~ Sakagura: the Hidden Jewel of NYC ~

This past weekend, I was up in NYC again taking "engagement pictures". I saw the pictures, but wasn't allow to take any home so I have nothing to show yet. Anyways, on Saturday, we had a special dinner at Sakagura. It was highly recommended by a friend and has 4.5 stars on Yelp. I was pretty excited to go. When I made the reservation, the lady said "You'll have the table from 7-9 and we will only hold your table for 15 minutes." What? Really? Do we get kicked out if we stay past 9? So strict! We got there around 7:30, but we called ahead to change our reservation.


The restaurant is beautiful. It is a little strange because it's in the basement of this office building. The coolest part was the bathroom. You wouldn't even know it's a bathroom until someone opens the door for you. Like Ninja, they have those high tech butt cleansing toilets too.

I can talk about the food right after I talk about the toilets right? The menu looks like a tapaz menu with many small portioned dishes. The waitress recommended to order 3-5 dishes per person. This picture shows (from left to right): Kamo Roast (duck), Tori Tsukune (Chicken Meat Balls with Teriyaki Sauce), and Gindara Yuan Yaki (Grilled Cod Fish). The duck was excellent. Meat ball was ok. Cod fish was excellent too.


Here we have a beef dish and rice balls. The rice balls weren't spectacular, but I wanted some rice. I forgot what that beef dish is but the Gyu Miso Nikomi was definitely awesome. It is shredded beef back ribs stewed in Miso topped with grated dikon radish. Another note worthy dish was the Tori Karaage which is basically really good fried chicken.


This was a fun specialty dish on the front page. It was $20. It's served raw with the really hot stone to cook the beef. It was really good with the sauce and salt. And it's always fun to have something sizzle at the table.


We also had one of the famous sakes. I forgot the name. Something 515. It was a good sake. I don't usually like sake, but this one was ok to me and delicious to my friends. It was about $40 for a half bottle. Sakagura is actually famous for the sakes. Some are $70 for half a bottle!

Overall, everything was good at the restaurant. It felt very authentic. Our waitress and hostess spoke with Japanese accent and just oozed Japanese culture from the way they acted. And there were Japanese people eating there. The place looks very Japanese. Can't get any more authentic than that. The only downside? The price is a little bit steep. You order a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Before you know it, your bill is a couple hundred dollars. But, good food is worth the money right? For this much money though, I think Ninja is more fun.

~ Running Around with Momo ~

We stayed at the Double Tree hotel in Virgina beach this past weekend. They are dog friendly! It's so nice to have Momo with us. He was so good. He didn't have any accidents! It was a lil cold, but there was plenty of sunshine! So, I took this as an opportunity to play around with the DSLR and Momo. He likes the bed.


He ran around a lot outside! I just wanted to show off my slightly red hair here. I love my red highlights :)


It's rare that I catch him in his mid run and it's clear. He looks so funny!


He looks like a flying dog here. Too bad I blocked the picture :(


Flowers and Momo and sunshine. I was so happy.


Doesn't Momo look so cute against the pink of the flowers and the blue sky?


We took him to the beach too, but it was really cold so we didn't say long. Hopefully, we'll come back when it's warmer :)

~ Waterman's Beachwood Grill at Virginia Beach ~

I am so full! Here in Virginia beach, there are lots and lots of restaurants on the board walk. But which one is good? Well, I was talking to some hotel employees and they highly recommended Waterman's Beachwood Grill. I checked on Yelp and it looks like they have decent reviews, although it's only 3.5 stars. So, we headed over there around 8 and guess what? 1 hr wait! Oh well, we decided to wait since they are supposed to have the greatest "she crab soup".


Well the soup was pretty damn good! There were a couple huge chunks of crab meat in there. Very creamy and rich with flavor and not too salty at all.


The waiter said the calamari is the best on that broadwalk. It's fresh, never frozen and...I forgot what else he said. But, it was pretty good. The sweet chili sauce that came with it was great! I haven't had calamari with a sauce like that before. The banana peppers were also a great compliment to the calamari. It was quite refreshing. The only problem was that the portion is kinda small.


