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Cheers,
xx

One more hairband done...

January has been a month of celebration... so, firstly let me wish those who celebrates, a Happy Chinese New Year!  Gong Hey!  Gong Hey!!  Any red packets for me? ;)

We just had a 4 day working week last week (not that it makes any difference to me! ;) ) due to Australia Day..  I never ever wish anyone a Happy Australia Day as I believe it is still a sore topic to some, but let's not get too deep here..

I have been trying to create something the whole of last week as I've been busy handrolling some roses, but I don't think it's turning up too well.... but we'll see what happens when I finally finish with it.

Anyhow I decided to recreate the pink hairband I had in black for an order, but unfortunately, it came out differently...  I'm still tempted to name this Miss L, after the lady who actually made the order.  What do you think??

This satin hairband is in black.  Attached in a large flower (with a flower rhinestone) and 4 other flowers  - 2 (a medium and small) on each side of  the large flower.  Each has a little rhinestone attached in the middle.  Looks gorgeous on lighter coloured hair

I had to lighten the pictures as the black is too dark and I couldn't see the details properly

Sitting pretty on a mannequin head

Looks lighter in the picture, but it's raven black in colour

My last creation on black wig.. I think the red is quite a nice contrast to the black hair..

Anyway, till next time!!

xx

I'm missing Stockholm...

Funnily, I think I'm missing Stockholm.  After whinging left, right and centre how glad I was to be home in Oz, I'm kind of missing my home in the cold...

I miss the comfort of my home, where there's just the two of us.  Me walking around in a top and my underwear around the house while it snows outside.  I miss S, I miss our bed, I miss my pillow.  I'm having bad shoulder and neckache at the moment.. sigh

I desperately miss all my tools and craft wares which I have painstakingly collected for months.  Now, I have to restart a smaller collection here.

Needless to say, I have got slightly busy this week in Brisbane.  The sweltering heat is.. UNBEARABLE!!  but look what I came up with!!

My little niece wanted a pink hairband when she caught sign of one I had in my 'treasure box'.  "I really like it, May yee yee (Aunty May)".  "I really really like it".   Talk about giving me a HUGE hint there =P  So, yesterday, I sat around and made one for her, while trying to give a lesson to her mum on how to make a rose.  Needless to say, after a few 'Are you blind?' 'Please don't waste my felt'.. We both concluded that I'm not a very good teacher as I have 0 patience and tolerance.. =P

Here's something for my niece...  She's so photogenic and is such a poser!

Little K painting her nails..

One of her cheeky smile..

Handcrafted headband..

 This afternoon, I decided to create another one, more for the adults... so, here's one on Miss Pee Pee (my head mannequin).  I love her, I can jab her with needles and pins and she wouldn't complain, but unfortunately she doesn't look as pretty as my niece!

Proud Miss Scarlett Hairclip - Large hairclip with satin roses and rhinestones with a peacock feather attached

Proud Miss Scarlett

If you like what you see, please come and like my page on Facebook:
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At the moment, I'm just creating whatever I feel like creating.  So, most of the items there are one off pieces.  I have 3 orders at the moment which I will have to work on, but I'm still waiting for more stock..

Until next time..

xx

My Birthday dinner at Shoya

Shoya

25 Market Lane, 

Melbourne. Vic. 3000

We had a lovely dinner at one of S's Japanese restaurant in Melbourne.  It was a quiet but lovely meal, with just S, myself and his parents...  Funny thing is, I was so focused on taking pictures and eating, I totally forgot to take any pictures of the people eating the food.

We have frequent this place numerous times.  Lovely atmosphere, but in all honesty, the service is not that great.  They forgot my birthday cake, and the complimentary plum wine dulls the pain.. =)  They are quite accommodating as well, as if you can't eat something in the menu, they are happy to substitute with something else

We ordered the Festive Degustation Course, which is $100 per person.  Typically, like with all the degustation meals I tend to take, I start worrying at the start of the meal that I'll be going home hungry, as the courses are really tiny.  But trust me, by the end of it, I was so full, I had to undo my pants *blush*

Unagi Canape - Grilled miso marinated Eel canape topped with Crab meat salad, Salmon Caviar & truffle.  I love the flavour.  You pop the whole piece into your mouth and slowly discover the taste of the eel, crab, caviar & truffle combined together, slowly melting in your mouth.  It's so good!

