leisurely lunches

it's some time since i've cooked for friends. had family in town a couple of weeks ago and keeping them fed and watered was a great endeavour. flattered they prefer what i prepare over the gastronomical delights that abound in london (haha) and spent more time in the kitchen the week they were around than i had in months. but all good and i'm a natural feeder so it was satisfying and gratifying to ply them with home-made goodness. a dear friend was also in london and i've been wanting to have her over for ages! we'd already met up a couple of times during her trip, and for some great meals, and she was craving something home-cooked and veggie heavy. the beauty of london living and seasonal produce is, well, seasonal produce. i love the colours and summer flavour and texture of peppers. sweet potato strikes me as more autumnal but what the hey. tandoori chicken for good measure (hey, i love chicken!) and steamed salmon for a more healthy option. of course we washed everything with choya, courtesy of P who came round for dinner the night before (i'm on a roll!) so it wasn't all that healthy but hey, have to live a little. 

what i liked about this combination of dishes was how the veg and chicken were in the oven at the same temperature for the same time, easy peasy! and the salmon needed 10min in the steamer. so pretty much fuss free, and easy to time to their arrival. and after lunch we sort of sat around in food coma, having coffee, mango & peaches, and more choya. W is the genius behind my cornflower wedding bouquet and we'd such fun reminiscing about the wedding. self-indulgent as it may seem, three years have flown by and we were laughing about the advice Z, her husband, gave me the night before the wedding. it was 1am but the sun showed no sign of setting (incidentally, it was midsummer and his birthday!) and i was asking if i should write my own vows. to which everyone laughed and was, like, "seriously?! now?! 8h before the fat lady sings?" so i didn't. and he asked me if he'd been right, and he was. because really, you don't know what it's going to be like, or what promises one needs to make. it was a good night! the wedding party (basically 20 of us minus the >32s) were sitting in the banquet hall pigging out on pizza and kebabs lovingly carted over from the closest takeaway, incidentally an hour's drive away in the next next next town. we tried to get my sister drunk on whiskey coke, and then we went for a walk in the long grass to look for elves as the midnight sun shone on us. my dear bridesmaids couldn't find a male stripper (uh, the closest pizza was one hour away, what more strippers!) so my bachelorette's was perfect i.e. the whole wedding party (including groom) on a midnight walk as the babyfaced hotel intern told us stories about the hotel and environs. 

(photo credits to rui)

end of part 1

asian yeti spotted among the hot tubs

on a champagne high

it's one thing to pop champers at sea level, and completely different popping it at the top of a glacier.

bonus time

so we walked for six hours to get to the valley floor but our over-achieving group was so fast that we managed to squeeze an extra fjord in. those precious minutes perched on the edge on the cliff watching the sea birds and listening to the waves were well worth the 6am start and gravity-defying inclines. that's our guide, haukur, in the coolest icelandic jumper. part of me wishes i'd a similar childhood. hiking in summer, skiing in winter and spending every day outdoors. to him, trees are exotic because they don't grow naturally there. and malls are even stranger.

abandoned farm house

arctic fox skull

arctic fox pups

travel by plastic bag

it'd have been an utter waste not to make the most of our time there so the mister signed us up for a 13h trek. despite my initial misgivings, the chance to zoom down glaciers on a bonus plastic bag made up for the lack of sleep. of course, it took us forever to get to the ridge line, and on the way down we all passed out by the river for a post lunch siesta. good times!

waterfall

and then we climbed to the top too!

white nights

after a five hour wedding dinner, i'm amazed we all had the energy to after-party till 4am. pity only 1/3 of the dinner survivors are caught on camera! the rest were boogeying too hard to pause for photos :)

photo credits to rui!

puffins

we drove to the ends of the earth to hang with these cutie pies. and it was well worth the trip, and the mister's military issued camouflage jacket. 

why, all the better for bird watching, my dear.

the next next town

we got married in a tiny off shoot from a rural road in a town with only a hotel and church. this cluster of cute wooden houses is all there was of the next next town about 30 minutes away.

midnight waterfall hikes

in true intrepid explorer fashion, we were compelled to climb everything we could climb. and because it was midsummer, we had to do this at midnight which felt like high noon. there was a random waterfall (i love how they're so random!) opposite our hotel and some of our guests had made it to the base (in skirts, no less!) the day before. but that was not good enough. we had to climb to the top. the cute waiter let us in on a secret local route which involved 2h of uphill walking. and so off we went! playing to our strengths, R and i decided that we'd the best view from a hill away and stopped there for deep meaningful conversation as the men continued to the very top of the waterfall and back.

glacier surfing in the snow cat

the day after the wedding, our entire party went up a glacier. 

 

it was cool.

mister & missus

so we were married over midsummer with our families and closest friends. the wedding was perfect beyond my wildest dreams and i was completely blown away by our awesome friends who stepped up and did everything. so much so my french tips lasted a good two weeks and counting. unheard of! there's something magical about white nights and the sun that didn't set. the first time i saw darkness was back in london. we drank too much, slept too little and danced like there was no tomorrow. 

mad props to the mister for planning the entire wedding and pulling off the absolute best time ever. i am so blessed to be his.

have a couple of photos on facebook but here are some that rui min, our very talented friend, caught.

bridal bouquet of wildflowers lovingly picked and assembled by weylin, singapore's answer to martha stewart, sans criminal conviction. she was a star! we were whizing through the icelandic countryside when suddenly she got Z to STOP THE CAR. she bounded out and started pulling wildflowers like there was no tomorrow, not realising that we were smack in the middle of a seabird nesting area. yikes. so you can imagine the drama as the birds make these awful squawks and starts dive-bombing wey who was weighed down by an armload of blooms. but wey isn't one to give up! she kept her cool and continued gathering wildflowers till she'd enough. and then back at the hotel, roped Z and MH into painstakingly helping her tend the stalks. thank you, wey, for risking life and limb for the most gorgeous bouquet ever.

walking to church

bemused tourists, and confetti shower that later took our 14 guests 2 hours to clean up. 

and that's it! 

signed, sealed, delivered :)