Mai's laughing at the idea of dating either a trader or a sales person

A friend of mine who is a securities trader sent me this article The Truth About Dating Traders. He tells me the article is pretty much spot on and describes him to a tee! The below point especially, he:

• has a permanent hunched back from checking prices every 2 minutes from his Blackberry
• smells like an old ash tray
• uses a financial model to find his partner
• works 14 hours  day and sleeps 4

For those of you who are traders how correct is this article.

After reading this article I looked at my own profession - a saleswoman. Come to think of it we share many of the same traits. Ok so if the article above warns you about dating a trader the one below will warn you about dating someone who’s in sales!

They are generally:

• still working
• always hooked to their smart phones and emails
• never at home, always travelling for business (the advantage is if  they’re a Platinum Frequent Flier, you will automatically get a gold card for life)
• very moody, especially if they have not made their yearly target number. He/She can be found in front of a fax machine waiting for a purchase orders

Both Mr Trader and Ms Sales don’t care whether you actually loves him or just his money as long as you look hot

I’d like to know what you guys think, for those of you who are dating/married to either, please let me know how accurate this is

The Wharf Restaurant
Pier 4, Hickson Road
Walsh Bay - Sydney 2000
Ph: +61 (0) 2 9250 1761

For Christmas lunch last year we went to ‘The Wharf Restaurant’ which is located at the Walsh Bay (near the Sydney Theatre Company at the Rocks).

The view here is amazing. The restaurant has a rustic look of wooden deck floor overlooking Sydney Harbour.  I came here for one thing only - Souffle which is To Die For!!!

The service during really busy hour is terrible here. Food tastes really nice and the price is just about right. But like I said before the awesome view really makes up for it.

Here are some of the dishes I’ve had here:

Chicken Liver Pate with caper berry and balsamic dressing $19.50

Chicken Liver Pate with caper berry and balsamic dressing $19.50

The Chicken Live Plate is very gamey, so if you don’t like your meat gamey give this a miss. I was surprised by the size of the dish as it was a very rich dish. The sweet balsamic sauce, the sour caper berry, the raw slice of onion (if you’re brave enough) really compliment the rich taste of chicken liver parfait which you eat with crispy toasts.

Black Angus Tenderloin with field mushrooms and Paris Butter $36.50

Black Angus Tenderloin with field mushrooms and Paris Butter $36.50

The beef tenderloin was perfectly cooked. The nice texture of mushrooms and glazed butter really adds another dimension to the beef.

Seared scallops with Japanese pumpkin and white necterine $22.50

Seared scallops with Japanese pumpkin and white necterine $22.50

At first I wasn’t really impressed with the size of the scallops but after realising that they are supposed to be small so that you can eat them like a pop corn I though it was a brilliant idea!

Kumquat souffle with cream $15

Kumquat souffle with cream $15

DRUM ROLL…

After waiting for a while….The star dish finally arrives. This has to be one of the best Souffle I’ve ever tasted. I came to the restaurant just for the Souffle :). They have different flavour souffle and this time they served Komquat souffle. I was almost  thought about seconds but figured it’s nicer to have something to look foward next time :). Let my picture above speak for itself :)!!

Mai - relaxing at Chuan Spa (Langham Hotel, Melbourne)

You know, I’m all for $25 massages and spas from Asia, namely Bali & Thailand, but it just doesn’t have that same pampered feeling compared to a day spa massage from Chuan Span at the Langham Hotel, Melbourne CBD.

This is the second time I’ve been here and I am really excited because I have been travelling alot more than usual in the past month and am really feeling it. So I booked a session with Chuan Spa.

Chuan Spa is based on ancient chinese tradition.

If you recieved this as a gift certificate or you are going together with your boyfriend or girlfriend make sure you arrive 45 minutes earlier prior to the massage! This will give you enough time to use the Langham Hotel’s swimming pool, jacuzzi and steam room. I didn’t use these facilities last time as I came late but by using it this time round it really really put me in a more relaxed state, ready for the massage. It made a BIG difference.

Then 5 minutes prior to the massage you should get ready and wait for your masseur at the orange seats (the kind staff will tell you where they are).

The masseur will then provide you with a form to fill in - mostly about your details and general health conditions.  Then after a quick chat about where I want to be massaged (I said everywhere :P), I was whisked to my massage room and start my hour of bliss :). I was sooo relaxed and in a state of nothing that I was sure I was in and out of a snooze.

I can surely get use to this pampering as it was so rejuvenating. I can tell you if this cost $25 a shot, Id be there every second day in a second!

After an hour of massage, I am offered a herbal tea. Few moments later, I’m back to the dailygrind. The good news is, I know when my next day spas appointment is muahha.

