Monthly Archives: December 2008

My First British Christmas

Posted on by
Reply

my-first-british-christmas

Merry Little Christmas!

We are in Sheffield and Leeds and spending Christmas with John’s family. It is my first real Christmas experience in the UK and I heard there will be a lot of food in Christmas day.

Finally it is Christmas day. We drove to Leeds where John’s sister Melanie hosted the dinner this year. We prawn and salad for starters, along with some wine. Then everyone pulls crackers and exchange gifts. This is strange as I always thought it was boxing day when you exchange gifts, but it seems I was wrong. Next is roasted vegetables (potatoes, beans, carrots, and parsnips), along with some bacon wrapped sausages, stuffing (a tasty bread mix) and some carrots and sprouts with butter. The food tastes so delicious, and finally the main Christmas star – is the turkey with gravy and cranberry sauce. To be honest I don’t know why turkey comes with fruit jam, but it is said that this is tradition. I think it is a weird conbination, but actually it tasted pretty good. After the main course everyone is so full, but I still want to try some trifle and the Christmas cake. You can imagine how full I am.

The next day we visit John’s grandmother and some relatives. It is just like our chinese new year – it is all about family gather with delicious food.

I know properly some people hate Christmas just like we don’t fancy Chinese new year gathering any more. It is like a duty rather than a thing we look forward to, but this Christmas for me is special and unique. I received many gifts and enjoyed it a lot.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and good luck in 2009. Here are the latest pictures for Christmas day!

我的第一个英国圣诞节

我们又到谢菲尔德和利兹，约翰父母在谢菲尔德，而妹妹生活在利兹。这是我的第一个英国的圣诞节，很期待它的来临。记得小时候常幻想真正的西方圣诞节是什么样子，这次终于梦想成真了。

圣诞节这天到了，我们开车到利兹，圣诞大餐在约翰的妹妹-梅乐尼家里举行。所有的菜都是梅乐尼和男友准备的，我们先吃开胃菜-大头虾沙律，然后大家喝酒聊天，拉圣诞花礼炮，一拉‘嘭‘一声，然后里面有礼物和笑话题，大家一起开心的交换礼物。在我印象中，总觉得是26号boxing day打开礼物的，但实际上是圣诞节当天。接下来是很多烤蔬菜，有胡萝卜，传统一定要吃的烤土豆，香肠卷着培根，圣诞配料（有洋葱，果仁，饼干，干果）放进土鸡里面一起烤，都超级美味！主角来了-圣诞土鸡！他们说要下点果酱和肉酱一起吃才野味，也是传统的吃法，觉得怪怪的，不过吃起来还可以。我们都吃得太饱了，不过还要吃巧克力蛋糕和圣诞蛋糕哦，巧克力蛋糕吃起来像提拉米苏一样，不太甜，很多忌廉和巧克力。圣诞蛋糕里面有很多酒和果仁酝酿一起的，6个月不断的下白兰地一起酝酿的，然后可以在圣诞蛋糕上点火，超好玩！从下午1点吃到3点，你可以想象我们有多饱。

隔天我们开车去看约翰的90岁的奶奶和他们的亲戚，就像我们过年一样，都是家人亲戚聚餐和围炉！我知道很多人都不太喜欢圣诞节了，就像例行公事，像我们中国过年一样，没有什么新鲜意思。不过这个圣诞节我过得十分充实和有意义，同时也收到了很多礼物和厚爱！

希望好运在2009年，大家过一个肥厚的新年！这是我最新的圣诞的的相片，好看吗？

Friends Celebrate Christmas

Posted on by
Reply

latin-dinner1

It was our last day in the first semester of the school and friends decided to celebrate in Spitafield Market in Liverpool Street last night. We went to the Latin Brazil Restaurant. The food was really good. We ordered some cocktails and had some laugh. We are glad that school was off and most friends are going to back their countries soon; so the dinner was also the celebration of the Christmas and New Year!

Christmas is coming – people are all busy preparing gifts and decorating their houses, and it feels like Chinese New Year! We will spend our Christmas with John’s family for a week, then we will back to London for new year 09. This year has been passing so quickly. Anyway, I am looking forward to experiencing my first Christmas in the UK. Here are some pictures with my friends

昨天同学说为了庆祝第一学期最后一天和提早庆祝圣诞，因为大多数的朋友都飞回家过圣诞！我们去了利物浦街吃饭，我很喜欢利物浦街的餐厅，就象香港的中环一样，时尚和充满活力。我们终于选了一个拉丁风情的餐厅，点了些鸡尾酒，小吃和正餐。我点了羊腿排，约翰点了拉丁鸡肉卷等。圣诞快到了，这段时间，大家都在忙于买礼物，装饰自己家，圣诞气氛很浓厚，就象我们的过年一样忙碌！我们会和约翰的家人一起过圣诞节，然后回伦敦过新年。还记得我姐和姐夫Marco 前年12月9号来广州，然后圣诞节在北京度过，现在又一年了。我们就放3个星期假，讨厌放假还要写论文。今年过得真快，一眨眼就过去了，很期待我的第一个英国的圣诞节。这是我和朋友一起吃饭的一些照片。

Belgo and Bierodrome

Posted on by
2

belgobierodrome

Friends and I went to the Belgian restaurant called Belgo last friday to celebrate my friend’s birthday and also a cheer-up for no-more exams. The restaurant is located in Covent Garden and it is really famous for the mussels and of course their beers! It is a popular restaurant and people always queue outside, but very easy to get a seat. It is an opening kitchen and you can feel the noises and smell delicious food when you walked in.

