Craft scene : Petite Abby

I am a crafting class freak. And I am very happy to admit that I am. If you are like me, a crafting freak please check out Petite Abby's craft classes. Her shop is located in TST Solo Building on the 3rd floor. She is a mom who took a dive into her love for craft and opened up a shop to teach other moms and craft lovers crafting. She is an avid crocheter and a sewer.

I am so lucky to have found her via Group Cow one of those group buying website in Hong Kong ... think Groupon ... I think Groupon started all this hoopla. It is so hard to find where the good crafting places are in Hong Kong. They are typically tucked away unless you know what you are looking for around town.

Check her out via Facebook and you will find all her classes listed there.

I have taken two classes with Abby and she is an awesome teacher!

26 November class Abby teaching her class how to crochet.

This is a sample of the crochet basket.

This is my version and it is all wrong cause I added more stitches. But my boy loves it.

These are cute and handy dandy. The cookie is a needle holder.
And the pudding is a pin cushion. The pin cushion took me 3 hours to complete.

Sample of how they should look like from a Japanese craftzine.

18 December class with Petite Abby.

recent arson and freezing temperature

Couple days ago there was a suspected arson in Fa Yuen Street that resulted into 360 Hong Kongnese homeless. And 9 people were killed plus 34 injured. The firefighters took 7 hours to put out the uncontrollable blazing fire. The hawker stalls fire spread to residential buildings.

According to our local driver, he said it is always related to the mafias, but the police will not catch anyone. The stall owners pay out to different mafia gangs "protection" money for each stall space. The Hong Kong government allows hawker stalls, but set some rules to how big each stalls should be etc. It isn't the first time that the hawker stalls in this particular street had endure such tragedy. According to the local news last December similar incident happened where 50 stalls were burnt down.

And it is freezing these last couple of days, Hong Kong in the 50s F ... unheard of at this time of year.

T'ang Court authentic chinese food

I have been to this restaurant twice already. And if you really want some great food with some authenticity of Cantonese food this is the place to go to. It is expensive because the raw materials are expensive. Talk about the best seafood and the best cut of meat even their chicken dish is impeccable. Who knew the Chinese can really cook chicken many different ways vs KFC deep fried or baked. If you go to any Chinese restau you can find at least 5 dishes of chicken that are made differently.

They served the most expensive delicacy of shark fin soup. At HKD 600-700 a bowl you better enjoy it. Shark fin is now banned in Canada. It is even a bigger offense than growing marijuana in your house if caught with having it in your house and eating it. I don't know if it is going to be ban in Hong Kong soon.

Link to the T'ang Court's menu:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://hongkong.langhamhotels.com/images/TangCourt_A_La_Cart_060311_A.pdf&embedded=true&chrome=true&pli=1

Samples of food we had for dinner.

Fresh abalone on bed of jelly fish. This is an appetizer dish served cold and very refreshing.

Piglet knuckles served as an appetizer.

This one is absolutely delish. Smoked duck. Very moist and juicy.

Shark fin soup.

Fresh steamed fish. The fish head is the best part if you know how to eat.

Baked fried rice in crab shell. I love the presentation and the rice is yummy too.

French Bistro!

I love the menu.

Voila! W’s Entrecôte ... my hubby found a lovely French Bistro in Hong Kong ... I think this place is a gem. It is located on the 6th floor of the Express by Holiday Inn in Causeway Bay. Not too far from the Causeway Bay MTR exit A.

Crème de Champignons

Entrecôte (4 oz)

I ordered the ribeye steak ... cooked to perfection the way I like it ... medium rare with bloody juice still in the steak and all you can eat fries ... who can beat that. And they are sweet potato fries ... yummy!

Forêt Noire, Coulis de Cerise

I also had the cream of mushroom soup and it is piping hot so watch your tongue. I had the black forest cake for dessert which isn't as heavy as the usual. It is Hong Kong style fluffy cake. All in all a great meal just for HKD 158.00 + 22.5 for the half price dessert.

The service is excellent.

Will go back in an heart beat.

AWA charity bazaar

I haven't seen that many people at a bazaar before. But this bazaar covers from the 3rd floor to the 5th floor. It is held by American Women's Association of Hong Kong at the Hong Kong Jockey Club Happy Valley Racecourse which is just a 10 minutes walk from Times Square.

