Flowers and Gardens

Somewhat disappointed but not disheartened, we continued our search for cherry blossoms in Beijing! Due to the temperature differences, flowers in Beijing were scheduled to bloom much later. We were very excited to find out that there were still gardens after gardens full of cherry blossoms. How lucky were the Emperors and Empresses to have enjoyed such beauty in their own gardens, not having to fight with the iPhones, iPads and SLRs of those commoners to look at the flowers. 

 

Also, not forgetting the beauty of the royal gardens, so serene and peaceful sans the crowd.

West Lake

This is my 3rd time going to Hang Zhou, and we were lucky enough to be staying right next to the lake. Also, this time, they have an hourly water fountain and light show! So we spent a lot of our time staying in the hotel, enjoying afternoon tea while watching the water and light show :)

This is a funky restaurant right by the lake. Serving local dishes paired with light electronic music. It opens around 11am but within half an hour, there was a minimum half an hour wait. No matter at what time we passed by this place, there was always a huge crowd waiting outside. The name is really cute - The Grandma's and the menus was in the form of a magazine. I can see why this place was super packed, mainly because the price was decent and the portions were huge. Our hungryselves accidentally ordered these amount of food and we pretty much finished all of them!

Let's see...from top left, we ordered the potato and mushroom hot pot, spicy and sour vege fish, pickled radish, dessert (red bead, mango, lotus seeds and sticky rice ball soup), garlic pork slices, spicy cold noodle and lotus root stuffed sweet sticky rice. 

Shanghai 2013

This time we only spent 3 days in Shanghai, apart from visiting the Bund and a few other typical tourist attractions, we went to search for something different; cherry blossoms! Yes, there was a huge cherry blossom festival in Shanghai. 

We read about the cherry blossom festival before we reached Shanghai. Hence, after we got into Shanghai, we immediately arranged a trip to visit the cherry blossom gardens. Unfortunately, we were 1 week late for the cherry blossom festival. 

This was the last batch in the garden...

According to the locals, they bloomed early this year and due to the big wind, there were all gone after  1 week. So, they recommended that we visit the tulip garden instead!

My oh my, a tulip garden in Shanghai ? 

Actually, the garden was quite spectacular. I believe they have all types of tulips and colors featured in the garden and it was also probably the biggest tulip garden outside of Holland. Never had I thought I would be able to see such array of tulips outside of Holland. It was very breathtaking and exciting. The ticket wasn't cheap, but I would say it was worth it, because I get to see such an spectacular tulip garden! :)

Of course we had a great time in Shanghai but what really made this trip memorable were the tulips!

Hong Kong

The first quarter of 2013 had been an eventful one for me, I desperately needed a break to recuperate. Hence, I took a 3 week vacation to the Big Mainland.

 

Where do you get the best dim sum? Hong Kong of course! I went to this local joint and had their daily specials. Do you know that if you look carefully in the menu, there is such a thing as the 1+1 specials. If you didn't notice that little slip, you would probably end up paying for every item. With the 1+1, you pay only half. The dimsum may look the same, but seriously, they tasted different! It's so fresh and flavorful that they melt in your mouth. My most unforgettable item being the steamed brisket with preserved vege. Even the rice tasted so good and the briskets so tender, they melted in my mouth.

My family said, when we're in Hong Kong, we must have one of Hong Kong's best roasted suckling pig. San Dao Kei not only is famous for their wonderful meals but also their unique rooster motived cutleries. 

The skin is not only CCCCCRISPY but also not greasy at all! *crunch crunch crunch* The meat was not only tender but it's buttery. Apparently, I heard they removed all the fat between the meat and the skin. So, you don't have to feel guilty when you it this! *chuckles* 

And of course, the rest of the dishes that we ordered for a table of 14. Deep fried calamari *triple thumbs up*, braised pork knuckles, seafood, vegetables, and many other dishes which I forgot their wonderful names. :)

For those of you who travels around Asia much, you may have heard of Crystal Jade Palace. However, according to many friends and family, this particular branch of Crystal Jade Palace in Shatin is the best. One of their must try, apart from noodles and Xiao Long Bao is the sweet and sour pine nut fish. Haha...we sure do love sweet and sour sauce! I also love their cold noodle in sesame sauce. Even the fried rice (which is not shown here), was also one of the best fried rice we have ever tried! Yuummmsss.....

