Happy 22nd Birthday to me...

  Poo~ I've been neglecting my xanga for awhile. Actually, for 2 months t be exact. *slaps wrist* But i've been sooooooo tied down with work lately, it's so not funny. First there's the two major reports I need to get done by the end of this month [sucks that i dont ever have any group projects]; then there's work. YES, I work...no surprise there tho, since I need the $$. [Though, I realise I dont spend as much now] Other than that, I had my birthday over the weekend, which was pretty great coz I planned this little BFFs dinner party...just us girls. <3  Well, as long as everyone had fun, i think...coz I know I did. Too bad we missed out on the movie tho. But i think the best part was being able to catch up with everyone and being able to hang out like old times, and being a little naughty [yes, all of us had a piece of Grecos cake each *omg, the baileys cheesecake is to die for!*]

So here are just some pics from the night and some other random ones I was supposed to post up... 

My girlfriends & I

CAKE!

Irene & I being photo whores.

During the past week, I've also been a little adventurous in trying out new places to dine. Of interest were 2 places which were highly recommended online and in foodie guides: The Meat & Wine Co @ Southbank and Oriental Tea House @ Little Collins St. [Oh btw, my birthday was at Hairy Canary @ Little Collins St...but I forgot to take pics of the food!! *argh*]

The Meat & Wine Co.
[sorry about the bad lighting!]

Entrees:

Lightly floured calamari
 
(Angus) Beef Carpacio

Mains:

Chargrilled Kangaroo Fillet  
       
Catch of the day - Steamed trout w/ fennel & onions

Dessert:

Chocolate Fondante & Vanilla Ice Cream

Apple & Rhubarb Crumble with Warm Custard and Cinnamon Ice Cream

Comment: The food was OK, though the carpaccio was beautiful. My fish came out uncooked and had to be sent back to the kitchen to have it recooked. The kangaroo fillet tasted like nothing, but charred. The desserts were a bit above average, and are worth mentioning. Service was great since our waiter was attentive & patient with me enough to handle my incessant requests. However, if I were to return to eat there, I probably would stick to the beef section than anything else on the menu.


Oriental Tea House 

 
Lounge area

Candid pic of my sister dazing away

Their main trade
[tho not much sale has been made]

 
Jasmine & Lychee Tea
[tastes just like normal Jasmine Tea]

One of our 'dim sum' orders - Mini Pumpkin Buns
[contains lotus seed paste]

Comment: The waiter was a bit hesistant and looked like she cbf-ed serving us. So, I had immediately resented having chosen to eat there. After ordering some tea for me & my sister, I ordered a couple dim sums to start. And then, I ordered some more. I guess by the time I had asked the waiter to come back the 3rd or 4th time for more orders, she seemed nicer [weird]. But then, she didn't even tell us that they were out of the SHANGHAI PORK DUMPLINGS, which were the main reason I had chosen to eat there. *urgh* Well, after trying out 17 different assortments of dim sums [I think many of them are a bit of a hit & miss], I would highly recommend the following dishes [tho, u should also take heed that the people steaming the dim sums are actualli caucasians, and if u don't like to miss out on certain foods from being available, the Chapel St store is always well-stocked]: 

•  Pork Shu Mai
•  Scallops Dumplings
•  Baby Pea Leaves Seafood Dumplings
•  Ginger Prawn Dumplings
•  Steamed broccoli with Oyster Sauce
•  Fresh tofu in XO sauce
•  Custard Buns
•  Mini Pumpkin Buns

And some other uninteresting, but food for thought [just some stuff I made]....

Buttered Paprika Chicken

No nut Satay Chicken w/ Pickled Cucumber

Oh gosh, i've been so swamped with work that I can't even find time to update my xanga anymore. I hve an assignment due next week, and I haven't typed anything up yet. And can u believe it...they only gave us 2 weeks to prepare and finish! Oh well, this is just another quick update on what I've been up to (for any of those who like to pry into people's lives...haha.. just kidding!)