I was helping about Watchdog Early Education Center at their booth.

Lovely jewels piece by Monet and also cultured pearls and vintage silver rings.

Wine and Dine Festival 2011

We were told to go to this annual Wine and Dine event because it was really popular in the past.
The festival started at 4PM today open to the public after yesterday invited only gala.
We went passing by all the booths. There are definitely more wine booths than food booths.
What did we eat? And how much?

Here we are at the entrance.

2 fois gras on baguette toast

X HKD 40 each ... 80

2 pork sausages

X HKD 10 each ... 20

This even just started about 3 hours in.

1 bag of chicken pastry

X HKD 20

The French with their cheese.

1 French cheese racelette dish

X HKD 100

Highlight with a salut of Mao.

1 Swiss cheese racelette dish

X HKD 85

2 bags of pistachio nuts
X HKD 50 ... 100

5 mini French pastry
X HKD 20

2 French smoked ham
X HKD 30 each ... 60

And we still ended up at McD for the cheapest meal at HKD 20 each. Which actually filled us up ... Not very healthy ... I know.

Overall I thought this event is overrated, but yet over crowded. When the crowd comes more follows.

Exploring the other side of town

We headed out to Kowloon City today just for the heck of it. And we ended up at Kowloon City Plaza. Not many people there at 1:30PM ish.

We ate at Gin Curry probably the cheapest fast food Japanese curry place in town. You can get HKD 17.00 for a plate of rice with curry sauce on top and add a drink + fries for additional HKD 4.00. Not necessary a healthy meal, but you will get stuffed nonetheless.

Then we headed to Jusco Living Plaza, I think the store used to be HKD 10.00 for everything, but prices went up by HKD 2.00. It used to be Jusco $10 Plaza. Well everything is rising except for a living pay check for people living day by day this store may be even too much. But then for those everyday items that you are going to use it maybe worth it. HKD 12.00 for a scrub vs HKD 18 - 24 for a scrub at your local supermarket is much of saving when things add up.

This was the press release of Jusco name change and price change:

23/09/2011

(HONG KONG, 23 September 2011) – AEON Stores (Hong Kong) Co., Limited (“AEON Stores” or the “Group”) (Stock code: 984) today announced that it will rename all of its “JUSCO $10 PLAZA” shops to “JUSCO Living PLAZA” starting from 1 October 2011. The selling price of all products priced at HK$10 will be adjusted to HK$12 effective on the same day.

Stepping into its 12th year of operation since the opening of the first shop on 15 September 2000, “JUSCO $10 PLAZA” has adhered to the principle of selling products at HK$10 to offer customers a variety of value-for-money merchandise. This extraordinary value explains the popularity of these stores among customers in Hong Kong.

To unify the new brand image, all “JUSCO $10 PLAZA” shops are to unveil a new facade featuring the changed name “JUSCO Living PLAZA” starting from 1 October this year while continuing to offer customers more diverse and unique merchandise. At the same time, due to the persistently rising exchange rate of the Japanese Yen in recent years, the Group’s operating costs have surged. In order to maintain the competitiveness and the flexibility of business operations, the selling price of all products priced at HK$10 is to be adjusted to HK$12 on the same day.

Mr. Lam Man Tin, Managing Director of AEON Stores, said, “We believe that the unified brand image and price adjustment will help to bring in more diversified, unique and quality merchandise to further satisfy the needs of our customers. We look forward to consumers’ continuous support and enjoyment of the brand new shopping experience provided by AEON Stores.”

There are a bunch of mom and pop stores at this plaza. You can find some nooks and crannies cheaper than what you can find at let say compared to store like Log On. I managed to put together two gift boxes for donation to Box of Hope for HKD 108.00 (under USD 15.00) at Jusco. A cute lunchbox set and an educational set with color pencils, sharpener and alphabet rulers.

Craft scene : Zoe Chan

I am into crafting and I love it. I actually start with purchasing groupon with teacher Zoe Chan who teaches paper clay craft. She makes delicate fake food but miniature. And the miniature looks good enough to eat. I have taken her cake class and bread class. She gives you all the raw materials you need to create your version in her 1 1/2 hour class.

This is Zoe Chan's miniature bread basket. So cute.

My version and I am getting the sizes all wrong.

