Me just being me. Cooking, taking pictures of those foods, videos of me making them and some vlogs of my daily life. Just to document them for myself, but if anyone else likes reading/watching then yay~ ^-^
This is where my blogs will become more thorough. At this point in our vacation, two of the bfflz (best friends for lifez) have left to return to the extreme cold of Toronto. That left two of us to continue on with our journey to Korea. I am going to speak honestly and say I am obsessed with Korean pop culture, so for me to be able to go to Korea was mind boggling.
Warning: the dates will not match with previous two episodes because I will continue on with those later. I have left Beijing to head to Hong Kong to stay for the remainder of my journey (and Macau).
January 13, 2014 - We had an overnight flight to Incheon airport in Seoul. During breakfast at the hotel we were staying at in Hong Kong, two Korean ajummas (aunties) suddenly asked us something in Korean. At first I was like O____O wahhh.....then I clicked and actually ended up having a decent conversation with them! (Well...as decent as my broken half Korean will go) Needless to say, that conversation boosted my confidence in being able to survive our trip to Korea. We followed a tour on this, so I didn't need much of my abilities anyway XD
January 14, 2014 - Arrived at Incheon airport and had a 삼각 김밥 (Triangular rice ball) Oh man. These taste amazing <3 Waaaaayyyy more yummy than the ones I can get in Toronto. :( First stop was the ice gallery. We learned to make an ice mug! We then headed over to Insadong to look at their stationary and I had a 똥빵 - Doong bbang (poop bread). We had lunch, and went to the Women's University market where we went just a tad crazy on skin care ;) Then we went to a tiny seafood like restaurant with an amazing view and had a super yummy plain dinner and called it a night.
Mine and Janet's ice cups :)
Beautiful ice land <3
닭갈비 - dalk-kalbi. Chicken, cabbage, rice cake and rice stir fried in a big pan/pot. It was super yummy
Oh how I wanted to go over and kiss this display. GDragon paper statue in front of the Saem (A skincare and cosmetics store).
The panoramic view outside of the small seafood restaurant. So calm and nice.
버섯전골 - pork belly with cabbage and assorted mushrooms soup. You eat this with rice and the side dishes provided.
I hope you have enjoyed the trip so far! In the next post, I will be showing you a ski resort in Korea. The same one where they filmed Winter Sonata. The place was super beautiful!
I hope you are all ready for another suuuuuuper long post, because episode two of my trip is here! This post will be on my trip to Beijing. We didn't follow a tour group here because my stepmom has relatives here, so we had one of her cousins bring us around. During this time, we braved the trek of the Great Wall of China, visited the Forbidden Palace, Heavenly Temple, and the Summer Palace. We also managed to eat local cuisine. For a more in-depth view of my vacation, feel free to hop over to my BFF's blog where she made one post per place we were at. http://jygsawpuzzle.blogspot.com/
So first stop, we took the train to Beijing. I really wanted to experience taking a train to visit other cities just like the locals would, so I pestered my BFFs about this for a while before our trip.
This train station was the biggest I have ever seen. We don't have anything like this in Canada. It looked like an airport to me. o_o
The first meal we had in Beijing was homemade JaJangMyeon (Black bean sauce noodles). This was super duper delicious. The only other time I had this was Korean instant noodles. FYI, Beijing Strawberries are ridiculously sweet. Even the most ripe strawberries we can buy in Toronto can't rival them.
January 6, 2014 - We woke up at 6am to have breakfast and get ready for our trek on the Great Wall. The section we went to was not the normal ones tourists go to, we went to Jin Shan Ling. The normal one people go to would be BaDaLing. The reason why this one is worth mentioning is because of the fact that there was literally not another soul up there climbing with us. That made it more of a private and beautiful experience, not to mention the great photos with no random human behind you! We then went to a small restaurant near-ish to the area and got fresh sashimi. A kitty gave us a surprise visit while we were eating and scared the crap out of me. It jumped up on the seat beside me and pretty much wanted to eat from my plate. Cute, but scary at the same time.
Taking a short break to enjoy the view and catch our breaths.
Not a human in view! I am Queen of the Wall! :D
We managed to go on the first snow in Bejing. This gave us a different, but still beautiful view. The trek was a bit harder since the steps were slippery.
This plate of sashimi was heavenly.
January 7, 2014 - We visited the Forbidden Palace and the Heavenly Temple and experienced the temple of echos. Then we had some traditional Peking Duck to compare it to ones we can have in Toronto. I gotta say, it is soooooo much crispier compared to Toronto ducks. ;)
Another candid Jumping photo of course ;)
Looks like we are the only ones there! But really, there was a line up behind our heads.
Part of Heavenly Temple area. :)
I wasn't feeling too well that day so I had to wear a mask. :(
Look at how glossy that is. I am salivating as I type this...
January 8, 2014 - The Summer Palace. This was where the concubines would to go "play" and spend time. There is a restaurant that looks like a boat and is on the river. Super beautiful place.
