Spanish Words For Fruit - in Smoothies

 

In Tenerife the soft drinks menu for smoothies had the English translation of the fruit ingredients.

Some Spanish words

Easy / same words

Spanish - English

kiwi - kiwi

mango - mango

papaya - papaya

Spanish words which are similar but shorter

Spanish - English

coco - coconut

Spanish similar words with an accent to help you pronounce the right syllable

Cocos Restaurant in Stanmore for lunch or breakfast

Coco's Restaurant in Stanmore. Exterior. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

We had a choice of seating areas, in the glass sided conservatory at the front, or the warmer indoors.

I ordered a smoothie with mango and passion fruit. My friend wanted to avoid too much sugar and opted for the smoothie featuring kale.

I thought mine was better, more flavourful and satisfying.

Smoothie at Coco's Restaurant in Stanmore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

 The ladies toilets are upstairs above the section of the property used for events such as Salsa dancing on Friday nights..

-ends-

Please share links to your favourite posts. Read my other reviews of nearby Barracuda and Nandos.

Met Su Yan for Lemon Chicken and Mango and Sago Pudding

 

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Met Su Yan

The restaurant is kosher Chinese and the Chinese sounding name means delicious in Hebrew. I visited it back in September 2020 for a friend's birthday party and enjoyed the food. What would it be like almost a year later in 2021 at lunchtime. I read mixed reviews but the restaurant was not our choice but that of the couple who booked the restaurant for our foursome to meet up.

We all chose from the two course set menu for speed as we were so keen to get talking. 

Good Food

I played safe and ordered chicken with lemon for a main course. Good. 

the healthiest option with fruit was mango for dessert. I was very pleased with both.

My friend had brought her own folding seat. She used it as a rest for her handbag and tote bag. 

Uninspiring Food

I shared my husband's food. The beef was tough and tasteless, as one of the negative reviews on Tripadvisor had said.

Drink

No drinks by the glass at cheap prices so I went without. I could have bought three third size bottles in Tesco in Hatch End for five pounds and drunk one in the toilet! 

The restaurant was almost empty on a Monday lunchtime. Service was fine. Not conversational but swift. The place was supposed to close at 2.30 but we were still chatting gone 3 pm and nobody chased us out.

Afterwards, I went across the road to a Jewish gift shop and a large supermarket. The gift shop had learn the Hebrew alphabet flashcards, playing card size, for a penny under 5 pounds. Also some very pretty 7 branch candlesticks, menorahs, not to be confused with the eight branch candlesticks called hanukiashs for hanukah. Plus loads of books. A choice of kippot.

Met Su Yan Address

1-2 The Promenade

Edgwarebury Lane

Edgware

HA8 7JZ

Tel" 020 8958 6840

Useful Websites

www.metsuyuan.co.uk

Tripadvisor

Words to know and note

Ask the server and ask them to ask the chef

BBQ barbecue

crispy - could be brown and crunchy, might be deep fried

satay - on a skewer

Sriracha mayo

spring rolls

usually chopped food in a small half sausage shape, rolled up in a pale yellow wrapper of pancake, pasta or thin bread covering with the ends tucked in, sometimes deep fried, usually a mixture of cooked shredded meat (or fish) and green vegetables

Sweet and sour chicken - chicken in a tangy sauce combining something sour such as lemon juice with something sweet such as sugar syrup

wonton soup

Belated Birthday dinner at the Tanglin Club, Singapore

Covid-19 Restaurant Restrictions Eased

The Tanglin Club restaurants in Singapore were closed in early June 2020 because of Covid-19 restrictions. When the restaurants reopened it was only for tables for two. As soon as the previous restrictions were lifted the available bookings were snapped up. We spent ages changing days and trying different times which we didn't want to be sure the restaurants really were fully booked at the popular times and not showing fully booked due to a glitch or the booking site not being updated. 

Time and Space

In the end, we booked for 6.30 although we wanted to eat at 7, reckoning that by the time we ordered drinks it would be getting on for seven. On the night in the large Churchill Room restaurant the tables were widely spaced out and all set for two, very different from the usual layout. The restaurant was never completely full. We guessed that the bookings were limited not because of too many diners, but because of too few staff.

 

Entry

Your taxi drops you outside the front entrance. Up a flight of red carpeted steps. Temperature control past an automatic machine. In the olden days doorman used to open the front door. Now your credentials are checked carefully.

The Churchill Room restaurant has a picture of Winston Churchill by the doorway.

Decor Of Orchids

The Tanglin has an orchid display outside in the hallway. The centre of the Churchill Room has another orchid display. A third orchid display was at the side.

Set Menu Choices

The menu online was not the same as offered in the restaurant, but gives you an idea.  

We started by ordering drinks. I had a glass of Prosecco. My husband ordered a reasonably priced Champagne.Then a glass of red wine.

Complimentary Bread

We were brought a little bowl of breads. The white bread roll with seeds was hot. Melted the butter. The black bread I saved for later. 

The crisp in a tall triangle contained blackened sesame seeds and was delicious, very more-ish. Crispy, salty, tasty.

