20151230

Working at HK Magazine

So I've sort of been mentioning this shadily in my recent blog posts, but I'm currently interning for HK Magazine! It's a dream come true for me, it's been my favourite magazine for a long, long time, and I'm not just saying this now that I'm working here. I love their style - their snide jokes with slight sexual innuendos. It's how I talk and how I write. Maybe how I write was actually shaped from reading their magazine every chance I got, which was very often since they're all over cafés and Starbucks.

It's not a requirement for HKU Master of Journalism students to do a winter internship, but seeing as I had no experience in this field I decided to do it. This job at HK Magazine wasn't actually on offer on the lists of places we could intern at, but the staff at JMSC kindly pulled some strings for me. And get this - they didn't even know HK Magazine is my dream workplace! It must be fate omg. I even got to attend their Christmas party during my first week there! I even got a chance to do an assignment with artists Sim Chan and Jack Li at Hotel sáv for their Floor of Love project, which was definitely my favourite, because it involves art and design. I didn't even mind that it was at night time and not during work hours!

I honestly think I've found my calling and my true career path. I've never been so happy.

















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20151227

A Red Dress Code?

Unexpectedly, both Whitney and Maisie stopped by Hong Kong during their winter break! I'd always known Whitney would come back, even if it's for a week, because she's such a family-orientated girl. But I didn't know Maisie would! And she was all the way on a field trip in Brazil as well!

It was really hard to find a time where all of us in Hong Kong, including Clar, was free cos we all had busy schedules. Maisie and Whitney had to spend time with their family and other friends, obviously, and Clar and I both had to work. We did manage to carve out a quick lunch at O Delice! in Wan Chai though (and the food was fucking terrible). Our dress code was supposed to be red but somehow we all ended up in black. To be fair, we are Architecture students after all.



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20151226

Bao Buffet at Palette, Hotel sáv

The very next day - heck, very next meal - after my Christmas Day dinner buffet with Jason and two days after my family Christmas Eve dinner feast, I had yet another buffet today at lunch. This time, it was Twiggy and Hoho's joint post-bao rice. I'm going to be working at Hotel sáv on Monday and a long, long time ago, even before I got the task to work at the hotel, I'd wanted to try their buffet out - and it wasn't expensive! So I made a suggestion to go to Palette and the others agreed. The food was really good in my opinion and I love the decor of the hotel. Well, what can you say, it's an art hotel after all! As usual, pictured isn't all of what I ate... so guilty. :(















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20151225

Christmas Day Dinner Buffet at Mr. Steak Buffet à la minute

Jason was nice enough to keep my Christmas buffet dreams alive (wow, that's a dramatic way to put it) since I couldn't have a Christmas Eve lunch buffet with my family like I do every year. Well, it was slightly hardcore to have to have so many feasts in a row (I already had a Christmas Eve feast last night and I'm having a buffet lunch tomorrow on Boxing Day as well wtf) but my hunger is never-ending anyway so that doesn't matter. We saw a good deal at Mr. Steak Buffet à la minute, which I went to for my parents' birthday this year, and I usually don't like to go to the same buffet places twice but the cheapass in me told me it was okay to try again this one time!

Sadly, I think the food quality was worse tonight. My Mum had also gone back once with my Grandma after her birthday in September, and she'd said the same thing. Nevertheless, it was a nice evening with Jason. I got him Boomf marshmallows and a super expensive Bellroy Wallet and he got me... omg he got me a freakin' Nintendo 3DS with Pokemon Alpha Sapphire! Dreams come true fosho'.



















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20151224

Christmas Eve Dinner Feast

My family and I have always had the tradition of having a lunch buffet in a nice hotel on Christmas Eve (read: 2014 and 2013), but this year, I was working so we didn't book a place in the end. I was working full time last year too, but we had a complimentary day off. Wasn't as lucky this year, haha! Instead, we decided to have a home cooked feast that I returned to after work, which turned out equally as delicious! Note: Photo doesn't include all of the food we had!







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20151221

It's Almost a Full House!

My South Island girls and I either barely meet up or we meet up very frequently at once, it seems, and after a long period of not seeing each other, we finally managed to have a full gathering. Had dinner at Foxtail & Broomcorn on Friday night, then the following Saturday (also the legendary day when my iPhone fell into the MTR gap) Sarah and I had brunch at Classified (the photos were taken with her phone and sent to me through Facebook messenger, by the way), followed by a reunion with Janet who is now living in New York at Central's Cupping Room (we also had dinner at Noodlemi after).











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20151220

When Your iPhone Falls into the MTR Gap

I mean, what are the fucking chances, right?

