HK Food Review: I M Teppanyaki, HK

The 2nd birthday dinner out was closer to home, which I had opted for Japanese Teppanyaki this time.

鐵板燒·鑄  I M Teppanyaki and Wine 

(http://www.imteppanyaki.com/)

Again, it was a new place, that was literally new and as well, a first visit for us. I chanced this accidentally while surfing for places to eat without having to travel much and what caught my eyes was the fact that the chef Lawrence Mok was from Shangri-La, HK's Nadaman.

I had been to Nadaman several times for those special occasions and we did like the Teppanyaki food there. So I was a little hopeful but cautious after the disappointment last night at St George.

I had initially booked the dinner at 7.45pm but I called to check if we could go earlier at 7.15pm, which the lady on the phone apologised to say it was not possible as they are really full. Okie...so we linger at home for a while longer but fearing heavy traffic on Sunday night, we still headed out abit earlier to catch a cab to Tin Hau.

We arrived at 7.30pm and thankfully our seats were ready. There he is in person, Chef Mok.

We decided to try the Mok's menu since we were both after some lobster and Japanese beef. The other menu was the American beef. Thanks but no thanks. It was Japanese beef or nothing.

Just a little description of the place. The entrance is unassuming and easy to walk past without expecting a whole lot. Inside, the place is split into 2 section, each able to host 2 chefs at work concurrently. The seating is a little tighter than I like but its ok so long as you have considerate diners next to you.

I had an idiot who was watching his video on his Samsung phone at max volume and it was a little annoying since it was disruptive to me actually wanting to have conversation with my date. I find it really strange that HK couples tend not to talk on their dinner date but this arse next to me was worse, playing videos during his dinner time while disturbing others. Great manners there old uncle. Luckily his female partner had more common social sense and told him to turn off the volume....esp SINCE IT WAS A KOREAN video and he was reading the subs instead of listening to the conversations. Classic idiot.

Anycase, appetizer was a trio combo of urchin, vege and sweet prawn. Fresh, light and nice.

Appetizers

Other diner's order.

Our choice of menu for the night.

Watching Chef Mok at work

Counting the number of diners he had, he started to pan fried his scallops...though unfortunately he somewhat accidentally left us out in his count. So we were served the lobster first. They didnt even realise it till I asked the server what had happened to my scallops? If I had not paid attention and asked about it, I would have missed out on my scallops!!! Now we wouldnt want that! Lol. Ooops!

My lovely Hokkaido scallop

I think Chef Mok was alittle overwhelmed and so Chef Calgine Cheng stepped in to take over the other 4 diners including us.

Chef Cheng cracking our lobster claw

While I didnt get to taste Chef's mok version, I think Chef Calgine was a little more showy in his "cooking" than actually getting the seasoning right. Personally we thought the scallop was kinda under seasoned because when he scattered the salt, none of it hit the scallop....it was just all over the cooking top. Lol. However that said, the 2 seafood dishes were still very good and I actually prefer their lobster sauce over Sessyu's Teppanyaki. It's lighter here and less rich, hence the lobster flavor was able to shine through.

Teppanyai Lobster.

Plate setting for foie gras dish

This is cooked to perfection. Flawless. Except I didnt like the round berries on the left which was slightly bitter.

The highlight was obviously the A5 premium Japanese beef. It literally melts in your mouth and it was GLORIOUS. The fresh wasabi, when coated over the meat was strangely non spicy at all. Completely harmless! It was sheer amazement. There is no way to describe the meat texture except for the buttery fragrance that coats the inside of your mouth and the juice oozed ever so gently on your tongue sending you straight to 7th heaven. It was a magnificent piece of meat, not a lot of pieces being so fatty but the food volume was just right.

Lastly, we caught up to the rest and Chef Mok was cooking the fried rice for the 8 of us. Looking at his intense face had me chuckling with respect because I had never seen anyone sooo serious over fried rice.

Veges with beef. they were in my tummy before the meat arrives.

 I have to declare this is the best fried rice I had in any Japanese Teppanyaki, JAPAN included. Usually they serve you some lame garlic rice with some onion or eggs if lucky, but Chef Mok's fried rice was awesomely pack with goodness! There's everything in here and i love the lobster head miso soup that came along with it. It was soooooooo full of flavor and I loved it!!!

My satisfied man agreed too that this was the best fried rice at a teppanyaki store to date.

The sweet ending was the Japanese sweet melon. The sweetness....the aroma, need I say more?

All in all, it was a delightful meal despite the small mixed up on my "lost" scallop, I loved the meal here. It's definitely a joint I would love to see flourish and prosper because it's simply fantastic and worth every penny.

Food Review: St George@Hullet House, TST Canton road, HK

Since my man's birthday was over the weekend that just passed us by, I decided to spring him with two special dinner out.

The first dinner was trying out St George restaurant@Hullett House, across the harbour at TST. Figuring out where the building was was relatively easy but it took us awhile to figure out which level to head to. Kinda convoluted since we were not exactly heading in via the main entrance of the hotel...lol

So we were first greeted by this nostalgic British kinda lobby lift entrance with all the "rich photo" history on the wall. Walking through the halls was like walking in some old European statehouse.

We were early at 7pm and so the tables were relatively free. It wasnt a very large place but at least the tables were not crammed too close to each other.

To save us the headache of what to order and since the degustation looked alright, we decided to go with the Le Menu du Chef, without the wine pairing since we aint much of a wine drinker. I did have my moscato d-asti by the glass though.

I think the sign of things to come was from the serving of the langoustine starter. The portions was tiny. I dont mean small, I meant TINY. Like little baby jars of food composite. The taste was nice and so we were left hoping that the remainder of the course would be better.

This was an interesting dish. The idea was to serve the fatty tuna like sushi, with the crab meat replacing the rice instead. The ingredients were fresh but I didnt think much of the tomato cress pairing. Frankly, it was a little on the bland side and needed something to perk up the dish.

When I saw this dish, my head was like going WTF? Another tiny dish? Who exactly are they trying to feed? The dish was overall ok but the curry emulsion didnt do it for me.

This sweet onion pancake however was pretty delightful but the urchin didnt pack any punch. I think it was overwhelmed by the onion flavor. However, I did like this and prob the best we had from the course so far.

