Coffee or Tea: 8 Oct 11

A beautiful afternoon at Rose Verandah, Shangrila

It is always quite an excitment for me when I see an extensive tea menu and the process of picking the right tea to suit my mood and taste. Smoky earl grey caught my eyes and I wondered how it would turn out, a cross between Gryphon's "lapsang souchong" and earl grey? Unfortunately, the taste was "neither here nor there", couldn't quite taste the earl grey and its smokiness was average. Perhaps if I've not tasted lapsang souchong before, my expectation would've been different.

We started off with savoury food.

A waitress came by and offered earl grey sorbet. Very light floral taste and it was only towards the last few spoonful that I tasted tea.


From top clockwise, very sour (but I like it) Passionfruit mousse, a bit too sweet Creme brulee and rich durian cake

On Apple

A visit to NYC Apple shop on 30 Aug 2009

"I have always observed that good design can normally only emerge if there is a strong relationship between an entrepreneur and the head of design. At Apple this situation exists - between Steve Jobs and Jony Ive…Apple has managed to achieve what I never achieved: using the power of their products to persuade people to queue to buy them. For me, I had to queue to receive food at the end of World War II. That’s quite a change."

– Dieter Rams, Dieter Rams: Apple has achieved something I never did

quote via Unplgged

Starbucks

This morning, I ordered Starbucks as take away from the 'open concept cafe' at the link mall. Nothing special, but its nice to have a cup of latte on a cold rainy day.

When overseas, I try to pop by Starbucks too, not so much as to drink the coffee, but to see if the Starbucks feel any different.

a 5-storey Starbucks in Taipei

by Danshui River

Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to go into any of these two cafes for a cup of coffee. But came across a Starbucks that looks even better at Wolaramirez's blog. Could you believe this is Starbucks? Note: Below photos all via Wolaramirez.

A Chinese menu that looks so much like that of a local Hong Kong cafe.

This is cute, translated into English, it means, "please shoot as you please".

Will certainly try to drop by this Starbucks at Hong Kong Central if I go Hong Kong again.

Eye Candy

Nice packaging via Share Some Candy

IKEA 2012 Catalogue

Every year upon receiving the IKEA catalogue, I would flip through the pages repeatedly, filling myself with the details of rooms I like. Some of these rooms are the exact opposite of 'less is more', which is precisely what attract me, being a person inclined to fill up spaces until they look like my space.

Unlike elegant, almost empty rooms (which I do like but its just not me), the rooms of IKEA show vibrance, beaming with signs of life and are certainly more realistic and achievable.

Great post on IKEA 2012 Preview from Apartment Therapy.

Am looking forward to receiving this from my mailbox. In the mean time, check out the online version here.

An end to commence a new beginning

this afternoon's teabreak

Today marks the coming to an end of carefree, aimless days. For more than half a year, I wasn't working. Tomorrow will be a very different day, back to a more routine life. In a way, I'm glad, after long period of inactivity.

At the beginning of the year, I wrote a 'new year resolutions' post. I guess now is a good time to take stock of the last half year. No I did not exercise more often, in fact I went to gym less as compared to when I was working. But I ate more! I guess I did spend more time with my family, fussing over my mum as a different form of occupation and we got the house done up, which was quite an achievement. As for the new job, yes, tomorrow is the day.

Coffee or Tea

When it comes to eating and drinking (coffee/tea), I guess this must be my greatest strength. Judging from my posts on Coffee or Tea, I think it has really been a caffeine overdose. But I still have not made it to 40 hands, which happens to be the cafe nearest to my home.

I managed to try out a few vegetarian eateries too.

Vegan Burg
Hozen

Angel's Bistro

Read, write and shoot

I did not read as much as I hope, but given a person as slow at reading as me, it is already quite a feat to have read The Great Railway Bazaar, The Year of the Hare and a few issues of INK. Oh, on the spiritual side, I managed to attend a few Buddhist classes too.


Finally, I made it to Nepal, a place which evaded me twice, first around 5-6? years ago when a coup happened a few days before my planned departure, then last year, due to family matters. It was not exactly a relaxing holiday but a very different travel experience. Managed to write a few articles on that and still waiting for some to be published.

The above does sound to be too little for half a year without work. So that will mean I have to work harder in the next half year...

A Taipei cafe

Several years ago, I went down Wenzhou Street at Taipei to have a sip of coffee at Norweigian Wood Cafe. It was an unforgetable afternoon, sitting at a corner of the cafe flipping through a local magazine, surrounded by locals drinking coffee. Some were engrossed with a book in their hand, while others were chatting with friends in between sips. There were also those who were simply drinking coffee and smoking at the time. It was a very different culture.

Norweigian Wood has closed down some years ago. The only reason that I suddenly thought of the cafe experience at Taipei was because I came across this blog, set up by the owner of Nido. Running through the lovely pics really make a cafe lover drool. It features not only cafes in Taiwan but also Hong Kong and Japan.

image by Nido

image by Nido

Am feeling the urge to fly down to Taipei, even if it is just to stay all day long in cafes.