London Walking Series: 1. The Queen and Country Walk

Happy humpday!

I just can’t believe how fast time flies these days. I can still feel like Sunday lingers around me but now it’s already Wednesday! Good thing it means that Friday is coming closer and my long awaited package will finally be here! I will share what it is once it is here! Argh I’m so excited just to think about it. 🙂

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My stack of current reads is piling up, it is becoming a tower! But this one particular book I definitely committing towards my weekends – the 33 Walks in London That You Shouldn’t Miss. I never buy a travel guide book before as I always think that nowadays, you can simply google everything. But this book caught my attention. I always feels that there are lot to explore in London and in three years I spent in this town before, there are still lots of places that I’ve missed. I want to do it right this time and it is always best to explore London by foot. Driving around is a headache and Transport for London is wonderful but those mews and corners that hide London’s gems.

Little Ben

TomTom Coffee House

TomTom Coffee House

Ian Fleming’s House

Poule au Pot

So last Sunday we took the Queen and Country Walk, an 8 km walk from Victoria to Chelsea. This place is much nicer in May when it is time for Chelsea Flower Show but we went to Fulham on Saturday night for movie and it is such a nice neighbourhood I just want to be there again. We definitely had a nice time walking around Victoria, checking out the house where Ian Fleming, the author of James Bond lived, home of Alfred Lord Tennyson which was also the head office of the Soldiers Embroidery Industry, where disabled veterans found work and also the house where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his first symphony in 1764. As you walk around London, always look for the blue plaque sticking around explaining the significance of the place to English Heritage. We then had our brunch at TomTom Coffee House who not only serves nice Cuban coffee but also famous Cuban cigars, which obviously we didn’t try. Maybe next time ! 😛

Peggy Porschen

Albert Bridge

Cadogan Pier

Royal Hospital Chelsea

British Army Museum

When in the area, there is no way that you will miss the Peggy Porschen Parlour. Their enchanting pink decor always attracts Londoners and tourists especially avid instagramers. #cafegoal right there. We didn’t stop for long there and instead passed by the Orange Square towards Chelsea. The Royal Hospital Chelsea is looking majestic with its 300-year-old buildings designed by Sir Christopher Wren. This hospital is dedicated for British Army Veterans known as Chelsea Pensioners. Such a nice building and so nice watching Chelsea Pensioners playing tennis. Babies and oldies always the cutest!

Slightly straight ahead, you will see Ranelagh Gardens that grounds the RHS Chelsea Flowers Show in May. We also found the National Army Museum nearby and decided to pop in because oh boy it was so cold and windy that day. Wearing trench coat and a loafer definitely my worst decision that day! But it was a nice surprise that we actually like the small army museum. It offers free entry and very interactive. We’ve been scolded by the virtual army for not marching right (there’s a VR marching game) but it was fun.

As we continued walking, we reached at the Thames River. Albert Bridge is sitting elegantly and beautiful houseboats parking near the Cadogan Piers definitely a nice decor. We then walked pass Chelsea Arts Club, Michelin House, Saatchi Gallery and ended it at the British fashion’s most fashion street, the Kings Road.

We certainly had a good time walking around. I intend to create a London Walk Series in here as a journal and at the same time, hoping that you will enjoy it. Who knows that this guide might help you and inspire you to walk around London someday too.

Til later.

Love, Ayuyu.

 

What turning 18+ means to me…

Hello!

Yesterday (18th October) was my birthday. Yayy for turning 18 and finally legal to do anything I want! Lulz. Truly, I had an amazing day. My husband, Azhar could not be anymore amazing than he always been. He definitely has spoiled me not only yesterday, but for the whole month. He gave me extra pocket money for this month and I am free to spend on anything. I am obviously overindulged with new handbag, purse, clothes, make up, cake, flowers and a nice fine dining for my birthday dinner. Also, as part of our tradition, we are leaving for my birthday trip in few hours!

My instagram-story has been updated on how the day went by. But I am here to tell more of what my birthday means to me and it is very personal. This card in particular means a lot to me. My love left this card on the dressing table before he left for work and I was still half awake. I found this card only two hours later and it made me cry. Every single lines he wrote means a lot to me.

Truth is, I do not always have a perfect life. My childhood was rough and my previous love life was a nightmare. For my whole life before, I was trying to get attention and recognition from people around me. All is done just to get extra loves from others. Every single steps of my life, I was trying to please someone, be it my parents, my boyfriend, my friends, my boss and everyone else. I had been told that getting rank 1 in class is not good enough (obviously because I am not the first in school. also saying that jokingly is not funny because all a teen needed was just a hearty congrats for her hard work), and also by telling me I am not pretty because I didn’t put any make up on (dude, I had a super long day at work and I have no energy left). Everything that I went through has consumed me terribly and no matter how petty it was, it has badly affected my personality. For me, everything is never enough and I always have a high expectation on myself and others. Everything must be perfect and top. You are a disgrace if you are not.

However, this year, my husband decided to put the end to that. Every single day, he will say how pretty and wonderful I am, even when I don’t feel pretty or wonderful. For him, it is not my make up, clothes or great job that I have that makes me beautiful and wonderful. It is what’s within that he loves. It is something that has been hidden for way too long because I never believe in myself. I am still struggling but I want to start believing. And I want to invite everyone to do the same too. We need to stop all the negative stigma that what shows on the outside, defines what’s within. We need to stop namecalling others or telling them that they are not good enough because you have no idea how much your words are ruining others. Let’s start showing and believing that we are fabulous because indeed we are fabulous! Fabulous has no criteria. It is not only for the fair skins, the skinny, the brilliant, the rich or the famous. Fabulous is for all. We are fabulous and dare to be fabulous!

