Carice van Houten feat Antony Hegarty - Particle of Light
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Refreshingly Wonderful: Particle of Light
Never imagine that Carice van Houten first record will be this beautiful. Well what can you say when you have the support from the AMAZING Antony Hegarty!
2nd Year Anniversary
Truly, I should have written this directly after we celebrated our second years of marriage, but all the days of super nice weather in Holland were hard to be missed (I do admit, lack of intention to write due to the fact that I could enjoy the sun.. which is generally a very rare occasion in the Netherlands).
Hence, I have to write in regards to our wonderful experience. My husband brought me to Restaurant De Bokkedoorns for lunch at Overveen. It's a 2 michelin stars restaurant with an amazing terrace. Taking the train to Haarlem and then bus to Overveen with the bus stop literally called the Bokkedoorns, you can guess that public transport is super easy. The food was superb as service was warm and friendly. Lovely.. very much recommended (especially when the weather is amazing)!
Waiting for Forever
Back from my super long blog vacation.. what will be my first..
So, it's typical lonely saturday night not doing anything.. hubby at work and HBO as my best friend! There's this movie playing with Rachel Bilson and I do like her, so why not.. no expectation! End verdict, I LOVE IT!!! This is one of those under-rated indie movies which is truly touching. Not cheesy and definitely not your 'typical' American love story.
Will (Tom Sturridge) and Emma (Rachel Bilson) were childhood friends and to her knowledge they have lost contact for years! Little has she known that Will has been following her in every town which she has lived (but not in a creepy way). Emma who is now an actress decided to go back to her hometown to accompany her dying father whilst Will decides that it's time for him to finally talk to Emma and declares his undying love. Unfortunately, it's not that easy taking into consideration that Emma has a turbulent relationship with her current boyfriend and all other situations surrounding the life of both of them.
Looking at critics' reviews, they seem to be low at ratings but trust me, it's a movie worth seeing! I smiled at the end of the movie, almost crying.. not because it's sad but such a heart fulfilling happiness (haven't felt like this for a while since 500 Days of Summer). And if you hear one of the songs from the movie, so beautiful that makes you really wanna cry even more. Loving it ..
The Mostart Diving Club - Worlds Apart
Watch it!
Monday, July 30, 2012
Olympic Crush
In the spirit of the London Olympic 2012.. This is my ultimate olympic crush.....
Team Nathan!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Team Nathan!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Sunday, July 1, 2012
EURO 2012 Final!
EURO 2012
Who will win?
But for the next 90 minutes.. some eye candies will run around, pass the ball.. These 2 are my fave ones from each country! Xabi Alonso (left) and Claudio Marchisio (right)... ENJOY!
 |
| Vamos España! |
Weekly Update
My bad.. I've been a bit slow in blog update over the last week, but to make short summary here are my fall out and highlights:
BAD NEWS: ACNE PISTOL BOOTS
I can't believe what happened to my Acne boots! Literally Net-A-Porter contacted me 3 days after my purchased saying that THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANY STOCK! What happened apparently was that they didn't have the correct stock numbers, so during sale period although it was said still available, literally it was already SOLD OUT! I was so disappointed about the whole service (even they gave me 25 euro voucher) and believe me.. it wasn't only me, I have 3 other friends who experienced the same thing. 2 friend of mine ordered the Alexander Wang Rocco and Marc Jacobs bag, another 1 ordered Tory Burch shoes. All had the same thing, though showed as available, it wasn't! AND it took 1 week to get my money back in credit card... GRRRRRRR, definitely NOT trying anymore for NET-A-PORTER sale!
Does any of you have the same issue with Net-A-Porter sale?
GOOD NEWS:
1. Temper Trap tickets on hand
16 September 2012 @ Melkweg, Amsterdam
2. Kimbra tickets on hand
3 September 2012 @ Bitterzoet, Amsterdam
3. Two tops from COS
I was eye-ing 2 tops from COS which are on sale but the sizes were sold out until suddenly last week, they have size 34 again! WOeeHoeei...
4. Guest List for We Are Augustines @ Club Ziggo
We Are Augustines is giving an intimate concert for 150 lucky people at Club Ziggo, Amsterdam Monday 2nd July. It will be a live performance which will be recorded. Yes! I'm one of the lucky 150 people! Well.. you never know, if you're fast enough and there is still spot available..
Quickly mail: clubziggo@d2bv.nl
Monday, June 18, 2012
My Years of Waiting.. ACNE PISTOL BOOTS
OMG OMG OMG OMG FINALLY!!
