Sun (just a little bit), Sea and Pintxos...

What happens when 4 Singaporeans get weary of the dreary British food and weather? Why, we take off on a long weekend to Europe of course, where the weather is more palatable and the food infinitely more divine. This time round, we decided on San Sebastian for the weekend, where there are more Michelin Starred restaurants per inhabitant than any other city in the world. But of course, its not all about the Michelin Stars with the city. We arrived having seen numerous articles about the amazing Pintxos (the Basque version of Tapas) Bars scattered around - unassuming, non-pretentious bars where food is piled on bartops and standing is the norm.

Our journey started with the age-old tradition of a Mcdonalds breakfast. I decided long ago that I would not embark on any road trip without having a Mcdonalds breakfast to mark the occasion - kind of like the line-crossing ceremony that sailors do when they cross the equator. Luckily for me, both Les and Jo were also keen on a junk food-ridden start to the day, and we promptly headed to the dodgy Old Street Mcdonalds to begin our food adventure. In true foodie style, our early morning conversation revolved around the merits of McD's hash browns, and how Les and I do NOT share ours. Jo, was, of course, far more gracious having given hers up when Les' Meal did not come with one.

Les hiding from the Paparazzi...

So having stuffed ourselves with Egg Mcmuffins and Hotcakes, we carried on our journey and started driving to Stansted Airport, where we were due to catch a flight to Bilbao. Les, having only gotten home a few hours before ended up crashing out in the car as soon as we set off. Which left me with the perfect opportunity to snap this shot (see below)! Heh! Jo tried to sternly tell me not to take the photo, but alas, I could not resist....

Why waking up a couple of hours after a 6am night out is never a good idea...

Our plane journey was pretty uneventful and we landed in Bilbao without any drama. It was a good thing that Jo was with us, because I would have taken a bus into Central Bilbao in order to change to another bus for San Sebastian. Luckily, she insisted on flashing a charming smile and asked one of the locals about a direct bus instead. And lo and behold, there was, in fact, a much easier direct bus that brought us straight to San Sebastian from the airport. At this juncture, I was probably the redundant one out of the trio, with Jo flashing her smile and her charm to get travel information; and Les bankrolling the both of us (Jo and I did not have any Euro cash on us, you see). So it was really a team effort, except, ummm...I really was not contributing much at this point.

The bus journey was a pleasant one - passing through valleys with hills and mountains on either side. The 70 minute journey passed pretty quickly with the conversation ranging from the Smurfit Kappa factory to the Smurfs (no surprises there), to the job scene in Singapore, to the Cordon Bleu Culinary School. We soon arrived in San Sebastian, and we promptly made our way to our hotel, where we were greeted by our host Leire and her mum, Carmen. We were meeting Kai at the hotel, who had arrived a few hours earlier from his travels around Spain. We were happy to see him, of course, having not caught up with him for a number of weeks.

It was very easy to see why our hotel (the Pension Belles Artes) was ranked #1 on Tripadvisor for San Sebastian, ahead of newer and larger hotels. Leire and Carmen took great pains to tell us all about the many famous Pintxos Bars around the city, bringing out numerous maps complete with details of what each Bar was famous for - from beef cheeks, to fish necks, to jamon, to anchovies. They really spared no expense at making sure that we had all the information we needed. I reckon we could have carried on talking to them about more food joints, had we not made polite excuses about the time and vacated to our rooms.

Our first stop on our gastronomic tour that evening was La Cuchara de San Telmo, which some friends and colleagues had insisted that we try. It certainly did not disappoint. It was a hole in the wall joint that certainly did not look like it was anything to write home about. In fact, if you did not know that it was there, one would almost certainly just walk past it. And that would have been a big mistake. The people were not glamorous, and there was no seating room even if someone wanted it. The crowd looked decidedly working class and were obviously there because they knew that the place served some of the best food in the city.

Completely Unassuming from the outside...

But looks can be deceiving - the beef cheeks were absolutely sublime...

