九十九分的九份 :)

上文提要: 原本可用NTD$20 搭公車上 九份, 但又沒法say no to 黃色的計程車啊!

從的士的window 看出去, 個天在哭哩

九份,又名"悲情城市",連天氣都是令人那麼的 會令人感到 down啊! 明明在台北的時候還是30 度的大晴天, 一到了九份就下起最令洩氣的人濛濛細雨.

I have the habit of taking pictures of maps just in case I am lost :D

九份其實并不很大, 小半天便可行畢。 那窄窄的小巷在我到此一遊那段時間歞得更窄了.

雖然下著雨, 但大部份嘅遊客都不介意, 我也一樣濕下濕下咁在九份遊蕩, 多寫意啊.

行下行下, 我忽然覺得有點似 赤柱那條遊鴨街. 好多東西買啊!!

上: 左我forgot 係咩, 但好像是some type of 肉棵子什麼的.. 中: ginger mother tea　這個名；　我喜歡！右：　老味!, 左下: 老板娘說: 來啊! 來啊! 這裡有 "楊過" 的最愛啊! 快來嚐嚐 "姑姑" 囉!  下右：　好ｃｕｔｅ 的台灣酒品, 有很有趣的名字啊: 膽小鬼, 角頭老大, 狠角色, 拼命三郎, 大哥的女人, 恰北北. 

有很多無聊但有趣的店呵.好後悔沒有買那 iphone skin called"屌"!　：Ｄ hahah 不耍誤會, 台灣人說 "超屌"是種讚美啊! 呵呵呵!!

好 colorful 嘅遊客熱點, 泥人吳 & 九份秘密基地

.... 待續....

有冇咁鬼幸福呀!

今個月每晚都係收3am, 因為小食店都收擋了，　所以呢個月基本上係減肥嘅最佳時候。

　但辣豆媽最喜歡就係一邊話我肥，　一邊就塞東西給我吃！

今晚都夠誇張喇吧!!!

辣豆媽果然名不虛傳，　怎麼弄來了一隻大閘 crab!? :D

。。。盪盪盪

昨天寫到為了那個　吳尊尊　而春心盪盪盪。。。

昨天趁放假，　終於清理呆放咗兩個星期嘅台灣行理箱，我都忘了, 我在第二次夜遊士林的時侯, 又做出了情不自禁嘅 買買買!

 就是這DVD，　那店員還對我說： "這個是正版的, 我給你Copy 的平一點!", 我一口便用很有自信的國語回答: "沒關係兒, 我買這個就可以啦!" :D

呢部"花樣少年少女" 係有吳尊尊＆S.H.E. 嘅 Ella 演出嘅, 我呢三個月已煲咗起碼三次. 嘻嘻. 不全是因為my吳尊尊喇，　而係劇中演員和情節實在係超攪笑，把我隱藏久了的幼稚和活潑嘅心境一次過喚醒了!!

老實的說, 去年的人生經歷, 翻覆起落, 我真的累到忘記了怎樣放鬆自己。　雖說用煲劇去麻醉自己係爛了點，　但可以令我輕鬆地像個傻婆咁大笑，誰敢說不可!!! :)

我沒有咁叻去寫劇評喇, 但早前讀了一篇"blue phoenix灰姑娘穿的鞋子" 寫的, 我好agree嘅, 如有興趣, 不妨看看。

尤其係以下呢段：

節錄自：　http://blog.udn.com/fanciatang/detail

呵呵呵！！讚! :)

資深美少女 之 春心盪盪盪盪.....

近期狂煲台劇去減壓, 發現了現在D 台灣偶像劇嘅質素真的比我少女年代時高了很多, D 帥哥多到吖!!!! 仲要幾帥有幾帥添! 哈哈哈!

近期嘅心境係好像一個心傷痊癒了的失戀少女一樣, 重新對男生偶像有興趣囉... :D

繼 廿年前迷上金城武 後, 現看中了呢個從芠莢去台灣嘅 吳尊!! :D  每每見到佢在 magazine cover  便會情不自禁地買!買!買!!!

今日又比我找到一本囉！！！！！當堂個心都 春到盪漾起來。。。　嘻嘻嘻!

雖然係９月嘅 edition, 但依然很帥。。。　呵呵呵！　當然啦，　照片係吾會有過期日喇!

