David Jones Nail Spa - Never Again!

I never seem to learn my lesson - after vowing never to go to any other nail spa other than Blush (here) I decided to give the David Jones Nail Spa a go yesterday since I just couldn't be bothered making the hike all the way to Chatswood. BIG MISTAKE!

First impression? This place is no cleaner than your average suburban nail salon. So I thought, perhaps the high prices meant they did a good job? Not the case. The nails on my two big and two little toes were cut and filed crooked, the undercoat was applied to my hands and toes haphazardly (I'm not even sure there was an undercoat applied to my toes) and the colour was not applied evenly or even all the way to the end of the nail. NOT HAPPY!

I'm just glad that I didn't decide to go for the full $70 New York Mani/Pedi, I got the $40 mini mani/pedi combo which does not involve any cuticle cutting (thank God). Admittedly, the girl I had was lovely (if a little unprofessional) and they do what is probably the best range of OPI colours I have seen to date. But it's back to Blush for me!

I was excited to finally try out my Chanel Blue Boy though:

J'adore!

More Food!

Very little gives me comfort these days except for food. And even though I really shouldn't be eating carbs after 6pm in an attempt to shed a little weight before my first dress fitting, I've had so many stressful days over the past week that I just don't care anymore! Although I have been going to yoga more than usual to make myself feel a little less guilty.

Anyhoo, back to the food.
I've been wanting to try The Meat & Wine Co for the longest time now and so Mr Ng and I made a very spur of the moment decision to give it a go one night last week at the Darling Harbour location. First impression? I never realised this place was so huge! It spans over 3 levels and by the time we left at about 7.30pm it was really starting to fill up.

my Evergreen mocktail

Pork Belly entree

Mr Ng's Grilled Chicken Breast

my 200g Fillet

The service here is a little slow probably due to the size of the restaurant and the fact that we were sitting in a little hidden corner on the 2nd floor. But if I were to go back I would probably go when I'm a little more hungry and able to fit in some dessert which looked really good judging by the table next to ours. The Darling Harbour branch is open from 12noon-10pm Sunday to Thursday and 12noon-11pm Friday and Saturday.

The next night my little bro shouted us all to yummy German at Essen. I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Mr Ng's Farm fresh duck

my Mum's Crispy skinned porkbelly

my Jaeger schnitzel, also ordered by my bro, sister and Dad lol

my sister's Cherry strudel dessert special

my Apple and pear strudel

my bro's Schwaerzwalder (white chocolate mousse)

In short, I LOVE Essen. It is open 7 days for both lunch and dinner.

And most recently, the crazy busy Mamak at Chinatown:

An interesting bit of history about the place from Gosstronomy: The idea for the restaurant started back in 2004 when a young ABC (Australian-born-Chinese) account manager for Pfizer named Julian Lee (who is super cute btw) visited a Malaysian restaurant in Melbourne’s CBD and wondered why there wasn’t an equally good Malaysian experience in Sydney. So he and two friends, Alan Au and Clement Lee, decided to open up their own restaurant but when attempts to recruit a trained chef from Kuala Lumpur proved too hard, the three decided to quit their jobs – Alan was a risk manager for Macquarie Bank and Clement a software engineer for Optus – and move to KL to work in restaurants and learn to cook authentic Malaysian food. Can you say best decision ever?

Mamak opened its doors at Haymarket in 2007 and just 2 years later received a Chef's Hat in the coveted Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide Awards. On the auspicious day of 10th of October last year, a second branch was opened in Chatswood. If the queues are anything to go by it's obvious that Sydney has fallen in love with the fare here lunchtime, dinnertime, every day of the week.

I haven't been to the Chinatown branch in a while now but Mr Ng and I happened to be in the area just before the restaurant was due to open (which is the best time to get there if you don't want to wait in line for more than 30 minutes) and decided to gorge ourselves:

the emptiest I have ever seen the place

but it was only 5.35pm at this time, all the tables were filled within 20 minutes

no Rojak on a Monday night so opted for Mee Goreng

Ayam goreng

Chicken roti murtabak

Roti bom for dessert

Very SHIOK! (loosely translated as super yummy)

Now I have to be honest and say that the first time I tried Mamak in its first year of operation Mr Ng and I had just come back from Singapore having had tasted the best roti prata all at a cost of a few Sing dollars. Needless to say, we weren't super impressed. But absence makes the heart - or in this case the tummy - grow fonder =).