Complimentary Amuse Guele

Dice size vegetarian mousse with contrasting green peas.

We chose two different starters and main courses and desserts. 

Choices included

Starter

Salmon mousse. Mushroom soup. Foie gras. 

I liked the salmon. That was my choice. 

I was disappointed in the foie gras. Just another smooth pate and less flavour than chicken liver pate. If I had to pay extra for it, I would not.

Main Course

Beef.

Barramundi Fish. 

Pork - excellent. 

Vegetarian option.

Main course - Served Under Domes

Served smartly under domes which are lifted simultaneously. No serving one person who has to wait feeling frustrated for the other person to be served. Nor one person starting and being told off for not waiting.

Dessert

I chose the mango mousse dessert, with ice cream. I thought the fruit was a healthier option.  Mango - excellent choice, looked great.

Why not the chocolate desserts? I admit I hesitated. Mango was a change from chocolate, which we eat a lot of at home and are offered at almost every restaurant and coffee shop location. Chocolate we could eat later at home. 

One of the options was salted chocolate. That must be very tasty, and salt is an ingredient of savoury chocolate dishes featured in a film about France. Sugar and salt does not sound healthy. 

Vanilla ice cream, often tastes of nothing. Or it is drowned by the chocolate flavour.

Nonetheless, I was hoping my husband would opt for one of the chocolate desserts. I told him so. 

He retorted, "It's my birthday dinner. I want to choose what I want to eat."

My husband chose the cheese board. It looked great. Wooden platter. Several cheeses, hard and soft, including a blue cheese. Circular crackers. Some grapes. 

He said the cheeses were a bit industrial. He is a connoisseur when it comes to cheeses.  He buys from speciality cheese shops such as the Cheese Arc. He looks online.

My dessert came up with the happy birthday words written in chocolate and a candle in a blue candle-holder.

More Photos will be added shortly.

Useful Websites

https://www.tanglinclub.org.sg/

http://www.thecheeseark.com/locate-us/

About the Author

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is Vice President Public Relations of Braddell Heights Advanced, and Tampines Changkat Advanced, speakers' training club which are part of Toastmasters International. The USA has several Spanish speaking as well as the English speaking clubs. You can pick up Spanish from buying or reading online their Spanish clubs welcome pages and manuals. 

In The USA, UK, Singapore and worldwide, there are many clubs which are English speaking, as well as Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Tamil, Malay.

The inauguration of Tampines Changkat Advanced was Tuesday 29th 2021, online on  zoom. Their meetings are on the fourth Tuesday evening of the month. They hope to hold meetings with a few people meeting physically, the others online, as soon as the Covid-19 conditions allow.

You can find the club through their Facebook page as well as through Toastmasters International find a club. 

https://www.facebook.com/tampineschangkatadvTMC

The meetings are free for visitors. Visitors can watch, and join in speaking by introducing themselves and volunteering to do a 2 minutes impromptu  speech in table topics.

If you wish to join for a year, it costs about 190 US dollars, to have monthly meetings online, a mentor, a magazine, and one of the 11  Pathways, consisting of 14 projects. Each project starts with 3 speeches of your choice of subject, lasting 4 to 6 minutes, then 5 to 7 minutes. The Pathways include the most popular Presentation Mastery. I chose  humorous speaking as my second Pathway, costing 20 dollars. Then my third was a leadership course. Come and see for free.

The club also has meetings in person in Singapore

You can also contact my other club, smaller Braddell Heights Advanced, which is a cosy little club with more chances to speak.

Login through bha.learncool.sg/meet/bha 

That will link you through to Zoom or googlemeet. 2 pm to 5 pm.

BHA meets the first Wednesday evening each month, starting at 7 pm Singapore time. 

Then an extra meeting on the 3rd Saturday afternoon, starting at 2 pm Singapore time.

To check your time zone,  

https://24timezones.com/difference/singapore/ 

Meetings will be on Wed July 7th and  Saturday July 17th.

Contact either of these or other clubs through Toastmasters International Find a Club.

Malay and Indonesian Food & Menu Words

 

Malay flag

Malay - English

apel - apple

ayam - chicken

bagasi - luggage (like bag and bassage)

besar - big

buku - book

daging - meat

goreng - fried

ikan - fish

ikan bilis - teeny fish, smaller than whitebait, used as a garnish

kash - cash

kue - cake

mangga - mango

makanan - foodnasi - rice

nasi goreng - fried rice

pisang - banana

pisang goreng - fried banana

restauran - restaurant

English (and American) - Malay (and Indonesian)

apple - appel

banana - pisang

big - besar

book - buku

cake - kue

cash - kash

chicken - ayam

food - makanan

fish - ikan

fried - goreng (sound like grilled, but it is fried, but it is a cooking style)

fried rice - nasi goreng

luggage - bagasi

Malay language - bahasa Malay (literally language Malay, the adjective coming first, unlike the English translation)

meat - daging

restaurant - restauran

rice - nasi

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

memrise.com

facebook Polyglots community page

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2021/06/malay-words-which-look-and-sound.html

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a member of Toastmasters International.

