Christmas Eats

The annual Betty birthday cum Christmas eve open house got split into two this year. Betty decided she was done with the massive all-in-one do, what with my friends and her friends all descending upon my home in a too-many-people-at-one-go event. And honestly, it's fine with me. My annual Christmas eve potluck is basically just for whoever doesn't have plans and wants a place to hang out. It's a place to catch up with old friends, get re-acquainted with people they might have met at my other parties (or perhaps just the last Christmas party) and to meet new people and maybe learn about someone else's life, see things from a different perspective. 

This year since Betty wanted NOT to have a massive Christmas / birthday do, we decided to have a small group hang out the weekend before. Which was also kinda nice cos one of our friends is never available on Christmas eve, so this way she could join us for her birthday dinner. It was a lovely gathering of 7 and we had a chance to catch up on what everyone's been up to. 

Betty's Blackforest Birthday Cake

Then there was the Christmas eve affair which turned out to be just the right size for mingling and having meaningful conversations. 20+ people like I used to have in the past was just too mad for me. This time I had a mere 10 guests. Much more manageable. A lot less stressful.

A Christmas gift from the company I work for. We had a fair bit of fun breaking up the bark.

Christmas day dinner was had at the sister's house. 

I was glad for a log cake that WASN'T chocolate. This one was strawberry and matcha... 

And we played White Elephant! 

My gift was toothpaste! LOL. 

On Boxing Day I had dinner at a recently-opened Chinese hotpot restaurant with Betty and another friend. It's our annual Capricorn Christmas / birthday dinner. (I have another annual 'January Babies' dinner next Sunday with 2 more Capris from primary school!)

I was quite happy to opt for a meatless dinner after all that festive feasting.

And today I hosted an OFW (Filipinos who work abroad are called Overseas Foreign Workers) party, comprising the sister's family, mum's caregivers (CG1 and CG2 - who is no longer working with me) and their caregiver friends. CG2 came back for a visit and to spend the day, and my sister wanted to be here to visit with her. One of CG1's friends is caregiver to one of mum's friends from the old neighbourhood... so we invited both caregiver AND the lady she cares for. I'm glad the older lady wanted to come. She had a longish chat with my sister, reminiscing with her about mum. I thought that was nice. CG1 also had two of her closer friends over so it was as much her party as it was mine! 

Parties are all about desserts... amiright? This is a traditional Filipino dessert aka diabetes in a box. 

Layer graham crackers, condensed milk mixed with heavy cream, and mango slices. Keep going like a lasagna till you reach the top. Put in the fridge, and prepare for heaven in your mouth. 

Someone brought over a dozen fruit tarts. By the time we were done with the food hardly anyone had space for dessert. Guess who's gonna be eating fruit tarts for the next week. 

And now it is all done and dusted. I didn't think I was going to have a "full" Christmas roster this year but boy was I wrong! Turns out it was a busy Christmas season after all! 

Compliments of the season everybody! 

London 9 and 10

This is it. The last post of vacation pics. Thank u for staying the course... here are the final moments of our time in London! 

Before the brother passed away, in his last text messages to me he said to go to Greenwich while I'm in London, cos wouldn't it be fun to stand on the G Meridian? I didn't plan to... but I ended up going anyway.

BIKSS wanted to try an Irish spice bag. So we went to The Ring. It wasn't serving food... but we got a drink and came back in the evening for dinner.

Upside down pots for ashtrays. Cute.

And there it is. I enjoyed it so much I looked up the recipe for the spices and made my own when I got home. I keep a bottle in my fridge.

Later that evening we headed to Covent Garden... And I treated BIKSS to some Venchi Christmas chocolate ice cream. It had a bunch of spices and fruit bits and nuts in it. Delicious. Expensive. But delicious. 

Covent G was busy with people... I don't think many people were actually shopping, but it was a lively atmosphere, there were buskers in a few places, and it was quite festive! 

And this is my favourite part of Covent...

I've only ever heard/seen this on TV / in the movies. So this [Christmas song being sung in the square in autumn/winter weather] was simply delightful.  I don't think I'll get to experience it again anytime soon. Sadness indeed! 

