What Goes Well With Tea?

Have you ever thought of that? What goes well with tea?

I started to think about that after my husband introduced me to one of the best British delicacy called Rich Tea biscuit. I mean, the name says it all, doesn’t it? Rich Tea… the biscuit that makes tea drinking experience even richer? Am I pushing it?

The traditional Cream Tea — Tea, scone, cream and jam

Then of course, along came Cream Tea. Scone is probably one of the best thing that can happen to tea. Those are new to me, because in Indonesia, and in my Chinese culture, tea is not enjoyed the way people do here in the UK. Completely different.

For example, in Indonesia we don’t need to drink tea from a cup. We enjoy it hot or cold, with or without sugar. But never… with milk or any whitener. Or lemon, as lemon is not widely accessible in Indonesia — expensive because it is an imported fruit.

Chinese Tea in a Bakutteh Restaurant in Malaysia. Definitely a must try… 

While my mum is a coffee drinker, my dad is a tea drinker. He enjoys a good tea, and only drink it black. I think I learn it from him. The difference is, while I am not too fussy with my tea, my father could be a mini pain in the neck when he started making comments about what tea should be. Come to think of it.. almost all his siblings are pretty fussy about tea.

Whenever I come back from Indonesia, I always bring some boxes of tea for me and my sister in law. Indonesian tea (especially the jasmine tea version) is generally more fragrant than tea in the UK, which was imported from India. I am not saying they’re better, but I am used to tea from the other part of the world, and processed differently too. I mean, there are hundreds or thousands of tea variety in the world, in the end it is all about your preference, isn’t it?

Right… while in that part of Asia we enjoy tea with almost everything — including savoury food, here we have a special kind of tea drinking experience called Afternoon Tea, or High Tea.

High Tea or Afternoon Tea… Three Tiered Yums

I was finally able to convince my DH to go with me to enjoy an Afternoon Tea in the city. He is a coffee drinker, so he swapped his tea with coffee — don’t mind the heathen. He thought Afternoon Tea is an overpriced cake eating experience. I beg to differ…

I believe that afternoon tea is not just about eating cake and sandwich while drinking tea. For me it is a way for us to allocate a time for just us, enjoying the finer things in life without distraction from computer games, or mobile phone apps, or tv show. It is a great way to go on a date as a couple.

Seriously.

And you know what? When we finished the afternoon tea (we were allowed to bring the leftover home, so… bonus), he admitted that he quite enjoyed the whole experience. See?

Anyway… what else goes well with tea? You guessed it…

Knitting.

x ❤ x

 

This Weekend…

Hello you… and you… and you…

…

Goodness… It’s so awkward to sound like an outgoing person. Let’s just skip that bit. How’s your weekend?

I started a new WIP, a jacket for my husband. Or cardigan. I honestly can’t really see the difference. Do you know the difference between jacket and cardigan for men. My husband likes to call it jacket because it probably sounds more manly for him.

Whatever works, Bro…

I am using the green wool I bought from iceyarn long time ago. I had it when it was on sale, and I only had for skeins of green. That’s why I combine it with blue for the ribbing bits. Hopefully it would be enough. Husband chose the colour combo, and I though it works alright. Let’s see…

We also went for another cream tea day. Now we had one in Ludham.

The tea room is called Alfresco Tea Room. Tea is wonderful. Food is exceptional. Husband bought Norfolk Pasties for himself, and thoroughly enjoyed his meal with a glass of latte. We love it. Better yet, the food and drink are very affordable. That is surprising because they’re using high quality local produce.

Recommended. Obviously.

So… there. We had a great weekend, too bad that all good things come to an end… Hope you had a great one too.

x ❤ x

WIP Weekend, and A Some Extra Bit of Something

I always like knitting, and yarn shopping… I mean, really… who doesn’t like yarn shopping? Even my husband does… He could grump and moan, and act like he doesn’t enjoy the whole squealing and whimpering when finding a really nice fluffy wool on offer. He could say otherwise, but I believe that deep down… he loves yarn shopping.

Everybody loves yarn shopping… 

But, not until I have known, and read blogs of a lot of wonderful knitter on this blogging universe that I start paying attention to the beloved LYS. Local Yarn Shop. I believe that you can measure how awesome a town/city/village is from their LYS.

In Norwich, you could find more than plenty. If you happen to come to visit Norwich (Norfolk, United Kingdom that is), you would realise that even though online and big shops offer cheaper options of wool, our LYS are surviving. The easier one to find are in the city — one in the market, one in Pottergate called Norfolk Yarn, and one in St Giles called Crafty Ewe. If you are going further in Magdalen Street, there’s another one which I walked pass a lot but never notice the name.

When I went to Bury St. Edmunds, though… I did have to look really hard to find them. But I did find two of them. They’re smaller than one we have in Norwich, but I think it’ll do for a quick fix to satisfy your yarn high. So, if you are visiting Bury… and you accidentally left your WIP at home. You know you can get a little something-something to keep you going for awhile.

Talking about WIP, though… I think I am on a finishing stage now 😀 Woohoo!

