thank you pei hua :)

this post is dedicated to miss lee pei hua: for being ever so accommodating and kind and comforting and generous during my one month stay with her. AND ALSO for discovering a reasonably good korean restaurant (called Koreana. how incredibly creative) over at deansgate! hahaha.


miss you and see you soon! :)
mas and kx came too, after our OSCE at MRI.

bibimbap. one of the few loves in my life. wahha.


bbq pork ribs & mas's glass noodles.


spicy seafood!
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i've been in blackburn for a week now (1 week out of 3 1/2 months), and it has been awesome. and i'm not even saying this to make myself (or anybody in blackburn) feel better but really, it is! i have the whole cardiology ward to myself (including the doctors, hoho), the staff accommodation is decent (i have my own fridge!), i get along very well with my batch mates who have been posted there as well, the air is somewhat fresher (not kidding), the hospital is modern and bright and clean, we learn in really small groups, the teaching is good, the education centre is nice, the library is like an attic - very cosy... i'm just really happy! preston sucks.

and i actually just realised... although preston's my base hospital, i've only been there for my first firm (GI surgery), which was the first 5 weeks of year 3. after that i was in chorley for GI medicine, salford for dermatology, and now i'm in blackburn till the end of the academic year. i like this whole moving-around thing - makes life slightly more exciting!

gong xi

celebrated chinese new year this year in a very unorthodox fashion, but with wonderful companionship and good food nonetheless. adrian came from galway and amrita from glasgow, and what did we do in manchester? we ate, walked around chinatown and the city centre, and then ate some more.

breakfast at central perk in piccadilly. yes apparently it IS a franchise of the central perk in Friends.

after breakfast: walked aimlessly around chinatown and took an obligatory picture in front of the chinese arch. (i'm pretty sure i have at least 10 pictures of myself in front of the arch - on 10 different occasions)


then we got bored so i decided it was time to go drink my pearl milk tea. and forced everyone else to drink too.


got bored further...so we had an early lunch. happy amrita with glorious chinese food.


then it was time for (window) shopping! seriously, there really isn't much to do in manchester. amrita had already seen old trafford and adrian couldn't be bothered about man utd or anything which involves breaking a sweat, museums here are shit especially when you've been to the best museums in the world, nothing particularly worth sightseeing ESPECIALLY in this sort of weather (or even when the weather is nice, for that matter), ladidadidadida... so what else to do than shop?


manchester town hall. randomly.


walked, (window) shopped, got some free stuff from the body shop... and it was tea-time! so we went to cafe rouge over at the printworks. and since people always ask why i hardly put up pictures of teongrhen and i on my blog, here's one. you can quit bugging me now. :)


trio de creme brulee.

chocolate & banana crepes, and tarte tatin with ice-cream.
... then we went back home and had maggi mee for dinner. and that was our CNY eve.
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1st day of CNY: went for tapas! at this place in preston called Pond. see i told you, very unconventional indeed. but absolutely no regrets and money well-spent.

massywassy joined us too!

giant pitcher of sangria.


we had: Chilli, garlic & herb mushrooms;
Ciabatta with garlic oil and balsamic vinegar;
Papas’ aji (bravas) - oven roasted potatoes finished in spicy tomato sauce;
Luv a duck - duck breast strips finished in a light fresh plum sauce;
Chorizo with port, red wine, herbs and garlic;
Aji de gallina - hot and spicy fruit, veg and chicken stew with chillies;
Abi obe - chicken cooked with African spices, tomatoes, mushrooms and onion...


haloumi and serrano ham...

mango & sundried tomato homemade bread...


spanish pancake with caramelised plums and berries...


... and toffee & pecan cheesecake.
all uber delicious!


everybody happy happy. a few hours later: everybody sad sad. cos adrian and amrita had to go home :( -----

fast forward to the 2nd last day of CNY (yesterday): potluck dinner at fleur, jane june and wilfed's house. finally some proper CNY spirit!

NOW it feels a bit like CNY.

also looks and tastes like CNY. yeesang made by jane june.


teehee so exciting!

LOU SANG!


tong yuen for dessert. can't get any better than this.


superpig! everybody looks funny.

bit o'scotland

january 2010, post-progress test.

Dundee.

Fisher and Donaldson: home to my favourite fudge donuts and coffee cream towers! but extremely bad for glycaemic and obesity control.

25 Deveron Terrace: home to mich, ben and merv.

also home to good and hearty food all year round. you people suck.

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Edinburgh.

beautiful, rustic edinburgh! my vote for the most beautiful city in the united kingdom -manchester being the ugliest, of course. (it's ugly but i still like it)

don't find men in kilts sexy and probably never will. "scotland the brave" played on bagpipes throughout the city.

full scottish breakfast at kilimanjaro. complete with haggis and everything. food: GOOD. coffee: GOOD! no wonder it's one of the top 10 of the best coffee shops in the UK.

walking along the famous royal mile.

love these little alleys along the streets.

the edinburgh castle.

castle.

the edinburgh museum of childhood. very interesting, definitely brought back memories of my peter & jane and enid blyton days. :)

wouldn't want to be stuck in any of the rooms by myself though. scary. :/

MUSSEL INN. loves! this is a 1 kg pot of mussels in white wine, garlic, shallots and cream.

delicious, creamy and very filling seafood chowder.

queen scallops.

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planning to go back to edinburgh again soon. also very desperately want to do the whole scotland road trip thing, to the highlands and seaside towns, especially. so many places to go, so little time. sheesh.