Another one of those unproductive days, and I am really really really sick of studying. Anyone in the same position?

Proper post will come soon, hopefully.

Your's truly has finally, finally, finally decided to put an entry on his blog. Sorry to all my DFRs for the long hiatus, I just got caught up with my life (ha!) and forgot all about this.

So begins my third and final year of my undergraduate degree at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Having mixed feelings about what could potentially be my last year in London. To be fair, I have grown to like this place quite a fair bit: unfriendly people, crap weather, rubbish air quality, milk that causes stomach upsets (list is not exhaustive). But now I wonder whether it might be a wise decision for me to either return home after graduating, or to explore (and possibly settle down in) someplace new.

I guess I should just focus on doing well in school for now, something for which I have lost all drive and motivation...

School has pretty much started, and I am thinking of switching courses, more because my current timetable sucks than anything else. You can quite tell I'm more focused on enjoying my last year than enjoying school itself. The usual events that mark the start of the academic season (Freshers' Fayre, moving in etc) have passed, and we're now down to the bread and butter of it. I'm still trying to adjust, hopefully I'll settle in soon enough.

I know I sound like school's been quite a chore, but it has not been that bad really. A real morale booster was this new addition to my lifestylie:



The Nespresso Machine. Easy for making fresh, authentic espressos, and quickly too. Just pop the capsule into the machine, press a button and out comes the coffee. The capsules themselves cost 26-29p, which is pretty reasonable if you ask me.

Another morale-boosting highlight was watching Travis for the 2nd time in just over a year! And this time, their performance was much more energetic, a band known for belting out melancholic rock tunes at their sublime best.


Haha, check out the Orange R2D2 amp! I thought that he might suddenly come to life and do the Domo Arigato Mr Roboto on stage.


Exceptional. I was so happy they played re-offender, they didn't play it the last time round. And I have to say their new album, Ode to J Smith, is a pretty good one too.

The set at the Astoria Theatre. I used to suspect this place might be a bit dodgy, but turns out it was quite a good venue, much cosier than the likes of the Wembley Arena and the O2. I've yet to visit the latter, but I'll be there in February to watch Keane, incidentally also for the 2nd time.

Well take care all, hope that all is well. You shall year again from me very soon, I promise.

Hello my DFRs

Time really flies and term ends in barely one-and-a-half weeks. A lot has happened in the past two weeks and the Easter Break can't come soon enough.

About a week ago, I popped in to Maison Malinowski at Covent Garden for some brunch. Well the food was alright, but a tad too expensive. I will probably go there again, though not anytime soon.

This was some kind of potato omelette, almost like rosti. It was alright, reasonably filling, but as mentioned it cost a little too much.

For the first time in quite a long while, I actually ventured out of my comfort zone (that is Zone One of Central London, pun intended). I have to say, while there are stories about how dangerous London can be, Canada Water during the day was quite a cool place to visit. The weather was perfect, and I took my time to enjoy the surrounding atmosphere. Needless to say, I will definitely be coming back to this place which is a 40-minute bus ride away from where I live.

The trip, which was incidentally meant to be for shopping purposes, yielded a pair of running tights and some groceries. One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to a Giant Tescos, which was possibly up to 5 times or more the size of the largest Tesco Metro in Central London. This thus meant encountering items which I have never before seen in any other Tesco.


I wonder if these are Whiskey-flavoured.


Ah a Slovak friend of mine is crazy over these, and I have to say that even though they weren't all that authentic, they are after all made in Thailand, and they taste pretty damn good.

Well unfortunately, I don't have very many photos this time around, but I leave you with a familiar sight - the view from the top of Regent's Park. I did put up a similar picture exactly a year ago, if you look under the entries for March 2007 you might see it.


The sky this time was slightly cloudier. This photograph was taken in the late morning, whereas the one from last year was taken in the afternoon.

Well, I'll be back soon my dear readers. Stay tuned.

Xin Nian Kuai Le!! (Happy New Year!!)

