LE DÎNER CHEZ NABIL

Dinner at Nabil's home tonight. Actually I had French lesson tonight but Chris suggested me to have french food instead of learning French. This offer tempted me!! :P Finally I chose to have French food + practise French at chez Nabil!!

I met Chris, his mom and Nabil at IFC first and we took the taxi to Nabil's home. It's my 1st time to go to Nabil's home, his flat is so BIG!! What a waste for him to live alone :D

We had some sweet wine first, the sweet wine was so tasty and fruity!! But I think I can't find it in Hong Kong since Nabil brought it from France. I will definately buy few bottles of this wines if I go to France next time!!

And we had some bread, cheese, sausages, bolc de foie gras, rillettes (I have no idea what it is, they told me it was made from pork). It tasted good with the bread.

The cheesese didn't look like cheese! They tasted so strong and I'm not so used of this kinda cheese. I told them it didn't taste like cheese and Nabil made fun of me that coz I have never tasted real cheese :D

What a interesting tasty meal and I was so full!! It was a really relaxing night and I enjoyed a lot!!

UN ALBUM DE PHOTO

We got a new bookshelf!! So I've been busy for cleaning up my stuff today. I've thrown away a lot of useless things and it also recalled some of my memories. I found a photo album collection that someone gave me, it was too big to fit in my old bookself and I kept it somewhere else before.

I didn't really go through every single page of this photo album but I do like it a lot. Maybe I just don't want to finish reading it so soon. I thought I forgot this album already but when I see it again, it's still special for me. I feel silly tho it makes me want to say thanks again to my friend :P

AC'S BELATED BD CELEBRATION

We celebrated AC's belated birthday tonight. FC suggested this "Cafe le must" French restaurant since she just had dinner there a week ago.

This restaurant offered a four courses set dinner and I chose to have foie gras, cream soap with mushrooms, steak and cream caramel as dessert. So far the food was ok since it wasn't too expensive. I liked the steak but the foie gras was only ok and the dessert wasn't good at all. Their service was good tho and they offered a free tiny birthday cake for AC. But the birthday cake wasn't soft enough and AC didn't like it :P

THE DAY AFTER TYPHOON

Haven't seen Christophe for a while and his friend has come to Hong Kong for vacation so we were chilling out today. We planned to visit The Big Buddha but becoz of the unstable weather, we went to Discovery Bay instead. It's my second time to go to Discovery Bay. Last time when I went there becoz my friend was playing for the dragon boat competition, I didn't really visit Discovery Bay much.



Comparing with Lamma Island, I more like Discovery Bay becoz the house looks more impressive :D We had a walk and then had drinks at the bar. It was really relaxing!!





Since there was nothing much to see in Discovery Bay so we took the ferry back to Central and then had a walk in MK.

Then we had seafood dinner in Jordan. The food was good but the service was bad. Seems they are short of staffs so we had to wait for long time when we needed help.

"Scallops? I guess"

After dinner we had dessert, Laila ordered papaya with hashma but she didn't know what hashma is. We explained to them that it's good for skin and it is the oval of frog and she was quite shocked LOL Laila didn't want to eat after knowing!! Christophe and Nabil dared to try but I think they don't really like :D It's not that disgusting, isn't it?

TYPHOON + BLACK RAIN

It's a early typhoon in this year!! Signal #3 typhoon doesn't mean anything to me especially on weekend. It brings heavy rains!! I didn't want to go out but my friend's back to Hong Kong and we had gathering tonight. Someone didn't show up becoz of the rain!! Bad excuse!

We planned to have Italian food but it was fully booked so we chose hotpot instead. The food was okay and the price was reasonable. We were quite enjoyed. After dinner we went to Kyoko's new flat to take a look. It's in MK and it's very convenient!! Comparing with Tin Shui Wai, I do think MK is much better. Looking forward to have party at her new flat soon!! :D

BRAVO LATATA

I have been working too hard recently and I just want to have a nice meal to relax myself so I went for a dinenr at Bravo Latata tonight. This restaurant got a lot of good reviews and it's really worth to have a try!!

This restaurant provided free champagne before the meal, it tasted sweet and good! Then we order a house white wine and had oysters as a starter. They don't have many choices for oyster and they only have Perle Blanc and TG1. I liked Perle Blanc coz it was very fresh, sweet and delicious!! TG1 was good too but a bit too salty.


I quite fancy smoked food and this smoked eel was great!! It was so soft and it tasted so good!! Eating with lettuce makes it even better!!

The pan fired foie gras is my favourite too!! Oh I loved the sauce and this foie gras was one of the best that I have tasted before!!

The stewed beef knee was quite good, it was very soft and I felt like it was melting in my mouth!! It would be perfect if the sauce was better!!

The mushroom sauce was very creamy and it was perfect match with linguini. But it's a bit too much if I ate a lot. Few bites is great!!

We were too full so we just ordered one sesame ice-cream and crême Brûleê but the manager of this restaurant was very kind to offer special dessert set for us. We had a free cocunut ice-cream!! They were all so delicious!!

It was a very great dinenr and I enjoyed a lot!! Wanna go there again soon to try different kinda food!! :D

TODAI GATHERING

Dinner at Todai tonight. Hang said Todai is going to be closed soon so we have our "last dinner" at Todai. It's my 4th or 5th times to go there but I think the food is not as good as before. Once again Picky didn't join us this time becoz of some reasons. We don't care anymore and we still enjoyed our dinner without him :P

Hang and Fiona bought a flat in Ma On Shan!! Wow rich guys!! I think I gonna start to make an investment!! I have no idea for the shares market tho...


After dinner we had a drink in a bar but this bar was bad. The cocktail didn't taste good at all. I should have ordered the beer!! And I don't think I will go that bar again!

CRAZY WORKLOADS

I'm gonna crazy!! The damn stupid new system sucks!! Why should I have to work on this new system? The new system got a lot of bugs and it is totally not user friendly. My colleages and I had to work until 2am today... I'm extremely tired and I'm sick of it!!

NEW TERM - LEVEL 7

Another new term for French. I often want to revise my French during the term break or holiday but I don't have time. My French still sucks!! My French teacher for this term is Eric again!! Oh no!! I don't really like this teaching method but I have no choice... At least he is better than the Chinese teacher... Well it would be a harsh boring term for me...

HIKING AT SAI KUNG

It was a nice sunny day and we went hiking from Hoi Ha to Wong Shek Pier. It was quite an easy route and we only hiked for around 5 hours.

Yiu and Mei Ki brought the cooking set with them so we could cook some simple stuff!! What a shame that Chef Lim couldn't join us!! I still haven't had chance to taste his cooking yet!! We only boiled the sausages, fried the hams for making sandwiches, made tea and cooked sweet dumpling for dessert!!

It was my first time to see the real star fish! But I guess it was dead already :D Didn't dare to touch it tho... We found many living things on the beach since the tide was out. Someone even wanted to kill the crab :D So cruel!!

After hiking we had dinner at a Korean restaurant at Sai Kung city centre. This restaurant is opened by a Korean couples. We ordered a 4 people set with stone pot rice, stewed ribs, Korean pancake, roasted mackerel and spicy soup with beef. The stewed ribs and the rice was so good!! Yummy :)

MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS

I barely watch Wong Kar Wai's film coz his films are reviewed as "artistic" and "boring" :P But I wanted this film becoz I like Jude Law and Nathaile Portman. I'm not sure this film is typical Wong Kar Wai Style film or not but I do like the visuals and the mood of the film. And the background music is very good and enjoyable. The plot is only ok but the film is beautifully shot with its neon colors and moody style.

P.S. I LOVE YOU

I wanted to watch the film of P.S. I LOVE YOU before but I have been too busy and this film isn't on cinema now so I bought a book and watched it during my trip.

I'm not a big fans of romance and someone told me the film was good so I had high expectation of this story. Holly and Gerry were perfect couples but Gerry died of a brain tumor and Holly feels lost and depressed. She can't move on and she just stays at her apartment and deteriorating.