Both the Chinatown and Chatswood branches are open 7 days a week from 11.30am-2.30pm for lunch and 5.30pm-9.30pm for dinner. Additionally, the Chinatown one is open until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays for supper.

David Jones Welcomes Spring 2011

There has been a noticeable absence of flowers in my life for a while now - which I don't really understand since it's not like Mr Ng has stopped pissing me off - and so I might as well post some pics of other people's flowers. And what could be better than the ones from the David Jones Elizabeth Street store's annual floral displays! 2011 marks the 26th year of the DJ's Flower Show which traditionally coincides with the arrival of Spring and this year more than 30,000 blooms were used in the 'Floriography, The Language of Flowers' theme:

My favourite:

How silly of me, I totally forgot to check out the window displays!

Unfortunately the Show ended on Sunday the 11th of September but no doubt it will be back next year bigger and better than ever. Or not if the retail sector continues to perform the way it is..

Chinese Wedding Superstitions

Earlier this week I mentioned that one of my cousins has annoyingly set the date for their wedding 12 days before ours after not only having been engaged for slightly longer than Mr Ng and me (we got engaged February of last year) but also after knowing for the past 1.5 years the date and location of ours. My annoyance was actually starting to subside until one of my Aunties informed my mum of a Chinese superstition which basically states that if a couple's wedding falls within less than 30 days of the wedding day of one of their close relatives (cousins included), then the couples cannot attend each another's wedding or there may be a 'collision' of good fortune. A few quick calls by Mr Ng to HK confirmed that the superstition does indeed exist and that the direct translation from Chinese was 'double clash'.

So being a big believer, my mum has informed me that she will be the one to break the news to my cousin that both he and his new wife will not be allowed to attend our wedding even though they already RSVP'd their attendance. And luckily Mr Ng and I will already be in Hong Kong by early January so we wouldn't have been able to go to theirs anyway. We are still waiting on confirmation from relatives on whether or not the rest of my family will be able to attend their wedding (and vice versa) and I have a feeling that things could potentially turn very ugly for them if that is the case (the rest of my cousin's family made their plans very far in advance to come to HK for our wedding). And all this because they stupidly went ahead and set their date without consulting ANY of their family members!

I am going to be a bitch and say that I really couldn't care less what the consequences are going to be for them because Mr Ng and I set our date and informed everybody of it so long ago. And even if they weren't aware of this superstition they should NOT have set their date so close to ours knowing full well that many of our relatives were travelling to HK around that time.

Anyway, that's the end of my rant for now. I'm just hoping that this will not affect our day in any major way.

But while I am on the topic of Chinese wedding superstitions, I thought it would be interesting to see what some of the others are. And this is what I've managed to find so far:

• Gift money for weddings should always be an even number, symbolising that everything is in a couple




• Couples with the same surname cannot marry; even if they are not related they still belong to the same ancestry




• A Chinese man is advised not to marry a girl without pubic hair (there goes the Brazilian waxing industry lol); the reason is that she may not be fertile and thus produce no offspring




• Wedding clothes should be red, yellow and/or white and wearing black, blue or gray will bring bad luck to the marriage




• A boy, preferably a dragon, must roll over the newleywed's matrimonial bed to ensure good luck and a baby boy




• Brides shouldn't try on their wedding dress before the wedding day or the wedding will not push through




• Breaking something during the reception brings good luck to the newlyweds




• A bride who wears pearls on her wedding day will be an unhappy wife experiencing many heartaches and tears




• It is recommended that no one sleeps or sits on the bridal bed after its installation and blessing for fertility; if however, the groom needs to sleep on it before the wedding he should be accompanied by a young boy preferably born in the year of the dragon




• If the bride meets another bride on the wedding day their luck may clash; the matchmakers or the best men from the two bridal parties will exchange red packets on the couple's behalf to neutralise the effects of the clash




• For the bride to be obedient to the groom, the groom has to kick the door/wheel of the vehicle before he fetches the bride from the wedding vehicle




• Pregnant women are encouraged not to attend weddings to avoid clash of luck




• Persons in mourning are not to attend any wedding celebrations within 100 days of the death as a form of respect for the dead




• If a roast pig is included as part of the bride's home visit gifts, care must be taken not to break the ears or tails accidentally; an imperfect pig implies that the bride is not a virgin




• The groom must arrive before the bride to the ceremony to avoid bad luck

And it goes on! I think I should stop reading up on this anymore before my head explodes.

Dermalogica

I've only used a handful of Dermalogica products over the years but I've found the few I've tried to be very gentle on my sometimes sensitive, often annoying skin. Indeed quite a number of products are must-haves for celebrities and models alike which is probably why some, such as the the Daily Microfoliant, seem to have reached cult-status (I am a sucker for products recommended by celebrities and so have a bottle of Microfoliant in my bathroom haha).

Anyways as I mentioned earlier, I picked up a couple of products on the night of FNO due to the horribly huge pimple that decided to make an appearance a day earlier smack bang in the middle of my eyebrows. It was so big that Mr Ng referred to it as my third eye.

The first product the nice sales assistant recommended was the Gentle Cream Exfoliant:

which I actually first heard about thanks to Lisa Eldridge's favourite skincare products video and have been eager to try. This is a kickass exfoliator for acne-prone skin due to the fact that because it does not contain any coarse granules, it does not aggravate the skin which also works out well for my redness. The only down-side to the exfoliant would probably be that because it is applied like a mask and left on for 10 minutes it may be a little time consuming for some. But I for one love applying masks and flitting about the house with all kinds of different coloured gunk on my face so it is not an issue for me (although it may be for people who have to look at me).

The second product she recommended was the Overnight Clearing Gel:

and this stuff REALLY works! Plus it does not dry out the skin whatsoever. This has now replaced my Ella Bache Creme Intex No.2 - the results are so much quicker and noticeable. After two days my pimple had practically gone and let me tell you, this was a mother of a pimple. The instructions say to apply a thin layer all over your cleansed face but I like to just concentrate it on my problem areas.

So I think it's safe to say that these will be making it into my hero products!

Slightly off topic, but this is the drawer for my daytime skincare products:

a bit of a mess huh. And this is only the daytime skincare drawer, there is also a nightime skincare one and another for makeup products. Funnily enough I probably only use about 1/3 of the products on a daily basis oops..time to clear out the old and make way for the new!

I Wish I Had Her Hair

I've always had a very hate-hate relationship with my hair due to the fact that it is dead straight and it has no body whatsoever. I've probably had one successful perm in my life (it turns out the key to my hair is to perm the roots as well) but due to the fact that I also coloured it a much lighter shade at the same time, it really ruined the condition of my hair.

Anyways, I've been growing it long for the wedding for more than a year now and can't even remember the last time I coloured it so it is all back to my natural shade. And I've informed Mr Ng that once the wedding is over, I am going to chop it all off! And maybe take the plunge again and go for a bit of a wave, a la none other than Rosamund Kwan:

image from HKMDB Daily News

although I wonder if it will make me look too mature?

In the meantime I suppose I will just have to put up with my boring hair..although last week I got the BEST set ever! And now I'm afraid it may now become a weekly addiction. I told the hair stylist I wanted it to look like this:

image of the beautiful Zhang Jing Chu from Zimbio

I was skeptical at first because, like most hairdressers, she probably thought my hair would hold volume well but no matter how much she blasted the hairdryer into the roots it still stayed flat. But she then proceeded to curl my entire head section by section with a curling wand and man were they nice curls! Lasted three days too before I decided to wash my hair for Mr Ng's sake.

I'm booked to go back on Friday but unfortunately the stylist I had last week is no longer there (the stylist I had the week before is no longer too there, how strange!) so will be interesting to see how it turns out this time.

Going Insane

So the wedding plans are not going smooth sailing mostly due to the fact that half of the guests have yet to reply even though the RSVP date is this week. My mother is also being a typical mother of the bride and I honestly think all my pent up anger at her ridiculous opinions and comments is soon going to boil over. What's more, one of my cousins has just announced that they have set the date for their wedding 12 days before ours. And for some moronic reason, he called up Mr Ng as opposed to me - his own cousin! - to let him know beforehand of the date. W T F.
Needless to say, I am really cracking under the stress of all the sh*t that is happening at the moment and Mr Ng is copping it hard.

But I suppose life must go on and so hopefully I shall be keeping myself busy with yoga, massages, manicures/pedicures and hair appointments in attempt to calm myself down. I am SO looking forward to my facial this afternoon..

Speaking of manicures, this week's nail colour is Butter London's 'Fash Pack':

a lovely coffee-coloured brown with very very slight hints of gold. I actually got this one for free with a magazine a while back and haven't managed to try it out until now. But I have to say I am very impressed with Butter's longevity! I would love to stock up on more if I am ever in London (for some reason I always think that if the city/country's name is part of the brand name it is always going to be cheaper to buy it in that city/country lol).

One last thing before I sign off - there is currently a Flavours of Malaysia buffet on at the Grace Hotel
until Sunday 9 October which I am really eager to try out.

Now getting some of this food in my stomach will be sure to take my mind off things!

September Happenings

If today's weather is any indication, Spring has most definitely sprung in Sydney with clear blue skies and a top temperature today of 27 - very nice indeed! Just my luck though that I am currently experiencing a horribly sore throat which is usually the first stage of a full blown cold for me, ugh. But on to less depressing things.

Firstly, exactly one year ago today I was in New York with my mum and sister and had just chosen my wedding dress from the Vera Wang boutique on Madison Avenue in New York. I still remember the day after Mr Ng and I got engaged I had asked them if they would go with me to New York to look for a dress and seven months later there they were with me in the store helping me make my decision. Was such an awesome and surreal day, sometimes I find it hard to believe that it ever happened. And I find it even harder to believe that at the end of next month I will be traveling back to collect not one but two dresses after having decided back in April that it would be nice to get a second dress from there as well. I just hope this trip will be as great as last year's one.

Next up, I managed to go to the Vogue Fashion's Night Out in the city this year after having missed out on it last year and wow was it fun!

According to Wikifashion, FNO began in 2009 in New York as a means to encourage consumers to shop and support the fashion industry during the tough economic climate. The event has now spread to 27 cities across the US and 15 countries worldwide and it has been dubbed the biggest fashion event in history.

According to the official brochure, FNO is designed to 'add a huge dose of fun and entertainment to your shopping experience' and it was basically one big party in the city with most stores offering special items or discounts for one night only. But the highlight had to be the free drinks and nibblies being offered pretty much everywhere you turned!

Drink no.1

Drink no.2

Drink no.3

Drink no.4

A very yummy Alice in Wonderland looking cupcake

It was also fun spotting the designers and celebrities out and about:

Kit Willow Podgornik (in black), creator of Willow

a pregnant Collette Dinnigan

Camilla Franks, creator of Camilla, showing shoppers how it's done

Ruby Rose DJ-ing on Pitt Street mall

And the damage for the night? Nothing too bad much to Mr Ng's relief. Just some Dermalogica products to help relieve my stressed-out skin and a couple bottles of denim-inspired Chanel nail polishes which were created exclusively for FNO and were available only for the night:

(my mum bought Blue Steel while I bagged Blue Rebel).

Looking forward to next year's event, although I'd love to be able to experience it in another city (Hong Kong perhaps? ;)

Next up, Mr Ng took me out to a great dinner at Kenji - part of the Opera Kitchen group - where the view definitely does not disappoint:

I'm not sure if it's because Mr Ng is friends with the manager there but all our dishes were prepared by the head chef Kenji Nishinakagawa, previously from Koi, and one of the great things about this place besides the view is that diners are actually able to see him work his magic in the restaurant's open kitchen.

fresh oysters special of the day

Salmon Carpaccio

Chef's Selection of Mixed Sashimi

fried fish special of the day

The food here is so so fresh, I can't wait to go back.

Finally, I can't think of a better way to end this post than with some recent dessert pictures:

sticky date pudding @ Sparqling

chocolate souffle @ Sparqling

lemon meringue @ Hilton's Caffe Cino

steamed sesame 'piggy' buns @ Chef's Gallery

chocolate and cookies cake @ Sparqling

You can tell Sparqling has become one of our favourite dining spots of late hehe.

So until next time! Must go and rest now sigh..