faroe day 3

post storm, the weather cleared up somewhat and we made hay while the sun shone, kinda. lots more driving (this time around suduroy) and random stopping to tromp through farmer's fields. thankfully no more crazy wind and i shook off the PTSD after the harrowing hike with the cliff. to be honest, all of the walking was cliffside so i'd to be extra careful and pick my way uphill on firm footing.

these basalt columns reminded me of the giants causeway in belfast, and the other end of said causeway on the isle of staffa just off mull in the highlands. i know they're meant to be a big deal and all but, really, it's not that rare. alas no puffins because they hatch their young inland then all leave mid-aug for rafts at sea that they live for the rest of the year.

stopped by a hotel in the second largest town and it felt like going back in time to the 60s. the owner happened to have been a radio / signal (?) engineer for mersck (?) and been to singers twice, once in the late 60s and once in the 80s. he was only too happy to reminisce about his time there and how surprised he was at the massive improvement it'd undergone between his visits. what was cool was he knew the cottage despite me only showing him a photo and knew the whole history. which made me think that it was really a very small place and i refrained from asking him how one avoids marrying their cousin. he also had whaling pics up on the walls that i felt best to avoid discussing. 2 out of 3 conversation OB markers narrowly averted ;)

he'd a great tip about going to the radio station the british used during WWII and the weather miraculously took a turn for the better so we'd some blue skies. maybe the hotel bossman knew ;)

hello and goodbye

so before i left for medsch, had a little farewell party with friends. it felt only right to invite the friends who'd seen me through five years of medsch, and the new friends made along the way, to celebrate finally being done with uni v2. my incredibly talented and generous friend W kindly contributed the most beautiful cake. vanilla buttercream with seville orange curd which was almost too pretty to eat.

organised tables, chairs and a few vendors who were absolute crowd pleasers :)

it was great to seee everyone again and also sad in a way that i'll be london based for at least two more years.

japanese dins

was craving japanese one night and thought to try lesamis' newish resto in farrer park. was probably the last table seated and stayed till closing but the quality and value was really good. lesamis is known for its consistency so really shouldn't have been surprised !

angeleno's

every year when i'm back in sg, the doctorlawyers are kind to invite me to tea at their practice. far from being the only crazy, there's a close circle of similarly masochistic folk. it's not often that i meet such kindred spirits who are in a similar boat (though much further along on their journey) who encourage me with the incredible ways their putting their talents to good use. it's inspiring to watch them do the things they love, and they get the whole medicine vs law dilemma. what i find the most reassuring is how they've resolutely stuck to medical practice ;) while having a bit of law on the side.

after a full dinner at theirs, made the mistake of arranging to meet friends for a massive carb overdose at angeleno's. what was cute was how there were 8 of us but 11 heartbeats, and the boys went crazy over-ordering without taking into account their pregnant wives food aversions. although who's counting, really, because team preggers sort of closed one eye (or both!) and nibbled on the baddies and sipped the wine that made its way to their end of the table.

lunch with F

F is a friend i met through blogging! when i was an intern at the law firm i eventually did my training contract at, the associates i worked for read her blog because they sort of knew her from school. shows how much interning / real work i did because before long i too was hooked on her blog and but for a chance meeting at ps cafe dempsey where (not creepily) i recognised her then toddler daughter before i saw her (she doesn't have her photo on her blog) we would never have met. thankfully she was lovely and approachable and i think we might already have been in email contact so it was cool to finally meet IRL. don't think we've met in years but have sorta kept in touch and she recently reached out while i was preparing for finals and we got talking again. 

she's just moved to private practice and we'd lunch near her clinic ! lovely to catch up in person and swap stories, continue to be amazed by this shared understanding and was so encouraged by her work/life balance as a consultant and yummy mummy to three.

sg eats

didn't have much time in sg. always want to be around for longer but somehow something gets in the way and i end up shortchanged of entire weeks. need to be better at planning life! but what's nice is that family friends are incredibly generous and let me choose where i want to go. it's bad i get so spoilt that if i ever move back in the distant future, i'll be gutted to no longer get first dibs. hadn't realised i'd been missing peking duck till aunty M invited us to lunch at imperial treasure. their dimsum is the best, and the peking duck divine.

was also gutted the coffee shop in the 'hood has since been sold and renamed / rebranded :(

home cooked nasi lemak dins at our former neighbours who are like surrogate grandparents to me was incredible. so many happy memories of sunday lunches round their dining table.

and greek lunch with family friends that left us stuffed to the gills.

have a little tradition of celebrating with a pig and it was only fitting to dig into one with my law prof who brutally edited my personal statement when i applied to medsch. owe much to him and my lawsch dean who was my referee. five years on, i can't safely say i've kissed law goodbye and am still scheming of ways to marry the two skill sets. but that might have to wait a while.