左起：　Elle Man, 是第一本買回來的，　中：　今日用特價買的，　右：　在ＨＫＧ　Ｂusiness class 老笠嘅 teeheehee。。　：Ｄ

我好懷疑，　呢Ｄ所謂嘅 "man magazines" 係咪真係 target Ｄ　男士讀者嘅呢！？

向九份出發

第二天, 赖床赖到　9am，獨自在這麼大的床翻滾是 多麼的 relaxing 啊!! :D  一覺醒來把原本沒做到的決定都做了! 就是去九份!!

我真的變了!

以往我去旅行前一定會做足功夫, plan 好晒個 itinerary 才出發的, 目的只為一個:就是為了給身邊的那個人一個完美嘅旅程，　但今次呢個隨心之旅係以 "見步行步" 為目標, 小資中女向前衝囉!!

 先說早餐！　早餐卡上說 breakfast served till 10am, so 我　９：２０分才優哉柔哉地到飯店餐庁，　但一去到那裡，　服務生對我說　９：３０分就停餐喇!!!!

"趕快!!"

這個時候是沒有太多選擇啦，　連 my usual pick: scrambled egg 都沒了! 所以盛了一小碗粥，　一粒 sausage, 一粒quail egg, 兩片短短的 "培根"(入鄉隨俗，不說 Bacon，　要說 培根）, 一粒鴨血，　1/2 個小 bun bun :D　兩片 dragon fruit. 呢個叫做 用 Quantity 去彌補 不足的 choice :D

好彩食得飽些，　因為去九份的路很長呀!!!

先坐火車到瑞芳站，　要企成粒鐘才到呀!

到了瑞芳，　轉了一部 NTD$180 的 Taxi，不用１５分鐘便到達九份囉. :)

下回待續... :)

重遊士林夜市

食對我來說比睡覺更重要!!!! :D 所以第一晚嘅晚餐一於舊地重遊, 士林夜市 去也!

雖說是舊地重遊, 但感覺完全不同!! 上次同 Mike 來的時候, 我只知道有那個 indoor market. 但今次可能是自己來的関係, 對眼睜得大些, 用心去認方向, 一眼関7, 我發現原來 仲有個仲旺過女人街嘅 Outdoor 部份!!! (原來女人嘅 poor sense of direction 係因為佢對男人太依賴!!)

Here are what I sampled at the indoor market :)

Top to Bottom: 鴨血湯, 豐胸木瓜鮮奶, 蚵仔煎, 臭豆腐!!!!

I only picked out the baby oysters from the 蚵仔煎 to eat because I don't really like the gluey egg paste and the weird orange sauce on top. The 臭豆腐 is not that stinky, it's different than the Hong Kong style stinky tofu. I like it because of the pickled cabbage they placed on top. It made the tofu less heavy.  I only ate about 3 pieces though.

One draw back about traveling alone is that you can either over order or not able to try different things.  I of course opted for the 'over order' style and tasted a bit of everything. :D

Legend has it that papaya milkshake makes boobies bigger which I shouldn't need more of but I don't care how big my boobies are, papaya milk is always my favorite! :D

 And then that duck blood soup is awesome for a certain period of the month! :D but highly not recommended for a 28 degree hot summer night!! :D

Thursday's normal crowd.

 Now let's head to the busiest part of 士林!! I actually went there 2 times this trip, I must say, on a Thursday evening, 士林 isn't too too crowded.  From a hermit's point of view, this kind of crowd is considered scary already.  Now imagine the crowd on a Saturday Night, I went nuts encountering the Saturday night's crowded!!! 我不禁用國語叫了出來: 真的瘋喇咧!

Weekend's crowd!!!! 我擠! 我擠!

有時尚用品賣啦

Foods!

More Foods!!!

What I like most about this place??

It has to be the peeled fruits! :D Nobody peel fruits at home for me!! :D I ordered NTD$400 worth of fruits on the first night's visit!! :D The fruits are the only thing I finished eating instead of just sampling a few pieces. :D

有 peeled papaya, persimmons, watermelons and nectarines.

Alright, ate myself some stinky tofu, blood, mystery meat sticks and papaya milk... etc... It's time to call it a night and head back to the hotel. :)

回家囉!

