Missing Cheekbone!!

Panic, panic, panic!!!

I was staring into the mirror & to my greatest shock, my cheekbone is missing!

Chocolates (really nice chocolates), potato chips (I actually hurt my jaw last week while eating Pringles) & so many cooking experiments (especially the cakes) put 'new' flesh, if not fat, on me that I don't even have courage to weight myself now :(

What am I going to do? Stop cooking? I have no other hobby to fill my time. Stop eating? I'd die. I know...I just have to eat less. However, considering the effort I put in cooking & the often nice end result, can I resist the temptation? maybe not. Perhaps I should tailor my recipe to contain more vegetable & fruit than meat / poultry (but that sounds so much less interesting). Any good dietry advice where I don't have to sacrifice good food & yet can still lose weight / remain slim?

Anyway, winter is coming, I'm consoling myself that I'm merely stocking up fat for heat generation purpose in winter. I'll worry about my extra fat / flesh when summer comes. Else, bye-bye short pants ;)

Chicken ¨o¨ chicken

Food entry time...

Pic: Teriyaki chicken & chinese fried rice with mixed vegetable

Teriyaki chicken (previously posted) is so easy to make & it's a 100% guarantee 'taste good' recipe, provided you don't burnt the chicken. As lousy as me, no failure has been encountered thus far ;). Had some left over rice so I put them into 'good use' by adding some frozen green peas (defrosted, of course), carrots, eggs & fried them with fried rice powder (slightly cheating, I know, but can't blame me for saving some efforts over weekday dinner, can you?)

Pic: (top)Spinach & feta cheese stuffed chicken breast with garlic bread & baked potatoes (bot) close up look

In an agriculture based (or used to be) country, nothing is easier to get than potato. The smallest quantity that is being sold in supermarket is a kilo (sometimes even 2 kg minimumly). So the choice is limited to small potatoes (where they are sold in smaller quantity, 500g). Garlic bread is bought frozen. Just throw into oven & voila :)
Frozen spinach, defrosted, then pan fried until all water has evaporated, set aside. Stir fried a clove of finely chopped garlic, add in spinach, salt & pepper to taste & personally I added some chicken broth (not much so it's not so watery). Bring everything out from pan & mixed with feta cheese (how much cheese you use is a personal preference, at least to me).
Chicken breast is pounded to have equal thickness, sprinkle some salt & pepper on both side. Spread spinach + feta cheese mixture across one side of chicken breast, roll it up & secure the roll with some toothpicks / small sticks. Due to my lack of skill, I have to use 5 toothpicks to secure such small piece of chicken breast roll (so you can imagine how 'dangerous' it was for me to eat my dinner that night).
Mixed mushroom sauce is pre-made, bought it in a pack ;) A simple & nice dinner with minimum preparation (basically only the chicken) is done. Requires some effort to find all 5 toothpicks but the taste was ok, in fact, a bit more than ok. I still have some feta cheese left, perhaps I can re-do the same dinner one of these days.

My Stamp

Remember I said I went to Copenhagen's Cultural Night & made my own stamp? Well, 50pieces of my stamp has finally arrived.

Okay...I'm not exactly good in drawing, don't have much artistic cell (that's why I'm an engineer, I think) & the colour pencils available that night is really very limited...(trying hard to explain a way out of my ugly stamp)..hehe

Pic: (top) my stamp, close up; (bot) 50pcs of 'my' stamp

One can't use the stamp for it contains no value but can always included it together with normal stamp. The post musuem even put stamp glue at the back of the self-made stamp, which means I can send a Christmas card home with my own stamp (on top of paid stamp, of course), cool!!!

Anyone interested in getting one?? haha...

Burn After Reading

Ever since I'm in Denmark, I've been very 'out-dated' in catching movies. Mainly because movies here are shown at a much slower pace than US or even Malaysia. Another reason is because the ticket cost so much more compare to Malaysia (4 times more :p). Third is...illegal downloading is very convenient ;)

However, from time to time, I can feel the cinema is calling for me. I have to answer the calling, drag someone/anyone with me & buy ticket to see a movie in cinema. Of course, usually when I have to pay, I'll carefully choose my movie. This time, the very promising 'Burn After Reading' is my lucky pick.

