sao paolo

backlog travelogue but hey, better later than never! the mister had been wanting to go to patagonia since our first south american foray during his grad trip years ago but it took some time to finally get there. flew BA (yay for miles and companion voucher for free flights) and nothing worked. no in flight entertainment because the system was down, the seat didn't recline, the reading light didn't work so one can imagine this was a great 13h (?) start to the holiday. thankfully, i'm like a parrot and sleep once it's darks so with my trusty eye mask, disaster averted. to be fair, the fabulous flight attendant tried to make up for the BAs numerous shortcomings by plying me with double doses of alcohol. questionable coping mechanism right there but hey, whatever floats your boat.

hit the ground running bright and early in sao paolo and were met by L who is so gosh darn movie star handsome he has a nickname that can't be repeated in polite company. seriously. that guy is posterboy for their MBA class and has the clean cut good looks coupled with rogue-ish charm of presidential candidate, albeit less slimy uncle, more young upstart with ideals sort. anyhoos we'd a rapid half day in sao paolo with L before narrowly making out flight (uber fail, cab broke down twice en route to the airport. are you kidding meee...)

L is born and bred brazilian with italian heritage, we share the same values of family and food being paramount in life. so it was only natural that he knew the best places to go, was the best tour guide giving us a running commentary of the three business districts and demographs, culture. all the things that tickle our brains and i felt so familiar with the city after having a whistle-stop tour through it in the sunshine, amidst the capirinha haze. which was, also, life-changing. cashew fruit? amazing.

primrose hill

had an old friend in town and got to spend a bonus two days with her. initially thought we only overlapped in london one afternoon and was resigned to a flying, alcohol-fuelled catch-up at charlotte hotel but heyy, the stars aligned and we went into extra time later that week. which was a lovely surprise. love it when life works out that way, gifting us oodles of time with no agenda. i like when days stretch indeterminably in comfortable companionship. met centrally once she got back to london, didn't mind the thirty minute wait and had a late lunch in soho, followed by a stroll down tott court looking at furniture before moseying to primrose hill for more wandering around and up. the weather was perfect and we had no where else to be till dinner time but even that was at our time. felt like being on holiday (granted, we both were!) but when life's so fast and go go, it was a welcomed break from scheduling people into time slots and just being able to hang without watching the clock was sheer delight. 

hadn't realised the last time we'd met was at my wedding almost three (!!!) years ago, and the last time we'd a sit down catch up was four years ago, soon after the mister proposed. yet it's like no time had passed and we quickly cut through the logistics (what the mister and i term humdrum what're you doing now what're you doing next where're you going) before diving into deep meaningful conversation. it's surreal how we've been friends for over 20 years and now with spouses and houses, life's moved along. there's so much to talk about, so much to explore and i'm grateful for someone i can be honest and vulnerable around. so much of life is about being authentic, about asking for help, about admitting we're unsure and still figuring things out. 

noodles

have a friend who lived round the corner from my last placement and who very kindly gave me an open invite to pop round for lunch. alas, most lunches were grabbed on the go or during a quick getaway to waitrose for coffee. not to sound ambulance-chasing but i found it hard to leave the unit because the one time i took a slightly longer lunch (read: 30min) a kiddie arrested. not that i would have been able to resus said kiddie, but trying to be around as much as possible and learn what i can through observation and osmosis means being present as far as possible. so it was really on my last day that i finally thought to cash the lunch blank cheque and forgo usual lunch on the sunny terrace (above). tell a lie, it was probably only sunny for a couple of days. most times it's eating in the common room avoiding the draughty gaps in the window!

also, it was hardly as spontaneous as i make it sound because kind hostess is a complete sweetie who laboured over the stove the day before to produce melt-in-the-mouth beef shank (?) noodles. it was also her last day of undergrad class so you can imagine how mortified i felt to be imposing at lunch time. but she was so cool about having to rush home from lectures, and delegated the simpler task of vegetable washing to mr. muscles below. see, boys have their uses. 

best beef noodles ever, and i've had more than my fair share. what really got to me was the amount of time and energy spent creating this wonderful meal that i'd slurp down in a matter of minutes. like to think i'm low maintenance and not easily impressed but she catered to my high maintenance side and blew me outta the water with labour-intensive home-cooking. did joke it was setting a dangerous precedent but hey, everyone goes in with their eyes open ;)

delicious nothing-ness

life's full and busy and moves so very fast some times it's lovely to get some down time, to opt out and sit around with my feet up. know bang on about being young, footloose and fancy free and i suppose i'm coming round to the thought that hey, i could just as easily be not-so-young, footloose and fancy free. which is comforting seeing how i've so many issues with age-ing and the annual wobble comes on the clock around my birthday.  seeing how my birthday is long past, this year i was grateful to be known and to have friends fully cognisant of my birthday aversion and yet descend on my doorstep with a pile of (ok, 10) apple pies and a rather lethal trick candle.