We ordered a beef with Belgium beer – dark favor, beef was tender and juicy; a chicken dish – creamy but less tasty than the beef; a classic sausages and mash – creamy and perfect mash with spicy sausages; and finally my favorite green spinish with creamy mussels – looked like a green pizza, but so delicious! Thumbs up!

Moreover, there is always a room for desserts. So we tried the Belgium chocolate cheese cake and passionfruit with white chocolate mousse. Oh dear! They were so enjoyable and definitely 5 stars.

Overall, service is not bad, environment is cool and trendy, and food price is acceptable. Each person spent 20 pounds. I definitely go there again.

The cover pictures is from their website and I re-designed them. Some pictures are ready to share with you!

比利时餐厅 － Belgo

朋友们上周五一起去吃比利时菜，一来庆祝我朋友的生日，二来庆祝考试结束。餐厅听说在伦敦很出名，到9点多还有很多人在等位子就知道名气。餐厅招牌菜就是”淡菜”，我都忘记中文叫它呢，然后就是比利时啤酒拉！进入餐厅，时尚但随意，红色装饰，开放式厨房格局，蛮不错的！

我们点了一个啤酒牛肉，超浓的牛肉味和雪梨香味，牛肉滑而嫩！再来一个奶油鸡肉，香淡但一般；还有比利时香肠加土豆泥，滑滑的土豆泥，香辣的香肠；最后来个波菜芝士淡菜，超级好吃。我一般不吃淡菜的，但这种做法我就吃。哈！我点了比利时啤酒，朋友们点了草莓啤酒。吃完了，服务生强烈介绍要点比利时巧克力芝士蛋糕和百香果白巧克力摩丝（热带果摩丝）。食物十分野味，甜品不甜而入口香滑！超级不错的介绍，我还想再去呢。这是我朋友照的几张照片！

Little Dorrit BBC

Posted on by
Reply

bbc-little-dorrit

I don’t know why I find myself really obsessing about the England in Victorian period. As I previously talked about the fashion of Favourite Work Of Art, and I guess there were many great literatures and stunning events to talk about in Vitoria time. It was a distinguished period of England’s history. Now I have to mention about the great Victoria English novolist – Charles Dickens’ one of his best stories – Little Dorrit.

I do love the BBC! The BBC has a reputation for classic dramas. As the opposite of Jane Austin, who wrote mostly middle class stories, Dickens preferred to portray the poor common people’s lifes in 19th century. BBC has presented Oliver Twist, Bleak House and Little Dorrit this year. The characters were so vivid and I am so connected with.

Little Dorrit is about Amy Dorrit who was a spirit young woman lived in the Marshalsea Prison. Life for her was hard and little Dorrit tried to pay off her family’s debts to get out of the prison. (Background: in the Victoria period, if people were in debt, The government put people into a special prison, and people had to find work and payoff their debt.)

Amy had also to look after her father William, and he became rich afterwards by inheriting some fortunes, so far, and in the end will be a twist! (I haven’t finish it yet). The story was like a puzzle and every character had their own purpose but somehow was linking with others. It was mysterious, tangle, complex and touching story. It was very Charles Dickens’s style. I enjoy every episode and hope to read the novel too.

Little Dorrit definitely worths to read or watch! Besides, I guess I will go to visit Charles Dickens Museum this weekend.

不知何时不知不觉的喜欢上英国维多利亚时代的东西，从之前写过维多利亚时尚到文学作品。也许维多利亚时期出现了很多杰出的文学家，及文学作品和其他史记，在英国历史是一个不同平凡的时代。说到文学作品，不能不提狄更斯先生 的其中一部文学作品 -《小杜丽》

太爱BBC的经典文化小说改编电视剧，之前曾看过狄更斯的名著 – 雾都孤儿和 荒凉山庄， 今年BBC将《小杜丽》也搬上荧幕。故事发生在19世纪，一个年轻聪慧的小杜丽全家人生活在监狱（在英国19世纪，假如你欠债，政府有个特别的监狱，进入自如，但你必须工作还清你的债）小杜丽要一边工作一边还清家人的债，最后家人又遗留很多家产，从下级社会突然转变到上流社会。通过描写小杜丽一家人以及其他社会等级的人物的刻画，展现了19世纪中叶英国从上层阶级到下层阶级整个现实画卷。故事刻画十分神秘，含有复杂悬念，情节感人，是一部值得看的电视剧或值得一读的小说。

我还没有看到故事的结尾，但我已经忍不住周末要去参观狄更斯的博物馆。这就是我喜欢伦敦深厚的历史文化底蕴 – 到处都是历史博物馆。约翰告诉我，他走过一条街起名为“小杜丽“和他们之前住过的监狱呢，就在靠近在近伦敦桥。阿 – 真有英国味道！