About the Author Angela Lansbury

The Author - Quick Quotations

Angela Lansbury B A Hons  is the author of ten books by regular publishers plus another ten self-published books. 

About Angela The Speaker & Trainer

Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters clubs and businesses.

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Vice President  Public Relations, Immediate Past President. VPPR

Former Area Director S3. Club Coach for Nee Soon South Toastmasters Club.

Also Member of: TCA Toastmasters Club; Singapore Online Dynamic; Harrovians UK

Past meetings have included Garen Tee on using story telling in business, on bha.learncool.sg . 

Recent meetings of BHA included an educational session on using Powerpoint for posters.

Next BHA meetings, always first Wednesday evening, 7 pm Singapore time. Next meeting is  the third Saturday afternoon, June 19th 2pm Singapore time.  Inauguration of the new committee by the incoming Director of S, plus a lively speech on teamwork.

 

Angela The Blogger 

Angela has several blogs speeches, comedy and song writing and organizing, writing intermittently, but writes almost daily on these three:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

See next post on sculptor Tom Harvey.

Please share links to your favourite posts. 

Travel Tales:Easter Eggs Outings to Restaurants offering consistency versus restaurants offering a memorable variety of food and decor

Here is my outfit of a chef's white hat (made from concertina paper over a pillbox hat), a white blouse and an ostrich egg, which was a souvenir from South Africa. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Where will we eat out over Easter? What brings me back to a little local restaurant is consistency. That is what you get at fast food outlets. You know that if you like something, it will be the same next time. McDonalds, Kentucky fried chicken, bagels. But what if you want something special? If we can't travel, we have more money for a little treat nearer home. I think back to previous Easters.

For an expensive restaurant, I expect a surprise. What surprises do I remember? Firstly the two magic restaurants.

The Magic Of The USA

The magic hotel and restaurant in San Francisco. When you opened the wardrobe (closet) door, you saw the picture of a cow on the back wall. A recording started playing welcoming you to the hotel and telling you to go down to the restaurant and ask for table 9.

When you went down to the restaurant and asked for table nine, the staff immediately knew your names, welcoming Mr ... (my husband), Mrs ... (me), and A ... (our small son - who was so excited!).

Other notable restaurants in the USA included the one which had a girl on a swing overhead. Not a model of a girl on a swing. A real girl. On a real swing. Suspended from a high ceiling.

The other novelty restaurant I remember was the very long thin restaurant which had flags on the table which flags you hoisted to show you were ready to order. Then the waiters roller skated down to your table.

Magical London

Central London also had a magic restaurant. First you arrived at a door which had several handles. That was a decoy. 

After you had tried them all and located the correct handle, a voice told you to push an adjacent panel. The panel was a revolving door.

Inside, we asked for the menu. Up comes another staff member who does a magic trick. He produces a white cloth from thin air. He puts it down on the table. In small letters it says please turn over. On the other side is the menu.

Now, what about the amazing food?

First, for our first wedding anniversary, I and my husband visited the souffle restaurant in the London hotel. I think it was the Hilton. The first course was an artichoke souffle in the entre of an artichoke. 

But most top restaurants manage to end with a memorable surprise.

The Egg-cellent Dessert

The Harrow at little Bedwyn closed, alas no more, but the memory stays. The meal ended with a dessert which looked like an egg in an egg cup. It had a yellow mango centre. Instead of the stick of bread for dipping in a boiled egg, there was a shortbread finger.

I had trouble with the Amazon website. I could not find Easter eggs to eat. My searches came up with colouring books and plastic eggs and eggs dyes and moulds and egg shape crayons. Even when I found food fresh, I got real eggs, moulds and crayons.

So I went on to google and realised I would have more luck trying manufacturers of chocolate, such as American Reese, or UK Cadbury or Thorntons. Maybe a brand or country name such as Swiss Alprose, Belgian, Ukrainian, Canadian, Australian, South African. Or Marks and Spencer or Tesco or Aldi. Or a chocolate shop.

The Thornton picture I found said out of stock. But what is out of stock online might be available in a shop.

I saw halal Easter eggs. Quora had some questions about Easter eggs. At first sight opinion seemed to be divided. But reading again, I concluded, some people think you should not take part in any religious activity providing h implies that you are a member of a different religion. You can eat an Easter egg so long as it is halal and you are simply eating chocolate. 

I heard a similar ruling from a rabbi to a friend's daughter, when asked whether it was OK to visit her mother on Christmas Day. If you have a day off work and wish to visit your mother, on any day, that is fine. 

So in theory it would be OK to give halal or kosher chocolate to somebody of another religion, so long as you were not trying to make it a religious object. (Eggs are a universal and pagan pre-Christian symbol of life, appearing in other religions, including Passover, and Chinese New Year. However, it would be a good idea to check with any recipient.

(Failing all else, remove wrapping which says Easter, offer the part of the gift which is not an egg, or simply offer a piece of halal or kosher chocolate.)

What makes the item kosher or halal? Amongst other factors to consider: 

For halal, no pork, gelatine from wrong animal, alcohol, possible contamination in factory. Factory checked by approved person.

