Art Jam wonderland

I have never heard of the concept of Art Jam until I moved back to HK. Bonart is the company that I used( highly recommended ). They bring all the things like paint, brushes, canvas, easels and all the special tools. The best part is, no clean up. So all you need to do is just to show up and paint your hearts out. The first time we had a bunch of friends at my house and I did and 7 course dinner with champagne and the second time we did it at my mom's gallery for an afternoon tea Jam session. It was truely an experience. Looking at how people paint and using different tools, people's true charactor really comes out. Family portraits, pets, daughters, smiley faces, abstract scenery, rain drops, letter Cs, favorite colors, so many different styles and thoughts. If you want to know them well, just ask them to paint with you and you will see what they care about.

I have always been scared about painting. The first time, I was really worried and scared of making the wrong moves. Is this color right, should I do this first or I should use this brush. I guess it was the unknown that caught me off guard. But then, the second time, I felt a lot more at ease. Free flow painting is always difficult, what do you really want to say, how should you say it and what people will think about it.

But with all the expression and looking at what other people painted, you really find out that art does not have a form. It is what you feel at that moment. You might not like what you painted, but others might think it is impressive. It is not like a conversation, you said something and you forget about it. When you paint on a canvas, it is perminent, unless you burn it, it will stay with you forever. It is a diary of your thoughts with colors and imaginations. Every time you paint, is different from the last, leaving you much room to desire for the next.

Painting is also risk taking. Kinda like daily lifes, should you do this first and then add this or should you jump right in to the hardest part of the painting. Do you second guess your decision? I wanted to paint flowers with long grass, but it didn't come out the way I wanted it, should I paint it all over again or how do I add something to cover up my tracks? This is all that went through my mind. Painting, is drama, is scary, is risky, is remembering, is releasing, is relaxing, is imagining, is an expression, is life!

Let there be cake

So another cake experiment. Not too shabby this time. I put a twist on Jonathan's childhood birthday cake made by his mother Janet every year. I turned it into a chocolate cake for my dad's 60th birthday cake. It was a chocolate cake mix with orange juice and zest, top with meringue and berries covered with chocolate whipped cream. I decorated the cake with Linden Chocolate thins, mixed berries and for the cake topper, I cut out big 60 with butter cookie and royal icing and added edible gold for glamor. The cake was so tall after all the decorations, I was pretty nervous holding on to it on the ride to the restaurant. It was only a 9inch cake but it was enough for 30+ people. I did had fun making the cake topper, butter cookie was a lot harder than I thought, the royal icing was a bitch to be clean, definitely need practice. The humidity and heat here make it hard to dry. Need to remember to work on it sooner next time. The taste of the cake was well received. I reduced the sugar in the recipe and also substitute with Equal for some of the sugar. Since it is a health conscious crowd, I want to make sure it is on the light side. That is also one of the difficulty in HK, people like light fluffy cakes, not the intense flavor that I am used to in the US. Lots of my favorite recipes had to be adjusted to HK taste. Sometimes it works, but sometimes it is just wrong. Always trial and error.

Then I also made some edible picture frames for name cards. It was so well received, I put some of my dad's best pics on it and made it look like a picture frame. When people found out it was edible, they were so excited about it. They most likely will not get eaten but it was the wow factor for the evening. I would definitely use it again for weddings or other events. I know Chinese thinks that its not such a good idea to have pics on a cake and be cut or eaten, but we don't have to put pictures, we can put logos, symbols, even fun clip arts. With some imagination, old tricks can be chic and different.

The waiting game

Today is not a good day, I had to deal with my least favorite, the waiting game. Waiting is definitely something that I am not good at. Why is it so difficult to wait for the right moment, why do I always jump into things. I guess sometimes I think if I don't do it right away, I will loose the moment or I chicken out and got lazy. I also hate waiting to open presents. It drives me crazy at Christmas when people send me gifts and I cannot open it right away. I also cannot wait for people to open the gift that I give them. I always get so anxious when they open my gift. Is impulse good? Impulse gets me up to do things and do something different. But impulse also got me into trouble before. So when is a good time to wait and when is a good time to jump into things, I guess, I still have to learn a lot more to find out.

