happy bday my partner!!!

happy bday to a very special girl today! my partner & my biaaaatch who loves exactly what i love...

(sorry for this really lame pic my notebook batt is gonna die in 10mins cos my power adapter stuffed up.. i had to do sth easy hope u like it anyway!!)

Ko

daily visits

francisco goya janice dickinson crossover !! ahha sorry im not suppose to be mocking such a famous painter!

who loves to blugde at work by surfing the net???????? I DO!!!

i have a list of websites which is updated daily so that each day i have sth to do... such as people mag, the sart, perezhilton, whowhatwear... i realise all these sites are recommended by D. (which basically means she bludges more than me)

currently i found another one to add on my list, its another hilarious one which i love cos it makes me smile during work!

http://galleryoftheabsurd.typepad.com/

it has the funniest illustrations of celebs which ususally mimic their depressing life ! love these gossipy sites! j

ust go thru all the celeb names on the left!

Ko.

fratelli fresh

my new favourite lunch / grocery spot!

fratelli fresh in waterloo
they wholesale to restaurant but also have a market open to public, upstairs is the always packed cafe sopra.

because it is is a warehouse, so the cafe have a very high ceiling, there's no menu, you have to try and read that very cramped and big black board menu. It's so jam packed with food that lots of people have to go up to it to read it.

we had osso buco bianco with little ear pasta and the very very delicious cod pate with bricohe, it's got a soft boiled egg on the top and you crack open the egg for the yolk to ooze out..hmmm.....

to end we had a deconstructed tiramisu and very good vittoria coffees!

the staff are so nice but beware you cannot book and it's always full!
we waited for 40 mins! but so worth the wait!
I think either go early (before 12pm) or towards closing time (2-ish)

I didn't mind the wait cos downstairs they have a very good market. you can buy restaurant quality produce at a cheap price ($2.95 for a punnet of strawberries).
next door they have a homeware shops which sells mostly italian homewares.

I must go back soon!

D.

ps. beware of parking rangers in the area!

beauty products

recently bought a new cleanser which i love, the one i was using before was way too dry, the one i used before that was too moisturizing... and the one before that was too rough for my sensitive skin

finally found one which i found just right for my combination and sensitive skin...

ppl say u need to change ur beauty products every now and then.. i dont realy cos seriously it is sooooooooooooooo hard to find the right products for my skin!

ko.

Goodbye Saigon !!

This will be the last part of my Vietnam special so I saved the best for last.

The Flower Pot
Yes I was actually eating flowers!! This is how this dish was prepared:
1)Soup base - tomato and starfruit soup base
2) King prawns - very fresh ones
3) Flowers
4) Rice noodles
I found a technique for eating this which enhances the taste. Cook the prawn, eat the body and leave the head inside for a while. Put some rice noodles and soup into your bowl. Eat both the noodles and flowers together, then drink the soup. You will have the taste of prawns, tomato and starfruit in the flowers and in the noddles. Drinking the soup at the end IS A MUST! Take the prawn head out and slurp out all the juice thats in the head (gotta make that slurpy sound hehe) You will find the juice in the head is just magnificent!

The Chinese saying for food is: there are 4 essentials in a dish and that is: "colour, smell, outlook and taste" I think this dish addresses each of those very very well! I loved this restaurant the most cos I have never tried nor seen this anywhere else

An Vien
178A Hai Ba Trung St District 1 HCMC

Ko.

the simpsons on runway p.2

as i was browsing thru catwalks, i realised how well the simpsons pics are drawn! so much detail and effort... it has a total simpsons way but at the same time the settings and emotions on the character's face are pinpointing the style of the designer

i did a side by side of designer vs simpsons replica for everyone to enjoy again

ko.

alphabets

this is something that was taken out of an exhibition at work.
it doesnt spell my name cos it aint got any "o"!

but it spells other stuff....
I really want F, U and G haha
if you want these letters, pls let me know.

elizabeth and james

I usually think celebrity clothing lines are so overrated, but I came across elizabethe and james by the olsens twins and I love it!
It reflects their style and its highly wearable and they are all classic pieces you can keep.

