Its been a while since I've posted and I do apologise - although I can partly blame the Taiwan earthquake. There was an earthquake on boxing day in Taiwan that knocked out most of the undersea cables from Hk - blocking all internet to the US and most of the rest of the world (except HK and Aus seemed to work too). Finally internet is back, but its slow as hell..
I have had about a week off, and so far so good. Had a lovely champagne laden brunch on Xmas day, and saw Casino Royale on Boxing Day. Then Pau-Ling and I spent 2 great days in Macau, eating , drinking and relaxing. Tonight im having a few girlies over for dinner and then were off to drinks for the rest of the night. Im making a mega feast and just need to finish tidying the flat today -
Eggplant Tomato Pasta
Chicken Schnitzel
Potato pie
Brocolli and Green Vegs
Chocolate Truffle
Yummo!
I hope everyone has a great new yrs and 2007 is a good one!
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Friday, December 15, 2006
Nat as a bridesmaid?
Some of you may remember that I have acted the part of bridesmaid once before, for the previous Ms Schwarzy. Well I didn't do too great a job, I didn't smile enough, or chat to family enough or get involved in organising stuff enough. But it seems I have once again been honoured with the role. Dee has asked me to be one of her (7!) bridesmaids! She also said I could be the witness instead if I prefer. So which is better? Feel free to put in your vote. my thoughts go along like this:
Bridesmaid - positives - lots of attention, pretty dress, shag a groomsman
negatives - lots of attention, 1 of 7, costume picked out by bride (but being Dee this is not a bad thing)
Oh this is the proposed bridesmaid dress (not the colour) - Its under "cocktail" and its number 2 - dress
Witness - positives - get to sign the official paper, only 1 , get to pick own dress
negatives - no attention, have to pick own dress (can be a bad thing for me!), no shagging of groomsman (not that I got to at Schwarzy's!)
Oh and yes I'm back in HK - was in Shanghai last wk, Shanghai was good fun, and cold - but work was hellish! So glad to be back in HK.
I had today off work, was going to sleep in and take it easy but instead had a crazy day. Got an email from schwarzy yesterday saying she was coming to HK for work for 24 hours, I met her for breakfast at the Island Shangri La at the crack of dawn. Then she went off to her meetings, I stopped home and then headed to the airport to send of Candice and meet her for a yummy pasta lunch. Then I rushed back to town and met up with my cousin whos in town til tomorrow, and did a bit of a walking tour, went to the markets and showed off my flat. And now I am meeting Amy for dinner & gossip. Byeeeee
Bridesmaid - positives - lots of attention, pretty dress, shag a groomsman
negatives - lots of attention, 1 of 7, costume picked out by bride (but being Dee this is not a bad thing)
Oh this is the proposed bridesmaid dress (not the colour) - Its under "cocktail" and its number 2 - dress
Witness - positives - get to sign the official paper, only 1 , get to pick own dress
negatives - no attention, have to pick own dress (can be a bad thing for me!), no shagging of groomsman (not that I got to at Schwarzy's!)
Oh and yes I'm back in HK - was in Shanghai last wk, Shanghai was good fun, and cold - but work was hellish! So glad to be back in HK.
I had today off work, was going to sleep in and take it easy but instead had a crazy day. Got an email from schwarzy yesterday saying she was coming to HK for work for 24 hours, I met her for breakfast at the Island Shangri La at the crack of dawn. Then she went off to her meetings, I stopped home and then headed to the airport to send of Candice and meet her for a yummy pasta lunch. Then I rushed back to town and met up with my cousin whos in town til tomorrow, and did a bit of a walking tour, went to the markets and showed off my flat. And now I am meeting Amy for dinner & gossip. Byeeeee
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Chewing Gum is illegal in Singapore!
Now the rest of you may have known this, but I have just spent 10 mins in 7 11 searching for chewing gum. I settled for mentos and mentioned to the woman that I couldn't find any chewing gum - and this was when i was informed it was illegal in SGP. How classic is that!!
Have spent the week in SGP - enjoyed SGP but work was boring as crap. I am so over teaching mindless stuff to quiet boring people. Over the wkend I will put up a survey where you can vote for what Nat should do with her life. (ie, me)
Loved the hotel (of course), although their room service could be improved - ie. extra milk when serving the hot chocolate (and maybe a marshmellow). But of course the thing that truly makes them a top hotel happened when i first arrived. Got a cab to the hotel, and paid with my credit card. The taxis credit card machine wasnt working so the hotel door man or concierge (or whatever he was), paid for the taxi and put it on my room bill. How cool is that?
