He sang 3 songs in this car journey:

1. Barney’s I Love You
2. Itsy Bitsy Spider
3. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Marcus Singing 1

And here, he’s singing Cheryl Cole’s Fight For This Love.

Marcus Singing 2

The many faces of Marcus.

To be honest, I’ve never been a big fan of the HBO series until I moved to London and got close to AA. Since then, the series’ creator has made 2 movies. I enjoyed the first movie very much and was very impressed by how there was a twist to the story line. Now the second movie came out earlier this year and I noticed it has a bad review. I didnt have a chance to watch it with the girls in London due to all the business trips I was on. Plus Dav would never go and watch it with me.

Few months after the movie premier I totally forgot about the movie until I saw it in HMV yesterday. So I make a note to remind myself that I must watch it! So finally today I watched it for the very first time.

My verdict, I totally LOVE it!

The reason why I like it is not because of the fashion or the drama. But because I can totally relate to Carrie, for the first time. I totally agree with her on how it is up to you and your partner to decide how to make the marriage works. Whether it is 2 days off each week, live apart with occasional visits or maybe sleep in separate rooms!! I personally feel that society has pressured a lot of us into living a certain way and get frown upon when you’re not following the normal path / trend.

Dav and I have been true to ourselves in having a marriage the way we want it to be. We create our own tradition and make changes as we see fit.

As Carrie said at the end of the movie, “You have to take the tradition, and decorate it your way.”

The food is served in a 3 tier tray but cant be refilled. They have really cute tea pots and the atmosphere is great. I would definitely recommend this place. The price is really reasonable too!

Love the macaroon dipped in chocolate.

My tea set.

Another cute little tea pot. Can’t believe they serve teas in different types of teapots.

The cake turn out well and quite yummy. Dav took half the cake to office and all his colleagues loved it.

I woud say that’s a success!

Fresh out of the oven.

Can’t really see the ‘marble’ effect.

Dav’s colleagues said it was good. No wonder nothing left.

Next attempt may be pizza or bread.

I was very WRONG!

I’m ashamed to admit I fell asleep 3 times and I fidgeted non-stop throughout the performance (when I was not sleeping). To add on to the challenge of trying to appreciate the show, the second act was sung in German….. Now since after the show, I realised the prom’s programme is available online and I’ve seen people carrying printed paper of the programme. I didnt quite understand why they keep looking at the programme during the show. It was because the programme has the lyrics and the translation in English!

So now I’m well prepared to attend my second and third prom. The last one will be a contemporary one (gonna see Jamie Cullum). Can’t wait.

Prom 21: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with Sir Simon Rattle as the conductor.

Programme:
Berlioz Romeo and Juliet – Love Scene (18 mins)
interval
Wagner Tristan und Isolde – Act 2 (80 mins)

My companion for this year’s BBC Proms. We have 2 more proms to attend before it ends in September.

According to Wiki, afternoon tea is a light meal typically eaten between 3pm and 5pm. Traditionally, loose tea is brewed in a teapot and served in teacups with milk and sugar. This is accompanied by sandwiches (customarilycucumber, egg and cress, fish paste, ham, and smoked salmon), scones (with clotted cream and jam, see cream tea) and usually cakes and pastries (such as Battenberg, fruit cake or Victoria sponge). The food is often served on a tiered stand; there may be no sandwiches, but bread or scones with butter or margarine and optional jam or other spread.

The spread is quite standard (nothing to shout about) but the tea is amazing. The deco seems a bit ‘cold’ and I was quite annoyed that we were pressured to leave even before we could finish our cakes as the second session was about to start.

Steph’s rating: 6/10. Will definitely try afternoon tea in another hotel.

Few days ago he found a farm in London which has ferrets. So yesterday we decided to check out the farm to have a look.

The farm is located in Vauxhall, very near to the train station. It is relatively big and has quite a few animals. Now Dav is very much into the animals, while I’m indifferent. But when I saw they also have a big garden with lots of different flowers and plants, I got excited (as you can see from my pictures collection, I only have one picture of the animal!).

I LOVE the sunflower in the garden. I was surprised they have apple and grape trees too.

If you’re into animals and plants, this place is definitely worth a visit. It’s free too!

Got this for my birthday from Dav.

AA called it the ‘Ferrari’ of cake mixer. It is one of the best mixer one can get… it certainly is the most expensive! When I was doing research on mixers, a lot of Kitchenaid owner tend to hand down the mixer to their children. That means longevity of the equipment!

Here’s to more baking!

Ingredients
2 cups butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 1/2 cups oatmeal, blended to powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
340g chocolate chips
100g nuts (your choice, I used pecan), chopped

Method

1. Preheat oven at 190C
2. Cream the butter and both sugars
3. Add eggs and vanilla, mix evenly
4. Fold in flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda.
5. Add chocolate chips, grated chocolate bar and nuts. Mix well (I used my hands in a food grade plastic bag, as it is too thick for my mixer).
6. Roll into small balls (around 1 inch in diameter) and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet/tray.
7. Bake for 10 minutes at 190 C.

Results

Mountain of cookies!

Dav’s verdict = 7/10.

The ingredients are fairly standard baking ingredients. I just needed to get fresh double cream and strawberries as a replacement for jams. I prefer to have fresh berries in my swiss roll.

So, this evening while Dav was preparing dinner, I started preparing the roll. I have to say, baking can be extremely difficult without an electric mixer!! Dav and I took turns to whisk the egg with caster sugar for a good 30 mins!! Both our faces says it all while ‘whisking’ away… not a pretty sight. The electric mixer is definitely on top of my shopping list.

The end result is surprisingly yummy. Dav rated it a 10/10 … but of course he is biased!
Will definitely try different flavours swiss roll next time (chocolate or green tea anyone?).