Adelaide, April 2012

Argh, I've managed to do it again and am now super behind on my blog posts! So I'll just get straight into it and rewind back to our weekend away to Adelaide this time last month. Mr Ng had originally planned to go by himself in order to see a client, but I decided to tag along at the last minute as well.

We have been to Adelaide once before back in 2008 over the Christmas break however that was a very sad trip indeed, what with Mr Ng being unemployed and all..We were both in a much happier state of mind this time round and plus this was our first 'holiday' with just the two of us since our wedding. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza which was clean, modern and in the heart of the CBD:

view of Hindmarsh Square from our room

No matter how short the trip, I always try to fit in an appointment at a day spa. Having done a bit of googling prior, I decided to give Spa on Brougham a go and booked myself in for their signature hot stone massage.

my treatment room

I have to say this is one of the nicest non-hotel day spas I have ever been to - it was utterly peaceful inside and they had the softest bath robes I have ever encountered! My only complaint would be that I prefer the massage tables to have a hole you can comfortably put your face in when lying face-down, but I thoroughly enjoyed my treatment nevertheless. I only wish I had gotten their signature facial as well..Perhaps next time.

After a quick shower and change back at the hotel, it was then straight on to Barossa Valley with a pit stop at Blond Coffee in Angaston for a bite to eat:

And then straight on to the wineries:

Peter Lehmann - creator of the delicious Princess Moscato

picnic grounds at Peter Lehmann

  fresh apple juice at Maggie Beer's farm shop

view from Maggie Beer

also sold at Harris Farm I recently discovered!

Wolf Blass

We actually didn't see many wineries this time since we only arrived at Barossa after lunch and most of the cellar doors close around 5pm. So after a bit of aimless driving around, it was off to dinner at Apellation at the Louise:

 

The food was tasty and fresh, the wine was good and my company couldn't have been better.

The next day was spent looking through the shops on Rundle Mall where, much to Mr Ng's dismay, I managed to pick up a pair of black Bally ankle boots from David Jones at 40% off. It simply isn't a proper trip without a purchase of some kind hehe.

As you can see, I've worn them quite a number of times already and have a feeling these are gonna be one of my wardrobe staples this winter.

It was then off to pho for lunch at Thanh Thanh, supposedly one of the better pho joints in Adelaide, but we were more than a little disappointed - this place ain't got nothin' on Pho An.

 

And then it was off to the airport.

I never thought I'd say this but I actually miss Adelaide now. Maybe I'm just getting old but I really love the quietness of the city..and the lack of traffic..Mr Ng said when we first arrived that he would cry if he ever had to live there but I think he had a soft spot for the place by the end of the trip as well. Who would've guessed huh!

Avene To The Rescue

Before I move on to Adelaide, I thought I would quickly post about a couple of the products that have literally saved my skin over the last few weeks. A little over a month ago my skin was having a really strange reaction to pretty much all of my products, many of which I've been using for more than a year now and have never had any problems with. Thankfully there were no issues with my beloved MV Organics cleanser but when I moisturised it felt as if nothing was penetrating at all. And even when I spritzed with rosewater before moisturing, my skin still felt tight and started to look all red and blotchy. MV's rose soothing and protective moisturiser, Darphin's redness relief recovery cream and even Pai's rosehip bioregenrate fruit and seed oil (which had actually cleared up some weird dry patches that appeared on my cheeks just the week before) all failed to work. And when I attempted to apply sunscreen on top it just would not go on smoothly and would start pilling all over the place.  Sunsense, Neutrogena ultra sheer, La Roche Posay, even Cetaphil simply would not work. I couldn't even attempt to cover the splotchiness with tinted moisturiser because it too would just pill off.

I was pretty much at my wit's end when I remembered that I had purchased a small can of Avene's Thermal Spring Water as well as a tube of their Skin Recovery Cream a few months ago (which I bought on a whim after reading a great review and had barely used as usual) and seeing as how the products are specifically made for 'sensitive and intolerant skin' I figured they would be perfect. And they were! From the very first application the redness diminished and my skin actually felt hydrated. And within 24 hours it actually started to look the way it does during my one awesome good skin week I usually have per month.

