Graduation ball

A week has flown by since my last exam and I've been out everyday its crazy. I guess I'm fulfilling my promise to minimize time spent indoors after that exam period hibernation I had.

Last Friday was graduation ball, which is my third one ever, and this time I did the all the makeup and hair myself. The end result wasn't too different from getting it done by professionals (80%?) so I guess I'm not toooooo bad. 

Spent the longest time doing my nails:

Hair make (I've only used the curler less than 5times? it was a struggle XD )

The event was at the grand Mayfair Hotel. Forgot to bring my dslr so had to take photos from random sources i.e. the hundreds of other cameras there that night lol.

Ferrero Rocher tower at the entrance.

Random entertainment of the night. X) She was really lively.

 Awards from that night

 Chocolate fountain was fun. :)

 Dance floor after

Anyway, its unbelievably late (early?) now so I'll update again next time!

Metallic cartoon nails

The stash of nail polishes at home seems to be mostly metallic/glitter colours, so here's the random mash up I did

Metallic heart and star nail art

Added black cartoony lines to help the different metallic shades stand out.

Penned in the lines with a black ink pen. Did it in a rush so its not a very good job when looked closely, but its because I've done it once before and it faded even though the ink pen is waterproof, so this time I didn't bother to do it properly lol. Did a layer of top coat over it.

Also sparkly is my new replacement earrings after losing one side of my previous one in brussels. After much deliberation decided I still like the star-like pointy design best.

Anyway, started packing my bags today. Its a very empty luggage cause i'm trying to keep the flow of belongings between my second home and primary home this way--))). So it primarily food items again and the small luggage is in the big one. I'm sad to leave really. Its back to work and reality. I haven't done all that I meant to do this holiday. :( 5 weeks to exam is no joke with the amount I haven't done/studied. Sigh. well 2 months to go, I hope I pass!

March beginnings - nail art & cooking roll!

Started my weekend with anything but work! Had the urge to do another nail art design (most probably from the need to escape my work that is piling up) and what better design than one relating to easter? So here's the assortment of bunnies, chicks and random pastel-ly swirls and dots which are supposed to resemble decorated eggs. Did it all with a toothpick as usual.

Easter nail art design!

Then decided to do thai sticky rice dessert with the reduced price ripe mangoes I picked up a few days ago. Wasn't sure if I could find sticky rice and coconut milk on short notice, but Waitrose didn't disappoint (I LOVE WAITROSE, fav supermarket in the UK). For some reason most recipes called for steaming rice in pots and pans or microwaving, but I just used the rice cooker and it was fine! The steps are easy but I guess a good tip is to skim the thicker layer of cream of the coconut milk to use as topping and the liquidy bottom to soak the rice in after its cooked. Also pre-soaking the rice is important before cooking!

Thai sweet sticky rice mango dessert

Had pancakes for Saturday morning breakfast with tons of cinnamon and a dash of cloves added in the batter. Strawberries were on sale and I wasn't sure then but they are really sweet. :) But I still prefer bananas to sweeten the buttermilk pancakes with. 

Banana, strawberry, maple and cinnamon pancakes

And....today's very normal lunch lol. The erm right photo was aubergines, tomatoes and red onion cheese bake. The veggies were all layered. It taste better than anticipated haha (and better than it looks). I think cheese makes everything better. These two photos are more representative of what food usually looks like pre-arranged X).

Spent the afternoon watching "The Help" (about the point of view of African-american maids in the 1960s during the civil rights movement) and cried 5 times? I don't know why the last few movies I watched all made me tear. It was a good movie which deserved its 8.0 rating on imdb. Silver linings playbook was the previous movie I watched.

Anyway half my weekend is gone and next week will be really busy too. I should really get down to working.

Till next time!

Still CNY

Finally went for some sort of CNY celebratory meal at the Bugis Street Brasserie at Gloucester Road, one of the few Singaporean/Malaysian restaurants in London. Was secretly hoping they had yu sheng on their CNY menu, but discovered then that all the dishes were chinese but not distinctively Singaporean. Oh wells, but it turns out that I enjoyed every dish! 22.50pds per person was on the high side, but you do get alot of food of sizable portions. Was definitely stuffed even before dessert.

 Seafood & hot and sour soup.

 Complimentary tiger beer. It wasn't as bad as I remembered it to be, perhaps my tolerance to the taste of alcohol has increased by now. It was the first alcoholic drink I've ever tasted and I thought it was really bad at that time.

 The claypot braised beef was really tender and yummy. :)

 I really really like the black moss/mushroom/pak choi dish!

Glutinous rice ball in red bean soup dessert.
Am going back again tomorrow! 0.0 This time its a free buffet. :) Please let there be yusheng!

Also, chinese new year themed nail art which will only last till tuesday cause of hospital attachment. :X toothpicked the drawings in case anyone is wondering. Relatively fast to do actually!

Cheers!