Something We Felt in Love at First Sight!

We didn't know much about art. Don't even mention paying a small fortune to own one or even two. All we know is if you saw something and couldn't stop thinking about it, that means you love that a lot.

One Saturday in April, we went into a gallery in the Lanes in Brighton with Peter and Ruksha. Our eyes were drawn to two pieces of paintings by Neil Dawson. It was love at first sight but the price tags were just a bit ... should we say ... over our budget. Or as a handbag lover myself, I would say it costs a designer handbag each. We left the gallery but still kept thinking about the them.

The next day, fat bear and I had decided to go back to the gallery to have another look at the paintings. We had a little chat and we decided to make them ours.

The two paintings are by the London based artist, Neil Dawson. He captured the night scene of two world biggest cities, London and New York City, so well which make you almost hear the traffic and people from those two places. The way he uses the dots are so clever and make the paintings lit up.

We can enjoy them anytime and let our minds flying between the two cities.

I Want To Be A Part Of It
by Neil Dawson

A Night On The Tiles
by Neil Dawson

The World Best Restaurants

As you may have guessed from the name of our blog, we love to eat. You are very correct. We love good food.

If trying out good food was your thing too, you may want to check out the following websites.

The S.Pellegrino World's 50 Restaurants

Michelin 3 Star Restaurants around the world

Michelin Star Restaurants in the UK

The-Best-Chefs.com

The following restaurants we have tried but may not be on the lists but they are relates to the best restaurants, i.e., same owner or chain.

Midsummer House - Cambridge
We had been there many times. We love it.

Ubon by Nobu
Visit date: 10/02/2007

Some of what we had:

• Toro - Fatty tuna belly sushi
• Uni - Sea Urchin sushi
• Scallop sushi
• Salmon sushi
• Wagyu Beef Steak £17.5 per 50g
  
• Mixed Tempura
• Chocolate Bento Box with Green Tea Ice-cream £9

La Noisette - Gordon Ramsay
Visit date: 01/12/2006

The Fat Duck by Heston Blumenthal
Visit date: 24/02/2007
Check out this post.

Hakkasan by Alan Yau

Yauatcha by Alan Yau

Old Harry Rocks, Dorset

16/12/2006

Fat Bear went down to Bournemouth for a training course for a week (11/12 - 15/12). I went to meet him after work on Friday. It took me 3 hours to get to Bournemouth from Brighton by train and arrived at 21:15. We went to dinner straight away and had Italian.

Next morning, we went shopping in Bournemouth city centre. There was quite a big shopping area. Before Fat Bear came to Bournemouth, his colleagues said to him Sandbanks is a very beautiful place and is a must go. So when we check-out in the morning, he asked the receptionist for direction and was told if we had more time, we must go across to the other side with the toll ferry. Apparently lots of movies filmed there.

On the Toll Ferry

On the Toll Ferry

Took about 5 minutes to cross to the other side, we drove for about 10 minutes and saw a very beautiful white chalk coast line on our left. We continue to drive and reached Swanage town. We parked big mouth boy and explored the town on foot. We had lunch in a local family run cafe and tried some nice local made ice-cream. We walked to a beach, looked at the breathtaking white chalk coast line and wondered how we could get there.

We collected big mouth boy and drove to the Middle Beach Tourist Centre and ask the staff for direction. They were very helpful, gave us a map and showed us the direction.

The lady at the tourist centre told us to park big mouth boy at the car park next to Bankes Arms Hotel then follow the signs and walk to the rocks. We took about 20 minutes to walk to the tip and saw all the beautiful, unique rock formations. Also there were a lot wild Brussels Sprouts. The Sun was going down so we started to walk back to our car.

We took the toll ferry back to Sandbanks.

This trip to Old Harry Rocks was not planned and was well worth it. It was so beautiful and romantic.

Old Harry Rocks

Old Harry Rocks

Old Harry Rocks

View from Ferry Terminal

Waiting for toll ferry to take us back to Sandbanks

A little bit about Old Harry Rocks (quote from The National Trust)

The white rocks are made up of chalk which is almost entirely the remains of sea life. Millions of years ago the area was under the sea and joined to the Isle of Wight until sea levels rose. The area is now constantly under attack from erosion processes which creates caves and causes the land to slump as well as maintaining the brilliant white colour. In the 16th Century Studland Castle was situated on the headland but no evidence of and building remains. The name comes from a 17th Century Pirate, Harry Pay, who regularly attacked merchant ships leaving Poole Harbour. Old Harry's wife, a small stack, collapsed in 1896. The large stack in between is called St Lucas leap after a greyhound. Old Harry Rocks is part of the World Heritage Site, Jurassic Coast and is the youngest section in geological time.

The Fat Duck - Heston Blumenthal - Three-Michelin-Starred Restaurant

What an experience!

