Dinner with Friends

We've invited the Rots and the Reubens over for a meal at our place. The living areas got a bit of tidying-up... Dining table was extended to accommodate all our guests. I decided on a fresh and colourful setting to reflect the summer colours. All set for a game of rounders on the lawn for the kids!		Menu for the day Roasted Chicken in Spicy Coconut Lemongrass Sauce Sticky Honey-Sesame Chicken Lamb Korma Broccoli in Oyster Sauce Roasted Beetroot Spring Onions and Rockets with homemade Lemon Orange Vinaigrette Chocolate Fudge Cake with Banana Cream Caramel PannaCotta with Vanilla pod and Summer Berries Compote

Old Aberdeen Trail

Area surrounding the University of Aberdeen.




Townhouse (1788)
Behind the large timber doors of this Georgian building, there would be a handcart used for picking drunks from the streets and transporting them back to the cells to sleep it off... time sure didn't change the drinking habit of these Scots!


















University of Aberdeen



















King's College







Powis Gates (1833)

Broccoli Lemon Pasta

Broccoli Lemon Pasta

Broccoli florets
your favourite pasta, I'm using macaroni
2 tsp butter
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1 lemon, zested
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp dried peperoncino flakes
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup toasted pignoli nuts
Freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano





Cook the broccoli for 3 minutes in a large pot of boiling salted water. Remove the broccoli from the water with a slotted spoon or sieve. Place in a large bowl and set aside.

In the same water, cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain well and add to the broccoli.

Meanwhile, in a small saute pan, heat the butter and oil and cook the garlic and lemon zest over medium-low heat for 1 minute. Off the heat, add 2 teaspoons salt, the pepper, and lemon juice and pour this over the broccoli and pasta. Toss well. Season to taste, sprinkle with the pignolis, peperoncino and cheese and serve.

Going Japanese

Its really quite a daunting task to come up with ideas on what to feed the family especially when the cook hates doing repeats and love to experiment. To reduce the headache (or perhaps increase it??) I came up with the idea of cooking food base on five geographical region on every day of the week. For a start, Monday will be food from Asia Pacific sans Papua New Guinea (for now).... so there!

Old Aberdeen Trail

We decided to brave high winds and gloomy weather to explore Old Aberdeen.

Tucked near the mouth of the river Don, Old Aberdeen was an independent town from Aberdeen between 1489 and 1891.


St Machar's Cathedral
A 12th century cathedral, named after a disciple of Columba.








Seaton Park





The fountain marks the location of the Seaton House. The house burnt to the ground in 1963.















River Don






























Cruickshank Botanical Garden

Bagel Lox

Back when we were staying in Wassenaar, one of our favourite watering-hole was the Bagel Alley. Predictably, MrD would always went for his favourite bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese.
So, just for him and in a moment of nostalgia, I recreated the famous (and somewhat funky) Bagel Lox.

Medieval Festival

A ye olde daye of ye olde activities.

Castle Fraser went medieval with a traditional jousting tournament, sword fighting, archery lessons and medieval warfare.



















MrD and the kids tried their hands at archery.... not bad for beginners!






Falconry demonstrations plus we also got to meet owls from the Harry Potter movies, Hedwig and Errol.








Middle ages homemakers demonstrating various cooking and craft activities.









The Knights of the Damned












Video on hand to hand combat between two knights