it's going to be a quiet easter break and relishing the stretch of white time that lies ahead. am eschewing planning anything and resisting the urge to pack it full, but open to spontaneous thingums that jump out. didn't leave the flat yesterday and finally got round to sorting it out. when one's life fits into a one-bedder, less is more. had a delightful house guest for the last week (little inflatable air mattress has been worth every penny!) and who left the place spotless but it's just laundry and life that needs to get done. weather's turning warm so have put the winter wear into storage and here's hoping london's cruel climate doesn't play a trick and send me scrambling for the woolies next week! needed 'office lady' clinical clothes for the next placement, then hopefully it's summer wardrobe all the way for next few weeks in the lab (look ma, test tubes!!!) and then it's back to singers to finally get my doctorlawyer on. psyched to be with an NGO i believe in and have supported for the last few years where i can get hands dirty in both the medical and legal clinics they run. that's the plan, anyway. goodness knows i much rather be on some boozy elective on paradise isle where the biggest problem is jellyfish stings... but again it's about choices, about being responsible and a good steward of heavenly gifts, according to my mother anyway. meh. don't feel particularly gifted.

bracing myself for final year but realise the danger of being caught up in the future. constantly reminded to be present, to savour the moment. there's been a bit of rolling with the punches the last few weeks, and needing to land on one's feet but nothing insurmountable. grateful for my coterie of girlfriends on the other end of the phone who are merely one desperate text message away. and for friends who make an effort to reach out and are much kinder to me than i'll ever be. in truth, it's all first world problems and tiny issues i manage to dramatise and make mountains out of. again, grateful for friends who stifle their guffaws and reassure me that my phone going for a swim isn't the worst thing in the world, despite not being revived by unholy amounts of holy water nor praying for an easter miracle. 

as someone who needs to have her life mapped out, this lack of visibility is semi-destablising. actually, tell a lie. i do know where i'll be all the way till june 2016. but then it's up in the air. the mister reminds me >12months visibility is already pretty good but i like to know where i'm going. although the best laid plans, mice and men etc... there's lots going on that i'm happy about and having just extricated myself from the self-imposed shackles of domestic drudgery, coming out on the other side appreciative of a spouse and house to care for is something i didn't think i was capable of years ago. but people change. it's no secret that i want to have it all. maybe we'll get there. 

trainspotting

G - superwoman grad medic with five children and still manages to merit exams, blowing all my excuses for sloth out of the water - was knee-deep in baby lambs last month and sent me photos of her and her (human) brood cuddling these newborn lambies. the kids (both sorts) were too cute for words and i might've gone into "aiwannaseelittlelambies!!!" mode. have also been hankering after a coastal walk for ages now and was desperate enough to (almost) go to hastings, but thought better of it and went to netil market instead. or maybe brick lane. the weekends blur into one. 

anyhoos this coastal walk came with the added trainspotting bonus. breath-taking walk, weird weather and rainbow at the end. it'd been a rough week and while i don't mean to over-sentimentalise, the rainbow was reassuring in its own way. peace out :)

b

a little slow on the uptake and swear i must be the last person to have visited the*botanist but amidst the torrential downpour, A and i decided to head over for lunch. A has got to be one of the sharpest, smartest and most charming young men i know and watching him materialise in a full suit and wet hair was a giggle. but once we got there, he dried off pretty quick! i suspect it might've involved sticking his head under the hand-dryer but one does not make such impertinent inquiries ;)

there's lovely skylight and natural light (thank goodness rain was short-lived. alas, it was only on en route to lunch, and right after we stepped back out!) and A says it's pretty in a different way after dark when the fairy lights strung across the impressive dome come on.

wonderful lunch and catch up, it's been months after all. and A's one of the few people i can be my politically incorrect worst around, and be spared wrath and judgment. now that is worth braving any thunderstorm for ;)

barca

continuing the 'while the mister was away' series, i thought to solo trip to barca. i'm not a fan of weddings and don't believe in flying halfway round the world for them. a bit rich coming from someone who had people fly more than halfway round the world for hers in iceland, but hey, i'd been happy eloping but nooo the mister is a social creature much loved by family and friends. i've, maybe, three friends. so when it came to returning the favour, i pleaded busy-ness (true) but not disinterest (also true). solo-tripped barca while backpacking a few summers ago on my grad trip and have always felt strangely safe in this city of dodgy repute. everyone knows someone who was mugged / pickpocket-ed in barca, no? i cite my mother, and her insistence that i've an unhealthy lack of fear but really, it's more about being sensible, having one's wits about oneself, and not looking like i'm worth robbing. it was nice to return to barca on my own, having last been on our first wedding anniversary with in-laws in tow. not the most romantic of getaways, to say the least!

gorgeous lounge at gatwick - not entirely necessary as the flight times were very civilised, none of that leaving home at 4am nonsense. but i'm not one to turn down a free lounge!

