Night and Day

Red paper cups from Starbucks only mean one thing - toffee nut latte is here! I usually have mine less sweet and no whip. I tried ordering a regular soy latte the other day and it was so disgusting.  I miss the soy milk in Canada.. :'( Photo taken by J's new Sony camera with the amazing aperture.

Eggs, butter and lavash bread for lazy brunch.

Weather in HK has dropped to a cooler 20-24 degrees and we're enjoying so much on the weekends. After yves showed me the old peak road path 3 weeks ago, J and I have gone back twice on Saturday.  It's a steep 30 min walk up but its convenient to get to from our house and strenuous enough to start sweating. I hope we can continue this weekend ritual whenever we're free.


Photo expedition time

Victoria Peak Garden - good place for a picnic or wedding photos like the couple in the background. Seeing the airplanes fly by was quite incredible because it feels like you can almost touch it with your finger tips.

Making bibimbap for the first time. Who knew it was so much work to chop & cook all these ingredients. Our take on this signature korean dish included: mushrooms, zucchinis, bean sprouts, carrots, spinach, kalbai marinated beef and a lil bit of seaweed.  Next time we'll do the less ma-fan version and just throw the cooked vegetables together and start mixing the tahdig rice and red chili sauce. *yummy

Badminton shots with house/dance music in the background. Just feel like dancing while we were playing.

Introducing my ballet shoes \(o^.^o)/  Left hand side is the soft Bloch shoe used for our introductory class.  Middle pair is my Grishko pointe.  Sewing the bands and the elastic strap felt like a complete disaster the first time.. I was getting so frustrated, the thread kept snapping, getting tied up in knots but finally (maybe 2-3 hours later) I finally got the hang of it and finished with 'decent' needle work.  Right hand side is the Bloch demi pointe which hurts like a b@#&h when we wear it. Teacher told us to walk more in them and soften the box by covering it with a towel and hammering it in.  It's gotten better now.

I've been doing mostly doing pointe work on barre but trying to balance on my left leg with my right leg raised is much harder.  I hope in a couple months time I can balance better with more strength at the ankles.  In the meantime I'm just practicing on flexibility and trying to get the side splits going.  Where did my gymnastic days at YMCA or HK Sports Institute go?? I used to bend around like a snake doing cart wheels and splits! hehe What are you working hard towards? I wonder sometimes..if I kept up with ballet class when I was 5 years old, I wonder what things I would be doing differently today? It's funny though that all the things your parent wanted you to do when you're younger didn't seem fun back then but now when you get older, you have a totally different perspective and start appreciating these hobbies :)

6 weeks to Christmas

With less than 6 weeks to go what do you look forward to this Christmas? Looking back on photos that we took last year when we visited Los Angeles, Vancouver, San Francisco and Aspen there were so many fun highlights. After getting married in Hong Kong in December, we travelled to North America in mid January to celebrate with more family members and friends.  :) Three weeks of pure bliss - amazing food, beautiful sights and good times together.  J and I got the chance to show each other where we lived, where we studied and alot of sightseeing in between.  Returning back to HK after this trip was quite tough the first week..missing the California weather and overall North American spaciousness. Here's an assortment of photos from the four cities we visited.

From visiting the house in Glendale where baby J was born 28 years ago to his university in Pepperdine (this is the amazing view from the graduates/honors dorm room), we got a nice glimpse of the city that he spent most of his time growing up. I know people talk about the horrible traffic in LA but we mainly stayed around the Pasadena area and really enjoy strolling through the Old Town Pasadena.

Yayy enormous gummy bear. Only saw these on youtube but never in real life..until now. :D

Oh <3 Taco Bell.  Crunchy corn taco with beef, lettuce and cheese. And that taco bell sauce *pucker lips nom* Why can't they have this kind of simple fast food in Hong Kong? :(

Raffi's Place in LA. Chicken & Beef kebob resting in between a thin layer lavash bread. We keep a frozen ziplock bag of lavash from the States and it's so good whenever we have the munchies.  Just warm them up for 4 minutes and spread some cream cheese or honey on top. They're like flatbread but super thin so it becomes like crisp cracker when we toast it on higher heat.

My first try of the Persian style (doughnut) dessert zoolbia & baamieh!  Made from starch, yoghurt, flour, sugar, deep fried and then soaked in a saffron + rose water infused syrup.  Check out the recipe here. :)  Perfect with a hot cup of Persian tea.

Flying with Uncle Jeffrey to Santa Barbara following the highways on the Eurocopter formerly used by the French Military.

Look its the most perfect looking mini donut at Universal Studios. hehe so cute. 

 Back to the Future with the Lee brothers :)

Brioche french toast with thick crispy Canadian bacon and roasted apple at Market by Jean Georges. Dad ordered this but omgosh just had to snap this picture.

Showing J the UBC Campus and Faculty of Geography.

Rainy but mystical Capilano suspension bridge park.

  

J at Gastown with the friendly bear and moose after lunch in Chinatown. ^^

Searched online for a good Persian restaurant and Lonsdale Kebob stood out on the ranking so we drove over to  North Vancouver and wow we were so surprised! Mm one of the juiciest koobideh and tastiest ones we've had, with no heart burn I might add ;)

Ritz Carlton serves up a fresh batch of cookies everyday! It's like opening a big present everyday before you walk out of the door :D I got to visit J's grandma in San Francisco for the very first time and we had a cosy persian home cooked meal and spent a few days walking around the downtown area enjoying seafood clam chowder, Ghirardelli ice cream sundaes and La Folie fine dining.

