baking fanatics

our nutella baking fanatics have finally united again! since meeting up during the summer to make pizzas, we've come again to make omelettes and a yule log.

after popping to iceland to grab all that we needed, we caught up over cooking and delighting over eggs and veg. it was a morning well spent with these girls, and quickly our sweet tooth got us craving for some chocolate.

we commenced to making a chocolate yule log (still christmas here), and surprisingly it is one of our most successful bakes ever! we thought there would be a possibility we would be defeated by this challenge requiring much baking skill, but we got there in a breeze!

charis also bought us each a personalised jar of nutella, just to remind us of who we are. aren't they cute?! after a time of conversations and prayers, we headed off our ways again: jing back to america, anna to newcastle, charis to explore her next steps, and me back to southampton of course!

dumpling factory.

sunday evening after church, a few families came over to our house for fellowship, continue the festive celebrations and enjoy food together.

all the kids came together and helped make many many trayfuls of dumplings from scratch. i used to do this all the time with my mum and it's certainly been a while since i've used this skill. the dumplings came out in various shapes and sizes as we made them according to our own imagination.

each family brought around a different dish to share, and we had a buffet style dinner for the evening with opportunities to catch up and share my uni life stories.

my friend bev came back from her internship at milan a few days ago and she was itching to get her nails painted, and so i busted out my box of nail polish and painted these frozen inspired icicle designs.

to top the night off, we had some crazy party popper action, and mum decided to bring out the prop box for some funny photobooth pictures.

dad clearly made the most out of them and enjoyed himself. a lot.

xmas time, family time.

our christmas morning started off with attending a church service at hammersmith and seeing some of our church family. it was a joyful occasion and it was great to be able to sing carols together and really get the christmas spirit going for the day.

after we rushed back home, i got to work with the evening's desserts - a coffee chiffon cake with gingerbread and cream, and apple and cinnamon rose pastries.

this year's christmas party was hosted at our house, and one by one, everyone flowed in including my grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins - every single one of them. i hadn't seen them all in so long since i've been at uni and missed out on the past family get togethers, which made the occasion all the more joyous!

getting my hair did/tied up in knots by my sister

drawing on some xmas patterns on my grandma's nails!

food has always been a great centrepiece for our family. normally we're at our grandparents house for every family event and they would cook up their most impressive lobster noodles, and dishes and dishes of chinese food.

as christmas was at our house, it was our turn to cook and give our grandparents a rest from the kitchen even though they love it. we cooked up both a lamb shank and a massive duck along with lots and lots of potatoes, roast veg, salad and gravy of course.

such a wonderful feastly celebration with the ones i love most.

dessert was also one of a feast. my cousin bought along a homemade banana bread, my grandparents some chinese desserts all the way from hong kong when they went for holiday, my auntie and uncle some classy mince pies, a big pot of mango chinese dessert, and my bakes.

the rest of the evening we spent watching some old video recordings (and laughing at them), singing songs, playing music, taking selfies and opening presents.

though i must admit i didn't really feel the christmas spirit this year, i was so so happy to be spending a day with my family and hearing our usual banter ring in my ears again. i'm so thankful that we're able to come together as a family safe and sound despite all the cruel and disastrous things i've seen in the news recently.

it is a blessing to have every single one of us this christmas and for everyone to be happy and healthy - i really thank God for this. 

and most importantly, happy birthday Jesus!!

vapiano!

loksze and i originally planned to watch a film and walk around winter wonderland on xmas-eve-eve, but our plans were diverted when i couldn't snag a movie voucher code and i needed to shop for a coat.

we ended up walking around canarby street which has been all lit up, and then oxford street where i bought a new camel coat (xmas present for myself, duh). 

lastly, we headed over to all saints to visit etain who was working. she showed us her top picks in the shop and we ended up picking a new sweater for loksze.

after etain had finished work, we decided to meet up with our friend ashley at her office. it was her last day at that company and we got the privilege to get a little tour of her workplace. it was the cutest little office and we got a chance to have a chat with a few of her work colleagues.

for dinner we walked down the road to vapiano's. i can't believe this is my first time eating here!

the restaurant issues you with a card when you come in, and you go up to their pizza and pasta bar to order your own food for them to cook right in front of you.

fresh from the pan, you also get to customise your own pasta shapes and type of spaghetti!

the queue does get a bit long whilst you wait for the chefs to cook your food hence the many selfies, but it is well worth the wait and this delicious food comes at an adequate price!

i got a salami pasta, etain likes her traditional bolognese, and loksze and ash went for the lobster one. good meal and catch up to say the least. and heap loads of cheese.

we then went to visit our friend helen who was working at levi's nearby. i helped loksze pick out a new denim jacket and then we all went to walk about and watch a street performance on carnaby street.

loksze and i then walked back to waterloo to catch our train back, but not before stopping by this beautiful lit up garden off the street.

sunday fun day

our sunday morning started off with being locked out of the church building as we didn't have the keys. i resorted to helping out the the kids in sunday school and the guys played fifa before we got the notif we could get in.

loksze was on the bass today, it's been so long since he's jumped on and i'm so happy he is still serving in church. i also saw my friend eugene who has disappeared to uni since september and i hadn't seen since. we sat together in the service, along with daniel on my left who managed to choke on his inhaler during worship (just a bit of banter, it was not a big deal dw he's not dead).

the end of our sunday service was particularly special. we had a proposal at church! what a nice surprise and i wish this couple many more blessings to come.

for lunch, loksze wanted to dine alone with me and so we left the fifa-playing lads and settled in wetherspoons where we shared a massive pulled pork and cheese hotdog with a rack of ribs. it's nice to be able to get some alone time and spend it with each other despite the busyness of church after service, the fact we're committed to different roles in church and that there are many friends we see and want to catch up with on a sunday.

fairground in shepherd's bush

after our lunch, we went to meet loksze's mates in mcdonalds where we chilled for a good time and told stories of poo experiences before deciding to go catch a tube to hammersmith. there was a youth celebration on at which my sister partook in the worship team (proud sister i am). we caught them at the end and said hi to everyone before we were quickly escorted out as they had to lock the church. 

we then decided to go to westfields at which we spent hours walking around looking at various stuff. the only downside to this was that i was the only girl in the group so interests in my sections were a minimal. it was a fun and tiring day overall hanging out with loksze's good friends and i could really see where his banter has evolved from. the end of westfields consisted of asian squatting on the floor as our legs were so tired.

my stylish loklok carrying my sushi

as the lads left, loksze and i decided to go back to central london to grab some sushi. itsu does half price sushi half an hour before they close and we made it just in the nick of time! we walked all the way from charing cross back to waterloo at which we suddenly became really hyper despite the tiredness and started rapping all the way to the station.

we dined on the train as it was getting late and made the whole carriage smell of soya sauce.

what a packed day spent with my church family!