I have my eyes on the leather jacket, but I am too chicken to buy it online (and a bit exie)!

the bonfire shirt has buttons in the back to give it that I borrowed it from my boyfriend look without it looking to slouchy.

see neiman marcus website:
http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/catalog/47/search.jhtml?ip_state=&ip_autoSummarize=true&ip_perPage=15&orgUrl=%2Fstore%2Fcatalog%2F47%2Fsearch.jhtml&srcText=elizabeth+and+james

D.

ps. yesh its been all abt food recently, point taken, so here's a fashion one for a change!

banh mi thit = pork roll = and another thousand names

i have to tell you i had a awful lot of trouble finding the pork rolls online or even in HCMC. I was searching and searching for pork rolls online and it didnt get me anywhere, later i found the name was actually banh mi, street sandwiches, street rolls, street burgers, sargies etc etc

pork rolls are called banh mi thit (pronounced as barn me tart) and thank goodness to the tourist information centre, i got the actual address of "banh mi nhu lan" store. (which my frd also intro me but gave me a totally incorrect address)

i have to say syd ones are equally good cos they have the fish sauce dressing but the one at HCMC has chunky pieces of pork, a huge spread of pate and mayonnaise/butter suace, very tasty white carrots, very crunchy "HOT" bread fresh from the oven (pic above is the extra pork roll for supper but no longer crunchy hot) ...

.... IF ONLY if they have the fish sauce!

Address: Banh mi Nhu Lan Store - 66-68 Ham Nghi, Q1 (Q1 = District 1)
Tourist information centre: 4G-4H Le Loi St, District 1 - really helpful getting information on spas, restaurants or day trips

ko.

tabou

this has got to be my favourite french bistro.
Sometimes you have the nouvelle cuisine fancy stuff but sometimes you just want comfort food that's simple and well made.

for starters, it's a dish with humble beginnings - tripes lyonnaise (cow stomach)
when a culture had a very long history and some of their food is born out of hardship, these bits of offcuts could have meant survival, people think of inventive and creative way of making the worst into the best, it's truly admirable. this dish have quite a sour taste and it reminded me of how chinese handle tripes. I suppose the sourness is used to mask the flavour of the tripe. It was delicious to soak up the sauce with baguette!

for main, I had the very simple but very delicious steak frites, you can choose a range of sauces like bernaise, cafe de paris (which I had, think it's made of anchovies, butter and parsley, it's so nice with chips), truffle and a few other sauces. I am not a fan of shoestring chips (cos it reminds me of mickey Ds) but the chips here were not oily and very crisp, don't even need ketchup, only had sea salt and black pepper with it.

wine list was very good, too, we had a french rose, half a bottle for $23, quite reasonable.

to end, it has to be a creme brulee and a strong coffee
(which explains why I cannot sleep last night)

it's the simple pleasures that makes me so happy!

D.

ps. sorry abt a long blog with crappy images, damn why do all restaurants have such dim lighting these days?

God of Pho at HCMC

half of my intention to go to vietnam is to have authentic vietnam food, so pho, spring rolls and pork roll is on the top of my list!

Pho Le is the god of pho in viet... seriously ... (ok everyone is now thinking OH wat an exaggeration!!) we travlled 20mins from the city to district 5, on the way we passed by local stores and houses and for sure its not the cleanest place to be... the look on my sis face was... "this better be good or ...." so i was quite nervous on the taxi! the minute we hopped off, the smell of beef stew went roaring into our noses...oh man...

the beef soup was mild coloured (which made me panic a bit) but filled with beef taste! we actually had to drink the soup in the end!

the utensils and surrounding arent hotel style so it might be a bit of culture shock but if i made it through, it should be fine for everyone! just close ur eyes if ur a hygiene freak (d? and me?)

Pho Le
413-415 Nguyen Trai St P.7 District 5

ko.

relaxation at HCMC

spa and massage is a must when going to Asian country for holiday! Just chose 2 places by reading books etc... I did a facial at L'Apothiquaire and scrub and massage at Saigon Spa.

L'Apothiquaire
I have heard this place is famous for facials and and their products which are made in france. Their jap customers actually not only swipe out the products at the place but also order online. I was thinking "what doesnt the japs buy anyway???" I was pretty sure I wouldnt buy the products! Anyway I did the facial transparence which is just deep cleansing therapy, doing exfoliating, steaming, removing black and white heads and mask. The therapist was really professional, and the whole purifying process was very comfortable. I actually walked out of the store with a mask and liquid exfoliator!! I wanted to buy more but my budget didnt allow that. At night, my sis and I was back and forth trying to decide if we should try new massage place or just go back to L'apothiquaire

I did facial transparence which was USD34 and the promotion was USD60 including a free mask (the mask originally is USD52)

One package I highly recommend is 4 hrs therapy including scrub, massage, facial and manicure+pedicure for the price of USD70 - I didnt have time for this but i regret not doing it

For more info: www.lapothiquaire.com
free pick up service if you are doing their packages.

Saigon spa
Included free boat trip to and from the place and we saw the building we were amazed of how grand it looked. Sparkling white buidling with green grass! The lobby was a grand entrance of course and what I loved about this was they really payed alot of attention to delicate details. All interiors, furnishings, furniture has the same sensation and colour palette. I really loved we all have to get changed into our halter neck wrap, with a beaded bracelet for the locker key. You actually still look good when basically undressed! Scrub was only so so... but massage was gooooood!

Scrub + massage was USD55, add another USD10 you will to do their jacuzzi bath as well.

A bit more expensive than L'Apothiquaire but both is highly recommended!

For more info: www.saigonspa.net

ko.

Saigon here i come!!!! - my Vietnam break special

I dont know where to start ... the trip has just been so amazing.... sorry but i cant help but mentioning about my proper business class encounter, you know how normally upgraded passengers get treated the same even if ur in business class cos they all know u got upgraded, this time its different! I was actually a proper business class passenger and got greeted with a business class smile whereever and whenever. Champagne, orange juice and water comes every now or so and QUALITY french red is offered and most surprisingly the food is actually hot! (yes even the bread and utensils is hot!!) Napkins are placed on your lap and on your table before meal is placed down And now i realised "manners" does really exist in the plane but I found only in the business class! I dont know if I wll be able to bother to spend so much money on buying a BS tic again but surely I finally understand why they are expensive!

Back to the real story. Day 1 : Cooking class

Menu:
Spring rolls with fish sauce
Caramel pork in clay pot
Clams soup with dill in clay pot
coconut rice steamed in clay pot

I was really hesitant with this course cos its mostly for Western tours but because the other cooking class did not open the only choice to kill so much time was to attend one which was available, however in the end this was the wisest choice ever. We actually cooked things which were makeable and easy but super tasty.

Spring rolls was the best, there were many hidden secrets taught to make a nice Vietnamese spring rolls, we used ingredients that was ready available in asian supermarkets. The only thing which you must buy in Vietnam is the special fish sauce and the net spring rolls paper (i actually carried 2 bottles of fish sauce and 2 packets of spring roll paper back!), however its not a must!

The pork and soup was again really easy to make and very tasty, didnt take more than 10 mins... people who live by themselves.. and most importantly ingredients are easily available and doesnt need major preparation.

Last but most difficult was the coconut rice in clay pot, the coconut water must be just right so that the rice is steamed wiht a bounce feeling on the rice. The rice must also add a bit of salt so that it doesnt become too sweet. The chef made the rice perfect, dunno if I can do the same tho....

Foood lovers that cant cook surely wont fail this menu hahaha ( S.Mo Im directing this to you)

People who want to join: please visit their site www.vietnamcookery.com located around 20 mins away from city

Ko.

pork roll a la Sydney

maybe it's a dumb idea to do a peice on pork roll knowing that KO will be back from vietnam doing a piece on the AUTHENTIC pork roll!

But if it werent for the ones in sydney, we would not know abt how delicious it it is!

the baguette at this place in hurstville is very famous. Their baguette is crisp but it's not hollow inside. the pate and pork is the best bit! drizzle with fish sauce, it's to die for!

and for $3, what more can you ask for? beat any overpriced sandwiches in the milk bar!

D.

wanna be an hongkie ?

Hong Kong famous for long queues as long as 2 hrs to buy hit products like Portuguese tarts and cheesecakes, and this also happens to restaurants... To see a restaurant’s popularity, is simply how long you have to queue up for it. Wing Wah restaurant is 4 storey building is famous for its traditional local Hongkie stir fries.

My favourite has to be the 5 flavor chicken, simply soya sauce chicken but the meat is very soft and smooth, not too salty or sweet too. My next fave is clay pot rice which this enhances the "rice" smell more, you know the saying "smelling the rice next door?". This mixed with a little tablespoon of lard (pig oil.. dova taught me this term) and soya sauce is what this place is mainly known for!!

must book trust me on this...

(pics taken by caroline mak, i found these on the net... forgot to take my cam... very nice pics indeed!)

Ko.