really only had one full day in barca (landed in the afternoon) and spent day 1 wandering around and riding the cable car. i like cable cars, so much so i rode another one on day 2!

the esplanade

view from montjuic where cable car 1 terminated

oops more views from the cable car

climbed a hill in parc guell in lieu of paying EUR4 to enter the mosaic terrace-y bit that was free the last time i went

did the hop on hop off bus tour on the second day as figured it'd be the best way of getting around and there were two different loops that would occupy most of the day. alighted to walk at some stops, found food at others.

and no trip to barca would be complete without a pilgrimage to el quim for fried egg and baby squid. worth every (EUR)cent despite the hefty EUR19 price tag.

dimsum sunday

a couple of sundays ago, the mister was out of town just when i was craving dimsum. but if there's one thing that unites overseas singaporeans (and the token hongkong-ers), it's chinese food! was glad to rally a fun bunch and went to princess*garden for the first time in maybe a year. keep forgetting how good it is, and how while we get to jump queue at royal*china, PG takes bookings and also appeals to my not-so-secret impatient soul. a sg friend and long time londoner who's so kindly taken us under her wing commented that it's a pity we don't hit up PG more often, and she's right. unforch was too busy stuffing our faces so the only photo of lunch is one of me surrounded by towers of bamboo baskets. representative no doubt, but maximally unglamorous. after dimsum, said sg friend and i went for a wander around the 'hood while the rest studiously went back to work / catch trains across the country. we wanted to go to to the mcqueen exhibit but were clearly lacking the required organisation to score tickets for a sunday (bought wayy in advance).

no loss though, the rest of the V&A was free (even better) and i happen to love china (the crockery, not the country) and was most pleased by the rows upon rows of table service on display. it's tucked away on the 6th floor and super quiet, also appealing to my crowd-averse sensibilities. 

 

despite being based round the corner, it's embarrassing to admit it's my first time at the V&A. always pass it but somehow never stop to venture in. and after the cultural experience, we popped by the church bakery to support the bad boys bakery, yummiest baked good from hm brixton. calories for a cause!

not-so-boozy brunch

it's no secret that i miss my sister and the next best thing is to meet with her bff. J's an absolute delight and was her +1 at our wedding almost three years ago. have passed PJ's countless times but somehow never ventured in until my former supervisor used to joke that i was returning from long lunches there when we'd pass in the corridor. it didn't disappoint! reminded me of the raffles for some reason, with the wood paneling and polo photos. brunch was great (tell a lie, we went at 2pm which felt more civilised but brunch is 10-6!) and we were greedy and split three mains two ways, and had coffee and cake aplenty. lovely catching up with J and he may or may not have sent a gloating snapchat to my sister to rub it in that we were hanging and having fun without her!

(food photo credits to J)

early bird

 

really shouldn't be complaining about long hours but adding 15min tube + 5min walk to my previous morning commute of 15min walk is taking its toll. appreciate how ridiculous it is to be whinging about a 40min commute in central london so shall just keep quiet now. and if i was particularly desperate i could always take the bus instead of walking 20min to the tube because with the student travelcard it's not like i'm saving anything by walking. but enjoy the walk most mornings, gets the circulation going and gives me some much needed exercise because i resolutely refuse to do anything else after being on my feet for most of the day. 

with this newfound, re-adjusted body clock, i sprung awake on sunday and couldn't get back to sleep so decided to be strategic and head to granger&co at notting hill. used to go with house guests (because the flight from sg arrives at 0555h, which means said guests would land on my doorstep by 7am...) but since discovering something better in the 'hood, we've not looked back. but thought to give granger another chance, seeing how if we weren't there by 9 (that's the inflection point, folks!) there'd be a queue. and we're too cool to queue unless it's kanada-ya. as an aside, that's probably the only thing i'd willingly jump in line for at this point. not bone daddies, not burger&lobster. so we went to granger and had a nice breakfast. company was great but i much prefer our local (where the inflection point is 930 so there's the extra 30min zz). to be fair, having watched notting hill the night before i was being a little suggestible by wanting to head that way. and notting hill, while pretty, is way to WASP-y for me. funny how almost every uhmurikan wants to live there after the film (who can blame them!) but the odd mix of council housing amidst these fancy period properties means that nice cars don't stay nice very long. in fact, being even more suggestible was watching notting hill because we'd brunch with lovely italian friends at manu*ka in fulham, where hugh*grant frequents. granger's pretty, love the gold and green accents, and the coffee's good but the menu's quite limited. i'm not a fan of corn fritters and was craving pancakes (?) which they didn't have. actually, might've been craving something else that wouldn't have been too out of place on a breakfast menu but they didn't have it. mumble grumble. swung by daylesford to pick up sundries (tea, softener) but the mister wouldn't let me buy more bubbly :(