We knew about Heston Blumenthal from the BBC programme In Search of Perfection (Book available) and found out that he is the chef and owner of The Fat Duck. A three-Michelin-starred restaurant in the village of Bray in Berkshire.

Every February, we have a join birthday meal in a posh restaurant. This year was The Fat Duck. It was extremely difficult to book a table at The Fat Duck. It had to be exactly two months before, could not be too early or too late which you would never had a chance to get hold of a table.

We were joined by our friends, Peter and Raksha who was also born in February. There were two menus to choose from. The 3-course A La Carte (£80) and the Tasting Menu (£115). We had the Tasting Menu and Raksha had the Vegetarian Tasting Menu. The following shows what we ate, not in order. We were given a copy of the menu to take home.

THE TASTING MENU

• NITRO-GREEN TEA AND LIME MOUSSE
• OYSTER AND PASSION FRUIT JELLY, LAVENDER
• POMMERY GRAIN MUSTARD ICE CREAM, RED CABBAGE GASPACHO
• QUAIL JELLY, CREAM OF LANGOUSTINE, PARFAIT OF FOIE GRAS
• OAK MOSS AND TRUFFLE TOAST
• SNAIL PORRIDGE Joselito ham
• ROAST FOIE GRAS
• Almond fluid gel, cherry, chamomile
• SARDINE ON TOAST SORBET
• Ballotine of mackerel 'invertebrate', marinated daikon, sea salad
• SALMON POACHED WITH LIQUORICE Artichokes, pink grapefruit, “Manni” olive oil
• POACHED BREAST OF ANJOU PIGEON PANCETTA Pastilla of its leg, pistachio, cocoa and quatre epices
• HOT AND ICED TEA
• MRS MARSHALL’S MARGARET CORNET
• PINE SHERBET FOUNTAIN
• MANGO AND DOUGLAS FIR PUREE Bavarois of lychee and mango, blackcurrant sorbet
• Blackcurrant and green peppercorn jelly
• PARSNIP CEREAL
• NITRO-SCRAMBLED EGG AND BACON ICE CREAM
• Pain perdu, tea jelly

Very strange weren't they? Yes, we finished with the English breakfast as dessert - cereal, scrambled egg, bacon and a cup of tea.

We saw this car in his programme. Is it his?

It's him! Heston Blumenthal. Quick! Get the camera out!

The menu outside the restaurant

The sign outside the restaurant

24/02/2007

Links to our other postings:
The World Best Restaurants
Mineral Make Up
I'm Not a Plastic Bag from Anya Hindmarch

Iceland - Blue Lagoon - Friday 25/05/2007

Iceland - Blue Lagoon

Friday 25/05/2007

Windy, Sunny, 4 oC

This morning we were so excited and looked forward to see puffins and whales.

We got up a bit earlier to pack our luggages because we were checking out today. We had breakfast at 8:00 and again struggled to find a table due to lots of conference people also had breakfast around that time. We checked out at reception and put our luggages in the storage area. We were told to wait at the hotel main entrance at 8:30 for the whale watching bus to pick us up. We waited and waited. At 8:55, Fat bear asked a receptionist to find out what happened and was told the whale watching tour is canceled due to rough sea. We were very disappointed and wondered what we could do. We really wanted to go to the whale watching and also we have already paid for this tour at the Tourist Information Centre. We decided to walk to the Tourist Information Centre from the hotel which took us about an hour. The weather was very nice but windy. At the Tourist Information Centre, they tried to call the whale watching tour office but could not get through. We took five minutes to walk to the whale watching tour office and asked about rebooking the next tour at 13:00. They could not confirm at that point due to the windy situation and asked us to call or come back at 12:00. There was a computer with internet connection for visitor to use. We checked our emails then want back to the Tourist Information Centre. We were suggested to go to the City Hall and the National Gallery for our free time, both free entrance. There is a big 3D Iceland map at the National Gallery which is quite interesting. And the view from the coffee shop to the Tjornin City Pond is very nice. Then we walked to the National Gallery unfortunately the art there were not our cup of tea. On our way back to the Tourist Information Centre, we took a good view of the Tjornin City Pond. We were told the 13:00 whale watching tour was also canceled so we had a refund for the tour. We were going to Blue Lagoon today so we booked the bus (ISK 1000) with Tourist Information Centre and arranged the bus to pick us up at 14:45 at our hotel. We also asked for recommendation for lunch. Solon was suggested and I read about it on our travel book as well.

