Category Archives: Random Musings

Tea at the Ritz

09 Monday Jul 2012

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Ever since my visit to London in freshman year, I’ve wanted to have tea at the London Ritz. For a big fan of afternoon tea (I’ve even named this blog after it!), it just seemed like the quintessential thing to do. Many years later, after many trips to London, I’m proud to announce that I finally made it last Friday!!

I made bookings over 2 months in advance, and even then, I was left with only an 11:30am slot (and my table of 6 had to be separated into 2, though in the end they were able to put us together) on the Friday morning we arrived (forget about the weekends, I tried the Berkeley and the Carlyle one month ahead and was waitlisted, never to hear back again).

Its was everything I expected it to be. The service was impeccable,  the ambiance was opulent and luxurious and the tea selection was impressive. Even the waiters looked like proper old English butlers! Maybe it is because of the super advance reservations needed, but the crowd also struck me as very “English” as well. I barely saw other touristy looking people in sight! The super advance reservation appears to be warranted though. We arrived to a full scene at 11:30am (seriously, who has tea this early?), and like clockwork, it started to empty at around 1pm and people started to show up for the 1:30pm round!

As for the food,compared to the Mandarin London and the Lanesborough (the only 2 other places I’ve tried in London), it is definitely a cut above the rest. Compared to what I’m used to in Hong Kong, I think there’s room for improvement. Maybe it is just a matter of taste. The sandwiches were ok. The scones tasted just right, though the texture was more breadlike than I am used to. The devonshire cream and homemade jam was delicious though! As for the dessert part, everything was a bit too sweet even for my sweet tooth (or could it be because it is 11:30am in the morning?). The extra pistachio and carrot cake was a good touch. As I said, I reckon the food is all a matter of taste.

All in all, if you love afternoon tea and happen to stop by London, tea at the Ritz is definitely a MUST. It is as important as stop as Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the Tower Bridge when in London (or even more so!).

Flower Power

17 Sunday Jun 2012

Posted by in Hong Kong, Random Musings

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The other week, I bought a Twangoo (another version of Groupon) with a few girlfriends to take a flower arranging class.20120617-191652.jpg

The class was a lot of fun, who knew that flower arranging can feel so productive yet tranquilizing? It was surprisingly easy. You put a metal grid net on top of the vase, cut and arrange the flowers such that you create a dome shape. Just fill in the holes. I can definitely do this at home! Or so I thought.

Come Saturday, having mentally prepared to go to the flower market in Mongkok all week to select flowers and arrange them at home, I wasn’t going to let a little rain stop me from going. I put on my trusted violet Hunter rainboots and headed off with my boyfriend in tow. Five stops away on the ‘other’ island, it was quite a journey for us HK islanders. The weather proved stronger than my stubborn streak. As soon as we arrived, it started to pour hotdogs. Not to let it put a damper on my mission, my Hunter and I ploughed on, with my poor boyfriend trailing behind in his flip flops trying to walk around the puddles (My Hunters were awesome!). We finally ended up with a pair of flower scissors, a metal net (after over asking over 10 stores!) and a bouquet of gorgeous flowers. Hydrangeas, roses and a bunch of other flowers that I cannot name. It was super fun picking them out!

After a long journey home, I immediately got to work arranging the flowers. After 20 minutes, I knew something was wrong. I was almost done with most of my flowers, and there were gaping holes everywhere! I ended up with the above arrangement in the end. Not exactly dome shape, I like to think of it as an artistic and deliberate triangular arrangement. The back however, is another story. I figured instead of having patches of baldness, better to have a good front!

I definitely need more lessons before I start DIY-ing again. In my defense, I later found out from my mom that I’d been using the wrong vase with a wider diameter, which partially explains for gaping holes.

Dinner with foreigners

31 Thursday May 2012

Posted by in Hong Kong, Random Musings

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This was passed around the Hong Kong community a few weeks ago. Not because we all wanted to recommend our “foreign” friends to go so that they can get a free meal at the Mandarin (though that’s not a bad idea), but because there are so many things wrong with the ad on so many different levels. I will not go into details, but would just like to point out 2 things:

  1. Out of curiosity, I called to find out what their definition of  “foreigners” is, and confirmed that it means Caucasian males.
  2. Upon further research, the reason why foreign men get to attend for free is because the event is sponsored by a German banker, who met his wife in one of these events and wanted to give “others” the same opportunity.

