Recently...

Since I'm back from my holiday, I have been busy with my work. I thought to take a break today, relax and carry on tomorrow. So I thought I better update my blog.

Not sure are you following the World Cup. If so, you may have already know that England is out. I remember when I went to work yesterday, I felt peacefulness with a bit of sadness in it. The headline news was mainly talking about the 'Vampire' Suárez. I guess I will only be watching the final this year and not bother with others.

Anyhow, I hope all the busyness will soon be gone so that I can carry on with my blog properly...

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Don't forget...

Today is the last weekend in March. It means there is something that everyone must do in the UK...

Change the clock to one hour forward!
 

Change to the British Summer Time.

How this affect the UK people?

1) We need to change all clocks tomorrow morning.

2) The daylight will be longer every day.

3) There will be less time different between the UK and Hong Kong and its neighbouring regions.

4) Everyone needs to spend at least one day (or up to two weeks I've been told) to adjust the change. And...

5) One hour less to sleep (or one hour short for Sunday!)

Wawawawawawawawawa...

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Snowing!

Got up at 07:55 this morning. Opened a blind and found that everywhere was covered with the white stuff. I immediately went onto my work website and found a message: 'Due to severe weather, we are closed today'. It was so good that I didn't need to go to work!

Compare to northern European countries, Britain has less snow fall. Statistically, Bristol is one of the UK cities which doesn't have much snow. It is mainly to do with the location and geography. As I was already awoke, my husband and I went out for a walk and enjoyed the snow.

When arriving at a park, there were many families busy making the snowmen, or having fun with the sleigh rides. As for me, I preferred to have a snow fight, so I threw a lump of snow to my husband instead. The snow fight made me laugh out loud again.

Because I suddenly had an extra day off, I sorted out my staff at home after the walk and packed my luggage ready for my skiing trip to France tomorrow. I nearly didn't have time to make a snowman. But I managed to make a little one at the evening, who is guarding my house now.

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GB Football Match in 2012 Olympic Games

Generally, I'm not particularly keen to watch sport competitions. But, like everybody else, because the Olympics is happening in London, I've been glued to the telly and searching online for the latest news. Last Saturday and again yesterday, I went to Cardiff to watch some Olympic football matches. Each match had different feel to it.

The first one was the women's competition group match between Brazil and New Zealand. Maybe because it wasn't Team GB, and there were fewer spectators, the atmosphere was more peaceful.

Next up was Team GB against Cameroon. More fans arrived for this match, and the atmosphere became suddenly more heated.

Although the female GB match was quite good (they won 3-0), the atmosphere in final match I saw was much stronger, the men's competition match between GB and South Korea. The stadium was completely full!

After playing for 120 minutes, it was Team GB 1-1 South Korea. The most exciting but cruel way to find the winner was with penalties. Unfortunately, GB just need more skill and practice (as usual). They failed to go through to the next round. However, I'm glad that I could participate in the Olympics and support Team GB. I'll cherish the experience!

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Olympic Touch @ Bristol

Olympic games is coming to London! The Olympic Touch has arrived at Bristol on 21 May 2012. Needless to say I didn't miss the chance to be part of this historical moment.

Unusually, the weather was very nice that day, sunny and warm. The touch carriers are not necessary celebrities or famous sportsmen. Even "ordinary" people can deliver it. The touch was there when I arrived, so I immediately found a good spot to take a picture. At that moment, I realised that one of my work colleagues called Jo - the one who taught me how to make Chocolate Brownies - was the carrier. I couldn't believe it!

People asked me whether or not I would go to watch any of the Olympic games. I actually didn't plan to watch any. However, I soon realised that Team GB will be participating in football at Cardiff, which is not far from where I live. So, I bought the tickets and will be watching three matches. Can't wait!

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Who doesn't like chocolate?

I was really lucky to see so much lovely chocolate this Easter weekend! It was because Bristol hosted a Chocolate Festival this year. I guess it was the first time it happened.

It was not just about chocolate as there were also  cakes and sweets. It was a shame that I didn't have enough money with me to buy them all. However, some samples were available for anyone to try.

I remember some years ago when traveling in Spain, I had "Chocolate con Churro" for breakfast. Since it was for sale at the festival, I decided to buy some in order to relive that fantastic time in Spain...

Hope that there would be more festival like that in Bristol in future...

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My Slow Cooker

I have abandoned my blog for a while as I was skiing at Italy last week. Sorry for keep you waiting...

What I would like to talk about today is my slow cooker. If you have been reading the Chinese version of my blog, you'll know I used it to make some Guinness Beef Stew. I promised that I would explain how I came to own a slow cooker:

July last year, my local council wanted to encourage us not to waste food, so they started a campaign called 'Love Food Hate Waste'. One of the events was to ask local residents to provide a recipe which used some leftover food.

When I was a child, I loved to make Chinese fried rice (actually, I should say that except for cooking fried rice, I would rather stay away from the kitchen as much as possible). The origin of fried rice is that in the past, people were very poor. They didn't want to throw away any leftover food so they fried everything together. So, I submitted my version of fried rice and it was picked to be included my local council's Cook Book. The slow cooker was one of the prizes.

Other prizes were about how to reduce food waste or help save the environment, for example: a reusable shopping bag, a potato sack, etc. They are quite useful actually!

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Busy January

I've been too busy lately that I've nearly forgotten to update my blog. Today is the seventh day of the Chinese New Year, I would like to say a belated wishes to you: 'Have a good dragon year and good health!'


There is a Chinese saying that 'have a new start in the New Year', I have a new job this year, and have been learning the new tasks and responsibilities.  At the weekend, I am carrying on teaching James Cantonese at our community radio station, Bradley Stoke Radio. Also, because the big sales are on this month, I've been doing some bargain hunting, mainly shoes and beauty products. I spent most of my money on The Body Shop because they were having some discounts!

(PS If you still remember, I went to Bradley Stoke Radio to host an one hour show on my own. Unfortunately, because of the copyright, I can't upload the whole programme on YouTube. However, two weeks ago when teaching James Cantonese as usual, James asked me how my show went. Below is the clip that was recorded on 15 January 2012.)

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Merry Christmas!

Hope you will enjoy your holiday. See you next year!