our little and by no means exhaustive london restaurant guide

 

franco manco pizza at brixton market row

the mister and i have lots of friends passing through town. much as we wish we could take everyone everywhere, we can't. so. the next best thing is to forward our little london list of places we've been to and like. much as we're thrilled to share our favourite haunts, i'm not the biggest fan of free publicity. this is not a food blog (god forbid!) and i try not to photograph food unless it's truly photo-worthy. no, not hating on food blogs, just that i rather leave it to those talented enough to articulate what biting into molten uni feels like. we've not accepted any favours nor freebies from these restaurants and any views are purely mine. i also hope they don't spit in my food the next time, especially after commenting that the service in some places was lacking... being the cheap date i am, i realise in retrospect that most of the places have a good value set lunch in common. £26 can go very far (3 course set lunch at 1 star establishment!) or not far at all (soup, sandwich and coffee x 2 at pret) so it's all about hunting down that ever-elusive deal in the sweet spot of value and quality. lengthy pre-amble aside, here it is! have linked the website and the occasional post from my archives if i've mentioned it before. hope it's of use if you're in london at some point. happy feasting, and would love to hear from you if you've liked / disliked any of the places mentioned.

Japanese

Ikeda Mayfair
30 Brook St, Mayfair, London W1K 5DJ
020 7629 2730

Small family-run restaurant hidden away on a quiet street opposite the famous Claridge’s Hotel. Seasonal menu with regular favourites. Good for authentic Japanese cuisine. Must order: tempura prawn wrapped in cha soba (life-changing!!!), tonkatsu and yomenaki (?) somen (special Japanese noodles). Unless absolutely craving, we don’t usually order the sushi / sashimi.

Matsuri St James Mayfair

Japanese clients first brought the mister and spoilt him with the £160 omakase. There are also less extravagant sets! An unusual mix of Japanese businessmen and American tour groups. We particularly like the good value (£20) sushi / sashimi / tempura set lunches and is our go-to for Sunday lunch.

Sake No Hana Mayfair

Contemporary Japanese, feels like being inside a giant “ang klong” the bamboo musical instrument. Good value pre-theatre / early dinner set for £30. Interesting cocktails, well-dressed crowd. Same owner as Hakkasan.

Tsukiji Mayfair

Traditional Japanese restaurant. Not a big restaurant but open concept and chic interior. If you’re after something simpler, Sakura just down the road is more wallet-friendly.

Zuma Knightsbridge

Roka’s big sister. Tasting menu is expensive but nice for special occasions. Similar contemporary / fusion Japanese cuisine.

Sushi des Artistes Chelsea

The Sloane branch of the Marbella restaurant of the same name. Kitsch art deco interior and dishes with twee names like ‘Forever Love’ or something to that effect. Good value set lunch, not too busy and great attention to detail and presentation. Would go by if in the area but might not make a special trip if not already in Chelsea.

Nizuni Charlotte Street

“outlet” Japanese probably isn’t fair but whatever new dish Roka is serving, Nizuni will produce something similar in a matter of weeks at a lower price. Good value and always fast service, important when jetlagged and wanting to turn in early.  Consistent Japanese of good quality. Used to have an early bird special where it was 30% off a la carte if ordered before 7pm. Check if it’s still ongoing.

Roka Charlotte Street

£55/£75 tasting menu. Goodfor groups, big portions. If there are 3 people, you could comfortably share 2 tasting menus. More fusion than traditional Japanese but done with a good flair. We like Shochu (the bar downstairs)  with DJ for pre/post dinner drinks. Closes late. We stayed till 1am the last time (not our fault, seated at 930 and ordered the tasting menu...) and the service got understandably sloppy as the night wore on.

Sushi Tetsu Bloomsbury

7 seater sushi restaurant. Have to be incredibly organised to get a booking (call exactly a month earlier at 10am and keep ringing till you get through, if at all!) but worth the effort. Proprietor is a one man show and makes sushi with the greatest pride.

Yashin High Street Kensington

Contemporary Japanese just off High Street Kensington, consistently high standards. Sleek sushi counter and cosy (read: dim with minimal mobile reception) lower ground dining area. On the pricier side but they’ve a good value chirashi / bento sort of lunch for <£20. A la carte menu is interesting, the motto is ‘without soy sauce, but if you want to’.

The Shiori Bayswater

Fine Japanese omakase with a choice of seasonal and premium tasting menus. Always a surprise and dainty portions of quality over quantity. Well-spaced out so you do feel full by the end, but not overly so. My birthday dinner of choice two years running!

Eat Tokyo various locations
Cheep and cheerful Japanese in the city with great value set lunches. Don't expect to have your mind blown but for <£10 for an authentic gyu-don I'm not complaining. Popular with Japanese salarimen and student-types.

Casual Japanese noodle options

Bone Daddies* Soho

Ramen in thick collagen-laden stock. Also try the ‘cock scratching’ (minds out of the gutter, it’s fried chicken bits…) and home-made soft-serve ice cream. Awesome sesame soft serve, and the shiso was very interesting. Seasonal and luck of the draw to see what they’ve whipped up that day. Standard dropped recently. Was a regular for about two years but either my tastes have changed or it’s not as good as it used to be. Visiting friends who tried were also disappointed but that could’ve been my oversell.

Tonkatsu* Soho

Where we go for ramen when we can’t be bothered to queue at Bone Daddies. I’m not a fan but the mister says it’s improved.

Koya* Soho

Udon! Cold udon in dipping sauce and seasonal specials. Koya Bar next door is similar but smaller menu and a tad more casual.

Chinese

Hakkasan Mayfair

Low lights and loud music at night but just low lights in the day, unless seated upstairs during lunch time then it’s quite bright with a business lunch vibe. Modern chinese cuisine with a good dimsum menu. Must try the venison char siew soh.

Princess Garden Mayfair

The closest to a “cha teng” in London. Only ever been for dimsum and surprisingly well-priced for the upmarket locale. About £20/person for dimsum and that’s with the mister over-ordering as usual. No nonsense, fuss free, and a little harried. Be prepared to wait up to 20min despite having a reservation.

Gold Mine* Bayswater

102 Queensway, London W2 3RR

020 7792 8331

Doesn’t take reservations so go before 7pm or after 9pm to avoid a terrible queue. Traditional Cantonese cooking and most famous for plump and juicy roast duck. Our standard order is deboned roast duck, sweet and sour pork, fried rice with chicken and salted fish, sambal kang kong and specialty steamed egg with dried scallops and prawn.

Royal China Bayswater

Famous for dimsum but we go for the lobster noodles. Baker Street is the original branch but they don’t take reservations and we’ve once braved a 90min queue and swore never again. If you do go to Baker Street, however, try ordering off the menu. A connoisseur friend introduced us to the Thai-style tiger prawn with fried tang hoon and we've not looked back. Lobster noodle best ordered one lobster at a time. Because ordering lobster noodle with two lobsters is inevitably less than 2 x one lobster noodle orders. Go figure!

