0 A goodie and a baddie

Genetics paper was crap. I spent more time thinking how to craft my answer than actually writing the essay. I got myself confused with creating a temporal control of Cre/LoxP DNA recombination with Tet/on gene expression system. If that sounds confusing enough, writing about it was even worse. But in a kind of twisted way, I actually like tough exam papers like this (when the final marks don't count to my CAP :D) rather than an easy paper like yesterday's Embryology. Can you believe the first question was actually what are the three germ layers? I should really treasure such questions because NUS will never ever come up with such questions. 'Nuff said about exams. Looky what I got here:

Pre-exam "brain" food: Salad of roasted paquito squash, baked potato, vine-ripened tomatoes and tempeh with pecan nut butter, pomegranate, blueberry and acai dressing* and balsamic vinegar.

*It's actually a smoothie (Innocent brand) which I doubled up as a dressing because it's so thick! I was studying and eating at the same time and halfway through I felt very stressed suddenly which chomping on the mound of greens really helped relieve.

Post-exam! Off too..... Mildred's - my long-awaited trip, finally.

Their dishes tread the fine line between vegetarian fine-dining and British pub food, which is a paradox, because the former is usually associated with healthy, while the latter, with grease, oil and fat. Can Mildred's pull it off?

Porcini, mushroom and ale pie with mushy peas and chips

You bet!

Mildred's used to have a take-away shop called Mrs. Marengos but apparently it closed earlier this year. Nevertheless, their restaurant still do take-aways, thankfully. When I got there at 6.30pm, it was already bustling with activity, evidence of their popularity. A queue was already beginning to form. Although they do serve some really healthy dishes like a detox salad, I went with the baddie choice of British pub food in vegan form - a porcini mushroom and ale pie with mushy peas and chips. I half walked/ran home, but with the wind blowing like crazy, but food probably got frozen barely ten minutes into the cold. I reheated half the meal in the mircowave (can't do full British meal portions) and dug in!

The mushy peas were awesome with a minty edge. The mushrooms were doused in a savoury roux-like sauce full-on with black pepper goodness that I cannot believe it's vegan. Because I had it take-away, the filo crust was soggy from the gravy, but still delicious nonetheless! I hardly touch chips usually, but I have to make an exception this time. Again, the chips were a wee bit soggy, but I believe if you dined in, it would be nice and crispy. Everything was nicely seasoned and not too salty, especially to my salt-sensitive taste buds. Maybe I can bring the fam here to dine! It's kind of expensive though. 9.25 for my pie (10.25 dine-in) but it's the end of my SEP and scrimping isn't in my vocabulary at the moment! :)

Leftovers for lunch tmr!

Le Sigh....Endocrinology & Reproduction to tackle.

0 Where the ordinary becomes extraordinary

2 more to go!

The road I take to school every day. Will miss these walks.

I totally should NOT be playing around with photoshop now.

0 Saucy, oh yeah

3 more exams to go.

I just bought salmon from The Saucy Fish Co (Tesco). It comes two in a pack with a packet of watercress & creme fraiche sauce. Eggcited to try it for dinner! Gonna bake it and serve with bulgar + salad greens.

Oh, and my yogurt-style Ensure plus has arrived! It has almost the same nutrition content as normal Ensure Plus, but shockingly, as I just realized, almost twice the amount of sugar. I'm afraid to find out it's taste, seeing that Ensure Plus it rather sweet already.

- To be updated -

Most. EPIC. meal. ever.

First experience with bulgur. Tastes like brown rice; hearty and chewy, but cooks in way much faster time. I likey :)

0 Borrrrring.

This was probably, correction, it was indeed the most boring weekend here in London. Didn't go anywhere this weekend although there's Chirstmas markets sprouting up in every nook and cranny.

On the bright side, I'm egg-cited that the fam is coming only 4 days away, and Wicked is just 5 days away! And while I really do love London and being on exchange, I don't really take the cold well. I still love 27 degrees weather and not having to pile on coats and jackets. Mostly, I can't wait to see Batty!!!

