Funky walking shoes

Recently, I have an urged to get a pair of funky walking shoes. I went shopping around at Gran Via and Callao for a few hours but I never see anything that catch my eyes. When I almost gave up and planned to go home, I saw this pair from Onitsuka. My eyes, glued on it as it has my favourite colour, purple on it. And of course, I bought it. Wore it the first time on my recent wine route road trip. It was super comfortable!

Bunny on a Bus

Last week, Enrique did a Bunny's mask in school. He was in love and proud of it that he wore it from his school to the bus and back home. I asked him to took it off when taking the bus but he did not want to. Lucky the bus captain did not 'chase' this pet out of the bus.

Wine Route to Ribera del Duero and La Rioja, Spain

Last week was Semana Santa, Easter week and in Spain, they always have long holiday. This year the official holidays fall on Thursday and Friday. Therefore, many Companies and Schools are closed for the whole week and some even on the following Monday. 

With a group of Singaporeans friends, we planned to go for a rest and relax road trip to La Rioja, the biggest wine region in Spain. We set off in two cars on Thursday and return on Sunday. 

We met for breakfast and set off at about 10.30am. Our first stop is at Bodegas Portia in Ribera del Duero, also a wine region to have our first break and first taste of wine. 

Bodegas Portia 

Bodegas Portia 

Continued our journey to Lerma for the most delicious roast baby lamb. It's my third time in Lerma and have tried in three different restaurants. This time we had it at Casa Antón. The price includes salad, free follow of house wine, water and the main dish, Lechazo. I highly recommend you to this restaurant. 

Lunch at Casa Antón
Lechazo (roast baby lamb)

After lunch, we drove to our chalet in a small village at Villalobar, La Rioja for three nights. 

On Friday, we started off our day with visit to Bodegas Marques the Riscal, Elciego. The tour was enriching and ended with tasting of red and white wine. We had our lunch at the hotel Bistro 1860 restaurant with amazing view too. The hotel is designed by Frank Gehry and to stay in a deluxe room starts from 290 euro per nite.

Hotel Marqués de Riscal, Elciego

Bodegas Marqués de Riscal

Bodegas Marqués de Riscal

Bodegas Marqués de Riscal

Bodegas Marqués de Riscal

Hotel Marqués de Riscal, Elciego

Lunch at Bistro 1860 Restaurant
Hotel Marqués de Riscal, Elciego

After lunch we went to Bodegas Ysios but it was closed. On the way out, we had a up and closed encounter with the lambs and goats.

Bodegas Ysios

Next, is a impromptu stop over at Bodegas Eguen Ugarte. We bought the wine tasting menu and had lots of fun taking funny photos too. We were trying to do a running man style but I am not talented and not flexible enough. The two men below can do it very well!

Eguren Ugarte Bodegas

For dinner, we decided to drive to a nearby town, Haro. We just walked around and had some pinchos and went back to our chalet.

Haro

Saturday, we visited Bodegas Vivanco. It has a very spectacular museum and wine tour as well. We just did the museum visit and later we bought the wine tasting menu. 

Bodegas Vivanco

Bodegas Vivanco

We spent about four hours at Vivanco and then left to Logroño, a beautiful city located in the north of La Rioja region on the Ebro River.

Logroño

Following are some group pictures we took along the way. Can you spot the Singapore's flag?

Group photos

Going on a wine route trip means other than tasting, drinking and eating, we also bought some home. In fact, my husband was so in love in the 1.5L wine that we decided to collect them and hopefully bring back to Singapore one day to display in our own nest. Throughout the trip, we bought four 1.5L of red wine for our collections.

Our collections of 1.5L

Trying new dishes

I am running out of ideas to what to cook every dinner for my family. To a point that I think, I really need to try new dishes.  Following are some dishes that I tried over these few weeks. The response from my family is good but still have room for improvement.

First dish- Vongole

Ingredients: garlic, parsley, clams, salt and olive oil

My friend thought me to cook this dish, which my hubby likes it and its easy to cook too. I tried myself three times over nine days and the third try was the best. Practice makes perfect! 

Second dish: Hainanese chicken

Ingredients: pre pack by Prima Taste, just add chicken and cucumber

It tastes really good. I bought a whole chicken and use a kitchen scissors to cut as my knife cannot make it. Therefore, it doesn't look appealing but the taste is good. With prima taste pre pack, you will never go wrong. So far I have tried a few and I would highly recommend it hainanese chicken, laksa, and chicken curry.

