Vivian came, we spent and we ate.

Vivian has came up to Glasgow for a visit from Reading for the past two days. Vivian, Cying and  I have been spending the days together catching up wit each other's life.
We thought of doing some shopping but time was limited and Glasgow has been too crowded. The city has been packed with tourists who came for the Commonwealth Games for the past few days. There were lots of sales going on at the same time. Unfortunately I don't feel comfortable shopping in a crowded environment. So, I bought no new clothes.

However, I paid my first visit to L'OCCITANE and did my first purchase of the hand cream and beauty cream under Pivoine Flora Series. The series came with scent of roses, which smells really good. Also to match with the rose toner I bought from Japan which I had just started using recently.

I have heard lots of positive reviews from various people about L'OCCITANE. Even after my purchase, I came across another friend who reassured me that a hand-cream-fanatic friend of hers once testimonied L'OCCITANE to have the best hand cream ever. It made me so happy that I bought it, full of hope for smoother hand/skin *twinkles* lol *applies cream generously* hahaha

So, Basically, for the past two days, the most interesting stuff we had, I would say would be the food we ate.

We ate so much. I did not have the photos of every single food but,yea, foodporn! :D

Friday night at The Sisters, Kelvingrove, Glasgow

Shetland mussels in Thistly cross Scottish Cider with crispy Ayrshire bacon, parsley, garlic & Cream

Ill make it short.Fresh and amazing cream!

Ullapool smoked haddock risotto with creamed leeks and soft poached Corrie Main farm egg

Personally, love this starter. Probably, because of the egg. I love poached egg so much. It surprised me when I poked the egg and the orange-yellow yolk burst out and blend into the leek cream, making such beautiful colors. Haddocks are soft and fresh. Loving the balance of texture, soft and crispy.

However, Vivian and Cying thught that the risotto was over cooked, making it feels almost like rice.

Well, I still love it anyway. The name doesnt really matter to me:D

Wild highland Venison Loin, Arran beetroot & cabbage slaw with a Tayside raspberry balsmic glaze

This is my main course. I would say that the Venison Loin, below my expectation, it was not as juicy or tender as the appearance looked like. It was slightly dry. However,  I like the raspberry balsamic glaze very much. The composition would be perfect together if the loin was tender enough, blending its taste together with the glaze. 

As an overall, The Sisters actually falls below our expectation. However, I appreciate the delication of design in their food. So beautiful! Nonetheless, I would say that the composition of ingredients were really great! If only certain ingredient could be properly controlled in the cooking... But these things could be improved by experience. I would like to try it again someday.

Saturday Brunch with Cying at Kember & Jones, Byres Road, Glasgow

Cying ordered Continental Start with an apple muffin and a scone.

The scone was the softest scone I have ever eaten in my life, so far.

They have a mild,  unique scent of spice to it, which is really nice.

I ordered Bacon Waffle and Maple Syrup. SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!

SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!

All I can say is, SO GOOOODDDDD *hearts*

Such sweetness, makes the day bright. :D

However, it might be too sweet to be eaten everyday. 

I can't actually go further for a second plate.

I was satisfied, 

anyhow. lol

Saturday Dinner at Anatolia, Hope Street, Glasgow

A turkish restaurant.

Sorry, I did not take much photo for this restaurant. Because...I wasnt so interested...

Somehow, food with lots of spice and creams around does not suit to my liking.

But, this main course I ordered, Dolma, is a stuffed aubergine with rice. Yea.

I struggled eating this, but, it doesnt mean their food was bad.haha

Cying, Vivian and Wling ordered marinated lamb cubes or something similar. Those were superb. 

I was just unlucky.orz

After that, we proceed to the CUP, Glasgow for a little bit of drink.

Cying and Vivian each ordered a mojito.

I asked the bartender for recommendation as I am a total noob.lol

She actually recommended mojitos to me as well. Then, I remembered in the past, I always get recommmendations from friends, who always those like,.. 'girls tend to like this alot' bla bla bla..but I have never liked them after I tried it. So I ended up ordering the unrecommended gin-cocktail, The Martinez. lol 

Da Dang!

Looks like Rising Sun , with a red cherry at the bottom of the glass.

Love it. 

The bitterness, but comes with a little bit of sweetness to it. 

The scent was abit sweet too. It did make me felt calm down, like the smell of lavender.

So, Apparently, I am not a girl. hahah

 I tend to enjoy drinking drinks which are stronger and slightly more bitter.

