Italy In A Day

On the weekend, I went to an Italian expo with a couple of friends. Lots of food to taste- yummy mozzarella and salami!! I only took a couple of photos. Funnily enough there were lots of Italians there. 

A stall all about the pasta

'Italia' spelt with coffee beans

I bought truffle olive oil- the smell is sooo delicious!

When I was in Rome, I had a fettuccine with mushroom and truffle cream sauce  It was the best meal I had while I was there and everytime I taste or smell truffles, it reminds me of that time. Plus it adds an extra depth to any dish.

And... Cut!

In the last few days in Perth, my laptop decided to die on me. Hopefully it is just the screen/video card as nothing would show but the laptop would still seem to start. Currently it's getting repaired and I am unable to use Photoshop and the lovely actions (here). 

I'm currently using my sister's laptop and had to install a photo editing software. GIMP is a pretty nifty (and free) photo editing software. The lay out is fairly similar to Photoshop and most adjustments are available. Definitely worth a look if you don't want to shell out the cash for Photoshop!

2 more months before my sister gets to London with my laptop- hopefully all fixed and well.

In the meantime, I shall have to suffice with my sister's laptop and GIMP.

I shall leave you with a photo of Canary Wharf (just a small section of it)- I managed to capture the reflections of the building and the boat in the still waters. 

Things I've Forgotten About London

Being away for 2 months has gotten me back to the Perth way of life. 

I got to drive my car, amble along and pretty much smile at everyone that walked past me. 

Now that I've been in London for about a week or so, I can see why it's only a temporary place for me:

- people are still zipping by using their legs
- and some just suddenly stop in the middle of the pavement

- my personal space is larger than the London sense of personal space

- was the tube always so noisy?

- not making eye contact with ANYONE

- still walking everywhere
- pigeons!! 

- having to carry my groceries home

- the city is not dead after 5pm

- and I have limited pacing area in my apartment

But all those above is what makes London London and it cannot replace the my experience with this chaotic but so full of life city!

Photos from when I first got to London- June 2011!

Trafalgar Square

Westminster Abbey- still my favourite place. The building is just so intricate.

Horse guards at Whitehall

Panorama of Trafalgar Square

February 2012 Shopping Round Up

Two months down of 2012 already.

I'm excited to show you what I bought in February!

First an Ellery skirt which you have seen in my birthday goodies:

Beautiful isn't it?

And a Thurley lace top that came with a singlet:

Close up of the delicate lace. 

And the singlet- it is in that long-short* style that seems to be quite popular in Australia now. 

*Long back- short front

I'll include these two Zoya nail polish as well.

Yew! And that's it! :-)

First Month of Shopping for 2012

Belated January shopping post! 
I was unable to photograph the clothes I bought until I got to Perth then finally back to London.

I bought a fair bit of clothes for the month. It coincided with the January sales and also me going on holidays. 

Clothes I bought during the January sales:

- grey cashmere cardigan from Liberty

Unfortunately it's got those elbow patches but down the track they look like they can be removed. 

- pair of light skinny jeans from Anthropologie 

These are skinny without being suck-in-your-fats skinny and the denim is also very lightweight. Plus they are high rise (not mummy like tho!) so no muffin top.

- another pair of jeans in a dark wash from Anthropologie

Again not suck-in-your-fats skinny. Plus I don't need to get them taken up because they are 'ankle length' which mean 'just the right length' for me.

Cute leather name tag

Finally I've found 'replacements' for my 2 Nobody skinny jeans. I've been so scared that they are going to wear out and I'll be stuck on an emergency jeans hunt. You all know emergency jeans hunt- you get the closest thing and your hunt is foreverrrrrr. But the Nobody jeans are still going strong and with these extra pairs, they will last til I'm 30 (or til my figure goes... eeek!).

From my holidays;

- long navy cardi in Taiwan

- Steve Madden boots in Taiwan

The boots I got in Taiwan were a tan colour (no black leather they said!). When I went to David Jones in Perth, I found a pair in a black leather (below) which was the colour I wanted initially.

Never mind!

- spotty top from Mango in Malaysia

Please excuse the crease, it has travelled from Singapore all the way to London before I could take a photo of it.

- lace skirt (Malaysia)

- 2x shirts (Malaysia)

Just a couple of shirts for casual wear in Malaysia.

One last item I bought online in Australia- a Bento Louise V knit in nectarine.
They had it on wholesale price of $120 instead of $195. 

Such a wonderful spring colour!

And... Action!

I found an action pack for Photoshop that gives it an old school charm. It can be found [here]. If you are looking for more Photoshop actions, you can head to Totally Rad. They have loads of actions to choose from (to purchase) to give your photos anything from B&W to a vintage look.

Orchids from Singapore Botanic Garden

 

There is also a rounded corner action pack that you can download from Adobe. 

Very helpful and saves so much time!

More orchids.

Action from Totally Rad (lux hard)

This is the summer haze from Ohmygodknits.

Red back spider with very red markings.

Different spider with not so red markings but much larger in size.

Ha-Lu

I went to Ha-Lu for a friend's birthday dinner in February.

