Tsim Chai Kee, Hong Kong

On my last day in Hong Kong last January, I didn't really have lots of time before I had to board my flight back home. I was just wandering around central, waiting for the shops to open so I could do a bit of last minute shopping. So, there I was in the backstreets of Hong Kong. I passed by a lot of markets and restaurants. I was actually trying to find a particular Yum Cha place, but things didn't go as planned. 

Taste and See: HK December 2012 Trip (Part 3)

This is the last installment on my 3-part blog miniseries about our family HK trip. (To read about the previous two, please click here and here)

I discovered the true meaning of Boxing Day -- a day for which you box up all your Christmas decorations! So stupid of me, but I actually thought that "Boxing" was some sort of old-fashioned voting/democratic term or ideal that the Brits decided to celebrate and assign a holiday! They were actually boxing up the Lego Christmas village (which was the cutest thing ever) at Times Square.

Fell in love with this window display at Hermes. I'm a sucker for jungle themed anything and the colours here are just divine.

We received the most thoughtful presents from our aunts! Jo Malone is my new favorite perfume.

Taste and See: Hong Kong Trip 2012 (Part 2)

More photos from our family trip (read about part 1 HERE) :

We kept eating at this super fantastic, long-running and authentic noodle house called Mak's. THE. BEST. BEEF. WONTON. NOODLE. SOUP. EVER. (We ate there like 2x over the 4 day trip! Visit them here: 麥奀記 Wellington St., Central, +852 2854 3810, open Monday-Sunday 11 a.m.–8 p.m.)

Taste and See: HK December 2012 Trip (Part 1)

Last December, I went with my whole family to HK. It was my first (I think!) time to actually spend Christmas abroad. It was fun but it was a little bit sad to not be home for Christmas -- I've gotten so used to dressing up and spending Christmas eve at my late grandmother's!

Anyway, here are some photos I took from the trip:

My favorite fast-food snack: deep fried bell peppers, eggplants, tofu, hotdogs, & wontons from this huge stall on Causeway Bay, right between Times Square and Sogo

Mucking x Eating x Travelling Around

OH, HEY!

Well, I've got to say, I haven't been proud of my actions. Obviously cause I've been away from here, I don't have exact reasons for it other than just being I've been lazy and complacent. You know what happens when the uni holidays roll around, when you're back home enjoying home-cooked meals, when you suddenly have so much time to daydream, actually have time to travel, and best of all, have time to spend with family and friends!

It's been too long. It's time to come around and start writing again. So much has happened, so many stories to tell, and yet, so much more to experience. Cheers to 2013 and what it has to in store for me!

So.. here's a sneak peek of my adventures over the holidays. 
Be blogging about 'em soon.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Where the coffee is great and the creative ones go wild.

Lunch, HK-style

Confession 1: I used to want to be a housewife. YES, REALLY. That was once my greatest dream in life.*

Confession 2: I forgot to take a photo of the name of the restaurant where we ate. Thus the title's slightly ambiguous nature, conveniently related-sounding to another post (entitled Breakfast, HK-style). 

Confession 3: It was quite a good meal, so I am rather sad I can't refer you guys to it. If it were a crappy meal, maybe I'd feel a bit better about neglecting to photograph the name of the establishment! However, we shall find comfort in the fact that it really was a TYPICAL HK lunch so I think it gives one a pretty good idea of what to expect when dining in HK during afternoons.. :)

Pretty interiors!

Ocean Empire, HK. MUST-TRY!

Here's the one place you really CANNOT miss when you're in Hong Kong. 

Drumroll!

OCEAN EMPIRE (that's what those Chinese characters there say. This I know because I am very fluent in the language. Not)

Crystal Jade, HK

I'm almost FREE. The freedom is SO CLOSE I can practically taste it. :D I'm so LOOKING FORWARD to days of sleeping in, lazy swimming, rearranging my closet, watching movie marathons... Bliss!

So anyway (with no carefully crafted, intelligent-sounding, proper transitional thoughts/sentences, because my brain is slightly fried from all the studying I've been doing + the psychotic, blinding, irrepressible Manila heat) I will now talk about what I'm supposed to. Crystal Jade in Hong Kong! If you haven't gone to Crystal Jade here (in Manila, I mean), you better go! It's an experience like no other. And I'm quite happy to say that the xiao long pao here is as good as the ones in HK! :D But there are quite a few entrees that are available in HK but aren't available in Manila..

Here we go!

I can attest to the validity of this "award."

HK Disneyland

HELLO!

So have you missed me? :) 

I've just been REALLY busy lately! But here I am now, to ENTERTAIN! :D

My backlog's really, really, really LONG. I know I ought to be more responsible... But the most I can promise is that I'll be as entertaining as ever. Hahaha. 

Welcome to the Maxim's inside HK Disneyland!*

Breakfast, HK-style

My little sister* says that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And she is certainly the sort to walk the talk-- especially when it comes to breakfast. She never, ever, ever misses breakfast. And neither do I.

In HK, we usually stick to one particular sort of breakfast: the sort you can get only in HK! We always hit Ocean Empire at least once, and try other places for the rest of the stay. One place we tried was this:

Sorry, but I read write no Chineesey!** I don't know how to say that, so I can't give you some mangled pronunciation via my sad version of fake Pinyin. SORRY. Let's just pretend it's called Know Happy Restaurant. Because I know that the first word is part of two words that make up "know", and that the fourth word is also part of a pair of words that mean "happy." OH GEEZ. My Chinese is really pathetic. Anyway, here are the prerequisites for an HK brekkie:

Ho Hung Kee, Hong Kong

So I've been TRYING and TRYING to upload photos of and write a blog about a meal we had at this restaurant called Power Long in Xiamen. The food wasn't great and it was no epic gustatory experience, so I wasn't exactly itching to do it. The good thing is that it seems as if the invisible fairy godmother of 3748miles did not want a blog written about such a dull thing, and so the system kept lagging. Therefore, I've decided to skip it entirely and leave the photos in the bowels of my Mac, never to be published... Hahaha.

ON TO THE GOOD STUFFFFF!!!!!!


Our first stop in HK (yay, HK!!!!) was dinner at Ho Hung Kee.

It's recommended in the 2011 Michelin Guide. Hong Kong food really is the best-- you can get great chow for almost any budget.

Are you ready for the Ho Hung Kee experience?

Airplane/Airport Eats, Part 1

So I said I wouldn't post any photos from my new camera until I'd posted all my other photos (from previous meals out) but I just can't bear the thought of making blog entries with less than divine pictures.* Thus, here I am, blogging with sharp, high-quality photos! You like? :D 

I swear, this was the best trip ever. It's been exactly a year since I've last been to HK (which is only my FAVORITE city in the world**) and 7 months since I've gone to Chinaland. So it was a lot of fun! I loved spending time with my grandparents. They are the absolute sweetest... And (most of) the food was FABULOUS!

FABULOUS (with some exceptions) FOOD I ATE AT THE AIRPORT/ON THE PLANE

 (I'm rediscovering my love for lists***)

1. In the Cathay Pacific Lounge in Manila: finger sandwiches. Ham and cheese, pimiento and cheese, chicken. The best was the pimiento and cheese. Everything else was ho-hum!