Love you long time, London

Because I am the new girl, work sent me to a meeting in London to meet other people I would be working with. Not gonna complain about that! Okay, I will complain a little bit - it was a two day meeting with an 8AM START on the second day. But the flipside of the early start was an early end, allowing me to catch up with some London peeps :D.

I caught up with Amandine, Mr J, Liz and Livvy at Lobster & Burger.

And like any self-respecting Asian, we all got lobster

I got mine grilled. yay. 

Afterwards we met with Angry Chris and headed to Bread St. Kitchen for cocktails. 

We also took this epic photobooth pic while at Bread St. because the pauses between shots were so long we weren't sure if it was done or not :D

And I strolled home from there and felt a great swelling in my heart for all my friends and how even though time may pass, we still had a great time together in this amazing city <3 .="" p="">

Also, a shoutout to Smee letting me crash and also making me squid ink pasta. Delizioso!

Wonderful discovery at work!

As everyone who's ever started work in a new place, there are lots of things to figure out when you get there, and one spends the first couple of weeks trying things out. Well. I made a great discovery.

The coffee machine is also a hot chocolate machine!

I don't drink coffee so I never really paid much attention to the coffee machine other than to make sure it gave hot water. But there were so many other buttons - one of which said *Kakao* and another that said *Schokomilch*. Imagine my joy when a colleague confirmed that they delivered!

Now how to make sure I don't get diabetes...

Life in Bremen so far...

So what's it like now living in Bremen compared to Munich? Well first of all, lots of people said it didn't snow in Bremen and also warmer in winter because it's too close to the sea.

This was a goddamn lie. It's plenty cold in Bremen and there was quite a bit of snow on my first week of work. This photo was from my third week of work. Look at it! It looks like it's in greyscale!!!

My balcony is more private than my one in Munich so one sunny Sunday I sat there and had tea and cookies. Then I went quickly inside because it was still 6C.

And there are still cute dogs everywhere!

Epic Journey Home - the way back

Alas, all things must come to an end, and the end to my time in Melbs came all too quickly :(

For my last full day, I decided to be a tourist and wandered around the city taking beautiful photos of the place.

The NGV international inner courtyard *sigh*

I took a walk through the gardens, along the Tan, then took this classic view of the CBD and Southbank *wipes tear* 

Then I went to NGV Australia and saw this sweet sculpture by Patricia Piccinini *sob*

And swung by 8-bit where I had this pretty cute burger *yum*

Oh, I doooooo

But yeah, this time around I really started to feel the pull of family and friends at home and just how far away I've been and how long I've been away. But the state of research in Australia is pretty dismal right now so I'm still not holding my breath on being able to get back. 

On to happier topics, I boarded the plane much more in a much more relaxed state than when I arrived. I also had a 7 hours stopover in Singapore meaning I'd be catching up with Pooky again!

There weren't many things open but we did manage to make it to a hawker stall where I got chicken rice again :D

Singapore Airport was having a promotion whereby you could get a Star Wars plush toy if you spent over a certain amount of money in the airport. Since I was getting Smee some vacuum-dried meats, he also got a bonus Darth Vader!

I had a 24 hours layover in London. So naturally I went shopping. These were the last of the Regent St. Xmas decorations. 

And another chicken pot pie at Heathrow to eat!

From there I flew back to Berlin to spend NYE with Dana and Marie (who was coming up from Munich to meet us :D)

Had to do this - eating a Berliner in Berlin!

Dana made fondue for NYE dinner - using Mama Dana's recipe

Mmmmmm, lecker!

Hehehehe

And so 2015 came to an end. Here's a wonderful 2016!

Epic Journey Home - Foods I miss

A great thing about being back is eating all the foods I can't get in Germany. This time was pretty epic.

Okay, I can get rice paper rolls in Germany but it's not the same. 

It seems restaurants sell them as either prawn or pork, not both together. And getting all the stuff for one person isn't worth it :/

PEKING DUCK! WITH THE DUCK NAZI!!!

Quarter past three. Never forget.

Mmmm, dessert story 

Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, meat pie (the white stuff coming out if cheese)

Miaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmm twin sausage bread!

*soooooooobbbbbbbb* xiaolongbao!!!

Okay, I can make laksa (sorta) but not in a bowl like this and not with Mich to eat it with!

I also don't get to drink Aussie red wine out of scientific equipment!

Bunnings sausage sizzle! Classic

Bun bo Hue with Ma <3 p="">

Also, we are the reverse of each other here kekeke

Epic Journey Home - Christening Reunion

I wasn't the only person who back in Melbourne - Nance and Marcus were also back with their kiddies. Great timing for all of to celebrate X-man's christening!

Two proud mamas with their offspring!

X wonders why I don't have the latest accessory isn't hanging out in my lap

Got one! 

The other star of the show - suckling pig!

Epic Journey Home - KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) with Suboo and Mr Wong!

Maybe it was all the Insty or Facebook posts, but Suboo realised I was back and wanted to catch up! 

I had been really craving Korean Fried Chicken so Pooey recommended I try Chick-In because it's down the side of the city where Suboo lives/works. And because Mr Wong was around, he came too! And so did Pooey because they're also her friends! And so did Jess because she was also around and Pooey was going to drive her to the airport after lunch!

The last time I was back in Melbs, I met up with Suboo for food but when I was back in Germany, we realised we didn't take any photos with each other! Luckily we made sure it was done this time. 

Chick-In's kimchi loaded fries - recommended 

Cheesey corn (or corny cheese) - always a comfort

OM NOM NOM

Mr Wong and me - SO EXCITED!!!!

And the excitement was worth it because we all agreed it was damn good. This was also the right amount of food to be shared among 4 girls (Mr Wong only picked at it because he'd already eaten). I live down the street from a Korean place in Bremen...I don't think they make KFC :(

Epic Journey Home - Random night out

The great thing about not crazily scheduling my time is that when something I didn't expect was going to happen happened, I was free for it! So when Jess arrived from Perth for the weekend, Pooey and I collected her from el aeropuerto and headed off to dinner!

Pooey chose +39. When I got there, I realised I'd eaten there many years ago! She chose it because of the way they present their antipasti like a clothesline. Also, check out her dress!

We got the special pizza because it had lobster on it and were impressed by the presentation.

We were however disappointed to find that that lobster tail was EMPTY!!!

We were sweating like pigs in the restaurant - it was nighttime but still 30C. So we did what lots of people were doing...

We walked down to Fed Square to see the Lego Santa! As a scale, the tree was about 3m tall, so Santa was at least a 1.5m.

Oh so purdy.

Since it was so hot, we went to N2 to get some liquid nitrogen gelato. I'll admit to being disappointed with mine. I had the green tea one and there was too much green tea it it - it was quite bitter. Pooey's was much better - watermelon for next time!