L'Erbolario products

When we were at Pisa, we randomly stepped into one of the shops selling L'Erbolario products. If you know that L'Occitane is from France, you made the right guess that L'Erbolario is from Italy, to be exact from Lodi.

I'm not really a fan of beauty products, but for the sake of getting something, I decided to get their solid perfumes which was quite cheap, about 9.90 Euros each. There were so many scents to choose from and they all came in many coloured tins.

This perfume from the Primaverde line has a very light yet refreshing smell. Here's the description I got for this scent:

Top notes: Bergamot, Mandarin, Lemon, Peach, Mango, Papaya
Heart: Lily of the Valley, Rose, Primrose, Freesia
Base: Musk, Amber

Primaverde Profumo Solido

The second perfume I bought was from the Frutto Della Passione (Passion Fruit) line.

Frutto Della Passione

The sales lady was also nice to include some samples for me to try...but...

All the instructions were in Italian. Since I could not differentiate which cream serve which purpose, I managed to ask this nice girl while were were at the airport.

And found out that some are for the body, while others are for the face.

Cream for the face and body

Bagnoschiuma (shower gel) and Crema per il Corpo (body lotion)

I've used the Iris shower gel and it does have a calming smell which reminds me of Johnson and Johnson's bath gel. I noticed that their hand creams are very rich, in the sense that once applied you have to really rub your palms together for some time before it is fully absorbed. Perhaps the product is made to suit the European weather which is quite dry compared to our Asian weather.

Grabbed these lovelies during Christmas last year to compare between Crabtree & Evelyn's hand creams and the ones from L'Occitane. Verdict, I prefer Crabtree & Evelyn's Wisteria over the Rosewater.
Both  Rose Des Champs and Rose 4 Reines from L'Occitane smelled lovely and the texture of the cream is better than Crabtree & Evelyn's.

Hand creams from Crabtree & Evelyn  and L'Occitane

Can't to try out these too...
Purposely bought the smaller bottles since I love collecting miniature stuff (perfumes, etc)

Shower gels from L'Occitane

Today's lunch: Vegetable Soup and Stir-Fry Minced Pork with Ginger

I've been craving for home-cooked soup the whole week. Since today is an off day for me (sadly hubby has to work) due to Thaipusam replacement holiday, I decided to cook.

Vegetable Soup

This is one of my favourite soup. It's pretty simple as the ingredients are just radishes, carrots and pork bones/ribs. I added cabbage this time round. Just boil a pot of water, add the pork bones/ribs, then the remaining vegetables. Boil under low fire until the carrots and cabbages are soft. Don't forget to add pepper and salt (or soya sauce) to taste.

Comforting vegetable soup

Stir-Fry Minced Pork with Ginger

This is another simple dish which anyone can cook. I decided to do something different by adding the leftover radishes and black fungus. Before cooking, you can marinade the minced-pork with some white pepper, salt/soya sauce and Shao Hsing cooking wine. I'm a pepper lover, so I added some black pepper and some paprika (for the sake of using the paprika we bought from Greece..haha). Don't forget to slice some ginger, and squeeze out some ginger juice. 

Heat the wok and add some sesame oil. Add in ginger and fry until fragrant. (Tips: Sesame oil and ginger are like best friends, they always go well together, IMO). Next add in the minced pork, and stir-fry until slightly brown (cooked). Add the radishes and black fungus to the minced pork. Now, pour in the ginger juice and continue to stir-fry. It is up to you whether you prefer this dish to have a little gravy, or lots of it. Add water accordingly. Depending on water content you've added, add in salt and pepper to taste. Ah..also, if you like to have some colour to the dish, you can add in some dark soya sauce. Simple right!

Stir-Fry Pork with ginger, radishes and black fungus

Cooking is all about trial and error, you can't tell a person to add more of this or that; if you like more ginger for example, then go ahead and add more ginger. If you are a pepper lover like me, then add more pepper.

Can't wait for hubby to be back for lunch. Serving the soup and pork with chilli padi (red chillies) is a must!

Moving to the new block....

After working at AT for almost 2 years, I was quite eager to move to the new Building H. This new building is the only one with a water feature and bubble lifts (which at the point of writing, has not arrived yet from the manufacturer).

I remembered when the water feature was up, many employees purposely made their way to this new building to snap pictures.

The Lobby

My office is on the 1st floor, which means I need to climb up a flight of stairs, which is actually great because I personally think we lack exercise and movement while were at the old office. In fact, I would still take the stairs once the bubble lifts are installed.