Good review, lots of good actors/actresses, Coen brothers, funny & interesting trailer + the only movie showing around this time...do I need to explain further why 'Burn After Reading'? Guess not :p

So, simply put: unhappy demoted (& resigned) data analyst, Ozzy, who plans to write a memoir on CIA life & his unfaithful wife; desperate love seeking personal trainer Linda & her hyper-active but empty brain colleague; overly horny Harry who's sleeping with Ozzy's wife & also dating Linda while his own wife is cheating on him, all intertwinted based on 'conspiracy theory', internet dating & gym.

As much as the trailer promise to deliver, I can't help but to feel a little dissapointed (well, I just have to learn that trailers are always over promising) or perhaps I set my expectation wrong. It is not fully a comedy, some very funny scenes / lines nicely plotted now & then but I guess the movie is a little too hard to digest for me.

I almost can feel something as an 'after watch effect' but it's not strong enough for me to catch anything. I cannot catch any main point from the movie other than 'don't get involve in something that you don't understand, perhaps it's just me :s

P/S: Righteous Kill is another one that I think one should wait for the DVD instead of going to cinema for, unless of course a movie only cost less than USD4, like in M'sia, ;)

No heater!!!

Temparature is 1.8 degree Celcius outside & the heating system in my apartment is down!!! I cannot find a better explaination than that to explain why all 3 heaters in my apartment are not working; my toilet's supposedly heated floor is not warm; even the tab water doesn't turn warm / hot when I turn them to hottest.

Poor me...drank 2 glasses of hot coffee and now tugging myself in bed, wearing pink thick socks, long pant & wrapped myself around in thick duvet blogging... I must file an official complain with the rental company tomorrow!

Perhaps I should preheat the oven & leave the oven door open to generate heat? hmm.... or maybe I should buy the electronic 'artificial' fireplace that can generate heat like real fire place (I know, I know, it's a bit too late to save my condition now)? I'm glad that it is not electricity that's down. It'll be an absolute doomsday for me if that happens.

Anyway, it's too cold for my brain to process...I need to 'rest in peace' & in cold (well, not that cold in bed) now...ChunHar out :s

White Cream Cake

Time for another baking practice. My boss's birthday falls on Monday so I announced I'll be bringing cake & we'll celebrate discreetly among his reportees. Rounds of recipe searching (which sort of also aiming to find a more challenging one), finally ended with a birthday cake recipe: http://joyofbaking.com/WhiteCake.html.

Honestly, I chose the recipe because the final result looks pretty (from the picture in the website) & didn't go through the baking detail. It was only on Sunday that I realize the cake consist of 2 layers which needs to be baked separately & I need lemon / orange zest. Unfortunately I only have 1 round baking pan & no zester / cheese grater at all :(

But I have everything done with a little 'engineering input' (even though the preparation + baking time increase drastically to 6 hours). I JUST have to bake 2 times and use about an hour to slowly grate the orange zest :s. I started at 8+pm and finish 'dressing' the cake with white cream on 2+am. Had to get up earlier in the morning for final fruit toppings which makes the whole baking hour equivalent to 6hrs :s

I'm pretty proud of the end result, looks nice. Can't help but to snap a picture in the first place (like I always did with food, hehe). I'm glad I did that because after 10 minutes of walking carrying the cake to work, the strawberries 'shifted' position & the cake doesn't look nice anymore. Fortunately, birthday boy is very appreciative & so do my other colleauges.

Pic (top & bottom): my white cream cake, top view & side view :)

The cake received good feedback. Personally, I think it tasted good as well, wahaha...My colleagues even asked for the recipe after eating my cake (I take it as a good sign). Another colleague is 'triggerred' to bake some bread for next day breakfast. Weird but good to see the baking spirit running high in engineering department with all the guys, lol...

International Language Class

If you follow my blog (or happen to read my previous blog), you should know I'm currently attending Danish language class.

