Happy new year 2012!

I can't believe how fast this year has gone by .. so many things changed and happened for me and I'm excited about what the new year has in store for me.

Still need to catch up on so many recaps (holidays in Asia, Turkey and 2011) .. 

Right now I am home with my parents and preparing the New Year's eve at the restaurant, which is the busiest night of the year .. tomorrow after the morning shift, I will head back to Hamburg again. 

Anyway, just a short post .. hope you have an awesome NYE and a happy & healthy 2012!

My birthday in Istanbul

***

One last quote before the end of this year:

"Life is too short to wake up with regrets. 

So love the people who treat you right. Forget about the one's who don't. 

Believe everything happens for a reason. 

If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. 

Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it!"

Have a good one! :)

Back!

It has exactly one month since I went on vacation. The three weeks have gone by so incredibly fast! But I have done a lot in those three weeks .. seen a lot, done a lot, ate a lot, bought a lot! Went to Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Sanya, Hanoi and Halong Bay! Been busy ever since I got back, so I need to follow up on my blogging another time ..

Just a short recap in pictures taken with my  iPhone ..

Two weeks in Hong Kong, meeting up with friends, attending my roomie's beautiful wedding, eating all kinds of food and enjoying the gorgeous skyline ..

Hong Kong

Two and a half days of relaxing by the beach, enjoying fresh fruit, relaxing and swimming in Sanya ..


Hainan

 6 days visiting Hanh in Hanoi, exploring splendid Halong Bay, taking in Vietnam's delicious cuisine and seeing another kind of Asia .. 



Vietnam

 More stories, pictures and recaps later ..

First REAL vacation

Just a quick post ..

Have been too lazy and busy to blog .. have been home since the last post, did some retail therapy at the outlet .. had some Gourmet Attack experience and went to the Hamburger Dom.

My thoughts on the Gourmet Attack - excellent way to try out some restaurants and experience some new things ..

Le Ciel, Le Royal Méridien

Starter: Red beet -pear cream soup with caramelized goat cheese

Main dish: Beed medaillons in jus de thyme, sauteed cabbage and potato gratin

Dessert: Home-made peach dumpling with caramel ice and a compote of berries

I chose this restaurant with a French kitchen, because of it's extra-ordinary menu - something you don't eat every day - and it was the only 5-star hotel that was participating. Although, I'm not a soup fan, I loved the soup. Very interesting combination, light flavor of the red beet and creamy (yet not too rich) pear taste. The goat cheese was not mine. Didn't fit into this composition, in my mind. The beef was very tender and perfectly prepared. It was gooood! The sides were boring, but tasty as well. The dessert was a bit disappointing .. the dumpling was too doughy and filling, the compote sour. The caramel ice was good though, with tiny bits of caramel. Dining was special at the top roof of the hotel, overlooking the Außenalster. All in all, a true fine dining experience.

Mövenpick Hotel & Restaurant

Starter: pumpkin soup with apple-pumpkin chutney and a praline of goat cheese

Main dish: Guinea fowl scalloped with onion mouse, noodle risotto and grilled mushrooms

Dessert: apple crumble in a glas and apple wine mousse

Mövenpick Hotel & Restaurants have a Swiss kitchen, which I am not familiar with, but I am starting to like soups .. the pumpkin soup was delish! Also I really like the way of serving it. We were served a tray with the can of soup, the bowl with pumpkin and the chutney seperately. After placing the tray, the waiter poured the soup into the bowl. However, a little bit too creamy and very filling. The fowl (piece of chicken) was too small, but given the starter and the (again) creamy risotto, it was enough. Nothing very special. The dessert was not mine .. I don't like crumble, so I only ate the mousse and decoration. The hotel itself is gorgeous - within the water tower amid of the Sternschanze - a going out district for youngsters. The restaurant was simple, cool and like any other hotel restaurant. I don't think, I will return for dinner, but drinks for sure!

***

Anyway, the LONG overdue day has come and I will be heading to Hong Kong TODAY! Sooooo looking forward to it .. seeing my family, meeting my new baby cousin, catching up with friends, attending the wedding of my roomie and visiting Vietnam! :)

finally!!!