But..... HELLO NET-A-PORTER ... finally my prayers have been answered! Sale started yesterday (if you have not yet noticed, GO ONLINE QUICKLY!), I was super lucky since they have only couple of stocks on size 35. It's like DESTINY, I've been wanting this specific pistol black with brown zipped for a while but I couldn't find it in the Amsterdam's store.. and the best part 40% OFF (I don't even care that I'm paying 15 euros shipping cost) - even in ACNE website it's still FULL PRICE!
MY MONDAY COULD NOT BE BETTER!!
Next Post.. ME WEARING IT! :) :)
YAY!!! Temper Trap @ Melkweg, Amsterdam!
Just being announced, Temper Trap will perform @ Melkweg, 16 September 2012! Tickets will start on sale June 22nd! For sure .. I will be putting my alarm in my outlook this friday to make sure I GET THEIR TICKETS (and hopefully I will get it)! :) :) :)
For more shows globally check their website!
Can't wait!!! Below you can find their last video - Trembling Hands
Celebrity Crush: Elizabeth Olsen
I find Elizabeth amazingly beautiful. Not following the trend in the Olsen's family of being 'boney' :), Elizabeth mentions herself that she's the 'curvy' one in the family and for me.. a role model for young girls to live as how a girl should live! Not becoming a SKELETON!
So.. can we steal her style??
Cropped biker jacket: Topshop
Skinny Jeans: Topshop
Hat: Forever 21
Shopper bag: Zara
Shoes: Fred de la Bretoniere
I can't wait to see more of her in the future and I believe it won't be the last time I'm writing about Elizabeth Olsen!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Say Hello to Rotterdam New Hot Spots!
Last weekend my hubby and I went for a visit to our old hood, Rotterdam! Truly, I have been dying to go to Rotterdam for a while since one of my friends who is living there told me about this new Sichuan Restaurant and how she loves the food! (bummer.. the should have opened it when I was still living there). Located at the address Hang 33, San San is just what I have expected! Delicious and.. finally a real proper Sichuan restaurant.. SPICY!!!! PS: when we went for dinner, it's empty because of the Netherlands EK2012 first game (well.. we didn't miss any since they LOST 1-0 against Denmark). Hence, make sure to make reservation if you want to go for dinner as most of the time it's SUPER FULL!
From the outside, it does not look that special, but when you walk in.. it's lovely. The decoration of the place is very modern, clean (not like a lot of chinese restaurants) and very much representing the chinese culture! I love how they use the bird cage (colored them in red) as hanging lamp!
My lovely friend Jing (who always updates me all the great food in Rotterdam and promotes San San) is a Shanghainese origin and I gave her all my trust to order the food (well.. also due to the fact that she's been going to San San for a numerous time) :). She ordered for starters two cold dishes: a traditional Sichuan dish of beef lungs with sichuan pepper (left picture) and sesame chicken (right picture). They were absolutely WONDERFUL and spicy! I can't even mention which one I like best.. both are MUST ORDER DISH if you go to San San. Just to let you know they have 3 different level of spiciness! So if you don't say any word, they will put the medium level (it's hot enough) and if you're chinese origins who can handle SUPER SPICY, you can ask for even the 4th level! Well, I don't suggest the 4th level.... as the medium one is quite spicy (even for me who can handle SPICY)!
For our main dish, we decided to take the (left to right ) a big bowl of fish soup (forgot the name, cumin lamb, sizzling beef and Ma Po Tofu. My fave? Definitely the sizzling beef, to die for..
Unfortunately, out of the 4 of us who ate there, my dearest other other half (not my hubby but my bff Keita who's Japanese) cannot handle spicy as well as Jing, my hubby and I. He was sweating like crazy after eating 1 bite of the chicken sesame. So, we ended up taking the main dishes with spicy level 1 :). Here is a pic of my with Keita! We have almost 'matching' outfit color!
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Monday, June 11, 2012
A Glimpse of Japanese Heaven: Yamazato
What should a guy do to ask forgiveness if he does not keep his promise to his girl? In my case, he should bring me to a super yummy dinner! And that's what I got last week! :) Long story short, my husband ditched me during the weekend for a night out though he promised me earlier to be home after work..and as he felt guilty, he brought me to a special dinner. Where? Yamazato :)
We were there about two years ago with our friends for their wedding present and I remembered it as an amazing experience! So, we were wondering if it still lives up to its standard.
This is what I put on on the lovely Tuesday night! I literally just got my whole orders delivered from Forever 21 the day before and totally in love with the mint lace blouse! A good occasion to wear it!
2. Necklace, Forever 21
3. Hair piece, H&M
4. Jegging, A&F
5. Shoes, Stuart Weitzman
6. Bag, Rebecca Minkoff
For our main dish, we decided to go all in with the Sukiyaki. Not a cheap one but it was superb! The waitress will do all the cooking for you so you just have to sit and enjoy the whole experience. They first asked us if we would like to have it like the 'Japanese' way! So what's the Japanese way? YOU HAVE TO EAT IT WITH RAW EGG! Literally after your beef is cooked according to your taste (medium rare, well done, etc) then you will have to dip it to the raw egg.
