cotswolds

after a failed attempt to go to the cotswolds after graduation, i was more determined than ever to visit. more sentimental than anything, really, having been as a child with family and brimming with happy memories of the idyllic time we'd. 

however it was different (older?) this time round and i found myself quickly bored of the beauty. felt spoilt and blase, like why do i not like this place anymore? why do i keep comparing it with the north east / scotland which i'm admittedly partial to... it also felt geriatric (sort of like the lake district!) and while i try not to be ageist about these things, there's a limit to the number of picturesque village i'll happily walk around, and number of tea rooms i will visit before losing my mind...

did stop at a cute little farm shop and stocked up for the week which was fun. bought carrots that looked like the sort bugs bunny ate (with the greens still on!) and other goodies which became dinner over the next few days. made a roast pepper soup for when we got back to london sunday night and it was so easy, fresh and flavourful that i kicked myself for not being more proactive about good produce and bothering to 'cook properly'.

also had the good fortune of a couple of great meals - the five alls being one of them.

and argh can't remember the name but this is the pub associated with barnsley house which also has rooms in case the hotel is too fancy.

i'd a discoball in my room, which was sorta funny cos at 7 months pregnant i'll literally what i can get. dancing days might be over for now but a disco ball that scatters light as i drift to sleep? why ever not :)

and what a view to wake to

the spa area was so simple yet well done, the landscapist made something outta nothing. suppose that's the skill, really, to make it look effortless and create value in the middle of nowhere.

and as a trip down memory lane, stopped for lunch at the swan hotel in bibury on the way back to london. was mildly disappointed as staying at swan hotel with the trout stream flowing in front of it was one of my favourite holiday memories growing up but it has been revamped and lost part of its charm.

48h in paris

now i've to be a little careful about how i phrase this for fear of drawing disapprobation. let's just say i fortuitously got a friday afternoon off owing to some administrative oversight. and i found out while on the tube to work. so what's a girl to do but to plan an escape strategy? contemplated going north as i'm wont to do but figured i'd OD on friends the week before and didn't quite want to subject myself to the train journey. plus it was faster and cheaper to hop on the eurostar heh. was lucky to find eurostar tickets last minute, and get a good deal on a sweet hotel in a decent part of town. admittedly indulgent and hedonistic, plus the terrorist threat in paris isn't one to be taken lightly. but hey, why live in fear, you know?

so i sort of broke free from hospital as discreetly as possible at a respectable time, nipped home to pack an overnighter and was at st pancras before i knew it. had some time to kill so had yo! sushi tea before the 2h20min ride. 

my plans for paris were few. basically wanted japanese food and to be on my own. there's something restorative about one's own company and i often get introvert hangovers where i need to shut down and recharge before subjecting people to me again. told a friend about this recently and he said he was the opposite and being on his own for 48h was his idea of hell! 

but i mean how amazing is the thought of doing exactly what i wanted, when i wanted? not like i don't already in london heh but if i want to zz at 7pm, i will! if i want to have the same udon twice in two days, i will (and did!) and i walked in the tuileries, had berthillon ice cream, watched the boats along the seine the whole afternoon just lost in my thoughts. it was great :) came back really refreshed.

dins for one at sweet bistro that pierre hermes of macaron fame had his wedding party at. if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me!

and a friend suggested i attended mass at montmarte which i'm glad i did although in retrospect if i were so inclined to blow things up, this would've been a prime target.

best udon ever. better than in tokyo. better than koya in london.

had the biggest tauhuay craving and after a disappointing mr bean in singers this last trip (never again!) i was gobsmacked to have such authentic silken tauhuay and tounai in the chinatown part of paris. the only downside was that it's smack in the middle of mainland chinese hooker*land and crawling with dirty old frenchmen :/ so unpleasant. and because i'm in need of a hep B booster, i did get a little freaked out by potentially dirty crockery and cutlery :(

forays north

found myself in edinburgh on the last weekend before starting work. or sort of the first weekend of work, can't quite remember. there was unpaid shadowing at some point and it all blurs into one. it's a city i've a soft spot for and maintain that in a perfect world, that's where i'd have loved to live and train. there's just something about it and i fell in love with the place when backpacking in summer 2008, and later visits have reinforced this amazing affinity for the city i want to call home. london? pfft. who needs it :P granted, i agree that scotland as a foundation school is pretty scary because i could end up in the outer hebrides but uh given how the current foundation school i'm in is traditionally oversubscribed 20:1, maybe it wouldn't have been so hard to get edinburgh... or even if i got isle of bute (?) i'd be happy with the coastal scenery and sheep. grow where one's planted, you know?

went up scot's monument and wandered in the gardens and gallery. such good art and fell for the skating man. now how do i incorporate him into my flat...

returned to england via the chain bridge and honey farm, with the necessary stop at the bus cafe for a scone. it's got to be the prettiest border (and trust me, i've been to most of them because i'm nerdy that way!) plus the H furnishings don't hurt ;)

manic day out

revision can get so boring and i'm usually bouncing off the walls wanting out. hadn't been to penshaw's and was starting to get pre-nostalgic. it didn't disappoint and who knew we could climb the monument and traipse around on the collapsing roof too! have a macam friend who was excited about my visiting penshaw's and broke into indecipherable song when i told her. turns out there's a local legend about a worm which i shant bore you with, but it was cute and i love when places have a back story.