I'm eggcited too because I'm going to Mildred's, most likely on Wed. "Steak" and ale pie or Veggie burger?

Random picture.

3 Wrong things at the wrong time

Hi! I have 1 presentation + 3 exams next week and of all things, I am actually planning my next sem's time-table. It's not such a simple task, putting together different times + having to consider the pre-requisites for year 4 modules.

So, here's my plan:

LSM3213 Molecular & Cellular Neurobio (so I can take Systems Neurobio)
LSM3223 Immunology (so I can take Adv Immuno)
LSM3225 Mol Microbio in Human Disease
UCV2207 Politics of Heritage
UIT2201 IT Revolution OR LSM4225 Genetic Medicine OR LSM4244 Oncogenes & Signal Transduction

I am super sad that Mol basis of human disease clashes with Immuno. I would so much rather take that than Mol Mirobio. Oh wells. Maybe mircobio will turn out interesting.

0 December (alarm) bells are ringing

Source: weheartit

It's Dec!

The good: Christmas! Can you just smell the festive aura in the air?

The bad: exams looming, which is not a problem in itself; the problem is that I barely started my studying! (Just submitted my 4-page congress report, completed in record time. Usually I'll take note of every minute detail from the content to the formatting but this time, time is not on my side.) Another bad - the clock is ticking down towards the end of my lovely, escapade as I would call it, to London. Back to Singapore and the stress. :(

Meanwhile, I'm eager-beaverly looking forward to Wicked on 16 Dec! It's gonna be a wicked time with music & family!

Yogurt-style Orchard Peach Ensure Plus expected to arrive in the mail today/tomorrow! One thing why I love UK is for its sheer accessibility to the variety of products, which are not available in Singapore.

Sleepy weepy, it's 4.25am.

0 I made it

...to Brighton that is.

An hour's train journey away is all it takes to get to the beach, albeit a ghost beach given the time of the year. Nevertheless, the wind (and showers) were great. Crunching along the pebbled beach and hearing the gulls cry their songs, I hardly feel that my exams are just less than a week away.

The shops along North Laines/The Lanes were cool too. Ultimately I did buy something, though not exclusive to Brighton - tea towels from Cath Kidston. The Cath Kidston store in Brighton is the largest one I've been too and it was a breeze shopping in there because it's not packed with people/tourists like the London outlets. Another shopping centre is at Churchhill, which has all the typical brands like H&M, urban outfitters, Hollister etc. The only reason why I went there was to hide from the cold and wind!

Also I had an amazing lunch at Iydea, located in the North Laines quarter. Originally I had planned to dine at Infinity Foods cafe but the menu and display didn't look enticing at all. Meanwhile, Iydea was bustling with activity - a sign of good food? I had the lunch set: choose 1 main + 2 sides + 2 toppings. My main was aubergine and tofu madras roti (vegan), sides were roasted carrots & squash and marinated red cabbage slaw w walnuts, with hummus and tzatziki. All for just £4.10 (takeaway)! Downside was I couldn't detect a hint of aubergine nor tofu in my roti (which is basically a tortilla wrap). The roasted vegs were divinely sweet and the slaw was yummers too :)

Now for some pictures!

Brighton pier.

Why do birds like to circle the pier? They were only exclusively at the pier and nowhere else

A pebbly beach [at high tide]

Lunch from Idyea. Apparently they got the 'Best Vegetarian Society approved eating out' national award in 2010! Looks like I made the right choice ;).

My only regret was I didn't get to do the Undercliffs walk and the Brighton Marina. It was raining on and off and the wind was blustery. The cliffs walk would take me off the city centre to Rottingdean/Saltdean, and that would be a pretty long walk!

0 Happening day at Kensington & Hyde Park

Can't believe exams are just ~2 weeks away and here am I, still galavanting around London like there's no tomorrow. Well, soon enough, this statement will indeed come true. To reward myself for NOT going out yesterday, I spent the whole day out today. Here's today in pictures!