Out playing

July 23rd, hottest day of the year! Woke up early today but not sure what to do. I hate that feeling. So I signed myself up for some tough yoga at Yogalimbs. I had no choice but to take Vincent's class. He always end up killing me, today is no exception. 4 Chairs, 4 triangles, 4 bridge, wheel, countless intense sun salutation and abs work. That did me good! Sweating bullets, who said yoga is just relaxing. I do feel really good after that, actually feel more energized. Then I went to the slowest nail salon to get my nails done for the weekend. I usually do my own nails, but once a month I get it done so it looks and feel nicer.

What's next? I took Cayenne to the playground at Po Lum. It was a nice big new park with lots of slides and swings. Cayenne was not so sure about the swing at first but after much convincing, she was doing it by herself. Then we played with the slides, then her shoes fell off and then she got wild and start crawling every where, up and down the slides. Besides from getting black toe nails and a few mosquito bites, she had a ball! I was worn out after chasing her around. Good exercise for the both of us. I really like all these facility at TKO, we have awesome pools, playgrounds and new malls. That's something hard to find in the US. Especially in a public estate environment.

Open rice or Throwing Rice?

It has been non stop eating since the beginning of July jam packed with dinner engagements and birthday parties. After being back to HK for a year now, I am getting back into the entertainment scene. Jonathan being a wine distributor definitely opens a lot of restaurant doors. Just for the past month or so, we have tried....ahaa........... Bo Innovation for people watching lunch and dinner; BLT Steak becomes our good steak for the buck; Roka which was ok, but feel sorry for them for not having much dinner business; Thai Basil, don't know why I keep going back there and getting pissed off; Top Deck, sucks when it rains and you are the only one table for the night; Vero Chocolate, too good to eat the chocolate, Cafe Deco, old but still remains; One Bar, endless oysters and not so noticiable New Zealand wine; Wooden Table, amazing cheese that took all the attention; The Pawn, to die for fish and chips and good drinks, not so much anything else; Morten's Steak House, The STEAK and The CARROT CAKE and The BILL; Classified Mozzarelle Bar, cheese is more expensive than meat. O my god, out of breath! Each of them deserve a page on their own...I will slowly work on it.

I have used openrice.com when I first came back to HK. Jonathan rely on me to read OR to see which restaurant to go to because he cannot read chinese. So at the beginning, I religiously check everytime I try some new place, I even wrote a couple comments myself, but then, it starts to disappoint me. It seems to me that the standard of people varies on openrice.com. Taste is so subjective, depends on age, ethicnicity and experience, I think it is wrong some people give such harsh and personal comments. Maybe I was once in the restaurant industry, I have an extra appreciation on what goes behind the scene. But I also have high expectation when it comes to service and price. If I am paying top dollars, I better get good service and a good piece of meat. But if it is a cheap joint, I won't complain if my utensils are chipped or the service is bad. Being realistic is very important when I dine. There are certain restaurants that should not make it and there are restaurant that simply is not your cup of tea. I think there is a difference. Openrice.com is a good place to find what is in your neighborhood, but don't take their word for it. Remember, they are not words of professional, use your own judgement!!!

Clean Slate

The day that I found out I was pregnant with Cayenne my whole world changed. I had a successful Catering business, I had employees, I had clients, I had respect and boom! I can care less. All I can think of is how I can take care of both babies. My business was my baby. I sleep and eat with my business. Always trying to find new top clients, try to introduce new things to the menu. Always busy on the go, one Christmas after another, one party bigger and more challenging than the other. Then the idea of Cayenne comes around and all the drama and hard work seems less important. I became lazy with work, I don't care as much and to the point, I am done with it. It is like I fell out of love with Y.Lo Epicure. How is that possible, something that I have worked so hard for all of a sudden felt unimportant. I was luck enough to have sold my business to a passionate young lady. She was perfect at it, if not even better than I was.