Golden Perch - Lightly grilled miso flavoured Perch topped with tomato mousse, foie gras and semi dried Mullet Roe.  

Assortment of fresh Sashimi - There's tuna, salmon and a couple of other white fish with a scallop.  All so fresh and presented in an ice globe.  They either serve it with fresh wasabi (where they scrape the root in front of you and serve onto your plate) or tubed wasabi.  The fresh wasabi taste different to the tubed - fresher and less hotter.. and a light-ish green colour

Beef Spinach Roll - Stewed Ox Tongue wrapped with spinach souffle served with Lemon, Basil yogurt and soy beef jus..  Another delectable morsel which you just pop into your mouth and slowly chew so you can savour the flavour...  Although this is not one of my favourite (I find the texture a bit funny on my tongue..), it's still quite tasty

S's dad had to forego the beef and had this instead.  I think it's some sort of quail egg tempura, served with a squeeze of lemon

Crab Tempura - Whole 'Taraba' crab leg deep fried in tempura style with green tea salt.

You eat it by using your paper napkin (as it's hot!).  I love how fresh and meaty the meat is.  The front end is shell free, so, you just bite into it.. The crunch of the tempura and the soft sweet meat of the crab is definitely heavenly..  The tricky part is trying to get to the rest of the meat, as the bottom half is still covered with shell.  It can be quite a messy treat!

Fish Steak - Tuna fillet wrapped with nori seaweed, pan seared with orange and sake caramalized sauce.  Again, put the whole fillet into your mouth.. Don't forget to eat it with the tiny endamame bean scattered around the plate

Just like that.. Gobble Gobble!

Last but not least - Wagyu Beef Steak - Wagyu eye fillet dressed with Black truffle, enoki, shiitake miso sauce.  This is so rich and quite a big serving compared to the other courses..  I was sooo stuffed after this!

S's dad had this instead.  Not sure what it is, I think it has crab in it... 

Yum

Let's not forget the fried rice and miso soup that came at the end of the meal... 

and of course the dessert....  The left is some green tea mochi (which is my favourite) and the right is some light sponge cake...

We came back here and had the same degustation meal 2 weeks later!  Yep!  We couldn't get enough! hehe..  I'm getting hungry just looking at these photos...  Time for morning tea I think!

xx

ooOOohh.. Happy New Year 2012 (belated I know)

I have been busy busy last couple of months...  Stockholm - Hong Kong - Melbourne - Brisbane - Melbourne and finally, back to Brisbane!

So, Happy New Year.  May 2012, Year of the Dragon bring us all peace, wealth and joy!!

View from Hilton, Docklands, where we spent New Year..

Bathtub.. filled with ice..  Typical aussie thing to do.. hehe

Night View

Our bathtub kept filling up..  Plenty of booze for all.  I think we had like 15 people in our hotel room.. hehe

Fireworks captured on my phone.. Poor quality I know!

Flinders Street Station with the city circle tram passing by.. Ahh..  This is Melbourne, my home...

xx

Hong Kong, in December 2011...

On the way back to Melbourne from Stockholm, we did a stopover in Hong Kong (we were last here in China/Hong Kong around 2004).  We were expecting summer as December = summer for Australia, but it was quite cold in December and then we realised it's actually winter here in Hong Kong.. Not very smart on our part.  But that didn't stop us from eating our way around Hong Kong.  Unfortunately, nothing too touristy for us this trip.  We shop, we ate and we slept ;)

Our late night supper... I love the soup here in HK..  so nourishing and yummy

Mine was abalone, mushroom and shark fin soup with rice at the bottom.  I was starving by then and enjoyed every morsel..  Sorry for those who will frown at me disapprovingly at those shark fins.. (I think these ain't real anywaz ;) )

Unfortunately, what S ordered was not fullfilling for him, so, we stopover at the Big Yellow Arch (Maccas) where he enjoyed his McFilet!

Yum Yum

I had a taste of a sweet taro pie (similar to apple pie, but with taro filling instead)..  Interesting, but I think I prefer apple pie..

