That said, a few friends have already been incredibly generous. Gifts have arrived in the post, been hand-transported from Texas, and tonight one colleague invited us around to raid his baby supplies – and we came away with a carload of awesome kit perfectly suited for Hippo’s arrival.

Hippo’s the first grandchild on either side of the family (there are a few grand nieces and nephews about, but not that many), so we’re the first ones to have to get this stuff since we were kids. So we’re unbelievably grateful to you all. Please, take a bow. And our thanks.

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Being told that South Asians, in addition to having a higher propensity for diabetes, also have a greater propensity for gum diseases, makes me feel a bit like a genetic fluke, and worry a little about Hippo’s state of being.

Here’s yet another reason to hope s/he takes after his/her mother.

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I’ve made endless spreadsheets of things we need to do and buy before the little one, code-named ‘Hippo’ until s/he arrives, which Amanda is doing her best to ignore (the spreadsheets, not the nickname – Amanda came up with that).

And we’ve had dozens of lovely conversations with interested friends and family about the new arrival. I’ll answer some of them here for you, beloved readers.

1. Do we know if it’s a boy or a girl?
No. We’re excited about the surprise, and would decorate neutrally anyway!
2. Have we discussed names?
Yes, we’ve started to, anyway. No final decisions taken as yet, except definitely *not* Hippo.
3. Are you telling?
No.
4. Are you going for the classes?
Yes, we’re doing the NCT classes in Basingstoke in a few weeks time.
5. Basingstoke?
Yep, we’re moving. S/he will be a Hampshire Hippo. I’ll still be commuting into London as I love my job.
6. Are you going to get any sleep when s/he arrives?
Probably not.
7. Will you go running with the child?
No. See this post.
8. Are you anxious?
As above, kind of too busy to be anxious. Recent experience babysitting my cousin tells me that I will be anxious, but as the Hippo’s Mormor (Danish for ‘mother’s mother’) will be 5 minutes away, we’re reassured that experienced wisdom is nearby.
9. Have you bought/chosen…?
Virtually nothing yet, except for the car (my fault). Our friends Farrah & Vik sent some lovely gifts and we’re getting some lovely offers from some of my Brands2Life colleagues for the kit you only need for the first three months. I am seeing the pram as yet another car purchase, but this one Amanda is leading. Advice on everything appreciated.

More fatherhood posts will ensue in the fullness of time; in the meantime if you’re interested in parenting blogs, my friend Ricky Bobby has started one over here.

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I’m sorry I haven’t been posting much here lately. Truth is, I’ve been busy. Busy with work, the new running regimen, and… planning for the arrival of ‘Hippo’, our child to be, due in October! The name is clearly a work in progress…

Needless to say we’re delighted and keeping fingers crossed everything goes well. I imagine the ‘soup’ oriented focus of this blog might change somewhat when Hippo arrives…

In the meantime, find me on Twitter or Facebook, or on the LSR if you want to keep up to date with my happenings, but stay subscribed here… as a great man once said, “I’ll be back.”

Cheers, Armand

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Le Pain Quotidien, those Belgian bakers that make our daily bread, also make soup. This was my lunch for today – organic red pepper and carrot. No idea on calorie count, so can’t do my standard review but…

Taste? Meh. It was OK. Not enough spice. Carrot marries to coriander so well, its kind of a mystery to me as to why anyone would leave the carrot unpaired with some healthy spice.

Fillingness? Generally sceptical of pure veg soups without meat or a pulse in there – just not substantial enough. The bread it came with is awesome though, a nice walnut rye and a really lovely piece of artisan white french stick.

So I’ll probably try their soup again… but maybe not this one.

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For those not in the know, the wine aerator lets you pour a single glass of wine and instantly aerate it – run air through it – which does a number of things. It helps break down the tannins, softening the taste of the wine, and according to Epic Portions improves the nose, body and finish of the wine.

From my experience with it, it definitely does improve the taste of wine, whether its is a budget bottle that needs growing up, or an expensive bottle that needs time to breath. It’s also brilliant for people that want to have a glass of wine per night and then seal up the bottle with a wine vacuum pump.