Min Jiang High Street Kensington

Chinese restaurant with beautiful views of Kensington Park so best to go during daylight. A little hit and miss re: dimsum, some dishes are better than others. Must order the xiao long bao and the peking duck (pre-order). Also the fish soup with salted vegetable is something I’ve not had at many places.

Hutong The Shard

A great way to see the city from the tallest building in Western Europe compared to paying to ride the lift to the viewing platform. I’ve been told on good authority that the men’s room is one of the best with its floor to ceiling windows and unobstructed view of the city below. Breath-taking views aside (hey, we’re from Singapore, we’re used to 60+ storey skyscraping hotels…) the food and drinks are great. Have the soft shell crab (ask for less spicy if you’re weaksauce like us) and it’s served in a whopping huge lantern-basket. An inside tip from the charismatic owner was, “The best view is from 9.30pm so don't go too early or if you have an early dinner then stay around for desserts and cocktails in aqua shard on level 31 and watch the night view suddenly materialize.”

Korean

Jubo* Shoreditch

Korean fried chicken washed down by Korean beer. Very casual! Young and grungy, more than its fair share of hipsters. Avoid if you don’t like crowds or loud music. If you're after authentic Korean food though, your best bet would be the small K-town in New Malden (suburb in South West London in Kingston upon Thames).

Indian

Benares Mayfair

In a moment of insanity, the mister ordered the £60 tandoori chicken. Hands down the best tandoori ever (and we’ve had plenty of good tandoor to compare!) but still unsure if it was really worth SGD120 for a bird. Good value set dinner though and he's convinced it’s the best Old Fashioned he’s ever had. Pity we didn’t get the bartender’s name.

Italian

Assagi Notting Hill
1st floor, 39 Chepstow Place
London
W2 4TS
020 7792 5501 

Our little Italian secret. Beautiful on a sunny afternoon with floods of soft, natural light. The waiters are charming and knowledgeable. To borrow John Lewis’ line, we’ve never been knowingly oversold at Assagi. The waiter would recommend a cheaper bottle of wine if he felt it was better. Hearty, seasonal Italian with the freshest ingredients. Can’t recommend this enough and it’s easily our favourite Italian in London. 

Lucio’s Chelsea

Authentic owner-run Italian with fresh seasonal produce. I like how it’s not salty, in contrast to how many restaurants in London are heavy-handed with the salt. Good value lunch £20 for 1 or 2 courses, £25 for 3 courses.

Zafferano Knightsbridge

Near Harrods, well-heeled crowd. Often meet familiar faces from Singapore there. Again, good quality, hearty Italian. Less expensive than one would anticipate for the area. £45 for a 3 course dinner and similarly competitively priced (£30?) for a 2-3 course lunch.

Bocca di Lupo Mayfair

Hazarded the pop up in the park last summer and was impressed by the no-choice 3 course dinner. Given the limitations of the make-shift kitchen, it was beautifully set up in a big white tent with fairy lights. The main restaurant is throbbing with energy and we can't resist the dairy-free dark chocolate sorbet from Gelupo, their shop across  the street.

French

La Petit Maison Mayfair

Classic French. Order the chicken the day before if you’re well organised.

Gastropub

Harwood Arms Fulham

Casual, perfect for a low key meal. Shabby chic interior with a country house feel. Excellent dishes, each very well executed using the freshest ingredients and deftest of touches. Was pleasantly surprised by just how good it was. It’s in a residential neighbourhood though and almost impossible to get parking at lunch time.

Modern British

Medlar Chelsea

Our go-to when we’ve friends in town. Consistently high qualitycuisine and impeccable service. Very fairly priced (£25 for 3 course set lunch) and excellent value for money. A bit hard to get to from city centre (tube to Sloane Square then bus because it’s a 20-30min walk otherwise!) but one could do worse than walking off lunch along King’s Road. Order the crab raviolo to start and underblade fillet for the main. The tarte tatin (for two) is amazing.

Ledbury Notting Hill

Lunch tasting menu (£100 without wine) if you don’t feel like a long-drawn 5h dinner. Alternatively, can always have dinner a la carte but feel the ambience is better enjoyed in daylight. Our dear friends gifted us a meal there as a wedding present and we're so grateful for their generosity!

Pollen Street Social Picadilly

Modern British cuisine with delightful extras (amuse bouche, pre-dessert, petit fours) even if you only order the 3 course set lunch. Seasonal menu and always well executed. At <£30 for a 3 course set lunch, it’s great value.

Kitchen Table Charlotte Street

Behind a heavy curtain at Bubble Dogs. 11 course tasting menu, 2 sittings. Open kitchen concept and the seats are literally around the chef’s kitchen. Great for foodies to watch the artful display and all the work that goes behind beautiful plating. In-laws were a bit cheeky and wanted to get a hotdog on the way out. James, the chef owner, was mock horrified.

Dinner by Heston Knightsbridge

For those who want a taste of Heston magic without having to make the trek to Fat Duck in Bray. Mandarin Oriental is a beautiful hotel and in the day, the restaurant looks into Hyde Park. Order the Meat Fruit (liver parfait), Snails Porridge and Tipsy Cake for dessert. The liquid nitrogen ice cream (churned at your table in 5minutes) is a visual and gastronomic treat.

Bar Boulud Knightsbridge

Good steak and drinks. French food is a laid back lounge-y setting. When we last went, my father was checked for taking photos inside. Beware strict staff and no photos policy. Another good value set lunch.

Koffman’s Knightsbridge

Good value set lunch inside effortlessly chic Berkely Hotel.

Sketch Lecture Room Mayfair

Quirky and fun, Sketch is more well-known for its unique egg-shaped toilet cubicals. The dining room serves modern cuisine and the food was done very well. There’s a trippy bar downstairs, and a nice-looking tea salon. Usually a hit with friends visiting London.

40 Maltby Street* Southark

Modern British tapas-style. Interesting selection of wines and knowledgeable sommelier. Good for light meals at the bar or small groups. Go early (1130 on a Saturday) to beat the crowd.

The Clove Club Shoreditch

Formerly the Shoreditch Town Hall, there’s a £55 no-choice tasting menu with seasonal produce. When we went in February, there was pine seasoned deep fried buttermilk (?) chicken bites and uni among other delectables. They also cure their own meats on site (you’ll see the joints hung out to cure by the front room) and the cold cuts had a subtle and distinct quality about them.

Casual

Patty & Bun* Mayfair

One of the best burgers in London but feel standard has dropped in the last few months. Used to have best chicken wings too but when we last went, they were disappointing. The Jose burger is a must-try though! Doesn’t take reservations so be prepared to wait in line, or order and take away to eat in nearby Hyde Park. It’s opposite Selfridges so a good break from shopping / can shop while having the member of your party who drew the short straw queue for you.

Bubbledogs* Charlotte Street

No reservations so go off-peak or be prepared to queue. Simply put, they serve hotdogs with champagne. Good selection of bubbles across a wide price range. Tasty hotdogs and a novel idea to pair with champagnes.

