It has been a crazy week so this is a quick post . . .
It has become a tradition at our church here in London, to have an annual Candlelit and Cantata Service at Christmas. We had it on Sunday last week and it was a joyful day of worship with congregational Christmas carols, special music by the adult and children choir, as well as lots of eating and fellowshipping. The catering/event committee prepared a Vietnamese-themed meal. Thanks to the choir, catering/event committee members, cleaning crew, and others who helped out.
On Monday morning my friend Adiben phoned to say that she just got out of work, and we agreed to meet up for breakfast. She came over to Notting Hill and after a quick chat on where we should eat out we decided to go to this place but more on that later.
In a strange coincidence, we bumped into Vic and so we abducted him. We went to Claridge’s Hotel to see their ‘upside-town’ tree (not your typical Christmas tree, I must say, it was designed by Karl Lagerfield), walked around Mayfair, took photos of the street lights and storefront display, had pizza and tea, and walked more until it was dark. So the breakfast extended to lunch, tea, etc.
London is magical at this time of the year; every nook and cranny of the city center is practically decked out with lights and decorations.
Oxford StreetHouse of Fraser, Oxford Street
The Cartier flagship store, my favourite building (only at Christmas time I must add), truly stands out.
Our breakfast: pastries and coffee — the famous Cronut (not my fave but Adiben wanted to try it so we shared one), DKA (my fave), gingerbread and chorizo croissant (my first time to try — both very good!). I’ve been to Dominique Ansel Bakery 3x prior to Monday’s visit but haven’t done a proper review, may be after Christmas I will do a post about my dining experience there.
The last but not the least. I got to visit Maxi — my favourite one-year old girl in the whole wide world! It’s safe to say, after working with little kids at our church in the last 17.5 years, that Maxi is the best baby ever — not fussy, hardly ever cries (and when she does you’ll just see tears running down her little cheeks), and she’s just a happy little girl. It’s a joy watching her every Sunday. When she is away traveling with her parents and/or can’t come to church for whatever reason, I do miss her. It was nice being able to visit her on Thursday, we did some baking (notice her chocolate-filled face after eating chocolate chip cookies!), played a little bit and had chit-chat with Momma Mavy. Can’t wait to do it again soon!
Two more days before Christmas. I’ve got to get some gift wrapping done tonight, and prepare for church. I wish you all a wonderful day of worship tomorrow. Love to you all, dear family and friends.
The festive season is upon us and so I plan to mark the special occasion in my own way by posting reviews of events which feature people and places in a jovial mood. I am kicking off the week with a little story about the events I attended last week.
First and foremost, the ’Burlington Ladies’ annual Christmas dinner was held a week ago, the 12th of December. We had the usual exchanging of gifts, sharing of stories with lots of laughter, and simply catching up with one another — it was a fun night as always. For this year’s gifts, we decided to do something different — it was a recycled or unused gifts we received and we had to give the reason why we didn’t use them. There’s 6 of us in the group but Dynah has already jetted off to the tropics and missed the fun for the first time. It wasn’t the same with Dynah’s absence — we missed you girl! By the way, we call ourselves ’Burlington Ladies’ not because we had some sort of upper story grandeur, we don’t. It simply happens that the first time we got together as a group was at a special tour organised by the management of Burlington Arcade in Piccadilly. Long story that deserves a separate post for another day but just to say that just like the previous years, it was another fun-filled Christmas get-together with this bunch.
The ‘Burlington Ladies’ minus Dynah. From L-R: Kristine, Marj, myself, Precy and Aimee
Then I attended another Christmas dinner on Thursday night hosted by Vic. This time, it’s our little ‘foodie group’ — there’s 6 of us, and just like the Burlington Ladies, we also get together not just to eat but to share gossip about Philippine politics – well, actually more about Filipino politicians and Manila high-society haha! What can you expect? Everyone is a diplomat aside from Aimee (who works for HerMaj Queen Elizabeth II) and myself (well, I work for the King of Kings, the Boss of all the bosses). So there.
‘Groupie’ courtesy of Emma. Vic provided those ‘cool’ shades. From L-R: Emma, myself, Kristine, Vic, Aimee and Michelle
I promise that there will be more photos on the next post, it will be about the two events early this week. Hope you’re getting all your shopping, gift wrapping, baking, and all the Christmas preparations done before the week is out.
My inbox has recently been flooded with emails asking for the template and step-by-step instructions ofthis gingerbread house, an old post from December of last year. Regrettably, I do no longer have the templates of any gingerbread houses I made over the years, including those of the London iconic buildings, simply because I give them away after using them. I had no plans of reusing them again as I always make something new every year.
