4/23/2012
4/20/2012
the perfect shade of green
After months of fearing I might had lost it, I finally found my jade necklace which I received as a gift from amah. And despite the fact that (for some reason I have yet to figure out), 70% of my readers are from Singapore and therefore probably fairly acquainted with the term, I'll still include an explanation; amah means grandmother in Hokkien, which is the Chinese dialect dad and his family speaks. As she didn't speak a word of English, and I the only Chinese at the time was from a game my dad and I used to play, it was only natural that I ended up calling her amah. It sounds more cosy as well, I think, as opposed to grandmother or granny. And while we're on the subject of explanations I might as well include the rules of the game my dad and I used to play: we would look for cars where one or both of their front light were out, and whoever spotted the car first would say something in Chinese, which I have been informed meant either one eyed or two eyed dragon. Cute, right? I remember I used to love that game.
I know you can get buy jade jewellery at almost every corner in Asia, so it's not as special as I dreamed it to be when I was younger, but there is just something about the colour that always left me infatuated. And in addition to that my middle name, Lay, which my grandparents gave me, supposedly means the sound of the golden jade. Since Norwegian names rarely have a meaning to them, it's only fair that I think my name is kind of cool.
4/18/2012
so many pretty ladies here tonight
Let me just take a moment to say how much I love this webshop called Stylenanda. Gorgeous girls and gorgeous clothes.
4/13/2012
pancake breakfast
Last weekend I got up early before work and made Roger pancakes for breakfast. Plus, I even gave him an easter egg packed with all his favourites (the polka dot one to the right) Am I #girlfriendoftheyear or what? But then again he did take this picture of me with perfect lighting, so I guess it kind of balances out.
4/12/2012
everything sweet
A while back I received some questions on Formspring regarding Norwegian desserts, so rather than trying to explain what they're like I thought I would show you an easy recipe for one of my personal favourites. This is Tilslørte Bondepiker, a traditional Norwegian dessert which loosely translated to veiled farmer's girls, and as much as it sounds incredibly lame in English, I can reassure you they taste amazing.
Ingredients
6 tablespoons breadcrumbs
2-3 tablespoons butter
sugar and cinnamon
2 dl whipping cream
apple jam
1. Melt the butter in a pan and add the breadcrumbs. Add cinnamon and sugar according to your own taste. Make sure you don't add too much butter, you want the crumbs to be quite dry.
2. While your crumbs cool off, whip cream. It's imperative that the crumbs are not too hot before you proceed to the next step.
3. Add layers of crumbs, apple jam and then whipped cream in a tall glass in that particular order. Finish off with cream with sprinkled crumbs on top.
Ingredients
6 tablespoons breadcrumbs
2-3 tablespoons butter
sugar and cinnamon
2 dl whipping cream
apple jam
1. Melt the butter in a pan and add the breadcrumbs. Add cinnamon and sugar according to your own taste. Make sure you don't add too much butter, you want the crumbs to be quite dry.
2. While your crumbs cool off, whip cream. It's imperative that the crumbs are not too hot before you proceed to the next step.
3. Add layers of crumbs, apple jam and then whipped cream in a tall glass in that particular order. Finish off with cream with sprinkled crumbs on top.
4/09/2012
4/08/2012
five days in barcelona
It appears I have made a habit out of postponing my travel posts, which I think is mainly due to the insane amount of pictures involved. Going through all the pictures, selecting which ones I like, editing and uploading is so time consuming. As I have mentioned before, I have no idea how full time bloggers do it... But nonetheless, I think I'm not too far behind on this one because I was really excited about posting it. When I'm in Singapore this summer, I'll be sure to bring my Macbook and camera, that way I efficiently update day by day. Yes, good plan.
My mum and I went to Barcelona for about 5 days about a month back, just the two of us, on a sort of mum-and-daughter-quality-time holiday. Prior to leaving my mum was set on seeing everything related to Antoni Gaudí who is a famous architect. He had a very particular style and is behind famous works such as the Sagrada Familia. Personally I was just really excited about going crazy at Zara...in addition to sightseeing of course.
Throughout my life I have spent way too much time at this airport.
The chances of me ever getting sick of taking pictures of the sky while on a plane, are generally quite slim.
I am wearing a Samsøe & Samsøe Roger got me that I absolutely love, but unfortunately it's quite see through so I'm having trouble deciding what I should wear it with. As much as it's a big trend to show a little bit of underwear these days, I just don't feel comfortable showing my bra.
