While shopping for ingredients to make teriyaki chicken in Sainsbury’s yesterday I came past some duck breast and decided to try using duck instead. I found a teriyaki chicken recipe online and just substituted chicken for duck. I also made a couple of other minor substitutions to the recipe since I didn’t have all the ingredients. Luckily, it ended up tasting pretty good.

Here’s the recipe:

• 2 duck breasts with skin on (about 300 grams)
• 4 tablespoons of sake (rice wine)
• 4 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 2 tablespoons of pineapple juice

Combine the ingredients and marinate the duck breasts in the refrigerator for about an hour. Heat some oil in a fry pan and fry the duck breasts skin down on medium heat until the skin is brown and crispy. If the duck is browning too quickly turn the heat down a little. Turn the duck over and fry the other side on low heat. After about 10 minutes add the remainder of the marinade to the pan and cook until the sauce thickens. Remove the duck and allow to rest for a few minutes. Slice the duck and serve with steamed rice, brocolli and a slice of pan fried pineapple.

I was walking through Westferry Circus Gardens today in Canary Wharf and saw this little squirrel scavenging for food in the trash bin and hopping around as squirrels do. I snapped away with my camera trying to get a few decent shots in which is never easy with squirrels since they rarely stay still for long.

We don’t have squirrels in Australia, just possums so I always get a little excited whenever I see them in the parks around London. They’re such cute little creatures.

I just got back yesterday from Barcelona, Spain where my girlfriend and I spent the long weekend. Luckily for us, it was warm and sunny for the entire weekend. It was so nice to be out in a t-shirt for a change.

To get around we walked heaps and used the fabulous Barcelona Bus Turistic, the official sightseeing bus that takes you on predefined routes that cover Barcelona’s main tourist attractions. It made getting around so easy.

Some of the attractions we visited included Tibidabo mountain, Antoni Gaudí’s famous architectural masterpieces; the Casa Mila, Park Güell garden complex and the absolutely massive and spectacular Sagrada Família cathedral which is still under construction and has been since 1882. The cathedral’s construction is said to be dictated by the availability of funds from anonymous donations and as a result, construction is expected to continue until at least 2026.

On Saturday my girlfriend and I took a coach day tour which made scheduled stops at Leeds Castle, Canterbury and Dover. Day tours are a great way to see England because you get to see a bit of each town. If we like a place we may then decided to come back at a later date.

Leeds Castle was pretty cool. It wasn’t as big as I thought it would be but still quite interesting. The castle was surrounded by a moat which was also home to a variety of water birds like ducks and swans.

Next stop was Canterbury where we had lunch at a local restaurant. We also visited the Canterbury Cathedral, which is said to be one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England.

Lastly, we mad a short stop in the port town of Dover, famous for its white chalk cliffs. The coach stopped at a beach which was covered in pebbles instead of the typical yellow sand. It felt quite little weird walking on the pebbles as they made loud crunching sounds as you stepped on them. The beach was very beautiful and clean as you can see in the photo below.

I was fortunate enough to be in Holland last weekend. My girlfriend and I spent the Easter long weekend in Amsterdam and we decided to visit Keukenhof, the world’s largest flower garden located in the small town of Lisse, southwest of Amsterdam. To get there from Amsterdam we took the train to Schiphol airport, then the 58 bus which went direct to Keukenhof. The bus ride took about 30 minutes.

Keukenhof was just amazing. I’ve never seen a so many flowers in the one place before. The shear volume of flowers was just breathtaking. We pretty much spent the whole day taking photographs which you can see below. So for those visiting Amsterdam in spring, Keukenhof is a ‘must see’ in my opinion.