Filed under: Travel
Clearly I’ve been caught with the travel bug this month because I’m in Sydney right now!
Even though it is winter here, the weather has been pleasantly mild with sunshine and blue skies (fingers crossed this will continue on the week). I have actually lost count of the number of times I’ve been to Sydney, since I frequently came here as a teenager. Deprived of Abercrombie in Hong Kong, I used to think I was in shopping heaven and I’d happily whiz back and forth around Center Point stocking up. Dotti, General Pants and SDS were my favourites.
But things have definitely changed since then. Now that I’ve met Abercrombie and made the acquaintance of a host of other international designers, it no longer seems that exciting to be whizzing around Center Point. In fact, Dotti at Center Point has disappeared (though my friend assures me that it still exists in a more sophisticated version of its former self. I just checked, their site still exists!). Come to think of it, a lot of Center Point has disappeared due to a (much needed imo) renovation.
Now I feel a bit at loss for where to go! Maybe it’s time I did some more exploring of Sydney.
Update: Thanks for all the comments! In the end, I put forth the cream Alberta Ferretti dress and the blue Carmen Marc Valvo dress for the vote. Rest assure, we are going to get the one we choose made in a champagne color that will not clash with the bride’s.
We haven’t done the vote yet, but the competition looks tough. There are some pretty strong competitions from styles that the other bridesmaid’s have posted. I shall keep you updated on the progress!
*****
Marriage has always been something I’ve thought of in the distant future. But maybe it isn’t so distant after all. Recently, people I know just keep on getting engaged! The first one to tie the knot, is my high school friend C, whom I’ve known since we were 12. HG and I are going to be part of her bridal party in October. One of our first tasks, is to come up with bridesmaid dresses.
After doing some preliminary window shopping, we’ve narrowed it down to 2 things:
- The length of our dresses should be the same. We agreed that for this wedding, floor length would be most elegant
- We will go with a creamish brown color to compliment all the different colors of the bride’s dresses and to go with the chocolate theme
For the rest, we decided to each do some research to find a suitable style and reconvene later to do a vote on which one to get made. Here is my research:
To compliment all body shapes, I thought that maybe this very simple and demure dress by Alberta Ferretti might be a good option. Though I do worry that it might turn out matronly.
Ok, this red Armani is a bit va va voom. But I was thinking maybe something similar, (in our color of course) with a less v neckline?
Being quite flat-chested myself, I’m not a fan of strapless dresses (I worry that it might fall off and I won’t even notice!). Thinking outside of the box, I thought, why not one shoulder gowns? They are trendy right now, and they won’t fall off! I’m loving this elegant one shoulder dress from Carmen Marc Valvo.
But then this one by Theia is so pretty too- especially the flower!
And what about this one from Aidan Mattox? The neckline is like a half halter and the sleeves is kind of interesting.
I can only recommend 2 of these dresses above to the bridal party as my choices. The question is, which one? Let’s do a preliminary round of votes here first!
Image Sources: Net a Porter and Saks
They may have lost a few stars in the past few years, but dinner at La Tour d’Argent in Paris has to be one of the fanciest dining experiences of my life. Granted I’m not much of a foodie and haven’t been to that many fine dining places, it is still quite difficult these days to impress my jaded city girl eyes.
Located along the river Seine, we were quickly greeted by the doorman as soon as our cab arrived and shown into a luxuriously appointed waiting area. The maitre d’ led us into the bar while we waited for the rest of our party. I was struck by the air of sophistication. Was it ok to order a glass of orange juice? Then they showed us through the mini “hall of fame” where we waited for the liveried driven elevator to take us to the dining area. I noted the presence of JFK and the Empress of Japan.
The main dining room on the top floor of the building had a beautiful view of the river Seine and Notre Dame. As the sun set outside, I envied the couples dining by the window seats. How extremely romantic! I must come back some day with my loved one! And of course, everyone was dressed beautifully. If there was ever a time and place to dress up, this was definitely it!