And here we are in Barcelona! You will see these little bakeries on every corner, selling a huge variety of fresh baked pastries, churros and bread. To be honest I had never tried or even heard of churros prior to coming here, so I figured it would be fitting if I had my first taste here. And even though they were a bit too oily for my taste, it still felt amazing walking down the streets of Barcelona chewing on a couple of churros.
Our plane landed at the middle of the day so by the time we arrived at the hotel we were already pretty hungry. The hotel we stayed at was located just beside the Fontana metro station, which is close to the Gràcia area. When we went outside to look for something to eat it appears we were right in time for the siesta, meaning most of the shops were closed. But luckily we chanced upon this tiny restaurant which regardless of its unimpressive exterior, served the most amazing food. It's possibly the best food we had throughout our entire stay.
Just looking at this picture gives me such a heartache, because it's a reminder of how I will never be able to taste this little slice of foccacia heaven again.
Normally hotel breakfast aren't all that great, especially if you're a vegetarian, so we decided we would just buy food from a supermarket and have breakfast inside our room which included a kitchen. Here we have bread bought from one of those bakeries along with avocado and cheese. Unbelievably tasty.
Plaça de Catalunya.
This is probably not exciting to people who live in big cities, but I'm sure my fellow Norwegians would understand.
Trying on way too many clothes at Zara. Looking at this picture just me reminds me of how gutted I am we don't have a Zara outlet in Stavanger. But then again, if we did, my wardrobe would probably only consist of Zara clothes. Their pieces are just so delicate and stylish with great quality, for such a good price. What's not to love?
My mum wanted to get her hair cut so after recommendations by one of the employees at Sephora, we went on a hunt for a specific salon which he recommended. Unfortunately they were fully booked throughout the entire weekend, but referred us to another salon called The Room. After searching high and low we finally found the salon. They turned out to be a hairdresser and a shop all in one, selling Scandinavian brands such as Cheap Monday and Ganni. I found this really amusing, but of course their prices were a lot higher than what I would pay back come, which is probably due to import expenses. My mum loved her haircut and even demanded a photo session when we got back to the hotel.
While I was waiting for my appointment and my mum to finish hers, I sat outside this church nearby, which is the one on the picture above, sipping on a strawberry milkshake and watching Barcelona life pass me by. This is, in my opinion, what a holiday in Barcelona is all about - unexpected and unplanned moments that just turn out so perfect.
We had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant where the food was mediocre, but the exterior was absolutely beautiful. I'm planning on having the exact same ceiling in my future dream condo one day. Look forward to it.
Just outside The Room I found this amazing shop which sold predominantly Air Jordans. And if you know Roger, you'll know that he absolutely loves basketball and anything related to it, so of course I ended up getting him a small present. The funny thing about this story is that while I was chatting to the shop keeper I mentioned that I'm Norwegian to which he immediately responded that he had lived in Norway for a year. Funny coincidence, right? But as it turned out he even lived in Stavanger, my hometown, in Randaberg which is just 5-10 minutes away from where I live. Needless to say we were both pretty shocked, and equally reminded of how small the world really is.
After a long day of shopping we got our nails done just outside the hotel. The staff turned out to be Chinese, which made me think it would be a great time for me to mention that my dad was Chinese. Big mistake, because sadly I don't speak a word of Chinese (I blame my dad for that). The rest of my appointment I kept trying to think of Chinese words I know of, but to no good use. And the reason for that is explained in a little list, with all the Chinese words I know:
Dian nao - Computer
Gong xi fa chai - Happy new year
Ni hao (ma) - Hello/How are you?
Chao cheebye - Smelly vagina
Xie xie - Thank you
For obvious reasons none of those words seemed appropriate, besides the last one, so I concluded it would be best if I just stuck with English.
The prettiest lamp I have ever seen in my entire life. It's actually quite massive in real life.
Here we are having dinner at a restaurant with a 'slow food' concept. Personally I didn't quite grasp what it meant, but mummy was awfully excited about it so I guess it's a good thing. The food was really nice though, especially the dessert.
Catalan cream - a must if you're in Barcelona.
Feeling quite fed up with trying on clothes, and possibly quite broke as well, we felt it was time we did some sightseeing. So we made our way up to Park Güell, another masterpiece by Gaudí.
Ah, the good life.