I had the Waterman's special pasta. It is the waiter's favorite, supposedly. It has scallops, shrimps and this sausage that meshes really well with the creamy sauce. I liked it!


The crab cakes are also pretty good. It's really lumps of crab and not a lot of filler. It was a little too salty for me though. But I guess if you eat it with the mash potatoes, it will be fine because that didn't taste like anything.


So, the place was pretty good. Price is average for a beach side restaurant. We had a table by the window facing the beach. That was very nice. The bar seemed to be pretty lively too. Supposedly, they have a really good "Orange Crush" drink, but I didn't have one. I am a good girl ;)

~ Eating Frog Legs on the Streets of Hong Kong ~

There's something about eating outdoors that makes me feel all special. Maybe it's because when I eat outside, it must be really nice outside and nice weather always makes me feel good. In America, eating outside seems like such a luxury with those iron cast tables and chairs and maybe a nice little umbrella to set the mood. Well, in Hong Kong, eating outside is pretty....well ... normal and definitely not as glamorous. Seriously, that was our table.


We went to this restaurant for their famous chicken. It was in an alley and they were so full that they had to open a table for us in front of a doctor's office.


The food was pretty good though. We had broccoli and frog. Yes, I said it. It's frog.


See? Frog legs. Frog really just tastes like chicken.


And this is the famous chicken. See the yellow skin? That's some good stuff!!! I just noticed the frog bones in the back. Just ruins the whole picture doesn't it?


It was a little cold though. But it was still fun to eat with my mom and my aunt there.


This street is pretty much empty with stores on both sides during the day. At night, the restaurants just bring out all the tables and people eat on the street. Hong Kong people love eating at night!


There are a lot of snacks you can eat on the streets too. Just standing there, no tables, no chairs. I will show you guys that over the weekend :)

~ Hong Kong Shopping Haul: Skincare/Makeup ~

In Hong Kong, beauty super stores are on every corner. There's Sasa, ColourMix, Bonjour, Angel and a million little boutiques with beauty products. I couldn't resist and bought a bunch of skin care products and a few makeup. My favorite store was ColourMix. I don't know why. On two separate occasion, my mom and my cousins spent more than an hour in that store. I didn't even want to buy makeup, but after a few hours of looking at this....


Well, isn't it so cute??? Look at the Lioele logo! It's like a Cinderella carriage! Just love the way the packing is done.


I don't even use blush that often, but this one is just too cute. So I bought it. I haven't tried it yet though.


I also got the BB cream because it was recommended by the sales lady. It's a very moisturizing forumla. I will write about it more later.


One of my favorite product I got was this serum called Hydra B5 Soother. My mom loves it and was buying a dozen to bring home. So, naturally I took a few for myself. I have been using it for a few months now and my skin feels so much more hydrated.


It's made by this Korean company called A.H.C. It has Vitamin B5 (Panthenol), Hyaluronic Acid, Portulaca Oleracea Extracts, and Kava Kava Extracts. Any word with "acid" worries me. But, I looked it up and it seems ok. According to Wikipedia, "In 2003 the FDA approved hyaluronan injections for filling soft tissue defects such as facial wrinkles. Restylane is a common trade name for the product. Hyaluronan injections temporarily smooth wrinkles by adding volume under the skin, with effects typically lasting for six months."


I was going to get some "My Beauty Diary" Masks, but the sales lady said these are better. So, I got a few for fun.


This looks the most promising. Haven't gotten around to it yet, but I will soon! Probably tomorrow.


I also got a couple of these Coreana Water Active Cream because it was on sale and .... I don't know. When the sales lady keep telling you to buy, you just cave in sometimes. It felt good when she put it on my hand...


These Cola flavored lip balms are fun. I have never heard of the brand Laino before. Looks French to me. It's not that moisturizing, but the cola flavor is awesome. My fiance put this on the other day, took a sip of water and handed me the cup. When I drank the water, it tasted like coke for a second!