I’m slightly bemused by the fact that there’s a version for white wine as (a) I can’t see it not being the same thing and (b) I can’t see it helping, most white wine I’ve had seems to oxidize badly on over-aeration (not to mention the fact that it may warm too much).

Nonetheless, it gets my thumbs up as a clever gift idea.

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1) The iPhone 3GS. Never loved a phone before; now I do. Invaluable piece of tech as a productivity and entertainment tool. Am an addict, apparently, or so says Amanda. I’m still not a full blown member of the cult of Jobs, but this device I love.

2) Sony PRS 505 e-Book reader. Now an old model, this e-Book reader, with e-Ink, long battery life, effectively infinite storage capacity and usable open-source software has made travelling much more relaxed for me. Gone are the days of carrying multiple books on short trips (I read too fast!).

3) The MSI Wind netbook. For when the iPhone is not enough… it’s good to have a bit more edge in a package that weighs about 1.5kg with a battery life of about 5 hours.

4) Dell Studio XPS 13. For when the Wind is not enough. Beautiful LED screen, keyboard, sculpted design and great speakers for a laptop. Finally let me retire my 5 year old IBM Thinkpad R40.

5) Not really a purchase, but I traded for a Nikon D80 with Arvind. I’m not much of a photographer but the D80 makes things look really classy. I just need to work out how it works properly now…

In 2010… the only piece of tech I’m excited about is the new Apple tablet (if that happens), though I’ll be watching what happens with Android in anticipation of my next phone upgrade in early 2011. That said, if 3D TV becomes affordable and more compelling (having seen Avatar, I’m intrigued but not sold on home 3D TV), if people come up with some tech that I haven’t even imagined rather than just a “faster horse”, well, then, I won’t be held responsible for my actions…

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It was oodles of fun and hoping that the rest of y’all had an appropriately uproarious time.

Here’s hoping for a spectacular 2010 for us all.

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Inspired by too much Saturday Kitchen reading too many food blogs, a desire to reciprocate my mother-in-law’s amazing culinary generousity, and a bit more time than I should have, I collaborated with my brother-in-law James to create a three course meal for Amanda and Ulla between Christmas and New Year. After 6 hours of shopping and cooking, the courses were:

Roast butternut squash soup

Roast loin of pork with crunch crackling with a port gravy, served with
Roast potatoes
Stewed red cabbage with apple and red wine
Shredded and whole stir-fried brussel sprout leaves in a Vichy-style sauce
Golden-syrup glazed roast chanterey carrots

Stewed apples and blackberries with chewy meringues and vanilla ice-cream

It was a fairly spectacular meal and James and I had huge fun creating it – from traipsing up and down Portobello road sourcing all the ingredients (highlight; my not realising a butcher was halal and asking if he had a loin of pork… to be served with the friendly rejoinder “quick, shoot him!”), to managing multiple ovens in the house to get everything cooked on time, to James’ handy timing schedule.

Of course, given my affection for soup I thought I’d give you the low-down on Mr Worral Thompson’s soup recipe from the BBC’s food archives (btw, Pob (my friend who works on the BBC food site!) , if you’re reading this, your search still doesn’t work! I had to dig it up via Google!) — it is awesome. Whilst I’m not sure it was necessary to roast he butternut squash in multiple segments (halves would have worked and reduced cooking time) the final result of the soup was rich, sweet and savoury in one, perfect consistency and really, really moreish. Next time we make it, I might try adding some curry flavouring to add an exotic hint to a very British winter soup. Served with a “cheffy drizzle” of olive oil, this was a perfect winter warmer.

If you’re curious about the rest of the menu, let me know and I’ll write more!

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If you’re more into the environmental side of things, my friend Damian is reporting from the conference for Prospect (and has been writing for the BBC in the run-up to it). All worth checking out, and a great overview of some of the issues under discussion and (on Prospect) a feel for the show.

