Simply 2 Fine: January 2013

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Summer Spice

Decjuba Spice Maxi Dress / Nine West Sandals

Hi! How are you doing?

If you had a Grandma who loves gardening, your backyard fence would look like this lol, I have two living with me hence we have Banana looking leafs growing along our fences. These are actual leafs from an eatable root like Yam/Potato in my backyard.

Top: Decjuba Spice Maxi Dress (The Splice Maxi Dress is 100% silk with a polyester lining. Featuring an alternating colour and print panels at the front, the Decjuba Splice Maxi Dress has a scooped neckline, shoestring straps and an asymmetric hem to the back. It has a soft, light weight silk fabric, on trend summer look).

Sandals: Nine West Flats

Enjoy the rest of your days… ladies and gents stay beautiful, healthy, wealthy and wise
xox take care :)

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with anything above, everything on my blog is my honest opinions, so I am not being paid or given free products to review or promote. My opinions are of personal experience and thoughts, so feel free to comment if you agree or disagree so I can also learn more from you.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Casual Attire for Wandering

Cairns / Puma Navy Red Bull Tank Top / Bardot Shorts

Rockefeller / Central Park / Tommy Hilfiger Red Breton stripes crew-neck kid’s knit top / Bardot Shorts / Steve Madden Thongs

Hi! How are you doing?

This is my casual look, I found these Bardot Shorts on the sale rack for $5 and thought “Great price, great for summer”. This Tommy Hilfiger Red Breton stripes crew-neck kid’s knit top were also on special at the Vegas Premium Outlet, size 14 was the largest kid’s size in store, and I found this for $10! It was cold while it rained so this top and plastic poncho kept me dry and warm.

In America after two weeks of walking in my cheapo flats, they were seriously over due for the rubbish bin, so while in New York I went in search for a cheap pair of flats in size 5/35. All stores were closing down, except for some “Foot locker” store and casual sports shoe shop at 11pm, finally found a pair of Steve Madden leather thongs for $27! Havana thongs are about the same price, but these look dressier than rubber thongs so I chose this over Havana. Travelling with males, they restrict all shopping time to a minimum, so at any opportunity I get to shop I would.

In QLD I substituted the knit for a Puma Red Bull navy tank due to the hot weather. This tank was “FREE” I got it as uniform when I was selling Formula 1 Grand Prix merchandise several years ago.

Enjoy the rest of your days… ladies and gents stay beautiful, healthy, wealthy and wise
xox take care :)

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Mossman Gorge OOTD

TEMT yellow lace top / H&M Shorts and thin patent belt 

Hi! How are you doing?

It was a hot new years day in Cairns, so we decided to go to QLD's Mossman Gorge, it was a magnificent place, with fishes, heaps of tourist and cold clear waters, all surrounded by tropical rainforest.

The heat was expelled by the many canopies of trees … refreshing and cooling. I didn’t prepare any bathers to Mossman Gorge, so I gave swimming a miss.

Enjoy the rest of your days… ladies and gents stay beautiful, healthy, wealthy and wise
xox take care :)

Monday, January 21, 2013

Silky Blue ZARA OOTD

Hi! How are you doing?

On my occasional summer vacations, I would pack lightly and in-expensively just in-case I lose an item or two during the trip, I wouldn't get so devo.

These are images taken during my visit to PHI PHI Island (Phuket, Thailand) and Port Douglas (QLD, Australia), snorkeling adventure.

As you can see I’m not a swimmer, I go for the experience, but I was scared shitless – worst fear, drowning (yep I can’t swim), and OMG motion sickness is not my best friend. I was sick for several days after that snorkeling adventure in Thailand due to the small rocky long boat however I was fine on the QLD speed boat out to see the corals on the Great Barrier Reef.

Dress: A Blue Silk dress with bright floral print from Zara ($20!), it’s a flowy dress with a high split on either sides, it 100% silk hence gets wrinkled easily (especially in my suitcase). I usually cover myself with something like this on top of my bathers to hide my boney figure.

To shorten this dress so it wouldn’t get wet, I would tie it into a knot or tuck it right under my bathers (As you can see in the photo).

Sandals: Nine West America - $19

So I guess this out fit of mine was under $40!!!
Oh not really, Coach sunnies was a gift from the BF (does that count?) and the hat was taken from my Grandma's wardrobe heheheh she got it for $5 during our short weekend to Sydney

What’s your must pack item during your summer holidays?

Enjoy the rest of your days… ladies and gents stay beautiful, healthy, wealthy and wise
xox take care :)

on land after feeling sea sick! Yes I did spew up, gross i know

holding onto dear life in my life jacket and hanging by my boyfriend

Blue Silk Zara Printed Dress / Nine West Sandals

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Something Borrowed

Alannah Hill Yellow "Something Borrowed" Dress / Tony Bianco Yellow Stilettos

Hi! How are you doing?

