10,422.72 kilometres away.

my prized find from portobello market in london - 

a 1903 map of the netherlands, taken from the encyclopedia britannica.
(large photos to showcase the font details)

it's a beauty, i'm in love with it.

when the week ends, the real weekend begins.

i've always dreamt about having a picnic at the botanic gardens with the full works sunday brunch style. finally managed to convince my canoeing mates that something like this was worth waking up at 7.30am on a sunday for. i offered to bring all the food just to persuade them that it wasn't such a bad idea after all and so the past two days were spent planning, grocery shopping, prepping and finally cooking! 

el menú

i might have been over ambitious to think that i could pull all of that off on my own, so thank god my elf chef (aka sister's bf) and loving mother offered to help cook and clean respectively. 

note to self: grocery shopping needs serious muscle strength. transporting everything from home to botanics also needs serious muscle strength. 

it was great fun nonetheless and save for the very small picnic mat situation, everything fell into place perfectly. good weather, great food (i would like to believe!) & fantastic company! =)

from left to right:
pancakes with vanilla poached peaches and caramelized bananas,
baked eggs with mushroom, bacon & cucumbers
elf chef's balsamic cream mushrooms and home-made salsa
smoked salmon and cream cheese with crackers
roasted pumpkin and spinach salad 

the grand finale - bread & butter-less pudding
(lovingly assembled by elf chef!)

missing in the pictures was the ultimate sunday brunch tipple - mimosa! the champagne and orange juice combination completed the picture. 

if you're interested, here are some of the recipes i used as reference:

Pumpkin and Spinach Salad 

(Fantastic salad combination, I also added feta cheese)

Vanilla Poached Peaches 

(Unbelievably easy yet delicious)

Jamie Oliver's Bun & Butter Pudding 

(Made a few adaptations by soaking the raisins in Cointreau, using French baguette, omitting the butter, cognac and zest. It was so yummy I'm still thinking about it now)

I hope you had a great weekend too, have a blessed week ahead! =)

have a blessed week ahead!

if work gets overwhelming, don't forget to

from workisnotajob

some kind of wonderful.

heard a song over the radio today which somehow reminded me that life has been pretty wonderful life despite the crazy work schedule. i'm very blessed indeed.

and so i went home to google the song and found a couple of versions, from the drifters who sang the original version to michael buble who did a chirpy cover, but the best was still the one by peter cincotti, which i heard over the radio:

the volume's very low, you need to blast your speakers a little

have never heard of peter cincotti until today but oh boy, that voice and boyish looks made me swoon like a little girl.

check out these other two great songs too:

goodbye philadelphia

rainbow connection

sunshine.

couldn't peel my eyes of this great shot. 

the girl's smile spells sunshine a thousand times over. =)

from carolines mode.

have a slice of the world.

3 guys
44 days
11 countries
18 flights
38,000 miles

i'm pretty damn sure it was a trip of a lifetime alright!


EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

i like the jalepeno shot!

also check out move and learn here.

first seen on black eiffel!

qarah moment.

was extremely blessed to be given the opportunity to host claus meyer, the co-founder of critically acclaimed restaurant Noma, when he was in town recently. a great, great visionary man and loving father indeed. this was one of the biggest highlights of my job yet!

read more here and here.