farewell.queen.hello.king

an orange chiffon cake to commemorate the coronation of the king of oranje.

the lowland has marked a stop to the era of queens and start with a new king today

 that marks the end of queen's day, the day on 30 april will also ceased, this is the last queen's day.

 next year, you will enjoy a day off on king's day, not on 30 april but just a few days earlier....

 you cut yourself a slice

and enjoying it while watching the coronation in the television.
no.. you didn't join the street party, not the one in your city nor the one in the nearby cities. you have too much domestic chores to finished and you have a dinner tonight. so you are on energy saving mode, save for tonight.

that's say happy "last" queen's day of the many decades to come, and hail to the new king.
may God bless the new king with wisdom and understanding to administer the country.

revival

you're translating yesterday.  hence you have a good view from the upper deck. a special speaker were with you yesterday. a very anointed session where you felt the presence of the Lord and understood the preaching on "creative miracle".

 we all need miracle, in fact you know that miracle happens to those who love the Lord

1 john 2:6 "whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.". simple truth, grateful for sunday!

spring.sunlight

you do have good sunlight nowadays, but the temperature is still cold. that means you can enjoy the outdoor activities but still need to put on the winter jacket.  you are not complaining, in fact you are really thankful for the sunshine that you are able to enjoy and the longer daylight.

 second time trying on rhubarb, this time you are more prepared.

 starting with baking the tart shells a day before.

 and the pastry cream in the morning. the assemble is a swift, but the size of the individual shell doesn't accommodate both strawberry and rhubarb

with only one large tart shell, you manage to combine both rhubarb and strawberry...

 and the remaining pastry cream, strawberry and rhubarb go to a bowl of spring custard... very lovely vanilla scented custard cream with the right mix of sweetness from strawberry and tart from rhubarb.

 most of these went to the dinner at your mil's place where you had a family dinner last night

and yes, as much as you would like to drink a summer pimm's under the good sunlight, the truth is it's still a tad too early...
still you know the season will come and today you just give thanks to a good spring sun and vermeer light.

more.growth

finally home on friday. it's going to be a longer stay put week since next tuesday is the queen's day.

 you aren't going to travel to london just for a day, so you're working from home next monday ^^.

 you came home to see your hyacinth drop down to the ground because the flower petals accumulate too much water, so you cut them off the ground and put them in a vase. their fragrance fill the house.... natural scent, almost too overpowering

 your chive, coriander, parsley and spring onion are growing  too

the seeds are growing strong too!  it's a joy to see the reward of your labor.  you're very new to gardening but every single sawing and seeding bring so much pleasure to your body and soul.
now you are going to enjoy the harvest.

spring.dining

this is your second visit to this restaurant (or cafe?) in the heart of shoreditch. it's just a stone throw away from the hotel you stay this week.

the restaurant offers british classic with modern twist, but without any heavy dinner in mind, you decided to have the following...

a glass of rose wine to quench the thirst, after all it's the all high of 22c yesterday.

root vegetables salad,  the carrot, parsnip and sweet potato are nicely roasted with a hint of sweetness, not much just a hint and make this a very pleasant salad to eat...

a super fluffy crab omelettes, the egg is almost pillowy

your dinner should end at the crab omelette but you couldn't resist the dessert, so you settle the classic - sticky toffee pudding. the pudding comes with a dollop of clotted cream on the side, it's really a delight to eat the melting warm sticky pudding with the lightly chilled clotted cream.... very pleasant surprise... the photo may not do the justice...

and your cup of skinny latte to call the night.
it doesn't come cheap, but you're very satisfied with every thing you had here... you'll be back again when you have a bigger appetite to try the true british classic...

it's friday, spring is playing hide and seek with you here in london and in lowland. it was at the height of 22c and now the highest temperature for today is 10c. dress warm is your strategy to remain healthy.

happy weekend!