 We ended our second day with a little bit of chitchat, accompanied with bottles of sparkling juice-like wine.lol

And, I have not been doing anything productive for three days, including work and japanese study or anything. sigh

But, it was really great to be able to talk to my friends and having some sleepovers after so many years.

Even though they talked so much about medicine and pharmacy...lol, expected, when a doctor and a pharmacist meets. Though I didn't understand all those scientific terms, but I was glad they were patient enough to explain it to me when I was confused. Probably I asked alot of amateur questions..lol! It was interesting anyway to hear about things you don't know about. It makes you feel distant from your friend at some point, but at the same time, you will find it amazing to realize how everyone is specializing in something different from each another.:)

Some selfies to end. hahaha

Me and Cying. I straightened her hair! :D

By the way, I really, really, really, think that my face is looking older and older nowadays...starting to look like auntie..., really.

I wanna cry... why why why whyyyyyyy

And, yea, I don't know why, but yes, we did not take any photo with Vivian.lol why????!!

Sorry, vivian. Because you left us. :P

Also, I am actually trying to get back my long fringe, because I wanna look like Avril.ahhahaha

But, maybe because of that I look more auntie?? I don't know.

Maybe I should go back to short fringe and act cute.lol

But no, lets see how it goes... 

Maybe cause I havnt been wearing colour lens for long time, or maybe cause Cohei showed so much hatred towards colour lens.. recently, I somehow felt more comfortable with my look without lenses. But it has became a totally different feeling from what I used to seek.

Cheers.

ようやく

最近の日本語勉強は面白いです。
いつも分からない事がようやく分かりました。

覚えべき物がたくさんなったんだ
だが、興奮になったんだｗ

Recently, my japanese study has been interesting.
Things that I have not been able to understand have slowly came to understanding.
Things that I need to remember became more and more
However, I became excited about it.

Nail Care Debut

I always felt envious about other girls who have long and slender fingers and beautiful nails.
I do have a little bit of fetish on hands.
 So, I have always been embarrassed about my own hand.
 So ugly.
 Until yesterday i decided to make a difference. 
I can't change the shape of my fingers that I was born with.
 So, I finally picked up some nail reshapers and stuffs. I also bought this complete care extra moisturising 4-in-1 nail treatment, hoping it would give it more healthier look.
Apparently it comes with Avocado Oil, Okoume Extract, Soy & Silk Protein, Minerals and wheat...
I know nothing about nails...But this sounds very healthy to me...
aha...haha... orz

Not sure if it works. It looks exactly like the usual transparent nail color coating...
 But, so glad I started fixing my nails!
 I should have done this earlier (*ノノ)キャッ
 Not perfect, but so much better. it looks smoother and shinier now.
 ☆ﾟ'・:*:・｡,ヽ(・∀・)人(・∀・)ﾉ ,｡・:*:・ﾟ'☆

By the way, I have moved in into a new place Last Friday. Currently living with a couple, yee yee & fong fong. I will be living in their living room for two months, as Glasgow rent is really high around this time due to Commenwealth, also because my schedule for future has not been decided.

So thankful of them and also Ying Ying for helping me out in the house moving that day. I thought I could do it alone but... I guessed I overestimated myself. lol

ダンス出発！

今日人生に初めて踊ってみた。
Today I tried to dance for the first time in my life.

Youtube で初心者向けチュートリアルから習っている。
I am learning it from youtube tutorials for beginners.

ヒップホップです。
It's Hip Hop.

さらに、興味できゃりーのインベーダインベーダを練習していますｗ
In addition, I am practising Kyary's Invader Invader's Dance moves out of interest. lol

初めてからちょっと難しかった。楽しかっただけどね☆
It was my first time, so it was somehow difficult. But I had fun☆

中学校からいつもダンスをやりたいと思っていた。
I have always though of learning to dance since high school.

やっと、今後悔しないのためもスポーツのためにも、ダンスを始めました。
Finally, In order not to regret later on, also for sports, I started to dance.

これからもダンスを習います。
I will continue to learn dancing this day onwards.