My eyes widened as we were presented with a wine list the size of an encyclopedia- now that is impressive! Since we don’t exactly frequent such establishments, we decided to go for the full tasting menu to ensure that we gave it a good try. I’m not exactly a foodie, so I won’t go into excruciating detail of every dish and how everything tasted, but here is the menu. They are definitely good at is making it a night to remember. Towards the end of the meal, they presented us with a custom made menu of our meal that night, complete with the date, which wine we chose and who our chef was (above).
The main theme of the restaurant was definitely the duck. They were everywhere. The home grown ducks are so famous here that we even got postcards with the reference number (since 1890) of the duck we ate that night on it. I ate duck number 1090196!
In particular, the pressed duck is most popular. You can see them making it right in the middle of the dining room. First they cut away the breast and thighs. Then they put the remainder of the duck into the presser (the thingy on the left), to squeeze out all the blood, which they then use to make a sauce to pour over the breast and thigh meat. Juicy.
One thing I do feel qualified to comment on is the dessert. This feuillete aux fraises de bois is the most exquisite thing ever. The slices of strawberry on top are actually sweet and crunchy. You’d thing that the tiny strawberries lined below are sour, but they were surprisingly sweet. Combined with the cream and crust, they were little bites of heaven! Definitely one of the best of its kind that I’ve tried!
It was definitely one fancy meal to remember.
The other day I mentioned that I was going to visit the temple of Balenciaga aka the flagship store in Paris on 10, avenue George V. Well, it was a good thing I copied down the address properly, because I nearly missed it.
I nearly thought it was renovating and left, because all I saw was the huge Balenciaga ad next door from a distance. It turns out that the flagship store is indeed opened. It’s just that the only sign that indicates the flagship store is the many Balenciaga bags sitting by the window. Talk about discrete!
Filed under: Travel
From a beautiful little place called Interlaken.
This is the view of the Jungfrau, reputedly the highest point in Europe. My camera doesn’t do the view justice, but it’s the white mountain in the distant between the two green ones.
I know I’m usually remise in my blog posts anyway. But in case you’re wondering, it is because I’m out of the country until the end of next week, with only a super slow mini laptop as my only mode of communication with the rest of the world. It’s been a painful adjustment.
Paris so far has been fun. I must say, it is actually a lot more fun coming as a tourist vs a student. I love a good hotel breakfast. Lafayette is a tourist zoo, I much prefer Le Bon Marche. It is also a good idea to get in through the SIDE entrance at the Louvre when the line to the main entrance is a mile long. Oh and the Lido show was a bit disappointing. Do NOT go for the full meal, because the food sucks. The show itself was a bit like Cirque de Soleil, except with more scimpily clad performers. There was water, ice skating, a real horse, juggling and lots of synchronized dancing. Ironically though this is the FOURTH time in my life there and I’m only in my early twenties.
Going to visit the temple of Balenciaga tomorrow. Can’t wait!
Yesterday my girlfriends and I met THE Jason Bonvivant, at Riquiqui Dessert Bar and were completely starstruck!
We were just sitting at the bar, enjoying ourselves and chatting with Andrea and Amanda (the lovely hostess and chef of the establishment) when he and his friends walked in. Andrea greeted them and called him Jason. They started talking, and my friend M suddenly whispered to me that he kind of looks like the Jason from Jason Bonvivant, the famous Hong Kong food blog that we both love to stalk. Since I never studied the tiny picture he has on the corner of his blog, I scoffed at the idea and reasoned that it couldn’t be. What are the chances?
But then Andrea started telling us that Jason knows all about food and that he even has a blog. . . and we couldn’t help but ask, “Wait, are you THE Jason from the Jason Bonvivant blog???” When he confirmed, we were all starstruck and started crowding around him and bombarding him with questions. Luckily, he was super cool about it and didn’t seem to mind even after we kept him from his raspberry sorbet for well over 15 minutes. We didn’t even realize how embarrassing we were being until we excitedly recalled this experience to our friend and she observed that we sounded like a gaggle of crazy teenage fans. Whoops 
He mentioned this really awesome sounding low profile Italian restaurant in some basement in TST, that I’m real excited to try. But sadly I didn’t catch the name. Anyone got an idea?