Duck & Waffle Liverpool Street

Abysmal service. Have a been a few times and it’s always frustrating trying to get attention / orders  in / drinks topped up etc. But it’s got cracking views of the city and great forvisitors, a wallet-friendly alternative to Hutong and the views from the Shard. Order crispy pigs ears (shredded and served in a brown paper bag with wax seal!) and eponymous duck & waffle. Open 24/7 but runs a reduced menu at night. Always crowded so book or go off-peak. Last Christmas Eve, we went by at 2am after prepping our Christmas goose. Snazzy bar and good drinks too!

Dirty Burger Vauxhall
The mister's all-time favourite burger in London. Pokey, smokey grill under the railway tracks with the shortest of menus i.e. burger with / without cheese, fries and milkshake but when you only serve one dish, it's almost guaranteed to be amazing. Onion rings are freshly cut and battered, and all patties handmade on site and cooked with tender loving care. Thick milkshakes if you feel your arteries aren't sufficiently clogged after the burger. Good stuff. Hard to find but worth the search. 

Casual and serves lobster amongst other things

Burger & Lobster* Mayfair / Shoreditch / Soho

£20 for grilled lobster, salad and fries. Also £20 for a burger, salad and fries. Or a lobster brioche roll. No brainer to order the grilled lobster. But the lobster brioche is also very good and great for sharing if you’re feeling extra hungry. Drinks are expensive (£10 for a weak cocktail!) and poor value.

Steam & Rye Shoreditch

Formerly Bank of New York building and it’s maintained the huge columns and USA paraphernalia. Dancing girls on Friday night and drinks for groups served in huge shark / dinosaur / crocodile heads (see no. 7 in link) complete with sparklers and musical extravaganza. Imagine the house music changing to Star Wars / Indiana Jones theme as the waitstaff don costumes and present the drinks with attention-grabbing fanfare. Overflowing with banker / baller / pseudo-baller types.

5cc Shoreditch

New bar under pub. Most people were there for drinks but we enjoyed the food (£25 for lobster with salad and fries) too. Dark and a little dingy but that seems to be fashionable now.

Big Easy Chelsea

£20 for grilled lobster, salad, fries and a frozen margarita. Live music, themed nights (different dishes go on special offer depending on the day so call ahead to check!) and a relaxed vibe like you’d expect in an American diner.

Brunch

Grainger & Co.* Notting Hill

Popular Aussie café that has a long queue after 930am. Our go-to for when we’ve houseguests / friends from Singapore landing at 0555h. The ricotta pancakes and corn patties are consistently yummy. And they make one of the best flat whites in London.

Laduree Harrods* Knightsbridge

French patisserie that does a delightful brunch menu. All pastel teacups and crockery. Order the French toast! Breakfast set is not good value (we’ve done the math, you don’t really save and probably designed to trap indecisive tourists) so better to go a la carte.

Roka Canary Wharf 

Same as above and said to do a decent brunch with champagne for an additional £25.

The Modern Pantry Clerkenwell

Fusion cooking with an Asian twist. The waffles with laksa leaves was good!

The Proud Archivist Hackney

Great space with natural light and artwork. I appreciated how the guests with children were banished to a separate wing so as to spare the rest of us mayhem. It’s a chilled sort of place and the fabulous (male) host was wearing a skirt. We’re cool with that and think it’s great that people are comfortable enough to be themselves and express themselves however they want. BUT. Not somewhere I’d bring my parents/ more conservative guests. Standard brunch fare, like it for the ambience and vibe more than the actual food quality. Regent’s Canal is a lovely area and a nice walk after.

Berner’s Tavern Oxford Street

Crazy high ceilings with framed paintings all over the walls. Feels like you’ve wandered into a museum / country house drawing room. Good brunch selection and conveniently located off Oxford Street.

Markets

Maltby Street Market

Many Borough Market vendors have since de-camped to Maltby Street. Go early (before noon) to score some legendary St John’s cream donuts then grab a coffee from the push cart and head straight to Monty’s pastrami queue. The Lasco shop is a treasure trove of vintage finds if that’s your thing. If not there’s a wine merchant by the entrance selling good growths from lesser-known producers.

Broadway Market

Chef’s gallette by the engaging Frenchman, freshly pulled beer in from the wine shop, pho and Vietnamese iced coffee and then walk along the river and hop into a riverboat café for coffee and cake, or something stronger like a mojito from the riverboat bars.

Brixton Village / Market Row

Recently gentrified, Brixton is no longer grungy and gang-controlled, although Brixton Village is probably the only place overrun by the recent hipster influx. There’s a good selection of eateries and mostly no reservations so where we frequent depends on how hungry we are vs queue length. Aunthentic Thai restaurant that we like by the entrance, but if that’s full we might have Honest Burger or Okan (Japanese street food of fried rice wrapped in omelette) that takes it name from ‘economy’ further in. Almost always stop at Federation Coffee which the mister enjoys but I find the coffee too tart and end up with a hot / cold chocolate. A little way away at Market Row, there’s the famous Franco Manco pizza (wood-fired and as close to Naples as we’ve gotten from London) and Bukowski for burgers, ribs and boozy milkshakes.

Supperclub

The London Foodie’s supper club Angel Islington luizhara@hotmail.com

Luiz is a former investment banker turned Cordon Bleu trained chef who runs a French and a Japanese supperclub from his gorgeous home in Islington. It’s a communal dining table but most dishes are individually plated and it’s always a bit of a lucky dip who you’re seated with. If you’re feeling antisocial, we’ve found it’s best to double date to avoid the awkward small talk. But the one time we went just us, we found ourselves next to hair stylist extraordinaire to whom we’ve since sworn hair loyalty to (Tom Tsang of Smith Salon on Poland Street). Get onto Luiz’ mailing list to snap up supperclub spaces once they become available. £45 for a 7 course Japanese feast. Great quality and always a good night, especially with BYOB :) And if you’re on the market for a haircut, we highly recommend Tom.

For ease of booking, most restaurants can be booked on Bookatable or Toptable, which often run special offers. It’s probably a gimmick but you can accumulate points by turning up at reservations and these points can be redeemed as vouchers.

