School Christmas Fairs

Most of the Hong Kong schools host their annual fairs between now and Christmas. Prince PTT's School's 'International Bazaar' was Friday night.  

They always have an 'injury booth' which I find quite macabre. Naturally its popular with the kids! Here's Prince PTT and his BFF showing off their injured arms. 

In other news, Princess PTT has discovered the joys of cotton candy. She lined up on her own for 30 minutes to get a whip of sugar bigger than her head and devoured every morsel.

Here she is with her BFF...

On Saturday we went to the City Kids Christmas Fair. They push the boat our with excellent cheap activities for the kids. Here's Prince and Princess PTT blinging up some baubles for the Grandparents' Christmas stockings...

My friend M ran the cookie decorating stall. Naturally, Princess PTT went for bulk sprinkles...

Whereas Prince PTT went for artistic perfection. Says something about their personality doesn't it?

Princess PTT went all Martha Stewart and created this gorgeous bracelet for me...

I might start flinging some Christmas things around the flat this week. My Poinsettias are getting lonely.

Yours, 

Pseudo Tai Tai xx

Embracing Multicultural Schooling

One of my favourite things about educating Prince and Princess PTT in Hong Kong is they have the opportunity they have to be truly multicultural. I've heard of State Schools in Australia that are so nervous about offending certain groups that they celebrate nothing, making for a very bland education in my books. Prince and Princess PTT's schools in Hong Kong tend to go the opposite way and embrace everything and I love it!

Here's Princess PTT with her Diwali Bindi:

And here's the Diyas the kids make every year at school. I'm starting to amass quite a collection!

Later in the year, Princess PTT will be an Angel in her school Nativity play. Instead of taking their children out of the activity, the Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist parents excitedly video and photograph their children as they shine in the spotlight as they consider it their turn to learn about another religion.  

In other news, Princess PTT has rekindled her relationship with her baby toys. I think she sensed I was about to have a clear out.

Yours, 

Pseudo Tai Tai xx

The First Hint Of Christmas

I went up to the Prince Edward flower market earlier in the week to get a few Orchids (way cheaper and better quality than the ones you can buy in Central). They were unpacking the first Christmas Poinsettias of the season, so I bought five to start getting into the spirit. 

I plonked them in my antique fruit basket that I dragged here from the London Columbia Road Flower Market. It's one of my favourite possessions due to its gorgeous gnarly wood. I'm not sure Australian customs will let it into the country when we eventually move back home so it's currently enjoying prominent position in Hong Kong.

A big typhoon may be hitting on the weekend which is giving the flat a wintry gloominess which is adding to the atmosphere. Here's what the living room looks like at 9:30am. It's like living in a cave. Don't be fooled into thinking its cold, its actually humid. I'll be on mould patrol before you know it.

Azure, our nemesis building that recently showed up at our boundary wall, isn't helping matters in the light department. Thank goodness we are going to Australia for Christmas and Bali for Easter.  

In other matters, I'm coveting a Heston Blumenthal Christmas Pudding and Coles, Australia is selling them this year!  

In the middle of each pudding is a whole orange. According to my research, last year they sold out in the UK by the end of November and were being sold on Ebay for up to 250 pounds! I've send Nanny PPT on a sourcing mission.

Coles will also be selling Heston's fruit mince pies which according to the Coles blog are, "Filled with rich fruit mince and the added ingredients of lemon curd, rose water and apple puree, we recommend heating them in the oven and sprinkling with the include pine-scented sugar for a unique Christmas taste!".  

Getting excited... I love Christmas!

Yours, 

Pseudo Tai Tai xx 

Chinglish to brighten your day...

As a writer, I'm dismayed that companies in Hong Kong pay big bucks for advertisements but still can't manage to spell check properly. No wonder I can't get a well paid job around these parts. Here's a prominent kid's furniture store truck that rolled up our street today.

They are advertising three fantasy beds on the side of their delivery truck:

- Mickey Culb House

- Winnie the Poon Bed 

- Princess bed 

The Rednaxela building is on Rednaxela Terrace. Read it backwards and it might make a little more sense. Apparently the Chinese sign writer couldn't read English and spelt 'Alexander' terrace backwards and it has remained as Rednaxela ever since.  

This isn't exactly Chinglish, but I love the fact that every second shop in Hong Kong is a real estate agent and to attract buyers in a hugely competitive market, they can't come up with better photos or sales blurbs than this example:

Yours,

Pseudo Tai Tai xx

Billy Bob Deliverance

Just took poor Prince PTT to the dentist to get two teeth extracted. Apparently, it's a fallacy that they pull them out... they actually push them out. As I held my first born's hand trying not to let my cold sweat drip all over him, I tried not to think about the specifics. Luckily, our brilliant dentist, Sue, is super quick and had a Bear Grylls documentary playing on her ceiling TV so it gave me some distracting eye candy and Prince PTT a chance to catch up on his Chiroptera knowledge. 