So, my big apologies to anyone who contacted me. Let me just quickly explain how I made the Globe Theatre gingerbread. To start with, and this applies to any gingerbread I wanted to make, I always look for photos of the structure I want to copy, then draw them on a piece of paper — must be precise in dimension — then cut them, make necessary adjustments, and finally transfer them on to a cardboard. I then assemble them together using a washi tape. This is a very important process to make sure that all the pieces perfectly fit together. For the gingerbread itself, I use a recipe I’ve posted here. I prefer to use melted sugar as glue but if that doesn’t work for you then an icing sugar with egg white is a good substitute but it takes several hours to dry. To achieve the brownish colour I simply add cocoa powder to the icing. For the Globe Theatre I used icing sugar because it was a little project I did with my goddaughter Anisa. It is not ideal to use melted sugar with kids around.
I failed to document the whole process but here’s a few photos that will give you an idea how I did it. Please email me if you got any other questions.
Candy canes were used as pillars to hold the weight of the roof.
My beautiful goddaughter, Anisa, resting from her ‘piping job’ and posing for a photo while waiting for the icing to dry.
We made this back in December of 2012. Anisa came over to our flat and we did it for a few hours in a couple of days.
Little Anisa and I at the Globe Theatre many years ago, long before we made this gingerbread. Now she’s almost as tall as me and I’m afraid she’ll be taller than me in a year or two!
We were happy to showcase the gingerbread at our church’s fellowship hall on Christmas Day 2012.
The Big Ben gingerbread house deserves a post for another day.
I’m one of those women who will use any excuse not to put on a pair of black opaques tights unless necessary. But as winter colds up, I don’t go out without any black tights on. I mean, a pair of 80-denier opaque tights underneath my trousers (plus thermal shirt, a hat, a pair of gloves and the whole shebang) as if London is experiencing a sub-zero temperatures!
The sun might be out and the temperature might not change from one day to the next, but it’s not the deciding factor of whether to wear tights or not. For instance, this morning it’s sunny and having a tights on, plus a thermal shirt, just feels wrong – or at least it feels wrong until I’m outside, shivering. Anyhow, London is cold and wet almost everyday in the winter months where black tights are really practical and entirely appropriate.
I learned on my first year of living here though that British women have a particular attachment to black opaque tights that baffles a tropical girl like myself. Back then I didn’t, for the life of me, understand the women’s obsession with black tights in the spring and summer months. Seriously, most British women wear them all year round! I finally figured out the reason: they have hairy legs and are too lazy to shave everyday. LOL! In the Philippines, black tights are relegated to the back of the drawer. Back then I only wore them when I visited another country on a winter season. Filipino women proudly bare their legs whether rain or shine. Now that I call London home, I only wear tights when it’s too cold. And I have a simple rule — all winter I wear trousers and my legs are hidden away but on a warm day, I let my legs breathe.
This season, on the countless days (just like in the last 16 years of living here) I’ve found myself staring at my 80-deniered thighs on cold, overcast days. It’s been freezing cold nowadays, between 30-43°C temperatures, and it has finally persuaded me to quit complaining about wearing tights. If I stick to my ‘rain-or-shine-wear-tights’ rule during AW season, I suspect my legs will walk me in to April or May of next year having never seen the light of day.
December has a contented glow about it. Although it’s cold and grey, and there’s only the prospect of deepest winter ahead (forecasters are predicting that Britain is set to have one of the harshest winter in years with temperatures dipping as low as -10C), the Christmas lights and all the festive decorations around bring a cheeriness and warmth to the now long, dark nights.
Last blooms of the season at Holland Park, taken this morning.
During the winter months I make time for my own golden hours and indulge in reading a book, or writing. And recently I’ve been doing calligraphy, drawing and watercolour painting.
Also, I appreciate the landscape by walking around the park and collecting leaves. As it’s hard to resist the warm colour of the horse chestnut seeds while out taking a walk, I always end up collecting them. They’re not edible but are nice to put in a bowl and use as a table centrepiece.
December is a very special time for me to reflect on all the blessings that the Lord has bestowed upon my life, and I always look forward to the new year when I turn another year older!
Christmas is about family reunion and get-together with friends packed with fun & games; more eating and cheer, and simply luxuriate in festive spirit.
As we begin the countdown to Christmas Day, so we begin our festive preparations. I love Christmas, and I am especially excited to celebrating this year’s festivities.
Have a lovely weekend my dear family and friends.