*does not accept reservations

the wonders of fb

so earlier this year i went into a little anti-fb rant. while i'm still wary and more selective about posts, i can't deny that fb has its fabulous moments too.

the first place we stayed in london was a converted bus depot, which may or not have been approved for human habitation. it was doubtlessly functional, as any bus depot space divided into two storeys and a couple of "rooms" would be, and an instant base for us to find our feet from. but it wasn't home and we're glad to have moved into a one bedder since. spent most of summer 2012 furnishing the space and as with most shoebox apartments, we had to be space efficient. we've always wanted a comfortable sofa that would engulf you as you flop onto it. the sofa we got wasn't. instead,  it was inexpensive, practical and multi-tasking.  

yet what you pay is what you get. much as the mister and i go for good value, sometimes you've just gotta bite the bullet and dig deep into the pocket. we've been on the look out for our perfect sofa for the longest time and after a near miss last summer, the mister struck sofa jackpot last week. it's times like this i'm especially grateful for a husband who enjoys furniture shopping and negotiates a 77% discount (originally 60% off but he somehow charmed a further 17% out!) for a defect-free UK-made piece. other times i lament how it's me on the receiving end of his persuasive power, like when i find myself hiking and kayaking against my will. it's quite unreal, really, how we ended up getting our grown up / grow old with me sofa. which brings us back to the small flat. timing was of the essence and at a pinch, we could probably fit the new sofa and not have much floor space left. 

in true tag team fashion, the mister sorted out delivery and i set about arranging collection for our starter sofa before said delivery. it's only 18 months old and in good condition so the obvious thing to do was to donate it to a charity shop that offered free collection. but it was such a faff trying to get the british*heart foundation to pick it up. i called the hotline that wasn't a hotline but the swansea (?) outlet then got directed to wandsworth which was no help and diverted me to ealing. after half an hour there was still no direction! got fed up and thought i'd chance fb. within minutes, a london-based friend got in touch, said she'd rent a zipvan and collect it in the morning. snooze you lose, bhf! thrilled that L took the sofa off our hands with no fuss. the sweetheart even gave us chocolates when i should be thanking her for sparing me the charity shop collection nightmare! all it took was one fb post and good timing :) yay for economy and resourceful friends!

a spanner in the plans

so i was having one of those stretches where i thought i knew what i wanted to do (HAHA) and life was trundling along at a nice pace. there i was - relatively confident that i was in medicine to do XYZ. and then we start women's health / obs&gynae this week and OHMYMAMA i realise that i actually really really enjoy the work. more so than i've been interested in anything else. i like working with / supporting women. i mean, i'm such a feminist. all about female empowerment and loving your fellow (wo)man in an entirely non-sapphic kind of way. and once you get over how it's all the business end of lady parts, it's really quite fascinating.

you've got to understand that what put me off medicine the very first time (after A levels) was O&G. i had a sub-optimal internship experience, met doctors who regretted doing medicine and saw three women doctors break down on the wards. one harried MO only saw her 6 month old son on weekends (he lived with her parents), another called her child 'it' and the third, a neonatologist on call, was in tears at the thought of caring for everyone's child except her own. i was an impressionable teenager, saw this, figured it didn't square with my life plans to eventually have house, spouse and children, and ran straight to law where i figured i could be a taitai (lady of leisure) after. unfortunately (or fortunately for the mister!), i like to work. and taitaidom is fast losing its lustre. being runner-up for "most likely to be a taitai" at both secondary school and lawsch (true story!) was ironically prescient. so close! 

now i really don't want to bore / disgust you with what went on in the delivery suite today but i thoroughly enjoyed schlepping around in blue scrubs and being with the midwives and mamas-to-be. the specialty trainees were awesome too! patient and nurturing, they took time to teach me and i got to scrub in to be an extra pair of hands during a c-section! there's a great energy to the place and i love being fueled by caffeine and adrenaline. reminds me of when i was a trainee lawyer! junkie-tendencies aside, i just had this massive epiphany that almost scares me because it's been awhile since i last felt so strongly about something. not since i applied to medsch, to be honest (oh ya, and getting married. sorry husband!) but this is proving to be a rather life-altering rotation. and of course O&G is the first thing i used to say i didn't want to do whenever i'm asked what i want to specialise in. because choosing your interest by the process of elimination works so well, not.

how to deal

it's not often i swing by this tumblr but occasionally things jump out at me. one of the funny things about taking the path less traveled is the tons of naysayers along the way. the singaporean auntie is one of them. i'm fortunate to have relatively thick skin when it comes to these things, but my poor mister often has (well-meaning?) aunties berating him for 'letting' me go back to school. and after they're done tsktsk-ing me, they turn their talons on him. it wouldn't be fair to generalise and say everyone who tells us we're crazy settled themselves. but it is irksome to feel like we need to repeatedly justify our life choices and that's why i rather say i'm a housewife (most recently on the plane and it worked! instant conversation killer :)) than go over the tired spiel.

and of course there's always the kind soul who's encouraging and tells us we're doing something awesome. we've met quite a few people like that lately and it's always nice to have someone say, "i know it's hard but it's gonna be so worth it!" in fact, we'd the absolute privilege of lunching with one of my heroes last week. he's one of the best neurosurgeons on the planet yet remains humble and unassuming. he's eschewed the siren call of private practice to operate on people who need him but can't afford him otherwise.

probably the only crazy

who brings home a suitcase of bones for her dog. 

we roasted a huge leg of lamb from the butcher's recently, and guess which indulged rottie enjoyed the spoils of my culinary effort? it was so big i'd to break it into segments to fit the suitcase. thank goodness i'd the sense to check-in, if not there might have been some awkward questions to answer when clearing security. 

but the look on that happy face was worth the potential customs hassle. my emotionally manipulative sweetheart really puts me through the wringer each time i go home. he has the cheek to ignore me the first day, giving me a taste of my own medicine for his perceived abandonment. i mean, he practically makes me grovel before showing any affection! even the mister was laughing as dear doggy studiously ignored me despite my cooing and using the special voice reserved for him :(

haute / hawker

one of the things i admire most in the mister is his incredible ability to enjoy life at all levels. he's as content slurping our hawker centre breakfast as he is cruising the south china sea. and to me that's the beauty of singapore - there's something to be appreciated at every budget. we've little interest in the pseudo-atas cafes that are mushrooming around the island. as with most things, some are better than others and not to be hating but i don't understand why people complain about a 10cent increase in cheong fan price but the same people spend S$20 on two poached eggs and juice at a 'western' cafe. we're big fans of hawker centres and during our brief visits home, we'll pick beo crescent hokkien mee over les*amis any day (please don't let that stop you from inviting us to les*amis, we'll be there in a heartbeat!) but the fascination with fancy western (again) food is lost on us.   

and so it was that on my first morning back in singers, i sprung awake at 4am and couldn't get back to sleep. usually better with jetlag but my mind was in overdrive with our wedding emcee duties. and the mister, bless him, not only let me wake him up (chatter chatter chatter) but took me to commonwealth market for a local breakfast fix (above). after two satisfying plates of cheong fun and a bowl of chok,  we moseyed over to the next coffee shop for some prata and char siew noodles. we got choice seats facing the car park and marveled how only in singers would you have chinese, indian and malay sitting in a row, speaking english and reading the new paper. the way the various stalls were grouped together was familiar and comforting. the prata man next to the noodle aunty and the malay man running the drink stalll.

we road tripped to muar a few years ago and there was no such integration / assimilation. the chinese patrons and hawkers had one hawker centre, the malays had another and ne'er the twain shall meet. singers boleh and we'd such a lovely morning people watching from our seats as the sun rose and kids started going to school.

oh and after the wedding we went boating. it also reminded me of a post from a few years ago. so much and nothing has changed :)

no pressure

so we did something for the first time recently! the mister is an accomplished public speaker. from being a teenage debate champion (best speaker at national finals!) to representing singapore internationally for moots (incl winning best speaker in europe while on exchange) to being arrowed to emcee multiple school events and friends' weddings. he's practically professional. on the other hand, i think i've emceed one racial harmony concert back in the day (in mandarin no less) and the last time i spoke 'in public' was to deliver my grandfather's eulogy four years ago. mind you, the mister gave all the speeches at our three wedding celebrations and i was happy to stand and smile serenely by his side. 

