Wednesday 25 April 2012

Princess PTT out and about...

Princess PTT and I did a little post pre-school retail therapy today. On the way down to town, Princess PTT always likes to stop and look at Mrs B's Cakery's latest offerings. She's now coveting this creation for her next birthday party... 


I have until December so I may be able to afford the top tier by then.

Please note that Princess PTT is wearing shorts! This has been a major fashion victory on my part as previously Princess PTT would never condone anything below her hips that didn't consist of a twirling skirt. We have now negotiated a deal whereby if she succumbs to shorts one day, she can wear a dress the next. Don't get me wrong, I love a little girl in a dress, but I love wardrobe variety even more!  

In other news, Princess PTT has discovered the joys of the iPhone 4S camera and likes to use it with gay abandon whenever she can. Do I predict a future junior PTT blog? Perhaps! Here's a great visual she took of her leg complete with her favourite sparkly heels...

Yours,

Pseudo Tai Tai xx

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Zhuhui Shopping Trip

For years, I've been wanting to take the PTT blog readers on a trip to that little known region over the Chinese border, Zhuhai. I'd heard whispers about it being the Shangri-La of furniture as this factory or that factory makes the furniture for this or that incredible top western designer regularly featured in Vogue Living. I had to see it for myself! I had visions of the PTT Brisbane Headquarters looking like the pages of a glossy magazine! This trip could change my life!

The Zhuhai trip has never been the easiest endeavour though as:

1. You need a car and driver to do the area justice and you need to fill that car with five friends to make the trip affordable
2. You can find very little information about where to go on the Internet so you are at the mercy of your driver and what you can cobble together from your stylish Tai Tai friends who would never actually admit to purchasing their amazing pieces in Zhuhai anyway....
3. English is not as widely spoken as our other favourite Chinese shopping destination, Shenzhen

C's impending move back to Australia was the perfect excuse to finally see what Zhuhai was all about....

We were picked up by our trusty driver, F, at 7:30 am. People, if you want a good driver in China, F is your man! He's ours though so you need to join the PTT blog to get his details. Here is trusty driver F neatly negotiating his way through the perils of China highways...

                                  

Our party of 5 included C, S, our new to the PTT blog friends M and J and yours truly, PTT.

It was 3.5 hour drive to get to our first destination, so you can't say we aren't dedicated shoppers...

Thankfully, C had organised us all to bring lunch to share on the way there and wine to toast our hopeful shopping victory on the way back.

That girl C can make a mean chicken sandwich...

                                

Our first stop was a factory that M had been whispered about. Yes people, this is a visual of a typical outside of a factory where all your 'made in china' goodies are manufactured. Pretty, it ain't....


Did you hear the one about when the two western girls entered the factory? No seriously, the factory workers and locals were extremely polite and pretty much just carried on with their work as we thundered around poking things. This was an "antiques" factory - but they can also make to order! Yes, I WILL have two of those 100 year old hand painted cabinets please!



Here I am working my way up an aisle. I wasn't in the market for anything... C leaving was just a good excuse for me to have a snoop around for future furniture purchases...


If I was in the market for something, I would have liked to have purchased this Mongolian style side table...


Even though J and I just met the morning of the Zhuhai excursion, we seem to have very similar tastes in home decorating. Here's a chinese-esque table painted in a drool worthy Scandinavian grey-blue-green colour scheme that we both coveted. I know it is not a traditional Chinese colour to use but why can't they do more like this????


By the time we emerged from the gloomy factory interior, the locals had gathered to stare at us. Never rude, mind you, just with wide-eyed fascination...  


Factory number 2. Another of M's contacts. This one allegedly manufactured tables similar to a brand that we all covet in Hong Kong but at a much cheaper wholesale price...


Here's F our trusty driver having a chat with one of the furniture stainers just out of view to the left...



It was obviously red paint day in the factory...


I liked this stool, Obviously no one else did as it seemed to have been there a while...


Very interesting Canadian destination boxes...


Poor old J. I think the wet dog stench combined with the lunch time aroma combined with the varnish smell of the factory was getting a bit too much for her by this stage...


The trip up the stairs was worth it... the furniture was exactly what we were looking for!


They even had a bit of a "showroom" type arrangement. Please note I use the term "showroom" extremely loosely...


Once they knew what we were looking for, they took us to their other factory down the road that manufactured similar items...


Here I am, sticking out like a sore thumb...


Note the guys on the left.... they were all asleep on the tables when we walked in and are having a stretch in this photo. Remember when you next buy a piece of 'made in china' furniture... someone has probably slept on it at some point!


The extend able table that M coveted... I hope we are invited to her dinner party to christen it...



Extend able table in non-extended mode....


All in all, the factories were a success. The tables were of excellent quality and an excellent price. The contacts that M had painstakingly made via email before our trips had mysteriously 'disappeared' so some of the prices which had previously been quoted to her were suddenly a little elaborated. However, the tables were still way cheaper than anything you could get in Hong Kong which is way cheaper than anything you could get in Australia.