We caught up with a couple whom we met at the Bali Wedding.. Kelly and her husband, Norbert with their eldest son.  We had dinner at one of the towers overlooking the laser light which starts playing at  8pm every night.  Unfortunately the restaurant we were at were being catered for a huge wedding (we sat on the other end corner.. hehe) and the windows were really dirty.. but who cares, I was more concerned on the dishes surrounding our table..

More shark fins soup..

We had seafood, fried rice, beancurd, cold meat dishes... You name it, we were devouring them..  Thanks Kelly & Norbert!

Guess who is busy working away during breakfast... 

Roast pork, char siu and some red meat on rice...

Mine was roast pork and goose (the goose was cold cut meat and tasted funny... not a fan =( ) on rice.. with sour plum drink.  That's what I love about Asia.. Lots of sugary drinks! hehe

 Caught up with a couple of ex CGU colleagues in Hong Kong.  Such a small world, hey?  We went to Tai Ping Koon Restaurant and the food were just lovely..  The restaurant looks old but cozy..

We ordered one of their banquet meal and added a few dishes on top of the banquet meal.  The banquet meal (which includes the mixed veg salad, baked crab meat in shell, baked pork chop & tomato with rice and came with dessert (some jelly) and tea/coffee - HK$195

The Menu

Mixed veg salad - tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce etc with mayo (nothing to write home about..)

Vegetable dish (not sure if this came with the banquet or we ordered separately)..  again, nothing to write home about.. 

The surrounding..  Lots of diners..

One of their famous dish - TPK Style Chicken Wings in Swiss Sauce - HK$143.  OMG!!  The sauce was so delicious and I was licking my fingers and lips!  Dark and slightly sweet sauce, I thought it was kecap manis but was told it's not...  Definitely one of the nicest sauce..

Baked Crab Meat in Shell..  I think one of their famous dish.  Quite lovely

Becci

Leona

Slowly chipping away on the crab..  It was quite big!

We were struggling at this point ;)

Pork chop with tomato and rice (it did came with tomato, but not tomato sauce, but some dark sauce..  The chicken wings' sauce was much much better!

Fried  Rice Noodles with Beef and veg with some egg slices at the top

The jelly dessert

Us with our TPK style baked souffle - HK$108.  Definitely one of their signature dish.  It was HUMONGOUS and the inside was sooo soft... To die for.  If you are here, I beg of you, give it a try!

As you can tell I am thoroughly obsessed with food.  Every morning we had a HUGE breakfast at our hotel.. and here's some glorious pictures of them..

Day 1 - Stir fried noodles, mushrooms, tofu, veggies, and of course rota pratha with vegetable curry!

Day 1 - Can't go without my congee (pork and century old egg)  *dies*

Day 1 - Of course I managed to squeeze in something healthy - muesli with fruits..  That's just me being err.. ME! =P

Day 2 - Quite similar to what I had in Day 1, noodles, veggies, mushrooms and roti pratha with some vegetarian curry..    with a glass of juice

Day 2 - Managed to squeeze in another bowl of congee with a small side pork cheong fan..

S was more healthy.. He had some pancakes and fruits..

This is me 'trying' to be healthy - Muesli with fruits.. and a bun to go with my Hong Kong Tea.. Which I got quite addicted to when I was in Hong Kong.. I had one practically every morning!  I love this hotel! 

Managed to catch up with a High School friend (who was an exchange student to my school..  I met up with her and her bf at that time when we were here in 2004)..  This time they took me around to the craft area and spend some time taking us around shopping.. he

Grace & myself..

Her hubby, William

Enjoying our brunch (ok, my lunch, as I've had a HUGE breakfast before meeting up with them).  This is a typical fast food in Hong Kong..  Either spam pork or beef with either instant noodle/macaroni in soup with a mug of Hong Kong style tea..  Yum yum!

This chubby kid kept giving me the evil eye from across our table..  Maybe because I kept giggling about how cute he is and kept taking a picture of him.. Seriously, don't you want to pinch his cheeks???

At the airpot with Grace, William & S

The 3 of us..

Ok.. one last shot!! hehe

Loving you, Hong Kong...  Till our next trip!! 

xx