The guru teaching her class how to go about designing a miniature cake.

Lok Fu Plaza yarn shop - World Hand Knit Yarns

I found a wonderful ma and pa shop of yarn. I finally got some yarns made in France.

But here is about this yarn shop on a youtube video I found awhile searching for other yarn shop in Hong Kong. I am a crocheter rather than a knitter, but I love to be good in both.

This shop is located at Lok Fu Plaza 3rd floor 3146A-B.

They also have classes available.

another post about American International School

This is via what I read on geoexpat from a mom who posted about what had happened to her with AIS:

She applied her child and her child was interviewed and she got a confirmation letter about paying her deposit within a week. She paid and then was told that she was on the waiting list because some other parents paid before her.

She was extremely worried, but then she has to secure a space for her child at another school which she did. And when she asked for her deposit back for securing a seat for her child at AIS, they refused to refund her regardless if her child was placed on a waiting list or not. Just to show you how BS this whole thing is makes you want to not even want to apply ... btw ... it is HKD $10,000 to apply.

This is the link to the whole thread:

http://www.geobaby.com/forum/thread153109.html

First of all no surprise to me that AIS would do such a thing.

I am glad she got all her deposit back. With persistence and getting the right people involved.

If it weren't a friend's recommendation I would not have applied to AIS. But of course there is a lot more to AIS than just what meets the eye.

I actually blogged this post in June but I am going to post it here:

C was very upset when I told her that my kiddies were rejected from American International School. I was relieved they were not accepted because of their failure, but because they simply have no room left. But then in a matter of decency they should have told us to put our interview on hold for next year instead. Most of the ESF schools here does that with their admission procedure. As for AIS they just want to generate the money. They are a private institution with no government funding nor support because according to C it is a family run school and the family has the land of the school and it is a business venture and stayed as the board of director of the school. In order to get any government subsidies from the Hong Kong government or the United States government the family member has to step down from the board. And of course they do not wish to do that and wants as much control and as much money then can devour from this illusion of a school from the general public. They do not have any special needs program nor gifted program.

Adding more:

My Clem interviewed with the teacher in EC2 class and they rejected her with no grounds. And besides that ... I mean no offense to any Indian teachers, but I really had a hard time listening to what she was saying in her very strong accent and teaching her students phonics. And this is suppose to be one of the top notch schools. I guess not anymore. Please do not waste your $10,000 on applications unless you have the money to throw, but then better yet you can apply to all the international schools in Hong Kong. I do not know about their middle school, but their primary school is a shame according to some review that I have read.

My son needs learning support. Even though the French International School doesn't have SEN, they do have a psychologist on board, occupational therapist and speech therapist to help the teacher and to help the parents to figure the child out. That is the least any school should have in place even if it isn't a full on learning support. And kudos for the schools that are out there with those supports available. French International School is pretty much straight forward, those people don't beat around the bush, my hubby spoke to a very concern teacher for 2 hours in regards to our son un progression but the teacher is willing to help with good faith. If my son is rejected the only reason would be that the school really doesn't have the resources to do so to help and they don't want to see any child fail because of that either.

Airy Pizza Express and Earthy WoolooMooloo

Today is one of those days where you get extremely hungry and chomp down a meal without breathing. Maybe I wasn't feeling too well or I am used to getting up at 6:30AM every morning and eating lunch at 11:30AM before the lunch crowd hits every restaurants in town. And a 7:30PM meat fest.

We visited Pizza Express in Festival Walk located on L2. I love the two logos that represent Pizza Express, one is an Art Nouveau influenced by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and one is a sans-serif post modernist influenced by the typeface Helvetica. Is it wise to have a branding the composes of two different worlds?

It does represents the food they make and serve. Pizza made in a European styled less doughy crust and minimalist topping that is pleasant to the eyes of the beholder. It looks appetizing and yet not shouting unhealthy like a Pizza Hut pizza with heavy dough and cheese. It is airy and yet functional as food should be to fill you up, but don't weight you down.

I had a set lunch with cream of mushroom soup and four seasons pizza paired with a side of salad for HKD 88.00 and a pear pie that was just baked out of the oven for an additional HKD 20.00.
The service was very good there. And I would definitely recommend this place and the little hint of purplish blue brings in a soothing lavender freshness.