The specialty of the house were the beef cheeks, which we went back for seconds for. You order off a handwritten menu on a blackboard behind the bar, which is updated daily. The bartender then shouts the orders to a small kitchen that is hidden away to the side. Wine is then served, and minutes later, plates of steaming, hearty fare is served in bite sized portions on a plate. It really was pure heaven. All of us didnt talk for a good 10 minutes as we tucked into the beef cheeks that melted in our mouths upon entry. It didn't matter at that point that we were standing. We could have been doing convoluted Yoga poses and the food would still have been incredible.

3 Happy Campers after Beef Cheeks...

Our next stop was a more conventional Pintxos joint called Bar La Cepa, where we had Jamon Sandwiches, Croquettes, and other fried goodies, washed down with Sangria. It was really good by any standard, but not really anything that blew me away to be frank. Our next stop was far more appealing, which was a place called Bar Zeruko that Kai insisted we try. And I was very glad that we did indeed. It was not as simple and as hearty as La Cuchara was, but the food was great and certainly more pretty to look at. Everything seemed pretty unique and VERY VERY colourful.

We ended up chatting to a couple who were based in the UK and had been travelling around Spain for the past couple of weeks. They seemed quite intrigued by one of our cod dishes, which arrived very prettily on a charcoal smoker - we had to smoke the piece of cod for 1 minute on each side, before placing it on some garnishing and eating it. This was followed by downing a cucumber / vegetable concentrate from a test tube. Pretty damn cool if you asked me.

4 very happy people at Bar Zeruko...

By the end of the session, we were pretty stuffed and decided to take a walk. Alas, we didnt have time to hit another Pintxos Bar because food stops being served at about 11pm. We took a stroll around the Old City, where Jo decided to play football with a coke can, to the chagrin of one of the locals. Heh! We ended up stopping off at a coffee shop by the beach, where we decided to give our livers a break and have some coffee instead. We soon discovered that even the coffee we ordered came with either Baileys or Whisky infused in them. Aiyoh. We eventually moved on and popped into another bar on the way home, where the locals were friendly and very curious about the 4 "Japanese" tourists who walked in. Some Tequila shots (what faster way to get a quick nightcap, eh Les?) and some wine later, we decided to call it a night and promptly headed back to the hotel.

The highlight of the next day was Martin Berasategui's 3 Michelin Starred Restaurant. After all, what is the point of going to a city packed full of them without trying one right? And the place certainly didnt disappoint. We had to take a taxi to the restaurant which was situated just outside the city itself. But the Tasting Menu was to die for. Even the bread was amazing - they had this Jamon Brioche which reminded me of Bak Kwa bread that you might possibly find at BreadTalk in Singapore. But that wasn't the highlight la. In fact, I cant really think of what the highlight might have been, since all the courses were just really impressive.

Poached Egg...

Pigeon with Foie Gras...

Chocolate, Coconut and Coffee...

Why eat 1 thing at a time when you can eat 2?!

Completely stuffed and happy!

After our 4 hour lunch (yes, 4!!), we went back to the City and took a stroll around the harbour. It wouldn't have been right to do a trip without any sightseeing at all, so we decided to climb Monte Urgull which was once an island before the land around it was reclaimed. On the top of the hill was the Castillo de la Mota, which houses a 40ft high statue of Christ. But the views of the bay from the top of the hill really were something else.

Smiling at the bottom of the hill...

And still smiling halfway up...

View from the top...

And on the way down...

A rainbow arrived to delight us...

And we managed to get a shot off as the sun was setting...

The evening was a rather more sedate affair and we all ended up taking an afternoon snooze before heading out again. We ended up going to only 2...yes just 2...pintxos bars for dinner. Everything was still great, but the excitement from all the food had worn off slightly. Perhaps it really is possible to have too much of a good thing. It seems like no one goes out on Sunday nights because all the bars that were packed the night before were either closed or very empty. We managed to get a table at our second joint where we had a slow leisurely dinner, making it back to the hotel before the very civilised time of midnight.

