::before::after::

a lot of things going on in your garden lately, your plants, veg are growing....

courgettes, taking their sweet time to grow and they bloom with flowers (lots of them) over night.  now leaving you in excitement as you are eager to plug the male flowers for some delicacies....

japanese kai lan,  they are growing too!

garlic chives, this is the second batch which finally shows the sign of growth but very slowly.  the first batch didn't even grow at all that you wonder if you had sowed them too early in april.  anyway, you are glad this batch is growing... slowly but surely!

radish is growing very fast, you think you can stop buying them from the supermarket in a week time :)

you don't have a before photo to compare your apples but they are definitely growing, hopefully they are not too sour this year and you can at least turn them into something delicious...

last day of july. you hope that the warmer days will continue in august too

::wet::

 you went to your office in amsterdam today. you're here to apply for your visa extension which in reality is no longer relevant but it's management decision to go ahead to get it done. hence you're here and the weather is more or less the same as last year when you're here to apply for the same visa.

as you walk around, things have  changed in this area. it's actually more pleasant to walk around the area with quite a number of nice eateries and shops.

weather wise, it's been windy and drizzling all day...

 some art displays intrigued you as you walk in from one building block to another heading to your destination....

 they are quite a nice art work, just that you don't have time to pause and appreciate it fuller, as there is another conference call going on at the same time with your visa appointment, you need to rush back to office to take the call....

you don't like what you're doing at the moment, because your manager put you in charge while he is on his vacation.  you're back to people management and the political conversations.  you just don't like it at all....

that said, one more working day and you will be able to escape all these... by the time you're back, you can dump everything to your manager's manager.

summer.bbq

you try to seize your summer and hence often result in outdoor dining.  bbq has been a recurring affair on dinner setting

 sometime you have a bit more meat when you have family over....

 else it's just simple ingredient of sausages and other meat

 but you make sure you have ample of veg or grilled green to compensate the

 fruits and cut salad are easy and make the appearance quite frequent too

that said, you hope you're wrong but you feel the hint of autumn in the sky today, it's sunny but the wind is crisp... that would be too soon. it's not even august yet!  let's hope the summer will be much longer....

::thankful::

you still need to get use to the month of july as this is indeed a month of surprise two year in a row.  you are just thankful when you received your pay slip this month.  really grateful to God and His provision. He has blessed you beyond your word description.

 you both decided to take today easy, that means no appointment, no errands... for you it means just take your time do what you want to do and for him is a different story, he has to complete some elearning courses....  you woke up late, had your breakfast/brunch in the garden.  the weather has cooled down a bit to a state that it's comfortable to mingle and linger a little longer at the garden table without burning yourself.  it's also a strange saturday where there's no elaborated breakfast/brunch but just fruit, smoothies and a blueberry crumble muffin that you baked a day before. and a travel guide that you to read...

 and you did do some errands, that's ironing the mountain of clothing in the attic.  the not too warm weather did make you more productive with house chores... and you called for a afternoon tea.  just a simple one, store bought scone from waitrose london, cherries and muffins again....

 when evening comes, you just popped a bottle of prosecco, it's not even a decent white bubbles to celebrate but you rather use this bottle to try the various syrups that you bought from different place.

 and you mix a portion of the syrup to the prosecco.... you love all three though it makes the sparkling wine more like a aperitif for the drink before the meal.  you love peach and lychee for it represents the taste of summer.  that said you like both pomegranate and rose or the dijon cassis too.  they are all good to go with any not so great sparkling wines...

and for the very first time in many moons you cooked dinner tonight.  mostly japanese influece except the veg.  enoki beef, chawanmusi and tofu all with japanese twist. nothing great or exceptional just a taste of home with your a little rusty cooking skill....
happy saturday.  it's a bliss to sit in the garden till very late hour these days, you are thankful for that too.

summer.flowers.stroll

a sister from taiwan lodged at your place briefly.  and both of you're fanatic about photography and on the warm afternoon, while waiting for him to come home, you took her for a summer flower stroll at your neighborhood.
you exchanged your camera lens,  she used your 35mm f1.8 prime lens and you tried on her 18-55mm lens.  these are the result of the photo with 18 to 55mm lens.  although you couldn't achieve the bokeh result but these are fine to you.... after all, you don't intend to have a totally blur background....

 your lavender

 your annemoon

 and the rest are flowers and plants from someone else garden...

you enjoy such flower stroll in spring and summer days, and you used to do this a lot in the past.  it's particularly good that you make a point to stroll after dinner, but these days you hardly have dinner together, as you're not even in town or whenever you're in town, at home, he is working on the afternoon shift that span over dinner time.

