It's a Charlie Brown Christmas (Part II)

I couldn't resist picking up a couple of the Peanuts figurines that came out about 2 weeks after the getting the Charlie Brown cushions. These toys are reminiscent of what I had in the kids in that they run on simple mechanisms--springs, magnets, gears.  My absolute favourite is the snoopy spinning underneath a tree branch where woodstock is sitting on top of it.

Video: CathC

I was so excited about the figurines that I even got my friend into it. My friend is visiting from Taiwan, and we took her around Central to see HK's Christmas decorations. The display at the Landmark Atrium is really spectacular this year. We had the perfect view from the 3/F while having lunch at the Urban Bakery Cafe. As we were catching up, we could turn and watch the display that lights up and moves every 30 minutes.  There are also these flying boats that sail around the mall along the ceiling rails. The whole thing was very impressive.

Landmark Atrium's Christmas Display (CharK)

Flying boat (Photo: Chark)

Stanley's Christmas Market

December is one my my favourite times of the year. The holiday mood is in full swing and there are festive decorations everywhere.

This year, our first Christmas event was at Stanley's Christmas Market. Although there were a number of shops selling crafts and toys, the Christmas vibe just wasn't quite in the air. Maybe it was the lack of carolers or shops selling Christmas-y decorations. Somehow the market had more of an arts and crafts theme than Christmas.

But I tried mulled wine for the first time and thought it was pretty tasty. It was nice to have a warm drink in the cool evening, and its cinnamon fragrant made it quite different from any other wines I've had before.

The Christmas Market at Stanley (Photo: Chark)

I've always thought Stanley was a great weekend getaway, even without the Christmas Market. There's a real island/vacation vibe about the place. After walking around the market we grabbed dinner along the Waterfront Promenade. We stopped off at the Buddah cafe and that and the cafe next door were owned by a husband-wife team. The husband is a funny, cheerful guy who made a great host. The wife was in the kitchen, serving up yummy snacks and desserts. CharK and I ordered chicken satay skewers, lobster siu mai, and mango/dragonfruit/watermelon coconut dessert.

After another walk around the Stanley harbour, taking in the beautiful night scenery, we stopped off at a Belgian Bar in the Stanley Market.

Christmas lights along the Waterfront (Photo: CharK)

The Belgian Bar was the real highlight of the night. I tried a fruity beer called Delirium Tremens, it's a cherry flavored beer with hints of grapefruit. I liked it, even more than another Belgian beer I use to drink in Toronto, Fruli Strawberry Beer. This bar was a very small shop in the corner of the market, but the staff made it a great atmosphere.. There was a friendly host who was very skilled at drawing in the crowd to try their beers. As it got later in the evening, The Belgian owner got into a funny singing competition with a French customer. The French guy was giving an impromptu lesson on singing from the belly versus the throat. It was a really funny scene.

A fun night in Stanley (Photo: CathC)

December's off the a great start. It'll be a great way to end the year with a few more weekend get-aways like this.

It's a Charlie Brown Christmas

Normally I don't pay much attention to advertisement posters, especially on the way to work. But this morning, McDonald's latest promotion caught my eye. In anticipation for the upcoming Snoopy Movie, McDonalds is selling licensed Snoopy merchandise like cushions, coffee mugs, and various wind up toys.

Today was the first day the cushions went on sale in HK and lots of people went to pick up the whole set which contains: Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Woodstock, and a special edition of Snoopy's Dog House. Actually, I remember thinking that some kid would be very happy night when I saw a Dad carrying a set while I was going to work this morning.

I couldn't resist picking this up on my way home! The detail on this Charlie Brown cushion is great, even the flap on his hat flips up. The whimsical cushion really brightens up the apartment. The bonus is that it's also a pretty good comparison to a life-sized head. So makes for a fun prop too!

An early Christmas Present (Photo: CathC)

Buying just a single cushion costs 40HKD on top of the purchase any food item. Otherwise, the whole set costs 278 HKD, which also includes 50HKD worth of McDonald's meal coupons.

Finally found my banh mi

I've craving for Vietnamese food, specifically banh mi for the past few months. Surprisingly for all the Vietnamese restaurants that are around, they are harder to find then I would have expected. After searching Open Rice for a bit, CharK found this place inside Kowloon Walled City called "Banh Mi Bakery". We probably wouldn't have come across this place if we hadn't looked up the directions because it's located on a nondescript  street in between industrial centers and shops.

Having a late lunch at 3pm (Photo: CathC)

The trendy and modern deco of restaurant is a stark contrast to many of the older shops in the area. Aside from the nice environment, the banh mi really was the best part of the restaurant. I really enjoyed the regular spicy bbq pork baguette that we ordered. The cilantro made the whole sandwich so refreshing. 

I've finally found my banh mi (Photo: CharK)

The nice thing about the restaurant that even at 3 o'clock they had both a lunch and afternoon tea set menu.We ordered the banh mi lunch set which with a green mango salad. And also a chicken satay and Vietnamese sticky rice tea set with traditional spring rolls. The Vietnamese sticky rice was topped with pork, pork rind, fried garlic and green onion. It was an interesting dish that I've never tried before It was a great meal and the Spring rolls and banh mi tasted like the Vietnamese food we use to get in downtown Toronto. Hopefully these banh mi places start to take off Hong Kong and it'll be easier to find around town.

