buda.and.pest.impressions

i am back from budapest, from a sunny 30c+ land to a grey and humid lowland...

i spent 5 days at budapest, here are just some of the highlight!

on my arrival, i spent the late afternoon at the pest side of the danube embankment, watching the sun goes down and the light up, amazing experience, the photo just won't do the justice of the beauty of budapest...

a long walk and hike up to castle hill at buda side, it was so so hot but the sun couldn't stop me from sightseeing, i spent most of my time at fisherman bastion a rather magical place to hang around while enjoying the cool breeze and take in the view of pest...

a swim at a neo-classical thermal at gillert, i feel like transported back into roman's time while swimming in this indoor pool and the outdoor ones at well... a massive thermal complex with pool and water of different temperatures... a good way to relief the sore foot too...

budapest state opera house, a grand venue with a grand history that i will tell in a different time...

on my last day, i explored the local market, local because the prices are marked in florint only without euro equivalent...

for now, it is time to sleep...

madrid:mercado.de.san.miguel

i am sitting at my 'home' now in budapest, finished with packing and waiting for my host and ready to go home. my netbook is having some graphic interface problem that i couldn't fix because it is running on linux, so no photo from budapest. but i have pre-loaded some photos of madrid before so here is a blog about a market in madrid. in fact i just came back from a very local market in budapes too, not too far from my 'home'. but for now, this is mercado de san miguel..

located right besides plaza mayor, this is a rather touristic market although there is enough locals visiting here throughout the day. instead of calling this place a market, it is more appropriate to call it a hawker stalls or food center as there is only one store selling fruits and one selling fresh seafood, the rest are tapas, wine, drinks, ice cream or patisseries stalls....

i think i had quite a few meals here simply because it is easy and carefree to eat here... and the atmosphere is quite vibrant in the evening..

my first meal consists of assorted tapas, one euro per piece, six pieces are enough for me as a meal, as the weather is too hot to eat too much food!

a bar or a counter selling drinks, it is just not appropriate to call this a drink stall isn't it?

another day at mercado de san miguel, i went back to the same tapas stall again :) the cod paste and caviar one is the best

the one and only fruit stall, i bought some figs and flat nectarine from them, the fruits are super sweet and juicy...

more scenes of the various stalls, ham, oyster, and shrimp cocktail

lovely oysters on another day while waiting for a restaurant to open at 8pm, i killed some time by eating oysters and a glass of white wine...

a spanish croquette, apparently a delicacy but not to my liking...

i bough three pieces, but they are cold and not so tasty

fresh seafood stall, sometime the display itself is already a piece of art, don't you agree?

a pastry stall with some massive cake displays at the counter to allure the customers

the sweet stuffs on offer, macaron and cakes including some green color ice cream corn

the market at night is quite enchanting by itself, it opens till 2am though....

summer=pudding

a dessert that i first tasted more than 14 years ago during my university time in united kingdom and totally forgotten about this beautiful summer dessert...

it was not until another food blogger (whom i know personally through her daughter brief student exchange to delft) who shared about this home made dessert she eaten at london that trigger me to make this too. with my good friend staying over the weekend with us, i made this for our dinner after the oyster hunt....

summer pudding is simple and delicious

taking advantages of the summer season where the summer berries are in abundance and turn the fruits into a delightful pudding...

the recipe calls for cream but i just use yogurt as the dressing....

this is my last blog entry for today... in fact i just came back from a day trip to an annual antique market, but i will share my experience another day, same with my delightful m@dr!d experience will have to wait...

!!oysters!!

although we didn't have a lot of catch this year, but every oyster we picked were fat and fresh!! and free of course :)

we are blessed with free oysters, in fact one can pick oysters any time of the year in zeeland but we seem to only do in august simply because the weather is reasonably good and guarantee a pleasure experience. my hong kong girl friend who now temporary residing in mannheim, germany is interested in oyster picking, so she flew in just for this... and thanked God we have a good weather for the occasion....

she finally master the skill of opening the oysters, we didn't open all the catch a night before and on sunday morning i told her if she is willing to open the remaining oysters, i will make my childhood style oyster omelet for her, and she did open all the oysters...

and i have to fried the oyster omelet for her... but that's an easy job for me, tapioca flour, water, spring onion, beaten eggs.....

the omelet making in progress...

and the final result, oyster omelet with fish sauce... a taste that i acquired from my mother (but she uses clams instead of oysters) and a flavor that i manage to recreate and cherish....

an.oyster.hunt

your good friend visited you last friday for you both have a date with oysters. on saturday the weather was good, cloudy but warm with a pleasant temperature to be at the seaside dam. you were actually a little too late as the lowest tide is over by the time you arrived and you started at the wrong spot where there is no sign of oyster...

then you decided to move to another location where the water is still considerably low... although most people already finished with picking....

some one is jumping and leaping with joy

while you are taking the photos, he tried to get the girls to work hard in searching for the oysters

you love the attitude, never give up, keep on searching...