however, when our dear friends tied the knot, they asked us to emcee their wedding. despite my protestations at being the charity case, certain it was only the mister they wanted but were being nice include me, they insisted, bless them, that they wanted us to do the honours. this sent me into a little panic and procrastinated till my flight home before putting pen to paper. this is probably me being overdramatic as, really, the emcee is merely the traffic warden, signposting the wedding and cue-ing in the speakers. but what warmed the cockles of my heart was how the mister used his free day before i got back to discuss the technical cues with the groom-to-be. and (undiscussed!) wrote half the emcee script, complete with timings and prompts, while unbeknownst to him, i filled in little anecdotes to introduce the speeches. when we sat down to run through our draft, we realised the two halves complemented each other and promptly went to the welcome party instead of revising it. the welcome party was a glamorous all white affair and because we were trying to maximise our short time home, we snuck out of that to join the mister's folks for a second dinner.

(photo lifted from the multi-talented weylin's fb page. she's a dear friend who did D&N's flowers and my wedding bouquet* in iceland!)

the wedding rolled round and i mean there were just 300+ people so really, no pressure :P what was sweet was how it was at the same place we'd our wedding lunch celebration 18 months ago and brought back many fond memories. although again we joked that the last time i was on that stage, i didn't have to say anything! it was a gorgeous, simple ceremony. heart-felt and brimming with love and joy. D & N are very special to us. i'm not normally emotional but remember welling up in the middle of the used car showroom last easter when they called to say D had popped the question in bali. and they're the only couple that's stayed with us in our tiny flat, squeezing on our tiny sofa (it's not even a sofa bed!) and saying it was comfortable when we know it wasn't. and we couldn't be happier to see them exchange vows. 

i don't think we were too terrible at emcee-ing but i was super nervous and kept gripping the mister's hand while speaking. didn't realise the podium stopped at chest level and am sure everyone saw my shaking legs as i clung on to the mister for dear life.  and if i could change one thing - i'd have gobbled down my delicious main instead of risking having it cleared while we were on stage :( but we live and learn, and now that's over and done with, i'm glad they trusted us with the honour and would do it again (ONLY FOR THEM!) in a heartbeat :)

(and here's my darling husband trying to reassure me that emcee-ing is just like being a traffic warden. unconvinced!)

*clickety click for a side of angrybird 

steamboat

gosh the problem with traveling over chinese new year is that we end up stalling this amazing steamboat party (thanks, A!) till  one week into the new year. and then i forget to post about it in time, and uh new year's come and gone and we're already in march?! i love steamboat and could have it any time and all the time. any excuse, really! and mother is the necessity of invention because our very resourceful A re-purposed rice cookers in place of a 'proper' steamboat pot. genius! and worked just as well. in fact, it worked so well that one very cheeky dr. koo smuggled his rice cooker back full of curry soup and floaters. A really went to town and we were so grateful for the lengths he went to to ensure it was a steamboat to remember. the freshest seafood, authentic ingredients and freshly fried nian gou at the end. along with lovingly brewed home-made ginger soup for the tang yuan (delicious zing!) we brought bubbles and were in stitches at D's crazy tales of being an SQ steward. hilarious! nothing i can repeat on a public forum but you know how we love a good story and do ask when we next meet. it was such an eye opener and i'll think twice before asking for green tea on my next flight ;)

another year

it was my birthday recently and while my attitude towards birthdays is similar to that of weddings i.e. anti-spectacle, i couldn't help but reflect on the year past. in a happy place and not wanting / needing anything material. in fact, the last material thing i really really wanted my parents were kind enough to gift me as a graduation present. ironically, i gave tuition to pay for my lawsch tuition and having paid for it in full (not such a hero, i lived at home the whole time sans exchange in stockholm) then got 1/3 'back' in said present. thank you, parents! and the other thing i kinda thought would be nice but never really articulated as a want (hey, i was going to wait till graduation round 2 before broaching the subject!) the mister pre-emptively gave me for our first wedding anniversary. which was a total game changer and i've since declared myself completely never ever wanting anything anymore. big words first uttered after i first graduated, and it's been a couple of years and i genuinely haven't strayed. in fact, a friend read me just right upon seeing the mister's present and observed with mock horror, "oh you poor girl. all of 20+ years and nothing left to aspire towards. what're you going to do???" so gifting aside, i thought about the intangibles that i wanted for this year.

thrilled to be in better physical shape than when i was 12. was at my parents' and unearthed a pair of cargo trousers that were my post-PSLE present to myself. the whole time i was primary six, i was longing for cargoes, which tells you every thing you need to know about my sartorial sense then (and now). shimmied into them out of curiosity and was pleasantly surprised to find that they fit. uh, hello body, weren't you supposed to have gone through puberty a couple of years ago??! while i'm loathe to look at numbers on a scale (SO UNHEALTHY!) and mental health has taught me much about eating disorders and the twisted mind, clothes that fit, or not, are a good gauge. like last week i re-purposed my wedding dress for an early birthday dinner with the mister amidst taunts of how i looked like a runaway bride (thanks...) and was ecstatic / horrified to find it loose.

have long felt the whole weight / body image issue was about health. as long as you're within a healthy BMI, great. and i've always been. given how often i finish the mister's food for him, i do think i could afford to eat less, but i've tons of guilt re: wasting food (and yet i say i don't have an over-eating disorder...). despite not having been to a gym in months (bad jo!) i do feel lighter and brighter now than before starting clinicals. yay for long days on my feet!

so quarter-life crisis averted and relishing being a student, even more so after speaking with friends who're about to become registrars / junior partners / parents. finally in a happy equilibrium and more comfortable in my own skin than i've ever been. have plenty of time as a student, and someone to enjoy my down time with. i know things might not always be like this, but for now i'm taking it slow and soaking it all in. it was a great birthday, spent largely on a plane and with the mister who makes everything even better.

titanic museum

we'd one free afternoon in belfast and much as i wanted to enjoy the hotel spa, the mister insisted we immerse ourselves in culture instead of the hot tub. hrmph. i'm usually too unrefined for museums and it took much persuasion to get me into this one. after all, we live in london. museums are free. i don't believe in having to pay to educate myself. however, i'm so glad the mister prevailed because this was one of the best museums i've ever been to and thoroughly enjoyed myself. in fact, the mister is now paying the price for his insistence when i bandy random irrelevant and irreverent titanic facts at dinner, leading to proportionate social awkwardness. like, 'did you know typhoid mary was originally from belfast?' it's a truly interactive museum. i used to hate that word because it reminded me of lame science centre activities but now i'm seeing it in a different light. the layout is thought-provoking and engaging, there's short, witty copy (see below!) and even a ride that takes the visitors through the titanic construction yard. if you've been to disneyland, it's sort of like the peter pan / snow white / pinocchio rides.

and here's a mock up of a first class cabin on the titanic, with otherworldly projections of well-heeled passengers and their servants.

