wanchai wonder

well in one corner of china, i discovered this new area i've never been to before: the 'star street' area...

which is really a group of small streets -- star street, moon street, sun street, etc... right in wan chai (we should have known right???)

it's a great combination of the modern and the decrepit... case in point: glass building looming over dodgy buildings...

or brightly colored buildings among old drab ones...

or an oldie-in-sando fixing the windows above a street of italian furniture shops...

or clothesline looming over a cute mosaic....

ANYWAY, the star street area is right up our alley (no pun intended).

li'l antique shops,

quirky art galleries,

cute cafes and restos with the mandatory-blackboard-outside-the-store (you get the picture...)

(cute name for a yogurt place :) )

this is one of my favorite finds: the 'classified' mozzarella bar.

the aesthetics totally fit my taste... that mid-century american look (more on that later)...

the hub and i decided to drop by for a snack...

here's their cute menu that looks like vintage classified ads.

check out the menu!!! had i not been so full, i would have had that baked camembert with truffle!!! (they also had fried mozzarella wrapped in bacon!)

here's our half-drunk wine and the hub's half eaten cheddar on bread.

*burp*

halfway around the world...

while you're enjoying your strawberries, i can't have enough of blueberries over here...

that and Lady M's famous mille crepe... *die*

here's what's left of what the girls and i've been attacking...

and while i'm at it, had an incredible cuban meal in celeb-fave cafe habana...

... where i had, among others, their famous and mega yummy corn (and yes of course, i thought of you ;) )

so between date nights with the hub (photo below was in an austro-german dig we checked out)...

...and binge fests with the girls (here's some of what cia-grad crix whipped up when we were in NJ)...

i'm having a super time, and so is my tummy :)

(thanks to kiki&lala for the photos... more on our NJ weekend here.)

see ya soonest.

valley happy

it's my first time here in happy valley...

i've been to the new sta ana race track once.

but WOW this one's huge and amazing (and on grass!!!).

yun lang :)

doncha?

hey i'm back!

don'tchawish our public bathrooms have these?

periodical sanitation... and hands-free everything (from toilets to sinks)...

they even periodically sanitize mall door handles, train poles, etc...

haaay... the beauty of paranoia and rich governments...

island eating

one of the highlights of mangenguey is interacting with the island's mother, helena -- and this interaction usually happens around food.

she once ran 3 restaurants in new york -- 2 in the hamptons.

these matchbooks are from helena's tapas bar on lafayette street.

twinpophub chatting with her as she prepares our first dinner.

seating us...

having spicy cream of vegetable soup.  soooo good. twinpophub (surprisingly) loved it.

main:  mixed grilled food -- veggies, beef, sausage, chicken and mashed ube!!!

for dessert, some sort of sweet chocolate sandwich.

every morning she would serve us fresh buko juice (from the island), fruits and pastries.

for lunch, we had jamon serrano and tomatoes on bread,

with kangkong salad (that tasted like arugula!) and spanish tortilla -- a traditional catalan meal with the pinoy touch via the kangkong.

for dessert:  homemade mango and buko ice cream.

for dinner:  pate...  (eye spy pusing)

seafood bouillabaisse with garlic alioli...

dessert:  mascarpone with pine nuts and honey.  mmmmm......

more later!

island living

what we did:

hang out at our fave spot:

this is twinpophub reading his magazine.

we did yoga on it too (whatever!).

also swam -- sand is great, water warm.

or just hang.

we took the boat around the island drinking cava...

at night, after beaching, we would do our own thing.

twinpopfren writing...

twinpopbro writing...

twinpophub playing...

twinpopfren taking photgraphs...

helena cooking...

gina helping helena...

gina spinning the salad the old-fashioned way...

joel setting the table...

drinking...

pusing the cat resting in her basket...

we did a lot of eating too -- more on that later!