Well, first of all, I just HAD to tell of the lunch I had at Yu-u. Great food, nice ambience! Without a doubt the food critics have got this place right. I went there on Wednesday (due to a disappointing attempt at getting any seat on an earlier week) with a couple of friends I haven't met in awhile. I was sure everyone felt that for the $15 set lunch, it was quite worth the wait and satiation (though I vowed to come back another time for dinner to try out their a-la-carte menu). The place was unadvertently situated at the corner of an alley, spray painted with grim graffiti. The door barely recognisable if it wasn't wide open just enough to see the painting of the Kanji word "yuu" snugly hung directly on the wall inside. A small laminated menu inscribed with the set lunch for the month taped onto the other unopened door. Hardly anything fancy. I peek in and see a dimly lit staircase grovelling into the depths of the underground restaurant, my mind eagerly awaiting for some sort of surprise and curiousity. I walk down the stairs and is compelled by the distinguised yet elaborate sijmplicity of the room, that is charming and chic at the same time. An alcove of class, i thought. In the center of the room, a teppanyaki chef is busily frying noodles (for what reason I have no idea, since they only serve set lunches during the afternoons). Businessmen & women alike are seated surrounding the teppanyaki table. I'm greeted by a Japanese female maitre d, who I give the name that is booked under to, and then am guided towards a cosy cleft to the right wall, which turned out to be a private room seated for 6. I take off my shoes before I enter the room to find my friends have already arrived. And of course, being me, I am the latecomer, to which I apologise to everyone for. As I sit, I had unmistakably thought we were supposed to kneel, but then knowing that kneeling is a pain, I later realised that there was actually a hole under the table to put our feet into. I giggle inside and am starting to love the quirks. Shortly afterwards, our set lunches are brought to us on this seemingly elegant but unpretentious Japanese receptacle.  Each array consisted of a small dish of pickled vegetable, clear vegetable broth, cold soba noodles and sauce to dip with, a fairly sized bowl of rice topped with aubergine and minced chicken, and a bite-sized cantaloupe for afters. A pot of warm genmaicha flows freely in the center of the table, perfectly suited for the cool day outside. (I heard that they serve ice tea when it’s hot outside). I took the opportunity to get a quick shot of the place right before we left, and have been reminiscing about the next chance I get to go back there again.  Below are just a few pictures I took, which I hope u guys will enjoy it as much as I do. 

If anyone of u have a new or old-but-nice restaurant hideaway u know about, tell me! I'm always up for any kind of food adventure and price is no object. So leave me comments/recommendations guys!    

Oh, and since we're on the topic of food, just thought i'd post some pics of what I cooked up recently. It was some crazy cooking experiment but tastes pretty good. =]~

Oh, Happy St. Patricks Day to u Irishmen! Arrrr!! 

Lame CNY 2007

Hi u gorgeous people...

Happy Valentines Day & Happy Chinese New Year. Haven't had the time to even blog just trying to get all the last minute shopping back to Melbourne down pat. It was a long and gruelling plane ride, but my friendly neighbour made it all better. We were discussing how there are so many international students studying in melbourne this year, and from our deep observation we realised that a lot of them knew each other. Like on the Boeing 777, two of the middle rows of 5 knew one another, possibly even went to the same high school. They were obvious fobs, but equally as dinghy as they come. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not criticising the fact that they ARE fobs, but more of the things they do that constitutes their so-called label. I don't see why the ground staff even allow these people to bring on board 3 pieces of supposedly 'hand luggage' where out of one of them is a freaking huge hand pulley suitcase that doesn't fit into the overhead compartment. Now, imagine about 10 of the same thing. Seriously?! Talk about excess. Then again, they only have the Malaysian Airlines to blame for removing the excess student allowance they used to give out. IT'S ONLY A MEASLY 10KG...GEE...as if get us to pay for excess. One other thing bothering me was that, I actualli enjoyed the crappy plane food they served us. :S  *urk*

Anyway, as I'm blogging this, I'm spending a rather quiet Chinese New Year by myself (sad, i know), while the rest of my family are off to Taiwan for the celebrations. I blame it on the stoopid students who all have to travel to Melbourne at the same time. Can u believe it...the flights are all booked out til mid-March! Like wth?!  Urgh...and this extremely terrible weather isn't helping much either. It's so hot, I feel like drowning myself. BUT...i have my lovely Nintendo DS Lite (and Heroes tv series) I'm hoping to receive within the next few days, which will put me outta my boredom for awhile...well, til uni starts again anyway. Any other boredome crunching ideas anyone? I'm open to anything...

Maybe I should go take some pics of my overloaded wardrobe to relieve me from this boredom....

xoxo Jess

Hello again my loves,

Nothing's much been happening this summer holiday since I live in a very small rural part of the country. There isn't anything much to enjoy, except if u like sunbathing, swimming, diving, yachting; that kinda stuff. Tropical, nonetheless. But since I've lived here for almost 18 years of my life, I don't realli find it as enticing as it should. However, though, I did go out last nite to the movies with my little sister and 8 friends. Almost like a reunion, if u ask me. It was a good time to catch up and see where everyone's gone after high school. Most of us are studying to get our degrees, then there are those who are actually employed or winning beauty contests.... Male beauty contests, that is. o_O  This guy, he wasn't exactly Calvin Klein Intimate material back in the high school days, but then again, people change. But IMO, he's not that hot.  Sorry, Aaron!  Then there's the littlest kid in our class who used to draw stickmen cartoons, talked about video games and chases his friends around the classroom (this was in 9th grade), and now, well, now he's probably the tallest little kid I've ever seen with musician long hair, smokes, drinks and drives a souped-up civic. Impressed? Damn straight!

Anyway, I got into my schoolgirl-ey babydoll dress which had puff sleeves (all the rage this season) with cute buttons down the front, my pear shaped MJ watch pendant, slipped into my navy Zara satin flats and grabbed my beige Miu Miu hobo and drove to the local mall to catch Blood Diamond. But heck, if i'd known the movie was 2 and a half hours long, I would've worn my jeans instead. Frankly, Blood Diamond is PRETTY violent. I think it's not for the faint hearted, coz the action going around is so brutal, it can be quite excruciating to watch. Although this was not one of DiCaprio's best performance (his accent was quite hard to decipher - Aussie + American + African?), it was still admirabily real and makes us think twice about community trade.

