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Try my Brest

What: Paris-Brest

Where: Paul Lafayet, K11, TST

Cost: $30-40?

Yumminess: ***/*****

Around a week before trying this, I've had the so-called Paris Brest from coco frans at the TST MTR station. I know what they sell is nothing like the real Paris-Brest, but it was satisfying nevertheless (like a giant cream puff with more custard to choux pastry ratio than normal). A week later, I bought a Paris-Brest from Paul Lafayet. The pastry was quite hefty, which was evidence of the density of the hazelnut buttercream which filled up the centre of the 2-ring-sandwich. Its diameter was around the same as the coco frans Paris Brest (4-5 inches-ish), but their satisfaction level was worlds apart. After finishing the one from coco frans, I was left wanting more (or just satisfied...my sweet tooth is insatiable lol). On the other hand, only HALF of this one from Paul Lafayet was starting to feel enough. For someone with an insatiable sweet tooth...that's amazing (for your reference, I can finish an entire 6" cake on my own). 

Look at how thick the buttercream is!! In fact, I ate this with a FORK. No spoon needed. There was some point when I just ate the buttercream alone, without the pastry, with a FORK. It was that thick. As should be the case, the buttercream had an oily mouthfeel, especially towards the end as it started to get melty. And as it was hazelnut flavoured, it kind of tasted like the stuff in Kinder Buenos, except much much thicker, way more nutty, and way less sweet (although still very sweet). 

I was amazed that I managed to finish the whole thing in one sitting. Needless to say, I skipped dinner that night.

My next target was Saveur de France's Paris-Brest...but I heard they closed down. :( What a shame, as it was the only place I knew which sold authentic homey French pastries (like tarte au flan!).

New McFlurry

What: Mango Oreo McFlurry

Where: McDonald's 

Cost: $9.80

Yumminess: *****/*****

So they've begun to give the option of mixing in some of their swirl cone flavours (raspberry and mocha, other not available with McFlurries [yet, I hope] include grape, chocolate...I think that's it) or their new sundae flavour, Mango, into Oreo McFlurries. McFlurry + hot summer day....what else can I say?

Finally Updating!

Eeeee I've been lazy again. Between dreading the start of school and World Cup...real life took precedence over the Internet. Now that's school started, I'm staying at home more though, so more time to blog =D. And I'm actually STUDYING and it's only the 4th day of school *gasp* (as opposed to 4 days before the exam like last year...). All my classmates are doubting how long this will last and why I suddenly changed from the lazy procrastinating pig I was last year. Heh...gotta keep this up.

So, as promised...going to blog about beef. 11/6 was my Mum's birthday (and the beginning of World Cup...can't believe it's coming to an end already ><), and we ordered a bunch (i.e. a dozen per person...only my Dad managed to eat up his share AND the rest of ours too lol) of oysters + Kobe beef from some wholesale shop in Ap Lei Chau for a RIDICULOUSLY good price. Haven't had Mum's cooking in a while...the steak was perfect. Cake wasn't so good though...Black Forest from Mimosa. Totally not worth the price as it was bordering on bland. In fact, I don't really like their famous napoleons either...my favourite is actually from the Peninsula. Beats even the recently popular Tony Wong's or Paul Lafayet's versions.

The next day, after band practice, I went for AYCE hotpot at wtc Causeway Bay with 2 friends. I actually wanted to go to Wildfire, but as I was planning to treat, my friends didn't want me to spend so much and dragged me to the AYCE. They ended up forcing me to let them split the bill in the end though -____- I think the place was pretty new. Also, I believe Hainan Shaoye is next to it and was opening that night/the following night as there were a lot of flower baskets. I want to try Hainan Shaoye so badly but no one will go with me! Parents aren't interested :( maybe I'll drag my brother along. Soooo the restaurant is called Mou Mou Club (I think they meant moo moo....) in English and 牛涮鍋 in Chinese. It's on the 3rd floor of wtc. 


They have several sets to choose from. One group of sets include both beef and pork, and with different soup bases to choose from...these sets were less expensive. The other group are sukiyaki sets, and you can choose different grades of beef with different prices. We chose the 2nd tier of sukiyaki set, which costs $148 + 10% service charge for 90 minutes. You can also add $20 to have unlimited drinks, but as they didn't have their alcohol license yet, and we didn't feel like pop/juice...we didn't choose this option.

The beef comes thinly shaved on dishes:

For some reason, the quality kept on getting better with progressive plates of beef. Usually it's the opposite...not that we're complaining ;). I think we managed around 4 plates in total. The sauces included the usual...soy sauce, sesame paste, chili sauce, but also had a yuzu dressing which was quite refreshing. Sukiyaki sets also include a raw Japanese egg, which was heavenly when mixed with soy sauce and dipped into with hot beef. Yummmmm...

Other ingredients were laid out buffet style (quite neatly and cleanly too...I ABHOR messy AYCEs :S). The selection wasn't extensive, but quality was good. Veggies included carrots, turnips, romaine lettuce, Chinese baby cabbage, corn, spinach, and a variety of Japanese mushrooms. Processed foods included wieners, various fishballs, and fish-wrapped burdock. The tofu and aburaage (deep fried tofu bag) were among my favourites as the tofu was very fresh (I think it's from Japan) and the aburaage was sooooo good after soaking up all the beefy sweet sukiyaki base. They also had regular udon, Inaniwa udon, and green tea somen. The Inaniwa udon was reaaaaaaally good and slippery and just heavenly with the sukiyaki base. There was also plain rice and fried rice. I didn't try the fried rice as I was too busy mixing the plain rice with the sukiyaki base and eating up SOOOO DAMN GOOD, but my friends said the fried rice was OK. 