 

worth every penny! and despite my multiple protestations, the mister ended up tearing me away from the exhibits (i was engrossed by the stories and lost track of time!) and rushing us to the airport. not bad for a chilly afternoon :)

dark hedges

was already north after visiting the giant's causeway and moseyed by dark hedges as you do. it's one of the most photographed spots in the north and hmm all i can say is there's some pretty clever photography there! probably not skilled nor artistic enough to truly appreciate the stretch for all its beauty but again found it underwhelming. i mean, it's the most popular place for wedding photographs. uh, really?! took some heavy duty squinting to convince ourselves that it was indeed picturesque. if not for the other tourists / professional photographers with their fancy kit, we weren't sure if we were even at the correct stretch because the postal code on the website directed us to someone's driveway.

berts

one of the perks of staying at the merchant hotel was that we didn't have to brave the elements for dinner on saturday. the mister was toying with the idea of booking us a restaurant downtown, but figured it'd be silly going out when we'd a highly-rated restaurant on our doorstep. and after a day's travel (we'd a relatively early start to get to the causeway and took a slow drive back through dark hedges) he was right that the last thing i wanted to do was put on my coat. it helped that we'd a late dinner, and time in the evening to enjoy the hotel spa. nothing like soaking in a tub overlooking the city as it rains in your champers. just saying. 

berts is a french bistro with live jazz band at night. the waiter (manager?) was incredibly intuitive and had the amazing ability to pre-empt our every request. how crazy is that? well impressed! good music and better food. we started with the baked camembert (pictured) before slowly splitting a chateaubriand. a huge chunk of rare beefy goodness, accompanied by extra sides (salad, mashed potato, 2 x fries) compliments of the manager. being the carbohydrate queen i am, it was such a treat :)

giant's causeway

one of the big draws to belfast, apart from G, was the giant's causeway. it's a UNESCO heritage site but as i've come to realise, there's a large discrepancy between the different sites. the weather wasn't cooperating but i felt it was quite underwhelming on the whole, almost going so far as to wanting a refund for the entrance fee. but it did come with hot chocolate, that i'd drunk, and the mister told me off for being a brat. the jury's still out whether he was justified in doing so ;) in fact we sent this photo (OF THE ACTUAL CAUSEWAY) to some friends and one of them asked if it was not just a pitstop en route to the real thing. if only!

but what i thoroughly enjoyed was the coastal drive from belfast to the giant's causeway. almost three hours along the water, winding in and out of the quaintest towns, and of course with a stop at the curfew tower in cushendall to meet G and her eldest daughter. we passed through garron point with some great views, and stopped every so often at a supermarket for coffee and chocolate, before finally reaching the causeway.

after spending a little more than necessary there (had to get our time's worth after the long drive!) we adjourned to bushmill's inn for another amazing meal on G's recommendation. she was a quantity surveyor in her past life and used to eat there when out on jobs. glad to report the standard hasn't changed and we were pleasantly surprised by what a find it was out in the country. freshest seafood platters, surf&turf and a yummy pork belly roll. had such a leisurely lunch that we missed the last tour of the nearby bushmill's distillery (boo!) but want to check out the bushmill's 21 that the hotel bartender raved about the night before. most places don't stock it (the oldest we saw at bert's was bushmill's 16) so it would've been at treasure trove had we been organised / indulgent enough to buy check-in allowance. oh well, next time!

belfast

one of my dearest graduate medic friends is from northern ireland. every friday, she flies home to her five young children. i think she's superwoman, balancing the demands of motherhood and medical school, sailing through with merits no less. she's a constant encouragement and inspiration. and when i think about how she's so much on her plate (compared to mine with just the mister, a fully functioning adult!) yet she manages to get good work done, she blows all my sorry excuses and attempts at procrastination out of the water. her story's always intrigued me, and she's often invited us to visit over the weekend. much as i'd love to stay with her and her brood, i appreciate how precious time with them is and chose not to impose. however, the mister and i did hop over one weekend last month and were excited to see the rugged north in all its splendor. the mister chose the merchant hotel in belfast and we weren't disappointed. nifty tip: if you're going over the weekend, don't bother paying for valet parking despite the hotel's warning that it's hard to find (free) roadside parking. it wasn't and i'm glad the mister steered clear of that trap. also, we had a lovely spacious room in the art deco wing that was much better value than the junior suite in the older wing that we also saw. was happy enough with the hotel. apparently high tea at the merchant's a big thing in belfast, sort of like high tea at any peninsular (guess which one i prefer haha) and breakfast was adequate. it's got a great french restaurant (more about that later) and cosy bar that we probably spent too much time at. decent spa with outdoor jacuzzi overlooking the belfast skyline, and the option to have plastic bottles of champagne while soaking away the day's cares. the photo above is the view from our room! and the photos below from our walk around the city.

jumping forward, G had some ace recommendations. the crown salon was beautifully done (as you can see below) and served a delicious lunch, although we did opt for a curry :/ can't get enough of the gorgeous wood panels, comfortable booths and mosaic floor. the natural light gently filtering in also added to the charm.

c*laridges

we've been enjoying a good mix of friend time and down time. one of the perks of living in the city is the sheer proximity to places we like. one recent saturday, we ambled into town in the late afternoon, picked up coffee, visited a warhol exhibit, made the most of the january sales, had our japanese fix and wound down with a drink at the c*laridges bar. this was after our epic night at steam&rye, mind you. and the mind is a fascinating thing because my end-of-week reticence soon melted into a omgilovemylifemedicineissoamazing gush. the poor mister, having to listen to me go on and on about all my patients for hours at end. and then he tells me about his clients. so it's a virtual skill swap and i like to think that he's practically paramedic by now. 

oh and something scary happened that was playing on my mind all the way through drinks. in the evening, a man collapsed in the street in front of us. it's been an irrational fear of mine, one that comes with a sense of responsibility, that i'll be unable to perform under pressure. but without going into too much detail, i'm so relieved i calmly passed my handbag to the mister, walked over to the casualty (WHO WAS UNCONSCIOUS!!!) did the whole DR. ABC ie assess for Danger to myself and the casualty (he was in the middle of the road), check for a Response (he came to quite quickly) calmly introduced myself and communicated what we were going to do. when i saw he could speak (Airway patent, Breathing, Circulation pulse) i got the passerbys who'd gathered round to move him from the middle of the road, and i arranged him into recovery position on the sidewalk so he wouldn't choke on sick if he was suddenly sick. thankful he didn't need CPR but overwhelmingly grateful to have been trained to respond in a situation like that. was on an adrenaline rush after and kept going over and over the events in my mind, wondering if i'd missed anything or what i'd have done better.

