Mummy's birthday wk!

Was quite busy last wk, so no blog at all. Well, this post is a bit back-dated la. :P

How did we celebrate? Its a 1-wk affair la. :)

Monday - 22/5
We went out for a simple lunch at Swensens' and Daddy and I bought a sunflower for Mummy. Its her fave flower and we passed by the florist, saw a bunch of them in a tall vase (the flower has long long stem, so florist cut a lot away in order for us to put in a vase). It was very pretty and the flower is fresh so we bought 1 stalk (not too much, coz will get chided by Mummy for wasting $$).

Mummy and her precious flower. I put it near her tution area, so she can look at it while working. Florist said its imported from Holland, so its big and nice! :P

Tuesday - 23/5

Today, Mummy went out with Aunt Susan for lunch, while i had my own date. Daddy joined them too and its one of our fave restaurants, at Thai Village. Nice food. Yummy!

Wednesday - 24/5

Aunt Bee Cheng treated me and Mummy to lunch at Swisshotel Cafe, serving semi-buffet lunch. You order a main course, and appetiser and dessert are buffet. Its Swiss food, and we get really interesting variety there, even the desserts are not the usual cheesecake and stuff. Not bad! But too creative for the older generation le, they still prefer normal buffet. Swiss food..i dunno whether its authentic, coz its my first taste of it too :P

Thurday - 25/5

Today is Mummy's birthday! Love love love! :P Its a busy morn for all 3 of us. Daddy and I sent Mummy to SKII Spa Boutique for a complimentary eye spa, while we went to SAtours to pay the fare for Hokkaido trip. Then while Dad went to toilet at OG People's Park, i tried on a few dresses. Yah..only 10mins i also can grab a few pieces of clothings :P Hahah!! Then we went to Wan Hao for lunch, at Marriott Hotel. We love this restaurant and we went there for dinner during my bday too :) Its an all-time fave and we go there at least once a mth. Very nice! They serve fabulous dim sum and they let u see the daily dim sum on a tray:

The picture is a bit blur, but basically they display 1 piece of each dim sum, available for the day. Wan Hao changes it dim sum daily, so even if u go everyday, u can eat diff food and not get sick of it. They got some signature dim sum : steamed carrot cake (not fried!), siew mai (very good and full of fillings) etc. The desserts change too, and this time around we ate this:

They dig out the fruit of a dragonfruit, put lemon jelly at the bottom, then the fruit (which is digged out in circular shapes) are put in the middle, topped with a scoop of soursop sorbet! haha! i tink aft a few more blogs, i can write a food column liao .. hehz ^_^ I add this to my fave dessert list :)

More pics...

Haaha..i really like my outfit that day. Black Victorian lace top, with a laced skirt, plus black stilettoes, too bad, Mummy din take my full pic..hahaha.. another A* outfit for me liao > make sure i wear it often :P

Friday - 26/5

Today we stayed at home for porridge! After a wk of lunch dates and sumptous meals, must let our stomachs rest. I went for facial and a detox session! Clear all toxins, coz next wk, i got more lunch dates :P Hehe!

Busy week :

This is a busy week for me, packed with tutions, lunch dates and personal care(facial). haha! Basically i m so busy coz its mummy bday this thurs and we got lunch dates all wk, plus i m meeting up with some frens. So long never see them, so when we meet..guess wat? i m a bit loss for words. Yah, not the usual chatty kind, and after so long, with different lives and hobbies, i guess frens do drift apart. but well, we are working hard to bond again, is it not? (*winkz*)

Will be posting pics from lunch dates and mummy's bday later > after tmr, coz tmr is her bday and we gg for family lunch. I've been thinking abt wat to blog these days, and i do not like to post activities abt my life daily, coz it ll be so boring. Not travelling anymore till mid-june, so no overseas pics to post. Hokkaido will prob be the last place i m visiting this mid-yr holi. Gonna wait till yr-end, hopefully future boss will gimme leave to go Vegas. :P

Was reminded that i m old enough to travel alone and shop with frens, but haven found the one person who is super gum with me. My ideal holi is to jet off to a place i like and go on a tour to sightsee. If i have been there, and motive is to shop, i will just jet off, check into hotel and shop shop shop! Haha! coupled with spa and naps would be perfect! Not to mention great food. If transportation from one place to another is arranged, it ll be even better because i hate to look for tpt myself in a foreign place. haha!

