My first pair of short black boots.

After years of buying long boots, I finally decided to head out and buy a pair of black mid length boots. I haven't had a pair of black short boots since my Dr Marten in college but I didn't want that causal look this time round.

I am specific about what I want but I couldn't find the designs that I like in HK and those I found in Japan was simply too small for me even at size 25... Sigh...me and my Godzilla feet.

While randomly walking around time square since I'm being forced out of my apartment by the non stop drilling above my unit, I chanced upon this pair of black boots.

I thought they looked kick arse.

L.I.K.E.

I popped over to Bally and though the design was more refined and thinner leather, the fitting was not as comfy and it didn't fit well. It felt as if it was too loose by the ankle though the width and length of my feet was ok.

So in the end, I went back to Kookai and got my first pair of  grunge boots. Since I have my fair ton membership, there was additional discount and that made me happier, or rather my man happier since it become my Xmas prezzie.

Hk Food review: Second visit to I M Teppanyaki

Last weekend, we decided to head back to "I M Teppanyaki" for dinner. 

It seemed rather difficult to actually get a seating with chef Mok during weekends since he is almost always fully booked by "regulars" that booked a room etc.

We couldn't get him last Sunday and initially we were told Sat nite at 7pm would be possible. So we changed our dinner plans instead. However, comes sat afternoon, I got a call citing that Chef Mok is not available to us as he is being booked again for room. So I assumed that "normal" guests are second class to the rich who can have regular meals there even if we had already reserved a slot in advance. The lady kept recommending the other chefs. Hello, I know there are other chefs, don't state the obvious. What is annoying is that when I did the booking the first time, I had already told her WHO I don't want to cook my meal but on sat, she recommended the pretty boy again. I know I didn't want pretty boy Cal to cook my meal and so thankfully Chef Stone was available. Was I annoyed by the last min change and the apparent "I don't rem what u told me" service, kinda annoyed but well what can I do unless I don't eat there right?

When we arrived, we were seated and chef Stone came to greet us. He told us if the beef tenderloin would be ok and since my man prefer his meat less fatty so we said ok.

Service by waitresses was rather patchy. Not much interaction except they would stand behind u waiting to be called. Another regular and wife, whom they addressed by name, came in slightly later and I supposed being "someone", the waitresses greeted them warmly, and offered to hang their outer jackets etc. No one bothered to ask us if we like to hang our jackets, and even when we are seated next to them, with our jackets obviously hanging off the chairs, no one seemed to spot this service oversight or discrimination. Even when their fren came in much later to join them, service was also top notch to them. Another walk in couple seated to our right was also given the less than warm hospitality. That's a second thing that rub me off the wrong way. Shouldn't service be more uniform when we are all paying guests, though I must admit that they are nice enough to allow the couple to our right to share only 1 set meal between them.

While service was a let down, the food was still exceptional. 

Apparently they had changed the menu this time round.

They had gotten rid of the scallop, replaced it with buttered abalone instead which actually works better for us.

We had known Stone chef from sessyu days. We had enjoyed his cooking because he had always
cooked our meat to perfection. This time round, he remained top notched and did not let us down. His seasoning was just right, and u can tell he is very careful about how much salt he sprinkle over the meat. He would carefully sprinkled it over the meat just at a right height, instead of the showy flashy "flinging seeds" technique the other pretty chef does. As well, we noticed he used suitably lesser oil as compared to pretty boy chef.

The buttered abalone was superb.
It was fresh and succulent with the slight chewy texture I like. Would be better if they sliced it a little thinner so that it would be easier to chew for ladies. However, taste wise, there is no faulting.

The lobster...remains as good as per my last review.

The foie gras was excellent and this time round I noticed they got rid of the round berries which I had
 reviewed previously as being too bitter. Good decision on that. Also, it was not teriyaki sauce but a more gentle fruity sauce. Fig perhaps? Not sure and forgot to ask.

This time round there is extra vege salad. It's a bit strange to serve it in the middle of the meal instead of at the start. It consist of carrot stick, asparagus,  the usual suspect in some home made light sauce. Nothing wow there.

The next thing is tenderloin.
Personally, I much prefer the meat we had in Oct. It was prob rib eye which was fattier and sweeter. The meat we had this time though looked marbled, was not as fatty and to me, loses the distinctive beef flavor. Also, it doesn't taste as good with wasabi as the fatty cuts. The fried rice is still paired with the lobster head miso soup packed with generous raddish mushroom though I must say chef mok's fried rice taste better than chef Stone.

The seasonal fruit remained as honey dew but instead of grapes, it is paired with strawberry.

All in all, the meal remains outstanding. At the end of our meal, chef Mok found time to come to our station and cook the ala carte dishes for his regular sitting to my left. Apparently chef Mok is heading to japan next weekend so he won't be around.

