Friday, January 27, 2012

Tokyo Lights

The last few days of the first month of the year is here!!! If you need more evidence that time flies, here it is. Thankfully its still January, and having a bout of insomnia means I have some spare time to blog again. Ann was recently in Singapore over the Chinese New Year period and I'm so glad she came to visit but I've been super busy taking her around, so some me-time is always appreciated. Last year, because of the Bangkok floods we rerouted to Japan for our annual family NYE vacation. Ushered in the new year at midnight in the Meiji-Jingu Shrine, and it was honestly quite an experience. For people thinking about going, I recommend it but also suggest super comfy shoes and warm enough clothing, because you'll be standing shoulder to shoulder with about a few hundred thousand Japanese people (and the odd tourist here and there) bracing the cold for a couple of hours just to shuffle your way through the park and into the shrine for a few minutes of making wishes and tossing coins as offerings. Also met up with Kotoha whom I first met in Seattle and she bought me lunch at a cute ramen shop in Shibuya which was a purely two-person operation. Later on we went to the busiest Starbucks in the world (supposedly so, anyway) at the intersection of Shibuya near the Hachiko statue, and reminisced about Seattle and all the fun we had. All in all a good and fruitful trip, consisting of a little bit of shopping and a lot of eating some really excellent food, and hopefully I'll be back again soon. Till next time then, Tokyo!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Time to Skyve

As 2012 progresses along slowly but surely, it has hit me that I'll be turning 23 this year, and that is something that unnerves me a bit. How do I feel as if I haven't grown up from the 18 year old girl I used to be? Where did the last five years go? I had dinner last week with some of my girlfriends from my secondary school, and halfway through dinner as we were laughing and screaming as Crescent Girls always do, it struck me that we have known each other for 9 years. NINE YEARS. And everyday I'm grateful that we've kept that friendship. In the meanwhile, I'm gonna mock all my friends whose birthdays are earlier than mine, and cross my fingers that I'll live life like the 22 year old that I am until August, when that number changes.

The first of my friends to turn a year older is always Yvette, and to celebrate her birthday we went to Skyve Elementary Bistro and Bar (I always appreciate puns) which used to be the old Monk's Hill Sec Sch. It feels rather odd to be walking through school corridors, but they've done the place up beautifully, and the ambience is absolute ace. It was the first time in a long time all the Sydney girls got together, so it was great that we were having dinner in such a sydney-esque setting. I as always, settled for the duck confit, which was yummy but a tad dry on the inside despite the crispy skin. The rest had the trout (which was apparently quite MEH), spring chicken (approved) and the pork belly (also approved). We moved on to ordering dessert, and I refrained because I knew with the extra surprise cake coming out I'd have to help everyone finish. I really wanna go back and indulge in more desserts though, especially since Deb's chocolate lava cake was DIVINE, and so was Yvette's maple icecream with fleur de sel! But by the time we waited for the bill we were all grumbling and bitching because the service was so slooooowwwwww. We waited about an hour for mains, an hour for dessert, and half an hour for the bill! Haha we ended up grumbling alot, about waiting time. Guess it goes to show that service is such an important part of any gastronomic experience. The next day, I surprised Yvette with a mini macaron tower that Huitze ordered from Brunetti's! It was so cool and my hands were shaking from carrying the tower cos I was so nervous I would drop it. Hehe hope you had a happy birthday yverkniever, you old thing you xx



Friday, January 6, 2012

Thank you Twenty Eleven

So that marks the end of the first week of the year, and it's another 51 weeks to go. Thought it was time for one of those retrospective posts, and as I sifted through my thousands of photos that I took in 2011, I realise now how wonderful it was. Not to mention other events I didn't document with my camera but will be forever in my memory. (Also, this was the year I cut straight bangs the most! It is starting to be my signature look teehee!) Thank you Twenty Eleven, for being so kind to me, for letting me meet amazing people I'm now happy to call good friends, for helping me to keep and even get closer to my already wonderful friends, for giving me so many chances to travel and see how beautiful the world is, for the snow in Seattle, the sun in Sydney and the smiles all around. The drunken parties, the nonstop flights, the many visits to the beach, all the good food. For the sunsets in London, Phuket and Orange County, for the blue skies everywhere else, even for the rain when I needed those rainy days. For all my friends who came down to Sydney to finally visit. For graduation (you had me going for a moment there!) For beginning beautifully in Bangkok and ending magically in Tokyo. Even for my sprained ankle and wrist, thank you twenty eleven, for everything.


xx, all my love