We spent some time looking around inside the Royal Opera n Ballet.. 

After Covent Garden we walked to Seven Dials to grab a quick light bite for dinner

And then we sat around and watched the coppers keep the pedicab drivers in check.. making sure they didn't block the roads and walkways etc.

For some reason I had to attach this pic 3 times before it would appear on the blog. These are Uzbekistan Beef Manty from Oshpaz Dumplings. Try saying that 3 times quickly. LOL

Then it was back to the hotel cos we were exhausted having come back in from Tromso early that morning.

The next day we headed out to brunch at Duck and Waffle. We didn't have a reservation but they found us a seat nonetheless. I wasn't sure we were gonna make it, so it was more of a "let's try our luck" situation.

Duck and waffle for me, full English for BIKSS.

And yes, I am Asian, and we do lots of duck in Asia, but this beats all of the duck I've eaten in my lifetime. Truly, the best I've ever tasted. Tender, tasty, just the right amount of bite.

The decor in the restaurant was fun too - while it's not Harry Potter themed, it IS 'wizard' themed... so whether this is a copyright breach, I leave it to you to decide. It definitely didn't bother me. Enjoy the videos.

After lunch we ran over to the Royal Exchange, missed the turn, spotted Leadenhall Market (but didn't go in cos we were pressed for time) turned back, got to the exchange and picked up MORE Fortnum and Mason cookies and teas. And a box of honeys. And now I am never going to have honey any other way except creamed! Spreadable honey that doesn't drip. What magic! Then we chucked everything back in the hotel and packed our stuff, checked out of the hotel and left our bags at concierge. 

Took a bus across London Bridge to go to the Sky Garden. I mean, sure the view was lovely. But it was super crowded, over rated, and aside from being that high up, the interior garden was a bit crap. All that talk about greenery in the midst of winter? Rubbish. 80% of the plants looked like they were dying if not already dead.

I'm glad we didn't have to pay to go up there. I did get some nice fotos... BIKSS took a few of me against the scenic London backdrop. 

And since it's not far more till the 25th of Dec, here's both of us wishing everyone in Blogland a very Merry Christmas! 

Tromso - 8

Hello beautiful people

We are only one week away from Christmas! And I've only just started on a tea advent calendar! Talk about falling behind. No matter, it can take me into the new year! 

In more updates, we watched the Nutcracker last night and while I've heard the music many times, yesterday was the first time I actually watched the full ballet. I loved it. BIKSS, maybe not as much. Still, he was a champ for sitting thru' the first half patiently till we got to the more fun second half. 

Also, while I was in the midst of fruit cake baking last Saturday, a dog-faced fruit bat decided to settle in for a nap on/off my ceiling fan. In the middle of the fucking afternoon. I called the local wildlife helpline and they suggested nudging it with a broom handle to encourage it to fly out on its own, as they are wont to do, I'm told. We nudged the fan, not the bat directly.

It did. And I was so relieved. I've since hung up a lovely piece of batik cloth in front of the wide open window in my living room to prevent future fly-bys. And yes, I've had at least 2 other instances of bats using my home as an expressway - in thru the living room window and straight out the kitchen. Sheesh. 

In personal financial news, I am a little bit poorer now than I was 8 hours ago, but I am also pleased to announce that I am the proud owner of two more rings - a 22k solid gold ring, and a topaz / white gold piece to match a pair of topaz earrings I inherited from mum's jewellery collection. It's a pity that the blue isn't an exact match, as mum's earrings were a sky blue and this one is swiss blue, but it has been notoriously difficult to find sky blue topaz rings at the moment. Still, I like the design enough to overlook the slight difference. (Approx USD$166 in total.)

In other-people-spending-money-on-me news, BIKSS sprung for a pair of Diana-inspired sapphire earrings which I bought last week to match mum's sapphire ring! We're calling it an early Christmas present. Now that I've satisfied my fernweh ("a longing or ache for far-off places; the opposite of homesickness") with my year of travel (my resolution at the start of 2025 was to leave the country at least once a month, even if just to neighbouring countries, or if that meant taking a bus across the border!), I've decided next year shall be the year I buy all the jewellery pieces I'd been planning on getting in order to complete my collection - either to pair with pieces I already have, or as investment gold pieces that I can wear while I wait for the precious metal to appreciate in value. 