The Whale Watching Tour Boat

The big 3D Iceland map in the City Hall

View of Hallgrimskirkja and the National Gallery from the other side of Tjornin City Pond

Solon was a cafe which served good, healthy, reasonable priced food. I had chicken salad (ISK 1300) and Fat Bear had lamb noodle (ISK 1300). We enjoyed our lunch. After lunch at 13:30, we still had some time to kill so we went back to Hallgrimskirkja and went up to the top of the tower. The entrance fee was ISK 350 each. We took the lift up to the top and it was windy. We had a nice view of the city and took some photos. We walked back to the hotel, picked up our luggages and waited for the bus to come to take us to Blue Lagoon. After the bus picked us up, it went to other hotels to pick up more passengers. Just outside Reykjavik city, we had to change bus.

View from top of Hallgrimskirkja - Reykjavik City

View from top of Hallgrimskirkja - the Mount Esja

On the top floor of Hallgrimskirkja - Photos of Hallgrimskirkja in different season and weather

The journey to Blue Lagoon took about 40 minutes. I fell asleep in the bus and when I woke up, I saw the rocky land again. When I saw the blue water, I knew we arrived at Blue Lagoon. I booked a room at the Blue Lagoon Clinic Hotel and the bus dropped us there. The Clinic was part of Blue Lagoon and had a private Blue Lagoon swimming area. We checked in and looked around the hotel. The deco there was very clinical, very clean and tidy. Our room had a balcony. We dropped off our luggages and went to Blue Lagoon straight away. There was a path to walk to the main swimming area of Blue Lagoon which took about 5 minutes. The whole area gave me a very strange feeling. It looked like a bomb was dropped and killed everything, but there was lives on the rocks, some kind of alpine plants on them. You need to see it to understand what I mean. The area was breathtaking.

Blue Lagoon - outside the swimming area

The two fat bearz with our swimming gears.

Me - relaxing in the Blue Lagoon

Fat Bear - floating in the silky warm water

The Svartsengi power station at the back produces this natural by-product.

Fat Bear at Blue Lagoon

The entrance fee was included in our room rate (ISK 14100 Double room B&B), usually it costs ISK 1400. At entrance, we were given a towel and a sachet of Blue Lagoon body cream. Got changed and locked everything in the locker. We jumped in the blue silky warm water. We spent about 1 1/2 hour in the water. And of course we had the white silica mud mask. There were Blue Lagoon shower gel and conditioner in the shower room. If you like the Blue Lagoon toileteries, you can get it in the shop. We had dinner at the restaurant, saw a lot good review about the restaurant so we looked forward to it. I had Blue Lagoon fish soup (ISK 1360) and Steak of tuna in a coat of sesame with wasabi soy sauce (served medium rare) (ISK 2800). And Fat Bear had Tiger shrimp brochette with mango-jalapeno sauce and fresh salad (ISK 990) and Roasted lamb shank with root vegetables and herb sauce (ISK 1740). The food was disappiointing and the waiting staff looked like part-time. We took more photos after dinner and had a early night because we needed to catch a morning flight the next day.

Click here for more photos.

Links to our other postings:
Iceland - Reykjavik - Wednesday 23/05/2007
Iceland - Golden Circle - Thursday 24/05/2007
BHF London to Brighton Bike Ride 2007

Iceland - Golden Circle - Thursday 24/05/2007

Iceland - Golden Circle

Thursday 24/05/2007

Windy, Sunny, very light shower - 2 oC

Today we joined one of the most popular tour to go to the Golden Circle with Reykjavik Excursions (ISK 7000) which was booked via the hotel yesterday.

We had breakfast at 07:50. The restaurant was so busy with lots of people who were here for conferences. Continental breakfast was in buffet style and we shared a table with other hotel guests. We stood at the hotel entrance at 08:30 to wait for the Reykjavik Excursions bus to pick us up. The bus arrived at 08:50 with the same driver who picked us up from airport yesterday. Then he went to other hotels to pick up more passengers. We arrived at the main BSI bus terminal and Fat Bear went into the ticket office to pay for our tour.

Our Tour Bus

Our tour started at 09:25 and our tour guide was Addie and the same driver. Every Thursday and Saturday, this tour is English and French guidance. On the way, we drove pass the Kringlan shopping centre and was told that we could be dropped off there after the tour. Just outside of the city, we saw the blue mountains in a distance on our right with snow on top of them.

First stop was Hveragerdi Greenhouse Village which was about 40 minutes from the city. Addie explained that almost all fruit and vegetable are grown in greenhouse in Iceland. The greenhouses are heated by steam come from ground. But most food are still imported. Addie said we could find some bananas trees in the souvenir shop. We stopped there for 15 minutes.

The souvenir shop

Steam!

Look! Bananas!