So i have thot of wat to blog from now till Hokkaido > The Love of My Life :)

Wat are the loves of my life? My room, my house, my tv, my clothes, shoes, bags, jewellery and make-up kit, my hair! And for ppl, my parents! So i ll go ard taking pics and publish them, with explanation. Do bear with me, coz i find it meaningful to compile a list of my loves! :)

Stay tuned for pics :P

The next trip and some memories :)

Already thinking abt my next trip to Japan, Hokkaido. Its actually my 3rd time to Japan,the first two times were to Central Japan and Kyushu.

First time i went with Mummy, in Nov 2004. We went to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Mt. Fuji, Toyohashi. Was terribly impressed with the culture, cleanliness and people there. Japan has always been Mummy's dream holi since she was young, and it was a dream come true for her to bring me on this tour with her. (Daddy dun like to go Japan :P) We had a fun time the weather (autumn-winter) was fabulous. We saw red, brown. yellow, oranges leaves (maple leaves), but since i did not have a digi cam then, i could not post any pics (which is such a pity). The first time i stepped into Shinsaibashi in Osaka, and Shibuya, Harajuku and Shinjuku in Tokyo, i was overwhelmed by the variety of shops there and the way ppl dressed. Yeah! Jap girls are so trendy and up-to-date, NO girl would be caught in jeans and t-shirts! Even if its a simple outfit of jeans and blouse, they would layer it, and add accessories and pair it with boots (yeah! not flip-flops!). Nails are immacuately manicured and designed, hair is blown and curled nicely. Everything abt them is neat and almost perfect. When i was there then, i was only in JC1, and i felt so ugly. Couldnt blend in and i really stood out with my short hair and plain clothes :P

The second time was when Granny decided to treat us to Japan. So my parents, me, Granny, 3 cousins, Godma (who is my uncle's wife), Aunt Bee Cheng(daddy's cousin) and daddy's 2 frens went. Our family of 8 was treated by Granny! Hip hip hooray! A chance to travel with cousins! Being the one in charge of the tour, i picked Central Japan plus Fukuoka (Kyushu) and Nagasaki. So we set off this time, in June 2004. It was a totally different experience tgt, coz we went in spring/summer. Different scenery at the same locations, coz trees are green now. And the weather is not cold, a bit hot in fact, but not as humid as SG. It was a different experience coz we have a larger grp this time and Daddy finally agreed to go Japan! Enjoyed myself with my cousins on that trip. :)

This yr summer, me and mummy are going on a tour again. To Hokkaido. This is a season of flowers and lavender (July). On this trip ,we shld see pink moss and i have preapred pink pink clothes to wear! :) Will upload pics when i return :)