First stop: Natural History Museum. Although I'm quite sick of visiting museums, a cumulative effect from the past few months of sightseeing, London's Natural History Museum is pretty famous and it would be a blasphemy so stay in London for 3 months without making a visit here. I was up bright and early and arrived here shortly past 10 am (my trip took longer than expected due to weekend tube closures) and there was already a queue snaking its way onto Cromwell Road. Good choice that I came early!

Natural History Museum basking in what's left of November's sun - beautiful weather today!

This place is catered for family & kids, and family & kids descended galore to this place. The dinosaur gallery could be mistaken for a kindergarten learning centre; the sheer amount of kids and parents trying to teach their kids was inescapable. "Say tie-ran-o-soar-rus," a mother would say. Apart from the crowd, the displays were not of fantastic quality but they were clear and simple - and abundant.

Dino gallery that was infiltrated with kids.

Baleen from the blue whale. Say eeeee...

Charles Darwin gets a prominent spot in the museum. He overlooks the entire center space.

After about 2 hours at the museum, I went to another museum - the V&A which is dedicated to art & design. You might think I'm crazy, but the two museums were just next to each other, and even though I was getting hungry, it would be a waste to skip the V&A. I didn't do a thorough comb of all the galleries; walking through them would be a more accurate description. I liked the photography, stained glass, postmodern furniture design and jewelry and silver section. I skipped the paintings and Europe/Asia stuff because I never know how to appreciate those things. At least now I can say I've been to the V&A :)

I was excited about my planned lunch at Ottolenghi, an eatery by the eponymous chef famous for cooking stunning vegetarian food that is a feast for both the eyes and stomach. I made my way down to the Holland Street outlet, devoured my eyes on the selection of cakes, pastries, and salads - and walked out empty handed. I just couldn't justify paying £2.60/100g of salad. The main factor was the lack the seating. It was a take-away kiosk. Just opposite the road, however, I spied this:

Menoo Eclectic Foods. Nice bow there, eh? I didn't realize it when I took the picture.

Not long after, this arrived at my table:

Leek quiche!

Although they also had a decent selection of salads at the display, I threw health to the wind and ordered a leek quiche (£3.50). To think of it, I can actually count with one hand the number of times I ate out in London. If I can make my own salads, why should I order them? Besides I haven't had a quiche in such a long time. Leek quiche it was. A side note: the staff weren't familiar with the food at all. When I asked about what was in the different types of quiche, he was squinting at the ingredients and mumbling something I couldn't catch. He tried to be helpful though.

Another picture, leaking with leeks :P

The quiche was bursting with leeks, literally, as they were spilling out over the crust. It wasn't too eggy, cheesy or oily (I think I'm starting to like cheese in small amounts now?). It was very sloppy and wet though, which I don't think a quiche should be. Whatever, as long it was tasty, and it was.

Refuelled, it was time to hit Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland!

There was crazy number of people there

The Wonderland was larger than I had expected. There were roller coasters, games, food stalls and the Christmas market. And it was PACKED.

Ready....

... and screeeeeam!

What a day! Back to work!
P.S. got Saf Kale & Spirulina crackers @ Whole Foods!

2 A forage in the foilage

Yay. I can strike another "to do" off my list. I trooped down to Hampstead Heath after Endo lecture today, after a lunch of mushy pea soup and tuna toast. As Hampstead was off my map, I had to rely on my sense of direction - or what little is there of it. The moment I stepped out of Hampstead tube, I didn't know whether to turn left or right. I gamely took a left turn, which although it eventually brought me to the Heath, was the longer route. It was a blessing in disguise, because the route was very scenic. Pretty English houses and fresh air!

Pictures at the Heath:

At the top of Parliament Hill, the highest point of the Heath!

Shortly after this photo was taken, I got lost. This heath is not your Singapore Botanic Gardens where every 100m you get a location map. There were so many paths - both paved and unmade - and just trees all around. Initially I saw it as an opportunity to "explore" the area, but as time passed and as the sun rapidly sank into the horizon, I started to get a bit scared. The temperature got colder and the wind picked up speed, and yet I was still wandering aimlessly. As long as I saw people around, I figured I was still on the right track; I just had to get an exit. Eventually I tried my luck and tailed two people, where they unknowingly saved my life! I think I was wandering about for about an hour? Phew.

