Brussels: Belgium

Posted on August 1, 2012 | 2 comments

I have to mention the hotel we stayed in Brussels. It was Park Inn by Radisson and they had one of the best rooms that we stayed in, in the whole Europe trip. I just loved the room we were given. It was a corner room on the second floor, very large, clean, quiet and nicely appointed. The bed was very comfortable and the bathroom was clean and modern. I especially liked the colours throughout the place. A colour scheme of red, yellow, green and blue played out across the hotel and our room giving a uniform and modern feel.

Brussels is one of the best places we visited, with its small town charm, trendy bars and restaurants, fabulous food, great nightlife, fantastic shopping, numerous museums, and other attractions including the diverse and interesting exhibitions and festivals. While we were there, we witnessed the Jazz festival.

We had a local guide who took us around the city. So after we freshened up from the bus journey, we got on our tour bus and the guide explained the different places in the city as we drove around. Our first stop was Parc du Cinquantenaire.

The Parc du Cinquantenaire

The Parc du Cinquantenaire was built to commemorate Belgium’s 50th anniversary as an independent nation. Cinquante means fifty in French. If you’ve ever wished to have seen the gorgeous World’s Fair buildings circa 1900, this is as close as you’ll get. The structures are massive, well-designed, and exquisitely ornamented. There are several museums in the park — including the Royal Military Museum, the Cinquantenaire Art Museum, and the AutoWorld Museum. The masterwork of the Parc is the Triumphal Arch, a breath-taking structure completed in 1905.

Even though you are right on top of a busy road way it is so quiet and there is a fountain on one side and a garden area on the other.

 

The Royal Palace (Palais Royal)

From there we went to our next stop, The Royal Palace (Palais Royal). It is the official palace of the King of the Belgians but is not used as a royal residence, as the king and his family live in the Royal Castle of Laeken on the outskirts of Brussels. The website of the Belgian Monarchy describes the function of the palace as follows: “The Palace is where His Majesty the King exercises his prerogatives as Head of State, grants audiences and deals with affairs of state. Apart from the offices of the King and the Queen, the Royal Palace houses the services of the Grand Marshal of the Court, the King’s Head of Cabinet, the Head of the King’s Military Household and the Intendant of the King’s Civil List. The Palace also includes the State Rooms where large receptions are held, as well as the apartments provided for foreign Heads of State during official visits.”

The palace is situated in front of Brussels Park. The middle axis of the park marks both the middle peristyle of the palace and the middle of the facing building on the other side of the park, which is the Palace of the Nation (the Belgian Federal Parliament building). The two facing buildings are said to symbolize Belgium’s system of government: a constitutional monarchy. We didn’t go inside the Palace but just strolled outside it.

La Grand-Place

From The Royal Palace (Palais Royal) we went to La Grand-Place. It is surrounded by guildhalls, the city’s Town Hall, and the Breadhouse. It is an outstanding example of the eclectic and highly successful blending of architectural and artistic styles and every building is so beautiful. It is a UNESCO world heritage site. While we were there the place was packed with music lovers as the Jazz Marathon was on. It was worth the experience and the people were fantastic. You can stroll the cobble stones looking at every house, which are just gorgeous. The surroundings are full of restaurants and shops.

As the guide explained about this grand place I was in awe of this beautiful place where buildings had golden details. It definitely looks like from a period movie.

After a brief look around the place and enjoying the music, we went for a walk and landed in Belgium waffle heaven.

OMG, you could imagine what you want and there it was. There were rows of shops selling these awesome looking waffles and you couldn’t go past them without having one. As AS and I was no exception, we indulged on the heavenly waffles and made our way to Manneken pis.

Manneken-Pis

This statue must be one of the most famous statues despite of its small size.  It is a small bronze fountain sculpture depicting a naked little boy urinating into the fountain’s basin.

The famous Manneken-Pis remains the emblem of the rebellious spirit of the City of Brussels. His wardrobe counts more than 800 suits. The Museum of the City of Brussels presents one hundred of these suits. A multimedia database allows the visitors to consult the whole wardrobe of the famous ‘ketje’.

The statue is dressed in a costume several times each week, according to a published schedule which is posted on the railings around the fountain. The costumes are managed by the non-profit association The Friends of Manneken-Pis, who review hundreds of designs submitted each year, and select a small number to be produced and used.

Manneken-Pis was at first a fountain that played an essential role in the former distribution of drinking water since the 15th century. The system was well-known in all of Europe.

Towards the end of the 17th century, the statue became more and more important in the city life. It was also a survivor of the bombardment of Brussels in 1695. Manneken-Pis became a precious good and enjoys a ceaselessly growing glory.