An awesome meal for a relaxing weekend (Photo: CathC)

A lazy weekend with Japan's Lazy Egg

I think there's something whimsical about life-size displays of iconic Sanrio characters. The latest display at Langham Place in HK features Gudetama, Sanrio`s lazy egg character. Even though the display has been around since the beginning of this month, the crowds are still drawn to this almost cute yet almost sarcastic character. I was surprised to see how many people were patient enough to stand in line for 10+ minutes to get their photo taken in front of the various displays.

The crowds at Langham Place going wild for Gudetama (Photo: CharK)

Seeing the crowds at first made me think that it would have been a better idea to come see the display later this summer, when the initial crowds/popularity wore off. But it turned out not to be so bad having to weave through the crowds. I didn't have much expectations of taking my photo with any display, rather I just wanted photos of the displays themselves. So by the evening, when the crowds had dispersed a bit, it was possible to get some shots of the displays in between people coming up to have their photo taken.

The sushi restaurant (Photo: CharK)

The cafe featuring various forms of Gudetama, including HK's iconic egg tart and french toast was my favourite. Check out the details of the kitchen cutlery and how cute the cake is!

The Cafe/Bakery complete with HK themed treats--egg tarts! (Photo: CharK)

Here's the Gudetama ontop of fried rice and ramen noodles. These life-sized, have transformed these familiar every day foods into almost theme-park like displays.

The Chinese restaurant that was the least photo spot for some reason (Photo: CharK)

All the hype generated from the display led to crowds lining up even for the tiny pop-up store in the mall. The store was mostly just selling plush dolls. I`m just waiting for the individual boxes of the Gudetama Cafe figurines to be sold. I just love the details on these!

Tropical Cyclone Linfa

Today was the first time since moving to HK that I got to leave work early due to stormy weather. Previously, most of storms have hit during the night, so going into work in the mornings was postponed by a few hours. As the Tropical Cyclone Linfa moves across the East China Sea this afternoon, the Hong Kong Observatory raised the No. 8 Storm Signal. They predict the storm to be in full force near midnight and will gradually weaken by tomorrow morning.

I was surprised by the precautionary measures taken by the University for this type of storm compared to black rain storms. For the black rain storms, people are advised to stay indoors during the warning, rather than try to travel home. But for today's storm, an email was sent out informing everyone of the weather conditions and arrangements to close down the university about half an hour before everyone was permitted to leave,. Then 3 rounds of warning announcement and buzzer were aired over our PA system every 10 minutes.

My colleagues told me that such tropical cyclones are treated very seriously historically many more deaths and injuries have resulted, as compared to black rainstorms. We were permitted to leave by 3:45pm and by the time I reached the mall outside of apartment,around 5pm, many shops were also closing their doors. The clothing shops all had their shutters closed, and even late-closing Mannings pharmacy was preparing to close down for the night. The only shops that were left open were food outlets like Cafe de Coral, supermarkets like Park n Shop, and of course convenience stores like 7/11. Actually I don't think 7/11 will close down tonight. They are always opened it seems...

You can see the management has taken some precautionary measures to prevent the trees from flying everywhere in case they break during the storm. But so far, things seem calm here on the Eastern part of HK.

At 5pm-- the calm before the storm (Photo: CathC)

My sweet dinner

It's no secret that I have a pretty big sweet tooth, and have no problems eating desserts as a regular meal. I believe that the desserts menu is what really sets a restaurant and/or cafe apart, is usually what I remember the most about a meal. So once in awhile, CharK will indulge me and agree to some unconventional meals.

After running some errands at Festival Walk, I wanted to try Sweet-O-logy a Japanese-style cafe. As the name suggests, the cafe focuses on desserts like souffles, waffles, and soufflé. But interestingly, they also serve all-day breakfast and other light meals like sandwiches and pasta.

A must try for any dessert fans (Photo: CharK)

The cafe has a "European street cafe" atmosphere and so they seating is limited. But even on a Friday night, the turn over is pretty fast. CharK and I waited for maybe 20 minutes for a table compared to other Cafe's which had nearly double the lines.

The meal was definitely worth the wait. I really enjoyed the chestnut cream honey toast. Basically it's thick pieces of lightly fried toast that's encrusted in a layer of honey/sugar. The toast is served with a scoop of Mövenpick vanilla bean ice cream. The whole dessert is also sprinkled with blueberries and hazel, and almonds.

A surprisingly filling meal for two  (Photo: CathC)

CharK also found something he liked on the menu, the English breakfast. Although, one complain he had was that fries were served instead of the tater tots as listed on the menu. But the apple tea that was ordered was a refreshing drink for the hot summer night.

The two orders were more than enough for the two of us for dinner. So it was pretty impressive to see that many of the other tables were able to order at a mains plus at desserts per person. Maybe it's the summer heat, but overall I think our appetite has reduced over since Spring.