Long Days and Dinner at 9

Sometimes, I wonder if living in a country with 4 distinct seasons is a good thing.

In Singapore, the temperature hovers from around 28 deg C to 32 deg C mostly. 27 would be "cold" in Singapore, 34 or 35 would be "too hot". And the Mr sun rises at about the same time every morning here.. and retires to bed about the same time as well.

The weather in Singapore suits me fine since I don't like winters. But there are some seasons I like.

For example, I think spring is a pretty nice season. This trip in London, I experienced the nicest English weather. Bright and sunny with just the right temperature outdoors for picnics.

And it's great to have the sun set at 9:30pm. The sky is bright after work.. still bright after some drinks.. and right after dinner at 9pm, the sun starts to set in the horizon.

The long days put me in a very good mood all week in London, in spite of work. Somehow it feels that I have got more than 24 hours in my day.. and that feels like a steal!

Gordon Ramsey's The Narrow

The Narrow is a pub cum restaurant at Limehouse, a place about 1 DLR (light rail) station away from Canary Wharf.

I wanted to go there for a meal when I found out that Gordon Ramsey owns this place. Of course, he owns many other restaurants which I'd love to go to as well.. but this place is so near where I stayed in London I felt I have to go.

The Narrow is a pretty popular place and it can get really quite crowded during the weekends. Overall, I wouldn't say the food there is particularly amazing.

I was there on Sunday for dinner so I tried their Roast Chicken with potatoes fried in goose fat. The potatoes were sinfully good but the roast chicken was very passe. The skin was crispy and sauce was great but the meat just wasn't tender enough for me.

Dessert was good too but really nothing to shout about - we tried brownies with vanilla ice-cream and bread and butter pudding with walnut ice-cream.

I did enjoy the Pear cider a lot though - and a great view of Thames River as the sun is setting.

The Narrow
44 Narrow Street
London E14 8DP
Tel: (44) 020-7592-7950
http://www.gordonramsay.com/thenarrow/findus/

Long Flights

I never liked flying too much. Long flights are especially nasty.

On my first long haul flight to Australia as a teenager, I threw up 9 times on the 9 hour flight.

Man is made to roam on the ground, not in the air, I think.

Flying SQ business class though does make it a lot easier to endure long haul flights.

But still - the humming noise on the plane, the weird smell of the aircraft and the horrid tasting orange juice (which for some reason inevitably taste odd in an aircraft) - even SQ couldn't take those away.

I flew SQ Business from Singapore to London this time, and from New York to Singapore.

Between the 2, I must say I liked the flight originating from Singapore a lot better. The food was better, I thought - they served satay as snacks instead of the usual peanuts or pretzels. And the appetizers and desserts were pretty good too. I never liked mains on flights - there is always some sort of "microwave smell" about them.

Satay - something I always look forward to

Prawns with pomelo - not too bad

Mango and crabmeat salad - this one is really yummy

Ben and Jerry ice-cream is always good