Seoul 2013: 남이섬 (Nami Island)

Hope that everyone had a good Christmas! Happy holidays to all!

The year's coming to a wrap. With all the year end gatherings happening, I may be a lil caught up with things to pay attention to this space for the next few weeks. As I've been neglecting this online area for the past few months, I thought I should at least strive to clear a lil of my massive (you won't believe how much) collection of photos I've amassed so far in 2013.

Besides photos of my baking, there's also vacation photos I've snapped on my two holidays - Seoul in April, and Australia in September. I've only gone through editing half of my Seoul photos, and will probably try to finish it soon so I can move on to the Australia shots (and also, before my upcoming trips in February and March 2014 ha!).

Similar to the 2012 Korea blog posts, I've categorised the photos based on location, and will post them not in sequence of my travel itinerary. My trips to Korea always seem to evolve around food, so there'll be plenty of upcoming posts where majority of the photos will consist of nothing more than food, food, and yes, more food. Thus, I thought I should start things off on a light note, with a post on a popular travel spot in Korea, where the photos will have a dominant focus on stuff other than you know, food. ;)

남이섬 (Nami Island)

Cornflakes Crusted French Toast with Roasted Balsamic Vanilla Strawberries

It's almost the end of November, and it's been quite a busy month. It's my birthday month first of all! Sad to say, it was quite a sad birthday this year as I was sick. I met up with some friends for a birthday brunch over the weekend (my birthday's on a Tuesday this year), and it was during brunch that I started developing flu symptoms. I glugged like tons of water but I guess it was too late, and on Monday, I was in full blown flu mode. The Doc gave me two days MC, so I was on MC on my birthday. Ha! It's my first time being sick on my birthday, so needless to say, it was quite miserable in a way.

I had several activities planned for the week, but cos I was ill, I had to reshuffle a few dates here and there, and even when I met my friends, I had to avoid certain foods. I hate being sick because I normally don't fall sick easily, but when I do, I take quite some time to get well. I can safely say I am just about feeling quite alright now (it took like around two weeks omg!).

Besides my birthday, November's pretty much a birthday month for those around me too. Unfortunately, I didn't stick to the tradition of baking a strawberry shortcake for the Dad (as I did for the past three years). I had plans to bake a rum raisin cake for him this year, but I didn't manage to in the end. Oh well, next year perhaps.

The weekend's here again, so let's celebrate with some weekend brunch-worthy dish. French toast. Cornflakes crusted French toast to be exact.

 Cornflakes Crusted French Toast with Roasted Balsamic Vanilla Strawberries

Drury Lane & Nylon Coffee Roasters

October flashed by before I even properly registered its presence. It was a busy month at work, and yes, I could certainly pin the blame on work being a reason of not blogging, but it was not so. I've mentioned it several times before, but blogging takes a lot of effort and time, and I really do applaud all of those out there who blog for a reason - be it for their passion,  their love for writing, as part of their job, or whatever it could be. 

I started the blog primarily because my love of words. I used to have a habit of writing journals. And yes, to that I mean hand written ones, which is probably not a concept the youngsters nowadays are familiar with. Thus, the blog started out as a means of "keeping up with times". My journal; albeit a digital version.  I must also add that while I love words, I'm neither one with great prose, nor one with much interesting tales to share. 

Over the years, the blog has evolved to become a public platform of sharing photos and recipes. I've actually privatised most of my past entries as this space has actually become quite open, and I was not comfortable with the idea of my life being too open (oh who am I kidding, it was probably to hide the entries where my language and diction was simply atrocious). With the Internet being free-for-all accessible to everyone and anyone, I suppose I should be more cautious in what I reveal to all. I mean, how do I know who is actually reading this post?  

I mean, I could make the blog private if what I fear is fear of being too open. That is something that have crossed my mind yes, but I've gotten used to using the blog as a space to document and share my photos of food and travels. It's where I can record recipes I've tried (and retried several times since), or list down travel notes as a reference to myself when/if I should revisit the place again, or to recommend my friends when they visit.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, although this blog has been part of me for the longest time ever, there is still the possibility of me leaving the space (if i really can't find the time or energy to go on). But till I hang up my quill (and camera), I will try my best to keep this space updated. 

 Drury Lane

Cornflakes Crusted Chicken

These are like super addictive chicken poppers. They are like McDonald's nuggets, or even KFC's popcorn chicken - only they taste much better, and is not made up of weird indistinguishable meat. I won't go into what I've read of fast food chains' meat choices, cos I still do indulge in the occasional fast food meal once in a while, and it's better not over-thinking too much about what I'm really eating yup?

Cornflakes Crusted Chicken

Penny University

Ello! I'm back from the vacation. The (almost) two weeks in Aussie have flew by in a rush, and before I knew it, I landed back in Singapore again. Loads to share, but first of all, here's a quick post to (try) clear my backlogs. A few friends have recommended Penny University, and I finally managed to pay the East side cafe a visit some time before my vacation.

 Penny University