The next day really was a treat. We decided to take a train out to Getaria, which is a small fishing village just outside San Sebastian. The seminal restaurant at Getaria is one called Elkano, which is frequented by the Real Madrid football team whenever they play in the region. However, we had had our fill of fancy restaurants by that time and we just wanted something simple. So simple was what we had. We went to Astillero, which was this unassuming restaurant by the port - it was incidentally a favourite of Leire's as well. All it was was a bunch of tables in a rectangular room on the second floor of a building facing the fishing port. But boy, was it good!

The owners were kind enough to call us into the kitchen to take a look at the day's catch. And did it look amazing or what?!

Simple fresh fish barbequed on a charcoal gril...

Fish neck meat fried in egg, prawns and mussels...

Very contented after yummy fish soup...

Our resident Japanese tourists doing their thing...

And for the coup de grace, Les about to swallow a gooey fish eye, a la fear factor...

It had turned out to be a stunning day, so we decided to take a stroll along the coast to the neighbouring town to catch our train back to San Sebastian. It really was the perfect way to round out the trip, with full tummies, great company and fantastic scenery.

By the time we got back to the City, we had to (literally) run to the hotel to grab our bags, and catch the bus to Bilbao Airport. By this time, we were completely knackered and were pretty sedate getting onto the plane.

But all in all, the trip was absolutely fantastic. Perhaps it was slightly one-dimensional that we went the whole weekend doing nothing but eating and drinking. But bah! Who cares! We had a great time. It's weekends like these that you realise it is the simple things in life that really matter - such as good food and even better friends. My personal favourite meal of the trip was actually the unornamented seafood that we had at Getaria. Nothing fancy, just honest cooking in its simplest form.

And with all that said, can we go back again soon? Maybe for a surfing trip in the summer?

London...

London is a place of many different moods. Its always busy and bustling, with always something to do. It can be gloomy and dark, with uncertainty always around the corner. But sometimes, not often, when the sun shines, its an absolute gem of a city to be in. From the many parks in Hyde, Regent's and Green, to the various cafes, restaurants and pubs - the sunshine really makes such a difference!

Sunshine in the garden from Ing and Ben's Flat...

Shepards' Market at lunchtime on a sunny Thursday...

What were once dark and dubious alleys in the Wintertime, are now interesting pockets of London just waiting to be explored. Take Camden Passage at Angel for example - I never realised that there was a carpet weaver at the corner of the Breakfast Club, who hangs his carpets on random bollards...

So with the sunshine in tow, not even CFA studying was going to get me down this weekend. Of course, it helped that I had little treats planned here and there - from taking a long lunch with Craig and Ing at Shepards' Market on Saturday, to heading up to Kentish Town this afternoon for a wicked Roast Chicken lunch with homemade cake to boot. And rounded off with chilling out at the Lansdowne at Primrose Hill in the evening. Somehow, spending hours staring at terms like "multi-collinearity" and "heteroskadasticity" seem that much more bearable with the weather like this...

Callum couldn't find his sausages...

But Mawg definitely found his bone...

There was yummy homemade lemon cake (sans drizzle) for dessert...

And Ing couldnt find a chair to sit on at the end...

Have a great week ahead everyone! Hope that the sun stays out...

Another Chilled Out Sunday...

Woke up early this morning to do my time with the CFA books, so I could have a guilt free afternoon out with Craig and Danielle. Its amazing what a bit of sunshine can do to brighten one's mood out. All the pubs at Primrose Hill were packed to the brim today, with even the 1st floor of the Lansdowne packed to the brim with people. Efforts to find a table at the Princess of Wales also proved futile as everyone had piled into the pub to watch the resident jazz band play. We ended up at L'absinthe having French bistro food, which was decidedly very average.

Primrose Hill is always brilliant on a sunny day. Its one of those chilled out places where you dont actually feel as if you are in London, despite being so central. At one end, you have the famous Engineer, serving more upmarket gastro-pub food, and you have Lemonia at the other end of the "village" serving up the great Greek meze. And in between you have pubs like the Princess of Wales and the Lansdowne, where you may bump into celebs like Noel Gallagher, Gwenyth Paltrow and Kate Moss. A but further up North, you have Marine Ices, which in my opinion, serves the best ice cream in London (not to mention great Scampi Linguine as well) - they only pour about 1 bottle of rum in each tub of rum and raisin ice cream.

