Can't Get Enough!

High tea...I don't get to do this often enough here. Below, Iced Yin Yang (milk tea and coffee, but the tea was overpowered by the coffee), plain French toast and blueberry crepes from UCC Coffee

Yes, it's me again. I just want to introduce my duck here.

Oh and two interesting articles from the March 29 issue of Newsweek: Seasonless Dressing and Classic to the Core. Perhaps appearing in the same things over and over again is the new trend in fashion? I would very much love for this to be true; it will bring out the creativeness in all of us.

Lastly, I vowed to stop buying magazines but Chloe Sevigny is in Elle UK while Gisele Bundchen is in Vogue, and both of them are just fabulous. What to do?

Lazy Afternoon

Weekends are almost always about getting as many things done as possible. This is not one of those weekends. From top: sweet and fragrant Kona Sunrise coffee / bag o'goodies / Before HIMYM, I was hooked on Friends and SATC. / fashion magazine love / Boy...Friend Season Is Here / If I can't get to Lane Crawford, then it will come to me, in the form of, what else, a magazine. / New look: Murder Scene / NYLON US vs NYLON Japan / of course both have NYLON's famous bag check / New lippy discovery by Queen J: Lipstick Queen which is sheer and light upon application and which I now believe is at equal status with Bobbi Brown, the best one I've used so far

Love & Peace

Finally got to watch Alice in Wonderland! I almost dozed off during the first half, but it got better towards the end. Afterwards, I wondered why AIW was categorized as a children's book. It's scary (a cat that grins, a mad man in a funny hat, playing card guards) and it's not the typical story of a princess who finds her prince and lives happily ever after. I also thought of my AIW storybook from when I was a kid and realized that I never got to finish reading it. I stopped everytime I got to the part in the story where she passes through the tiny door. Mostly, I just browsed through the pictures, which was really few and not at all cute.

Happy birthday, Pin! I wish we're really in HK and not just posing in front of an HK Island poster. (2C, we hope to see you really soon!)

I love this deep-fried beancurd, which is not at all greasy, from Eat Well.

I wore this loose Izzue shirt I got a while back. I remember loving this shirt when I first saw it, but I felt sloppy whenever I wore it. The sleeves kept on slipping off my shoulders, and I had to yank it up every now and then. Below, I finally found a better way to wear it without looking awkward, worn with all of my usual stuff. A few tucks and pins here and there really go a long way.

Tons of stuff to do but there's always time to do a little blogging. See you all again soon!

A Splash of Color

As a vegetarian, it pays to have faith that our food choices are never limited. Below, four purely vegetarian dishes that I found are fresh and simple yet tasty, all from Lorenzo's Way.

I liked everything except the paneer makhani (far top), which was too greasy. My favorite among the three would have to be the vegetarian burger. Unlike other veggie burgers, this one is moist and topped with a special tomato mushroom sauce.

Yellow nail polish may have to be the most unflattering shade for my skin tone, but it definitely helped to uplift my mood. I'm wearing my favorite L'Occitane lip gloss in Rose Petal, which gives lips a nude light pink sheen. It has a light texture and is not at all sticky, plus it smells terrific.

Queen J was quite mad that shortly after purchasing her A Wang tee, she spotted this Club Monaco rip-off at a fourth of the price. The fabric is silky soft but I still think that the fit of the A Wang tee is unmatched. Or maybe that's only because it looks perfect on Queen J's tiny frame (too patronizing eh?).

I love this dining table set I spotted at Dimensione. I think this would be perfect in my future farm or at least rustic farm-themed home.

Weekday Getaway

It's not really a getaway but it was a rare chance at a peaceful stroll in Greenbelt. So many restaurants to try, but oh so little time. It was also the perfect way to beat the heat; the A/C in the malls and restaurants was probably at 10 degrees.

Mr. Jones

No vegetarian choices here except for the blueberry pancakes. I waited for half an hour for this, but even though I was starving, I could only finish 1 piece of this huge order. I caught a glimpse of their fish and chips, and the fish was roughly 10 inches long and 3 quarters of an inch thick. The giant servings reminded me of the genetically modified food in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Hohoho

Max Brenner

I was cold and wanted something hot but not sweet, so I was delighted to find that Max Brenner serves rose buds tea. (Queen J loves drinking tea and I used to nick her rose buds tea.) The tasty, slightly tangy sizzling mushrooms and garlic served with 5 (!) pieces of bread went really well with my drink. All in all, the price was quite reasonable considering the quality of the food and service, the size per serving, and the ambience.

When I got tired of Greenbelt, I crossed the bridge and wandered off to Glorietta, my all-time favorite mall when I was young(er).

Toms in Nothing But H2O

TOMS Shoes is in Nothing But H2O! For every pair of TOMS Shoes sold, a pair will be given away to a child in a developing country. The shoes look so-Cal comfy but the metallic gold and silver versions are really funky.

Truffle Wedges in Italianni's

A little bit disappointed that the taste of the truffle in the dip couldn't really be identified. For a dose of some good truffle flavored finger food, I prefer Lusso's truffle potato chips. It looks just like Cibo's potato chips but with a strong truffle taste.

Sonya's Garden

Two weeks after my birthday and the celebration continues..

It has been years since the last time I'd been to Sonya's. It was in the early '00s when my family first heard about this quaint place that serves fantastic salad. I remember liking it so much on our first time there that I was already full even before the main course was served. I also remember meeting Sonya herself, going around and greeting her guests. And how could I forget the spacious bathrooms decorated with shells and lace! None of us were vegetarians yet at the time, but even so, I think we all fell in love with the place.

Nearly a decade later, I re-visited Sonya's with friends to relive my teenage memories about this quirky little place where the veggies we were served were grown in the same place where we ate. I was surprised to discover a Sonya's Garden that has been expanded and renovated that the term "organized chaos" used to describe the place on its website doesn't really seem applicable anymore.

We had our three-hour lunch in the spacious dining area then later on hanged out at this cozy, living room-ish spot.

New additions include this salmon belly in the main course and chocolate cake for dessert. The tea was as fragrant as I remembered it to be. At the beginning of lunch, I had a memory card crisis which was thankfully solved right away as one of us brought along a laptop (with a memory card reader)! It would have been sad if I couldn't take lots of pictures.

Accessories that day include my gigantic H&M earrings. It has been a while since I've worn chandelier earrings, and my ears were tired from having these hang there the whole day! Denim tote from Marc by Marc Jacobs. This was originally a gift for my mom (from me using a gift card from Queen J) who loves denim, but it's been sitting in her closet unused for almost a year now, which I think is such a waste! Neon pink Island Girl nail polish and Sam Edelman bling-bling sandals.

Girl in the mirror. The dining area was surrounded with mirrors so I took a few self-portraits. The Beatles tank top was a birthday gift from Pin. She bought it from her friend, Eds, who recently opened her online shop CHIC Essentials.

It was unbearably hot during lunch, I almost regret not wearing my reliable denim shorts. But I was really inspired by the resort wear of Japanese tourists in Guam so I took out my very old Rampage long boho skirt and wore that instead. Mom was rather pleased with this chill outfit, she's not very supportive of us wearing high heels and grown-up outfits.