So...uh, after all that, pretty obvious which set seems more attractive eh. SUKIYAKI BASE mmmm...I could just drink up all that soup (which would probably be very bad for my health :p). Service was OK too...although they were a bit slow in refilling our water glasses. Ohhh, they also have AYCE ice cream tubs, but as I was with 2 guys, they weren't interested in staying to wait for me go on a dessert binge. XP

Went to Henry House for drinks after, but I had to drink virgin cocktails cus I was driving afterwards. Looked sooo retarded haha. 

OK back to studying now! Psychiatry I'll ace you >=] 

Beeeeeeefffffff

I think I had as much beef as I want to have for the rest of this month in 2 days x_x between all you can eat hotpot last night and the steak and oysters gluttony at home tonight.

Details to follow. Must...work...out...........

Will dream of beef tonight.

Really awesome eye makeup products

I wear eye makeup once in a blue moon, as I think it's a pain to take off, and I'm a bit paranoid about losing eyelashes lol. I also have really sensitive and runny eyes, so any not-so-good products will either sting like crazy or run like crazy. Back in the days of my youth (ok fine I'm still in that stage...but let's say, 3 or 4 years ago?), when I was still learning how to use makeup, I remember everytime I wore eye makeup I would end up with panda eyes by the end of the night (not to mention the horrendous eyeshadow technique I had...oh god I dread to look back on photos). This was with normal drugstore brands like Maybelline, L'oreal, etc. Even their waterproof formulas don't work for me for some reason. But this year, I found an AMAZING Japanese brand which makes super waterproof mascara. Like...trust me when I say SUPER WATERPROOF. Without further ado...

Brand: Kiss Me

Type: Heroine Make Long & Curl Mascara

Price: Something like $60 (ZOMG so cheap)

This mascara has held up on hot summer nights, cold winter nights. Rainy nights, humid nights (I was gonna say dry nights too...but Hong Kong doesn't really get dry weather eh). It's held up even after bawling for an hour straight (long story...long night). And a few nights ago, I've even witnessed that it's held up after an entire evening without removing it lol. After a whole night of partying, the next morning my eyelashes were STILL CURLY AND LONG AND MASCARA-ED. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. And no irritation either!! I didn't get itchy eyes or anything. And like I said, it held curl really well. I've tried other mascaras which really weigh my lashes down and obliterate the curl, but this one does its job AND keeps it there. I have like 6 mascaras but I think I'm seriously going to stick to this one from now on (honestly I need to learn to hold back, especially when I wear mascara less than 12 times per year). It's also relatively easy to remove with an oil-based eye makeup remover (I use the YSL one). I also got the Heroine Make Eye Makeup Remover which comes in a cute mascara tube with a comb wand, but haven't got the chance to try it out yet. So...yea. GET IT!!! Did I mention it's UBER waterproof? =D

Next....

Brand: Yves Saint Laurent

Type: Touche Eclat Radiant Touch (in No. 2 Luminous Ivory)

Price: ?? Gift from Mum

I love my Mommee <3 I've been wanting the Touche Eclat forEVAR. But it's so expensive. It even LOOKS expensive...see all the flashy gold? lol. Well, I'm sure anyone who reads any sort of makeup reviews knows about the Touche Eclat...it's GODLY. After using it, I can attest for it's GODliness. I thought I looked so weird in the mirror because my eyebags were so unnoticeable! Yes, sadly, I've become used to an image of me with huge eyebags and dark eyecircles...they've become permanent over the years and refuse to leave even with massive amounts of sleep. I'd like to reiterate that this is a highlighter, not a concealer, though. So don't expect good coverage. I love love love this and I LOVE MY MOM! 

Mum's birthday on Friday AND the World Cup. Can't wait!! Hopefully I'll have sometime this week to touch up this blog's layout a bit...it's really bland. But I've got a long to-do list with having to write my CV in FRENCH to apply for an attachment next summer, redeeming the last stamp of my scholarship from Vancouver, and practicing for my band. Time to learn how to wake up early!

Liquid Diet

Day 2 post-hangover all I wanted was liquids...and REALLY COLD SWEET non-caffeinated/alcoholic thick liquids. (Must be the rebound from all that salty McDelivery I had day 1 post-hangover?)

What: Tall No-whip Raspberry Vanilla Creme Frappucino

Where: Starbucks

Cost: $33

Yumminess: **/*****

Note to self: next time ask them to double the amount of syrup if you want something sweet. The color was pretty though. And it satisfied the cold, thick cravings. The colour was pretty too lol. But tastewise it was bland.

What: Matcha White Chocolate Chocolixir with no whip

Where: Godiva

Cost: $39

Yumminess: ****/*****

This was surprisingly good! The matcha flavour was OK strong and the bits of white chocolate that was blended in was satisfying (normally I'm not one for white chocolate, but like I said...I wanted something REALLY SWEET.) And it melted surprisingly well too...not like Starbucks frappes which melt all watery. This actually melted into a milky liquid. I saw them blending it with some whitish creamy substance the consistency of coolwhip (which defeats the purpose of no-whip? lol), which might have allowed it to melt creamily. This drink really hit the spot.

Blah...I need to remind myself not to drink like the boys...no matter how much I try to be one of them, reality is we're different. Thank god for selfless friends.

And I think I've had enough Mcdonald's for the whole year in a day. Ugh. Need to start collecting takeout menus from restaurants instead of relying on 23382338.