Taken while lost in the woods.

Hampstead Heath kind of reminded me of Primrose Hill, except it was far more extensive and had a "wilderness" feel to it. Although green spaces are abound in central London (all the various Parks), they have this commercialzed, artificial feel with its landscaped trees etc. What Hampstead offered was raw and natural.

Since I was in the vicinity, I had planned to do some grocery shopping the Finchley branch of Waitrose. Here's what I returned with:

Heritage (fortyfold) potatoes! (no more bean soup), wild sockeye salmon (1/3 off), mushroom stir-fry, russet apple, taylors gold pear, sharon persimmons, house-brand soy milk.
Waitrose is far more affordable than Whole Foods. When I visit Waitrose, I'll usually walk away with something; when I visit Whole Foods, I go away empty-handed!

0 Savoury oatmeal for the sick soul

Savoury oatmeal that looks like vomitus.

Down with the flu. I was thinking of what to make for dinner tonight and then I suddenly thought of savoury oatmeal, something I never tried before but heard lots about. My version was steel cutters (+ 1 tbsp red lentils) cooked in water with sauteed savoy and yellow bell peppers, with a piece of cod for protein. I melted a huge dollop of mushroom pate into it for seasoning.

I suppose my blocked nose suppressed my sense of taste cause I couldn't really taste (or smell) much. I could only feel the texture - creamy and chewy. A pity really. It kind of reminded me of singapore fish rice porridge, but a more hearty version (oats are heartier than rice), which sent me a shudder of yearning for yong tau foo and slurpy kway teow noodles. Speaking about tofu, I think I found a substitute for tau huay - Sojade's soy yogurt. Bought it from Whole Foods a couple of days back and it's like soy jelly.

I still like my sweet peanut buttery oatmeals better.

I'm watching a tennis match at the O2 tmr! I would have been more excited if I was not unwell.

0 To the test

Bowl and plate I bought from Anthropologie yesterday:

Fleur de lys soup bowl

Chameleon turquoise plate

I havent touched the plate yet, but the bowl has taken me from breakfast to dinner.

Breakfast: steel cutters/oat bran mix (3:1 is the perfect chewy/creamy ratio) w chocolate spirutein hidden right at the bottom for a nice surprise, tahini and raspberries.

Dinner: 10 bean and savoy soup with sweet yellow peppers and baked pepper cod, seasoned with cornish brie cheese and mushroom pate from Pate Moi..

At least now I dont procrastinate about washing up cos I want my pretty bowls clean.

Oh yes, just when I finally decided to do my laundry, I made a terrible mistake and put the coins into the wrong dryer slot. I wanna my 1 pound refund!!

0 Anthro spells Desire.

What a day! My day officially started after lunch (leftover Whole Foods salad) with the sojourn down to Southbank. I wanted to check out the Xmas fair and World Press Photo Exhibition. Incidentally, this weekend was also the Tea & Coffee market fair. The air was thick from the aroma of coffee beans. Too bad I'm not drawn to coffee or tea, but for those who are, I guess it was heaven for them. The World Press Photo Exhibition (free at Southbank Centre) was an eye-opener - a tragic one. It showcases news photos by photojournalists and most of the photos had to do with either one of the following: war, death, natural disaster, man-made disaster, poverty or crime. Very typical themes. The xmas fair, held along the river walkway, was thronging with people. I was kind of disappointed though. If not for the christmassy decorations and outlook of the stalls, you could have mistaken it for another typical street market; most stalls were hawking regular items and not christmas-related goods.

Southbank Christmas fair from the Hungerford Bridge. *First time crossing this bridge too!*

By luck, the sun had decided to set beautifully that day, albeit at 3.30 pm only. Days are getting shorter and gloomier.