A pigeon playing with the peacock at Holland Park.
Often referred to simply as the Foreign Office, but officially called Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), has been on my long list of places to visit in London but the building is only open to the public once a year for a day or two. Last year they only opened for one day, and it fell on the Lord’s Day which I obviously missed. This year however, it was for a couple of days, Saturday and Sunday, and I finally got to visit and really enjoyed it. This building was mentioned in a book I’ve read about the famous Victorian artists, and George Gilbert Scott, the architect who designed one of my favourite buildings in London, St Pancras Hotel, was also responsible for the overall classical design of this building.
The main entrance is in King Charles Street facing the Treasury Building where the Churchill War Room is located (it’s a bunker that Winston Churchill and his government took shelter and held 115 Cabinet Meetings throughout the Second World War).
Britain didn’t have a Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs until 1782. The first Foreign Secretary, Charles James Fox, was appointed in 1782 but the building where the current Foreign Office stands was not constructed until 1861. It was completed in 1868 as part of the new block of government offices which included the India Office and later the Colonial and Home Offices. In collaboration with Matthew Digby Wyatt, the India Office’s Surveyor, who designed and constructed the interior of the India Office, George Gilbert Scott was responsible for the overall classical design of the building.
THE DURBAR COURT
The FCO staff who welcomed us at the courtyard before the tour started mentioned from the beginning that, “This was built at the peak of the British Empire’s domination around the world and Scott designed this building as a kind of national palace or drawing room for the nation with the use of rich decoration to impress foreign visitors.” Apparently the original design included fountains in the Durbar Court but proved impossible to install, so Wyatt settled instead for patterned marble imported from 3 European countries – Greece, Italy and Belgium, suggesting flowing water.
Around the 3rd storey of the Durbar court are artistic busts of great men from British India.
THE GRAND STAIRCASE
The three-storey high Grand Staircase is one of the most recognisable, and I’d say, the most spectacular area of the whole building. This is where the foreign dignitaries are seen on tv or newspaper being welcomed by the Foreign Secretary before they are brought to one of the rooms. The dome above is decorated by female figures representing countries which had diplomatic relations with Britain when it was constructed in the 1860s. The dome and the stencilled walls and ceilings were the work of Clayton and Bell, one of the most prolific English workshops of stained glass during the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century.
The murals on the first floor depict the origin, education, development, expansion and triumph of the British Empire.
THE GRAND RECEPTION ROOMS — Lucarno Suite, Dining Room and Conference Room
It was designed by Scott with so much grandeur to showcase the wealth and influence of the British empire. It has elaborate and lavish use of gold, red and blue from floor to ceiling.
The rooms are used for diplomatic dinners, conferences and receptions.
THE MUSE STAIRCASE
Designed by Wyatt, the staircase leads up to the office of the Secretary of India but was taken over by the Crown later on. There’s two portraits of Napoleon III and his wife Eugenie at the top of the stairs. Eugenie became a lifelong friend of Queen Victoria and when the couple were dethroned they moved to England and settled in Kent. The portraits were donated to the Foreign Office by the Bonapartes to express their gratitude to the British Government for their help in the Paris Exhibition of 1867.
The octagonal glass ceiling has beautiful stone carvings of so-called ‘Goddesses of Plenty’ surrounded by cherubs. There’s plenty of natural light here and it’s an even more attractive ceiling than the Grand Staircase.
The building is full of ornate mouldings, fireplaces, beautiful wood/stone carvings, and many other unique features.
Due to years of neglect, the building fell into ruins although it was continually used as offices. In the 1960s, when the socialist/leftist government took over and the abhorrence of anything ‘Victorian’ was very popular, there was a proposal to demolish the building but there was a public outcry so the plans have been shelved. The government ordered for the whole building to be fixed and refurbished which took decades to accomplish but it turned out, according to the tour guide, that it saved the government so much money than they’d have spent for demolition. While listening to her, it made me realise that some people in the British government didn’t care much about their heritage. And it makes me feel sad that just like the previous generation, young Brits today do not know, much less care about their history. The prevailing culture is seemingly hostile to the old British values; the Judeo-Christian ethos that this country used to have is completely lost. I thought to myself, ‘I’m so glad the government leaders who proposed the demolition of this building didn’t win. Or else, it would have been a great loss to the nation.’ As a history buff, I was very much in awe seeing the handiwork of the Victorians. If I was that impressed today, I can only imagine that everyone who walked into this building back in the Victorian-Edwardian era would have left the premises with so much reverence and admiration for the British Empire. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to visit this historic building.