Filed under: Fashion
My inner nerd can really do with one of these ”book” bags……….
Though it is definitely an indulgence at $325!
Image Source: Kate Spade
Boat trips are a huge pain to organize. Finding enough people to commit, making sure that everyone is fed and hydrated- all within budget- and hoping that the weather will be clear, is no easy feat.
But when you’re lounging on the deck, staring up at the clear blue sky and drifting in and out of a nap, it makes it all worth it. There is just something so soothing about the open space of nature, especially when you’ve been cooped up in the city for the last many months. Just remember to slather on loads of sunscreen and reapply frequently.
Have a good weekend everyone!
Following the footsteps of the Sassy Girls, my girlfriends and I went to the Victorian Spa at the Disneyland Hotel yesterday to enjoy an afternoon of pampering. The special Girl’s Day Out Package was just too good to resist!
“If 3 or more friends book together you can indulge in the the Elemis Dream Journey massage and facial plus a one way transfer to the spa with a car picking you up in Central! The Girls Day Out Package is available for $930 each Sunday to Thursday and $980 if booked for a Friday or Saturday.” (original text from SassyHongKong)
We were immediately swept away with an efficiently arranged car pick up at Pacific Place 1. The car ride there was so smooth and comfortable that it barely felt like it took 20 minutes. When we arrived at the Disneyland Hotel, the driveway was immaculately lined with palm trees and the sky was blue. We felt like we were on a vacation and we didn’t even have to go through customs!
We were warmly welcomed at the reception and given a tour of the facilities. The staff was very friendly and even offered to share their mosquito repellent with me when we decided to take lunch outside at the poolside bar. After a simple lunch, we grabbed our drinks and enjoyed ourselves on the lounge chairs by the poolside. Oh how I miss staring into the empty blue sky without trying to peak behind skyscrapers. It’s a good thing we went on a weekday, because the pool was relatively empty save a few children, so it was nice and peaceful (or as peaceful as a Disney themed pool can be). We even took a dip in the pool and tried out the water slide. The water slide was surprisingly long. This is my first time back in the water since the fitness swim test I had freshman year, so it’s a good thing that the pool was relatively shallow. I accidentally tripped over myself twice attempting to swim with my head above water and effectively defeated the purpose of it when I went “overboard.” Sorry I forgot to take pictures of the pool side. I was too busy just being in the moment of it.
Then we changed into our robes (they were rather thin and not as plush and princessy as I’d hoped) and headed off for our treatments. I love how the luxuriously decorated waiting room has girly refreshments, like lemon honey ginger water, and the Disney channel on. The treatment was heavenly. I felt so refreshed afterwards! I especially loved the cooling gel she put on my shoulder to “de-stress” towards the end. It felt so tingly! The only problem I had was that I had difficulty breathing through my nose when I was facing down, even though there was already a hole in the chair. I guess it is not their fault though. It happened to me before at my last massage too. It’s as if the position blocks off my airway. Does anyone else have this problem??
After our treatment, we tried out the steam room (to open our pores and better absorb the oil), sauna and the jacuzzi. It was fun to have it all to ourselves. The changing room itself was really well equipped, though the bath products felt a bit watered down. Once we were all showered and dressed, we took a leisurely walk into the hotel’s hedge maze. Since reading a book in high school that featured a hedge maze, my friend and I have been oddly enamored of them. This maze is actually quite sophisticated and you can indeed take a wrong turn. It’s a good thing that we were tall enough to see over the hedge! But alas, we did not find a prince at the end of the maze. The picture posted of it is kind of small, but can you see the Mickey head in it?
We were sad to leave and kicked ourselves for not making arrangements to spend the night. Though I’m already making plans in my head to visit again soon. I can really get used to this on a more regular basis………….