And then it was off to Anthropologie! Last night I made a list of "to-dos" and "to-sees" before I leave London. With just three weeks left (!) I had better make the most out of Time. One of the "to-do" on my list is to get bowl/plate from Anthropologie. Expensive store with parisan chic stuff, but wares are their endearing! Since there's no Anthropologie in Singapore, I had better not dither on whether to buy/not to buy.

Regent street with christmas deco, on the way to Anthropologie.

By the time I got out of the store, it was dark already. I had spent an hour inside as I couldn't decide between all the intricately designed bowls and plates. Moreover I fell in love with this comical owl jar (the head being the lid) which I thought would be a perfect oatmeal bowl. The price? 32 freaking pounds = 64 dollars. My hands reluctantly put the owl back onto the shelf. Still, I'm more than happy with my two purchases - a white scalloped soup bowl from the Fleur de Lys collection and a turquoise plate with a chameleon and flowers inked on. I loved the turquoise and shape of the plate but loathed the chameleon. I mean, who would want to eat from a plate with a chameleon on it? But the pull of the former was too strong, and eventually I thought it was a rather quirky plate, and thus relented (and am happy now :D)

Back out into the dark cold. Surprisingly, the christmas lights & deco here isn't half as exciting as those in Singapore.

I stopped by Whole Foods (Soho branch), got a can of Suma pea soup, thought of having dinner at Hummus Bros, but decided not to. Back to Dover it was, where I made a simple, quick (the kitchen was occupied :( )but absolutely delicious dinner taken from the ever-so-useful 500 recipes Mediterranean cookbook - warm fish soup on a bed of toasted (garlic) bread. My version consisted of: frozen cod, chopped savoy cabbage and Warburton's seeded bread, toasted, remaining 1/2 of the roasted orange pointed pepper, and a sun-dried tomato and garlic clove. Essentially you pour the fish soup over the toasted bread, which becomes soggy and mushy but that's the beauty of it!

0 Lights, music ... BOOM

I enjoyed myself thoroughly last night despite a mounting load of work to complete.

First: my first construct-your-own-salad from Whole Foods salad bar!

You choose either a small, medium or large box, and then fill stuff it to the brim with the tantalizing array of salads - from grains to beans to proteins to veg. I got a little crazy and took a little of almost everything, including (but not limited to, as I can't recall all of them):
- pearled barley risotto
- quinoa
- red rice
- mango salsa
- broccoli w sun-dried tomatoes and garlic
- curried cauliflower
- scrambled tofu (!)
- sicilian tuna
- crab cakes
- giant couscous (fregola)
- butternut squash
- grilled aubergine
- grilled zucchini
- "meat" loaf (made from tofu, something like a nut rissole)
- slice of something made from tofu

Wow! As I type I'm amazed how many items I managed to stuff into that small box, like Hermione's magic purse. I hadn't had time to eat much (and probably couldnt finish it anyway), so now I have lots of leftovers to last me another one or two meals!

Then I scooted off to the Royal Albert Hall for Classical Spectacular. The highlight and everyone's favorite was clearly Land of Hope and Glory, apparently a British patriotic song. That's why there were not only red, blue and white laser lights (forming the Union Jack), but also people were madly waving their mini British flags to the beat of the music. Looking around the great hall with people singing in unison was a sight to behold.

The (pre)finale was Tchaikovsky's 1812. I first learnt about it through the film V for Vendetta and was addicted to the song. I wished they had accelerated the tempo a bit more, but the fireworks and real pistols and cannons made amazing effects. I was nearly falling asleep during the slow part (can't blame me, I was tired from running about earlier in the day) and when the first shot fired, I almost jolted out from my seat. I paid only 13.50 for the tics (and a little more for booking fee) and it was more than worth it!

0 No power, no life

Yesterday I was about to cook dinner - beans again - and I plugged the portable electric heater into the socket without realizing it was on the 'on' mode. As I sat on the bed taking a short break from work posting, a 'pop' sound suddenly went off.

The fuse had blown.