And yes, I am aware they look like the costume piece I got in London. I realised I like the look of it so much I decided to get some 'real' sapphires. These are set with diamonds in 9K white gold. (Approx USD$225.)

I've ordered a couple of jewellery trays for organising all my stuff, one's a plain rectangle tray and the other comes with compartments + additional dividers for added customisation. 

They cost a pretty penny on Amazon but I found these for under 2 bucks on a local shopping platform. 

And now, Tromso, Day 8 - nothing really happened - went to the mall and walked around till it got dark, which was pretty early considering this was Norway... 

The ash tray was all snowed over! I found it amusing.

Picked up a pair of denim shorts and a black tee for under 10 bucks.

Ate at Obs Kafé in the Coop hypermart 

Yes, more fish and chips. And a chicken plate (which had tenders, nuggets, and a fillet) and then some mille feuille for dessert - probably the best thing on the table that evening. We tried the Norwegian waffle, meant to be some special thing that bears only the faintest resemblance to the American table waffle, often eaten with just jam and/or butter. I was unimpressed. Turns out it looks very much like the Asian bakery/ streetfood waffles we have back home. Let me see if I can find a picture... 

So... less like this - (which is the version I prefer)

And more like this - a bit floppier and thinner than a table waffle 

Here's a VIDEO of a street waffle seller in KL - shown here making one with nutella and another with blueberry jam...

There's also THIS LINK for an instagram video of a pandan waffle with kaya (aka coconut jam, but it's more like a spread than a jam to me) in Singapore.

It's called Bánh Kẹp Lá Dứa in Vietnam - I feel it's a mix of the two - it's got the texture and look of the American table waffle, but with the pandan flavour that is popular in Southeast Asia.

And now you know WAY too much about waffles in Southeast Asia. 

It was an early night for us, since we had a very early morning flight the next day. We came home to find the owner of our Airbnb had put up some Christmas lights along the outside stairs. 

So it was a pretty cosy romantic evening for us, snuggling and snacking and procrastinating! We BOTH needed to pack, having bought way too many snacks, but look at us lounging about with our teas lol.

Eventually we got off our asses, and managed to squeeze everything into the one luggage bag we had with us, and then it was time to say goodnight and get to bed. The next day was going to be a long and tiring one! 

Oh, P.S, here's a video of the mad cold whipping around us in Tromso... yes, yes, it may be commonplace for some of you readers, but I live on the equator. A cold day for me is 25°C LOL (like today!) So it was very exciting to be out in the actual fucking snow! 

And here's another of the town square at night... way calmer... and so, so beautiful. 

I think one of the things I really loved about Tromso was the actual place. The way it looked and felt. Calm, quiet, fresh, crisp. I mean, the thing I loved most about this holiday was seeing the lights, but aside from that, just BEING in Tromso was an experience I'll not soon forget, methinks.

Tromso - 7

Before the post, updates.

I upgraded my XR to the iphone 16E - cos ANYTHING is better than the XR at this point, and I don't need a super fast super big super feature phone. The down side is that it took some doing trying to get it up and running properly. Logging into things is a bitch with all the security features. This password here, that verification there, etc etc. I ended up having to visit one of my banks today to sort out an issue with my email address on file. Thankfully it got done very quickly.

I've also been dealing with getting some of my walls repainted. The guy came in two days ago to sort out ONE section of the kitchen, and then since he was here and he had enough paint - and time - we both got carried away and he ended up dealing with 4 sections of my kitchen and living room. I'm very pleased with the outcome. 

Also, I had a cracked tooth that decided to give up the ghost. The outer back corner of my first molar (see graphic below) chipped off today. I cancelled my lesson and went in search of a dentist. She said I needed to have a filling done. So I did.

BIKSS be like "That's not a chip, that's a rockfall."

That corner broke off. 