I started with a swim in the pool

Followed by a hot tub/jacuzzi overlooking Melbourne Sky Line

Stormy Melbourne Weather

Wrapped in a thick bath robe, I was ready to walk into my massage wait lounge

Chuan Spa - tranquil wait room (the orange seats)

Waiting room prior to and after my massage

A selection of empowerment books :)

Mai - Kate Sylvester Dress, Bulga Handbag, Jeffrey Campbell shoes, Tom Ford Sunnies

What I wear today:

• Sylvester by Kate Sylvester - Ruffle Dress
• Jeffrey Campbell Mary Roks Booties
• Bulga Handbag
• Tom Ford Sunglasses

Sydney Chinatown Night Market - Tasty Pancake

One thing I really enjoy on friday nights in Sydney is going to the weekly night market in Chinatown. Chinatown night market sells knick knacks ranging from mobile phone covers to fake tiffanys jewellery. However, I go there especially for the food. My favourite are the desserts. You can find dessert such as black sticky rice and pancakes.

I love the pancakes. They are thick pancakes made fresh on the spot. Make sure as soon as you buy them, you eat them while they’re warm. You get softly thick pancake and as you bite into them, you get the warm filling of either cheese, chocolate, custard, green tea or red beans. They smell delicious, I wish they make a perfume in that smell:)

They’re so addictive - YUM YUM!

Yes I know I’ve done a restaurant review on Bistro Guillaume (see my previous post here) but it is one of my favourite places to eat when celebrating special occassions, this time it was a friends birthday.

For the second time now we bumped into Derryn Hinch (Melbourne TV/Radio Personality) and like aways he was sitting in a corner table, almost like he was trying to hide from view. This must be his favourite restaurant.

Anyways, back to Bistro Guillaume. It seems like there has been a price hike and the portion size seems reduced with some of the foods.

I went with a small group of friends and we were having a really late dinner thus it made sense to share an entree and skip on dessert considering it’s close to our bedtime.

Entree is charcuterie plate $30 ($3 price hike from last year) which consists of Pork and pistachio saucisson sec, serrano ham, country terrine, pork, duck and rabbit rillettes, chicken liver parfait with port jelly
[the size reduction was obvious but presentation is lovely :)]

Charcuterie plate - love love love the terrine :)

Another entree which is what  I ended up having for main’s the Seared Scallops with pear puree, witlof, roasted hazelnuts, banyuls vinaigrette $20

The scallops were fresh and sweet, again good value for money for fine dining quality.

Seared Scallops with pear puree, witlof, roasted hazelnuts, banyuls vinaigrette

My 3 fellow diners decided to have the main steak which was designed to be shared amongst 2-3 people. I can tell you now that this should definitely be shared by 3, 2 only if both are extremely hungry. Below is the Plat Pour Deux (Ou Trois) of Roasted Rib Eye with rosemary, thyme, garlic, kipler potatoes, watercress salad and mustard of your choice (Tajima wagyu, 500 day grain fed, grde 6 from Culcairn NSW) $140

800 grams of Rib Eye to share being served - Yummmmm

Plat Pour Deux (Ou Trois) of Roasted Rib Eye with rosemary, thyme, garlic, kipler potatoes, watercress salad and mustard of your choice (Tajima wagyu, 500 day grain fed, grde 6 from Culcairn NSW) $140 to be shared among 2-3 diners (shown in this picture an individual plate)

I was told the steak was great. If you look at the pictures above you can see the eveness of the medium cooked rib eye. The marbled fat was rich and the burst of flavour was very enticing. The rosemary flavour came through really well and the side vegetables and potatoes were divine.

My last dinner decided to feast on Steak frites, sauce a la bordelaise or sauce bearnaise (Scotch fillet, 150 day grain fed Angus from Shepparton Victoria) $39

Steak frites, sauce a la bordelaise or sauce bearnaise (Scotch fillet, 150 day grain fed Angus from Shepparton Victoria) $39

Lastly, we had the broccolini as the side dish, $8 (bargain in fine dining term). It has to be one of the tastiest side vegetable dish I’ve had - simple and lovely.

ni with roasted almonds and beurre noisette $8

Once again, Bistro Guillaume is a great place to eat affordable traditional french food style.

If you are a fish and chips person, I’d highly recommend you have the fish and chips here at Bistro Guillaume where they serve you a whole fish!! Nice

Simba sleeping on the steps of the staircase - could not be bothered to play with me

Simba in a deep sleep thinking about beef liver I bet

My Dog Simba sleeps like a Koala and lives like a bat - 20 hours  nap a day and mostly active at night. His lifes motto is the same as me - play hard and recover later :). He’s such a cutie.