Take care and good luck with everything you all are up to! :)

Weekend recap

Lüneburg is a really cute, little and especially picturesque city. Unfortunately, on Thursday we were stuck all day in the conference room. In the evening, during and after dinner we had too much to drink, so I was glad that we were dismissed around lunch time on Friday, so that I could actually explore the city. The Medieval oldtown is really sweet with it's old houses. I spent 1,5hrs to stroll around the small city center and took some pictures with my iPhone. The rest of the day, I just rested at home in my comfy clothes and catched up on my favorite series.

Some shots with my iPhone

For the rest of the weekend, I did the usual household routine by running errands, doing laundry and cleaning up. On Saturday evening, I picked up a friend from work, we went for dinner and got ready at my place afterwards for going out. Again, it was a failed attempt. Together with two other friends, we checked out Moondoo directly on the Reeperbahn, but somehow I got the wrong vibe. Maybe it was because we arrived very late (2 am), we were too tired or simply the music was too electro. So after a short stay, we went home. The next day, I met 2 ½ friends for cooking, well more sushi-making. Haven't done that in ages! I can't remember the last time, I did that, but it was nice and we ended up making too many (since we were snacking away the whole time) ..

Sushi with the ½, checking out the iPhone 4S and facetiming with the fam

I still haven't updated to the newest iOS5, since my computer is still not fixed yet .. should really get it done. Pretty annoying .. I have 3 laptops at home currently and none of them works 100% - luxury problem, I know!

***

Hamburg is having it's first Gourmet Attack starting this weekend, similar to Restaurant Week in NL and elsewhere and it's motto is "Book. Eat. Love." - clever! So I'm looking for dining buddies .. let me know, if you're in town and interested! ;-)

Have a good, rest of the week! And keep on sharing your news! :)

Happy thoughts!

Exactly one month to go until my vacation! I'm counting the days! I could really use some change of setting to reboost my energy! Still need to do some detailed planning ..
I had the opportunity to join Sue to Rome in two weeks, however through the stress at work and the stupid connections from Hamburg, the tickets got way too expensive and impossible :( But I HAVE to go one more time after my big holidays next month. Since two years, I made it a new tradition to spend my birthday in a city that I've never been before. And since i still have 14 vacation days (3 full weeks), I made it my mission to go somewhere oriental :)

Last weekend I finally got the chance to visit Hamburg's Apple Store, which is supposed to be Germany's biggest! Btw, I accidentally washed my iPhone's earplugs, because I forget to take them out of my sport pants and guess what? They still work .. I just don't hope there will be a tiny electrocution in my ear the next time ..

Apple store at the Jungfernstieg

Hamburg is getting a lot of new additions to support my retail theraphy :) Zara Home just opened last week, where I've already bought a pressie and Abercrombie & Fitch will open next spring! :)

Zara Home, Große Bleichen, HH

Oh and my new ankle boots arrived, so I can throw out my old ones! I will show them in the next post after I impregnated them (double-hint at Sam)! :P

Miss you, sis! FT soon!

Also I met a new friend, who hooked me up with nice Kiehl's goodies :) I've been trying out this Midnight Recovery Concentrate and it somehow reminds me of massages, so very soothing!

I ♥ goodies!!!

My superior told me this week that she is surprised everything went well with my part of the financial forecast/budget planning. Should I take it as an insult or a compliment? Normally, my glass is half empty, but after my meaningful ending in my last post, it should be half full .. Anyway, she added that she acknowledges my progress overnight (?). After the rough week I had, it's good to get a little tap on my shoulder ..

This Thursday and Friday, I will be on a company teambuilding workshop in Lüneburg, north of Hamburg. I'm curious what that has in store for me ..

Anyway, as I was saying .. one month to go .. hope you have great vacation plans in store as well or at least some other happy things to keep you motivated! ;-)

Expect the unexpected

Last weekend turned out a bit different than expected. The girls were supposed to arrive at my place around 10pm, so I started cooking shortly after 9pm, when Sue called and told me their flight was cancelled. All attempts trying to re-book, finding a train and a rental car failed and they finally ended up in Berlin (!) for the night. This incident kinda messed up the whole weekend in some way.