Third dish: Wonton soup

Ingredients: minced pork, mushroom, carrot, shrimp, corn flour, egg, salt, sesame oil and fish sauce

One of my aunts can make very delicious wonton, she makes it every Chinese New Year and our family will all meet at her house for steamboat dinner. Wonton is the main dish, I can eat about 5 wontons, hers is those big size wonton. In Madrid, I can't find water chestnut. Therefore, mine is prepared without it. For first timer, I think the taste is not bad.

Fourth dish- Brownies

Ingredients: pre pack from Dr Oetker, just add eggs, water and butter. Serve it with vanilla ice cream.

I tried the muffins before and I like the taste and it is really easy to prepare. I bought this brownies long ago but never tried because the instructions are all in spanish and I am lazy to do the translation. Two weeks ago, I was doing stock check in my kitchen and I realised it is going to expire soon, left with no choice, I went on to do translation and bake it. My family and friend like it as it is not too sweet. My verdict on Dr Oetker pre pack is very good. Going to try more of others dessert from this brand. By the way, the paper mould is also included.

!Happy cooking, Happy tasting!

London in March

Singapore Day was held in London, Victoria Park on 29 March 2014. We signed up and decided to explore London for 4 nights since I have been singing 'London Bridge is falling down' to my boys since they are a baby so its a good chance to show my boys the actual one.

My friends shared that London's weather is gloomy and depressing. I cannot really relate and feel it until I reached there. The first two days was freezing and drizzling, the sky is gloomy and cloudy. You can see the skyline from the pictures below.

As advised by friends who have visited London suggested me to purchase London Pass, so I did. I didn't make full use of it as we have not enough time and with children I think it is tough to enjoy to the fullest. My advised for family traveling with young children is to buy the oyster card just for transportation. It works like our ezlink. Another thing is that we are not those tourist that likes to visit many palaces, cathedrals and galleries, we are those like to take pictures from outside so getting the London Pass is kind of paying more for us since we never really visit those places except St Paul's church. 

We were too tired and exhausted for the second and third night that we took a London cab back to our hotel instead of the public transport. The underground has few lift access, means that many times we have to carry the pram up and down the stairs. Lucky we have a buddy, who helped us. If not, I think it is very difficult for us to handle as we have one child in the pram and other need to hold hand as London is a very crowd city. My conclusion is to rent a car when traveling with family in Europe, at least for my family.

We started the first day with Westminster and Leicester Square. As it was drizzling, we just stop by to take some photos and run.

The second day, we set off to Legoland at Windsor. Personally, I have been to the Malaysia one and I think it is good enough. Do not need to spend 1.5 hours of transport just to go UK Legoland. Its expensive and the weather is depressing. To me, its a waste trip as my children didn't really appreciate it other than the dulpo playground. When we reached Legoland, it was pouring, so we had to take shelter at the only restaurant that didn't serve nice food for our lunch. Nevertheless, When I reached Windsor, I was awed by the sight of Windsor Castle. It is magnificent and admirable but we do not have enough time to visit it. 

Windsor Castle

Crooked House of Windsor, restaurant

Legoland, UK

On our third day, we went St Paul's Church in the morning and afternoon headed to Singapore Day at Victoria park.

At Singapore Day, we all thought it was fine to Q for our local food but when we reached there. The Q line was very long for every stall. It takes us 1.5 hours to Q for our fried hokkien mee. For my friends, they Q for an hour for just two sticks of satay and one chicken wing. In the end, we all decided to give up. My two poor boys, had to rely on the small portion of the noodles and some biscuits and milk to fill their stomach. We had lots of fun at Singapore day, sitting down chatting and enjoying the programs but with a hungry stomach. We walked around the stations and we 'chased' our Prime Minister, Mr Lee HL for selfie too. One of my friends was so hungry that he has to eat the children multivitamins gummy sweets to curb his hunger. He looked pale as he only ate two sticks of satay. The estimated participation was about 9,000 attendees. That's why we have to Q for so long. Some people brought their own food to eat instead, I guessed, they have attended before and were well prepared. Oh, by the way, the weather was fantastic. My friend got sun burn that he has to buy after sun cream. 

On the fourth day, we visited the London Bridge, Tower Bridge and had Fish and chips for lunch and Lobster for dinner at Burger and Lobster.

London Bridge

Tower Bridge
(I thought this is London Bridge since I was a child)

Lobster from Burger and Lobster
It was good, must try when you are in London

On the last day, before we catch our flight in the afternoon, we decided to visit the Big Ben in the morning. 

Big Ben

Adiós LONDON!