Hello there, it was lovely to meet you Paola and Ignacio ! Hope to see you again soon.

As it turns out, J was a menace at the market. I’ve created an impulsive buying monster on a mission that bought up at last count: a pack of freshly-ground coffee, pecan tarts, a pack of truffle linguini, a bar of single origin Vietnamese chocolate, organic lettuce, a loaf of baguette…

I saw a girl with a full face of makeup at hot yoga class on Sunday who also brought a disposable cup of blueberry smoothie into the heated room. The instructor commented on her smoothie but made no mention of the makeup.

Immortalized. Merci, Émilie !

HKD 68 Thai durians at Wan Chai market vs. HKD 300+ Malaysian durians at City Super. Guess which ones I bought.

I am officially addicted to naengmyeon.

I’ve recently taken up hot yoga and am trying to keep to a manageable routine of two yoga sessions every weekend. Can’t say I feel healthier since or have found some sort of inner peace (still cannot deal with the ‘om’ chantings), I do like the feeling of sweating it out. Such a workout !

Hotpot restaurants which impose two-hour limits are so not cool.

Turns out my colleagues are closet karaoke geniuses. Five straight hours of belting out embarrassing songs we would have no problems denying if we are accosted in the streets.

Tsim Sha Tsui on weekends is such a nightmare, especially if you are in a hurry. I was nearly tripping over people and feet and toddlers and wheeled luggage every other minute.

Been some time since I last did a weekend snippets post. No photos, well that’s a first. I didn’t feel inclined to take any more photos until I get my Xinjiang snaps sorted out.

A red sleeveless silk blouse with metallic detail on the collar. Perhaps because it’s sold out, now I want it more (even if I know it is pricey for what it is).

We had a Japanese family over for dinner on Saturday night. Little Japanese girls are so darn cute ! Yuri-chan and Fuka-chan, it was nice to meet you both.

Had a rather picturesque high tea, my first. Good to spend time with the girlfriends although I now know for sure afternoon teas are not for me.

Didn’t manage to get up to much on my personal projects. The weekend felt rather unaccomplished and I ended up with a severe case of Monday blues.

I went for a swim on Saturday morning (in a last minute bid to tone my body up).

Panicking now because I had spent Saturday afternoon at Citygate Outlets instead of preparing for the wedding celebration. One last weekend to go before the flight out !

We stumbled upon a popular wanton mee stall in Jordan by chance and didn’t know it was well known until I googled up the name after we left. True indeed, not all wanton mee are created equal.

A stack of half-read Chinese-language magazines is already piling up at home and I had to buy one more over the weekend.

Weekend ended on a rather delightful note with homecooked paella, a gorgeous view of the setting sun and agreeable quantities of wine in good company.

Hong Kong Sevens, the offspring of an all-day Halloween party on speed and a relocation of douchebag central from Lockhart Road to Hong Kong Stadium coupled with the adrenaline rush of contact sports.

Among my favorite costumes, guy in Borat fluro green teeny-weeny swimming trunks, the Gaddafi dude, girls dressed up as grannies in sensible shoes, handbags and floral dresses, and the couple of Popes.

I was amazed at the human capacity to consume copious amounts of alcohol (and guilty of it myself as well). 

In spite of everything, the festive atmosphere was actually very family-friendly. Lots of happy children running about and having a ball of a time with their parents, grandparents or fellow kiddos from school.

Outside of rugby, we only accomplished one other thing over the weekend. We had gone to see the priest with my witness, a good friend coincidentally in town for business. Well, one more tiny step towards completing the almost-overwhelming amount of paperwork/ formal procedures in the run up to the wedding celebration in France.

Making the best of this bout of gloomy, cold and drizzly weather we have been experiencing in Hong Kong since the Chinese New Year holidays. Shouldn’t it be spring already ?

Much of Saturday night was spent inside shipping containers. We ended the night with barbeque and beer, no pictures as my fingers were too greasy to fiddle with the camera.

Finally remembered to get some pork lard from the butcher when I was at the market to season my cast iron grill pan and wok. They don’t seem quite evenly seasoned though, rather greasy at the sides still. Will know if they are alright next time I grill/stir-fry something.

J bought himself a PS3. I never even knew he was into gaming. The things one learns after marriage these days ahaha.

Gave Sabah one more try over the weekend. Still can’t wrap my head around it. Sure the assam laksa was tasty and the curry laksa was dubious (as usual)… Then we ordered the murtabak partly because it was too cheap to pass up (HKD 35) and I was kinda craving for it after Tom’s post. Despite being prata-thin with a minimal filling of minced beef, it actually tasted pretty good. Thumbs up for the side of curry too. So well, guess I will be back.

I learnt how to pronounce plum green tea in Cantonese, thanks to a very helpful bubble tea stall staff.

Been a massive homebody in recent weekends. Likewise, this weekend was about doing the laundry on Saturday, vacuuming/ mopping the floor on Sunday, relaxing some then working some and stocking up on groceries. We stopped by the florist and I’m really glad these flowers came home with us.