last day

this is slightly belated but i went with newfound friends to a pub near medsch after our first day of class. i'd just moved from singers and my alcohol tolerance was abysmal. struggled to finish half a pint and didn't have a taste for beer because it burned my tongue. oh ho, the fizz! too much! let's not even talk about anything stronger. in the (almost) five years that have elapsed, this has sadly changed. and i'd be the first to suggest heading to the pub in good times and bad. funny story - called for emergency pub meeting after the first day of third year when i very accidentally needlestuck the dean (for real). in my defence, his pinky was in the way on the rubber arm. no infection control issue, no datix, no reporting because it was a rubber arm but i was mortified that it was his first ever needlestick in over 20 years of practice :/ oh well! lived to tell the tale? or never really lived it down because my clinical group mates haven't let me forget. it's great though, if there were an award for most improved i'm sure i'd be in the running.

anyhoos it was nice to finish the last day of final year back at the same pub, this time having learnt to enjoy my alcohol and in a position to savour a pint of deuchar's :) couldn't believe that's five years done and just finals to go. and now finals have started it's just a couple of weeks to freeeeedom (and doctordom, i hope!)

snapchat

so the younglings got me onto snapchat recently and it's provided some much welcome distraction! although i fear i'm the irrelevant aunty who's all awkward on social media not quite knowing what to do / what's acceptable behaviour. how does one navigate this??? i get the unwritten insta rules (no more than a post a day, quality control, pick the best, don't over filter, don't be annoying with smug hashtags etc) and i think i've figured out fb. similar rules as insta but posting more than a photo at a time is acceptable? i'm not overly active on either, with more spiking than regular activity because honestly who takes it seriously anymore?! 

snapchat - i want to respond to things but it seems creepy to reply to stuff on other people's stories? like on fb or insta you'd see comments and it'd be public. or you can send stuff to just selected people... i use imessage for that cos it doesn't save to camera roll. the temporary nature of it appeals - but also frustrating when i read a chat but don't reply right away and when i want to reply i've forgotten what i was meant to respond to! the immediacy and urgency required is a bit too much for me. also, a chat with one of my friends hasn't wiped itself out. i'm not bothered but is it a bug? is it just her? why??? also i can't shake how snapchat was a dark corner for dirty deeds. i know i know (giving away my age with my prude-y auntiness) but i do like the video function and how it makes video taking and sharing easy! and i can download it to send to granny who's always interested in what i'm doing. the aspect throws me a little, suppose could always do it the other way round and have people turn their heads.

my inner el cheapo loves 3-5 happy hour when local oysters are £1 each. and paired with a crisp french white? that's one loss leader for the win.

sitting on a beach

one of my favourite consultants started his finals lecture series by telling us to stop studying and spend the rest of our time before finals on a beach. he's absolutely right but i can't with clear conscience take him literally, much as i agree and would love to. such is guilt management ;) but i do make a point to go to town every day, and do something fun. got a little flyer in the post about a new brazilian place that lured me there with a free capirinha. of course i fell into their trap and got more than a capirinha, but that's only to be expected. the lunch box of calamari rings on sweet potato fries was possibly two of my favourite things together, and i proceeded to drown it in hot sauce. i know, classy.  

first paper today (went well, yay!), more writtens next week then clinicals in early june. bring it :)

toon

figured it was high time i watched a football match. watched the finals at the london olympics 2012 and thought that was pretty good already but apparently my education isn't complete till i watch a proper game, on match day. the mister knows my threshold for danger and violence is embarrassingly low so he splurged on really good seats so i wouldn't get spooked by the crowds (thank you!). that said, he did laugh at me when during some taunting on the grounds i was all ready to about turn and run away. fight or flight, hey? and again when i entered the wrong set of turnstiles, not realising our tickets meant safety in a separate entrance. found the game lacklustre and not the most rivetting of 90+minutes but defo good experience. wouldn't hurry back!