I don’t know how often you guys shop at asian groceries but everytime I go I always manage to seek out some bizarre foods.  This time its Ginger Ale Flavoured Kit Kat. Judging from the packet it looks like this was imported from Japan, trust the Japanese to create bizarre foods.

For those who don’t know my moto, its ‘always trying food at least once, no matter how bizarre’. So I bought it. The cost? $4.50 !!!

Kit Kat Ginger Ale Flavour

Kit Kat Strawberry Flavour

The Kit Kat Strawberry Flavour has to be my favourite non-standard flavour Kit Kat. I love everything about this Kit Kat.

Firstly, the colour is very attractive - pink. It tastes really nice - like pure strawberry flavour. They’ve done a great mimicking the strawberry flavour. YUM!! The exciting part about eating this Kit Kat is that it doesn’t only have the sweet flavour of a strawberry but also the slight tanginess kick at the end. YUM YUM!

Kit Kat Royal Milk Tea Flavour

Kit Kat Royal Milk Tea Flavour

All I can say about this flavor is that I’m going to stick to milk tea of the drinking kind. Yuuckkkkk

I certanly won’t be eating this Kit Kat again.

Do I look like a boyfriend snatcher???

Ok so today I have been recieving some crazy ass sms. The sms message says:

“You b!#ch, Leave my bf alone”

What is wierd is that the number is not listed in my address book so it can only mean one of two things.

1. Wrong number
2. Someone thinks I’m cheating on their boyfriend

It is most likley a wrong number because I believe in karma and unless your boyfriend is GSP (George St Pierre) its something I will never do.

So far I have been ignoring these messages because I have better things to do in life but the text messages are starting to get very frequent. I’m beginning to think what if its not the wrong number? What can I be doing to be so threatening to this poor girl. Infact who is this person and who is their boyfriend??

So what should I do? Sms this person back? or just ignore it?

Need your opinion guys :). *beep* -  another incoming text message (sigh)!

Mai at a revolving restaurant sky high at Auckland Tower

I’ve been to Auckland for work on more than one occasion and everytime I go I get excited. This is because Auckland is one of my favourite cities in the world. It is a very compact city which has a very pleasant feeling. The combination of the beautiful harbour, active volcanoes, friendly locals, unique and individual boutiques, hip bars and gourment restaurants makes Auckland a lovely city to be in.

If you only have a couple of days in Auckland, you can do the following activities to make the most out of this awesome place:

• Head to Viaduct - near Auckland Harbour - there are plenty of grown up bars including the famous Ice Bar (42 Degree New Zealand Vodka Ice Bar). Auckland Harbour is where the America’s Cup is held every year
• Hang out at the casino, have drinks or dinner at the Auckland Tower. You can also enjoy birds eye view of Auckland city at the Sky Tower.
  I managed to have dinner with a friend who happens to be in the same place for business at the revolving restaurant at the Sky Tower. When you have dinner here, you get a free ticket to the viewing platform. For you girls, be careful where you put your handbag. If you put it by the window, expect it to dissapear as the restaurant does revolve (slowly). The next time you try to find your handbag, it’s no longer there and believe me, everyone makes this mistake :). I had a really nice seafood dinner of Alaskan Crab with a great sky high evening view of Auckland
• Alternatively, head to Ponsonby Road for a nice Italian meal or modern New Zealand meal and great selection of local wines and beer. My favourite eatiery is SPQR at 150 Ponsonby Rd
• A short taxi ride will take you to Auckland hip suburbs of Mission Beach or Parnel. In Mission Beach, you can dine by the water while in Parnel, make sure you drop by my favourite eatery Iguacu for modern take of New Zealand cuisines.

A church in Parnell

• My favourite suburb in Auckland is Devonport. On weekends they have farmers’ market. In the dawn, you can get a nice view of Takapuna Beach and Auckland City from the hill. This spot due to its beautiful sceneries are very popular with couples and first dates.

Lovely houses at Devonport

A great view from Devonport hill overlooking Takapuna Beach

Another view from Devonport

View of Auckland City from Devonport

At Devonport

Otherwise, you can do the following if you decide to stay on a weekend:

• Catch a ferry to Waiheke island to visit the many vineyards, ride a bike or enjoy the nature that the island has to offer. I managed to crash a colleague’s house party and decided to catch the last ferry back as opposed to sleeping over :).
• Have a brunch at many cafes at Ponsonby Road - enjoy bubble and squeak and kumara chips for brekkie :). Followed by shopping at the many upcoming New Zealand designers and one of a kind boutique. My favourite boutiques are Sera Lilly and Miss Crabb.
• Go to Mission Beach, it’s only a short drive to get into auckland beach.
• Auckland Zoo - you can spend a whole day here and the zoo’s pretty cool with lots of animals.

Harbour Bridge - Auckland

Auckland City with Sky Tower Perching High