I love the sukiyaki (best one I've had so far) and my whole experience at Yamazato! It's not something that I can do often when I'm craving for Japanese food (so expensive!!....... I have to settle for other Japanese restaurants). But if you have special occasion to celebrate, Yamazato can be one of your options.. it's FANTASTIC!
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Foodism in the U.S. (Part 2: Asian)
Following our first foodism journey in US, this post will review all the Asian's food that we had during our 8 days trip (yes.. people, we ATE a lot)!
Just across the Ssam Bar, you can find the Milk Bar. Not much option is available but we did try the soft serve cereal milk (plus free cereal ice cream to try). As I'm not the biggest fan of drinking milk in general (unless if it's inside coffee, it's bit too much for me). But if you're there anyway and want to try the whole Momofuku's experience, get one and share it!
Address: (multiple locations) but if you are eating at Ssam Bar, 251 E 13th ST is located just in front of it
I love Donburi-Ya!!! My second night in NYC (although I so love Shake Shack)! I was missing rice so badly and my head kept on giving me orders to eat donburi. So I checked online and found this place! Located in the Japanese area, this place is very authentic Japanese. All people who work there are Japanese and almost all the customers are also Japanese. I got the yakiniku don and my husband took the tonkatsu don. So good........ and portion is big!
Address: 137 E 47th St
Located just couple of blocks from our hotel, this is also one of the restaurants that we visited more than once for lunch! We were always there early (like around 11.45) so we always got table and had no issue of running out of yakitori stocks. If you are ordering a lot of yakitori, they might be a bit pricey for your pocket but a good solution for a great value lunch is to order the menu. You will get miso soup, some pickles, salad and the main dish. The Totto Don is definitely the best to choose for me (love chicken balls) and the Oyako don is also delicious!
If you want to order separately for the yakitori, I recommend the Yaki Nasu Miso Dengaku (eggplant with miso), Nankotsu Tsukune (meatball mix), and the Negi Pon (pork loin with scallion and ponzu). But I guess, all the yakitori there are super tasty!
Address: 215 W 55th St
My husband has been dying to try the pork bun at Momofuku from the first time he saw David Chang's video somewhere on youtube and ofcourse from all the buzz around Momofuku, who does not want to try?? And indeed the pork bun was so delicious! We ordered 2 portions (total 4 pieces) and trust me.. I could eat way more than 4! We did not want to stuff ourselves that day so we ordered quite reasonable amount :). We just added a portion of fried duck dumpling and spicy fingerling potatoes with chili black bean sauce. They are both ok but nothing compares to the Pork Bun!
Verdict: MUST TRY!
Address: 207 2nd Ave
Address: (multiple locations) but if you are eating at Ssam Bar, 251 E 13th ST is located just in front of it
Ok.. we love food but as it was our first NY experience, we did not really have the time to explore the most authentic Chinese around Flushing. But I did do my research to check where I could find one of the best xiao long bao around. After reviewing food blog and recommendation from one of my besties who used to live in NYC, we went to Joe's Shanghai at Chinatown.
Having used to the dim sum portions in the Netherlands, we ordered 2 portions of xiao long bao (1 pork and 1 shrimp). Surprise.. surprise, the portion is GINORMOUS! A portion is like 3 times of what they offer in NL! And not to forget, we even ordered extra 2 dishes shredded beef with carrots on top and eggplants! The result: takeaway beef and eggplant for the next day breakfast :). All worth it, xiao long bao is delicious (I prefer the pork one). Once you bite them, the combination of soup, meat and ginger vinegar are all melting inside your mouth. It's LOVELY!
Address: (multiple locations), but if you can't make it to Queens, better try the one at 9 Pell Street
I was craving badly to eat Sichuan food and I found one at Chelsea which is quite close to our hotel (1 subway stop). It's really one of the most delicious Sichuan restaurants I have ever tasted! We even came twice during our 8 days in NYC.
My ultimate favorite dish is definitely the Cucumber with fresh garlic. It sounds so simple, but so tasty and refreshing! I have no idea how we can make that, please if you've ever tasted that delicious cucumber or know how to make it, DO SHARE with me please, I'm dying to know the secret recipe! I forgot to take pictures on our second visit (due to our hunger and greediness when we were eating), so pictures I put here are only showing what we had on our first visit. But in summary, other than the cucumber (which we ordered the 2 times we were there), we had au zhou spicy chicken, kung bao chicken, braised beef fillets with chili sauce and house spicy beef. For us, the beef dishes were better! But they are definitely one not to miss out in NY! - note: service is as not one to expect, but don't judge on it, just think of the food.