フブ

明日は耕平のハッピーデーです。彼は日本に一時帰国します。
私も彼も、今までいつも一緒にいたから、とても寂しくなると思います。

なんかうらやましいわー

実を言うと、私も日本に行きたいから。


ね、大好きな耕平！
イギリスで待ってますよ☆　
日本での一月半の生活、どうか楽しんでください☆

また今度会う時、笑顔で会いに行きますね＾＾
耕平も笑顔でいてね。ウフッ

メッセージカードありがとう

イチゴショートケーキまた作った☆　

ケーキのスポンジ硬かったよね　ごめんね

ｗｗｗ

私ブスです　ごめんなさい。。。。

耕平格好良くて、ケーキと似合うよ☆

Stirling One Day Trip

Cohei is going back to Japan in a few days time for holiday. So, we randomly decided to go somewhere to create some memory together. lol 

We wanted to go to some highlands or isles at first, but we are too broke for it. So, we ended up going for a one-day trip to Stirling Castle.

Early in the morning, not really..lol Around 11am, we hopped onto the train at Queen Street Station and headed to our destination. I had Mocha Cookie Crumble as my breakfast and he had a cup of coffee, as usual. ^^

Stirling Castle is one of the most important castle in Scotland throughout history. Built at least as early as in the early 12th Century, survived through at least 8 sieges including several during the Wars of Scottish Independence. 

This is how it looks like on the exterior. Yep, on a steep hill, which makes it a strategic area for defence.

By the way, I got this photo from internet.Have no idea why I did not take any photo of the exterior.lol

As we were registered under Historic Scotland membership, we have gotten entrance for free. The usual price per adult would costs around  £14.

First thing we did was, LUNCH!

We had Salmon with some salads and homecooked wedges.

The food was soooooooooooooooooo good, for an attached cafe like this.

Love it.

There was some long veges below the salmon which I have no idea of its name. But I really like it. It tastes slightly like cherry (?)

So, we started our visiting shortafter. Ill throw in some photos...Not alot.. Just some sneak peeks for you.

There are some role playing hired by the management around the castle to bring back the old vibes. This old man portrays a Scot Nobleman playing some golf thingy in the garden.

The King's Guard in the King's Inner Hall.

Apparently, the King and Queen each have their own Bed chamber, Inner Hall and Outer Hall which connects sequentially with both the Chamber meets together at the core. The Halls are the places where the King and Queen meets people. Depending on their status, the visitors will be decided to be seen either in the inner or outer hall.

The Queen Chamber. 

Mind the Unicorn Tapestry on the wall. It is heritage skill.

Tapestry Reconstruction in Tapestry Workshop.

Photo taken from internet, as camera was not allowed.

They are reconstructing damaged tapestry. Such scale of tapestry may take up to 2 years to complete. Great work of details.

The Ladies' View Out Point

Traditionally, this is where the ladies of the royal court stood to admire view. 

In addition to beautiful garden against mountain backdrop, they would be looking over a constant flurry of humble activities in the field below.

The garden would be the one on the left..But I don't see any flowers...

One thing I really like about Stirling Castle is that they actually provided alot of interactive features which allow us to understand the culture better.  In Stirling Castle, there is an area which they have a few separate vaults which introduce different cultures in the Castle, like music, art, fashion, jester and etc.

Crushing of Cochineal Insects on cacti in South America for red pigments.

Crushing and waxing of blue stone from Afghanistan for blue pigments

And next, would be my main intention to go to Stirling Castle-- The Great Kitchen.

I became really interested in it after I read about the dining culture in the Historic Scotland magazine.

Just to share, 

The people in Scotland tends to call meal around 10am to 12pm as dinner, not lunch. 

That was because there were no artificial light in the past. They relied on faint daylight, especially during winter when the daytime is especially short. Therefore, they have to prepare for food early before the sun goes down. Whichever meal which comes after 12pm would be called as supper.

Also! Fish was luxury. 'O' I LOVE FISHHH

Bread making is a big thing yo.

fake eggs were so real.

That is all for the Stirling Castle.Not much, sorry.lol 

Anyway, we went to the Argryll Lodging slightly down the hill after that.

It showcases the living of the nobleman.

Big dining area.

Yep, Eating has never been much more important and pleasurable, no difference among any religion and race.

The writing room.

and in the room, there was this little box next to it.

Guess what it is.

It's a toilet bowl.lol

First thing that came to my mind was how comfy for them to sit on that cushion.

Haha

But kinda disgusting if you imagine what if the pee or poo got on the cloths.hahahaha

After that, we went walking around the Old town feeling the vibe.

Cohei standing in front of The Church of Holy Rude, which, closed.

orz

The Old Town Jail was also closed on that day.

orz

I think we were quite unlucky.

Maybe it was just me.

I always come across this kind of coincidences.

The evil power of my luck is so strong, so powerful.

-_________-

I think the building behind were supposed to be the Old Town Jail, I guessed.