For kosher - no pork products, gelatine, shellfish, mix of milk and meat, possible contamination in factory; factory checked by approved person and product labelled as approved. 

My supermarket Tesco hunt produced more ideas (from the UK): in alphabetical order:

(NB Milk chocolate is not white chocolate.)

Aero bubble peppermint chocolate

Bounty

Celebrations

Divine

Ferrero Kinder Surprise

Galaxy

Green & Blacks's

Kit Kat

Lindt (gold bunny milk chocolate)

Malteser White chocolate; white chocolate with white truffles

Mars

M&M

Milkybar small Easter Egg

Nestle / Nestle Smarties large orange egg (orange flavour) 

Nomo

Nomo Vegan

Quality Street

Reece's (peanut butter)

Rolo

Smarties (Milk Chocolate)

Terries

Twix

Malteser vegetarian and kosher:

Useful Websites

https://www.littletigergifts.co.uk/pro/maileg-metal-tin-easter-pink/

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/shop/food-cupboard/easter-chocolate-and-eggs/easter-eggs

About the Author

To practise your English, come to Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters on learncool.sg, first Wednesday evening of the month, Singapore time, 7-10pm.  Next meeting Wednesday March 7th 2021.

To add a clock to the time and date page and see when the meetings are your time go to this website.

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/personal.html

Angela Lansbury is a British author who has lived in the USA.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Who teaches which languages? Spanish and others. How to Record Your Sources

I started learning several languages in Duolingo. I finsished Grman and Esperanto and am now onto Spanish daily and Chinese intermittently (using Chineasy physical flashcards instead). 

Whether you are interested in one language or several, it is handy to keep a list of all the places to go to learn your favourite language or languages. You can do this on your mobile phone. 

Use a spreadsheet in Excel (which is a brand name, known generaically as a matrix, or series of columns divided across). 

Or write on a page in an A4 notebook. Put a sticker on the front of the notebook recording Language Learning and the page number. (You will have to number the pages of your notebook in the top right. I do this wiht all new notebooks.)

Keep updating as you find new sites, or when you want to add a new language. You can also keep a column for your own language if you are teaching English to foreigners or doing a language swap. Here is my work in progress. First I listed the languages. Then I went to the websites of my favourite places, starting with duolingo and Memrise. At the start it is quite time-consuming if you are checking several languages. But once you have the basics it is much faster.

Arabic

Chinese

Danish

Esperato - Duolingo

French - Duolingo

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hindi

Italian

Japanese

Korean

Latin

Norwegian

Polish

Portuguese

Romanian

Russian

Spanish 

Swedish

Ukrainian

Vietnamese

Welsh

Languages I am not learning on Duolingo include Klingon.

You can also learn Dutch, Malay and Urdu, a total of 75 languages, on langmaster.

Here's another. their welcome page was all in Spanish with a testimonial in Spanish. I could understand most of it and put it into Google translate to catch the couple of words I had missed.

https://www.deliberatespanish.com/

Useful Websites

English

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_English

Indian government program

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_English_(government_program)

Tamil

https://www.wikihow.com/Learn-Tamil

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lankan_Tamils

https://digitaldefynd.com/best-tamil-language-courses/

https://www.livinglanguage.com/languagedemo/tamilflash/11930/essential-saying-hello

duolingo in January 2021, The Tamil course is 75% complete.

Langmaster

http://www.langmaster.com/lmcom/com/web/en-gb/pages/free-language-online.aspx

Spanish

http://download.langmaster.cz/grammar/en-gb/spanish1/grammar/les01/g05.htm

Duolingo 

Languages available

Chinese, German, Hebrew, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Welsh, Ukrainian

Memrise

Languages available

Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Turkish

Mango

mangolanguages.com 

(see next post)

 

Other Language Websites From Wikipedia's List

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_language_self-study_programs

Flashcards List of Sources from Wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_flashcard_software

About the Author

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Mango on my wishlist, arriving at Terminal 4 Changi Airport, Singapore

After claiming your luggage, pass Paris Baguette, or stop there for a leisurely first course, then have a mango dessert here at Ma Mum. Ma and Mum? they have covered all the languages there.

You can see the counter at the front with pictures of food clearly displayed above. (I frst saw that picture menu system done everywhere in Japanese food places.)

On the right you can see the seating.

Mango

Terminal 4, Changi Airport, photo by Angela Lansbury, copyright.

According to their website, this branch is open from 7 am until 10.15 pm but they have another branch in Terminal 1, level one (ground floor) which is open 24 hours. An additional branch is in Tampines.
 
The Ma Mum menu includes kaya toast, beef rendang and much more. See their website.

https://www.mamum.sg/outlets
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Changi_Airport

Singapore is a great stopover between Russia or Europe and Australia. 

Travel Tips

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

australia.com

visitbritain.com

visitbritain.shop.com

visitbritain.org

visittheusa.co.uk

visitsingapore.com

Singapore Airlines: 

singaporeair.com

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/12/secret-travellers-seen-on-newton-station.html

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/01/cute-musicians-in-cartoons-on-toilet.html

See also my posts on Waterloo Street, The National Gallery, and Singapore's big attractions.