Sorry for lack of posts of late. There’s been no new soup, work’s been manic, as has the Christmas routine which has seen us away most weekends. Expect blogging between Christmas and New Year, as I attempt DIY and to resume my fitness regimen.

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Anecdotes and some pictures follow, but for the full sets…

Click here to see photos from the UK wedding at Highfield Park, Hampshire, or click here to order photos from Photobox.
Click here to see photos from the Malaysian celebrations .
Click here to see photos from our honeymoon in Borneo.

Here we go…

It’s been the most miraculous few weeks. Here’s a recounting.

Friday, 9 October 2009
Made it out to Old Basing as preparations for the wedding reached their final stages. Months of managing suppliers, building ever growing Google Docs, elaborate budgeting and all the rest of it were coming to a head. Amanda and I made a trip or two out to the venue to deliver final bits and pieces (favours, seating plans, photo montages etc) before retiring back to Whytegates for tea and cake with the Danes ahead of the wedding rehearsal at St Mary’s with Father Andrew. 5pm neared… and my family had gotten stuck in traffic, sadly not making it for the rehearsal… but this was mostly logistics in any event, and was followed by drinks at Whytegates (Amanda’s family home) and then dinner at Barton’s Mill with my family and best men as Amanda dinnered with the Danes and her family at another village pub, the Bolton Arms. Whilst there was absolutely nothing stressful about the evening – lots of smiles and happiness and anticipation – there was no doubt some day-before nerves going on. Was great to have a quiet drink with Damo and Matt, Sheila, Dave, Arvind & Simran and some of the Danes from Amanda’s family (Jokke, Thomas, Matilde) before collapsing around midnight.

Saturday, 10 October 2009
Started early for me. 6am, up and excited (and a little anxious, I guess!) ahead of the big day. Tried to get a bit more sleep but finally gave up at 7am and went for a (slightly treacherous) run – there were few paths marked out so was just jogging randomly cross country, trying to not let my ankles give way in random rabbit holes!

This was followed by breakfast with the family and final preparations for the day, which included a careful shave, less careful shirt ironing (I’m really not good at this), and much helium balloon inflating. Richard helped us prep the cars with purple ribbon, James taught me how to tie balloons to ribbon (something I’d never before managed) and Sarah arrived to help weight them in clumps around the room. James and I hooked the Wii up and prepped the games room as the venue finalised the table arrangements. I didn’t stop moving, even when there was little need for it – as you’d expect nervous energy kept everything moving quickly. Lunch was skipped (after a substantial breakfast, it wasn’t really needed) and we headed to the church an hour ahead of time. James and Richard ushed like kings, and Robin, Sheila, Arvind and Damo and Matt arrived to back them up closer to the kick off time.

Greeting everyone was amazing; the excitement (mostly mine, but a lot shared by our loved ones) was palpable and the atmosphere electric. Around 2.50pm, I headed into the church to stand at my mark and anticipate Amanda’s arrival. Standing in front of the congregation of close friends and family was exhilarating; wonderful to see everyone and amazing to have such an event for us witnessed by them all.

Just before 3pm Father Andrew arrived, letting me know that I was lucky to have both a bride and him (he’d got the time wrong in his diary and was planning on being there an hour late until his wife spotted the collection of people around the church!!)… and the service started. Amanda walked in and the grin and excitement that had been present in some form all day suddenly had a focal point. No doubt every husband would say this of his wife, but I was utterly floored by her elegance and beauty as she walked up the aisle with her brother, perfect in every way. I’d somehow avoided any nerves to this point but started to get slightly anxious here, until James gave me her hand – at which point I noticed her nerves and I took a decision to be strong for this woman who would be my wife, smiled and held her hand firmly and calmly and with immense pride and joy. A feeling that will no doubt remain with me for the rest of my life. I had only a vague impression of the rest of the congregation (much as I love my friends and family, my attention was elsewhere for those minutes) but I’m told that the look on my face gave a very clear sense of exactly how happy and excited I was at what was about to happen.