We sat in this garden for awhile for resting, or acting like cool and chill travellers.

And I took out my sketch book and drew this view.

I bet I looked pretty cool, like a real art student,

 but the drawings were actually out of proportion. lol

Some flowers.

Our final destination was the Smith Art Museum.

There was the oldest football in the world.

 Antique clocks.

Antique clocks are so nice... Reminded me so much of Ghibli or Alice in Wonderland (what??!)

Love it cause of the sophistication of design.

The Orrery!

At the end of the day, I bought two items.

One is this wall decoration- the weaving of the captived unicorn. 

Find it really meaningful. But still considering wether to give it to my parents for our new home in Penang or keep it for myself for my FUTURE HOME.lol

Also, I bought this mini guidebook to Clans and Tartan.

 

It surprised me that day that all these beautiful almost rocker tartan patterns actually represent different clans in Scotland in the past. And when mentioning clans, It means it also comes in with mottos, carrying its people's hope. Can't help it but to fell in love with the idea. If, I could find inspiration from the relationship of patterns and the ideologies behind.

The Stirling Tartan

keroppi matcha macaron trial 1

* so, i decided to edit this post with english translation, so my beloved mum can read about this.
what a great daughter she have, right? lol
so, here we go.

今日の話
今天的故事
Today's Story

*マカロンを作っている* (๐^╰╯^๐)♬
*Macaron制作中*(๐^╰╯^๐)♬
*In the making of Macaron*(๐^╰╯^๐)♬

こちゃん「お前、 ベーキングが好きだね！」
Ko-chan :你，真的很喜欢做甜点呢！
Ko-chan: You really like baking, ne!

私「 (*◎ｖ◎*) ? あっ？そ、そう...かな..？た、多分ね..w 」
我： (*◎ｖ◎*) ?啊？是。。是这样吗。。？可。。可能吧。。哈。。
Me:  (*◎ｖ◎*)Ah? Is..is it...? May..Maybe...haha


（脳内）
(In the brain)
。

。

。

(´-ι_-｀)。。。

。

。

。

╭( ๐_๐)╮。。。

。

。

。

(.;ﾟ;:д:;ﾟ;.)

。

。

。

Σ(,,ºΔº,,*)はっ！
Σ(,,ºΔº,,*)啊！
Σ(,,ºΔº,,*)Ah!



( ﾉﾟДﾟ)ﾉ！！そうなのかー？！！初めて知った！私、ベーキングが好きなのか！
( ﾉﾟДﾟ)ﾉ！！是这样吗？！！我刚知道！原来我是喜欢做甜点的啊！
( ﾉﾟДﾟ)ﾉ！！Is this it?!!! I just knew it! I see, so I actually love baking!


で、今日、私は新しいの興味を見つけました☆
然后，今天我找到了一个新的兴趣啦☆
So, Today I found a new hobby☆
 (❀´∀`❀)

て言うか、ケロッピマカロンが失敗しましたー (ﾟ´ω｀ﾟ)
话说，我的Keroppi Macaron失败了(ﾟ´ω｀ﾟ)
By the way, I failed my Keroppi Macaron.(ﾟ´ω｀ﾟ)

落ち込んでるー
难过。。。
So sad...

くそー ｡･+ﾟﾟ(うд´｡)ﾟﾟ+･｡
气死我了---！｡･+ﾟﾟ(うд´｡)ﾟﾟ+･｡ 
Shit---｡･+ﾟﾟ(うд´｡)ﾟﾟ+･｡



这是我的失败的残样。。
This is the face of my failure..

问题1：忘了在碟上涂奶油，结果全部都黏锅了。。
Point 1: Forgot to apply layer of butter on the plate, so the macaron shells sticked on the plate..

问题2：怎么抹茶放了这么多却不是青色的？ （解不了的谜。）
Point 2: The macaron shell does not turn green color even though I have added a fair amount of matcha powder. (A mystery I can't solve.)

问题3：我不该用caster sugar来替代powdered sugar呀！结果我的macaron竟然粗粗的皮。好不可爱！（泪奔）
Point 3: I should have not used caster sugar to substitute the powdered sugar! Hence, my macaron shells have rough surfaces, so-not-cute.. (cries)

问题4： 挤压的方式错了，所以形状怪怪的。。（不过后面时抓到技巧了！^^）
Point 4: The way of squeezing out the mixture was wrong, so the shape became really weird. (Though I have finally found out the technique in the end^^)

很难过的，经过一番努力。。我只能组成两个很丑的macaron..