Also note that $4800HKD = $615USD. Seriously, only in Asia.

Born this way ball

03 Thursday May 2012

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I just went to the Lady Gaga Born this Way Ball last night! She is undeniably an amazing performer! The set was state of the art. A castle with a lot of moving parts. And there were so many costumes, that I lost count how many times she changed. The horse, the motorcycle piano, the faux meat set, the machine gun bra top, was all very very cool. The atmosphere was, needless to say, wild. I was standing in the pit, and I felt like I was at a rave party (or what I imagine one is like)!

To be  frank, I only know like 5  Gaga songs. But I love a good performance and I think she put on a pretty awesome one – even if nothing made sense to me (I am not surprise since her interview in Vanity Fair barely made sense to me). I think there was supposed to be a story, something about giving birth to monsters and creating a different world, and then shooting down the floating face that looked like the Face of Boe from Doctor Who. Then she asked the audience if “they gave a fuck” and we were so confused that half said no and half said yes (I think the correct answer is no? Because apparently all the “monsters” are supposed to be bad?). Nevertheless we all loved her random inclusion of Hong Kong in her songs (I bet she does that in every city!). Her speech while she was playing her motorcycle piano was surprisingly normal too. It was  about not being afraid to be yourself etc. which she definitely represents!

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The show officially starts at 7:30pm, but we all know it’s code name for after 8pm – in this case 8:30pm. My cousin arrived at the arena at around 6:30pm and was very very lucky. He got there early enough to be admitted to the monster pit! Talk about a close up experience (that is what the special bracelet above is for)! He took the Gaga picture above with his phone – no zoom!

In the regular block A pit, it really was more like a club. I was actually closer than I thought, though at the time I didn’t notice because there were so many people in front of me. I would like to take this opportunity to say this:

1. To the man in the red afro: I know it is atmospheric and everything. But no one behind you can see anything in the crowded pit. You are not short. And bobbing your head around doesn’t help the view either. Thank you for taking the afro off midway. We all appreciated it.

2. To the man next to me with the BO: Please let me buy you some deodorant. In the meantime, can you please refrain from raising your hand up to take pictures, especially when you are hot and sweaty and it is very crowded?

Maybe I was just not meant  for the cockpit. I threw  frequent  envious looks up at the seated audience a few feet way from me.

One of those days

25 Wednesday Apr 2012

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Have you had one of those days where you are so brain dead that you just know you should not do anything important in case you make a mistake? Well, that was my Monday. I felt so brain dead that I couldn’t even bring myself to write about it until now.

Fortunately (or unfortunately?), I had a lecture to attend that day. Just sit there, focus on not falling asleep and do some idle chit chat about the weather and what everyone thinks they do while munching on scallops, shrimp satay and mille feuille. Not too bad really. Except being the zombie that I was, I’d completely forgotten about the event that morning and wore my new heels. They were killing me (I can hear my mom in my head telling me I told you so)! Of course, afterwards I had to get  onto the train going in the opposite direction. To top it off, I bumped into someone I work with on the train who was also getting off the next stop. And so, in order not to appear completely stupid, I pretended to get out and exit there too… before ‘blending’ into the crowd and getting back onto the right train.

That evening, thinking to be  efficient, I placed an order for  take out 15 minutes ahead, thinking I can go, pick it up and leave immediately . When I got there, they denied getting any order calls. Turns out, I’d dialed the wrong number and placed the order at the wrong branch…. Definitely one of those days.

Happy Easter!

06 Friday Apr 2012

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I totally understand and am for the whole concept of thematic decorating. It makes all the difference between a party/celebration and a regular get together  dinner. I can totally see why Easter egg and Easter bunny shaped chocolates are selling like hot cakes around this time. I can even see why people would buy plastic green grass table mats and decorative Easter bunny’s for that extra thematic touch (plus you can always use it again next year!). What I am curious about is who would buy those giant chocolate Easter bunnys, like the ones they’re selling for $800HKD (~US$100) at the Mandarin Oriental cake shop. They look absolutely gorgeous and delicious, but they won’t exactly last until next year in your cupboard if you know what I mean.  Towards the end of the party, do people pretend it is a pinata, and smash it to pieces so that everyone gets a bite? Or do they melt it and make double chocolate cookies for the next party? Now that is a neat idea!

Comic Relief

27 Tuesday Mar 2012

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My dad is having surgery today. A very regular and non-invasive procedure I’ve been told. Instead of dwelling on the potential dangers of general surgery a la Grey’s Anatomy and the fragility of life, my mind keeps taking me back to the time when I picked up my friend A from his knee surgery. “I’d go home myself, but it is all part of the procedure. They won’t let me check out unless I have someone else to sign me out and take me home. It won’t take you more than half an hour” he said.

Being the good Samaritan that I am, I said “Fine. I’ll sneak out of work for half an hour to sign you out”. I ended up sneaking out for much longer than that. Good thing I didn’t really have any “real” work to do anyway. After waiting at the reception for over half an hour waiting for his name to show up on the screen ( like waiting for your number at the bank), we were finally allowed to see him. I expected him to be packed and ready to go. I did not expect to see him helplessly lying down, looking as pale and green as anyone I’ve ever seen. As soon as the nurse left, I started giggling and fishing for my phone to take a picture. He was literally green (like a pale green troll! Yes, I take joy in other people’s pain and laugh at inopportune times). I don’t remember if I actually took the picture or not (Did I snap the picture worth a million dollars or did I actually have a heart and respected his privacy? Note to self: go back and check photos on Nokia). But I definitely remember the childish burst of laughter as if it was yesterday. I can almost FEEL the moment just thinking about it.

The rest of the “pick-up” is more of a blur. We brought him home, we went to buy ice because A remembered to buy food but not ice, and over the weekend we brought him Japanese take out to relief him from the monotony of his microwaveable diet. This is almost completely irrelevant to my dad’s surgery. But maybe this feeling of comic relief is just what I need right now.

Arts and craft time!

04 Sunday Mar 2012

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This weekend, I went to a talk in preparation for a charity event I will be attending later this month. The idea was to teach volunteers how to interact with small children (apparently you can stop talking baby talk with them from age 4 onwards!). But in the end, it was really more like a really fun and interactive few hours.

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In addition to serving delicious banana chocolate chip muffins, they enlisted us to paint eggs as Easter gifts to the participating children. I must say, it is a LOT of fun. I used to feel stumped when faced with an empty canvas since drawing is not one of my talents (I can’t even draw a circle without a protractor). But I’ve since learnt from abstract artists and have devoted my considerable efforts to simple do-able abstract designs. The process is that much simpler, and the finished product is always fun, if not exquisite. In fact, it is positively therapeutic, like painting nails!

Doesn’t my rainbow egg look so happy and cheerful? It may look simple, but it took me at least an hour. The color mixing, waiting for acrylic to dry before adding on the next layer, the MANY layers of yellow I had to do to achieve a decent looking yellow (hint: paint many THIN layers, and when needed use the hand dryer in the bathroom) – it all took a lot of effort. But it is all worth it as I happily stare at the picture of my finished product and show it off to anyone who will look! 😀

I fixed it!

23 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by in Fashion, Random Musings

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Remember my poor Sandro belt? Well I loved its style and versatility so much that I actually went to great lengths to fix it. My tailor said they don’t supply hardhare. So I sourced a buckle from a shop in Sham Shui Po (a manufacturing district in Hong Kong). Only 1 out of the 3 I got actually fit. I took it back to my tailor to have it fitted. She then directed me to a leather craftsman down the street, who forgot about my belt a week later when I went to pick it up. 1 MONTH later, I finally had a functioning belt again!

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Except it doesn’t really function. Whoever designed the buckle did an exceedingly poor job. The belt loosens whenever I sit down, and the buckle unbuckles itself. I thought I could be careful and live with it. Then one day, as I was seeing a client out the door after a meeting, the belt fell to the floor….. I have not used that belt since.

Still growing!

17 Friday Feb 2012

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At first only one tulip stuck out of the otherwise perfectly round bouquet, and I thought that maybe it had come loose, and even tried to gently push it back in. But then this morning when I looked at it, ALL the tulips were sticking out. Have the other flowers shrunk? After consulting Google, it turns out that tulips continue to grow (at least an inch) once it has been cut! Who knew?