That day, Mummy was tabulating for me the number of places they have brought me to visit, and she came up with a grand total of 19! Not believing her, i decided to do a count:
1. Europe > London, Paris, Amsterdam, Venice, Rome, Vatican, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria > the usual Central Europe countries > it was a whirlwind tour of 13D ard Europe, and though we see a lot, we din really enjoy coz it was really tiring. Plan to return to London, Paris and Switzerland for detailed tours :) This trip was paid by parents
2. USA > EAST > New York, Washington D.C, Orlando, Florida, Toronto, San Francisco.. (cant rem coz i was only 10 then); WEST > Hawaii, Las Vegas, LA, San Francisco (cant recall too, coz i was only 7 then :P) > In all, i love USA most, coz DAddy was borned there and we always feel close to the country :) Granny treated us on both trips to USA, and the whole family went
3. China > NORTHERN >Beijing, Chengde, Tianjin; SOUTHERN Jiangnan tour (twice) : Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, Nanjing and Mt. Huangshan. I wasnt terribly impressed with Beijing when i went when i was 11, coz the hygiene level..tsktsk..cmi , but Jiangnan was good! The food was fantastic and suit all kinds of palattes, scenery beautiful, and most impt, we went during winter and it was so diff from summer Beijing :P Mt Huangshan trip was with mum, aunt and cousin > it was fun and we had a great time climbing the mountain, the best mountain in the world :)
4. Bangkok > Cant rem how many times, Mummy either bring me for shopping there or we will pass by the places on return from USA/Europe
5. Japan > accounted above
6. M'sia > KL for shopping, twice
7. New Zealand SOUTH > Christchurch, Queenstown, Okohoma, Mt. Cook > Went in winter too. This was the FIRST time i saw snow, falling from the sky. We were in the coach, travelling to restaurant for lunch. Rain started falling, first it was a drizzle, then to bigger drops then suddenly ice came down. Ice came in thin flakes then became snow. We were so thrilled and the driver stopped the bus halfway to let us indulge in the falling snow. Its very lucky to see falling snow, coz even locals cannot predict when will snow fall. I felt so blessed then :P NZ is really a good place to visit in May/June :)
8. Australia > Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth. These 4 places, i visited Melbourne most, in fact yearly. First time, Granny bought the whole family to Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne. The highlight of that trip was that she booked us in casino-hotels at every place, Conrad Jupiter at Gold Coast, STar City at Sydney, and Crown at Melb. Went to the Great Ocean Road (Melb), Movieworld and Dreamworld (Gold Coast) and Sydney Opera House, Darling Harbour and Harbour Bridge(Sydney). We were spoilt and loved that trip! Inthe end, we concluded that Crown is simply the best of the lot. Mummy treated me, daddy and Granny to Perth, we stayed at Burswood (another casino) and i visited winery, fruit orchards that time. When i was in Melb, we would go on 1-day tour to winerys for tasting and buying :)

That pretty much sums up my holiday tours from young till now. I always feel very blessed and fortunate that Granny, Mummy and Daddy brought me on tours every year, w/o fail. When life gets unhappy, when things dun happen the way i want, i will reminicise these trips and remind myself how fortunate and loved i m :) Hokkaido and Scandinavia (in future) will be the last two trips parents are paying, then its my turn to treat them. :)

Places to go:
1. Scandinavia > a family dream to go Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland for X'mas.
2. Spain and Portugal > Daddy's dream to go see bull-fighting and Mummy and my dream to go shopping in Spain. I promise them with my first amount of savings (from work ah, not now), i ll treat them there.
3. Vegas > one more time to the city that bustles with entertainment and i would want to stay at MGM Grand, the hotels with Venice and Egyptian themes. Watch the Cabaret Show :)
4. S.Africa >any fren game to go with me?
5. Maldives nad Sri Lanka > Elaine jie promsied to show me ard there, though the date is postponed again, I hope the deal still holds (right jie?)
6. Egypt > another dream of mine, doubt anyone wanna go with me :P
7. Greece > hope i can go with my loved one in future :)
8. Alaska > another place to bring my parents to, hope to cruise there and fly back
9. Eastern Europe > should go there with frens

With all these places in mind, there will be motivation for me to work hard hard! Yeah!

PS: Anyone game to go with me? Pls tell me! :)

Holiday Rewards :P

So i m back from Melbourne (it has been about 5 days) and wat have i got from my trip??

Clothes

Bought this from JAG, an Aussie brand. Was quite lucky coz saw this top at Myers, but i din get it. When i got back to Crown, did some shopping at the promenade and saw it again..guess its fated i must buy! So here it is..hanging in my cupboard :P
This one looks so Jap-o right? Hard to imagine i got it from Melb. Well, i did at a shop in Melbourne Central and its shop owned by an Asian. Guess she got her goods from either Jap, Korea or Taiwan!