Taipei day 1

Right after getting out of the airport I got  pestered into ridding a hired car instead of the planned bus to the hotel. :D Oh well, what can I say, I am a softy and money is no object to me (yeah right!) HAHAHA

The driver was going to charge me NTD$1100, but I haggled it down to $800 :D Well, I didn't really haggle, I just told him I am gonna take the bus and frowned. :D  So, in the 1st hour of my arrival, instead of the $125 bus ride, I took a $800 car ride with a stranger. :D This is a little reckless and I will not repeat this again. :D

I must say, after 3 months of learning Mandarin by watching Taiwan TV shows, I was able to strike up a meaningful conversation with the driver. :D hahah What did we talk about? Well, we talked about the correct pronunciation of 火鍋, 辣, 故宮.... and of course how much I like Taiwan and how much he wants to go to Hong Kong Etc. :D 

There was no traffic at noon on a Thursday, so the ride only took about 45 minutes to get to the hotel.

But what is the point of getting to the hotel so early when the hotel has a straight 3pm check in rule. :D  So after dropping off my luggage, I decided to get familiar with the surroundings.

I think my sense of direction got better after this trip on my own thanks to these road side maps every couple blocks.

The hotel's location is quite convenient, it's only about 10-15 minutes walk from the 中山MRT. After wandering around the area for an hour, I found myself a Starbucks and sat till check in time.

Since I only slept like 2 hours before I flew, I couldn't help but took a nap till 5:30pm after shower.  I think this room is newly renovated because it smells new. :D I especially like the wooden floor.  When I sneak a peak at other rooms, they are carpeted room instead of this.

After the refreshing nap, I am finally ready to get out!! It's time to eat!

... to be continued...

小資中女 Business Class 遊記 2

原來坐 Business class 係咁忙嘅! 個八月十五接觸到比我個八月十五 大幾寸嘅 seat 吾夠兩分鐘, 個靚女空姐便 serve 我 drinks... then 問我要不要報紙/magazines, then 比溫暖的熱毛巾, then 比我 "入台entry form", then 問我要不要和平民艙不一樣的毛氈, then 問我要不要買 duty free, then 比 menu 我 choose lunch :D..... 好忙喇嘛!!!

Lunch 有 chicken or fish. :D  I forgot what chicken it was... but the fish is cooked in lobster sauce... :D so I picked the lobster sauced fish. :D

Maybe it's my 心理作用, the food did taste better than economy class!! :D hahaha

I ate all the fish and the fruits, I taste tested the pasta and the strawberry cake or whatever... :D It's not bad, but at 11am, I just couldn't eat the whole thing yet. :D   I also ordered a German white wine to compliment the fish. :D

Too bad this flight is only less than 2 hours. :D maybe I should save money harder to fly business to SFO next time. :D HAHAHHAAH

在 Business Class 看到的天空. (其實都是同一個天空!　：））

 A little follow up on the last post, turns out I couldn't find the throne room inside the VIP lounge... :D

If you are curious, the washroom in business class is no less different than any economy class :D

So in conclusion, business is just better food, better service and more leg and butt room! :D

小資中女 Business Class 遊記

哈哈!!! 辛苦搵來志在食之外, 我嘅目標係起碼一年去一次旅行! 由於今年已去了 Spain, 本來呢個台北之旅係可有可無的. 但我又有二萬幾 Air China miles 今年內 expire, 所以把心一撗, 就買張 $17XX 嘅 平民機票, burn 埋30k 嘅 miles, upgraded Business Class!! :D hahah

所以今次出城, 台灣不是重點, Business Class experience 才是!!!　哈哈哈！！！ 個 Dynasty Lounge at HKG 吾係好 Grand，　勝在 quiet. 好在有老李嘅忠告, 空住肚來, 好吾好食都要 try Breakfast bar. :D

 Breakfast 嘅Choice 吾多, 只有簡單嘅 pastries , dim sum 和 cup noodles. 我對一早就食甜沒興趣, 所以就只食了 dim sum.