Here's the result...

They are the ones that are normally the last to come out when you are around 12. Across the top he now only has one great big adult fang with two gaps either side. He'll fit right in if Mr PTT decides to set up shop to deliverance country. Might re-christen him Billy Bob....

Disturbingly, the waiting room had these brochures on prominent display. I'm confused so if anyone could explain it to me, I'd appreciate it. 

Yours, 

Pseudo Tai Tai xx

Jamia Mosque

I picked up Prince PTT and N's Daughter, H, from their drama rehearsal and on the walk home the Jamia Mosque up the escalator was having an open day. After living here for five years, I've never seen it open to the public, so we took a quick look. The kids' open minded inclusive schooling paid off as they marched straight to the front and started to prostrate 'Muslim' style, much to the amusement of the Mosque officials!

I loved the stained glass in the dome.

It's gorgeous to see something so old and stately in Hong Kong. Jamia Mosque was built in 1849. Normally, they don't respect old buildings here and pull gorgeous renovation projects down to make way for yet another crappy high rise that will start to crack in five years time.

Also loved the other character filled on the site...

Yours, 

Pseudo Tai Tai xx

Who needs live fillies to enjoy race frivoilities?

Melbourne Cup, Hong Kong style, is an interesting study in human behaviour. As in Australia, we frock up, don hats and fascinators, go to the race track, have a flutter, critique each others fashions, get tipsy on bubbles and finally prance home at some ungodly hour. However, unlike Australia, in Hong Kong there are no live horse races at the track on Melbourne Cup day. Instead, we all cling to Happy Valley's track side and watch the race on a giant movie screen and pretend for a moment that we have joined our fellow Aussies at Flemington. No one really acknowledges the fact that we are track side sans live horses but I think the excitement of seeing that much turf at one time and the gorgeous November weather more than makes up for it. 

As you know, I always love any excuse to dress up so wild horses couldn't stop this Pseudo Tai Tai from joining in the fun. Shopbop was having a sale a few weeks ago and I couldn't resist this Shoshana number...   

I matched my new little ray of sunshine with these trinkets. The belt is from Shenzhen many moons ago, the bag is Jimmy Choo, the bracelet is a gift from Mr PTT and I designed my fascinator with the help of my new friend, Tammy, at Sham Shui Po.

Here I am all frocked up...

Here's the only visual of my fascinator jammed into my updo that you are going to get. Unfortunately, due to the annonymous nature of this blog, full length body shots are not featured. If you can't put 2 and 2 together, visualise a 6ft floral Jacquard big bird.

Here's N, Yours Truly, J and L frocked up to the max and enjoying bubbles at 10:30am due to the Hong Kong/ Melbourne time difference... 

Here's me and my new friend V who has recently moved to Hong Kong from Sydney...

 Loved this fascinator. She made it herself and the print on the dress matched...

Here's our happy crew. S is on the end in taupe and she's now pregnant with twins!! Never quite realised how tall I was until I analysed this photo. Freaky!  

All the big names were there including Jeff Fenech and his wife Suzee. Hope Suzee wasn't chilly in the November Hong Kong breeze!

I did a little turn on the fashions on the field but alas, I did not win. Ah well, it was still fun!  I did however, win a tidy amount on the Cup from C's tip. Thanks C! I love how seriously you take your gigi races. I appreciate all the study that you did!

N is now gluten free. Her main was questionable... Dry frittata with odd phallic vegetables arising from the depths. It was the kind of thing that I might concoct for Prince and Princess PTT on a 'vegetables are fun!' night.

The normal menu options weren't that much better... Beef cheeks from what was obviously a flabby cow and...

Whole baby chicken. Such elegant autumnal luncheon food for ladies to pick at. All I needed was my chalice and dagger and I could have pretended I was in a medieval reality show.  

Happy Valley caterers thought just because N is gluten free, she must also be vegetarian and dieting. Here's my dessert - a nice little rhubarb arrangement in case you were wondering...

 and here's N's...

Here's C, race tip extraordinaire. We trekked out to Sham Shui Po together a couple of weeks ago and purchased our fascinators from our new find and fascinator guru, Tammy. C went for a couture Hiawatha vibe and customised a standard inky blue arrangement with some fun feature feathers.

 Here's another friend J. She's American and this was her Melbourne Cup initiation. She went for a tres chic black swirl affair. Top marks!

I loved this head piece... I'm always attracted to a cut feather. I was looking for a length of these to shove into the PTT fascinator but Sham Shui Po couldn't deliver. Oh well, next year!

A great day was had by all!

Yours,

Pseudo Tai Tai xx