Alright 7 more mins to finish this blog. Highlights of the week were the SGP night safari which was good fun (one of the guys from work went with me), going to insomia last night with a new friend (met thru narcheska!)$18 to get in, and then unlimited drinks till 11pm - oooh and not bad live music either - which is nice after the lack of in HK. Oh and of course my bubble bath - I love that hotel, I just wish i could have had a day off work to sleep in and swim on the roof pool. Work does get in the way.
Alright better go find my gate - start thinking about the new direction for my life....
Have spent the week in SGP - enjoyed SGP but work was boring as crap. I am so over teaching mindless stuff to quiet boring people. Over the wkend I will put up a survey where you can vote for what Nat should do with her life. (ie, me)
Loved the hotel (of course), although their room service could be improved - ie. extra milk when serving the hot chocolate (and maybe a marshmellow). But of course the thing that truly makes them a top hotel happened when i first arrived. Got a cab to the hotel, and paid with my credit card. The taxis credit card machine wasnt working so the hotel door man or concierge (or whatever he was), paid for the taxi and put it on my room bill. How cool is that?
Alright 7 more mins to finish this blog. Highlights of the week were the SGP night safari which was good fun (one of the guys from work went with me), going to insomia last night with a new friend (met thru narcheska!)$18 to get in, and then unlimited drinks till 11pm - oooh and not bad live music either - which is nice after the lack of in HK. Oh and of course my bubble bath - I love that hotel, I just wish i could have had a day off work to sleep in and swim on the roof pool. Work does get in the way.
Alright better go find my gate - start thinking about the new direction for my life....
Friday, November 17, 2006
Catchup Time....
I know its been forever since I've written and I will do my best to catchup now. Photos come later (maybe tomorrow morn).
I love Japan. I had such a good time and didn't want to come back. This of course was exhibited when I slept through my alarm by 1.5hrs and almost missed my flight!
The people at the office are great and I had a number of very fun nights out with them (including the night before my flight!).
In an amazing bit of random timing, my drinking buddy Virginia was in Tokyo the second wk I was there. For those who keep up with the blog - Virginia was the girl I discovered ladies night here in HK with. She lives in Aus, but was on holiday in Tokyo the same time I was there. We had a couple of fun nights out, including going to a yakitori bar, where they spoke no english and had no pictures of food. Made ordering difficult (even with my phrase book!) - thankfully the guy next to us spoke really really dodge english but helped us order [Although we later found out the cook and his wife spoke some english - he gave some charcoal sticks to take home and make our own yakitori with - was soo funny!]
Over the weekend I left Tokyo and went to the Hakone Region - beautiful area, lots of onsens (spas) and yummy food. I stayed at a Ryoken (a typical Japanese hotel), where they spoke no english and had typical japanese rooms such as these:
So here's some notes from when I was in the Ryoken.
After first arriving and being shown to my room, I decided to search for the baths to cleanup before dinner (as I believe that was what I was being told (in Japanese)). I walked out of my room (dressed in jeans) looking for the bathroom and scared a little old man & woman, they saw me and laughed (continuously!)- they were wearing their yukatas (little japanese robes). So I returned to my room and put on my yukata (very comfy things).I then found my way to the bath area but there were 2 doors with 2 signs on them. They were in Japanese and I had no idea what they said (although i guessed one said man and one said woman). I returned to my room to get my phrase book and then stood there trying to decipher the 2 signs! My book had 1 symbol for female, the sign was all swirly and had about 3 symbols. Finally I took a guess and managed to find the females baths (thankfully!).
After my bath I went back to my room and started writing done my initial impressions of the ryoken. (Amazing customer service, beautiful place, hot baths, all without understanding a word!) Not long after music started playing through the room - and then the announcement began. No idea what was going on, but I had an idea it could be dinner so I started looking up the word for dinner. Almost instantly the little woman knocked on my door, gave me a big smile and started going on about something (in japanese). She obviously realised I understood nothing, so she motioned me to follow her. I followed her (still in my robe) and she led me to the dining room (small japanese tables and pillows) and sat me at a table for 1. To my left was a massive table for 20. I had a terrible thought that they sat me by myself b/c I didnt speak japanese. Thankfully that wasnt the case, the table for 20 was a big family group - very amusing to watch. There was another small table of 3.