Sadly, after all the hardwork...I can only set up two macarons..

所以不管怎样，我想做个完整版。

So, no matter what, I wanted to make complete sets of them.

所以。。变成了这个样。

And, it turned out, like this.

。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

丑死了！！！！！！！！！！！！OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

So uglyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

我很想哭啊！！！！

I wanted to cry!!!

不过比起哭，因为太丑了，结果自己笑到肚子痛。。。哈哈

But instead of crying, because it was so ugly, I ended up laughing out my ass...haha

明明人家做的是应该长这种样的。

It supposed to look like this.

为什么我的是那么丑样？！！！！！！
Why is mine so ugly?!!!!

ORZ..................................


问题5： 我的白色巧克力怎么有点黄色。。。华人版吗？！ （自殴）
Point 5: The white chocolate I used has some yellow tint to it...Chinese style? lol

问题6： 我没有控制好scale & proportion..尤其眼睛，我过后发现macaron太小，眼睛太大，结果后来才用刀切小。。。结果形状好怪！
Point 5: I did not controlled well the scale and proportion.Especially for the eyes, I found out later that the macaron was too small and the eyes were too big. So, I had to reduce the size of the eyes by slicing it off..And yea, the shape of the eyes turned awkward as well..

问题７：巧克力放不够糖。。所以handle的时候，因为我的手掌太热情（笑），所以很快就溶了。
Point 7: I did not put enough sugar for the chocolate for the eyes.So when handling, as my hands were to passionate ,lol, the chocolate melted really fast.

这，是我第一次做的那么失败的一次。。。
This is the first time I had such severe failure.

没想到是那么难做的，火候也挺难控制的。。
I did not expect it to be so difficult. Even the control of oven heat was abit tricky..

不过虽然长的很丑，虽然它不再是ｋｅｒｏｐｐｉ,不过我想叫他丑小蛙。
However, even though they were really ugly, even though they were no longer the keroppi,
I would like to call them the ugly frogling, my version of ugly duckling..

因为，味道其实很好吃哦！
Because, the taste were actually really nice!

其实本身并不吃ｍａｃａｒｏｎ.因为以前吃过一次，觉得不好吃，就没吃过了。
Actually, I don't usually eat macaron because there was once that I ate, it was horrible. Since then, I have never ate macaron anymore.

所以，竟然别人的那么不好吃也可以卖，我觉得我的这个味道是非常优秀的。呵呵呵呵^^
So, if someone can make such horrible macaron and sell it, I felt that the taste of my macarons is actually of excellence! Hhehehhee^^


啊－－－真的很恐怖啊。。我的ｋｅｒｏｐｐｉ...
Ah....My keroppi is really..scary...





To be honest, I think I would cut down another half of the sugar next try..
Everytime I bake something I always cut the sugar amount to half...
It always makes me think... What the hell are all these people eating?!! So muchhh sugarrrrrrrrrrrrr
Maybe its just because I am not that sensitive towards sweet..I don't really know how sweet is like..I can't really get it.. so i don't really care..but then...if I am not sensitive, I would need more sugar to trigger my sweet taste buds right??? hmm...I think i am contradicting myself...but yea, anyway,
It doesn't stop me from eating desserts anyway..HAHAHA

so, yea. go ugly frogling! :D

「KANA-BOON」 見たくないもの

見たくないもの

KANA-BOON

たった一度きりの瞬間だってきっと

変えられるものがちゃんとあって

変わったものがたくさんあって

何度も訪れる後悔だってそうさ

あれから何か変われたかな

君は何か変わったかな

壁に向かって歌ってみても馬鹿みたい

二つ目を開いて向かっていかないと馬鹿みたい

見たくないものは見なくていいよ

目と目が合ってこの感情君と繋いで

目を見てくれないあなたのその目を

そう僕は、そう僕は見たいんです。

たった一度きりの瞬間だってきっと

忘れられないものがあって

忘れちゃいけないものがあって

居場所が無いならここへおいでよ

君がいて僕がいて僕の歌をさ、君が聴いて

リアルの無い言葉を放っても馬鹿みたい

二つ目を開いてかかってこないとさ

なんだか僕だけ馬鹿みたい

見たくないものは見なくていいよ

目と目が合ってこの感情君と繋いで

見たくないものを見れる強さを君に

このまま一つ二つ乗り越えてゆこう

悲しみ苦しみ乗り越えてゆこう

目を見てくれないあなたのその目をそう僕は、そう僕は見たいんです。