Boston's marathon bombing

Reading the news about the bombing in Boston since yesterday makes me feel sad. It gets worse today when I read:

"I started running towards the blast and there were people lying all over the floor."He said, "We started grabbing turniquets and started tying legs. A lot of people amputated. At least 25 to 30 people have at least one missing leg or an ankle missing or two legs missing"

All this happened at Copley Square in Boston. It brings back good memories I had over there. Boston was a very memorable trip for me and I have always told people to visit it when they are in USA. Hopefully they will catch the culprit and the mastermind behind this evil doing.

Elia Greek Restaurant, Glasgow

Elia is located at George Square. It is a Greek restaurant with pretty good reviews. The staff were so friendly! You know I have been getting some good service in the least expected places in UK.

I loved how attentive the staff were at Elia and the timing from getting us seated to the food till getting the bill was perfect.

For starters, we were served slices of bread with olives and oil. I have a Greek friend who told me that it is customary for Jews to have bread, olives with oil amd a cup of red wine as breakfast on Saturday mornings. At first, the thought of dipping bread with oil did not sound appealing to me. But then again, I do eat french toast and roti canai for breakfast which are definitely more oily than what the Jews had ;)

Besides bread, we also ordered Grilled halloumi cheese and Dolmathes.

Grilled halloumi cheese: I was introduced to this delightful appetiser by my cousin from Luxembourg. Halloumi cheese is a slightly springy white cheese traditionally made of sheep's milk. I first tasted it in Nando's Glasgow. I loved it so much that when I was in Nando's London and Nando's York, I just had to order it. Unfortunately, Nandos in Glasgow halloumi cheese tasted the best among the other places.
Then, at Elia, it was definitely my first pick from the menu as halloumi is Greek :) The halloumi cheese tasted freaking delicious in Elia that I want more. Furthermore, it came with three huge slices on top of tomatoes. It was good as meal too.

Dolmathes: Rice, herbs and minced beef wrapped in the leaves of grapevine.
I think dolmathes was an acquired taste. Eating grapevine leaves was.... like eating leaves lol. It was definitely filling as an appetiser due to the rice.

For the main course, I had the Lamb souvlaki while my friend had Kleftiko.

Lamb souvlaki: Grilled lamb pieces with rice and vegetable. After looking at Kleftiko, my dish looked too simple! Nope, I would recommend Kleftiko as its worth the same price.

Kleftiko: Slow cooked lamb on the bone with tomato sauce and served with oven potatoes or chips or rice and salad. Sounds awesome just reading the description. Tripadvisor also recommends this dish. The portion for this was so big that my friend could only finish half the lamb and he had to takeway the rest. But it was really good.

We could not stomach any dessert. But we were really happy and satisfied :)

I would go back to order the halloumi cheese and Kleftiko. I think that will be enough to share between two people.

The Butter Bar @Vancouver, Canada

My sister and her friend started this baking business called The Butter Bar and I think its been doing well. Everything is freshly baked and no, they do not sell those normal cakes like chocolate cakes or cheesecakes. Their Indonesian Kuih Lapis has had a huge demand. It takes a lot of work to make it but looks like its worth it.

Besides that, they also have spiral mooncakes and custom made cupcakes and cakes. One bestseller was their carrot cupcakes with cute handmade carrots on top.

They also come up with creative ideas for festivals like Christmas, Chinese New Year and other events.

Please visit their facebook page and click 'like' to show them your support (eventhough u r not in Vancouver ) :):)
Link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Butter-Bar/196943510438797?refid=12

Butter Bar's latest creation: meringue!

Cosmo buffet in Aberdeen

When I was in Aberdeen, I had one of the best buffet in the UK. Cosmo recently opened and the food served at the buffet tables were really delicious. Aberdeen was its first branch. They do have other locations now according to their website. None in Glasgow yet.

We made reservations online was not aware that Cosmo was fully booked for two whole weeks! So, we arrived at the restaurant thinking we had a reservation. But, all was good when it only took us 20minutes to get seats as walk-in customers. Thats the difference I noticed between Malaysian buffets and UK buffets. The people here do not spend hours filling their tummy and making their moneys worth unlike us in Malaysia. We can sit at the buffet for hours.

The service at Cosmo was very good. The interior and set up of the restaurant was well organised too. Another advantage of Cosmo is that it was located in Union Square shopping mall. This was the shopping mall where the main train station of Aberdeen was located. So, imagine just taking a train from Glasgow and arriving at Aberdeen, straight into the shopping mall and Cosmo is there. Fantastic!

Cosmo food reminded me of Malaysia. They had various sections like Indian, Japanese, Teppanyaki, Grilled meat, Dim sum and others. They did serve delicious freshly grilled lamb, lamb curry and salmon teriyaki. I opted out of trying any chicken. I only ate the seafood and lamb. They also had papadam and prawn crackers!

Unfortunately, dim sum standard there was not good. Siu mai tasted weird. Ha kou skin was not nice. They did have char siew pau and custard pau too which did not look appetizing to me to bother trying.

Dessert was a variety of cakes and ice creams. Most of the cakes looked good but it really was not that nice to eat. We shared half of every dessert because we were really full from the main meals.

Overall, I would highly recommend this place as its still better than other buffets.

Aberdeen, Scotland

I had the chance to visit Aberdeen and other places near Aberdeen. In one day of travelling, I managed to see the beauty of these places. Lucky me :)

A little bit about Aberdeen: There is a Trump golf course. Donald Trump visits Aberdeen often. Aberdeen's main industry is oil and gas. Therefore, this place has the most millionaires! Aberdeen is located up north of Scotland so it can be very cold. Besides having a couple of golf courses, they also have plenty of beaches.

It takes a train journey of three hours from Glasgow to reach York. Interestingly, upon arriving by train to Aberdeen, it stopped right inside a shopping mall called Union Square. That was something different than other places I have visited in UK.

More to come....

Travel to lose weight

I lost so much weight after travelling thanks to all the walking and we also skipped lunch most of the time as we always had late breakfast. Now I am back in Glasgow, my lifestyle is back to less walking, less burning of calories. Couldnt be bothered buying new smaller size jeans as I might just gain back the weight XD

Scottish chicken pie

Someone made an amazing chicken pie and I am going to learn from him. Can't wait!