Plants For Tropical Balconies In Singapore

A vine on a balcony in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Problem
What can you plant on a Singapore balcony and how will you water it?

Answers
Look around at the balcony of nearby blocks or go to the allotments or simply chat to other people you meet.

ANTI-MOSQUITO
My first contact at an allotment told me about flowers which repel mosquitoes. A local garden centre sold us an anti-mosquito plant.

VINES
We didn't think vines would grow in warm Singapore, as they are mostly on cool hillsides. However, to our surprise we found a vine growing on a neighbour's balcony.

Our UK wine education expert told her that to get the best vine produced fruit, you prune a vine like a rose bush.

I queried this. I have seen rampant vines growing bunches of fruit over back walls of a house in back gardens.

The wine expert replied:
The grapevine plant puts its effort into woody branches and quantity rather than quality.

AVOCADO AND FRUIT
You can also grow:
Avocado plants from avocado stones. No need to fiddle around with the stone balanced on top of a bottle between two horizontal toothpicks over water, waiting for the roots to appear, like my mother in law recommended for growing a plant from a stone on a windowsill in the UK. Just stick the stone in water in a potting trough, water it once and wait for the regular rains to water it and it will grow.

Rosemary, which is rampant in London, England, also grows well on balconies in Singapore.

Papaya plants.
Mangoes.

MIDNIGHT PERFUME IN YOUR ROOM
Midnight flower
They open at midnight with a lovely aroma which lasts about two hours.

FREE DELIVERY OF POTTING COMPOST
Top Tip
No need to go to the garden centre and pay large sums for a small pack of compost. Order by phone, two packs of organic compost, and get the heavyweight sacks of potting compost delivered to your door for free. No need to feel guilty about making them take a special trip. They have vans circling the area.
regularly especially to a large condo.

Useful Websites
Before ordering compare prices.
www.Ogreenliving.com
https://www.qoo10.sg/shop/greenspade

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Fashion For Travel: Mail Order Holiday Clothes: Cape Blazers and white and pink or black blouses

I saw a girl on the Easyjet plane from the UK to Madeira. She was wearing a white cape blazer. Glamorous. Elegant. She was good enough to tell me where it came from. It was sold in white or black.

A cape blazer has a very strange construction. It's like a sleeveless jacket with a cape on top, fitted across the shoulders, with a large gap under the arms, and the cape extending the length of the arms.

Who do I rate tops
1 MANGO
White Cape Blazer
The Mango shop had only the white. I bought a Mango cape blazer in white in the sale at Funchal, capital of Madeira. When I got home I phoned their customer relations department to ask who had the black version. I eventually found the item available online in the UK, supposedly on sale but dearer than in the sale in Madeira - plus the postage.

I now knew the magic words to find what I wanted, cape blazer.

So I started hunting online on Amazon, eBay, Google, all over.

My verdict: Ten out of ten for style by Mango. Not so good on price, even in the sale. If travelling out of the UK, look for reduced prices in other countries.

Now that I have had other cape blazers, what can I say about Mango? Lined with a satin look lining. All stitching concealed. Hangs neatly, uncreased. Light yet thick. I went back and inspected it again. The reason it hands so well is that cape part is lined, as well as the body fitted sleeveless under jacket.

***

2 LAVISH ALICE
Burgundy Wine Cape Blazer
They also sell a cape blazer dress and split-front trousers (Americans say pants) and a cape blazer trouser suit.

I bought a second-hand Lavish Alice cape blazer from eBay in a huge size in wine colour. It was wonderful. I am now a fan of Lavish Alice Clothes.
A Lavish Alice cape Blazer was advertised at £27 by Asos Aug 30 2018 but out of stock.

It is lined.

It buttoned across the front so it stayed on. It hangs well.


The shoulders are not rounded but an angular design, but with the lining softening the shoulders, it seems to hang okay.
The label says the silky lining is polyester elastane like the main fabric. Do not iron. Do not dry clean. That'll save some people a bit of money.
Wash dark colours separately. Reshape whilst damp.

***

3 MISSGUIDED
White Cape Blazer
Note the name is miss as in Miss not misguided as in the adjective.
I bought a white cape blazer, very inexpensive, from ebay. It was a size 8 and I thought, that's much too small. But the price was cheap. I might be able to alter it.

I bid. I won.

The garment had a matching belt with a buckle. I eventually located the two slots for the buckle, not protruding tabs, slots. This holds the jacket in place, No flopping about. The belt creates a sleeker line - if you are slim. (If you are overweight you just emphasize your large booms. The metal-edged belt holes were generous enough in number to allow me to do up the belt even though the garment is size 8 and I am size 16.

The bodice part is lined, but not the cape. The shoulder is properly inset with curves and pintucks.

***

4 WHITEBIRD
White cape blazer. Large. Unlined. Shoulders with proper curved inset. I cannot find a website. I bought from ebay.