to reward my patience (hah) we went to fenwick's and bought overpriced artisanal gin and i made g&ts. the last time i made him a g&t i ended up removing a good piece of my thumb with the mandolin (someone insisted on cukes with his hendricks...) that ended up with a 4h A&E wait followed by even more time in the minor injuries unit. never again.

boat ride

we'd a voucher from the belsfield for a boatride on the lake! had the choice of a 75min ride or 90min (different routes) and the mister chose the longer one. i don't have sea legs and occasionally get motion sick so the longer ride was a little risky. wondered if i was being punished for some misbehaviour unbeknownst to me! it was unseasonably warm after the horrid weather the day before and i almost regretted having my coat when we walked to the pier but once on the boat oh my it was a different story all together! windy! cold! yay for coat!

funny how the demograph changed so drastically. we were just about the only non-caucasian guests at the belsfield (ok so there was an indian family and four chinese tourists) but the boat ride was all indian and chinese tourists! nice ride across the lake with some commentary and then we got cold and went indoors where the mister made friends with the purser (are they still called pursers if it's on a boat?) and we'd crisps and hot chocolate and some ill-advised kent mint cake that was essentially a slice of sugar with peppermint oil :/

HG

had heard good things about HG and as we were already having dinner and breakfast at the belsfield, thought to venture out for lunch. to risk sounding really classist, it was rammed with posh southern types talking loudly, which didn't make for the most pleasant of dining experiences. didn't help that someone had latched the main door from the inside (???) so we were stuck on the stoop for a good five minutes in the hail as with frozen fingers i tried to find the contact number of the restaurant then the hotel (didn't work) and then when it did work was made to listen to the automated woman talk me through 27 (ok i exaggerate) options. no thank you. the best part was that this was in full view of some of the guests who conscientiously ignored us despite it being blatantly obvious that we were locked out. rang the door bell, rang the bell for night porter and only finally by chance a party was exiting the building and they'd to unlatch the door from the inside and kindly let us in. not fun! maybe funny in retrospect but not enough time has passed for me to see the humour. i've only just regained sensation in my extremities...

again not to sound like a complete spoilt brat (i am, the mister would be the first to acknowledge that he's frankenstein and i'm the monster) but wasn't blown away by the food. the experience was great. we were (eventually) met at the lobby and ushered to the lounge for aperitifs and petit fours, had time to look at the menu and place orders before moving on to the main dining. all very nice and civilised. had expected it to be more crowded but we were one of three pairs in the restaurant on a bank holiday sunday. hmm. corkage was £25 so we brought a bottle that my winemaker friend had gifted us on our wedding almost four (!!!) years ago. it was a lovely bottle and i'm so glad we finally opened it.

there was a parisienne waitress/somelier and a younger, less experienced french-accented waiter who seemed clumsy and kept dropping things. meal was punctuated by crashes every so often :/ parisienne waitress was wonderful, oozing french charm and sophistication. she complimented us on our english (!!!) and comp-ed the coffee, probably unrelated.

the food itself was so-so. mackerel in satay sauce might've appealed to some but it just made me crave proper satay. nothing mind-blowing, good solid food. modern british really doesn't appeal to me so hm i'm not the best judge.

mackerel with satay sauce and watermelon

ham hock

pork

beef cheek

the highlight was by far the wine from ming. he knows i'm partial to pinot noir and when he was working at flowers, they'd such a good year that employees were limited to six bottles each. and in the ming's wine pecking order, getting married bumped me up a few spaces and he kindly gifted us a bottle when we got married. been meaning to save it for a special occasion and hm almost-fourth wedding anniversary seemed like a good one :)

belsfield

i'm not the biggest fan of the lakes but its proximity (haha) means i've accidentally found myself there more often than one would think. went immediately post exams jan 2013 because we'd exams after christmas break and it wasn't really a holiday (only that i refused to be cheated of festive cheer so still had a nice holiday hehe). was also in the lakes a couple of times for wilderness medicine events, during the october junior doctor strike that didn't happen and now over the early may bank holiday weekend two weeks from finals, and maybe 36h before my surgical exam.

