Indulgence in Zoe

I dare to say Zoe should be one of the best cake shop in Hong Kong. Most of their cakes' tastes are just right...not too sweet and relatively light. They have 2 shops and both are locating in Hong Kong Island...Causeway Bay and Happy Valley. I always visit Happy Valley one as it is more easy to find parking over there...hehe. Maybe I will try Causeway Bay shop next time because I heard that it was a cafe and had more varieties of cake.

After a huge spending in the afternoon of Nov 17, a very small spending, comparatively speaking, followed. That was buying 5 cakes from Happy Valley's Zoe. Of course, those 5 cakes included Zoe, 1459, Blueberry cheese, Opera, and Mocca. I believe the first two are the best and also the signatures of Zoe. Although I had Zoe and 1459 for many times, but I still could not wait to indulge myself with those two cakes; therefore, I ate them inside the car and left the other three for late snack...LOL. Actually, there is a meaning of Zoe cake; that was the cake of Zoe's 18th birthday from her mother. It is quite interesting.

Zoe ($32) Hazelnut cream is on the top of a crisp base. Soft and smooth. Perfect!!!

1459 ($28) Make up of 1459 layers of pastry and custards. Puffy and crispy. Cool!!!

Blueberry cheese ($28) Rich in blueberries and the cheese cake is very very soft. Light cheese.

Opera ($28) Rich in chocolate and contain a little of wine and coffee favor. Rather strong in taste.

Mocca ($28) Texture feels like a mousse cake. Light mocca taste.

Phone/電話 #: 2892-1166

地址: 跑馬地山光道7A-3地下

Address: G/F., No. 7A-3, Shan Kwong Road, Happy Valley, Hong Kong

Phone/電話 #: 2234 7188

地址: 銅鑼灣希慎道新寧閣地下6號舖

Address: G/F., Shop No. 6 Sunning Plaza, 10 Hysan Avenue, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

How would you like your steak?

When you order the beef steak in a restaurant, the server would usually ask " How would you like your steak cooked?"

You could answer "I would like it (one of the followings), please."
rare 三成熟
medium-rare 五成熟
medium 七成熟
medium-well 八成熟
well-done 全熟

By the way, the above can also be used for the rack of lamb.

Being Overpraised Cafe Gabbana

This year's Valentine's Day, I turned on the radio to station 903 and listened to the programme named "五天精華遊". The hosts recommended a restaurant and somehow I didn't have a chance to visit it until last Saturday (17 Nov).

Cafe Gabbana is a casual-dining Italian restaurant. A small but cozy restaurant which is likely to house about 16 and 14 parties at the inside and the patio, respectively. It can be said a quiet place for relaxing the mind as its surroundings are usually the low density residential, closed school and shops; however, some noticeable noises emitted from the passing vehicles occasionally exist. Furthermore, metered parking is available in just few steps down the restaurant and pet is allowed at the patio.

That night, we've ordered the followings:-
Lobster bisque 龍蝦湯 ($48)
Smoked duck breast salad 煙鴨胸沙律 ($78)
Crispy fried boneless chicken wing 香草無骨雞翼 ($48)
Linguine with goose liver and wild mushroom 鵝肝雜菌扁意粉 ($88)

It may because I like eating strong lobster bisque, I thought the lobster bisque was a bit thin. For all other dishes, I would say they were not bad. Nevertheless, our server had made a negative impression on me. She seemed not to know the must-have behaviours of a waitress, e.g. when I requested a fork from her, she just walked away apathetically without saying a word or nodding. I observed her for a while and noticed that she didn't smile to other customers as well; she only gave smile to the customers' dogs. How ridiculous!!!

For the wrap-up, I would give 7 out of 10 to Cafe Gabbana. Without concerning the service, it could be a choice for having average food with the fair price.

Phone/電話 #: 2391-1088
地址 : 九龍塘 又一村海棠路21-31號地下5-6舖
Address: Shop 5-6, G/F, 21-31 Begonia Road, Yau Yat Chuen, Kowloon Tong

Call it a day

Call it a day
meaning : (idiom) stop doing something for the remainder of the day. 今天到此為止
example : I am totally exhausted. I think it's time to call it a day.

Just learnt walking's Belle

Isabelle is my beloved niece. She is cute, adorable and very precious to the families. This video was taken at the walkway outside Sutton Place Hotel on August 5, 2007 after finishing the brunch at the hotel. It was the period Isabelle learned how to walk faster. So she felt really exciting when she could run barely all the walkway long by herself without our holding. Hearing her laughter will definitely make you smile as well.

A Credit to Cova

A farewell dinner was organized on Nov 14, 2007 for a uncle and his family who came visiting HK from San Francisco. I thought I should buy a cake as our regard to them. I arrived at Cova around 7:00pm and decided to buy a cake of popular flavor. Their Mixed Fruits Cream Dome, a chiffon sponge cake topped with mixed fruits and a Cova's chocolate plate and filled with mixed fruit and whipped cream, was the one I looked for, but its topping became dry out a bit. Since I was already late for the dinner, I was obliged to ask the staff to wrap that for me and told her my comment to the topping. She was so nice that giving a suggestion of replacing the current topping with the fresh one. Besides, the original topping contained sliced mango, kiwi and strawberry, but they didn't have anymore kiwi left at that time. Therefore, she asked me if I would mind to have some blueberries instead of kiwi. Surely, I didn't mind because her service was excellent. I dare to bet that not every salesperson would provide such good services!

Cova is one of my favorite cake shop because their cakes are quite special and all of their shops are located inside the popular malls. However, the cake shop that possesses my appreciation the most is Zoe.

No Bitter, No Sweet

This morning something about my friend's love matter came up my mind. She announced her love life blissfully one week ago and I felt really glad for her from the bottom of my heart. It is a pity she told me yesterday that the happiness hadn't stay long. I just wanna tell her that no bitter no sweet. Life is no bed of roses. One shall try to learn from and feel the adversity so that when the favorable circumstance comes again, it will be even more splendid. I keep reminding myself of this theory since five years ago and this makes me treasure and enjoy more deeply my wonderful life.

沒有苦 那覺甜
沒有風 怎知暖

Native English Speaking Tutor

Few weeks ago, I was helping someone to look for a native English speaker as the private tutor; she wanted to improve intensively her English listening and speaking skills. As a responsible person like me and having taking account of the time and location flexibilities, tutor's quality and suitability, tuition fee, etc., I tried very hard to find her two native English speaking tutors for her selection.

These two tutors can provide one-to-one or small group tutoring. However, each session cannot less than two hours. They both charge HK$250/hr for one-to-one lesson and about HK$180/hr per student for two-person group lesson. Advance payment is not required and do have to pay at the end of each session. For the location, it is recommended to arrange the lesson in the coffee shop or the sitting area of the university or college. Please note that travel compensation may require sometimes.

Lastly, the following is my comments on the said tutors:-
Tutor A: willing to provide free evaluation session, no additional charge for the overtime session, better time alternative, not likely suitable for the learner of below intermediate level.
Tutor B: limited time alternative, teach patiently, a formal ESL tutor for all level.