Royal Saint-Hubert galleries

From Manneken-Pis, we went to Royal Saint-Hubert galleries. It  is a glazed shopping arcade. Back in its early days, it was a place the rich and famous would go to attend meetings. Its neo-Renaissance styling sports a vaulted glass room which lets the light in during the day while protecting shoppers from the elements.

There is a simple straight pathway with openings on either end and lined on both sides with booksellers, chocolate shops, cafes, and other shops. The window displays are wonderful and worth walking through even just to window shop. It also makes a nice short-cut getting from one part of the city to another without having to walk around the building.

Chocolate lovers should visit Neuhaus, the best chocolate-maker in this chocolate-mad country; they claim to have invented pralines in this shop. You can buy prettily wrapped boxes of the “best-in-the-world” chocolate to take home.

Please click here for more photos.

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Posted in Belgium, Travel

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The Dark Knight Rises

Posted on July 31, 2012 | 4 comments

Before I review the latest movie in the batman trilogy, let me refresh your memory of the first two.

While not a big fan of superhero movies, I still managed to watch all three movies.

Batman Begins (2005)

I didn’t go to watch this movie in the cinema but was able to watch it on TV. I found the movie ok but as any other super hero movie; I did not feel that it was anything exceptional. I liked the fact that batman’s alter ego, the billionaire Bruce Wayne is so rich unlike most other super heroes.

Overall it was nice to watch but you could easily forget it soon after.

The Dark Knight (2008)

I went and watch this movie in the cinema. It was really hyped in Australia because just before the movie’s release, the Australian actor Heath Ledger was found dead in his apartment after an accidental drug overdose. He played the part of The Joker in the movie.

This film was really nice and Heath Ledger’s performance definitely lived up to the hype.  The Dark Knight is a darker, more melancholic film than previous Batman films. Gotham City is more depressing and more real than previous films.

Heath Ledger as The Joker delivers the most intense performance of all. I believe The Joker garnered more attention in this movie than the Batman himself.

Christopher Nolan definitely delivered something unique with this film, and it shows. The performance of Ledger alone is what makes this film so unique, so good and it stands in a category by itself.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Yesterday we went and watched the The Dark Knight Rises and it was such a brilliant movie. A nicely constructed plot, a little unrealistic at some points, but overall a really good action thriller.

Anne Hathaway was perfect as Catwoman.

The story begins slow and then rises into a massively thrilling and epic finale.

I didn’t like the villain Bane with a mouth mask. He got this scary voice and stone-cold killer but I still think Joker was a great villain. The movie starts in slow pace but when batman decided to return, it gets really exciting.

And how cool is his Batmobile and Batpod.

The ending was superb as the finale for the trilogy. Both I and AS really enjoyed the two and a half hour of entertainment.

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Posted in Movie Review

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Jamie Oliver Szechuan stir fry with chicken and brown rice

Posted on July 29, 2012 | 14 comments

I have always loved Jamie Oliver as a chef. His cooking is so heart warming and yummy. I really like that he uses his hands instead of just a knife to do things in the kitchen making me feel like he is cooking at home. Anyway, I recently bought a Jamie Oliver 20 minutes meals app for my Android phone. So today we decided to try one of the recipes called Jamie Oliver Szechuan Stir Fry with Jasmine rice. It was so easy and quick. As I was cleaning the house, I asked my husband to get the ingredients ready. He thought he would surprised me and cooked the whole meal by himself. I am really impressed as it turned to be yummy and he just had to followed the recipe.

He used brown rice instead of jasmine rice as it is more healthy.

Ingredients

  • 2 large boneless, skinless, chicken highs
  • 1/2 teaspoon Szechuan peppercorns (Timur in Nepali)
  • 150g brown rice
  • 1 small bunch fresh coriander
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 2cm fresh ginger
  • 1/2 medium red pepper
  • 1 small bunch spring onion
  • 50g unsalted peanuts
  • 2 small dried red chilli
  • 1/2 teaspoon cornflour
  • 2 teaspoon sweet chili sauce
  • vegetable oil
  • soy sauce
  • sea salt