The girls finally arrived around lunch time and we went straight to the city to do some shopping and sightseeing. The weather was just perfect! Since the AIDA cruise ship was in town again, we wanted to take a close up by ferry. Somehow we took the wrong one and ended up spending 1,5hrs on the ferry. At least we could enjoy the view!
We went to dinner around 8.30pm at 4experiment Gastraum, a more alternative restaurant that is opened by 4 friends that create new dishes - every day! It's an easy going restaurant with high quality ingredients that make extraordinary dishes. It was quite okay, but it didn't blow me away. Afterwards we took a quick tour through the Reeperbahn to check out the crazy people and went to a club in the city. However, the drinks were too pricey and the girls too tired, so that we already left before 1am.

On Sunday we had breakfast at a cafe nearby and went straight to Blankenese, the richer part of Hamburg with its famous stairs (there are about 5000 of them).
Somehow, the weekend went by way too quickly - as always. The week afterwards was crazy busy - monthly closing and budget in the same week. So glad it's weekend now!

Girl's weekend

On another note, it was shocking to hear the news about Steve Jobs. I've been reading a lot about him these days and this quote struck me:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

With this being said .. make the most of it and expect the unexpected! Enjoy the fall weekend!

Indian Summer

Fall is officially here, but this weekend summer is back! I'm soooo looking forward to this weekend, since .. 

1. Sunny 24 degrees! Calls for Hamburg's beach again ..

Sunny!!!

2. It will be a long weekend due to the German National Day on Monday, well the German Unification Day.

3. My girls are coming! They are two of my oldest friends that I know since high school. Sue, I have already known since I'm 10 and Sarah probably since the age of 12-13. Seems like ages ago! So a fun, busy weekend is planned. :)

Sarah, Sue & I - good times in Düsseldorf

4. Partying! Haven't been for so long! We scored some VIP tickets to an exclusive club in the city center of Hamburg.

5. October is around the corner, which means NEXT month I am having my well-deserved, long-awaited vacation. Technically it's still 6 weeks to go, but still it's next month. :)

***

Happy (long) weekend and enjoy the sun! More after the weekend!

Friday is finally here again!

Oh how I live for the weekend! This week went by pretty fast. Haven't done much after work (although it was more relaxed this week), but still felt so beat from before .. I'm getting old!

Monday was Mid-Autumn festival, but my family and I never really used to celebrate it, since we aren't very traditional Chinese .. nevertheless, I "celebrated" with my sis via Facetime while having dinner.

My sis was like: what's mid-autumny about sushi?

The sushi is from around the block, which is quick and quite okay - and manages to still my sushi cravings! :)

***

Today I received a package in the mail from my bestie - wow, thanks sooooo much!

Thanks, J - you're the best! xxx

Also, I will be going home tonight after work .. haven't been home since the beginning of August (which is long for me). Looking forward to being HOME! Now I need to pack quickly :P

Happy, happy weekend!

PS: my computer had a major crash this week and my hard drive is completely malfunctioning, which sucks big time. I guess I need to re-install Windows again .. but not today! Therefore, this was posted with the Blogger App .. Curious how that turns out!

PPS: turns out very unsatisfactory .. had to re-do it a couple of times .. :(

Update

I know I’ve been MIA for too long, but I didn’t feel like blogging, since I was so caught up with work lately .. so much for that. Having said that, I’ll start my top 11 news (it's 9/11 btw) from the past weeks with this ..

1. I broke my overtime hours record .. I have 100+ now. Not that I’m proud of it – I have no idea how I can compensate that, since I still have my full 30 vacation days .. 

not getting less ..

2. I am officially car-less now, but not before scoring another speeding ticket in the last weekend where I had the car. 

In Germany, they send you a charming picture to accompany the ticket ..

3. My mom and sis came two weeks ago to pick up the car and we spent a little time in Hamburg .. 

Their visit involved mainly eating ..