WoolooMooloo (located in the Tsim Sha Tsui Centre, TST East) was just the opposite. It sounded like a chant the Aborigines would sing to welcome you to devour whole slab of meat. The decor is dark and earthy with cow hides, wood and suede all over the place. The logo is compose of dots forming each letters with an hand drawn touch to it.

With a steakhouse you have to invite more people. We were a party of 12 and somehow the guys were on one side of the long table and the gals on the other end.

Food was excellent. I ordered a rib eye 12 ounce steak grilled medium rare. And they sure know how to cook a steak without wasting it. It was juicy and red just the way a steak should be done hands down. The sides were small enough that you may order more to share with the table. I did get a starter, foie gras, duck and pear stacked in that order from top to bottom. The foie gras was slightly sheared in an honey crusted which brings out some sweetness of the liver, but not to overwhelming. The sliced duck was a smoked duck sliced and layered underneath along with sliced pears. It was a delightful starter. And we ended with a cheese platter with assorted cheese from sharp to creamy.

I think these two are great pairing for a TGIF kinda day.

Hiring a driver in Hong Kong

I posted a portion of this on geoexpat.com:

I hired a driver just to drive my kids to their schools and therapies. He started in August at HKD 12K, I have to sub him lunch at HKD 50 per day, OT is HKD 80.00 per hour and he also gets MPF Benefits which is 5% of salary. He works Monday to Saturday from 7am to 6pm with 1 hr for lunch break. In additional, he gets a double pay at the end of year, prorated since he started in August. 

Language wise he speaks in Cantonese only. And I know Cantonese but not my husband nor my kids. If you need someone who speaks in English it is more. Probably at the HKD 15K to 18K range. And the driver I hired has 20 years experience in driving a mini van. We recently purchased a Velfire. And he can park in ridiculously small space without breaking a sweat!

He knows Hong Kong inside and out and where to take short cuts or detour if there is traffic ahead. And he listens to the traffic reports on radio. If he doesn't know the area,  he can easily find out from friends how to get to the destination in a jiffy. I am learning the names of the road in Cantonese from him.

Looking for Real Chinese Men

Today when we came out from the Kowloon Tong MTR, a middle age lady was passing out flyers to passer bys and this is the casting call flyer in search of REAL CHINESE MEN. And one of my friend says are they searching for the missing link?

Quoting the ad:

For the upcoming REAL MAN TV COMMERCIAL

Are you a REAL CHINESE MAN?

ARE you confident and outgoing?

Do you love life?

Are you energetic, athletic?

Do you have an interesting hobby or special interest?

Are you a loving, attractive husband?

A caring after and dedicated family man?

Would you describe yourself as THE EVERYDAY MAN?

Do you know this man? Are you this man?

Are you / they between 30-40 years old?

If this sounds like YOU or you KNOW someone like this - then we went to hear from you!

Send in your candid photos ASAP!

With a short blurb about yourself to the email address below.

Email to casting@anniewhostore.com Tel: 852-28667948

Deadline for photo/application submission:

30th August - 18th September 2011

Please Note: Absolutely NO professional actors or models please

Willing participants must have a valid passport

SML at Times Square

After going to a primary schools seminar, we were so hungry. It was 1:25PM when we got out. We flagged a taxi to head out to Times Square. And it was still a lunch rush at 2PM. This is Hong Kong! We settled for SML.

My hubby and I both had the set menu for HKD 88.00 with starter, main course and dessert. I can say that my niçoise salad was a joke of minimalist, I was just glad that the main course was a full bowl of lamb curry cause I was really starving by the time the dishes came out. It was really good or I was super hungry I don't really care for what I ate and what I tasted. The spice was just enough for me. Not overly spicy that I had to constantly get my glass of water refilled by the minute.

Lamb curry is so so.

My hubby got the soup which was puree potato. He didn't really like it. So hence our non photo of the starter.

Apple crumble and in the background mango Pavlova.

For dessert, I ordered the apple crumble with vanilla custard and hubby ordered the mango pavlova. My bowl of warm apple crumble was just right in the amount of sugar level without getting my teeth chatter with soreness. On the other hand the pavlova was beyond sweet tooth for anyone. It is basically a meringue with a crisp crust and with mango syrup drizzled on top. And this dessert has some interesting history behind it as it is named after the Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova during her visit to New Zealand in the 1926 on her world tour. A hotel chef in Wellington, New Zealand created this dish. And of course there was a clouded argument whether the dish originate from Australia prior to 1926. 

