So, we took a bus down instead of the train since there is a bus that goes to winchester and the bus stop is somewhat near our place. It was a 40-45 mins ride, pretty long compared to taking the train or driving there.
Our first stop was food, dined in at an Italian restaurant called AskItalian. Jane found that restaurant by chance on google maps...haha. We were really lucky to have popped by the place just before noon as there were already many reservations made though the restaurant was empty at that time. True enough, by half noon, it was almost full.
my lunch for the day, a simple lasagne which tasted quite good.
Jane's risotto
Jin's vegetarian spaghetti, cannot remember what is inside to be honest. The other food photo was so blur, sadly :(
our visitor for the first weekend - zoe (:
new lens comes with new challenges - focusing. Yep, still finding it a tat difficult to focus properly with the new lens.
Headed out to the streets and to the christmas market after.
school band playing christmas songs
the walk down to the winchester cathedral which is where the christmas market is located. Always love taking shots like these.
training in lijin how to use a dslr in process, progress so far has been not bad..haha
part of the christmas market next to the cathedral.
it was a saturday, therefore the amount of people.
one of the stalls selling chocolates, more like chocolate coated marzipans. So if you like marzipans, you will definitely enjoy this. Not so much my cup of tea.
everybody's favourite sweet treat - candy floss!
there are more pictures of the christmas market further below when we went there again this weekend. We left the place relatively early around mid afternoon and went to the city centre in Southampton to do some shopping. And then it was dinner, went to try out a thai restaurant along portswood rd.
presenting the green curry which definitely isn't up to standard.
tom yam soup, not that bad.
fish cakes which were one of the better dishes.
stir fry basil leaf pork, which I thought was supposed to be minced pork/chicken, but yeah. haha.
Probably not a restaurant I would go back another time since it isn't worth the price.
The next morning, we went down town again to try out a dim sum restaurant. One of the few dim sum places in soton.
egg tarts and fried pork buns are a must haves for dim sum.
lotus leaf glutinous rice which was disappointing, it was pretty tasteless and the rice was a bit hard. But, the har gow and siew mai were not bad.
Of cos we did have much more food then this but was too concentrated on eating that I forgot about the photos...haha.
So, we went winchester again this weekend and I managed somemore photos from the christmas market. Initially, we wanted to go ice-skating but sadly they were all booked for the day. Oh wells, a sign to save money and the fact that the rink ain't that big serves as another self-consolation..haha.
small little pretty christmas decorations. They are so cute and pretty, you just wish you could have them all.
Another part/angle/view of the christmas market.
this as well as potato wedges were our lunches for the day. This is cheese bratwurst hotdog, not the best I have had but acceptable although the bread was a little tough. Missing the one from victoria market back in Melbourne.
Remember the picture with the chocolates from above, we bought them this time. The one I am carrying was fresh cream flavour but it was difficult to taste the fresh cream as the marzipan inside overpowers the flavours outside.
wanted a bit of warmth after standing outside for a long time, so starbucks it is. Had my all time favourite caramel macchiato which didn't taste up to standard. This is my second time having it since coming to the uk and it has been bad on both times. I am not sure if it was the milk that they used, think its semi-skimmed that made it really thin and bland. The fraps are still good though.
Did a little bit of shopping around winchester before going back to cook a massive meal.
chefs in process, can you guess what we were cooking?
sambal with onion and ikan bilis is bliss.
oil-free, fuss-free method of cooking ikan bilis - baking. Turned out crispy and good.
Our coconut milk rice..haha. Not that fragrant but still good.
one of my favourite veggies - cucumber.
hard boiled eggs.
and chicken curry! It has been a while since having this.
and heres what you get: HOME-MADE NASI LEMAK. How awesome is that. Not the most healthy meal, in fact, its really unhealthy..haha, but definitely delicious especially when you are far away from home and craving for some local delights.
looking at all these photos are just making me hungry and it doesn't help that dinner is in 1 hour time, which means my stomach is starting to growl.
The next day was spent in the city centre, walking around, shopping and japanese buffet lunch at Zen.
we were all quite disappointed at their selection and variety of sushi. Yes, if you were wondering, this is the entire sushi selection they had. Plus sashimi wasn't included in the buffet. :(
That summed up the last 2 weekends I had so far, more to come in the next 2 weeks with chrismas and new year holidays! Not feeling the excitement yet with 3 more days of placements to attend. I guess it usually kicks in when you start packing, I am sure it will. For now, I shall hunt for some food in the kitchen to treat my growling tummy before dinner.
Till then,
xoxo