Accessorises

People who really know me..I cant dun buy accessories when i travel..must buy! Some i got from shops having sale, some from Queen Vic Market. There is this stall at the Market, run by two Korean ladies, and whenever i go, i will get clips from them. Its a must! :) And they will always intro me to new kinds of clips and new ways to clip.. perhaps i shld perm my hair to more Victorian style and clip it nicely..hmmm...time to go salon?? *ponder..*

Other stuff

This is my fave shopping! :) Deep red wedges and bag. Ok..i know..the color matches perfectly right? Ok..i know wat u guys thiinking..i did not buy them at the same shop. I got the shoes from Novo, bag from Nine West. All on sale! Wow! And if u r sharp-eyed, u will see i have a matching necklace from the previous photo! Hoho! I m so pleased with myself! :)

Sentiments

I learn a lot from the Aussies. They are so friendly, once u enter a shop, the shop attendant will greet u in a high chirpy voice, "Hi ya! Hows your day! How're ya doing?" So nice!

When we get into the lift, they will say "Good Morning". When we were at the casino, they will greet us and share with us their jackpot luck. :)

Asians are different. They will stare, talk behind your back softly, glance at you weirdly. Sigh..no greetings and certainly no smile from them..when you are at the same table as them and they dun like your style of playing Blackjack, they will criticize you. They spoke in Canto and thot i din understand, the next thing i did, i replied nicely in Canto and oh my, you shld have seen their faces! :P Wahaha! Never trifle with a Tan. Wahahaha :P

Met an interesting person at Queen Vic Market, she was selling this pair of earrings, and it was on sale, A$6. I wanted a pair and when iwas checking, i found that one side is a bit tarnished. I wanted to change that side, she told me (in a not so nice tone), "(its tarnished) .. thats why its on sale mah!" I told her straight, "I dun care it is A$6 or A$0.10, as long as i want to buy, i want to get a perfect pair. No change, no buy!" Bo bian..she changed and sold me a nice pair. Hrmph! Wanna try to be funny with me? I m only a small fry in my family la, my father and uncles are better than me. Wahaha!

Ok..so now i got to settle my final report, and in June, i m jetting off to Hokkaido. No more S.Africa because the tour on the date i want, is cancelled so i guess it will have to be shelved. :P

Dinner time and entertainment

In Australia, if u have been there before, you will know that shops close very early, abt 5-6pm. So wat can we do at night? We need entertainment, else spend the night sleeping away in the hotel!

After a relaxing afternoon at the pool and spa, we would dress warmly and head out for dinner. Usually we will have dinner at the foodcourt outside the casino, along Crown's stretch of shops, indoor. Foodcourt > u tink of SG ones, cramped and full of stalls, with ppl chatting away loudly. But over there..hmm..they have stalls, selling authentic dumplings and char siew noodles (by HK chef and owner), char kway tiao (better than those in SG!), Viet food, Thai food, u name it! One problem: Expensive! A stick of toriyaki (Jap skewers of chicken they sell at Taka) = A$2.50. A plate of char kway tiao costs A$9.80. Dumpling noodles = A$8.80. Even a bottle of Yeo's Green Tea = A$3.20! No choice le..i love green tea and i had to have a bottle everyday, even at home. Though..i prefer to have Heaven & Earth's Green Tea..*paiseh* i cant choose there la..so make do lor.. One plus point: they serve huge portions there. Two small-eaters can share 1 plate of rice with veggie, the rice is piled like a small mountain and i cant even carry the plate! So do ur sums > izzit worthwhile to eat there? :P

On one night, Wed night, we walked to Southbank and had dinner at Red Emperor. This is a restaurant ran by a HK chef and we know the captain there: Christine. She is very nice, always giving us free tea, soup and fruit platter. Its a long and freezing cold walk there, but the service and quality of food makes us return for more. When i went Melbourne for the first time, with more family members, we dined there every night. Not cheap but we like it. Hey! Foodcourt not cheap also le.


Red Emperor > Very nice place with great food. One thing good abt Aussie restaurants: they do not charge the irritating 10% service charge, only 10% tax, but as tourits, we can get tax refund. :)




Dinner was good...