I was on my way to meet Sarah for brunch in Admiralty, and I was on the MTR leaning on the wall next to one of the train doors. I remember exactly which compartment it was, because my OCD self always makes sure to stand in that spot: the very first compartment of section six, against the white wall and not the glass surface where there are seats. I hope I explained this well enough because I'm not gonna draw a diagram. Only my parents and Jason know why I always pick the very first compartment of each section - it's the warmest spot on the whole MTR, but that's for another post altogether.

Anyway, it was a crowded on the train at around 2PM on Saturday. We were at Wan Chai. Nearly there - just one more stop. Like everyone else, I was engrossed in my phone. The MTR doors opened and a bunch of people spilled out to get to their destinations. The compartment was empty for perhaps a millisecond before an equally large group of people filled the space. One of these people was a middle aged woman who was in conversation with her daughter.

The woman was talking with hand gestures. They weren't particularly big or anything. But just before the doors closed, her hand caught the side of my phone, and she basically knocked it out of my grip.

It was like a horror story. The whole damn crowd seemed to disperse as we all watched my iPhone drop in slow motion. It hit the floor, bounced once, bounced twice - and honestly, that was already bad.

But it didn't stop there. I screamed (yes, I actually screamed out loud - though it was more like a weak, raspy gasp) as it bounced closer and closer to the MTR gap between the train and the platform... and fell in.

It fucking fell in.

Time froze. Hell, everybody froze. I looked at the woman who had knocked my phone out of my hands in shock, and she stared back at me with a matching expression.

"Run - run to the MTR concierge and tell them what happened - now!" People started saying to me.

I didn't even think twice about pulling the woman with me. It wasn't exactly her fault - or was I being too nice? Either way, I was in full on panic-mode and didn't have time to get all vengeful as I hopped out of the MTR and sprinted to tell the staff what had happened.

If you're curious, I collected my phone the next day (they fished it out after the last train stopped at midnight) and it still works. iPhone, you're incredible. But of course the screen is all shattered and I can't use it without putting it inside a ziplock bag because the jagged glass cuts real bad.

I don't even know what to file this under, so I'll just categorise it as "random". What the actual fuck.



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20151211

Farewell to Life Café & Restaurant

All good things must come to an end, and after opening 11 years ago, Life Café & Restaurant is closing its doors - all of its branches. I remember back in 2013 I would buy their salads almost everyday cos it was so tasty, especially their quinoa salad and their special Life Salad. Even though I frequented it a lot back in 2013, I haven't been there for a long time now. The last time was more than a year ago, during summer when Janet came back to Hong Kong.

They officially close on Saturday (tomorrow), but since they were offering free food all day in the weekend I was afraid there'd be hoards of people. So I dragged Mum with me today to savour their delicious Life Salad for the last time ever.







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20151210

Elephant Grounds

I'd wanted to try Elephant Grounds since it opened its café which serves food in Wong Chuk Hang, but the faraway location coupled with my laziness made it impossible. I was delighted when it opened in Causeway Bay, which is a lot more convenient for me. The food they serve in this branch is slightly different, but good nonetheless. Mmm, their ice creams are to die for! I have yet to try their ice cream sandwich though, which is what they're known for.

The first time I tried it, it was past lunch time so while Jason had an ice cream, I just had a glass of coconut water. Then Mum and I went for the actual food one rainy Wednesday and it was so good I came back the very next day with my friend Vivien. That day, my Mum was also in Causeway Bay with her friend, and she told me when I got home that she had brought her friend to Elephant Grounds too! That's how good it is! Highly recommended! (And the best thing is, they have my favourite - chicken breast salad.)















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20151130

So My Mum's New Hobby Is Baking...

I've actually forgotten how long it has been since my Mum began baking. Two years? Three years? She began taking lessons in bread and cake making and still does, but she bakes a lot in her own time too so we're never out of pastries at home. In fact, we constantly have a surplus of baked goods and we find it difficult to finish everything, especially since we only have three people living in our immediate household. My Mum gets really upset if the food is good but goes to waste, so she tries to give her creations away to family and friends as much as possible. Let me know if you ever want to taste her baking, she'd be glad to share (and super happy to have the opportunity to bake more)!

Note: I'm only posting the aesthetically pleasing photos here - Mum actually made a lot more bread and cakes, but since I only obtain these photos through her Whatsapp messages, the "nicer" pictures (well, in my opinion anyway) are somewhat limited by her photography skills. Ha ha, sorry, but it's the truth and you guys know I'm anal (pardon me) about these things!





















































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