C ordered one and M and I have email contacts and will probably order one soon. Trusty driver F offered to take us to another 'antique' showroom. We declined as we'd had enough by then. The prices of the 'antiques' were not bargain basement and we are all of the opinion that some pieces are nice in your home but you need to be careful as when you eventually go back to Australia your house could scream "I ONCE LIVED IN CHINA!!!".

With homemade Afghan biscuits in hand, we then toddled on to a modern furniture shopping centre...

Obviously business is booming in China as new shops were opening everywhere...


If you are in the market, I can tell you where to get these mud crab chairs. They would be a great talking point in any seaside home...


Trusty driver F then took us the the Shenzhen home ware centre for a quick browse on the way back to Hong Kong. C purchased some more furniture, we all got nick-nacks, trusty driver F organised his minions to pack the van with all our goodies, and we drove merrily back to Hong Kong with plastic glasses of wine in hand. 


What a day!

Remember, I never said this was a blog about world peace...

Yours,

Pseudo Tai Tai xx

Monday 23 April 2012

You might as well call PTT's HK Headquarters Seminyak...

I thought you'd like to see some of the little gems I picked up on our recent trip to Bali....

First is this twee Balinese umbrella that can shield my warrior statue as he prances around the apartment....


Makes a nice vignette - don't you think?


Next, is this very useful decorative silver purse that will occasionally moonlight as an evening bag. Watch this space for its future outings in the streets of Hong Kong...


Finally, there is this basket come candle holder come plant holder that has also recently been my Bali to Hong Kong hand luggage. I couldn't resist its pleasing rotund form....

                                                  

Whilst we are on the subject of decorating, here at the PTT HK Headquarters, the turn of season requires a turn of cushion. I picked these jaunty little numbers up at that wonder known at the Lane Crawford Warehouse. Here they are in their plump-tastic ready for spring glory....



Its now Autumn in Australia and Spring in Hong Kong so you have no excuse, get out there and re-cushion!

Yours, 

Pseudo Tai Tai xx

Sunday 22 April 2012

Wah Kee Seafood Restaurant, Lantau Island

C and I, our assorted Mr's and the kids ventured to Lantau Island today by way of the Mui Wo ferry to try Wah Kee Seafood restaurant. Personally, I think that Hong Kong's outer island seafood restaurants do the best Chinese food in Hong Kong. Maybe it's because we are eating outside? Maybe it's the seafood influenced menu? Whatever the reason, the food to me tastes most like 'Australian Chinese'. 

Here's the obligatory cheers shot...


We started with fried rice which had shredded lettuce through it. I've never seen that before and it was actually very nice.


We then moved onto scallops with broccoli... Unfortunately they didn't have my favourite dish of scallops in their shell on a bed of garlicky glass vermicelli. This was OK but not what I was craving...


The dry fried chilli crab went so fast that I only got 1/2 a photo!...


The calamari with spiced salt was a hit with the junior PTT brigade...


This was my personal favourite - sweet and sour prawns with pineapple. Now, before you roll your eyes and have visions of 'lets play find the prawn in the batter whilst it swims around red food colouring goop', let me tell you that this was a testament to how this dish should be cooked. The prawns were coated in a batter so light that you were left wondering if there were any there at all. The sauce had a perfectly balanced sweet and sour tang and the capsicum and onion were crunchy. The only thing letting the dish down was the fact that they used tinned pineapple - but in a way it added to the dish's retro-tastic decadence.


Our after lunch entertainment was watching this boat try and drag up half the sea creatures from the bottom of the South China Sea in its massive net. I guess our lunch was swimming on Saturday morning.


 
The aftermath....


After lunch, we went for a digestif walk along the lovely bayside boulevard....


All in all a fantastic Sunday! If you are in Hong Kong, you should try it sometime!

Yours,

Pseudo Tai Tai xxx


Saturday 21 April 2012

Saturday night...

N has moved down the road to a bigger abode...

We were invited to a sausage sizzle on Saturday night but in typical N style, out came a lamb roast, assorted delicious New Zealand tipples and some carb-tastic roasted potatoes.

I took a 4 year old dressed immaculately in her new french dress but she disappeared within 3 minutes and was replaced by some sort of flower fairy. It didn't take long until she hooked up with spider man. It's amazing how a bowl of chips can bond children of a certain age...


The highlight of the evening was the BBQ-ed lamb in all its charred glory. I understand this is not a big deal for my antipodean readers, however, PPT's Hong Kong headquarters cannot accomodate a BBQ and most of the local restaurants can't grill meat properly so it was quite novel for us.


N - looking forward to many happy family Saturdays now that Summer is upon us!

Yours,

Pseudo Tai Tai xxx

Wedding Anniversary Thank You!

Just a note to say...

Thank you to Nanny PTT, Grandad PTT, Brother PTT and his lovely girlfriend Y for the anniversary flowers...