I am trying hard to balance out knitting and sleeping. It is easy to lose track of time when you are sitting and knitting while watching Law and Order omnibus. Anyway… do you watch L&O? Which L&O is your favourite one? I mean, I do like SVU, but I would choose Lennie Briscoe anytime.

Gosh… I am rambling, aren’t I? I better finish it now before I start mentioning other crime drama series that I like.

Until then… have a great weekend, Everyone 🙂

x ❤ x

The WIP and The Workshop

Because of the wrist situation, WIP went very slowly. BUT, I managed to make some progress, so yeah well done me.

In between time, curbing myself from exerting my wrists to a heavy duty knitting, I sew buttons. I just found out that a lot of my FOs did not have buttons in them. I did buy some buttons months ago, but when they arrived, I forgot to attach them to the jackets. What a silly me.

So, here you go.

These are the baby lacy matinee jackets with pearly buttons.

And, don’t forget the latest projects.

Now all buttoned up.

My husband and I also spent time doing workshop in Bury St. Edmunds. Workshop? What kind of workshop can possibly done there? Well… actually, the kind of workshop we do together is “He works, I shop :D”

His job sometimes requires him to go on site, and sometimes he was sent to a nice place. And when that happens, I would tag along, and spend the whole day going around adventuring by myself. Last time it was Bedford… this time it is Bury.

Bury is a lovely little heritage town, known as the jewel of Suffolk. Well known for its abbey ruins, and its wonderful cathedral. Although of course, for me the Greene King Brewery is as important too.

I have to say, I quite enjoy a day trip there. It is definitely a very welcomed change of routine 🙂

x ❤ x

A Day Out…

So my DH took me to Stoke Holy Cross. I had to wiki it because I had no idea what kind of place it is. He told me that the place we are going to visit is called Caistor St Edmund — which at that time meant nothing to me. So… reluctantly, put the knitting down for a little while and probably enjoy a bit of sunlight.

Now… what is Caistor St. Edmunds? I heard you ask. I wouldn’t blame you if you haven’t heard about it. It is the first time for me myself. Apparently, it is a huge grassy field.

BUT, not just an ordinary grassy field. In this field, there used to be a Roman market town of a tribe called Iceni. Now I got a bit excited, as there were some ruins of their walls. We do love our ruins…

The day was beautiful, although a bit breezy. Caistor was quiet, only a few interested visitor was in view. But, one thing that excite DH the most is that whoever managed this place has now improved the place and has implemented an Augmented Reality experience in this place.

So, in some spots where you could see and read the information panel in the area, DH could just point his beloved mobile phone and start to enjoy the techie bits. Actually, it was quite cool. All he needed to do is to download the apps — everything can be done with an apps nowadays.

On Sundays, the church — St Edmund Church — not to be confused with St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St. Edmund, served cream tea. I never had cream tea before. It was basically a scone, served with cream and jam, and a generous pot of tea. They only do sultana scones, unfortunately, so I have to pick them out 😦 I can handle a couple, but not too much.

However, it was a wonderful afternoon. I wished I have had my knitting with me, that would have made me feel very British…

x ❤ x

Anniversary?!

It’s a what?

I didn’t realise that I have missed this blog’s second year anniversary! I just found out that my first post was on the 7 July five minutes ago, and thought… Oh bugger…. I should have done something to congratulate myself. It’s something worth celebrating! Maybe one or two skeins of nice fluffy wool…

One of the very first amigurumi I made

But I have to restrain myself now, really. Although it was totally and utterly worth every single poundsterling, the last holiday almost cleared me out completely. I need to go back to Indonesia to sort this out, and luckily I have already got the ticket and a departure date.

What do you do to celebrate your blog anniversary, though? Some people don’t take their blog as personally as I do, but I know that for some people their blog is very important. It is kind of a lifeline, the only thing that connects them to the world outside their own. Like me…

How about a walk in the fine city of Norwich?

I’ve been living in Norwich for years now, but staying at home and being a little bit more than slightly introvert makes me no friends. I do have friends I made when I was studying in UEA, but they’re not in Norwich anymore, and it is not the same… really. I have my wonderful sister in law, but of course not only that she works, she also has her own life and social circle to go to, so an occasional visit is probably a stretch for her too.

Oh, anyway… anniversary is not the time for whinging. I might find something nice to do at the end of the day to spoil myself cheaply. Maybe a new pattern from ravelry… considering my current WIP is in the finishing step. Who knows?

x ❤ x

A Surprising Museum Visit

I haven’t gone to museum for a while, and I have to say I kind of miss it. So, when my husband offered to take us to this Norwich City Aviation Museum, I didn’t think twice to say yes. And I am glad I went with him because the museum is unexpectedly interesting.

I am not a huge fan of aeroplanes. And, I have this nagging suspicion that my husband who happens to like aeroplanes might have an ulterior motive when he asked me if I wanted to go to this museum. But really… going a museum is probably as amusing as seeing your husband turning into a schoolboy version of himself when he saw these iron birds…

You know what? I don’t usually promote something like this, but IF you are interested in aviation, and you happen to be in Norwich, I think it might worth it to go and see this place. It is run and managed by volunteers, but it was done incredibly well and very professional. The entrance ticket is cheap and unlike a lot of museums, you are actually allowed to take as many photos as you like and you can even touch some of the articles in display.