!!!it's friday, happy weekend!!!

goodbye.london

you made a day trip to london today. it's not too bad or too tiring after all, not when the day is bright and warm....
you wanted to do a lot of things beside collecting your luggage, but at the end you didn't do that much, at least you didn't venture to oxford street or sloane square area.  you just stay within your vincity...

 you walk to old street for lunch and on the way, you chanced into this weekly food market.  the atmosphere is very east london, like the kind you experienced in brick lane.

 and you're surprise that you walked past this street so often in the last year and only today you notice some street decoration that similar to the other part of east london

 and you're here for the last plate of CKT.  you ponder around what food you want to eat for your last lunch in london, you're tempted to go duck n waffel but at the end you settled with what is true to yourself, a plate of penang style CKT that you know you won't get it easily in lowland.
you met up with your team and your colleagues, just to have a drink,  a quick catch up and to say goodbye and return your access cards.  that draw a conclusion to your adventure in london.  it's been long, you never stay in a project that long in your career and this is probably the first and the last.

and you hauled back a lot of stuffs. you acquire the taste of british as if you are not going to be there for a very long time. and these are just a glimpse of your favorite (all in dark packaging, hahaha)...
now goodbye london.  you'll be in between projects for awhile but you won't mind staying put at home to enjoy the summer, after all, it won't be long before the summer is over and before long your next destination will be known.  and you are hoping for switzerland or poland or sweden, but most importantly it's the place where God wants you to be.  so until the next destination reveals, you're going to work with rest and relaxation in between.

::summer::

the weather cooled down significantly today.  it's a relief in a way and  a tad gentle to your plants.

you're enjoying your summer at home but you've lost your appetite and also refrain from working too long in the kitchen, so fruit is your current staple food

and  you've been drinking a lot of tea.  your favorite tea is verbena tea that you bought from france.

you made a mini dark chocolate terrine or  batik cake but you use a french recipe which result in an extremely rich cake that not exactly the same as batik cake that you taste before.... but they are good bite after dinner or to wash down with coffee or tea...

and your clitoria ternatea, bunga telang or butterfly pea sprout within two days after you planted them.

you're making a day trip to london tomorrow, mainly to collect the stuff that you left in your hotel and you're going to leave london behind and move on...

::cruise:::

a warm day. a cool evening night out with just ladies.

 your gourmet burger, medium done at least this is not any burger ^^

 from the upper deck

and the sun is setting

 your outlook and horizon is changing too

its been a fun night, you bet the warm weather plays a big factor in the entire experience. it's as if you went on a cruise and return happily. while in reality, the cruise boat is set still and never going to sail again.

have a good trip back to taiwan J!

le.bacchus

your very first meal in the city of beaune

the restaurant is just round the corner on where you stay....

your starter - oeufs en meurette, you don't know how to translate this dish, but it's truly burgundy, basically a poached egg in beef bouillon

and topped with the local earthy mushroom.... love every bits of it

his salmon capaccio

 your beef burgundy - it's tasty and may be a tad too salty and perhaps the dish is without the presence of carrot, it's still a very good and down to earth dish.  you could feel the culture and the lifestyle of burgundy by eating this dish....

his veal kidney which you didn't try but it's good according to him and he wiped his plate clean too!

 creme brulee with a flame

you opt or cheese instead of sweet dessert.  however, you're sure what cheese are but you guess is these are burgundy cheese as well.  it's just a bit dull to eat them like this without crackers/bread or sweet confiture to balance the saltiness...

===
you spent whole day at work in the office. it's good in a way as the air condition is making you feeling comfortable than at home without one.  still you're not complaining.  you just enjoy the heat ^^
===