LES MISERABLES AT BFI IMAX + DINNER WITH THE GIRLS

After a really horrible week I am starting to pick myself up again.

For a start, after almost 4 months out of the gym I am finally back in the game - starting with a buddy workout with my cousin. 

Probably going to feel a bit sore in the morning.

Today was also the day that I had booked a pair of tickets for Les Miserables over a month ago at BFI IMAX - biggest screen in Britain! 

Complimentary popcorn and bottled water as well, not bad.

Thank you American Express.

https://www.facebook.com/bfiimax

Watching movies in a regular cinema will never be the same again.

After being stood up (again) and almost having to go on my own, my lovely girl Dora was sweet enough to accompany me.

One word - AMAZING.

Not forgetting the amusing random fart in the crowd before the start of the movie.

For me I didn't feel a single dull moment throughout the film. At times I also had to hold back my tears, not wanting to look like one of those emotional movie-goers sniffling away - besides, a mascara-smeared face is also not a very flattering look!

Les Miserables definitely deserves the eight Oscar nominations - and will hopefully be successful in getting the awards. 
The songs are going to be stuck in my head for a while - my dad who has also been struck by the Les Mis fever has been constantly singing the songs during our Skype sessions. 

Later on, we met up with Stacey to have dinner at Baltic Restaurant and Bar in Southwark - our first reunion in 2013!

We each had a glass of late harvest wine, and ordered fish for our mains - cod, hake and mackerel, the lighter and healthier option! To make-up for the sneaky calories in the alcohol and dessert!

It was really great to catch up after the holidays as we filled each other in with what's been happening in our lives. My story unfortunately rather depressing, but I'm really glad that I still have the love and support from those who genuinely care about me.

My heart and mind has been rather unsettled, but I know that in time I will be enlightened.

Whilst reflecting back, one word of advice that I was given started to make sense to me. 

That I was only getting the leftover crumbs instead of the full biscuit. 

Never ever in my life had I ever met someone who seemed so confident, suddenly become such a coward - without even the guts to come face to face with me, but instead went back cowering into an empty shell.

And it made me realize that I deserved better and was worth so much more.

After all, there is no point crying over spilled milk - especially if it has gone sour.

https://www.facebook.com/ipsy?ref=ts&fref=ts

Anyway, it's past midnight now.

I'll be dreaming of Eddie Redmayne tonight ha x

Good night x

BRUNCH AT HILTON + SALES SHOPPING

After over a month of waiting, my booking for brunch at Hilton London Canary Wharf was finally due. I think there were hundreds like me who grabbed the voucher offer way back in October, hence the long wait for an available space.

Someone had PPK-ed me at the last minute but I was fortunate enough that lovely Lili was available to accompany me for the day!
We arrived early, and whilst waiting to be seated I noticed that everyone else had a similar voucher in their hands - fellow bargain hunters!

Each person is entitled to Sunday Brunch, including any dish from the a la carte menu, all Breakfast Bar items and a Bellini or Bloody Mary.

We started off with the full English breakfast buffet...

Sweet Lili :)

Happy me :)

And then had some sweet treats... 

 

Before we over-stuffed ourselves, we remembered to place our orders from the a la carte menu!  

Pan-fried seabass

Tandoori scallops

I then had my last helping from the buffet - sliced meat, cheese, smoked salmon and some veg.

We spent a good 2 hours eating and chatting away.

The meal was definitely worth the wait after all.

After the heavy but very satisfying meal, we wandered about the shops to hunt for some sale bargains!

 I haven't really been in the mood to shop the in-store sales - I cheekily did most of my shopping online this year on Christmas Eve/Day. A much more relaxing alternative without having to battle the hoards of annoying shoppers/tourists.

I did however find a nice pair of trousers and a sweater from Zara today that I just could not resist. Good work clothes are always a necessity.

For dinner, we ended up in Taro on Brewer Street. Nothing beats a good bowl of ramen mmm...

It's been a long day and I'm glad to be back on my cosy bed.

Not quite decided on what I'm going to do tomorrow - the Jubilee line is part-suspended AGAIN...good grief.

Anyway, here's to more weekend love x

deviantART

 

HAPPY FRIDAY!

It's been a short but rather tiring week at work – having two early 6am morning starts and coming back to colleague issues after my holidays was definitely not what I was looking forward to.

A week since the new year started and my healthy or rather healthier eating plan is so far going according to planned – I've finally started bringing my own lunch/dinner to work for a start!

And been meat-free since the 1^st! - oh wait, I think there were some bacon bits in my soup yesterday (drats!)

Not that I'm thinking of going veggie, there are still too many burger/steak joints out there to explore! 

Look at those babies...

  

I've also tried to avoid stocking up on naughty foods – just yesterday I had a sugar craving and I realized I no longer had an emergency chocolate stash (Nooo...).

As part of my spring (or mid-winter?) cleaning I've donated a few more bags of clothes to the charity shop down the road – I hope they find a better home instead of being tucked away in my over-crowded wardrobe. Some older items were not so lucky and were instead thrown into the bin. Being easily emotionally-attached, I quickly threw each item into the bag so that they were quickly out of sight – including an old cardigan that I've had for over 7-8 years, oh the pain...

Good news is that my weekend is finally here again.

There's a few minutes left til midnight, therefore I am still entitled to say...

HAPPY FRIDAY!

 

Have a great weekend everyone. 

Good night x

LAST DAY OF 2012

Okay, this post is a few hours behind schedule, but here's my re-cap of 2012.

Looking back, it's been a pretty good year...

1. I had my first Chinese New Year reunion back home in Malaysia after missing it for the last 5 years.

2. I turned a quarter-of-a-century old - which was when I first started this blogpage!

 

3. I moved to London - my mission of moving down south is finally accomplished! It seems so long ago since I first lived in Sunderland...and haven't been back there since, for obvious reasons.