The concept is to choose a number of dishes to share. The dishes they have on offer are more Japanese fusion. Different but nice.

The dishes I shared with a friend:

1. deep fried crumbed oysters- these were amazing! crunchy on the outside but so soft on the inside

2. skewered grilled octopus

3. the rice pot

4. grilled waygu beef- you grill it on the hot stone bowl

5&6. my favourite dessert in the whole world! creamy caramel- just how it tasted like in Japan. Yum!

Details of Ha-Lu

Shop 4/401 Oxford Street

Mt Hawthorn

WA 6016

Phone: 9444 0577

Mushroom Pate

If you do go visit London, I'm sure most people will tell you to visit Borough Markets. 

It is a popular market and gets very busy too but if you go early (before 10am) on the Saturday, it is so much calmer then. 

One of the produce you must try is mushroom pate.

The guys who are selling this give out free samples to try. 

I got recommended from a couple of friends and I have taken it to a picnic and introduced it to more friends. They seem to like it!

It doesn't have the usual livery taste because it's made out of mushrooms- so it's suitable for vegetarians. It goes beautifully on toast. So good! 

Or you can try it with baked spinach and feta wrapped puff pastry as seen below:

It sells for about 3-4 pounds and it's definitely a must try!

You can also check out their website here.

Makeup Naturally

It was the end of 2009 that I decided to look into using natural skincare products. During 2010 and 2011 there were a lot of testing with natural products. My skincare and bodycare have excellent natural products.

My makeup has been the hardest to switch.

Wherever I go, I always browse makeup counters and shelves. I like to see what brands they have available and read the magic they can perform on my skin. Then I think about all those chemicals that it contains and I sigh and WALK AWAY!

I am currently in a twisty about Giorgio Armani’s luminious silk foundation. The MUA tried it on and it looks absolutely fantabulous. I’ve read about it online and in magazines about how it is THE foundation to use. The MUA (Bianca- at David Jones in the city- she’s awesome!) sent me home with a sample of it. I’ve tried it on and it’s still fantabulous.

The foundation will mainly be used for special occasion type stuff- ya know first dates, weddings, photo shoots ;-) - and the tinted moisturiser for evening out my skin tone and I’m out the door. 

It is $90AUD for a bottle. Expensive but I’ve paid $110 for a tinted moisturiser (here) before. Do I break my ‘natural only’ products rule for one bottle of luminious silk foundation?


Maybe I'll wait til I get back to London. The prices there are slightly cheaper...

I left the Giorgio Armani counter with these 3 samples.

Birthday Cake

Still on the birthday theme- my cake.

I got Suyuan to make me one!

After perusing our cookbooks, I decided to try one from here:

A Green & Black's cookbook. 

This was a chrissy present from Carina and Steven (from London). I very rarely bake in London so I decided to bring it back to Perth.

This is the cake I chose- a brownie type base with a mousse topping.

The recipe said that it would be a very rich cake. And it also mentioned that one orange flavoured dark chocolate bar could be used for the base. I bought two of the Green & Black's Maya Gold bars (here) and one dark bar- you need 300g of dark chocolate in total.

Here's what the cake turned out to look like:

Pretty close to the photo.

A close up of the slice.

It looks like a very very rich mud cake! The base is a little bit heavy but the mousse is light and airy. It also gives the cake height without make the cake too rich. 

I think with the two Maya Gold bars might have been a little bit too much orange-ness. But the orange flavour does break through the rich chocolate of the other parts of the cake. Definitely enjoyed in small slices and with friends around! 

My mum also asked some of her friends around and she ended up making a feast- almost similar to what we have at the Lunar New Year reunion dinner. Below are just a couple of photos I snapped while she was still preparing.

1. red eggs- a definite must on any of our birthdays

2. lu ya- a form of poached duck with soy sauce and spices

3. poached chicken chilling 

4. shark fin- for soup

5. julienne ginger

6. sliced shitake mushrooms for the soup

Birthday Goodies

I know this may sound harsh but I'm always a little bit skeptical about receiving birthday presents. But then I love receiving gifts. Ever since I've decided to reduce the amount of things I own, I have been choosey about stuff I want. 

Anyways, I love the stuff I got this year- in fact I was surprised!

Photo time:

PJ set from Cam- by Peter Alexander! :-) 

This is from me- an Ellery dip dyed skirt

 

From Suyuan- Lanphi nude skirt. 

I told her what to get me. However, the sizing is a little small and I had to send it back for an exchange. 

Biscuits from Kelly

Look how cute the decorations are! 

And they are all decorated differently 

A Country Road bag from Suyee. 

It's one of those weekender type bags- perfect for Euro-tripping.

Quite a large pressie from Theresa!

In the bag were passionfruit flavoured rum, natural cleansing gel, organic chocolate, natural toner and face cream, a hair treatment vial and SJP covet.

And my first Tiffany present from a group of friends!

Just a simple necklace 

Oh- another present from Suyuan- a cross stitched mobile holder. 

Finally from Mei- a book and jelly/cake moulds from Taiwan.