Would I come back, I guess so for the food and I hope the discriminating service staff would improve on their evidently suck-up attitude since we are all paying guests. Even if chef Mok is not available, thankfully there is always the lesser known chef stone so I guess it's ok.

Travel log Nov 2013: Trip to Japan. First stop Osaka.

Time to update on my recent Japan trip to Osaka, Kyoto and Kyushu. Let's hope I have the energy to complete it since I havent even got started on my travel to Jeju that was in July!!! Looking at the load of pictures and my massive headache begins already.

Initially the plan was only to head to Kyushu but I had trouble to book the ryokans that I wanted and so my man decided to just book a place in Osaka as our springboard to Kyoto. However as luck would have it, we managed to get available ryokans elsewhere and so it became a city-prefecture hopping trip instead of just holing up in Kyoto alone. That made me happy since I had already been to Osaka and Kyoto previously and frankly not my cup of tea. Osaka is just boring and Kyoto is just Old.....

The flights to Osaka in Nov was pretty much booked out by late September. Talk about CRAZY. That's how much Hong Kongers love Japan. That's how frequent they travel to Japan. For Hong Kong, Japan is our backyard playground. Kinda like how Singaporeans love to flock to JB. So we had to depart on Fri instead of sat since that was the only flight we could board for 10.30am.

Since my man has the Cathay diamond FF (yes that's how much they made him fly for work..poor chap), we headed to the sit in lounge that morn since the business class lounge noodle bar hasnt started serving that early. Apart from cooked fresh eggs orders, even soy bean drink is being foamed here. Funny!

Sit-in First class lounge 

My frothy soybean drink!

Beautiful morning before we set off.

You guys have NO FREAKING IDEA how much prep work I did for this trip.
I'm serious.

It wasnt just a let's go on holiday pack up and go trip. I basically labor over every details a month ahead, plan each day to the hour and figure out transportation, estimated cost and travel time, dining places, driving sighting seeing spots in Kyushu, calculate time and distance travelled to fit in various spots etc. As we didnt know if we can get a English navi for our rental car, I had to try to google how to read some of the places that are in Kanji. It was PAINFUL, anally painful.

My eyes were tearing and popping out just from visiting the various Japanese websites, google maps,getting advice about train tickets from various sources etc, Japanese navi maps, getting mapcodes etc. It was stressful I'm telling u. One would have thought I'm taking a tour group instead of just my husband alone! lol
Just to give an idea of some of the sites visited....

Still, it was worth it.
EVERY Hour and minute prepping for the trip made the holiday a breeze and we both had a good time.

15th Nov

When we landed in Osaka, I decided to forgo the train and took the limousine bus instead. Yeah time to put my Japanese into good use. It was alittle nerve racking since I havent used Japanese since I quit school since July. so i'm kinda 4 months rusty but I did alrite though my tenses and grammar was all over the place. Sigh. Some Japanese I had spoken to, it was easy to understand them but some, I simply couldnt catch them. It could be the same content but I think it has to do with the speed or intonation. I'm used to certain Japanese tone and pitch but not some. I am starting to understand why my man commented he cannot understand some Singaporean's English because it sounds incomprehensible to him. It isnt that we use the wrong words, its the way of saying it that makes it difficult to understand when the ear is accustomed to certain words in certain tones. Then again, I'm no expert and I'm not fluent in the Japanese Language to be sure.

Anycase, because we are putting up at Ritz Carlton in Osaka, after speaking to 2 different ladies at the airport. The information counter lady was of no help at all because she didnt know much about the travelling time comparison, she could only tell me how much the train cost but not the bus. I had to walk out of the airport to find the bus ticket counter and asked the lady there for details. The bus lady told me bus was a wiser option as it brings us closer to hotel with less walk.

For me, less walk is good because it means less navigation. With no wifi and access to google map, I hate to lug my luggage around an unfamiliar city.

Another advantage of the bus, we get to see the sunset in Osaka! It's like a preview to the city!

So once I got the instructions and bus stop number from the lady, I bought our bus ticket 1500yen per pax and was ready to head off! Def slightly more expensive than if we take the train but I didnt regret this option. There was also another HK family who was staying at Ritz who did the same, and this wasnt their first trip. In terms of time, it was almost the same but the bus was slightly faster by about 10mins than via train. If i include the lesser walking than if we had taken the train, then, the extra yen was worth every yen.

A beautiful eve as we were on way to our hotel.

Beauty Talk: Innisfree Mask

Tried the innisfree hydrogel mask but personally I dont like it. For some reason, it makes my skin itch after application so I would have to rinse it off. Something inside the hydrogel mask doesnt agree with my skin and frankly, didnt see much significant difference.  Tried the Pomengrate mask as well and it also wasnt good for my sensitive skin.