They sold these amazing meringues everywhere. Unfortunately I didn't try them, but I imagine them being overly sweet as they are quite large with one of the main ingredients being sugar.
As our hotel in Fontana was located quite close to the park, we figured it would be a good idea if we just walked up instead of taking the metro. On our way up we saw a shop that were selling these really cheap smoothies/juices which looked absolutely delicious. Obviously we couldn't resist, and I chose one with a mix of mango, coconut and pineapple. Not a mixture I have tried before, but I can reassure you it tasted heavenly.
The park is located quite high up in the city, so we had to walk uphill for a long time until we found this escalator. Personally I found it quite strange how they had an escalator outside. I mean what do they do when it's raining outside?
These clocks look quite Salvador Dali-esque, don't you think? I found them in the gift shop at the bottom of the park. Since it was packed to the brim with people I didn't really feel like buying anything, which I'm kind of regretting now.
I want to try and put into words what Park Güell is like, but you really have to see if for yourself. One thing that really stuck with me though, were three musicians who were standing under these strange yet beautifully shaped pillars. The construction created this amazing acoustics, and to top it off they even played Yann Tiersen, which is the creator behind the soundtrack to my all time favourite movie, Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulai Poulain. A true masterpiece of a movie which I have loved for nearly a decade. The whole experience with being in this particular park while listening to that particular song was so enthralling. Like I said earlier, it's these moments that you can never plan and never recreate. Everything was so perfect.
It's probably difficult to see in this picture, but in the sign behind me it says Güell. And Park Güell i actually a construction dedicated a person named Güell who was a friend of Gaudí. Apparently it was supposed to be a place where the nobles could live in peace and quiet and escape from the rowdy downtown areas.
When it was nearing lunch time we decided we wanted to try one of those tourist buses that drive around the city. They actually have a really practical system, because if you buy a day-ticket you can hop on or off at any stop you like, making it easy for you to see all the important tourist attractions, but in your own pace. By the time we arrived in Cataluyna we were nearly starving, so we just went with the first restaurant we saw. And even though they had a TV showing a football match (which screams rowdy pub, not gourmet meal) I was pleasantly surprised by this pizza that was actually really good.
After that we took the tourist bus around the city, which I would actually recommend if you're only visiting Barcelona for a short amount of time. I would, however, advise you to wear a jacket as it can get quite cold if you're sitting on the top deck.
More of the beautiful architecture. You'll see these quirky looking buildings everywhere in Barcelona.
We drove past Sagrada Familia, but didn't actually have a chance to stop. I know, it's a travesty - we went to Barcelona but didn't visit what is probably their most famous tourist attraction.
After a long day of walking we treated ourselves to a pedicure, and this was actually the first time I had ever gotten a pedicure. When she started buffing away the dead skin I wouldn't believe how much came off. It was actually rather embarrassing.
Resting a bit in the hotel before heading out for dinner.
Wearing my new parka, new bag and new dress which is all from Zara. Yes, I love Zara.
Mummy looking quite classy.
And behold, the sight that met us when we walked out the door. Apparently we were right in time for the Sant Medir festival, where people drive through the city in decorated pickup trucks, throwing candy at the spectators. Horrible explanation, but it's quite difficult to describe. Honestly I have never witnessed anything quite like it. In Norway festivals such as these are mainly for children, but here people were going mental. Whether you were old or young, it didn't matter, people practically threw themselves at the candy that was being tossed at the crowd.
Here you have the aftermath, which was miraculously gone by the next morning.
This lucky shot I managed to take at Plaça de Catalunya, right before we left for our shuttle buss. It was so calming to soak up the sun while looking at people. Which brings me to one of my biggest regrets in regards to our visit: I wasted so much time looking for specific places, like I dragged my mother around Catalunya for hours looking for a handbag I had planned on buying, while I should just be sitting outside a cathedral eating churros. If you're ever in Barcelona, I wouldn't advice you to be completely without a plan, but just go with the flow. Barcelona is such an amazing city, and it will be regardless of whether everything goes according to plan or not.
My mum and I went to Barcelona for about 5 days about a month back, just the two of us, on a sort of mum-and-daughter-quality-time holiday. Prior to leaving my mum was set on seeing everything related to Antoni Gaudí who is a famous architect. He had a very particular style and is behind famous works such as the Sagrada Familia. Personally I was just really excited about going crazy at Zara...in addition to sightseeing of course.