Wat we had for dinner that night:

> Bitter mustard with garlic: nice! One of my fave veggies! I love veggies and fruits btw!
> Half of a fried chicken
> Pi-pa tofu aka vegetarian tofu balls with sauce
For the two of us, we had a small serving, but Christine told chef to gave us a larger portion, but charge us the price for small serving. haha! :)

The complimentary fruit platter, nicely cut and arranged on a sliver plate. Served chilled and fresh, i love it! So nice of Christine!

As i said, at night, all shops are closed and so after dinner, we took a leisurely walk back to Crown. Took pictures along the way.

This is the view from Southbank (a buidling with restaurants, bars and shops). I took this form Level two, and Red Emperor is on Level 3. In the background, its Flinders Station, with lights at night. And Yarra River. :)

More pictures:

It was a very windy night and we had to brave the wind to take pics. The wind was so strong that i could not stand still on the ground, and there was a light drizzle. Super cold! Dun ask how i survive! I m not wearing wollen sweaters, only a thin top and a white coat, with scarf and gloves :P

Crown has this fire-spurting performance at 7pm every night. In the day, these towers have water flowing down from the top, and when night comes, the water still flows, but fire will burst from the top of the towers. it is to demostrate that water and fire can co-exist. Well, on Thurs night (last night in Melb), i decided to go out, brave the cold night and take pics. Standing there, i saw the fire turned from small to big, until it explodes into the chilly air. At that instant, i feel warmth leh! And the whole row, got about 5 to 7 towers and they co-ordinate the timing and sequence of the fires. Very nice! I managed to take some shots. Not only me, a lot of ppl, locals and tourists, stood there and took pics! Some took videos! :P

Believe me, other than Las Vegas, you will not see such interesting and big-scale shows, hahaha!

The 'Performance'

The skyline of the business district, seen across Yarra River:

At the side entrance of Crown

We took these outside the Warner Bros store (one of the shops in Crown Shopping Promenade)> SG used to have one at Suntec City, but closed down liao. So over there i was quite excited to see it and took pics lor. Shopped ard too, coz its quite impossible to get Warner Bros stuff in SG liao. :)

I have updated all my activities there! Tmr i ll do a post on my shopping! Yeah! ^_^

That's all folks! *winkz*

What do we do in the afternoons? :)

After breakie, shopping, we will return to hotel with our shopping at ard 3pm (Melbourne time). We did not stop for lunch as we had a heavy breakfast, so its back to room to brew tea/coffee and some snacks. Then we get changed and go down to ..the POOL and STEAM ROOM! :)

As we walk to the pool and spa area, we passed by a resting area with big sofas and comfy plush couches, Granny loves it coz she feels it a nice resting place and so this is her and one of her fave spots:

Pictures before we dip into the jacuzzi (they have jacuzzis everywhere *lol*):



The pool is indoor, with heating facilities during the winter. The jaccuzi area is at one corner and it has warm water and strong powerful jets.

Behind the pool, there is a gym, with french windows and an outdoor tennis court. Changing rooms and steam room are also available, and we made full use of the facilities every day
(i told Granny, its so ex to stay for 1 night, we must utilize all their facilities, trust me..)

Even the shower area in the changing room is good: (and they provide Molten Brown's shampoo and shower gel, got class!)


We would hang ard at the pool area till abt 6pm before changing and head for dinner..where do we go for dinner...stay tuned! :P

Phototaking day (outdoor)

After pictures in Crown, we ventured out of the hotel and cross the road so that we can take the picture of Crown Towers > It was not so cold that day, about 12 - 15 degrees.


Granny is standing on the bridge, which will bring us across the Yarra River, to Flinders Station, after passing the undergrd at Flinders, we will be in the business and shopping district area. Crown is ideally located outside the central, yet within walking distance, so we get to enjoy shopping in the day and the tranquility of the river at night. :)
(Pardon the color of the pics, i was testing out my new hp camera :P)


Granny was standing on the new bridge over the river. In the background, it is the curved bridge, which we used to take when the new bridge was not ready. Both bring us across the Yarra, but the old one (curved) is harder to walk, coz its not flat ground there. From Crown to here, to the shopping area, we need to walk abt 1km, so we walk 2km to and fro everyday, minus the shopping distance. So its good exercise! :)



More pics along the bridge:


They call this place the South Bank of Yarra, which is a dining and exclusive shopping area. Along the path, trees are planted and high skyscrapers lined the place.