My colleagues and I as well as my boss and his boss, are sitting metres away from the glass windows overlooking the sea and Pantai Jerejak.  Of course the best cubicle would be big boss J's cubicle since he can directly see the sea view  while all of us have to stand up to be able to see it.  Looks like I have more reason to go to the pantry to 'mencuci mata'.

The picture below does not do justice to how pretty the scenery actually is.

View from the pantry

Previously all of us have low partition cubicles, almost no privacy. Now I really enjoy working at my cubicle. More space to myself, carpeted floors and cleaner surrounding.

My cube

Plan b @ Paradigm Mall

Last Sunday, Dan, Charles and I met up with Jon and Esther at Paradigm Mall. After lots of thinking, we decided to have brunch at Plan b.

According to the restaurant's website their Aussie-meets-New York-deli menu boasts of hearty breakfasts, contemporary salads, wholesome sandwiches made with freshly baked breads; pastas and a variety of rustic cakes and desserts.

True enough it was almost lunchtime, yet people were ordering sandwiches, burgers and the breakfast menu. Also I noticed that this place seemed to be very popular as it was almost full by lunch.


We were served water (free) in this bottle, which reminds me of some chemical bottle from the lab..haha..

Plain water (refillable)

I browsed through the menu, and decided to order Eggs Benedict, since I have never tried them before.
What I regretted was ordering the avocado-feta sides instead of the smoked salmon. Eggs Benedict are actually poached eggs and grilled turkey bacon heaped on a toasted English muffin, topped with Hollandaise sauce. I've always wanted to try this since I saw it on Martha Steward's show. Somehow I thought Hollandaise sauce would blow me away, but somehow it tasted normal, nothing spectacular.

Eggs Benedict (RM 14)  with avocado-feta (RM 9) as sides

Esther was wiser, she ordered streaky beef bacon as sides instead.

Eggs Benedict (RM 14)  with streaky beef bacon (RM 6)

Both Dan and Charles ordered the Char-Grilled Cheeseburger which actually tasted awesome. This juicy home-made patty came with fries, onion rings, and a bowl of salad.

Char-Grilled Cheeseburger (RM 25)

Jon's order was the last to arrive. He ordered the Home-made Salt Beef Sandwich. This came with home-made chips, gherkin and salad. The sandwich was so filling (and salty) that he couldn't finish the salad.

Home-made Salt Beef Sandwich (RM 21)

We took a few photos for fun:)

Esther and I had known each other for 10 years now. She is my 1st Sarawakian friend. Got to know her while we were both doing our laundry and we immediately clicked.

Esther  & I

Both Charles and Jon were Dan's course-mates in university. Jon was our best-man during our wedding 2 years ago. Charles was my drama-kaki during university. Watched Avatar (the cartoon) and One Tree Hill with him.

Charles & Jon

The 3 young men 

We had a great time catching up, although I can't really remember what we talked about. We were too engrossed with our food, I think!

Btw, thanks Charles for the treat:) The total bill came up to RM 162.40.

Jaya Palace, PJ

Went down to Klang last weekend for Steven & Swee Rin's wedding. The dinner reception was held at Jaya Palace Restaurant in PJ. There were only 8 of us at the table, so we had lots of food to eat. Moreover the food portion was pretty large and fed us all until the brim. Here are some of the pictures (p/s: I lack photography skills so sorry for the blur pictures).

Palace 5 Season Combination

I know I know..I haven't signed up for the petition for boycotting shark fin soup yet. Maybe someday....

Double Boiled Shark Fin Soup with Kampung (Village) Chicken

Roasted sucking pig & chicken with Thai sauce

Steamed Coral Trout

Braised Duck with Mix Vegetables

Baked Prawns with Garlic

Hong Kong Glutinous Rice

Pastries

White fungus and ginkgo dessert

Overall the food was good. My favourite was the 5 season combination platter, the braised duck and the glutinous rice. I find the dessert too sweet for my liking.

Happy New Year 2013!

Happy New Year 2013!

The last week was amazing, had lots of food and fellowship, two of my favourite activity. There was Christmas dinner at the Chan's followed both 2 wedding reception one after the other. 

Wedding's are the only time I actually take more effort to dress up. On normal days, you will most likely to see me in jeans and a top at the office.

This was taken at the Chan's after the lovely and hearty dinner..

At the Chan's

Oh well, here's the two of us posing as usual:)

Hubby & I at Kin Meng & Carol's wedding

Hubby & me at Daniel & Sze Yuen's wedding

Am looking forward to what this new year brings.:)