So, what else did I do in HK besides eating? A little sightseeing here and there and most important of all, after a streak of incidents, I needed some "reassurance", so I visited Wong Tai Xin. It was early in the morning and it was already packed with tourists. I'm sure many asked for fortune amongst other things, I on the other hand, asked for..... (now why would I tell you? :P)

 

San Diego II

It was only 6pm but we were cold and famished. We were out when the sun was still warm, and before we knew it, the cold had set in. We were by the beach and passed by this joint, thinking that it was just another pub at the street corner called The Joint but it said, "Sushi and Tapas" underneath. We contemplated a little but we were hungry and the place was packed so we went in. The menu was very extensive, they have all sorts of cuisine, a large menu doesn't always guarantee decent food but we thought, what the heck we could just snack a little and if it's too bad, we'd just leave. So we ordered only 2 things. After all, we still have a dinner appointment at 8pm.

Oh my god, when I saw this plate of fish tacos, I was very impressed. I'm rarely impressed by fish tacos but my oh my these little dainty tacos are so pleasantly yummy. They used Salmon in this dish. The combination of lime, salsa, radicchio is just so amazingly yummy. The flavors and the textures are just right,  it's so satisfying!

Then we ordered this sushi roll, the main attraction was the green apple used in the roll. Similar to the tacos, this roll awakens the palette. When I was savoring this sushi, I could clearly taste the freshness of the fish, rice, avocado and the rest of the condiments. It's been a while since I have had good sushi and most of the time, the rice overpowers the rest of the ingredients but this one is just pleasantly nice and delicious. 

Eventhough we had snacked on sushi, our friends still wanted sushi for dinner. After making the reservation, we still had to wait about half an hour. Shino had a really good review on Yelp, the place is small and unassuming that one might doubt the quality of the food (mainly because the place looked so new and so un-Japanese restaurant like). When we went in, it's mostly Japanese so we thought this place must be good. 

Oh boy, it was really REALLY good. I don't even know how to describe it. When I put the sushi in my mouth, the rice breaks apart and the sashimi just melted! Frankly, I haven't had such good sushi before! It really felt like there was fireworks in my mouth because everything was bursting with flavors. Every one that ordered the special sushi plate was crying with joy because they're so good and fresh. The uni was also highly rated but unfortunately it was sold out by the time we ordered it. So I can't review that.

Another pleasant surprise was the plum wine ice-cream. I've only had green tea ice-cream in Japanese restaurants but not this flavor. Yummmsss.....The other roll which was also highly rated - the Bomb, but it wasn't that great, it was soft shell crab wrapped with Kobe beef. I know, it's Kobe beef, it should be good but the thing is the flavor wasn't as 'authentic' as a sushi should be. The Bomb was too complicated with deep fried crab, meat and some very strong flavored sauce. So the sushi is really highly recommended.

And my last dinner in San Diego, Italian pasta. When we walked in the owner of the restaurant was so friendly and he gave us complimentary Prosecco. The perfect drink to start off the new year! We ordered a lot of food, most of us had ordered a 3 course meal - salad, main and dessert. But I just want to highlight this simple pasta dish-  Bavette al Granchio del Ristorante “Tre Pini”. It's hot and spicy linguine pasta with crab meat in a smooth rosé sauce. It's so simple (so I think), just pasta and cream sauce, but it's so yummy. The wonders of simple and fresh ingredients.

I had so much fun this trip. The food was amazing, the company incredible, it was priceless to spend precious time with loved ones.

San Diego I

Happy as a bird, I flew to San Diego to spend sometime with loved ones before heading back to work.

 

The weather was so beautiful, we walked to the pier and took some photos at the Embarcadero. At the Embarcadero they parked a variety of old and new ships, boats, and yachts. That's a submarine by the way. 

With the day pass we took the bus to places that time permits. We didn't have a lot of time but we chose to visit the Balboa park. This place is huge and very beautiful. The park is 1,200 acre and there are plenty of museums, galleries, events, exhibitions to look at but time limited us to just briefly walk around the park and took the free tram train to go around the park.

With the limited time, I really wanted to go to Sea World, and I had only 5 hours! 

First show of the day - dolphins and pilot whale.

The animals were beautiful, their performances were amazing but it wasn't as exciting as I remembered when I visited eon years ago. I wonder if it had anything to do with the accident that they had years before that resulted in the death of a trainer? No more stunts that involve trainers swimming with the animal.

Shamu is a must see, but no trainer -whale partners in the same tank in the show!

There were many things and animals to see in Sea World, but I only wanted to see a few of them and one of them is the manta ray, which you can feed it if you dare. Of course I didn't, but I love watching them gliding in the water.

My main reason to revisit Sea World is to see the arctic animals. Isn't the beluga whale magnificent?

My favorite!  The pola bear, which was busy taking a nap on a Xmas tree! Isn't he adorable or isn't she? I'm not sure :)

No trip is complete without a post on good food, but that'll have to be in the next post. :)

2013

To live, to laugh and to love. My inspirations for this year and hopefully many years to come.