 Taking a break from snow boarding and trying out some snowshoe trails.

On the snowmobile..beautiful fresh snow :)

Truffle fries with parmigiano reggiano at Ajax Tavern.

 

Aw a wall full of different sizes and shapes of cookie jars.

Main Street Bakery & Cafe in Aspen for fresh pancakes one last time.  So fluffy with that oozing goodness of maple syrup slathered on top. How do you like the syrup with your pancakes, on the side for dipping or drizzled in circles on top?  

Lasting Moments

On the final leg of our honeymoon we spent less than 24 hours in Milan, walking around the Duomo area without any schedule or itinerary.  There's a very sophisticated and glamourous feeling to Milan, unlike any place we've visited so far in our trip.  Maybe because we roamed around the shopping district, so we saw a very chic crowd.  :)

After we checked into our Hotel, we went for lunch walking about 20 minutes from Uptown Palace towards the Gallerie Vittorio Emanuele II, one of the world's oldest shopping malls, housed within a four story double arcade.  We also went to La Rinascente which is like Lane Crawford but ten times more spacious with everything that you might normally find in a department store but it's designer or good quality products. I personally love shopping in the home and kitchen section.. We nearly bought this white Le Creuset large cast iron pot. We can't seem to get it in Hong Kong or find the right color online so we were this close to buying it until we asked them how much it would be to ship it back to Hong Kong because there's no way we're going to lug this thing back.  Unfortunately the shipping cost was more than the pot itself so we decided maybe next time.   <3 

J ordering the Milanese style veal 'Ossobuco' with risotto. Let the picture speak for itself..  :P

Me opting for the tuna, cherry tomato and mozzarella salad.  The next day we tried this other place nearby called the Ristorante Galleria and I swear the pizza with buffalo mozzarella was to die for. We had alot of great pizzas along the way but this time we went back to the basics and it was just the perfect mix of crispy, slightly chewy thin bread crust with the juiciest layer of tomato sauce and cheese melted on top. I don't know much about pizzas but this was definitely my favorite, so good that I even forgot to take a picture.  

Five years ago when I came back to Hong Kong, I fell in love with a classic Chanel bag which I saw in Central. Whenever I walked past I would admire it from afar, always able to persuade myself with reasons why I shouldn't spend so much for one simple leather bag.  However this time coming to Italy I knew I just had to get it.  If not now then when?  With only a few days to go until my birthday, life is too short to hold back on something that you dreamed of for so long. You can call me a 'gong lui' if you want although I don't think i'm a savvy fashion conscious kinda girl, (usually jeans and t-shirt will do) but I've just been drawn to this bag for so long so I guess it was meant to be. hehe *excuses excuses.. Stamped with the official serial number, this baby is finally mine :D 

So here in Hong Kong when it comes to getting a delicious creamed fruit cake or tiramisu, Cova often comes to mind as well as enjoying the occasional afternoon snack. Coming to the original Milan branch was interesting to see how it all began.  We both agreed that the cafe coziness and service from the waiter was what differed the most in comparison to Hong Kong.  These guys here are professional and smile from their hearts. I rarely feel that way when dining in Hong Kong. What does quality mean to you? Does it mean 'doing it right even when no one is looking'?  

One of the most important things I'm reminded of after traveling to Italy is to try and have a balanced life back at home.  I'll really miss the road side cafes around Venice or Florence that have all the chairs lined up towards one direction with a little table to match.  The purpose is simple, the result is enriching.  Just sit back and watch the people around you.  Time to put down your own selfishness and place yourself in other peoples shoes.  Vice versa, whatever is causing you unhappiness it's time to take a step back and make that decision to make a change and not get caught up in all that negative energy. Traveling is such a great escape from reality and a great chance to find ways to improve your own life. Sometimes small adjustments is all it takes like our clear Bisetti salt and pepper mill that we bought and added to our kitchen collection.  ;) 

Colors of Italy

Not too much going on around Pisa except for the Leaning Tower. 

Portovenere, a quaint town currently filled with restaurants and B&Bs.. Got plenty of parking spaces which helped us maneuver since we had the car to take care of.

The sun is setting, it's time to head back. 

Small seafood platter for one @ La Posta, NH La Spezia.  After having our appetizers and main, we decided to order one more dish. We chose the paghetti with mantis shrimp and tomato slice confit. SO good. One of the best pasta dishes we had.

Lunch at Un Mare di Sapori where we truly appreciated the fresh caprese salad. Just like the flags of Italy.

Church of St. Peters @ Portovenere


On the Ferry getting a different angle of the coast as well as Cinque Terre.

An apple and chocolate cake for snacking, with 2 cups of coffee of course :)

Hiking just a wee bit for the famous views of Vernazza.

Towards the last stretch of our trip (day 7 and 8) we drove from Florence to Pisa and checked into our hotel at La Spezia. We were originally planning to take the train into Cinque Terre but in the end taking the ferry was a pretty relaxing alternative. If we had more time we would probably try to hike for longer distances just to take in all the sights slowly. For such small towns, its actually pretty packed with travelers so it's hard to feel like what you've experienced is just your own and something unique. However what you can capture in a photograph is a very unadulterated image that you can keep with you forever.  Happy that I ticked this place off my bucket list. :)