Dinner: (ive made my best guess at what i was eating)
Miso Soup with little mussels
Egg custard with crab meat, chicken, chives & orange rind
Sashimi (the yummiest!) - prawn (raw!), scallops & 2 sorts of fish
charcoal sardine (wierd filling on slightly stringy things maybe octopus)
brown scary tough thing, looks like shitake mushroom but not (i tried a bite but no)
smoked haddock sushi (or some smoked fish)
scallops & crab claw - yummo
light wonton in yummy pastry with light filling prob seafood with egg or tofu
cooked fish fillet (trout?) in miso & sweet sauce
tempura prawn (linguistine) with cabbage & pasta salad, and mandarin
vegetables (carrot, grn beans, lotus veg) & tofu omlet
& tea
When I got back from my room, my little table and pillow was put away, and my bed (futon) was out on the straw mat. I read for a while and figured I might as well get to sleep - was very comfy and I slept great, until I was awoken by a very insistent friendly knocking on my door "Ohayou gozaimasu" (good morning). 8am PEOPLE!
This, as you may have guessed, was breakfast. I went back to the tea room and ate:
Japanese rice pudding thing (I tried a bit but it was like eating glue)
Dried fish (nicer than i expected, although bloody hard to fillet with chopsticks)
crab miso soup
egg omlette thing with chives
liver with onion
little brown things that i thought was ginger and mince, but seemed to have a very strange consistency
salad - brocolli, tomato, lettuce, beans, piece of ham?
No Sashimi :(
So I enjoyed brekkie although not as much as dinner (which was yummo) and it was too early. I figured id go back to my room and sleep some more, but when i returned they had put my bed away! I was forced to have a productive day!
So Japan was lovely and I didnt want to come back, oh and sushi tastes soo much better there - all food is yummo! I'm definately going to go back to Japan before I leave Asia.
Arrived back in HK, and had Hayleys hens night - which was the best night I had out in HK for ages (or maybe ever). We started with a lovely lamb roast at my place, and then apple crumble (which basically no one ate as they were all dieting! oh well more for me!) Then we all got ready together, and the girls did my makeup! I looked very pretty and boys chatted me up - unfortunatly no cute ones (or none that were cute enough ). But we were out til after 4, and loads of laughs - photos to follow.
Work this wk was hellish but I'm off to Singapore on sunday for 5 days, so that should be fun. And then next wkend Mandy moves out so I'll be alone again. Oh and Hayley leaves Sunday :( Everyones leaving - im going to have to make an effort to meet more ppl, hopefully a hot boy too. Oh cause I won a prize! and I really need a boy to share it with. As a backup ill take PL (or if RM comes to town ill take her).
I bought a charity raffle ticket at work and won the 14th prize ->
14th PRIZE:
Winning Ticket :
05993
FLY INTO MACAU BY HELICOPTER AND STAYOVER AT THE MANDARIN ORIENTAL MACAU
I picked up the ticket today and it has to be used before february and mid week! Which really limits when i can use it. So im thinking the week between xmas and new yr - any hot boys want to volunteer to join me? (oh and straight - and not annoying)
Japan
I love Japan. I had such a good time and didn't want to come back. This of course was exhibited when I slept through my alarm by 1.5hrs and almost missed my flight!
The people at the office are great and I had a number of very fun nights out with them (including the night before my flight!).
In an amazing bit of random timing, my drinking buddy Virginia was in Tokyo the second wk I was there. For those who keep up with the blog - Virginia was the girl I discovered ladies night here in HK with. She lives in Aus, but was on holiday in Tokyo the same time I was there. We had a couple of fun nights out, including going to a yakitori bar, where they spoke no english and had no pictures of food. Made ordering difficult (even with my phrase book!) - thankfully the guy next to us spoke really really dodge english but helped us order [Although we later found out the cook and his wife spoke some english - he gave some charcoal sticks to take home and make our own yakitori with - was soo funny!]
Over the weekend I left Tokyo and went to the Hakone Region - beautiful area, lots of onsens (spas) and yummy food. I stayed at a Ryoken (a typical Japanese hotel), where they spoke no english and had typical japanese rooms such as these:
So here's some notes from when I was in the Ryoken.