好喇, 飲完三小柸 cuppachino 後, 又得到老劉嘅 推波助瀾, 呢個 post 就寫到呢度先, 我要 experience 下個 Business Class Lounge 嘅 VIP throne room! :D

Back from the Cruise!! :D :D :D :D :D

I am back to Orlando, FL after a 3 days cruise to the Bahamas!! :D You can tell by the ":D" on the title that I am extremely happy! :D heheh

But tired. :D

We will be flying back to SFO in about 16 hours. :D

三袋同堂 :D 3 bags!

Heheh. These are the bags I was carrying to visit my best friend, Liza this weekend. :D

From left to right: my tote bag, laptop bag and finally camera bag. :D I was ridding the ferry from San Francisco Pier to Sausalito this Saturday. It was such a relaxing 1/2 hour ride to the Marin County.

The ferry was quite packed here on the top deck which was an open deck. I would have gone up to the front if I wasn't too afraid of the sun and the wind. :D

I saw this structure as our ferrie approched the Sausalito pier. If I didn't remember wrongly, this was where Liza's wedding banquet was held back 5 years ago. :D

I am finally back to Mike's place now. So tired. It's not that bad feeling kind of tiredness, it's a relaxed kinda tiredness I am experiencing right now.

Tomorrow is gonna be a chill out day at home. Will update some more about the weekend then. :D

Stuffed Eggplants with Minced Lamb :)

I like to try cooking a new dish every time I come to my vacation cabin (Mr. MonkeyMan's house). :D

I love eggplants. Since my mom is allergic to it, our family avoids it at home for my mom's sake. :)  So now that I am on vacation, I decided I should treat myself a delightful eggplant meal. :D

Mike got home this pack of lean lamb meat, so I figured I'd stuff them in the eggplant. Lamb is also one of my favorite meats. I especially love the unique lamb flavor. :)

I have made enough to serve 3 people. :)

Ingredients:
3 eggplants
a large onion
a bunch of button mushrooms
a bunch of tomatoes
a bunch of cilantro
a bit of garlic
a pack of mutton
a handful of love :D
salt and pepper to taste

How to cook it:

1. chop onions and garlics into fine bits
2. chop the tomatoes, cilantro and mushrooms into chunks
3. brown the onions and garlics in olive oil, then mix in the meat together in pan
4. throw in the tomatoes and mushrooms and mix with the meat mixture
5. while the above is cooking in the pan, hollow out some of the eggplant meat to form a bowl shape for holding the mixture later.
6. throw in the egg plant meat in the pan too. We don't want to waste anything here
7. throw in cilantro just before turning off the heat
8. season it with some freshly grounded pepper (since we don't really eat salt anymore, but you can add some salt to taste of course)
9. when all is mixed and 80% cooked, scoop the meat mixture into the eggplant bowls
10. place the eggplants into baking dish and pour water or beef/chicken stock with a bit of olive oil which almost covers the eggplants.
11. cover the food in tin foil and bake for 45 minutes to an hour until the eggplants soak up the stock and tenderized.
12. Serve on plate with forks!

Isn't it a perfect little eggplant ship carrying a bunch of delightful lambs ready to sail into my tummy? :D

I love kitchen gadgets :D

I love kitchen gadgets. :D If you got the right ones, it would greatly assist you in the kitchen. :D I am not saying they are necessary, I am just saying I like them. :D


The other day, Mike and I went to shop for fruits. There's this favorite fruit store of ours that has some fruit related tools. :D Since we are avid cherry lovers, naturally, we have to get a cherry pitting tool! :D

I just couldn't resist the cuteness of the design.

It works quite well, but there are a few misses and nearly broke Mike's teeth! :D So I end up have to cut every pitted cherries in 1/2 to make sure they have no seeds remaining.

I made the cherries into a fruit salad which was so sweet and yummy. :D

Cherries, avocados, plums, mangoes and bananas salad. :D

Crab Crazed Meals! :D

I am such a lucky woman, being in SFO for barely just 4 days, and I already had 2 types of crabs! :D Crabs being one of my favorite sea creatures, I am living in heaven. :D

2 kinds of crabs were served throughout 2 days. :D

We got these king crab legs at Costco. The Costco near home in Sunnyvale was disappointing, but it redeemed itself by selling these giant crab legs. :) This was an awesome dinner for Sunday. :)

Just to show you how large these legs are, I put the 'forearm' whole chunk of meat in the very common Chinese bowl. :D You can imagine how long these legs are. It was just too damn good! :D What is that light yellow sauce in the bowl? It's the Japanese crab vinegar. The vinegar complimented the meat perfectly.