Initially the class only consist of 5 students: 3 from China, 1 from Pakistan & of course, me, from Malaysia. After 2 months, the class suddenly expand to 24 students with 9 different nationalities: Bulgaria, China, Columbia, India, Nepal, Nigeria, Malaysia (of course), Pakistan and Poland. All students have different level of Danish proficiency. The only common language we have is English.

While we're all trying to learn Danish, our poor Danish teacher is having hard time to remember all the 'exortic' students' names, especially the chinese names. They are pretty difficult to be differentiated by a foreigner who doesn't speak Chinese (Li, Lin, Leng, Ling are 4 different names but pronounce very similarly).

A quick Danish language status update: I'm now able to write a small paragraph of around 200words about myself. Will be getting a very simple book to read (specially written for language teaching purpose) by next up-coming class & will be 'upgraded' to the slightly improved beginner's class beginning November. I'm getting slightly nervous about the new class but I hope all turns out good, I hope.

Very Easy Chicken Schnitzel

Remember the breadcrumb made from left over toasts? Found a good & effective usage for it - chicken schnitzel. I'm lucky to stumble upon a 'working' recipe & the result is wonderful. Here's how it goes...

Ingredient (for 4 servings):-
4 skinless chicken breast
1/4 teaspoon slat & freshly groud black pepper (each)
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 large egg, lightly beaten
120ml (1/2 cup) breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon oil

Optional (actually required but I skipped them & the Schnitzel still tasted good)
1.5 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh chives
1 garlic clove, finely minced

Cooking instructions:-
1. Preheat oven to 350 degree Farenheit (or 180 degree celcius).
2. Pound chicken to 1/2 inch thickness with rolling pin (or side of empty wine bottle) to giev chicken even thickness. Sprinkle chicken with salt & pepper.
3. Place flour in a shallow bowl. Combine mustard & egg in a shallow dish. Combine breadcrumbs & optional ingredients in another shallow dish. In the absence of all 'optional' ingredients, I added 1 tablespoon of paprika into the breadcrumbs.
4. Dredge 1 chicken breast in flour, turning to coat; shakes off excess flour. Dip in egg mixture; dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Repeat with remaining chicken.
5. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; sauté 2-3 minutes or until browned (not cooked) to prevent breadcrumbs from falling. Remove chicken from heat and bake in preheated oven for 10minutes (or until chicken is done).

Here's how the end result looks like, served with mixed leave salad...


I thought the chicken would be dry from pan frying + baking but surprisingly it tasted tender & juicy, not even close to dry. Mustard coating makes the taste wonderful. Since I don't have a lot of required item from original recipe (and 'autocratically' make those ingredients optional), my version of chicken schnitzel shall therefore be named 'very easy chicken schnitzel'. I'm pretty confident that following the original recipe will yield equivalent (if not better) chicken schnitzel. The cooking time+effort is so minimal & the recipe is so easy to follow, definitely highly recommended for weekday dinner.

White Cream Sauce

Tired of the ordinary tomato based sauce, been wanting to try out white cream sauce (which is also ordinary actually :$). I finally pull myself together to find a recipe with minimum ingredient which calls for mushroom, asparagus, milk / cream, dry white wine & some herbs.

So Day1, I had mushroom asparagus white sauce spaghetti which tasted okay except the sauce is sour (think something might be wrong with the cream). Here's how it looks like:-

Day2, in order to 'deplete' the mushroom, I had frozen mixed meat pizza (which actually tasted okay after baking) fully 'covered' with sliced mushrooms. Unfortunately I still can't finish my 250g mushroom. So day3, I tried another variations of white sauce on baked salmon (glazed with orange juice, orange 'stolen' from canteen at work). This time the sauce tasted good (but too watery) and the thickest part of the salmon fillet is very much raw... :(
After having 3 days of 'mushroomy' meals in a row (thank goodness whit sauce is very versatile), I decided to pamper myself with some dollar pancakes (pre-made), devilishly cover them with rich caramel & chocolate, topped with vanilla ice cream. Nice but I still prefer my 'self-made' ChunHar pancake :p

Cocktail sausage + emmentaler cheese + toast on skewer. The combination actually exist because I have left over of each items (actually quite a lot of them, emmentaler cheese is still in my fridge but it can stay there long, so no concern). I really tried hard to finish a loaf of sandwich bread but some slices are still left over after the skewer thing. ran out of idea & tired, I baked the remaining pieces at 140degree celcius & made some breadcrumbs.