and before long, the tide is coming up... the water level increases in split second... you all have to walk in a really fast pace to get back to the shore... there were some panic moments in you but you know in the worst case you will just get wet....

your catch of the day, not too many compared to the last few years but half full is still better than half empty bucket...

p/s: i have to adjust these photos as all of them are over exposed, it is my fault as i set the exposure too high a night before while taking the firework photos...

north.sea.swim

i am back from madrid. i touch down past midnight and only reached home around 1:30am yet this morning i woke up early this morning and fully energize...
that's typically me when it comes to working day, i can hardly wake up yet during my vacation i can wake up as early as it takes as long as there is a program awaiting me...
going to the beach was not part of the agenda today, was thinking of going to amsterdam sail but both of us don't feel like traveling to amsterdam so we head to the beach at our backyard...

arriving at 3pm yet it's still sunny and warm... find a spot, lay our beach mat and here we settle down...

it was sunny, a rare day in this country to be able to sit at the beach and many people are sun tanning like no body business....

while i go swimming, johannes has to watch our belongings...

my very first time swimming in the north sea at scheveningen beach, the water is not cold, just very refreshing... i really enjoyed jumping on the sea waves...

gotta call it a night, tomorrow another day trip to go...

m@dr!d

i have been silence for a few days already, am on the part one of my vacation. it is hot here, i am already a shade darker....

madrid is a great city escape!!!!

safe.cheap.friendly.great food, super weather.

i took so many photos that my netbook can no longer handling them neither the speed of the wifi from the hostal able to cope.

here are just a few snapshots... more stories on this amazing city will follow when i finally get to sort out my photos...

plaza mayor, my first snapshot of madrid, the square is pretty much empty and only turns into life from evening till late night. i passed by here so frequent that each time i tell myself i am going to skip this place yet this seems to be the cross road for my orientation to get to the next destination...

madrid is full of parks, huge parks are everywhere. they are shady, great place for a picnic lunch or siesta when the sun is too fierce in the afternoon. parks have the cooling effect to madrid...

toledo, a Romanesque city just 30 min south of madrid by the high speed tourist train. a complete medieval city on top of a hill and three sides surrounded by water... this is not the view of the old city but the outlook from the old city to the greater surroundings...

summer.vacation.prolog

firework at scheveningen. fine weather. great companion.

what.a.blessed.day

what a blessed day i had today. nothing super exceptional. nothing big. sometimes just the feeling blessed itself doesn't come by easy. i think i have caught some magic from doing the 'send' thesis.. i have been interviewing people and also doing a bit of reading books/handout and bible trying get my part done before my vacation. today i had a small word of appreciation from one of the executives that i am working for. knowing that appreciation from them never come easy made me cherish it even more. i also got rewarded in points (which equal to hard cash) by my supervisor today, which all in all accentuate the day further...

i also see that God starting to create opportunities for me to speak to people even as simple as people wanting to share a table with me during lunch hour at the client's canteen, where a conversion can be form and a lady at the coffee corner whom i buy coffee with also suddenly initiates conversation with me...

well, it is hard to describe such a feeling, feeling blessed is a bliss in knowing that the God you worship is blessing you....

i.am.sailing

yesterday we were on a sailing trip, everything has been arranged in advance except the weather is something that we cannot reserve, we thought the weather is a guarantee in august but it turned out that mr sunshine decided to take a day off....

this is the cruise ship sailboat we chartered for the day, zuiderzee is her name and she is born in 1884 thus making her an old and gracious lady at the age of 126, but she is as strong as in her youth!

on boarding the cruise ship sailboat are a mixed of malaysians, dutch and a few other nationalities... but all have a tie with malaysia

the sailboat leaving the docking area, muidenslot (muiden castle) just right in front of us...

ruth is our master and the commander for the day, she is tough and strict...

the gentlemen have to learn the art of sailing, how to tie a knot, how to rise a mast and lowering at the same time, strong muscles are needed for this job...

engine is off, we are now sailing by the wind from the mother of nature...

the interior of the boat, there is a proper kitchen with gas stove, fridge and a dining area enough to sit 12 to 14 people, a bell to ring when the meal is ready to serve... it also have 12 beds if we are going on a overnight sail trip...

johannes in action, together with other gentlemen, lowering the mast as we approaching uitdam

this is our boat docking at a small village, we stopped for 45 min to rest our feet and have a quick walk of the village

johannes and the goat

a small rolling boat by the water together with some wild flowers - how picturesque could it be... a right representation of the moment

there is a row of nice traditional dutch house a the area where we dock our boat, these are like the holiday home with nice view of ijsselmeer

on our way back to the boat, the village is really too small and empty...

although mr sunshin didn't turn up to our appointment, miss rain didn't come forcefully either, there was no strong presence of mr wind too... we didn't sail too far at all, given the wind speed and only manage to reach uitdam (which is technically 10km or so distance from muiden). although the weather looked groomy all day, but we had a pleasant temperature of above 20c, making sitting on the deck an pleasure to enjoy despite of the absence of mr sunshine...