Fast forwarding to now, me sitting in my living room writing my blog, Cayenne taking a nap in the other room, me thinking of what to do in the afternoon with Cayenne, playroom or swimming? Why not do both! haha...I would have never guessed life would be so different from a year ago. I don't think the stay at home mode will last forever, but at least for now, I am taking a break from being the career women. I think when Cayenne is in grade school, then life will be different as well. I learn to never say never, there is always a time and place to everything, so long if you give yourself a chance and live it up with no regrets.

Wooden Table at Fortress Hill

Under the threat of typhoon signal #8, Jonathan, Maggie and I tough it out to try out Wooden Table at Fortress Hill. Here is the invitation and details:

Wooden Table
French Wine, French Cheese & Ham
Buffet Evening
Sat, 18th July., 2009
13 French wines; 8 French cheeses
to taste!!

Cheese (air-flown from France , unpasteurized!!)
Iberico Bellota ham(24mths)
Canapés salad
main course
cakes & desserts
$335HKD
6:30 – 10:00pm
reservation recommended.
Tel : 2570 3939
1/F., AT Tower, 180 Electric Rd. , Fortress Hill, H.K.

Living in the US for 15 years, I don't think I have tasted that many unpasteurized cheese all at the same time. It was truly amazing!!! The cheese were fragrant and sharp yet delicate. We tasted a settle blue, two super creamy brie, a strong goat cheese, a cows milk hard cheese and several others, I wish I know all their names, they were all in French. I need to remember next time to take the information instead of just chowing down. The cheese were flown in through a french distributor who collect different cheese and aged them on their own. She said if we like we can order directly from them. I have to get their info. We must have 4-5 rounds of cheese along with many tasty wines. My husband is the wine expert(check out his wine blog), but I just know when I taste a good one. One of the highlights of the night was the 24 months Iberico Ham, it was moist, rich and creamy. Serving in thin slices room temp, I really can taste the sweetness of the meat and the tenderness of the aging process. That totally brings me back to Spain in Valencia where we tasted all different kinds of Iberico ham. And all the ham sandwiches that we ate at road side gas stations. They were not your typical Subway sandwiches, these are Iberico ham with sharp local cheese served on a really thin and crisp French Bread sandwiches. Truly the best sandwiches, let along from a gas station. Europeans really have it down when it comes to enjoying life. In the US, you will find Twix and Diet coke in a gas station but in Europe, the gas station is equipped with chic restaurants, nice bathrooms and modern furniture. Just a different way of life.

Back to Wooden Table, the vibe was warm and inviting with friendly low key staff. Brick wall, wicker chairs and wooden table was the interior elements. Although we did not try their regular menu, we did see some good stuff coming out of the kitchen, from pasta to oysters. For our entrees, we tried the Sea bass with butter cream sauce and the 2 cut beef stew. Not sure where the sea bass was from, it was fresh but definitely no comparison to Chilean Sea bass. The dish overall was light and simple. Jonathan had the beef stew which consist of ox tail and chuck roast. Flavor was well balanced and layered. Oxtail was juicy and tender but I found it lack salt.

Dessert was Tirimisu cake, chocolate mousse, creme brulee, Oreo crusted NY style cheese cake and butter cookies. I thought that was the mute part of the evening. The taste was OK but we all felt that it was not worth the calories, we rather eat another plate of cheese. Well, maybe we were too into the cheese and it took the taste buds away from the dessert. Maybe serving more citrus or berries would be a better combination with the rest of the dinner.

I think we definitely picked the right place for a stormy night, cozy and lay back. Will definitely come back for somemore wine dinners, we all thought it was good bang for the buck. The manager said they have these wine dinners through out the months but this is the first for the cheese tasting. I hope they do it again!!!!