I was left without power from all four plugs in the room. At first I thought only the heater was a goner, but soon realized it was the sockets that were not working. In a good way, because my heater is still working (albeit a bit blackened); it only requires that the fuse be changed. The bad side is that it happened at about 6pm, after office hours, meaning that there were no engineers on the ground at Dover. Meaning that I had to endure a whole night without power (think no laptop!) In addition, my fridge no longer had power too - think about the food inside!

What was I to do? The best solution - turn in early (I did, at about 9 PM!) and forget about work.

0 Anticipation: celebrity chef

I realized I haven't posted a photo since I came to London. So that was taken on Guy Fawke's night at Blackheath Park, near Greenwich. I had the most amazing time there at the fun-fare, pre-fireworks. That's me holding my ticket to the 360x360 swing ride! Halfway through I felt quite nauseous from the centrifugal force, but quickly recovered.

Tomorrow I'm going to watch my 2nd musical - Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's theatre. Even more exciting, to Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Italian for dinner before that! :D :D :D. Should I order the black angel spaghetti or Crab risotto?

0 Camden

Went to Camden Town/Camden Lock Market today. It reminded me of Bugis Street - those cheap T-shirts and the ang moh "ah-lian" equivalent clothes. It fact there was quite a huge Asian population there, Cantonese was overheard, rows and rows of Asian food stalls tended by Asian people, from Thai to Chinese to Indian. There were a number of Buddhist-like stalls selling Buddhist stuff and the lavender/moke incense was nice from afar but overpowering as I got closer to the source.

Thereafter, I got caught in the first heavy downpour since I got to London :( Wanted to walk back to Dover but the rain thwarted my plans and I had to get onto the tube instead. Worst of all, it was peak hour so I don't get the 1/3 discount :(

Oh yes, I bought cheap cod fillets (frozen) at Lidl's! 

0 Sleeping beauty

Today was a battle of the mind. Coming back late from Sleeping Beauty (how ironic that it should describe what I desire most right now) at the Royal Opera House, it took a toll on my sleep hours. This morning I had to drag myself to the Study Abroad Fair for King's students to promote NUS/Singapore. The fair was not very happening (it would be if it was in NUS), but surprisingly there was a steady stream of students who were keen on knowing more about NUS/Singapore and visited our booth. Their questions made me realize how little I actually know about my country. Overall it was quite a good experience and in fact, I quite enjoyed it.

After lecture at 4pm (Embryology ended early), the sun was already beginning to set and the shortened daylight hours (+1h daylight savings two days before) is causing my circadian clock to go haywire. Tired from last night and the morning's event, I hardly had the mood to go for CU. That's where having a friend comes in handy - it makes you feel more accountable for your actions and not just do as you please like walking off when you feel like it. I didn't want to tell C that I didn't feel like going for CU for fear it would make me seem "un-christian." I went to the library to continue on my turmeric research for Pharmacology and soon enough, it was time for CU. We finally started on Luke today, Luke chapter 5 where Jesus healed the paralytic to be specific. In the end I walked out of CU feeling much better, and did not regret at all that I went. That's always the case.

Back at Dover, I finished up the last of my wholemeal couscous (69p for 500g from Tesco!) with seabass (discounted from Waitrose!), blanched broccoli and aubergine slices, olive oil, brie cheese and the awesome mushroom pate from Pate Moi.

New word today: phenoptosis - self-annihilation.

Bonfire night to celebrate the thwarting of Guy Fawke's terrorist attempt to blow up Parliament. Most prob's heading to Blackheath since there's lots of good recommendations about the fireworks there :D

0 Oxfordshire

It's well over due for another update. Today I went to Oxford and Bicester Village as a day trip. Although I've been travelling far too much lately, I couldn't resist the 4 pound deal (2.65 quids with my railcard!) to oxford, which is I think an 80% discount of the original price? So temptation was my downfall and I booked myself a ticket. At the last minute CS and Emily joined in. But for that price, we had to get the 6.50 am trian! A wee bit early but not unmanageable.