After first arriving and being shown to my room, I decided to search for the baths to cleanup before dinner (as I believe that was what I was being told (in Japanese)). I walked out of my room (dressed in jeans) looking for the bathroom and scared a little old man & woman, they saw me and laughed (continuously!)- they were wearing their yukatas (little japanese robes). So I returned to my room and put on my yukata (very comfy things).I then found my way to the bath area but there were 2 doors with 2 signs on them. They were in Japanese and I had no idea what they said (although i guessed one said man and one said woman). I returned to my room to get my phrase book and then stood there trying to decipher the 2 signs! My book had 1 symbol for female, the sign was all swirly and had about 3 symbols. Finally I took a guess and managed to find the females baths (thankfully!).
After my bath I went back to my room and started writing done my initial impressions of the ryoken. (Amazing customer service, beautiful place, hot baths, all without understanding a word!) Not long after music started playing through the room - and then the announcement began. No idea what was going on, but I had an idea it could be dinner so I started looking up the word for dinner. Almost instantly the little woman knocked on my door, gave me a big smile and started going on about something (in japanese). She obviously realised I understood nothing, so she motioned me to follow her. I followed her (still in my robe) and she led me to the dining room (small japanese tables and pillows) and sat me at a table for 1. To my left was a massive table for 20. I had a terrible thought that they sat me by myself b/c I didnt speak japanese. Thankfully that wasnt the case, the table for 20 was a big family group - very amusing to watch. There was another small table of 3.
Dinner: (ive made my best guess at what i was eating)
Miso Soup with little mussels
Egg custard with crab meat, chicken, chives & orange rind
Sashimi (the yummiest!) - prawn (raw!), scallops & 2 sorts of fish
charcoal sardine (wierd filling on slightly stringy things maybe octopus)
brown scary tough thing, looks like shitake mushroom but not (i tried a bite but no)
smoked haddock sushi (or some smoked fish)
scallops & crab claw - yummo
light wonton in yummy pastry with light filling prob seafood with egg or tofu
cooked fish fillet (trout?) in miso & sweet sauce
tempura prawn (linguistine) with cabbage & pasta salad, and mandarin
vegetables (carrot, grn beans, lotus veg) & tofu omlet
& tea
When I got back from my room, my little table and pillow was put away, and my bed (futon) was out on the straw mat. I read for a while and figured I might as well get to sleep - was very comfy and I slept great, until I was awoken by a very insistent friendly knocking on my door "Ohayou gozaimasu" (good morning). 8am PEOPLE!
This, as you may have guessed, was breakfast. I went back to the tea room and ate:
Japanese rice pudding thing (I tried a bit but it was like eating glue)
Dried fish (nicer than i expected, although bloody hard to fillet with chopsticks)
crab miso soup
egg omlette thing with chives
liver with onion
little brown things that i thought was ginger and mince, but seemed to have a very strange consistency
salad - brocolli, tomato, lettuce, beans, piece of ham?
No Sashimi :(
So I enjoyed brekkie although not as much as dinner (which was yummo) and it was too early. I figured id go back to my room and sleep some more, but when i returned they had put my bed away! I was forced to have a productive day!
So Japan was lovely and I didnt want to come back, oh and sushi tastes soo much better there - all food is yummo! I'm definately going to go back to Japan before I leave Asia.
Hong Kong
Arrived back in HK, and had Hayleys hens night - which was the best night I had out in HK for ages (or maybe ever). We started with a lovely lamb roast at my place, and then apple crumble (which basically no one ate as they were all dieting! oh well more for me!) Then we all got ready together, and the girls did my makeup! I looked very pretty and boys chatted me up - unfortunatly no cute ones (or none that were cute enough ). But we were out til after 4, and loads of laughs - photos to follow.
Work this wk was hellish but I'm off to Singapore on sunday for 5 days, so that should be fun. And then next wkend Mandy moves out so I'll be alone again. Oh and Hayley leaves Sunday :( Everyones leaving - im going to have to make an effort to meet more ppl, hopefully a hot boy too. Oh cause I won a prize! and I really need a boy to share it with. As a backup ill take PL (or if RM comes to town ill take her).
I bought a charity raffle ticket at work and won the 14th prize ->
14th PRIZE:
Winning Ticket :
05993
FLY INTO MACAU BY HELICOPTER AND STAYOVER AT THE MANDARIN ORIENTAL MACAU
I picked up the ticket today and it has to be used before february and mid week! Which really limits when i can use it. So im thinking the week between xmas and new yr - any hot boys want to volunteer to join me? (oh and straight - and not annoying)
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