::rhubarb::crumble::

you saw rhubarb in the supermarket and grab a pack. this is the very first time you do something with this vegetables.  it resembles celery but in pink color.  you're playing safe by turning a few sticks of rhubarb into rhubarb crumble....

you roast the cut rhubarb with a bit of water and sprinkle sugar on top of them, just to make them soften in the process of roasting....

you mix the rhubarb with pressed fresh ginger and maple syrup and put them in a oven dish and cover them with crumble....

 30 min later, your rhubarb crumble is ready!

you would like to eat it with vanilla ice cream but there is no stock in the freezer, so a dollop of whipped cream would do...

for.a.change

for a change, you're not staying at the usual aparthotel. but this week you're lodging in a hotel a little further from your client but a lot closer to the happening place that you are fascinating about.

 the neighborhood is more relax, a little hippie or bohemian to say. but at least it's just a few bus stop or 20 min walk away and your neighborhood is transformed from a boring banker environment to some thing completely vibrant.

 today you're blessed with the high of 20c.  one of the very first warm day where you can walk around comfortably without your jacket or in fact you feel quite warm wearing your jacket.

 there're plenty bars and cafes that you wanting to try but you know you probably won't have the time to sip your coffee casually in any of these cafes....

 some pastry shops or small tearooms are closed early in the evening... you walk around explore the same area that you in fact frequented a few time since your weekend stay over.

 this is one of the indian restaurant that you've visited a couple of time.  you love the chai tea here but tonight you just fancy something light and low carbs

 so you settle in this little charming restaurant.  from the first glance you thought it's a small eatery that serve western light meal, but it turned out to be a thai restaurant!

 you order a portion of thai calamari, crispy squid topped with thai herbs, not outstanding and you wish it could be a little crispier but otherwise its alright

 and you love this minced chicken salad (laab gai). the chicken is spicy and perfect to eat it with the raw cabbage.

 and this is in fact your ideal light dinner, it may be calorie laden but light

 and you got the postcard size recipe from the restaurant. behind the postcard is the detailed recipe for thai green curry.

and you walk back to your hotel, a cozy bed is waiting for you, and you're calling it a night.

this week for a change, a different hotel, a tad closer to your favorite neighborhood.  it's a welcoming idea.

::fascinated::

you got a feeling that you are now once again fascinated by one part of london.
your recent visit to east london has revived something in you.  something subtle but you can recognize it like the time when you first move to shanghai and how you fascinated with old shanghai or rather shanghai in the 1930s and the french concession area.

since your recent london weekend stay over, you almost abandon west end london and purely focus on the east end.  you are fascinated by the history, stories or even tales of shoreditch, the ever vibrant and melting pot brick lane.
that said, you're going to london tomorrow. not that you've fully recovered from the cold but you're fit enough to travel for your work and to explore this part of london further.

::growth::

report from your garden....

 the hyacinth finally blooming.... not at it's best but at least blooming ^^

 compare to a week ago, your flowers are in blossom, very soon the tulips too!

 the new spring/summer flower seeds that you sow, they are now growing too...

 apple tree is growing again, showing sign of new leaves

 your first batch of herbs, after re-potting, growing, hopefully you can transfer them to the outdoor patch soon....

second batch of seeding is also growing ^^

there's a time for every activity under the sun.  in fact it's also biblical, for what you sow is what you reap.

dinner.at.breakfast.club

dinner at breakfast club? who cares... this was your dining experience earlier in the week when you're in london.

 breakfast club which technically doesn't serve breakfast early enough based on their opening hour...

 the entrance of the breakfast club

 the interior, a little wear down but still has the charming eastender atmosphere

 you're fooled by the retro fridge at one glance, that fridge is actually a door, an entrance to a room...

 your tap water serves in a beer bottle

 and a glass of superman juice... you have no idea why it's called superman, it's a non-boozy virgin drink.... a refreshing combo of cucumber, tomato, apple and pear juice, freshly pressed!

 moroccon style chicken salad

 and a falafel to accompany the salad main dish

the skydiver wall paper in the ladies toilet, it amuses you as you sort of putting the superman drink into perspective... but that's just your thought musing ^^.