C'est LA viE

What do u think about this email??

Yeah, 25 indeed is a mature age, well, in my opinion, is like a transform stage from being a teenager.

Yet, i am quite confused about turning 25, which means i am no longer being a teenager, means i am no longer being young?

well, what's make me think that?? I have no idea....but somehow i did refuse to turn into 25...

however, that's life...so move on, be mature, be 25....be more positive about life, and live a meaningful life~

Thanks for organizing my lovely birthday dinner, Ping...

so tonight is not my birthday obviously, but since i have all my weekend fully 'booked'...tonight is the night!!

I had a lovely meal at Bethany's, with my colleagues, Ping, Anthony, Halie, Natalie and Hank.

I was actually pleased that Hank mentioned about my birthday, and Ping raised the idea about celebrating it..

I actually refused to have a big celebration with my colleagues, because I dont want my birthday being an excuse for dinner gathering. For me, that isnt right...U may say i take it very harsh, but I just want to have a simple celebration with my frens who really wish to celebrate with me, but not just coming for a meal, thank you very much.

Happy that Ping respect my point of view, especially she was the one who always have dinner suggestion while others having birthday, and asking so many other irrelavant colleagues or frens to attend just for fun.

Somehow, in my opinion, this is rude...but yes, just me. Anyways, thanks ping.

back to the dinner, we shared a huge platter of entree, yum!

I could see that everyone was very hungry, the platter gone like less than 20mins.

And here comes my main! Pan seared ostrich fillet~

This was my first ostrich fillet outside Malaysia, and in fillet! I tried stir-fried ostrich meat (in pieces) in Malaysia before, now only realized it was so not right, because different from other red meat, ostrich actually has less fat and easily to be cooked, therefore most western fine dining used to serve ostrich fillet rare, or seal the fillet with high heat, this is because well done to overcooked ostrich fillet taste very coarse, texture just like eating a leather. This totally ruining this wonderful ostrich fillet...

I ordered my ostrich fillet between rare and medium....still abit hesistated to eat it rare regardless i had tons of sashimi before.

It tastes not bad, well, I actually didnt really understand why it served in a bowl of kumara soup with risotto?? I actually had to dig in my spoon to find the fillet..==

Overall, it still taste alright.

Then my dessert....vanilla bean panna cotta~ hmmm....actually i was dissapointed while i saw it.

Taste was just normal, dislike the texture tho...too hard. And the passion fruit jelly just not right...but others really like the mint and pineapple combination of the salad.

In general, tonight was a great night, and i am not complaining anything since i have my lovely colleagues to celebrate with me, and i got free meal! Thanks Halie!!

yet to mention, out of surprise, i received this beautiful clutch from Ping!! OMG, really happy, forever new~ I will stay forever young! Thanks ping!

hehe finally~

I know, i got my hair cut again, since 7 months ago.....my hair really grew real fast~

Well, is just annoying when the hair length reached my shoulder...it's curled and real mess.

I actually had been looking for a hair-cut since like one month ago, finally I found out the Japanese hair dresser I used to know opened his salon at town!

Great!!! I could have gone to his house to get my hair-cut, but his house was far and he only cut friends or friends of friends' hair.

I knew a few of his frens, who most of them are my colleagues, it shouldnt be a problem, the main problem was I dont have a car to go to his house....

lame excuse?!

Anyways, i still manage to cut my hair in the end!

I love it so much!! I never went to any salon or getting any professional hair cut before, so i was very delighted.

He washed, cut and blow my hair for like nearly 2 hrs!! His skill was good and very attentive, and he do knows what hair style suited me!

I was demanding for fringe since I ald remain 'fringe-less' for like nearly 5 yrs....but i dont want the hair-cut made my face looks big....It's seems to be a challenge for Tadao, who is this great hair-dresser I mean. He was asking me what image I would like to create, cute or elegant? I like....hmmm this 2 options, cute of cz! My fren who accompanied me for this hair-cut, Paya...was like: what!? U are working Vivian, elegant of cz~'

Okies, dont get me wrong...I do know I am no longer a teenage, but I did think that 'elegant' means 'old' to me.....so I chose to be 'cute'....haha...Then, I explained I want to look fresh! Bcz I am sick of my always boring look....sigh....

Tadao was like, ok let's wash yr hair first.....then....he said: 'no worries, I will cut very beautiful....' Yes, I believe in u, tadao!

