancy having to wait for a table. went the other way and thought to try henry root instead. now i should've known better than to think it'd be fairly priced and my eggs (a brunch item) were £14 (!!!). crass as it is to talk about money, i unfortunately had committed by going in and sitting down before perusing the menu. rookie mistake. wasn't feeling particularly spendy and could've done the sensible thing and gone for the bottomless brunch (£30 for brunch item and limitless bubbles) but hm, responsible mother-to-be thought to abstain. darn. because £14 for eggs and peppers, yummy as they were, is a little hard to swallow. 

but i did have the place to myself for the most part and got some light reading done so that was somewhat redemptive although i made a mental note to check price before entry in future.

monkey's fingers

so i've had the pleasure of being placed on a ward with wonderful people. often hear war stories of nightmare first jobs with difficult personalities but absolutely cannot complain / have asked to be part of a better team. whilst i'm without a doubt the lowest life form and right at the bottom of the food chain, i've an incredible GP trainee, great regs and the worlds' best consultant who i wish i could keep with me for every job after this. it's been the perfect balance of trust where i'm occasionally alone on the ward, valiantly trying to stand between the patients and certain death (i jest) but consultant is always a phone call away. in fact, he's so accessible that the (smart) nurses just ring him straight instead of going through me because they know they'll get an almost instant answer. 

this whole starting my first doctor job in second trimester was cause of apprehension and i cannot ignore that my job isn't the safest. but i think the dangerous aspects of it have been mitigated to the best of everyone's abilities and i try not to be a liability on the ward. i get tons of clinical supervision (which's especially important as a junior!) and am increasingly confident on the ward, running ward round and seeing patients on my own, checking management plan with consultant but am generally making the right calls and exercising sound judgment, or so i like to think!

but yes, monkey's fingers! M and i were done early one day and figured we'd hazard meat liquor outside peak hours for their monkey's fingers. which were incredible and i wondered where they'd been my whole life. because i'd time to kill before an antenatal appointment nearby, i went gin shopping at selfridges and was almost late for said appointment, because, well, priorities. sorry baby!