Then, Monday, I went to the Pier 39 by myself as a real tourist and got the dungeness crabs home for dinner. :)

I got 2 precooked crabs. It seems the seller only boiled them with nothing else added to it. These crabs are huge! The pink bowl is like at least 15 inches wide :D and it barely fit the crabs :D

I made Mike my scale model again :D hehe Again, it's huge!! :D

Wow! These were so much better than the king crab legs!! I mean king crab legs were good too coz it's really meaty and easy to get to the meat. The king crab's meat was fresh and a little bit sweet. :) But these dungeness crabs were more flavorful! Its meat has its natural ocean flavor and it didn't need any crab vinegar to make it taste better.  Also, it has the crab fat/mushy green glue :D hehehe.. That's the best part of these crabs!!! :D I can't even describe it :D

These 2 meals satisfied my cravings for crabs for a long while! :D

Sunnyvale Art & Wine Festival 2010

Since Mike and I had this craving for our favorite Thai coconut seafood soup, we headed to Downtown Sunnyvale this afternoon for lunch.

Just so happened, without our prior knowledge, there was the Sunnyvale Arts & Wine Festival being held in the area.

I am crazy about street fairs and festivals and farmers' markets. :D So naturally, we side tracked and walked around the fair a bit before we ate.

It's amazing! :D It seems everybody living in Sunnyvale had come here today! :D  I have never seen Sunnyvale Downtown being this crowded before. :D

We didn't stay for very long because the sun was grilling our scalps. Well I actually bought a giant straw hat there, so I was fine. :D But Mike doesn't have one, so we left before he got cooked. :D

This is the lovely straw hat I got. I was gonna get a black one, but Mike suggest to get something lighter color coz black attracts lots of heat, black is not a color for the Bahamas. :D Being a smart woman, I of course listen to his clever advices. :D

Just to show you how large is the hat! :D It covers my shoulder too. Having experience the Hawaii sun burn a few years back, I am smarter this time to get a bigger hat.

Other than straw hat, we both bought some glass sculptures.  These are no ordinary glass figures, they are actually made with 24k gold too!

We got an elephant for my dad and a mouse for Mike :D These are fun to look at, the color changes under the light.

When in dark, it could turn completely gold due to the gold applied.

This is a card from the artist who sculpted these glass arts. :)

There are some more samples the artist sells:

I especially like the roses there.

Taipei Airport's Decorations

I have been to Taipei airport multiple times now. I must say that it's not a very exciting airport to be in. It doesn't look very modern and it doesn't have free wifi like HKG.

Due to its expansion/renovation, the intruction to the connection gate is not very clear. Although I asked somebody at the airport and got the general direction to where my gate was, it was still quite scary when there is no sign confirming you are on the right track.

Anyways, after I reached my gate (D4) I was overwhelmed by a sea of umbrellas hanging from the ceiling. It was the most welcoming scene at this boring terminal.

There are hundred of these umbrellas there! It was impressive. After reading the banner, these umbrellas are from a competition (possibly drawn by school kids).

I couldn't possibly take pictures of every one of them, so  here are my favorites :)

Arrived at my vacation cabin! :D

Just to let you, my friends, know that I safely arrived at Sunnyvale! :D

The flight was as awful as it can be, which included:

• vomiting neighbors,
• switching seats
• turbulence every hour or so
• no personal entertainment unit in front of seat!
• low salt meal, although healthy, taste kinda bland :P

I am dead tired now. :D Will write tomorrow :D

HKG - The best airport in this universe :D

I am waiting for my flight for my annual 3-weeks journey to SFO. :D

I must reliterate that in my opinion, HKG airport is the best in this world.. well... among all those I have travelled to, this is the best! :D

Not only does it provide free wifi for travellers, you can now find yourself sitting quite comfortably at its recharging station too!

However happy I am feeling right now, I don't find too many of these as I walked along the gates. This one I am using is at gate 31, where my flight is gonna be. :)

After a bit of search, I read that there are actually 36 stations like this one.  For such a large airport, I think it needs at least 100! :D Next time you in HKG international airport, look for these lovely stations. :)