If you are in luck, you can even get an extra guided tour for a fee to enter one of the historical planes outdoor. Sorry I cannot remember the name of the plane — like I said, I am not a huge fan of aeroplanes — I might remember stuff a bit better if it is a yarn museum and we’re talking about wool and spindles.

Talking about wool and yarn and other nice things… My WIP is actually progressing well. I have to say that I do really enjoy this project much more than the previous one, and I am now about to sew it up together and finishing a project. What a happy news!

Having a next project in my head now… Hope this knitting bug doesn’t leave anytime soon…

x ❤ x

SNOW!!

Okay… I missed the snow again this year. It’s been the second year I was in Indonesia when the big snow in the UK (read: Norwich) happened. In a way it is a good thing because snow means cold, but yesterday (the last weekend, basically) I woke up to this:

Snow!

My husband is definitely not happy about the whole snowy thing, because we had to go out and about in the city, and do out allotment. Oh yeah… we’ve got an allotment plot now 😀 (that’s another story though). Plus… it was his birthday.

Lol. He really doesn’t like snowy birthday.

For me? Well… It is kind of exciting really, because I haven’t seen of felt snow for awhile now. It is not enough to build a snowman, but hey, who wants to build a snowman anyway. (No, Anna! I don’t want to build a bloody snowman… )

Hopefully it is warmer today as I might want to go for a little shopping trip.

Gotta go. Have a nice day 🙂

x ❤ x

PS. Do you know if you type “have a nice day” too fast, you sometimes end up with “have an ice day“?

The Twiglets…

I started noticing Twiglets since I am in the UK, but I am haven’t really tried it up until last year. My husband introduced it to me, after he found out that I actually enjoyed Marmite. Marmite is… I actually am not sure what it is, but it is a kind of thing people here use in their toast to make it very tasty…

Twiglets are basically a type of crisps, taste like Marmite. If you are from Australia, my husband said that it might be something that reminds you of a stronger Vegemite.

I thought Twiglets are popular in any western country — means everywhere else that is not Indonesia. But apparently I was wrong.

Anyway, I got hooked after I tried this twiglets thing. They are much better than potato crisps, and some swears that they are even healthier. I know… I know there is no such thing as healthy crisps, but if there are any, it must be twiglets.

However, Twiglets are rarely on sale on supermarket, so I have to be very cunning in storing them. Like — for example — when I found them in poundland (it’s like one dollar store, but in poundsterling…). Yes, I stash them. Same thing happened when I found Guinnes flavoured potato crisps…

And no… I don’t feel guilty stashing crisps at home.

Away from the nibbles… I just realised that the photo I uploaded last time was from the wrong side. How bizarre…

Here… the right side, and a bit of progress 🙂

x ❤ x

How (Not) To Be A Good Neighbour…

My neighbours just had a row today.

I don’t like it.

Things like that always made me feel anxious — especially when I was caught in between the parties in dispute. Well… not exactly caught in the middle, but was in an extremely close proximity, and definitely wasn’t a comfortable distance from where it happened.

Ah… there’s unfortunately no shortcut to tell this story, so bear with me while I am telling you the background of the story. I will keep it very brief.

our garden view from the inside

I have a very dear neighbour, she is a 80-something year old lady who was a friend of my husband’s late mother. Last year her son died because of medical negligence, and only won the case few weeks ago — yes you can even find the story on the newspaper. In the memory of his son, she planted a beautiful rose bush — understandably she is very particular about that flower bush.

Now, I live in a complex, where we shared communal garden. Even though there is a sign “no ball games”, the sign was only put in a certain area. Two areas that is not covered by that sign was in our back garden (mine and this lady’s), and the neighbouring block’s back garden — where their residences’s kids often plat football games there.

woops… that’s the ball

To be honest, there’s nothing wrong with children playing outside. It is good, considering there are a lot of kids whose worlds were only their room and their tv or computer. It is refreshing to see kids being active. But these kids are more than active. They’re slightly… well…

When the summer holiday started, and they were out with their ball, my husband has told them to be careful where they’re kicking. When I came back from Indonesia two weeks ago, two of my tomato pots was broken. My neighbour reported to me that she has reminded them as well, but only two days ago I found my courgette plant was half snapped.

And look… whose ball was found next to it?

well well… that’s the ball again… looking shifty next to my limpy and sad courgette plant

The ball has hit my neighbour’s windows and front door several times already at that time — which really worried and annoyed her. But the last straw was today when the ball hit the rose bush. THE rose bush.

My neighbour took away the ball, and the kid’s dad went to her. She refused to give the ball back without giving the father a long speech about respect for other people’s property, etc. The father started yelling at her, and then started to swear as well. I mean… seriously, yelling at a 80 year old lady over a ball?

I am not a kind of person who complains about my tomatoes or my courgette — although both my husband and my neighbour told me to file a complain about it, because direct confrontation often set off my anxiety. But I do feel that the father being angry to us while his kid was the one being unruly? Really?

Do you have neighbour from hell like this one?

x ❤ x