5 RUIYIGE
Pink cape blazer with red flower applique and button at neck.
Also comes in black and white.
The black would probably show the creases less, especially at night.This is sold on eBay by Twenga, Shopper.com and Shoptart.

On my screen the photo looks a slightly blueish pale pink. It's actually a more bright salmon colour.


RUIYIGE
Cape (rather than cape blazer).

I had expected a cape blazer and was initally disappointed with the cut and quality. It kept slipping off my shoulders, so I tied it up. Then I was much happier. Like a cape blazer it leaves your arms free. you might like to wear it with a long sleeve plain white top.

Square or T shape cut on shoulders. Single layer, no lining. You must turn back the two front vertical edges to hide the stitching.

 LILIGAL
Pink and white blouse
I kept typing lilgal, maybe because I am a little (short) girl.

Pink and White Blouse
Pink pintuck colour block blouse, button up.
This has a diagonal line, pink lower half, white sleeves and white pintuck top, pearly pink button with four holes sunk in the middle.
The back is half pink and half white as you can see from the left shoulder, on the right of the picture.

Liligal pink and white blouse with pintucks and pink buttons. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

$31.11 American dollars.
Lovely garment. Plenty room enough, with large sleeves and generous cut.

Not as glamorous on me as on the slim model. A slimmer fitting might have been more flattering. I ordered XXL large because so many garments are too small.

(I've had garments which were too small from China and from Patra in the UK, my favourite. In Singapore I bought satin reversible jackets and had to buy triple X to get them to fit over a sleeved dress or blouse.)

 I tried my Liligal blouse over a sleeveless dress and it still fitted.

The feel was great. Soft and stretchy. I wanted to wear it straight away.
Free returns.

I tried to give a review on their website but kept running into problems so I thought I would review it here.

I am now prepared to order the black version of the blouse, a size smaller.
***
Problems
Will items arrive in time for my holiday? Will they fit and match my other garments? What if I want to send it back?

Answers
These have been some of my recent experiences. Allow time.

Useful websites:
lavishalice.com
liligal.com
mango.com
http://missguided.co.uk
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/08/how-could-ebay-improve-customer.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
See my other posts covering eBay and Prolady cape blazer, Mail Order, Madeira. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Must Visit The Michelin Starred Harrow at Little Bedwyn Restaurant

Savoury dish at the Harrow at Little Bedwyn restaurant. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problem
Who can afford to eat at the top Michelin starred restaurants? Not as many people as would like to visit them.

Answer
Get on the mailing list and wait for a special offer.

Everything about this place is wonderful. The collection of carafes from Reidel Glass, which are for sale, look stunning. You can buy a carafe or glass. Maybe for a birthday or wedding anniversary.

We had a six-course meal with four matching wines for £60.

We began with olives. The starter was a tasty mulligatawny soup, mustard yellow. Cod was enhanced by January greens and truffle. The lamb was wonderful.

Surprise 'egg'. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Then came the surprise. Egg with soldiers. Looks like a boiled egg, served in an egg cup.  White meringue on top, hiding orange mango.

Rhubarb dessert. Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Finally rhubarb. A delight for the eye. The one which looks like a sandwich contains teeny pieces of ginger.

Definitely a place for a celebration.

The Harrow at little Bedwyn
Marlborough
Wiltshire
SN8 3JP
Tel: +44 (0) 1672 870 871
Email: office@theharrowatlittlebedwyn.com
Useful Websites
http://www.theharrowatlittlebedwyn.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my next post on nearby Cobbs Farm shop.

The Don restaurant's Delicious Food and Delightful Drinks

Three dessert wines, matched with desserts, at The Don restaurant in the City of London, England. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problem
What to drink and eat at The Don restaurant which has a new chef?

Answers
The menu of the day, two courses or three for a set price or a la carte? With a new chef and a new menu we chose different items from the a la carte menu.

Water
Water? Whilst waiting for an old friend (old in both senses, he is in his eighties), we asked for tap water. The jug came up immediately.

Waiters And Service Charges
I would have liked what I got when I lived in America years ago, (in the nineteen eighties) a jug of water with lemon already on the table. Also menus immediately. Wine and food menus. Why do I have to wait or negotiate? Menus should be either on the table or transported with us by a waiter.

In the good old days in America and England a waiter would pull out your chair, The folded napkin would be unfolded with a flourish. The waiter then drops the linen serviette into your lap.

The waiter would set the conversation rolling by asking, "Have you come far today?" That would allow you to speak neutrally about the traffic and transport, or reveal every detail of your home and work and holidays, family and friends.

Wine
With not just Great Britain's standard ten per cent service charge but twelve and a half per cent added for service (at The Don restaurant) I expect somebody to smile, given me lemon slices and menus, another big smile, and listen to my life story. Also tell me I've made a great choice of food. And explain the ingredients of the food and the label of the wine bottle. Plus guide me on my life's journey, telling me everything to see in this restaurant, the street, the city, his or her home town, and the world.

But I am the only woman in the room. I think at these menu prices all the business men in the room are more interested in important matters they are discussing. I suspect they are doing deals with each other, not as keen as I am to exchange banter with a well-trained waiter or two who glide silently and almost invisibly and discreetly out of earshot until we signal, that we want service, with a slow royal wave.

