As i’m not going to be in London for that many more days,
i really wanted to take Uncle Mark and Aunt G for something…
not that it can repay back the ton of amazing food and wonderful shows they took me to,
but i just had to do something!
I remember them mentioning that they hadn’t watched Wicked yet,
and neither had i,
so i went on LastMinute.Com and got tickets to watch it last Tuesday.
The show was simply spectacular…
I was completely blown away by the singing
the dancing
the costumes
the STORY
I think if you had to choose only one musical to watch in London right now,
it has to be Wicked!!!
They took me to a gorgeous French restaurant after that (they paid, i got no more money haha) called La Poule au Pot which has been the same for 30 years.
I was really looking forward to it
cos i heart French food!
It’s so authentic that the menu reads only in French,
and all the waiters speak French.
I had escargots to start with,
and bouillabaisse for my main.
I really like bouillabaisse,
had almost forgotten what it tastes like… <3
Love it to the extent i want to attempt cooking it when i get home!
Being in the restaurant really made me miss Clem,
obviously cos of all the French accents around me.
Well as you’re reading this,
i’m on my last trip in Europe – a cruise from St. Tropez to Rome,
then back to London for a couple of days,
before i fly back to Clem
As i was posting all the pictures up,
i couldn’t help feeling fuzzy from all the smiles and funny faces i saw in the pix
Aunt G decided we could throw a casual party with food + drinks
where i could invite all my friends (or all those i have here in London anyway)
and she hers.
Below is what she means by ‘casual finger food’:
“Why so much food?! I thought you said finger food…” i said, looking at the amount of food piled on the kitchen counter. “Well it’ll be simple things, you know, and i don’t want people to starve.” “Starve… i think there’s enough here to feed a family for a month. -_-“
We did the cooking in the office kitchen.
Or should i say, her students and her did the cooking in the office kitchen.
I just… assisted.
Was trying to memorize how they cooked everything,
but was so busy cutting and chopping that i didn’t have time to observe!
Lara and Lidia helped cook a couple of dishes!
Two of them are usually the ones cooking lunch in the office on weekdays,
and are really good!
Julian is a new intern who just started last week.
Me: *cutting carrots* Did you imagine you’d be made to cut potatoes while you’re interning here… haha… Julian: *cutting potatoes* No..!
Thank you guys so much for cooking dishes for my friends and the whole party..!
Party started at 7:30pm.
And i was washing dishes for ages like some mad person just before it.
Yishyene arrived early and laughed at me cursing at pots while scrubbing them furiously.
Lidia made this and tortilla!
Aunt G’s chicken in 2 flavours.
I’m not going to state how many pieces i ate,
in shame that i may have eaten more than some guests
Meesh, SamTan and Jayna brought dessert.
Am so very impressed that Meesh baked such a moist cake!
And everyone was blown away by SamTan’s choc layer cake.
Ok so i got a scolding from my aunt -_-
For only remembering to take pictures of the food when most of it was already half eaten :p
I was so amused by Julie’s story of how Richard and her got married in Las Vegas
Lara, Lidia, Miriam, Julian, me!
I see them almost every day cos i come into the office to use the internet,
and they get to hear my aunt grill me on where i’m going,
who i’m seeing, etc etc etc
Luca, who used to intern there as well
me, Jayna, Aunt G, SamTan
Aunt G, Lara, Lidia, Julian
To make Julian practice his English,
my aunt made him write down a list of info on every single person who attended (32 altogether)
along with name, occupation, which country they’re from,
and made him in charge of introducing EVERYONE TO EACH OTHER.
‘Twas so funny seeing him bring out ‘The List’ and reading out info to the guests.
Everyone was like, “Have you seen The List?”
Had an awesome dinner party on Monday night,
thanks to my Aunt G and her interns who helped cook and cut veggies all day!
Party started at 7:30pm and went on till 2am.
Those who left later couldn’t take the Tube home,
so Yishyene, RyanSoosay, Meesh and AlcoJason came back to my place
to continue drinking.
We danced all the way home,
drank wine from Chinese bowls,
and then suddenly….
The two guys passed out.
-_-
Yishyene and i looked at each other,
and i immediately went to get my make up
and other colourful scarves and things i could find.
We were laughing and giggling like teenagers the entire time,
but even all that noise didn’t wake them up!
Fail.
You boys, utter fail.
RyanSoosay is wearing MAC Blacktrack eyeliner, Rimmel lipstick.
Polka dot and stripe cardigan from Miss Selfridge.
Make up artist: Yishyene
Meesh is carrying brollie from M&S.
Yishyene wears funky shades from Krabi.
RyanSoosay wears scarf from flea market in Amsterdam.
The next morning, i bbm-ed POB telling him how i avenged him.
Now… *i* just have to make sure i never pass out around them…
:p
Forgot to take a proper picture of the beautiful manicure we gave them.
Couldn’t stop laughing the next day imagining how they had to rush off to work with that.
Last weekend was ALL ABOUT WIRELESS for Wilson and i (oh it was Pride on Sat, but was too hungover to check it out :p)
I only attended Friday and Saturday for Wireless
Friday @ Wireless
Acts that caught my eye on the lineup for Friday were
– Temper Trap
– Ting Tings (but i saw them in Singapore already, and they’re not very impressive live)
And er… that was it.
Pink was headlining on Friday, but i’d already seen her at the Isle of Wight fest and i did mention that i’m not really a fan >.<
One for me, one for Wilson, one for Yishyene
I’ve got a bit tired of the bright nail colour i always have on,
so have recently opted for a cold grey i got from Topshop Make Up
Yishyene does this give-no-shit slashing of random colours on her nails.