So post lunch, we decided to ditch plans to head to Hampstead Heath and just chill out at the Princess of Wales and enjoy the jazz band. I hadnt seen Danielle for about 6 months ever since she started her MBA, so it was a good chance for all 3 of us to catch up - discussing the defensive qualities of condom sales in an economic downturn, to the effects of 3D movie technology on the adult entertainment industry. OK OK, we did have a yarn over cleaner topics, but none as interesting as those 2. Heh!

The chilled out Sunday continued into the evening as I drove further up North to Stephen and Rachel's place for a home-cooked meal. Thanks to Stephen, I got a tasty "Slim Fast" type meal (gosh I need it, after my complete lack of exercise after busting my knee) of baked sea-bass, crushed potatoes, broccoli and steamed veggies. Exactly what I needed after a couple of heavier meals earlier this weekend.

I swear my god-daughter's vocab triples in size everytime I head up there, both in English AND Mandarin. At the rate she is going, the standard of her Mandarin is going to outstrip mine (not that it is terribly difficult to do so) by her 3rd birthday. Heh! It took her a while to warm up though. I suspect that she was a bit confused about the length of my hair - I really need a haircut you see. But gosh, once she did, she was on really good form, running and climbing all over the place. I even taught her how to do a "fist bump" so she could get an insight into street culture, just in case she wants to start wearing baggy jeans soon, and listen to some old school Tupac Shakur. By the end of the evening, she was doing the fist bump thing completely spontaneously. Heh, Im so proud...

So there we have it. Another weekend gone! Where do they go??!! The Lakers are playing the Magic on ESPN, and I am trying to decide whether I should watch Kobe Bryant score his usual 30+points (gosh, I miss playing sports) or do another hours of studying before hitting the sack. Hmmm....

Have a great week ahead everyone!

Painting Football...

The past month has been incredibly busy at work (sorry to those I owe emails to - I will reply very soon!), but while it has been intense, there have also been some pleasant treats as well on the work front.

First up, I had a breakfast meeting at the Royal Academy on Tuesday - while it is always nice to be fed well with Eggs Benedict, Eggs Florentine et al., the real attraction was the private viewing of the Van Gogh exhibition after the meeting. It was obviously an incentive to get people to make it in for 7.45am.

Now, I can count on one hand the number of art exhibitions I have been to - ummm, I think its only been 4? With 2 of them coming within the past 6 months? But this one was really cool. Firstly, there was something surreal about being in a hallway full of paintings worth millions and millions of dollars, surrounded by only about 6 other people. A large part of me was very tempted to start poking some of the paintings to test the sturdiness of the canvas....just because I could, I suppose...

But really, the works were beautiful. Im really no art expert, but I much preferred his early stuff where he used just pen and ink to create his works. From what I saw, it was a case of him learning the artist's craft and starting at the basic skill of drawing. From my simple mind, I simply thought that it was far more impressive to create the stuff that he did using a hard pen instead of a softer and more malleable brush. Take a look at Pollard Birches. Apparently, he struggled at first to master perspective in his drawings, claiming that it was a case of luck how the pieces turned out. I wouldnt have thunk it looking at these drawings.

Even the sketches that he did from time to time in his letters to his brother were impressive. Take a look at Pollard Willow sketched into this letter, with a bit more colour than his black/white/grey sketches.

I wasnt a huge fan of his coloured works - but then again, who cares what I think? I guess Ive just always been a more understated person myself. Take a look at Yellow House, which I think was painted when he became more obsessed with colours and colour theory.

Wheat Fields After the Rain was a sad one because it was completed just before he took his life in July 1890. I actually liked this one, though I found it tragic that he wasn't able to overcome his mental difficulties, even while in the peace of the French countryside. Apparently, he painted over 70 canvasses in the last 70 days of his life, all of which share the same soft colours and tones of Wheat Fields. To me, the painting shows me a man at peace, rather than a person in turmoil. What a shame...