The men are discussing red wine, or white - depending on the food menu.

I make a lengthy search for a modestly priced Prosecco, which I cannot find. The menu has bottles of champagne at prices which would be rejected by a credit card, would require checking my bank balance and getting a divorce. Not uncommon nowadays on restaurant menus.

However, I locate three sweet wines under ten pounds on the dessert menu. But, of course, small sizes. I ask for the dessert menu and see that those wines are matched with the desserts so I shall wait. Back to the main menu.

Then I spot an English rose wine, a brand I have never heard of and never tried. Original. A new experience. The latest novelty, the latest development, news to us in England and most people worldwide, is English wine. English wine is also suitable because and I am sitting in an Olde English restaurant. The price is pleasingly modest.  Nearer five pounds then ten. Wonderful! And the result is perfect. Pleasantly pink. The taste? Not over dry. Just right.

FOOD
Bread
Two sorts of bread. Great. I choose the white with pieces of olive. The olive is perfect. It adds visual interest and flavour. The taste is not overpowering.

The butter is salty. (My companion, Mr anti-salt, objects.) I love salty butter. So flavoursome. Livens up the bread. Gets you salivating before you start eating. We have water as well as wine. No problem.

Oddly, the butter is melting in the dish, but the bread rolls are not hot. Why not?

Never mind. That's the mark of a good place. Whatever is not quite right you forgive them because everything else is so tip top perfect. The so-so is eclipsed by the stunning. If you had a balance, the see saw would tip down on the side of bad but the other side would rise up and hit the good bell.

Starters
My starter of salmon with contrasting orange with the green avoid was the most visually appealing.

However, I recommend the duck starter for top taste. Oh I must have more, must have that next time.

Main Courses
I liked my dish of chicken. Very tasty. Somebody else thought it was too salty. I thought it was just right.

However, I recommend the belly of pork with with scallop. Although I'm allergic to shellfish the sections seemed separate on the plate. So I risked trying part of this delicious dish. Um. Yum! Worth a special trip, or return visit to try it.


Dessert Drinks
The dessert drinks came up before the desserts. I thought that was odd. However, it turned out to suit me well. I found that the sweet drinks tasted sweet, deliciously sweet, before the desserts appeared. It was also good to see the three drinks together on the tray and appreciate the contrasting colours. The palest was the sauterne.

Dessert matched with Sauterne. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

My darker red was just right for me.

To my surprise, I should have anticipated, the sweet wines were not so sweet when tasted alongside the sweet desserts.

Desserts
I chose the chocolate and cherry dessert which had great flavour. The matching of the cherries and the bed wine was also a delight for the eye.

Chocolate and cherry dessert with matching wine. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

My fellow diners had two different desserts, both of which I tried. All good.

But if I had to choose or recommend one, it was the mango and passionfruit. Worth a special trip to try it.

Mango and passion fruit dessert, with matched wine. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Espresso coffee cup at The Don. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Finally, Free Sweet Tastes.
One person ordered espresso coffee which came up in a pretty cup.

Sweets at The Don. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

The free sweets at the end were matched to the number of diners, the people paying the final bill, not those who had ordered coffee. We received one square of 'marzipan' each. I thought it was more like fudge, sugary, smooth with hardly any taste of almond. Please add more almond next time. However, we universally agreed the 'marzipan' - did they make a mistake - it was fudge - was just right.

The teeny coconut cake, in a boat shape was also just right. Not overwhelming good but just right. I ate it first and finished with my 'fudge'.

We'd been emailed a prior notice about the new chef, Brixton born Frederick Forster, which we printed. He won the Roux scholarship for young chefs. So I recognised a familiar face when I saw him.

I asked, "Are you the chef?" He replied, "one of the chefs". From what I've read before, sometimes a big restaurant has an overall chef, a specialist in starters, and a specialist in desserts.

Special Summer Offer For 2017
Note to myself and you. Our fifty per cent offer was for the a la carte food, not the set meal nor the wine. The offer I received was for the summer menu and began July 4th and ends August 31st 2017. If you are hoping to get it, make sure you ask and tell them when booking.

Regular Wine Dinners and Tastings
Their next wine dinner is Tuesday July 11, 2017, today! Featuring Domaine Ott.

For reservations call 020 7626 2606.

Get on their mailing list for invitations to future events.

Verdict
Great restaurant for enjoying food, drink history and sitting with friends, for business, entertaining, events and special occasions.

Location
The restaurant is indoors on a day when it is raining, overcast, or too hot. But if you want to walk off the calories, see the outdoors, see more of London, after your meal go back down the lane, cross the road and you can see the river Thames at the end of the street with bridges such as Tower Bridge. (See next post.)