Yellow, yellow like the sun
Yellow yellow, everyone!
Bright yellow from heart, mind to soul
Feel the light from head to toe!
Bam bam boom boom !
Embrace the yellow or be a baboon

Yellow is for charming smilies
for youth, exuberance and cowardice
yellow is for warmth and inspiration
to make people smile is its purpose.

Thought I’d share a gift I got from my twin sister, even though I am a terrible walker and poser in high heels with my bowed uneven legs and all, she gifted me a pair of Yellow Tony Bianco stilettos, which were irresistible – smiles all around. She said it was on special for $28AUD hehehehe, another bargain find!

It was difficult to find an item that would pair nicely with these pumps, so I decided to go old fashion and colour match it to my lacey Alannah Hill A-line luxuriously embroidered, sheer silk floral frock! With it's Parisian flair and bold elegance. As usual Alannah Hill would give each her clothing item a name, this dress is called “Something Borrowed Dress”.

What colour are you matching up today?

Enjoy the rest of your days… ladies and gents stay beautiful, healthy, wealthy and wise
xox take care :)

Monday, January 14, 2013

Old Kingdom Glory

Hi! How are you doing?

Another Chinese/Asian restaurant in the heart of our iconic Collinwood suburb, so don’t expect that exceptional welcoming gesture and greetings from your usual restaurant visits. On a good day, the guy that serves you may be humorous other days you may just get a man whose attitude is “I did my job, can I go now?”

I hear most complaints are from take-away customers, maybe they are not ordering the specialty on the menu.

TIP: order restaurant’s specialty dishes, not boring stir fried rice and spring rolls with honey chicken and sweet sour pork then expect to be “WOOWED”.

Old Kingdom is known for their “Peking Duck” (another term for Beijing, just old fancy English), oven spit roast duck specially blown out skin to give you that extra succulent crispy skin.

A whole duck would feed at least 2 adult, and its only $55… for 3 separate dishes (literally 3 course meal).

$55 deal includes:

Whole Peking duck + pancake + plum sauce + cucumber + spring onion root.
Duck soup with tofu
Stir fried duck with bean sprouts

this is Stir fried duck with bean sprouts - it was tasty =)

At the speed of the service and the price combined it’s like a Peking duck fast food joint without the derogatory sense. Well the place does look run down but it’s an icon in Collinwood.

the catering guy was cutting duck with awesome knife skills – my camera couldn’t even capture a good shot (may have had it on the wrong mood).

Above is my pictorial to how to eat Peking Duct.

The pancake is paper thin so I didn't get sick of it, it complimented well with everything else on the table
Cucumber and spring onion root, isn’t necessary but it gives it a refreshing and crunchy contrast
Succulent juicy, crispy skin, no fat duck meat, well cooked and marinated to perfection
Best Peking Plum Sauce ever

Then Fold, Fold, Fold and Wrap

Extras that was order:

Sweet, hot sour soup - average didn't tickle my fancy

Fried rice was ordinary, nothing spectacular

the reason why we usually order extra stir fried veges/ fresh veges in general is because it goes hand in hand with most meat and helps us digest our food more quickly so we can eat more without getting sick of the same meaty taste in our mouth.

My final worlds: I dare say this is the best Peking duck in Melbourne and many restaurants in Beijing (I have eaten in one of the best Peking duck restaurant in Beijing and must admit for something in Australia to be so authentic its great!!!) A MUST EAT. I always go back to enjoy this goodness.

Can you recommend me a good Peking duck restaurant?

Enjoy the rest of your days… ladies and gents stay beautiful, healthy, wealthy and wise
xox take care :)

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Flapper & Dapper

Review Flapper dress / Louis Vuitton Vernis Clutch / Nine West Pumps

Hi! How you doing?

Flapper, the era of the 1920’s, describing of young birds learning to flap their wings. Wearing short skirts, bobby hairstyles drinking, listening and dancing to jazz, smoking, wearing excessive makeup, and treating sex as the norm (less limitations and taboo).

Flapper dresses were straight and loose, leaving the arms bare and dropping the waistline to the hips.

Here’s what I found at “Review” (Australian Brand) where they’ve made a great rendition of a so called “modern Flapper”, and “Dapper” for the classic clean cut with sequined arrow and diamond pattern, decorated with false crystals and rhinestones, and a very low cut “V-Neck” line. Its part of their limited edition line in 2012 and this pastel teal colour makes my day just a little cooler ;) in our summer sun.