When our roasted lamb saddle arrived, we were shocked by another tiny portion. We have eaten in many places and no other degustation served such appallingly small sizes that even a kid will still be left hungry.  The slab was no longer than my thumb nor thicker than 1.5 finger width. It's quite a cheeky thing to do for a reputable restaurant.

The servings between courses were also a fairly LONG wait and it wasnt 2 hours later than we were served this food portion fit for Ms. Thumbelina. So of course the birthday boy was upset and so was I. We reflected our dissatisfaction to the manager who happened to be the one serving the main dish. We explained our concerns about the fact that we are STILL famished. It didnt help their cause either when our "medium" meat was served Rare, and the other waiters simply forgot our request for more bread (to fill up our hungry tummy)

The manager, taking in our immediate concerns, without hesitation addressed our problems with an apology as well as promising to top up our meal with another meat course, the beef. I told her I honestly dont want to wait for another hour but she promised it will be ready in 10mins. The beef itself was simply seared and grilled without much seasoning. It was ok, not great. The manager came back to us again and to apologise for the night because someone in the kitchen decided to MIA and didnt show up for work causing the "disruption" in service. I highly doubt the size would double even with the kitchen help appearing though. It is honestly shameful to serve such a small portion at such a price.

The extra beef dish

The puny roasted lamb saddle

 Probably because knowing this was a birthday celebration, the manager again took the initiative to serve us an extra cheese tasting dish. I'm not a cheese fan, so this did nothing for me but I did appreciate the gesture and we certainly let her know our appreciation at her "recovery" actions.

The 2 desserts were served one after another. First the sorbet and followed by the chocolate cake. Didnt blow my mind if you asked me.

Our meal came with tea and we opted to try the house blend. My goodness, the tea was actually rather nice, packed with a nice fruity flora flavor and fragrance. I had asked if I could buy a packet back and after waiting for 10 mins, the manager came back with this big bottled tea leaves and offered it as a gift instead as the souvenir shop was already closed by the time our meal was over at 10.45pm (we started at 7pm - longest meal ever!)

I was pleasantly surprised and thanked her for it. It was a nice gesture on her part and she told us that she hoped we will be back.

To sum up the experience, not great. Jessica the manager made it better but will I be back, likely not ever.

After dinner, we went for a nice stroll under the autumn skies and the surrounding was prettier than I had expected. I got to get out more to explore HK....

Hullett House, TST

Hullet House with landscape

Food Review: An Nam Vietnamese, Lee Gardens, Causeway Bay HK

The slacker in me has decided to make more of an effort to "introduce" the good food in HK. I have been eating non stop but apart from loading to FB, it has become sort of a chore to try to blog separately here but oh well....in case there is ever a day I need to close my FB account...better to have spare memory bank here as well. Heh heh.

Let's start with the newly opened An Nam Vietnamese restaurant, located at Lee Gardens 4F. (http://www.leegardens.com.hk/dining/LG/2435/An-Nam) The description says "upscale", I guess that simply means very elaborate nice ambience setting and prices packed with a punch. However that said, I loved the new Viet food joint here. Ever since Rice paper has closed at WTC mall, I have been lamenting about the lack of good Viet food in CWB area. Someone heard my wish list and gave me 2 viet dining spots within the same month after a long year's wait.

The other viet place is Nha Trang (http://www.nhatrang.com.hk/) now located up at Times Square Food Forum. I didnt particularly like the food here though cheaper than An Nam, but that's for another day.

To date, I have been to An Nam twice, and had tried all different food to sample the relatively wide choice. Surprisingly, they didnt have my fav grilled pork neck, but I suppose that's more Thai than Viet.

On my first trip, I had ordered the Tamarind Chilli crab (HK480), the Jumbo clams cooked with coconut in broth, and lastly the Angus beef sliced pho.

tamarind crab. *yummy*

I seriously love the crab dish. The claws were meaty and fresh, no funny business there with the freshness. The sauce was honestly finger licking good with the right tangy sweetness and spice.

We ordered the clams belatedly after seeing what the table behind us had. They were fat, juicy goodness and the coconut did a splendid job of enhancing the flavor.

I had never had angus beef pho before and to be honest, chicken pho is my usual order. However, wanting to break away from convention, I bravely ordered this and was nicely rewarded. The meat was sweet and nicely cooked after being soaked in the broth for a while. This got to be the best beef pho in town, but like my fren said, how not to be good when its angus. Ha! he took the words out of my mouth.

On my 2nd trip last night, I tried a different starter. The marinated chicken on prawn crackers.
This came as a delightful yummy dish, the meat was tender and the prawn cracker has the right crunch. You know how horrible prawn cracker can be if its stale, like chewing tasteless chalk, but not An Nam prawn cracker. They were a solid bite and freshness guaranteed on my visit!

Marinated Chicken on prawn crackers.

 The next starter we had was traditional spring rolls. Personally, this didnt do it for me. I think after my backpacking trip to Ho Chi Ming a decade back, and having the BEST spring roll ever at the backpacker alley, I could NEVER find another spring roll as good as that ever again. Repeatedly, I get disappointed. The wrap was a little too hard for me. It didnt break nicely when I had my bite, so it kinda "cut" the back of my gum after 3 of these. The fillings was ok. Nothing special or wow about it. i think I prefer our Chinese spring rolls instead.

Wanting to try something unique not often seen in other Viet dining, we ordered the "Pork knuckles Vermicelli". First off, I would like to correct the misconception. In Asia, or at least in Singapore, when one says Vermicelli, you think of the fine white noodle or even mee suan. However, this vermicelli here in HK refers to the thick white laksa noodle （Hk's 米線）.

The flavor was delicious. No seriously, it was good! I cant describe it but its not spicy yet has a slight hint of spice. Apart from the fact that one dont get much meat out of the pork knuckles, this is a very good bowl of noodles which I didnt have a chance of trying in my past Viet trip. If I could have my way, I would keep the broth and noodle and throw in pork neck instead to make this a bowl of kickarse undefeatable noodle.

Pork knuckle noodles

The last main for the nite was Jumbo prawns. They were JUMBO alright. Think the size of a huge lobster, that's what these freaking prawns are like. However, maybe they were too big, so the meat is not as tender as I would like and there is nothing special about the sauce though they were nice. Basically what I mean to say is, I could cook this in my own kitchen without a fuss and so it wont be something I would be in a hurry to order anytime soon. However, if you dont cook, and you generally fancy prawns cook with tomato sauce and worcestershire sauce mixed with dash of water and sugar, this will be your dish.

jumbo prawns

My dessert for the night was the chocolate fondant with coconut icecream. We started laughing at the appearance because it looked as if someone in the kitchen slipped and scattered some flour or icing sugar over it accidentally. It looks a mess! Lol!