Ladies gone crazy

Is tourism in Hong Kong really causing the locals to stress out over HKD 20.00? We have met some really rude Hong Kong sellers out in the Ladies Market or Women's Street (女人街) in Mong Kok (旺角). If a seller don't like your return barter then like one seller we met grabbed my cousin by the arm and then two other sellers from the other stores will cut in to yell "crazies" towards the buyers!?! Is that how business as come to? being rude? Good that I probably know all the swear words in Cantonese more than the crazies knowing the English ones.

As a buyer, you have to beware of those crazy sellers. I would suggest carry a heavy bag if needed so you may use it as a weapon to defend yourself.

One bad apple seller makes the rest look bad. We have met some very nice sellers and they are not rude. It is just the fun of the game when it comes to bartering. Of course the sellers can have an open high price of whatever they wish. And you can have a return price of as low as you wish and work your way up. If both seller and buyer can't come to a compromise of the price both can walk away and no hard feelings.

My cousin wanted to get some shirts for her baby. The price of one polo shirt "open" price was HKD 120.00 and at the end she walked out with 2 polo shirts for HKD 100.00 which is what you can get at department stores on sale. Not really a bargain, but it is just a fair price.

She also got a set of 6 keychains for HKD 50.00, but I could have gone lower than that when it starts at HKD 100.00 maybe start from 1/4 of the price and work your way up. If you walk around around long enough asking for the prices of the same item with different sellers you will know about how low of a price barter you can counter offer. Things usually starts from HKD 120.00 then down to HKD 30 to 50.

We bartered a holder with set of picks from HKD 120.00 to HKD 42.00. You really need to have the guts to go low. We started offer at HKD 25.00 and worked our way up.

Have fun bartering, but be wary of some ladies gone crazy. Then after shopping you can try some yummies from some side street vendors. We ate some Hong Kong egg waffles ( 雞蛋仔) and drank some Taiwanese milk tea (奶茶) from Tea Time House with tapioca pearls (boba) and QQ which are white balls bursting with sour juice when you chew on them.

Mong Kok MTR exit D3.

Our new diet ... gluten free, wheat free, corn free, soy free, dairy free, nut free

and yes what else is left ...

First of it is hard to find any of that nature if you eat out in Hong Kong so it is going to be a stay at home diet. After my girl allergy result was out for her food intolerance, those are the things that her body is fighting constantly.

My homeopathic doctor, Dr. Sonal recommended to shop at Little Giant and 360 - Three Sixty.

Little Giant is located at Causeway Bay. The place is a hole in the wall inside a commercial building. Dr. Sonal did recommends me to shop online since it is really hard to shop in the store. And I agreed with that part. If you are not in a rush, shop online and you will probably have a more pleasant shopping experience than be stuck in a hard to walk store with boxes all over the floor. The staffs are really friendly, but they seems to lack the tech support when it comes to computer and dealing with customers buying right on the spot. I was stuck for 20 minutes literally with them on the phone with the tech support and redoing my checkout twice in order to pay the right amount.

360 - Three Sixty, at Central located on the top floor of The Landmark, only have a selection of gluten free and wheat free packaged food. But I did find cereal made of brown rice and crackers made out of rice sans cornstarch. You really have to browse around.

Vietnamese week

We decided to sample Tuk Tuk and La Taste at Central back to back. Tuk Tuk was yesterday. This place is off of Graham opposite of Delicieux Bistro. It is also a hole in the wall type of family own restaurant. We were standing outside looking at the menu and this white lady came out and commented us to go in and said the food are great you won't be disappointed. We definitely were not disappointed. We ordered their lunch menu the main course that comes with a bowl of soup and drink for HKD 58.00 and we also ordered a side appitizer of spring rolls. I love the spring rolls and the peanut dipping sauce. My main course was lemongrass pork with rice and my hubby ordered stir fried beef noodle. Those were great for the price. And I like the carrot soup too ... sweet to perfection. The taste is as authentic as you can get for simple Vietnamese dishes.

On the way out I was inspired by the yummy soup that I hopped to the first veggie stall to purchased some carrots to make my own soup.