The partial skyline along Yarra, one of the buildings belong to Price Waterhouse Coopers, which my HRM tutor mentioned before. I was impressed.








The shopping street, which houses Myers, David Jones, Sportsgirl, Jeans West, Mango, Fila, Sussan, Katies, Accessorize etc. Most of them are home grown brands, not found in Sg so i had a fabulous time shopping there. Two streets down this street, brings us to Melbourne Central and QV Shopping District, which i forgot to take any pics coz i was busy shopping and trying on clothes :P

On Thurs (11th May), we decided to go to Queen Victoria Market to buy dried fruits and cheap stuff. There are many sheds (lanes) in QV Market, and they are divided into sections: veggies and fruits, meat, confectionery, clothes and accessories etc. We had a wild time there and i added more accessories to my collection at home (got pics later on my goods *winkz*).

Granny was at one of the sheds, and its a long stretch of shopping. They sell local made products, such as tshirts, accessories, creams (lanolin), essential oils, belts, shoes etc. Very authentic and Aussie. I bought quite a bit there, but my ultimate aim was the drued apricots and peaches for all my aunts. :P

Granny passed by the veggie section and saw ppl carrying bunches of celerys, cabbages etc and they were fresh and cheap! She was controlling herself not to buy and carry home, but in the end, she gave in and bought SIX eggplants from the market. Very cheap! A$4 for 2kg! (Conversion: A$1= S$1.20). Very cheap if u compared to SG and u dun get Aussie eggplants from SG easily, they are different from local eggplants. When we returned to hotel, i asked to photograph her eggplants and she gamely arranged them on the coffee table for me:

Through 5 days of shopping, I must thank Granny for patiently waiting for me. She will sit down and look after my shopping bags and coat, while i continued to make my way thru the endless shops and buy more more more things! Sometimes she will sit there for an hour to guard my barang barang, while i indulged myself. She would tell me to buy wat i like and not to worry, as she got cash with her! Love ya, Ar Nai! :)

Phototaking day (indoor)

Basically, we did a lot of shopping on Tues (9th May) and Granny's feet are aching from all the walking we did, hence our schedule for Wed (10th May) was to walk ard the area and take pics. We will end our day with a stop at Cole's (supermarket) for snacks, titbits and milk.

Lobby and fountain and main entrance of casino is on Gound Level. The Conversatory is on Level 1, and we took some pics ard the area outside the restaurant:

There are 3 water-jars in a row.







Granny was standing on the spiral stairs, leading down to lobby.. She was standing in the reverse manner and i was so scared she would slip backwards. Told her to be careful but she insisted to take this pic. Haha.. :P She loves Crown Towers, will always visit this hotel yearly, and i m lucky to be able to follow her there to shop :)




Finally we came down the spiral staircase and took a normal pic in front of it, in the lobby. More pics coming up..those taken along Yarra River :)

Breakfast in Melbourne > The Conservatory

Introduced the fantastic hotel in my previous post, though i m tired from uploading all the pics > i m unwilling to rest and wait any longer! I must post all my pics and let u guys have a feast! Perhaps leave u itching to visit this wonderful city (and hotel) asap! :)

We will wake up at ard 8am (Melbourne time, Melbourne is 2 hrs ahead of Sg), and dressed to go down eat breakfast. Well, i must admit, i wake at 7am coz i need to bath, wash hair, blow and curl, make up blah blah..yah..i dilly-dally la..plus the tv in the bathroom, i gotta watch and do my things tgt le! Granny, being the quicker one, needing only at most 30mins, let me use the bathroom first, while she patiently wait for me. So ppl, if u r sharing a rm with me, let me use the bathroom first (if u want ur breakast), and the person who knows my habits best: Aunt Bee Cheng! She is my best room-mate during holis! :P

Then we troop down to breakfast, with our coats and scarves ard us. Breakfast is served daily from 6.30 to 10.30am at The Conservatory, its buffet breakfast, and there are lotsa things to eat, even for the fussiest eater:

I took a shot of the buffet area. Mainly 6 sections:

• >Egg (sunny side up, boiled, poached, omelette), porridge, kuay tiao soup and fried noodles and rice section
• >Cereal and milk, dried fruits, canned fruits, fresh fruits, ham and cold cuts section, and my fave: Birch museli
• >Juice Section: with apple, pink guava, pineapple, orange, tomato. (plenty of selection, they have all these daily)
• >Hot Selection: baked beans, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, veggie fritters, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns
• >Bread: different kinds of muffins, danishes, bread, buns, rolls, toasted bread
• > Pancake and yohgurt section : with fresh creams, dried fruits, fruit compote (* Jie, if u bring darling Ethan there, he will eat lotsa pancakes with berries and cream, sure love it! :P *)

After eating there for 4 mornings, i can memorize all they have liao. Besides the fruits, cereals and yohgurt, they have lotsa nuts too. Almonds, pinenuts, sunflower, walnuts, cashew..never in my life, did i know so many diff varieties of eggs before! My fave: sunny-side up, and omelette (with bacon, tomato, onions and ham in it). Sunny-side up is my fave too, together on a toast with a cut of ham, but i m fussy abt it, the egg yolk must not be too cooked and must be perfect (i.e. no break, spill etc). In my family, only Granny and Daddy know how to fry a perfect sunny-side up for me! Love u! I feel so blessed :)

Took a snapshot of the dining area in The Conservatory > very big and spacious. French windows from the restaurant overlook the Yarra River and we can see the skyline of the city area. Sunlight streamed in from the windows and spaces betw tables are big, making u feel totally at ease eating. I love french windows, and my future house, must have them!



My breakfast:
Usually i start with a glass of juice (prefer orange or guava, sometimes pineapple). Then omelette, sauteed mushrooms, bacon and a cut of ham. Then i will do for 1 slice of toast, either with ham and sunny-side up, or with butter and jam. Next will be my bread and pancake:



One morning, i opt for apricot danish, and 2 slices of pancakes. My weakness: fresh cream with maple syrup on my pancakes! U see on the table? They serve jam in small bottles, they put 4 different kinds on each table, and u take one, open and use as much as u can. After u finish, they will dump the whole small can..a bit wasteful so Granny and I always bring back the unfinished jar. Haha :)





I had an almond danish this time. With pancake and rockmelon. It looks like their rockmelons are very cheap, huge helpings every morn at the buffet and i eat a lot. About 10-15 slices a day. So sweet and cold! Yum yum!

My last and final helping of the buffet will always, DEFINITELY be this! Yohgurt, mixed nuts, dried apricots, poached peaches, birch museli and some cereal. I love it! I feel that the goodness and fibre are all in this one bowl and it makes me feel healthy after all the food. And i would wash them down a hot cup of tea. :P Nice nice!

More pics of us at breakfast:

Granny is cutting her food into smaller pieces so she can eat. Granny is such an elegant and poised lady, and whenever i m sitting at the same table, eating with her, i feel so un-ladylike. Haha..trust me, if u sit at the table with her, you would cut ur toast into 10 pieces and chew slowly too. And never take too much food, never put big pieces of food into ur mouth, never talk with ur mouth full, twist ur noodles ard ur fork before eating. Never slurp (i dun do that!) ur tea/coffee. I already got quite good table manners, but with Granny, I feel so undainty > Granny spent many years in the US with my Grandpa when he was studying at Florida, so she learnt a lot from the Americans and all the dining ettiquette. From young, she and my Daddy would teach me, haha! So western food, formal dinner> Not a problem! :P

I really enjoyed my breakie at Crown and i love the spread. I indulged in bacon, which i dun eat at home, and i can enjoy my helping of birch museli and yohgurt. I must say that the chef at the egg station fired a good omelette, but sunny side up..he gonna learn more! I almost had to ask Granny to fry for me there..his ah..cmi cmi.. (remember i m fussy). :) Overall we had a good time every morning!

Next coming up... some shots of Crown and the surroundings :P