After the movie, I was supposed to play pool against my friend's boyfriend, but since my little sister has school the next day, we decided to leave it at that and make arrangements for follow up movie/coffee meets. I think I'm only reporting this coz that's the only interesting thing I've done all week. *grumble* And tomorrow, my parents will return from their week-long trip to Hong Kong for Eric Clapton's concert.

P.S. Guess who was caught out & about recently carrying the same Balenciaga Arena Hook tote?

XOXO Jess

Merry Belated Christmas & Happy 2007

  **UPDATING PICS**

Hey Birdies, how's things flying?

Well, I feel so bad for not having updated my little blog for awhile. I mean, even I'm sick of the BG by now. I think I'll change it when I have the time. But right now, let's just focus on what I've been up to lately.

First thing's first, I have been AWOL coz u know how Christmas was approaching, and where else would I be going for Christmas than non other than Hong Kong. [It's been the same place for the past XX years. But at least the shopping is still awesome] Anyway, so I was in Hong Kong a week before Crhistmas and left right after New Years, which is pretty sweet actualli. For Christmas though, my family and some friends went up to China to visit this spa resort as part of the 'tour'. Well, all I can say about it is: INDULGE URSELF WITH MASSAGES WHILE IN CHINA. Well, I had a foot massage pre-dinner, soaked a little in the private jacuzzi spa inside our chalet, and then a hot-stone massage post-dinner, but heck I didn't know we had to get mostly naked for the stone massage, so I was telling the lady to switch off the lights and get out while I prop myself onto the bed. >_> But it turned out pretty well, and it lasted til a bit after midnight coz I could hear the fireworks going on outside and the girl saying "Merry Christmas" to me in mandarin, of course. The next day, we booted off to some other city in China and stayed at the Shangri-La. I heard it was recently finished, so everything was pretty new (except for this stain which I found on our luggage rack *lol*). For the entire trip in China, all we did was eat, sight-see, massage & sleep. I wouldn't have been surprised if I became a tub of fat lard (luckily, I didn't; I even lost weight! Shocking, i know...).

We arrived back in Hong Kong on boxing day, and we got to open our presents from the family. The things I got wasn't that great, but oh well, better than nothing. Still, come to think of it, they're quite alright actualli. Well, my youngest sister Chloe got me a Baby Jane Cacharel dress; my other younger sister Laura got me a Mary Quant bangle; my elder sister Vivian got me a Baby Jane Cacharel top; my mum got me a Marc Jacobs pear-shaped watch pendant; and my dad got me this book which I had a huge fight over it. But of course, the presents I got myself aren't as half bad either..hehe

Just picked up some favourites I've been looking all over. U simply can't believe the array of fashion picks in Hong Kong, coz they are so vast. I mean, I bought 2 Heatherette tops *omg, i'm so in love with them*, an Apirl May babydoll dress, some Tarina Tarantino accessories, a Marc by M.J watch, DKNY Delicious parfum, 2 Zara coats, 3 pairs of flats, and some bits & pieces I can't even remember, but last but not least the only thing I would ever blow my money on: the new white Balenciaga Hook tote. I'm not sure if that's wat it's called coz I can't find it online. But I'll post up pics of it soon. It costed me a bomb, but oh well, my mum says it's worth it. Haha. What a mum. It's quite adorable, coz the zipper has a buckle and there's a keyhole on the buckle which u 'pretend' to use the key charm on the handle to open the buckle. And the coolest thing is, I bought the one & only (or was it last?) one they have in Hong Kong (or so I was told anyway). LOVE IT! Anyway, tell me, is white the most coveted color this season? Then my mum goes on to tell me that she saw Maria Sharapova on TV toting it around. LOL

Once again, I'll post pictures up when I find the time. So for now, tata lovelies.

xoxo Jess

P.S. And OMG, did I tell u I saw Shu-Qi [The Transporter] in MiuMiu...i thought she was tall, but she isn't realli, and her face isn't that, let's just say, "flawless". Funniest thing was, she was eyeing on the same Miu Miu Coffer bag [canvas one] as I was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Food & Sights Pics from Hong Kong/China (there's a hell load of pics, but i'll just post up the most enticing ones):

Raw live lobster @ Nishimura Restaurant, Marco Polo Hong Kong Hotel, Kowloon

 
The only thing I look forward to on our trip to China: Golden Pineapple Buns =]~

 
Decorative plate of fruits

'Vegetarian Fresh Steamed Buns'

 
Parasols on the ceiling of the "Old Tree Restaurant" in China

Recently opened Dr. Sun's ("the father of China") museum

The entrance of the spa resort in China

Stuffed Crabmeat in Tofu on Steamed Egg

Crab Roe

Almond pastry

Mmm...Wholemeal Buns

Roast Pigeon

 
"Snowball Redbean Buns"

Gosh, i'm hungry alreadi....