Then she received a package from her husband whom wrote a list for her before he died. It is a series of notes to be opened at the beginning of each month which helps her to move on her life. And each noted is signed as "P.S. I love you".

The plot is ok but not as heartwarming as I hope. I don't really like the character of Holly. She seems to be too weak and immuture to move on her life. It just didn't grab me at all. A bit disappointed but maybe the film is better!

DAY 9 HONG KONG

I'm back to Hong Kong!! My vacation is over!! I didn't sleep on the flight at all and I'm extremely tired. The weather in Hong Kong is very gloomy and the sky is grey. I heard that it has been raining when I was in Spain and Porgutal. I'm going to miss the blue sky and the sun in Spain!!

I keep complaining on Spring and rain season coz I really hate it!! Back to Hong Kong is like going back to the reality... Tomorrow I'm going to work again!! Sigh...

Someone asked me if I had seen many good-looking guys in Spain or Portugal. Well, I didn't meet any!! Maybe I wasn't lucky enough!! Guys like Fernando Torres and Raúl González are not usually hanging around the street I guess :D LOL

DAY 8 BARCELONA / AMSTERDAM

Time runs fast and it's time for me to say goodbye again!! My vacation is so short!! I took the noon flight from Barcelona to Amsterdam and then took flight back to Hong Kong.


Overall this trip is quite good, but it would be better to travel on my own. I really hate joining the tour coz it's too rush and I don't have much time to visit the cities. I feel like everyday I spend much time on the coach to sleep :D Next time I will never join the tour again!!

I like Barcelona most and also Toledo. What a shame that I only spent 1.5 days in Portugal and I didn't even visit much for this country! The street scenes in Lisbon looks so much alike Macau!!

I realise learning European language is so important coz it's really so frustrating to communicate with non English speaker! How come Spanish and Portuguese people don't speak English well? :D

Things in Spain are so expensive comparing with Germany!! I was surprised!! I didn't buy many things coz most of the shops were closed during Easter and things are too expensive. I feel empty without buying anything for myself :P

DAY 7 BARCELONA

Spent few hours on the coach coz we were going to Barcelona from Valencia. I was so sick today :( I got stomachache, headache and cold sweat. I didn't have lunch at all since I lost the appetite. Took some painkiller and I felt a bit better.

Then started to visit the city centre of Barcelona. We first took a look on Gaudi's work: Casa Milà. The design of Gaudi is very special and unique. I like his architectures a lot.



Especially the Park Güell and Sagrada Familia. He used a lot of multicolored mosaic at the Park Güell which carries out his own style.

The Sagrada Familia is still building and the project is scheduled to be completed in 2020. It's a very impressive church and I really want to see when it is completed. Didn't get a chance to get in but maybe one day I will visit there again. The artworks of Gaudi makes Barcelona more lovely!! :D

DAY 6 VALENCIA

It's pretty far away from Madrid to Valencia and it took around 4 hours more by coach. When we arrived Valencia it was already nearly 2pm. We had Paella for lunch again but this time it wasn't as good as the one in Toledo.

After lunch we had city tour at Valencia. Valencia is the 3rd largest city in Spain. We visited Torres de Quart, City of Art and Science, the Catheral of Valencia and the Plaza of de la Virgen.





Some centuries ago, The Catheral of Valencia is used to be a mosque, but when El Cid conquered the city, it became a Roman Catholic cathedral.


We had a Spanish local guide to show us around the city, she spoke her English with Spanish accent which I hardly understand and I almost fell asleep :P

We had a drink in a cafe and the coffee there was quite cheap. Spanish coffee was quite good but I still prefer latte or Cappuccino.

Then we went back to hotel to have dinner and once again we had French fries and "dried steak". I didn't like it at all. It's the disadvantage for joining the tour coz you never have choice.

When I went back to the hotel room, the light at the mini bar didn't work well. It kept flashing so I called the reception and asked them to fix it. The lady didn't understand english well and she sent someone to our room to take a look. The other lady couldn't understand English too!! She could only speak Spanish and she wasn't willing to fix it. How come they have such service tho I only stayed for on night... I feel like Spanish people are not so friendly and helpful.