I got a peeling gel for my face and body. This one is for my face by Hazel Lazia. I got this from a little beauty boutique that my aunt found. It was their most popular item. It is supposed to exfoliate your skin when your rub it in circle. You will see your dead skin forming into little lumps. Every time I use it, my face feels really smooth. So, as of right now, I like it.


This tub of peeling gel is for my body. This one is okay. I haven't noticed a major difference after using this.


I don't even know what this is! My mom said it's good stuff though. But, I don't know how to use it.



This is what I got when I tried to control myself. Imagine what would've happened if I didn't control myself. I think it would've taken a week for me to just blog about everything I would've gotten :)

~ Hot Pot Hong Kong Restaurant Style ~

It's so cold today! What happened to Spring? This weather reminds me of...well...hot pot! When I was in Hong Kong, we had hot pot often. There's a restaurant that has 1/2 off everything after 9pm so it's an awesome deal. And bottles of coke and soda are 3 for $10HKD. That's only like $1.25 here. Restaurants here charges like $2 for a glass of coke!

So here are some of the things you can order for hot pot. This is thinly sliced beef.


Squid...


This is one of the best hot pot ingredient ever. It's tofu skin wrapped into a loose cylinder. You just throw it into the pot and count to 3 and it's ready. Delicious!


These are like beef balls and shrimp balls and fish balls. The frozen ones you can get in Chinese grocery stores in America are all precooked. These are fresh. They are so fresh that the shrimp that's in the shrimp ball was probably still alive in the morning.


Of course, all kinds of veggies and mushrooms.


There are a lot more ingredients like seafood, clams, fish and a lot of other stuff. But, I think I lost some pictures :( Besides the ingredients, you also need to pick a soup base. They have super spicy one, chicken broth, pork bone soup, drunken chicken soup and chinese herbal soup. When the soup is boiling, it's time to add the food!


Then it's just a waiting game.


Besides awesome hot pot, there's also awesome dessert! This is my favorite red bean .... soup. Super delicious!


I really miss wish I could've hot pot today. But, I had good spicy Thai food instead. Pictures to come soon!

~ Hong Kong Shopping Haul: Boots ~

Hong Kong's weather is slightly warmer than DC. By the end of February, almost all the stores I saw had boots on clearance in anticipation of the spring sandals. I passed by this one tiny store and saw these awesome boots.


The sign says $899. I wanted them, but I am not paying that much for boots when I won't really get to wear that much till next fall. So, I commented to my mom that these were nice, but too expensive. Then the owner appeared out of nowhere and said that all the boots are $100 because of end of season clearance. As you can see, I bought them. I am sad to say that ... they don't fit me! I am a size 39 in European sizes. These are 38. When I was at the store, they felt snug, but I could walk in them. Now that I try them on again, they don't fit! They are very, very tight! How's that possible?

Good thing I got another pair with rhinestones. I am not crazy about the ones near the top, but I love the rhinestones on the heel.



Another pair of black boots...but these are very special! They are made from a super soft, suede material that hug my legs like tights. And they go up to my thighs. You can also fold it down so it's calf-high. The only thing I don't like is how pointy they is.


More rhinestones! These are brown and have ribbons on the back. So girly and pretty!



These boots are perfect. They fit well and they are comfy. Looks gray right?


It's really silver!



I think they are pretty good quality boots because they are lined with a very soft material on the inside. Boots from China are usually not even lined with anything and they cost about $79 to $99HKD. So, yeah, I spent an hour at that one store and got 5 pair of boots. Then, I told my aunts and they got a few pairs too. She got so many pairs that I had to bring them back for her because her suitcases were full. She got these nice brown soft suede boots. No fair. I don't remember seeing these.


During the 5 weeks I was in Hong Kong, I also bought another pair of casual brown boots to wear with skinny jeans, 2 pairs of gladiator sandals, a pair of "Juicy" sandals, some jeweled flipflops and a pair of red strappy heels. I think I have enough shoes for now. Don't let me see any deals with Endless.com and DSW please!!