Easter Snow

Ecstatic – pretty much summed up what i felt this morning when i woke up to a wintery Easter Sunday morning. Probably deemed as “kacang putih” by my Canadian friends, who have experienced worst in their home country, but being out in the open of a snowfall not matter how light is exciting for a M’sian. What to do – we spent most of our lives in summer conditions where the only seasons we have are durian and rainy ones.

(Snowfall in the back garden)

Might have scared some of my neighbours by standing out in the garden and enjoying the snowfall. Loony person sticking my tongue out to catch some snowflakes to see how it taste like.

Braved the cold and took a walk to the nearby park to experience more of the wintery conditions. Amazing how faithful the locals are in keeping to their regime of walking their dogs or running despite the wet & chilly weather. As for me, i am content just enjoying the serene and calmness of the snowfall.

Am happy now to finally experienced some proper wintery moments…….haven’t really seen much of it since the last time i went skiing back in NZ decades ago. Now i’m ready to usher in some proper dry and sunny summer days!

Do it ! Outdoors Showcase

Managed to escape up north to Birmingham for the Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show last weekend. Probably one of the few females who would go out of the way to check out the latest in outdoor gear trends, rather than fashion, home furnishings etc.

The exhibition was geared towards the general public, so it was more the conventional big names in the outdoor scene showcasing their products. It was a potpourri of operators, ranging from tourism boards promoting adventure destinations and Royal Marines Commando to Canon outdoor cameras and Shewee (female urinating funnel)

Had the chance to check out some nice gear from various gear manufacturers. Favorites include Vaude tents & packs, GPS from Garmin and Satmap and Montane clothing.

(Baby tents from Vaude for kids – wonder if there will ever be a consumer demand for it in M’sia?)

Highlight must be witnessing the Skymasters Challenge – awesome wall structure built on a horizontal truss suspended 30ft above the ground. Both female & male climbers competed in their own category to beat the clock and climb across to reach the Ford truck suspended at the end. Breathtaking seeing how the climbers traverse magically across – I can imagine how terrifying it must have felt to be so high up there with nothing but a rope to keep you alive!

(Panorama view of the Skymaster Challenge construction – not too bad for my 1st Photostitch pic)

(Skymaster Challenge – climbers in action)

Some other interesting showcases were the radical CubeCourse (self supporting high rope course), coconut climb challenge and slacklining. Only managed to try out slacklining, as the other 2 were geared towards the children and families. It was not as easy as it looked – salute to Ash (guy I knew from work back home) who practically danced on a crude slackline we created in the gym.

(CubeCourse)

(Foreground – Rotating Climbing Wall and Coconut Climb in the background)

(Slacklining – exhibitor used bananas with special stamps as ingenius marketing tool)

Going to the exhibition somehow reaffirmed my passion for outdoor gear – wonder if one day i may find myself a job traveling round the world promoting these products? Won’t even be a job for me – will do it at peanut wages for the opportunity to test out new kit!

EAST 2008 – What a Feast

Had the luxury of some time off on Fri to check out EAST 2008 – festival celebrating the beauty of East London. The 6-day festival showcases a variety of offerings ranging from music, film, art, food etc……but since I’m forever the foodie fan, decided to immerse myself amongst the multitude of food stalls and cooking demonstrations at Spitalfields Market.

My eating adventure started with a Hot Chocolate Float from ChocStar, UK’s famous mobile chocolate van (www.chocstar.co.uk). Awesome velvety hot chocolate topped with a big dollop of vanilla ice cream. What else can a girl want? Obviously so good that I didn’t get a chance to take a pic of it.

My journey continues deeper into the heart of Spitalfields Market where my senses were bombarded by the array of products on offer. Visually there were various stalls selling all sorts of objects for personal beautification ranging from clothing to jewellery. I was drawn more towards all the little stalls selling food and great ingredients.

Some of my favorite food stalls include:

- Rivington Grill with their table display of fresh seafood, rabbits & game birds. The restaurant was highlighting various British food ingredients.

- Sporeboys for their Wild Mushroom Risotto with Truffle Oil. Delicious!! (www.sporeboys.com)

(Part of the wild mushrooms being showcased)

(Wild mushroom risotto with truffle oil)

- incredible selection of sweet offering from Nutmeg Frog. Shame my stomach can only take so much sugar for a day and just settled for a sinful cheesecake with brownie base (www.nutmegfrog.co.uk)

Other than sampling all the great food, there was also several presentations on the mainstage. The first activity was the art of butchery by Sillfield Farm. A whole young lamb from Cumbria was skillfully carved onstage and the various cuts were auctioned off to the public. I was one of the lucky few who managed to purchase some of the prime cuts – bought 2 pieces of thick lamb chops for $5. Small price to pay for great tender meat which has not been frozen and shipped across the ocean.

Next up were 3 different cooking demonstrations; Head Chef of Rivington cooking up a platter of British seafood, Adwoa from Jollof Pot dishing up Ghanaian fish cake and spiced beans with plantain (bananas used for cooking) and chef from Scarlet for fusion Indian food. The best part of all these cooking demonstrations was the opportunity to see the chefs working up close and sample their wonderful dishes. Thank god I came to check the food festival at Spitalfields on a Friday, can’t imagine how ugly the crowd may get for free food the next day.

(Simon Wadham – head chef of Rivington)

(Adwoa from Jollof Pot demonstrating Ghanaian cuisine)

The final presentation of the day was in the form of dance-acrobatics from Mimbre (www.mimbre.co.uk). Group consists of only 3 young ladies who managed to enthrall me & rest of the crowd with their blend of dance & acrobatics. Definitely a modern twist to acrobatics compared to the jaw-dropping contortions from the typical Asian acrobats.

Definitely am looking forward to the summer and more offerings in terms of festivals and markets. Meanwhile, I seriously need to work out more to burn away all these great food I have been partaking since CNY!

(Cosmic Sausages – mobile musicians)