4. And we made earrings together .. which took us almost 2 frickin hours .. so I had to post it .. (all hand-made, of course):

Aren't they pretty?

5. After getting the newest Ikea catalogue in the mail, I went there immediately to check out the newest things .. unfortunately still no couch of my desire .. maybe I need to settle for something else?

Just bought a set of tools and new homes for my shoes :)

6. I had another "first" last week – I checked out the Hamburg beach, which is obviously not at the coast, but at the river that goes through Hamburg. It was definitely different from the usual beach, but also quite special, since you see huge containers and tourist boats coming by every now and then.

Hamburg Elbstrand

7. My youngest uncle and his wife just welcomed their first son in Hong Kong 3 weeks ago and it’s actually his birthday today, so happy birthday, uncle Tom! 

On another note, one of my colleagues also got a baby and I was in charge of buying a present, so I got him this:

A diaper cake! And a personalized pacifier chain.

8. My grandma facetimed me yesterday for the first time by her own and I was so surprised and so proud of her almost 80 years for being so modern and fit!

9. Summer is officially over after seeing people wearing gloves (!!) this week and already seeing Christmas stuff in the shops .. So ridiculous!

German "stollen" and gingerbread etc.

10. Biggest news of all: I just booked my tickets to Hong Kong TODAY for a steal! :D
However, the flight won't be until November, but the planning can begin now for sure! :)

Thanks to my overly caring mom!

11. As a matter of fact, I just got the wedding invitation of my one-and-only literal room mate in Hong Kong. I realized, the other day, that I had more than different 10 room-(well actually flat-)mates in my life, but Shirley is the only one, I shared the room with during my studies in Hong Kong. 

Shirley and I, 2008

She is getting married in November and I am thrilled for her and so happy I can be there on her big day. 

Such a fancy invitation (on my new place-mats)

 That's it for now. Hope I can keep up better next time! Keep warm .. ;-)

First time to the Ostsee

Just a short weekend recap since I'm exhausted!

I finally managed to go to the Ostsee (the German Baltic Sea) today! I've been to the Baltic Sea before last year on the Swedish, Finnish, Latvian and Estonian side but never in my life on the German side, although I've been living in Germany for nearly 20 years!

clockwise: the Baltic Sea in Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Latvia (I ♥ the last pic)!

The drive was a little tiring because, first, due to the Cyclassics (something like Tour de Hamburg), half of the city was blocked and I have to go throughout the whole city to get to the direction of Berlin (I went to Schwerin to pick up Uli). It took me more than 40-frickin-minutes to get out of the city .. At the end of the day, Uli and I almost covered 400km together (HH-Schwerin and back is 230km)!

We first went to Boltenhagen, a small spa town, to relax and sunbath for nearly 2 hours (yay to no sun allergies!!).

We actually had to pay a "fee" for using the beach ..

Then continued driving to the island Poel, which is a very picturesque and cute town.

Timmendorf Strand at Poel (no not Timmendorfer Strand)

I guess this is my only short get-away for now, since I am car-less from next week on. My sis will need the car for her studies and since I don't really need a car in Hamburg, she will pick it up. And my Asia vacation won't be until mid-November (still 3 looong months to go!!!). Still hoping for a spontaneous trip though .. 

***

On Saturday, I finally tried out Sushi Circle, an AYCE restaurant near the Jungfernstieg and I must say that it was better than expected. It was a rotating sushi restaurant that served other things than usual sushi restaurants (next to the basics), which was refreshing for a change and also a good alternative to Düsseldorf! 

Small selection of my countless plates ..

That's it for now .. enjoy the late summer! :)

Seven things

Instead of a lot of words, just seven things on a rainy Sunday ..

Queen Mary 2 in Hamburg

The Queen Mary 2 ship was in Hamburg for the last time this year, so I took the opportunity to go out and take some shots .. 

Some shots of the Queen

"Diner en blanc"

Then I came across this awesome event in my neighbourhood - Diner en Blanc, which is adapted from France. People gather together all dressed up in white to have dinner outside on the streets. I HAVE to join next time! So fancy!

Simple cooking (penne with fresh basil and baby mozzarella)

Simple desserts - Yoghurt with fresh blackberries

Work out

Finally starting my work out! Friday after work I went, did more than an hour on the step and cycle, and joined a dance course .. I intend to go twice a week - and on top of that squash. Hope I can stick to that! As soon as I get home from work, I get too comfortable, therefore I have to go straight after work!

More goodies ..

I exchanged my old shampoo for this Fekkai shampoo, which is supposed to be really good and used by many celebrities. Apparently it's a "shine-enhancing shampoo infused with pure olive oil extract which gently cleanses and adds luster to normal or dull hair" .. Well my hair does feel softer, but it doesn't provide the shine I was anticipating for ..

***

That's it for now. Have a nice, sunny week, especially in HK, Nanning and Teneriffa! ;-)

Prada

As promised, my fashionable post. Last time when I went to Roermond, I treated myself to my first Prada handbag. :) 

Goofing around with the immensely huge Prada shopping bags

I was about 2 hours in the shop thinking about whether to purchase it or not, but in the end it's a life-long investment!

Here it is! :)

It's a big, black leather handbag with two short handles and an extra long handle for the shoulder. Inside is covered with light suede. It has two inside pockets, the bigger one with a zipper.

I ♥ the smell of leather!

***

Aaand I finally got to hang up the matching frame (which is why this post took so long) - with a hairspray can (since I don't have a hammer). :P

A little apartment therapy :)

It's a little tacky, but I like it, since it's plain and simple. I plan on putting a bookcase underneath it to store all my handbags!
And yes, it's adapted from the Gossip Girl, therefore tacky!

Living room in GG.

Goodies

Mission accomplished! 

Of course I got stuck in traffic jamS on my way back home last week .. As always, before I even leave Hamburg, I get stuck in front of the Elbtunnel - this time for about 45-frickin'-minutes and then shortly before Düsseldorf (work traffic), which made me arrive after my dad's afternoon break. But I went straight to his work and kinda jumped out of the wardrobe and he was surprised! It was everything he wished for - to have the family together on his birthday. After work we toasted with champagne and had mango cake, I picked up earlier from the Torii Bar at Hotel Nikko in Düsseldorf. The weekend was the usual, having drinks, food, did some shopping and actually waitressing at the restaurant! People are very generous at the end of the month ;-)

Pic bf having drinks, birthday cake & champagne, Naniwa in Düsseldorf

This time, I had been craving for Naniwa's noodle soups, which is probably Düsseldorf's most famous Japanese noodle soup place. People actually queue in front of it - in all weathers! The noodle soups are huge - and they even add more veggies and an egg - for free, but you have to ask for it! Also the gyoza (dumplings, see r.a.) is very good there.

Queueing for food, which is very uncommon in Germany!

On Monday, I went to Maastricht and had dim sum with my granny and in the evening BBQ with the family, which turned into an entertaining night with guitar music, cake, people of 40+ doing the split and all kinds of liquor (..)

BBQ at grandma's - my dad's cake looks like a kids' cake!

Cute wine glass holders!

I got stuck into traffic on my way back - again on Tuesday afternoon - where do all the people come from??? This time it was an hour .. I hate waiting! Nevertheless, I get to know interesting (and less interesting) people on my ride! Soon I will have to give up the car and do everything by public transportation, bike (I don't really think so) and by foot again.

***

I love goodies from the US or Canada, to be exact! This is what I got from my aunt Stella (thx!):

Goodies from Bath & Body Works and MAC products

My sis, however, got the best goodie of all - an iPhone4!
And she got me my favorite haribo! 

White gummy bears! ♥ - 1kg of it!

Lately I have been trying out more functions of my phone and I facetimed with my family, which was hilarious! I also figured out how to use my personal hotspot, which can be so handy!

So funny, especially my grandma on the iPad and on the left my uncle eating noodles!

Closing week is here again next week, so it will be stressful, but on Friday there will be a department outing to a high wire park outside of Hamburg. Perfect ending to a busy work week!

PS: all iPhone pics again ..therefore the crappy quality!

PPS: almost ready for my fashionable post ;-)