And so, on day5, I found a way to use up the breadcrumbs that I made - spinach fettucini with breadcrumbed scampi served with white sauce (of course...I have to finish the remaining 38% fat cooking cream). Tried a third variation of white sauce but it seems like my second attempt is still better (will continue to try until the best recipe is found). The scampi is lovely..except now I have half a pack of frozen scampi left in my freezer.

Well, I guess that a common problem for single person's (or even for two people's) dining. Eating out daily is boring & expensive (at least in Copenhagen) but cooking will often lead to excessive material left over situation. Since I'm not filthy rich & I'll have to be creative about reusing same ingredient to create different recipe then ;)

Dyrehaven

Sunny Sunday + deer mating season + a 'geeky' friend who just got a new Nikon D90 (that has to be tried out) => a trip to Dyrehaven http://www.visitcopenhagen.com/tourist/what_to_see_and_do/inspiration/top_10_alternative_sights/dyrehaven. For me, is to catch the glimpse of trees changing colours & spotting deers; for Nikon owner, it's a good location to try out the new precious gadget. Right at the train station, I'm already overwhelmed with the 'autumn in the air' environment. Pic: Shot at the train station (in Denmark, a red hexagon 'S' sign indicates train station)

The park is filled with people of all ages, families, couples, joggers, carriage and of course 'photographers'. Most of the trees haven't really turn colour yet but falling leaves & the cold weather (despite the sun is shining bright) makes up the autmn feel. At some point I wish I have a bowl of steaming hot soup in my hand, would have be like heaven on earth ;)

Pic: A small 'castle' in the park

Pic: Shots of the park

The noise and movement of too many people in the park sort 'scare' the deers away. They wander in group with a male protectively gathering the females (mating season, so...) and tend to stay far away from the pedestrian path. I have to zoom in to the max to snap a very blurry 'deer portrait'.

Pic: Deer 'portrait'

There's also a restaurant & a small scale amusement park in Dyrehaven (which translates to animal garden). Amusement park is close at this time of year but the restaurant is still running in a nice cottage like house.

Pic: The restaurant.

I like the park but it might not be the brightest idea in the world to go there when the weather is cold (then again, Denmark is most of the time cold, hehe). Too many visitors also spoils the tranquility of the supposedly peaceful park & also keep the deers away :( I bumped into people who talked in a volume that the whole neighbourhood can hear...seriously, I don't understand at all :s. Will try to go there again in spring/summer. Another season, another view :)

Coffee...ss

I've been trying out Copenhagen's coffees. First there is the Nordea coffee with old but still well maintained interior déco and nice coffee but slightly on the pricy side DKK45 for cappucino. Then there's Europa coffee (where a regular cup of black coffee costs DKK42) which is also pricy and tasted so-so to me despite they won the World Barista Championship (yes, there really is such championship).

I'll probably give Europa coffee a try on their cappuccino but, my search continues and I found the right coffee that suits my taste which, to my advantage, not (so) pricy -- Estate Coffee.


Though the place is not exactly 'atmospheric' (not beautifully designed & slightly noisy at some moments), Estate Coffee serves some outrageously tasty coffee and chocolate delicacies (I still miss the chocolate brownies). Pick up your own coffee or have it deliver to you? Absolutely your choice. Though the friendly staffs there will most probably deliver it to your table after they make your coffee, fresh.

With big round windows facing Gammel Kongevej, diagonal to the Planetorium, the coffee shop is also a prime place for people-watching. Would be nice to sit outside in the summer. Next year it is.