The bad news is, I'm $170 poorer. The good news is, it's not sensitive anymore. :) 

And now, more photos. Today's post is going to be a Photodump. Enjoy The Lights! 

Breakfast @ Vervet bakeri

Oat muffin, cardamom bun, and a pear and cranberry confection. BUT LOOK AT THE VIEW

The Polar Museum had a temporary Queering Polar History 

exhibition (in addition to their usual stuff) which we found most interesting.

You're gonna have to expand the pictures to read.

We visited the Arctic Cathedral which was really unusual looking.

Then traipsed to Bengts Bistro for some local fare for lunch!

Traditional meatballs (pretty good!) and Reindeer burger (nothing exciting there... 

more of a been there done that kind of thing... but it was decent and edible)!

I was glad to be seated by the window where the heater was mercifully blasting warm air. It was so friggin' cold getting to this restaurant - we walked 15 mins in the snow/hail/rain.

Then we took a bus back to town cos we had a Northern Lights bus tour that evening!

On the way to the pick up point for our tour we walked past the Cathedral of Our Lady, Tromso.

"The Cathedral of Our Lady (Norwegian: Vår Frue domkirke), also commonly known as the Church of Our Lady, is the Catholic cathedral of the city of Tromsø, Norway, and seat of the prelature of the same name. It is the northernmost Catholic (and Christian in general) cathedral in the world. It is located on the Erling Bangsunds square."

That's all there is to the inside of the church. This pic was taken from the last row.

Got me a cardamom bun with frosting to take on the trip out to see the lights. 

We drove 2 hours southeast of Tromso to a place near the Lulleelva river - 

Lulleelva is a river located in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is situated in the Lulledalen valley, within the Lullefjellet nature reserve, near the village of Skibotn in the municipality of Storfjord. 

The area is known for:

• Being one of the regions with the lowest precipitation in Norway.
• Its beautiful natural scenery, including rich flora (especially orchids) and fauna, which can be explored via the Lulledalen Forest Trail.
• Being a location where the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) is frequently visible. 

Tada!

They set up a little fire and provided us with hot chocolate, coffee and tea, as we milled about and took our photos.

And did we take photos!! OK, my XR couldn't do shit. So these were all taken by BIKSS. 

I'm thrilled that he managed to set up his phone camera so as to be able to capture the lights! ENJOY!

(This one was taken directly overhead!)

(No aurora here, just a pretty view of the moonlight behind some trees)

And if you didn't already know, you can't see shit with the naked eye. It appears silvery or greyish/whitish in person, but point a camera at it and the green appears - yes, even my crappy XR with no exposure or aperture settings. 

This is what it looks like with my XR - 

Now imagine those green wisps in a very faint grey-white colour. That's what it looks like in person. So we would see some whitish streams of fog/cloud-like trails, then BIKSS would point and shoot... and then we'd hold our breath (mostly because he had to hold the camera still) and wait 10 seconds for the camera to capture it, and then flip to the picture to see if there was any aurora in that spot. 

It was kinda fun. "There Daddy.... Ok, let me see (the pic)... Yay! WOW! How about there! See? Oh, no? Oops... Here, turn around, your 9 o'clock, quick! Ooh...  nice one!" And that went on for 3 hours.

So yes, we got to see the lights. And I was an extremely happy (if extremely cold) camper! And then it was time to go back home and crash because we were both freezing and exhausted from the long-ass excursion.

That's me making my way up the driveway to our Air BnB after our tour.

Of course we managed to do some supermarket souvenir shopping too!

And this is my favourite thing to eat from Norway. 

Pity I can't find ANY place here that brings in the stuff. 

I might have to look for a recipe and try to make my own lefse.

(Yes, I still have half a pack in my fridge... I'm trying to make it last!)

Yes, we have TONS more fotos... but I thought those were the prettiest. If you get a chance to chase the lights, GO WITH THE BUS TOURS AND SKIP THE BOAT!

Well then, that's a bucket list item I wasn't sure I'd be able to check! But I'm so glad I did, and I'm SUPER glad it was with BIKSS!

Till the next post.... have a good weekend!