It was more like a Harry Potter trail for us. Off to the Bodleain Library (Divinity Hall where dancing lessons for the Yule Ball was filmed + several other scenes) and Christ Church College (Great Hall!) we went. I also booked a guided tour for the Duke Humpfrey library (Hogwarts library) but decided to forgo my ticket in the end because it was such a rush. Oh wells.

Bicester is a factory shopping outlet, just north of Oxford City. You name it, they have it - Gucci, Prada, Tod's, Jimmy Choo's, DKNY, Burberry, Mulberry... wait, I think I did not see a LV? Being a "factory outlet," it is a natural magnet for mainland Chinese. They flocked there, shoved people everywhere with their typical manners - or lackthereof. How classic. Aaaannnnddd.... I bought a Le Cruset stoneware dish for 14.57 quid (U.P. 22 and much more in Singapore!. My second addition to my nascent Le Cruset collection! I chose red cause my petite casserole is in red already, I thought I should just continue with red.

Happy day today!

0 Funny names

Currently I'm being a nerd and studying the genetics of Drosophila. I was totally lost in the sea of developmental pathways barely 10 minutes into the lecture yesterday. Well, if I learnt anything, it is that the gene names of Drosophila are really funny, like hedgehog, wingless, hunchback etc. Unlike boring yeast genetics.

0 Cheapskate

It was another bright and sunny day. May this weather continue for as long as possible! Anyway the gang of us, NUS students plus two HK students, went to Buckingham Palace for the changing of guards. By golly it was crowded! Considering this procession occurs every other day, one would expect it to have, at most, a normal size crowd but it was thronging with people. Maybe because it is the second last week that the palace will be open, or maybe it is the peak of the tourist season. Europeans and Caucasians being tall and big-size, they dwarfed over my small frame. Under such circumstances, you either accept your shortcoming and be blocked out of the procession, or you turn your shortcoming into an advantage by pushing and squeezing your way through the crowd to get to the front. That was exactly what I did. I may have pissed of a few people, but at least I got a decent view. No shame. Charlene and I got split from the group and we went our own separate ways thereafter.

From the palace, I walked for more than an hour to High St Kensington just to go Whole Foods. I didn't pack lunch and by the time I got there my stomach was very angry. I planned on going back to Dover for lunch but I suppose my trip to WF was very worth it after all. Here's why: I loaded up on foods at various sampling stations! Cheapo and very Singaporean, but hey, I got a free lunch, and a very high quality one in fact. At the olive oil dipping station, I had like 6 breadsticks in total (I kept strolling up and down the aisle and picking breadstick after breadstick) with a variety of balsamic vinegar dips and olive oil. The breadstick (365 classic, their housebrand) was delicious on its own. There was one brand of balsamic vinegar that was exceptionally good. Sharp and strong, full of grape flavour. I forgot the brand but it was way over my budget - 12 pounds :( But it was so freakin' good. I don't know if I love the breadsticks more or the vinegar. Then I hunted for more sampling stations and chanced upon popcorn. It was sweet & salty flavor, from Tyrrell's brand I think. Lip-smacking! I took a couple of handfuls. I went up to the cheese station and picked a cube of cheese (parmesan? cheddar?). I'm not that a fan of cheese, so I can't appreciate it much. At the takeaway station there were Tyrrell's potato chips for sampling - lightly salted, sweet chili & red pepper and sea salt and vinegar. I had all three, and it was also the first time I had potato chips in years. Very moreish, especially the sweet chili & red pepper. If you think that was all, it's not. After I made my payment for freshly ground almond butter, I spied some people hovering near the bakery. Ooh, free ciabatta! Dipped in olive oil, it was one of the best ciabatta I had! I had a couple of pieces and finally, grabbed another handful as I walked out of the store.

After that I took a bus back to Elephant & Castle, then hurried on to Bermondsey for the Bermondsey Street Festival. By that time it was already past 5pm and I wanted to get there before all the stalls close. I didn't buy anything there, but there were some pretty interesting stalls, and a flower shop with real flowers so intensely colored it was like artificial.