Earlier today, it was raining elephants. I was literally soaked from top to toes. But we still made it out to La Taste to sample the simple Vietnamese Pho. I was craving for a hot soup so I got the beef noodle soup. The soup was kinda bland, but then I was suppose to add my dose of chill to it which I passed. I added the lime. I wished that they gave me more lime and also add more Thai basil to the savory addition. The beef was still cooking and it was placed in raw which is how it is suppose to be. We also got an order of spring rolls. I liked the spring rolls at Tuk Tuk better and the fried rolls at Delicieux Bistro. But the sweet sauce ... yummy and they give you a jar of sauce unlike the others giving you a little dipping dish worth of sweet sauce.
The staffs were really friendly seeing that we were soaked from the rain, they helped us with our umbrellas.

Both meals come to about the same price and even though they served different style of Vietnamese food, both are worth a try.

On the way back, I had to purchase a new pair of Crocs cause the Teva I purchased at Marathon last week was soaked from walking in pouring rain with couple inches of cascading waterfall. This is probably what I love about Hong Kong, the proximity of shops and you can shop and eat til you drop within one block radius.

Seafood Feast

This is by far the best seafood restau in Hong Kong called Dragon Inn Seafood Restaurant located in Tuen Mun out in New Territories. We purchased our seafood at the local market just down the street and the market delivers the goods to the restaurant and the restaurant prepare the dishes. Most people would just go to the restaurant and order from the menu, but my auntie J is a very particular about choosing the best raw materials.

We purchased shrimps, lobsters, fish, clams, and more shrimps.

This week at Central - all about the Buns

We went to Shake em Buns ... I say the best burger place in Central tops Union Gourmet Burger by far and you know how ridiculous UGB charges for a can of soda ... HKD 30!!! That was freaking rip off. The burger patties at Shake em Buns are much tastier and seasoned with onion, garlic and salt. The fries are hot off the deep frier and not some refried crap fries. The place has a sense of humor too. 

We also walked all the way to Sheung Wan to Bun Me for Vietnamese sandwiches and vermicelli. This is the second Vietnamese sandwich shop we lunched at. I still like Delicieux Bistro better for the taste part. I ordered the same name thing lemongrass beef. Bun Me served me a sandwich with sliced beef and slapped some lemongrass sauce with veggie for taste. The baguette was not toasted nor the guy asked me if I wanted it toasted. Even though they are cheapper by HKD 8.00. The place is a hole in the wall like all the family own restaurants around Central. Yet, I still prefer pampered with air conditioned when I eat.

And to top this week and month, I got my cover of Crave Mag August issue when it came out on August 1st just hot off the press. JP and my foodie photos number 10 and number 15 spread the two spreads of Crave's Food Porn section. We were bummed we did not win the HKD 2,000 to Spoon, but we will keep on taking photos of great food and submitting to Crave until we win!

I would really love to get a copy of Modernist Cuisine ... but it is a tad expensive. I will wait for their dessert volume to come out. That I would jump to get a copy of ... yummy sweets.

Antidote of DBS

My son goes to this speech therapy session in Central. After his therapy we dropped by the Korean restaurant to eat. We sat at a large table for 6 and soon 3 others joined us. Two young ladies in their 30s and a middle age man later joined them. I love the fact in Hong Kong, you have the proximity with other people and you can listen into other people's conversation. To have a sit at the same table with people you don't know ... "dap toi" ... to share a table.

DBS is one of the major bankers in Hong Kong and the bank is Singapore based. And it is also the least favorite of banks of my dad. And apparently so, even the employees hated their jobs who worked there. According to the above sources, they know a friend who works at DBS. The middle aged man commented that a job at DBS is the last resort when you have no choice of employers and you really need the money or needs to earn an income just for the sake of paying your bills. One of the ladies agreed with him and continued on saying that the friend would place the company on probation rather than the other way around. He works long hours as a creditor, in fact being micro managed and has to produce daily reports of loans he approved and loans he did not approved and why he did what he did and how many cases are in his workload. Every evening from 5pm to730pm, he spent his time crafting reports. Those time would have been better used.