I added my Louis Vuitton Vernis Clutch as an accessory and on my foot is a pair of grayish nude pair of pumps from Nine West.

What colour do you prefer to wear in summer?

Enjoy the rest of your days… ladies and gents stay beautiful, healthy, wealthy and wise
xox take care :)

Friday, January 11, 2013

Culinary Shock! LING NAM

Hi! How you doing?

Have you ever had a favourite restaurant where the food and price is fabulous, but the service and staff are ridiculously bad ass?

Well let me introduce you to “LING NAM” the place for great food but bad services. It’s in the heart of Melbourne's CBD - China Town, the owners and staff here are mostly Chinese (from Hong Kong to be exact), they speak multiple languages ie. Vietnamese and Mandarin but mostly Cantonese (its one of those blunt heavy dialect, they sound as if they are swearing all the time – no offence to Cantonese people, hence you’d find them rude, that’s just part of their culture). Waiters are quick on their toes in Hong Kong, from once you sit down (they expect you to know what you want in 5mins), after ordering the first dish, it should not take longer than 15mins to come out. You see, to them time is money, its valuable, so they become pushy, you come in (its rare to have a meet and greet session and “what’s on the special menu tonight” kinda convo) and you finish with a full stomach having everything served to you as ordered, that’s a job well done on their behalf.
Do you know why there are so many Asians who eat here? It’s because Crown Casino is an Asian filled place located near the CBD, once these gamblers are done at Crown they feast at LING NAM, it’s the norm (regular habit they tend to do), they become regulars and hence the staff doesn’t really care about new or old customers. Who else would know what’s good and what’s bad Chinese food, but the creators themselves – THE CHINESE! So it must be good food to be filled with Asians and customers for a very long period of time.

A few years back they were caught out by the food hygiene council, they re-opened again after they cleaned up their mess (lets hope they stay that way)

TIP: if you like Chinese/ Asian food, find Chinese/Asian friends to recommend you a place to dine, Italian food (find Italian people for tips), Greek Food (find Greek people to ask)… so on and so forth.

Don’t expect much from them, you are just there to eat their food, and it’s GREAT FOOD for the price you pay.

Lets get into the dishes I usually order (from the top of my head without the menu - yes I'm a regular here) majority are all good to the taste buds, not too salty not too sweet:

Ling Nam sign at the front door

Lobster with XO Sauce

Pipis in XO Sauce - gotta order extra Chinese Fried Doughnut to dip into that sauce

Steamed Oysters with XO Sauce

Live Fresh Water Shrimp/Prawns from their tank fastly deep fried with Salt and Pepper - its cruel to eat this because the prawns are still alive before being thrown into the frying pan, but theirs nothing like fresh prawn, its amazing (my favourite). They charge per pound, I think its $60/$80 per pound depending on the season.

Crab & Shark Fin Soup. I prefer their sweet and sour soup (didn't eat it this time so couldn't take a photo for this post)

Mud Crab in XO Sauce... YES WE LOVE OUR XO (and its not a alcohol)

I hope I didn’t offend anyone =) It’s just a cultural shock to see such rudeness in a culinary context (but it's actually really normal), do you know of other cultural behaviours that are not normal to the majority of our population? Feel free to comment.

Enjoy the rest of your days… ladies and gents stay beautiful, healthy, wealthy and wise
xox take care :)

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Wish You Wear Here!

Coach Sunglasses / GLASSON WISH YOUWERE HERE Swim wear

Hi! How you doing?

I’ve just arrived back in Melbourne from an end of year trip in Sydney, Cairns and Port Douglas. Our hotel apartment had a few good pools in Port Douglas, so what did we do once we found ourselves in the midst of all that glorious smelting sun?

I got myself into this poolside silhouette classic black and white polka dot one piece cut and started posing LOL! It’s a rare site for me to be in bathers, due to my embarrassing no bust flat silhouette frame. And am not a fan of tanning, its just the culture I’ve been brought up in, it’s taught me beauty is when you’re purely white inside and out – stuff that mumbo jumbo! Tan or not, I’m going in for a swim (even though I don’t know how to).

I love this one piece, it reminds me of the era when female became more liberated with their bodies, showing off what great curves they had. It’s of vintage and retro flash back to the 1940s and 1950s, this great rendition of a piece was bought from “GLASSON” on special for $25 (last size 6, bargain! It made my day). This was from their 2012 Swimwear Collection under the brand “WISH YOUWERE HERE”.

How did you spend you holiday? What is your favourite sort of swimwear?

Enjoy the rest of your days… ladies and gents stay beautiful, healthy, wealthy and wise
xox take care :)