Cavalock Visits Warhammer World

When you mention 'Nottingham', the average person would most likely associate it with Robin Hood, his Merry Men, the Sheriff of Nottingham and the rest of the cast. Well, for miniature wargaming geeks like me, it's also the headquarters for Games Workshop and Warhammer World. The one place to get exclusive Warhammer miniatures, products, view miniature exhibitions and engage in all kinds of geek wargaming activities.

For any Warhammer fans reading this and wondering how to get to Nottingham from London, it's rather simple. Just book an online ticket from St. Pancras International train station in London to Nottingham Station. Preferably do that before you leave for the U.K.. So that's about a two hour ride through the British countryside which I quite enjoyed. You get off at Nottingham Station and just outside the station, you can either take a taxi ride or a tram ride to Warhammer World. We took the tram but apparently all taxi drivers know exactly where Warhammer World is.

So I had to do a little homework bout where to eat around Nottingham Station before we set off for Warhammer World. Came up with a Fish and Chips shop, Carringtons Fish & Chips that has garnered more than a few positive reviews online. That's the above pix and it's pretty good, nice big slab of fish (think it was cod, can't remember). Prefer mine with lots of vinegar. Far as I can tell, there aren't really lots of choices round the station, I could be wrong but I think that's the best deal nearest the Station. Once we had our fill, we hopped on the tram and it's off to Warhammer World.

If you are taking the tram, you'll see Warhammer World building on your way there. Can't miss it. And once you are at the main gates, well, I don't think I need to tell any Warhammer fan what to expect. Depending on what you like, if it's the gothic sci-fi universe of Warhammer 40K, then you would enjoy checking out the Horus Heresy showcase. I got the exclusive Errant Questor for the fantasy Age of Sigmar miniature game plus a couple pins and badges. Wanted to get some t-shirts but the ones I like were outta my size.

Biggest disappointment was them not selling anymore of the special Warhammer faction dice. According to some online pages, they were but when I got there, they said they stopped selling the dice sometime back. Anyway if you are a Warhammer fan in the U.K., definitely take a short day trip to Nottingham and Warhammer World.

Cavalock and The Borough Market Reunion Part Deux

Like I said, that last post was bout stuffing our luggage with fresh food and ingredients from Borough Market, this here post is all bout us stuffing our bellies with the food there. So much good food to choose from. For that day's lunch at Borough Market, we just went with what looked good and without a long queue coming out of the stall. But them long queues do move pretty fast.

We had mussels, oysters, uni but for me, the highlight was the mushroom risotto. Everything's cooked right in front of you in two huge pans. One for the mushrooms, the other for the risotto rice. The whole thing is sooooo fragrant. One of the very few times I had risotto in my life and this was amazing. Really gorgeous creamy consistency, and we could have ordered a second serving if not for the fact that we had to save space for the other stuff we haven't tried.

One thing I miss about London are all the big and small book shops around the city. I was fortunate to spend an entire morning at Piccadilly's Waterstones bookstore. That's six floors of books (I think it's six floors with the sixth being a cafe) and I just browsed from shelf to shelf, taking it all in. And one does not simply walked into an incredible bookstore like Waterstones without making a purchase.

So I bought a little book called 'Eggs: A Global History'. This is a non-fiction book that pretty much tells you everything you wanna know about eggs. The different kinds of eggs we been eating since the beginning of Man, how's it prepared throughout history, modern anecdotes and of cos recipes from different cultures and history. Still reading it and enjoying every page so far.

Cavalock and The Borough Market Reunion

Just like how I must pay my pilgrimage to Warhammer World (more on that in an upcoming post) now that we are in the U.K., visiting London's famous Borough Market is a definite must for the Baker-at-Home and, well, me too actually. Wasn't our first time there but I think we can safely discount that initial visit eight years ago cos we were a little too ...er, inexperienced to fully appreciate the culinary showcase of fresh and natural ingredients before us.

This latest Saturday morning visit we just went crazy and bought enough food like comte cheese, spices, cured meat, truffles etc. to fill a suitcase. No matter how crowded the Market was, the Baker-at-Home would often spend 15 to 20 minutes chatting with the shopkeepers bout the best way to use the ingredients or whatever she's buying. Sometimes such interaction would result in freebies like when the butcher gave us a packet of iberico fat. She even started telling us how best to prepare fries with it when the Baker-at-Home said she didn't know how to use it.

And all that was just Day One at Borough Market. Yah, we had our hands and shopping bags full by noon on the first day. Next post is gonna be how we kept our bellies full on Day Two. <^;^>

Cavalock and The Basement Brothel Beef Bounty

Before leaving Singapore, the Baker-at-Home made a couple of London dinner reservations. One of them was at a meat joint in London Soho called Blacklock. The little dimly-lit dive is actually the basement of a former brothel. Yah, I just had to bring that up. Anyway it was pretty packed on a weekday night when we were there and the place ain't that big either. So I guess you could say it's a cosy yet noisy place. Heh, they were playing some retro music that night too so yah, no complaints bout their playlist.