Wilson was very excited to make friends with an insect.
We went to check out The 88 and i really liked them!
Also might be attributed to the fact that i didn’t pace my drinks properly on Friday and was up for anything.
By the end of the night, i was so tipsy i was dancing to Pink.
Pink.
I’ve listenend to their album multiple times,
in KL,
in Bali,
in Bangkok,
in Spain…
so to see them live was such an emotional moment for me.
(Man talking about music really makes me sound like a sap)
LOVE THEM.
They’re so good live,
check out the video below during Sweet Disposition.
Forgive the wonkiness, i couldn’t help it in my excitement then!
Yish and i joined up with MadcapperSa, TunkuNadia + Sabrena for Pink.
The rest are here for the summer too
You can never take the squatters out of the Malaysians.
Especially me.
I look like a downright ah beng!
The park was really dusty cos it hasn’t rained for days,
just look at our filthy feet!
I even had to clean the bathtub after cos my entire body was just that filthy argh!
Have to say it’s not as bad as not showering for 4 days during the IOW :p
After that we all trooped back to TunkuNadia’s flat,
where i stayed the night cos it’s either i leave by midnight (to catch the Tube)
or after 6am (when it opens again).
Decided to stay cos we were having too much fun to stop!
Woke up the next morning,
crept out (cos everyone else was still asleep, or so i thought),
blinked on the pavement and wondered where the hell i was…
Cos i totally didn’t recall how we got back to the flat -_-
Googlemapped myself to recover location,
went home,
met Sa and Nadia for lunch at S&M on Portobello,
and went back to Hyde Park for…
Saturday @ Wireless
Because i was so hungover slow,
i forgot and missed Missy Elliot
and arrived in time for… Snoop Dogg
All my other friends and Yishyene’s friends
were right at the front partying to Snoop Dogg.
Whereas (i know this is blasphemy cos everyone loves Snoop Dogg) we couldn’t give a damn cos it’s just not our thing at all.
I’m not gonna pretend i like him just because everyone else does.
That whole nigger hey what’s my name y’all thing is SO NOT ME.
I was laughing at this photo below,
cos he was rapping about something
and i was going what the hell is he saying?! i want to die
We just sat as far away as we could and waited for New Young Pony Club to come on in another tent.
We were whooping and dancing while running like mad people from one tent to the main stage!
I’ve known AlcoJason since i was 10
and we were partners in party crime before he moved to London to work 5 years ago.
His powers of persuasion got him his job there.
It also got me suckered into making a pact with him years ago,
and us getting the same tattoo in ’08.
So now you all know what the tattoo on my wrist stands for… Partying with Jason for LIFE. HAHA.
Not bad seeing we’ve done KL to death (trouble to the point our friends hesitate when they know both of us are up for a night out), Bali last year, and London this year
And I thought the first animal whose mouth Wilson might end up in was a dog…
Turns out wrong. -_-
Check out the unintentional Gap ad.
I didn’t even ask them to pose, just turned to them and WALA THEY’RE CAMERA READY.
We all screamed and hopped on a carousel after 2ManyDjs and LCD Soundsystem was done.
Oh yeah, LCD wasn’t as good as i thought they’d be…
2ManyDjs rocked it so good and hard LCD couldn’t close and top it after!
I swear.
I laughed when i saw the pix.
Seriously, is AlcoJason even on the horse in the pic above?
What’s he DOING?!
Such a great weekend.
I think i have to come back here every summer now.
Why the heck did i not come before?!?!
One thing i can agree on with everyone here is the food.
Aunty G said there are about 6,000 restaurants listed in London,
so even if you tried a new one every day, you’d still take over a decade to try each one.
0_o
Went to Princi for lunch with SunshineySteph and her friend Ben yesterday.
It’s a modern cafeteria-style Italian place where we had pizzas, spinach pies and choc desserts.
In the evening i went to a literary talk by Robert Sackville-West at the RAC where he spoke about his new book called Inheritance.
If you’re wondering since when i took such an interest to aristocracy,
i didn’t book to go to the talk – Uncle Mark and Aunt G forced took me.
Before i walked into the room, i spotted it filled with people with white hair,
turned to my Uncle Mark and quietly said, “Oh god. So not my scene!”
95% of the crowd was over 60
and i must have been the only person there to have intentionally shaved themselves bald (or half bald, anyway)
It was definitely different… and i’m pleased enough i took it all in and didn’t fall asleep once.
After the talk, we went for a Hunan dinner at Ba Shan @ Soho
where i had one of my top favourite meals here (last one being at As in Amsterdam, and before that J. Sheekey in London)
Pigs liver in chilli oil that was tender and juicy…
Pigs trotters with garlic and chilli…
Beans with chilli…
and one of my faves – aubergine mashed with garlic and chilli!
I know, it sounds like all the dishes tasted the same cos of garlic and chilli,
but they managed to make it all taste distinctly different from one another!
Salivating thinking about the aubergine and pigs’ liver now.
Was SO FULL after that i couldn’t function properly,
turned down some Margiela party with VincePY, and lay down at home to recover instead!
“You turned down a fashion party cos you ate too much?!” exclaimed Clem on the phone. “Uh huh. *groans on bed*…”
He then asked whether i’ve weighed myself recently.
I said no.
Because i’m not going to give a damn about maintaining what i eat (despite the likelihood of looking like a fatty on the cruise) cos i just cannot get enough of the food here!
Plus i’m on holiday!
Plus good food makes me so happy!
+ + +
Okay am off for first day of Wireless now!
Looking forward to Temper Trap today,
and New Young Pony Club, LCD Soundsystem and 2ManyDjs tomorrow!
