Making Bread

 So airy and fluffy. Love the texture, love the taste, and love the fact that I made it.
 Breadmaking is extremely frustrating, annoying, and at the same time, fun and rewarding.

I kneaded the dough by hand, kneaded for 30 plus minutes. My workout for that day. Surprisingly, my arm didn't become sore the next day. If you see me, remind me to let you touch my upper arm muscle.

(I've tried using the mixer to knead the dough, but it resulted to a slightly denser texture.)

Dinner at Home

Owachen. O-wa-tsien. Oyster Omelette. iluvet!
Actually, I like anything with egg. Yummy!

Picha Pie

Hawiian pizza using the pretzel-dough-gone-wrong. The dough grew and grew while baking, resulting to a fat pizza.

Almost Christmas

 Looks cute eh? Problem though, it got sticky  and I couldn't peel it away from the countertop without distorting the shape.

 So I had to put the dough straight to the baking sheet, press out the shape, and remove the excess dough..

 I stayed with the cookies the whole baking time.

Heehee! I like the christmas tree, and love the gingerbread man with the wry expression.
Nevermind the mugger-looking Santa Claus .

Cafe Rouge, Edinburgh

 Lunch after our trip to Edinburgh Castle

 

 I think this was nice.

 A big slab of steak. Angus beef if I remember correctly.
Meat was fresh, just that it's cut too thick and seasoned too lightly that's why it became a chore to finish it. Eventually we added salt and some sauce to give it some taste.

I'm a bland eater, but this was way too bland. I understand they probably wanted us to taste the meat, but the cut was too thick for us to enjoy it.

 Vanilla ice cream

 Creamy as could be, but not memorable.

Beautiful Edinburgh

Edinburgh, Edin-bro, Edin-borough.. I still don't know how to pronounce it correctly. They (various tourguides) kept saying it differently.

 

All I can say is, it's such a dreamy place, I super loved it!

 

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View from our hotel: Edinburgh Castle
Hotel: Caledonian Hilton. One of the best in Edinburgh, we were told.

 Towel warmers! Soft and warm towels after taking a shower...mmm... bliss!

 Breaking Dawn (going with the fad. [the part 2 is showing now in theaters])

Anyway, this was around 4am, when I suddenly woke up.
I found out that afternoon that almost everybody in our tour group woke up around the same time. Aha! Jetlag! (7 hour difference between Manila and UK).

 The hotel room fridge. You know, the sensor-type ref whereby the moment you touch an item, it's considered sold and charged to your room.

 Jam area. I have pictures of the other buffet items, just that I'm too lazy to upload it. 
Pretty good spread though.

That was my first plate. Sausages, cheese, eggs, bread and haggis - their national dish.
I believe I had 2 more plates.

 Our authentic Scottish tourguide. I like the Scottish accent, it's quite comforting.

 Edinburgh Castle upclose.

 Lovely shot, if I may say so myself.

 The old structures are so picture-perfect!  Looking down from the Castle, I felt like I was looking at a postcard.

 So beautiful and cute at the same time!

 Gift Shop.
We bought a chocolate bar (so-so) and a 'Keep Calm and Carry On' book

Ahh the iconic red phone booth.

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Do I recommend the hotel? Yes!
Do I recommend Edinburgh as a vacation spot? Yes!

Their They're, Little Girl

Eeeeeeeeyaiks! I committed one of the most annoying grammatical mistakes around - interchanging 'they're' with 'their'.  Next thing I know, I'd be  following 'did' or 'didn't' with verb in past tense. Bigger Eeeeeeeeyaiks.

As a lesson and a reminder to me, I will not edit the post with the hideous grammatical blunder.

So....happy error-finding!

UK Snack Review

 There's a lot of popcorn brands out there, all selling their salty-sweet combo. I've had my fair share. Garrett's for me is tooo sweet (caramel) and tooo oily (cheese). Chef Tony's parmesan cheese is okay. Other brands are not worth mentioning. Joe&Seph's bought from the food hall of Selfridges is extremely nice!

 Strawberry milk. I can't remember how it tasted, but I just know it tasted fresh, not at all like the ones here in Asia that are synthethic tasting.

 Bought from one of the groceries in Glasgow. One of the worst pork crackling I've tasted!
Tasted super fatty (I know it's pork and all and supposed to be fatty, but this was different. I felt like I was drinking oil while eating them), super salty, and stale-tasting.

Tunnock's famous Caramel bars. It's chocolate covered wafers with gooey caramel filling. What sets them apart from the usual wafers is that it's not crispy! You'd actually think they're stale, but noooooo... they're meant to be that way. The wafer resists each bite, challenging your teeth to sink in deeper. Mmm addicting!
* Tunnock's is a product of Scotland.

Flying Etihad

 First time to fly Etihad.

 Well, it's a bit squeezy. I'm just 5'1" and the leg room is already small for me. Imagine the tall people. They probably experienced major leg cramps.
Anyway, the service was not exactly spectacular. My lighted 'call an attendant' button remained unnoticed. It was pure work for them, no personal touch. Then again, it's a super long flight, so I have to give them credit for not being snappy at people.

Food was okay. Snacks were okay too. Food-wise, there's no shortage. I gained weight just by flying to and from London.

Movie list was okay.

I couldn't sleep straight because the seat wasn't comfortable, and as mentioned, too squeezy.

 At Abu Dhabi airport, our stopover.

The point of this photo is the time difference. Between which countries? I forgot already.

I bought this at the Abu Dhabi airport on our way back. Was so happy, because I couldn't find this anywhere else. The salesladies keep telling me this scent has been phased out.

Proudly Homemade

 Giant choco-chip cookie and a glass of slim milk.

They're adorable! So big and chunky!

Harrod's

 Harrod's Food Hall. Sniff, was in a rush so we didn't get to try anything there.

 Going up to the first floor.

 The Harrod's Bear.
They were standing outside the toilet area.

 Shrine at the basement (or one of the lower floors)

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Hmm wasn't impressed with Harrod's. Perhaps it's the lay-out. It was too crowded and dizzying, that it reduced the feeling of luxury.

And we were there as a buying customer okay? We weren't just checking it out.

We were looking for Gucci wallets and a Chanel bag. Fine, not for me, for someone else. But still. Wanted to buy stuff there but they just didn't have the stocks.