The readings were delivered by Sheila and Luke. Sheila read ‘Today‘ (penultimate poem on that site) – an anonymous poem that captures much of the essence of how close Amanda and I feel to each other, and the happiness we feel at coming together. The bible reading by Luke was 1 Corinthians, chapter 13 – which talks of the power of love. Father Andrew’s sermon talked to the impact he felt from the presence of our friends and family, and of the evident love we had for each other before he conducted the service and we exchanged rings. Amanda had arranged with Marion and Pob that they would perform ‘A Whole New World‘, from Aladdin, listed in the programme as ‘Panis Angelicus‘ — a very different tune! A lovely surprise, a song Amanda and I both love. Our mums witnessed our signatures… and that was it! We were totally married.

The grins did not fade for a moment as we processed out of the church for a photo session with our excellent photographer and family and friends, which Robin facilitated with discreet shouting as we posed in the late-summer sunshine that had graced the afternoon. The four bridesmaids flanked Amanda, decked out in beautiful handmade dresses painstakingly crafted for the occasion by Moster and Hanne (with the input of the girls, naturally!).

The drive over (capably handled by Richard in his new Mazda 6 after I gave up the plan to drive us in Tomlins’ Aston — too risky given the heady mood!) was a tizz of emotions – Richard providing a great counterpoint to Amanda and my exhilirated excitement with the wisdom of one who has been through the exact same set of feelings the year before.

Late summer sun graced us as we drew up to Highfield Park and our Pimms was taken on the lawn as the guests arrived at the venue. Our very capable photographer took a bunch of spectacular photos in the beautiful late summer sunshine as we chatted to friends, still grinning inanely and totally exhilarated.

Eventually, Amanda threw the bouquet, caught by her chief bridesmaid, the lovely Matilde (only 15, but clearly setting ambitions!) even as friends of ours more of age of potential marriage shied away from the potential catch!

Our harpist provided a lovely wave of background music as we chatted and photographs were taken.

Damian struck the gavel and we found our seats for dinner. We’d named the tables after different types of jam and had a lovely seating plan put together (photo, link). We did our best to make our rounds of the tables, even as our guests tried to guess our combined weight in a bid to win the jam in our menu-card quiz (I was lifted and inspected by many – my recent weightloss making it harder to gauge my status!).

The speeches were… spectacular. James welcomed me graciously into the family and explained the excitement they felt at having us come together, as a couple and into their family. The Danish family, led by Moster and Annie, delivered a moving speech and a spectacular song written especially for the occasion. Damian spoke emotionally of the friendship we’ve shared, paraphrasing Iggy Pop. After dessert, I made my efforts at speechifying, with the relatively straightforward job of thanking people and telling of the greatness of my wife. Matt followed me, telling of my smoothness and keeping me perfectly on edge whilst delivering a moving tribute and never exceeding the bounds of propriety. Arvind’s spectacular closing speech took us to 10.15, using Superman as a metaphor for me, and drawing entertaining and profound insights into my relationship with Amanda. I, for one, was rapt, and I know a number of the audience were in stark disbelief that we’d held everyone’s interest as late as we had!

No time to regain composure; we quickly totted up the quiz scores (slightly accurately) and awarded the jam, cut the beautiful cake that Rosemary had crafted for us (photo) – I genuinely thought the flowers were real until closer inspection revealed the detailed sugarwork Rosemary had put in!

…and then a dash to the dance floor where my friend Ben (of Urusen) had set up for us to perform Impossibly together, a song which has always spoken to me — Ben originally wrote it as he failed to court a girl he had a crush on at school. For me, it expresses the impact meeting Amanda had on me – stirring a longing I didn’t know I had, and a complete lack of knowledge as to what to do about it. Until eventually… Anyway, I sang through to the first chorus with Ben and then put the guitar away and danced with my wife. It was magical.

More dancing, an electric lightshow and capable DJ-ing followed, before sparklers came out and the delicious cake and some needed late night salty food. Following a quick repeat performance of Impossibly, Amanda and I snuck off, confident we’d get the chance to bid our farewells at the breakfast the following day… and just like that, the wedding day was over! Exhilirated, excited, thrilled to have my wife by my side. A lovely way to round off a perfect day.