At the end of the tour we were introduced to Palmerston — the resident cat who’s tasked to wage war on mice and eradicate the rodents in the building. He was sleeping safe and sound probably exhausted from chasing a massive mice while everyone was trying to take a photo of him.
I went to the Farmers’ Market early this morning and forgot to put on my hat and gloves. It was so cold that I felt like my fingers were falling off haha! When I checked the temperature, it was 2 degrees — already too cold for me! I just wanted to crawl back in bed and get cozy. I’m dreading the onset of the winter months. I am not looking forward to another five-six months of wearing layers of clothes, heavy coats, boots, gloves and hats.
You’d think I’m already used to this kind of weather because London has been my home for almost 18 years now. Nope! I am a tropical girl and do not enjoy wearing winter outfits. Having said that, I am so blessed to call London my home. God has been so good in allowing me to live in one of the most prestigious cities in the world. It is a beautiful place full of fascinating history whichever way you turn. I’ve been able to see London from the beautiful spring and summer months through to harsh and long autumn and winter season for the last 17 years, and it has enabled me to gain a lot of perspectives on things.
From a weather perspective, it is not like Greece, or any of the Mediterranean city that is beautiful throughout the year. While some people like the freezing cold weather, and the rain (not me though), it can get especially cold, grey, wet and very windy, and sometimes snowy during the winter months. So visitors have to come at the right time in order for them to really enjoy the city. Whenever I am asked by family and friends when is the best time to visit, my response is always, “Visit in the summer months, July or August, or early autumn, September or October.”
I found this 3 minute video of London on a bright and sunny day. It is captivating and worth watching.
This is a great coffee table book — really fun and interesting read! It’s a birthday present from a good friend of mine, and although I’ve briefly looked at the photos when I first got it months ago, it’s been sitting on my book shelf and haven’t read it until yesterday.
It was written by the Queen’s dresser, Angela Kelly, who gives the reader a fascinating insights into the detailed work that goes into designing, sewing, cataloguing, and caring for all the outfits and accessories worn by Queen Elizabeth.
There’s plenty of photographs of Her Majesty’s impressive collection of accessories such as brooches, hats, bags, shoes, gloves, silk scarves, etc. (not to mention a huge collections of ‘see-through’ plastic umbrellas in every colour imaginable!) There’s also photos of different ensemble she wore to important events, including the jubilee celebrations — Thames river pageant, concert, the Olympics opening ceremony film and appearance. The outfits she wore are discussed in detail with original sketches, photos of the fabrics, etc. Ms Kelly shares the story in detail how she directly worked with Danny Boyle’s team to create the perfect outfit for the complicated Olympics opening ceremony. Two outfits were made for Her Maj and the stuntman who amazed the world when he parachuted into the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony dressed as the Queen.
For jewel lovers, the book offers quite a unique behind-the-scenes look at the jewellery that are worn regularly by the Queen — the diamonds give us information about their provenance and how they’re actually used today. There are photos of the Queen’s precious jewels — rubies, aquamarines, pearls, sapphires and diamond tiaras and their matching necklaces.
We also get to see the way that these precious jewels are presented to HM — on a tray with a lace that once belonged to her grandmother, Queen Mary, hand-sewn by the late Queen with her initial ‘M’. The Queen then can choose from the tray the specific pieces she wants to wear. This is my absolute favourite section of the entire book! It was lovely to see the way those jewels are put to use and not just sitting in the royal vaults.
Although the complicated issues with the Queen’s jewels are left to the crown jeweller, Ms Kelly is also responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of HM’s jewellery collections such as basic cleaning before and after they are worn by Her Maj. A series of photographs show how Ms Kelly works with the Vladimir tiara (photos above) — she’s swapping out the tiara’s pearls for the set of emeralds, and the images show how the individual pearls and emeralds are stored — every piece is numbered and put in pouches before they are returned to the vaults for safekeeping.
Two fascinating thing I learned is that the Queen’s dresser pick very striking colours to make sure she stands out, and that the seamstress always place discreet weights in the hemlines of the Queen’s outfits to avoid any possible royal embarrassment (think of The Duchess of Cambridge’s dress being lifted up by a sudden gust of wind — photos below from The Mirror newspaper).
Interestingly, the Philippines was mentioned in the book (please see first photo above) because the Queen’s hats are made of ‘Sinamay’ straw(banana leaves fiber).