after penshaw's it was south bound and things got bit craycray hitting up beach after beach in a row because the weather was good! must've gone to 4 beaches (and this victorian park!) and seeing the sand dune and sand dancers before a curry at curry mile. should've taken the ferry but timing didn't work out. 

post curry it was more beaches, albeit north of the tyne so tynemouth, whitley bay and cullercoats. walked along the coast for a bit and it was so clear and still in the setting sun. check out the blue blue sky :)

and because a whole bunch of beaches weren't enough, had to nosey round the marina too and saw this weird boat moored with dodgy characters inside...

sushi meida

usually at the sushi counter but there was a reso mix-up and we'd a window table instead. admittedly slow on the uptake and wondered why i was feeling so nauseous all of a sudden till sister helpfully pointed out that it was a revolving restaurant (and tower). duh. the view of the bay was pretty and all but the view of buildings on the other side less so. food was excellent, as always, and i feel it's one of those hidden gems. or maybe i'm just so out of the loop and it's no longer cool (was it ever cool? does it even matter?) 

the kaiseki was far more extensive than this but my concentration span isn't what it used to be and these are all the photos i got :P

national gallery

singers is beautes and constantly changing and in turn i'm constantly amazed by the new sights and sounds that seem to spring up in my absence. the national gallery is one such attraction, and one close to heart because it used to be the supreme court and i've had many school trips there, and more laterly as a law undergrad / baby lawyer. to be fair it'd already moved by the time i started pupillage but remember wandering through with out of town friends before it was converted. slow on the uptake and after seeing no end of instagram photos felt the FOMO and wanted to visit too. tell a lie, it was hot and i was grumpy and it's supposed to be the coldest aircon in town. oh the way to my heart is through climate control...

was too cheap to get a sticker and tried to saunter casually into the galleries but was stopped by sharp-eyed docents. it was only the third docent who discreetly said that singaporeans get free entry and just needed to show ID at the ticket counter in exchange for said sticker. oops ;) did just that and made it into half a gallery before getting bored and making for the rooftop bar instead. that's about enough culture for one day!

rainbows

it was about this time last year that i lost a dear family member. glad i was in singers to say my goodbyes in person at ITU but was back in the UK when the funeral rolled round. on a sidenote, was at GOS doing a placement at paed/neonatal ICU and it was a bit of a bus man's holiday having to explain the machines to my very sad mother who was convinced he was going to go while we were in the room ("no ma, he's stable." "is he getting better?" "no.") awful awful stuff. went walking on the day of the funeral and saw a rainbow, which was nice. not reading too much into it but i felt comforted, and i remember what an oncology consultant told me once upon a time about how there is nothing wrong in grief and take / use whatever helps one cope.

so to see more rainbows is always a nice thing. i feel like such a child whenever there's a rainbow, so much so that friends will send me photos of rainbows they've spotted in town. although i promise i'm no crusty, unwashed hippie such phenomena are more readily associated with ;)

there are no rainbows in the later photos (you're not missing anything!) but i just wanted to show how pretty the place is.

48h in NYC

so it was a bit crazy but i recently jumped at the chance to go to NYC for 48h. long story short - i'd some airline credit to use up before june and because i'm going home for easter, this was sort of the last time i could take a conscience-clear holiday before finals. didn't hurt that my best friend was going to be around the exact same time! and really, who needs an excuse to go to NYC? my last visit was in summer 2014 and with the unbearable heat and crowds, i was not a happy camper. this led to a semi love/hate relationship but so glad this most recent trip changed all that. it's love/love all the way.

i love the energy the city has, it just buzzes (how cliche) and i feel invincible. the architecture is breath-taking and i can spend hours is rapt awe just soaking it all in. the chrysler, the flatiron building etc. crazY! and the food!!! nothing to do with the currency (or maybe everything to do with the currency) but i feel like such an auntie complaining about how things in sg are so expensive in comparison. even london! we'd a 15 course omakase at a fab sushi place for USD105. admittedly well into the 'treat / splurge' zone when it comes to a meal but the same quality would be at least 30% more in london and double the price in singers. so there. rolled out satiated but greedy enough to add extra pieces because while generous servings, my gluttony knows no end.

drinks and jazz at the flatiron room after and hm i just lost track of time. landed at 6pm, uber-ed to union square where i was staying, omakase dins, defensive nap then back out for drinks and jazz till wee hours of the morning! early start on saturday (ugh) but glorious glorious weather. brunch en masse with the crew before having another nap and then steak dinner at somewhere i mistook for a strip club (it wasn't) before a private party till late.

sunday was equally manic, bouncing from brunch at M's suite (and met his parents! fan girl moment, having heard so much about them previously) before brunch round two with F and her friends at the odeon. word has it that bill murray used to fly from LA solely for brunch at the odeon and i do think he was on to something! great vibe and F joked about how this would not have happened in london (her commandeering a table of complete strangers to hang out, essentially we each only knew F or her hubs JP) but it was all good and everyone got along swimmingly. so well, in fact, that we progressed to post-lunch drinks at 230fifth. now i don't know about you but i've had enough of chichi places with a reservation list / queue around the block. we got lucky with 230fifth and i liked how we could waltz in no reso and just find seats, send the boys to buy drinks and take in the skyline. no table / bottle service (ugh) although it did fill up and there was a queue (line, as the uhmurikans say!) by the time we left.