11th October
The day after kicked off with a full cooked breakfast (my diet went on hold from this point till the end of the honeymoon…), after which we bid farewell to all and headed over to Whytegates for a download with Amanda’s family and to open a few gifts. Still happy, I made use of my freshly acquired driving license to get Amanda home to London, where we repeated the process with my family and finalised packing ahead of…

12th October
…the flight to Malaysia. Long, made marginally more comfortable as SIA’s A380 is significantly more comfortable than the aging 747s in use by MAS an others. My eBook reader continued to prove useful as sleep evaded me for most of the flight (Amanda too, daytime flights are a pest), but we happily deconstructed the wedding further and continued grinning, in between watching silly films (Ice Age 3 – bad, Angels and Demons – better than expected, The Hangover – not as good as they hype). Eventually home, by which point it was…

13th October
We were immediately greeted by tonnes of excited family. Aunts and cousins had arrived at the house and my Dad proudly gave us a tour of the garden Aunty Narindar had sculpted (amongst a dozen other bits of home improvement my parents had commissions in anticipation of the nuptials). Whilst family catching up was happening, we downloaded Chris’ spectacular photos from the UK wedding and arranged to have some prints made (thanks to Sheila), whilst Aunty Sharm helped parents grapple with the seating plan and Ashvina made name cards and sorted out photo montages (that Lilt had done so ably for us in the UK). We also met Jovita, the tireless wedding planner that had been supporting my parents with every step of the process. Eventually, we headed over to our hotel (and the venue for the wedding) after borrowing Mum’s care and driving ourselves back, and collapsed.

14th October
We woke early and sorted ourselves out ahead of the big KL day of the wedding – proceedings started as soon as we arranged for our luggage to be moved to the new room (we were provided a suite for the night of the Malaysian reception!) and made our way home. We were greeted by a host of unusually punctual family, and there was much hugging and further grinning. My parents had arranged for Father Michael Raymond to oversee a blessing, and my cousin Shayna had got her friends Steven & I-Ping to be our photographers. James had flown over the day before as well and so was rushing around meeting everyone, representing all of Amanda’s family. My mother read the same passage from Corinthians here, and the service was brief but perfectly formed – Father Michael had a confident and reassuring tone and was surprisingly on the money with his assessment of us despite only having met us some 15 minutes before conducting the service.

After some champagne, photos and toasts, were were off to Kanna’s curry house, our local banana leaf restaraunt for a roti canai breakfast, one of my favourite things and a lovely informal way to spend the morning with the family who had attended the blessing.

After that – siesta was on the agenda, but I used much of the time revising my speech for an audience that knew us on the whole slightly less well than the UK crowd before a trip back to the hotel and prep once again for the evening.

On arrival at the ballroom in the evening, we were immediately whisked off for some incredibly cheesey but quite good posed photographs before we welcomed people for a couple of hours. The photo montages Ashivna had assembled following Ivan, Geeta & the rest of the family’s tireless scanning, incorporating photos of Amanda’s friends and family too, were on proud display in reception, as well as the prints of Chris’s and Onkel’s photos from London, and my cousins Geets and Shayna helped people give gifts and find their tables.

The meal was special here again. Where in the UK we had a traditional Beef Wellington, in Malaysia I was keen to avoid the traditional 8 course Chinese banquet and we’d selected instead an inspired Indian fusion menu. Of course, as in England, little time for eating as we rotated around the tables for food – we’d named the tables after signficant places to us for this reception – so we had talking points even when we didn’t know the tables quite so well. Of course my family were strategically placed around the room and acting as spectacular hosts.