I have honestly NEVER tried any products before that worked so quickly. And if it weren't for my semi-product ban due to the "amount of crap" (in Mr Ng's words) that I currently have in my drawer, I would've already gone and bought a whole bunch of other Avene products (I've got my eye on the Eluage Eye Contour Care, the Diroseal and the Cold Cream Body Lotion to name a few..). Looks like Avene products will now become a big part of the essential skincare items I can't live without.

Oops..

I have been so seriously lazy and have been neglecting my blogging for quite some time now so I thought I better get off my ass and finally do something about it!

So let's see what's been happening..Easter has come and gone and this year Mr Ng and I had a very quiet one - unlike last year's super short trip to HK over the Easter weekend to sort out the wedding invites (how sad, no more wedding to plan so we can't use that excuse to bugger off to HK for four nights anymore).

Anyways, Easter of course consisted of the consumption of many a hot cross bun:

as well as the demolition of too many chocolate eggs, including the obligatory giant egg from Mr Ng which I only just managed to finish today:

I informed Mr Ng last year that I had decided it would be a good idea for him to gift me an awesome egg every Easter (much to his protests that only fathers should need to buy Easter eggs for their daughters, although I have no idea where he got that from) so it will be interesting to see if he's able to keep it up in the years to come. However I must give him credit for this year's superb choice, it managed to trump last year's Darrell Lea giant egg both in taste AND weight!

Ok, what else..unfortunately the Manolo's that I mentioned here had to go back as they were slightly too big and all the smaller sizes had already sold out. Quite sad as it really is such a beautiful shoe with the style being very similar to the CL Pigalles (no wonder I was drawn to them!)

On a side note, this is the first time I have ordered something online from Saks and I have to say I am quite impressed. When a return is required all you have to do is email Customer Service for your RMA and they'll email you back all the documentation required (they responded to my email within half an hour) which you then simply pass on to DHL. And although the processing of the return is definitely not as fast as Net-A-Porter you are credited the exact same amount in the currency you originally paid in - however this is minus the new shipping charges for the return which you are informed of when you receive your RMA (which in my case was AUD43, so significantly more than the AUD19.95 express shipping which I originally paid). But considering I was expecting the return process to be more like Shopbop's where international shoppers are required to organise the entire return themselves through their country's postal service, I was nevertheless quite impressed. If Saks continues to have express shipping promotions then I will no doubt be purchasing more from there in the future.

While I'm on the subject of shoes, I also ordered this pair of fluorescent pink Pigalles from Net-A-Porter (the description is accurate however the picture is very decieiving - these are such a bright shade of pink they practially glow in the dark) however I made the mistake of taking the sizing advice and ordering one full size up from my normal size which turned out to be way too huge. So back they went as well. I've found NAP sizing advice to be very hit and miss so it's good that they have such an easy and efficient returns system.

Well that's all for now. Next up - a short trip to Adelaide!

 

Phamish

When a Vietnamese restaurant makes it to the #15 spot of the top Sydney restaurants on Tripadvisor, I like to find out what  the fuss is all about. I've known about Phamish for a while now but never got around to trying it out myself until last week. Although I've realised that when it's just the two of us dining we really don't get to try out that many dishes:

fried crab dumplings

ginger and shallot chicken stir-fried with broccoli

duck salad

Tasty and fresh - but pricey! Mr Ng and I had the above dishes with tea and steamed rice and the total bill was ~$60. So while the atmosphere is nice and the food is good, I'm not sure we'll be rushing back anytime soon..might just stick to Pho An for our weekly Vietnamese fix.

 

Saks Offer

My inbox is always flooded with emails from various sites I very often have forgotten I've subscribed to. I've tried unsubscribing to many of them as well but they just keep coming! But once in a while a certain sale or offer catches my eye. Ok, more like once a day..

Which brings me to today's email from Saks, subject: "The Hottest Shoe & Handbag Trends + $19.99 International Express Shipping".  Very nice! Especially since I have been wanting a pair of Manolos recently and Saks is one of the few online stockists of Manolos that I trust that ship to Australia (Neiman Marcus also ships here but you have to call a customer service rep to place your order which is really really annoying - I want to just click click buy already!) And with the AUD still relatively strong against the USD it's like everything's on sale!! (*cue Mr Ng's eyes rolling*)

So after a bit of a browse, this somehow made its way into my shopping cart:

I've been watching old episodes of Sex and the City and I think that's to blame for the sudden switch from Loubies to Manolos. Loubies are still the top choice when you want to look sexy but I miss the simple elegance of Manolos..and is it just me or are some of the CL designs just a little too OTT lately?