My sincere apologies to those DFRs who have diligently checked www.davidgoestolondon.blogspot.com everyday without fail in anticipation of an exciting, picture-filled entry. You shall be somewhat rewarded this time. While I can't guarantee an exciting entry, I can guarantee nice pictures!

Just a week ago, I was back home in the motherland for Chinese New Year (CNY) celebrations. Patrons of this website would remember how I flew to Singapore and then flew back within the space of 3 days last year. This time, I made sure I stayed longer in Singapore. I decided that lectures and classes were not as important as spending CNY with my family at home and indulging in those wonderful New Year goodies.

This year being the year of the Rat, I thought I'd get a photograph of two well-dressed rodents to decorate this entry.

I think they look like the perfect couple. They have indeed survived the demands of the rat race that is life.

Anyway, since the second-most important part of CNY is eating (the most important being receiving red packets filled with cash), I thought I'd share (not literally) with you some of the stuff we had for our reunion and CNY dinner.

Yu Sheng. The must-have fish salad. I really miss having this.


Ooohh roast pork. Family's secret recipe. Not quite like what we get in HK style roast meat places. Just look at the crispy layer on top.


My aunt's baked chicken, with marinade somewhat like that of a korma. This dish appeared on our CNY menu a few years back, and it has become quite a favourite ever since.


Taking a break from food images, this is something I've not played with in a long time - sparklers! Well firecrackers are banned in Singapore, so the next best thing would be these "hand-held fireworks". Nowadays they even come with a "wheeeeee" sound when we light them. Genius. (PS I know I look like some small kid in this photo, but I couldn't help it. I was, after all, playing with sparklers.)

Festivities aside, I had time to do some of the stuff I would usually do when I go back, namely eat some more. Well in this case I didn't have the time to go to places for Char Kway Teow / Hokkien Mee (most of these places were closed anyway), but I did have time for Mr Teh Tarik.


I had two cups of my favourite iced milk tea when I was back. Mmmmmmm.

All good things had to come to an end eventually, which explains why I am blogging from chilly London. So I leave you with some pictures of fancy-looking coffees I have had so far. These are not only for viewing pleasure, they helped warm me up whenever the weather got really miserable.





I shall try to blog more regularly in future.

Greetings my DFRs!

Ah, with reference to my previous email, I would like to wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas and Happy 2008. I know these greetings are rather overdue, and I am very sorry that this blog post has taken such a long time to come. I do hope that everyone reading this has had a good 2008 thus far. Mine has been average really.

Well, for those of you who have been wondering, the Winter Break consisted of trips to Rome as well as various parts of Morocco. Christmas itself was spent in London, and so too was the New Year. Simple affair, but the presence of the rest of my family and the people who made me happy during that period was hugely appreciated.

So Lent Term is now in full swing, and I can barely stand still for a moment. I have kind of gotten into the routine of doing work, but life is now kind of different for several reasons. February can't come soon enough, when I get to go home to Singapore for Chinese New Year!!

Well my DFRs, unfortunately that's all for now. A longer post will come soon enough. There also seems to be some problem uploading photos at the moment, so once that is sorted out I promise a post with many many photos.

Do check this website regularly for any updates.

Cheers.

Hey there my Dear Faithful Readers!

We are now into the last week of term as I speak, and the winter break can't come soon enough. The previous week, Week 9, was pretty hectic for me. Of less significance to me was the fact that I burst my budget. Always inevitable (as I have experienced last year) whenever the end of term approaches.

One of the main reasons for my high level of expenditure was the fact that I ate out quite a bit, and one of the reasons for me eating out was that the good man Josh was over from Oxford for a day. We had a good Indian dinner at the Tavistock Tandoori Restaurant (formerly known as Hot Chilli), then being the Gunner Fan that he is, we headed to the Emirates after dinner (i.e I acoompanied him on his mini pilgrimage).


Royal Salute.