A type of candy art. Melted sugar, then you blow into it to make shapes. We provided the air, and the skilled man provided the shaping of the sugar. From left to right: Snake, Horse, Rabbit, Dragon.
The beautiful boat restaurant at the Summer Palace. I want to dine there too.
January 9, 2014 - We had homemade wontons and prepared to head to Hong Kong. Our visit to Beijing was too short. When I have a next time to head back, I will definitely spend much more time there to see and eat more things. :3
Huge group shot of my stepmom's cousin's family. I had an awesome time!
As I mentioned above, if you want more details on everything, visit my BFF's blog. This is just a quick overview because she already posted more in-depth ones. My in-depth blogs will come in due time ;) I hope this has sparked an interest for everyone to just slow down and enjoy the beauties in our surroundings. Look at the way the trees sway, the way your food smells, the smiles on your family's faces. I'm not going to lie and say I never have a bad day and hate myself and everyone/everything around me, but I'm trying my best to calm down and see the good in everything. It's really hard to do, but baby steps mean everything.
Humans of the interwebs!
I would like to invite you to share my experience at my close friend's wedding. This is the first ever Pakistani wedding I have ever went to. I have heard that they run from 2-3 days long, but unfortunately, I was only able to attend one of those days. I am also going to respect the couple's wishes and none of the pictures where they could be identified will be posted.
The wedding was at Maple Banquet Hall. A nice sized place for a cozy wedding. I loved the place, and it was decorated beautifully. During this day of the wedding, the ladies and gentlemen were separated in their own sections.
The theme was red and white I think. :)
This is the table I was sitting at.
This is where the bride sat for the whole evening. We got to take pictures and chat with her.
I got there on time (7pm) and turns out that you technically don't have to be there on time. People starting milling in from 7:40-8:20. Then the appetizers started at around 9ish. Main course was served at 10:30ish and then dessert at 11. All in all a super long night filled with pictures and food.
Her henna was done beautifully! And the dress!!!
I only managed to take a picture of the dessert, but I absolutely loved the coffee cake. The little coffee cup design they put on it with chocolate was just adorable.
That is all I can share for you! It was a most amazing time and I loved it. I wish the couple a most happy and long marriage filled with love and care. If you have experiences with other weddings please let me know! I'm at that age where everyone around me is getting engaged and married...lol
Greetings~
This will be episode one of many episodes. I will try to put in the highlights of my trip and tell funny stories. For other shots of the same trip for this episode, feel free to drop by my bff's blog at: http://jygsawpuzzle.blogspot.com/
My vlogs are hideous. I get nauseated just trying to edit them. I will try my best to salvage what I can show the world to the best of my abilities and post them later on. :)
Moving on, I left the great land of Canada on December 29, 2013 and arrived at the land of Shanghai Asians on December 30, 2013. The first thing I have to say is that we totally underestimated how much we would need to be able to speak Mandarin. All four of us were Cantonese speakers and we couldn't ask for help at all at the airport. That all changed after a few days though (I have some background with Mandarin and just needed some practice :3)
The next day, we went to the temple in Shanghai and tasted the Xiao Long Bao that were famous there. We also went into a super cutesy anime store.
Taste testing the Xiao Long Bao. SOooooo yummy <3
Me and BFF attempting to make the kitty faces ... I say we succeeded ;)
We took a long bus ride to Hangzhou, a neighbouring city. We went on a short boat ride on the West River here at sunset, and then watched an evening acrobatic show (it wasn't very impressive). This is also where I lost my camera, which is why I need the footage from my friends to complete my blogging/vlogging. *sad face* We "celebrated" New Year's Eve sleeping.
Extremely beautiful shot of a temple in the background during sunset.
Me attempting to give myself a temple hat. :) Yep. I'm awesome like that. Just in case you want to know...yes, that is the same temple in the gorgeous photo above. Obviously taken a little before sunset.
On January 1, 2014, we visited a tea farm and emporium to celebrate the new year with good health. Then, we continued on with our journey and went to Nanjing. Here, we climbed up to Mr. Sun's resting place via 392 steps and with that accomplishment, we slept soundly.
Beautiful bag of fresh Dragon Well tea at the tea farm/emporium. Pricey, but worth it. The taste is superb.
Looking at the 392 steps from the top. Amazing how it looks like nothing, but it felt like crap walking up =\
January 2, 2014, we visited a museum of sorts. They displayed and sold crystal art pieces (the art is drawn from the inside of the crystal). Then we visited a Jade store and was educated on how to tell the difference between a real and man-made Jade. Now onto the wonderful land of Wuxi.
I made a vlog and finally finished editing! It is in parts, and part one includes videos up to this day. So here you are, I hope you enjoy it :)
We were able to visit a lake where all the pearls are farmed, and I scored myself a pair of pretty pearl earrings that day. We were also educated on how to tell apart real and man-made pearls at the store.
We got to play with pearls XD Not sure if I felt rich or awkward about this...
As January 3, 2014 rolled by, we visited the world's largest standing Buddha. I also bought a good luck/health charm for my family. We also went onto the next city called Suzhou. Here, we visited one of the older gardens/houses and then took a 50 minute boat ride listening to the local songs. We also ate a special crab that is super delicious from here (dungeoness crab)
We couldn't resist taking a jumping photo here, they are never perfect, but we love them like that ;)
Here's another part of the vlog! I have kept editing and updating...so I'm sorry if the first time you clicked you didn't get video.
This garden was truly breathtaking with its serenity and beauty.
My BFFs just snapped this picture of me and told me I make a great model for "emo" like photos.
What can I say? I have a dark side ;)
These beauties tasted great, but were a pain to open up and eat.
On January 4, 2014, we visited a silk factory in Suzhou. This is where we learned the benefits of silk worm poop! Apparently it has the ability to make you sleep sounder. All you need is a baggie of silk worm poop under your pillow and you are set. I was very tempted to buy some of this for my boyfriend and dad, but I could hear them scold me for paying $25CAD for a bag of poop. So that was the end of that.
After that, we went on the bus to go back to Shanghai for a second look of it. Here, we visited another pearl/jade store, and the funniest thing happened. It happened like all the others where we went in for a "presentation" from the place first. Then as the sales associate was speaking to us, another sales came in and said "The owner heard that there were foreign Chinese here, and wishes to speak with them." And so the fun begins. In walks this chubby-ish Chinese guy decked out in gold and ruby and jade. He says how he doesn't own this place and he doesn't know anything about jade, and he is the owner's son. He also wants to give us all a piece of jade as a gift, and one of the sales said "But sir, that one is really expensive! 1400HKD!" The "owner" just says "That number means nothing! These are my friends! And my friends are my father's friends. I will pay for them all! Bring them to me and hand them out to these kind people!" It was great.
We watched another acrobatics show after all that excitement. This one ended up to be much better that the first. Other than losing my camera, I would have to say that I had a lot of fun during this part of the trip. Next time in Chrissy Travels, I will bring you to Beijing.
I'm a princess ;)
This was taking in a mall. We were exploring and saw this and decided to have some fun with it.
Hello humans!
This past weekend was interesting! I got to have a spontaneous dessert eating opportunity with my boyfriend and his best friend, and I got to hang out with my girlies! This time I was a good girl and took pictures of my desserts before I ate them. XD
WARNING: The following are mouthwatering photos of desserts we got from Sugar Marmalade. I apologize for any drooling I may cause you.
My mango drink! This had creamy mango juice, coconut milk, tiny sago balls, and aloe chunks.
Our friend got this desert. It had tiny sago balls, glutinous rice balls, coconut milk, ice cream and mixed fruits. Mmmm....
My boyfriend decided to get a Taiwanese styled mango shaved ice.
My dessert. Coconut milk, mixed fruits with black glutinous rice on the bottom. Very filling.
Then on Saturday, I had a hangout with some of my girlies. I didn't take many pictures of that because I wanted to enjoy and savour my time with them and just forget about life for a while. However, we managed to take this picture.
Found a Monstrous Strawberry in the pack along with a normal sized one. Needless to say, we ate the giant strawberry happily ;)
Anywhoooooos, I have a lot of the blogs done now. The vlogs are taking much, MUCH longer because I have no idea why I was moving my hand/camera so much while filming. So I have gotten slightly nauseated while editing, meaning I do not wish to put everyone through that. So after I try to salvage the good parts, I will post something up. For now, please look forward to episode one of my trip. Shanghai!
It's been a while...I apologize. I will hopefully start to put up my trip to Asia soon. I have gotten quite lazy, and I have a part time job now sooooo........(excuses) Anyway~ during a short trip to a little town named Hanmer for my part time job, I decided to have a meal out there and take pictures for you guys. Why? Because the place was packed and the food was pretty delicious ;)
The little place was called Big Al's
Upon further research, I learned that it is also called Leslie's Charbroil & Grill.
They were extremely packed! Everyone who went in was like "woah...."
This was a little menu of specials on one side. They had a more extensive menu on the other side.
I ordered the 3 pieces chicken with Caesar salad.
Okay, so...I REALLY wanted to do a proper blog about this and take pictures of the food and all that. But knowing me, something had to go wrong right? Correct. I totally forgot to take pictures of the food. So my partner says "why don't you just take pictures of your finished food? How you demolished it." And that is exactly what I did. The portions were much larger than I expected and I couldn't finish all of it, but boyyy was it delicious.
Caesar salad left overs...Mainly croutons because I don't really like those things.
My chicken remains. I swear, these pieces of chicken tasted 100x better than KFC or Chester Chicken. <3
I actually wanted to have the Fish & Chips, but decided that the chicken looked heavenly. If I ever get a chance to go back, I will have to try their stuff again. <3 My pain PC is back from the shop, so hopefully I will be back to work with more videos and blogs to come!
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