Experimenting using picnik software

Yesterday was a bank holiday due to the labor day fell on Sunday. So we were having quite a productive day walking around the city, with a mission: finding new camera! Before we started, we decided to have lunch in "La Stella". Heard about this restaurant long time ago from few friends, but never have the chance to come and try. So we decided to come by yesterday to give it a try. And lunch menu costs cheaper than evening one. The 2-courses menu cost GBP 16, contain of starter (approx cost GBP 6) and main course (approx GBP 12), so you save around GBP 2.

I love the environment so much, so clean and fresh, although it is a small space. So eventually, you will need to book in advance (for as early 2 weeks) for lunch or dinner. But not in Monday and Tuesday. So we were lucky, we got the table that day, and we were the first guess they had that day.

The walls were decorated with artistic photos, I love all their photos, made it have a modern taste. Since we were hunting a new camera that day, all those photos made me more excited than ever!

The table was decorated with a fresh petit orchid. I adore this creativity, by putting it on a square vase on top of water, made you feel fresher!

Then we had a basket of bread with butter and some spread, taste delicious. But the bread is just a normal bread, we actually expected a baguette which will taste nicer.

And here is my starter: a prawn cocktail in a jar! It was decorated with a crisp biscuit, a lemon wedges, and a deep fried/tempura prawn. I don't really enjoy the tempura prawn somehow. But the the prawn cocktail itself is ok, and just when I was going to finish it, I realized they put lettuce shredded at the bottom, which I do not want to eat anymore since it's too late, all my prawn has gone.

Mr JH ordered smoked salmon with poach egg and hollandaise sauce, I am not too sure about the taste, since I did not try it. But I think Mr JH said it's ok.

And for the main course, I chose a sea bass fillet with potato and salsa sauce. Don't really love the salsa sauce, but enjoy the fish fillet. But thinking about it, GBP 12 for a fillet is just too expensive. Sea bass is very cheap fish, I can get it from Asda for GBP 3.60 for the whole fish.

Mr JH ordered a big pot of mussels in creamy sauce with chips. After Mr JH ordered this, I realized that the mussels were actually also in starter menu, exactly the same but no chips, and cost only GBP 6. And we saw other guess ordered it as starter and having the same big pot.

After the rewarding lunch, we started our journey, visiting all the electronics store: Jessops, Currys, Argos, PC World, and Comet. And found out Jessops (the first shop we visited) is the cheapest one. Our current camera Canon G7 is actually good enough, but based on our consideration we were looking better quality but more compact. My hobby in travelling and snapping pictures wherever I go, made me wanting a compact camera. But when you upgrade your tools, you have to upgrade to a better one, not practical one. The price of the compact camera is similar with the DSLR. So we decided to just go with the DSLR, although I still have my eye on Lumix TZ8 or Sony WX7. I am interested in Sony camera since they have a 'background defocus' mode which usually you can only get with a DSLR.

After that, we decided to look for a French patisserie in Aberdeen, wanted to try macaroon, after the Laduree macaroon I bought in Paris. It is confirm Laduree is better, although the macaroon in cheaper by almost half price here. In terms of structure and taste, Laduree wins. But the lady who served us is friendly.

For the dinner, we decided to get a nearby place near home, but delicious, and I miss Chinese food. So we walked, and on the way, we found lots of cherry blossom tree along the road. And all are blossoming beautifully. Because of the weather, I think Aberdeen has a late blossom season for flower. Cherry blossom will only blossom during spring time and then withered. And in Paris, there is no more cherry blossom, since it was so hot there at this time. So I can still enjoy the beauty of cherry blossom here, while I can.

Because of the wind, the cherry blossom petals started to fall down, loads of them.

And then we had dinner in Shanghai Lou Restaurant. We ordered jasmine tea (which is free), spicy bean, sweet sour pork which tasted sweet, and century egg (the black egg). Mr JH ate almost 3 bowls of rice because he love the food so much and also because of the spiciness. Btw, the rice costs GBP2 which I found quite expensive.

After all I satisfied with the picnik software, but it is sooooo slowwwww just to edit each photos, since it is online software. I have reduced my photo size and stilll it is sloww. But think, it's worthed to get a good result =D