Next, we stopped at Kerid volcanic crater for 10 minutes. We got off the bus and took some photos. It was very windy. We continue our journey to Gullfoss Waterfall. On the way, we saw some houses on both side of the road. Addie told us that those are summer houses belong to government for rent out to the local in the summer. We were told that Iceland people love BBQ and walk around the countryside if the weather was nice. To get to Gullfoss Waterfall, we drove pass Geysir. We drove pass some horses that were right next to the road. Driver slow right down because he did not want to scared them and eventually he stopped. Addie said it was a perfect moment to take some photos of Iceland horses.

Kerid volcanic crater

Information Board at Kerid volcanic crater

Icelandic Horses

At Gullfoss Waterfall, we got off the bus at the upper carpark. We had a choice to either walk down or to take the bus to the lower carpark. Addie told us not to get to close to the edge of the path as no one would be able to save us if we fell. We walked along the path carefully and got to the top of the waterfall. We got wet and water was dripping down our face. The view was wonderful and of course we took hundreds of photos again. We stopped for about 30 minutes. We went back to Geysir on the same road. Addie gave us a booklet of vouchers for Geysir. The vouchers gave us discount on restaurant, souvenir shop and unlimited free entry to the exhibition.

Gullfoss Waterfall

Gullfoss Waterfall

Arrived at Geysir at 12:20, we went to the cafe for some lunch first. The weather was cold and windy, so we had hot paninis and soup. To be honest, the food was bad and it cost ISK 2130. After lunch, we went across the road to get to the geysers which means the spouting hot springs in English. The wind was so strong and blow in different directs. It could really push, stop and made you walk sideways. We reached the most active geyser first, named Strokkur. We only waited for about 3-5 minutes and witnessed the first eruption. It was very powerful and 2 more eruptions straight after that. We walked further up the hill to see 3 more hot springs, called Blesi. They were not active therefore they did not erupt. The water in the hot spring reached boiling point so we were told not to touch the watch. Only the water in the blue one is right temperature to be touched as it was like a pond next to a hot spring and the mineral particles reflects the blue colour. The main geyser, called Geysir, used to be the main and the most active but in recent year, it became 'lazy'. We left Geysir at 14:00. To go to the next destination, we went via some mountain road. Then suddenly Addie pointed to the right and told us that was part of the spiting geological plate of America and Europe.

Blesi - The blue one on the left and the boiling hot one on the right.

Blesi - The blue one! We could touch.

Geysir - The 'lazy' one. Didn't do anything, just steam

Strokkur - Waited and Waited

Strokkur - It's coming!

Strokkur - WOW!

Þingvellir (Thingvellir) was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004. Þingvellir lies within a belt of volcanic activity and fissures which passes across Iceland, a part of the mide-Atlantic Ridge, the junction of the American and Eurasian tectonic plates. The geological plates are tearing slowly apart at a rate of about 3mm annually. At Þingvellir National Park, we were also given a choice to walk across to the other side or to take the bus. Almost all of us chose to walk. We took lots of photos and enjoyed the excellent scenery.

Þingvellir

Addie and I at Þingvellir

Þingvellir

Þingvallavatn (Þingvellir Lake) behind me

When we were on our way back to Reykjavik, we were asked where we would like to be dropped off. We chose the Kringlan Shopping Centre. We were dropped off at a near by bus stop near Kringlan. We walked around the shopping centre and bought some local lamb cold cut to try and some dried fish. Then we went back to the bus stop and took a bus to go to city centre for dinner. We checked out the dining out guide which we got at our hotel reception.

We went to Lækjarbrekka for dinner. This restaurant served Icelandic cuisine. We both had set menu, I had lobster feast (ISK 5980) and Fat Bear had fish feast (ISK 4640). Lobster feast included lobster soup tasted with crème and cognac for starter, grilled lobster in garlic-butter, tempura fried lobster and lobster in puff pastry for main course, and for dessert was basket Lækjarbrekka with a selection of homemade ice cream and sorbet with fresh fruit salad. And fish feast included Chef's selection of 4 seafood for starter, Cod fish with grilled lobster in garlic-butter for main course and for dessert was Icelandic Skyr with blueberry sorbet. All lobster were Icelandic lobster which were much smaller. The food was good but not excellent.

Bread, butter, olive and sundried tomato mix

Grilled lobster in garlic-butter, Tempura fried lobster and lobster in puff pastry

Cod fish and Grilled lobster in garlic-butter

After dinner, we walked 40 minutes along the seaside to go back to our hotel. The view was very nice but it was windy and cold. Fat Bear was not a happy bear because I chose to walk along the seaside. He was not complaining about the walking but I walked so slow and it was too windy. So funny.

Waterfront

'Solfarid' sculpture

Hofdi House

Click here for more photos.

Links to our other postings:
Iceland - Reykjavik - Wednesday 23/05/2007
Iceland - Blue Lagoon - Friday 25/05/2007
Skybridge, Petronas Twin Towers KLCC, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia