Here’s a quick sketch I completed over the weekend:

It was a busy (but good) weekend so I only had half-an-hour or so to do this one. I’m really loving these markers – I think I’m getting the hang of them. I’d like to try and get a more blended/graded effect with the skin tones so now my focus is to acquire a few more colours!

I can’t believe I’ve reached mid-way in my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project. I really love how this project has motivated me to get drawing again, to do so on a regular basis, and to experiment with pencils, paint, markers, etc. I hope I can keep going after I fill up this sketchbook.

Part of our weekend was spent checking out the new Toy Story Land at Hong Kong Disneyland. Thanks to the kind folks at Harbour City, we were invited to a sneak peek before it officially opens to the public at the end of this week.

The massive models of childhood toys are impressive. You really do feel like you are wandering through a child’s toy box :-)

There is a company of life-sized plastic soldiers that provide comedic entertainment whilst you wait in lines for the rides. There are only a handful of rides available at the moment and we managed to try two, with the Toy Soldier Parachute Drop ride becoming the firm favourite with the girls. We also had some photos with Woody and Jessie.

I think it’s great that HK Disneyland has added a new section just for Toy Story……..now how about one for Monsters Inc., wouldn’t that be awesome?! :-)

Last weekend we were invited by friends to enjoy brunch at a new Italian Restaurant in Hong Kong – Linguini Fini. The restaurant was launching its Brunch menu on that Sunday so we were quite excited to take part in the experience.

The atmosphere of the place is quite vibrant, fresh, and laid-back, with excellent staff/customer service, and most definitely family-friendly. Linguini Fini also take pride in the fact that they use organic and natural farm-fresh produce that is sourced locally. All meat, poultry and eggs used for their meals are hormone free and all dishes are prepared without MSG.

We’ve been living in Hong Kong now for just over 6 months (how time flies!) and the one thing I really love for brunch – Eggs Benedict – is something I’ve never had in Hong Kong. Needless to say, I’ve been CRAVING it. So you can imagine my joy when I spotted Eggs Benedict on the menu! Mine!

The LF Benedict (English muffins, mortadella, poached eggs, and ‘nduja hollandaise) is absolutely delicious and I really like the twist on the hollandaise sauce – a spicy, sausage flavour. Another standout was the Monte Cristoforo sandwich, which is made up semolina French toast, LF pancetta, provolone, and a good drizzling of maple syrup.

The girls devoured Happy Jack’s pastry basket – especially the brownies. They are the fudgie kind that instantly melts in your mouth. We had to remind them to leave some for the rest of us!

And what is brunch without dessert?! We tried a number of desserts. And all were incredibly yummy! I really like their take on Tiramisu – mascarpone crema, coffee cake crumble, frozen chocolate, and tiramisu gelato:

I also had some of their caramel & cinnamon ice-cream. I’ve never had these two flavours combined before but it’s a real winner! The girls absolutely demolished the Hot Chocolate Affogato (graham cracker biscotti, marshmallow gelato, covered in a rich, hot chocolate sauce ….. nom, nom, nom).

We’re definitely looking forward to coming back to Linguni Fini to try some of their other menus!

Linguni Fini
1/F, THE L PLACE,
139 QUEEN’S ROAD,
CENTRAL, HONG KONG

[Thanks to the Mister for letting me use some of his photos!]

Oh the food in Hong Kong. I must admit I’ve had some amazing food adventures in Hong Kong so far from Michelin-star restaurants to hawker-style establishments. Perhaps I will blog about some of them in the future but for now, I wanted to share the crazy-good desserts I’ve had because at the end of the day I am one, giant, walking, sweet tooth.

There are so many shops here that are purely serving dessert menus. Here are my favourites:

• If I’m looking for a ‘healthy’ dessert (meaning that there’s actually some fruit instead of just pure sugary goodness), I quickly duck into the nearest Hui Lau Shan. They do a lot of desserts and drinks around mango – so I’m a sucker for their mango mochi, mango pudding and anything with mango and glutinous rice balls! Follow Me Foodie has a really good review of some of the mango dishes here.

• Honeymoon Dessert is another dessert chain. As a family we’ve enjoyed a few of the dishes here. My fave are the glutinous rice balls in sesame seeds and crushed peanuts, with a little bit of sweet syrup.

• Chung Kee Dessert is yet another dessert chain – I told you we were quite spoiled for choice here :-) This chain is a little different in that they serve a range of shaved ice desserts but also serve many fruit-based desserts. My fave without a doubt is ‘Six Fortune Rice Dumplings‘: glutinous rice balls in ginger soup, with fillings such as egg custard, green tea, red bean, sesame, peanut paste and purple sticky rice. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. I even instagram’d it!

• One dessert that I wish I could have again and again is the super indulgent “Oreo” that I had from the Mandarin Grill + Bar. They make this right in front of you and basically it’s made up of ice-cream; a thick, rich chocolate cream; and crushed chocolate cookies. I know it sounds really simple but it is SO, SO GOOD! I will add that the dinner I had at the Mandarin Grill and Bar was also unbelievable – a visual and gastronomical delight. You can see photos of what we enjoyed over here: Dinner at Mandarin Grill + Bar by MrGadget.

P.S. Freya up there says hi! :-)

Looking across the harbour to Hong Kong Island:

Looking down Hennessy Road from the Wooloomooloo Steakhouse rooftop:

Looking up at my daughter’s school:

Looking at the sunset on Hong Kong from my workplace:

Looking across to neighbouring buildings:

Looking down on Hong Kong from Victoria Peak:

Looking down Nathan Road from iSquare:

Looking up at my work building on a hot, summery morning:

Looking down from my office floor:

And looking out from my window at home:

Travelling to and from work every week day, I see a lot of buildings. And more buildings. And more buildings. Of course there are hills and mountains, but from what I see on a daily basis, they are simply the backdrop to – you guessed it – more buildings :-) It is definitely in stark contrast to spacious, green Melbourne.

With such limited real estate, there is only the option of building up (and not out). But I am learning every day that there is still beauty in such surroundings.

P.S. For those of you who may be wondering, I use instagram for my photos :-)

One thing is for sure living here in Hong Kong – there is no shortage of cuteness when it comes to dolls!

These are some Cultural dolls I came across a few weeks ago, made of a wooden base and decorated with fabric and embellishments. I love their little faces and the detail on the clothing.

These dolls can be found at markets so are quite cheap – we picked up a few at markets here and in Taiwan. They come in a wide range of cute outfits and have key chains attached to their heads. I started off with one, …. then two…. then three ….

And this is a larger one we bought in Taiwan. Their clothes are glued on but I reckon you could cut them off and make your own little clothes. Dollie #4:

I will admit I did buy these dolls for myself – but hey, I’m thinking they provide some much needed inspiration for some new fabric dollies I hope to be working on soon :-)

I haven’t come across any stores selling Pullips or Blythes yet. Which I think at this stage, is a good thing!

We’ve started taking Mandarin lessons. I’ve never been good at languages but I’m enjoying learning Mandarin. One thing’s for sure, it’s not easy!!  But our teacher has been great and very encouraging. The title of this post is something she says to us often – which amuses me because I know I sound ridiculous! :-)

We’ve been here for 7 weeks now but it feels like it’s been much longer. I guess that means we’ve settled in quite well! A few more snippets of life here:

On the Star Ferry from where we live in Tsim Sha Tsui across the harbour to Central. A quick 10 minute journey and nice break from taking the underground subway :-)

Finding time to relax – definitely what weekends are for!

I’ve always been a BIG fan of mochi. This is my favourite place to get my mochi fix – freshly handmade everyday and the flavours are just amazing:

The weather has started to turn warm and humid – it’s been about 2°4C when I get to work in the mornings. There’s a park just in front of my building, which provides just enough serenity before heading into a busy day.

I’m always intrigued by what’s served at these corner hawker-style places.

So, what do you fancy? :-)

Hello! It’s been a while :-) In my last post I mentioned I was about to start at my new job – and what a baptism of fire that was! Long days has meant no time for One Red Robin or crafty things in general. And since work has been taking up almost all of my time lately, I thought I might as well share a little bit about working life here :-)

First let me say, peak time travel on the MTR is cah-razy!! So. Many. PEOPLE. Admittedly, it is amusing to see how determined some people are in trying to squeeze into that last tiny space on a ridiculously packed train, and watching the doors scrape across their nose as it closes. Hehe! After having my leg and elbow caught in the closing doors of the MTR numerous times (wow, it hurts!), I have learnt not to fling myself into a packed train and just wait for the next one – given that trains arrive every 1-2 minutes during peak time anyway!

Here’s what a half-empty train looks like on the inside:

As you can see there aren’t many seats built into the MTR. There are nine stops between my workplace and my home, so after a long day at work, I always hope for a seat! Usually, peak time means you stand the whole journey and there is no such thing as personal space! I’m kinda thankful that I am taller than the average here as I don’t get stuck standing face-to-face with other people (or worse, awkwardly facing other people’s body parts) – that’s probably why everyone is playing with their phones! :-)

I work at One Island East, which is a huge skyscraper in Quarry Bay/Tai Koo. It’s HK’s 7th tallest building at 70 floors.