Throughout my life I have spent way too much time at this airport.
The chances of me ever getting sick of taking pictures of the sky while on a plane, are generally quite slim.
I am wearing a Samsøe & Samsøe Roger got me that I absolutely love, but unfortunately it's quite see through so I'm having trouble deciding what I should wear it with. As much as it's a big trend to show a little bit of underwear these days, I just don't feel comfortable showing my bra.
And here we are in Barcelona! You will see these little bakeries on every corner, selling a huge variety of fresh baked pastries, churros and bread. To be honest I had never tried or even heard of churros prior to coming here, so I figured it would be fitting if I had my first taste here. And even though they were a bit too oily for my taste, it still felt amazing walking down the streets of Barcelona chewing on a couple of churros.
Our plane landed at the middle of the day so by the time we arrived at the hotel we were already pretty hungry. The hotel we stayed at was located just beside the Fontana metro station, which is close to the Gràcia area. When we went outside to look for something to eat it appears we were right in time for the siesta, meaning most of the shops were closed. But luckily we chanced upon this tiny restaurant which regardless of its unimpressive exterior, served the most amazing food. It's possibly the best food we had throughout our entire stay.
Just looking at this picture gives me such a heartache, because it's a reminder of how I will never be able to taste this little slice of foccacia heaven again.
Normally hotel breakfast aren't all that great, especially if you're a vegetarian, so we decided we would just buy food from a supermarket and have breakfast inside our room which included a kitchen. Here we have bread bought from one of those bakeries along with avocado and cheese. Unbelievably tasty.
Plaça de Catalunya.
This is probably not exciting to people who live in big cities, but I'm sure my fellow Norwegians would understand.
Trying on way too many clothes at Zara. Looking at this picture just me reminds me of how gutted I am we don't have a Zara outlet in Stavanger. But then again, if we did, my wardrobe would probably only consist of Zara clothes. Their pieces are just so delicate and stylish with great quality, for such a good price. What's not to love?
My mum wanted to get her hair cut so after recommendations by one of the employees at Sephora, we went on a hunt for a specific salon which he recommended. Unfortunately they were fully booked throughout the entire weekend, but referred us to another salon called The Room. After searching high and low we finally found the salon. They turned out to be a hairdresser and a shop all in one, selling Scandinavian brands such as Cheap Monday and Ganni. I found this really amusing, but of course their prices were a lot higher than what I would pay back come, which is probably due to import expenses. My mum loved her haircut and even demanded a photo session when we got back to the hotel.
While I was waiting for my appointment and my mum to finish hers, I sat outside this church nearby, which is the one on the picture above, sipping on a strawberry milkshake and watching Barcelona life pass me by. This is, in my opinion, what a holiday in Barcelona is all about - unexpected and unplanned moments that just turn out so perfect.
We had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant where the food was mediocre, but the exterior was absolutely beautiful. I'm planning on having the exact same ceiling in my future dream condo one day. Look forward to it.
Just outside The Room I found this amazing shop which sold predominantly Air Jordans. And if you know Roger, you'll know that he absolutely loves basketball and anything related to it, so of course I ended up getting him a small present. The funny thing about this story is that while I was chatting to the shop keeper I mentioned that I'm Norwegian to which he immediately responded that he had lived in Norway for a year. Funny coincidence, right? But as it turned out he even lived in Stavanger, my hometown, in Randaberg which is just 5-10 minutes away from where I live. Needless to say we were both pretty shocked, and equally reminded of how small the world really is.
After a long day of shopping we got our nails done just outside the hotel. The staff turned out to be Chinese, which made me think it would be a great time for me to mention that my dad was Chinese. Big mistake, because sadly I don't speak a word of Chinese (I blame my dad for that). The rest of my appointment I kept trying to think of Chinese words I know of, but to no good use. And the reason for that is explained in a little list, with all the Chinese words I know:
Dian nao - Computer
Gong xi fa chai - Happy new year
Ni hao (ma) - Hello/How are you?
Chao cheebye - Smelly vagina
Xie xie - Thank you
For obvious reasons none of those words seemed appropriate, besides the last one, so I concluded it would be best if I just stuck with English.
The prettiest lamp I have ever seen in my entire life. It's actually quite massive in real life.
Here we are having dinner at a restaurant with a 'slow food' concept. Personally I didn't quite grasp what it meant, but mummy was awfully excited about it so I guess it's a good thing. The food was really nice though, especially the dessert.