I mean this looks more like a weapon to me..

The Saks $20 shipping promotion is only available until midnight, 1st April US East Coast time (so the equivalent of 3pm 2nd April for Sydneysiders), just enter ROWMAR12 at checkout.

UPDATE: Totally forgot about the end of daylight saving on Sunday! So promotion will only be available until 2pm 2nd April ;)

 

Nice Hotels To Date

Before I go travelling somewhere, I tend to do a huge amount of research on which hotel to stay in. And of course since I'm usually travelling with Mr Ng, I am also required to find hotels which are within the budget he gives me (read: cheap). But as we have experienced in the past, cheap does not always equal good. And I really love the feeling of coming back to a beautiful hotel room after a long day, I'm not one of those people who believe a hotel room is only for sleeping so it doesn't matter where you stay! Fortunately I have had the good fortune of staying in some really nice places over the past few years (especially now that we are no longer confined to a uni student's budget!), but usually in the standard rooms to make it a little less painful for Mr Ng when he finds out the cost per night.

First up, The Upper House in Admiralty, HK in a Studo 70 Island View room - still one of the most impressive hotel rooms I have ever encountered:

And Mr Ng's favourite part - the free 'maxi'-bar which included non-alcoholic drinks and snacks replenished twice a day:

All but the first photo of the bedroom are ones that were taken on my phone but as you can see, rooms look exactly as they are pictured on the website

Mr Ng and I stayed here on two separate occasions within the hotel's first year of opening but with Studio 70 rooms now starting at HKD4,000 (significantly more than the rate I remember we paid) I'm not sure we'll be staying here again any time soon. But you definitely get what you pay for considering the sheer size of the room and all the food/drinks and awesome toiletries that are included (we had Ren toiletries and I've read that the bigger suites are stocked with Aesop ones). The whole hotel has such a zen atmosphere and is a calming refuge in the hectic-ness that is HK - we didn't want to leave! If you have the opportunity, The Upper House is definitely one to experience at least once in your life.

Next, The London in Midtown Manhatten, NYC. I stayed here with my mum in a standard London Suite which comprised of the bedroom, separate living room, wardrobe area and spacious bathroom - absolutely huge by New York standards:

The suites were so much bigger than I was expecting and the extra lounge area really came in handy, especially considering the amount of shopping that accumulates between two females over 12 nights in NY! We did pay almost USD600 per night (which included daily breakfast) however I would not hesitate to stay here again. The location (just around the corner from the Hilton) is also fantastic and we pretty much managed to get to wherever we were heading by foot.

Third up, Mr Ng's and my most recent hotel stay which was at the Mandarin Oriental in Central, HK. I had previously read stellar reviews about the impeccable service here and I have to say, we were not disappointed. We stayed in a Superior Room which is not overly big but cleverly designed in an open-plan and you can really tell from the quiet-ness of the room that this is one well built property:

welcome tea upon arrival

and my favourite part (apart from the Hermes toiletries), a little goodie for you at turndown which differed every night:

Service here is probably the best I have ever encountered anywhere up to this point in time (this is the only place I have ever been greeted with a 'Welcome home!' by the door man) however my one main gripe is that free wi-fi is not included in the rate for Superior Rooms, although we did manage to get a discounted rate at HKD2,350 excluding taxes per night which is not too bad. In this day and age though I think it should be mandatory for hotels to provide free wi-fi, don't you think?

Finally, the most jaw-dropping room I have stayed in is none other than the Deluxe Suite (or 'Honeymoon' suite) at The Peninsula in HK which I mentioned previously here. And I'm happy to say it lived up to (and actually exceeded) expectation:

Two highlights of the room were the guest lavatory and of course, the view:

I'm not sure if I will ever be lucky enough to stay in this type of room again - the rate we paid was HKD8,888 per night and that was already discounted. But being able to stay in this beautiful suite in one of the most luxurious hotels in the world really was the cherry on top, and made the whole wedding that much more special. This is definitely one to book for a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience.