christmas, christmas time is near

christmas is my favorite time of the year. reason being 1. good food and 2. christmas shopping.

good food: this year our firm had christmas lunchon at Le Select located on queen street west. i'm never disappointed when dining at this small french restaurant. food is always good and staffs are always friendly. on our luncheon i had a fish&veggie soup. it was delicious!! the fish (salmon) was so soft and tender and the seafood-tasting mousse was cooked to perfection. i'm never a fan of western-style soup but this one is a must-try! the main dish i had was a duck confit. the duck skin was crispy while the meat inside was still juicy. it tasted perfect with its cranberry/orange sauce.

christmas shopping: did tons of shopping for christmas this year and just noticed a great new designer for handbags - matt&nat. these guys are from montreal and their handbags are stylish and trendy and most importantly not expensive. my new baby from matt&nat is a pink leather purse. besides handbags they also make wallets. visit the following website to see their collection. http://www.viavegan.com/english.htm

it's over!! and here i come again!!

wow. its been over 3 months since i last updated my blog. i actually got a fan (the one and only - winnie) asking me when i will be updating my blog. here u go~~

my dear fan(s), i have a valid reason for not updating my blog for such a long time - my final cga exam. i am so glad that it's finally over, which means i can relax for a long while (assuming that i passed) before having to face another exam. and hopefully, that will be for a mba degree!

aside from my never-ending student status, i am still actively a member of the crazy shopping society. since chrismas is approaching, i have again a valid reason to shop shop & shop (even though i never needed one). i am so happy that i recently received a credit card like invitation to win a $500 or $1,000 gift certificate from aritzia - one of my favorite stores in toronto. in fact, that also reminds me of how much money i spent at that place. but shopping is always the right of every young girl. i never felt guilty. kekeke.

Melted in Miami

i'm back! and finally i have time to write my blog!

during our 4 days in miami, we spent 1 day wondering around and getting to know the town, 2 days on the beach, and 1 day for shopping. and it was sooooooo hot! i must have sweated 2 liters of sweat in 4 days. it's not even funny.

our hotel was cool. very small but clean and with style. the room was small but very tidy with all white bedding and oak furniture. the bathroom was phenomenal. it was with green tiles on the floor and walls, with a marble sink and fancy tap. the shower area is half enclosed by glass from floor to ceiling with a rainforest shower head. cool~

the beach at miami was pretty. as mentioned in my last posting, we stayed at the south beach area. white sands, bluish-green clear water, blue sky, and colourful safe-guard towers along the beach - just as pretty as seen on pictures! the only thing i would complain is that the sands were quite rough, not as fine as those in cuba or dominican republic. another thing is that the umbrellas and chairs were so expensive to rent! $10 for the umbrella and $15 for each chair, that's $40US in total for 1 day. what a rip off!

all 4 days we had american food. nothing really special, but all the restaurants were with great atmosphere and the portions were huge!

suprisingly i didn't buy anything at all in miami! so not ME. there's nothing wrong with the shops at miami, i think i am just burnt out from shopping on queen street! there were actually quite a few cool shops on lincoin street and collins avenue. barney's new york, urbanoutfitters, von dutch and anthropology are those you should not missed!

wow... this post is getting long, i should shut up. all i want to say is--miami is an excellent place for a short retreat. not to mention you may bump into shaquelle o'neal starting the next nba season! =)

Mamamia Miami

after numerous DISCUSSIONS, me and k finally made the decision for our trip this summer. we will be heading south to miami!! woo-whooo!!!!!!!!

our trip is going to be 4 days all together and we will be staying at south beach. we picked a boutique hotel called nash hotel (see link below), which is located in the heart of the miami beach's art deco historic area. soooooooooo looking forward to it!

booking this trip was kinda fun because this time everything is done online! hope that everything will go smoothly. also hope that the weather will be nice so that we can sleep at the beach everyday. can't wait!!!

website: www.hotelnash.com

Yummy Yum

today while i was driving home heading north on bathurst, i was suddenly craving for one of my favourite dessert - chocolate banana bread. i made a turn to the right at lawrence then turned left on avenue road and reached my destination - the pusateri's.

pursateri's is one of those high-end supermarkets in toronto. today is my first time visiting this store at their avenue road and lawrence location (the other one is located at yorkville), and i was overwhelmed by the selection of food they have. fine chocolates, pretty pastries, smoke salmons at $10.99 for 4 pieces (!), cheddar cheese aged for 6 years............ basically fine groceries you couldn't find at supermarkets around the corner.

remember to go for a visit if you are planning to make a dinner for your special someone. or you may buy a loaf of chocolate banana bread to enjoy yourself. yum yum!

To Dine for - 2

once in a while i would like to feel like a rich woman who doesn’t need to work and all you do is shop shop shop. the street to shop for upscale clothes, shoes, handbags, and jewellry in toronto is bloor. rich women are human beings and they need to eat too. a good restaurant to chill during an upscale shopping day is the Holt’s Café.

as indicated by its name, the Holt’s Café is located on the 2nd (or 3rd?) floor of Holt Renfrew. The decoration of the café corresponds with the rest of the newly renovated department store—bright, trendy, and chic. if their decoration doesn’t impress you, there’s always the shopping that might be of your interest. yes, your eyes can never stay at ease at this place because there is shopping even beside your table!

what about the food? this place serves light meals which is perfect for us ladies who are diet cautious. during my last visit (again a while ago) i had a chilled orange avocado soup and a sandwich with raw tuna. i also got to try a little bit of my mom’s avocado shrimp sandwich. the soup was very refreshing, and the sandwiches—i can’t say they are very tasty but worth a try. the way they present the sandwiches is quite unique.

finally it comes to the bill. all I can say is, people, you are lunching on bloor street at the most classy department store in town, therefore you have to spare some extra bills for the bill. afterall, you should treat yourself nice once in a while!

webite:
http://www.holtrenfrew.com/english/storesandbrands/holtscafe.html

Notice!!

due to some technicial difficulties i must change the background of my site. i feel really sad 'cause i really liked my old one. hopefully the old template will become 'normal' soon so i can use it again.

Politics

many people of my age are not interested in politics. their reasoning? politics are dirty, boring, none of my business, blah blah blah.

am i weird or what? i found politics extremely interesting. especially in HK nowadays. you can see and read about a political storm almost every other month. following these incidents are more fun then following tvb series. the drama inside each of them is even better than the movie infernal affairs(無間道).

so people, please stop being ignorant. vote on every election and pay more attention to what's going on out there. yes, politics are dirty and sometimes boring, but they can definitely affect our daily lives.

the most recent storm in HK - the discharge of cheng-tai-pan:
http://hk.news.yahoo.com/fc/news_fc_hk1cheng.html

Mini Craft

last night after work, i was sitting in front of my computer, starring at the mini cooper pamphlet which had been sitting on my desk for ages. suddenly i had a funny idea so i took a pair of scissors and started cutting out the red mini on the cover. i also took a picture of me and my bf, cut out our heads (ouch!) and taped them on the driver's and the passenger's seats. finally i taped the mini on top of my monitor. i can't stop laughing every time i look at it!
 
it may sound really stupid, but its a lot of fun doing little crafts like this. it reminds me of stuff that i would do as a kid: simple and fun with creativity and imagination. it also reminds me that happiness can be such a simple thing. 
 
you don't need to be martha stewart to create your own mini craft. just be a kid, and you'll see what you don't see as an adult. who would have thought that a mini cooper pamphlet would become a mini craft?       

Perfect Family?

recently, a friend of my mom had a new baby boy, her second child. together with her first girl she and her husband now has the word ‘GOOD’ (Note: the chinese character ‘GOOD’ is composed of the character girl followed by the character boy). husband & wife. daughter & son. perfect family. well, perfect to some people.

unlike most of my girl friends, i have no ‘love’ for kids. i don’t hate them, but i definitely don’t want to have one of them in the near future. i have to admit that kids are gifts from god, little angels that can bring happiness to the world. however, i also believe that they can bring just as much pain (from giving birth) and sadness (when they yell back and don’t listen to you).

yes, call me selfish. i love being free, being able to spend every dollar i make on clothes & jewelry, being able to travel around the world... aren’t these the rights of the people in their 20s? or even in their 30s, 40s, or 50s?

it would be ideal if the definition of a perfect family is refined to be husband & wife driving a nice european car living in a loft with a view. of course, in reality, the mothers & fathers-in-law will never approve it. and me, living in reality, will become a member of a typical perfect family some day.

To Dine For - 1

this first restaurant that i am going to write about should be familiar to most of you. they are known for their beautiful and tasty pastries -- Senses.

i am not sure if you are aware that this fancy bakery is also a restaurant! they are a restaurant that serve fusion food. i know when you hear the word 'fusion' you'll probably shake your head. in fact, unlike many other fusion restaurants that serve weird-tasting asian-western food, Senses actually have some tasty fusion dishes to offer. the most remarkably dish i had was a dish with fried quail. yummy!

even though food was tasty however Senses inherent the bad genes of typical fusion restaurants -- super tiny portions and extremely expensive. be sure to have a platinum credit card for the bill and some instant noodles ready at home after the meal!

having said all that, my last dining experience there was back when they were at the bloor street address. not quite sure if they have made any improvements in terms of dish portion and price after they moved to their current location, the metropolitan hotel. however, if you are looking for fancy tasty fusion dining, Sense is the place you should go.

website:
http://www.sen5es.com/

feel free to drop a comment!

Where to Dine?

everytime me and my friends go out to dinner i'll be asked to decide where to go eat. i wonder if its because i am good at finding the good restaurants to dine or if its because i am picky. although i think i am leaning towards the 'picky' side, but i also think that i am quite good at picking the good restaurants! so from now on, once in a while i'll post my dining experience at different restaurants in TO (or somewhere around the world) on this site. so for those of you who loves eating and loves eating good food, come visit my website more often! =)

Summer is Delicious

summerlious in TO is officially over. just want to share my experiences at different restaurants:  
 
first visit: YYZ: trendy and hip. food was not bad, huge portions! excellent services.
 
second visit: Filet of Sole: great seafood. great value! you actually get half a lobster (a small one) from the seafood pasta!
 
third visit: Fred's Not Here: menu is very similar to Filet of Sole's. but more meat and less seafood.
 
forth visit: Monsoon: great atmostphere & decor. excellent services. the main dish was unexpectedly good! 

TGIF

this is one of those typical fridays where you don't feel like working. and the shopping worms are starting to bite me again! i guess i have to break my NO MORE SUMMER CLOTHES SHOPPING vow. i can already picture myself in a new tube-dress with 60s style print.
 
(to my tube-dress:) my new baby, i'll pick you up at kensington market after work today! =)

Great Writer

for those of you who reads chinese and loves reading chinese books, you should definitely read the books written by hong kong writer TAO KIT. i consider him as one of the best writers in hk at the current time. lots of humor and hidden messages in his writings. i always have a lot of fun reading them! mr. TAO also host a show on the commerical radio, channel 1. another show that you should never miss!

Hello everyone~

no matter who you are, i would like to thank you for visiting my new site!
 
you probably won't see long written journals here (as i don't have the patience). rather, you'll find bits and pieces of my thoughts.
 
hope you'll enjoy it!
 
thanks to WINNIE for introducing me to 'the blog'. visit her site if you have time! lots of great journals there! http://www.yee-ee.blogspot.com/