Steps

  • Fill your kettle and put it in to boil. Preheat your oven to the lowest setting and place your bowls in the oven to warm.
  • Fill the saucepan with the boiling water and place on a high heat. Once boiling, add the rice and simmer according to packet instructions until the rice to cooked. If you  have rice cooker, you can use that.
  • Meanwhile pick the coriander leaves and put to one side. Finely hop the stalks.
  • Place the wok on a medium heat.
  • Peel the garlic and ginger and slice into matchsticks. De-seed and finely slice the red pepper. Trim and slice the spring onions.
  • Slice the chicken thighs into strips and pop in a bowl with a splash of soy sauce to marinate.
  • Add the peanuts to the hot wok and toast for a few seconds until they start to smell roasted and delicious. Tip out onto a plate and put to one side.
  • Return the wok to the heat and add a splash of vegetable oil.
  • Bash up the dried chillies with Szechuan peppercorns in a pestle and mortar.
  • Add the chicken strips to the hot wok. Turn the heat up to high and season well with salt.
  • Add the bashed up chilli and peppercorns to the wok then stir-fry quickly until the chicken starts to turn golden. Meanwhile…
  • When the rice is done, drain it in a sieve then place the sieve back over the warm saucepan and cover with a lid.
  • Throw the garlic and ginger into the wok and stir-fry for 30 seconds.
  • Add the coriander stalks, spring onions and red pepper and stir-fry for another minute or two until the chicken strips are cooked through.
  • Add the cornflour and sweet chilli sauce to the wok with a splash of soy sauce and toss everything together. Turn the heat off.
  • Make you table look respectable – get the cutlery, salt and pepper and drinks laid out nicely.
  • Add a good pinch of salt to the rice. Get your warmed bowls out of the oven and divide the rice between them.
  • Spoon the stir-fry over the rice, scatter each portion with your toasted peanuts and coriander leaves and tuck in!

You may also like :

*Jamie’s Crackin’ Crab Briks, Couscous Salad & Salsa *Jamie Oliver’s Chicken Tikka Masala *Jamie Oliver’s Dan Dan Noodles

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Posted in Foodie, Recipe

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P&O Cruise from Dover (UK) to Calais (France)

Posted on July 27, 2012 | 3 comments

At the end of our stay in London we joined our tour company in London and from there we started our European adventures. From London they took us to Dover where we boarded a P&O Cruise to Calais, France.

A cruise holiday has also been in my list for a long time as there are so many cruise holidays that I can do around the pacific region at a not-too-expensive price. Being on this short cruise gave me a rough idea of what it would be like. The cruise was around 2 hours.

Once we were given a pass for the Cruise in our tour bus, we were told that it would depart in an hour so we waited in the café and had something to eat.

We went out and had a look around for some time. It was a beautiful sunny day with a clear blue sky. Once we boarded the ship, we passed through a casino, a bar and a shop to be escorted into the big open lounge area where there were lots of chairs and tables as well as sofas to rest.

We took a seat by the window and enjoyed the outside view. Once the boat move toward France, we wandered around the ship. We found out that there was a big food court upstairs and we had some food. AS got his beer and we enjoyed the food with a  view of the ocean. It was so relaxing to look at the empty ocean.

After that, we walked around to check out the bar, casino and shopping. It was nice going through different levels and discovering different things in the ship. From there we went to the top deck and the view was great from there. We could see Dover far behind us and in front of us as long as we could see, it was all water. Also a few other P & O cruises were passing us. Even though it was a nice sunny day, it was really windy on the top deck so after a while we decide to go down to the lower deck and enjoy the view from behind the glass window.

I really enjoyed the trip and when we reached Calais, I was so excited to step on the soil of France. Finally my dream of going to (mainland) Europe had come true. There, we were escorted to our tour bus and we were off to our hotel.

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Posted in England, France, Travel

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Prabal Gurung: Designer in the Spotlight

Posted on July 26, 2012 | 6 comments

If you have been following my blog, you know that I am a big fan of Prabal Gurung and his collections.

I am loving all the pretty prints in Prabal Gurung’s Pre-fall 2012 from sunglasses to shoes along with kaleidoscope pattern on dresses, dark and bold pattern with a mix of amazing silhouettes/textures from Fall 2012 and bright colourful candy-colour mixture of modern silhouettes, laser-sharp tailoring, asymmetry, and florals from Resort 2013 collections.

PRABAL GURUNG PRE FALL 2012

PRABAL GURUNG FALL 2012

PRABAL GURUNG RESORT 2013

Also, a lot more celebrities are wearing Prabal Gurung and I am so happy to see that. His success has rocketed through the sky in the last few years and yet he is still humble and grounded to his roots. Prabal Gurung is always eager to convey that he was incredibly proud to share his Nepalese heritage and that he never forgets his country. From press interviews to professional endeavours it is true that Prabal Gurung has maintained close ties with Nepal and  he mentions Nepal in almost every interview .

Recently Anne Hathaway wore R13 White Jersey Hand Draped Gown with Tulle Corset to Batman premier. Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga, Zoe Saldana, Barbara Bush Ashley, Greene, Olivia-Palermo, Jennifer Lawrence,  Jessica Chastain, Rachel Weisz, Hailee Steinfield,,Sonam Kapoor and Ginnifer Goodwin  were seen donning Prabal Gurung dresses as well.

One day I dream of wearing a Prabal Gurung dress as well and hope my dream will come true soon  🙂

You may also like :

*Prabal Gurung : A Fashion designer from Nepal *Love you, Prabal Gurung *Prabal Gurung made a 13 years old boy’s dream come true

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Posted in Fashion

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