so i hoped this wouldn't bite me in the backside and live in fear of hedonism catching up with me. not wanting to jinx it but so far so good hehe. surgical exam cleared (woohoo!) and all raring to go for finals now. it was the last of six in course assessments we've had and we need to be wholly competent across four domains to progress to finals. for friends who've had a run of bad luck, this last one was pretty darn high stakes because a third strike in any one domain would mean failing the year before even sitting finals (!!!) which to me is more than a little unfair but hey, i don't make the rules. silly, nevertheless. 

the belsfield is a lovely grand hotel and recently undergone a massive refurb. prime location overlooking the lake with beautiful views all round, living up to the mental picture i had of the lakes. cute town of windermere and when the weather cooperated (day 2) we had some lovely scenery and boaty action on the lake!

the library is gorgeous settings for a spot of tea - all muted palate and brand new furniture.

bay windows at the brasserie, the more casual dining option

our suite was inviting and almost too big for two! but with the weather the way it was, i was refusing to budge.

sole custody eggs and joint custody fry-up at breakfast

we'd room with dinner and breakfast and found it incredibly good value for what we were paying. dinner was an elaborate five course in the well-appointed dining room, lovely grand setting with huge windows overlooking the lake etc. can't fault them! would defo recommend for a quick getaway and i only wish we'd time to have cream tea in the afternoon. well we did have time but i was sleepy and full from a 3h lunch so maybe on our next visit :)

weekend visit

had friends in town for the weekend and it started with bubbles on the train. love how despite the finals rush (sorry, i try not to talk too much about work on this blog but it does creep up now and then!) there's still time to take it easy, to check out and check in. it'd been a long week on trauma orthopedics and really enjoyed kicking back on the train journey with some bubbles. took the edge off the commute (i'm such a baby, it's hardly far!) and started the weekend on a good note.

A (above) checked into a fancy pants hotel while i made a beeline for bloomsbury and waited for girlfriends to arrive before doing thai in the 'hood. squid and their version of pad thai? count me in! not for purists but i was famished.

and because i'm a one-trick pony, i drag all my friends to regent's park and primrose hill. it's not a trip to london without them seeing my spiritual home heh. perfect weather for sauntering and because they didn't have plans, they humoured me. probably regretted the walk after haha but we got waylaid at a pub near by and what was meant to be a 9pm (ooh, fashionably late!) tapas reso was not kept.

undeterred, we went to eat*tokyo in soho instead which in retrospect was a better call because uh, just check out my massive oyako-don for £8.50 (!!!). call me cheap / greedy or both but it seriously does not get better than a mountain of eggy chickeny goodness bigger than my head.

swung by drink shop do near kings x the next day and had cake galore too!

cheater fish tacos

inadvertently found myself in a cooking rut comfort eating or relying on take out, both obviously doing wonders for the waistline ;) and felt like something exotic. not like tacos are very exotic but hey, beggars can't be choosers! stumbled upon what i'd initially written off as a deceptively easy recipe that was indeed simple (love when i'm wrong!) and got going. although making coleslaw was a feat. who'd have thunk one tiny cabbage would expand in the blender and i ended up with boxers of blitzed cabbage. so much so i was giving away coleslaw to friends in the neighbourhood! and the cilantro crema? sounds so fancy but absolute doozy. and because it was (already good) fish it became better with fish sauce aplenty!

party animal

have a dear friend in singers who first clued me into the joys of a roasted pig. the mister and i would traipse round to his bearing hawker centre goodies and a roast suckling pig to celebrate getting into medsch / his phD / numerous other life-changing achievements, and occasionally just because because being young and alive is reason enough for celebration, no? so it was kinda cool when our hosts took this a level up by slaughtering the fattened teenage (as opposed to suckling?) pig because there was lots more pig!!! and come on, how dramatic is watching it slow roast on a spit for hours and hours? delayed gratification at its best ;) also, i can sorta get why mark*zuck made a thing about only eating animals he'd slaughtered himself. not that i did any slaughtering but there's something less guilt-inducing about eating an animal that was born and bred in supreme comfort, treated really well during its (short) life and killed humanely. makes me want to avoid supermarket bought pork now and only have pork if it's from a farm shop and reared on site.