Hello London!

4. My big brother got married!

So, we've had TWO family reunions this year. 
And we have also welcomed Earn Hui, my sister-in-law into our family.

Happy family

5. I went to my first festival - free weekend camping tickets that I won online!



6. I had the opportunity to watch the Paralympics 2012 - my perseverance on Twitter finally paid off and I managed to grab some last minute tickets.

 7. I've met some awesome new friends along the way...as well as strengthened bonds with old ones.
I'm sure you all know who you are x

8. I started learning a new language (Spanish!) and hopefully my salsa dancing will improve with time!

9. I spent Christmas with a loved one - and discovered my love for mulled cider.

Not to mention it's been a really foodie year for me - looks like a lot of catching up with fitness and exercise in 2013!


And I spent my last day of the year with my special person.

 

Don't forget the to-do list Mr Chan! x

I was initially going to spend my New Year's Eve at home on my own but made an unplanned trip to my Aunty's place to spend it in the warm presence of family. My lovely cousin also helped to sort out my haphazard hair.

Had a lovely home-cooked meal and then 10 of us had a cosy get-together in the sitting room until the countdown at midnight!

Anyway, hope everyone else had a great New Years celebration, wherever you are in the world!

Here's to more joy and blessings in 2013!

Off for a morning walk x

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It's Christmas day!

Been spending the whole day chilling out - eating, drinking, watching movies. Absolute bliss.
 

After opening our presents in the morning, we had a bit of a late breakfast - bagels with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. It's sort of become our traditional breakfast nowadays.

 

Had a short Skype video session with my parents back home in Malaysia and then we began our Christmas meal preparation!

Here's the amazing home-cooked meal we had:

Starter: Chilli prawns

Wine and gravy

Roast duck, roast vegetables and potatoes, and brussel sprouts

Chocolate cake

I've also been spending time browsing the amazing sales that have started online, a great way to bag some bargains before the Boxing Day madness tomorrow! 

Later in the evening, we went for a relaxing walk in the park to get some fresh air and walk off some calories.

And then came home to eat more!

Cheese platter and port

Christmas is the time for stuffing ourselves silly right?

Almost time to head to bed and re-energize for tomorrow!

Sleep well, it's going to be BUSY tomorrow!

Merry Christmas everyone!

xoxo

SUNDAY-FUNDAY: PING PONG + GALLIVANTING AROUND LONDON

It's always a special day when I get to spend it with my special person.

Met up with Wai Kit and accompanied him to try on a suit at Moss Bros. 
Doesn't he look so smart and all grown-up x

As always we never can decide on where to eat so we ended up at Ping Pong along Great Malborough Street, as it looked pretty cute - good enough reason to step inside isn't it?

Judging from the menu it appeared to be another one of those modernized dim sum places.

 When trying to choose a drink my eyes automatically locked on the Lychee & Rose martini - I love anything with lychee.

Look at that baby...

 

We both ordered a set meal from the festive menu each, priced at £25.00pp.

The list seemed more extensive when we placed our orders, but the portions appeared much smaller than we expected when served.

Prawn crackers

Steamed dumplings, 'char siu pao' and sticky rice

Puff pastries and fried rolls

Mango cake and mochi

The Little Boy

The Little Girl

Presentation-wise pretty average, but the food was quite tasty. Though not a place I would normally frequent for dim sum at those prices.

But as long as I had good company I'm happy - and I did love my martini x

We then headed to grab some bubbletea at Chatime - kamquat green tea mmm...

Whilst waiting for our drinks we also observed some rather pretentious Asians placing their orders after us.

I tried to stifle my giggles as I watched WK roll his eyes.

Kitkit's first Chatime!

After a long day of walking around London we had to go our separate ways again.

One more(-ish) day until Christmas and I still haven't wrapped the presents - drats! Oh well, there's still tomorrow!

Thank you little boy for another lovely day out. I miss you already.

ps: Don't forget that list!

And here's my little random photo of the day...

Cute isn't it? :)

Hope everyone is in that happy festive mood!

KUA 'AINA + CHRISTMAS DINNER AT WENDY'S

So today (okay, well, actually yesterday since it's past midnight now) I met up with Lili for lunch. We tried out Kua 'Aina, a Hawaiian burger and sandwich grill place - yep, a REAL Hawaiian restaurant, brother to the original Kua ‘Aina that has been serving surfers and tourists on Hawaii’s North Shore since 1975. 

 It's apparently the place that President Obama heads to when he’s at home in Hawaii - it MUST be good then!

There was a queue when we arrived but we got seated immediately as there was fortunately a table for two available - score!

We sat downstairs which was packed with people tucking into their food. I loved the chilled-out atmosphere - wooden floorboards, bamboo ceiling, tropical ceiling fans.

I ordered the Pineapple Burger whilst Lili had the Teriyaki sandwich. We also ordered a small portion of sweet potato fries to share and some orange juice. I LOVE sweet potato fries, I'd choose them over the normal potato fries any day. 

Lili with her belated birthday card from me! x

Too bright!

EAT ME!

You sexy thing x

Both our meals came with a stick of raw carrot - I'm not really a fan of it but I munched on it anyway whilst having my juicy succulent burger. Takes a bit of guilt out of my very high-calorie indulgent meal!

We then headed off to Wendy's for a pre-Christmas dinner. Lovely home-cooked food by Martin and Wendy, especially loved the leg of lamb!

 

Also played 'Cars' Monopoly for kids, and I won twice ha! Despite all the dodgy dealings happening in between!

I think I may be ready for the real thing.  

And to end the night, a group photo!

Okay, my brain is shutting down now.

Good night people x