The speeches came around again; my Dad delivered the perfect host’s welcome, James expressed his happiness for Amanda and myself and delivered a welcome to his family and the best wishes of all the Browns in England and the Danish family. Sheila delivered a moving tribute, having been promoted to “best man” for this leg of the wedding before I delivered my expanded tribute to Amanda. All the while, Arvind ably MC-ed and we seemed to hold the attention of the room well, despite concerns that the KL attention span would not match the UKs…

After this, we cut the cake – Aunty Ann had organised it and it was pretty impressive – an exact replica of the picture we’d sent suggesting it should look “a bit like this”! Shortly after, the first dance (I didn’t play it this time but did introduce Impossibly again), and then everyone was ready for dancing. There were many personalities on, from Shayna and her determination to party, Leslie and his incredible energy, Uncle Naidu and his trademark moves — he even got James sampling some traditional Indian dance! And of course I chipped in with my standard ‘big fish, little fish’ school of dance moves and low-altitude dancing. Many people left relatively soon after the dancing began; after all it was a big night for a Wednesday and many had travelled some considerable distance (Singapore, Penang, Ipoh, Ampang etc) to be there. Eventually, the night wound down with Arvind and James (and Shayna and Leslie and others) leading further dancing in KL whilst Amanda and I collapsed, properly tired…

15th October 2009 – 25th October
And just like that, it was all over. Months of planning… you’d think it’d be an anticlimax, but it really, really wasn’t. We were (are!) just completely over the moon, happy, loved and in love, having had an amazing celebration with the most amazing friends and family.

The next few days were as perfect as the wedding celebrations; a day’s shopping and relaxing in KL, four nights in Kota Kinabalu including trips to Manukan and Mamutik islands (we were on a boat! twice!), a night in Sandakan including a comedy heritage walk, a night in Sepilok and some spectacular Orang-Utans, 2 nights at the amazing Sipadan-Kapalai dive resort where we had a honeymoon chalet and were greeted with bougavillea arranged into hearts on the bed, snorkelled with millions of fish, and had sea-turtles swim by to bid us good night each evening.

The main ‘event’ outside us having a spectacular time was Sheila’s announcement of her engagement to Dave!! Needless to say, we’re ecstatic about this (although we’re also happy its not us that are the organisers of their shindig next year!). Dave’s a great guy and look forward to having him as a brother-in-law.

A big thank you to everyone for the parts they played in making our celebration so special. It’s a day that will stay with us forever.

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LOTSA nice wine
2 races to the sea at night
1 batch of throwing rocks and rocks
2x 5k runs to East Wittering & back (from WW)
1x 13th place ‘Special Award’ in Go-Kart tourney
1x Aston Martin drive
1x Boat drive
1x rubber ring tow behind said boat
1x Morris Minor drive
2x swims in sea (in September, in England)
1x session of dance music in a barn in the middle of nowhere (Thursdays, people)
2x absinthe and some other unspecified alcoholic beverages
12x candles & flame torches welcoming us home at 4am on Saturday
17x superhero t-shirts
LOTSA BACON
Some marmite

And crucially:
18x amazing friends and friend’s parents hosting us.

I may supplement this list as other bits of awesomeness I experienced this weekend resurface in memory…

Gradually getting back to normal today…

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If I lose 1lbs, I will be below 13 st for the first time in years.

If I lose 2lbs, I will drop below 180lbs for the first time in I don’t know how long.

If/when I lose approx 3.5kg more, I will be a ‘Light Heavyweight‘ for the first time in years. I will also have lost 20% of my body mass this year.

If I lose 4-5kg more, I will happily be in the ‘ideal’ weight class on the BMI scale (pre-wedding target) – no longer overweight!

If I lose 14lbs, I’ll be under 12 stone for the first time in forever.

If I lose 8 kg, I’ll be a super-middleweight.

If I lose 10kg, I’ll be a middleweight.

If I lose 11kg, I’ll be in the middle of my ideal weight band (post-honeymoon goal), and I’ll shift into maintenance gear.

It’s incredibly satisfying to have Wii Fit display the message “you have lost 1 st and 8 lbs”… of course, I haven’t been using it often and I had gained the excess weight to begin with, but gradually getting there…

Cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to no longer being on a diet…

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A champagne pyramid – people really want these?

Slide shows from the church the same day. Really – instant nostalgia needed? Digital photography has much to answer for.

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