Although I heard he was like saying: 'doshio...' while cutting my hair, Japanese means 'what to do?' or 'how?'

I was quite worried at that moment, but then, I still trust him, and I was right!

See!!! I am happy and in the clouds now!!

Haha, yea, I guess spring finally's here!! See the blooming sakura!!

So beautiful!! I saw this when I passed by George St on Friday when walking to Davis Trading for some Asian goods...OMG, the sakura are so beautiful~~

Hopefully they could stay longer, rain rain pls stop harrasing Palmy ya ^^

I am very glad that Spring is here, because not just able to see the sakura, i can wear dress now!

To celebrate this, I had lunch at steak out with my colleagues yesterday.

Although the meal was very cheap and the portion size was relatively huge, but the service was really bad. Well, the manager was very passionate and 'super caring and friendly', however. we actually waited our food for nearly an hour.....Luckily i was not very hungry...but I was not very pleased with this.  Yeah, I am very picky in terms of dining and eating, just a very strong foodie nature of myself...

Why I claimed the manager very friendly, she is a Singaporean, and also Ping's fren. So actually it was Ping's idea going there for lunch. I had steak here once, and it was ok, but perhaps not coming back. I felt that somehow the manager was a bit over. Sorry that I dont appreciate her passionate service, I rather would feel grateful if my meal was able to be served faster.

So this was what I have, chicken salad. It was a good presentation, and taste was alright. A huge portion tho, but just cost NZD10. So actually not bad.

I also got this free dessert, home made banana cake. It was just normal....but I am not complaining because is freeeeeeeee.

Is actually good that this restaurant is trying so hard to improve their business, but I guess they might need to improve their service better. Somehow, I still dont mind coming back if I have to, well, the other concern pulled me back was Nicole was saying she found a metal in her plate last time while dining there....Hmmmm.

Customers are always right aye? And we have the right to choose as well~ Opening a food business is relatively not an easy job....

That's why Nicole and I chose another fine dining dinner at Yatai last night!

I saw the update on Yatai's page (yes is facebook ==), and a new chef arrived Yatai and started making new but weekly menu in this Ikazaya. OH my, I was so excited when I figured out Yatai is serving Nabe for this week!!

Yea, although I said is Spring, but this week was relatively colder compared to previous week. That's why Nabe is on the weekly menu. So Nicole and I took the last Nabe served on Sat (last night) as Yatai closed on Sunday.

I was speaking with the new chef (i guess, or he would be the owner then) while booking for my table on Wednesday and I also was enquiring if I had to pre-book the nabe...The Japanese guy who answered my call dont get my 'nabe'.....oh my, is my japanese pronounciation that sucks?? NOOOO, I want improvement, i really want to study Japanese....=(

Anyways, he finally got me, and suprised I love nabe! yes, i do!! I tried out nabe once at Hanamizuki, that was ok, (pls check my relevant blog post here: http://bluelavender930.pixnet.net/blog/post/90175724)... just somehow I felt that the nabe i had at Hanamizuki was not very ordinary.

And Yatai did make a good job!!! Well, i guess that's the best we can get in this small town. I still insist that the best and ordinary will be in Japan, and perhaps, I still havent tasted the real nabe....I wouldnt be surprised~

The chicken nabe was very tasty, and yes it met the raw egg very well. I just cant stop it, and I ordered white rice even tho it cost like NZD4 for a medium rice....But at least I was very satisfied! Yes, I am a rice-person, but I still like eating noodles occasionally.

tamago kake gohan!! I started loving it now!! Ok, fyi, it means cooked white rice topped with raw egg. I was reluctant to have it when I saw the popularity of this meal in Japanese tv shows, but then, I found it was actually a very good match!!

haha.....I am so high when it comes to food, especially Japanese meal and cuisine~

We also ordered okonomiyaki, yummmm.

And last, I definitely wont miss the daifuku!

Got served 2 different daifuku this time, I felt lucky~ ^^

that's my weekend....how was yrs??