However, taste wise it was good but no surprise there, moist on the inside. Def better than the mango pana cotoo dessert I had the last time though.

choc fondant with coconut icecream

Are the meals here cheap? Definitely NOT. My second nite set me back by HK1000, including 2 fresh coconuts to the meal. However, freshness and service is a definite thumbs up. The lady who waited on the table was very pretty to me and from her accent, I knew she wasnt local nor in Hk for long. I made a guess she was from Viet and sure enough in our conversations later, she confirmed her origins and I just love her smiles:)

Even "lunch stealers" dont want our Singapore citizenship

It was our wedding anniversary and so my man decided to take me out for a weekend celebration at Four Seasons Hotel HK.

Was having dinner at the Chinese Restaurant,LUNG KING HEEN It had a great nite view to the harbor!

Then came a table of 8 Filipino seated next to us. Initially I wasn't paying much attention until they started talking loudly in a mixture of Tagalog and English.

They were talking about their IT work and about how they got their SG PR easily having only stayed in SG for 2 years. One guy was really LOUD, the one with semi bald head, and I commented to my husband that he was the Filipino version of a China man. So loud and crass. It was impossible to not hear him talk.

I was minding my own business until my ears caught them talking about Singapore. What can I say, you can take a girl out of Singapore but you can't take the Singapore element out of the girl.

Even though I don't live in Sg presently, what they said was like a stab to my heart. That our citizenship has really gone down the gutters. (Not that I didnt already know that with the flooding of PR in our country but to actually HEAR it from a foreigner's mouth really made me hot behind the ears.)

The really loud guy have been in SG since 2005 and you can actually hear the Singapore accent from his speech mixed with his Filipino accent. He asked one of his younger guy Filipino "So you converting to SG citizenship?"

You should see the "HORROR" look on the young guy's face and he replied immediately "NO NO! I am just PR, I dont want the citizenship." They said something in Tagalog and they all LAUGHED and the fren repeated the question as to why not?

The young chap replied "I'm only there for career and family."

I assumed they thought it was safe to talk that disparagingly about Singapore (and loudly mind you) in HK.

Later on, they continue to talk about plans to work in London etc..and asking another lady about her experience on the cross over.

Having read what our dear PM Lee warned us about recently, it was ironic and like a HUGE slap across our face. Fantastic isnt it? Even lunch stealers DON'T WANT SG CITIZENSHIP.

Footnote:
I dont usually add a footnote but I felt compelled to do this based on some mistaken and "not so nice" comments. 

This post isnt about shaming the foreign workers, nor about being anti-global workers. That has NEVER been my stand throughout this post or in my blog. Which is why you dont see details like the companies these folks work for here, ther names nor do I take clear pictures of every single one of them to go viral on FB. Which is also why I declined to have this post reposted in TRE or any websites where it might trigger more extreme responses which is not my intention. I'm not here to encourage hate post in case some of readers perceived my post wrongly, or their selectively reading and jumping to conclusions to is their key problems.

However what this post IS about, is stating an incident that I have encountered, which contradicts what our nation's policies seemed to be geared towards - desperate attempts to lure foreigners to be PRs and then to convert them to SG citizens, and making reference to the recent comment warning us about "lunch stealers". Plus these folks talked so loudly on such sensitive issues that I figured if they are not afraid to be heard, they shouldnt be afraid to be "seen" either.

One more note, precisely these are seemingly well educated professionals (aka the sought after targets) that makes the whole situation an irony. If these people are taking cheap shots at us, then who exactly are we as a nation attractive to? These folks merely confirmed what many of us believed, they are not here to make Sg their home forever, to integrate with us, they are just here for career and family well being, and some nastier ones to milk the system (eg: buy HDB and resell for a profit when they give up their PR and head elsewhere).  Without a link like a local spouse, or some other commitment,  it's hard to imagine any of them being concerned for the nation or any integration intent.  

Finally,the issue in this post has nothing to do with globalisation of workforce, but rather that I am disappointed with these fellow people who are here in our land, drinking our water, working amongst us, enjoying whatever comforts they have are taking cheap shots and mocking its host nation and her people. THAT is not nice is what I am saying. I dont see what is wrong with highlighting such ill behavior, esp if they are happy to be heard in public arena without care.

Singapore not considering poverty line assessment? WTF?

Singapore is not considering having an official poverty line, as it would not fully reflect the severity and complexity of issues faced by the poor, and may also lead to those above the line missing out on assistance.

CHAN CHUN SING: "If we use a single poverty line to assess the family, we also risk a 'cliff effect', where those below the poverty line receive all forms of assistance, while other genuinely needy citizens outside the poverty line are excluded."
- Straits Times. 23 Oct 2013. 

 https://www.facebook.com/theonlinecitizen/posts/10152015383181383

Is this where SG is heading?

Poverty line is a hand in hand assessment along with GDP to gauge how well a govt is running the country, you shouldnt have one without the other. For the longest time since 2005, it has become more apparent that Singapore is being run like an institution rather than like a country and with all the fixation about KPI, shouldnt then poverty line should be part of a good governing body's KPI? You keep talking about people falling through the cracks, we know that. However, exactly HOW MANY people are falling through the cracks with your vision? How do we know if the country is truly doing better or worse without any statistics to back your claim? 

Otherwise to give an analogy, it will be like a highly paid self-acclaimed (but rather irresponsible) top surgeon trumpeting his own horns, crowing only about one's success op stories but neglecting to share how many failed ops he has. Given a 100 patients, what's the point of saving 20 patients but failing the other 80? Is that still a desirable doctor? 

So, when I read the extract quote above, my first reaction was.."WTF?"

Honestly, I dont really get this statement. How does establishing a poverty line statistics deprive other genuine citizens outside the line? Hello? Social services are run by man, not robots. Human can be flexible. You mean you cant help genuine cases because they are above a yardstick estimate and you need to stick to the line? You think this is classroom marking system? Where 50 is strictly the passing mark and anything under is failure?  Social services should render help regardless to genuine cases even for borderline cases, no? That's why we have case by case assessment isnt it? The ability to use their discretion and compassion. Otherwise what do you think civil service officers are for? Just to fill up forms and answer emails and voice mails? 

Plus having a poverty line does not translate to govt running amok with all the social benefits. You will still have stringent evaluation and assignment or provision of benefits as per necessary and not "receive ALL forms of assistance" as Mr Chan put it across. While I stand corrected, please also spare a thought of the pride, integrity and dignity of poor people. You sound as if our fellow poor citizens are all out to fleece the govt given every opportunity they get. Do you know that there are many poor old grannies would rather slough picking cardboard than ask govt for money? If I'm the tax payer and given a choice, I would rather helping my own people, the genuine poor citizens, than pouring our money into infuriating free scholarship for foreigners, YOG and meaningless projects (ahem...*sky garden*) that amount to nothing except face value. 

Hong Kong already published its own poverty line this year, and this state doesnt even have their own full fledged elected govt. Yet, they seemed to display a more humane way of running the state.  

It was published about a fifth of its people are living in poverty and I'm VERY SURE the actual figures of poor people above the poverty line goes beyond this. I'm living in HK and I'm telling you, its very very very very hard to imagine living in HK based on the below poverty line criteria. 

Accoding to the 2012 poverty line set By  the number of households, one person household is under HK $3600, two people HK $7700, three people HK $11500, four people HK $14300, five people HK $14800, six or above HK $15800.

HK, a city with a surging number of millionaires and home to some of Asia’s richest people, finds a fifth of its population living in poverty.About 1.3 million people, or 19.6 percent of the population, were below the poverty line last year, according to a report commissioned by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and released on Sept. 28. The benchmark, determined for the first time, was set at half of the city’s median household income, excluding impact of tax and welfare transfer, the report said.

“The poverty line is a useful reference point for knowing whether the situation is improving or deteriorating, ” Willy Lam Wo-Lap, an adjunct professor of history at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said by phone

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-29/hong-kong-poverty-line-shows-wealth-gap-with-one-in-five-poor.html

"REFERENCE POINT" Get it Mr Chan CS? A reference point, NOT an unyielding criteria line to implement social benefits upon. 

External wall repair time!

With the Typhoon season finally over....it's finally time to set in motion the repair of the outer walls and window rubber seals.

 The cement and rubber had cracked over time (well, it is an old building), and the water has seeped in causing much distress on my interior walls. Wall water stains, cracking, and well, moulds on the water stain. Being the external wall being part of the cause, the cost is luckily borne by the management and not me. Though the rubber seal replacement do fall under my cost...sigh.

So they finally came yesterday to erect the scaffolding and my goodness, these "Shifu" (experts) never fail to impress me. HK scaffolding is truly an art, not to mention environmental friendly. The way they risk their lives to earn a living. How they manage to erect the bamboo structure in the middle of the building, and from scratch never failed to amaze me, knowing where to lay the foundation and build from it. They made it look like a breeze too!

 Scadffolding is not cheap though. Just for errecting a 3 window wide scadffold will set one back by HK3000 . Still considering the risk they take, I'm happy to fork out the money.

Rolling my eyes over SG visa renewal

Meanwhile, renewed my Oz PR yesterday and bloody hell another A$300 down the drain. Apparently labor party or some smart alex, in their attempt to cut down immigrants, they changed the law and now even Australian's spouse need to fulfil the 2 year stay in Oz now before I can get my annual 5 year renewal. So now I have to renew on a yearly basis. What an "innovative" way to fund more money for the Oz govt. Now prob somewhere down the road, we need to consider spending 2 years in Oz so that I can rid myself of this annual PR renewal process.

Sg immigration isnt faring any better.
I know with all the outcry against huge influx of PR etc, the govt has rightly so implemented a tighter control on approving PRs. That obviously has an impact on my man as well. What normally takes a month application became a 4 month plus and still waiting period. My SG good friend's Ozzie husband, married for 12 years, living in Singapore, is into his 6 month wait and still waiting....

You see, because we are working and residing in HK, it becomes a pure "he is my spouse" hence we need the PR thing. Same goes for my Oz PR. Considering we dont own any HDB or depriving anyone of housing or jobs or medical care or investing in anything in Sg to push up prices for my fellow citizens, I dont see what the issue is. In fact, in my humble opinion, we had the stupidest questions posed to him. (though my man doesnt realise how lowly I thought of the question posed. He was more like "Did they think we are in fraud marriage or what?? Like as if I need Sg PR to travel anywhere???)

You see, we moved out of Singapore before we got married, and after marriage, we still didnt go back to SG and moved from Hk to Oz to HK instead. That's like more than half a decade ago and his PR was already renewed once during this period.

Suddenly this time round, an "overzealous" (I really dont want to insult him in public domain) civil service staff refused to approve his application because his query was "Why isnt your SG ID sharing the same address?"

If he had asked me that in person, I would have got up, smacked his head and tell him he is a fucking moron.

However instead, I replied calmly in an Email to our civil service staff

"Dear Sir,

If you noticed, my husband was working in Singapore before I met him. He already had his SG PR ID, hence the address on his PR ID. SO if I had not met him then, he obviously will not be sharing the same address.

Then BEFORE we got married, we moved overseas for work reasons. Obviously MINE was retained as my family's address, while he has no valid sg address to update his ID with since we are dating, NOT married. You dont put your gf's address on your ID when you are dating right? Only family members right?

After we got married, we continued to LIVE OVERSEAS and hence still do not have a joint SG address. Of course, I had personally visited our DEAR NEIGHBORHOOD POLIC POST IN BEDOK and asked to update our NRIC with our overseas address, ONLY to be advised by our efficient SPF that our Singapore ID cannot have overseas address.  So we can just retain what we have. So dear sir, can u kindly explain to me again where did we go wrong?

Meanwhile, if necessary, I am happy to send you a whole A4 box full of joint bank accounts, and bill payments stating our same address starting from 2004 to present 2013, with every month to date if you are interested to verify that we have been living together, if and only if, that is where your concern is."

Obviously, what we received was 2 weeks of pure silence with NO acknowledgements.
Then out of the blue, we received a letter form immigration with 2 ID stickers with our current HK address. Oh so, NOW we are able to paste overseas address on our ID. Did the law changed or did our friendly SPF officer told me the wrong thing?

Oh well.
At least its something we can now put it behind us, for another 5 years to come.

Weight loss ramblings

For strange explainable reasons, I have been losing weight. I am not kidding.

It was amazing enough that I was down to 50kg constant for a month since my trip back from Seoul. These 2 weeks, I have gone back down to 49.5kg. A figure that hasnt appeared on my scales for the last 10years. To see my weight starts with 4 is an utter shocker, of course it felt good though disbelieving. So much so to the extent that I had to keep hassling my man to weigh himself to convince me that the weight machine is working just fine. Will I ever hit 49kg? Lol!!!

My man told me I did look thinner to him.
"I bet if you go back to Singapore, your friends will tell you that you lost weight."
I dont feel lighter and I am not skipping on meals either.
All I can say is, I felt marvelously great after my Jeju Seoul trip and been keeping up with this good mood and good breakfast diet. I basically swap bread toast for proper chinese rice breakfast instead.

Another change in my life. I basically want nothing to do with fake fairy.
Which was partially why I didnt want to go back to Singapore even when my man has his biz trip.
I didnt want to make any contact with home.
I didnt want to hear or be involved in any negative vibes from home.

I especially dont want to know what the materialistic toxic fake fairy does or say because she is toxic element in my life and I am determined to cut her out from ruining my very zen and happy mood right now. Ever since she appeared in my brother's life, she brought along toxic negative vibes which have been seeping into my body mainly through my mother's ongoing bitching. No wonder the past year has been such a dreadful time.

Ever since May their super lame and cheena wedding, I made it a point to cut her and my brother out of my life. She thought she was being soo "smart" through blocking me from her facebook with my brother's approval (which was disappointing he is so henpecked but not surprising), which is fine because I dont even read her post since before her wedding.

In the process, I too blocked my brother from my personal posts saved the public posts, because I have no intention of having my personal side leaking to fake fairy from my brother's account since I know he has no concept of privacy from women in his life. He only lies but not hide. More importantly, I didnt want him commenting my post because his FB avatar picture consists of the fake bitch which turns my tummy everytime I sees it and makes me gag. So I would rather cut both of them completely off, even if it means sacrificing my fav dog. Sorry Gabby. I love you but their toxic negativity is too much for me to shoulder and I need a break for my own good health.

I also dont want to hear my mum possibly complaining or praising her or trying to lecture me about anything, esp the grossed out term "sister in law". Pui...any social escort prob can also be my SIL at this market rate using her as yardstick.

I am on a high in my life right now and loving every moment of it. Busy with fixing up my HK place and school work but otherwise, life is good. So I didnt want to call her. She can think the worst of me. I dont care. One has to be selfish once in a while.

These 3 months have been the most peaceful period of my life.
My man continues to make me laugh every night.  He cracks me up so hard that he told me to watch that I dont pee myself. Hahahaha! I still dont get how it is possible after a decade but he just gets funnier and funnier.

My good friends and Hk relatives from my man's side asked me if I didnt miss home. I told them frankly, home is the LAST PLACE I want to be. Since my brother is so cool about his wife wanting to treat me as stranger, then, obviously I wont feel welcome in their home anymore either since we are now officially declared as "strangers" right?

Which also means at one later point in time, I'm gonna tell my mum I am not going back for CNY next year. I am not interested in seeing fake fairy and all the fuss that goes into CNY. Being their first CNy as a couple, i am sure my brother will be very "onzs" to show off his fake wife. So I dont want to be involved in all those fakeness.

Of course I will miss my other half of the family but seeing toxic fake fairy soooo sooooon  again is not my idea of "taking a year off to body cleanse" myself of any toxic element. Even my husband agrees that toxic fairy is not good for us. He can't stand her fakeness too. Not to mention that my man has to sacrifice his perfectly good holidays to go back SG every year for my sake.

After the last horrible CNY, I think both my man and I deserve to pamper ourselves and have our own getaway holiday, more for him since he is always complaining about being overworked and not enough holidays and Singapore sucks as a relaxing destination. Maybe Maldives will be a good option? Hmmm. I wonder when is the direct flight from HK to Maldives gonna start? I hate having to start SQ. I HATE SINGAPORE AIRLINES. Period. (sorry to all my SQ pilot friends. It's your company, not u;p)

How FB changed my views of some people.

I havent cut my hair since May and its growing faster than weed...however, still short enough to be bearable. Lol

Anycase, I didnt want to blog about my hair today. I just wanted to let off steam accumulated from Facebook.

The beauty or ugliness (depending on how u see it) of Facebook is that you get to read (stupid) comments from friends and strangers that you may not normally have a chance to hear in real life, or maybe you do hear them but because you dont meet up with them everyday (not like in Facebook), you dont realise the full extent of the shit that comes out of their mouth (brain) until much later, prob years to come.

In the past before social media days, there will always be some people (friends, acquaintances etc) that you will probably ditch in 5 years down the road because you would have come to realize you share different views and whatsoever in life, either from what they do or what they say each time you meet them. However, because the dosage is small and spread out, your tolerance level prob is rather high till a day comes where the friendship comes a natural death or you just split up.

However, Facebook speed that up nicely.
It prob shorten those 5 years to 5 months.
Of course, Facebook is a mirror of real life.
If you dont get along in the virtual world, you are not gonna like what u get in real life.

Now look at Facebook, because you get to read what they post and what they comments almost EVERY day for avid FB fans (i consider myself semi fan), you have a more updated and frequent insight to the person you "thought" you knew. Seriously, the SHIT that I sometimes get to read send my eyeball rolling backwards faster than a hamster on the high running on a wheel, while muttering "Oh give me a break".

Look. I'm not perfect here, and I know somethings I spill some shit too. However, mainly those are crap borne out of boredom or maybe for fun to share post. Yet some of the people I know, they are like fucking crusaders on a mission with their post with personal agendas or ego on the stake. So insistent, so "paranoid", so negative, so "oh I KNOW what is best or right", SO flipping ANNOYING.

Just to give an example of some recent observations.

I have a "friend". Let's call her S.

She is in the F&B biz and so presumably, she believes she has the right to go on a "Eat right" crusade. Yeah sure. I dont mind a few good pointers steering me to the right way of eating right and healthily though I do believe that I am doing a fine job to date. Nonetheless, always good to hear from a "professional"

Initially, she was like actively posting things like what food are bad for us etc. Things that I already know mostly really but oh well, Facebook is like "Give Face" culture where u still like a post for things u already know. It's like giving an applause after someone gives a speech right?