Address: (multiple locations) but the one that I love so much is at 229 9th Ave
My ultimate favorite dish is definitely the Cucumber with fresh garlic. It sounds so simple, but so tasty and refreshing! I have no idea how we can make that, please if you've ever tasted that delicious cucumber or know how to make it, DO SHARE with me please, I'm dying to know the secret recipe! I forgot to take pictures on our second visit (due to our hunger and greediness when we were eating), so pictures I put here are only showing what we had on our first visit. But in summary, other than the cucumber (which we ordered the 2 times we were there), we had au zhou spicy chicken, kung bao chicken, braised beef fillets with chili sauce and house spicy beef. For us, the beef dishes were better! But they are definitely one not to miss out in NY! - note: service is as not one to expect, but don't judge on it, just think of the food.
Address: (multiple locations) but the one that I love so much is at 229 9th Ave
Address: 137 E 47th St
If you want to order separately for the yakitori, I recommend the Yaki Nasu Miso Dengaku (eggplant with miso), Nankotsu Tsukune (meatball mix), and the Negi Pon (pork loin with scallion and ponzu). But I guess, all the yakitori there are super tasty!
Address: 215 W 55th St
Not that much pictures to reflect this yummy Thai Restaurant chain around Hell's Kitchen but there are literally 2 Yum Yum next to another! We tried both and both are delicious. The price is very reasonable! So if you want to eat in a relax environment and do not want to spend a lot of money, it's a good place to go.
Address: multiple locations (but they are literally next to each other) 650 9th Ave
Friday, June 1, 2012
Find Your 'Me' Time - Recommending: The City Street Spa Amsterdam
It's all started back when my husband told me he's going to Metallica concert at Werchter Boutique on May 28th in Belgium. He asked me to join with his colleagues but as I'm not the biggest fan of Metallica, I refused.. :) - well some people think I was crazy to miss it.. but.. well.. :)
So knowing that I'll be all alone on a public holiday, I decided to do a 'Me' Time which was literally pampering myself with beauty care! The week before, I passed by this spa centre @ Prinsengracht with my cousin and decided to book an appointment for Pedicure (as my feet are completely destroyed after walking non-stop in New York) and a facial. It was impressive.. The City Street Spa Amsterdam is truly a WONDERFUL experience!
The decor of The City Street Spa is very modern yet minimalistic. Colored mainly in white, it gives a very clean and calming feeling when you step in. They asked me directly if I wanted to change to a bath robe and put me on slippers and whilst I was changing, they were preparing for my drinks and fresh blueberries. In front of the reception desk, you'll find the pedicure and manicure spot. In the middle of the place they have the waiting room which is beautifully furnished. And at the far end, you can spot the round shape Oxygen Bubble (it's the only place in Amsterdam where they have it) where you can breath pure air (20 Euro per hour).
The facial was IMPRESSIVE! It's so hard to find a really good place in Amsterdam for facial. I once went to Just Wellness at Nieuwe Leliestraat in Amsterdam for facial and I was not impressed. I am a massive fan for Dermalogica facial and when I was living in Rotterdam, they have this exquisite Dermalogica clinic which I love dearly (and I miss it dearly in Amsterdam). So I've been trying so hard to find one that can top up the facial which I experienced in Rotterdam and I am proudly admitted that I HAVE FINALLY FOUND IT (even better as the whole environment in The City Street Spa is amazing). They have different facial packages (with different beauty products) but as I only want Dermalogica, I chose for the 60 minutes Face Mapping Treatment.
The treatment room is fairly huge (even with shower room - I guess for people who want to shower after massaging) and when they are doing you're treatment they will put on this relaxing music (which mainly makes you fall asleep until you realize they are extracting your pimples).I won't say that my pedicure is that special (I was hoping more on taking care of my feet and removing hard skin,etc rather than making my nail polish pretty) but definitely I recommend you all to try the Facial there! Totally worth the money (I have even booked my second treatment for next month) and I am planning to try the Intensive Muscle Release Massage.
So whether you are living in Amsterdam or visiting Amsterdam and if you want some 'me' time for relaxing and do nothing, try The City Street Spa Amsterdam.
So knowing that I'll be all alone on a public holiday, I decided to do a 'Me' Time which was literally pampering myself with beauty care! The week before, I passed by this spa centre @ Prinsengracht with my cousin and decided to book an appointment for Pedicure (as my feet are completely destroyed after walking non-stop in New York) and a facial. It was impressive.. The City Street Spa Amsterdam is truly a WONDERFUL experience!
So whether you are living in Amsterdam or visiting Amsterdam and if you want some 'me' time for relaxing and do nothing, try The City Street Spa Amsterdam.
Doing Nothing Never Felt So Good
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