正所谓病从口入，祸从口出，看来我上周虽然美食尽收，但是现在‘报应’来了。。。TT

哎，只能说我有一个敏感的肠胃，所以稍微放纵乱吃食物时，本身就是热底的我马上就上火了

上火的后遗症不是生病，而是让我非常痛苦的- 便秘。。。唉。。。

真的，如果我在起床后能‘顺畅’的话，我整日就真的是放松了，只是这几天真的好痛苦

我的flat mate也说我的身体太敏感了，可能也是自己糟蹋的，因为我每次就是重蹈覆辙，有极爱那些肥腻，煎炸还有上火的零嘴。。。

所以就。。。不过我想说我真的有意识想要好好调养身子了，也很久没有碰那些可恶有可爱的垃圾食物了

没想到上周自己以为吃一个汉堡应该没事。。。结果。。。真的。。。现在我完全不动了

我真的有天天喝超过8杯水，也有天天都啃香蕉，吃yoghurt的程度都让我自己咋舌。。。我在2天吃完了1公斤！==

也吃了很多菜。。。唉。。。现在大概觉得可能是肉类吃过多了。。。==

真的要好好调养了，毕竟也不是18，22 了

所以今晚，为了能够‘顺畅’，我冒险吃了泡菜锅。。。虽然好像会伤胃，但是我的问题不是胃痛，应该是解决便秘的问题

所以泡菜其实是对我非常见效的，毕竟我也尝试过嘛。。。

顺便介绍这间韩国小馆，其实它是一个寿司屋，下午卖寿司，晚上则卖其他日式便当，拉面，还有韩式石锅菜色。。

价钱其实蛮实惠的，因为分量也十足~至于味道，也算是中规中举咯。。。毕竟在这个小镇还能要求什么呢？

我很喜欢这里的环境，这种吧台的坐位，是我的首选，对于经常独自一人晚餐的我非常适合，尤其可以边享受美食，边看风景~

这里其实生意不好，可能是地点比较偏僻，但其实还是在市中心。。。不过可能这样我更喜欢这里，因为每次来都没人，这样好像对老板不好哦。。。=P

不过还是希望他们生意兴隆，毕竟好的美食还是希望他能留下。。。

最后附带我以前在这里吃的日式便当，不过也不是很日式啦，是韩国泡菜烤肉和白饭，附带tempura和几个寿司

希望一切‘顺畅’，健康还是最重要，没了强健的身体，什么梦想，什么人生都是徒然。。所以大家，健康的向人生迈进吧，并好好珍惜你所拥有的家人，朋友和一切。。。知足常乐！

Have so many good food over the weekend, so would like to share with everyone:

first, I finally had this limited Mcd Lamb burger on Friday night!!

This serious lamb burger is only sold in NZ, lucky me, and this serious lamb burger was seriously good!

It's somehow like the kiwi burger, just the beef patty was replaced with lamb patty. Oh well, NZ lamb is always good~

What's so special about kiwi or serious lamb burger is it contains beet root slices and fried egg within the burger~awesommme!

Hopefully this lamb burger can last longer time, I so miss the kiwi burger now....beet root, egg and patty combination always the best!

The bad choice was I bought the combo instead just the burger-only. I added 3 dollars extra just for the regular coke and fries with the similar sized burger....

hmmm, lesson learnt....

And actually I had long time dint consume fast food, but is good to try out new food, this is my nature of being a foodie!! And my passion about new food product development just burst when I noticed this new launch of Mcd burger.

Then I was also lucky enough to meet the special offer on salmon fillet at Countdown!! With like NZD10.99/kg, I bought like half kg...super valuable!!

This was also my first time trying cooking salmon fillet, yeah I used it once for making sushi, but cooking fillet still was my initial try. So, this was the grilled fillet I baked on the weekend!

Super yummy~ haha, the salmon was very fresh, and I could feel that I was consuming all the healthy Omega-3 fatty acids, haha. Regardless of the super thin bone, the fillet was very tasty and juicy. The skin perhaps is not crispy enough, but still very yummy and smoky!

Actually I ald had my first attempt sashimi on Thursday once I bought the fillet from the deli. Ok, I know sashimi is not easy, is not just cutting raw meat in hygiene environment, is also about the cutting technique and skill. The way we slice the meat/fish actually affect the texture and also flavor of the sashimi. It is a big knowledge~

my sashimi was alright, at least fullfill my desire and satisfaction lol. Still, i prefer the various sashimi I could have in good Japanese restaurant.

So that's my foodie weekend, how was yrs??

p/s: I tried out my new nail color, awesome?? haha