My order was cappucino (and get a fantastic coffee taste bud experience) & my friend got a double shot cortado (which is reviewed to be a must with its round and fulfilling taste, complimented by just the right hint of bitterness). If you’re not in the mood for coffee, you can always try one of their teas or order yourself a rich hot chocolate.

Pic: Cortado

Pic: (My) Cappucino

Pic: Estate coffee counter view

Pic: My friend & I shared a piece of brownies & while I was taking picture, I lost at least 15% of my supposed share, sob sob...the brownies is really nice (almost as nice as my chocolate torte :p)

Estate Coffee is one of the fair trade shop where they obtain the their coffees directly from single coffee farm. http://www.estatecoffee.dk/english/about-estate-coffee/ Honestly, I only care about quality of the coffee (which is well delivered) in Estate Coffee ;) If you ever visit Copenhagen & looking for a palce to take a sip of coffee, Estate Coffee should definitely be considered.

Copenhagen Cultural Night

Copenhagen Cultural Night (Kultur Natten in Danish) is an event where many of Copenhagen's cultural establishment: museums, churches, exhibition halls, galleries, political institutions, and other venues all over swung open their doors to public for 6 hours at night (from 1800 until 2400) and only for a single day http://www.kulturnatten.dk/media(417,1033)/Engelsk_program_2008.pdf


The whole city is an integral part of the event including the public transport system where one can hop on & off any bus, train, metro and even boat service with the night pass. This year, at a price of DKK75, I participated in the event with the night pass (which is actually a badge that you wear throughout the night). Unfortunately, 6hrs is not enough to visit all 196 participating locations so selection was made on where to visit.

My first stop was the Town hall. Simply because it's the nearest attraction to my starting point and the building is so beautiful. Hundreds of years of history's mural & iconic wall lamps are still well maintain with people working in the building. The town hall offers free pancake but the queue seems never ending, I gave up :p

Pic: snap shots of Copenhagen town hall, inside & outside

Pic: Volunteers making fresh apple juice with traditional method

Next stop: Post & Tele Museum, where I get to design my own stamp and get a sheet of 50 stamps sent to you afterwards (still waiting). Kids above 5 can also make their own tele-animal where they simply disassemble old phones and build a 'tele-fant', a 'croc-mobile' or funny insect!

Pic: 'Transformation' of old phones into cute 'gadgets'

Pic: The Copenhagen Postman-Orchestra plays outside

Then we went to this tram coffee shop (where the whole café is actually an old tram) to have pit stop. Nice & cheap cappucino to warm up the cold night.

After we gathered our strenght, we moved on to the middle age market. Danish arsenal museum is right beside the market place so we make a slight detour where knights in shining (er...not really shiny) armour can be spotted. The middle age market was a relatively small one with just few stalls. We were too late to catch the Tordenskjold’s Soldiers performance where uniforms, weaponary and tactics used in The Great Northern War 1709-20 are shown, canons fired & tambourines played. I like it that the stall owners are all dressed in middle age attire, cool ;)

Pic: Danish Arsenal Museum

Pic: middle age market & very fast moving stall sellers (to imitate middle age people's fast move? hmm...)

Just outside the market, cross the street is the new modern beautiful Danish library - Black Diamond. I like the architecture personally. Too bad my camera didn't take good picture (partly also because my own lousy skill) but I'm sure google will provide good pictures of the Diamond upon searching.

Then the final stop: Parliament. We ge to walk about on our own inside the Parliament building, meet politicians & the staff (whom I have no idea who's politician & who's staff if I meet them) and being squeezed like sardine fish in a can. So many people is interested in the parliament, next year I'll go to the prison instead :p

Pic: Internal & external shot of the Parliament. Bottom right is the voting / communicating device the politicians use. Green, red & yellow, that's how the regulations are voted.

Some shops / retail stores that are not participating in the cultural event (basically because there's nothing so 'cultural' about shops) also extended their opening hour until mid-night & even offer one night sales. Some shop went the miles to use real human as display model for the night. Diesel actually have a female model 'bathing' in bath tub in front of the display window on top of the sales to attract customers.

One can easily get free soup, free bread, free drinks, free potato chips & even free condoms while walking on the street. Of course, there are also some who tried to make use of the opportunity & set up 'illegal' stalls to earn a 1 night 'fast money'. With 55,000 participants this year, Copenhagen turn so alive on the Cultural night.

One major down side of the event is: everything is only in Danish (excpt the online guide). So if you don't speak English, be ready to ask around for what's happening. Anyway, I still enjoy the night with great & funny companies. There are still so many places that I wanted to visit but didn't have the time & capability (too tired walking) this time...I look forward to next year.


Cultural Night 2009, be ready to welcome me ;)

Buda_2

And the story of Buda continues...

Pic: St.Gellért's statue at foot of Gellért Hill

On my way to the famous Budapest bath (targeted Gellért Bath, which is popular among tourist), came across this magnificant statue, compliment with staircase surrounding a natural water fall. Roads users from Pest crossing the Szabadság híd or Liberty Bridge (sometimes Freedom Bridge) will be greeted by St.Gellért's statue when they enter Buda.

Walked past Rudas thermal bath as well. Initially I was tempted to go to Rudas bath, first, because it's nearer & I've really been walking a lot & second, it's much cheaper. Internet introduction & tourist guide highlighted the bath with its 16th century built centerpiece http://www.budapest.com/thermal_baths/rudas_thermal_bath.en.html but as I walked pass, I'm >100% sure that I won't go there...see picture below to understand why...

Pic: Rudas thermal bath's exterior...I thought it is an abandoned building initially :s

The journey continues and finally, Gellért Bath (which is right next to the super classy & pricy Gellért Hotel) is in front of me...with great dissapointment, it's under renovation as well. I think I must have travelled to Budapest during wrong time of the year...Matthias Church, the tram way and now even the bath is under construction, sob sob...

I went for a refreshing massage where the massage lady has really big hand that covers more than half of my back, so imagine the strength she applied during the massage, but it is nice (except my neck is slightly in pain after staying still at an uncomfortable position for 15minutes) and then took the 36-38degree Celcius thermal bath. Definitely refreshing especially after a long day walk.

The Gellért Baths complex includes thermal baths, which are small pools containing water from Gellért hill's mineral hot springs. The thermal baths are decorated beautifully with mosaic tiles. The complex also includes saunas and plunge pools, an open-air swimming pool which can create artificial waves every ten minutes and an effervescent swimming pool. They have jacuzzi pool and pretty nice indoor swimming pool as well, too bad I can't swim...just keep in mind that pictures tend to make something looks more beautiful, so keep the expectation moderate ;)

Oh...and if you purchase entrance ticket to all facilities for say 2hrs and you leave before 2hrs, you'll get a small amount of rebate ( I didn't realize it until I return to COP) and the massage charges is paid in cash only separately to the massage ladies once you enter the bath center. They don't provide shower gel / soap / shampoo in the shower so do bring your own 'supply' ;) I can't carry camera with me all the time in the bath, so the pictures are limited :p

Pic (clockwise from upper left): Gellért bath front (under construction); front look as it is supposed to be; the indoor swimming pool; reception area

Right outside Gellért Bath is the Gellért Hill where an enormous Goddess of Freedom statue stands in front of the Citadel on its peak. The Hungarian 'Statue of Liberty' commemorates Hungary's liberation from the Nazi rule & can be seen from almost all parts of the city. The site offers a superb panorama over Central Budapest including bank of the Danube River, Buda Castle and Pest city. The walk up the hill is not exactly relaxing though :(

Pic: Goddess of Freedom statue

Pic: View from Gellért hill top outposts

Walking down the hill (which is much easier) and enjoying the last time I'll see Budapest at night (at least for this trip), I'm still amazed with its beauty. During my last dinner in Budapest, I realize almost all juice / soft drinks in bottle comes in only 200ml size. Wonder why they're slightly smaller than it should. I'm so used to 330ml or at least 250ml bottled drinks...