but this is quick evolving into a husbandry / responsible farming + consumption lecture so no! needless to say, piggy tasted amazing. roasted to perfection (our hosts are not new to this game, oh no...) and lechon as they taught us was customary for them. the skin was crispy, crunchy and chewy at the same time. they very kindly gave me the ear (!!!) which i enjoyed thoroughly and hm i don't think i can go back to duck*waffle pig ears in a bag after enjoying the real deal.

dusty roads

friendly locals! the people are such a warm and giving bunch .our hosts told us that if you were to be their guest, they'd surrender the sole bed and borrow money for a feast in our honour. our former help retired a few years ago and returned to the philippines. she's a long term health condition and we brought her medication with us to mail to her. in a way wish we could've visited but she's in a different part of the country. coming from singers we've such warped sense of distance and i fail to appreciate how remote somewhere could be. it's a country made up from 7102 islands (and counting) so don't even get me started on how its governed!

farm life

makati was overwhelming, and that's already the most chichi part of metro manila. hosts explained that when people refer to manila they probably mean metro manila which comprises a number of different districts, of which manila itself is one. we were in makati and even then i was amazed by the obvious poverty / lack of infrastructure. the taxi queue at the airport spanned the length of the building (!!!) and the train queue was beyond the platform, out of the station and round the block. our hosts said people even use adult diapers (!!!) because it's so time consuming a commute they can't afford to waste any time on a comfort break. crazY ! and i do think she was being serious :/

needless to say, it was a welcome relief to escape to the countryside after lunch at greenbelt.

is that not the cutest kurobata piglet ever? only two weeks old and so intelligent ! the moment it heard the ostriches being fed it scuttled through the holes in the fence and out of its enclosure to eat with the ostriches. i fell for its intelligence and wanted to bring it home, saving it from certain death, but alas was not allowed to :( they're not domestic and would've loved cuddles but couldn't catch them! 

cute story - our hosts were gifted a pair of kurobata pigs and the pair had a litter of seven (they killed one for dins!) and the 'children' pigs went on to have another litter of four grand-pigs. the meat was lean and tender, and i didn't experience carnivore remorse because we saw the piggies in their pen. happy, running freely, lovingly fed fresh leaves from the farm, great environment and that's when i realised the origin and good husbandry is so important.

had half a mind to pretend the palm trees were coachella but realised i was a couple of weeks off!

gutai collection

the purpose of the trip was ostensibly to see our hosts art collection at the museum. call me left-wing but i think it's such a waste when collectors buy premium artwork for their personal collection, as if such national treasures are a social good and should remain in the public sphere for communal appreciation. maybe that's the point of collecting i.e. to have something coveted that no one else does. so i found it very generous of our hosts to lend their private collection to the museum for everyone to enjoy.

they've incredible foresight and acumen, always one step ahead of the curve and supporting artists just before they become commercial successes. hosts shared some pretty jaw-dropping anecdotes, like how they were the only one to bid for a certain piece at an auction, securing it for a steal and a fraction of what they'd have been willing to pay should there have been a bidding war. i wish i had their ability to peer into the  crystal ball. the sort of appreciation (60x in a couple of years... OMG) is unheard of in stocks / property etc. and it's hard not to be swayed by the potential upside to such investment. 

also, i realised how appallingly little i know about art and wished i was more aware of what's out there. it's almost as if art's a luxury few can afford as we pragmatic singaporeans focus on bread and butter professions. i can tell you about medicine, and maybe a little about law, but am far from being well-versed in the art scene. would very much like to be able to hold my own, to look at a painting and instantly appraise the confidence with which the brushstrokes were made, the emotion it conveys, the concept behind it, why the artist did it that way etc. aware that so much of it is marketing, about grooming and pushing more bankable artists but do feel it's an area i need to know more about. feel shallow, otherwise.