This is the view from Level 38:

And this is what Tai Koo looks like when I leave work:

I’m working for a global company so I spend a lot of time in phone and online meetings with people who are located in Asia,  US, Australia and UK. I will admit this is the most challenging job I have had but at the same time I am learning quite a lot and gaining skills I would not have the opportunity to in my previous jobs. So overall, it’s been a rewarding (though exhausting) experience so far :-)

I haven’t had a chance to  explore during lunch breaks but I am hoping to do so in the next few weeks. However, I thought this little statue in the building was quite fitting – sink or float? I can totally relate to that at the moment :-)

Hope to be back soon with more snippets of life in HK.

I won’t write too much about Disneyland as I’m sure you all know what you would find there :-) This was our second visit to Disneyland Hong Kong as a family, and although I have heard some say that it is probably the smallest of all Disneylands, I think that’s actually a BIG PLUS when you have two small kids. I’d definitely recommend this Disneyland for families with young kids – you’ll get to see the whole park in one day. But if you want to avoid the huge lines – go on a weekday!

On our previous visit we spent a significant amount of time getting photos with as many characters as we could, so this time we spent more time trying out rides and seeing other attractions at the park. Some photos from our visit:

Next time, we’re hoping to hang around for the night-time fireworks :-)

I have my first day at my new job tomorrow. I can’t believe we have been here for two weeks now. It’s been a fun two weeks with the girls, helping them settle in and get used to the way of life here. But as of tomorrow, it’s back to business :-)

So I have a few posts coming up that I’ve scheduled ahead of time on some of the things that we’ve been up to. I’ll start with our visit to the Charlie Brown Cafe:

This little cafe is a wonderful pit-stop for all Peanuts/Charlie Brown fans. The cafe is upstairs, and as you go up the steps, you’ll find Peanuts figurines in cute settings on the wall.

Once upstairs, you’ll find a good amount of seating space plus a few lounges. There’s even a party room in the back.

The menu is pretty much a kid-friendly, Western one with items such as pasta dishes, hot dogs, and sandwiches. They also serve coffee and iced drinks.

Their specialty, however, are different types of mousses in the shape of Peanuts characters. I ordered the Snoopy Banana and White Coffee mousse – it was delicious!

There’s also a corner with all kinds of Peanuts merchandise. We found the staff to be really friendly and helpful too.

The girls and I really enjoyed having our lunch here – we’ll be back!

Charlie Brown Cafe
G/F-1/F, Koh Pah Mansion
58-60 Cameron Road,
Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon

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I’m sure you have all seen the unbelievable and horrendous devastation that has occurred as a result of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Please consider donating to the many charities that are now on the ground providing practical assistance to all those affected. For a list of ways to help, please read this article: How to Help Japan: Relief Options by the Huffington Post

So we actually made it over! I’m still pinching myself. That last week in Melbourne was a mad rush – a blur of activity and exhaustion. But somehow (and with awesome help from family) we got everything into storage, got on the plane, and made it safely to HK :-)

We’ve been here almost a week now and we’ve spent it settling in to our new home, visiting the girls’ schools and preparing them for their first day, and getting acquainted with our new neighborhood in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon.

Our apartment is tiny by Aussie standards but is just enough for the family. We feel very thankful that we’re able to enjoy this view of the Hong Kong harbour from our windows:

We don’t have a car so we’ve been walking and taking public transport everywhere. The train system here is fantastic (although ridiculously crowded sometimes) so it’s easy to get around.

I’m not complaining about all the walking though since we’ve been enjoying our fair share of both Chinese and western delicacies :-)

My company has been awesome and have allowed me to work from home for 2 weeks in order to help get the girls settled. So at lunch time, the girls and I go out for a walk around the neighborhood. We visited Kowloon Park, which is a massive park with lots of things to do and see.

I think we’ll be going back to that park often :-) Here’s a view of Tsim Sha Tsui from the children’s playground in Kowloon Park.

It’s just turned Spring here so the mornings are just a tiny bit chilly but the days are really lovely with maximum temperatures between 19°C and 21°C :-) I do post up photos from time to time on my Twitter account if you’d like to see what else we’ve been up to.

And thank you so much for all the best wishes I received before we left – it was very comforting to know that we were moving to another country with so much support and love :-)