New Year's at Edinburgh

Hi! Happy New Year! :D
This is the first time I post in months! Sorry!

The country side on the way from London to Edinburgh is just breath taking!

I spent the new year in Edinburgh this year attending the Hogmanay festival. It was my first time in Scotland (it was freezing!) and I had so much fun! My husband and I loved Edinburgh!!

The torchlight procession 

On the 30th of December we attended the torchlight procession, where so many people (40,000 according to the organizers!) carried torches and walked the streets of Edinburgh. At the end of the walk there was a fireworks display. This signals the beginning of the new year celebrations and the Hogmanay festival.

This kinda looks like the scene from beauty and the beast when all the villagers go to the beast's house :/

After that, we had a delicious dinner at Howie's and had THE MOST AMAZING chocolate banoffee tart I have ever tasted in my entire life!!! (I hope they open this restaurant in London)

10..9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! :D

The next day on new years eve there was a street party, with Scottish bands, DJs and all kinds of junk food (pizza, burgers, donuts, crepes...etc).

Drunk people enjoying the music

There was a firework display every hour from 9 PM until 12 PM. The final firework display was amazing! It was the first time I actually enjoy fireworks in my life! (eventhough I blocked my ears to protect them from the loud sounds of the fireworks*). They even had a smiley face firework!! but unfortunately I couldn't get that on cam... The whole thing was so much fun.

Ummm.. don't ask :/

On new years day we went to the winter village in the city centre and enjoyed a few rides :)

The winter village

The last day in Edinburgh was sunny, so my husband and I took a tour bus. We sat on the open roof of a double decker bus and saw the beautiful city. The city feels so ancient, yet it is well kept and beautiful.

A nice view of the city centre

Parts of the Edinburgh castle. We wanted to go, but the stairs were long and we are just lazy people :s

I wish I had more time there, but I'm sure I'll be going back again... soon hopefully.
I hope you enjoyed the post :)

xox
J

Camel teapot vs Big Ben teapot

Examination periods are boring and stressful. So today after finishing my fifth exam, I decided to treat myself to a toffee and banana cupcake from Peyton and Byrne... It was delicious. And since the Peyton and Byrne I went to was in the same building as HEAL's, I thought I'de take a stroll in and see what's new in. Luckily for me I saw a bunch of cool stuff! I will definitely go back after my exams to buy some of these items!!!

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Xox,
J

Big Ben Teapot

An Elephant Teapot, reminded me of a friend that LOVES elephants for some weird reason lol 

The Camel Teapot! My favorite!!! I will definitely go back for this!

Recycled coasters made from: Circuit boards, plastic bottles, juice cartons

Home made chicken caesar salad wrap

Left: chicken caesar salad wrap, right: plum tomato and mozzarella (or pizza) wrap!

This is actually my first recipe blog. A few days ago I bought some tortillas from the supermarket (there were 8 in the pack!), and I've been eating tortilla wraps every day for the past 5 days lol. Anyways, here's my super easy and kinda healthy chicken caesar salad wrap recipe.

Ingredients:

Tortilla wraps

Ready-to-eat grilled chicken pieces

Washed and ready to eat leaf salad (lettuce)

Caesar salad

Parmesan cheese

Pepper

2 Plum tomatoes sliced in half (optional. actually, all ingredients are optional!)

All ingredients are ready, just put the tortilla on a frying pan over low to medium heat, open the packages and put everything on the tortilla wrap and roll it, then voila! You've made yourself an easy light dinner or snack!

Enjoy,
J

Ingredients

Art: The ceramic folded handkerchief

This is my newest addition to my art collection. It's a ceramic folded handkerchief with gold detailing. It also came with a stand in case I wanted to display it standing. I found it in a Japanese arts shop on Marylebone high street. The designers name is Hasami Nagasaki. I'm thinking of getting another similar piece with colourful flowers in the center... It's kind of expensive though. We'll see.
J

Casa Mamma

This post is about one of my favourite Italian restaurants in London, which is conveniently just a few minutes’ walk from my house! The price is very reasonable compared to its quality and consistency. The food there is just so AMAZING! ALL THE TIME!!! And the atmosphere is so cosy and simple. I’ve added pictures of everything K and I ordered. The names and descriptions under each picture are mostly from the restaurant's website. Enjoy.

Starters

Yes! It's a starter! and it's really good!

MELANZANE alla PARMIGIANA

Fried Aubergine in tomato topped with mozza baked

MOZZARELLA IN CARROZZA ROSSA

Mozzarella cheese fried in flour, with tomato chilli garlic sauce

Mains

GNOCCHI al POMODORO

With Tomato Sauce and Basil

GNOCCHI al GORGONZOLA e PANNA

With Gorgonzola Cheese and Cream Sauce

Desserts

I was expecting one, but hey I'm not complaining :D

Profiteroles Scuro

Soft choux pastries filled with a superb chantilly cream, all covered with chocolate cream

This is one of their specialities. Home made creme caramel <3

Creme Caramel

Egg milk and vanilla dessert topped with caramel

I love the ceramic plates hanging on the walls

This is the back seating area, and today was the first time I see it!

Location: 339 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8PX

just across the street from King's cross station. 

http://casamamma.co.uk/

P.S. They have the best Spaghetti con Pomodorini (with cherry tomatoes and basil) and Pizza Fiorentina (with spinach and an egg in the middle. I tried to recreate this pizza at home, but it wasn’t as good… I might post my trial lol).

Hope you enjoyed the post.

Love,

J

The City and the smart recycling bin!



I was in The City today. Only because I had a clinical placement at St. Barts Hospital. I don't visit The City as often as I'de like, actually, I'm not sure if it's a touristy area to begin with (not that I'm a tourist :/)... It's more like the financial district in London. What I like about it is the buildings. Most of them are so new and modern, they use alot of glass, but there are also some old buildings as well. I like the contrast.



This was probably the most interesting thing I've seen today. I stood infront of it for minutes trying to figure out what it is. Then I kept staring at it from all angles for a few more minutes just to sink it in lol. It's a recycling bin, with two LCD displays on both sides! At the time they were only displaying stock exchange information. But when I got home and googled it, I found this article:

http://www.psfk.com/2012/02/london-wifi-recycle-bin.html 

And according to that, it's a bomb-proof bin, with WIFI, and it displays information about the weather and tube status among other things.

 



I posted some other random pictures of things I saw today. Enjoy.

An Ox made of recycled material at Bank of America Merrill Lynch 





This was taken in the St.Barts Church... It's weird, but I don't think I've ever been to a church before...

Hope you like the pictures.

xox
J

Yesterday's shopping booty :D

I bought this super comfy giraffe print travelling neck pillow for when I go back home in March. I'm super excited that I'm going. I feel like I'm missing a lot being here away from my family and friends... And I wasn't able to go back in Christmas cuz of my late visa... So yeah! I'm looking forward to visiting my family in Easter break!

I also got this iPhone 4S case which is almost perfect if it weren't for the case not having a camera hole and the moving part being too floppy! (but I think I might have a solution for the floppiness... adding very small magnets. Luckily, the package itself has really small magnets that I might be able to remove and use for the iPhone case :D ). It has a really nice lining (identical to that of my iPad case) and two pockets on the inside!

I'm loving my new iPhone!

xox

J