Girls night out

Colleagues became my good Leeds friends went out for a girls night out in Ho’s Chinese restaurant which they really like their food. With different religion of restriction food and different taste was quite hard to satisfy everyone’s taste. However Ho’s did have a lot of selection and they all went back home with a really full stomach and smile.

Then we decided to go to a famous gay pub in city centre to have few drink and dance. It was really a fun night, and I really treasure and lucky to have all my friends in Leeds. They are really good people.

2010 Christmas

Melanie (sister-in-law) was hosted Christmas in 2008, and it’s nice to host this year in our new flat in Leeds. It’s like our Chinese New Year and everyone was so busy to prepare food, gifts and the Christmas mood.

I was in charge of all the food except the Christmas Turkey and dessert. Paul (future Brother-in-law) brought a really nice organic turkey and it tasted so good. John was in charge of pudding, and he decided he made the rich chocolate truffle tote. After a big meal, we had a walk, then played a game. We had a fabulous Christmas in our house.

Christmas is always about family, food and laugh. Hope you had a good Christmas as well.

Eileen and Rok Visiting Leeds

Eileen and Rok came to visit us before Christmas. I am glad that the early snow didn’t affect our schedule. Living in London, they get used to being in a city and it’s time to show them famous Yorkshire countrysides and some pretty villages.

We took them to Derbyshire Bakewell first, then went to Chatsworth house, because day time was quite short in winter, we had to make sure that we caught the best day light before the sunset. Then drove back to Leeds, and ate in Thai Edge for dinner, then went to the pub.

On the last day of their visit, we decided to take them to North Yorkshire to visit Haworth, and had a big lunch with beef yorkshire pudding and went to hiking a little bit before it went dark.

The weather was so cold, most of days were -4 degree to -10 degree. We spent most of time chatting and enjoyed the scenery. I did enjoy the trips with Eileen and Rok, and they were great accompanies. Moreover, It’s such a wonderful experience to see all the places covered snow.Everything looked like a picture, and I felt like I was living in fairy tale story.

Britain is truly pretty in every season.

Gok Wan Makeover Live

Karolina asked me to join her to see Gok Wan‘s new TV shooting in Corn Exchange Leeds, and will release on TV in January. I am not Gok Wan’s fan, but it’s fun to experience the shooting and have some fun time with Karolina.

It said it will be started on 4:30pm, but when we were there, and waited an hour and a half to actually start the show. After starting 10 minutes, we already fed up with waiting and rehearsals all the time. When you think of it, all the TV shows take so much time and effort to produce it, then show you the best of it on TV within half an hour.

I both agreed that we are too old for standing hours and hours to watch celebrities shooting, or basically we don’t really care I guess. However, it was fun experience and I did enjoy it because it’s something we normal didn’t do and see Gok Wan in real life once.

The beauty of Leeds

We have been living in Leeds almost 9 months so far, and we seldom take some pictures of Leeds. Leeds is so pretty when it comes to snow. However, Leeds City Centre generally is very beautiful. With all the Christmas decorations, it did make Leeds more charming.

First Snow In Leeds

Snow is always special for me, and it always makes me dream that I am living in a fair tale world. Like the snow princess is waiting for her prince to rescue her. I like the white and pureness of snow, and you know it’s so cold outside, and luckily you just sit at your cozy home with fireplace and a cup of tea or hot chocolate. Mmm…it’s the perfect winter for me.

John woke me up this morning and whispered to me: I think we got some snow, Carmen! I immediately woke up and could see the snow flakes from my bedroom window gently falling down from the sky, and I sunk into my Carmen imagination world and dreamed again. What’s your dream world like?

Polish Food and Culture

Karolina is my working colleague, and we bond to each other so quick after few months working. She loves Chinese food more than I do sometimes. Both of us are seafood’s lovers, and normal I always invite her to my place, so I can cook good seafood for her. In the past few days, we had the most amazing Karaoke, German sausage nights together, and she decided to cook Polish food for me today as well.

She told me that they don’t do lunch, and normally they eat breakfast at 11am, then have a late afternoon big dinner, then have a small sandwich at night. This is Polish food culture. It was quite weird, but weird because we get used of three time meal system.

Karolina cooked a slow-cook beef with wild mushroom with some polish rice, and drink was butter-milk (sour yogurt) together. It was beautiful and they normal eat with a big portion as well. It was lovely to try some real Polish food without travelling there. That’s why I love living in different places, because you always meet some wonderful people from all over the world.

I am a lucky girl who always meet gorgeous people. It was the best few days in Leeds with all my friends together.

German Market (Christkindelmarkt)

Karolina and I decided to go to the German Market to eat some sausages and beer in Millennium Square in Leeds City Centre. Christkindelmarkt is open daily from Friday 12 November until Sunday 19 December 2010. The market and funfair opens daily from 10.30am to 9pm Monday to Saturday and 10.30am to 8pm on Sundays. The ‘Frankfurter Scheune’ bierkeller and selected stalls open late until 11pm.

It was not that big but it was fun and we ate sausages, beer, potato pancakes, roast chestnut, and strawberries white chocolate and some candy. I think we were done pretty well. We had a lot of laugh and fun even it was a cold night. Food price is from £2.5-£4. Good atmosphere and fun to have a night out with your friends.

Karaoke Crazy Night

My colleague asked me join them for a Karaoke night in city centre. I never went to a Karaoke Bar in the UK, even though it used to my favourite place to hang out with my friends back to China. I always like singing and is a good way to spend time with your friends as well.

It was different comparing in China. People in China were more focus on the quality of the hi-fi and the microphone sound, and they want to to be professional sounds. However, the quality of the hi-fi of that Karaoke bar was quite basic, people were more care to have fun. We got the most crazy and fun night ever. We were dancing, singing and had so much laugh, even some people I judy met them in the first time. They were so open and just had fun, no matter what! I like that attitude.

Grill Beef Fillet with Small Aubergine

I brought a fantastic beautiful Scottish beef fillet from the market, and I really wanted to make it simple, but tasty. I cut it into small pieces, then cooked it each side for a minute in a hot grill pan with simple black pepper and salt. At the end, splashed a half lemon or lime juice on top, then add a little bit coriander and chilly (optional) Job done. Simple but true beauty! The beef was melt into your mouth and tasty incredible.

I chose Strawberry Ice Cream dessert for tonight, simple but fatty!!! Sometimes lady needed a special treat.