marathon meals

one of life's greatest pleasures is marathon meals with fascinating company. this probably all started during one of our first dates. the mister picked a simple family-run restaurant and as frugal students, we picked the best value two-course set. and somehow found ourselves there for almost four hours, as the tables next to us were turned over about three times. if i'd to pick a moment, it was probably during that lunch that i fell in love with his brain. i'm easily bored (as is he!) but this lovely boy kept me in rapt wonder the whole afternoon. having fallen once and for all for the mister, it's not done to go around falling for other people. but we've been very fortunate to have enjoyed a few more long meals since.

the longest dinner we've ever attended lasted all of 9h. we arrived at 6pm, and rolled out semi-comatose at 3am. that's swedish hospitality for you. more recently, we've had two separate 5h lunches with dear friends. one at the fat duck in bray, and another at the berkeley. and last night, i'd an (almost!) 5h dinner, on a school night no less, with new-found friends. to me, family is paramount, and i'll gladly spend any length of time with them. but when we're so far from home, the friends we have here are the next best thing. 

i used to think that frequency was a barometer of friendship, but am slowly realising it's trumped by duration. frequency is a luxury few of us can afford, with more frequent contact being circumstantial any way. but when you willingly put away the iPhones and stop watching the clock, you kind of transcend into meta-hang out. perhaps i best clarify that these gatherings are small. i mean, who hasn't gone for a 5h dinner party (aren't most wedding 'dos 3-4h already?) what i'm talking about is double date-esque. it's pretty darn amazing to have all the time in the world to meet for lunch on sunday, and only realise at 6pm that the dinner service is about to start. but couple is question are expecting a little one so it's probably the last time we'll get them for that long in years. boo :(

or take last night! i'd two absolutely gorgeous friends round for dinner at 7ish. T's lovely lady, who initially was going to pick him up, joined us for tea and chocolate at the end. the next thing we knew, it was midnight! these chance meetings are pure serendipity and i know i go on and on about fellow grads but T and C are such intriguing characters i can't resist telling you a bit more. both have biological science backgrounds, with T doing a research job and C casually going on tour to afgh* before we all made our way to medical school. T comes from a dairy farming family and we were swapping stories about mastitis (his cows, my rottie) with C chipping in about how he got a chick to imprint onto a tennis ball. having grown up in a relatively cookie cutter environment, i'm always thrilled to meet people with diverse life experiences. all these little anecdotes make for engaging dinner conversation, with T telling us about life in the trenches (as a junior doctor) and C about life in trenches of the literal sort. i appreciate the candour, how it's no holds barred (albeit appropriate) expletive flinging, i.e things you've got to see yourself to truly understand. plus they had me in stitches all night, discussing the best possible escape route from alcatraz, among other things! and it's nice how everyone is in committed relationships, talking about their partners and drinking grown up wine. it's very refined ;) 

promised them an asian meal (it's still cny!) and did egg noodles with pork dumplings and chives to start, followed by chicken rice and a huge salad. for dessert we'd lychee konnyaku (how retro!), sesame and peanut mochi and pineapple tarts courtesy of my best friend's mother.  paired the noodles with a pinot grigio, the mains with a yummy alsace and kusmi grapefruit tea with the sweets for something sharp to cut through the saccharine. absolutely enjoyable evening although i'm semi-paying the price for a "late night" by being more groggy than usual today. but hit the jackpot this afternoon with teaching by the amazing prof who's cured type ii diabetes, and single-handedly preserved the eyesight of multitude of diabetics in the north-east. what a hero.

off-piste ordering

the magic number for dimsum is multiples of 3, and greedy as the mister and i are, we'd the sense to invite our resident cantopopstar (okok, so he's doing his masters in orthodontics) along. also, i do think placing orders in cantonese gets you that extra carrot at a dimsum restaurant. usually spoilt and refuse to queue (yay to being regulars at g*mine and its queue-advancement privileges hehe) but alas this dimsum treat required a one hour wait. so wait we did and when we were finally seated, we felt obliged to order lots to get better bang for our (waiting) buck. clever marketing, these guys... had the obligatory dimsum dishes but then K engaged in some serious off-piste ordering, that had even the waitress raising her eyebrows. turns out he'd been before with a baller friend who'd pulled out all the stops, and what we had was a mere shadow of the former's excess. and to show you the double black diamond, this thai-style king prawn tung hoon was the bombdiggity. might not be much to look at but ohmymama, i'd wait an hour in a heartbeat to have some more of this saucy goodness.

after dimsum, we adjourned to a coffee place (augh! forgot the name!) where incidentally i ended up with an oaky white. so much for caffeine fix! liked the upside down pots that threatened to dispense soil all over our drinks (i joke) and took a photo at dusk. 

perspective

i've had the privilege / dubious honour of spending four weeks on an oncology ward, and this week on oncology outpatients and at a hospice. oncology is relatively unrepresented in our curriculum so i'm fortunate to have this bonus time in a discipline that really interests me. sat in on clinics this week and was pleasantly surprised to have one-on-one teaching from consultants. glad to be at a medical school that takes teaching very seriously, and to have consultants who take the time to explain things during a very busy clinic. having spent the last five weeks with patients at varying stages of cancer, i leave hospital every day supremely grateful that my family and i are in good health. i hate to think of it as schaudenfr but i make an extra effort to walk home because i can. and i'm constantly reminded that there are so many people out there who aren't. i've seen familial ties and social isolation, sheer relief at rare misdiagnosis (CT showed brain mets, conclusive MRI didn't) and grief and resignation at a terminal diagnosis. there have been so many memorable patients, wonderful people who selflessly relive the nightmare of their diagnosis to tell me about their cancer journey. they're looking death in the face, and yet still think to ask me about the tiny allergy i'd last week.

it also forces me to reflect and prioritise because there's a certain clarity when one's thinking in terms of weeks and months. i've seen people show such grace and dignity when broaching their own mortality, and i've watched bad news being broken ever so gently. i don't think you ever get used to telling someone "it's not looking good" and there's something to be said about just being present, and letting the patient lead the agenda. emotionally i found it hard to leave my patients in their wards, and almost every night i'd be telling the mister yet another heart-breaking story about patients going before their time. one common thread is their concern for the loved ones they leave behind, for unfinished business and unrealised dreams. which makes me wonder whether humanly,we are ever satisfied. because if it's a life worth living, it'll never be enough.

reading around and outside medicine was helpful, in particular david brooks' "the art of presence"

–Don’t compare, ever. Don’t say, “I understand what it’s like to lose a child. My dog died, and that was hard, too.” Even if the comparison seems more germane, don’t make it. Each trauma should be respected in its uniqueness. Each story should be heard attentively as its own thing. 

–Do not say “you’ll get over it.” “There is no such thing as ‘getting over it,’ " Catherine writes, “A major disruption leaves a new normal in its wake. There is no ‘back to the old me.’ ”

 

also found this opinion piece particularly poignant, articulating what many patients were trying to express regarding coming to terms with inevitable parting.