And to Granny and Grandmax for the anniversary card...

                                      

And to Poppa for his email...

And to all the well wishes on Face Book. You know who you are!

It is wonderful to have such caring family and friends...

Yours,

Pseudo Tai Tai and Mr PTT xxx

Friday 20 April 2012

Lupa - Mario Batali's first Hong Kong offering

Tonight, Mr PTT whisked me over to Mario Batali's three week old baby, Lupa, to celebrate our big 10 year milestone...

We had been to one of Mario's popular New York City restaurants, Babbo, earlier last year and enjoyed most elements of our meal so we were eagerly hoping that Lupa would be added to our bucket list of Hong Kong regulars.

Here I am! I wore a new little dress that I picked up in Brisbane at Christmas time. It's actually made of taffeta and has a tulle underskirt - what's not to love? I wore my hair down which was a big mistake as Hong Kong had poured rain all day but I think I was in a "I haven't changed a bit in 10 years, have I Mr PTT" kind of mood.


Here's Mr PTT and I looking very matchy matchy and colour coordinated.


We had a little tipple first with Mr PTT's new friend A and his lovely girlfriend M. We were very spoilt with a bottle of Dom Perignon so the evening kicked off with a delicious and refreshing start.

Here we at in-situ at Lupa. It is a big gorgeous noisy restaurant full of dark wood and a tiled floor I covet for the Brisbane PTT Headquarter's kitchen.




On first impressions, if you are after a romantic evening, you could do better at a different restaurant. You become more intimate with the people at the next table that with the person you are dining with. In this photo you have Mr PTT's schnoz on the left and the guy at the next table's shoulder on the right and the sommelier, head chef and one of the waitresses filling the gap behind. Mr PTT and I didn't mind as we excuse a lot for good food but other people may have different priorities.



As you can see, Lupa is designed for food envy at the next table..

                                        

I didn't bother photographing the bread - it was a little boring (wholemeal-ish slightly tangy loaf cut smaller than your palm). It's a shame that they don't offer something a bit more interesting as most of the verdure and insalata came with sauces that are just begged to be mopped.

The menu is very reasonable and most dishes are perfect for sharing.

We mixed and matched from the verdure, insalta, pesca and fritti sections for our entree. We had Squash with Pecorino; Favas, Ricotta and Guanciale (Broad Beans, Pea Tendrils and Crispy Pork Jowl); Truffled Crema Fritta (Fried Truffled Cream); and Razor Clams with Fregola and Basil (Steamed Clams with Pearl Shaped Pasta and Basil Pesto).

The squash was excellent and a delicious contrast to the fritters. The fritters were so-so. We liked the idea but they could have done with a bit more a truffle flavour. The insalata was novel as the crispy pork jowl came frying in a copper saucepan which they poured over the salad table side. However, when eating the pork, some of the crackle became so crispy that you had to watch your teeth. The star of the entrees was the razor clams. The clams were actually chopped through the pasta and the fresh pesto sauce was light and delicious. The only thing spoiling this dish was a strange grit texture in some bites.



For main course we shared Corzetti with Rabbit Ragu (Coin Shaped Pasta with Rabbit, Cured Pork Belly and Sage). This was my highlight dish for the evening. I loved everything about it from the unusual shaped pasta, to the succulent rabbit to the buttery sauce that clung to each bite rather than pooling in the plate. I also loved the fact that Lupa split the dish into two without being asked.


Fuzzy bunny heaven...


Our other main course was Crispy Duck with Salsify and Saba (Confit Half Duck with Grape Viniagrette). I'm not a huge duck fan so we really ordered this for Mr PTT. I was actually attracted to the salsify component as I haven't seen this root vegetable on a menu since London. In case you are wondering, it looks like a skinny parsnip and tastes like artichoke hearts. All in all, the salsify was delicious, the duck was OK and I don't think the skin was crispy enough.





We shared this date torte for dessert and Mr PTT went all retro and had a glass of Frangelico. Unusually, unlike the dinner menu, the dessert menu offers no explanation to the components of each dish. It would have nice to know exactly what the drizzle was and how the date on the side was prepared as the whole thing was delicious! Maybe it was designed intentionally to add to the mystery but I can eat with my eyes and I do love a good calorie free menu description.



All in all, we enjoyed Lupa and will most definitely return. Apart from the rabbit pasta and the date torte, none of the dishes would be on my must have list at Lupa in the future. However, it is an extensive pick and mix menu and I am curious to try some of the other dishes.

The service was good but you can tell it is a new machine that will hopefully turn into a well-oiled one in the future eg. the sommelier dribbled wine on our table as he was pouring the first glasses, we had to ask for oil to go with our bread, we had to ask to order. On the other hand, food service was extremely prompt and all staff were quick to respond to our requests.

Has Lupa made the Hong Kong Bucket List? Not quite yet, but we are excited to have a new baby to play with to see what she grows up into...

Yours,

Pseudo Tai Tai xx