Then one day couple of months, or maybe close to a year ago, I cant really rem, she posted something about some food info and I kind of took a different stand from her for a change. It wasnt like I disagree with her persay, but rather, what I rem telling her was that it really boils down to the individual self determination to eat right, and find out for themselves what food suit them and what doesnt. There is a world of information out there in google and they need to read and form their own decision as to what works for them. For example, Gluten free and organic, if you ask me, its a load of crap for most people. Gluten free is not necessary for people who doesnt suffer from the actual illness and allergy that requires them to be selective. As for organic, NOT ALL organic are good for you.

Anycase, I said my peace and Ms S shot back, refuting my argument that I am WRONG and there are too many wrong info out there and in short, I didnt know better. So she posted some other post and tagged me specifically adding "Case in point" that my view was wrong (and I wonder WHERE she gets her info from to form her views if not from internet..like she access from some unknown Bible of food from Hogwart?")

I let it slide. Honestly, what's there to argue about? Different people have different dietary beliefs and I didnt want to add on the insult that I am slimmer than she is, though I candidly admit I am not a better cook than she is. However, apparently my lack of prostration to her "Oh I am so right" FB argument must have somehow or another bruise her ego or offend her. She didnt openly declare war of course but she snubbed me in FB. You know you are being snubbed. She basically stop responding to some comments I have for her, even the non food ones.

I wasnt offended really. I couldnt care less though it did amaze me what kind of person u get to see online through social media. So I stop liking her post in return, in acknowledgement that "I get the hint" but I still read her posts time to time, which is hard not to since she can post like 6-8 posts a day.

What I found amusing and slightly disconcerting is this. While she is on this mission to so call educate us in eating right blah blah blah, and show pictures of food she cook everyday, and more recently, about her Vegan diet etc, yet I find that she is sooooo FULL OF SHIT. Dont get me wrong, I'm not critising her because she snubbed me, but let me share why.

She is on this mission where she believes in Paleo Diet (Go google it if you dont know. In short its about caveman diet and about eating the way our caveman ancestors eat). She raves and rants about how Animal Fat is NOT bad for you etc. Then suddenly, she changed gear and suddenly goes on a life mission to tell us about her sudden vega diet and that she crapped 4 times a day in the loo because her diet is sooooo good now. To throw in some dazzle, then she went on full attack on anything gluten and dairy, as well as sugar. (I have nothing against the attack on sugar since I am on minimal refined sugar diet as well). Then she went on with her ANTI- rice campaign about how we are killing ourselves and that our body are not meant to eat rice because caveman fathers didnt have rice in their diet.

What takes the cake was that while she is raving and ranting all these, she took a short vacation to Thailand with her friends and posted what they ate. THE SHITTIEST, the most unhealthy stuff u can imagine from the desserts, to the deep fried fatty stuff, to alot of crap basically. So for a week, she happily went on saying how delicious they are etc etc, and then on the other hand openly reminding that she is diverging from her vegan diet.

Excuse me, isnt that bordering on a little hypocrisy here? Not practicing what you preach?
This is when my eye balls started its rolling at F1 speed.

When I say I am trying to cut sugar out of my diet, I meant it and for the past year, I kept to it. That includes cutting out cakes, chocolates and alot of icecream. However, I never said I am FULL ANTI sugar, so that means, while I stopped adding sugar to my food, I do indulge in a spoonful of icecream here and there. Unlike Ms S who can flip flop faster than I can blink.

The thing is, it wont be so annoying if she wasnt so high and mighty about it. So now, she is baking gluten free chocolate cake and she was raving about how heavenly and moist it is. Yes, it's gluten free but its LOAD of SUGAR inside the cake. HOW IS THAT GOOD FOR ANYONE Missy? U are telling me that that Refined Sugar is ok now? *Smack head* Today, she went on a spree with her spread with FULL Clotted Cream on her fruits, drizzled with syrup. Yeah...the concept of eating fruits with something dreadful like clotted cream "really" lives up to your eating healthily without the junk...

So obviously I decided to actively STOP reading her post and stay my distance for a peace of sanity. Of course that also means that the next time I head back to Singapore, I wont be eager to look her up either. What I didnt dare to tell her, in case I break her ego was that, while she blamed her F&B biz to go under due to sudden increase in rent and cost of manpower (which I do agree), yet, I dont have the heart to tell her that her food wasnt very favorablely received by alot of my friends whom I brought there...of course I never did tell her the negative reviews, which judging from her FB behavior, she prob wont take it lying down.

There are other cases of stupid people with stupid FB posts but I'm not gonna talk about them all today. Dealing with stupidity, self centered ego is actually a rather tiring thing to even talk about.

It's the holiday mood once again! To Jeju-Seoul we venture!

Ever since my retirement from corporate race, it has never fail to strike me as a puzzling fact that I actually have less time to blog now that I aint working, than when I was still a corporate rat furiously engaging with mountain-load of data, as well as other corporate minions alike.

At home, there's always something to do, something to fix, something else seemingly begging for my attention. So much so that it just seemed so exhausting (picturing in my head) to just sit down and blog. Yeah I know... "exhausting".. funny right. I know.

Yet, feeling all spiked, recharged, refueled and happy from my recent girly-pally trip to S.Korea, I know I would kick my arse oneday looking back if I did not pay "homage" to my vacation from 2 weeks ago. 

To start off, the trip was A.W.E.S.O.M.E.LY Fantastic. 

No. I wont bore you with long winded details if it had been bland or boring.

Why would I. My life is never boring to start with. Ha!   

Back to what I was saying, the Jeju-Seoul trip...

Honestly, it was way way way way off more fun(ny) than I had anticipated. There were nagging doubts prior departure, not because of my companion silly, but rather of my middle back acting up, going all strange and bitchy towards me. Like a woman scorned, it was not letting up, hardly easing on the pain factor. Movement was a bitch, esp anything that requires bending over. I didnt know what I had done to her (my back that is), but apparently I must have pulled a muscle, or hit a raw nerve somehow somewhere...so I had been painfully aware that it might be a rather agonizing 9 days holiday with my BFF.   (*NOTE: That's "Best Frens Forever", and not "Best Female Fren" as my man had so called *deciphered*)

Packing my stuff alone was double the time. So imagine for 3 hours at wee morning, starting at 12am, hobbling around trying to get things stuffed into my luggage, mindful of the 15KG weight limit imposed by the domestic Jeju flights from Gimpo. Good thing my flight to Incheon was 4.30pm. 