This is a nice addition to my royal biography collection (although it’s not a biography). I am just fascinated with royal jewels after I’ve watched a documentary about the history of the tiaras and precious jewels of the European royal houses. This book provides a unique perspective on the everyday use of The Queen’s jewelries, and it will be one of the books on top of my coffee table someday, when I finally have a nice coffee table to put it on!
When I was growing up, the period from October 31 to November 2 was a big holiday in the Philippines. It is not a huge festivity like Christmas but people would normally take a few days off work, travel back home to be with their families to honour their loved ones, both the dead and the living. Filipinos are very superstitious and religious people you see . . . even those who claim to be nominal Catholics do pray for, and to, the dead (the image of President Duterte crying in his mother’s grave uttering ‘Tabangi ko, Ma!’’ — please help me, Mother! — is a classic example of this). Back in my day, and I’m referring to 30-40 years back when I was very young, everyone did lit candles in the cemetery to commemorate All Saints’ Day (November 1st) and All Souls’ Day (November 2nd). In our family we always had a novena (a form of worship consisting of special prayers on nine successive days) at home every night during these festivities aside from offering a mass (that is, paying money to the priest to hold a special service) for the dead family members. A lot of Filipinos still do practice this tradition to this very day. Personally though, All Saints’ Day took on a completely different meaning when my father died on November 1, 1984, exactly thirty three years ago today. Three days ago my older brother turned 50 and as I was on Skype chatting with everyone, the family gathered to celebrate his birthday, I was reminded once again that my father died at age 51 — really young.
So this is the time of year when my own particular brand of seasonal affective disorder sets in. And no, I’m not talking about a depression that goes on for months, or until the dead of winter is over. Rather it’s intentional, I purposely spend some time being sentimental, reflecting or dwelling in the past, and sometimes I seem to get stuck there, at least for a week or two. I don’t get weepy, or spend time crying for hours on end, or have no appetite and don’t wanna go out or see anyone. None of that. I just tend to be more quiet and solitary. I naturally keep things to myself and not bother to share my deepest thoughts and feelings with anyone, not even with my husband. I deal with it on my own. That’s just the way I am. I know how to live inside some of my sorrow, the grief that never really goes away.
Around this time of the year since my father’s death, I become quite nostalgic for the way things were, in what seems like only yesterday, but in fact they’re long ago and far away moments. I’m no longer a little girl, anticipating Christmas or any of the holidays. We all grow up, we get older, and yes, we lose people we love. Our siblings, or those we’re close to do get married and move away, and start spending their holidays in other family circles. In my case, I am the one who moved farther away, thousands of miles from my family and friends. In the same way that once we settle in one place, we make friends and then some of them move to other parts of the country, or other parts of the world, or become estranged. And as we get older, our beloved elders pass on and the list of people we miss gets longer.
Just about everyday last week I listened to my parents’ favourite music, and I haven’t listened to any of it for many months. But the other night I played one of my mother’s favourite songs ‘The Autumn Leaves’ over and over — probably a hundred times that day (FYI, Eva Cassidy’s rendition is my number one favourite). For some reasons, I have vivid memories, as a 3-4 year old girl, watching my mother playing the guitar while singing The Autumn Leaves and I tried to replay that particular moment in my mind as I was listening to the song while doing calligraphy and watercolour painting — which, by the way, I find very therapeutic.
A good part of the weekend and yesterday, and yes, a fair portion of today, particularly this morning, were laced with these melancholic moments, and broody concern for the past. Each time I was ready to caw under the weight of my own deep oblivion, strong arms wrapped themselves around me and Jared would simply say, “I’m here, my dear!” That was all I needed in order to remember that indeed, I have a lot for which to be truly thankful. It seemed time, today, to come full circle, and invoke the spirit of my father and mother, thirty four and eight years gone respectively (November 1,1984 and November 15, 2009), by going through old photographs, videos, listening to their music — simply reminiscing the days gone by.
Christmas is just around the corner; strong arms are wrapped around me as we make plans for the holiday traditions we’ve begun to evolve over the past seventeen years. Making plans always cheers me up. And really, how sad can I be when there’s so much to be joyful and thankful for? Besides, I’m drinking English tea right now, and a cup of tea makes everything better!
I’d better stop right here before I get maudlin again.
Last week I noticed these tiny flowers in one of my walks at the park, and I have no idea what they’re called, but they smell so good that it actually reminded me of my maternal grandmother. When she steps out of the bath, she always smelled just like those tiny flowers. After my morning run today I picked some of those flowers again, and yes, more autumn leaves, and I kept smelling the flowers on my way back home. That, my dear family and friends — picking flowers and smelling them — is my own particular brand of seasonal affective disorder.
