As soon as I turned in my last assignment for the year, my friends and I went up to York for a pre-Christmas trip. Since we purchased our train tickets at the last minute, the seats were all full and we had to stand for the entire 2-hour trip to York. This had not been the most productive trip, but we still managed to have a great time and squeezed in a bit of sightseeing in between all the walking and lazying around.

York is a city rich with history and traditions. I’m not going to go into details of each landmark we visited (you can read it in your own time by clicking on the links I’ve provided) but two days in York was too little to see everything, especially on a mellow trip such as ours.

After checking in at Hill Crest B&B, we walked to Clifford’s Tower, an ancient monument for the city of York. Our fingers nearly froze as we snapped pictures after pictures of the old keep (the temperature was around -5°C). Located in the same parameters is the York Castle Museum which unfortunately, we didn’t get to go inside because it was closed by the time we arrived.

We then made our way into town, where we wandered into The Shambles, an old narrow alley with odd-looking buildings selling all sorts of goodies. I felt like someone plonked me down into a Harry Potter movie, particularly after one friend mentioned that The Shambles reminded him of Diagon Alley (even the name sounds like something out of a Harry Potter movie).

The next morning, we set out for York Minster but the view along the River Ouse was so breathtakingly picturesque we had to make many stops to take photos before we got to our destination.

We finally got to York Minster about an hour later, and after walking around the grounds of the cathedral, we climbed the 275 steps that took us up the Tower. The view from the top was spectacular, with snow-covered roofs everywhere and the sun shining weakly in the winter sky.

The climb left us exhausted and starving, so off to Bettys we went for a little afternoon tea. This was my first proper afternoon tea and I couldn’t contain my excitement as I sat in the  luxurious tea room with all the lavish surroundings. I shared the Bettys Speciality Afternoon Tea (£17.75 per set) with a friend, which came with a pot of tea (we chose Chinese Rose Petal Tea), a choice of two sandwiches (we had Oak-Smoked Salmon & Prawn and Roast Yorkshire Ham & Mustard), a sultana scone with strawberry preserves and Yorkshire clotted cream, and a fresh fruit tartlet from the cake trolley. The set was meant for one so we had to order another pot of tea (£3.80 for Yu Luo White Tea), which didn’t really make sense to me because one pot was big enough to share among two.

The Yu Luo White Tea was too mild for me; I preferred the Chinese Rose Petal Tea with its rose essence, which complemented the crumbly light scone. I’ve never had scones before and I’m normally not a fan of pastries but the scone here, with juicy sultanas, fresh cool clotted cream and sweet strawberry preserves, had me oohing and aahing for more. The fresh fruit tartlet was another delicious tidbit although the finger sandwiches were dry and mediocre, which was a shame, since I was looking forward to it the most.

With stomachs full, we ended the day with a brief shopping trip to the York Designer Outlet Shopping Mall and a long walk to the train station to catch our train (which was delayed).

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For Christmas Eve, my friends and I spent a somewhat quiet evening together roasting ready-stuffed chickens and served them with roasted carrots and tomatoes. We also had baked broccoli and cheese, and Parma ham with cantaloupe. Hmm…yummy!

Christmas Day was spent lying around doing nothing and we went over to another friend’s house for dinner. Since all the shops were closed for Christmas, the town was literally deserted, reminding me eerily of a scene from I am Legend. I half expected zombies to pop out any minute but of course, there were none.

Now that Christmas has come and gone, life has been less hectic – until New Year’s anyway. Hope you all have a great and safe celebration and Happy New Year’s!!

Categories: Travels
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I meant to post this at the start of December, but  I was busy with assignments, so…what can I say? It’s only a few days until Christmas but there’s still time to countdown!

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned before that Christmas is my favorite holiday, even though I’m not Christian. The twinkling fairy lights and shiny tinsel just gets me in the festive mood every time.  And this year, I get to (hopefully…*fingers crossed*) enjoy a white Christmas!! I’m really looking forward to that! (And Boxing Day the next day…)

To get into the Christmas spirit, we have our own little German Market in Kingston Town Center selling delicious grilled German sausages in a bun, steak in a bun, chipstix (fried potato slices on a stick), mulled wine, a candy stall and souvenir booths. In addition to the German Market, which was set up in late November, there is also a Christmas Gift Fair nearby.

So here’s a peek into what’s going on in our little German Market:

The mulled wine came in these cute little Christmas mugs, which you can keep for an additional £2.

Ms. Christmas Pudding was skating all around town greeting everyone!

So, I wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas! (As they say in England! )

Categories: About
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One of the things Mom said to me before I came to England was, “Don’t come back fat”. Knowing how much I love to eat and seeing me stuff my face with food when I was back home, she was probably afraid that I would literally go rolling back to Thailand. Well Mom, you have nothing to be worried about. The food in England sucks is so bland I’ve actually lost weight.

To be fair, I’m sure there are restaurants here that make great food; I just haven’t discovered them yet. That shall be my mission for the next 10 months that I’ll be here. In the meantime, I will be experimenting with Thai cooking…something I should’ve done when I was back in Bangkok, but it was so easy to find great Thai food that I just never bothered learning!

So far, my star Thai dish is probably Tom Yum Fried Rice – it’s packed with flavor and will certainly kill that craving for something tasty!

Tom Yum Fried Rice
(Makes 2-3 servings)

• 180 g. jumbo king prawns
• 2 bird’s eye chilies, sliced thinly (add more if you like it spicy!)
• juice of 1 large lime
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
• 2 tsp. fish sauce
• 1 tsp. distilled vinegar
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. chili paste
• 3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 lemongrass, sliced thinly
• 3 spring onions, chopped
• 4 shallots, sliced thinly
• 6 button mushrooms, sliced (you can also use straw mushrooms)
• 2 cups cooked rice
• thumb-sized galangal, peeled and cut into thick slices
• 3 kaffir lime leaves, cut into thin slivers (I wasn’t able to find any kaffir lime leaves this time but it will be a great addition)
• coriander sprigs and lime wedges for garnish

If you are using fresh prawns, peel and devein the prawns. Parboil the prawns and set aside. If your prawns are precooked or frozen, you can also parboil them to heat them up. Reserve the cooking water.

In a large wok, heat some peanut oil on high heat. Once the oil starts to smoke, add in the shallots, lemongrass, garlic, galangal and kaffir lime leaves.

Sauté the herbs until fragrant. Add the chili paste and stir. If the mixture looks too dry, add some cooking liquid from the prawns.

Add the chili, mushrooms and prawns and sauté quickly until the herb mixture coats the prawns.

Add the spring onion and rice and stir-fry. Season with fish sauce, oyster sauce, vinegar and lime juice. Adjust the seasoning to your taste. *Note: tom yum fried rice is meant to be sour!

Serve the rice and garnish with some coriander sprigs and lime wedges.

Mom, if I keep making this dish, I might grow so big I’ll really roll across the sea back to Thailand!

Categories: Recipes
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