Took us as while to order as that menu required some deciphering. Settled on the prime rib from one that we assumed to be on a "natural grass fed diet" just as advertised. Nice and rather generously salted but a little dry cos I mean this ain't Wagyu beef so don't go expecting all them marbling or fat. Loved them side order of roasted sweet potato too, just wish there were more than just those two slices. We saw the table next to us having the skinny pork chops. Those looked good.

Took a wonderful morning stroll down Covent Garden. Weather was a wee bit chilly maintaining at around 15 degrees, fortunately not as cold as our Hokkaido trip earlier this year. So it's just jackets on all the way. The little Convent Garden shops were all so inviting, wish we had time to enter every one of them. All the more reason to plan another trip to London again I guess.

Cavalock Finally Returns to London

Took me eight long years but I'm back in ol' London. Just a short year-end trip to enjoy the food, sights and yes, buy some Warhammer stuff. Thank gawd the weather was clear and sunny throughout our stay. None of that dreary cloudy skies one hears so much about. Immigration wasn't that bad either, only bout half hour instead of several hours like what I read online recently. Or maybe it's becos we got on the Fast Track Lane, thanks to Singapore Airlines.

The Baker-at-Home and I don't know anyone in London and so we relied only on memories of our earlier trip and whatever we could find online to plot our little British adventure. This was more of a buying trip too as we each came up with a list of made-in-UK stuff that we wanted and are obviously cheaper (or fresher) there than getting them here in Singapore. Hers were mostly food and stuff for friends while mine were mostly Warhammer miniatures and Lego. No surprise there.

All right, so the most obvious thing bout London after all these years is that it's waaaay more crowded than Tokyo. I swear Russian appears to be the second language there now cos I'm hearing Russian almost everywhere I go. They let dogs onto their subway which I think is pretty cool, I like dogs. I'm just kinda surprised cos of the sizeable Muslim community there. Maybe one day, we'll let dogs and other pets on our trains too.

Saw this in London and I'm guessing here that this is one way the new Malaysian government plans to clear its debt with the international community.

Cavalock and The Gnocchi Reunion

Cicheti down the road from my place was my go-to place for great gnocchi. So when we heard that they opened Club Cicheti along Keong Saik Road, we made our reservations and of cos, the first thing I ordered was their gnocchi... again. In my defence, it has been at least over a year since I had good gnocchi. It was still as good as I remembered it to be but I think the sauce here is different. Kinda heavier I thought.

Well, I did ordered something new and different! The above big glorious slab of beef tongue! Oh, it's so good. Highlight of the night for us. Better than the entire bottle of wine that the Baker-at-Home and me finished in less than an hour.  

Some new pix from Garden by the Bay me 85-year-old Dad took a couple weeks ago. He took a whole buncha pix from places like Chinese Garden and Pasir Ris. Hope to post them later too.

Well, last month I got an email from Getty Images that some of me Dad's pix taken several years ago are now part of their immerse photo catalog. I remember when I was working in agencies, we used to buy pix from them pretty often.

Cavalock and The Kit-Kat Flavour Appropriation

The highlight of every trip across the border has always been the street food. This latest venture to Kuala Lumpur saw us hunting for Peter's Pork Noodles in Brickfields. It's regarded as one of the best pork noodles in the city. Kinda funny that some of the yummiest pork dishes in the region are found in a country like Malaysia. Anyway the Baker-at-Home did her research and we found ourselves having lunch that Friday afternoon in an old school hawker centre.

Every slurp, every bite. Generous servings of pork and greens. Worth the air ticket to KL for sure. Safe to say, best pork noodles both of us ever had, back home and in Malaysia. I wish there were more innards in my bowl. We just ordered 'the usual'. Wasn't sure there was an option for more innards. And of cos, my fav three-layered tea to wash it all down.

Now this has become kinda like the Tokyo Banana of Malaysia. I'm of cos referring to the Malaysian Kit-Kat flavours folks here are buying back in bulk. The cheap must-buy snack out of Malaysia kinda like Tokyo Banana if you are a first time visitor to Tokyo. Yes, we bought some Malaysian Kit-Kat too, just for the novelty of it all. I ain't no Kit-Kat connoisseur and if it was a blind taste test, I couldn't tell if it was Ice Kacang or not. I mean it tasted alright like all Kit-Kats but if you asked the flavour, I just couldn't say that it was Ice Kacang.

Cavalock and The Kuala Lumpur Quickie

Hah! Slipped across the border for the shortest of short vacations last month in Kuala Lumpur. The Baker-at-Home and I wanted a change in scenery so its been like a year since we crossed the border. As always, one can never be disappointed with the food in Malaysia. First night saw us having dinner at the popular Tiffin's Thai at Mid Valley Mall.

Don't know much bout where the good Thai joints are in Kuala Lumpur but Tiffin's Thai is pretty damn good. That grilled pork neck was pure oink heaven. No geek would head to Mid Valley and not drop by their Comic Mart shop. The last time I was there, I picked up a couple of Warhammer miniatures for a decent price. Nothing really caught my eye this time and I also told myself I already have a ton of unpainted miniatures back home waiting for me. Really enjoyed ogling at their beautifully painted display miniatures.