Thank you to my dear husband, the biggest blessings in my life. I had a wonderful birthday this year. Thank you to everyone who sent kind wishes, you guys made my day even better. Thank you to dear friends for nice lunch we had today. I am sending all the loves back to everyone. I am praying that all of you are going to have a wonderful day too.

Goodbye! I am off to my birthday trip! 🙂

Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts – the best recipe ever!

Good Morning!

My first letterbox flower delivery from Bloom and Wild is finally in and I am obsessed! It’s so beautiful and I am already counting down for the next one!

Also, this week I think I have been possessed by “cook spirit”. In a week I have made sambal sardin, tom yam, yorkshire pudding and many more. Well, mainly because I have finally did the groceries delivery,  YAYY! Also since I have not bake any bread in a while, I have decided to make banana bread and make sure that I put all ingredients required in my basket.

Throughout the years, I have tried so many banana bread recipes. This one is definitely my all time favourites! It is so easy to make, does not require any mixer and absolutely delicious. It takes a while to bake but only 10-15 minutes to prepare. I would not mind the longer cooking time as I can always do anything I want while waiting for it to bake. Just make sure that you have a perfectly working timer and run to the oven the moment it buzz! My recipe below is an adaptation from the Genius Kitchen, which I have made few alterations. I added the crumbly topping that has lifted the banana bread game higher. It is definitely a must try recipe and do let me know how it turns out to be. I will not talk any longer and enjoy the recipe below. 🙂

 

THE BEST BANANA BREAD RECIPE

 

BANANA BREAD WITH WALNUT AND CHOCOLATE CHIPS

 

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

4 bananas, finely crushed

1 1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped and roasted

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

 

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 170c.

Roast walnut until slightly brown in about 5-10 minutes.

Cream together butter and brown sugar.

Combine eggs and banana together. Mix well.

Add together sifted flour, baking soda and salt. Mix just until combined. Don’t overmix.

Mix in walnuts and chocolate chips. Spare some for crumble topping.

Pour into greased loaf pan.

Create a crumble topping by sprinkling finely chopped walnuts, chocolate chips and brown sugar until the top is fully covered.

Bake at 170c for 55 minutes or until chopstick comes out clean with no streak or batter.

Keep well, refrigerated.

 

FEW TIPS

Always do the chopstick test at the centre of the cake. It is usually the most dense and will take the longest to cook.

If you are using a glass pan like me, reduce the heat to 150c and cook slightly longer. I had mine done in 75 minutes.

Use ripe bananas as they have more flavour and sweeter. It also makes your cake moister. If you prefers dry crumbly banana bread, you can use only 3 bananas.

 

 

 

 

First.

 

Hi.

It’s me. My name is ayuu and hey this is my blog.

In all truths, never have I ever imagined that I an going to write a blog. Well, I used to have blog(s). But it is more like venting machine. It’s very personal and I never take it seriously. So, when someone suggested for me to become a blogger and write more, my first step is of course to go into my old blog to delete any  evidence of previous pathetic life and give ayuukejuu a fresh start. How I wish it is that easy.

It brought me to a memory of one particular day in October 2013. The day I have told myself that I wanted a new beginning simply because someone did not wish my birthday. LOL. Well, don’t judge me as 2013 hasn’t been easy on me. I had my first job (not internships or volunteering jobs) and my personal life kinda slapped me hard. It is another story I (probably) will share. But that day, all I wanted to do is to move on. That included to delete (almost) all blogposts, blogs and my previous emails. I wanted to take myself seriously and I wanted others to do the same too. So goodbye princessayuuiscute@hotmail.com. I thought that is the end of it but it is not. That email is still haunting me! I found out that princessayuuiscute@hotmail.com is what I need to log in to my blogspot and now I cannot do so because the email has been deleted! The blog is somewhere on the net with my picture but it is in possession of blospot. The only thing I could do to bring justice to my adulthood and delete everything is by bringing it up to the court. Like seriously. I have checked. Sigh.

So here I am, writing on a new platform. Initially, I wanted to do this right and have my own domain. But, my bank said no and blocked my card because it is considered as a suspicious transaction. LOL. They knew me too well. My other transactions that day to buy shoes, make up and flowers all went smoothly but the moment it involved webhost, the bank said this doesn’t sounds like ayuu. Declined and blocked immediately. But in all seriousness, I thanked God for blocking the payment because later that day my husband said no on spending on domain. Up to this day, I am still finding it hard to explain to my husband of why did that GBP7 container miraculously landed on our groceries basket. There is no way I will be able to explain spending $100 on webhost!

Thank goodness that wordpress is providing another free and easy platform. I am already seeing myself spending more time here and of course you can visit me anytime. Since I am not working now and I have moved back to London, I figured that it will be interesting to share our journey with everyone. I have been on Instagram a lot lately and there are times when I feels like sharing more than just a line of caption. I love to share more on cooking tips, travelling, make up reviews, my loobook, book reviews and anything that amuse me in general. Also, another part of me wants to be creative and productive. I do not want my writing skills to get rusty and throw away any creative thinking to the bin. So, let’s do this. The beginning of another chapter. Hopefully a beautiful one.

Do let me know if there is anything in particular that you like me to share here. I would love to hear from you because right now, I am as clueless and all of us have ever been once.

Til next time,

Ayuyu.