As dawn approaches, I said goodbye to Budapest. I had good times there and I hope you have good time reading it as well :)

Buda

Day2: Buda of Budapest (which has been delinquent quite some time because I was busy going out the whole weekend, lol). Anyway, here it is.

Taking the only Metro that runs between Pest & Buda (Metro3), we arrived in front of St.Anne's church. Due to tight schedule (so many to see yet so little time), I simply snapped a front view of the church to prove that I've been there, lol... Modernization bring less effect to Buda side (relatively compare to Pest side) and most part of the city's beauties are still keep as they are hundred years ago.

Pic: Buda street view & St.Anne's church

Fisherman's Bastion takes its name from the guild of fishermen who was responsible for defending this stretch of the city walls in the Middle Ages. It is a viewing terrace, with many stairs and walking paths. Unfortunately some parts of the bastian is under maintenance work & closed to visitors. Matthius Church which is located right next to Fisherman's Bastian is undergoing some restoration work as well, I missed some of my highlights in Buda :(

Pic: (top) Statue of Stephen I; (bot) Fisherman's Bastion (snapped with black & white setting, love it)

Pic: Chain Bridge view from Fisherman's Bastion

Failed to 'decypher' the helpful local's direction guide, I chose to walk toward Buda Castle instead which is not really far & buildings along the way are beautiful, especially in autumn with the colour changing trees & falling leaves. Buda hill is almost right next to the Chain Bridge. Traffic is very busy to & fro and at the bridge but Hungarian drivers are polite to let pedestrians have the crossing priority.
Pic: Chain bridge front view & the busy traffic

Tight schedule also limited my eating time so I resolved to eating fennel cake (picture below) as lunch, isn't it cute? Hazelnut flavoured, piping hot & fluffy make it tastes so nice in slightly cold weather. Think I must have looked so enjoy eating it that another tourist actually walked to me & asked me what I was eating. She even asked for the flavour that I chose & said she'll get exactly the same :s Hmm... perhaps I should claim advertisement fee from the stall owner :p

Being Unesco World Heritage Site, I'm slightly dissapointed with Buda Castle, perhaps because I expected it to be more 'ancient' & it looks more magnificant at night (with the lighting effects) than in cloudy day time. The view from hill top is not as nice as from Fisherman's Bastian as well. The castle hill funicular ride was 'cute' though =) Even though the castle is not as impressive as pictured from far, I still spent hours in the castle (including the museum) ;)

Pic (from bottom left): Castle Hill Funicular; at bottom of castle hill; one of the garden shot from the castle; Buda castle's eagle side gate view

Pic: Snap shots from Buda Castle

After hours of walking, my next target is to take one of the famous bath in Buda. Next blog =)

Luns Restaurant

Copenhagen, despite relatively small size, is well reputed as gastronomic heaven which houses restaurants that sums up to 12 Michelin stars. These starred restaurants are quality assured but unfortunately also very expensive. I just can't bring myself to spend a fortune on merely a dinner while I could use the same amount of money for traveling around.

Then, I read reviews about Luns Restaurant which is owned and run by two former Michelin Star chefs at a much lower (hence affordable) price. They're basically the cook, the waiter, the receptionist, the 'everything'...only opens from 1800hr to 2200hr, offering only 1 choice of main course (or shall I say no choice in this case? hmm...), usually served in pot. Menu rotates on a weekly basis.

Very casual, painted wooden floor with lots of filled wine boxes pushed up against the wall and bookshelfs on the wall (books are for sale too, DKK75 each), the restaurant makes one feel care-free and homely. The wine selection is very impressive, unfortunately I'm not good at drinking wine :$

Main course is French inspired, the one I had was meat stew in a pot. Menu is simply a piece of photocopy paper with nearly unrecognizable hand writing (in Danish only anyway). Even though choice of main course is out of question, pre-course, appetizer, dessert / coffee are thankfully a choice :)

The food is very nice, lots of surprisingly refreshing combination that turns out amazing. Feel like I'm dining at a French granmother's place that I never know I had...yum yum. Picture taking is strictly prohibited, I have to snap these pictures 'very discretely', so better appreciate this. Looking forward to my next visit there :)