The path forward would seem obvious, if only I knew how many months or years I had left. Tell me three months, I’d just spend time with family. Tell me one year, I’d have a plan (write that book). Give me 10 years, I’d get back to treating diseases. The pedestrian truth that you live one day at a time didn’t help: What was I supposed to do with that day? My oncologist would say only: “I can’t tell you a time. You’ve got to find what matters most to you.”

i met the loveliest old gent yesterday who's found out last week that he's got months to live. his first thought was for his wife of 59 years and who'd look after her when he was gone. when i congratulated him on being married for 59 years, he looked at me with bemusement and said, "it's not a race, flower. it's been pure pleasure and i wouldn't have it any other way."

steam&rye

i took it as a compliment that the mister chose steam&rye for our fridate. i mean, it's a really noisy bar / club with scantily-clad dancing girls. so, typically, where you'd bring a good-looking but uninteresting date because the surrounding frenzy spares you from having to make awkward small talk. and if i was being absolutely honest, talking was the last thing i wanted to do after an emotionally exhausting week in oncology. steam&rye truly boggled the mind. 

in a funny way, it was confusing on so many levels. 

firstly, you're made to feel like you're in a swanky trans-american train, complete with moving scenery outside the window.  

secondly, it's the former bank of new york. so american flags and regalia aplenty. 

then there are the dancing girls who appear and disappear amidst smoke machine smoke. 

followed by abrupt changes in music and fanfare whenever someone orders a big drink i.e. shark / crocodile / dinosaur head. the staff slip into hulu dancers / indiana jones garb, respective theme music is played and the head is delivered to the table in a flurry of sparklers. which rui, my astute friend, was quick to recognise as no. 7 on this list.

last but not least, some of the drinks glow a radioactive green.

it was mildly unsettling to be amidst such hedonism after the onco rotation. i went from seeing people fighting tooth and nail for survival, wringing all possible meaning out of their remaining time, to a crowd that was quite certainly going to see tomorrow, hungover or otherwise. 

so i'm a little slow

when it comes to new year resolutions but it's been a busy january. in a happy place and it wasn't even something that had crossed my mind, until the mister pointed out, "why won't you be content at this stage?" that's when i realised i had been whinging about wishing i'd done medicine as an undergrad. funny how it's still something i semi-regret i.e. not being brave enough to bite the bullet earlier. immensely grateful for a first degree, even more grateful that studying for said degree is where i met the mister. and i try to convince myself that i've a little extra emotional maturity doing medicine as a graduate, and how if i'd gone into it at 18, i'd be a very boring, one-dimensional medical robot. but how much of that is self-assuaging, and how much is true is an area i try not to spend too much time in. 

one of the first things that turned me on about graduate medicine is when i was visiting L, my dear canadian cousin, in dublin. it was summer 08 and the mister was in leuven sitting the last of his exchange exams. so as not to be in his way, i hopped over to visit L. turned out i'd picked a good time because some of her friends were converging in dublin the same week. they were all in their mid-20s, with illustrious first degrees under their belts and a wealth of life experience. as graduate medics, they were some of the more articulate and interesting people i've had the privilege of meeting. they'd already accomplished so much before their 30s, and were embarking on a medical career because that's how it is stateside and in canada. i started to see graduate medicine as a viable option and was inspired by this dynamic bunch who i was certain would go on to be amazing doctors (and have!). 

so yes, this year i want to be even more conscious of and actively practice a sense of gratitude when it comes to still being in school. a primary school teacher just got in touch over facebook recently and asked quite incredulously, "how come you're still studying?!" and she's right. much as i'm in a hurry to start working (having worked once before, i miss being self-sufficient) i'm trying to see this as bonus time of being responsibility-free, of delaying adulthood just a few years more. and i tell myself it could be so much worse if the mister hadn't signed me up for medsch entrance exams, and pushed me to apply when the conformist in me just wanted to get married and pop out babies (HAHA, how i've changed!) 

on a completely unrelated note, i've also grown disenchanted with facebook. it's nothing new but maybe being in the UK is getting to me. there's an unspoken emphasis on being understated and rubbing holiday photos in 2000+ fb friends faces is as far from understatement as it gets. a friend posted this a couple of weeks ago and it struck a chord. in a nutshell, the author says to consider five things before posting to social media i.e.

 

1. am i seeking approval?

2. am i being boastful?

3. am i discontent?

4. is this a moment to protect?

5. is it kind?

was relieved to recognise but not identify with 1. 3. and 5, but 4. did get to me. ask the mister and i'm definitely guilty of snapping away instead of truly immersing myself and enjoying the moment for what it is. well, that's an aside to the omnipresent iPhone, but i do think moments can be captured but not all moments need to be shared. as i get older, i find myself getting increasingly protective of moments with the mister. photos that capture certain times and milestones are not necessarily moments i feel like broadcasting online. of course, there's always our reserve of photos of family and friends, the good stuff that you want to keep to yourself, but the bar for posting seems to be slowly raising by the day. i think friendship and closeness has to be earned (horrible friend alert!) and likewise there are fewer people i want seeing our holiday photos. there are also hordes of people out there who probably can't care less about our christmas break and don't want us popping up on their newsfeed. just over christmas, my cousin wrote to say our life on fb is 'annoyingly awesome'. and that's him being kind! which brings me on to 3. while never intended, the effect of posting photos is boastful! it's all "look at me and my amazing life" so i took a step back, put on a pair of discontented glasses and started examining what was popping up on my newsfeed and ooh it was easy to start hating.

social media is a personal choice and there's always an element of facebrag, whether you want to admit it or not. not going to go all militant and stop posting all together, but fb is becoming less attractive a platform to stay in touch with friends. it's a good place to find rivetting (and other times rubbishy!) articles, but i'm less inclined to share content of my own.

and in a roundabout way, maybe that's why i like this blog because i can put photos in context in a way you can't always on fb. also, while you can't really control what crops up on a fb newsfeed, you've to make an active decision to read a blog. so if you're going to pop by, you're more than welcome and if you can't be bothered, no loss.

photo from our recent weekend in belfast, and a short travelogue to follow!

lazing

really don't mean to belabour the point, but seriously, we got some serious lazing done in the maldives. island time has its own rhythm and it's like our heartbeats slowed down just by being in such a calming environment. throw in a couple massage and we were flat out like lights. the sea air also gave me a hugeee appetite and while i normally eat for england, this time i defo went a little overboard. oh the mister, so sneaky to take me back to the tropics after a fortnightly feast on all the baddies europe has to offer (amazing swiss cheeses, little known swiss wines, rich red meats....) and letting me go crazy on azn food. oooh sashimi by the sea oooh :)

one palm island

i mean, just look at that.

under the sea

the beauty of being on holiday and on a tropical isle was we had absolutely no agenda. we'd sleep in, squeeze in a cheeky breakfast just before the buffet shut then go about the day. there was a water sports centre we could use kit from, and after signing a probably non-binding indemnity form (unfair contract terms act, anyone?) it was just us vs the indian ocean. the sea was calm (phew!) and we'd kayak out to the pontoon, scoot onto the deck and haul the kayak up. the mister would then snorkel around the reef (actually he's his dive licence so it seemed a bit silly to snorkel!) while i tried in vain to create some shade out at sea. we also kayaked to the dhoni, tied our kayak to it then promptly fell asleep on the soft mattresses.