The Don restaurant
The Courtyard
20 St Swithins Lane
EC4N 8AD
Tel: 020 7626 606
www.thedonrestaurant.com
www.thesignofthedon.com

TOURIST INFORMATION
USEFUL WEBSITES
https://tfl.gov.uk
https://art.tfl.gov.uk/projects/permanent-commission-by-daniel-buren/
www.visitlondon.com
www.londonpass.com
www.visitbritain.org

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. If you need a write, speaker, or teacher of languages please contact me. If not, simply read on. I have more posts on The Don and London restaurants and restaurants and attractions worldwide, everywhere from London to Cambodia and Romania.
Please share links to your favourite posts.

Instant Indonesian and Malay Language

If you go to Indonesia the language you see is the same as the language in Malaysia. If you go to Malaysia the language is the same as in Indonesia. If you go to Singapore, the four languages are English, Mandarin (Chinese), Tamil, Malay. You will see the Malay words on your train carriage and bus and at the airport. Your Malay Muslim taxi driver will appreciate hearing a few words of Malay.

Even if you don't know enough to speak fluently, you can point to written words, understand answer, follow what staff are calling to each other in restaurants and hotels, or asking at reception. If you are doing business, when you don't speak enough to converse, it helps to know roughly what people are saying, whether you will reach an agreement, stop for coffee, whether you are being praised, ignored, or insulted whether the man who is angry and leaving the room in mid-meeting has just heard there is a bomb scare, or a pizza delivery, or his pen has run out of ink.

Problem
How do I learn Malay or Indonesian in a hurry or easily?

Answer
Start with these words:
1 Words you often see on signs. (1 Because they are needed. 2 Because the frequent repetition will help you remember.)
2 Words which are identical or so similar in both languages that they are easy to recognise and remember.
3 Words which are essential.

Tips - words which are similar in English and Malay / Indonesian
Bahasa Malay (Malay Language) - English
a m b u l a n s - ambulance
apel - apples
apotek - chemist
bank - bank
b i r - beer
b o t o l - bottle
cartu credit - credit card
d o k t e r - doctor
d u a - two (as in "a duo" or 'dual citizenship")
Halo - hello
j a k e t - jacket
k a m e r a - camera
k a r t u - card
k a r t u p o s - postcard
kilo - kilo
komisinya - commission
k o n s e r - concert
lift - lift
m a n g g a - mango
melon - melon
mobile - car (not a mobile phone but a vehicle which keeps you mobile or moving)
nama - name
orang - person (as in orang u t a n g )
p a s p o r -passport
p i l - pill
p o l i s i - police
Pon sterling - pound sterling
p o s - post
rekening - bill/reckoning
tomat - tomatoes
turis - tourist
W.C. - toilet
ya - yes

English - Malay
Ambulance - a m b u l a n s
apple - a p e l (spaces inserted to thwart auto spell check)
bank - bank
beer - b i r
bottle - b o t o l
camera - k a m e r a
card - K a r t u
concert - k o n s e r
bill/reckoning - rekening
car - mobil
chemist (UK) or pharmacy (USA) - apotek
commission - Komisinya
credit card - k a r t u k r e d i t
doctor - d o k t e r
hello - halo
jacket - j a k e t
kilo - kilo
lift
mango - m a n g g a
melon - melon
name - nama
passport - p a s p o r
pill - p i l
police - p o l i s i
post - p o s
postcard - k a r t u p o s
pound sterling - pon sterling
toilet - w.c.
tourist - turis
two - d u a (as in dual citizenship or a duo)
tomatoes - tomat
yes - ya

Tip - Spelling
As you may have noticed, in Malay and Indonesian the letter c or ck with a hard coughing sound are show by the letter K.



Angela Lansbury, author and speaker. Books on Amazon and Lulu.com . Please like my posts, follow and share.

My Mango Misadventure

Problem
You see items on the floor. Your first thought might be - it's free, free goods, free food, unwanted. Your second thought might be, but it's dirty. Your next thought might be, put it in a plastic bag and wash it later. More thoughts. You should not take what doesn't belong to you. You are not supposed to take fruit from trees. But what about windfalls?
Put me down - you don't know where I've been! What could go wrong?

Answer
I picked up a mango. I could not see which tree it came from. I picked it up. It made a lovely / dreadful smell in my tote bag. I had visions of home made mango lassi.

Story
When we got our windfall mango home, we washed it. Then we cut it. Out pops spider or something similar.

We try cutting out one side of the fruit. But the other side is affected.

Er - no. Not worth the risk. I need not go into details.

OK, I'll go into details:
1 Yuk - as the old joke goes, the only thing worse than seeing a worm in the apple you are eating is seeing half a worm.
2 You could get an upset stomach.
3 It could multiply.
4 You could excrete living creatures.
5 You could get one living creature stuck and growing in any part of your body causing irritation, pain, a growth.

Presumably cultivated fruit (on trees in orchards) is sprayed against insects. Maybe fruit trees in public places are also sprayed to reduce the numbers of insects causing problems and infecting other trees. Maybe not.

I have great respect for farming methods and farmers. I have had such trouble with everything in my UK garden, from aphids on roses to slugs in strawberries to insects eating fruit on trees and birds eating fruit on trees and making holes in fallen fruit and leaving only half of each windfall apple.

Never mind, say the family. It didn't cost anything. Learning experience.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.