Bank Holiday rambling & carnival

This August bank holiday weekend (that's a public holiday weekend for all those non-UK readers), we hadn't made any plans to go away, which made it the first bank holiday weekend we'd stayed in London for over six months.

As a result, we packed in all sorts of activities, ranging from a ramble in Edenbridge, Kent on Saturday (missing the torrential rain and lightening in London - score!) followed by a huge pub lunch (although a three mile walk hardly justified it...), then going to see Notorious, one of every single one of Alfred Hitchcock's movies that the BFI is screening at the moment.  It was a great film, with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman - I'd definitely recommend it.

Sunday was a 36km run for Adrian (yikes!) and a bbq, then the Notting Hill carnival for me.  I hadn't been before so wanted to see what all the fuss was about - and yes, it's just as busy as everyone says!  Luckily we knew of a private party in one of the mews which was a great escape, and lots of fun to be dancing outside in the streets with your friends.  Luckily Adrian managed to recover in time to get into the carnival for some jerk chicken and a boogie.

And then Monday was dim sum in Baker Street (the cuttlefish cheong fun was my favourite) followed by calamari and squid ink pasta (the latter we'd bought in Venice and had been waiting to find fresh squid to use).  I was surprised how easy it was to prepare squid - just whip out the middle, give it a clean and you're ready to go.  Delicious!

All in all, London put on a great bank holiday weekend - and everybody loves four day weeks!  Check out the rest of the photos.

Feel Inside (And Stuff Like That)!

Flight of the Conchords (for all those who haven't heard of them, check out this compilation video), have just released a new song raising money for Red Nose Day 2012.  The charity organising the event is CureKids, a NZ-based charity that funds medical research into life-threatening childhood illnesses.

It is one of the funniest things I've seen in ages - make sure you watch all the interviews with the kids and then listen to the lyrics!

You can buy the track from iTunes for only NZ$1.79 (about £0.90) - bargain!

Going to Malaysia

Having spent countless hours pouring over all the different airline sites and comparison travel sites out there, I was nearly fed up with the thought of having to buy a ticket home for the summer.  That and the ridiculously high prices!  It's seriously irritating to know that at any other time of the year you could easily get a flight for around the £850 mark, when during the NZ summer period you're lucky to get anything under £1200...

But, during my latest investigatory episode yesterday, and thanks to a friend who had shown me that the Malaysia Airlines website has a really easy 'stopover' option (why do more airlines not offer this?!), I found that I could get a return flight, with a week's stopover in Malaysia for just over £1100!  It seems like a few things contributed to this - flying out of London on Monday the 7th of Jan rather than Sunday the 6th (this reduced the price by nearly £300), and then returning in mid-April rather than at the end of March.

Hooray!

I'm seriously so excited about this, as I haven't really done much travel around Asia at all yet, and the thought of all that delicious Malaysian food has me drooling already...

Other thoughts at this stage include heading up into the mountains to the Cameron Highlands to see some tea plantations, maybe going to the jungle, and then also up to Penang and Georgetown (again, where the good food is!).

If anyone's got any hints and tips about what to see and do in Malaysia (I'll be sticking to the western peninsula as I've got limited time and budget), let me know in the comments!

Blogging the bees

As I mentioned back in March, I've joined the LSE Beekeeping Society, and am turning my hand to learning all about honey bees and their interesting ways.

As part of my involvement, I've taken over writing duties on the LSE Bees blog so am documenting our weekly visits up to the hive.  So far we've learnt about the varroa mite, how hungry bees can get while they're producing honey, and what a healthy hive looks like.  You can follow the Apis mellifera action on the blog or on Twitter - check them out!

Breakfast in the sun

Today is a fabulously sunny morning in London, and our garden is in full bloom (finally getting some courgettes to go with the beans!) so it was a no-brainer to sit outside and enjoy the sun while I ate my breakfast.  Here's hoping this lovely weather sticks around for a bit longer this time!

Turning Japanese

In the words of the immortal song, tonight I decided to turn Japanese and give something a bit different a go in an attempt to convince Adrian that tofu really isn't all that bad.  

Having already bought an eggplant from the supermarket as I had skewers in mind, I found this recipe for sesame tofu and eggplant skewers online which was perfect, as, apart from the mirin which apparently you can easily substitute with a mixture of wine or sherry and sugar, I had everything I needed already in the cupboards.

It was pretty yum!  The marinade is quite sweet, and if I made it again I'd probably reduce the amount of sugar added (although maybe that was the mirin substitute?), but the brown rice and more beans from the garden made it still seem pretty healthy.  Adrian sadly was still unconvinced by the tofu, deciding by his second tofu skewer that he really wasn't a fan.  But you could easily substitute chicken or mushrooms or something I'm sure. 

Maybe you could make it and let me know how you get on - I'd definitely make it again!