And from a customer point of view, my dad experienced a load of paper to just get an account open. The one reason that he banks there was because they are the easies to have an account open, but after the fact it is a completely different story to get anything done. He wanted to get a new check book since he ran out of checks. And they had him fill out a form as if he is opening another account just to get a new check books. He was so mad and asked the manager why he has to fill out the same information as if to open a new account and the manager reply was it is a formal procedure. But I wondered what they were going to do with the application? And if you have an account with all the same information redone. If you want to add an option to transfer money you have to fill out an application, if you want to add an option to do online banking you will have to fill out an application!?! And then you will have to go to Singapore to sign all your documents in person.

If the employees of your bank give you probation as an employer ... your customers suffer the same wrath! And that is bad for any business.

Imasa at The Pennisula

On the way to the hotel, the taxi driver mentioned from his knowledge about the building and how it is very well built and the stones that was used to built the hotel would last 100 of years. He said it in a tone as a matter of facts that makes it more amusing to listen to him yap. Sometimes I will meet a taxi drivers that loves to talk to their passengers and telling their own life stories and more.

The price of the buffet is HKD 588 per person for buffet dinner plus main course choice of wild boar cutlet wrapped in cheese or grilled scallop paired with grilled giant shrimp. And all you can eat freshly made hand rolled sushi on the order and all you can eat noodle soup with seaweed based broth.

All in all it was great food and great company. We met Auntie G's niece, J, from Canada. She is a practice lawyer our age in family law. She was really fun to talk and she also loves to take photo of food with her Canon point and shot camera which is exactly the same one we got. JP was able to teach her some techniques in taking better photos with that camera. 

This is the entrance to the restaurant. I really love the silhouette of the mountian and the negative spaces with back lit lighting. It is mysterious at the same time sophisticated.

The interior as we walked guided by the hostess to our table.

I started with desserts, because I always leave no room for the sweets.  I got some fruits, sticky rice wrapped with green tea paste and a lovely macaron.

Assortments of freshly made sushi and sashimi. I love salmon sashimi and these were awesome. And of course do not forget to get some paper ginger to wipe your palette each time to really taste each sushi.

Handmade rolls made to order. I ate the salmon roe and cooked eels. Absolutely fabulous.

Round number two of dessert heaven. The mini swiss roll and chocolate box with chocolate pot was as chocolatey as you can get. Those chocolate are dark chocolate and to die for.

The lovely waiter taking care of our table knows Auntie G well. She is treated like a VIP. We have these especially made for us. Tempura kabocha pumpkin and sweet potatoes. These have to eaten when they are hot and crunchy.

We were trying to figure out what this plate is?! It is a side plate of radish for flavoring. And you add this to the soy sauce dipping sauce to enhance the flavor.

The udon noodle! I got to have a bowl. The noodle was chewy and different from any udon I have tried. It wasn't the usual round ones neither. It was like linguine, a flat noodle.

This was my main course.

Golden Bull and a photograph

Tonight we went to dinner at Golden Bull in Harbor City. It is a mini family reunion with my aunt J plus her side of the family. My aunt J usually does all the food ordering since she is like the biggest foodie in the family and we trust her taste in food.

It is a fusion Asian restaurant with mixed of Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine. I was surprise that they do not have the typical spring rolls with the semi transparent wrap, but they have fried egg rolls.
My aunt J ordered the fried egg rolls and chicken and beef satay to start. The fried egg rolls are typical and the taste was so so. I thought the chicken and beef satay were excellent. They are soft and the dipping sauce was great with enough peanuts for taste and a bit of spicy to add the kick yet not overwhelming to make me drink more water or tea.

And now do not squirm for deep fried frog legs in butter! This dish is the best dish and the chicken was good too. Even my hubby ate a whole frog leg and he usually will not go for it at all. I am really proud of him for trying new food. We also had noodle with French beef cubes. The beef was very peppery, but tender.

The only disappointment I had was the lobster. The meat was not fresh and the taste was bland.

And the dessert was good. We ordered green jello made of typical gelatin and coconut milk in between each layers.

Overall the food is enjoyable.

Golden cow signage ... I like this simple decor.

Actual name in Chinese.

Yummy satay!

Fried frog legs in butter ... those are so good.

I would skip this lobster dish if I ever go back again.

And talking about family. My aunt J acquired a very old photograph of my great grand father. My grandmother's father from my dad side. He was born in 1882. The original photograph was old and worn and she had the photo retouched.