Great.. .. ..

How's a grown (and mildly vain) woman gonna manage 9 days with 15kg limit. My cosmetics and skincare whatnot had already chalked up some mileage in the weight department honestly. Then I had to leave a few kg for overseas victorious conquests....that effectively meant I had about 12kg max to work with. So it was *screw u* to some pants and tops, leaving them behind, with top priority going to my skincare companions, which turned out to be both a blessing and also deserving of a smack to my head later in the story development. 

Incidentally, I thought I would just mentioned it off the cuff, in case some smart alex decides to tell me that if I had flown direct to Jeju, I would be spared the 15kg limit. Well there's a reason I forego my usual deluxe Marco Polo FF's extra baggage weight allowance.

Firstly, I wasnt departing from Jeju. 2nd-ly I felt guilty my GF had missed out on the cheaper tixs from SG to Seoul coz of some delay on my travel agent part to get my flight. 3rd-ly, my travel agent mislead me on the Jeju flight schedule info, and lastly, she forgot to book my seat or she claimed she missed my email. That very email for her to book my seat. Yeah I know, first world problems right. Anycase, it worked out fine, my gf and I decided to just spend one extra night in Incheon to meet up before we slowly waltz our way to Gimpo for our domestic flight at 1.35pm.

The beauty about travelling with E is that she's an organisor and into details like me, though I must confess I am somewhat more of a slacker when it comes to travelling plans. So mightily impressed I was when she created this whole word file framework of our general "movement" plans that I was already brimming with excitement from mere looking at a word file. It's almost sad really...getting my high from a MS word file. Then again, the source of happiness must start from somewhere right?!

The good thing was that we had both wanted to do a super lepak, rest and relaxing trip. No mad rushing around. No crazy overachiever mentality to cover as many sights as possible. No. It was all gonna be nice, slow and easy breezy. We were totally in sync, though E was initially worried that I might want to do more since I had never been to Jeju before. So it was an utter relief to her that we were on the same page.

This "SNAKE" year has been a complete bitch to me. Nasty Nasty Nasty biz from Day 1. It has been nothing but a series of unfortunate health related mishaps that I would positively swear some deity has a thing against me this year. It had been a bummer year. I needed a getaway boost to cheer myself up.

I had mooted the Jeju idea in April and by May, E had the basicframework up, and by June we had a general idea of the "must visit" sites after both sides threw in some ideas. Once again, good thing we were also in sync in general about places to go. 

It wasnt very stressful, planning the trip from scratch. 

Not on my part really.
I could afford such "wanton" proclamation only because credit goes to E for the legwork really.

I didnt bother with any guide book. I did flip thru a few blog posts for some ideas and general info but that's about it. It wasnt meant to be a major sight seeing trip so I didnt see a point in getting all riled up and armed with hardcore traveller's info.

The whole idea of free and easy... That means going in free spirited style and being easy. 

Though I must say, both of us didnt want to compromise too much on lodgings comfort. Luckily for me, E was equally concerned about good bed to get good night rest and as well, free internet. Who can leave wifi behind these days? We aint on a spiritual monastery-type trip afterall so no good reason to get cut off from civilisation is there. 

In retrospect, the Jeju hotel that I had picked was the best decision because with my bloody sore back that developed before and exponentially worse during the early part of the trip, I'm telling you, GOOD bed was Godsend. It prob helped E too with her sore body parts on some days. So yes, more bloody expensive but for me at least, it was totally worth it! I must add though, I am thankful that E trusted me with my choice and that she was financially ok to go along with my pick. When I was entrusted with picking Jeju hotels and compiling a list of choices, it was a relief for me that she had reservations about some pension houses (at really really cheap prices).

So that was how we eventually ok'ed this, but not without some weird cyber incidents too. For some only heaven-knows-why reasons, my MacPro refused to LOAD any of trip advisor pages and alot of other related hotel links. It was almost like the google server hates me or something cuz I kept getting redirected to "yp page not found" error page each time I clicked on a link with synopsis that had caught my eye. It was almost near witchcraft status that I simply had to snap a picture of the error page and watsapp it to E, just to clear any possible doubt that I wasnt pulling my weight for the trip planning and making some incredulous excuses. Who on earth will believe me if I just come up and say "Oh Trip advisor doesnt load on any of the FOUR PCs and laptops at home".  Most people will think its bullocks. Cynical me might too if its a stranger.

Of coz E never doubted me, but still, even till now, I found it awfully spooky at why every link had failed to load back then and yet worked like a charm presently when I no longer had any need to those info. Honestly, I was so pissed back then, that it was only the sky rocket price of my Mac that prevented me from lifting and smashing it to the ground in exasperation. So instead, I could only smack my glass table in complete frustration and occasionally belt out a chain of non-lady-like crude swearing.

When I was finally done with my packing at 4am in the morn, my baggage weighed 14kg. By then I was in zombified state and so I figured "Fuck it". At most, I wont buy anything from jeju since that's where the weight limit is binding. I have never bought touristy stuff on any previous trip, so I figured this wouldnt be any more different. In time to come, I would kick my own sorry arse for this decision...which u will find out in good time as the story goes.

Beauty Talk: Muji Verbena Body Soap Review

I have been looking for a body shower gel that isnt too drying on my skin for some time now. Have tried many different organic "natural" based product but hasnt been completely satisfied.

However, by chance, I think I may finally have found the one I like though I;m not sure if I am speaking too soon since it has only been 2 weeks into use.

I have discovered belatedly, Muji Shower and Hair care Series.
Starting with the shower gel. There is only one option in HK Muji which is the Verbena Body Soap. Made from Okinawa grown Verbena, the product claimed to be made with natural products, and with a hint of Freesia scent. On the back, short of translating word for word, it is SLS free, colouring free, as well free of industrial mineral oil traces.

During use, the first thing you notice is that without SLS, the product is clean but without the harsh foaming action that dries your skin. The scent is very light and pleasant that doesnt send you head into a spin or become sickly. In fact, I like the fact that the scent doesnt linger on my skin except its only there when you are soaping.

After wash, your skin is as what the back claimed, feels fresh and clean. My body doesnt feel tight like a wrapped bun in desperate need of a body lotion.

Personally, I like this and I think it should be a great hit amongst ladies.
I would def recommend this product.