Catalan cream - a must if you're in Barcelona.
Feeling quite fed up with trying on clothes, and possibly quite broke as well, we felt it was time we did some sightseeing. So we made our way up to Park Güell, another masterpiece by Gaudí.
Ah, the good life.
They sold these amazing meringues everywhere. Unfortunately I didn't try them, but I imagine them being overly sweet as they are quite large with one of the main ingredients being sugar.
As our hotel in Fontana was located quite close to the park, we figured it would be a good idea if we just walked up instead of taking the metro. On our way up we saw a shop that were selling these really cheap smoothies/juices which looked absolutely delicious. Obviously we couldn't resist, and I chose one with a mix of mango, coconut and pineapple. Not a mixture I have tried before, but I can reassure you it tasted heavenly.
The park is located quite high up in the city, so we had to walk uphill for a long time until we found this escalator. Personally I found it quite strange how they had an escalator outside. I mean what do they do when it's raining outside?
These clocks look quite Salvador Dali-esque, don't you think? I found them in the gift shop at the bottom of the park. Since it was packed to the brim with people I didn't really feel like buying anything, which I'm kind of regretting now.
I want to try and put into words what Park Güell is like, but you really have to see if for yourself. One thing that really stuck with me though, were three musicians who were standing under these strange yet beautifully shaped pillars. The construction created this amazing acoustics, and to top it off they even played Yann Tiersen, which is the creator behind the soundtrack to my all time favourite movie, Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulai Poulain. A true masterpiece of a movie which I have loved for nearly a decade. The whole experience with being in this particular park while listening to that particular song was so enthralling. Like I said earlier, it's these moments that you can never plan and never recreate. Everything was so perfect.
It's probably difficult to see in this picture, but in the sign behind me it says Güell. And Park Güell i actually a construction dedicated a person named Güell who was a friend of Gaudí. Apparently it was supposed to be a place where the nobles could live in peace and quiet and escape from the rowdy downtown areas.
When it was nearing lunch time we decided we wanted to try one of those tourist buses that drive around the city. They actually have a really practical system, because if you buy a day-ticket you can hop on or off at any stop you like, making it easy for you to see all the important tourist attractions, but in your own pace. By the time we arrived in Cataluyna we were nearly starving, so we just went with the first restaurant we saw. And even though they had a TV showing a football match (which screams rowdy pub, not gourmet meal) I was pleasantly surprised by this pizza that was actually really good.
After that we took the tourist bus around the city, which I would actually recommend if you're only visiting Barcelona for a short amount of time. I would, however, advise you to wear a jacket as it can get quite cold if you're sitting on the top deck.
More of the beautiful architecture. You'll see these quirky looking buildings everywhere in Barcelona.
We drove past Sagrada Familia, but didn't actually have a chance to stop. I know, it's a travesty - we went to Barcelona but didn't visit what is probably their most famous tourist attraction.
After a long day of walking we treated ourselves to a pedicure, and this was actually the first time I had ever gotten a pedicure. When she started buffing away the dead skin I wouldn't believe how much came off. It was actually rather embarrassing.
Resting a bit in the hotel before heading out for dinner.
Wearing my new parka, new bag and new dress which is all from Zara. Yes, I love Zara.
Mummy looking quite classy.
And behold, the sight that met us when we walked out the door. Apparently we were right in time for the Sant Medir festival, where people drive through the city in decorated pickup trucks, throwing candy at the spectators. Horrible explanation, but it's quite difficult to describe. Honestly I have never witnessed anything quite like it. In Norway festivals such as these are mainly for children, but here people were going mental. Whether you were old or young, it didn't matter, people practically threw themselves at the candy that was being tossed at the crowd.
Here you have the aftermath, which was miraculously gone by the next morning.
This lucky shot I managed to take at Plaça de Catalunya, right before we left for our shuttle buss. It was so calming to soak up the sun while looking at people. Which brings me to one of my biggest regrets in regards to our visit: I wasted so much time looking for specific places, like I dragged my mother around Catalunya for hours looking for a handbag I had planned on buying, while I should just be sitting outside a cathedral eating churros. If you're ever in Barcelona, I wouldn't advice you to be completely without a plan, but just go with the flow. Barcelona is such an amazing city, and it will be regardless of whether everything goes according to plan or not.
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