Well, as a Man Utd fan myself, I have to say I was hugely impressed with the Emirates and its sheer majesty. As Josh continually re-iterated, there is a "friendly rivalry" between us when it comes to football. I mean, only one English team has gone 49 matches unbeaten in the EPL, and only one English team has ever won The Treble.


Yes, I was indeed dressed specially for the occasion.

On Friday of Week 9, it was the annual Newman House Christmas Party. This was the second year in a row that I was attending the party, even though I was not a resident last year. The dinner was wonderful, even though I was sitting with several unfamiliar faces (actually that probably made it all the more interesting). Alcohol does wonderful things to your head, and for some people (like myself), it removes mental blocks from your head, enabling you to come up with the most profound discoveries ever, such as the David Vera Theorem of Alcohol Abstinence, and the Vera-Witajewski Curve of Alcohol consumption. Marvellous.





Pictures of 1. My table; 2. Foie Gras; 3. The main course - Turkey with stuffing, veggies, bacon and a sausage; 4. Christmas pudding with custard sauce.

On the whole, it was a blast of an evening. A perfect way to end of a hectic and tiring week. The total amount of alcohol consumed included 10 glasses of wine, 2 gin and tonics, 1 tequila shot and a JD coke. Best of all, I was able to help clean up after the party was over. Mathematically speaking, if I were to plot a graph of "how tipsy I felt" on the vertical axis vs "how much alcohol I consumed" on the horizontal axis, as the amount of alcohol I consumed tended to infinity, the level of tipsiness approaced the "drunk" threshold from below, without me actually getting drunk i.e the "Drunk" threshold level of tipsiness was a horizontal asymptote.

Well that's week 9 in a nutshell. My "interesting pic of the week" is as follows:


The main character of the Bee Movie.

Well, it's just 4 more days to the end of term (and Rome). I hope everything will bee fine. I should get to see you one last time before the festivities begin. Until then, see you guys later.

Cheers.

Thousand apologies for not having updated for a while. It has been a very busy period for me with assignments, deadlines and lots of other major events including the visit of my dad. Well, I have little more breathing space now, so I thought it fair to blog a little.

Time really flies and it is already week 9 of term. Before you know it, it will be the Winter Break!! But first, I have to cautiously negotiate the last two or so weeks of term.

You should know by now how much of a sucker I am for good food, and good food I got when my father came over to town! Pictures of some of the stuff I got to eat (possibly the best food I've had in London for a while) while Lao Pa was over:


Japanese-style fried dough fritters with a molten chocolate centre. Mmmm...


Mojito with cucumber. Refreshing.


Pork Medley


Mousse Cake


Roast Dinner


Treacle Sponge with Vanilla Custard Cream. Absolute beauty!


Grilled scallops (tastes a lot better than it sounds)


Chocolate Fondant...


With a Green Tea centre. Sounds weird, but trust me, that was a heavenly comination.

Best of all, 27th November was the day my dad turned 55:


Picture of the Birthday Dad and his son.

This past weekend was LSE Cathsoc's Advent mini-retreat. It was good to spend 4 hours or so of quiet time away from them books and to do some reflection (not in the mirror of course).






Pictures of the retreat.

Then on Sunday, it was the much-anticipated Maroon 5 concert and a 2nd visit to the Wembley Arena. While I am not a huge Maroon 5 fan, I felt that most of their songs should be quite easy to groove to when performed live. Better yet, Dashboard Confessional were opening! The crowd just went berserk when they said "Remember that song from Spiderman 2?"




The concert itself was alright. Certain songs were disappointing, but they managed save the situation towards the end. Still, they could not compare to Keane (who were the band I watched when I last visited the Wembley Arena, for those of you who don't know). The set was pretty cool though.

I now leave you with another one of those interesting sights you occasionally happen to chance upon. Really, I thought I had seen it all in London. Guess I was wrong.


Till next time, my DFRs. Hopefully I won't be drowning under a mountain of work.

Ciao.