Beauty Talk: The gentlemen Tonics Shampoo and Aftershave Product Review

I came upon this brand "Gentlemen's Tonic" (web link) while roaming Central Landmark during last Xmas shopping for gifts. I thought the shower gel smell lovely for a guy without being overpoweringly musky.

My guy fren loved the shower gel so I thought I would try out the shampoo and aftershave moisture for my man. I would have bought the traditional shaving whip cream (based on an internet review that it was very good) instead except they had ran out of stock. So I thought what the hell, since I'm already here, might as well give the other range a go.

It's very hard to get a product review from my man. He only has "I like it" or "I dont like it" feedback.

For shampoo, he would normally give a bit more info like "it doesnt lather (well)", "It isnt squeaky clean" when he "stole" some of mine when his ran out.

This time round, his verdict was "It's clean. It smells pleasant. It lathers well enough."
I guess that's all you are gonna yank out of a man who isnt "all expressive and descriptive" about the products he use.

So I thought, what the hell, I'm gonna use it.

While it prob works nicely on a man's short hair, it was a bit of a no good for woman.
It really tangle up my hair and frankly, drying. Which I take it for my man to mean squeaky clean. It does smell nice and not overly powering.

For the Aftershave Cream, it's ok. Nothing to crow about. In fact, my man prefers the Molton Brown product which he found to be lighter and absorb better into his skin. The aftermath is also a much smoother skin surface without the irritation. Personally, I too prefer the fragrance of the Molton Brown After shave hydration emulsion. HOWEVER, the downside of the Molton Brown product is also its packaging, being that its in a GLASS bottle that makes it travel unfriendly. The first bottle my man had only lasted a week because he accidentally dropped it and well, needless to say, my floor got a face load of expensive moisturising that day...So the molton brown gal was also needless to say happy to see me back so soon then.

Ultra Light Bai Ji Hydrator . 

Going back to Gentlemen's Tonic products, there is ONE MAJOR FLAW. It's the design of the bottle. The square and hard bottle makes it extremely hard to pour or squeeze anything out. So it gets abit frustrating. Hence, my man hates to use the aftershave in the morning since as he said "Dont have whole day to muck around with the stupid bottle" So you get the drift.

The verdict, I prob wont buy it again unless they improve the product design. For shampoo I could still transfer to another empty bottle but for face creams, its tough.

Prob last resort gift for your man or guy frens as a gift, but for shampoo, def not something u should think of using, not even for emergency unless u really dont mind a mop of dry straw looking head.

Moulds? Citro Shield Disinfectant recommended!

I dont know how it happened but after living here for almost 3 years in my place, I experienced the first attack of mega Mould attacks on my wall, no thanks to the horrid dampness and terrible humidity in HK.

It didnt happened while I was at home, since there was adequate ventilation I supposed. Those bastards attacked while I was away for a week attending some sorry-arse-waste-of-time "look at me I am so skinny and beautiful Queen Bitch" wedding in SG few weeks back.

As if the expensive trip back wasnt bad and the wedding wasnt nauseating enough, I have to return home to discover the invasion of the fungi....making themselves at home all over the study and guest bedroom walls. Fuck. Though i must be thankful they had only attacked the walls and left my leather goods and clothes alone. Amen.

The worst was areas behind the door and behind the bookshelves...these offenders are dark black and almost furry bastards.

My man was off on his business trip and so it was all left to me to wipe those bastards off the wall.

This is when this product comes highly recommended. I had used this in my master room months back and the wall remained clear of mould in this recent invasion. So I supposed it worked well even though I havent dehumify my master room ever since the wipe down.

I only had to resort to diluted bleach in study when I finished the bottle for just one room.
I could have used vinegar and soda mix, but firstly I was low in vinegar and secondly, these moulds frankly looked too nasty and if I am gonna waste so much time cleaning it, I rather get them right the first time and not leave it to chance for a possible second wipe down if not done right.

So far, I can only find this product in 360 supermart.
I use to get them at Central 360 but they closed and only left at Elements Mall.

It's a pain to get to Elements but I guess I dont have a choice now that I am out.
Maybe I should write to City super and get them to consider stocking this over some other crap they have on shelves.

If you live in HK, you should keep this handy.
Not only is it effective on wall moulds, I used it in toilet once in a while for those sprouting moulds in the grots. Its effective but doesnt sting your skin, nor does it destroy your wall paint.

I had tried Mr Muscle Mould fighter (the orange bottle) for the toilet and while it works, it was horrid on my wall (not to mention my skin and lungs with the stench) . It was too strong and destroy my grot and it cracked. I wont buy Mr Muscle anymore by a long stretch.

Plus, handy in kitchen for wiping down countertop and supposedly child friendly. So with all the bitey habits of kids, you might want to spray over common areas your kid lay his or her palm over.

This Australian product is odourless, doesnt sting your eyes when the spray mist is in the air.
I would highly recommend this.

Beauty Talk: Aveda Damage Remedy

Before I had my hair sniped off, I thought I would give Aveda Dry Damage Remedy Hair shampoo and conditioner series a try. Just to give my hair some "variety" in treatment since they say product loses its effectiveness if used over prolong period.

Quite frankly, it didnt do squat for my hair. My hair remains dry and not significantly better. When my hair was dry, still plenty of flyaway. The conditioner did detangle during application but I wont say my hair is any softer or more manageable. The scent wasnt all that fantastic either. I had to go back to saloon grade hair mask to save my hair. (Something I bought from Hairdo a long time ago)

The shampoo itself also wasnt very good. Not sure why but it often ends up giving me mild dandruff after a week of use. This despite that I would use a dryer to blow dry my hair by 50% before allowing it to dry naturally for the rest.

For this price and the effect, I honestly wont be tempted to buy it again.

Hong Kong Supermart: Japanese Red Bean Milk Ice cream

I am a sucker for buying and trying things.

In the mood of ice cream, I picked this up from the Jason's supermarket.
Wanting a change from my usual picks, I decided to go for this Japanese icecream.
It's milk icecream with red bean.

It's pretty yummy really, except that the red bean center at the bottom can be a little sweet if you do not mix it with the milk icecream.

Silly me actually finished all the milk icecream before I realise there was a small pile of creamy red bean paste at the bottom....

I should have read the diagram depicting the red bean paste placement on the box cover BEFORE I started eating...but oh well...more reasons to buy more.