However, their NORMAL cucumber mask was alright by me. No funny reaction.

More food and hanging out with BFF

Before my BFF heads back to Sg, I had her go yum cha with me at lei garden, so that she can sink her teeth into those yummy roast pigeon. In my excitement, I over ordered and had to pack some stuff back, but not before we devoured those roast meat and my seafood soup dumpling...oh sooo yummy!

For dinner, since we didnt have anything prebooked, we decided to try our luck with this new Japanese place - 目利きの銀次／ Mekiki No Ginji. I had eyed the place but not tried it till now. It's pretty nice for yakitori sticks but I wont recommend the soup rice thingy. Simply coz I hate gluey soup base.

After dinner, we went back to my (or now, our) fav soy beancurd place!!! I just have to have my ginger version while she had her black sesame ones. Oh sooooo heavenly!!! The curd is just plain wobbly smooth!!! 

We decided to have another late nite and I was thinking about wee morn 2am"snacks" at 24hr Tsui Wah but changed my mind after pinching my waist...another day then!

BFF's in town!

All my posts are gonna be back dated since I have been such a slacker, only updating my Fb, which of course is not made public as this is.

My BFF flew in specially to keep me company during early Nov and I had such a ball with her. Caught up with another of our college mate who is also currently working in HK and well, it was girls' nite out. Had dinner. Had drinks, and plenty of chit chat.

For dinner, we headed to Maxim Palace in Central since my BFF loves roast duck and goose. We couldnt finish all the dishes because we ladies are such small eaters..haa haaa. The desserts werent great here but the beef and duck were rather good. The best thing is that the dishes are supposedly without MSG.

Hong Kong is just so pretty at nite. Decided to take a quick shot of Cheung Kong building while waiting for my gfs.

After dinner, we were up for more chatting and so off to Conrad lounge we went since both my other fren and I liked it there though she is a regular and I aint. Haha.

Both of us crashed the minute we reached home. It had been a long day but we havent had such fun for a long while. While the two of us snoozed away happily, we are fairly certain our other poor gf prob headed back to work on her legal cases. It's a tough life, being a lawyer. Glad I didnt make that my profession!

The next day, we headed for our pedi and mani, and afterwhich, a nice cheesecake at my fav haunt. It was just pure bliss, just hanging and doing what girlies do best, being company for each other. That includes, doing the masky thingie. Lol

After this, spontaneously we headed off for a quick drink (again) at our new fav alfresco dining spot in CWB. It was really nice, just sitting out in the open and enjoying the nice autumn breeze overlooking the harbor.

I am thankful for many things, and having my BFF is nothing short of a blessing. It's an irony sometimes, that I found it easier to turn to friends than family when things blow up in my face or going thru a rough patch. 

U would think friends are likely to use and betray you but in my experience, my good friends have never done that but family members did when it suited their goal and their convenience. This was a precious lesson learnt in 2013 which still send a chill down my heart. For that, I'm ever more grateful by the nice frens I am surrounded for which I will treasure alot.

Hong Kong: Another new hairdo for 2013 by my Japanese hairstylist!

It has been 6 long months since I went back to my Japanese hairstylist Ito san to get my hair fixed.
It's also the first time I will be visiting his new salon since his relocation in Causeway bay!

Between being busy and laziness, my hair has been growing steadily. Hoo Hoo! Just realise I only had been to hair saloon twice in this year! haa haaa...so much for getting ur hair trimmed every 4-6weeks rule)

I was getting quite used to my short straight hair by early July frankly.

By early Oct, I was bunning up my hair again!

Comes, November, I didnt know if I should cut it short again, long and straight as it is, but Ito san suggested a perm for my shoulder length hair. Ok, I have never had my hair permed at that length before and I havent seen many in reality with a nice outcome. Still, I thought what the heck, let's give it a try and if i hate it enough because it didnt suit me, I can always snipped it off.

SO after 3 hours...tadah! Here is my latest autumn hairstyle for the year.
I still havent quite decided if it suits me. Most of the reviews in my FB seemed to indicate positive reception (maybe my friends are just kind? Lol!), except for my cousin who thinks it made me looked more mature and my bro says it's very "Jappy"

This time round, I try to give it a more 360 degree view, back to front and from the sides. Sigh...some angles really are NOT my best angles. Oh well, just using my head to showcase the hairstyle afterall.

How? What do you ladies think?

To be honest, I'm still getting use to it. It's actually a little harder to manage than long hair permed because the curls are harder to twirl into rolls since they are still short. Ito san says I dont have to go back till 4 months later, just to let the hair grow more to make it more gentle wave I suppose. Let's hope my laziness doesnt destroy his good work!

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