The other treat came on a Thursday afternoon, when I got a call asking if I would like 2 tickets to watch Arsenal play Burnley at the Emirates. Hmmm, free tickets to watch the most entertaining team in the Premiership and a buffet lunch on offer - it really was very hard deciding whether to take up the tickets. So I dropped Agate an email and asked him whether he wanted to come along - sort of a pre-wedding present for him. It was my first time at the Emirates, so just going there on a sunny Saturday afternoon was a treat in itself.

But gosh, the corporate hospitality was fantastic. Ive been to Chelsea's Stamford Bridge before on corporate tickets, but the hospitality at the Emirates far outstripped Chelsea's. The restaurant was massive, with dedicated waiters and waitresses for each table. You got champagne or orange juice as you entered. And the buffet spread was massive - almost reminding me of the buffets that you get in Singapore. There was roast turkey, roast salmon, smoked salmon, prawns, different types of potatoes, and a massive dessert selection with bread and butter pudding, and many other different types of cake to finish everything off. We even had drinks laid on for us at our reserved table during half-time. I really could get used to living like this.

The game itself didnt disappoint. Arsenal, after all, ARE the most entertaining team to watch in England. The game kicked off with the crowd cheering for Aaron Ramsey, who suffered a horrific broken ankle last weekend (it was practically hanging off his leg). Cesc Fabregas (whom Lizzie claims she wanted to marry before she met Alex) was awarded the Premiership Player of the Month award for the 5th consecutive month! Yikes! He was up to his usual tricks and all of Arsenal's best moves were initiated by him. It really is quite incredible to see how calm and composed he is on the ball. He isnt the fastest player on the planet, but he always seems to know what he is going to do with the ball before he even receives it, whether it is a fancy flick or a simple pass pack to a teammate. Its a shame he injured his hamstring though because Arsenal suddenly were lacking imagination without him.

Of course, it didnt help that Nic Bendtner missed about 10 chances - many of which were when he had an open goal to shoot for, and all he had to do was push the ball in the right direction. It was hilarious when he came off, because the fans gave him a standing ovation as if he had scored a hattrick - heh, sometimes you really cant beat British humour. Aggers and I were joking with some of the fans that the Burnley goalkeeper looked like he had eaten too many pies - he was massive and not terribly fast or mobile. I remarked that they should schedule a halftime sideshow to see who would win a race from one end of the pitch to the other - Bendtner (who is really big and slow himself) or the Burnley goalie. Aggers remarked that the half-time break wasnt long enough for the both of them to finish the race - fair point.

Luckily though, even without Cesc, Arsenal had Theo Walcott on form, who was probably reeling from a less than inspired performance for England earlier in the week. And lets face it, this was Burnley after all, who came into the game just looking to waste time and finish with a draw. The Arsenal fans started singing "Who are you? Who are you?" everytime Burnley messed up or Arsenal scored - very funny. And there were other classics sung like "Stand up if you hate Tottenham". Arshavin came on towards the end (in his yellow boots) to add a bit of spark in the last 20 minutes. This was a bonus for me I reckon he is one of best players to watch - He did score the final goal to finish the game off. He was another one who looked so incredibly composed whenever he had the ball. Classic!

So in the end, it was another day in the office for Arsenal, and a trudge back to the tube station for us along with 65,000 other fans. Faced with the massive crowd, we gave up and walked in the other direction and found an Osteria / Coffee Bar (I dont drink and Aggers was still recovering from his messy stag-do last weekend), where we waited for the crowds to clear. We ended up spending a couple of hours gossiping and discussing why the USD and GBP are screwed, inflation will be rampant, why everyone should buy Astrazeneca, gold production profiles in African gold mines, and how we will both get rich from owning Canadian Junior Gold Mining Stocks. Anyone overhearing us would probably think that capitalism as we knew it was going to end, and that everyone should quit their jobs, buy agricultural land, become farmers and keep physical gold underneath their beds because fiat money is dying.

Heh, and on that note, I now need to get back to studying for CFA. ESPN is on TV, and Bayern Munich is drawing with Cologne. Would love to finish watching it but Analysis of Intercorporate Investments beckons. Joy.....