Thursday 30 April 2009

missing my northern retreat

i woke up today feeling like i should hop on the train northbound to durham...

i just checked my pics and out of my all my trips my fave pics are from different bridge views..



from the side of the shopping centre



on the way to in shanghai


photo op with priest on the way to the cathedral


otw to city centre


durham uni students rowing

otw to the library

not too long now...

Wednesday 29 April 2009

london dimsum part 1: yauatcha


I've read so much about Yauatcha from blogs, guides and reviews. It sounded perfect to me. Asian taste. check. Sweets. check. Yummy cocktails. check. And to be honest reviews about bad service in a Chinese restaurant only means one thing to me. It means it's authentic, served by Chinese people whose concern is to serve food fast, piping hot. I know that's a fast generalisation but really I always find that when I go for restaurants with reviews like this, I tend out to be fiiine.

What better way to entertain my amiga Chloe who's visiting from Vancouver than merienda in Yauatcha? :) She's my forever culture vulture, gourmet and sweet tooth partner in crime. I was too lazy to take pics but here are shots by Chloe:


dessert heaven!!!!


Chloe's dessert (i forgot the name). What i remember is chloe asking for a soft dessert as her teeth were still sensitive from a dentist thingy. Chocolate-mousse like this dessert was perfect! Kudos to my amiga for trying very hard not to finish the dessert before i get my food.

First meal of the day after an all nighter for an essay. At nearly 5 pounds per dish, the dimsum was all worth it! i got the char siu cheung fun and the peking dumplings. Both filled to the brim, steamed with proper timing and just the right thickness to the skin. Loooved it! As it wasnt crowded we were served quite promptly. We did notice that later on it was getting harder and harder to get the attention of the servers. Also i was expecting them to stop us from taking pictures but it didnt happen at all.

Now, with not more than an hour of sleep, I had to pass from the cocktails. So I just chose to have my hint of alcohol with my dessert. I chose jade ganache which had absinthe whipped into the cream. I really enjoyed the hint of bitterness in the cream constrasting the sweetness of the chocolate and nuttiness of the almonds. The coffee taste blended in quite well too.


And of course our last measure of a good resto...the washroom. Yauatcha passed with flying colours! Thich tissue, good handwash and unique sink. ;)

I would definitely go back to Yauatcha to try other dimsum dishes and the cocktails. To try more the key would be to bring your girlfriends. The only thing I was underwhelmed with was the interior. To be honest, for being a trendy resto, I expected more. All in all, the right choice for a place to catch up with my amiga ;p

Monday 13 April 2009

on topshop louboutins

I've been on the lookout for pinkish nude shoes for the longest time and I instantly fell in love with these Louboutins when I saw them on Jane of Sea of Shoes.


Photo creds: Sea of Shoes

Last night, while looking for other shoes with my cheapo budget, I went to the Topshop website and look what I found:



So what should a girl on very tight budget do?? Well first off I'll try both shoes again just for the fun of it then I'll decide...

Wednesday 8 April 2009

easy on the tweets peeps...


and it is official...twitter is now mainstream...i wonder how they'll expand twitter. for me it's the limited functions that charm. one liners..sans pokes served straight up..

let's tweet together shall we...i'm up as wandergirlana